Loggerhead, however, is not disregarded by the blacks, though to
the unaccustomed nose the flesh has a most repulsive smell. It is
powerful and fierce when molested. One which was harpooned, on being
hauled up to the boat seized the gunwale and left the marks of its beak
deep in the wood. The creature seems also to be endowed with greater
vitality than the other species, and this fact may excite the wonder of
those who have seen the heart of a green turtle pulsate long after
removal from the body, and the limbs an hour after separation shrink
from the knife and quiver.
The hawks-bill furnishes the tortoiseshell of commerce, and is much
sought after. The flesh is highly tainted with the specific flavour
of turtle, and therefore objectionable, though blacks relish it.
Further north, in some localities, it is generally believed that the
flesh of the hawks-bill may be imbued with a deadly poison. Great care is
exercised in the killing and butchering, lest a certain gland, said to
be located in the neck or shoulder, be opened, as flesh cut with a knife
which has touched the critical part becomes impregnated. Here, though
the blacks take precautions in the butchering a hawks-bill (being aware
of its bad repute elsewhere), they have had no actual experience of the
unwholesomeness of the flesh.
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