402 GALAPAGOS ARCHIPELAGO chap. 



in more detail the habits of both these reptiles. The whole 

 of this northern part of Albemarle Island is miserably sterile. 



October %th. — We arrived at James Island : this island, as 

 well as Charles Island, were long since thus named after our 

 kings of the Stuart line. Mr. Bynoe, myself, and our servants 

 were left here for a week, with provisions and a tent, whilst 

 the Beagle went for water. We found here a party of Spaniards, 

 who had been sent from Charles Island to dry fish and to salt 

 tortoise-meat. About six miles inland, and at the height of 

 nearly 2000 feet, a hovel had been built in which two men 

 lived, who were employed in catching tortoises, whilst the 

 others were fishing on the coast. I paid this party two visits, 

 and slept there one night. As in the other islands, the lower 

 region was covered by nearly leafless bushes, but the trees 

 were here of a larger growth than elsewhere, several being two 

 feet and some even two feet nine inches in diameter. The 

 upper region, being kept damp by the clouds, supports a green 

 and flouri-shing vegetation. So damp was the ground, that 

 there were large beds of a coarse cyperus, in which great 

 numbers of a very small water- rail lived and bred. While 

 staying in this upper region, we lived entirely upon tortoise- 

 meat : the breast-plate roasted (as the Gauchos do came con 

 cuero), with the flesh on it, is very good ; and the young 

 tortoises make excellent soup ; but otherwise the meat to my 

 taste is indifferent. 



One day we accompanied a party of the Spaniards in their 

 whale-boat to a salina, or lake from which salt is procured. 

 After landing, we had a very rough walk over a rugged field 

 of recent lava, which has almost surrounded a tuff-crater, at 

 the bottom of which the salt-lake lies. The water is only 

 three or four inches deep, and rests on a layer of beautifully 

 crystallised white salt. The lake is quite circular, and is 

 fringed with a border of bright green succulent plants ; the 

 almost precipitous walls of the crater are clothed with wood, 

 so that the scene was altogether both picturesque and curious. 

 A few years since, the sailors belonging to a sealing-vessel 

 murdered their captain in this quiet spot ; and we saw his 

 skull lying among the bushes. 



During the greater part of our stay of a week, the sky was 

 cloudless, and if the trade-wind failed for an hour, the heat 



