LEAVES FROM THE NOTE-BOOK OF A NATURALIST. 



gentleman placed upon the top of Mrs. Nickleby's 

 wall, or projected into her garden, lay scattered 

 in profusion around. In many of these the 

 trenchant bill of the reptile had made incision ; 

 and, as they had forgotten to provide the royal 

 guest with a napkin, fragments of the last meal 

 remained hanging about its horny lips. Large as 

 the creature is, one may easily conceive the dis- 

 appointment of the spectator who first sees it at 

 rest. When it is in motion, and the huge body is 

 raised on the pillar-like legs, it is a much more 

 striking object. Professor Owen had been sum- 

 moned to Buckingham Palace to see it before its 

 removal to the garden in the Regent's Park, by 

 the gracious direction of her majesty, and, in the 

 presence of Prince Albert, proceeded to take the 

 dimensions of the girth of the animal. To do 

 this more effectually, he bestrode the 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 great 

 amusement of the prince, while the philosopher, 

 as he rode along, calmly continued his measure- 

 ment, which gave twelve feet as the circumference 

 of this fine old Galapagosian. 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 left 

 undisturbed in its native wilds, it might not see 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 organization, and their great tenac- 

 ity of life, we may be pardoned if we hint at the 

 probability that, under favorable 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 armor. 



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 ; adding, that they are extraor- 

 dinarily large and fat, and that no pullet is bet- 

 ter 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 little craters which there abound, the 

 glowing heat of the day, the rough surface of the 

 ground, and the intricate thickets, produced great 

 fatigue ; but, with the true spirit of a naturalist, 

 he says that he was well repaid by the Cyclopian 

 scene. He met two large tortoises, each of which 

 must have weighed at least 200 pounds. One 



was eating a piece of cactus ; and when Mr. Dar- 

 win approached, it looked at him, and then quietly 

 walked away ; the other gave a deep hiss, and 

 drew in his head. Those huge reptiles, sur- 

 rounded by the black lava and large cacti, ap- 

 peared to his fancy like some antediluvian animals. 

 Mr. Darwin was informed by Mr. Lawson, an 

 Englishman, who, at the time of his visit, had 

 charge of the colony, that he had seen several so 

 large that it required six or eight men to lift them 

 from the ground, and that some had yielded as 

 much as 200 pounds of meat. The old males, 

 readily distinguished by the greater length of their 

 tails for that appendage is always longer in the 

 male than in the female are the largest, the fe- 

 males rarely growing to so great a size. They 

 prefer the high, damp parts of the islands, but 

 also inhabit the lower and arid districts. Those 

 that live in the islands where there is no water, 

 or in the arid parts of the others, feed chiefly on 

 the cactus, whose succulent nature compensates 

 for the want of liquid. But those which frequent 

 the higher and moist regions, revel in a diet of the 

 leaves of various trees, a kind of acid, austere 

 berry, called guayavita ; and a pale green fila- 

 mentous lichen, hanging in tresses from the 

 boughs of trees. It must not, however, be con- 

 cluded that these tortoises do not care about 

 water ; for Mr. Darwin tells us that they are very 

 fond of it, drinking large quantities when they 

 can get it, and wallowing in the mud when they 

 find it. The larger islands alone, it appears, 

 possess springs, which are always situated towards 

 the central parts, and at a considerable elevation. 

 The tortoises which frequent the lower districts 

 are therefore obliged, when thirsty, to travel from 

 a long distance. Broad and well-beaten paths, 

 the result of these travels, radiate off in every 

 direction from the wells, even down to the sea- 

 coast. This was not lost upon the Spaniards, 

 who followed them up, and so discovered the 

 watering-places. When Mr. Darwin landed at 

 Chatham Island he could not imagine what animal 

 travelled so methodically along the well-chosen 

 tracks. Near the springs it was a curious spec- 

 tacle, he observes, to behold many of these great 

 monsters, one set eagerly travelling onwards, with 

 outstretched necks, and another set returning, after 

 having drunk their fill. He remarked that, when 

 the tortoise arrives at the spring, it buries its 

 head in the water above the eyes, quite regardless 

 of any spectator, and greedily swallows great 

 mouthsful, at the rate of about ten in a minute. 

 According to Mr. Darwin, the inhabitants say that 

 each visitor stays three or four days in the neigh- 

 borhood of the water, and then returns to the 

 lower country ; but they differed in their accounts 

 respecting the frequency of those visits. Mr. 

 Darwin thinks that the animal probably regulates 

 them according to the nature of the food which it 

 has consumed ; but he observes that it is certain 

 that tortoises can subsist, even on those islands, 

 where there is no other water than what falls dur- 

 ing a few rainy days in the year. The rate of 



