After cruising around to the south of the Galápagos Islands for two
days, doing deep dredging and hauling, we turned back to Hood, the most
southerly of all the islands. It is low-lying with two or three rather
higher hills and at the south end an albatross rookery which shows way
out at sea, a high rocky headland, with the birds showing white against
the black rocks.
Compared to the other islands there is little known about Hood. There
are lots of sea lions on the beaches and in the coves around the rocks.
You may get almost close enough to touch them. Isabel Cooper, who is
not afraid of anything, crept near enough to pat one old bull on the
flipper. When she laughed aloud he gave a curious grunt and slid into
the water.
We noticed that several of the sea lions had eye disease, many of the
little pups being entirely blind, and the older ones having perhaps one
eye dimmed with a white film. So Bill Merriam shot one of them, brought
it to the boat, and the doctor took the eyes out to study the sickness.
I went ashore with the crew one day, and we got a huge log which was
covered with barnacles. We pushed it back into the water again and
played with it, diving and climbing over it and fooling with it as we
would a raft at home. The water is beautifully clear, the white sand
and the black rocks showing up perfectly clearly for many feet deep. Of
course we were all terribly scratched with rough housing, but it was
good fun and fine exercise.
I lifted up some of the black rocks along the beach at low tide and
found a small octopus. Someone took him out of the jar I had put him
into to look at him and left him in the sun, so he died. But he was
valuable as a specimen on the ship and has been put with the other jars
aboard.
The beaches here at Hood have very soft white sand, unlike that at
Tower which is crumbled up coral and sharp and cuts the feet.
Also there are many bays or coves like fiords along the shore. Don
Dickerman, one of the best collectors in the outfit, was getting
beautiful starfish, some like worms, some brittle and a lovely pinkish
coral color, and some small red and green fish while I rowed the boat
around so it wouldn’t smash on the rocks. When he was doing this I saw
seven sharks, one huge turtle and one small one.
Another day John Tee Van took me with him when he went ashore to trap
birds. He uses a long pole with a small twig on the end. This is
covered with very sticky paste. He whistles the song of the bird, and
when it comes to see who it is, John hits him on the back a light tap
which makes him stick to the twig. Then John takes him off, wipes off
the paste, puts him in a box, and takes him to the ship.
Dwight Franklin harpooned a big ray along the shore of the beach, and
lost the harpoon. Afterwards we saw the handle going along the surface.
He got four other rays, but never caught the one that had gone off with
the harpoon handle. We saw spotted rays, brown ones, red ones and black
ones.
At night when we are at anchor, there are two great arc lights lowered
over the ship’s side, one over the boom and one above the gangway. This
bright light attracts the fish in great numbers. At Hood the flying
fish were very plentiful, and a large size—ten or twelve inches long,
with lovely pinkish purple wings or fins. One night I harpooned enough
for breakfast for the crowd.
The fish seem to get quite crazy with the light and they dart around
cracking themselves against the boats and the shipside. To add to the
excitement, sea lions come skimming by and snatch at the wounded ones
gulping them down and stuffing themselves on more. One big sea lion
came close enough to the gangway for me to reach over and touch him.
Another night I caught a Portuguese man-o’-war in a scoop net and was
stung by him on both hands. This is a jelly fish kind of thing with
long trailers or tentacles. And these tentacles are poisonous and sting
their prey so they can eat the little fish or plankton. I also caught a
little transparent fish, pale colors with dabs of bright red on the
lower fin. Miss Cooper painted him. And I got a bright red squid and
many small crabs one of which was scarlet.
Altogether I think I had the most fun at Hood Island, because the beach
was so long and the shore line was so easy to explore. Mother went to
the tops of three of the highest peaks in the island and saw way over
the first ridge a long low lagoon of fresh water, probably rain water
with great reddish muddy pools.
There are many goats here, quite wild and unused to man. Some are
bright faun color, others have black stripes or spots and one old buck
which the crew shot and brought in had entire white hind quarters,
brownish head, black beard and large horns. They eat the cactus leaves
and the small trees and the wisps of grass.
There is a good deal of soil here, reddish and evidently very heavy
rains at this season. The lagoons are fresh rain water and in places
climbing up the mountains it seems like half dried stream beds or water
courses—rocks and muddy places between, and then great terraces of
tuffa rock, a very sharp lava rock which is hard to climb over.