I have not as yet noticed by far the most remarkable feature in the
natural history of this archipelago; it is, that the different
islands to a considerable extent are inhabited by a different set
of beings. My attention was first called to this fact by the
Vice-Governor, Mr. Lawson, declaring that the tortoises differed
from the different islands, and that he could with certainty tell
from which island any one was brought. I did not for some time pay
sufficient attention to this statement, and I had already partially
mingled together the collections from two of the islands. I never
dreamed that islands, about 50 or 60 miles apart, and most of them
in sight of each other, formed of precisely the same rocks, placed
under a quite similar climate, rising to a nearly equal height,
would have been differently tenanted; but we shall soon see that
this is the case. It is the fate of most voyagers, no sooner to
discover what is most interesting in any locality, than they are
hurried from it; but I ought, perhaps, to be thankful that I
obtained sufficient materials to establish this most remarkable
fact in the distribution of organic beings.
The inhabitants, as I have said, state that they can distinguish
the tortoises from the different islands; and that they differ not
only in size, but in other characters.
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