TESTUDO ABINGDONII, GALAPAGOS ISLANDS. 



CHAPTER XVII 



GALAPAGOS ARCHIPELAGO 



The M'hole group volcanic — Number of craters — Leafless bushes — Colony at Charles 

 Island — ^James Island — Salt-lake in crater — Natural history of the group — 

 Ornithology, curious finches — Reptiles — Great tortoises, habits of — Marine 

 lizard, feeds on seaweed — Terrestrial lizard, burrowing habits, herbivorous — 

 Importance of reptiles in the Archipelago — Fish, shells, insects — Botany — 

 American type of organisation — Differences in the species or races on different 

 islands — Tameness of tiie birds — Fear of man an acquired instinct. 



September i^tli. — This archipelago consi.sts of ten principal 

 islands, of which five exceed the others in size. They are 

 situated under the Equator, and between five and six hundred 

 miles westward of the coast of America. They are all formed 

 of volcanic rocks ; a ^qw fragments of granite curiously glazed 

 and altered by the heat can hardly be considered as an excep- 



