Au^. 29, 1872] 



NATURE 



353 



spreading out to miles in breadth and miles in length, 

 and this lava is so fresh and black that as you walk over 

 it you scarce find even a lichen adhering to it ; it is a 

 rjugh field of hard black slags or clinkers. This crust of 

 cooled lava is cracked into rude hexagonal blocks of from 

 six inches to several feet in diameter, and between the 

 blocks you may find cracks so fine that the rain will 

 scarcely penetrate them, or you may find chasms a yard 

 in width and many feet in depth. The thickness of this 

 ciTist also greatly varies. Here may be a swelling in the 

 ground, a little hillock bursting at the summit, and show- 

 ing a lava-crust of unknown thickness, and a few yards 

 off a similar hillock, or a black ridge, may show through 

 its openings that it is a mere shell, from which the fluid, 

 molten contents were drained ; while the crust was barely 

 thick enough to sustain itself. The general level of the 

 field is thus diversified by innumerable pits, caves, small 

 cones, and craters, which, especially in such hard, rough 

 material, make it a very " hard road to travel." The re- 

 maining surface of the mountain is similar, but composed 

 of older lava, in the cracks of which a k\v scattered trees 

 and bushes find a foothold, and give a meagre clothing to 

 the land. Occasionally a patch of volcanic sand, or sand- 

 stone, gives the vegetation a better chance. The more 

 eastern islands of the group are simply like these better 

 parts of the western. There were many indications that 

 our visit was in a time of drouth — for example, an abun- 

 dant growth of a delicate fern, Adiantiiin, on James 

 Island, was withered to the roots. This drouth may have 

 been one reason why the whole archipelago, with the ex- 

 ception of James, and small patches on Jervis and Inde- 

 fatigable, had a blasted look. The trees and shrubs were 

 nearly all leafless, and the bark of the two most abundant 

 species was light gray, almost white. Two kinds of 

 prickly pear — Opuntia and a cactus more like a Circus — 

 made a striking contrast to this white shrubber)', lifting 

 their solid dark green masses high above the bushes and 

 dwarf trees, particularly on Indefatigable, where all three 

 kinds abounded. I saw in the short rambles which I had 

 to take only one really fine kind of tree ; it was a straight 

 trunk, very smooth, glossy bark, vigorous branches, and 

 grew on James Island. It was entirely leafless ; but the 

 dead leaves and fruit pods under it showed that it be- 

 longed to the great family in which our locusts and coffee 

 bean are placed ; it had large trifoliate leaves, and a 

 bright scarlet bean. Another tree of the same family had 

 a very singular appearance ; the plant itself looked like a 

 dwarf walnut or butternut ; the pod was very thin and 

 narrow, but carried four thin wings half an inch wide, thin 

 as paper, standing at right angles, and extending the 

 whole length of the pod. 



