Testudo nigra of Quoy and Gaimard. In these equinoctial islands it has been abundant from the time of Dampier, who observes, that five or six hundred men might subsist on them for several months without any other sort of provisions, adding, that they are so extraordinarily large and fat, and so sweet that no pullets eat more pleasantly.
The day on which Mr. Darwin visited the little craters in the Galapagos Archipelago was glowing hot, and the scrambling over the rough surface, and through the intricate thickets, was very fatiguing. "But," says Mr. Darwin, "I was well repaid by the Cyclopean scene. In my talk I met two large Tortoises, each of which must have weighed at least two hundred pounds. One was eating a piece of cactus, and when I approached it looked at me, and then quietly walked away; the other gave a deep hiss, and drew in his head. These huge reptiles, surrounded by the black lava, the leafless shrubs, and large cacti, appeared to my fancy like some antediluvian animals."
Mr. Darwin states his belief that these Tortoises are found in all the islands of the Archipelago; certainly in the greater number; and thus continues his description:—"They frequent, in preference, the high damp parts, but likewise inhabit the lower and arid districts. Some individuals grow to an immense size. Mr. Lawson, an Englishman, who had, at the time of our visit, charge of the colony, told us that he had seen several so large that it required six or eight men to lift them from the ground, and that some had afforded as much as two hundred pounds of meat. The old males are the largest, the females rarely growing to so great a size. The male can readily
