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The Voyage Of The Beagle

C >> Charles Darwin >> The Voyage Of The Beagle



This Etext was prepared by Sue Asscher asschers@dingoblue.net.au





A NATURALIST'S VOYAGE ROUND THE WORLD

BY

CHARLES DARWIN.




FIRST EDITION...MAY 1860.

SECOND EDITION...MAY 1870.

THIRD EDITION...FEBRUARY 1872.

FOURTH EDITION...JULY 1874.

FIFTH EDITION...MARCH 1876.

SIXTH EDITION...JANUARY 1879.

SEVENTH EDITION...MAY 1882.

EIGHTH EDITION...FEBRUARY 1884.

NINTH EDITION...AUGUST 1886.

TENTH EDITION...JANUARY 1888.

ELEVENTH EDITION...JANUARY 1890.

REPRINTED...JUNE 1913.


(FRONTISPIECE. H.M.S. BEAGLE IN STRAITS OF MAGELLAN. MT.
SARMIENTO IN THE DISTANCE.)


JOURNAL OF RESEARCHES

INTO THE

NATURAL HISTORY AND GEOLOGY

OF THE

COUNTRIES VISITED DURING THE VOYAGE
ROUND THE WORLD OF H.M.S. 'BEAGLE'
UNDER THE COMMAND OF CAPTAIN FITZ ROY, R.N.

BY CHARLES DARWIN, M.A., F.R.S.

AUTHOR OF 'ORIGIN OF SPECIES,' ETC.


(PLATE 1. H.M.S. BEAGLE UNDER FULL SAIL, VIEW FROM ASTERN.)


A NEW EDITION
WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY R.T. PRITCHETT OF PLACES VISITED AND
OBJECTS DESCRIBED.

LONDON
JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET
1913.



TO
CHARLES LYELL, ESQ., F.R.S.,

This second edition is dedicated with grateful pleasure, as an
acknowledgment that the chief part of whatever scientific merit
this journal and the other works of the author may possess, has
been derived from studying the well-known and admirable

PRINCIPLES OF GEOLOGY.


PREFATORY NOTICE TO THE ILLUSTRATED EDITION.

This work was described, on its first appearance, by a writer in
the "Quarterly Review" as "One of the most interesting narratives
of voyaging that it has fallen to our lot to take up, and one
which must always occupy a distinguished place in the history of
scientific navigation."

This prophecy has been amply verified by experience; the
extraordinary minuteness and accuracy of Mr. Darwin's
observations, combined with the charm and simplicity of his
descriptions, have ensured the popularity of this book with all
classes of readers--and that popularity has even increased in
recent years. No attempt, however, has hitherto been made to
produce an illustrated edition of this valuable work: numberless
places and objects are mentioned and described, but the
difficulty of obtaining authentic and original representations of
them drawn for the purpose has never been overcome until now.

Most of the views given in this work are from sketches made on
the spot by Mr. Pritchett, with Mr. Darwin's book by his side.
Some few of the others are taken from engravings which Mr. Darwin
had himself selected for their interest as illustrating his
voyage, and which have been kindly lent by his son.

Mr. Pritchett's name is well known in connection with the voyages
of the "Sunbeam" and "Wanderer," and it is believed that the
illustrations, which have been chosen and verified with the
utmost care and pains, will greatly add to the value and interest
of the "VOYAGE OF A NATURALIST."

JOHN MURRAY.
December 1889.



AUTHOR'S PREFACE.

I have stated in the preface to the first Edition of this work,
and in the "Zoology of the Voyage of the Beagle," that it was in
consequence of a wish expressed by Captain Fitz Roy, of having
some scientific person on board, accompanied by an offer from him
of giving up part of his own accommodations, that I volunteered
my services, which received, through the kindness of the
hydrographer, Captain Beaufort, the sanction of the Lords of the
Admiralty. As I feel that the opportunities which I enjoyed of
studying the Natural History of the different countries we
visited have been wholly due to Captain Fitz Roy, I hope I may
here be permitted to repeat my expression of gratitude to him;
and to add that, during the five years we were together, I
received from him the most cordial friendship and steady
assistance. Both to Captain Fitz Roy and to all the Officers of
the "Beagle" I shall ever feel most thankful for the undeviating
kindness with which I was treated during our long voyage.
(Preface/1. I must take this opportunity of returning my sincere
thanks to Mr. Bynoe, the surgeon of the "Beagle," for his very
kind attention to me when I was ill at Valparaiso.)

