194 ALBAN STEWART 



have been difficult for Scharff to explain, unless a former land 

 connection with the continent be admitted. This has probably 

 come about through an error that has crept into the literature 

 concerning the ability of these tortoises to remain alive in water. 

 Scharff quotes a statement from Gadow, 5 in which it is stated 

 that land tortoises are drowned after a few hours' immersion in 

 water, a statement. that may be true enough for land tortoises 

 in general but will not apply to the Galapagos Island tortoises 

 as our own experience proved. While collecting at Iguana 

 Cove, on the southwest side of Albemarle Island, it became neces- 

 sary to load some tortoises into a small boat at some distance 

 down the coast from where our vessel was anchored. The shore 

 was unprotected at this place, and there was a strong swell 

 running which broke heavily on the shore at times. The boat 

 was capsized while loading one of the tortoises into it from the 

 water, and before it could be gotten to a place of safety was 

 caught by a heavy breaker and completely demolished on the 

 rocks. The tortoises thus escaped in the water and it was 

 thought that we had seen the last of them. We were very 

 much surprised the following day, however, to find that the 

 remains of the boat had been floated down in the vicinity of 

 the vessel, and by keeping a sharp lookout we were able to pick 

 up both of the lost tortoises during the day. They had been 

 in the water twenty or more hours and did not seem to have 

 suffered any particular damage, except that one of them had 

 been slightly injured by being thrown against the rocks when 

 the boat capsized. . That they are able to live in the water for 

 a much longer period is shown by the statement of Admiral 

 David Porter 6 who spent some time in the vicinity of the Galapa- 

 gos Islands during the early part of the last century. Porter 

 mentions with regret the fact that the crews of some of the 

 vessels, recently captured by him, had thrown their supply of 

 tortoises overboard in preparing for action and states further: 

 "a few days afterwards, at daylight in the morning, we were so. 



5 Amphibia and Reptiles, p. 373. 



6 Journal of a Cruise made to the Pacific Ocean in the 1 nited States Frigate 

 Essex, p. 162. 



