TURTLES AND TURTLE-CATCHING 



turtles at a time can escape, and these, as they come out, 

 are clubbed on the head. Though the mesh is a very 

 large one, valuable fish are not infrequently caught with 

 the turtles ; sometimes a good-sized alligator is also swept 

 in, and extinguished with a bullet or cudgel before it can 

 make itself in any ways objectionable. 



The land tortoises of the Galapagos Archipelago, 

 although they are not fished for, should have a passing 

 mention. These spend the greater part of their time 

 away from the water, but visit the streams and pools 

 periodically, staying there about three days at a time. 

 They are so large that it would take six or eight men to 

 lift one of them, an^ anyone who likes can sit on the 

 back of one and ride at a speed averaging six yards per 

 minute, or a mile in five hours. On being approached 

 they draw in head and limbs and drop with a loud clatter 

 and a good deal of hissing ; but all that the rider has to 

 do is to take his seat and give a few light blows on the 

 hinder end of the shell; then the legs come out again 

 and the vehicle moves on. 



These reptiles are of great value in more ways than 

 one. The eggs, which are spherical, white, and rather 

 larger than those of a hen, are laid in the sand and care- 

 fully covered, and the natives take them for food when- 

 ever they can. Some of the animals yield as much as two 

 hundred pounds of solid meat, which is either eaten fresh 

 or is salted and dried for export. The fat is rendered 

 down into a thin oil which now commands a high price. 

 Unless the tortoise is really fat the natives do not kill it. 

 Its condition is ascertained by a small slit being made in 



294 



