464 GALAPAGOS ARCHIPELAGO. Oct. 1835. 



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, the urinary bladder of these 

 animals is distended with fluid, which is said gradually to 

 decrease in volume, and to become less pure. The inhabi- 

 tants, when walking in the lower district, and overcome with 

 thirst, often take advantage of this circumstance, by killing 

 a tortoise, and if the bladder is full, drinking its contents. 

 In one I saw killed, the fluid was quite limpid, and had only 

 a very slightly bitter taste. The inhabitants, however, 

 always drink first the water in the pericardium, which is 

 described as being best. 



The tortoises, when moving towards any definite point, 

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

 much sooner than would be expected. The inhabitants, from 

 observations on marked individuals, consider that they 

 can move a distance of about eight miles in two or three 

 days. One large tortoise, which I watched, I found walked 

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

 hour, or four miles a day, — allowing also 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 hun- 

 dred yards. The female never uses her voice, and the male 

 only at such times ; so that when the people hear this noise, 

 they know the two are together. They were at this time 

 (October) laying their eggs. The female, where the soil is 

 sandy, deposits them together, and covers them up with 

 sand ; but where the ground is rocky she drops them indis- 

 criminately in any hollow. Mr. Bynoe found seven placed 

 in a line in a fissure. The egg is white and spherical ; one 

 which I measured was seven inches and three-eighths in 

 circumference. The young animals, as soon as they are 

 hatched, fall a prey in great numbers to the buzzard, with 

 the habits of the Caracara. The old ones seem generally 



