We Sent Them Three Large Wooden Saints To Adorn Their Church, Which They Took As A Great Present; And I Sent A Feathered Cap To The Wife Of The Chief Which Was Well Accepted.

We here sold some of our prize goods to good account, so that we had provisions very cheap.

We sailed from hence on the 1st September, intending for the Gallapagos, and on the 8th we made one of these islands.

Next day we came to anchor in about thirty fathoms; and in the evening our boats brought us off a lading of excellent turtle, having sent our yawl and several men ashore previously to turn over these creatures in the night; but to no purpose, as we afterwards found they only came ashore in the day. The island off which we lay was high, rocky, and barren, with some low land next the sea, but now water was to be found, like those we had seen formerly. On the 12th the Duchess, which lay at anchor a good distance from us, had got about 150 land and sea-tortoises, but not generally so large as ours; while we had 120 turtles, but no land-tortoises as yet. The Marquis had the worst luck. On the 13th, I sent our pinnace to the place where the Duchess got land-tortoises, which returned at night with thirty-seven, and some salt they had found in a pond; and our yawl brought us twenty sea-turtles, so that we were now well provided. Some of the largest land-tortoises weighed 100 pounds; and the largest sea-turtles were upwards of 400 pounds weight. The land-tortoises laid eggs on our deck; and our men brought many of them from the land, pure white, and as large as a goose's egg, with a strong thick shell, exactly round.

These are the ugliest creatures that can well be imagined, the back-shell being not unlike the top of an old hackney-coach, as black as jet, and covered with a rough shrivelled skin. The neck and legs are long, and as big as a man's wrist, and they have club-feet as large as a fist, shaped much like those of an elephant, having five knobs, or thick nails, on each fore-foot, and only four on the hind-feet. The head is small, with a visage like that of a snake; and when first surprised they shrink up their head, neck, and legs under their shell. Some of our men affirmed that they saw some of these about four feet high, and of vast size; and that two men mounted on the back of one of these, whom it easily carried at its usual slow pace, not appearing to regard their weight. They supposed this one could not weigh less than 700 pounds. The Spaniards say that there are no others in these seas, except at the Gallapagos, but they are common in Brazil.

The 15th, being under sail with a fine breeze, we agreed to lay to till midnight.

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