This volume contains, in the form of a Journal, a history of our
voyage, and a sketch of those observations in Natural History and
Geology, which I think will possess some interest for the general
reader. I have in this edition largely condensed and corrected
some parts, and have added a little to others, in order to render
the volume more fitted for popular reading; but I trust that
naturalists will remember that they must refer for details to the
larger publications which comprise the scientific results of the
Expedition. The "Zoology of the Voyage of the 'Beagle'" includes
an account of the Fossil Mammalia, by Professor Owen; of the
Living Mammalia, by Mr. Waterhouse; of the Birds, by Mr. Gould;
of the Fish, by the Reverend L. Jenyns; and of the Reptiles, by
Mr. Bell. I have appended to the descriptions of each species an
account of its habits and range. These works, which I owe to the
high talents and disinterested zeal of the above distinguished
authors, could not have been undertaken had it not been for the
liberality of the Lords Commissioners of Her Majesty's Treasury,
who, through the representation of the Right Honourable the
Chancellor of the Exchequer, have been pleased to grant a sum of
one thousand pounds towards defraying part of the expenses of
publication.

I have myself published separate volumes on the "Structure and
Distribution of Coral Reefs"; on the "Volcanic Islands visited
during the Voyage of the 'Beagle'"; and on the "Geology of South
America." The sixth volume of the "Geological Transactions"
contains two papers of mine on the Erratic Boulders and Volcanic
Phenomena of South America. Messrs. Waterhouse, Walker, Newman,
and White, have published several able papers on the Insects
which were collected, and I trust that many others will hereafter
follow. The plants from the southern parts of America will be
given by Dr. J. Hooker, in his great work on the Botany of the
Southern Hemisphere. The Flora of the Galapagos Archipelago is
the subject of a separate memoir by him, in the "Linnean
Transactions." The Reverend Professor Henslow has published a
list of the plants collected by me at the Keeling Islands; and
the Reverend J.M. Berkeley has described my cryptogamic plants.

I shall have the pleasure of acknowledging the great assistance
which I have received from several other naturalists in the
course of this and my other works; but I must be here allowed to
return my most sincere thanks to the Reverend Professor Henslow,
who, when I was an undergraduate at Cambridge, was one chief
means of giving me a taste for Natural History,--who, during my
absence, took charge of the collections I sent home, and by his
correspondence directed my endeavours,--and who, since my return,
has constantly rendered me every assistance which the kindest
friend could offer.

DOWN, BROMLEY, KENT,
June 1845.



CONTENTS.


CHAPTER I.

Porto Praya -- Ribeira Grande -- Atmospheric Dust with Infusoria
-- Habits of a Sea-slug and Cuttle-fish -- St. Paul's Rocks,
non-volcanic -- Singular Incrustations -- Insects the first
Colonists of Islands -- Fernando Noronha -- Bahia -- Burnished
Rocks -- Habits of a Diodon -- Pelagic Confervae and Infusoria --
Causes of discoloured Sea.


CHAPTER II.

Rio de Janeiro -- Excursion north of Cape Frio -- Great
Evaporation -- Slavery -- Botofogo Bay -- Terrestrial Planariae
-- Clouds on the Corcovado -- Heavy Rain -- Musical Frogs --
Phosphorescent insects -- Elater, springing powers of -- Blue
Haze -- Noise made by a Butterfly -- Entomology -- Ants -- Wasp
killing a Spider -- Parasitical Spider -- Artifices of an Epeira
-- Gregarious Spider -- Spider with an unsymmetrical web.


CHAPTER III.

Monte Video -- Maldonado -- Excursion to R. Polanco -- Lazo and
Bolas -- Partridges -- Absence of trees -- Deer -- Capybara, or
River Hog -- Tucutuco -- Molothrus, cuckoo-like habits --
Tyrant-flycatcher -- Mocking-bird -- Carrion Hawks -- Tubes
formed by lightning -- House struck.


CHAPTER IV.

