THE DESERT TORTOISE 263 



tne from out their brown-irised eyes, that the 

 dumb mouth could speak and tell me of the 

 things that have come to pass during their life- 

 time in their big wilderness world. 



Tortoises make excellent pets. Give them 

 but an out-of-the-way corner of your lawn and 

 they will stay with you for years, content on 

 such humble fare as lettuce and Bermuda grass 

 and asking nothing of you but the sufferance to 

 live. And why should we not learn something 

 from these little dumb brothers of ours? 

 Nature has withheld from them the gift of ex- 

 pression, but they may speak to us just the 

 same, teaching us simplicity, humility, and 

 gentleness. 



There is a certain nobility of form and de- 

 meanor about these beautiful chelonians that 

 has always appealed to me, and it is always 

 with a sense of sorrow that I see them carried 

 off and piteously slaughtered. Several times I 

 have seen them piled by dozens in great crates 

 and ruthlessly taken to the city markets, there 

 to be butchered to satisfy the gormandizing 

 epicures who can afford and will pay such fancy 

 prices as this meat brings. Like lobsters the 



