PORTER’S JOURNAL. 
227 
them apart at a short distance, i then changed entirely the ap¬ 
pearance of the Essex, and gave to the Greenwich the appearance 
of a sloop of war, hoping at some future period to derive some 
advantage over the enemy by the deceptions I should be enabled 
to practise by means of those changes. 
It became necessary to take all our powder on shore, for 
the purpose of sunning and sifting it; and I discovered, to my 
great regret, that nearly one-third of that contained in casks was 
da'iffaged and%>fit for use, in consequence of the water having 
entered the magazine, either during our passage around Cape 
Horn, or (which is more likely) while our rudder coat was in a 
damaged state, off the coast of Patagonia. We were, however, 
enabled to get a considerable quantity from the Serin gapatam, 
which (although it left that ship nearly destitute) in a great mea- 
sure supplied our deficiency. 
We here, after painting our ships, repairing our sails and boats, 
setting up our rigging, and doing various other jobs which could 
not be done conveniently at sea, began to lay in our stock of tortoises, 
the grand object for which every vessel anchors at the Gallapagos 
Islands. Four boats were dispatched every morning with this object, 
and returned at night, bringing with them from 20 to SO each, 
averaging about 60 pounds; and in four days we had as many as 
would weigh about 14 tons on board, which was as much as we 
could conveniently stow. They were piled up on the quarter¬ 
deck for a few days, with an awning spread over (to shield them 
from the sun, which renders them very restless), in order that they 
might have time to discharge the contents of their stomachs, which 
is considerable ; after which they were stowed away below, as you 
would stow any other provisions, and used as occasion required. 
No description of stock is so convenient for ships to take to sea 
with them as the tortoises of those islands ; they require no pro¬ 
visions or water for a year, nor is any further attention to them ne¬ 
cessary, than that their shells should be preserved unbroken. 
The shells of those of James’ Island are sometimes remarka¬ 
bly thin and easily broken, but more particularly so as they become 
advanced in age ; for then, whether owing to the injuries they re¬ 
ceive from their repeated falls in ascending and descending the 
