It Is Extremely Common On All
The Islands Throughout The Group, And Lives Exclusively On The
Rocky Sea-Beaches, Being Never Found, At Least I Never Saw
One, Even Ten Yards In-Shore.
It is a hideous-looking creature,
of a dirty black colour, stupid, and sluggish in its movements.
The usual length of a full-grown one is about a yard,
but there are some even four feet long; a large one weighed
twenty pounds:
On the island of Albemarle they seem to
grow to a greater size than elsewhere. Their tails are flattened
sideways, and all four feet partially webbed. They are
occasionally seen some hundred yards from the shore,
swimming about; and Captain Collnett, in his Voyage says,
"They go to sea in herds a-fishing, and sun themselves on
the rocks; and may be called alligators in miniature." It
must not, however, be supposed that they live on fish. When
in the water this lizard swims with perfect ease and quickness,
by a serpentine movement of its body and flattened tail
- the legs being motionless and closely collapsed on its sides.
A seaman on board sank one, with a heavy weight attached
to it, thinking thus to kill it directly; but when, an hour
afterwards, he drew up the line, it was quite active. Their
limbs and strong claws are admirably adapted for crawling over
the rugged and fissured masses of lava, which everywhere form
the coast. In such situations, a group of six or seven of
these hideous reptiles may oftentimes be seen on the black
rocks, a few feet above the surf, basking in the sun with
outstretched legs.
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