400 GALAPAGOS ARCHIPELAGO chap. 



was not more than from fifty to a hundred feet : none had 

 been very lately active. The entire surfsice of this part of 

 the island seems to have been permeated, like a sieve, by the 

 subterranean vapours : here and there the lava, whilst 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, and the scrambling over the rough surface and through 

 the intricate thickets was very fatiguing ; but I was well 

 repaid by the strange Cyclopean scene. As I was walking 

 along I met two large tortoises, each of which must have 

 weighed at least two hundred pounds : one was eating a piece 

 of cactus, and as I approached, it stared at me and slowly 

 stalked away ; the other gave a deep hiss, and drew in its 

 head. These huge reptiles, surrounded by the black lava, the 

 leafless shrubs, and large cacti, seemed to my fancy like some 

 antediluvian animals. The few dull-coloured birds cared no 

 more for me than they did for the great tortoises. 



23^1^. — The Beagle proceeded to Charles Island. This 

 archipelago has long been frequented, first by the Bucaniers, 

 and latterly by whalers, but it is only within the last six years 

 that a small colony has been established here. The inhabitants 

 are between two and three hundred in number ; they are 

 nearly all people of colour, who have been banished for 

 political crimes from the Republic of the Equator, of which 

 Quito is the capital. The settlement is placed about four and 

 a half miles inland, and at a height probably of a thousand 

 feet. In the first part of the road we passed through leafless 

 thickets, as in Chatham Island. Higher up the woods gradually 

 became greener ; and as soon as we crossed the ridge of the 

 island, we were cooled by a fine southerly breeze, and our 

 sight refreshed by a green and thriving vegetation. In this 

 upper region coarse grasses and ferns abound ; but there are 

 no tree-ferns : I saw nowhere any member of the Palm family, 

 which is the more singular, as 360 miles northward, Cocos 

 Island takes its name from the number of cocoa-nuts. The 

 houses are irregularly scattered over a flat space of ground 



