CHAPTER XXIII 



TO THE NORTH-WEST COAST 



CROCODILES are not the only reptiles to be seen in 

 the river, for we also saw many large tortoises. They 

 were chiefly of the genus Pyxis, the Geometric or 

 Box tortoise, having the carapace divided into large hexagons 

 beautifully marked, and were basking in the sun on small spits 

 of sand rising just above the surface of the water. A carapace 

 which I afterwards procured on the coast was about eighteen 

 inches long. Two other species are also found in Madagascar, 

 named respectively, Testudo geometria and Testudo radiata. 



In former times the lakes and marshes of the island were in- 

 habited by an immense species of tortoise, whose remains have 

 been found together with those of the gigantic birds (.ZEpyornis), 

 the hippopotamus and the great extinct lemurs, all of which 

 were no doubt contemporaneous, lasting until the arrival of man 

 on the scene. But although extinct on the mainland of Mada- 

 gascar, they seem to have survived on the Mascarene group of 

 Mauritius, Reunion and Rodriguez until a very recent date, 

 and they are still living in the little island of Aldabra, which is 

 about two hundred and sixty miles north-west of Cape Ambro. 

 There are two living examples of these huge creatures in the 

 Regent's Park Gardens. The male tortoise, which is much the 

 larger of the two, is five feet five inches in length, and five feet 

 nine inches in breadth, broader, in fact, than it is long. It 

 weighs about eight hundred pounds, and is believed to be able 

 to carry a ton weight on its back. It is now at least a hundred 

 and fifty years old, but is still young and is likely to grow to a 

 much greater size. From the geometric-shaped plates of its 

 carapace, it seems to be allied to the geometric tortoise, still 

 plentiful in Madagascar, as we have just seen. Until lately, it 

 was supposed that these great tortoises were becoming extinct 

 on Aldabra, but by the most recent accounts of the island, it 

 appears that this is not likely to be the case, the dense jungle of 

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