Charles Darwin's Beagle Diary

7th November 1836

2011-11-06T18:17:00.013Z

Woolwich
She moved down to Woolwich.
(Darwin's final Diary entry)

Captain Fitzroy’s Journal
After the chronometer rates were ascertained, the Beagle dropped down to Woolwich.
(Fitzroy's final Journal entry)

Syms Covington Journal
Also were towed to Woolwich.
(Covington's final Journal entry

As perhaps is fitting, the final words in our adventure with HMS Beagle, should be from Captain Fitzroy. More or less everything available to me has now been posted on this site, however, I will be leaving it for research purposes for the forseeable future. Comments on individual entries are, of course, still very welcome. I will seek to answer questions within a day or so.

Greenwich was the last station at which observations were made; and, singularly enough, Mr. Usborne and his companions came on board as we anchored there. Independent of the gratification of meeting them again, after so wide a separation, it may be supposed how my mind was relieved by his safe return from a very successful expedition, in which he had surveyed the whole coast of Peru, from Atacama to Guayaquil, without loss or accident. Although his own life was seriously risked on two or three occasions, by shots fired under misapprehension; I must not omit to mention that hostilities were suspended for a whole day, at Arica, between the land-forces and an attacking squadron, in order that Mr. Usborne might carry on his operations. Throughout the survey of the Peruvian coast, the cordial assistance of Mr. Wilson, Charge d'affaires at Lima, was found to be of paramount consequence.

I would now speak of the steady support and unvarying help which I received from the officers of the Beagle: but where all did so much, and all contributed so materially to the gatherings of the voyage, it is unnecessary to particularise, farther than by saying that Mr. Stokes's services hold the first place in my own estimation.

In this long voyage, rather exceeding that of Vancouver, fatal disease was unknown, except in the lamented case of the purser, and in that mentioned at Rio de Janeiro; neither of which had the least reference to the particular service on which the Beagle was employed: and it is perhaps remarkable, that while the Beagle was in commission, between February 1829 and November 1836, no serious illness, brought on or contracted while on service, happened on board; neither did any accident of consequence occur in the ship; nor did any man ever fall overboard during all that time.

The freedom from illness must be attributed, under Providence, to active employment, good clothing, and wholesome food, in healthy, though sometimes disagreeable climates: and our immunity from accident during exposure to a variety of risks, especially in boats, I attribute, referring to visible causes, to the care, attention, and vigilance of the excellent officers whose able assistance was not valued by me more than their sincere friendship.

The Beagle was paid off on the 17th of November. The Beagle was put into commission on the 4th of July 1831; thus having completed the unusually long period of five years and one hundred and thirty six days.

---oOo---

28th October 1836

2011-10-30T21:35:00.003Z

Greenwich
Got up the river to Greenwich on the 28th.

Captain Fitzroy’s Journal
On the 28th our anchor was let go at Greenwich.

Syms Covington Journal
The following morning were towed to Greenwich the 28th.

26th October 1836

2011-10-27T08:23:00.002+01:00

Syms Covington Journal

Anchored off The Nore near to Chatham. Anchored off Gravesend, was towed by steamer the same evening FOR about an hour and a half.

24th October 1836

2011-10-24T07:34:00.003+01:00

Syms Covington Journal
Deal

Visitors came to see the ship the following morning. Sailed about 12 o'clock the same day, and came to our anchor about three or four hours afterwards. When near the flats, we were obliged to bring too in consequence of thick weather.

23rd October 1836

2011-10-23T07:46:00.000+01:00

Syms Covington Journal
Anchored off Deal.

22nd October 1836

2011-10-23T07:44:00.004+01:00

Syms Covington Journal
Anchored off Dungeness.

21st October 1836

2011-10-21T17:48:00.000+01:00

Syms Covington Journal
Sailed from Dover the 21st 11 o'clock am

20th October 1836

2011-10-21T17:47:00.002+01:00

Syms Covington Journal
Aanchored 20th 8 o'clock Dover

18th October 1836

2011-10-18T07:42:00.000+01:00

Plymouth to Greenwich
Sailed for the Thames, calling on her way at Portsmouth & Deal….

Catching Up

2011-10-12T08:06:00.008+01:00

[Barn Pool, where the Beagle lay before sailing. One of the safest anchorages in the Hamoze, it lies across the Tamar opposite the King William Yard, Devonport]

As I am sure many will realise, with our daily dose of Darwin (Plus Fitzroy and Covington) now nearly come to its inevitable end I am missing their wonderful descriptions of the world of 1831-36. But all is not lost. The whole thing will remain here for new readers to 'catch up'... and I have decided myself to wind back to October 1832, with the Beagle in South America, and follow again their exploits day-by-day.

Additionally, for those who want to accompany me, James Cook's Endeavour voyage has now been running for a couple of months (click on the link on the top right of this page). With Cook, we are certainly in another age.... 63 years before the start of the Darwin voyage, the Endeavour having left Plymouth Sound in 1768 (Darwin 1831).

6th October 1836

2011-10-06T06:39:00.002+01:00

CHARLES DARWIN TO J.S. HENSLOW.

Shrewsbury, Thursday, October 6, 1836.

My dear Henslow,

I am sure you will congratulate me on the delight of once again being home. The "Beagle" arrived at Falmouth on Sunday evening, and I reached Shrewsbury yesterday morning. I am exceedingly anxious to see you, and as it will be necessary in four or five days to return to London to get my goods and chattels out of the "Beagle", it appears to me my best plan to pass through Cambridge. I want your advice on many points; indeed I am in the clouds, and neither know what to do or where to go. My chief puzzle is about the geological specimens -- who will have the charity to help me in describing their mineralogical nature? Will you be kind enough to write to me one line by RETURN OF POST, saying whether you are now at Cambridge? I am doubtful till I hear from Captain Fitz-Roy whether I shall not be obliged to start before the answer can arrive, but pray try the chance. My dear Henslow, I do long to see you; you have been the kindest friend to me that ever man possessed. I can write no more, for I am giddy with joy and confusion.

Farewell for the present,

Yours most truly obliged,

CHARLES DARWIN.

