I Have Already
Shown, From The Numbers Which Have Been Caught In A Single
Day, How Very Numerous They Must Be.
Some grow to an
immense size:
Mr. Lawson, an Englishman, and vice-governor
of the colony, told us that he had seen several so large,
that it required six or eight men to lift them from the
ground; and that some had afforded as much as two hundred
pounds of meat. The old males are the largest, the females
rarely growing to so great a size: the male can readily be
distinguished from the female by the greater length of its
tail. The tortoises which live on those islands where there
is no water, or in the lower and arid parts of the others, feed
chiefly on the succulent cactus. Those which frequent the
higher and damp regions, eat the leaves of various trees, a
kind of berry (called guayavita) which is acid and austere,
and likewise a pale green filamentous lichen (Usnera plicata),
that hangs from the boughs of the trees.
The tortoise is very fond of water, drinking large quantities,
and wallowing in the mud. The larger islands alone
possess springs, and these are always situated towards the
central parts, and at a considerable height. The tortoises,
therefore, which frequent the lower districts, when thirsty,
are obliged to travel from a long distance. Hence broad and
well-beaten paths branch off in every direction from the
wells down to the sea-coast; and the Spaniards by following
them up, first discovered the watering-places. When I landed
at Chatham Island, I could not imagine what animal travelled
so methodically along well-chosen tracks. Near the springs
it was a curious spectacle to behold many of these huge
creatures, one set eagerly travelling onwards with outstretched
necks, and another set returning, after having
drunk their fill. When the tortoise arrives at the spring,
quite regardless of any spectator, he buries his head in the
water above his eyes, and greedily swallows great mouthfuls,
at the rate of about ten in a minute. The inhabitants say
each animal stays three or four days in the neighbourhood
of the water, and then returns to the lower country; but
they differed respecting the frequency of these visits. The
animal probably regulates them according to the nature of
the food on which it has lived. It is, however, certain, that
tortoises can subsist even on these islands where there is no
other water than what falls during a few rainy days in the
year.
I believe it is well ascertained, that the bladder of the frog
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, their urinary bladders are
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, and drink the contents
of the bladder if full: in one I saw killed, the fluid was quite
limpid, and had only a very slightly bitter taste. The
inhabitants, however, always first drink the water in the
pericardium, which is described as being best.
The tortoises, when purposely moving towards any point,
travel by night and day, and arrive at their journey's end
much sooner than would be expected. The inhabitants, from
observing marked individuals, consider that they travel a
distance of about eight miles in two or three days. One large
tortoise, which I watched, walked at the rate of sixty yards
in ten minutes, that is 360 yards in the hour, or four miles a
day, - allowing 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 these
times; so that when the people hear this noise, they know
that 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 hole: Mr. Bynoe found seven placed in a fissure. The
egg is white and spherical; one which I measured was seven
inches and three-eighths in circumference, and therefore
larger than a hen's egg. The young tortoises, as soon as they
are hatched, fall a prey in great numbers to the carrion-
feeding buzzard. The old ones seem generally to die from
accidents, as from falling down precipices: at least, several
of the inhabitants told me, that they never found one dead
without some evident cause.
The inhabitants believe that these animals are absolutely
deaf; certainly they 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 giving a few raps on the hinder part of their
shells, 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 tortoise, it is not sufficient to turn them like turtle, for
they are often able to get on their legs again.
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