One old seafarer acknowledges that he
nearly "pegged out" as the result of a hearty meal of the liver of a
hawks-bill. As is well known, fish edible in one region may be poisonous
in another (Saville-Kent); the same principle may apply to the turtle.
The flesh of the luth or leathery turtle (DERMOCHELYS CORIACEA) which
diets on fish, crustacea, molluscs, radiates, and other animals, causes
symptoms of poisoning; but the luth does not appear to be common in this
part of the Pacific, though it occurs in Torres Straits.
In a standard work on natural history it is asserted that the natives
remove the overlapping plates of tortoiseshell from the hawks-bill by
lighting a fire on the back of the creature, causing them to peel off
easily. "After the plates have been removed, the turtle is permitted to
go free, and after a time it is furnished with a second set of plates."
Surely this might be classed among the fabulous stories of Munchausen.
As the lungs of the turtle lie close to the anterior surface of the
carapace, the degree of heat sufficient to cause the plates to come off
would assuredly be fatal. Possibly there is explanation at hand. The
turtle being killed, the carapace is removed and placed over a gentle
fire, and then the plates are eased off with a knife.
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