---oOo---

CHARLES DARWIN TO R. FITZ-ROY.

Shrewsbury, Thursday morning, October 6, 1836.

My dear Fitz-Roy,

I arrived here yesterday morning at breakfast time, and, thank God, found all my dear good sisters and father quite well. My father appears more cheerful and very little older than when I left. My sisters assure me I do not look the least different, and I am able to return the compliment. Indeed, all England appears changed excepting the good old town of Shrewsbury and its inhabitants, which, for all I can see to the contrary, may go on as they now are to Doomsday. I wish with all my heart I was writing to you amongst your friends instead of at that horrid Plymouth. But the day will soon come, and you will be as happy as I now am. I do assure you I am a very great man at home; the five years' voyage has certainly raised me a hundred per cent. I fear such greatness must experience a fall.

I am thoroughly ashamed of myself in what a dead-and-half-alive state I spent the few last days on board; my only excuse is that certainly I was not quite well. The first day in the mail tired me, but as I drew nearer to Shrewsbury everything looked more beautiful and cheerful. In passing Gloucestershire and Worcestershire I wished much for you to admire the fields, woods, and orchards. The stupid people on the coach did not seem to think the fields one bit greener than usual; but I am sure we should have thoroughly agreed that the wide world does not contain so happy a prospect as the rich cultivated land of England.

I hope you will not forget to send me a note telling me how you go on. I do indeed hope all your vexations and trouble with respect to our voyage, which we now know HAS an end, have come to a close. If you do not receive much satisfaction for all the mental and bodily energy you have expended in His Majesty's service, you will be most hardly treated. I put my radical sisters into an uproar at some of the prudent (if they were not honest Whigs, I would say shabby) proceedings of our Government. By the way, I must tell you for the honour and glory of the family that my father has a large engraving of King George IV. put up in his sitting-room. But I am no renegade, and by the time we meet my politics will be as firmly fixed and as wisely founded as ever they were.

I thought when I began this letter I would convince you what a steady and sober frame of mind I was in. But I find I am writing most precious nonsense. Two or three of our labourers yesterday immediately set to work and got most excessively drunk in honour of the arrival of Master Charles. Who then shall gainsay if Master Charles himself chooses to make himself a fool. Good-bye. God bless you! I hope you are as happy, but much wiser, than your most sincere but unworthy philosopher,

CHAS. DARWIN.

5th October 1836

2011-10-05T07:10:00.002+01:00

LETTER TO JOSIAH WEDGWOOD.
[Shrewsbury, October 5th, 1836.]

My dear Uncle

The "Beagle" arrived at Falmouth on Sunday evening, and I reached home late last night. My head is quite confused with so much delight, but I cannot allow my sisters to tell you first how happy I am to see all my dear friends again. I am obliged to return in three or four days to London, where the "Beagle" will be paid off, and then I shall pay Shrewsbury a longer visit. I am most anxious once again to see Maer, 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.

CHAS. DARWIN.

3rd October 1836

2011-10-03T07:48:00.002+01:00

Captain Fitzroy’s Journal
From Falmouth we went to Plymouth.

Syms Covington Journal
Left Falmouth October 3rd pm, anchored in Plymouth.

2nd October 1836

2011-10-02T07:51:00.003+01:00

Falmouth

After a tolerably short passage, but with some very heavy weather, we came to an anchor at Falmouth. To my surprise and shame I confess the first sight of the shores of England inspired me with no warmer feelings, than if it had been a miserable Portugeese settlement. The same night (and a dreadfully stormy one it was) I started by the Mail for Shrewsbury.

Captain Fitzroy’s Journal

Anchored at Falmouth, on the 2d of October, after an absence of four years and nine months from England.

Syms Covington Journal

Anchored in Falmouth pm Sunday October 1st, 1838.

[Today... in 1836 of course, Darwin's journey is complete. As you will see, he immediately left the Beagle and travelled up to Shrewsbury; but I will continue following the Beagle until the records cease. However, for us intrepid travellers, James Cook's Circumnavigation Journal may be followed each day -- click on the link on the top right of this page. We are just a month or so into our voyage with the Endeavour in 1768.]

1st October 1836

2011-10-01T06:48:00.008+01:00

[Tonight... in 1838 of course, Darwin's journey is complete. As you will see, he immediately leaves the Beagle and travels up to Shrewsbury; but I will continue following the Beagle until the records cease. However, for us intrepid travellers, James Cook's Circumnavigation Journal may be followed each day -- click on the link on the top right of this page. We are just a month or so into our voyage with the Endeavour in 1768 It is interesting that is this penultimate diary entry, Darwin is thinking of... Captain James Cook!]

Azores to Falmouth

From seeing the present state, it is impossible not to look forward with high expectation to the future progress of nearly an entire hemisphere. The march of improvement, consequent on the introduction of Christianity through the South Sea, probably stands by itself on the records of the world. It is the more striking when we remember that but seventy years since, Cook, whose most excellent judgment none will dispute, could foresee no prospect of such change. Yet these changes have now been effected by the philanthropic spirit of the English nation.

In the same quarter of the globe Australia is rising, or indeed may be said to have risen, into a grand centre of civilization, which, at some not very remote period, will rule the empress of the Southern hemisphere. It is impossible for an Englishman to behold these distant colonies, without a high pride and satisfaction. To hoist the British flag seems to draw as a certain consequence wealth, prosperity and civilization.

In conclusion, — it appears to me that nothing can be more improving to a young naturalist, than a journey in distant countries. It both sharpens and partly also allays that want and craving, which as Sir J. Herschel remarks, a man experiences, although every corporeal sense is fully satisfied. The excitement from the novelty of objects, and the chance of success stimulates him on to activity. Moreover as a number of isolated facts soon become uninteresting, the habit of comparison leads to generalization; on the other hand, as the traveller stays but a short space of time in each place, his description must generally consist of mere sketches instead of detailed observation. Hence arises, as I have found to my cost, a constant tendency to fill up the wide gaps of knowledge by inaccurate & superficial hypotheses.

