They Lay In This Manner Two Or
Three Times Every Year, And Go Immediately Off To Sea, Leaving Their
Young When Hatched To Shift For Themselves; Which, As Soon As They Get
Out Of The Eggs And From The Sand, Retire To The Sea.
The eggs are round
and white, as large as those of a duck, being covered with a thin tough
skin, but no shell.
I have seen of the green turtle 200, 350, and even
400 pounds weight. The lean of this animal looks like beef, but the fat
is as green as grass, yet is very wholesome food. The pearl-oyster is
much about the size of our common oyster, but thick and broad, and hangs
to the rocks by a long string or beard, like that of a muscle. The pearl
is found in its thickest part, and some have six or seven pearls. The
Spaniards often make voyages to this gulf of Nicoya and to California in
quest of pearls, employing Indian divers, who go down in seven or eight
fathoms, and bring up eight, ten, or twelve oysters at a time, which are
opened by other men on board. The meat of this oyster is very green and
fat, and eats tolerably well, boiled or stewed. The great-oyster grows
to the rocks, not hanging from them by a beard. When opened, one part of
the meat is of a fine red colour like a cherry, and the rest a fine
white. I have often eat of this oyster, for want of better victuals; and
they are so large, that one of them cut in pieces and stewed is a
sufficient meal for five or six men.
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