Vol. II, Pt. I] VAN^ DENBURGH—GALAPAGOS TORTOISES 



217 



attention to them necessary, than that their shells should be 

 preserved unbroken. * * * Xhe most of those we took 

 on board were found near a bay on the northeast part of the 

 Island, about eighteen miles from the ship. Among the whole 

 only three were male, which may be easily known by their 

 great size, and from the length of their tails, which are much 

 longer than those of the females. As the females were found 

 in low sandy bottoms, and all without exception were full of 

 eggs, of which generally from ten to fourteen were hard, it is 

 presumable that they came down from the mountains for the 

 express purpose of laying. This opinion seems strengthened 

 by the circumstance of there being no male tortoises among 

 them, the few we found having been taken a considerable dis- 

 tance up the mountains. One remarkable peculiarity in this 

 animal is, that the blood is cold. I shall leave it to those better 

 acquainted with natural history to investigate the cause of a 

 circumstance so extraordinary, my business is to state facts, 

 not to reason from them. 



"Nothing, perhaps, can be more disagreeable or clumsy than 

 they are in their external appearance. Their motion resembles 

 strongly that of the elephant; their steps slow, regular and 

 heavy, they carry their body about a foot from the ground, 

 and their legs and feet bears no slight resemblance to the 

 animal to which I have likened them; their neck is from 

 eighteen inches to two feet in length, and very slender; their 

 head is proportioned to it, and strongly resembles that of a 

 serpent. But, hideous and disgusting as is their appearance, no 

 animal can possibly aiford a more wholesome, luscious and 

 delicate food than they do; the finest green-turtle is no more 

 to compare to them in point of excellence than the coarsest beef 

 is to the finest veal ; and after once tasting the Galapagos tor- 

 toises, every other animal food fell greatly in our estimation. 

 These animals are so fat as to require neither butter nor lard 

 to cook them, and their fat does not possess that cloying quality, 

 common to that of most other animals. When fried out, it 

 furnishes an oil superior in taste to that of the olive. The 

 meat of this animal is the easiest of digestion, and a quantity 

 of it exceeding that of any other food, can be eaten without 

 experiencing the slightest inconvenience. But what seems the 

 most extraordinary in this animal, is the length of time that it 



