The Encantadas; or, Enchanted Isles

Although he probably never actually set foot onto the Galapagos Islands (though he did glimpse them once from shipboard), Melville became fascinated by the "enchanted islands" after reading Darwin's VOYAGE OF THE BEAGLE. These ten sketches were published under the pseudonym Salvator R. Tarnmoor (possibly because of Melville's declining reputation after the failures of MOBY-DICK and PIERRE), and were originally published in Putnam's Monthly in 1854.