Segundo viaje del HMS Beagle

Beagle fondeando en Tierra del Fuego en 1832; pintura del dibujante del barco Conrad Martens

El segundo viaje del HMS Beagle , del 27 de diciembre de 1831 al 2 de octubre de 1836, fue la segunda expedición de reconocimiento del HMS Beagle , bajo el mando del capitán Robert FitzRoy, que había asumido el mando del barco en su primer viaje después de que el capitán anterior, Pringle Stokes , cometiera suicidio. FitzRoy había pensado en las ventajas de tener a bordo a alguien que pudiera investigar la geología y buscó a un naturalista que lo acompañara como supernumerario . A la edad de 22 años, el graduado Charles Darwin esperaba ver los trópicos antes de convertirse en párroco.y aceptó la oportunidad. Le influyó mucho la lectura de los Principios de geología de Charles Lyell durante el viaje. Al final de la expedición, Darwin se había hecho un nombre como geólogo y coleccionista de fósiles y la publicación de su diario (más tarde conocido como El viaje del Beagle ) le dio un gran renombre como escritor.

Beagle navegó a través del Océano Atlántico y luego llevó a cabo estudios hidrográficos detallados alrededor de las costas del sur de América del Sur, regresando a través de Tahití y Australia después de haber circunnavegado la Tierra. La oferta inicial a Darwin le decía que el viaje duraría dos años; duró casi cinco.

Darwin pasó la mayor parte de este tiempo explorando en tierra: tres años y tres meses en tierra, 18 meses en el mar. ^[1] Al principio del viaje, Darwin decidió que podía escribir un libro de geología y mostró un don para la teorización. En Punta Alta en Argentina, hizo un importante hallazgo de gigantescos fósiles de mamíferos extintos, entonces conocidos por muy pocos especímenes. Recolectó e hizo observaciones detalladas de plantas y animales. Sus hallazgos socavaron su creencia en la doctrina de que las especies son fijas y proporcionaron la base para las ideas que se le ocurrieron cuando regresó a Inglaterra y que llevaron a su teoría de la evolución por selección natural .

Objetivos de la expedición

Cronómetro de barco del HMS Beagle fabricado por Thomas Earnshaw .
Museo Británico de Londres.

Cuando terminaron las guerras napoleónicas en 1815, la Pax Britannica vio a las naciones marineras compitiendo en la colonización y la rápida industrialización. La logística del suministro y el creciente comercio necesitaban información fiable sobre las rutas marítimas, pero las cartas náuticas existentes eran incompletas e inexactas. Las guerras de independencia hispanoamericanas acabaron con el monopolio de España sobre el comercio, ^{[2] [3]} y el tratado comercial de 1825 del Reino Unido con Argentina reconoció su independencia, aumentando la importancia naval y comercial de la costa este de América del Sur . ^[4] El Almirantazgo dio instrucciones al Comandante Kingrealizar un preciso levantamiento hidrográfico de "las Costas Australes de la Península de América del Sur, desde la entrada sur del Río de la Plata, rodeando a Chilóe; y de Tierra del Fuego". ^{[5] [6]} Como Darwin escribió sobre su viaje, "El objeto de la expedición era completar el estudio de la Patagonia y Tierra del Fuego, iniciado bajo el mando del Capitán King en 1826 a 1830, para estudiar las costas de Chile, Perú y de algunas islas del Pacífico, y para llevar una cadena de medidas cronométricas alrededor del mundo ". ^{[7] [6]} Las expediciones también tenían objetivos diplomáticos, visitando territorios en disputa. ^[2]

Un memorando del Almirantazgo establecía las instrucciones detalladas. El primer requisito era resolver los desacuerdos en los levantamientos anteriores sobre la longitud de Río de Janeiro , que era fundamental como punto de base para las distancias de los meridianos . Los cronómetros marinos precisos necesarios para determinar la longitud solo se habían vuelto asequibles desde 1800; Beagle llevaba 22 cronómetros para permitir correcciones. El barco debía detenerse en puntos específicos para una calificación de cuatro días de los cronómetros y verificarlos mediante observaciones astronómicas : era esencial tomar observaciones en Porto Praya y Fernando de Noronha.para calibrar contra las encuestas anteriores de William Fitzwilliam Owen y Henry Foster . Era importante estudiar la extensión de los arrecifes del archipiélago de Abrolhos , que se muestran incorrectamente en el estudio de Albin Roussin , y luego proceder a Río de Janeiro para decidir la longitud exacta de la isla de Villegagnon . ^[8]

El verdadero trabajo de la prospección fue entonces comenzar al sur del Río de la Plata , con viajes de regreso a Montevideo en busca de suministros; se dieron detalles de las prioridades, incluida la prospección de Tierra del Fuego y los accesos a los puertos en las Islas Malvinas . Luego, la costa oeste debía ser inspeccionada tan al norte como lo permitieran el tiempo y los recursos. El comandante determinaría entonces su propia ruta hacia el oeste: si la temporada lo permitía, podría inspeccionar las Islas Galápagos . Luego, Beagle debía proceder a Point Venus, Tahití , y luego a Port Jackson , Australia, que eran puntos conocidos para verificar los cronómetros. ^[9]

No había que perder tiempo en dibujos elaborados; Los mapas y planos deben tener notas y vistas simples de la tierra como se ve desde el mar que muestren las alturas medidas de las colinas. También se requirieron registros continuos de las mareas y las condiciones meteorológicas . Una sugerencia adicional fue realizar un estudio geológico de un atolón de coral circular en el Océano Pacífico, incluido su perfil y los flujos de las mareas, para investigar la formación de tales arrecifes de coral . ^[10]

Contexto y preparativos

La expedición de reconocimiento anterior a América del Sur involucró al HMS Adventure y al HMS Beagle bajo el mando general del comandante australiano Phillip Parker King . Durante la encuesta, el capitán del Beagle , Pringle Stokes , se suicidó y el mando del barco fue entregado al joven aristócrata Robert FitzRoy , sobrino de George FitzRoy, cuarto duque de Grafton . Cuando los nativos de Tierra del Fuego tomaron el bote de un barco , FitzRoy tomó como rehenes a cuatro de ellos. Uno murió de viruela, y los otros tres fueron traídos de regreso a Inglaterra para recibir una educación cristiana, con la idea de que eventualmente pudieran convertirse en misioneros. ^[11] Después del regreso de Beagle al astillero de Devonport el 14 de octubre de 1830, el Capitán King se retiró. ^[12]

Robert FitzRoy

FitzRoy, de 27 años, tenía esperanzas de comandar una segunda expedición para continuar la prospección sudamericana, pero cuando se enteró de que los Señores del Almirantazgo ya no apoyaban esto, se preocupó por cómo devolver a los fueguinos. Hizo un acuerdo con el propietario de un pequeño buque mercante para llevarse él y otros cinco de regreso a Sudamérica, pero un amable tío se enteró de esto y se puso en contacto con el Almirantazgo. Poco después, FitzRoy escuchó que iba a ser nombrado comandante del HMS Chanticleer para ir a Tierra del Fuego, pero debido a su mal estado, Beagle fue sustituido. El 27 de junio de 1831, FitzRoy fue nombrado comandante del viaje, y los tenientes John Clements Wickham yBartholomew James Sulivan fueron nombrados ambos. ^[11]

Se invitó al Capitán Francis Beaufort , el Hidrógrafo del Almirantazgo, a decidir sobre el uso que se podría hacer del viaje para continuar el reconocimiento, y discutió con FitzRoy los planes para un viaje de varios años, incluida una continuación del viaje alrededor del mundo para establecer distancias medias. Beagle fue encargado el 4 de julio de 1831, bajo el mando del Capitán FitzRoy, quien rápidamente no escatimó en gastos para que el Beagle se reacondicionara ampliamente. Beagle fue llevado inmediatamente al muelle para una extensa reconstrucción y reacondicionamiento. Como necesitaba una nueva cubierta, FitzRoy hizo que la cubierta superior se elevara considerablemente, en 8 pulgadas (200 mm) hacia atrás y 12 pulgadas (300 mm) hacia adelante. ^[13] ElLos bergantines de clase cherokee tenían la reputación de ser "bergantines ataúd", que se manejaban mal y eran propensos a hundirse. ^[14] Al ayudar a las cubiertas a drenar más rápidamente con menos agua acumulada en las balas , la cubierta elevada le dio a Beagle un mejor manejo y la hizo menos propensa a volverse pesada en la parte superior y volcar. El revestimiento adicional del casco agregó unas siete toneladas a su carga y quizás quince a su desplazamiento. ^[13]

El barco fue uno de los primeros en probar el pararrayos inventado por William Snow Harris . FitzRoy obtuvo cinco ejemplos del sinmpiesómetro , una especie de barómetro sin mercurio patentado por Alexander Adie y favorecido por FitzRoy por dar las lecturas precisas requeridas por el Almirantazgo. ^[13]

Además de sus oficiales y tripulación, Beagle transportaba varios supernumerarios , pasajeros sin cargo oficial. FitzRoy empleó a un fabricante de instrumentos matemáticos para mantener sus 22 cronómetros marinos en su cabina , además de contratar al artista / dibujante Augustus Earle para que fuera a título privado. ^[13] Los tres fueguinos tomados en el viaje anterior iban a ser devueltos a Tierra del Fuego en un Beagle junto con el misionero Richard Matthews. ^{[11] [15]}

Naturalista y geólogo

Para Beaufort y los principales "caballeros de la ciencia" de Cambridge, la oportunidad de que un naturalista se uniera a la expedición encajaba con su impulso para revitalizar la política científica del gobierno británico. Esta élite desdeñó la investigación realizada por dinero y sintió que la filosofía natural era para caballeros, no para comerciantes . La clase de oficiales del Ejército y la Marina proporcionó una forma de ascender en esta jerarquía; comúnmente era el cirujano del barco quien recolectaba especímenes en los viajes, y Robert McCormick había asegurado el puesto oficial de cirujano en Beagle.después de participar en expediciones anteriores y estudiar historia natural. Una colección considerable tenía un valor social considerable, atrayendo un gran interés público, y McCormick aspiraba a la fama como un naturalista explorador. ^{[16] Las} colecciones hechas por el cirujano del barco y otros oficiales eran propiedad del gobierno, aunque el Almirantazgo no fue consistente en esto, ^[17] y fueron a importantes establecimientos de Londres, generalmente el Museo Británico . ^[18]Las instrucciones del Almirantazgo para el primer viaje requerían que los oficiales "hicieran su mayor diligencia para aumentar las Cobranzas en cada barco: la totalidad de las cuales debe entenderse como perteneciente al Público", pero en el segundo viaje se omitió este requisito, y el los oficiales eran libres de quedarse con todos los especímenes. ^[17]

