I opened the stomachs of several, and found them full of vegetable
fibres and leaves of different trees, especially of an acacia. In
the upper region they live chiefly on the acid and astringent
berries of the guayavita, under which trees I have seen these
lizards and the huge tortoises feeding together. To obtain the
acacia-leaves they crawl up the low stunted trees; and it is not
uncommon to see a pair quietly browsing, whilst seated on a branch
several feet above the ground. These lizards, when cooked, yield a
white meat, which is liked by those whose stomachs soar above all
prejudices. Humboldt has remarked that in intertropical South
America all lizards which inhabit dry regions are esteemed
delicacies for the table. The inhabitants state that those which
inhabit the upper damp parts drink water, but that the others do
not, like the tortoises, travel up for it from the lower sterile
country. At the time of our visit, the females had within their
bodies numerous, large, elongated eggs, which they lay in their
burrows: the inhabitants seek them for food.
These two species of Amblyrhynchus agree, as I have already stated,
in their general structure, and in many of their habits.
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