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54 NADFAS REVIEW / SPRING 2017Above: Prickly pear cacti helped pirates survive in the Galápagos Treasure islandsFray Tomas de Berlanga, Bishop of Panama, discovered the Galápagos, a collection of volcanic islands 650 miles off the coast of Ecuador, by accident in 1535. He was on his way to Peru at the behest of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor and King of Spain. As with later travellers, he was struck by the extraordinary animals, describing “such big tortoises that each could carry a man on the top of itself”, “many birds like those of Spain, but so silly that they do not know how to fl ee”, and “many iguanas that are like serpents”. The islands were uninhabited. However, discoveries in 1952 of pre-Columbian pottery and strains of cotton cultivated on the mainland suggest that Equadorian and Peruvian sailors may have discovered the Galápagos previously.By 1569 the islands appeared on maps, but were unappealing to seafarers as there was no obvious source of fresh water, plus there were strong currents and unpredictable winds. The islands remained undisturbed for another 150 years by which time they were known as Las Encatadas – the Enchanted Islands – and considered to be “but shadowes and noe reall islands”. All that was to change in 1683, with the arrival of William Dampier (1651–1715), described by Coleridge as “a pirate of exquisite mind”. During his lifetime, Dampier travelled three times around the world and published seven books recording currents, winds and tides as well as observations of lands, plants and creatures – work that later infl uenced naturalists such as Alexander Humboldt and Charles Darwin, for whom books were “those most valuable of all valuable things”.On this occasion, Dampier had taken three Spanish ships, but was deeply disappointed to discover that the treasure he sought had been secretly offl oaded at the news of his presence in the Pacifi c. The Galápagos Islands are synonymous with Darwin, but it was an English pirate who fi rst brought them to the attention of the world. Antonia Cunningham reports