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As, lantern in hand, I scraped among the moss and beheld the ancient scars of bruises received in many a sullen fall among the marly mountains of the isle—scars strangely widened, swollen, half obliterate, and yet distorted like those sometimes found in the bark of very hoary trees, I seemed an antiquary of a geologist, studying the bird-tracks and ciphers upon the exhumed slates trod by incredible creatures whose very ghosts are now defunct.

Lines 47-51 (“As, lantern in hand...now defunct”) describe Melville’s examination of the tortoises’ shells, which illustrates his

(A) sense of superiority
(B) opinion about the Encantadas’ geology
(C) interest in the inhabitants of the Encantadas
(D) awareness that he should leave the tortoise alone
(E) knowledge about various branches of science