Sept. 1835. GxVLAPAGOS ARCHIPELAGO. 457 



sight of black mud was to us, after having been so long accus- 

 tomed to the parched soil of Peru and Chile. 



The inhabitants, although complaining of poverty, gain, 

 without much trouble, the means of subsistence from the 

 fertile soil. In the woods there are many wild pigs and 

 goats, but the main article of animal food is derived from the 

 tortoise. Their immbers in this island have of course been 

 greatly reduced, but the people yet reckon on two days^ hunt- 

 ing supplying food for the rest of the week. It is said that 

 formerly single vessels have taken away as many as seven 

 hundred of these animals, and that the ship's company of 

 a frigate some years since brought down two hundred to 

 the beach in one day. 



We staid at this island four days, during which time I col- 

 lected many plants and birds. One morning I ascended the 

 highest hill, which has an altitude of nearly 1800 feet. The 

 summit consists of a broken-down crater, thickly clothed 

 with coarse grass and brushwood. Even in this one island, 

 I counted thirty-nine hills, each of which was terminated by 

 a more or less perfect circular depression. 



September 29th. — We doubled the south-west extre- 

 mity of Albermarle Island, and the next day were nearly be- 

 calmed between it and Narborough Island. Both are covered 

 with immense streams of black naked lava ; which, having 

 either flowed over the rims of the great caldrons, or having 

 burst forth from the smaller orifices on the flanks, have in 

 their descent spread over miles of the sea-coast. On both 

 of these islands eruptions are known occasionally to take 

 place ; and in Albermarle we saw a small jet of^smoke curling 

 from the summit of one of the more lofty craters. In 

 the evening we anchored in Bank's Cove, in Albermarle 

 Island. 



When morning came, we found that the harbour in 

 which we were at anchor was formed by a broken-down 

 crater, composed of volcanic sandstone. After breakfast I 

 went out walking. To the southward of this first crater, 

 there was another of similar composition, and beautifully 



