340 TORTOISES AND TURTLES 



seat in the Galapagos, where it was formerly found in such 

 vast numbers as to have given the group its Spanish name. If 

 the seafarer visits these treeless shores, which as yet produce 

 nothing else worth gathering, it is chiefly for the purpose of 

 catching a few of these huge animals, which, in spite of frequent 

 persecutions, still amply reward a short sojourn with a rich 

 supply of fresh meat. Their capture costs nothing but the 

 trouble, for man has not yet drawn the boundary marks of pro- 

 perty over the tenantless land. 



The elephantine tortoise inhabits as well the low and sterile 

 country, where it feeds on the fleshy leaves of the cactus, 

 as the mountainous regions where the moist trade-wind calls 

 forth a richer vegetation of ferns, grasses, and various trees. 

 On this meagre food, which seems hardly sufficient for a goat, 

 it thrives so well that three men are often scarcely able to 

 lift it, and it not seldom furnishes more than 200 pounds of 

 excellent meat. 



" The tortoise," says Mr. Darwin, " is very fond of water, 

 drinking large quantities, and wallowing in the mud. The 

 larger islands alone possess springs, and these are always situated 

 towards the central parts, and at a considerable elevation. The 

 tortoises, therefore, which frequent the lower districts, when 

 thirsty, are obliged to travel from a long distance. Theii' broad 

 and well-beaten paths radiate off in every direction, from the 

 wells even 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 the well-chosen tracks. Near the springs 

 it was a curious spectacle to behold many of these great monsters, 

 one set eagerly travelling onward with outstretched necks, and 

 another set returning after having drank their fill. When the 

 tortoise arrives at the spring, quite regardless of any spectator, 

 it buries its head in the water above the 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 



* At the time of Mr. Darwin's visit an attempt, since given up, had been made 

 to colonise the islands, which are once more only tenanted by casual adventiurers, 

 and may well bo called uninhabited. « 



