THE PYXIS. 
8 
animal stays three or four days in the neighborhood of the water, and then returns to the 
lower country. 
“For some time after a visit to the springs the bladder is distended with fluid, which is 
said gradually to decrease in volume, and to become less pure. The inhabitants, when walk- 
ing in the lower districts, and overcome with thirst, often take advantage of this circumstance 
by killing a Tortoise, and, if the bladder is full, drinking the contents. In one I saw killed, 
the fluid was quite limpid, and had only a very slightly bitter taste. The inhabitants, how- 
ever, always drink first the water in the pericardium, which is described as being best.” 
The flesh of these Tortoises is very good, and is largely eaten, both fresh and salted. A 
clear oil is also obtained from the fat. Those who catch these Tortoises do not choose to go 
through the trouble of cutting up and dressing an animal that is not quite fat, and, as the 
fitness of its condition cannot be ascertained by the ordinary process, a summary method is 
employed, viz., cutting a slit through the softer skin near the tail, so as to show the fat under 
the carapace. Should the Tortoise be in poor condition, it is allowed to go free, and, with the 
imperturbable temperament of the reptile race, seems to care little for the wound. 
Dr. Livingstone mentions a species of Land Tortoise which is remarkable for its love 
of salt, and the extreme strength of the shell, which, as will be seen, baffles even the teeth 
of the hyena, which can crush an ox-bone with ease. 
“ Occasionally we lighted upon Land Tortoises, which, with their unlaid eggs, make a very 
agreeable dish. We saw many of their trails leading to the salt fountains ; they must have 
come great distances for this health-giving article. In lieu thereof, they often devour wood- 
ashes. The young are taken for the sake of their shells, which, when filled with sweet-smelling 
roots, the women hang around their persons. When taken it is used as food, and the shell 
converted into a rude basin to hold food or water. 
“ It owes its continuance neither to speed nor cunning. Its color, yellow and dark-brown, 
is well adapted, by its similiarity to the surrounding grass and brushwood, to render it undis- 
tinguishable ; and though it makes an awkward attempt to run on the approach of man, 
its trust is in its bony covering, from which even the teeth of a hyena glance off foiled. 
“When this long-lived creature is about to deposit her eggs, she lets herself into the 
ground by throwing the earth up around her shell until only the top is visible ; then, covering 
up the eggs, she leaves them until the rains begin to fall, and the fresh herbage appears ; the 
young ones then come out, their shells still quite soft, and unattended by their dam, begin the 
world for themselves. Their food is tender grass, and a plant named ‘ thotona,’ and they 
frequently resort to heaps of ashes, and places containing efflorescence of the nitrates for 
the salts these contain.” 
The curious Tortoise which is known only by the comparatively scientific name of Pyxis 
inhabits several parts of the world, and is not uncommon in some portions of India and 
Madagascar. 
In common with one or two other species, hereafter to be described, the Pyxis has the 
power of drawing its head, neck, and limbs within the shell and then shutting itself down by 
means of a lid, formed by the movable front of the sternum. In most of this tribe of reptiles, 
the sternum is hard and immovable, but in the Pyxis, it moves on a leathery kind of hinge, so 
as to open when the creature wishes to thrust out its head and limbs, and to close firmly when 
it withdraws within the shelter of its bony armor. 
In order to permit of this total withdrawal into the shell, the carapace is oval and more 
convex than is usually the case, so as to afford a sufficient space for the reception of the head 
and limbs. These, too, are rather diminutive in proportion to the size of the animal, and 
so formed as to be packed into a small compass. The Tortoise employs this curious mode 
of guarding its vulnerable points whenever it fears danger, and is then so securely locked up in 
its armor-plates that it is safe from almost every enemy except man. The word Pyxis is 
Greek, and is very appropriately given to this species, its signification being a box. 
The Pyxis is a pretty, but not a large species. The color is extremely variable, scarcely 
any two individuals being precisely alike, but the general colors are yellow and black. On the 