But I have too deeply enjoyed the voyage not to recommend to any naturalist to take all chances, and to start on travels by land if possible, if otherwise on a long voyage. He may feel assured he will meet with no difficulties or dangers (excepting in rare cases) nearly so bad as he before hand imagined. — In a moral point of view, the effect ought to be, to teach him good humoured patience, unselfishness, the habit of acting for himself, and of making the best of everything, or contentment: in short, he should partake of the characteristic qualities of the greater number of sailors. — Travelling ought also to teach him to distrust others; but at the same time he will discover how many truly good natured people there are, with whom he never before had, nor ever again will have any further communication, yet who are ready to offer him the most disinterested assistance.

30th September 1836

2011-09-30T07:54:00.007+01:00

Azores to Falmouth
Amongst the other most remarkable spectacles, which we have beheld, may be ranked, — the stars of the Southern hemisphere, the water-spout — the glacier leading its blue stream of ice in a bold precipice overhanging the sea — a lagoon island, raised by the coral forming animalcule — an active volcano — the overwhelming effects of a violent earthquake. — These latter phenomena perhaps possess for me a higher interest, from their intimate connection with the geological structure of the world. The earthquake must however be to everyone a most impressive event; the solid earth, considered from our earliest childhood as the very type of solidity, has oscillated like a thin crust beneath our feet; and in seeing the most beautiful and laboured works of man in a moment overthrown, we feel the insignificance of his boasted power.

It has been said that the love of the chase is an inherent delight in man, — a relic of an instinctive passion. If so, I am sure the pleasure of living in the open air, with the sky for a roof, and the ground for a table, is part of the same feeling. It is the savage returning to his wild and native habits. I always look back to our boat cruizes & my land journeys, when through unfrequented countries, with a kind of extreme delight, which no scenes of civilization could create. I do not doubt every traveller must remember the glowing sense of happiness, from the simple consciousness of breathing in a foreign clime, where the civilized man has seldom or never trod.

There are several other sources of enjoyment in a long voyage, which are perhaps of a more reasonable nature. The map of the world ceases to be a blank; it becomes a picture full of the most varied and animated figures. Each part assumes its true dimensions: large continents are not looked at in the light of islands, or islands considered as mere specks, which in truth are larger than many kingdoms of Europe. Africa, or North & South America, are well-sounding names and easily pronounced, but it is not till having sailed for some weeks along small portions of their coasts, that one is thoroughly astonished.

29th September 1836

2011-09-29T08:27:00.002+01:00

Azores to Falmouth

Among the scenes which are deeply impressed on my mind, none exceed in sublimity the primeval forests, undefaced by the hand of man, whether those of Brazil, where the powers of life are predominant, or those of Tierra del Fuego, where death & decay prevail. Both are temples filled with the varied productions of the God of Nature: — No one can stand unmoved in these solitudes, without feeling that there is more in man than the mere breath of his body. — In calling up images of the past, I find the plains of Patagonia most frequently cross before my eyes. Yet these plains are pronounced by all most wretched & useless. They are only characterized by negative possessions; — without habitations, without water, without trees, without mountains, they support merely a few dwarf plants. Why then, and the case is not peculiar to myself, do these arid wastes take so firm possession of the memory? Why have not the still more level, greener & fertile Pampas, which are serviceable to mankind, produced an equal impression? I can scarcely analyse these feelings. — But it must be partly owing to the free scope given to the imagination. They are boundless, for they are scarcely practicable & hence unknown: they bear the stamp of having thus lasted for ages, & there appears no limit to their duration through future time. If, as the ancients supposed, the flat earth was surrounded by an impassable breadth of water, or by deserts heated to an intolerable excess, who would not look at these last boundaries to man's knowledge with deep, but ill defined sensations. — Lastly of natural scenery, the views from lofty mountains, though certainly in one sense not beautiful, are very memorable. I remember looking down from the crest of the highest Cordillera; the mind, undisturbed by minute details, was filled by the stupendous dimensions of the surrounding masses.

Of individual objects, perhaps no one is more sure to create astonishment, than the first sight, in his native haunt, of a real barbarian, — of man in his lowest and most savage state. One's mind hurries back over past centuries, & then asks could our progenitors be such as these? Men, — whose very signs & expressions are less intelligible to us than those of the domesticated animals; who do not possess the instinct of those animals, nor yet appear to boast of human reason, or at least of arts consequent on that reason. I do not believe it is possible to describe or paint the difference of savage and civilized man. It is the difference between a wild and tame animal: and part of the interest in beholding a savage is the same which would lead every one to desire to see the lion in his desert, the tiger tearing his prey in the jungle, the rhinoceros on the wide plain, or the hippopotamus wallowing in the mud of some African river.

Syms Covington Journal

The ship ran at times ten knots and six tenths. The following morning it blew a heavy gale, so that the ship was hove too under a close reefed maintopsail and storm staysail at same time. We were about 500 miles from the Lands End. The sea went down greatly in course of the day.

28th September 1836

2011-09-28T06:16:00.004+01:00

Azores to Falmouth

Let us now look at the brighter side of the past time. The pleasure derived from beholding the scenery and general aspect of the various countries we have visited, has decidedly been the most constant and highest source of enjoyment. It is probable that the picturesque beauty of many parts of Europe far exceeds anything we have beheld. But there is a growing pleasure in comparing the character of scenery in different countries, which to a certain degree is distinct from merely admiring their beauty. It more depends on an acquaintance with the individual parts of each view: I am strongly induced to believe that as in Music, the person who understands every note will, if he also has true taste, more thoroughily enjoy the whole; so he who examines each part of [a] fine view may also thoroughily comprehend the full and combined effect. Hence a traveller should be a botanist, for in all views plants form the chief embellishment. Group masses of naked rocks, even in the wildest forms; for a time they may afford a sublime spectacle, but they will soon grow monotomous; paint them with bright and varied colours, they will become fantastick; clothe them with vegetation, they must form, at least a decent, if not a most beautiful picture.

