iiomeni 



I, 



[hey called it their Garden of Eden, but in it 

 they found only back-breaking drudgery, a continual battle for 

 survival, and finally bitterness, intrigue, misery, jealousy and death. 



With fond hopes of gaining lasting satisfaction and happiness 

 from the pursuit of philosophical and psychological studies amid 

 the bleak isolation of Charles (Floreana) Island in the Galapagos, 

 Dr. Karl Friedrich Ritter and his mate Frau Dore Strauch von 

 Koerwein set themselves upon the island shores in 1 929. There they 

 built their Hacienda Friedo — a combination of their names— and 

 lived until the latter part of 1934. Then violent death took Dr. 

 Ritter. Grief and bitterness possessed Dore. 



From Black Beach anchorage on the westerly side of Charles 

 Island a dusty, rough and winding trail leads upward along volcanic 

 mountain slopes to the Ritter place. It is a tortuous way, through 

 desert scrub, leafless bursera, and cacti with unbelievably long and 

 sharp spines. 



On the lower edge of a broad pampa, ever so much like the 

 African veldt, a little spring trickles from the hillside beneath a 

 wild tangled grove, and forms an oasis. It is a steep climb from the 

 beach to the Ritter plantings. Once there the traveler is most im- 

 pressed by the tremendous amount of labor that went into the 

 making of this garden spot. 



One finds more than fifty varieties of food-bearing trees, 

 shrubs, vines and plants which were tenderly nurtured by this 

 modern Robinson Crusoe and his mate. Most of them are tropical 

 or semi-tropical plants, and some are extremely rare. Friedo had no 

 lack of fresh fruits and vegetables throughout the year. And the 

 island is alive with wild cattle, wild pigs, donkeys, dogs and cats, 

 left there by early Spanish settlers. The animals have reverted to 

 wild types and through inbreeding have deteriorated in size. 



Ritter used native trees for timbering and salvaged corrugated 

 iron for roofing in roughly erecting a spacious lean-to shanty with 

 the open side facing the sea. Split bamboo was used largely for walls 

 and flooring. Chairs, tables and other furnishings were constructed 

 in rustic fashion from native woods. 



They tamed wild burros which carried heavy loads for them; 



raised chickens and turtles; fought rodents and wild birds; and 



2Q built fences to keep out wild pigs and cattle that foraged in their 



