The Last Days of a Paradise
Jacob P. Lundh
| Part I |
Part II |
Part III |
Part IV |
| Preface |
VIII: Return to Paradise |
XIII. The Governors |
XVIII. Date Palms, Wild Goats, Spiny Lobsters |
| I: Watkin's Oasis |
IX. Elections 1960 |
XIV. The Colonization of San Cristóbal |
XIX. The Early Inhabitants of Santa Cruz |
| II: The Ghosts of Post Office Bay |
X. At the Mercy of Wind and Current |
XV. Of Treasures and Other Things |
XX. Life of the Settlers |
| III. The Tragic Year |
XI. Life in Puerto Baquerizo |
XVI. The Franciscan Missionaries |
XXI. The Quest for Salt |
| IV. The Haven of Peace |
XII. The Americans Arrive |
XVII. Tourists and Scientists |
XXII. The Island of the Buccaneers |
| V. The Early Settlers |
|
|
XXIII. Of Tortoises and Cacti |
| VI. The Search for Saydee Reiser |
XXIV. Goodbye to Paradise |
| VII. Farewell, Floreana |
|
All rights to the present work belong to the author. You are however welcome to use any part of it provided you mention its source, a courtesy I would expect from anybody who is provided with free access to another's work. I hope you enjoy reading this and find it interesting and useful. Any comments you may have are appreciated.
I would like to thank my daughter, designer Ingrid Lundh, and our mutual friend photographer Erik Thallaug for their offer to help me with the copying of slides and other photographic material for these pages, which will be used in the future.—J. P. Lundh.
e-mail:
We shall mention here only a few works about the Galápagos Islands which could be of interest to those who wish to find out a little more about the islands. The most extensive bibliography I have come across until now is that by Carlos Manuel Larrea, in his El Archipiélago de Colón. The edition I have is the second one, dated in 1960, and has a bibliography of 117 pages. Since then, much has been written about the islands, so this, extensive though it is, would probably cover only half the material that has been published until today. Some of the titles that follow will however serve as a good introduction for those who wish to increase their knowledge about these islands.
Andersson, N.J.
1854
Optegnelser paa en reise rundt jorden, 1851 - 1853. Cappelen, Christiania. A Norwegian translation of the letters written by Prof. Andersson during his voyage around the world on His Swedish Majesty's Frigate Eugenie.
Bognoli, J.A. & Espinosa, J.M.
1917
Las Islas Encantadas. Guayaquil. This book has for many years been difficult to get hold of. It contains much material of historic interest, especially about the murder of Manuel J. Cobos and Governor Leonardo Reina in 1904
Bowman, R.I.
1961
Morphological Differentiation and Adaptation in Galápagos Finches. University of California Publications in Zoology. Vol. 58. Uni. of Calif. Press, Berkeley and Los Angeles. This is the most exhaustive work on Darwin's finches and of great interest to those interested in the evolution and adaption of species.
Darwin, C.R.
1839
The Voyage of the Beagle. J.M. Dent & Sons, London, 1979. There are many earlier and later editions of this book, in many languages
Dawson, E.Y.
1962
“Cacti of the Galápagos Islands and of Coastal Ecuador.” Reprint from the Cactus and Succulent Journal of America. Vol. XXXIV Nos. 3 and 4. These two papers complete and update the classification of Galápagos cacti, a most interesting group of plants.
Eibl-Eibesfeldt, I.
1959
Survey of the Galápagos Islands. Unesco Missions Report No. 8. Paris. An excellent introduction to the fauna of the islands and the problems around their protection
Harris, M.
1974
A Field Guide of the Birds of Galápagos. Collins, London. An excellent illustrated guide that is useful both to the professional and the amateur.
Hoff, S.
1985
Drømmen om Galápagos. Grøndahl & Sønn, Oslo. This is the history of the Norwegian settlers in the islands, the only one existing at present. Very well written, well illustrated and absolutely trustworthy. Unfortunately it is only obtainable in Norwegian. An English translation by the late Mrs. Elfriede Horneman exists, but has not yet been published. [
Web version is now available.—JW]
Larrea, C. M.
1960
El Archipiélago de Colón. Casa de la Cultura Ecuatoriana. Second Edition. Quito. The book contains a great amount of historical information and an extensive bibliography. It is a very valuable and reliable source. There is a later edition that is supposed to have come out in Mexico.
