The semi-weekly messenger., 1908-03-06

tious walls of the crater are clothe
with wood so that the scene was al
together both picturesque and curl
GUS. A few years since the sailor
belonging to sealing vessel murder
and we saw his skull lying amoni
the bushes.
There are almost a dozen island.
of respectable size in the group anC
a number of smaller ones. They are
arranged on either side Of the equa.
tor, which cuts across the largest
| -Albemarle. Most of the islands
are in sight of each other and the
largest Is only sixty miles long. In
defatigable Island, on which Jeffs is
stranded, is about twenty-five miles
| across. Albemarle, Indefatigable.
Chatham, James and Charles are the
names of the five largest, which were
christened by the buccaneers long
before they became part Of Ecuador.
! The islands are composed of era
| ters and very little else, some of the
! craters being of immense size and
! reaching to a height of 5000 and A.
| 900 feet Innumerable smaller era
! ters flank the larger ones, and the
/ whole lower portions of the islands
/ are black with lava that has flowed
down to the waters edge. Inland
on the heights luxuriant vegetation
thriyes in the dampness of low-hang
ing clouds, which crown the islands
/; Most of the craters are extinct, tho
few have been in eruption within
the last century.
Anybody who wants a vivid de-
scription of what these volcanic ISL
ands are like is referred to that chief
source of curious and picturesque
information about out-Of-the-way
things-Darwin's Journal Of the Voy
age of H. NJ. S. Beagle Around the
World. There is chapter devoted
entirely to the Galapagos Archipel-
ago." in the course Of which one Of
the islands is referred to as follows:
'In the morning we landed on
Chatham Island, which, like the 9TH
ers, rises with tame and rounded
outline, broken here and there By
scattered hiilocks, the remains of for
mer craters Nothing could be less
inviting than the first appearance. 4
broken field of black basaltiC Lava,
thrown into the most rugged waves
and crossed by great assures, Is ey-
erywhere covered by stunted, sun
burned brushwood, which shows little
signs of life. The dry and parched |
surface, being heated by the noon ,
day sun, gave to the air close ana |
sultry feeling, like that from stow,
we fancied even that the bushes also !
smelled unpleasanly.'
Of the formation on two other ISL !
ands Of the group, Darwin wrote:
Both are covered with immense
IL ~, ~f 1an1 L. so1,
have flowed either over the ruins Of
the great caldrons, like pitch over
the rim of pot in which it was boil
ing, or have burst forth from small
er orifices on the flanks; in their de-
scent they have spread over miles of
the sea coast.
One would naturally expect to meet
queer living things in such a scene,
and the islands easily come up TO ex-
pectations in this respect. Huge tor
toises and lizards yard long are the
chief inhabitants. The former nave
been famous for centuries and gave
the islands their name, galapago be-
ing Spanish for tortoise. Of the hab-
it's and psychology of these animals
Darwin has much to say. The first
time he fell in with a tortoise was
on Chatham Island, and he wrote:
'As l was walking along l met two
large tortoises, each of which must
have weighed at least 200 pounds;
one was eating piece of cactus, and
as / approached it stared at me and
slowly stalked away; the other gave
a deep hiss and drew in it's head.
These huge reptiles, surrounded by
the black lava, the leafless shrubs
and large cacti, seemed, to my fan
cy, like some antedeluvian animals.
These tortoises are very fond of
drink, it seems, and as the only fresh
water is in the highlands six or eight
miles inland they are forced to make
the Journey from the shore, where
they live, to the springs every week
or so. They go about the travelling
methodically, and cover the distance
of eight miles in couple of days,
wearing well-beaten trails over the
countryside. Darwin once held the
watch on a tortoise under way and
caught him going at clip Of sixty
yards in ten minutes, which, as he
remarked, was 300 yards in the
hour or four miles a day-allowing
a little time fcr it to eat on the road
The torTaises stay at the drinking
places tWO or three days hlllng up
and then march back to the coast,
After such a spree they can live with
cut drink for some time. These
ane animals are unfortunately nearly
extinct on the islands now, as they
make fine food and the trade in them
has been large.
ANY one who thinks Of Darwin as
a colorless scientist will do we'll to
contemplate him mounted on a ia
lapagos tortoise as described by him
I self: 49,.
Il frequently got on their backs
and then giving a few raps on the
hinder part of their shells, they
would rise up and walk away; but
found it very difficult to keep my
balance"
There are two kinds of lizards or
the islands, all about a yard long anC