62 BULLETIN OF THE 
Mr. Cobos was almost impassable from the mud, and on our way up in 
the last of March, we could not fail to see the traces of the damage 
done to the road by the washing of the heavy rains which had fallen 
during February and March, and which were falling during a part of 
the days we spent on the island. The higher part of the island (Plate 
XVII.), where the plantations of Mr. Cobos are placed, are well watered 
by irrigation, and the supply, brought from about five miles, is ample 
for a large extent of territory. But although there is an abundance of 
water in the central parts of the islands, we saw nowhere, as on Cocos 
Island, such an abundance of water running into the sea. The contrast 
between Cocos and the Galapagos is most striking. Although not very 
distant, yet the former is in the rainy belt, and its luxuriant vegetation, 
extending from the summit close to the water’s edge (Plate XIII.), is 
in marked contrast to the distribution of vegetation on the Galapagos. 
Cocos Island is reeking with moisture, and its rocky faces, matted with 
ferns and covered with groves of palms towering above the other trees, 
seem to have nothing in common with the scanty vegetation character- 
istic of the lowest slopes of the Galapagos. 
made to the U.S. Fish Commissioner relating to his visit to the islands in the 
“‘ Albatross ” during the early part of 1888, while on the way from New York to 
San Francisco: ‘“ This [Wreck Bay] is the seaport of the Hacienda del Progreso, a 
plantation located on the highlands in the interior of the island, about five miles 
distant, and connected with the coast by a good wagon road. The bay is surrounded 
by low land covered with bushes and small trees, anda smooth steep sand beach 
affords convenient landing. The land begins to rise a few hundred yards from the 
beach, and the ascent is constant until the hacienda is reached, at an elevation of 
about 900 feet above the level of the sea. The low lands of Chatham, in common 
with those of all the islands of the archipelago, are entirely without living water, 
and in the dry season present a most barren and desolate appearance. All this is 
changed, however, during the rainy season, which usually begins about the 1st of 
April, and continues until the last of June. It began in February this year, and 
in consequence everything was fresh and green, the general aspect being decidedly 
tropical. In company with Sefior Cobos and son we rode over a portion of the 
estate, where we saw great fields of sugar-cane, sweet potatoes, and other tropical 
and semi-tropical products, growing side by side. A young coffee plantation gave 
promise of future profit, and oranges, lemons, and limes were growing in profusion. 
Large herds of cattle were seen feeding in excellent pastures, enclosed with iron 
fences, hedges, or the favorite broad deep ditch, the proprietor estimating the num- 
ber of cattle on the island at 20,000. Horses, mules, asses, sheep, and hogs were 
seen in large numbers, more than sufficient for all purposes of the plantation. 
Water was procured from a large spring and carried to the settlement by ditches, 
which could be seen winding around the hills. Chatham Island, and in fact all the 
islands of the archipelago, are of recent volcanic origin, the only arable land being 
in the elevated basins of the craters. Here, on the principal cone near the centre 
of the island, we found the Hacienda del Progreso.” 