El diario de FitzRoy escrito durante el primer viaje señaló que, mientras investigaba las rocas magnéticas cerca del Canal Barbara , lamentó "que ninguna persona en el barco fuera experta en mineralogía , o familiarizada con la geología ", para aprovechar la oportunidad de "determinar la naturaleza de las rocas y las tierras "de las áreas encuestadas. FitzRoy decidió que en cualquier expedición futura similar, "se esforzaría por llevar a cabo una persona calificada para examinar la tierra; mientras que los oficiales, y yo, nos ocuparíamos de la hidrografía ". ^[19]Esto indicó la necesidad de un naturalista calificado para examinar geología, que pasaría períodos considerables en tierra lejos del barco. McCormick carecía de experiencia en geología y tuvo que cumplir con sus deberes en el barco. ^[20]

FitzRoy sabía que comandar un barco podía implicar estrés y soledad. Estaba al tanto del suicidio de su tío el vizconde de Castlereagh debido al estrés por exceso de trabajo, así como del suicidio del capitán Stokes. ^[21] Esta iba a ser la primera vez que FitzRoy estaría completamente a cargo de un barco sin un oficial al mando o un segundo capitán a quien consultar. Se ha sugerido que sentía la necesidad de un compañero caballeroso que compartiera sus intereses científicos y pudiera cenar con él como un igual, ^[22] aunque no hay evidencia directa que lo respalde. Profesor John Stevens Henslowdescribió el puesto "más como un compañero que como un simple coleccionista", pero esto era una garantía de que FitzRoy trataría a su invitado como un caballero naturalista. Varios otros barcos en este período transportaban civiles no remunerados como naturalistas. ^[23]

A principios de agosto, FitzRoy discutió este puesto con Beaufort, quien tenía una red científica de amigos en la Universidad de Cambridge . ^[24] A petición de Beaufort, el profesor de matemáticas George Peacock escribió desde Londres a Henslow sobre esta "rara oportunidad para un naturalista", diciendo que "se me ha hecho una oferta para recomendar a una persona adecuada para que salga como naturalista con esta expedición ", y sugiriendo al reverendo Leonard Jenyns . ^[25] Aunque Jenyns casi aceptó e incluso empacó su ropa, le preocupaban sus obligaciones como vicario de Swaffham Bulbeck.y sobre su salud, por lo tanto, Jenyns declinó la oferta. Henslow pensó brevemente en ir, pero su esposa "se veía tan miserable" que rápidamente abandonó la idea. ^[26] Ambos recomendaron traer a Charles Darwin , de 22 años , que estaba en un viaje de campo de geología con Adam Sedgwick . Acababa de completar la licenciatura ordinaria, que era un requisito previo para su futura carrera como párroco . ^[24]

Oferta de lugar a Darwin

Darwin en 1840, después del viaje y la publicación de su Journal and Remarks .

Darwin encajaba bien con las expectativas de un filósofo natural caballeroso y estaba bien entrenado como naturalista. ^[27] Cuando estudió geología en su segundo año en Edimburgo, lo encontró aburrido, pero desde Pascua hasta agosto de 1831, aprendió mucho con Sedgwick y desarrolló un gran interés durante su viaje de campo geológico. ^[28] El 24 de agosto, Henslow escribió a Darwin:

... que considero que usted es la persona mejor calificada que conozco que es probable que se enfrente a una situación de este tipo; no lo digo en la suposición de yr. ser un naturalista consumado, pero ampliamente calificado para recolectar, observar y anotar cualquier cosa digna de ser mencionada en Historia Natural. Peacock tiene la cita a su disposición y si no puede encontrar a un hombre dispuesto a ocupar el cargo, probablemente se perderá la oportunidad: el Capitán F. quiere un hombre (tengo entendido) más como un compañero que como un simple coleccionista y no lo haría. Considere a cualquiera, por muy bueno que sea un naturalista, que no le haya sido recomendado igualmente como un caballero . ... El viaje durará 2 ^años.Y si te llevas muchos libros contigo, puedes hacer cualquier cosa que te plazca ... nunca hubo una mejor oportunidad para un hombre de celo y espíritu ... No pongas dudas o temores modestos sobre tus descalificaciones para Te aseguro que creo que eres el hombre que están buscando. ^[29]

La carta fue primero para George Peacock, quien rápidamente la envió a Darwin con más detalles, confirmando que "el barco zarpa hacia finales de septiembre". Peacock había discutido la oferta con Beaufort , "él la aprueba completamente y puede considerar la situación como a su absoluta disposición". ^[30] Cuando Darwin regresó a casa a última hora del 29 de agosto y abrió las cartas, su padre se opuso fuertemente al viaje, así que, al día siguiente, escribió rechazando la oferta ^[31] y se fue a disparar contra la finca de su tío Josiah Wedgwood. II . Con la ayuda de Wedgwood, persuadieron al padre de Darwin de ceder y financiar la expedición de su hijo, y el jueves 1 de septiembre, Darwin escribió aceptando la oferta de Peacock.^[32]Ese día, Beaufort escribió para decirle a FitzRoy que su amigo Peacock había "logrado conseguirle un ' Savant ', un señor Darwin nieto del conocido filósofo y poeta, lleno de celo y emprendedor y habiendo contemplado un viaje por su propia cuenta. a América del Sur ". ^[33] El viernes, Darwin partió hacia Cambridge, donde, al día siguiente, recibió consejos sobre los preparativos del viaje y referencias a expertos de Henslow. ^[26]

Alexander Charles Wood (un estudiante cuyo tutor era Peacock) escribió desde Cambridge a su primo FitzRoy para recomendar a Darwin. ^[34] Alrededor del mediodía del domingo 4 de septiembre, Wood recibió la respuesta de FitzRoy, "directa y como un caballero" pero fuertemente en contra de que Darwin se uniera a la expedición; tanto Darwin como Henslow "abandonaron el plan". Darwin fue a Londres de todos modos, y a la mañana siguiente conoció a FitzRoy, quien le explicó que le había prometido el lugar a su amigo el señor Chester (posiblemente el novelista Harry Chester ), pero Chester lo había rechazado en una carta recibida no cinco minutos antes de la llegada de Darwin. . FitzRoy enfatizó las dificultades, incluidas las condiciones de hacinamiento y la comida sencilla. ^{[35] [36]}Darwin estaría en los libros del Almirantazgo para obtener provisiones (por valor de £ 40 al año) y, al igual que los oficiales y el capitán del barco, pagaría £ 30 al año para la factura del comedor . ^[37] Incluyendo el equipamiento, era poco probable que el costo para él alcanzara las 500 libras esterlinas. ^[35] El barco zarparía el 10 de octubre y probablemente estaría ausente durante tres años. Hablaron y cenaron juntos, y pronto se sintieron agradables. ^[36] El conservador FitzRoy había sido cauteloso ante la perspectiva de tener compañía con este joven caballero desconocido de Whig.y luego admitió que su carta a Wood era "echar agua fría al plan" en "un repentino horror de las posibilidades de tener a alguien que no debería gustarle a bordo". Más tarde, casi en serio le dijo a Darwin que, como "un discípulo ardiente de Lavater ", casi había rechazado a Darwin sobre la base frenológica de que la forma (o fisonomía ) de la nariz de Darwin indicaba una falta de determinación. ^{[38] [39]}

Preparativos de Darwin

Mientras seguía conociendo a Fitzroy, yendo de compras juntos, Darwin se apresuró a organizar sus suministros y equipo, recibiendo consejos de expertos en preservación de especímenes como William Yarrell en la Sociedad Zoológica de Londres , Robert Brown en el Museo Británico, Capitán Phillip Parker King, que dirigió la primera expedición, y el anatomista de invertebrados Robert Edmond Grant, que había sido tutor de Darwin en Edimburgo. Yarrell dio consejos invaluables y negoció con los comerciantes, por lo que Darwin pagó £ 50 por dos pistolas y un rifle, mientras que FitzRoy había gastado £ 400 en armas de fuego. ^{[39] [40]} El domingo 11 de septiembre, FitzRoy y Darwin tomaron el paquete de vapor para Portsmouth.^[41] Darwin no estaba mareado y tenía una agradable "navegación de tres días". Por primera vez, vio el barco estrecho "muy pequeño", conoció a los oficiales, ^[42] y se alegró de conseguir un camarote grande, compartido con el asistente de topógrafo John Lort Stokes . El viernes, Darwin se apresuró a regresar a Londres, "250 millas en 24 horas", ^[43] y luego a través de Cambridge para llegar a Shrewsbury el 22 de septiembre para una última visita rápida a familiares y amigos, partiendo hacia Londres el 2 de octubre. ^{[41] Las} demoras en Beagle le dieron a Darwin una semana más para consultar a expertos y completar el empaque de su equipaje. ^[44] Después de enviar sus mercancías pesadas por paquete de vapor, tomó el autobús junto con Augustus Earle.y llegó a Devonport el 24 de octubre. ^[45]

El geólogo Charles Lyell le pidió a FitzRoy que registrara observaciones sobre características geológicas como rocas erráticas. Antes de salir de Inglaterra, FitzRoy le dio a Darwin una copia del primer volumen de Lyell's Principles of Geology, que explicaba las características como el resultado de un proceso gradual que tiene lugar durante períodos de tiempo extremadamente largos. ^[46] En su autobiografía, Darwin recordó que Henslow le dio un consejo en ese momento para obtener y estudiar el libro, "pero de ninguna manera aceptar las opiniones defendidas en él". ^[47]

La posición de Darwin como naturalista a bordo era la de un invitado autofinanciado sin nombramiento oficial, y podía abandonar el viaje en cualquier etapa adecuada. Al principio, George Peacock había advertido que "El Almirantazgo no está dispuesto a dar un salario, aunque le proporcionarán una cita oficial y todas las comodidades [ sic ]: si se requiere un salario, sin embargo, me inclino a pensar que sería concedido ". Lejos de querer esto, ^{[30] [48]} la preocupación de Darwin era mantener el control sobre su colección. Incluso se mostró reacio a estar en los libros del Almirantazgo de víveres hasta que FitzRoy y Beaufort le aseguraron que esto no afectaría sus derechos de ceder sus especímenes. ^[37]Darwin no quería que su colección fuera al Museo Británico porque había escuchado que los especímenes del primer viaje del Beagle aún estaban esperando ser descritos. Beaufort le aseguró que "no debería tener ninguna dificultad" siempre que "los presentara a algún organismo público" como las sociedades zoológicas o geológicas . El propio Darwin pensó que sus nuevos hallazgos deberían ir a la "colección más grande y central", no al museo de la Sociedad Filosófica de Cambridge que Henslow estaba estableciendo en Cambridge. ^{[40] [49]} Por el contrario, después de obtener el acuerdo voluntario de Henslow para recibir los envíos de especímenes, Darwin respondió que esperaba dar algunos al museo de Cambridge.^[50]

