368 GALAPAGOS AKCHIPELAGO. [CHAP. xvn. 



from a long distance. Hence broad and well-beaten paths branch 

 off in every direction from the wells down to the sea-coast ; and 

 the Spaniards by following them up, first discovered the watering- 

 places. When I landed at Chatham Island, I could not imagine 

 what animal travelled so methodically along well-chosen tracks. 

 Near the springs it was a curious spectacle to behold many of 

 these huge creatures, one set eagerly travelling onwards with 

 outstretched necks, and another set returning, after having drunk 

 their fill. When the tortoise arrives at the spring, quite regardless 

 of any spectator, he buries his head in the water above his eyes, 

 and greedily swallows great mouthfuls, at the rate of about ten 

 in a minute. The inhabitants say each animal stays three or 

 four days in the neighbourhood of the water, and then returns 

 to the lower country ; but they differed respecting the frequency 

 of these visits. The animal probably regulates them according 

 to the nature of the food on which it has lived. It is, however, 

 certain, that tortoises can subsist even on those islands, where 

 there is no other water than what falls during a few rainy days in 

 the year. 



I believe it is well ascertained, that the bladder of the frog acts 

 as a reservoir for the moisture necessary to its existence: such 

 seems to be the case with the tortoise. For some time after a visit 

 to the springs, their urinary bladders are distended with fluid, 

 which is said gradually to decrease in volume, and to become less 

 pure. The inhabitants, when walking in the lower district, and 

 overcome with thirst, often take advantage of this circumstance, 

 and drink the contents of the bladder if full : in one I saw killed, 

 the fluid was quite limpid, and had only a very slightly bitter taste. 

 The inhabitants, however, always first drink the water in the 

 pericardium, which is described as being best. 



The tortoises, when purposely moving towards any point, travel 

 by night and day, and arrive at their journey's end much sooner 

 than would be expected. The inhabitants, from observing marked 

 individuals, consider that they travel a distance of about eight 

 miles in two or three days. One large tortoise, which I watched, 

 walked at the rate of sixty yards in ten minutes, that is 360 yards 

 in the hour, or four miles a day, allowing a little time for it to eat 

 on the road. During the breeding season, when the male and 

 female are together, the male utters a hoarse roar or bellowing, 

 which, it is said, can be heard at the distance of more than a 



