fh 0 Gommy partgr returned to the Ijase ®t Soutti Seymour 
os th® afteraooa of .^il IGth* 'Tte mxt &y. -the isiiol© expedition 
left for James Island, '«h@re-we an<dior®ci' in. the early afternoon. 
Here, too, wa.8 moh ©rid^oo.of a very •wet rainy season, . Barring 
unweathered rock and .lava fl<ms, the stole island wa ooapletely green. 
Ml- of ay other .visits i had been Mrlng til® drier aoaths, and so, on 
.this oosasion, .1 saw for the first time the waterfall, that tos been 
repo-rted.ia a. gully to ;tto ®.astimrd of Jaaes ^.y,. The .Bay anchorage 
is fairly opeffit'.aM has at tl..ni; 0 s a: heavy surf - on the beach. Except 
that it lacks a. perfflaaeat water supply, the .land hereabouts offers 
seme . very . fine building sites. .■ *' 
■'left Jmte® . Island is ‘the ,e^ly laomlng ho-ura*’' of April 
2yth. end^ anchored off ¥illai3ii,. southern' ^bomarle, - a. ^f ear minutes 
after ton. o*«look,. The anchorage la. a miserable one., f or i-ye ■ enooua- 
.tered worse. swells here 4han myi^ere else -'is ail.. toe Islamds, an# 
raxist anohor well out from, atoro, and pp. in ia a ®aall launch or boat, 
because the reef s : investing the laadiag,. are particularly bad, , :For- 
tunately, .Sstor Solimr Gil osaae-out to guide, us in, Gaptaia' Bio king 
had, been directed to .brii^ out, an , .teerioan survey party of four that 
Jmd spent the three soatto.'.on .this xsiaad, .Messrs., Irvine, Douglas 
Ihram-g and Faliaor, (Chart of toe Vlllaail landing possessed by this 
: party was Eiude availaulo to Us; copy ap.pendod*)' . 
. , .From ?i.ll«ail we.Esoved around to : “Fostor 0'OiV©'^, liizahoth 
-Bay, southern Albrnarle, where the night was cp<mt, ¥ery early the 
next, !3oraing, . April Slst, .we. siovsd .up to Tagus Cove, . liere we' 'spmt 
.to© day .and to© following night before getting, underway, for Oooos 
Island, 
• V • ■ 
. ... . ■ w,. ^ ■■■*.•' iff}/- - . ■- < - ■ . ■ ■ 
Throut^i.. the kiiwlaoss.’of Sfeptain Blticing,-. it was pbs.sibl© to 
.mke a oiroalt.of Culpepper . I siaadf .tto'.aost aortiiorly of 'to® Galapagos 
group,. , Savii^ -.lot^. 'been: interested '.in thi.«.. island,.^..!., was now'«iablod 
to have ay first clo®e»up view of ..it* :■ It® .upper ■levols have sever 
been trodde® by man and so reiaala a virgin oolleoting field, the only 
one in all th® ^arohipelago., .... To. .get np on 'this' .Island, would requir© 
special .^uipasent, parti.oularly scaffoldings . an on almoet every' side 
the bare, almost perpendicular, eliffa wim up. several, hundred .feet or 
ESOI^, ^■.. . . ■, . 
s' • ' we.-. ■* - ‘ 
W© raised Goc.os in. toe early wraing -of April £4 to. Before 
anchoring in Chatham Bay,, .tiie island, was c ire woavi gated., " For tiie 
first time .in.^s©v©^al visits, to tocos Island' did I see any of ' the re*» 
putedly heavy rains, .and. I can now., attest that they do oesae town, wito 
full tropical Intensity, thouijh they are of comparatively ehor# dura- 
tion, On our last day at Cocos, Saturd^^, April 26tii, aooompanied by 
Lt, Balph Bmest,. Civil Itogineer, 11.8.11** I took advantage of the 
opportuni'ty to. obtain additicmal seeds of . ..the rare Booseveltia palm 
frcaa one of, a -stand, of toe .trees frewa., the. heights aK've’ “tiStetiim Bay, 
Bo time was lost on the run back to Balboa, wiiere we arrived 
at sev^ o •clock the morning of the SOto, Here Capt4% Picking and I 
had a eonferenoe with Admiral P» H, Sadler, wiiioh should be eohsidered 
as confidential. * 
