During the breeding season, when the male and
female are together, the male utters a hoarse roar or bellowing,
which, it is said, can be heard at the distance of more than a
hundred yards. The female never uses her voice, and the male only
at these times; so that when the people hear this noise, they know
that the two are together. They were at this time (October) laying
their eggs. The female, where the soil is sandy, deposits them
together, and covers them up with sand; but where the ground is
rocky she drops them indiscriminately in any hole: Mr. Bynoe found
seven placed in a fissure. The egg is white and spherical; one
which I measured was seven inches and three-eighths in
circumference, and therefore larger than a hen's egg. The young
tortoises, as soon as they are hatched, fall a prey in great
numbers to the carrion-feeding buzzard. The old ones seem generally
to die from accidents, as from falling down precipices: at least,
several of the inhabitants told me that they never found one dead
without some evident cause.
The inhabitants believe that these animals are absolutely deaf;
certainly they do not overhear a person walking close behind them.
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