The Voyage of the BeagleThis is Charles Darwin's chronicle of his five-year journey, beginning in 1831, around the world as a naturalist on the H.M.S. Beagle. |
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afterwards animals appearance archipelago atolls Bahia Blanca barrier-reefs Beagle Beagle Channel believe birds boat Buenos Ayres Cape Captain Fitz Roy cattle Chile Chiloe Chonos Archipelago climate coast colour common Copiapó corals Cordillera covered curious distance earthquake elevation extremely feet forest formed Fuegians Gauchos genus greater number ground guanaco habits head heard height hills horses hundred Indians inhabitants insects island islets Jemmy Button killed kind land legs living Macrauchenia manner mass miles morning mountains natives nearly never night observed ocean Pampas party passed Patagonia plain plants Plata probably quadrupeds Quillota rain reef remarkable Rio Negro river road rock scarcely seen shells shore side snow South America southern species spider spot stones Strait of Magellan stream summit surface thick Tierra del Fuego trees tribe valley vegetation Voyage whole wild wind wood yards
Popular passages
Page 319 - And they had breastplates, as it were breastplates of iron: and the sound of their wings was as the sound of chariots of many horses running to battle.
Page 3 - The voyage of the Beagle has been by far the most important event in my life, and has determined my whole career...
Page 29 - Chile, when my servant, noticing that one of the horses was very restive, went to see what was the matter, and fancying he could distinguish something, suddenly put his hand on the beast's withers, and secured the vampire.
Page 492 - Pampas, which are serviceable to mankind, produced an equal impression? I can scarcely analyze these feelings : but it must be partly owing to the free scope given to the imagination. The plains of Patagonia are boundless, for they are scarcely passable, and hence unknown : they bear the stamp of having lasted, as they are now, for ages, and there appears no limit to their duration through future time.
Page 426 - It is certainly a fact, which cannot be controverted, that most of the diseases which have raged in the islands during my residence there, have been introduced by ships; and what renders this fact remarkable is, that there might be no appearance of disease among the crew of the ship which conveyed this destructive importation.
Page 369 - Seeing this gradation and diversity of structure in one small, intimately related group of birds, one might really 1. Geospiza magnirostris. 3. Geospiza parvula. 2. Geospiza fortis. 4. Certhidea olivacea. fancy that from an original paucity of birds in this archipelago, one species had been taken and modified for different ends.
Page 198 - The language of these people, according to our notions, scarcely deserves to be called articulate. Captain Cook has. compared it to a man clearing his throat, but certainly no European ever cleared his throat with so many hoarse, guttural, and clicking sounds.
Page 492 - Tierra del Fuego, where Death and Decay prevail. Both are temples filled with the varied productions of the God of Nature: — no one can stand in these solitudes unmoved, and not feel that there is more in man than the mere breath of his body.
Page 182 - When the condors are wheeling in a flock round and round any spot, their flight is beautiful. Except when rising from the ground, I do not recollect ever having seen one of these birds flap its wings. Near Lima, I watched several for nearly half an hour, without once taking off my eyes : they moved in large curves, sweeping in circles, descending and ascending without giving a single flap.
Page 295 - Shortly after the shock, a great wave was seen from the distance of three or four miles, approaching in the middle of the bay with a smooth outline; but along the shore it tore up cottages and trees, as it swept onwards with irresistible force.