NOTE-BOOK OF A NATURALIST. 243 



reposing mass. While thus employed the tortoise, who 

 probably 



Never in that sort 

 Had handled been before. 

 What thing upon his back had got 

 Did wonder more and more ; 



and walked off with the Professor, to the gTeat amuse- 

 ment of the Prince, while the philosopher, as he rode 

 along, calmly continued his measurement, which gave 

 twelve feet as the circumference of this fine old Galapa- 

 gosian. There appears to be good ground for believing 

 that 175 summers and winters have passed over the head 

 of this doughty devourer of vegetables ; and there is no 

 reason for coming to the conclusion that, if it had been 

 left undisturbed in its native wilds, it might not have 

 seen as many more. The great fossil testudinates of the 

 Himalaya probably attained a much greater age ; and 

 when we consider the regularity of living, and the quiet 

 habits of the tortoises, the enduring nature of their orga- 

 nization, and their great tenacity of life, we may be par- 

 doned if we hint at the probability that, under favourable 

 circumstances, vitality might endure 



As of old for a thousand long years. 

 The tortoises have no teeth to lose, no irritable nervous 

 system to wear out the durable animated materials 

 encased in their impenetrable armour. 



Dampier and Mr. Darwin saw these enormous reptiles 

 in their native haunts on the islands of the Galapagos 

 Archipelago. The former describes them as being so 

 numerous, that 500 or 600 men might subsist on them 

 for several months without any other provision ; addino-, 

 that they are extraordinarily large and fat, and that no 

 pullet is better eating. The latter, in his excellent 

 Journal, notices their numbers as being very great, and 

 states his belief that they are to be found in all the 

 islands of the Archipelago. In his walk among the httle 



m2 



