Charles Darwin Read online

  39. Ibid, p. 145.

  40. Ibid, p. 147.

  41. Ibid, p. 169.

  42. Ibid, p. 173.

  43. Ibid, p. 184.

  44. Ibid, p. 187.

  45. Ibid, p.220.

  46. Ibid, p.220.

  47. Ibid, p.230.

  48. Ibid, p.235.

  49. Ibid, p.236.

  50. Oxford Dictionaries Online.

  51. Darwin, Charles, op cit., pp.240–2.

  52. Ibid, p.321.

  53. Ibid, p.324.

  54. Ibid, p.325.

  55. Ibid, p.310.

  56. J. M. Herbert to Darwin 28 March 1834, Cor.1, p.375.

  57. Darwin to Catherine Darwin, 6 April 1834, Cor.1, pp.379–80.

  58. Darwin, Charles, op cit., pp.245, 248.

  59. FitzRoy, Captain Robert, op cit., p.190.

  60. Ibid, p.650.

  61. Darwin, Charles, op cit., p.330.

  62. Ibid, p.335.

  63. Darwin to Catherine Darwin, 20 June-9 July 1834, Cor.1, p.391.

  64. Darwin, Charles, op cit., p.345.

  65. Darwin to Charles Whitley, 23 July 1834, Cor.1, p.397.

  66. Darwin, Charles, op cit., p.347.

  67. Darwin to Caroline Darwin, 9–12 August 1834, Cor.1, pp.404–05.

  68. Darwin to Robert FitzRoy, 28 August 1834, Cor.1, p.406.

  69. Darwin, Charles, op cit., p.367.

  70. Ibid, p.367.

  71. Darwin, Francis, op cit., p.34.

  72. Ibid, p.35.

  73. Darwin to Catherine Darwin, 8 November 1834, Cor.1, p.418.

  74. Darwin, Charles, op cit., p.373.

  75. Darwin to Henslow, 24 July-7 November 1834, Cor. 1, pp.398, 400.

  76. Darwin, Charles, op cit., p.399.

  77. Ibid, pp.400–1.

  78. Catherine Darwin to Darwin, 28 January 1835, Cor.1, p.424.

  79. Darwin, Charles, op cit., p.407.

  80. Ibid, p.413.

  81. Darwin to Caroline, 10–13 March 1835, Cor.1, p.434.

  82. FitzRoy, Captain Robert, op cit., p.229.

  83. Darwin, Charles, op cit., p.418.

  84. FitzRoy, Captain Robert, op cit., p.231.

  85. Darwin, Charles, op cit., pp.422–3.

  86. Ibid, p.424.

  87. Ibid, pp.424–5.

  88. Ibid, p.429.

  89. Ibid, p.430.

  90. Ibid, p.449.

  91. Ibid, p.451.

  92. Ibid, p.451.

  93. Ibid, p.459.

  94. Darwin to J. S. Henslow, 18 April 1835, Cor.1, p.440.

  95. Darwin to Susan Darwin, 23 April 1835, Cor.1, pp.445–46.

  96. Oxford Dictionaries Online.it.

  97. Darwin, Charles, op cit., p.461.

  98. FitzRoy, Captain Robert, op cit., p.258.

  99. Darwin, Charles, op cit., p.494.

  100. Ibid, p.497.

  101. Darwin to Caroline Darwin, July/August 1835, Cor.1, p.458.

  102. Darwin to W. D. Fox, 9–12 August 1835, Cor.1, pp.460–6.

  103. Darwin to H. S. Fox, 15 August 1835, Cor.1, p.463.

  104. Darwin to Alexander Burns Usborne, c. 1–5 September 1835, Cor.1, p.464.

  Chapter 9

  The Galapagos

  Darwin described the Galapagos, with which his name would forever thereafter be associated, thus:

  This archipelago consists of ten principal islands of which five exceed the others in size. They are situated under the equator [in fact, the Galapagos archipelago is bisected by the equator] between five and six hundred miles westward of the coast of America. They are all formed of volcanic rocks … .1

  Most of the organic [living] productions are aboriginal creations found nowhere else; there is even a difference between the inhabitants of the different islands; yet all show a marked relationship with those of America, though separated from that continent by an open space of ocean between 500 and 600 miles in width. The archipelago is a little world within itself, or rather a satellite attached to America … .2

