468 VOYAGE OF THE POTOMAC. [September, 
three hundred miles. Like every other island in the Galapagos 
group, it was uninhabited mrtil eighteen hundred and thirty-two, 
when Vilamil first established his long-projected colony. He in- 
formed us that he had this enterprise in view as long ago as the 
year eighteen hundred and eleven; two years previous to the 
appearance of Commodore Porter in these seas, during the late 
war with Great Britain. 
At this early period, the information which Vilamil had ac- 
quired of the Galapagos Islands was so interesting, that at one 
time he thought of applying to the government of Spain for per- ' 
mission to make a settlement on one of them ; but was deterred 
from this design, being assured by the Spanish authorities in 
Peru, that the court of Seville would never permit a settlement to 
be made on this group of islands. 
On, the establishment of the government of Colombia, and its 
entire independence of the dominion of Spain, his attention was 
again turned to an enterprise he had had so long in contemplation. 
His friends at this time did every thing to dissuade him, pro- 
nouncing the plan to be chimerical and rash. Though not entirely 
discouraged, he remained inactive until the year eighteen hundred 
and twenty, when he suffered severe misfortunes in his family, in 
the death of his wife and two children, in the short space of 
twenty-one days. Tired of society, and worn down with afflic- 
tions, he turned his whole mind and energies towards his favourite 
scheme, — the establishment of a colony. The government of the 
equator was at once petitioned, and in the year eighteen hundred 
and thirty-one, a charter in due form was granted, conceding the 
possession of the islands, and authorizing the estabhshment of a 
colony. 
In January, eighteen hundred and thirty-two. Colonel Hernan- 
dez, with only twelve colonists, was despatched to take formal 
possession of Charles's Island ; and in April and June, settlers of 
both sexes followed the first. Vilamil, in person, accompanied 
by eighty colonists, arrived in October, and at once assumed his 
station as proprietor and governor of the island. Previous to his 
arrival, little or no improvement had been made ; but with this ac- 
cession, all took greater courage, and began to labour with much 
zeal -f more especially when they found that the whale-ships would 
