It was now resolved to carry their prizes to some secure place, where the best part of the provisions they had now procured might be laid up in safety, for which purpose they steered for the Gallapagos or Enchanted Islands,[151] which they got sight of on the 31st May, and anchored at night on the east side of one of the easternmost of these islands, a mile from shore, in sixteen fathoms, on clear white hard sand. To this Cowley gave the name of King Charles's Island. He likewise named more of them, as the Duke of Norfolk's Island immediately under the line, Dessington's, Eares, Bindley's, Earl of Abington's, King James's, Duke of Albemarles, and others. They afterwards anchored in a very good bay being named York Bay. Here they found abundance of excellent provisions, particularly guanoes and sea and land tortoises, some of the latter weighing two hundred pounds, which is much beyond their usual weight. There were also great numbers of birds, especially turtle-doves, with plenty of wood and excellent water; but none of either of these was in any of the other islands.[152]
[Footnote 151: These islands, so named by the Spaniards from being the resort of tortoises, are on both sides of the line, from about the Lat. of 2° N. to 1° 50' S,. and from about 88° 40' to 95° 20' both W. from Greenwich.--E.]
[Footnote 152: Cowley mentions having found here a [illegible] thing of its nature of quantity.--E.]
These Gallapagos are a considerable number of large islands, situated under and on both sides of the line, and destitute of inhabitants. The Spaniards, who first discovered them, describe them as extending from the equator N.W. as high as 5° N. The adventurers in this voyage saw fourteen or fifteen, some of which were seven or eight leagues in length, and three or four leagues broad, pretty high yet flat. Four or five of the most easterly were barren and rocky, without either trees, herbs, or grass, except very near the shore. They produced also a sort of shrub, called dildo-tree, about the bigness of a man's leg, and ten or twelve feet high, without either fruit or leaves, but covered with prickles from top to bottom. The only water in these barren isles, was in ponds and holes in the rocks. Some of the isles are low and more fertile, producing some of the trees that are known in Europe. A few of the westermost isles are larger than the rest, being nine or ten leagues long, and six or seven broad, producing many trees, especially Mammee figs, and they have also some pretty large fresh-water streams, and many rivulets. The air is continually refreshed, by the sea-breeze by day and the land-winds at night, so that they are not troubled with such excessive heats, neither are they so unwholesome as most places so near the equator. During the rainy season, in November, December, and January, they are infested with violent tempests of thunder and lightning; but before and after these months have only refreshing showers, and in their summer, which is in May, June, July, and August, they are without any rains.
They anchored near several of these islands, and frequently found sea tortoises basking in the sun at noon. On a former occasion, Captain Davies came to anchor on the west side of these islands, where he and his men subsisted on land-tortoises for three months, and saved from them sixty jars of oil. He also found several good channels on that side, with anchorage between the isles, and several rivulets of fresh water, with plenty of trees for fuel. The sea also round these islands is well stored with good fish of a large size, and abounds in sharks. These islands are better stored with guanoes and land-tortoises than any other part of the world. The guanoes are very tame, of extraordinary size, and very fat. The land-tortoises are likewise very fat, and so numerous that several hundred men might subsist upon them for a considerable time. They are as pleasant food as a pullet, and so large that some of them weighed 150 and even 200 pounds, being two feet to two feet and a half across the belly; whereas in other places they are seldom met with above 30 pounds weight. There are several kinds of land-tortoises in the West Indies, one of which, called Hackatee by the Spaniards, keeps mostly in fresh-water ponds, having long necks, small legs, and flat feet, and is usually between ten and fifteen pounds weight. A second, and much smaller kind, which they call Tenopen,[153] is somewhat rounder, but not unlike in other respects, except that their back shells are naturally covered with curious carved work. The tortoises in the Gallapagos isles resembles the Hackatee, having long necks and small heads, but are much larger.
[Footnote 153: This word in the text is probably a misprint for Terrapin, a trivial name for a species of land or fresh-water tortoise, found also in the warmer parts of North America--E.]
