1833.] GALAPAGOS ISLANDS. 47t 
the number of disordered ships, and of protracted, if not broken 
voyages, with which some of our readers are but too well acquaint- 
ed. The few consuls we have or have had on the coast are mer- 
chants, who probably hold their commissions for the security 
they yield to their own interests, and to consignments made to 
their respective houses; while the whaler, who brings them no 
profit, can receive but little of their attention. Their own occu- 
pations do not allow them to look after his interests, or very par- 
ticularly to inquire into his difficulties; and yet, in a national 
point of view, the mercantile transactions of our citizens on this 
coast, and in these seas, are greatly inferior to the interest of 
those engaged in the fisheries. 
The amount of tonnage of our whale-ships which entered the 
single port of Payta in the year eighteen hundred, and thirty-one, 
was twenty-four thousand four hundred and thirty-nine ; having on 
board forty-six thousand two hundred and ten barrels of oil. For 
the year eighteen hundred and thirty-two, twenty-seven thousaaid 
one hundred tons of shipping, and forty thousand eight hundred 
and ninety-five barrels of oil. For the year eighteen hundred and 
thirty-three, up to October, twenty thousand two hundred and 
seventy-six tons, and thirty-six thousand four hundred and fifty- 
five barrels of oil. And yet, at a point that is and ever must be 
of so much importance, so often the seat of abuse and irregular- 
ity, as well on the part of the local authorities as among our own 
shipping, we have never had, up to this day (October, 1833), 
even an accredited agent to look after thes& immense interests ! 
J. C. Jones, Esq., the. United States consul at Oahu, in a letter 
to Commodore Downes, says—" I have never before seen so 
much the importance of having a vessel of war stationed at these 
islands, for the protection of the whale-fishery ; there has hardly 
been one vessel in the harbour that has not had more or less diffi- 
culties. I have at one time had sixty Americans confined in irons 
at the fort ; and hardly a day has passed that I have not been 
compelled to visit one or more ships to quell a mutiny, or compel 
by force whole crews to their duty, who had united to work no 
longer. I should say, too, that there were over one hundred de- 
serters now on shore from the American ships this season, regu- 
lar outlaws, ready to embark in any adventure. Had we a ship- 
-of-war here, at the season the whale-ships visit the islands, much 
