374 GALAPAGOS ARCHIPELAGO. [chap, xvn 



a stove : we fancied even that the bushes smelt unpleasantly. 

 Although I diligently tried to collect as many plants as possible, 

 I 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 leaf- 

 less 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 Euphorbiacese : an acacia and a great odd- 

 looking cactus are the only trees which afford any shade. 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 nume- 

 rous : from one small eminence I counted sixty of them, all sur- 

 mounted by craters more or less perfect. The greater number con- 

 sisted 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 per- 

 meated, 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 appear- 

 ance, 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, Mas 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 



