imilarly fatal occurrences have been
attributed to turtle curry; but as they have never been proved to
proceed exclusively from that source, there is room for believing that
the poison may have been contained in some other ingredient.

In the Gulf of Manaar turtle is frequently found of such a size as to
measure between four and five feet in length; and on one occasion, in
riding along the sea-shore north of Putlam, I saw a man in charge of
some sheep, resting under the shade of a turtle shell, which he had
erected on sticks to protect him from the sun--almost verifying the
statement of AElian, that in the seas off Ceylon there are tortoises so
large that several persons may find ample shelter beneath a single
shell.[1]

[Footnote 1: [Greek: "Tiktontai de ara en taute te thalatte, kai
chelonai megistai, onper oun ta elytra orophoi ginontai kai gar esti kai
pentekaideka pechon en cheloneion, os hypoikein ouk oligous, kai tous
helious pyrodestatous apostegei, kai skian asmenois parechei."]--Lib.
xvi. c. 17. AElian copied this statement literatim from MEGASTHESES,
_Indica Frag._ lix. 31. May not Megasthenes have referred to some
tradition connected with the gigantic fossilised species discovered on
the Sewalik Hills, the remains of which are now in the Museum at the
East India House?]

The hawksbill-turtle[1], which supplies the tortoise-shell of commerce,
was at former times taken in great numbers in the vicinity of
Hambangtotte during the season when they came to deposit their eggs.
This gave rise to the trade in tortoise-shell at Point de Galle, where
it is still manufactured into articles of ornament by the Moors; but the
shell they employ is almost entirely imported from the Maldives.

[Footnote 1: Caretta imbricata, _Linn._]

If taken from the animal after death and decomposition, the colour of
the shell becomes clouded and milky, and hence the cruel expedient is
resorted to of seizing the turtles as they repair to the shore to
deposit their eggs, and suspending them over fires till heat makes the
plates on the dorsal shields start from the bone of the carapace, after
which the creature is permitted to escape to the water.[1] In
illustration of the resistless influence of instinct at the period of
breeding, it may be mentioned that the identical tortoise is believed to
return again and again to the same spot, notwithstanding that at each
visit she may have to undergo a repetition of this torture. In the year
18