170 NEW YORK ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



ter-hole, and killing the tortoises there, the collector brings up 

 a burro, throws a couple of sacks over the pack-saddle, and starts 

 out to look for more tortoises, killing them wherever found. 

 A few strokes of the machete separates the plastron from 

 the body, and lo minutes' work will clear the fat from the 

 sides. The fat is then thrown into the sack, and the outfit 

 moves on. 



When the burro is well laden, man and beast travel back to 

 camp, where the oil is tried out. Each large tortoise yields from 

 one to three gallons of oil. The small ones are seldom killed, 

 because they have but little fat. By daily visits to the few water- 

 holes during the driest season, in the course of a month the 

 hunters get practically all the tortoises that live on the upper 

 part of the mountain. 



When we first stepped ashore at the settlement we saw a num- 

 ber of casks lying on the beach, and learned on inquiry that they 

 contained 800 gallons of tortoise oil. In a large boat, under a 

 nearby shed, were 400 gallons more. While we were there the 

 boat sailing between the island and Guayaquil left for that port 

 with those casks and a cargo of hides. The value of the oil 

 in Guayaquil was about $9.00 (American) per 100 pounds. 

 While the tortoises are as plentiful as we saw them, this price 

 yields a fair profit to the hunters, but two more raids such as 

 that shown in the photograph will clear that mountain of all the 

 fair-sized tortoises upon it, and then the oil business is ended. 



The photograph of seven tortoises at a pond was taken ten 

 miles from the ranch at 3,500 feet elevation, where the hunters 

 had not yet been, but soon these will be discovered and go the 

 way of the rest. Those that the hunters overlook will be killed 

 by the wild dogs as soon as the cattle are decimated. Between 

 men and dogs the creatures that live on the ground must soon 

 disappear. On the northern end of the island the land iguanas 

 have been exterminated, although they were much more numer- 

 ous and better able to escape than are the tortoises. Near Tagus 

 Cove, the best harbor in the northern part of the island, situated 

 at the foot of another large mountain of volcanic origin, there 

 were formerly, if the number of trails can be taken as a criterion, 

 hundreds of tortoises. To-day it is a hard matter to find one, 

 for it appears that this species (Tcstudo microphcs) has been 

 used as food for whalers more than any other. 



Quite a large valley extends along the southern base of the 

 mountain, near Tagus Cove, and here the tortoises were in the 

 habit of coming every rainy season w^hen the grass was young 



