chap. v. Fissures of Eruption. 131 



orifices in this group cannot be considered as indis- 

 criminately scattered. Three great craters on Albemarle 

 Island form a well marked line, extending JSTW. by 1ST. 

 and SE. by S. Narborough Island, and the great crater 

 on the rectangular projection of Albemarle Island, 

 form a second parallel line. To the east, Hood's 

 Island, and the islands and rocks between it and James 

 Island, form another nearly parallel line, which, when 

 prolonged, includes Culpepper and Wenman Islands, 

 lying seventy miles to the north. The other islands 

 lying farther eastward, form a less regular fourth line. 

 Several of these islands, and the vents on Albemarle 

 Island, are so placed, that they likewise fall on a set 

 of rudely parallel lines, intersecting the former lines at 

 right angles ; so that the principal craters appear to 

 lie on the points where two sets of fissures cross each 

 other. The islands themselves, with the exception of 

 Albemarle Island, are not elongated in the same direc- 

 tion with the lines on which they stand. The direction 

 of these islands is nearly the same with that which 

 prevails in so remarkable a manner in the numerous 

 archipelagos of the great Pacific Ocean. Finally, I may 

 remark, that amongst the Galapagos Islands there is no 

 one dominant vent much higher than all the others, 

 as may be observed in many volcanic archipelagos : the 

 highest is the great mound on the south-western ex- 

 tremity of Albemarle Island, which exceeds by barely 

 a thousand feet several other neighbouring craters. 



