HAWKSBILL TURTLE.

The hawksbill turtle (Caretta imbricata) that chiefly producing the
tortoise-shell of commerce, resorts to the shores in the neighbourhood of
Cape York later in the season than the green species, and is
comparatively scarce. It is only taken at night when depositing its eggs
in the sand, as the sharpness of the margin of its shell renders it
dangerous to attempt to turn it in the water--indeed even the green
turtle, with a comparatively rounded margin to the carapace,
occasionally, in struggling to escape, inflicts deep cuts on the inner
side of the leg of its captor, of which I myself have seen an instance.
Of the tortoise-shell collected at Cape York and the Prince of Wales
Islands a small portion is converted into fishhooks, the rest is bartered
either to Europeans or to the Island blacks, who fashion it into various
ornaments.

CAPTURE OF THE DUGONG.

Another favourite article of food is the dugong (Halicore australis) of
which a few are killed every year. Although it extends along the east
coast of Australia from Moreton Bay to Cape York, it appears to be
nowhere very common. About Cape York and Endeavour Strait, the dugong is
most frequently seen during the rainy season, at which time it is said by
the natives to bring forth its young. When one is observed feeding close
inshore* chase is made after it in a canoe. One of the men standing up in
the bow is provided with a peculiar instrument used solely for the
capture of the animal in question. It consists of a slender peg of bone,
four inches long, barbed all round, and loosely slipped into the heavy,
rounded, and flattened head of a pole, fifteen to sixteen feet in length;
a long rope an inch in thickness, made of the twisted stems of some
creeping plant, is made fast to the peg at one end, while the other is
secured to the canoe. When within distance, the bowman leaps out, strikes
the dugong, and returns to the canoe with the shaft in his hand. On being
struck, the animal dives, carrying out the line, but generally rises to
the surface and dies in a few minutes, not requiring a second wound, a
circumstance surprising in the case of a cetaceous animal, six or eight
feet in length, and of proportionate bulk. The carcass is towed on shore
and rolled up the beach, when preparations are made for a grand feast.
The flesh is cut through to the ribs in thin strips, each with its share
of skin and blubber, then the tail is removed and sliced with a s