The first she must have known of our presence was by the feel of our hands under the outer edge of her shell--a sort of tickling under the ribs--by which we endeavoured to turn her on her back. This she resented by striking out with all four fins, and not only covering O’Rorke with sand and water, but sending me sprawling on my back. Luckily she was aground. O’Rorke started into the jungle, returning presently with two branches, the best he could get, to act as levers, with which to turn her over. This was a far more troublesome job than we expected. The weight of the brute alone was 360 lbs., and the strength of the foremost fins wonderful; however, after considerable twisting and manœuvring we managed, with our levers, to get her off side to the edge of a hollow about eight feet by six, and with this advantage, and a heave together, we turned her over. There she lay on her back flapping wet sand, but comparatively helpless. The tide was now rising, and there was nothing left but for O’Rorke to return to where we had left the boat for assistance, leaving me to manage the best I could. I suppose I am the first Admiral who ever kept the middle watch on a turtle. As the sea rose over the outer reef it came rolling in to where I was seated, and as each roller lifted my charge she renewed her struggles to get rid of me. Our object was to keep her head towards the sandy beach, which rose rather abruptly, by inserting one end of the lever, which was crooked, under her back and behind her fore fins when she raised herself up, which she did whenever a roller came to her assistance. To prevent her floating, I seated myself on her stomach. By these means I caused her to heave herself in nearer the shore, but in doing this I got so plastered with wet sand that I must have had the appearance of a small pyramid. At another time she gave me such a slap on the knee, I thought my leg was broken; the pain was great. I never had so troublesome a watch; it appeared to me O’Rorke had been hours away, although the good fellow had run there and back. Having to keep 360 lbs. weight struggling to save its embryo family from being made into omelets, herself into “soups and steaks,” as I saw afterwards chalked on her back, was no small undertaking. Nor can I describe my delight when some of the boat’s crew hove in sight. Another struggle with the brute and I must have given in or have been carried out to sea holding on to the hind fins, like my friend King George of Tonga Tabu. [Illustration: _My middle watch._] Having secured our turtle, a further walk along the sandy beach, a bend to the S.W. brought us within reach of unpleasant smells, and close to a projecting point, within sight of the remains of a huge whale, from which rats, by thousands, were rushing towards the jungle; when the crabs, to say nothing of conger eels, cleared the bones of the monster, they fell to the ground.