^•3'^ 
AMERICAN AG^RICULTURIST. 
[November, 
THE GREAT LAND TORTOISE FROM THE ALDABRA ISLANDS. 
1. Expired. 
SQUARE -WORD. 
2. A pain. 3. To avoiil. 4. A pavilion. 
P. Ink and Cap 1 Tal. 
TRANSPOSITIONS. 
(Fill Ihe blaulis with the same words transposed.) 
1. Tlie horse in the waijon was very , and 
when hitched with his made a very good . 
2. The old some . 
3. He went to the in his bare . 
4. Do not so over that . 
5. friend how you that book? M. P. 
HIDDEN SOUTHERN CITIES. 
1. It is in general eight o'clock before I get home. O. 
In an instant, Ouisrum grasped him. 3. As tall,— ah ! a^ 
seen in his picture, is he? 4. A box of steel pens, a 
colander, and other things are in that bundle. .5. Oh I 
Jack, (so neighbor Field savs) your do;; i-; dead I (i. 
Hurra 1 " U. S. tin cup maker." Ha ! ha ! Geo. II. F. 
PI. 
Ew hears rou tamalu owes, 
Ron ttmilua nibneds rabe. 
Dan entof rof chea hoter fowls 
Eth aspmithginzy rate. Little One. 
DIAMOND PUZZLE. 
1. vowel. 2. A vessel. 3. A city. 4. A girl. T). Fig- 
ures. 6. Consumed. 7. A vowel. — The central letters, 
horizontal and perpendicular, form a city. Nip. 
ANSWERS TO PUZZLES IN THE SEPTEMBER NUMBER. 
■Numerical Enigmas.— 1. Charles Dickens. 2. "Where no 
oxen are, the crib is clean. 
CoNrEALEn Books of the Biblk.— 1. Kinz^. 3. ITospa. 
3. EsMi'M-. 4. Amos. 5. James. 6. Acts. 7. Luke. 8. 
Matthew. 9. Romans. 
Charad'es.— 1. Alired. 2. Novelties. 
Anagrams. —1. Subscribers. 2. MIsnndcrsrood. 3. Dis- 
tinsiii^li^hlp. 1. Foretaste, .'i. Ovormasterofl. G. Ilecnr- 
vence.*. 7. Intolerable. 8. Reverberations. P. Rbytlimicul. 
30. Sentimental. 
Plantings.— 1. Cabbage. 3. Sunflower. 3. Hollvborlc. 
4. Cowslip. .5. Pond Lily. C. China Aster. 7. Mornins- 
glory. 8. Tobacco. 
Transpositions. — L "Wolf, fowl, owl. ?. Monarch. 
ni;ircli-on. 
Puzzle.— B-O-L-T. 
Cnoss "WoRD.-Tho vowcls-fi, c, 1, o, .ind u. 
Double Acrostic.— A— lonz-o Alpha find Omega. 
L— DO — M 
P- Ol — R 
H— au —a 
A— s —A 
Pf.— People count np the faults of thoso ^lio keep them 
"waitiuj:. 
ilij^^^^^^ 
Send communications intended for Aunt Sue to Box 111, 
P. (?., Brooklyn^ N. 7., and not to 245 Broadway. ; 
Xlie Iti;%8:cst Laud Tortoise. 
