CHAPTER XVII.
GALAPAGOS ARCHIPELAGO.
(PLATE 79.

TESTUDO ABINGDONII, GALAPAGOS ISLANDS.) The whole group volcanic.
Number of craters.
Leafless bushes.
Colony at Charles Island.
James Island.
Salt-lake in crater.
Natural history of the group.
Ornithology, curious finches.
Reptiles.
Great tortoises, habits of.
Marine Lizard, feeds on Sea-weed.
Terrestrial Lizard, burrowing habits, herbivorous.
Importance of reptiles in the Archipelago.
Fish, shells, insects.
Botany.
American type of organisation.
Differences in the species or races on different islands.
Tameness of the birds.
Fear of man an acquired instinct.
SEPTEMBER 15, 1835.
(PLATE 80.

GALAPAGOS ARCHIPELAGO.) This archipelago consists of ten principal islands, of which five exceed the others in size.

They are situated under the Equator, and between five and six hundred miles westward of the coast of America.

They are all formed of volcanic rocks; a few fragments of granite curiously glazed and altered by the heat can hardly be considered as an exception.