Far out in the quiet Pacific, the low-domed backs of massive shield volcanoes rise from the depths. Here and there they break the surface as islands. Across great spans of time these islands have wandered, like so many giant tortoises bathing in a pool.

The first Spanish navigators to chart the Galapágos archipelago were convinced they could see the islands move. These lands were bewitched- cursed even. They called them Las Encantadas, the Enchanted Isles: an earthly Tartarus at the furthest edge of the known world. A land fit for fiends, but not for men.

(Stewart, P. BBC).