Darwin's work on the expedition

The captain had to record his survey in painstaking paperwork, and Darwin too kept a daily log as well as detailed notebooks of his finds and speculations, and a diary which became his journal. Darwin's notebooks show complete professionalism that he had probably learnt at the University of Edinburgh when making natural history notes while exploring the shores of the Firth of Forth with his brother Erasmus in 1826 and studying marine invertebrates with Robert Edmund Grant for a few months in 1827.^[51] Darwin had also collected beetles at Cambridge, but he was a novice in all other areas of natural history. During the voyage, Darwin investigated small invertebrates while collecting specimens of other creatures for experts to examine and describe once Beagle had returned to England.^[28] More than half of his carefully organised zoology notes deal with marine invertebrates. The notes also record closely reasoned interpretations of what he found about their complex internal anatomy while dissecting specimens under his microscope and small experiments on their response to stimulation. His onshore observations included intense, analytical comments on possible reasons for the behaviour, distribution, and relation to their environment of the creatures he saw. He made good use of the ship's excellent library of books on natural history but continually questioned their correctness.^[52]

Geology was Darwin's "principal pursuit" on the expedition, and his notes on that subject were almost four times larger than his zoology notes, although he kept extensive records on both. During the voyage, he wrote to his sister that "there is nothing like geology; the pleasure of the first days partridge shooting or first days hunting cannot be compared to finding a fine group of fossil bones, which tell their story of former times with almost a living tongue". To him, investigating geology brought reasoning into play and gave him opportunities for theorising.^[51]

Voyage

The voyage of Beagle

Charles Darwin had been told that Beagle was expected to sail about the end of September 1831,^[30] but fitting out took longer. The Admiralty Instructions were received on 14 November, and on 23 November, she was moved to anchorage, ready to depart. Repeated Westerly gales caused delays, and forced them to turn back after departing on 10 and 21 December. Drunkenness at Christmas lost another day. Finally, on the morning of 27 December, Beagle left its anchorage in the Barn Pool, under Mount Edgecumbe on the west side of Plymouth Sound and set out on its surveying expedition.^[53]

Atlantic islands

Beagle touched at Madeira for a confirmed position without stopping. Then on 6 January, it reached Tenerife in the Canary Islands but was quarantined there because of cholera in England. Although tantalisingly near to the town of Santa Cruz, to Darwin's intense disappointment, they were denied landing. With improving weather conditions, they sailed on. On 10 January, Darwin tried out a plankton net he had devised to be towed behind the ship – only the second recorded use of such a net (after use by John Vaughan Thompson in 1816). Next day, he noted the great number of animals collected far from land and wrote: "Many of these creatures so low in the scale of nature are most exquisite in their forms & rich colours. — It creates a feeling of wonder that so much beauty should be apparently created for such little purpose."^[54]

Six days later, they made their first landing at Praia on the volcanic island of Santiago in the Cape Verde Islands. It is here that Darwin's description in his published Journal begins.^[55] His initial impression was of a desolate and sterile volcanic island. However, upon visiting the town, he came to a deep valley where he "first saw the glory of tropical vegetation" and had "a glorious day", finding overwhelming novelty in the sights and sounds. FitzRoy set up tents and an observatory on Quail Island to determine the exact position of the islands, while Darwin collected numerous sea animals, delighting in vivid tropical corals in tidal pools, and investigating the geology of Quail Island.^[56][57] Though Daubeny's book in Beagle's library described the volcanic geology of the Canary Islands, it said that the structure of the Cape Verde Islands was "too imperfectly known". Darwin saw Quail Island as his key to understanding the structure of St. Jago and made careful studies of its stratigraphy in the way he had learnt from Adam Sedgwick. He collected specimens and described a white layer of hard white rock formed from crushed coral and seashells lying between layers of black volcanic rocks, and noted a similar white layer running horizontally in the black cliffs of St. Jago at 40 feet (12 m) above sea level. The seashells were, as far as he could tell, "the same as those of present day". He speculated that in geologically recent times a lava flow had covered this shell sand on the sea bed, and then the strata had slowly risen to their present level. Charles Lyell's Principles of Geology presented a thesis of gradual rising and falling of the Earth's crust illustrated by the changing levels of the Temple of Serapis. Darwin implicitly supported Lyell by remarking that "Dr. Daubeny when mentioning the present state of the temple of Serapis. doubts the possibility of a surface of country being raised without cracking buildings on it. – I feel sure at St Jago in some places a town might have been raised without injuring a house."^[58] In a letter to Henslow, he wrote that "The geology was preeminently interesting & I believe quite new: there are some facts on a large scale of upraised coast ... that would interest Mr. Lyell.^[59] While still on the island, Darwin was inspired to think of writing a book on geology,^[60] and later wrote of "seeing a thing never seen by Lyell, one yet saw it partially through his eyes".^[61]

Customarily, the ship's surgeon took the position of a naturalist, and Beagle's surgeon Robert McCormick sought fame and fortune as an explorer.^[62] When they first met at the start of the voyage, Darwin had commented that "My friend [McCormick] is an ass, but we jog on very amicably".^[50] They walked into the countryside of St. Jago together,^[63] and Darwin, influenced by Lyell, found the surgeon's approach old-fashioned.^[59] They found a remarkable baobab tree, which FitzRoy measured and sketched. Darwin went on subsequent "riding expeditions" with Benjamin Bynoe and Rowlett to visit Ribeira Grande and St Domingo. FitzRoy extended their stay to 23 days to complete his measurements of magnetism.^[64] Darwin subsequently wrote to Henslow that his collecting included "several specimens of an Octopus, which possessed a most marvellous power of changing its colours; equalling any chamaelion, & evidently accommodating the changes to the colour of the ground which it passed over.—yellowish green, dark brown & red were the prevailing colours: this fact appears to be new, as far as I can find out."^[59] Henslow replied that "The fact is not new, but any fresh observations will be highly important."^[65]

McCormick increasingly resented the favours FitzRoy gave to assist Darwin with collecting. On 16 February, FitzRoy landed a small party including himself and Darwin on St. Paul's rocks, finding the seabirds so tame that they could be killed easily, while an exasperated McCormick was left circling the islets in a second small boat.^[66] That evening, novices were greeted by a pseudo-Neptune, and in the morning, they crossed the equator with the traditional line-crossing ceremony.^[67]

Darwin had a special position as a guest and social equal of the captain, so junior officers called him "sir" until the captain dubbed Darwin Philos for "ship's philosopher", which became his suitably respectful nickname.^[68]

Surveying South America

In South America, Beagle carried out its survey work going to and fro along the coasts to allow careful measurement and rechecking. Darwin made long journeys inland with travelling companions from the locality. He spent much of the time away from the ship, returning by prearrangement when Beagle returned to ports where mail could be received, and Darwin's notes, journals, and collections sent back to England. He had ensured that his collections were his own and they were shipped back to Henslow in Cambridge to await his return. Several others on board, including FitzRoy and other officers, were able amateur naturalists, and they gave Darwin generous assistance as well as making collections for the Crown, which the Admiralty placed in the British Museum.^[69]

Tropical paradise and slavery

Due to heavy surf, they only stayed at Fernando de Noronha for a day to make the required observations, and Fitzroy decided to make for Bahia, Brazil, to rate the chronometers and take on water.^[8][70] On 28 February, they reached the continent, arriving at the magnificent sight of the town now known as Salvador, with large ships at harbour scattered across the bay. On the next day, Darwin was in "transports of pleasure" walking by himself in the tropical forest, and in "long naturalizing walks" with others continued to "add raptures to the former raptures".^[71] He found the sights of slavery offensive, and when FitzRoy defended the practice by describing a visit to a slaveowner whose slaves replied "no" on being asked by their master if they wished to be freed, Darwin suggested that answers in such circumstances were worthless. Enraged that his word had been questioned, FitzRoy lost his temper and banned Darwin from his company. The officers had nicknamed such outbursts "hot coffee," and within hours FitzRoy apologised, and asked Darwin to remain.^[72] Later, FitzRoy had to remain silent when Captain Paget visited them and recounted "facts about slavery so revolting" that refuted his claim.^[73] Surveying of sandbanks around the harbour was completed on 18 March, and the ship made its way down the coast to survey the extent and depths of the Abrolhos reefs, completing and correcting Roussin's survey.^[74]

On 4 April, they entered the harbour of Rio de Janeiro to make observations of longitude from Villegagnon Island. Darwin took in the sights of the city then made an expedition into the interior, returning to the ship on 24 April. By then, Robert McCormick had left the ship, with permission from the admiral in command, and returned to England. Assistant Surgeon Benjamin Bynoe was made acting surgeon in his place.^[74] McCormick felt "very much disappointed in my expectations of carrying out my natural history pursuits, every obstacle having been placed in the way of my getting on shore and making collections" while the gentleman Darwin received all the invitations from dignitaries onshore and was given facilities to pack his collections.^[75]
On 26 April, Darwin moved into a house he had rented at Botafogo and stayed there with three others when Beagle left on 10 May to recheck observations at Bahia.^[74] FitzRoy had found a discrepancy of 4 miles (6.4 km) in the meridian distance of longitude between his measurements and those of Albin Roussin, and decided to go back. A seaman, a ship's boy and a young midshipman had caught a fever after visiting the Macacu River and died. When the ship returned to Rio on 3 June, FitzRoy confirmed that his measurements of Bahia and the Abrolhos reefs were correct, after which he sent these corrections to Roussin. They sailed from Rio on 5 July.^[76]

Fossil finds

Scene on the quarter deck while anchored at Bahia Blanca, painted around 24 September 1832 most likely by Augustus Earle. Darwin is the central figure in a top hat, examining a specimen, Fitzroy the second figure to his left.^[77]

After storms, Beagle reached Montevideo on 26 July 1832 and took observations for the chronometers. An attempt to call at Buenos Aires for information was thwarted by officials. FitzRoy then agreed on a request for the ship's crew (including Darwin) to briefly occupy a Montevideo fort to dispel a revolution. On 22 August, after taking soundings in Samborombón Bay, Beagle began survey work down the coast from Cape San Antonio, Buenos Aires Province, Argentina.^[78]

