The chapter opens with a soliloquy by a young man who has just returned from a trip to the Galapagos. He tells his companions that he is glad to be back in the Galapagos, and that he hopes they will all fare well in their new home. He also tells them that the Galapagos are full of "shit bugs" . The young man, who goes by the name of "lulu," explains that he has come to live in a "hell" , a place where no one can hear him, no one cares about him, and no one ever wants to die. He explains that the sound of the town's sinking into the sea of bugs is like a "sea of sea-shitbugs," and that