  Here, Darwin collected and studied twenty-six species of land birds, eleven species of waders and water birds, together with reptiles, sea turtles, a lizard, a snake, and tortoises. He also collected fish and sea shells and declared that of the two hundred and twenty-five species of flowering plants which he had discovered in the Galapagos ‘100 are new species and are probably confined to this archipelago’.3 But, said he,

  The most remarkable feature in the natural history of this archipelago by far … is that the different islands to a considerable extent are inhabited by a different set of beings. My attention was first called to this fact by the Vice-governor, Mr. [Nicolas] Lawson, declaring that the tortoises differed from [i.e. on] the different islands, and that he could with certainty tell from which island any one was brought. I did not for some time pay sufficient attention to this statement, and I had already partially mingled together the collections from two of the islands. I never dreamed that islands, about 50 or 60 miles apart, and most of them in sight of each other, formed of precisely the same rocks, placed under a quite similar climate, rising to a nearly equal height, would have been differently tenanted; but we shall soon see that this is the case.4

  For example, Captain [David] Porter [of the US Navy] has described those from Charles [Island] and from the nearest island to it, namely, Hood Island, as having their shells in front thick and turned up like a Spanish saddle, whilst the tortoises from James Island are rounder, blacker and have a better taste when cooked.5

  Darwin himself remarked, in respect of the mocking thrushes, that

  to my astonishment, I discovered that all those from Charles Island belonged to one species (Mimus trifasciatus), all from Albemarle Island to M. parvulus, and all from James and Chatham islands belonged to M. melanotis.6

  But it is the circumstance [i.e. fact] that several of the islands possess their own species of the tortoise, mocking-thrush, finches, and numerous plants, these species having the same general habits, occupying analogous situations, and obviously filling the same place in the natural economy of this archipelago, that strikes me with wonder.7

  Instead of dumbly and unquestioningly accepting these curious facts, Darwin would mull them over in his mind, until one day, in a dazzling flash of inspiration, an explanation for them would be forthcoming. Meanwhile, he continued his narrative thus

  22 October 1835. The survey of the Galapagos Archipelago being concluded, we steered towards Tahiti [in the South Pacific] and commenced our long passage of 3220 miles.8

  15 November 1835. At daylight, Tahiti … was in view.9

  17 November 1835. After breakfast I went on shore and ascended the nearest slope to a height of between two and three thousand feet.10

  At Tahiti, on 21 November, Captain FitzRoy was told by one of the native inhabitants that

  the island was not so healthy as in former times; and they [the inhabitants] had caught diseases, in those days unknown. Asking who brought this or that disease, he imputed the worst to the ships which came after Cook’s first visit and left men upon the island until their return the following year. Curvature of the spine, or a hump-back, never appeared until after Cook’s visits, and as he had a hump-backed man in his ship, they attribute that deformity to him.11

  (This was a reference to British explorer Captain James Cook’s 1769 expedition to the island. One cause of spinal curvature is Potts’ disease – infection of the spinal vertebrae with tuberculosis.)

  26 November 1835. In the evening, with a gentle land breeze, a course was steered for New Zealand …12

  19 December 1835. In the evening we saw in the distance New Zealand.13

  21 December 1835. Early in the morning we entered the Bay of Islands [North Island, New Zealand] …14

  30 December 1835. In the afternoon we stood out of the Bay of Islands, on our course to Sydney [Australia].15

  12 January 1836. Early in the morning a light air carried us towards the entrance of Port Jackson [Sydney Harbour].16
>
  At Sydney, Darwin and FitzRoy were re-united temporarily with Conrad Martens, who had established a reputation as an artist of note. From him, a number of paintings were commissioned of Beagle’s visits to Tierra del Fuego and the Pacific.

