Note 12 — (Concluded) (continued 2)

The Galapagos (or “Islands of the Tortoise”) belong to the government of Ecuador, and are located seven hundred and thirty miles west of that country in the Pacific. They consist of six principal and seven smaller islands. The largest is Albemarle. They are all volcanic. Of them Dampier says (chapter v): “The Gallapagos Islands are a great Number of uninhabited Islands, lying under, and on both sides of the Equator. The Eastermost of them are about 110 Leagues from the Main. They are laid down in the Longitude of 181, reaching to the Westward as far as 176, therefore their Longitude from England Westward is about 68 degrees. But I believe our Hydrographers do not place them far enough to the Westward. The Spaniards who first discovered them, and in whose draught alone they are laid down, report them to be a great number, stretching North-West from the Line, as far as 5 degrees N. but we saw not above 14 or 15. They are some of them 7 or 8 leagues long and 3 or 4 broad. They are of a good heighth, most of them flat or even on the top; 4 or 5 of the Eastermost are rocky, barren and hilly, producing neither Tree, Herb, nor Grass, but a few Dildo-trees, except by the Sea side.”