THE GALAPAGOS AECHIPELAGO. 



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failure. General Yillamil, originally of Louisiana, formed a settlement of from 

 800 to 400 colonists in Charles Island, which he re-named Floreana. But the 

 settlers soon found themselves without present resources or future prospects, and 

 took the first opportunity to return to the mainland. JSo better success attended 

 a second attempt made by Ecuador to utilise the same island as a penitentiary 

 station and convict settlement. The enterprise had to be abandoned, owing 

 partly to the expense of maintaining order amongst the convicts, partly to the 

 diflSculty of keeping up communications with the mainland. Hence Chatham 

 Island, which has the advantage of lying nearest to Ecuador, and which is owned 

 by a single proprietor, still remains the only member of the Galapagos Archipelago 

 that has yet received any permanent colonists. Most of them reside at the little 

 settlement of Wreck Bay [Puerto Chico), which, although swarming with sharks, 

 is accessible to small vessels during the greater part of the year. 



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