in the Pacific Ocean. 



47 



had been in at James' Island, and had supplied themselves 

 abundantly with those extraordinary animals the tortoises of the 

 Gallipagos, which properly deserve the name of the elephant 

 tortoise. 



Many of these tortoises were of a size to weigh upwards of 

 three hundred weight ; and nothing, perhaps, can be more dis- 

 agreeable or clumsy than they are in their external appearance. 

 ^1 heir motion resembles strongly that of the elephant ; their steps 

 slow, regular, and heavy ; they carry their body about a foot from 

 the ground, and their legs and feet bear no slight resemblance to 

 the animal to which I have likened them ; their neck is from 

 eighteen inches to two feet in length, and very slender ; their head 

 is proportioned to it, and strongly resembles that of a serpent. 

 But what seems the most extraordinary in this animal, is the 

 length of time that it can exist without food ; for I have been 

 well assured, that they have been piled away among casks in the 

 hold of a ship, where they have been kept eighteen months, and 

 when killed at the expiration of that time, were found to have 

 suffered no diminution in fatness or excellence. They carry 

 with them a constant supply of water, in a bag at the root of the 

 neck, which contains about two gallons : and on tasting that 

 found in those we killed on board, it proved perfectly fresh and 

 sweet. They are very restless when exposed to the light and 

 heat of the sun, but will lie in the dark from one year's end to 

 the other without moving. In the day-time they appear re- 

 markably quick-sighted and timid, drawing their head into their 

 shell on the slightest motion of any object ; but they are entirely 

 destitute of hearing, as the loudest noise, even the firing of a gun, 

 does not seem to alarm them in the slightest degree, and at night, 

 or in the dark they appear perfectly blind. 



On examining the Georgiana, I found her not only a 

 noble ship, but well calculated for a cruiser ; I therefore 