At Bahía Blanca, in the southern part of present Buenos Aires Province, Darwin rode inland into Patagonia with gauchos: he saw them use bolas to bring down "ostriches" (rheas) and ate roast armadillo. With FitzRoy, he went for "a very pleasant cruize about the bay" on 22 September, and about ten miles (16 km) from the ship, they stopped for a while at Punta Alta. In low cliffs near the point, Darwin found conglomerate rocks containing numerous shells and fossilised teeth and bones of gigantic extinct mammals,^[79] in strata near an earth layer with shells and armadillo fossils, suggesting to him quiet tidal deposits rather than a catastrophe.^[80] With assistance (possibly from the young sailor Syms Covington acting as his servant^[81][82]), Darwin collected numerous fossils over several days,^[83] amusing others with "the cargoes of apparent rubbish which he frequently brought on board".^[81]

Much of the second day was taken up with excavating a large skull which Darwin found embedded in soft rock, and seemed to him to be allied to the rhinoceros.^[84] On 8 October, he returned to the site and found a jawbone and tooth which he was able to identify using Bory de Saint-Vincent's Dictionnaire classique. He wrote home describing this and the large skull as Megatherium fossils, or perhaps Megalonyx, and excitedly noted that the only specimens in Europe were locked away in the King's collection at Madrid.^[85][86] In the same layer he found a large surface of polygonal plates of bony armour. His immediate thought was that they came from an enormous armadillo like the small creatures common in the area. However, from Cuvier's misleading description of the Madrid specimen and a recent newspaper report about a fossil found by Woodbine Parish, Darwin thought that the bony armour identified the fossil as Megatherium.^[87][88] With FitzRoy, Darwin went about 30 miles (48 km) across the bay to Monte Hermoso on 19 October and found numerous fossils of smaller rodents in contrast to the huge Edentatal mammals of Punta Alta.^[89][90] In November at Buenos Aires, he "purchased fragments of some enormous bones" which he "was assured belonged to the former giants!!",^[91] and subsequently took any chance to get fossils "by gold or galloping".^[92]

At Montevideo, in November, the mail from home included a copy of the second volume of Charles Lyell's Principles of Geology,^[47] a refutation of Lamarckism in which there was no shared ancestry of different species or overall progress to match the gradual geological change. Instead, it was a continuing cycle in which species mysteriously appeared, closely adapted to their "centres of creation", then became extinct when the environment changed to their disadvantage.^[93]

Tierra del Fuego

Native of Tierra del Fuego.

They reached Tierra del Fuego on 18 December 1832, and Darwin was taken by surprise at what he perceived as the crude savagery of the Yaghan natives, in stark contrast to the "civilised" behaviour of the three Fuegians they were returning as missionaries (who had been given the names York Minster, Fuegia Basket and Jemmy Button). He described his first meeting with the native Fuegians as being "without exception the most curious and interesting spectacle I ever beheld: I could not have believed how wide was the difference between savage and civilised man: it is greater than between a wild and domesticated animal, inasmuch as in man there is a greater power of improvement." They appeared like "the representations of Devils on the Stage" as in Der Freischütz. In contrast, he said of Jemmy that "It seems yet wonderful to me, when I think over all his many good qualities, that he should have been of the same race, and doubtless partaken of the same character, with the miserable, degraded savages whom we first met here." (Four decades later, he recalled these impressions in The Descent of Man to support his argument that just as humans had descended from "a lower form", civilised society had arisen by graduations from a more primitive state. He recalled how closely the Fuegians on board Beagle "resembled us in disposition and in most of our mental faculties."^[94])

At the island of "Buttons Land" on 23 January 1833, they set up a mission post with huts, gardens, furniture and crockery. Upon returning nine days later, the possessions had been looted and divided up equally by the natives. Matthews gave up, rejoining the ship and leaving the three civilised Fuegians to continue the missionary work. Beagle went on to the Falkland Islands, arriving just after the British return. Darwin studied the relationships of species to habitats and found ancient fossils like those he found in Wales. FitzRoy bought a schooner to assist with the surveying, and they returned to Patagonia, where it was fitted with a new copper bottom and renamed Adventure. Syms Covington assisted Darwin in preserving specimens, and his collecting was so successful that, with FitzRoy's agreement, he hired Covington as a full-time servant for £30 a year.^[95]

Gauchos, rheas, fossils and geology

The two ships sailed to the Río Negro in Argentina, and on 8 August 1833, Darwin left on another journey inland with the gauchos. On 12 August, he met General Juan Manuel de Rosas who was then leading a punitive expedition in his military campaign against native "Indians" and obtained a passport from him. As they crossed the pampas, the gauchos and Indians told Darwin of a rare smaller species of rhea.^[96] After three days at Bahía Blanca, he grew tired of waiting for Beagle, and on 21 August, revisited Punta Alta where he reviewed the geology of the site in light of his new knowledge, wondering if the bones were older than the seashells. He was very successful with searching for bones, and on 1 September, found a near-complete skeleton with its bones still in position.^[97][98]

He set off again and on 1 October, while searching the cliffs of the Carcarañá River, found "an enormous gnawing tooth", and then, in a cliff of the Paraná River, saw "two great groups of immense bones" which were too soft to collect but a tooth fragment identified them as mastodons.^[99][100] Illness delayed him at Santa Fe, and after seeing the fossilised casing of a huge armadillo embedded in rock, he was puzzled to find a horse tooth in the same rock layer since horses had been introduced to the continent with European migration.^[101][102] They took a riverboat down the Paraná River to Buenos Aires but became entangled in a revolution as rebels allied to Rosas blockaded the city. The passport helped, and with Covington, he managed to escape in a boatload of refugees. They rejoined Beagle at Montevideo.^[103]

As surveys were still in progress, Darwin set off on another 400-mile (640 km) "galloping" trip in Banda Oriental to see the Uruguay River and visit the Estancia of Mr Keen near Mercedes on the Río Negro. On 25 November, he "heard of some giants bones, which as usual turned out to be those of the Megatherium" but could only extract a few broken fragments. The next day, he visited a nearby house and bought
"a head of a Megatherium which must have been when found quite perfect" for about two shillings, though the teeth had since been broken and the lower jaw had been lost. Mr Keen arranged to ship the skull downriver to Buenos Aires.^{[104][105][106]} At Las Piedras, a clergyman let him see fossils, including a club-like tail which he sketched and called an "extraordinary weapon".^[106][107] His notes included a page showing his realisation that the cliff banks of the rivers exposed two strata formed in an estuary interrupted by an undersea stratum, indicating that the land had risen and fallen.^[108]

Illustration of Darwin's rhea, published in 1841 in John Gould's description of birds collected on Beagle's voyage.

Back at Montevideo, Darwin was introduced to Conrad Martens, the replacement artist brought on board Beagle after Augustus Earle had to leave due to health problems. They sailed south, putting in at Port Desire on 23 December, and the following day Darwin shot a guanaco which provided them with a Christmas meal. Early in the new year, Martens shot a rhea which they enjoyed eating before Darwin realised that this was the elusive smaller rhea and preserved the remains.^[96] On 9 January 1834, 110 miles (180 km) further south, they reached Port St Julian and exploring the local geology in cliffs near the harbour Darwin found fossils of pieces of spine and a hind leg of "some large animal, I fancy a Mastodon".^[109][105] On 26 January, they entered the Straits of Magellan, and at St. Gregory's Bay, they met half-civilised Patagonian "giants" over 6 ft (1.8 m) tall,^[110] described by Darwin as "excellent practical naturalists". One told him that the smaller rheas were the only species this far south, while the larger rheas kept to the north, the species meeting around the Rio Negro.^[111]

After further surveying in Tierra del Fuego, they returned on 5 March 1834 to visit the missionaries but found the huts deserted. Then canoes approached, and they found that one of the natives was Jemmy Button, who had lost his possessions and had settled into the native ways, taking a wife. Darwin had never seen "so complete & grievous a change". Jemmy came on board and dined using his cutlery properly, speaking English as well as ever, then assured them that he "had not the least wish to return to England" and was "happy and contented", leaving them gifts of otter skins and arrowheads before returning to the canoe to join his wife.^[112] Of the first visit, Darwin had written that "Viewing such men, one can hardly make oneself believe that they are fellow creatures placed in the same world. .... It is a common subject of conjecture; what pleasure in life some of the less gifted animals can enjoy? How much more reasonably it may be asked with respect to these men",^[113] yet Jemmy had readily adapted to civilisation and then chosen to return to his primitive ways. This raised awkward questions; it jarred with Charles Lyell's sheltered views, expressed in volume 2 of his Principles of Geology, that human races "showed only a slight deviation from a common standard", and that acceptance of transmutation meant renouncing man's "belief in the high genealogy of his species".^[114]

About this time Darwin wrote Reflection on reading my Geological notes, the first of a series of essays included in his notes.^[106] He speculated on possible causes of the land repeatedly being raised, and on a history of life in Patagonia as a sequence of named species.^[115]

They returned to the Falkland Islands on 16 March, just after an incident where gauchos and Indians had butchered senior members of Vernet's settlement, and helped to put the revolt down. Darwin noted the immense number of organisms dependent on the kelp forests.^[116] He received word from Henslow that his first dispatch of specimens had reached Cambridge, with the South American fossils being prized by the expert William Clift as showing hitherto unknown species and features of the Megatherium, and displayed by William Buckland and Clift before the cream of British science, making Darwin's reputation.^[105][117]

Beagle now sailed to southern Patagonia, and on 19 April, an expedition including FitzRoy and Darwin set off to take boats as far as possible up the Santa Cruz river, with all involved taking turns in teams dragging the boats upstream. The river cut through a series of rises, then through plateaux forming wide plains covered with shells and shingle. Darwin discussed with FitzRoy his interpretation that these terraces had been shores that had gradually raised per Lyell's theories. Several of the smaller rheas were seen in the distance but were too elusive to catch.^[96] The expedition approached the Andes but had to turn back.

Darwin summarised his speculation in his essay on the Elevation of Patagonia. Though tentative, it challenged Lyell's ideas. Darwin drew on measurements by Beagle's officers, as well as his own measurements, to propose that the plains had been raised in successive stages by forces acting over a wide area, rather than smaller-scale actions in a continuous movement. However, he supported Lyell in finding evidence to dismiss a sudden deluge when normal processes were suddenly speeded. Seashells he had found far inland still showing their colour suggested to him that the process had been relatively recent and could have affected human history.^[118]

West coast of South America

Cerro La Campana ("The Bell Mountain"), which Darwin ascended on 17 August 1834.