Rio Negro -- Estancias attacked by the Indians -- Salt-Lakes --
Flamingoes -- R. Negro to R. Colorado -- Sacred Tree --
Patagonian Hare -- Indian Families -- General Rosas -- Proceed to
Bahia Blanca -- Sand Dunes -- Negro Lieutenant -- Bahia Blanca --
Saline incrustations -- Punta Alta -- Zorillo.

CHAPTER V.

Bahia Blanca -- Geology -- Numerous gigantic extinct Quadrupeds
-- Recent Extinction -- Longevity of Species -- Large Animals do
not require a luxuriant vegetation -- Southern Africa -- Siberian
Fossils -- Two Species of Ostrich -- Habits of Oven-bird --
Armadilloes -- Venomous Snake, Toad, Lizard -- Hybernation of
Animals -- Habits of Sea-Pen -- Indian Wars and Massacres --
Arrowhead -- Antiquarian Relic.


CHAPTER VI.

Set out for Buenos Ayres -- Rio Sauce -- Sierra Ventana -- Third
Posta -- Driving Horses -- Bolas -- Partridges and Foxes --
Features of the country -- Long-legged Plover -- Teru-tero --
Hail-storm -- Natural enclosures in the Sierra Tapalguen -- Flesh
of Puma -- Meat Diet -- Guardia del Monte -- Effects of cattle on
the Vegetation -- Cardoon -- Buenos Ayres -- Corral where cattle
are slaughtered.


CHAPTER VII.

Excursion to St. Fé -- Thistle Beds -- Habits of the Bizcacha --
Little Owl -- Saline streams -- Level plains -- Mastodon -- St.
Fé -- Change in landscape -- Geology -- Tooth of extinct Horse --
Relation of the Fossil and recent Quadrupeds of North and South
America -- Effects of a great drought -- Parana -- Habits of the
Jaguar -- Scissor-beak -- Kingfisher, Parrot, and Scissor-tail --
Revolution -- Buenos Ayres -- State of Government.


CHAPTER VIII.

Excursion to Colonia del Sacramiento -- Value of an Estancia --
Cattle, how counted -- Singular breed of Oxen -- Perforated
pebbles -- Shepherd-dogs -- Horses broken-in, Gauchos riding --
Character of Inhabitants -- Rio Plata -- Flocks of Butterflies --
Aeronaut Spiders -- Phosphorescence of the Sea -- Port Desire --
Guanaco -- Port St. Julian -- Geology of Patagonia -- Fossil
gigantic Animal -- Types of Organisation constant -- Change in
the Zoology of America -- Causes of Extinction.


CHAPTER IX.

Santa Cruz -- Expedition up the River -- Indians -- Immense
streams of basaltic lava -- Fragments not transported by the
river -- Excavation of the valley -- Condor, habits of --
Cordillera -- Erratic boulders of great size -- Indian relics --
Return to the ship -- Falkland Islands -- Wild horses, cattle,
rabbits -- Wolf-like fox -- Fire made of bones -- Manner of
hunting wild cattle -- Geology -- Streams of stones -- Scenes of
violence -- Penguin -- Geese -- Eggs of Doris -- Compound
animals.


CHAPTER X.

Tierra del Fuego, first arrival -- Good Success Bay -- An account
of the Fuegians on board -- Interview with the savages -- Scenery
of the forests -- Cape Horn -- Wigwam Cove -- Miserable condition
of the savages -- Famines -- Cannibals -- Matricide -- Religious
feelings -- Great Gale -- Beagle Channel -- Ponsonby Sound --
Build wigwams and settle the Fuegians -- Bifurcation of the
Beagle Channel -- Glaciers -- Return to the Ship -- Second visit
in the Ship to the Settlement -- Equality of condition amongst
the natives.


CHAPTER XI.

Strait of Magellan -- Port Famine -- Ascent of Mount Tarn --
Forests -- Edible fungus -- Zoology -- Great Seaweed -- Leave
Tierra del Fuego -- Climate -- Fruit-trees and productions of the
southern coasts -- Height of snow-line on the Cordillera --
Descent of glaciers to the sea -- Icebergs formed -- Transportal
of boulders -- Climate and productions of the Antarctic Islands
-- Preservation of frozen carcasses -- Recapitulation.

CHAPTER XII.

