A GEOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF THE JLAN FERNANDEZ ISLANDS 



169 



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W 



Fig. 87. Ruins of the old Spanish fort in Cumberland Bay. — Photo C. Skottsberg -'/^ 191 7. 



in full swing between the islands and Peru. Toward the middle of the i8th century 

 there cannot have been very much left on either island, or the sandal-wood should 

 not have escaped Anson and his men who spent months there and must have 

 known of the former trade. 



The hunt for sandal-wood ended in the extermination of this species and 

 had, I presume, serious effects on the forest in general, with the final result that 

 all the lower slopes became cleared of trees, leaving the field open for an in- 

 vasion of weeds; Ulloa for instance was struck by the abundance of Ai^eJia. 



Having suftered serious losses from the raids of the martial English navi- 

 gators the Spaniards took possession in 1750 and made up their tnind to trans- 

 form Masatierra into a stronghold. I shall not dwell upon the history, enough said 

 that in 1779 7 places were fortified. Part of the walls in Cumberland Bay are still 

 standing (fig. 87), and old guns lie about in other places (fig. 33). Nor have I any 

 good reason to retale the melancholy history of the time when Masatierra served 

 as a prison for banished patriots during the \-ears of resurrection and later. Its role 

 as a depository for undesirable citizens came to a definite close in 1855. Then 

 came the tenants. 



A source of destruction of the forest, not at all negligible, were the fre- 

 quent visits of American whalers during the 19th century who called to supply 

 themselves with water, wood and goats' meat. The large herds of goats had been 



II —537351 The Nat. Hist, of Jttan Fertiandez and Easter Isl. Vol. I. 



