th good fish of a large size, and abounds in sharks.
These islands are better stored with guanoes and land-tortoises than any
other part of the world. The guanoes are very tame, of extraordinary
size, and very fat. The land-tortoises are likewise very fat, and so
numerous that several hundred men might subsist upon them for a
considerable time. They are as pleasant food as a pullet, and so large
that some of them weighed 150 and even 200 pounds, being two feet to two
feet and a half across the belly; whereas in other places they are
seldom met with above 30 pounds weight. There are several kinds of
land-tortoises in the West Indies, one of which, called _Hackatee_ by
the Spaniards, keeps mostly in fresh-water ponds, having long necks,
small legs, and flat feet, and is usually between ten and fifteen pounds
weight. A second, and much smaller kind, which they call _Tenopen_,[153]
is somewhat rounder, but not unlike in other respects, except that their
back shells are naturally covered with curious carved work. The
tortoises in the Gallapagos isles resembles the _Hackatee_, having long
necks and small heads, but are much larger.

[Footnote 153: This word in the text is probably a misprint for
_Terrapin_, a trivial name for a species of land or fresh-water
tortoise, found also in the warmer parts of North America--E.]

In these islands there are also some green snakes, and great numbers of
remarkably tame turtle-doves, very fat, and excellent eating. There are
large channels between some of these islands, capable of receiving ships
of moderate burden. On the shoals there grows great abundance of
sea-weed, called _turtle-grass_, owing to which these channels abound in
_green turtles_ or sea-tortoises. There are several kinds of turtles or
sea-tortoises, as the _Trunk, Loggerhead, Hawksbill_, and _Green_
turtles. The first is larger than the rest, and has a rounder and higher
back shell, but is neither so wholesome nor so well tasted; and the same
may be said of the Loggerhead, which feeds on moss from the rocks, and
has its name from its large head. The Hawksbill, so named from having a
long small mouth, like the beak of a hawk, is the smallest species, and
is that which produces the so-much-admired tortoise-shell, of which
cabinets, boxes, combs, and other things are made in Europe, and of this
shell each has from three to four pounds, though some have less. The
flesh of this kind is but indifferent, yet better than that of