16 TESTUDINATA. TESTUDINID^. 



respecting the frequency of these visits. The 

 animal probably regulates them according to the 

 nature of the food which it has consumed. It is, 

 however, certain, that Tortoises can subsist even 

 on those 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 blad- 

 der 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, the bladder of these animals 

 is 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, by killing a Tortoise, and if the 

 bladder is full, drinking its contents. In one I 

 saw killed, the fluid was quite limpid, and had 

 only a very slightly bitter taste. The inhabitants, 

 however, always drink first the water in the peri- 

 cardium, which is described as being best. The 

 Tortoises, when moving towards any definite 

 point, travel by night and by day, and arrive at 

 their journey's end much sooner than would be 

 expected. The inhabitants, from observation on 

 marked individuals, consider that they can move 

 a distance of about eight miles in two or three 

 days. One large Tortoise which I watched, I 

 found walked at the rate of sixty yards in ten 

 minutes, that is, three hundred and sixty in the 

 hour, or four miles a day — allowing also a little 

 time for it to eat on the road. They were at this 

 time (October) laying their eggs. The female, 

 where the soil is sand, deposits them together, and 

 covers them up with sand ; but where the ground 



