The Air Is Continually Refreshed, By The Sea-Breeze By Day And
The Land-Winds At Night, So That They Are Not Troubled With Such
Excessive Heats, Neither Are They So Unwholesome As Most Places So Near
The Equator.
During the rainy season, in November, December, and
January, they are infested with violent tempests of thunder and
lightning; but before and after these months have only refreshing
showers, and in their summer, which is in May, June, July, and August,
they are without any rains.
They anchored near several of these islands, and frequently found sea
tortoises basking in the sun at noon. On a former occasion, Captain
Davies came to anchor on the west side of these islands, where he and
his men subsisted on land-tortoises for three months, and saved from
them sixty jars of oil. He also found several good channels on that
side, with anchorage between the isles, and several rivulets of fresh
water, with plenty of trees for fuel. The sea also round these islands
is well stored with good fish of a large size, and abounds in sharks.
These islands are better stored with guanoes and land-tortoises than any
other part of the world. The guanoes are very tame, of extraordinary
size, and very fat. The land-tortoises are likewise very fat, and so
numerous that several hundred men might subsist upon them for a
considerable time. They are as pleasant food as a pullet, and so large
that some of them weighed 150 and even 200 pounds, being two feet to two
feet and a half across the belly; whereas in other places they are
seldom met with above 30 pounds weight. There are several kinds of
land-tortoises in the West Indies, one of which, called Hackatee by
the Spaniards, keeps mostly in fresh-water ponds, having long necks,
small legs, and flat feet, and is usually between ten and fifteen pounds
weight. A second, and much smaller kind, which they call Tenopen,[153]
is somewhat rounder, but not unlike in other respects, except that their
back shells are naturally covered with curious carved work. The
tortoises in the Gallapagos isles resembles the Hackatee, having long
necks and small heads, but are much larger.
[Footnote 153: This word in the text is probably a misprint for
Terrapin, a trivial name for a species of land or fresh-water
tortoise, found also in the warmer parts of North America - E.]
In these islands there are also some green snakes, and great numbers of
remarkably tame turtle-doves, very fat, and excellent eating. There are
large channels between some of these islands, capable of receiving ships
of moderate burden. On the shoals there grows great abundance of
sea-weed, called turtle-grass, owing to which these channels abound in
green turtles or sea-tortoises. There are several kinds of turtles or
sea-tortoises, as the Trunk, Loggerhead, Hawksbill, and Green
turtles. The first is larger than the rest, and has a rounder and higher
back shell, but is neither so wholesome nor so well tasted; and the same
may be said of the Loggerhead, which feeds on moss from the rocks, and
has its name from its large head.
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