670 



A HISTORY OF 



other parts of its body : the legs, though short, 

 are inconceivably strong : and torpid as the 

 tortoise may appear, it has been known to 

 Carry five men standing upon his back, with 

 apparent ease and unconcern. Its manner of 

 going forward is by moving its legs one after 

 the other ; and the claws with which the toes 

 are furnished, sink into the ground like the 

 nails of an iron-shod wheel, and assist its pro- 

 gression. 



With respect to its internal parts, not to 

 enter into minute anatomical disquisitions, it 

 may not be improper to observe, that the 

 blood circulates in this animal as in some 

 cartilaginous fishes, and something in the 

 manner of a child in the womb. The greatest 

 quantity of the blood passes directly from the 

 vena cava into the left ventricle of the heart, 

 which communicates with the right ventricle 

 by an opening ; while the auricles only receive 

 what the ventricles seern incapable of admit- 

 ting. Thus the blood is driven by a very 

 short passage through the circulation ; and 

 the lungs seem to lend only occasional assist- 

 ance. From this conformation the animal 

 can subsist for some time, without using the 

 lungs or breathing ; at least, the lungs are not 

 so necessary an instrument for driving on the 

 circulation as with us. 



Such is the general structure of this animal, 

 whether found to live by land or water. 

 With regard to the differences of these animals, 

 the land-tortoise, from its habits of making 

 use of its feet in walking, is much more nim- 

 ble upon land than the sea-turtle : the land- 

 tortoise, if thrown upon its back, by rocking 

 and balancing its body, like a child rocking 

 in a cradle, at last turns itself upon its face 

 again ; but the turtle, when once turned, con- 

 tinues without being able to move from the 

 spot. In comparing the feet also of these ani- 

 mals, the nails upon the toes of one that has 

 been used to scratch for subsistence, upon land, 

 are blunt and worn ; while those that have 

 only been employed in swimming, are sharp 

 and long, and have more the similitude of fins. 

 The brain of the land-tortoise is but small ; 

 and yet it is three times as large as that of the 

 turtle. There is a difference also in the shape 

 of their eggs, and in the passage by which 

 they are excluded ; for, in the land-tortoise, 

 the passage is so narrow, that the egg conforms 

 to the shape of the aperture, and though round 



when in the body, yet becomes much more 

 oblong than those of fowls, upon being ex- 

 cluded ; otherwise they would never be able 

 to pass through the bony canal by which they 

 are protruded ; on the contrary, the passage 

 is wider in the turtle, and therefore its eggs 

 are round. These are the most striking dis- 

 tinctions ; but that which is most known i.s 

 their size ; the land-tortoise often not exceed- 

 ing three feet long, by two feet broad ; the 

 sea-turtle being sometimes from five to seven 

 feet long. The size, however, is but a fallaci- 

 ous distinction ; since land -tortoises, in some 

 parts of India, grow to a very groat magni- 

 tude ; though probably not, as the ancients 

 affirm, big enough for a single shell to serve 

 for the covering of a house. 



But if the different kinds of tortoises are not 

 sufficiently distinguished by iheir figure, they 

 are very obviously distinguishable by their 

 methods of living. The land-tortoise lives In 

 holes dug in the mountains, or near marshy 

 lakes ; the sea-turtle in cavities of rocks, and 

 extensive pastures at the bottom of the sea. 

 The tortoise makes use of its feet to walk 

 with, and burrow in the ground ; the turtle 

 chiefly uses its feet in swimming, or creeping 

 at the bottom. 



The land-tortoise is generally found, as was 

 observed above, from one foot to five feet long, 

 from the end of the snout to the end of the 

 tail ; and from five inches to a foot and a half 

 across the back. It has a small head, some- 

 what resembling that of a serpent ; an eye 

 without the upper lid ; the under eye-lid serv- 

 ing to cover and keep that organ in safety. 

 It has a strong scaly tail, like the lizard. Its 

 head the animal can put out and hide at plea- 

 sure, under the great penthouse of its shell : 

 there it can remain secure from all attacks ; 

 there, defended on every side, it can fatigue 

 the palic'nce of the most formidable animul of 

 the forest, that makes use only of natural, 

 strength to destroy it. As the tortoise lives 

 wholly upon vegetable food, it never seeks the 

 encounter ; yet, if any of the smaller animals 

 attempt to invade its repose, they are sure to 

 suffer. The tortoise, impregnably defended, 

 is furnished with such a strength of jaw, that, 

 though armed only with bony plates instead 

 of teeth, wherever it fastens, it infallibly keeps 

 its hold, until it has taken out the piece. 



Though peaceable in itself, it is formed for 



