Unable to break away, the turtle is hauled
close alongside the canoe, secured by the flippers and towed ashore. I
have known blacks, after harpooning a turtle, to be towed 6 miles out to
sea before it came their turn to do the towing.
How they accomplish the feat of securing a turtle that may weigh a
couple of hundredweight from a frail bark canoe, in which a white man
can scarcely sit and preserve his balance, is astonishing. In a lively
sea the blacks sit back, tilting up the stem to meet the coming wave,
and then put their weight forward to ease it down, paddling, manoeuvring
with the line and baling all the time. The mere paddling about in the
canoe is a feat beyond the dexterity of an ordinary man.
It must not be concluded that these blacks invariably have the
co-operation of a sucker in securing turtle. Its use is comparatively
rare. Generally both turtle and dugong are harpooned as they rise to the
surface to breathe, the sportsmen being very cunning and skilful. They
descry the turtle on the bottom, and softly follow its movements as it
feeds on the marine vegetation, and then as it rises harpoon it; or
they follow one that has betrayed itself by rising, observation and
experience enabling them to judge fairly accurately when and where it is
likely to rise again.
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