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Show 456 GALAPAGOS ARCHIPELAGO. Sept. 1835. tree, herb, nor grass, but a few dildoe (cactus) trees~ except by the sea-side."* This description is at present applicable only to the western islands, where the volcanic forces are in frequent activity. . The day, on which I visited the little craters, was glowmg hot, and the scrambling over the rough surface, and through the intricate thickets, was very fatiguing ; but I was well repaid by the Cyclopian scene. In my walk I met two large tortoises, each of which must have weighed at least two hundred pounds. One was eating a piece of cactus, and when I approached, it looked at me, and then quietly walked away : the other gave a deep hiss and drew in its head. 'rhese huge reptiles, surrounded by the black lava, the leafless shrubs, and large cacti, appeared to my fancy like some antediluvian animals. SEP'.rEMBER 23n.-The Beagle proceeded to Charles Island. This archipelago has long been frequented, first by the Bucaniers, and latterly by whalers, but it is only within the last six years, that a small colony has been established on it. The inhabitants are between two and three hundred in number : they nearly all consist of people of colour, who have been banished for politica] crimes from the Republic of the Equator (Quito is the capital of this state) to which these islands belong. The settlement is placed about four and a half miles inland, and at an elevation probably of a thousand feet. In the first part of the road we passed through leafless thickets, as in Chatham Island. Higher up, the wood gradually became greener; and immediately we had crossed the ridge of the island, our bodies were cooled by the fine southerly trade-wind, and our senses refreshed by the sight of a green and thriving vegetation. The houses are irregularly scattered over a flat space of ground, which is cultivated with sweet potatoes and bananas. It will not easily be imagined how pleasant the • Dampiet)s Voyage, vol. i,, p. 101. Sept. 1835. GALAPAGOS ARCHIPELAGO. 457 sight of black mud was to us, after having been so long accustomed to the parched soil of Peru and Chile. The inhabitants, although complaining of poverty, gain, without much trouble, the means of subsistence from the fertile soil. In the woods there are many wild pigs and goats, but the main article of animal food is derived from the tortoise. Their numbers in this island have of course been greatly reduced, but the people yet reckon on two days' hunting supplying food for the rest of the week. It is said that formerly single vessels have taken away as many as seven hundred of these animals, and that the ship's company of a frigate some years since brought down two hundred to the beach in one day. We staid at this island four days, during which time I collected many plants and birds. One morning I ascended the highest hill, which has an altitude of nearly 1800 feet. The summit consists of a broken-down crater, thickly clothed with coarse grass and brushwood. Even in this one island, I counted thirty-nine hills, each of which was terminated by a more or less perfect circular depression. SEPTEMBER 29TH.-We doubled the south-west extremity of Albermarle Island, and the next day were nearly becalmed between it and N arborough Island. Both are covered with immense streams of black naked lava; which, having either flowed over the rims of the great caldrons, or having burst forth from the smaller orifices on the flanks, have in their descent spread over miles of the sea-coast. On both of these islands eruptions are known occasionally to take place; and in Albermarle we saw a small jet of: smoke curling from the summit of one of the more lofty craters. In the evening we anchored in Bank's Cove, ~n Albermarle Island. When morning came, we found that the harbour in which we were at anchor was formed by a broken-down crater, composed of volcanic sandstone. After breakfast I went out walking. To the southward of this first crater, there was another of similar composition, and beautifully |