On Two Days, The Thermometer
Within The Tent Stood For Some Hours At 93 Degs.; But In The Open
Air, In The Wind And Sun, At Only 85 Degs.
The sand was extremely
hot; the thermometer placed in some of a brown colour
immediately rose to 137 degs., and how much above that
it would have risen, I do not know, for it was not graduated
any higher.
The black sand felt much hotter, so that
even in thick boots it was quite disagreeable to walk over it.
The natural history of these islands is eminently curious,
and well deserves attention. Most of the organic productions
are aboriginal creations, found nowhere else; there is even
a difference between the inhabitants of the different islands;
yet all show a marked relationship with those of America,
though separated from that continent by an open space of
ocean, between 500 and 600 miles in width. The archipelago
is a little world within itself, or rather a satellite attached
to America, whence it has derived a few stray colonists, and
has received the general character of its indigenous
productions. Considering the small size of the islands, we feel
the more astonished at the number of their aboriginal beings,
and at their confined range. Seeing every height crowned
with its crater, and the boundaries of most of the lava-
streams still distinct, we are led to believe that within a
period geologically recent the unbroken ocean was here
spread out. Hence, both in space and time, we seem to be
brought somewhat near to that great fact - that mystery of
mysteries - the first appearance of new beings on this earth.
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