In this upper region coarse grasses and ferns abound; but there are no tree-ferns: I saw nowhere any member of the Palm family, which is the more singular, as 360 miles northward, Cocos Island takes its name from the number of cocoa-nuts.

The houses are irregularly scattered over a flat space of ground, which is cultivated with sweet potatoes and bananas.

It will not easily be imagined how pleasant the sight of black mud was to us, after having been so long accustomed to the parched soil of Peru and Northern Chile.

The inhabitants, although complaining of poverty, obtain, without much trouble, the means of subsistence.

In the woods there are many wild pigs and goats; but the staple article of animal food is supplied by the tortoises.
Their numbers have of course been greatly reduced in this island, but the people yet count on two days' hunting giving them food for the rest of the week.