NATURAL HISTORV. 145 



quiet spot, and. we saw his skull lying among the 

 bushes. 



During the greater part of our stay of a week 

 the sky was cloudless, and if the trade- wind failed 

 for an hour the heat became very oppressive. On 

 two days the thermometer within the tent stood 

 for some hours at 93°, but in the open air, in the 

 wind and sun, at only 85°. The sand was extreme- 

 ly hot ; the thermometer, placed in some of a brown 

 colour, immediately rose to 137°, and how much 

 above that it would have risen I do not know, for 

 it was not graduated any higher. The black sand 

 felt much hotter, so that even in thick boots it was 

 quite disagreeable to walk over it. 



The natural history of these islands is eminently 

 curious, and well deserves attention. Most of the 

 organic productions are aboriginal creations, found, 

 nowhere else ; there is even a difference between 

 the inhabitants of the different islands ; yet all show 

 a marked relationship with those of America, though 

 separated from that continent by an open space of 

 ocean between 500 and 600 miles in width. The 

 archipelago is a little world within itself, or, rather, 

 a satellite attached to America, whence it has de- 

 rived a few stray colonists, and has received the 

 general character of its indigenous productions. 

 Considering the small size of these islands, we feel 

 the more astonished at the number of their abori- 

 ginal beings, and at their confined range. Seeing 

 every height crowned with its crater, and the bound- 

 aries of most of the lava-streams still distinct, we 

 are led to believe that within a period geologically 

 recent the unbroken ocean was here spread out. 

 Hence, both in space and time, we seem to be 

 brought somewhat near to that great fact — that 

 n._N 10 



