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acts as a reservoir for the moisture necessary to its existence;
such seems to be the case with the tortoise. For some time
after a visit to the springs, the urinary bladder of these
animals is distended with fluid, which is said gradually to
decrease in volume, and to become less pure. The inhabitants,
when walking in the lower district, and overcome with
thirst, often take advantage of this circumstance, by killing
a tortoise, and if the bladder is full, drinking its contents.
In one I saw killed, the fluid was quite limpid, and had only
a very slightly hitter taste. The inhabitants, however,
always drink first the water in the pericardium, which is
described as being best.
The tortoises, when moving towards any definite point,
travel by night and day, and arrive at their journey’s end
much sooner than would be expected. The inhabitants, from
observations on marked individuals, consider that they
can move a distance of about eight miles in two or three
days. One large tortoise, which I watched, I found walked
at the rate of sixty yards in ten minutes, that is 360 in the
hour, or four miles a day,—allowing also a little time for it
to eat on the road.
During the breeding season, when the male and female
are together, the male utters a hoarse roar or bellowing, which
it is said, can be heard at the distance of more than a hundred
yards. The female never uses her voice, and the male
only at. such times; so that when the people hear this noise,
they know the two are together. They were at this time
(October) laying their eggs. The female, where the soil is
sandy, deposits them together, and covers them up with
sand; but where the ground is rocky she drops them indiscriminately
in any hollow. Mr. Bynoe found seven placed
in a line in a fissure. The egg is white and spherical; one
which I measured was seven inches and three-eighths in
circumference. The young animals, as soon as they are
hatched, fall a prey in great numbers to the buzzard, with
the habits of the Caracara. The old ones seem generally
to die from accidents, as from falling down precipices. At
leasi; several of the inhabitants told me, they had never
found one dead without some such apparent cause.
The inhabitants believe that tliese animals are absolutely
deaf; certainly tiiey do not overhear a person walking close
behind them. I was always amused, when overtaking one of
these great monsters as it was quietly pacing along, to see
how suddenly, the instant I passed, it would draw in its
head and legs, and uttering a deep hiss fall to the ground
with a heavy sound, as if struck dead. I frequently got on
their backs, and then, upon giving a few raps on the hinder
part of the shell, they would rise up and walk away;—but
I found it very difficult to keep my balance.
The flesh of this animal is largely employed, both fresh
and salted; and a beautifully clear oil is prepared from the
fat. When a tortoise is caught, the man makes a slit in the
skin near its tail, so as to see inside its body, whether the
fat under the dorsal plate is thick. If it is not, the animal is
liberated; and it is said to recover soon from this strange
operation. In order to secure the tortoises, it is not
sufficient to turn them like turtle, for they are often able
to regain their upright position.
It was confidently asserted, that the tortoises coming from
different islands in the archipelago were slightly different in
form; and that in certain islands they attained a larger average
size than in others. Mr. Lawson maintained that he could
at once tell from which island any one was brought. Unfortunately,
the specimens which came home in the Beagle
were too small to institute any certain comparison. This
tortoise, which goes by the name of Testudo Lidiáis, is at
present found in many parts of the world. It is the opinion
of Mr. Bell, and some others who have studied reptiles, that
it is not improbable that they all originally came from this
archipelago. When it is known how long these islands
have been frequented by the bucaniers, and that they constantly
took away numbers of these animals alive, it seems
very proljalile that they should liave distributed them in
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