In these islands there are also some green snakes, and great numbers of remarkably tame turtle-doves, very fat, and excellent eating. There are large channels between some of these islands, capable of receiving ships of moderate burden. On the shoals there grows great abundance of sea-weed, called turtle-grass, owing to which these channels abound in green turtles or sea-tortoises. There are several kinds of turtles or sea-tortoises, as the Trunk, Loggerhead, Hawksbill, and Green turtles. The first is larger than the rest, and has a rounder and higher back shell, but is neither so wholesome nor so well tasted; and the same may be said of the Loggerhead, which feeds on moss from the rocks, and has its name from its large head. The Hawksbill, so named from having a long small mouth, like the beak of a hawk, is the smallest species, and is that which produces the so-much-admired tortoise-shell, of which cabinets, boxes, combs, and other things are made in Europe, and of this shell each has from three to four pounds, though some have less. The flesh of this kind is but indifferent, yet better than that of the Loggerheads; though these, which are taken between the Sambellos and Portobello, make those who eat the flesh purge and vomit excessively, and the same is observed of some other fish in the West Indies.
The laying time of the sea-tortoises is about May, June, and July, a little sooner or later, and they lay three times each season, eighty or ninety eggs each time, which are round and as large as an hen's egg, but covered only with a thin white skin, having no shell. When a tortoise goes on shore to lay, she is usually an hour before she returns, as she always chuses her place above high-water mark, where she makes a large hole with her fins in the sand, in which she lays her eggs, and then covers them two feet deep with the sand she had raked out. Sometimes they go on shore the day before, to take a look of the place, and are sure to return to the same spot next day. People take the tortoises on this occasion, while on shore in the night, turning them over on their backs, above high-water mark, and then return to fetch them off next morning; but a large Green tortoise will give work enough to two stout men to turn her over. The Green tortoise gets its name from the colour of the shell, having a small round head, and weighs from 200 to 300 pounds. Its flesh is accounted the best of any, but there are none of this kind in the South Sea. The sea-tortoises found at the Gallapagos being a bastard kind of Green tortoises, having thicker shells than those of the West Indies, and their flesh not so good. They are also much larger, being frequently two or three feet thick, and their bellies five feet broad.
They remained twelve or fourteen days at the Gallapagos, during which time Captain Cooke lived on shore in a very poor state of health. They also landed 1500 bags of flour, with a large quantity of sweetmeats and other provisions, on York Island, which they might have recourse to on any emergency. From one of their prisoners, an Indian of Realejo, they had a flattering account of the riches of that place, which he alleged might be easily taken, and for which enterprise he offered to serve them as a guide. Setting sail therefore from the Gallapagos on the 12th June, they shaped their course in lat 4° 40' N. with the intention of touching at the Island of Cocos, [in lat. 5° 27' N. and long. 87° 27' W. from Greenwich.] This island is seven or eight leagues in circuit, but uninhabited, and produces a pleasant herb near the sea coast, called Geamadael by the Spaniards. It is so environed with steep rocks as to be inaccessible, except on the N.E. where ships may safely ride in a small bay.
Missing this island, they continued their course towards the continent of America, and reached Cape Blanco, or Trespuntas, on the coast of Mexico, in lat. 9° 56' N. in the beginning of July. This cape gets the name of Blanco, or the White Cape, from two high steep taper white rocks, like high towers, about half a mile distant. The cape itself is about the same height with Beachy-head, on the coast of Sussex, being a full broad point jutting out to sea, and terminated with steep rocks, while both sides have easy descents to the sea from the flat top, which is covered with tall trees, and affords a pleasant prospect. On the N.W. side of the cape the land runs in to the N.E. for four leagues, making a small bay, called Caldera Bay, at the entrance to which, at the N.W. side of the cape, a rivulet of fresh water discharges itself into the sea through very rich low lands abounding in lofty trees. This rich wooded vale extends a mile N.E. beyond the rivulet, when a savanna begins, running several leagues into the country, here and there beautifully interspersed with groves of trees, and covered with excellent long grass. Deeper into the bay, the low lands are cloathed with mangroves; but farther into the country the land is higher, partly covered with woods, and partly consisting of hilly savannas, not so good as the former, and here the woods consist of short small trees. From the bottom of this bay one may travel to the lake of Nicaragua over hilly savannas, a distance of fourteen, or fifteen leagues.[154]