Lundh, Jacob
1950
Recuerdos de las Islas Encantadas. Letras del Ecuador. Casa de la Cultura Ecuatoriana. Quito. Historical, mainly dealing with the 1920's and 1930's.
1966
Viaje por las Islas Encantadas. Vistazo. March 1966. Guayaquil. A general description of the inhabited islands.
1971
“Apuntes sobre las Islas Galápagos.” In Revista del Colegio Vicente Rocafuerte No. 74, pgs. 44-89. Guayaquil. A general introduction to Galápagos, which was used for a long time as a text for teaching local geography and history in some Galápagos schools.
1995
“A brief account of some early inhabitants of Santa Cruz Island.” In Noticias de Galápagos No. 55. Charles Darwin Foundation for the Galápagos Islands. A short account of the earliest known inhabitants of Santa Cruz.
1998
“Insidious Invaders.” In Noticias de Galápagos No. 59. C.D.F.G. An introduction to the problem of small animals that have been brought to the islands accidentally in the course of the years. The author has written about the islands in other publications, including a few articles in Noticias that are not mentioned here.
Perry, R.
1972
The Galápagos Islands. Dodd, Mead & Co. New York. Dr. Perry was director of the Charles Darwin Research Station during seven years, and his book is an entertaining and short introduction, especially to the fauna.
2000
Island Days. Minerva Press. The first part of this book is about the Galápagos Islands. The whole book is very interesting and gives insights into the author's life in Galápagos, the Line Islands and Tristan da Cunha.
Slevin, J.
1959
The Galápagos Islands: A History of their Exploration. Occ. Papers Calif. Acad. Scie. No. 25. S. Francisco. A historical work that covers from the Spanish discovery to the scientific expeditions of the 19th and first half of the 20th centuries. His rather brief information about Norwegian settlers is however totally misleading.
Snow, D. W.
1964
The Giant Tortoises of the Galápagos Islands. Oryx Vol. VII No. 6. A brief introduction to the giant tortoises and their status on the eve of the Darwin Station's conservation program. Dr. Snow was director at the Darwin Research Station before Dr. Perry took over.
Stewart, A.
1911
A Botanical Survey of the Galápagos Islands. Proc. Calif. Acad. Scie. 4th Ser. Vol I No.2. S. Francisco. Until 1971 this was the most complete work on the botany of the islands. It is still of great interest, especially because it gives the altitudes at which the different island plants are found.
Swarth, H. S.
1931
The Avifauna of the Galápagos Islands. Occ. Papers Calif. Acad. Scie. XVIII. S. Francisco. A very useful work for the ornithologist, based mainly on the extensive collections at the California Academy of Sciences.
Van Denburgh, J.
1914
The Giant Land Tortoises of Galápagos Archipelago. Proc. Calif. Acad. Scie. 4th Ser. Vol. II Pt. 1 No. 10. S. Francisco. This is the most detailed work that exists about these reptiles. It is based manily on the large collections of the California Academy of Sciences and the field notes taken during their capture. The 4th Series also includes papers on the snakes and geckos, both by Van Denburgh, and one about the lava lizards and the island iguanas, written by Van Denburgh and Joseph Slevin.
Wiggins, I. & Porter, D.
1971
Flora of the Galápagos Islands. Stanford University Press, Stanford, Calif. An encyclopedic work about the vascular plants of Galápagos, written by 28 specialists. Richly illustrated, mainly with ink drawings.
Wittmer, M.
1959
Postlagernd Floreana. Verlag Heinrich Scheffler. Frankfurt am Main. There is at least one English edition. The book is of great interest as it gives an excellent description of life in Galápagos and the problems the settlers had to face in the 1930's and 1940's.
Since the 1960's, there has been much published about the islands, especially scientific papers. What has been written for the general public is, now as before, not to be taken at face value, though it must be admitted that most articles and books only have unimportant errors, something to be expected when people write about exotic regions they visit for a very limited time. The photographic material is nowadays invariably good.
Two websites are of interest. One of them is the site of the Darwin Foundation, which tells about their activities in Galápagos and includes several articles about the islands, including some by this author (http://www.darwinfoundation. org). The other is one about the Galápagos Islands and their history, belonging to Mr. John Woram: http://www.galapagos.to. It is highly recommended.