320 CALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES [Proc. 4th Ser. 



In January of the following year Colonel Hernandez, with 

 twelve colonists, was sent to take possession of Charles Island, 

 and settlers of both sexes followed in April and June. In 

 October, 1832, Vilamil himself, with eighty colonists, arrived 

 and "at once assumed his station as proprietor and governor 

 of the island." The colony grew until it numbered several 

 hundred persons, many of whom, it is said, had been banished 

 from the mainland. These people and the domestic animals 

 introduced, many of which multiplied and roamed at large, 

 reduced the number of tortoises upon Charles Island so rapidly 

 and to such an extent that within three years the people were 

 obliged to send hunting parties to other islands to procure a 

 supply for food. This colony later was removed to Chatham 

 Island, where there still is a considerable settlement. 



In 1833, Commodore John Downes visited Charles Island 

 in the U. S. Frigate "Potomac." He obtained tortoises there, 

 and carried some to Boston. 



In the year 1835 the Galapagos Islands, for the first time in 

 their history, were visited by a naturalist. In that year, 

 Charles Darwin, during the voyage of the "Beagle," spent the 

 weeks from September 15 to October 20 in this archipelago. 

 In his classical Journal he has given by far the best account of 

 the habits of the tortoises that has been written. 



"The 'Beagle' sailed around Chatham Island, and anchored 

 in several bays. One night I slept on shore on a part of the 

 island, where black truncated cones were extraordinarily numer- 

 ous : from one small eminence I counted sixty of them, all sur- 

 mounted by craters more or less perfect. The greater number 

 consisted merely of a ring of red scoriae or slags, cemented 

 together: and their height above the plain of lava was not 

 more than from fifty to a hundred feet: none had been very 

 lately active. The entire surface of this part of the island 

 seems to have been permeated, like a sieve, by the subter- 

 ranean vapors : here and there the lava, while soft, has been 

 blown into great bubbles; and in other parts, the tops of 

 caverns similarly formed have fallen in, leaving circular pits 

 with steep sides. From the regular form of the many craters, 

 they gave to the country an artificial appearance, which vividly 

 reminded me of those parts of Staffordshire where the great 

 iron foundries are most numerous. The day was glowing hot. 



