The edible turtle[1] is found on all the coasts of the island, and sells for a few shillings or a few pence, according to its size and abundance at the moment.  A very repulsive spectacle is exhibited in the markets of Jaffna by the mode in which the flesh of the turtle is sold piece-meal, whilst the animal is still alive, by the families of the Tamil fishermen.  The creatures are to be seen in the market-place undergoing this frightful mutilation; the plastron and its integuments having been previously removed, and the animal thrown on its back, so as to display all the motions of the heart, viscera, and lungs.  A broad knife, from twelve to eighteen inches in length, is first inserted at the left side, and the women, who are generally the operators, introduce one hand to scoop out the blood, which oozes slowly.  The blade is next passed round, till the lower shell is detached and placed on one side, and the internal organs exposed in full action.  A customer, as he applies, is served with any part selected, which is cut off as ordered, and sold by weight.  Each of the fins is thus successively removed, with portions of the fat and flesh, the turtle showing, by its contortions, that each act of severance is productive of agony.  In this state it lies for hours, writhing in the sun, the heart[2] and head being usually the last pieces selected, and till the latter is cut off the snapping of the mouth, and the opening and closing of the eyes, show that life is still inherent, even when the shell has been nearly divested of its contents.

[Footnote 1:  Chelonia virgata, Schweig.]

[Footnote 2:  ARISTOTLE was aware of the fact that the turtle will live after the removal of the heart.—­De Vita et Morte, ch. ii.]

At certain seasons the flesh of turtle on the south-western coast of Ceylon is avoided as poisonous, and some lamentable instances are recorded of deaths ascribed to its use.  At Pantura, to the south of Colombo, twenty-eight persons who had partaken of turtle in October, 1840, were immediately seized with sickness, after which coma supervened, and eighteen died during the night.  Those who survived said there was nothing unusual in the appearance of the flesh except that it was fatter than ordinary.  Other similarly fatal occurrences have been attributed to turtle curry; but as they have never been proved to proceed exclusively from that source, there is room for believing that the poison may have been contained in some other ingredient.

In the Gulf of Manaar turtle is frequently found of such a size as to measure between four and five feet in length; and on one occasion, in riding along the sea-shore north of Putlam, I saw a man in charge of some sheep, resting under the shade of a turtle shell, which he had erected on sticks to protect him from the sun—­almost verifying the statement of AElian, that in the seas off Ceylon there are tortoises so large that several persons may find ample shelter beneath a single shell.[1]