January, they are infested with violent tempests of thunder and
lightning; but before and after these months have only refreshing
showers, and in their summer, which is in May, June, July, and August,
they are without any rains.

They anchored near several of these islands, and frequently found sea
tortoises basking in the sun at noon. On a former occasion, Captain
Davies came to anchor on the west side of these islands, where he and
his men subsisted on land-tortoises for three months, and saved from
them sixty jars of oil. He also found several good channels on that
side, with anchorage between the isles, and several rivulets of fresh
water, with plenty of trees for fuel. The sea also round these islands
is well stored with 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.