Valparaiso -- Excursion to the foot of the Andes -- Structure of
the land -- Ascend the Bell of Quillota -- Shattered masses of
greenstone -- Immense valleys -- Mines -- State of miners --
Santiago -- Hot-baths of Cauquenes -- Gold-mines --
Grinding-mills -- Perforated stones -- Habits of the Puma -- El
Turco and Tapacolo -- Humming-birds.


CHAPTER XIII.

Chiloe -- General aspect -- Boat excursion -- Native Indians --
Castro -- Tame fox -- Ascend San Pedro -- Chonos Archipelago --
Peninsula of Tres Montes -- Granitic range -- Boat-wrecked
sailors -- Low's Harbour -- Wild potato -- Formation of peat --
Myopotamus, otter and mice -- Cheucau and Barking-bird --
Opetiorhynchus -- Singular character of ornithology -- Petrels.


CHAPTER XIV.

San Carlos, Chiloe -- Osorno in eruption, contemporaneously with
Aconcagua and Coseguina -- Ride to Cucao -- Impenetrable forests
-- Valdivia -- Indians -- Earthquake -- Concepcion -- Great
earthquake -- Rocks fissured -- Appearance of the former towns --
The sea black and boiling -- Direction of the vibrations --
Stones twisted round -- Great Wave -- Permanent Elevation of the
land -- Area of volcanic phenomena -- The connection between the
elevatory and eruptive forces -- Cause of earthquakes -- Slow
elevation of mountain-chains.


CHAPTER XV.

Valparaiso -- Portillo Pass -- Sagacity of mules --
Mountain-torrents -- Mines, how discovered -- Proofs of the
gradual elevation of the Cordillera -- Effect of snow on rocks --
Geological structure of the two main ranges, their distinct
origin and upheaval -- Great subsidence -- Red snow -- Winds --
Pinnacles of snow -- Dry and clear atmosphere -- Electricity --
Pampas -- Zoology of the opposite sides of the Andes -- Locusts
-- Great Bugs -- Mendoza -- Uspallata Pass -- Silicified trees
buried as they grew -- Incas Bridge -- Badness of the passes
exaggerated -- Cumbre -- Casuchas -- Valparaiso.


CHAPTER XVI.

Coast-road to Coquimbo -- Great loads carried by the miners --
Coquimbo -- Earthquake -- Step-formed terraces -- Absence of
recent deposits -- Contemporaneousness of the Tertiary formations
-- Excursion up the valley -- Road to Guasco -- Deserts -- Valley
of Copiapó -- Rain and Earthquakes -- Hydrophobia -- The
Despoblado -- Indian ruins -- Probable change of climate --
River-bed arched by an earthquake -- Cold gales of wind -- Noises
from a hill -- Iquique -- Salt alluvium -- Nitrate of soda --
Lima -- Unhealthy country -- Ruins of Callao, overthrown by an
earthquake -- Recent subsidence -- Elevated shells on San
Lorenzo, their decomposition -- Plain with embedded shells and
fragments of pottery -- Antiquity of the Indian Race.


CHAPTER XVII.

Galapagos Archipelago -- The whole group volcanic -- Number of
craters -- Leafless bushes -- Colony at Charles Island -- James
Island -- Salt-lake in crater -- Natural history of the group --
Ornithology, curious finches -- Reptiles -- Great tortoises,
habits of -- Marine lizard, feeds on seaweed -- Terrestrial
lizard, burrowing habits, herbivorous -- Importance of reptiles
in the Archipelago -- Fish, shells, insects -- Botany -- American
type of organisation -- Differences in the species or races on
different islands -- Tameness of the birds -- Fear of man an
acquired instinct.


CHAPTER XVIII.

Pass through the Low Archipelago -- Tahiti -- Aspect --
Vegetation on the mountains -- View of Eimeo -- Excursion into
the interior -- Profound ravines -- Succession of waterfalls --
Number of wild useful plants -- Temperance of the inhabitants --
Their moral state -- Parliament convened -- New Zealand -- Bay of
Islands -- Hippahs -- Excursion to Waimate -- Missionary
establishment -- English weeds now run wild -- Waiomio -- Funeral
of a New Zealand woman -- Sail for Australia.


CHAPTER XIX.

