Galapagos Islands  Source  Whalesite

CHAPTER IV.

The Galapagos Islands — Charles Island - James Island — Chatham Island — Coast of Ecuador — Bay of Atacamas — Ramble in the Forest — Mr. T. Edmonston — His Death and a sketch of his Life — River Esmeraldas — Gallo Island.

      On the 1st of January, 1846, we departed for the Galapagos Islands, and, carried along by the trade-wind, made on the 6th at daylight Gardiner's Island, and at noon the south end of Charles Island. Standing to the northward, along the south-west shore, the wind fell light, accompanied with haze. We therefore shaped our course for the night. On the following day we sailed along the west side of Charles Island, with light winds and drizzling rain. The land was gloomy in the extreme. Black lava cliffs bounded the shore, and wherever a glimpse of the interior was caught, tangled underwood and prickly pear were seen. We passed Blackbeach Bay, which offers good anchorage, and the path leading to the settlement is pointed out by a boat-shed in a small sandy bay. A remarkable hill, which the look-out men reported as Saddle Hill, lies about five miles to the southward of this bay,

and is an excellent land-mark. A rock making like a sail clears up any doubt one might have as to the place. Rounding the west extremity of Post-office Bay, a heavy surf breaks on the eastern point, which is still further marked by a small island covered with cactuses, almost reminding one of the Gunner's Quoin off the north-east end of Mauritius.

      The wet season extends here from November to March, but it is said not to be so continuous as on the mainland. Heavy rain continued until January 8th, when a · fresh southerly breeze cleared the mist and gave us sunshine once more. At noon we came to an anchor in Post-office Bay, Charles Island. A party pulled round to Blackbeach Bay, to visit the settlement, about four miles from the anchorage in Post-office Bay, which received its name from a custom among the whale-ships of leaving a box with letters in one of the clefts of the rock.

      The landing in Blackbeach Bay is easy. On looking about we discovered a path, which we followed. The thickets on each side were so tangled, the cacti so large, and armed with prickles three or four inches in length, that attempting to proceed without first clearing a path would have been impossible, and the labour would have been out of the question for a party like ours without machetes or hatchets. Large locusts were seen in extraordinary numbers. The naturalist, the late Mr. Edmonston, obtained some very fine specimens. As we got inland the country improved; the trees became larger, the soil less rocky, or, to describe it more exactly, the masses of lava became pulverized. After a walk of

less than an hour, the crowing of cocks, the braying of donkeys, and the barking of dogs, announced our approach to the abode of man. A few ruined hovels stood round a level green spot. The houses were small, formed of straight poles placed close together with thatched roofs, but devoid of cleanliness, so easily attained in such a place, a sloping declivity with a brook at the bottom offering every convenience for the comforts and decencies of life. We were soon offered fowls, wood, and potatoes for sale, which however were then not our object. Inquiring for the Governor, we were conducted to a larger house, but more dirty and in worse repair even than the rest, where we found three or four good-looking women, swinging in their hammocks, and not at all interrupted by our entrance, and a Señor Alcé, styling himself temporary governor, and acting for Don Jose Villamil, the person mentioned by Captain Fitzroy as the proprietor of the greater part of the stock then (1835) upon the island. An Englishman named Gurney, who had married a sister of Señor Alcé, gave us a variety of information. Captain Fitzroy mentions a penal settlement having been in 1832 established in the island by the Republic of Ecuador. It was chiefly intended for political offenders. About a year before our visit a revolution took place, and the greater number of the exiles were recalled by the party who attained power. There never appears to have been much control exercised over these delinquents, for the most sufficient of all reasons, because the governor had no power to enforce any. At the time of our visit the exiles were certainly not those from whom a government could feel

much fear, consisting of an incorrigible drunkard, an unfortunate mad woman, and a murderer; they were all at large.

      The cattle had increased wonderfully, and were estimated at 2000 head, besides wild pigs, goats, and dogs. The cattle are hunted down with dogs, and we were offered any quantity we required, on giving previous notice. The wild dogs keep the goats and pigs down very much. At Juan Fernandez it is stated they have extirpated them, and the same result will take place in this island unless means are adopted to reduce the number of the dogs. There were only two or three tame cows; the difficulty of taming the wild cattle is so great as to be almost impracticable. The people are accustomed to send them to Chatham Island, where an establishment to supply whalers with refreshments is forming. Water is abundant here; at present however no pains are taken to render it available for shipping; this might be done by laying pipes down from the wells to a reservoir formed in Blackbeach Bay. As it is, the gullies and little valleys in Post-office Bay are, in the rainy season, torrents; so that if encouragement were offered by a sufficient demand, a supply might be obtained from this source alone.

