384 GALAPAGOS ARCHIPELAGO. [CHAP. XVII. 
tance of about eight miles in two or three days. One large 
tortoise, which I watched, walked at the rate of sixty yards in 
ten minutes, that is 8360 yards in the hour, or four miles a day,— 
allowing 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 hundred yards. The female 
never uses her voice, and the male only at these times; so that 
when the people héar this noise, they know that 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 indiscriminately in any hole: Mr. Bynoe found seven 
placed in a fissure. The egg is white and spherical; one which 
I measured was seven inches and three-eighths in circumference, 
and therefore larger than a hen’s egg. The young tortoises, as soon 
as they are hatched, fall a prey in great numbers to the carrion- 
feeding buzzard. The old ones seem generally to die from acci- 
denis, as from falling down precipices: at least, several of the 
inhabitants told me, that they had never found one dead without 
some evident cause. 
The inhabitants believe that these animals are absolutely deaf; 
certainly they do not overhear a person walking close behind 
them. I was always amused when overtaking one of these great 
monsters, as it was quietly pacing along, to see how suddenly, 
the instant I passed, it would draw in its head and legs, and 
uttering a deep hiss fall to the ground with a heavy sound, as if 
struck dead. I frequently got on their backs, and then giving 
a few raps on the hinder part of their shells, they would rise up 
and walk away ;—but I found it very difficult to keep my ba- 
lance. The flesh of this animal is largely employed, both fresh, 
and salted; and a beautifully clear oil is prepared from the fat. 
When a tortoise is caught, the man makes a slit in the skin near 
its tail, so as to see inside its body, whether the fat under the 
dorsal plate is thick. Ifit is not, the animal is liberated; and 
it is said to recover soon from this strange operation. In order 
to secure the tortoises, it is not sufficient to turn them like 
turtle, for they are often able to get on their legs again. 
There can be little doubt that this tortoise is an aboriginal 
