Narrative of the surveying voyages of his majesty's ships Adventure and Beagle (vol.2): between the years 1826 and 1836 : describing their examination of the southern shores of South America, and the Beagles's circumnavigation of the globe

Oct. 1835. SMOKE ANCHOR IN CRATER, 495 eastern height of Albemarle, smoke was seen issuing from several places near the summit, but no flame. Profiting bv every breeze, we hastened towards Tagus (or Banks) Cove. Narborough Island is exactly like a part of Albemarle — great volcano, whose base is surrounded by an extensive field of lava : it is utterly barren and desolate. A few mangroves, on the sandy beaches near Albemarle Island, are not seen in the distance ; neither are there enough of them even to diminish the dismal appearance of the island. We entered the passage in the afternoon, and anchored in the little cove first described by Capt. Pipon, who then commanded H.M.S. Tagus. This cove is the crater of an extinct volcano, and its sides are so steep as to be almost inaccessible.* 1st October. Our first object was to find water : none could be got in the cove, but at a short distance from it a few holes were found, out of which a bottle might be filled in an hour. Around this scanty spring draining continually through the rock, all the little birds of the island appeared to be collected, a pretty clear indication of there being then no other fresh-water within their reach : yet during the rainy season there must be considerable streams, judging by gullies which are worn in the rock. All the heights hereabouts, and the sides of the craters, are composed of sandstone that looks like fine sandy mud half baked ; but the low grounds are lava. The crater in which we anchored gave me the idea of its having been a mud volcano. The climate is very diiferent from that of the Windward Islands; for wind clouds and rain appear to be obstructed in their northward passage, by the heights on the southern part of this island. The heat is here far greater than in other parts of the archipelago, and the land is more sterile. Numbers of another sort of iguana were seen for the first time, and many were killed and eaten. In size and shape they resemble the black kind, but their colour * In 1825 H.M.S. Blonde, commanded by Lord Byron, anchored here. In her voyage (pp. 92, 93, 94) the black and the red (or brown) iguanas are described, and it is stated that a specimen of the black kind was brought to England from Mexico. Lord Bvron saw a volcano burning on Narborough Island.