1835.] GREAT TORTOISL. 279 



frequent the higher and damp regions, eat the leaves of various trees, a 

 kind of berry (called guayavita) which is acid and austere, and likewise 

 a pale green filamentous lichen (Usnera plicata), that hangs in tresses 

 from the boughs of the trees. 



The tortoise is very fond of water, drinking large quantities, and 

 wallowing in the mud. The larger islands alone possess springs, and 

 these are always situated towards the central parts, and at a con- 

 siderable height. The tortoises, therefore, which frequent the lower 

 districts, when thirsty, are obliged to travel from a long distance. 

 Hence broad and well-beaten paths branch off in every direction from 

 the wells down to the sea-coast ; and the Spaniards by following them 

 up, first discovered the watering-places. When I landed at Chatham 

 Island, I could not imagine what animal travelled so methodically 

 along well-chosen tracks. Near the springs it was a curious spectacle 

 to behold many of these huge creatures, one set eagerly travelling 

 onwards with outstretched necks, and another set returning, after 

 having drunk their fill. When the tortoise arrives at the spring, quite 

 regardless of any spectator, he buries his head in the water above his 

 eyes, and greedily swallows great mouthfuls, at the rate of about ten 

 in a minute. The inhabitants say each animal stays three or four days 

 in the neighbourhood of the water, and then returns to the lower 

 country; but they differed respecting the frequency of these visits. 

 The animal probably regulates them according to the nature of the 

 food on which it has lived. 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 bladder 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, their urinary bladders are 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, and drink the contents 

 of the bladder if full ; in one I saw killed, the fluid was quite limpid, 

 and had only a very slightly bitter taste. The inhabitants, however, 

 always first drink the water in the pericardium, which is described as 

 being best. 



The tortoises, when purposely moving towards any point, travel by 

 night and day, and arrive at their journey's end much sooner than 

 wouldjbe expected. The inhabitants, from observing marked individuals, 

 consider that they travel a distance of about eight miles in two or three 

 days. One large tortoise, which I watched, walked at the rate cf sixty 

 yards in ten minutes, that is, three hundred and sixty yards in the hour, 

 or four miles a day, allowing a little time for it to eat on the road. 

 During the breeding season, when the male and female are together, 

 the male utters a hoarse roar or bellowing, which, it is said, can be 

 heard at the distance of more than a hundred yards. The female 

 never uses her voice, and the male only at these times ; so that when 

 the people hear this noise, they know that the two are together. They 



