File:The earth and its inhabitants (1894) (14579768979).jpg

Identifier: earthitsinhabita941recl (find matches)
Title: The earth and its inhabitants ..
Year: 1894 (1890s)
Authors: Reclus, Elisée, 1830-1905 Ravenstein, Ernest George, 1834-1913 Keane, A. H. (Augustus Henry), 1833-1912
Subjects: Geography
Publisher: New York, D. Appleton and company
Contributing Library: MBLWHOI Library
Digitizing Sponsor: Boston Library Consortium Member Libraries

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r glens.Some weighed several hundredweights, and it took six or eight men to turn them 272 SOUTH AMEEICA—THE ANDES EEGIONS. over ; tliey swarmed in such multitudes that the crews of passing vessels occasion-ally captured hundreds in a single hunt. Bat this source of w^ealth is now lost to the Galapagos ; the land tortoiseshave become everywhere rare except in Albemarle, and have disappeared alto-gether from Chatham. The otters, or sea lions, formerly abounding in thesurrounding waters, have also vanished ; but this region of the Pacific is stillfrequented by the whale, and sea turtles are also still very numerous in someplaces. In the waters of the archipelago is found a curious reptile, highly inte-resting to geologists, a marine lizard (amhiyrhijncus crustatm), the last survivingspecies of a genus widely diffused in mesozoic times. In the interior of theislands various domestic animals—ox, ass, pig, sheep, goat, cat, and poultry— Fig. 106. —Chatham Island.Scale 1 : 600, UOO.
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Depths. 0 to50Fathoms. 50 Fathomsand upwards. 12 Miles. have reverted to the wild state, and an official report estimates at 25,000 thehorned cattle at present roaming the archipelago. Some cultivated plants, also,such as the cotton shrub, tobacco, fig, orange, and chirimoya, now grow sponta-neously in the woodlands. It seems surprising that the Galapagos, with their elevated terraces, rich inpastures and easily cultivated, should have hitherto remained almost valuelessfrom the economic standpoint. Although they might become as productive asthe Hawaiian group, till recently they yielded nothing to the trade of the worldexcept a few bales of orchilla weed, collected on the trees and shrubs of Albe-marle. A first attempt at colonisation was made by the Ecuador Government in 1832,soon after it had acquired possession of the group ; but the undertaking ended in THE GALAPAGOS AECHIPELAGO. 273 failure. General Yillamil, originally of Louisiana, formed a settlement of from800 to 400 colonist

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