1871.] 293 [Grayson. 



on the Tres Marias Islands. About one o'clock in the night I was 

 awakened by my dog growling and showing signs of uneasiness, 

 when I heard some large animal walking around among the leaves 

 and brush. I remained quiet, endeavoring to make out what it could 

 be ; it made a circle around our camp as if to get the wind of us. I 

 at length heard it blow, which I recognized at once to be that pecu- 

 liar snuff generally made by the hog family on certain occasions of 

 alarm. I was soon satisfied of, as well as gratified by, this fact, for on 

 calling to her familiarly, she came fearlessly into camp, and to my 

 joy proved to be the same black sow that I had left here only a pig 

 two years ago, and equally as tame now as then. ' She seemed to be 

 glad to see us, welcoming, as it were, the return once more of hu- 

 man beings to her lonely home. She had grown to be a large hog, 

 very fat, and far advanced in pregnancy. She remained with us con- 

 stantly during our stay and gave a domestic appearance to our camp. 

 We left her there when we came off, where she may continue to in- 

 crease the breed, for the benefit of some future castaways. We 

 never could find the others, though we saw their numerous tracks. 

 Day after day some of us were occupied in exploring the interior of 

 the Island in various directions, which we always found to be very 

 laborious and tedious, particularly as we could find no other water 

 or new specimens of birds, or mammals. The sailors and the cap- 

 tain were engaged in making a wall around the little spring for the 

 purpose of keeping the tide from running over it, which it often does. 

 The water of this spring when first coming out of the rock is warm ; 

 it is good soft water, however, and when cooled is good for drinking. 



"We kept the casks saved from the wreck, filled for fear of acci- 

 dent. Over the spring we marked with white paint, on the steep 

 rock out of which it flows — fjgp" water — in Spanish agua, thus 

 any one visiting this place would be sure to find it. This is the only 

 water we found upon the Island, but it is very likely that it exists in 

 some places higher up the mountain, in the deep impenetrable gorges, 

 which we saw but did not enter. 



"We travelled over a large portion of this Island, and found its 

 general aspect excessively rough, lonely and forbidding. There are 

 but few varieties of plants, as of birds ; but these are nearly all new 

 to me. A stiff, unyielding brush, with occasional bunches of prickly 

 pear, augments the difficulty of walking over the rough, stony sur- 

 face. Large tracts of lava run to the sea on the south side, from the 

 extinct volcanoes, leaving unmistakable evidence of their fury. 



