%'OL. II, Pt. I] VAN DENBURGH— GALAPAGOS TORTOISES 219 



eral young tortoises among the chiefs, and permitted a great 

 many to escape into the bushes and among the grass." 



Captain Basil Hall found tortoises plentiful on Abingdon 

 Island in January, 1822. 



Captain Benjamin Morrell, in 1823 and again in 1825, 

 hunted fur-seals in the Galapagos Archipelago, taking some 

 five thousand skins in about two months. He states that tor- 

 toises "grow to even a greater size than that mentioned by 

 Commodore Porter, as I have seen some that would weigh from 

 six to eight hundred pounds. They are excellent food, and 

 have no doubt saved the lives of thousands of seamen employed 

 in the whale-fishing in those seas, both American and English- 

 men. I have known whale-ships to take from six to nine 

 hundred of the smallest size of these tortoises on board when 

 about leaving the islands for their cruising grounds ; thus pro- 

 viding themselves with provisions for six or eight months, and 

 securing the men against the scurvy. I have had these animals 

 on board my own vessels from five to six months without their 

 once taking food or water; and on killing them I have found 

 more than a quart of sweet fresh water in the receptacle which 

 nature has furnished them for that purpose, while their flesh 

 was in as good condition as when I first took them on board. 

 They have been known to live on board of some of our whale- 

 ships for fourteen months under similar circumstances, without 

 any apparent diminuation of health or weight." 



In February, 1825, Morrell observed a terrible eruption on 

 Narborough Island. One hundred and eighty-seven tortoises 

 were taken on Indefatigable between October 27 and Novem- 

 ber 10, 1825. 



During all this time the Galapagos Islands remained witii- 

 out permanent inhabitants, with the exception of an Irishman, 

 Patrick Watkins, who lived on Charles Island in 1809. It was 

 in 1832 that the first colony was established. This was due to 

 the exertions of J. Vilamil, who, although a native of Louis- 

 iana, had long been resident in Guayaquil, Ecuador. Political 

 difficulties delayed his enterprise some twenty years, but finally, 

 in 1831, the Government of Ecuador granted him a charter 

 conceding possession of the islands and authorizing the estab- 

 lishment of a colony. 



September 30, V.n4. 



