1876.] LETTER FROM COMMANDER W. E. COOKSON, R.N. 521 



appearance. The most striking and what, I presume, would be the 

 most important difference, is the apparently much greater length 

 of the neck of the Abingdon tortoise. These creatures arch their 

 neck considerably when stretching it out. All the four Abingdon 

 tortoises we found had the jaws yellowish white, and nostrils pale 

 pink ; in the Albemarle tortoise these parts are nearly black. The 

 carapace of the Abingdon tortoise is more compressed at the sides, 

 slopes gradually up from the hind quarters to the shoulder, and has 

 the back more arched than the Albemarle ; but it is in the part pro- 

 tecting the head that the greatest difference lies, it being in the 

 Abingdon tortoise contracted into a narrow highly arched hood- 

 like form, which gives those animals a most singular appearance. 



" As 1 have mentioned above, the two Abingdon tortoises died 

 after being five or six weeks on board. The first (A) died at sea; 

 and, owing to its size, I had no means of preserving it entire ; but I 

 have kept the vertebrae of the neck (bone diseased) ; and all the skin 

 of the legs, neck, hind quarters, &c. is left attached to the carapace. 

 The other Abingdon tortoise died after our arrival at Honolulu ; 

 there, fortunately, we met the 'Challenger'; and Professor Wyville 

 Thomson most kindly preserved it for me in spirits. This tortoise, 

 I presume, you have long since received, as Admiral Cochrane took 

 it on board H.M.S. 'Repulse' in x\ugust last. 



"Thinking that some of the information I gathered during my 

 cruise amongst these islands may be of interest to you, I will give 

 a few particulars about the tortoises, See. &c. 



" On our arrival at the settlement on Charles Island, we were 

 entertained by the inhabitants with stories of tortoises of gigantic and 

 marvellous size having been found on the islands twenty or thirty 

 years ago, some being described as being so large as quite to rival the 

 fossil tortoise of the Sewalik Hills ; but none of these traditions were 

 well authenticated. One in particular, which was conveyed to Peru 

 in an English ship, was said to have weighed a ton. As I was in- 

 formed that it came into the possession of Mr. Blacker, H.iM. Consul 

 at Payta, I wrote to that gentleman asking him if he could give me any 

 information about it. In reply he says : — ' I can only say that some 

 fifteen or sixteen years ago an English captain did bring a very large 

 tortoise, which was transmitted by him to Callao, and there exhibited 

 on board, a charge being made for the privilege of seeing it, and finally 

 shipped to England as a curiosity. The weight must have been con- 

 siderable ; but I cannot say it weighed a ton, which appears too 

 much of a good thing ; half that weight would have been about 

 near the mark I should say.' Probably (i or 7 cwt. would be 

 nearer its actual weight ; at any rate none of the present inhabitants, 

 some of whom have been engaged in hunting tortoises for the last 

 fifteen years, pretended themselves to have seen any weighing more 

 than from 3 to 4 cwt. ; and they considered the tortoise I send you 

 (which weighed 240 lb. when taken) as large as any that are found 

 now. I preserved a portion of the skull of what was said to be the 

 largest tortoise seen for twelve or fifteen years ; it was killed about six 

 months before our arrival at the S.W. end of Albemarle Island. I 



