THE FIRST ALBATROSS EXPEDITION 257 



Government had some views on the islands connected 

 with the Canal at Panama or Nicaragua ! We paid him 

 (Cobos) a visit to his hacienda about six miles from 

 where we were at anchor. He promised to send mules 

 to meet the crowd, but, true Sj^anish fashion, after we 

 waited for two hours, we decided to start to walk. It 

 had got pretty hot by that time, and the road was nearly 

 impassable from the rain. It is the hot rainy season 

 here now, so you can easily imagine the spectacle pre- 

 sented by the officers after an hour of walking up to our 

 knees in mud in a broiling sun. But at last we met the 

 mules and cooled down toward the last part of the trip. 

 We took lunch in the most primitive manner. Every- 

 thing very good, but no comforts of any kind, and dirty 

 beyond description. We sauntered round the village of 

 workmen, a most interesting sight in the way of social 

 economy, and took some fresh mules to ride over the 

 greater part of the island. It is really quite pretty when 

 you get up well along the mountain-side, about two 

 thousand feet, and pass above the tangle of cactus and 

 mimosa, which makes the lower slope of the island nearly 

 impassable. 



The doctor of the ship was most busy during our 

 stay. He had all the ills of the population to attend to, 

 for there is no physician settled on the plantation ! The 

 men shot a good lot of birds, and Mr. Townsend has 

 been a most hard-worked man skinning the plunder. I 

 spent my time on shore collecting rocks, botanizing, 

 and catching insects, and it seemed quite natural to be 

 going round again with a butterfly net. After endless 

 delays we succeeded at last in getting our provisions on 

 board and sailed for Charles Island. That has an old 

 abandoned plantation, the first of the islands where the 