When I said that the scenery of Europe was probably superior to anything which we have beheld, I must except, as a class by itself, that of the intertropical regions. The two can not be compared together; but I have already too often enlarged on the grandeur of these latter climates. As the force of impression frequently depends on preconceived ideas, I may add that all mine were taken from the vivid descriptions in the Personal Narrative which far exceed in merit anything I have ever read on the subject. Yet with these high wrought ideas, my feelings were very remote from partaking of a tinge of disappointment on first landing on the coast of Brazil.

27th September 1836

2011-09-27T07:17:00.003+01:00

Azores to Falmouth

If a person suffers much from sea sickness, let him weigh it heavily in the balance: I speak from experience, it is no trifling evil cured in a week. If he takes pleasure in naval tactics, it will afford him full scope for his taste; but even the greater number of sailors, as it appears to me, have little real liking for the sea itself. It must be borne in mind how large a proportion of the time during a long voyage is spent on the water, as compared to the days in harbour. And what are the boasted glories of the illimitable ocean? A tedious waste, a desert of water as the Arabian calls it. No doubt there are some delightful scenes; a moonlight night, with the clear heavens, the dark glittering sea, the white sails filled by the soft air of a gently blowing trade wind, a dead calm, the heaving surface polished like a mirror, and all quite still excepting the occasional flapping of the sails.

It is well once to behold a squall, with its rising arch, and coming fury, or the heavy gale and mountainous waves. I confess however my imagination had painted something more grand, more terrific in the full grown storm. It is a finer sight on the canvass of Vandervelde, and infinitely finer when beheld on shore, when the waving trees, the wild flight of the birds, the dark shadows & bright lights, the rushing torrents all proclaim the strife of the unloosed elements. At sea, the albatross and petrel fly as if the storm was their proper sphere, the water rises and sinks as if performing its usual task, the ship alone and its inhabitants seem the object of wrath. On a forlorn & weather-beaten coast the scene is indeed different, but the feelings partake more of horror than of wild delight.

26th September 1836

2011-09-26T07:34:00.003+01:00

Azores to Falmouth

Our voyage having come to an end, I will take a short retrospect of the advantages and disadvantages the pain & pleasure of our five years' wandering. If a person should ask my advice before undertaking a long voyage, my answer would depend upon his possessing a decided taste for some branch of knowledge, which could by such means be acquired. No doubt it is a high satisfaction to behold various countries, and the many races of Mankind, but the pleasures gained at the time do not counterbalance the evils. It is necessary to look forward to a harvest, however distant it may be, when some fruit will be reaped, some good effected. Many of the losses which must be experienced are obvious, such as that of the society of all old friends, and of the sight of those places with which every dearest remembrance is so intimately connected. These losses however, are at the time partly relieved by the exhaustless delight of anticipating the long wished for day of return. If, as poets say, life is a dream, I am sure in a long voyage these are the visions which best pass away the long night. Other losses, although not at first felt, after a period tell heavily, those are the want of room, of seclusion, of rest — the jading feeling of constant hurry — the privation of small luxuries, the comforts of civilization, domestic society, and lastly even of music & the other pleasures of imagination. When such trifles are mentioned, it is evident that the real grievances (excepting from accidents) of a sea life are at an end. The short space of sixty years has made a most astonishing difference in the facility of distant navigation. Even in the time of Cook, a man who left his comfortable fire side for such expeditions, did undergo privations: a yatch with every luxury of life might now circumnavigate the globe. Besides the vast improvements in ships & naval resources, the whole Western shores of America are thrown open; and Australia is become a metropolis of a rising continent. How different are the circumstances to a man shipwrecked at the present day in the Pacific, to what they would have been in the time of Cook: since his voyage a hemisphere has been added to the civilized world.

25th September 1836

2011-09-25T07:46:00.001+01:00

St. Michael's Island, Azores

By the following morning, we were off the city, & a boat was sent on shore.— The Isld of St Michaels is considerably larger & three times more populous & enjoys a more extensive trade than Terceira. — The chief export is the fruit, for which a fleet of vessels annually arrives. Although several hundred vessels are loaded with oranges, these trees on neither island appear in any great numbers. No one would guess that this was the great market for the numberless oranges imposed into England. St Michaels has much the same open, semi-green, cultivated patchwork appearance as Terceira. The town is more scatted; the houses & churches there & throughout the country are white washed & look from a distance neat and pretty. The land behind the town is less elevated than at Terceira, but yet rises considerably; it is thickly studded or rather made up of small mammiformed hills, each of which has sometime been an active Volcano. — In an hours time the boat returned without any letters, and then getting a good offing from the land, we steered, thanks to God, a direct course for England.

24th September 1836

2011-09-23T17:59:00.001+01:00

Terceira, Azores

In the morning, we were off the Western end of St Michaels; to the capital of which we were bound in quest of letters. A contrary wind detained us the whole day,

Syms Covington Journal

Sent a boat ashore, to the island of St. Michael; during which time the ship kept in the offing. This island, like the latter, is well cultivated, and thickly studded with houses.

23rd September 1836

2011-09-23T07:26:00.001+01:00

Terceira, Azores

Another day I set out early in the morning to visit the town of Praya seated on the NE and of the island. — The distance is about fifteen miles; the road ran the great part of the way not far from the coast. The country is all cultivated & scattered with houses & small villages. I noticed in several places, from the long traffic of the bullock waggons, that the solid lava, which formed in parts the road, was worn into ruts of the depth of twelve inches. This circumstance has been noticed with surprise, in the ancient pavement of Pompeii, as not occurring in any of the present towns of Italy. At this place the wheels have a tire surmounted by singularly large iron knobs, perhaps the old Roman wheels were thus furnished. The country during our morning's ride, was not interesting, excepting always the pleasant sight of a happy peasantry. The harvest was lately over, & near to the houses the fine yellow heads of Indian corn, were bound, for the sake of drying, in large bundles to the stems of the poplar trees. These seen from a distance, appeared weighed down by some beautiful fruit,—the very emblem of fertility.—One part of the road crossed a broad stream of lava, which from its rocky & black surface, showed itself to be of comparatively recent origin; indeed the crater whence it had flowed could be distinguished. The industrious inhabitants, have turned this space into vineyards, but for this purpose it was necessary to clear away the loose fragments & pile them into a multitude of walls, which enclosed little patches of ground a few yards square; thus covering the country with a network of black lines.

