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We left James Island in the early morning hours of April 20th and anchored off Villamil, southern Albemarle, a few minutes after ten o'clock. The anchorage is a miserable one, for we encountered worse swells here than anywhere else in all the Islands. One must anchor well out from shore, and go in in a small launch or boat, because the reefs investing the landing are particularly bad. Fortunately, Señor Bolivar Gil came out to guide us in. Captain Picking had been directed to bring out an American survey party of [[strikethrough]] on [[/strikethrough]] four that had spent the past three months on this island, Messrs. Irvine, Douglas, Harms, and Palmer. ^[[(chart of the Villamil landing possessed by this party was made available to us, copy appended).]]
     
From Villamil we moved around to "Foster Cove", Elizabeth Bay, southern Albermarle, where the night was spent. Very early the next morning, April 21st, we moved up to Tagus Cove. Here we spent the day and the following night before getting under [[symbol indicating extra space]]  way for Cocos Island.

Through the kindness of Captain Picking, it was possible to make a circuit of Culpepper Island, the most northerly of the Galapagos group. Having long been interested in this island, I was now enabled to have ^[[insertion]] my first [[/insertion]] close-up view of it. [[strikethrough]] for the first time. [[/strikethrough]] Its upper levels have never been trodden by man and so remain a virgin collecting field, the only one in all the archipelago. To get up on this island would require special equipment, particularly scaffolding, as on almost every side the bare, almost perpendicular cliffs run up several hundred feet or more.

We raised Cocos in the early morning of April 24th. Before anchoring in Chatham Bay, the island was circumnavigated. For the first time in several visits to Cocos Island did I see any of the reputedly heavy rains, and I can now attest that they do come down with full tropical intensity, though they are of comparatively short duration. On our last day at Cocos, Saturday, April 26th, [[strikethrough]] [[?]] [[/strikethrough]] accompanied by Lt. Ralph Ernest, Civil Engineer, U.S.N., I took advantage of the opportunity to obtain additional seeds of the rare [[underlined]] Rooseveltia [[/underlined]] palm from one of a stand of the trees from the heights above Chatham Bay.

[[strikethrough]] No time was lost on the run back to Balboa, where we arrived at 7 o'clock the morning of the 30th. Here, Captain Picking and I had a conference with Admiral F.H. Sadler, which should be considered as confidential. Although the Navy has permission from the Ecuadorian government to establish air and submarine bases in the Galapagos, they plan ^[[insertion]] to make [[/insertion]] no move until really necessary. Any pioneering in the way of [[strikethrough]] setting up a shore establishment [[/strikethrough]] in the islands would, of necessity, devolve upon the Smithsonian if undertaken at all. [[strikethrough]] As valuable as any facilities that the Navy might sometime construct would be to our undertaking, this "right" of priority was, nevertheless, good news, for it [[/strikethrough]] ^[[This]] would permit the location of the laboratory on what may be now considered the most favorable site in the Islands. [[/strikethrough]]