Beagle and Adventure now surveyed the Straits of Magellan before sailing north up the west coast, reaching Chiloé Island in the wet and heavily wooded Chiloé Archipelago on 28 June 1834. They then spent the next six months surveying the coast and islands southwards.^[a] On Chiloé, Darwin found fragments of black lignite and petrified wood, at least two of which the British Geological Survey discovered in 2011 locked away in their collection labelled "unregistered fossil plants". Exchanged with Joseph Dalton Hooker about ten years later, one slide was signed "Chiloe, C. Darwin Esq".^[122]

They arrived at Valparaiso on 23 July. After several walks in the area, Darwin obtained horses and, on 14 August, set off up the volcanic Andes with a companion. Three days later they spent an enjoyable day on the summit of the "Campana or Bell" mountain, Cerro La Campana. Darwin visited a copper mine and spent five days scrambling in the mountains before going on to Santiago, Chile. On his way back, he fell ill on 20 September and had to spend a month in bed. It is possible that he contracted Chagas' disease here, leading to his health problems after his return to England, but this diagnosis of his symptoms is disputed. He learnt that the Admiralty had reprimanded FitzRoy for buying Adventure. FitzRoy had taken it badly, selling the ship and announcing they would go back to recheck his survey. He then had resigned his command, doubting his sanity, but was persuaded by his officers to withdraw his resignation and proceed. The artist Conrad Martens left the ship and took passage to Australia.^[123]

After waiting for Darwin, Beagle sailed on 11 November to survey the Chonos Archipelago. From here, they saw the eruption of the volcano Osorno in the Andes. They sailed north, and Darwin wondered about the fossils he had found. The giant Mastodons and Megatheriums were extinct, but he had found no geological signs of a "diluvial debacle" or of the changed circumstances that, in Lyell's view, led to species no longer being adapted to the position they were created to fit. He agreed with Lyell's idea of "the gradual birth & death of species", but, unlike Lyell, Darwin was willing to believe Giovanni Battista Brocchi's idea that extinct species had somehow aged and died out.^[124][125]

Concepción after the earthquake, as drawn by Lieutenant John Clements Wickham of Beagle.

They arrived at the port of Valdivia on 8 February 1835. Twelve days later, Darwin was on shore when he experienced a severe earthquake and returned to find the port town badly damaged. They sailed two hundred miles (320 km) north to Concepción, and arrived on 4 March to find that the same earthquake had devastated the city by repeated shocks and a tsunami, with even the cathedral in ruins. Darwin noted the horrors of death and destruction, and FitzRoy carefully established that mussel beds were now above high tide, giving clear evidence of the ground rising some 9 ft (2.7 m), which he confirmed a month later. They had actually experienced the gradual process of the continent emerging from the ocean, as Lyell had indicated.^[126][127]

Back in Valparaiso, Darwin set out on another trek up the Andes and, on 21 March, reached the continental divide at 13,000 ft (4,000 m): even here, he found fossil seashells in the rocks. He felt the glorious view "was like watching a thunderstorm, or hearing in the full Orchestra a Chorus of the Messiah."^[128] After going on to Mendoza, they were returning by a different pass when they found a petrified forest of fossilised trees, crystallised in a sandstone escarpment showing him that they had been on a Pacific beach when the land sank, burying them in the sand which had been compressed into rock, then had gradually been raised with the continent to stand at 7,000 ft (2,100 m) in the mountains. On returning to Valparaiso with half a mule's load of specimens, he wrote to his father that his findings, if accepted, would be crucial to the theory of the formation of the world. After another gruelling expedition in the Andes, while Beagle was refitted, he rejoined it and sailed to Lima but found an armed insurrection in progress and had to stay with the ship. Here he was writing up his notes when he realised that Lyell's idea, that coral atolls were on the rims of rising extinct volcanoes, made less sense than the volcanoes gradually sinking so that the coral reefs around the island kept building themselves close to sea level and became an atoll as the volcano disappeared below. This was a theory he would examine when they reached such islands.^[129]

Galápagos Islands

A week out of Lima, Beagle reached the Galápagos Islands on 15 September 1835. The next day Captain FitzRoy dropped anchor near where the town of Puerto Baquerizo Moreno is now sited, at Chatham Island. At the location that is now known as Frigatebird Hill/Cerro Tijeretas, Darwin spent his first hour onshore in the Galapagos islands.^[130]

Darwin eagerly looked forward to seeing newly formed volcanic islands and took every opportunity to go ashore while Beagle was methodically moved round to chart the coast. He found broken black rocky volcanic lava scorching under the hot sun, and made detailed geological notes of features including volcanic cones like chimneys which reminded him of the iron foundries of industrial Staffordshire.^[131] He was disappointed that he did not see active volcanoes or find strata showing uplift as he had hoped, though one of the officers found broken oyster-shells high above the sea on one of the islands.^[132] Abundant giant Galápagos tortoises appeared to him almost antediluvian, and large black marine iguanas seemed "most disgusting, clumsy Lizards" well suited to their habitat – he noted that someone had called them "imps of darkness".^[131] Darwin had learnt from Henslow about studying the geographical distribution of species, and particularly of linked species on oceanic islands and nearby continents, so he endeavoured to collect plants in flower. He found widespread "wretched-looking" thin scrub thickets of only ten species and very few insects. Birds were remarkably unafraid of humans, and in his first field note, he recorded that a mockingbird was similar to those he had seen on the continent.^[28][133]

The various Galápagos mockingbirds Darwin caught resembled the Chilean mockingbird Mimus thenka, but differed from island to island.

Beagle sailed on to Charles Island. By chance, they were greeted by the Englishman Nicholas Lawson, acting Governor of Galápagos for the Republic of the Equator, who accompanied them up to the penal colony. It was said that tortoises differed in the shape of the shells from island to island, and Darwin noted Lawson's statement that on seeing a tortoise, he could "pronounce with certainty from which island it has been brought".^[134] Though Darwin remembered this later, he did not pay much attention at the time. However, he found a mockingbird and "fortunately happened to observe" that it differed from the Chatham Island specimen, so from then on, he carefully noted where mockingbirds had been caught.^[28][133] He industriously collected all the animals, plants, insects & reptiles, and speculated about finding "from future comparison to what district or 'centre of creation' the organized beings of this archipelago must be attached."^[135] At this stage, his thoughts reflected Lyell's rejection of transmutation of species.^[136]

They went on to Albemarle Island, where Darwin saw a small jet of smoke from a recently active volcano. On 1 October, he landed near Tagus Cove and explored Beagle Crater.^[137] There, he saw his first Galapagos land iguanas. Water pits were disappointingly inadequate for drinking, but attracted swarms of small birds, and Darwin made his only note of the finches he was not bothering to label by island.^[138] He caught a third species of mockingbird.^[133]

After passing the northern islands of Abingdon, Tower and Bindloe, Darwin was put ashore at James Island for nine days together with the surgeon Benjamin Bynoe and their servants. They busily collected all sorts of specimens while Beagle went back to Chatham Island for freshwater.^[139]

After further surveying, Beagle set sail for Tahiti on 20 October 1835. Darwin wrote up his notes, and to his astonishment, found that all the mockingbirds caught on Charles, Albemarle, James and Chatham Islands differed from island to island.^[28] He wrote "This birds which is so closely allied to the Thenca of Chili (Callandra of B. Ayres) is singular from existing as varieties or distinct species in the different Isds.— I have four specimens from as many Isds.— These will be found to be 2 or 3 varieties.— Each variety is constant in its own Island....".^[140]

Tahiti to Australia

They sailed on, dining on Galapagos tortoises, and passed the atoll of Honden Island on 9 November. They passed through the Low Islands archipelago, with Darwin remarking that they had "a very uninteresting appearance; a long brilliantly white beach is capped by a low bright line of green vegetation." Arriving at Tahiti on 15 November, he soon found interest in luxuriant vegetation and the pleasant intelligent natives who showed the benefits of Christianity, refuting allegations he had read about tyrannical missionaries overturning indigenous cultures.^[141]

On 19 December, they reached New Zealand, where Darwin thought the tattooed Māori to be savages with the character of a much lower order than the Tahitians. He also noted that they and their homes were "filthily dirty and offensive". Darwin saw missionaries bringing improvement in character, as well as new farming practices with an exemplary "English farm" employing natives. Richard Matthews was left here with his elder brother Joseph Matthews who was a missionary at Kaitaia. Darwin and FitzRoy were agreed that missionaries had been unfairly misrepresented in tracts, particularly one written by the artist Augustus Earle which he had left on the ship. Darwin also noted many English residents of the most worthless character, including runaway convicts from New South Wales. By 30 December, he was glad to leave New Zealand.^[142]

The first sight of Australia on 12 January 1836 reminded him of Patagonia, but inland the country improved, and he was soon filled with admiration at the bustling city of Sydney. On a journey into the interior, he came across a group of aborigines who looked "good-humoured & pleasant & they appeared far from such utterly degraded beings as usually represented". They gave him a display of spear throwing for a shilling, and he reflected sadly on how their numbers were rapidly decreasing.^[143] At a large sheep farm, he joined a hunting party and caught his first marsupial, a "potoroo" (rat-kangaroo). Reflecting on the strange animals of the country, he thought that an unbeliever "might exclaim 'Surely two distinct Creators must have been [at] work; their object however has been the same & certainly the end in each case is complete'," yet an antlion he was watching was very similar to its European counterpart. That evening he saw the even stranger platypus and noticed that its bill was soft, unlike the preserved specimens he had seen. Aboriginal stories that they laid eggs were believed by few Europeans.^[144][145]

Beagle visited Hobart, Tasmania, where Darwin was impressed by the agreeable high society of the settlers but noted that the island's "Aboriginal blacks are all removed & kept (in reality as prisoners) in a Promontory, the neck of which is guarded. I believe it was not possible to avoid this cruel step; although without doubt the misconduct of the Whites first led to the Necessity."^[146] They then sailed to King George's Sound in south-west Australia, a dismal settlement then being replaced by the Swan River Colony. Darwin was impressed by the "good disposition of the aboriginal blacks... Although true Savages, it is impossible not to feel an inclination to like such quiet good-natured men." He provided boiled rice for an aboriginal "Corrobery" dancing party performed by the men of two tribes to the great pleasure of the women and children, a "most rude barbarous scene" in which everyone appeared in high spirits, "all moving in hideous harmony" and "perfectly at their ease".^[147] Beagle's departure in a storm was delayed when she ran aground. She was refloated and got on her way.

