Darwin - A Naturalists Voyage Round the World: the Voyage of the Beagle

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available on file. ISBN: 978-1-62636-560-5

Printed in the United States of America

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTORY NOTE

A SKETCH of Darwins life and some indication of the importance of his work have been given in the edition of The Origin of Species published in the Harvard Classics.

The text of the present volume shows without further comment the nature of Darwins labors and their results on this momentous voyage . A few sentences gathered from his autobiography will, however, throw some additional light upon the more personal aspects of the expedition .

The Voyage of the Beagle has been by far the most important event in my life, and has determined my whole career. I have always felt that I owe to the voyage the first real training or education of my mind; I was led to attend closely to several branches of natural history, and thus my powers of observation were improved, though they were always fairly developed.

The above various special studies were, however, of no importance compared with the habit of energetic industry and of concentrated attention to whatever I was engaged in, which I then acquired. Everything about which I thought or read was made to bear directly on what I had seen or was likely to see; and this habit of mind was continued during the five years of the voyage . I feel sure that it was this training which has enabled me to do whatever I have done in science.

Looking backwards, I can now perceive how my love for science gradually preponderated over every other taste. During the first two years my old passion for shooting survived in nearly full force, and 1 shot, myself, all the birds and animals for my collection; but gradually I gave up my gun more and more, and finally altogether, to my servant, as shooting interfered with my work, more especially with making out the geological structure of a country. I discovered, though unconsciously and insensibly, that the pleasure of observing and reasoning was a much higher one than that of skill and sport

As far as 1 can judge of myself, 1 worked to the utmost during the voyage from the mere pleasure of investigation, and from my strong desire to add a few facts to the great mass of facts in Natural Science. But t was also ambitious to take a fair place among scientific men,whether more ambitious or less so than most of my fellow-workers, I can form no opinion(Life and Letters, I. pp. 61-65.)

Even if the Journal of the voyage were not one of the most interesting and informing of books, this statement by its author of the importance of the expedition in making possible his later epoch-making generalizations would give it a distinctive place in the literature of science. But its amazing wealth of information and its unconsciously painted picture of disinterested seal in the search for scientific truth have made it for intrinsic reasons a classic in its kind .

TO

CHARLES LYELL, E SQ ., F.R.S.

THIS SECOND EDITION IS DEDICATED WITH GRATEFUL PLEASURE, AS AN ACKNOWLEDGMENT THAT THE CHIEF PART OF WHATEVER SCIENTIFIC MERIT THIS JOURNAL AND THE OTHER WORKS OF THE AUTHOR MAY POSSESS, HAS BEEN DERIVED FROM STUDYING THE WELL-KNOWN AND ADMIRABLE

PRINCIPLES OF GEOLOGY

PREFACE

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

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

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