NO. 2 FRASER : SCIENTIFIC WORK, VELERO III, EASTERN PACIFIC 217 



The Galapagos Islands 



Plates 105-128 ; Charts 98-115 



Apart from Culpepper and Wenman islands, which are outliers to 

 the northwest, the Galapagos Islands form quite a compact archipelago, 

 600 miles from the coast of Ecuador, lying between 0° 40' North and 

 1° 30' South, and between 89° 15' West and 91° 45' West. Nearly all 

 the large islands have Spanish as well as English names; one of them has 

 two Spanish names and one English. 



The main islands are arranged in three crescents lying in the same 

 general direction. There is a northern crescent, with which Culpepper 

 and Wenman may be included, consisting of Abingdon (Pinta), Bindloe 

 (Marchena), and Tower; a central crescent, including the part of Albe- 

 marle (Isabela) north of Perry Isthmus, James (San Salvador), Inde- 

 fatigable (Santa Cruz), Barrington (Santa Fe), and Chatham (San 

 Cristobal) ; and a southern crescent, consisting of Narbo rough (Fenian- 

 dina), the southern portion of Albemarle, Charles (Floreana or Santa 

 Maria), and Hood (Espanola). The several small islands are usually 

 adjacent to the larger ones. 



All the islands are volcanic in origin, and some of them still show 

 signs of activity or have been active recently. All the larger islands have 

 the same general appearance. Each has one or more volcanic cones, the 

 highest of them up to 5,000 feet. The coastal areas and lower portions 

 of the slopes are dry and barren, the naked lava flows showing, or with 

 more or less complete covering of cactus and prickly or spiny shrubbery, 

 with leaves small or absent, practically devoid of green coloration. Far- 

 ther up the slopes there may be some moisture or even an occasional 

 spring, while the mountain tops themselves are often beclouded or be- 

 fogged, and so get a share of moisture. In these higher areas the vegeta- 

 tion gets a better chance, and sugar cane, vegetables, and certain fruits, 

 such as bananas and papayas, do veiy well. The soil formed from the 

 eroded lava is evidently fertile when water is available. 



Several of the islands have been inhabited at various times, and some 

 of them are inhabited at present. In ordinary years conditions for a com- 

 fortable life in certain locations are quite favorable, but in an unusually 

 dry year existence may become precarious. 



At various times horses, donkeys, cattle, and goats have been taken to 

 the islands, and there are still many of them which have gone wild. On 

 some of the islands the goats, in particular, seem to have thrived to the 

 detriment of other stock and indigenous animals that require the same 



