27 GALAPAGOS ARCHIPELAGO. [CHAP. xvii. 



very sterile, the upper parts, at a height of a thousand feet and upwards, 

 possess a damp climate and a tolerably luxuriant vegetation. This is 

 especially the case on the windward sides of the islands, which first 

 receive and condense the moisture from the atmosphere. 



In the morning (ijth) we landed on Chatham Island, which, like the 

 others, rises with a tame and rounded outline, broken here and there 

 by scattered hillocks, the remains of former craters. Nothing could be 

 less inviting than the first appearance. A broken field of black 

 basaltic lava, thrown into the most rugged waves, and crossed by great 

 fissures, is everywhere covered by stunted, sun-burnt brushwood, 

 which shows little signs of life. The dry and parched surface, being 

 heated by the noonday sun, gave to the air a close and sultry 

 feeling, like that from a stove : we fancied even that the bushes smelt 

 unpleasantly. Although I diligently tried to collect as many plants as 

 possible, 1 succeeded in getting very few ; and such wretched-looking 

 little weeds would have better become an arctic than an equatorial 

 Flora. The brushwood appears, from a short distance, as leafless as 

 our trees during winter ; and it was some time before I discovered that 

 not only almost every plant was now in full leaf, but that the greater 

 number were in flower. The commonest bush is one of the 

 Euphorbiaceae : an acacia and a great odd-looking cactus are the only 

 trees which afford any shape. After the season of heavy rains, the 

 islands are said to appear for a short time partially green. The 

 volcanic island of Fernando Noronha, placed in many respects under 

 nearly similar conditions, is the only other country where I have seen 

 a vegetation at all like this of the Galapagos islands. 



The Beagle sailed round Chatham Island, and anchored in several 

 bays. One night I slept on shore on a part of the island, where black 

 truncated cones were extraordinarily numerous: from one small 

 eminence I counted sixty of them, all surmounted by craters more or 

 less perfect. The greater number consisted merely of a ring of red 

 scoriae or slags, cemented together ; and their height above the plain 

 of lava was not more than from fifty to a hundred feet : none had been 

 very lately active. The entire surface of this part of the island seems 

 to have been permeated, like a sieve, by the subterranean vapours: 

 here and there the lava, whilst soft, has been blown into great bubbles ; 

 and in other parts, the tops of caverns similarly formed have fallen in, 

 leaving circular pits with steep sides. From the regular form of the 

 many craters, they gave to the country an artificial appearance, which 

 vividly reminded me of those parts of Staffordshire, where the great 

 iron-foundries are most numerous. The day was glowing hot, and the 

 scrambling over the rough surface and through the intricate thickets, 

 was very fatiguing ; but I was well repaid by the strange Cyclopean 

 scene. As I was walking along I met two large tortoises, each of 

 which must have weighed at least two hundred pounds : one was eating 

 a piece of cactus, and as I approached, it stared at me and slowly 

 stalked away ; the other gave a deep hiss, and drew in its head. These 

 huge reptiles, surrounded by the black lava, the leafless shrubs, and 

 large cacti, seemed to my fancy like some antediluvian animals. The 



