GALAPAGOS. 



139 



to an island thirty miles north of the line, where 

 I remained a few days to make some experiments 

 with an invariable pendulum of Captain Kater's 

 construction. 



I had intended to have made these experiments 

 on a spot lying exactly under the equator, but, 

 when we got amongst the islands, a strong cur- 

 rent set us so far to leeward in the course of the 

 night before we were aware of its influence, that 

 I found it impossible to regain the lost ground ; 

 at least without spending more time than my or- 

 ders admitted of, and I therefore made for the 

 nearest anchorage within reach. 



The spot chosen for the experiments lies 

 near the extremity of a point of land running 

 into the sea, at the south end of the Earl of 

 Abingdon Island, and forms the western side 

 of a small bay about a mile across. This point 

 is part of an ancient stream of lava which has 

 flowed down the side of a peaked mountain, be- 

 tween two and three miles distant from the sta- 

 tion, in a direction nearly north, and about two 

 thousand feet high. The peak slopes rapidly at first, 

 forming a tolerably steep cone, but terminated by 



