1833.] 
GALAPAGOS ISLANDS, 
467 
be likely to consume their surplus produce ; and, taking all cir- 
cumstances into consideration, their labours have been really suc- 
cessful. Nor do we deem the remark extravagant, that at this 
time [September, eighteen hundred and thirty-three] the produc- 
tions of the island are sufficient for several hundred additional in- 
habitants ; and during the coming year, many of our whale-ships 
may receive an abundance of vegetable supplies. 
This island is not fertile near the shore ; for the space of 
three miles towards the interior, the soil is steril in the summer, 
or dry season ; but capable of yielding one good crop in the win- 
ter, or wet season; and during the whole year, this portio^ of 
the island is good for raising hogs, goats, &c., as the ground 
abounds with the carib-tree, the fruit of which, with the tree and 
juice of the prickly pear, form for these animals an excellent nu- 
triment. 
Penetrating towards the interior, there is a beautiful upland 
valley, spreading from northeast to southwest, in the form of a 
parallelogram, about five miles in length and three in breadth. 
From the middle of the valley, another opens to the southeast 
and inclines gradually to the south, and is nearly equal in ex- 
tent to the first. In both, the soil is of a superior mould, and is 
covered with a rich carpet of luxuriant vegetation, shrubbery, and 
trees. The formation of the island is exclusively volcanic ; 
there is not a rock that does not bear the evidence of fire, and the 
soil, in all parts, is composed of the decomposition of lava and 
vegetable matter. 
Not only these valleys, but the sides of the higher mountains, 
may be cultivated from January to December, one crop following 
another in rapid succession ; moistened in summer by contmued 
and heavy dews, and by rains in winter. From the black beach, 
the place of disembarcation, and so named from immense quan- 
tities of lava forming the shore, like massive pot-metal, the road, 
by continued ascent, leads to the main settlement, at the distance 
of about five miles ; and on the same road there is a fine spring 
of fresh water, which the governor contemplates conveying to the 
beach, where he believes it will yield seventy or eighty gallons 
per hour, for the use of ships. 
The eastern skirts -of the high hills produce the paja, a long 
coarse grass, used by the inhabitants for covering their houses ; 
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