52 THE ARCTURUS ADVENTURE 



thing I was certain — all were tropical. None had 

 come from more temperate regions, borne along on 

 that Humboldt Current of which as yet we had 

 found no trace. I remembered the sentence I had 

 written in my Galapagos book, sponsoring the con- 

 tinental origin of that Archipelago: 



"As with my theory of tlie origin of flight through Te- 

 trapteryx and my classification of Phasianidae by tail 

 moult, so with all my points of view which in our present 

 state of knowledge must be wholly or in part theories, 

 I hold them in readiness to be relinquished at the first 

 hint of better proof on the opposite side," 



and wondered whether this Current Rip must be the 

 opening wedge to relinquishment. It was power- 

 ful evidence for the opposition — those who held 

 that the Galapagos had always been isolated 

 islands, planted and populated by the accidents 

 of drifting seeds and transported insects, birds and 

 reptiles. Here I was, just about half-way between 

 the outermost headland of Panama, and the out- 

 lying island of the Galapagos, and, passing slowly 

 but steadily to the southwest, was floating jet- 

 sam of a size sufficient to support any member of 

 the Galapagos fauna, jetsam laden also with seeds 

 and sprouted plants enough to suit an island- 

 favoring botanist. Within an hour, there passed 

 log after log, sticks and solid pieces of wood, be- 

 sides three bits of wreckage from ships. I noticed 

 a forty-foot Cecropia, six inches through, bamboos 

 up to five inches diameter, and soft, pine-like wood, 