Sydney -- Excursion to Bathurst -- Aspect of the woods -- Party
of natives -- Gradual extinction of the aborigines -- Infection
generated by associated men in health -- Blue Mountains -- View
of the grand gulf-like valleys -- Their origin and formation --
Bathurst, general civility of the lower orders -- State of
Society -- Van Diemen's Land -- Hobart Town -- Aborigines all
banished -- Mount Wellington -- King George's Sound -- Cheerless
aspect of the country -- Bald Head, calcareous casts of branches
of trees -- Party of natives -- Leave Australia.


CHAPTER XX.

Keeling Island -- Singular appearance -- Scanty Flora --
Transport of seeds -- Birds and insects -- Ebbing and flowing
springs -- Fields of dead coral -- Stones transported in the
roots of trees -- Great crab -- Stinging corals -- Coral-eating
fish -- Coral formations -- Lagoon islands or atolls -- Depth at
which reef-building corals can live -- Vast areas interspersed
with low coral islands -- Subsidence of their foundations --
Barrier-reefs -- Fringing-reefs -- Conversion of fringing-reefs
into barrier-reefs, and into atolls -- Evidence of changes in
level -- Breaches in barrier-reefs -- Maldiva atolls, their
peculiar structure -- Dead and submerged reefs -- Areas of
subsidence and elevation -- Distribution of volcanoes --
Subsidence slow and vast in amount.


CHAPTER XXI.

Mauritius, beautiful appearance of -- Great crateriform ring of
mountains -- Hindoos -- St. Helena -- History of the changes in
the vegetation -- Cause of the extinction of land-shells --
Ascension -- Variation in the imported rats -- Volcanic bombs --
Beds of infusoria -- Bahia, Brazil -- Splendour of tropical
scenery -- Pernambuco -- Singular reefs -- Slavery -- Return to
England -- Retrospect on our voyage.


INDEX.


...


LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

FRONTISPIECE. H.M.S. "BEAGLE" IN STRAITS OF MAGELLAN. MT.
SARMIENTO IN THE DISTANCE.

PLATE 1. H.M.S. "BEAGLE" UNDER FULL SAIL, VIEW FROM ASTERN.

PLATE 2. H.M.S. "BEAGLE": MIDDLE SECTION FORE AND AFT, UPPER
DECK, 1832.

PLATE 3. FERNANDO NORONHA.

PLATE 4. INCRUSTATION OF SHELLY SAND.

PLATE 5. DIODON MACULATUS (Distended and Contracted).

PLATE 6. PELAGIC CONFERVAE.

PLATE 7. CATAMARAN (BAHIA).

PLATE 8. BOTOFOGO BAY, RIO DE JANEIRO.

PLATE 9. VAMPIRE BAT (Desmodus D'Orbigny).

PLATE 10. VIRGIN FOREST.

PLATE 11. CABBAGE PALM.

PLATE 12. MANDIOCA OR CASSAVA.

PLATE 13. RIO DE JANEIRO.

PLATE 14. DARWIN'S PAPILIO FERONIA, 1833, NOW CALLED AGERONIA
FERONIA, 1889.

PLATE 15. HYDROCHAERUS CAPYBARA OR WATER-HOG.

PLATE 16. RECADO OR SURCINGLE OF GAUCHO.

PLATE 17. HALT AT A PULPERIA ON THE PAMPAS.

PLATE 18. EL CARMEN, OR PATAGONES, RIO NEGRO.

PLATE 19. BRAZILIAN WHIPS, HOBBLES, AND SPURS.

PLATE 20. BRINGING IN A PRISONER.

PLATE 21. IRREGULAR TROOPS.

PLATE 22. SKINNING UJI OR WATER SERPENTS.

PLATE 23. RHEA DARWINII (Avestruz Petise).

PLATE 24. LANDING AT BUENOS AYRES.

PLATE 25. MATÉ POTS AND BAMBILLIO.

PLATE 26. GIANT THISTLE OF PAMPAS.

PLATE 27. CYNARA CARDUNCULUS OR CARDOON.

PLATE 28. EVENING CAMP, BUENOS AYRES.

PLATE 29. ROZARIO.

PLATE 30. PARANA RIVER.

PLATE 31. TOXODON PLATENSIS. (Found at Saladillo.)

PLATE 32. FOSSIL TOOTH OF HORSE. (From Bahia Blanca.)

PLATE 33. MYLODON.

PLATE 34. HEAD OF SCISSOR-BEAK.