The town of Praya is a quiet forlorn little place; Many years since a large city was here overwhelmed by an earthquake. It is asserted the land subsided, and a wall of a convent now bathed by the sea is shown as a proof: the fact is probable, but the proof not convincing. I returned home by another road, which first leads along the Northern shore, & then crosses the central part of the Island.— This North Eastern extremity is particularly well cultivated, & produces a large quantity of fine what. The square, open fields, & small villages with white washed churches, gave to the view as seen from the heights, an aspect resembling the less picturesque parts of central England. — We soon reached the region of clouds, which during our whole visit have hung very low & concealed the tops of the mountains. For a couple of hours we crossed the elevated central part, which is not inhabited & bears a desolate appearance. When we descended from the clouds to the city, I heard the good news that observations had been obtained, & that we should go to sea the same evening.

The anchorage is exposed to the whole swell of the Southern ocean, & hence during the present boisterous time of year is very disagreeable & far from safe.

22nd September 1836

2011-09-22T07:39:00.001+01:00

Terceira, Azores

I staid the greater part of the day on board.

21st September 1836

2011-09-21T07:39:00.001+01:00

Terceira, Azores

The next day the Consul kindly lent me his horse & furnished me with guides to proceed to a spot, in the centre of the island, which was described as an active crater. — Ascending in deep lanes, bordered on each side by high stone walls, for the three first miles, we passed many houses and gardens. We then entered on a very irregular plain country, consisting of more recent streams of hummocky basaltic lava. The rocks are covered in some parts by a thick brushwood about three feet high, and in others by heath, fern, & short pasture: a few broken down old stone walls completed the resemblance with the mountains of Wales. I saw, moreover, some old English friends amongst the insects, and of birds, the starling, water wagtail, chaffinch and blackbird. There are no houses in this elevated and central part, and the ground is only used for the pasture of cattle and goats. On every side, besides the ridges of more ancient lavas, there were cones of various dimensions, which yet partly retained their crater-formed summits, and where broken down showed a pile of cinders such as those from an iron foundry. — When we reached the so called crater, I found it a slight depression, or rather a short valley abutting against a higher range, and without any exit. The bottom was traversed by several large fissures, out of which, in nearly a dozen places, small jets of steam issued, as from the cracks in the boiler of a steam engine.

The steam close to the irregular orifices, is far too hot for the hand to endure it; — it has but little smell, yet from everything made of iron being blackened, and from a peculiar rough sensation communicated to the skin, the vapour cannot be pure, and I imagine it contains some muriatic add gas. — The effect on the surrounding trachytic lavas is singular, the solid stone being entirely converted either into pure, snow white, porcelain clay, or into a kind of bright red or the two colours marbled together: the steam issued through the moist and hot clay. This phenomenon has thus gone on for many years; it is said that flames once issued from the cracks. During rain, the water from each bank, must flow into these cracks; & it is probable that this same water, trickling down to the neighbourhood of some heated subterranean lava, causes this phenomenon. — Throughout the island, the powers below have been unusually active during the last year; several small earthquakes have been caused, and during a few days a jet of steam issued from a bold precipice overhanging the sea, not far from the town of Angra.

I enjoyed my day's ride, though I did not see much worth seeing: it was pleasant to meet such a number of fine peasantry; I do not recollect ever having beheld a set of handsomer young men, with more good humoured pleasant expressions.1 The men and boys are all dressed in a plain jacket & trowsers, without shoes or stockings; their heads are barely covered by a little blue cloth cap with two ears and a border of red; this they lift in the most courteous manner to each passing stranger. Their clothes although very ragged, appeared singularly clean, as well as their persons; I am told, that in almost every cottage, a visitor will sleep in snow white sheets & will dine off a clean napkin. Each man carries in his hand a walking staff about six feet high; by fixing a large knife at each extremity, they can make this into a formidable weapon. — Their ruddy complexions, bright eyes & erect gait, made them a picture of a fine peasantry: how different from the Portugeese of Brazil! — The greater number, which we this day met, were employed in the mountains gathering sticks for fire-wood. — A whole family, from the father to the least boy, might be seen, each carrying his bundle on his head to sell in the town. Their burthens were very heavy; this hard labour & the ragged state of their clothes too plainly bespoke poverty, yet I am told, it is not the want of food, but of all luxuries, a case parallel to that of Chiloe. — Hence, although the whole land is not cultivated, at the present time numbers emigrate to Brazil, where the contract to which they are bound, differs but little from slavery. It seems a great pity that so fine a population should be compelled [to] leave a land of plenty, where every article of food, meat, vegetables & fruit, — is exceedingly cheap & most abundant, but the labourer finds his labour of proportionally little value.–

20th September 1836

2011-09-20T08:03:00.002+01:00

Terceira, Azores

In the morning we were off the East end of the Island of Terceira, and a little after noon reached the town of Angra. The island is moderately lofty & has a rounded outline with detached conical hills evidently of volcanic origin. The land is well cultivated, & is divided into a multitude of rectangular fields by stone walls, extending from the water's edge to high upon the central hills. There are few or no trees, & the yellow stubble land at this time of year gives a burnt up and unpleasant character to the scenery. Small hamlets & single white-washed houses are scattered in all parts. In the evening a party went on shore; — We found the city a very clean & tidy little place, containing about 10,000 inhabitants, which includes nearly the fourth part of the total number on the island. There are no good shops, & little signs of activity, excepting the intolerable creaking of an occasional bullock waggon. The churches are very respectable, & there were formerly a good many convents: but Dom Pedro destroyed several; he levelled three nunneries to the ground, & gave permission to the nuns to marry, which, excepting by some of the very old ones, was gladly received. — Angra was formerly the capital of the whole archipelago, but it has now only one division of the islands under its government, and its glory has departed. The city is defended by a strong castle & line of batteries which encircle the base of Mount Brazil, an extinct volcano with sloping sides, which overlooks the town. — Terceira was the first place that received Dom Pedro, & from this beginning he conquered the other islands & finally Portugal. A loan was scraped together in this one island of no less than 400,000 dollars, of which sum not one farthing has ever been paid to these first supporters of the present right royal & honourable family.

