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.
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