The end of the week brought us up to the Aldabra Islands, one of the puzzles of the world.  For here, in these tiny pieces of earth, surrounded by thousands of miles of sea, the nearest land a group of islets like unto them, is found the gigantic tortoise, and in only one other place in the wide world, the Galapagos group of islands in the South Pacific.  How, or by what strange freak of Dame Nature these curious reptiles, sole survivals of another age, should come to be found in this lonely spot, is a deep mystery, and one not likely to be unfolded now.  At any rate, there they are, looking as if some of them might be coeval with Noah, so venerable and storm-beaten do they appear.

We made the island early on a Sunday morning, and, with the usual celerity, worked the vessel into the fine harbour, called, from one of the exploring ships, Euphrates Bay or Harbour.  The anchor down, and everything made snug below and aloft, we were actually allowed a run ashore free from restraint.  I could hardly believe my ears.  We had got so accustomed to our slavery that liberty was become a mere name; we hardly knew what to do with it when we got it.  However, we soon got used (in a very limited sense) to being our own masters, and, each following the bent of his inclinations, set out for a ramble.  My companion and I had not gone far, when we thought we saw one of the boulders, with which the island was liberally besprinkled, on the move.  Running up to examine it with all the eagerness of children let out of school, we found it to be one of the inhabitants, a monstrous tortoise.  I had some big turtle around the cays of the Gulf of Mexico, but this creature dwarfed them all.  We had no means of actually measuring him, and had to keep clear of his formidable-looking jaws, but roughly, and within the mark, he was four feet long by two feet six inches wide.  Of course he was much more dome-shaped than the turtle are, and consequently looked a great deal bigger than a turtle of the same measurement would, besides being much thicker through.  As he was loth to stay with us, we made up our minds to go with him, for he was evidently making for some definite spot, by the tracks he was following, which showed plainly how many years that same road had been used.  Well, I mounted on his back, keeping well astern, out of the reach of that serious-looking head, which having rather a long neck, looked as if it might be able to reach round and take a piece out of a fellow without any trouble.  He was perfectly amicable, continuing his journey as if nothing had happened, and really getting over the ground at a good rate, considering the bulk and shape of him.  Except for the novelty of the thing, this sort of ride had nothing to recommend it; so I soon tired of it, and let him waddle along in peace.  By following the tracks aforesaid, we arrived at a fine stream of water sparkling out of a hillside, and running down a little ravine.  The sides of this gully