Those who recollect the picture given in August last, 
called ''More Frightened than Hurt," will notice that 
we there called an animal a turtle which, though smaller, 
was nuich like the one we here call a tortoise, and will 
perhaps wonder why we use two different names for 
things so much alike. To save you the trouble of ask- 
ing, we will, before wc tlosoribe the big fellow in the 
engraving, explain how this happens. The animals were 
originally called tortoise?, probably from the Spanish 
word for them, tortngas; they arc first so named in a 
book printed iu 1555; about 50 j-ears later, a Captain 
Goswold made a visit to New England, and in the ac- 
count of the voyage, it is said that they caught "cr.ibs, 
lobsters, and turtles."" Iu 1G73 a writer on New England 
says that turtle and turklc were in common use for all 
kinds of tortoises. The name turtle properly belongs to 
a dove, and when we read in the Scriptures, ''The voice 
of the turtle is beard iu our land," it refers to the dove, 
and not to these hard-shelli!d reptiles. No one knows 
why these early sailors came to apply tbo name of the 
turtle, the bird that had long been regarded as the em- 
blem of affection, to such an entirely different creature as 
a tortoise, unless they did it as a sort of a joke; we 
sometimes sec a person name an especially ugly dog 
" Beauty," and boys are very apt to call a very large and 
overgrown schoolmate " Infant," and perhaps they 
thought it funny to call a great clumsy creature after 
something that was entirely its oppopite. However it 
may be, the name turtle is now in general use ; in Eng- 
land it is given to those tortoises only which live iu the 
sea, but in this country it is more iu use for both the 
laud and sea animals than tortoise. It would be much, 
better if we used turtle for the sea animals only, but it is 
not easy to make changes in a langnagc. So when we 
the other day called the little fellow a turtle, wc gave it 
the name by which most people call it. Now as to the 
tortoise in the picture; isn't it a monster? You can 
readily judge of its size by comparing it with the man. 
There may have been larger sea-lurtlcs, but this is the 
largest land-tortoise known. The engraving is from a 
portrait published iu the London Field, of this remark- 
able animal, which has at last found a home at the 
Zoological Gardens, London, England. These gardens 
you must know arc an immense menagerie, where there 
are largo grounds and buildings for tlie finest collection 
of .anima]'. in the world. This tortoise and its smaller 
mate came from the Aldabnv Islands, a email group 
about 180 miles north-west of Madagascar, where the 
animals were formerly very abundant, but are now 
scarce, many having been killed or carried off by whalers, 
who frequently laud there for wood. This particular one 
was taken from his native island over 70 years ago, and 
carried to the Seychelles, (see Atlas or CTazetteerV where 
he was owned for all this time by one family, and being 
the largest of its kind living, the people were very proud 
of him. He was kept with his mate iu an enclosure ; the 
female laid about 40 eggs twice a year, and the young 
hatched iu about 10 weeks. The "chicken-tortoises" 
were kept until abont four years old, and then used for 
food. It was with difficulty that the owner could be got 
to part with the pair. This animal, the male, measures 
over tbe curve of the shell, 5 feet 5 in. in length, and 
5 feet n in. wide; his head and neck are 1 ft. and 9 in. 
long; he weighs 870 pounds, and has not yet got his 
growth ! These tortoises live upon vegetables of all kinds, 
and cat grass freely ; the man in the picture is giving it a 
vegetable marrow, a kind of squash used in England, 
whore they can raise no better ones; an abundance of 
water must be provided for the animals to drink ; their 
native country is a very warm one, the thermometer 
never going below 70°, so these will have to bo carefully 
housed. As tough as they look, they are easily injured 
by cold ; it is said that 24 hours at a temperature as low 
as 50', will kill them. There was one of these turtles a 
few years ago at Central Park, and though not so large as 
this by a great deal, it would easily walk off with a man 
on its back ; it found one of our cold winters too mncU 
for it, and one spring it did not wake up from its winter'a 
sleep. It is eslimatcd that this one in the engraving 
would be able to carry a ton, if the shell were strong 
enough; be is a terribly strong fellow, and can break a 
2-inch bar of iron as if it were a reed, if he can only find 
a solid place against which to brace his feet. Ou ship- 
board the male and female were put in separate cages, 
bnt the old chap was inclined to be sociable, and tried to 
break ont, by raising himself upon his hind legs and 
pressing ao-ainst the roof of his cage; ho would have 
sncceeded, had not the L'ontloman having him in cliarge 
put a stop to his fan. How do you suppose it was done ?— 
very simply. He only greased the inside of the cage, 
which made it so slippery that the tfu-toise could not 
raise up on end any more. The animal is very tame, will 
food out of the hand, and likes much to have his head 
and neek rubbed, and stretches them out of the shell as 
far as possible, to be stroked. These tortoises are 
very quite and gentle, and, it is said, never bite. 