Keeling Island homewards

FitzRoy's instructions from the Admiralty required a detailed geological survey of a circular coral atoll to investigate how coral reefs formed, particularly whether they rose from the bottom of the sea or the summits of extinct volcanoes, and the effects of tides measured with specially constructed gauges. He chose the Keeling Islands in the Indian Ocean, and on arrival on 1 April, the entire crew set to work.^[148] Darwin found a coconut economy, serving both the small settlement and wildlife. There was a limited range of native plants and no land birds, but hermit crabs everywhere. The lagoons teemed with a wide variety of invertebrates and fish, and he examined the atoll's structure in view of the theory he had developed in Lima, of encircling reefs becoming atolls as an island sank.^[149] This idea was supported by the numerous soundings FitzRoy had taken, showing a steep slope outside the reef with no living corals below 20–30 fathoms (40–60 m).^[150]

Arriving at Mauritius on 29 April 1836, Darwin was impressed by the civilised prosperity of the French colony, which had come under British rule. He toured the island, examining its volcanic mountains and fringing coral reefs. The Surveyor-general Captain Lloyd took him on the only elephant on the island to see an elevated coral plain.^[145][151] By then, FitzRoy was writing the official Narrative of the Beagle voyages, and after reading Darwin’s diary he proposed incorporating it into the account, a suggestion Darwin discussed with his family.^[152]

Beagle reached the Cape of Good Hope on 31 May. In Cape Town, Darwin received a letter dated 29 December from his sister Caroline telling him that his fame was spreading. On 18 November 1835, Sedgwick had read extracts from Darwin's geological notes to the Geological Society of London, and this had been reported in The Athenæum on 21 November. On 25 December, their father received a letter from Henslow which said that Darwin would become one of the premier naturalists of the time and enclosed some copies of a book of extracts of Darwin's letters on South American geology which had been printed for private distribution. Their father "did not move from his seat till he had read every word of your book & he was very much gratified – he liked so much the simple clear way you gave your information".^[153][154] Darwin was horrified that his careless words were in print, but No hay remedio (it can't be helped).^[155] He explored the geology of the area, reaching conclusions about the slate formation and the injection of granite seams as a liquid which differed from the ideas of Lyell and Sedgwick. The zoologist Andrew Smith showed him formations, and later discussed the large animals living on sparse vegetation, showing that a lack of luxuriant vegetation did not explain the extinction of the giant creatures in South America.^[156]

Around 15 June, Darwin and FitzRoy visited the noted astronomer Sir John Herschel. In his diary, Darwin called this "the most memorable event which, for a long period, I have had the good fortune to enjoy." His zeal for science had been stirred at Cambridge by reading Herschel's book on philosophy of science, which had guided his theorising during the voyage.^[156] Their discussion is not recorded, but a few months earlier, on 20 February 1836, Herschel had written to Lyell praising his Principles of Geology as a work which would bring "a complete revolution in [its] subject, by altering entirely the point of view in which it must thenceforward be contemplated." and opening a way for bold speculation on "that mystery of mysteries, the replacement of extinct species by others." Herschel himself thought catastrophic extinction and renewal "an inadequate conception of the Creator", and by analogy with other intermediate causes "the origination of fresh species, could it ever come under our cognizance, would be found to be a natural in contradistinction to a miraculous process".^[157]

In Cape Town, missionaries were being accused of causing racial tension and profiteering, and after Beagle set to sea on 18 June, FitzRoy wrote an open letter to the evangelical South African Christian Recorder on the Moral State of Tahiti incorporating extracts from both his and Darwin's diaries to defend the reputation of missionaries. This was given to a passing ship that took it to Cape Town to become FitzRoy's (and Darwin's) first published work.^[158]

On 8 July, they stopped at St. Helena for six days. Darwin took lodgings near Napoleon's tomb, and when writing to Henslow asking to be proposed for the Geological Society, he mentioned his suspicions "that differently from most Volcanic Islds. its structure is rather complicated. It seems strange, that this little centre of a distinct creation should, as is asserted, bear marks of recent elevation."^[156][159] With a guide, he wandered over the island, noting its complex sloping strata showing fault lines, interlaced with volcanic dykes. He examined beds high on the hill that had been taken as seashells showing that St. Helena had risen from the ocean in recent times, but Darwin identified them as extinct species of land-shells. He noted that woodland had been destroyed by goats and hogs that had run wild since being introduced in 1502,^[160] and native vegetation only predominated on high steep ridges, having been replaced by imported species.^[161]

At this stage, Darwin had an acute interest in the island biogeography, and his description of St Helena as "a little centre of creation" in his geological diary reflects Charles Lyell's speculation in Volume 2 of Principles of Geology that the island would have acted as a "focus of creative force".^[156] He later recalled believing in the permanence of species, but "as far as I can remember, vague doubts occasionally flitted across my mind".^[162] When organising his Ornithological Notes between mid June and August,^[163] Darwin expanded on his initial notes on the Galapagos mockingbird Mimus thenca:^[28]

These birds are closely allied in appearance to the Thenca of Chile or Callandra of la Plata. ... In each Isld. each kind is exclusively found: habits of all are indistinguishable. When I recollect, the fact that the form of the body, shape of scales & general size, the Spaniards can at once pronounce, from which Island any Tortoise may have been brought. When I see these Islands in sight of each other, & [but del.] possessed of but a scanty stock of animals, tenanted by these birds, but slightly differing in structure & filling the same place in Nature, I must suspect they are only varieties.
The only fact of a similar kind of which I am aware, is the constant asserted difference – between the wolf-like Fox of East & West Falkland Islds.
If there is the slightest foundation for these remarks the zoology of Archipelagoes – will be well worth examining; for such facts [would inserted] undermine the stability of Species.^[164]

The term "would" before "undermine" had been added after writing what is now noted as the first expression of his doubts about species being immutable. That led to him becoming convinced about the transmutation of species and hence evolution.^[136] In opposing transmutation, Lyell had proposed that varieties arose due to changes in the environment, but these varieties lived in similar conditions though each on its own island. Darwin had just reviewed similar inconsistencies with mainland bird genera such as Pteroptochos.^[165] Though his suspicions about the Falkland Island fox may have been unsupported, the differences in Galápagos tortoises between islands were remembered, and he later wrote that he had been greatly struck from around March 1836 by the character of South American fossils and species on the Galapagos Archipelago, noting "These facts origin (especially latter) of all my views".^[166]

Beagle reached Ascension Island on 19 July 1836, and Darwin was delighted to receive letters from his sisters with news that Sedgwick had written: "He is doing admirably in S. America, & has already sent home a Collection above all praise.— It was the best thing in the world for him that he went out on the Voyage of Discovery— There was some risk of his turning out an idle man: but his character will now be fixed, & if God spare his life, he will have a great name among the Naturalists of Europe."^[167] Darwin later recalled how he "clambered over the mountains... with a bounding step and made the volcanic rocks resound under my geological hammer!."^[168] He agreed with the saying attributed to the people of St Helena that "We know we live on a rock, but the poor people at Ascension live on a cinder", and noted the care taken to sustain "houses, gardens & fields placed near the summit of the central mountain".^[169] (In the 1840s, Darwin worked with Hooker, who proposed in 1847 that the Royal Navy shall import tree species, a project started in 1850 which led to the creation of an artificial cloud forest on what is now Green Mountain.^[170])

On 23 July, they set off again longing to reach home, but FitzRoy, who wanted to ensure the accuracy of his longitude measurements, took the ship across the Atlantic back to Bahia in Brazil to take check readings. Darwin was glad to see the beauties of the jungle for one last time but now compared "the stately Mango trees with the Horse Chesnuts of England."^[171] The return trip was delayed for a further 11 days when weather forced Beagle to shelter further up the coast at Pernambuco, where Darwin examined rocks for signs of elevation, noted "Mangroves like rank grass", and investigated marine invertebrates at various depths on the sandbar. Beagle departed for home on 17 August.^[156] After a stormy passage including a stop for supplies at the Azores, the Beagle finally reached England on 2 October 1836 and anchored at Falmouth, Cornwall.^[172]

Return

In 1837 HMS Beagle set off on a survey of Australia, shown here in an 1841 watercolour by Owen Stanley.

On the stormy night of 2 October 1836, immediately after arriving in Falmouth,^[172] Darwin set off on the Royal Mail coach from Fish Strand Hill (a plaque now marks the site^[173]) for the two day journey to his family home, The Mount House in Shrewsbury, Shropshire. As he wrote to FitzRoy, the countryside they passed was "beautiful & cheerful", and though the "stupid people on the coach did not seem to think the fields one bit greener than usual", he now knew "that the wide world does not contain so happy a prospect as the rich cultivated land of England".^[174][175] Darwin arrived home late at night on 4 October, and at breakfast the next morning greeted his family, to their delight and celebrations.^[174][176] His sisters assured him he did "not look the least different",^[175] but his father's first reaction was to tell them "Why, the shape of his head is quite altered."^[177][178] After time spent catching up with family, Darwin went on to Cambridge on 15 October and sought Henslow's advice on organising the description and cataloguing of his collections.^[179]

Darwin's father gave him an allowance that enabled him to put aside other careers. As a scientific celebrity with a reputation established by his fossils and Henslow's publication of his letters on South American geology, Darwin toured London's social institutions. By this time, he was part of the "scientific establishment", collaborating with expert naturalists to describe his specimens and working on ideas he had been developing during the voyage. Charles Lyell gave him enthusiastic backing. In December 1836, Darwin presented a talk to the Cambridge Philosophical Society. He wrote a paper proving that Chile, and the South American continent, was slowly rising, which he read to the Geological Society of London on 4 January 1837.^[180]

Darwin thought of having his diary published mixed in with FitzRoy's account, but his relatives, including Emma and Hensleigh Wedgwood, urged that it be published separately. On 30 December, the question was settled by FitzRoy taking the advice of William Broderip that Darwin's journal should form the third volume of the Narrative. Darwin set to work reorganising his diary, trimming it, and incorporating scientific material from his notes. He completed his Journal and Remarks (now commonly known as The Voyage of the Beagle) in August 1837, but FitzRoy was slower, and the three volumes were published in August 1839.^[181]

Syms Covington stayed with Darwin as his servant, then on 25 February 1839 (shortly after Darwin's marriage), Covington parted on good terms and migrated to Australia.^[182]

Expert publications on Darwin's collections

Darwin had shown great ability as a collector and had done the best he could with the reference books he had on the ship. It was now the province of recognised expert specialists to establish which specimens were unknown, and make their considered taxonomic decisions on defining and naming new species.^[183]

Fossils

Richard Owen had expertise in comparative anatomy, and his professional judgements revealed a succession of similar species in the same locality, giving Darwin insights which he would later recall as being central to his new views.^[183] Owen met Darwin on 29 October 1836 and quickly took on the task of describing these new fossils. At that time the only fully described fossil mammals from South America were three species of Mastodon and the gigantic Megatherium.^[184] On 9 November, Darwin wrote to his sister that "Some of them are turning out great treasures." The near-complete skeleton from Punta Alta was apparently very closely allied to anteaters, but of the extraordinary size of a small horse. The rhinoceros-sized head bought for two shillings near the city of Mercedes was not a megatherium, but "as far as they can guess, must have been a gnawing animal. Conceive a Rat or a Hare of such a size— What famous Cats they ought to have had in those days!"^[185]

A Scelidotherium skeleton in Paris.

