THE TORTOISE. 



341 



lay, the female scratches a slight depression 

 in the earth, generally in a warm situation, 

 where the beams of the sun have their full ef- 

 fect : there depositing her eggs, and covering 

 them with grass and leaves, she forsakes them, 

 to be hatched by the heat of the season. The 

 young tortoises are generally excluded in about 

 twenty-six days ; but, as the heat of the wea- 

 ther assists, or its coldness retards incubation, 

 sometimes it happens that there is a difference 

 of two or three days. The little animals no 

 sooner leave the egg than they seek for their 

 provision, entirely self-taught; and their shell, 

 with which they are covered from the begin- 

 ning, expands and grows larger with age. As 

 it is composed of a variety of pieces, they are 

 all capable of extension at their sutures, and 

 the shell admits of increase in every direction. 

 It is otherwise with those animals, like the 

 lobster, whose shell is composed all of one 

 piece, that admits of no increase ; which , when 

 the tenant is too big for the habitation, must 

 burst the shell, and get another. But the co- 

 vering of the tortoise grows larger in propor- 

 tion as the internal parts expand ; in some 

 measure resembling the growth of the human 

 skull, which is composed of a number of bones, 

 increasing in size in proportion to the quantity 

 of the brain. All tortoises, therefore, as they 

 never change their shell, must have it formed 

 in pieces ; and though in some that have been 

 described by painters or historians, these marks 

 have not been attended to, yet we can have 

 no doubt that they are general to the whole 

 tribe. 



It is common enough to take these animals 

 into gardens, as they are thought to destroy 

 insects and snails in great abundance. We 

 are even told that in hot countries, they are 

 admitted into a domestic state, as they are 

 great destroyers of bugs. How so large and 

 heavy an animal is capable of being expert at 

 such petty prey is not easy to conceive ; but I 

 have seen several of them about gentlemen's 

 houses, that, in general, appear torpid, harm- 

 less, and even fond of employment. Children 

 have sometimes got upon the back of a tor- 

 toise ; and such was the creature's strength, 

 that it never seemed overloaded, but moved 

 off with its burden to where it expected to be 

 fed, but would carry them no further. In 

 winter they regularly find out a place to sleep 

 in; but in those warm countries in which the 

 tortoise is found larger, and in greater plenty 

 than in Europe, they live, without retiring, 

 the whole year round. 



The Sea Tortoise, or Turtle, as it is now 

 called, is generally found larger than the for. 

 mer. This element is possessed with the pro- 

 perty of increasing the magnitude of those ani- 

 mals, which are common to the land and the 

 ocean. The sea pike is larger than that of i 



fresh water; the sea bear is larger than that 

 of (he mountains ; and the sea turtle exceeds 

 the land tortoise in the same proportion. It 

 is of different magnitudes, according to its 

 different kinds ; some turtles being not above 

 fifty pounds weight, and some above eight 

 hundred. 



The Great Mediterranean Turtle (or Coria- 

 ceous Turtle) * is the largest of the turtle kind 

 with which we are acquainted. It is found from 



five to eight feet long, and from six to nine 

 hundred pounds weight. But, unluckily, ils 

 utility bears no proportion to its size; as it is 

 unfit for food, and sometimes poisons those who 

 eat it. The shell also, which is a tough strong 

 integument, resembling a hide, is unfit for all 

 serviceable purposes. One of these animals 

 was taken in the year 1729, at the mouth of 

 the Loire, in nets that were not designed for 

 so large a capture. This turtle, which was of 

 enormous strength, by its own struggles in- 

 volved itself in the nets in such a manner as 

 to be incapable of doing mischief: yet, even 

 thus shackled, it appeared terrible to the fish- 

 ermen, who were at first for flying ; but find- 

 ing it impotent, they gathered courage to drag 

 it on shore, where it made a most horrible 

 bellowing ; and when they began to knock it 

 on the head with their gaffs, it was to be heard 

 at half a mile's distance. They were still far- 

 ther intimidated by its nauseous and pestilen- 

 tial breath, which so powerfully affected them, 

 that they were near fainting. This animal 

 wanted but four inches of being eight feet 

 long, and was above two feet over : its shell 

 more resembled leather than the shell of a tor- 

 toise ; and, unlike all other animals of this 

 kind, it was furnished with teeth in each jaw, 

 one rank behind another, like those of a shark: 

 its feet also, different from the rest of this 

 kind, wanted claws ; and the tail was quile 

 disengaged from the shell, and fifteen inches 

 long, more resembling that of a quadruped 

 than a tortoise. This animal was then un- 

 known upon the coasts of France, and was 

 supposed to have been brought into the Euro, 

 pean seas, in some India ship that might be 

 wrecked upon her return. Since that$io\v- 

 ever, two or three of these animals have been 



1 Also called the Leathery Turtle, from its tough 

 leathery covering. 