  With the native inhabitants of Australia, and those of other continents in mind, Darwin declared

  Wherever the European has trod, death seems to pursue the aboriginal [meaning, in this context, human beings indigenous to the land from the earliest times]. We now look to the wide extent of Polynesia, the Cape of Good Hope, and Australia, and we find the same result. Nor is it the white man alone that acts [as] the destroyer … . The varieties of man seem to act on each other in the same way as different species of animals – the stronger always extirpating the weaker.17

  30 January 1836. The Beagle sailed for Hobart Town in Van Diemen’s Land [Tasmania].18

  7 February 1836. The Beagle sailed from Tasmania …19

  1 April 1836. We arrived in view of the Keelling or Cocos Islands, situated in the Indian Ocean …20

  12 April 1836. In the morning we stood out of the lagoon on our passage to the Isle of France [Mauritius, in the Indian Ocean].21

  Here, Darwin took the opportunity to study in great detail the various types of coral reef, and expound his theories as to how they originated.22

  29 April 1836. In the morning we passed round the northern end of Mauritius … .23

  9 May 1836. We sailed from Port Louis [capital of Mauritius] and, calling at the Cape of Good Hope, on the 8th July we arrived off St. Helena [island in the South Atlantic,24 where Darwin declared] I so much enjoyed my rambles among the rocks and mountains …25

  On 19 July, HMS Beagle reached the island of Ascención in the South Atlantic, where Darwin ‘ascended Green Hill, 2840 feet high’.26

  On leaving Ascencion we sailed for Bahia [Salvador], on the coast of Brazil [which Beagle had first visited in February 1832], in order to complete the chronometrical measurement of the world. We arrived there on August 1st and stayed four days, during which I took several long walks.27

  19 August 1836. …we finally left the shores of Brazil … . I thank God that I shall never again visit a slave country [i.e. a country where people were kept in slavery]. I will not even allude to the many heart-sickening atrocities I authentically heard of … .28

  If Darwin had doubts about the Christian doctrine, they were certainly not apparent when he wrote these words of optimism in relation to the southern hemisphere.

  From seeing the present state, it is impossible not to look forward with high expectations to the future progress of nearly an entire hemisphere [i.e. the southern hemisphere]. The mark of improvement, consequent on the introduction of Christianity throughout the South Sea, probably stands by itself in the records of history.29

  21 August 1836. … we anchored for the second time at Porto Praya in the Cape de Verd [e] [North Atlantic island, off the coast of Senegal], where we stayed six days. On the 2nd of October we made the shore of England; and at Falmouth I left the Beagle, having lived on board the good little vessel nearly five years.30

  Darwin’s thoughts at this time can scarcely be imagined: relief to have returned home safely; satisfaction at having seen the task through and fulfilled his mission; wonder at the wonderful sights he had seen; pleasure at the prospect of discussing the specimens which he had collected with his scientific colleagues, and, of course, joy at the prospect of being reunited with his beloved family.

  NOTES

  1. Darwin, Charles, op. cit., p.509.

  2. Ibid, p.516.

  3. Ibid, p.535.

  4. Ibid, pp.537–8.

  5. Ibid, p.538.

  6. Ibid, p.539.

  7. Ibid, p.541.

  8. Ibid, p.549.

  9. Ibid, p.550.

  10. Ibid, p.554.

  11. FitzRoy, Captain Robert, op. cit., p.298.

  12. Darwin, Charles, op. cit., p.568.

  13. Ibid, p.568.

  14. Ibid, p.569.

  15. Ibid, p.586.

  16. Ibid, p.587.

  17. Ibid, p.592.

  18. Ibid, p.606.

  19. Ibid, p.610.

  20. Ibid, p.615.

  21. Ibid, p.631.

  22. Ibid, p.632.

  23. Ibid, p.655.

  24. Ibid, p.659.

  25. Ibid, p.665.

  26. Ibid, p.666.

  27. Ibid, p.670.

  28. Ibid, pp.675–6.

  29. Ibid, p.684.

  30. Ibid, p.677.

  Chapter 10

  Home at Last

  Following his return to England, Darwin, on 13 September 1832

  settled in lodgings in Cambridge … where all my collections [of specimens] were under the care of Henslow. I stayed here three months, and got my minerals and rocks examined with the aid of Professor Miller [William Hallowes Miller, Cambridge University’s Professor of Mineralogy].1

  The voyage in retrospect

  The voyage of the Beagle, said Darwin,

  has been by far the most important event in my life, and has determined my whole career … I was led to attend closely to several branches of natural history, and thus my powers of observation were improved …