Syms Covington Journal

Anchored in the Roads of Angra, at the island of Terceira, subject to the Portuguese. This island is not so high as the latter, but IS thickly populated, and all parts of the island seen from the ship were cultivated. fruits and vegetables are very cheap. The Road is open for shipping, AND pretty well fortified.

9th September 1836

2011-09-09T07:43:00.008+01:00

Atlantic Ocean
Crossed the Tropic of Cancer.

With the Beagle now virtually in sight of the completion of her voyage, why not join us for the next few years on board the Endeavour and sail with Captain Cook and Joseph Banks around the world. Currently (in 1768, 70 years before the voyage of the Beagle) she has just left Plymouth on her way to Madeira... link above right (Roger R)

4th September 1836

2011-09-04T08:39:00.001+01:00

Cape Verde Islands

We were all very glad in the evening of the 4th to wish farewell to the irregular mountains of St Jago, as they disappeared in the evening shades. I confess, I feel some good will to the Island; I should be ungrateful if it was otherwise; for I shall never forget the delight of first standing in a certain lava cavern & looking at the swell of the Atlantic lashing the rugged shores.

31st August to 4th September 1838

2011-08-30T18:39:00.000+01:00

Cape Verde Islands

After a most excellent passage, we came to an anchor early in the morning at Porto Praya. We found lying there, as commonly is the case, some slaving vessels. The weather, during our short stay of four days was very fine, but as this was the beginning of the unhealthy season, I confined my walks to short distances.

I have nothing to say about the place; as some rain had fallen, a most faint tinge of green was just distinguishable. Our old friend the great Baobab tree was clothed with a thick green foilage, which much altered its appearance. As might be expected, I was not so much delighted with St Jago, as during our former visit; but even this time I found much in its Natural History very interesting. It would indeed be strange if the first view of desert volcanic plains, (a kind of country so utterly different from anything in England) and the first sensations on entering an ardent climate, did not excite the most vivid impressions in the mind of every one, who takes pleasure in beholding the face of nature.

21st August 1836

2011-08-21T08:12:00.005+01:00

Mid Atlantic
We crossed the Equator.

Syms Covington Journal

Crossed the Equatorial Line, at a quarter after 10 o'clock, Sunday the 21st with a fine breeze from the Southward and Eastward, which we have had since or from Pernambuco.

17th August 1836

2011-08-17T08:32:00.001+01:00

Pernambuco, Brazil

I was delighted on the 17th to get on board the ship & in the afternoon to leave the shores of Brazil. We lie close hauled to the wind, & therefore there is a considerable pitching motion; I suffer very much from sea-sickness. — But it is on the road to England; in truth some such comfort is necessary to support the tedious misery of loss of time, health & comfort.

16th August 1836

2011-08-16T07:12:00.004+01:00

Pernambuco, Brazil

With respect to the origin of the reef, I believe, a bar composed of sand & pebbles formerly existed beneath the water, when the low land on which the town now stands was occupied by a large bay; & that this bar was first consolidated, & then elevated. These two distinct processes are of so common occurrence in S. America, that I now feel none of that surprise, with which such facts would formerly have startled me. There is another & slightly different explanation, which possesses equal probability, namely that a long spit of sand like some that now exist on the neighbouring coast, had its central part consolidated, & then by a slight change in the set of currents the loose matter was removed, the hard nucleus alone remaining. Although the swell of the open ocean breaks heavily on the outer side of the narrow & insignificant line of reef, yet there is no record of its decay. This durability is the most curious circumstance connected with its existence: it appears to be owing to a layer of calcareous matter, formed by the successive growth of several kinds of organic bodies, chiefly serpulae, balani, corallinae, but no true corals. It is a process strictly analogous to the formation of peat, & like that substance, its effects are to preserve from degradations the matter on which it rests. — In true coral reefs, when the upper extremities of the living mass are killed by the rays of the sun, they become enveloped & protected by a nearly similar process. It is probable that if a Breakwater such as that of Plymouth, was built in these tropical seas, it would be imperishable, that is, as imperishable as any part of the solid land, which all, some day, must suffer decay & renovation.

Note: The reef, which can be traced more or less distinctly along the Brazilian seaboard for several hundred miles, rises at Pernambuco into a perfectly straight artificial-looking wall, 31 miles long, with even sides and a smooth and almost level top from 30 to 60 yards in width. It is of a hard pale-coloured sandstone, breaking with a very smooth fracture ; and a tough layer of calcareous matter, generally several inches thick, produced by the successive growth and death of the small shells of Serpuhe with some few barnacles and nullipores, proves so effectual a protection of the outer surface that though it is exposed to the full force of the waves of the open Atlantic the oldest pilots know of no tradition of change in its appearance. The belt of water within the reef is about a mile in width and forms a safe but rather shallow harbour ; vessels drawing 191 feet can enter, and there is abundant room for mooring along the shore.

[Image: A modern photo of the reef at low tide]

15th August 1836

2011-08-15T07:49:00.002+01:00

Pernambuco, Brazil

The most curious thing which I saw in the neighbourhood of Pernambuco, is the reef that forms the harbor. It runs for a length of several miles in a perfectly straight line, parallel to & not far distant from the shore; it varies in width from thirty to sixty yards; it is quite dry at low water, has a level smooth surface, & is composed of obscurely stratified hard sandstone: hence at the first sight it is difficult to credit that it is the work of nature & not of art. Its utility is great; close within the inner water, there is a good depth of water, & ships lie moored to old guns, which are fixed in holes on the summit. — A light-house stands on one extremity, & around it the sea breaks heavily. In entering the harbor, a ship passes within thirty yards round this point, & amidst the foam of the breakers; close by, on the other hand, are other breakers, which thus form a narrow gateway: it is almost fearful to behold a ship running, as it appears, headlong into such dangers.

The modern name for the port (also used in Darwin's time) is Recife, literally, "the Reef" (Roger R.)

