"The tortoise is very fond of water, drinking large quantities, and wallowing in the mud. The larger islands alone possess springs, and these are always situated towards the central parts, and at a consi derable elevation. The tortoises, therefore, which frequent the lower districts, when thirsty are obliged to travel from a long distance. Hence, broad and well-beaten paths radiate off in every direction from the wells even down to the sea-coaat ; and the Spaniards, by following them up, first discovered the watering-places. When I landed at Chatham Island, I could not imagine what animal travelled so methodically along the well-chosen tracks. Near the springs it was a curious spectacle to behold many of these great monsters ; one set eagerly travelling onwards with outstretched necks, and another set returning, after having drunk their fill. When the tortoise arrives at the spring, quite regardless of any spectator, it buries its head in the water above its eyes, and greedily swallows great mouthfuls, at the rate of about ten in a minute. The inhabitants say that each animal stays three or four days in the neighbourhood of the water, and then returns' to the lower country ; but they differed in their accounts respecting the frequency of these visits. The animal probably rept latea them according to the nature of the food which it has consumed. It is however certain that tortoises can subsist even on those islands where there is no other water than what falls during a few rainy days in the year.
" I believe it is well ascertained that the bladder of the frog acts as a reservoir for the moisture necessary to its existence such seems to be the case with the tortoise. For some time after a visit to the springs, the urinary bladder of these animals is distended with fluid, which is said gradually to decrease in volume and to become less pure. The inhabitant!, when walking in the lower district, and overcome with thirst, often take advantage of this circumstance, by killing a tortoise, and if the bladder is full, drinking its contents. In one I saw killed, the fluid was quite limpid, and had only a very slightly bitter taste. The inhabitants however always drink first the water in the pericardium, which in described as being best. The tortoises, when moving towards any definite point, travel by night and by day, and arrive at their journey's end much sooner than would be expected. The inhabitants, from observations on marked individuals, consider that they can move a distance of about eight miles in two or three days. One large tortoise which I watched, I found walked at the rate of 60 yards in 10minutes, that is, 360 yards in the hour, or four miles a day—allowing also 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, it is said, can be heard at the distance of more than 100 yards. The female never uses her voice, and the male only at such times; so that when the people hear this noise, they know 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 hollow. Mr. Bynoe found seven placed in a line in a fissure. The egg is white and spherical ; one which I measured was 7g inches in circumference. The young animals, as soon as they are batched, fall a prey in great numbers to the buzzard with the habits of the care cam. The old ones seem generally to die from accidents, as from falling down precipices. At least several of the inhabitants told me they had never found one dead without some such apparent cause.
The inhabitants believe that these animals are absolutely deaf; certainly they do not overbear 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, upon giving a few raps on the hinder part of the shell, they would rise up and walk away ; but I found it very difficult to keep my balance. 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. If it 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 regain their upright position.
" It was confidently asserted that the tortoises coming from different islands in the Archipelago were slightly different in form ; and that in certain islands they attained a larger average size than in others. Mr. Lawson maintained that he could at once tell from which island any one was brought. Unfortunately, the specimens which came home in the 'Beagle' were too small to institute any certain comparison. This tortoise, which goes by the name of Testudo Indica, is at present fonnd in many parts of the world. It is the opinion of Mr. Bell, and some others who have studied reptiles, that it is not improbable that they all originally came from this Archi pelago. When it is known bow long these islands have been frequented by the buecaniers, and that they constantly took away numbers of these animals alive, it seems very probable that they should have distributed them in different parts of the world. If this tortoise does not originally come from these islands, it is a remarkable anomaly; inasmuch as nearly all the other land inhabitants seem to have their birthplace here." In his travels in Lycia, Professor E. Forbes gives the following account of the Tortoise :—" Among Lycian reptiles," he says, " the Tortoise (Teatudo Greeca and marginata) is the most conspicuous and abundant. The number of these animals straying about the plains and browsing on. the fresh herbage in spring, astonishes the traveller. In April they commence love-making. Before we were aware of the cause, we were often surprised, when wandering among ruins and waste places, at hearing a noise as if some invisible geologist was busily occupied close by trimming his specimens. A search in the direction of the noise discovered the hammer in the shape of a gentleman tortoise, who, notbeing gifted with vocal powers, endeavoured to express the warmth of his affection to his lady-love by rattling his shell against her side. The ardour of the tortoise is celebrated by /Ellen. In ditches and stagnant waters the Fresh-Water Tortoise (Emys Caspica) is equally plentiful. In fine weather long rows of them may be seen sunning themselves on the banks ; Whence, on being alarmed, they would waddle and plunge with great rapidity into the water, apparently always following a leader, who made the first plunge from one end of the row." The Tortoise lives to a great age. White relates that one was kept in a village till it was supposed to bo 100 years old, and it is conjectured that the patriarchs of the Galapagos Islands exceed that age.