  Now was the time to assimilate all that he had seen, learned and discovered, and to bring his analytical mind to bear upon what he identified as unexplained phenomena. However, said he

  The investigation of the geology of all the places visited was far more important, as reasoning here comes into play. On first examining a new district, nothing can appear more hopeless than the chaos of rocks; but by recording the stratification and nature of the rocks and fossils at many points, always reasoning and predicting what will be found elsewhere, light soon begins to dawn on the district, and the structure of the whole becomes more or less intelligible.2

  (The rocks in which fossils occur are of the ‘sedimentary’ type – i.e. which have formed from sediment deposited by water or air, rather than a), ‘igneous’ – which, when it occurs above ground, is rock which has solidified from lava or magma, as a result of volcanic processes; or b), ‘metamorphic’ – denoting rock that has undergone transformation by heat, pressure, or other natural agencies, e.g., in the folding of strata or the nearby intrusion of igneous rocks.)3

  Simply collecting and admiring rocks and rock formations was not sufficient for Darwin, whose satisfaction came from bringing his thought processes to bear in order to ascertain the nature of the rocks, and how such formations came into existence.

  Another of my occupations was collecting animals of all classes, briefly describing and roughly dissecting many of the marine ones … .4

  I also reflect with high satisfaction on some of my scientific work, such as solving the problem of the coral islands, and making out the geological structure of certain islands, for instance, St Helena.

  A coral, or coral polyp, is an invertebrate marine animal, tubular and sac-like in shape; a few millimetres in diameter and a few centimetres in length. At one end is a mouth surrounded by a ring of tentacles and at the other, a base which is attached to the underlying stratum (e.g. rock). Polyps live in colonies and thrive in shallow, tropical waters. Near to their base the coral secretes calcium carbonate, which forms a hard exoskeleton (external covering).

  Darwin was intent on finding out how coral reefs and atolls are created (an atoll being a ring-shaped reef, island, or chain of islands formed of coral5).

  No other work of mine was begun in so deductive a spirit as this, for the whole theory was thought out on the west coast of South America, before I had seen a true coral reef. I had therefore only to verify and extend my views by a careful examination of living reefs.6

  As for St Helena, Darwin deduced correctly, that ‘The whole island is of volcanic origin …7’. But, equally intriguing, was something which Darwin had discovered from his reading

  accounts are given of a series of volcanic phenomena – earthquakes – troubled water – floating scoriae [volca
nic rock] and columns of smoke – which have been observed at intervals since the middle of the last century, in a space of open sea between longitudes 20° and 22° west, about half a degree south of the equator. These facts seem to show that an island or an archipelago is in process of formation in the middle of the Atlantic: a line joining St Helena and Ascension, [if] prolonged intersects this slowly nascent focus of volcanic action.8

  Darwin was referring to a geological feature, now known as the Mid-Atlantic Ridge (southern portion), which marks the boundary of two tectonic plates. Here, as the continents of South America and Africa drift apart, magma from the Earth’s mantle wells up through the crack between the plates, replenishing the Earth’s crust and sometimes creating volcanoes high enough to protrude above the surface of the ocean.

  Nor must I pass over the discovery of the singular relations of the animals and plants inhabiting the several islands of the Galapagos archipelago, and all of them to the inhabitants of South America.9

  The puzzle as to why different varieties of the same species occurred on the various islands of the Galapagos nagged away in Darwin’s mind as something for which there must be an explanation. It was a loose end, and he could not bear loose ends!

  I was also ambitious to take a fair place among scientific men … . [He admitted, however, that] I have never turned one inch out of my course to gain fame.10

  * * *

  On 5 October 1836 Darwin wrote to Josiah Wedgwood (II) to say, ‘I am most anxious once again to see Maer [Hall, home of the Wedgwood family] and all its inhabitants, so that in the course of two or three weeks I hope in person to thank you, as being my First Lord of the Admiralty.’ This was an acknowledgement by Darwin, of the fact that Josiah’s influence had ‘induced his father to consent to his joining the Beagle’.11

  FitzRoy wrote to Darwin on 20 October as follows, addressing him affectionately as ‘Philos’ (after the Hellenistic Jewish philosopher Philo Judaeus).