THE VOYAGE OF THE BEAGLE 397 



The day was glowing hot, and the scrambling over the rough 

 surface and through the intricate thickets, was very fatigu- 

 ing; but I was well repaid by the strange Cyclopean scene. 

 As I was walking along I met two large tortoises, each of 

 which must have weighed at least two hundred pounds : one 

 was eating a piece of cactus, and as I approached, it stared 

 at me and slowly walked away; the other gave a deep hiss, 

 and drew in its head. These huge reptiles, surrounded by 

 the black lava, the leafless shrubs, and large cacti, seemed to 

 my fancy like some antediluvian animals. The few dull- 

 coloured birds cared no more for me than they did for the 

 great tortoises. 



23rd. — The Beagle proceeded to Charles Island. This ar- 

 chipelago has long been frequented, first by the bucaniers, 

 and latterly by whalers, but it is only within the last six 

 years, that a small colony has been established here. The 

 inhabitants are between two and three hundred in number; 

 they are nearly all people of colour, who have been banished 

 for political crimes from the Republic of the Equator, of 

 which Quito is the capital. The settlement is placed about 

 four and a half miles inland, and at a height probably of a 

 thousand feet. In the first part of the road we passed 

 through leafless thickets, as in Chatham Island. Higher up, 

 the woods gradually became greener; and as soon as we 

 crossed the ridge of the island, we were cooled by a fine 

 southerly breeze, and our sight refreshed by a green and 

 thriving vegetation. In this upper region coarse grasses and 

 ferns abound; but there are no tree-ferns: I saw nowhere 

 any member of the palm family, which is the more singular, 

 as 360 miles northward, Cocos Island takes its name from 

 the number of cocoa-nuts. The houses are irregularly scat- 

 tered over a flat space of ground, which is cultivated with 

 sweet potatoes and bananas. It will not easily be imagined 

 how pleasant the sight of black mud was to us, after having 

 been so long accustomed to the parched soil of Peru and 

 northern Chile. The inhabitants, although complaining of 

 poverty, obtain, without much trouble, the means of sub- 

 sistence. In the woods there are many wild pigs and goats ; 

 but the staple article of animal food is supplied by the 

 tortoises. Their numbers have of course been greatly re- 