13th August 1836

2011-08-13T07:56:00.001+01:00

Pernambuco, Brazil

The flat swampy land is surrounded at the distance of a few miles by a semicircle of low hills, or rather by the edge of a country elevated perhaps two hundred feet above the sea. The old city of Olinda stands on one extremity of this range. One day I took a canoe & proceeded up one of the channels to visit it; I found the old town from its situation both sweeter & cleaner than that of Pernambuco. — I must commemorate, as being the first time during the four & a half years we have been wandering about, that I met with a want of politeness amongst any class of people; I was refused in a sullen manner at two different houses, & obtained with difficulty from a third permission to pass through their gardens to an uncultivated hill for the purpose of taking a view of the country. I feel quite glad this happened in the land of the "Brava Gente"; for I bear them no good will. — A Spaniard would have been ashamed at the very thought of refusing such a request, or of behaving to any one with rudeness. — The channel by which we came to & returned from Olinda is bordered on each side by Mangroves which spring like a miniature forest out of the greasy mud banks. the bright green color of these bushes always reminds me of the rank grass in a Church-yard: both are nourished by putrid exhalations; the one speaks of death past, the other too often of death to come.

Syms Covington Journal

On 13th pm unmoored ship and went in THE Roads again. As the neap tides were coming, and THERE WAS barely water sufficient at this time. AS WE WERE on the sand bank at high water thirteen feet, AND our ship drawing nearly 13 feet, WE had a pilot to take the ship in and also out. The reef, which is coral, appears inside like a wall; with guns placed all along as posts, for shipping to make fast their hawsers. The lighthouse (revolving light) stands AT THE extremity of THE reef and close to it a small fort! The other extremity of THE reef reaches to the mainland, inside of which runs a large river. This reef forms a complete breakwater, and of course the water inside very smooth. The reef runs North and South, WITH the lighthouse on THE North side. In the Roads, there is a great deal of motion.

12th August, 1836

2011-08-12T07:31:00.001+01:00

Bahia to Pernambuco, Brazil

The weather having been unfavourable, we altered course & ran for Pernambuco. We anchored outside; but in a short time a pilot came on board & took us into the inner harbor, where we lay close to the town. Pernambuco is built on some narrow, low, sand banks, which are separated from each other by shoal channels of salt water. The three parts of the town are connected together by two long bridges, built on wooden piles. The town is in all parts disgusting, the streets narrow, ill-paved, filthy, the houses very tall & gloomy. The number of white people, which during the morning may be met with in the streets, appears to be about in the proportion of foreigners in any other nation; all the rest are black or of a dusky colour. The latter as well as the Brazilians are far from prepossessing in their appearance: the poor negroes, wherever they may be, are cheerful, talkative & boisterous. There was nothing in the sight, smell or sounds within this large town, which conveyed to me any pleasing impressions. The season of heavy rains scarcely had come to an end & hence the surrounding country, which is scarcely elevated about the level of the sea, was flooded with water. I failed in all my attempts to take any long walks. — I was however enabled to observe that many of the country houses in the outskirts were like those of Bahia, of a gay appearance which harmonized well with the luxuriant character of the tropical vegetation.

Syms Covington Journal
Anchored in the Roads of Pernambuco August 12th pm The same afternoon, went inside reef, or place where shipping lie, in fourteen feet of water.

6th August 1836

2011-08-06T07:14:00.000+01:00

Bahia, Brazil
In the afternoon weighed anchor & stood out to sea.

5th August 1836

2011-08-05T08:11:00.000+01:00

Bahia, Brazil

In the last walk I took, I stopped again and again to gaze on such beauties, & tried to fix for ever in my mind, an impression which at the time I knew must sooner or later fade away. The forms of the Orange tree, the Cocoa nut, the Palms, the Mango, the Banana, will remain clear & separate, but the thousand beauties which unite them all into one perfect scene, must perish: yet they will leave, like a tale heard in childhood, a picture full of indistinct, but most beautiful figures.

4th August 1836

2011-08-04T07:22:00.001+01:00

Bahia, Brazil

Then the dense splendid foliage of the Mango hides the ground with its darkest shade, whilst its upper branches are rendered the more brilliant by the profusion of light. In the temperate zones, as it appears to me, the case is different, the colours there are not so dark, or rich, & hence the declining sun, which casts forth red, purple or yellow rays, is best adapted to add beauties to the scenery of those climes.

When quietly walking along the shady pathways & admiring each successive view, one wishes to find language to express ones ideas: epithet after epithet is found too weak to convey to those who have not had an opportunity of experiencing these sensations, a true picture of the mind. I have said the plants in a hot-house fail to communicate a just idea of the vegetation, Yet I must recur to it: the land is one great wild, untidy, luxuriant hot house, which nature made for her menagerie, but man has taken possession of it, & has studded it with gay houses & formal gardens. How great would be the desire in every admirer of nature to behold, if such was possible, another planet; yet at the distance of a few degrees from his native country, it may be truly said, the glories of another world are open to him.

CHARLES DARWIN TO MISS S. DARWIN.

Bahia, Brazil, August 4 [1836].

My dear Susan,

I will just write a few lines to explain the cause of this letter being dated on the coast of South America. Some singular disagreements in the longitudes made Captain Fitz-Roy anxious to complete the circle in the southern hemisphere, and then retrace our steps by our first line to England. This zigzag manner of proceeding is very grievous; it has put the finishing stroke to my feelings. I loathe, I abhor the sea and all ships which sail on it. But I yet believe we shall reach England in the latter half of October. At Ascension I received Catherine's letter of October, and yours of November; the letter at the Cape was of a later date, but letters of all sorts are inestimable treasures, and I thank you both for them. The desert, volcanic rocks, and wild sea of Ascension, as soon as I knew there was news from home, suddenly wore a pleasing aspect, and I set to work with a good-will at my old work of Geology. You would be surprised to know how entirely the pleasure in arriving at a new place depends on letters. We only stayed four days at Ascension, and then made a very good passage to Bahia.

