THE ALDABRA TORTOISE.—A PROTEST.
[To TEE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR.") SIB,—I have been reading with deep interest accounts of the fresh arrival at the Zoological Gardens in London,—the arrival of another unresisting martyr to science, the giant tortoise of Aldabra. I would like to raise my feeble protest about these great centenarians who from time to time are brought captive to our shores. Does it not seem cruel that at their immense age they should be dragged away and exiled from their own sun-steeped lands ? Their years will in all probability be greatly shortened by the change ; and even if not so, of what educational use or pleasure is their presence, one asks, to the vulgar crowd,—the crowds who frequent the Gardens ? So far as observation goes, these only stare at and insult the noble savages imported for their benefit. They are mostly impelled somehow to tease, to poke with sticks, or make faces at them. Not that the great tortoise would mind that sort of thing personally. But the depressing contrast of Aldabra (the very name has a sort of ring of Kubla Khan) and Regent's Park, with its fogs and rains and smoky sunshines The Zoo after "a cycle of Cathay " I Is there not something of pathos in the hopeless captivity to which this ancient of the Testndo race is condemned, this aristocrat of the Souther-la seas, dignified—as in our fancy he is—with the aristocracy of age ? He might well be supposed to have won by right of nigh two hundred years of residence there, leave to remain in peace and freedom in the place of his birth. There is no doubt but that the strange creature will receive all possible care and attention ; and, until familiarity has bred contempt, he will draw a concourse of visitors. Possibly it may not be for very long. The narrow range and dull surroundings, one thinks, must tell on the physical health, even under that long- seasoned shelL The great tortoise who preceded this one some years ago did not so long survive its reduced circumstances ! It was, I believe, sent over by Sir Arthur Gordon (now Lord Stanmore). I heard the story of how, after the utmost labour and diffi- culty, with ropes and pulleys, at last the huge animal was hauled out from its refuge in the swamp. It was a hard case, according to the views of those who are ardent, though not scientific, lovers of Nature. Would it not seem more fitting and more intensely interesting, could it suffice simply to have the knowledge that old gigantic tortoises exist still, living on and on through hundreds of years perhaps—away in those wonderful islands of the sun—than it is to be able just to hire a cab and drive off to inspect one of them at the Gardens ? A snap-shot brought home by some of those fortunate travellers who have crossed the seas would go far to satisfy all our curiosity. Such a picture might, indeed, present a truer idea, with the background of palm or rock and tropic vegetation, than any consignment in London of the oldest inhabitant
irom Aldabra or Mauritius.—I am, Sir, &c., E. V. B.
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