PLATE 35. RHYNCHOPS NIGRA, OR SCISSOR-BEAK.

PLATE 36. BUENOS AYRES BULLOCK-WAGGONS.

PLATE 37. FUEGIANS AND WIGWAMS.

PLATE 38. OPUNTIA DARWINII.

PLATE 39. RAISED BEACHES, PATAGONIA.

PLATE 40. LADIES' COMBS, BANDA ORIENTAL.

PLATE 41. CONDOR (Sarcorhamphus gryphus).

PLATE 42. BASALTIC GLEN, SANTA CRUZ.

PLATE 43. BERKELEY SOUND, FALKLAND ISLANDS.

PLATE 44. YORK MINSTER (Bearing south 66 degrees east.)

PLATE 45. CAPE HORN.

PLATE 46. CAPE HORN (Another view).

PLATE 47. BAD WEATHER, MAGELLAN STRAITS.

PLATE 48. FUEGIAN BASKET AND BONE WEAPONS.

PLATE 49. FALSE HORN, CAPE HORN.

PLATE 50. WOLLASTON ISLAND, TIERRA DEL FUEGO.

PLATE 51. PATAGONIANS FROM CAPE GREGORY.

PLATE 52. PORT FAMINE, MAGELLAN.

PLATE 53. PATAGONIAN BOLAS.

PLATE 54. PATAGONIAN SPURS AND PIPE.

PLATE 55. CYTTARIA DARWINII.

PLATE 56. EYRE SOUND.

PLATE 57. GLACIER IN GULF OF PENAS.

PLATE 58. FLORA OF MAGELLAN.

PLATE 59. MACROCYSTIS PYRIFERA, OR MAGELLAN KELP.

PLATE 60. TROCHILUS FORFICATUS.

PLATE 61. HACIENDA, CONDOR, CACTUS, ETC.

PLATE 62. CHILIAN MINER.

PLATE 63. CACTUS (Cereus Peruviana).

PLATE 64. CORDILLERAS FROM SANTIAGO DE CHILE.

PLATE 65. CHILIAN SPURS, STIRRUP, ETC.

PLATE 66. OLD CHURCH, CASTRO, CHILOE.

PLATE 67. INSIDE CHONOS ARCHIPELAGO.

PLATE 68. GUNNERA SCABRA, CHILOE.

PLATE 69. ANTUCO VOLCANO, NEAR TALCAHUANO.

PLATE 70. PANORAMIC VIEW OF COAST, CHILOE.

PLATE 71. INSIDE ISLAND OF CHILOE. SAN CARLOS.

PLATE 72. HIDE BRIDGE, SANTIAGO DE CHILE.

PLATE 73. CHILENOS.

PLATE 74. SOUTH AMERICAN BIT.

PLATE 75. BRIDGE OF THE INCAS, USPALLATA PASS.

PLATE 76. LIMA AND SAN LORENZO.

PLATE 77. COQUIMBO, CHILE.

PLATE 78. HUACAS, PERUVIAN POTTERY.

PLATE 79. TESTUDO ABINGDONII, GALAPAGOS ISLANDS.

PLATE 80. GALAPAGOS ARCHIPELAGO.

PLATE 81. FINCHES FROM GALAPAGOS ARCHIPELAGO.

PLATE 82. AMBLYRHYNCHUS CRISTATUS.

PLATE 83. OPUNTIA GALAPAGEIA.

PLATE 84. AVA OR KAVA (Macropiper methysticum), TAHITI.

PLATE 85. EIMEO AND BARRIER-REEF.

PLATE 86. FATAHUA FALL, TAHITI.

PLATE 87. TAHITIAN.

PLATE 88. HIPPAH, NEW ZEALAND.

PLATE 89. SYDNEY, 1835.

PLATE 90. HOBART TOWN AND MOUNT WELLINGTON.

PLATE 91. AUSTRALIAN GROUP OF WEAPONS AND THROWING STICKS.

PLATE 92. INSIDE AN ATOLL, KEELING ISLAND.

PLATE 93. WHITSUNDAY ISLAND.

PLATE 94. BARRIER-REEF, BOLABOLA.

PLATE 95. SECTIONS OF BARRIER-REEFS.

PLATE 96. SECTION OF CORAL-REEF.