" The geologists were quite successful in getting speci- 

 mens of various animals. Over fifty different kind of fishes 

 were obtained, and of these over three-fourths are peculiar 

 totheGalapagos. Of theGalapagos, from which the islands 

 are named, and in which they once so richly abounded, 

 we only got a few specimens, and those very small com- 

 pared with those of olden time. They have been so 

 eagerly hunted for their flesh that they have been driven 

 from the more accessible places, and stand a good chance 

 of being altogether exterminated. Their brethren in the 

 sea, the tortuga or sea-turtle, we saw in abundance, and 

 got some very fine specimens. There are, as is tolerably 

 well known, two other reptiles for which this archipelago 

 is famous — two lizards of a genus not found elsewhere, 

 and very peculiar in their habits. The Spaniards called 

 them iguanas, from their resemblance to that reptile in 

 the West Indies and Central America. But they differ 

 so much from their American cousin that they ought to 

 have a name of their own ; and if the scientific Avibly- 

 rhynciis looks too formidable, let us translate it and call 

 the creature a Bluntnose. On Charles Island we found 

 abundance of the crested Bluntnose climbing with great 

 agility over the rocks near Black Beach. The creature 



is about 30 in. long, nearly black, the old males having 

 a deep red hue on the sides. It swims with great case 

 by its flat tail, and uses its long fingers and long nails for 

 scrambling on the rocks, holding them while swimming 

 close to the body. There is not a trace of web-footedness 

 about them, and they make no use of the feet in swim- 

 ming. They live on sea-weeds from the rocks in deep 

 water, and their expression is mild and herbivorous, with 

 a little clear, innocent eye. I was prepared for something 

 hideous, and was agreeably disappointed. In another 

 respect our experience differed from Darwin's, for we 

 sometimes had no difficulty in frightening them into the 

 water, and they came fearlessly swimming about the 

 Hassh-r as she lay in Tagus Cove. These crested Blunt- 

 noses we found upon all the islands. The slightly crested 

 Bluntnose we found only on Albemarle and Indefatigable. 

 Its scientific name might mislead one, for its head is just 

 as much crested as its aquatic brother's. The only diffe- 

 rences between them apparent at first sight are these : — 

 The terrestrial animal is somewhat stouter, his nose is 

 longer, his eye brighter, his tail less flattened and less 

 crested, and his colour is a dusky orange, deepening into 

 brown on the hindquarters. His habits of life are very 

 different, as he does not go near the sea, but lives upon 

 land plants, and makes a burrow for himself in the sand 

 and among the fragments of lava. He spreads his hind 

 legs flat on the ground, raises his chest to the height of 

 his fore legs, and then nods and winks at you in a very 

 odd way. It looked to me very much like swallowing, 

 and I thought it possible that the creature, with his head 

 in that position, swallowed air like a toad, as a means 

 of breathing — swallowing into the lungs, not into the 

 stomach. 



" One of our most interesting adventures was landing in 

 a little bay full of seals, so tame, or rather so little afraid of 

 men, that we could tramp past groups of sleepers on the 

 beach without awakening half of them, and without appa- 

 rently frightening half of those that we did awake. They 

 seemed to be fond of crawling under bushes just above 

 high-water mark, and sleeping, two or three in a place, 

 huddled close together. Under one bush lay a mother and 

 her two cubs, so fearless that one of our officers held a 

 piece of cracker to the old one, and she smelled it in his 

 fingers as fearlessly as if she had been a pet dog. The 

 cubs ([uarrelled with each other as to which should cuddle 

 nearest the mother, and they all three snarled and snapped 

 at the flies in the manner of a sleepy dog, and all this while 

 a party of ladies and gentlemen, creatures as large as the 

 seals, and which the seals could scarce have seen before, 

 stood looking on within touching distance. These seals 

 had much more length of arm, and used their arms more 

 in the manner of a quadruped than 1 had supposed any 

 seal could do. I saw them walk on the beach with the 

 whole chest clear of the ground, and even jump upon the 

 sand. Their favourite gymnastic exercise, however, was 

 to lie upon their backs and roll in the manner of a horse. 

 The tameness of these seals and of many of the land 

 birds was very surprising ; the Bluntnoscs were more shy 

 than we had expected. I repeatedly put my fingers with- 

 in half an inch of little yellowbirds and phebes, and with- 

 in six inches of mockmg-birds. On James Island the 

 birds were so numerous and so tame that while I was try- 

 ing the experiment whether whistling to a yellowbird would 

 divert his attention so much as to make him allow me to 

 touch him, six other birds — including two mocking-birds 

 — came up and alighted on twigs within two yards of the 

 yellowbird, to see what was going on between us. As for 

 the flies, their tameness and pertmacity of adhesion at the 

 tialapagos goes far beyond all travellers' accounts. I 

 knew a good housekeeper in New England who affirmed 

 that house-flies could not be driven out of a room un- 

 less you struck and killed one or two, in order to show 

 the others that you were in earnest. You cannot 

 drive the Galapagos flies from you even with that 



