Vol. II, Pt. I] VAN DEXBURGH— GALAPAGOS TORTOISES 241 



"The outfit of the oil-hunter is very simple, consisting merely 

 of a can or pot in which to try out the oil, and three or four 

 burros for carrying the five- or ten-gallon kegs in which it is 

 transported to the settlement. After making a camp near a 

 water-hole, and killing the tortoises there, the collector brings 

 up a burro, throws a couple of sacks over the pack-saddle, and 

 starts out to look for more tortoises, killing them wherever 

 found. A few strokes of the machete separate the plastron 

 from the body, and 10 minutes' work will clear the fat from 

 the sides. The fat is then thrown into the sack, and the outfit 

 moves on. 



"When the burro is well laden, man and beast travel back 

 to camp, where the oil is tried out. Each large tortoise yields 

 from one to three gallons of oil. The small ones are seldom 

 killed, because they have but little fat. By daily visits to the 

 few water-holes during the driest season, in the course of a 

 month the hunters get practically all the tortoises that live on 

 the upper part of the mountain. 



"When we first stepped ashore at the settlement we saw a 

 number of casks lying on the beach, and learned on inquiry 

 that they contained 800 gallons of tortoise oil. In a large 

 boat, under a nearby shed, were 400 gallons more. While we 

 were there, the boat sailing between the island and Guayaquil 

 left for the port with those casks and a cargo of hides. The 

 value of the oil in Guayaquil was about $9.00 (American) per 

 100 pounds. While the tortoises are so plentiful as we saw 

 them, this price yields a fair profit to the hunters, but two 

 more raids such as that shown in the photograph will 

 clear that mountain of all the fair-sized tortoises upon it, and 

 then the oil business is ended." 



The statements of the various authors to whom we have 

 referred, indicate that tortoises had been found upon Abing- 

 don, James, Duncan, Indefatigable, Chatham, Charles. Hood, 

 and Albemarle islands ; that they remain in considerable num- 

 bers only in parts of Albemarle, and perhaps Duncan; that 

 they reached the verge of extinction on Charles Island as 

 early as 1846; and that none had been seen in recent years 

 upon James, Chatham, Charles, or Hood island. 



It was largely for the purpose of gathering further informa- 

 tion regarding tortoises that an expedition was sent to the 