PLATE 97. SECTION OF CORAL-REEF.

PLATE 98. BOLABOLA ISLAND.

PLATE 99. CORALS.

PLATE 100. BIRGOS LATRO, KEELING ISLAND.

PLATE 101. ST. LOUIS, MAURITIUS.

PLATE 102. ST. HELENA.

PLATE 103. CELLULAR FORMATION OF VOLCANIC BOMB.

PLATE 104. CICADA HOMOPTERA.

PLATE 105. HOMEWARD BOUND.

PLATE 106. ASCENSION. TERNS AND NODDIES.

PLATE 107. MAP OF SOUTH AMERICA.

PLATE 108. MAP OF THE WORLD, SHOWING THE TRACK OF H.M.S.
"BEAGLE."

...


(PLATE 2. H.M.S. "BEAGLE": MIDDLE SECTION FORE AND AFT, UPPER
DECK, 1832.)

(PLATE 3. FERNANDO NORONHA.)



JOURNAL.



CHAPTER I.

Porto Praya.
Ribeira Grande.
Atmospheric Dust with Infusoria.
Habits of a Sea-slug and Cuttle-fish.
St. Paul's Rocks, non-volcanic.
Singular Incrustations.
Insects the first Colonists of Islands.
Fernando Noronha.
Bahia.
Burnished Rocks.
Habits of a Diodon.
Pelagic Confervae and Infusoria.
Causes of discoloured Sea.

ST. JAGO--CAPE DE VERD ISLANDS.

After having been twice driven back by heavy south-western gales,
Her Majesty's ship "Beagle," a ten-gun brig, under the command of
Captain Fitz Roy, R.N., sailed from Devonport on the 27th of
December, 1831. The object of the expedition was to complete the
survey of Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego, commenced under Captain
King in 1826 to 1830--to survey the shores of Chile, Peru, and of
some islands in the Pacific--and to carry a chain of
chronometrical measurements round the World. On the 6th of
January we reached Teneriffe, but were prevented landing, by
fears of our bringing the cholera: the next morning we saw the
sun rise behind the rugged outline of the Grand Canary Island,
and suddenly illumine the Peak of Teneriffe, whilst the lower
parts were veiled in fleecy clouds. This was the first of many
delightful days never to be forgotten. On the 16th of January
1832 we anchored at Porto Praya, in St. Jago, the chief island of
the Cape de Verd archipelago.

The neighbourhood of Porto Praya, viewed from the sea, wears a
desolate aspect. The volcanic fires of a past age, and the
scorching heat of a tropical sun, have in most places rendered
the soil unfit for vegetation. The country rises in successive
steps of table-land, interspersed with some truncate conical
hills, and the horizon is bounded by an irregular chain of more
lofty mountains. The scene, as beheld through the hazy atmosphere
of this climate, is one of great interest; if, indeed, a person,
fresh from sea, and who has just walked, for the first time, in a
grove of cocoa-nut trees, can be a judge of anything but his own
happiness. The island would generally be considered as very
uninteresting, but to any one accustomed only to an English
landscape, the novel aspect of an utterly sterile land possesses
a grandeur which more vegetation might spoil. A single green leaf
can scarcely be discovered over wide tracts of the lava plains;
yet flocks of goats, together with a few cows, contrive to exist.
It rains very seldom, but during a short portion of the year
heavy torrents fall, and immediately afterwards a light
vegetation springs out of every crevice. This soon withers; and
upon such naturally formed hay the animals live. It had not now
rained for an entire year. When the island was discovered, the
immediate neighbourhood of Porto Praya was clothed with trees
(1/1. I state this on the authority of Dr. E. Dieffenbach, in his
German translation of the first edition of this Journal.), the
reckless destruction of which has caused here, as at St. Helena,
and at some of the Canary islands, almost entire sterility. The
broad, flat-bottomed valleys, many of which serve during a few
days only in the season as watercourses, are clothed with
thickets of leafless bushes. Few living creatures inhabit these
valleys. The commonest bird is a kingfisher (Dacelo Iagoensis),
which tamely sits on the branches of the castor-oil plant, and
thence darts on grasshoppers and lizards. It is brightly
coloured, but not so beautiful as the European species: in its
flight, manners, and place of habitation, which is generally in
the driest valley, there is also a wide difference.

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