      We continued our walk to the plantations on the side of a conical hill further inland, or to the eastward of the Puebla, and soon got sight of Post-office Bay, where the Herald and Pandora were riding at anchor. The bay appears equally near with Blackbeach Bay, and the anchorage is more protected. When the settlement was established, the labour of forming the road to Post-office

Bay would not have been greater than to Blackbeach Bay; landing, however, as far as our experience goes, is easier in the latter than in the former. The plantations are in the valley and on the side of the conical mountain, which is plainly seen from Post-office Bay, and serves to point out the settlement from the west side of the island. The fertility of this vale seems unbounded. For a mile we walked through enclosures in which Indian corn, melons, bananas, pumpkins, sugar-cane, and limes were growing most luxuriantly. The largest tree we saw was the Palo Santo, which, on being scored, exudes a gum found useful in healing sores and wounds; it grows as large as a pear-tree, but resembles an ash in appearance. There is another and smaller tree, the gum of which is employed for similar purposes. The Palm Cactus (Opuntia Galapageia, Hensl.) is remarkable, resembling the cactus engrafted upon the palm, with large oval compressed articulations springing from a cylindrical stem.

      After rain the atmosphere was so clear that Indefatigable, or Porter's Isle as the Americans call it, Albemarle, and Barringtons, though they were at least forty or fifty miles distant, could all be defined. The peaks of Albemarle Island are 3700 feet high. The absence of the palm, that attribute of tropical scenery, is remarkable. The palm is a never-failing indication of water, and often of the abode of man; but notwithstanding its absence, we found the island more fertile and wooded than, from Darwin's description, we were led to expect. Since Dampier's visit the progress appears to have been great. We cannot doubt the

truth of that navigator's description, and were agreeably surprised at all we saw. No turpin, or terrapin, are living on this island; but turtle are abundant. Seals frequent the coast in considerable quantities; ten or twelve were shot during our stay, but none of the fur kind. The Pandora got a haul of fish with the seine that few had seen equalled.

      On the 11th of January we made sail, standing east-north-east round the north point of Charles Island; the current was strong against us, and with a two-knot breeze we could hardly stem it. At ten A.M. we observed M'Gowan's reef — the water · breaking upon it, but not heavily. The position of this reef is 1° 8' 45" south and 89° 50' west, lying midway between Charles and Chatham Islands. The similarity of these islands is great, — a tame rounded outline, with peaks or extinct craters throughout ; the more minute features often reminding one of Etna and the environs of Catania. At three P.m. Dalrymple and Kicker rocks were in sight. The first is sixty-five feet high, and resembles a ship under sail—if that favourite comparison of navigators may be used once more; — its summit is covered with masses looking like ill-made chimney-pots-one of the freaks every now and then occurring, as if to remind one how much beauty and symmetry there is in nature; so much indeed that until the contrary is seen we pass it by unheeded. The Kicker is still more remarkable.

      A schooner was seen in Wreck Bay, Chatham Isle. At first it was reported as a flag flying among the trees ; then a vessel lying inside a bar harbour, with a heavy surf breaking right across; but as we drew to the north-

east, and the bay opened more clearly, we were able to distinguish the schooner, under Ecuador colours, lying at anchor off a small village close to the beach, with little or no surf at the landing-place. We ran past, however, and came to an anchor in an open bay on the north side of Chatham Island.

      On the 12th of January we landed on a sandy beach to take sights for time. The surf was inconvenient, and in the afternoon increased so much that we experienced some difficulty in getting off. The rollers were heavy off the extreme point of St. Stephen's Bay, as much as eight or ten feet high. This would appear to resemble the rollers at St. Helena and Ascension, occurring without apparent cause; for there was, and had been, little wind, and it was besides the lee side of the island. Captain Kellett went round in the Pandora to Freshwater Bay, where the Beagle watered in 1835. He landed without much inconvenience, there being little surf, notwithstanding its being the weather side of the island. Ships well provided with anchors and cables may lie there and water without difficulty or danger ; but we were told that at Charles Island a whale-ship, rather than anchor, had purchased water from the settlement, and carried it to the beach on donkeys.

