66 BULLETIN OF THE 
its surroundings, and abreast of it are bold lava cliffs, which extend to 
a short stretch of white sand beach at the bottom of the bay. The 
southern extremity is marked by a point having a double peak, from 
which extends a barren lava-colored belt, resembling that described on 
Albemarle Island. Small salt lagoons lie just back of the sand beach. 
The watering place mentioned is on a point nearly abreast of Albany 
Island, and during the latter part of the rainy season furnishes a 
good supply, but at other times the flow is either very small, or fails 
altogether. The supply is so limited and uncertain that the orchilla 
pickers who visit the island periodically do not depend upon it. The 
general aspect north and east of the bay was fresh and green, and a 
fringe of mangroves surrounding the lagoons gave that portion of the 
bay a particularly attractive appearance, while to the southward was 
a barren waste.” 
The landing at Duncan is in a boat cove, protected by a small 
island. The bottom is covered by coral sand, formed of fragments of 
Pocillopora. A number of seals evidently had chosen this spot as their 
favorite haunt, and on their way to a small plateau a little higher up, 
which they evidently frequented, had in some places worn the shore 
rocks perfectly smooth. There were perhaps twenty or thirty seals here, 
who must have found an abundant supply of fish, judging from the 
number we saw around the ship while she lay at anchor off the island. 
They must have been quite common on the Galapagos, and have been 
noted as occurring on Hood, Charles, Chatham, James, and Jarvis. Both 
albatross and penguin appear to have been known on the islands, the 
latter a species characteristic of the group.? 
The photograph of a part of the eastern slope of Duncan Island (Plate 
XXII.), opposite our anchorage, will give a better idea of the character 
of its shores and its vegetation than any more lengthy description I 
could give. Duncan Island rises quite abruptly on all sides from the 
sea, and with the exception of a small plateau on its southern extremity 
well towards the summit, and of a slight depression between the highest 
point and the northern end, presents a nearly regular conical outline as 
seen from the sea. 
Opposite our anchorage on Duncan Island we found a number of 
1 Tam informed by Captain C. A. M. Taber of New Bedford, who twice visited 
the Galapagos, the first time as early as 1843, that he discovered an albatross 
rookery on the weather side of Hood’s Island, and on his second visit he made a 
number of observations on the seal rookeries of various islands, which he mentioned 
in a late number of ‘ Science," May 27, 1891. 
