Page 102
An. 1684
Land-Tortoise, their Kinds.
subsist on them alone for several months, without a- ny other fort of Provision: They are extraordinary large and fat; and so sweet, that no Pullet eats more pleasantly. One of the largest of these Creatures will weigh 150 or 200 weight, and some of them are 2 foot, or 2 foot 6 inches over the Callapee or Belly. I did never fee any but at this place, that will weigh above 30 pound weight, I have heard that at the Isle of St. Lawrence or Madagascar, and at the English Forest, an Island near it, called also Don Mascarin, and now possessed by the French; there are very large ones, but whether fo big, fat, and sweet as these, I know not. There are 3 or 4 forts of these Creatures in the Weft Indies. One is called by the Spaniards, Hecatec; these live most in fresh Water- ponds, and seldom come on Land. They weigh about 10 or 15 pound; they have small Legs and flat Feet, and small long Necks. Another sort is called Tenapen, these are a great deal less than the Hecatee; the Shell on their Backs is all carved natu- rally, finely wrought, and well clouded: the Backs of these are rounder than those before mentioned; they are otherwise much of the fame form: these delight to live in wet swampy places, or on the Land near such places. Both these forts are very good Meat. They are in great plenty on the Isle of Pines near Cuba; there the Spanish Hunters when they meet them in the Woods bring them home to their Huts, and mark them by notching their Shells, then let them go; this they do to have them at hand, for they never ramble far from thence. When these Hunters return to Cuba, after about a Month or fix Weeks stay, they carry with them 3 or 400, or more, of these Creatures to fell; for they are very good Meat, and every man knows his own by their Marks. These Tortoise in the Gallapago's are more like the Hecatee, except that, as I said before, they are much bigger; and they have very long small Necks