Habits of the Tortoise
I will first describe the habits of the tortoise (Testudo nigra,
formerly called Indica), which has been so frequently alluded to.
These animals are found, I believe, on all the islands of the
Archipelago; certainly on the greater number. They frequent in
preference the high damp parts, but they likewise live in the lower
and arid districts. I have already shown, from the numbers which
have been caught in a single day, how very numerous they must be.
Some grow to an immense size: Mr. Lawson, an Englishman, and
vice-governor 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 be distinguished from the
female by the greater length of its tail. The tortoises which live
on those islands where there is no water, or in the lower and arid
parts of the others, feed chiefly on the succulent cactus. Those
which frequent the higher and damp regions eat the leaves of
various trees, a kind of berry (called guayavita) which is acid and
austere, and likewise a pale green filamentous lichen (Usnera
plicata), that hangs from the boughs of the trees.