Vol. I] STEWART— BOTANY OF COCOS ISLAND 377 



the exception of these two places and Dampier Head, on the 

 southeast side of the island, the remainder of the shore is 

 made up of tall cliffs, some of which must be a thousand or 

 more feet in height, over the tops of which numerous waterfalls 

 come tumbling down into the sea. Ten of these waterfalls were 

 counted between Lionel Head and Berthaume Point, within a 

 distance of less than a mile, while circumnavigating the island 

 in a small boat. 



The settlement is located at Wafer Bay, where Captain 

 August Gissler resides with his wife and a number of laborers. 

 Several corrugated iron houses have been built there, and a 

 small tract of land has been put under cultivation, in which a 

 considerable number of domesticated plants and tropical fruits 

 are grown. For some years past Captain Gissler has been in 

 search of treasure which is supposed to have been buried on 

 this island during the early part of the last century. Some 

 portions of the treasure are reported to have been found. 

 Captain Gissler is the duly appointed governor of the island, 

 and is visited periodically by the Costa Rican gunboat to bring 

 supplies and mail; but as the island lies out of the general 

 track of both sailing vessels and steamers, it is seldom visited 

 by other vessels. At the time of our visit the gunboat had not 

 been out for some months, and in consequence some of the 

 supplies had begun to run low. 



The sides of the mountain rise abruptly to a cone, which 

 lies toward the west side of the island, about a mile and three- 

 quarters from the settlement at Wafer Bay. Alternating 

 ridges and deep canyons cover the mountain sides, rendering 

 traveling almost impossible except along the tops of the ridges 

 and along the beds of streams. According to Captain Gissler, 

 a single ridge can be followed from the base to the top of the 

 mountain, the ridges probably representing ancient lava-flows. 

 Unfortunately none of the members of the party visited the 

 top of the mountain, although an attempt was made to do so 

 by following up an old trail. The trail had been made several 

 years before, and as it had not been much used since, it had 

 become heavily overgrown with vegetation, and could not be 

 followed beyond 650 feet elevation. We could get very little 

 information about the interior of the island, especially about 

 the eastern part of it, which has never been visited so far as is 