Over the following years, Owen published descriptions of the most important fossils, naming several as new species. He described the fossils from Punta Alta as including a nearly perfect head and three fragments of heads of Megatherium Cuvierii, the jaw of a related species which Owen named Mylodon Darwinii, and jaws of Megalonyx Jeffersonii. The near-complete skeleton was named Scelidotherium by Owen, who found that it had most of its bones nearly in their proper relative positions.^[83] At the nearby Monte Hermoso beds, numerous rodents included species allied to the Brazilian tuco-tuco and the capybara.^[90]

Owen decided that the fossils of polygonal plates of bony armour found at several locations were not from the Megatherium as Cuvier's description implied, but from a huge armadillo, as Darwin had briefly thought. Owen found a description of an earlier unnamed specimen which he named Glyptodon clavipes in 1839.^[186] Darwin's find from Punta Alta, a large surface about 3 by 2 ft (0.91 by 0.61 m) doubled over with toe bones still inside the folded armour,^[83] was identified as a slightly smaller Glyptodont named Hoplophorus by Peter Wilhelm Lund in the same year.^[85][186]

The huge skull from near Mercedes was named Toxodon by Owen,^[187] and he showed that the "enormous gnawing tooth" from the cliffs of the Carcarañá River was a molar from this species.^[188] The finds near Mercedes also included a large fragment of Glyptodont armour and a head that Owen initially identified as a Glossotherium, but later decided was a Mylodon.^[189] Owen found fragments of the jaw and a tooth of another Toxodon in the fossils from Punta Alta.^[83]

The fossils from near Santa Fe included the horse tooth which had puzzled Darwin as it had been previously thought that horses had only come to the Americas in the 16th century, close to a Toxodon tooth and a tooth of Mastodon andium (now Cuvieronius hyodon). Owen confirmed that the horse tooth was of an extinct South American species which he named Equus curvidens, and its age was confirmed by a corroded horse tooth among the Punta Alta fossils.^[190] This discovery was later explained as part of the evolution of the horse.

The "soft as cheese" Mastodon bones at the Paraná River were identified as two gigantic skeletons of Mastodon andium, and mastodon teeth were also identified from Santa Fe and the Carcarañá River.^[191] The pieces of spine and a hind leg from Port S. Julian, which Darwin had thought came from "some large animal, I fancy a Mastodon", gave Owen difficulties, as the creature which he named Macrauchenia appeared to be a "gigantic and most extraordinary pachyderm", allied to the Palaeotherium, but with affinities to the llama and the camel.^[192] The fossils at Punta Alta included a pachyderm tooth which was thought probably came from Macrauchenia.^[83]

Footnotes

1. FitzRoy's and Darwin's publications arising from the expedition were a major reference point for 19th-century Chilean explorers of western Patagonia. FitzRoy's book Sailing Directions for South America led Chilean Navy hydrographer Francisco Hudson to investigate in the 1850s the possible existence of a sailing route through internal waters from the Chiloé Archipelago to the Straits of Magellan. Hudson was the first to realise that the Isthmus of Ofqui made this route impossible.^[119] Enrique Simpson found instead FitzRoy's mapping of little use noting in 1870 that "Fitzroy's chart, that is quite exact until that point [Melinka 43°53' S], is worthless further ahead...". Thus, south of Melinka Simpson relied more on the late 18th century sketches of José de Moraleda y Montero.^[120] Simpson's contemporary Francisco Vidal Gormaz was critical of the over-all work of FitzRoy and Darwin stating that they had failed to acknowledge the importance of the Patagonian islands.^[121]

