Show natural i m hidden gold strange birds and giant tortoises on the galapagos washington D C the galapagos islands are being revisited by scientists because they form an abe natural history museum says a bulletin from the washington D 0 headquarters of 0 the national geographic society charles darwin began their scientific exploration and he reported on the various species of giant tortoises each species confined to a single islet and pointed out that half the floi flowers sers and half the birds of the island are to be found nowhere else in the world diore than 2000 volcanic cones besprinkle the archipelago one estimate has it and the islands volcanic origin accounts for the peculiar interest they hold to science darwin deduced that thai the group has not been nearer the lie mainland nor have the islands been closer together than now how peculiarities developed illene hence the species of flowers and birds chich drifted to the islands have undergone a development in their isolated environment very different from that in their native habitats seldom has nature prodded ded such a clear cut opportunity to study the processes of cIo evolution lution the galapagos hold a different sort ot of lure for the modern world most tales of hidden treasures warrant many grains of salt but it seems seeing certain that the pirates of south america bid their loot of gold and silver where they bad their headquarters in these islands two to caches have been unearthed sliver silver ingots ingols and pieces of eight the finda r of one built a hotel in ecuador the second drank to death the islands lie ile just under the equator but the air frequently Is chilly on some of them one albe marie made also called isabella la Is feet high the cold antarctic currents which fan file coast of peru strike seaward at cape blanco and surge across the galapagos group up to feet most of the islands are barren above that level they are swathed in clouds whose moisture aids lux luxuriant laut vegetation wild goats cattle cats and dogs as well as hidden treasure bear evidence of the rendezvous of bucca in 1832 ecuador annexed the islands and since 1885 they have bad a governor they acquired a strategic importance with the opening ol of the panama canal for they lie ile on the canai banai to australla route the largest island of the group the aforementioned albemarle Is larger than long island now new york the entire group lias has an area considerably in excess of that of delaware the nearest of the islands to mainland Is COO miles west of ecuador have Eco economic value treasure and science to one side as a famous humorist would say the future of the islands looms large upon their agricultural merit helph stock in his classic account of the dream ship expedition wrote the soll soil Is a rich red loam almost and scarcely touched bythe by the plex plo c there are agoo head of cattle at present on cristobal island and it could support with ease there Is no disease and no adverse climatic condition with which to contend and nt at three years old a steer brings gold live weight at Gu ayaquil when a steamer can be induced to call and take it there there are a few hundred acres under cultivation when there might be tIou thousands sands and bone lazy r eons bons do the work of CO 50 ordinary farm hands looking down on this fertile val lov it Is hard to realize that one la 14 st standing finding on the lip of a long extinct crater that in reality C crystobal r Is a series of these dour and uninviting to a degree viewed from outside but veritable gardens within and there are four other islands in the gos group some smaller some larger than uninhabited and exactly similar in ch cha ameter acter nominally egg laying contests at quincy and I 1 Nurphy |