The Indian Sea produces turtles of such vast size, that with the shell of a single animal they are able to roof a habitable cottage; and among the islands of the Red Sea, the navigation is mostly carried on in boats formed of these shells. They are to be caught in many ways; but they are generally taken when they have come up to the surface of the water just before midday, a season at which they experience great delight in floating on the calm surface, with the back entirely out of the water. Here the delightful sensations which attend a free respiration beguile them to such a degree, and render them so utterly regardless of their safety, that their shell becomes so dried up by the heat of the sun, that they are unable to descend, and, having to float against their will, become an easy prey to the fishermen. It is said also, that they leave the water at night for the purpose of feeding, and eat with such avidity as to glut themselves: upon which, they become weary, and on their return in the morning, to the sea, they fall asleep on the surface of the water. The noise of their snoring betrays them, upon which the fishermen stealthily swim towards the animals, three to each turtle; two of them, in a moment, throw it on its back, while a third slings a noose around it, as it lies face upwards, and then more men who are ready on shore, draw it to land.

In the Phoenician Sea they are taken without the slightest difficulty, and, at stated periods of the year, come of their own accord to the river Eleutherus, in immense numbers. The turtle has no teeth, but the edge of the mouth is sharp, the upper part shutting down over the lower like the lid of a box. In the sea it lives upon shell-fish, and such is the strength of its jaws, that it is able to break stones; when on shore, it feeds upon herbage. The female turtle lays eggs like those of birds, one hundred in number; these she buries on the dry land, covers them over with earth, pats it down with her breast, and sits on them during the night. The young are hatched in the course of a year. Some persons are of opinion that they hatch their eggs by means of the eyes, by merely looking at them. The TroglodytÆ have turtles with horns,[131] which resemble the branches of a lyre; they are large, but movable, and assist the animal like so many oars while swimming. The name of this fine but rarely-found turtle, is “chelyon;” for the rocks, from the sharpness of their points, frighten away the Chelonophagi, while the TroglodytÆ, whose shores these animals frequent, worship them as sacred. There are some land turtles the shells of which are used for the purposes of art. They are found in the deserts of Africa, in the parts where the scorched sands are more especially destitute of water, and subsist, it is believed, upon the moisture of the dews. No other animal is to be found there.

Carvilius Pollio, a man of prodigal habits and ingenious in inventing the refinements of luxury, was the first to cut the shell of the tortoise into laminÆ, or thin slices, and to veneer beds and cabinets with it.