74 BULLETIN: MUSEUM OF COMPARATIVE ZOOLOGY. 



they were erected. Near Rana Roroka, at Tongariki, is the largest plat- 

 form on the island, about 450 feet in length, to the rear of which are 

 fifteen huge images which have flillen from the pedestals upon which 

 they once stood. The plain in the rear of the platform is crowded 

 by stone houses, most of which are in ruins. 



On our return to our anchorage at Cook Bay, we examined the plat- 

 forms within easy reach of the settlement, and also the crater of Rana 

 Koa, on the north rim of which, at Orongo, are a number of the stone 

 houses built by the people who quarried the great stone images. At 

 Orongo are also found sculptured rocks, but neither the sculptures nor 

 the images show any artistic qualities, though the fitting of some of the 

 Cyclopean stones used in building the faces of the platforms indicate 

 excellent and careful workmanship. To Mr. C. Cooper, manager of the 

 Easter Island Company, we are indebted for assistance while visiting 

 the points of interest of the island. He was indefatigable in his exer- 

 tions in our behalf. 



We took a number of photographs during our stay, illustrating not 

 only the prehistoric remains, but giving also an idea of the desolate 

 aspect of Easter Island during the dry season. 



We arrived at Wreck Bay, Chatham Island, Galapagos, on the third of 

 January, where we found a schooner with a supply of coal. As soon as 

 the ship has been overhauled and coaled we shall start for Manga Reva, 

 where we ought to arrive the last days of January. We reached Chat- 

 ham Island towards the end of the dry season. Everything is dried up, 

 the vegetation seems dead with the exception of a few small wild cotton 

 plants, weeds, cactus, and an occasional Mimosa ; and the great barren 

 slopes present fully as uninviting an aspect as when Darwin described 

 them. When the "Albatross" visited the Galapagos in March, 1891, 

 everything was green, presenting a very marked contrast to its present 

 desolate appeai'auce. 



III. 



AcAPULco, Mexico, March 26, 1905. 



We left the Galapagos (Wreck Bay) for Manga Reva the 10th of 

 January. 



On the northern part of this line we did but little work beyond 

 sounding, as we were likely to duplicate our former work to the east- 

 ward. The fourth day out, in latitude 5° S., we began a series of 

 trawl hauls, surface and towing to 300 fathoms. In the northern part 