Notes

1. Browne & Neve 1989, p. 16
2. Browne & Neve 1989, p. 9.
3. Taylor 2008, p. 17.
4. Browne & Neve 1989, p. 3.
5. King 1839, p. xv.
6. Taylor 2008, p. 18.
7. Darwin 1845, p. 1.
8. FitzRoy 1839, pp. 24–26
9. FitzRoy 1839, pp. 26–33
10. FitzRoy 1839, pp. 33–40
11. FitzRoy 1839, pp. 13–16
12. Browne & Neve 1989, pp. 3–4
13. FitzRoy 1839, pp. 17–22
14. "HMS Beagle – Port of science and discovery – Port Cities". Retrieved 30 January 2009.
15. Browne & Neve 1989, pp. 4–5
16. Browne 1995, pp. 150–151, 204–209
17. "Letter 131 – Darwin, C. R. to FitzRoy, Robert (19 Sept 1831)". Darwin Correspondence Project.
18. Browne 1995, p. 208
19. King 1839, pp. 360, 385
20. van Wyhe 2013, p. 3.
21. Desmond & Moore 1991, p. 104
22. Browne 1995, pp. 148–149
23. van Wyhe 2013, pp. 5–7.
24. Browne & Neve 1989, pp. 4–7
25. "Darwin Correspondence Project » letter: 104 – Peacock, George to Henslow, J. S., (6 or 13 August 1831)". Retrieved 11 November 2014.
26. "Darwin Correspondence Project » letter: 115 – Darwin, C. R. to Darwin, S. E., (4 Sept 1831)". Retrieved 11 November 2014.
27. van Wyhe 2013, p. 6.
28. Gordon Chancellor; Randal Keynes (October 2006). "Darwin's field notes on the Galapagos: 'A little world within itself'". Darwin Online.
29. "Darwin Correspondence Project – Letter 105 — Henslow, J. S. to Darwin, C. R., 24 Aug 1831". Retrieved 29 December 2008.
30. "Darwin Correspondence Project – Letter 106 — Peacock, George to Darwin, C. R., (26? Aug 1831)". Retrieved 28 January 2009.
31. "Darwin Correspondence Project » letter: 107 – Darwin, C. R. to Henslow, J. S., 30 (Aug 1831)". Retrieved 13 November 2014.
32. "Darwin Correspondence Project » letter: 112 Darwin, C. R. to Beaufort, Francis, 1 Sept (1831)". Retrieved 12 November 2014.
33. "Darwin Correspondence Project » letter: 113 – Beaufort, Francis to FitzRoy, Robert, 1 Sept (1831)". Retrieved 12 November 2014.
34. Browne 1995, pp. 158–159
35. "Darwin Correspondence Project » letter: 117 Darwin, C. R. to Darwin, S. E., (5 Sept 1831)". Retrieved 12 November 2014.
36. "Darwin Correspondence Project » letter: 118 – Darwin, C. R. to Henslow, J. S., (5 Sept 1831)". Retrieved 13 November 2014.
37. "Darwin Correspondence Project » letter: 132 – Darwin, C. R. to Fox, W. D., 19 (Sept 1831)". Retrieved 14 November 2014.
38. Browne 1995, pp. 160–161
    Darwin, C. R. Recollections of the development of my mind & character [Autobiography [1876-4.1882] CUL-DAR26.1–121) Transcribed by Kees Rookmaaker. Darwin Online. p. 49
39. "Darwin Correspondence Project » letter: 122 – Darwin, C. R. to Darwin, S. E., (9 Sept 1831)". Retrieved 12 November 2014.
40. "Darwin Correspondence Project » letter: 123 – Darwin, C. R. to Henslow, J. S., 9 (Sept 1831)". Retrieved 12 November 2014.,
    Darwin, C. R. (1831). "CUL-DAR29.3.78". darwin-online.org.uk. Retrieved 13 November 2014. recommendations attributed to Benjamin Leadbeater, Henslow, Yarrell, Phillip Parker King, John Lort Stokes, Robert Edmond Grant, Frederick William Hope
41. John van Wyhe (ed.). "Darwin's 'Journal' (1809–1881). CUL-DAR158.1–76". Darwin Online. pp. 7 verso–8 verso. Retrieved 13 November 2014.
42. "Darwin Correspondence Project » letter: 126 – Darwin, C. R. to Darwin, S. E., (14 Sept 1831)". Retrieved 13 November 2014.
43. "Darwin Correspondence Project » letter: 127 – Darwin, C. R. to Darwin, S. E., 17 (Sept 1831)". Retrieved 13 November 2014.
44. "Darwin Correspondence Project » letter: 142 – Darwin, C. R. to FitzRoy, Robert (10 Oct 1831)". Retrieved 13 November 2014.
45. "Darwin Correspondence Project » letter: 139 – Darwin, C. R. to FitzRoy, Robert (4 or 11 Oct 1831)". Retrieved 13 November 2014.
46. Browne & Neve 1989, pp. 12
47. Keynes 2001, p. 27
48. "Letter 119 – Darwin, C. R. to Darwin, S. E. (6 Sept 1831)". Darwin Correspondence Project.
49. Browne 1995, pp. 208–209
50. "Letter 144 — Darwin, C. R. to Henslow, J. S., 30 (Oct 1831)". Darwin Correspondence Project. Retrieved 1 August 2010.
51. Keynes 2000, pp. ix–xi.
52. Keynes 2000, pp. x.
53. Keynes 2001, pp. 4–17.
    FitzRoy 1839, p. 42.
54. Keynes 2001, pp. 19–22
55. Darwin 1839, pp. 1–7.
56. Keynes 2001, pp. 22–26
57. He also collected what would in 1837 be described by John Gould as the type specimen of Passer iagoensis, the Cape Verde sparrow or Iago sparrow.
58. Herbert 1991, pp. 164–170.
59. "Letter 171 — Darwin, C. R. to Henslow, J. S., 18 May & 16 June 1832". Darwin Correspondence Project. Retrieved 1 August 2010. as for the Doctor he has gone back to England.—as he chose to make himself disagreeable to the Captain & to Wickham He was a philosopher of rather an antient date; at St Jago by his own account he made general remarks during the first fortnight & collected particular facts during the last.
60. Darwin 1958, p. 81
61. Letter to L. Horner, Down, 29 August 1844
62. Freeman 2007, p. 196
63. Keynes 2001, pp. 26–28
64. Keynes 2001, pp. 28–34
65. "Letter 196 — Henslow, J. S. to Darwin, C. R., 15 & 21 Jan (1833)". Darwin Correspondence Project. Retrieved 8 July 2011.
66. Browne 1995, pp. 202–204
67. FitzRoy 1839, pp. 56–58.
    Keynes 2001, pp. 36–38.
68. Browne 1995, p. 195
69. Browne & Neve 1989, pp. 11–17
70. FitzRoy 1839, pp. 58–60.
71. Keynes 2001, pp. 41–44.
72. Darwin 1958, pp. 73–74.
73. Keynes 2001, p. 45
74. Keynes 2001, pp. 48–65.
75. Browne 1995, p. 210
76. FitzRoy 1839, pp. 74–81.
77. Armitstead, Claire (25 November 2015). "Unique watercolour of Darwin on HMS Beagle tipped to fetch upwards of £50,000 at auction". the Guardian. Retrieved 25 November 2015.
78. FitzRoy 1839, pp. 94–97.
79. Keynes 2001, pp. 104–109; p. 109, Keynes notes the site is now under Puerto Belgrano naval base.
80. 'Cinnamon and port wine': an introduction to the Rio Notebook, Bahía Blanca, September—October 1832.
81. FitzRoy 1839, pp. 106–107.
82. "The Journal of Syms Covington – Chapter Three". Archived from the original on 26 August 2006. Retrieved 29 July 2008.
83. Darwin 1846, p. 84.
84. Keynes 2001, p. 107.
85. Keynes 2001, p. 109
86. "Darwin Correspondence Project – Letter 188 — Darwin, C. R. to Darwin, C. S., 24 Oct & 24 Nov (1832)".
87. "Darwin Correspondence Project – Letter 192 — Darwin, C. R. to Henslow, J. S., (26 Oct–) 24 Nov 1832".
88. Browne 1995, pp. 223–224
     Darwin 1835, p. 7
     Desmond & Moore 1991, p. 210
     Eldredge 2006
89. Keynes 2001, p. 110
90. Darwin 1846, p. 81.
91. Barlow 1967, p. 64.
92. Barlow 1967, p. 92.
93. Desmond & Moore 1991, p. 131
94. Darwin 1871, pp. 34–35, 180–181, Beagle Diary 1832 December 18th
95. Desmond & Moore 1991, pp. 134–138
96. Barlow 1963, pp. 271–5.
97. Barlow 1945, pp. 193–196.
98. "Darwin Correspondence Project – Letter 215 — Darwin, C. R. to Darwin, C. S., 20 Sept (1833)".
99. Keynes 2001, p. 193.
100. "Darwin Correspondence Project – Letter 229 — Darwin, C. R. to Henslow, J. S., 12 Nov 1833".
101. "'Filled with astonishment': an introduction to the St. Fe Notebook". Darwin Online.
102. Barlow 1945, p. 210.
103. Keynes 2001, pp. 195–198.
104. Keynes 2001, pp. 203–204.
105. "Darwin Correspondence Project – Letter 238 — Darwin, C. R. to Henslow, J. S., Mar 1834".
106. "'A man who has seen half the world': Introduction to the Banda Oriental Notebook".
107. 'Banda Oriental S. Cruz.' Beagle field notebook. EH1.9, p. 36, a typical Glyptodont tail.
108. 'Banda Oriental S. Cruz.' Beagle field notebook. EH1.9, p. 37
109. Keynes 2001, pp. 208–214
     Barlow 1967, p. 84.
110. Keynes 2001, pp. 217–218
111. Barlow 1963, p. 272.
112. Keynes 2001, pp. 226–227.
113. Keynes 2001, pp. 222–223
114. Desmond & Moore 1991, pp. 146–147
115. Herbert 1995, p. 23.
116. Keynes 2000, p. xix.
117. "Darwin Correspondence Project – Letter 213 — Henslow, J. S. to Darwin, C. R., 31 Aug 1833".
118. Herbert 1991, pp. 174–179.
119. Sepúlveda Ortíz, Jorge (1998), "Francisco Hudson, un destacado marino poco conocido en nuestra historia" (PDF), Revista de Marina (in Spanish): 1–20, archived from the original (PDF) on 23 January 2019, retrieved 17 February 2019
120. Simpson, E. (1874). Esploraciones hechas por la Corbeta Chacabuco al mando del capitán de fragata don Enrique M. Simpson en los Archipiélagos de Guaitecas, Chonos i Taitao. Santiago. Imprenta Nacional.
121. Núñez, Andrés G.; Molina O., Raúl; Aliste A., Enrique; Bello A., Álvaro (2016). "Silencios geográficos de Patagonia-Aysén: Territorio, nomadismo y perspectivas para re-pensar los margenes de la nación en el siglo XIX" [Geographical silences in Patagonia-Aysén: Territory, nomadism and perspectives for re-thinking the margins of Chile in the nineteenth century]. Magallania (in Spanish). 44 (2): 107–130. doi:10.4067/S0718-22442016000200006.
122. "Joseph Hooker, botanist to the Survey". British Geological Survey. Archived from the original on 3 July 2017. Retrieved 17 January 2012.
123. Keynes 2001, pp. 249–264
124. Charles Darwin (February 1835). "The position of the bones of Mastodon (?) at Port St Julian is of interest".
125. "Darwin Online: 'Hurrah Chiloe': an introduction to the Port Desire Notebook".
126. Keynes 2001, pp. 292–303.
127. Desmond & Moore 1991, pp. 158–162
128. Keynes 2001, pp. 308–309
129. Herbert 1991, pp. 187–190
130. Grant, K. Thalia and Estes, Gregory B. "Darwin in Galapagos: Footsteps to a New World." 2009. Princeton University Press.
131. Keynes 2001, pp. 353–354.
132. Darwin 1845, pp. 114–115.
133. Gould 1839, pp. 62–64
134. Keynes 2000, p. 291.
135. Keynes 2001, p. 356.
136. Keynes 2000, p. xix.
        Eldredge 2006
137. Grant, K. Thalia and Estes, Gregory B. "Darwin in Galapagos: Footsteps to a New World." 2009 Princeton University Press.
138. Keynes 2001, pp. 357–360.
139. Keynes 2001, pp. 360–367.
140. Keynes 2000, p. 298.
141. Keynes 2001, pp. 364–378
142. Keynes 2001, pp. 380–395
143. Keynes 2001, pp. 398–399.
144. Keynes 2001, pp. 402–403.
145. "Darwin Online: 'Coccatoos & Crows': An introduction to the Sydney Notebook".
146. Keynes 2001, pp. 408–410.
147. Keynes 2001, pp. 410–412.
148. FitzRoy 1839, pp. 38–39, 629–637.
149. Keynes 2001, pp. 413–419.
150. Darwin 1845, pp. 467–468.
151. Darwin 1845, pp. 483–486.
152. "Darwin Correspondence Project – Letter 301 — Darwin, C. R. to Darwin, C. S., 29 Apr 1836".
153. "Darwin Correspondence Project – Letter 291 — Darwin, C. S. & Langton, Charlotte to Darwin, C. R., 29 Dec (1835)".
154. Darwin 1835, Darwin 1836, "Darwin Correspondence Project – Letter 290 – Darwin, R. W. to Henslow, J. S., 28 Dec 1835".
155. "Darwin Correspondence Project – Letter 302 — Darwin, C. R. to Darwin, E. C., 3 June 1836".
156. "Darwin Online: 'Runaway Rascals': an introduction to the Despoblado Notebook".
157. van Wyhe 2007, p. 197
     Babbage 1838, pp. 225–227
158. Browne 1995, pp. 330–331
     FitzRoy, R; Darwin, C (September 1836). "A letter, containing remarks on the moral state of Tahiti, New Zealand, &c". South African Christian Recorder. pp. 221–238. At Sea, 28th June, 1836
159. "Darwin Correspondence Project – Letter 304 — Darwin, C. R. to Henslow, J. S., 9 July 1836".
160. Darwin 1844, pp. 89–90.
161. Darwin 1845, pp. 486–488.
162. Poulton 1896, pp. 28–29.
163. Keynes 2000, p. xx.
164. Barlow 1963, p. 262.
165. Hodge 2009, pp. 93–98.
166. Barlow 1933, p. xiii.
167. "Darwin Correspondence Project – Letter 288 — Darwin, S. E. to Darwin, C. R., 22 Nov 1835".
168. Darwin 1958, pp. 81–82.
169. Keynes 2001, pp. 431–432
170. Falcon, Howard (1 September 2010). "Creation of an artificial cloud forest". Bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 18 September 2010.
171. "Darwin Correspondence Project – Letter 306 — Darwin, C. R. to Darwin, S. E., 4 Aug (1836)".
172. Keynes 2001, p. 447
173. Paul Van Helvert; John Van Wyhe (12 January 2021). Darwin: A Companion - With Iconographies By John Van Wyhe. World Scientific Publishing Company. p. 95. ISBN 9789811208225. – see photographs.
174. Desmond & Moore 1991, p. 195.
175. "Letter 310 – Darwin, C. R. to FitzRoy, Robert 6 October (1836)". Darwin Correspondence Project.
176. "Letter 307 – Darwin, C. R. to Josiah Wedgwood II (5 October 1836)". Darwin Correspondence Project.
177. Browne 1995, p. 340.
178. Darwin 1958, p. 79.
179. Desmond & Moore 1991, p. 197.
180. Darwin, C. R. (1837). "Observations of proofs of recent elevation on the coast of Chili, made during the survey of His Majesty's Ship Beagle commanded by Capt. FitzRoy R.N." Proceedings of the Geological Society of London. 2: 446–449.
181. Keynes 2001, p. xviii–xx.
182. Keynes 2001, p. 449.
183. Herbert 1980, p. 11.
184. Owen 1840, p. 13
185. "Darwin Correspondence Project – Letter 321 — Darwin, C. R. to Darwin, C. S., (9 Nov 1836)".
186. Owen 1840, pp. 106–108
187. Owen 1837, pp. 541–542
188. Owen 1840, pp. 16–18
189. Darwin 1846, p. 92
190. Darwin 1846, p. 90
191. Darwin 1846, pp. 88–92.
192. Darwin 1846, p. 95

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External links

• "Darwin, a naturalist's voyage around world". CNRS, Paris, France. Retrieved 9 November 2009.
• "AboutDarwin.com – Beagle Voyage". Archived from the original on 12 November 2007. Retrieved 21 November 2007.
• Rookmaaker, Kees (2009), Darwin's itinerary on the voyage of the Beagle, Darwin Online, retrieved 18 August 2009
• Grant K. Thalia and, Estes Gregory B. (2009), Darwin's itinerary in Galapagos

Further reading

• The Complete Works of Charles Darwin Online – Darwin Online; Darwin's publications, private papers and bibliography, supplementary works including biographies, obituaries and reviews. Free to use, includes items not in public domain.
• Works by Charles Darwin at Project Gutenberg; public domain
• Darwin Correspondence Project Text and notes for most of his letters
• Darwin in Galapagos: Footsteps to a New World