60 BULLETIN OF THE 
The velocity of the currents in the Panamic district is very great, 
sometimes as much as seventy-five miles a day, so that seeds, fruits, 
masses of vegetation harboring small reptiles, or even large ones, as 
well as other terrestrial animals, need not be afloat long before they 
might safely be landed on the shores of the Galapagos. Its flora, as 
is well known, is eminently American, while its fauna at every point 
discloses its affinity to the Mexican, Central or South American, and 
even West Indian types, from which it has probably originated ; the 
last indicating, as well as so many of the marine types collected during 
this expedition, the close connection that once existed between the 
Panamic region and the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico, — a connection 
once extending, probably, through deep and wide passages all the way 
from the northern extremity of Colombia, the Isthmus of Panama, Costa, 
Rica, and as far north as the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. 
Having followed in the footsteps of Dr. Wolf on Charles Island, I 
cannot do better than to refor to his accurate description of that isl- 
and, to which I shall add my own observations, as well as those on 
Chatham and on Duncan, which the “ Albatross” also visited. To 
attempt the ascent of any one of the islands directly from the beaches 
near the anchorages is a most difficult task. (See Plates XVIII., XIX., 
XX.) The lower slopes, although rising very gradually, yet are so 
covered with stunted vegetation, growing between the erowded angular 
blocks of lava (Plate XVI.), that progress is very slow. One has to pick 
one's way over the lower lava fields which extend unbroken to a height 
of nearly 800 or 900 feet from the level of the sea before they begin to 
show the effect of the disintegrating action of the moisture of the higher 
regions of the islands. The general aspect of this higher plateau, both 
on Charles and Chatham (Plate XVII.), is much varied, a large num- 
ber of small, isolated rounded peaks rising from the general level to a 
height of 200 to 400 feet, and culminating towards the central mass in 
the highest points of the islands. On the weather side the moist region 
reaches to & lower level than on the lee side, and on both Chatham and 
Charles this year quite heavy rains extended to the very level of the 
sea, a somewhat unusual state of things. I was informed by Mr. Cobos 
1 Although Darwin, in his account of the visit of the Beagle to Charles Island, 
in the last part of September, 1835, after commenting on the similarity, in all the 
islands, of the first part of the road leading from the sea inland, says: “ Higher up, 
the road gradually became greener, and immediately we had crossed the ridge of 
the island our bodies were cooled by the fine southerly trade wind, and our senses 
refreshed by the sight of a green and thriving vegetation.” 
