490 



VOLCANOES — POST-OFFICE BAY. 



Sept. 



been the summits of volcanoes. Charles Island is peculiar in 

 its outline : for a succession of round topped hills, precisely 

 similar in shape, though differing in size, shews on every point 

 of view. This exact similarity is very remarkable. Must not 

 all these volcanoes* have been thrown up under the same cir- 

 cumstances, such as similar action of the ocean, or even a 

 strong wind — perhaps at the very same time ? -|* 



The highest and largest of these hills rises 1,800 feet, the 

 next about 1,700; the rest are of various smaller heights. 

 The northern sides of the island are wooded, but the wood 

 looks as brown as that on the lower parts of Chatham Island. 

 Post-Office Bay is sheltered, easy of access, has excellent an- 

 chorage, and only wants fresh-water to make it a most desirable 

 harbour for shipping. Its name is the result of a custom esta- 

 blished by the whalers : a box was placed on a post, to receive 

 letters, and homeward-bound ships examined the directions, 

 taking with them all which they might have means of for- 

 warding ; but since the island has been peopled the box has 

 been empty, for letters are now left at the settlement. 



25th. Mr. Nicholas O. Lawson, acting for the governor of 

 this archipelago, J came on board. With him and me a party 

 went to another anchorage called Black Beach Road, landed, 

 and walked up towards the settlement. In 1832, the republic 

 of the ' Ecuador ' decided to use these islands as a place of 

 banishment, and sent a small colony to Charles Island. ' La 

 Floriana"" is the name given to this island by the Guayaqui- 

 lians, though by the Spaniards it was once called ' Santa Maria 

 de TAguada.' The governor, at the time of our visit, was 

 Don Jose Villamil. There were then about eighty small houses, 

 or huts, and nearly two hundred souls upon the island, most 

 of whom were convicts. 



After walking rather more than a mile along a good path, 

 through the underwood (which as the ground rises becomes 

 very thick), we reached a small spring of water, near which 

 are a few huts, but no cultivated ground. The water from this 



* For volcanoes they certainly have been. f See page 493. 



X An oflBcer of the republic of the Equator. 