      On the 13th we went to examine St. Stephen's Bay, but found landing impossible, on account of the surf. There is deep water and good anchorage, ten and twelve fathoms, within half a mile of the shore; but according to Captain Fitzroy it is subject to calms and baffling winds. During the few hours we were in it, we found this peculiarly the case. The Kicker off this bay is one of the

most extraordinary rocks in the world, and might have been called the Sea-horse, having much the appearance of that animal when lying down with head erect and fore feet a little advanced. It is 400 feet high, and in two distinct parts. A jolly boat could be pulled through if the water was tolerably smooth. It has one or two arches in the larger part, through which the sea rushes with violence. We could get no bottom with fifty fathoms all round it. Finger Point has a heavy surf beating upon it. Captain Fitzroy gives its height as 516 feet: it is almost as remarkable as La Pouce at the Mauritius. St. Stephen's Bay, though it looks well upon the chart, would appear to offer no inducement to a ship, as far as landing goes. The bay we anchored in is better, and that was bad enough; our boats were half-swamped more than once. Wreck Bay, where the settlement, a few poor huts, is formed, is a good snug anchorage, with easy landing. The purser procured wood cheap, but not good. There, for the first time, we saw the terrapin, or galapago, those animals which have given their name to the group. We bought them at the rate of six shillings a-piece; they were two feet two inches in length, one foot ten inches broad, standing one foot two inches off the ground.

      On the 14th we sailed for James Island, standing to the north-west. The nights had been beautiful for the last week. The stars were seldom more brilliant. Jupiter shed new lustre upon Aries; Venus and Mars seemed to light up Aquarius and Pisces; Orion, Sirius, Procyon, shining unrivalled; Auriga, Aldebaran, and Gemini were seen on the northern meridian, n in Argo Navis on the

southern, — a glorious galaxy, helping to pass away an hour of the tedious night-watches. On the 15th, at daylight, we were off James Island, but to leeward of the north-west point, round which we had to go. The wind baffled us for a few hours, but afterwards came fresh from south-south-east, and at eleven A.M. we anchored in James's Bay, on the west side of the island. The Guayaquilenians call Charles Island Floriana; the Spaniards used to term it Santa Maria del Aguada. These islands were named after the chief people in England, when buccaneering was at its height. Charles and James after the royal brothers, Albemarle after Monk, and Narborough after the admiral. James Island appears covered with larger timber than either of the others we visited, and seas of lava, cliffs, pinnacles, and craters are more numerous. The sportsmen shot a few teal, snipe, curlew, and hawks.

      It rained heavily during the night, but cleared up in the morning. Sights for latitude and time were obtained; giving lat. 0° 12' 20" north, long. 90° 55' 30" west. The place of observation was a sandy beach to the left of the sea of lava. Dampier was at these islands in June, when rain never falls --we in the middle of the rainy season ; which probably accounts for his depreciating account of the group. It is not likely either that he ever went so far inland as the present settlers have done.

      On the 16th of January we departed from the Galapagos Islands, and stood across for the mainland-a trip often made by the enterprising buccaneers^*.

      On the 22nd we were off Cape San Francisco, standing round Galera Point. "The country inland," says Dampier, "is high and mountainous, and appears to be woody; by the sea it is full of small points, making as many little sandy bays between them. It is of indifferent height, covered with trees, so that sailing by this coast you see nothing but a vast grove or wood, which is so much the more pleasant because the trees are of several forms, both in respect of their growth and colour." Reading this account with the coast within three or four miles, one cannot do more than repeat it, and acknowledge its fidelity and truth. Point Galera is low and shelving ; Cape San Francisco steep and well wooded, the cliffs in many parts are white, somewhat resembling those of Sussex and Kent.

      About 2 P.M. we anchored off the river Sua in the bay of Atacamas. Very good anchorage is found in this bay, and as it seldom or never blows, vessels can anchor almost anywhere; but off Sua especially, the water is not deep,

      On the 21st of January, in lat. 0° 15' north and 81° 30' west, we tried for soundings with 700 fathoms, but got no bottom.

Berthold Seemann.
      Narrative of the Voyage of H.M.S. Herald during the years 1845-51 under the command of Captain Henry Kellett, ...
London: Reeve and Co., 1853.
Vol. 1.
pp. 54-63.

Galapagos Islands  Source  Whalesite