The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1883-03-20
NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY.
Dr.. Hills Visit to the Galapagos Islands.

bae Natural History society most interest
| ing description of his visit to the Galapagos
Islands with the late Prof. Agassiz and othel
scientists, in 1872. DIR. Wood, the president
was in the chair, and a large audience listened
to the lecture with deep interest The follow
ing is an abstract of the lecture:
The Galapagos Islands lie in the Pacific
ocean on the equator, about 1000 miles due
south from New Orleans; about 800 miles
from Central America, and trife more from
South America. The average depth of the
Pacific is about $4,000 feet. But at this place
is a comparative shoal, produced by a mass Of
submarine mountains some 800 miles in diam
eter whose highest SUBMITS project three oI
four thousand feet above the water, and con-
stitute this archipelago. The largest island is
some eighty miles long, and fifteen broad; OF
the rest, four are fifteen to twenty-five miles
across; and. there are eight or ten small ones.
All are yolcanic Darwin estimates the number
of craters at 1000. Although on the equator the
climate is mild cool ocean currents running
northwesterly through the group; there is lit
tie rain, and no violent winds The great in
terest of the group to the naturalist is in the
fact that the flowers, plants, and animals are
very peculiar. The great tortoises, Spanish,
galapago) from which the islands are named,
are found no where else; and this is the gen.
eral rule with the natural history of the arch
ipelago. For example, there are thirty-one
species OF land birds found there; and of these,
only ono species, (the common bobolink, reed
bird or ricebird) is found anywhere else; the
otner thirty species are confined to the Ca
lapagos. Moreover, several OF those thirty
species are confined to particular islands in
the group; although flight of ten miles, in
still, mild air, would take them to another ISL
and they are not known ever to go across the
STRAIT. This curious fact, about the plants and
animals there, has puzzled naturalists from
the beginning; Darwin remarks upon it,
Wallace has good deal to say about it. Ac-
cording TO the views of Wallace, who Is sub
stantially Darwinian, although an original
thinker; all the plants and animals on the
group are descendants of strays and waits from
the continent; who, by long breeding in this
peculiar climate, &C., have become modified,
and varied from the continental species from
which they are derived. But according to
Agassiz's view, the Galapagos Islands derived
their plants and animals in the same manner
that the continent itself did. All scientific in
auctions seem to point back to time when
the earth was red hot on its surface; when it
cooled to the proper temperature, plants APP
peared and then animals; and Agassiz could
not see why they might not appear on the Ca
lapagos Islands, when they arose red hot from
~ cold, in Just the same way that they ap-
peared on the continents.
The coast survey steamer Hassler set sail
from Payta, at shutdown. June 6, 1872, for the
Galapagos; and DIR. Hill read extracts from
his Journal, beginning at that date and cOntin-
uing to June 10th, when she left the islands
and steamed for Panama. They cast anchor
first at noon of Monday, June 10th, at Charles
Island. Here was small colony of men from
Ecuador, with whom they drove trade, get
fax xricffnr Nd
found covered with peculiar shrubbery, such
as Darwin describes, and they caught thirty
different species of fish near its shores, many
being as peculiar to the place as any of the
land animals or plants. On the 18th they went
to Albemarle (the largest of the islands) and
anchored in Tagus cove. Here they found not
only the great black lizard, three feet long,
swimming in the ocean, as at Charles, but the
bright orange colored terrestrial one, which is
confined to the two islands. Contrary to OAR
wins observation this orange colored lizard
was larger than the black ones and had bril-
liant eye as handsome as toad's. The Doc
tor took neof them by the tail (aS in his boy
hood he had learned to handle opossums in
New Jersey and carried it aboard, making it
work its own passage part of the way by
walking on its fore legs while he steered and
pushed by the tail, a wheelbarrow fashion of
handling an opossum. The enormous crater5
and vast rivers of cold lava on the sides of the
huge volcanic domes of Albemarle and Mar
borough were very SJrlKlNS features Oh Inc
landscape. which by daylight was rather black
and forbidding, but assumed wonderful purple
hues at sunset Whiletlying there, within six
teen miles of the line, they had both poles in
sight, the Southern Cross pointing out the one
the Great Bear the other. 1t was mystery to
all the party why Humboldt and Darwin speak
with enthusiasm of the Southern Gross, since,
with both consultations in sight, they could
not see that the Cross was in any way superior
to the tail of the Bear.
They crossed the Equator twice during the
night of June 18th, and on the 10Th anchored
at James. Here they found abundance of fine
ducks, and great famingoes SIX feet high.
When these had been skinned by the biologists
the carcaSses were handed to the cook, and at
table were pronounced delicious and equal to
the finest canvass backs The knocking birds,
key birds and yellow birds species peculiar to
these islands) were very tame or fearless.
On the 10th they crowded over to Jervis Is
land, where they had been told was a settle
ment; they found however no hnman inhabi-
tants The SEALS on this island, amused them
very much; they were exceedingly numerous,
and exceedingly tame or fearless. One gentle
man walked up to seal and offered her
piece of pilotbread. She smelled it, as fear
lessly as pet dog might; and declined it with
thanks.
June H. they went to Indefatigable Island
Here the doctor obtained, at Agassiz's request,
a plant of Cereus. root and all. This Cereus
is tree cactus, sometimes % feet high; and it
required nine hours search to find one less
than II feet Finally finding one of about
feet, it was bedded, as the majority of the
plants were, between the cracks of a bed of
lava; and it required 20 minutes hard labor,
of the doctor and sailor to break up the lava;
sufficiently to loosen theroots. The botany of
Indefatigable was very interesting. The little
balloon vine was in blossom and fruit; there
was a tree there bearing pods, true
legunes with four very wide wings.
The Mangroves were very beau
tiful in their modes of growth and of multiple
cation. The party remained making collec-
tions and observations during the whole of the
18th, and on the 10Th they babe farewell to the
island. In the whole ten months voyage,
nothing had been more pleasant, more inter.
esting, more instructive, than these ten days,
in this volcanic group; whore the very ma
lure of the islands demonstrated their compare
tive youth; and yet the intense individuality
of their fauna and fora made it impossible to
suppose them derived from any recent impor-
tation of seeds,or animals from the continents.
1t was impossible to resist the feeling, which
Dawrin expresses, in his voyage of naturalist,
that here we seem brought near, both in space
and time, to that mystery of mysteries the in
PRODUCTION of new species upon the planet.
DR.. Hilfs lecture was much applauded, and
vote of thanks passed him at the close.
Prof. Robinson, of Brunswick, was elected
member of the society.