2-888-119 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Gigantic Land Tortoise - a Present for Her Majesty, 1850. Tortoise '...just brought to England by Captain Brown, in her Majesty's ship Geyser...a present to her Majesty the Queen [Victoria], from Dr. Shea, Surgeon of the Royal Naval Hospital, at the Cape of Good Hope. It is said to be a native of the Gallipagos [sic] Islands, and was brought to the Cape...a few years since, in a whaler...Its length is exactly seven feet...its height, when walking, is three feet...the strength of the animal is in proportion to their size; for, torpid and lazy as it may appear, it will carry three or four men, standing upon its back, with apparent ease...It weighs about five hundred pounds, and its age is supposed to be not less than one hundred and eighty years...Its food is entirely vegetable, being fond of grass, green succulent plants, potatoes, and pumpkin'. From "Illustrated London News", 1850.