I little thought to have put my foot on South American coast again. It has been almost painful to find how much good enthusiasm has been evaporated during the last four years. I can now walk soberly through a Brazilian forest; not but what it is exquisitely beautiful, but now, instead of seeking for splendid contrasts, I compare the stately mango trees with the horse-chestnuts of England. Although this zigzag has lost us at least a fortnight, in some respects I am glad of it. I think I shall be able to carry away one vivid picture of inter-tropical scenery. We go from hence to the Cape de Verds; that is, if the winds or the Equatorial calms will allow us. I have some faint hopes that a steady foul wind might induce the Captain to proceed direct to the Azores. For which most untoward event I heartily pray.

Both your letters were full of good news; especially the expressions which you tell me Professor Sedgwick used about my collections. I confess they are deeply gratifying--I trust one part at least will turn out true, and that I shall act as I now think--as a man who dares to waste one hour of time has not discovered the value of life. Professor Sedgwick mentioning my name at all gives me hopes that he will assist me with his advice, of which, in my geological questions, I stand much in need. It is useless to tell you from the shameful state of this scribble that I am writing against time, having been out all morning, and now there are some strangers on board to whom I must go down and talk civility. Moreover, as this letter goes by a foreign ship, it is doubtful whether it will ever arrive. Farewell, my very dear Susan and all of you. Good-bye.

C. DARWIN.

3rd August 1836

2011-08-03T07:53:00.002+01:00

Bahia, Brazil

Learned naturalists describe these scenes of the Tropics by naming a multitude of objects & mentioning some characteristic feature of each. To a learned traveller, this possibly may communicate some definite ideas; but who else from seeing a plant in an herbarium can imagine its appearance when growing in its native soil? Who, from seeing choice plants in a hot house, can multiply some into the dimensions of forest trees, or crowd others into an entangled mass? Who, when examining in a cabinet the gay butterflies, or singular Cicadas, will associate with these objects the ceaseless harsh music of the latter, or the lazy flight of the former — the sure accompaniments of the still glowing noon day of the Tropics — It is at these times, when the sun has attained its greatest height, that such views should be beheld.

2nd August 1836

2011-08-02T07:33:00.003+01:00

Bahia, Brazil

I was glad to find my enjoyment of tropical scenery, from the loss of novelty, had not decreased even in the slightest degree. The elements of the scenery are so simple, that they are worth mentioning as a proof on what trifling circumstances exquisite natural beauty depends. The country may be described as a quite level plain of about three hundred feet elevation which has been in every part worn into flat-bottomed valleys. This structure is remarkable in a granitic land, but it is nearly universal in all those softer formations, of which plains usually are composed. The whole surface is covered by various kinds of stately trees, interspersed with patches of cultivated ground, amidst which stand houses, convents & Chapels. — It must be remembered that within the tropics, the wild luxuriance of nature is not lost, even in the vicinity of large cities; the natural vegetation of the hedges & hill sides overpowers in picturesque effect, the artificial labor of man. Hence in but few parts, the bright red soil affords a strong contrast to the universal clothing of green. From the edges of the plain there are distant glimpses either of the ocean or of the great bay, bordered by low wooded shores, & on the surface of which numerous boats & canoes show their white sails. Excepting from these points, the range of vision is very limited; following the level pathways, on each hand alternate peeps into the wooded valleys below can alone be obtained. Lastly I must add, that the houses & especially the sacred edifices are built in a peculiar & rather fantastic style of architecture. They are all white-washed, so that when eliminated by the brilliant sun of midday & as seen against the pale blue sky of the horizon, they stand out more like shadows than substantial buildings. Such are the elements, but to paint their effects is an hopeless endeavour.

Syms Covington Journal

Between the island of Ascension (Africa) and Bahía (Brazil) we find a wide difference, viz. the former which is solely lava, the latter of a rich and most luxurient herbage, with hill and dale, and birds of a most beautiful plumage. I went into the country four days during our stay here.

1st August, 1836

2011-08-01T07:18:00.003+01:00

Bahia, Brazil

Anchored in Bahia de los Santos. The first aspect of the city & its outskirts, with the beauties of which we were formerly so much delighted, had lost part of its charms. The novelty & surprise were gone, & perhaps our memories had, in the long interval, exaggerated the colours of the scenery. There existed, however, as we afterwards discovered, a more true reason, in the loss of some of the finest Mango trees, which during the late disturbances of the negroes had been cut down. We staid here four days, in which time I took several long walks.

Syms Covington Journal

Sailed from Ascension July 23rd and after a good passage (a distance of 1400 miles), anchored in Bahía, Brazil, August 1st am, the third time of our coming here. Bahía is nearly due West from Ascension. On our arrival here the first news was that the natives had taken a 1000 miles of coast towards the North from the Portuguese some time since, which they still retained.

23rd July 1836

2011-07-22T20:12:00.000+01:00

Ascension

In the afternoon put to sea. — When in the offing, the Ships head was directed in W.S.W. course — a sore discomfiture & surprise to those on board who were most anxious to reach England. I did not think again to see the coast of S. America; but I am glad our fate has directed us to Bahia in Brazil.

21st & 22nd July 1836

2011-07-21T07:33:00.000+01:00

Ascension

On the two succeeding days I took long walks & examined some rather curious points in the mineralogical composition of some of the Volcanic rocks, to which I was guided by the kindness of Lieut. Evans. One day I walked to the SW extremity of the Isld: the day was clear & hot, & I saw the Island not smiling with beauty, but staring with naked hideousness. — The lava streams are covered with hummocks, & are rugged to a degree which geologically speaking is not of easy explanation. The intervening spaces are concealed with layers of pumice, ashes, & volcanic sandstone. In some parts, rounded volcanic bombs, which must have assumed this form when projected red hot from the crater, lie strewed on the surface. When passing this end of the Isld at sea, I could not imagine the cause of the white patches, with which the whole plain was mottled: I now found out it was owing to the number of seafowl, which sleep in such full confidence, as even in midday to allow a man to walk up to & seize hold of them. These birds were the only living creatures I this day saw. On the beach a great sea, although the breeze was light, was tumbling over the broken lava rocks. — The ocean is a raging monster, insult him a thousand miles distant, & his great carcase is stirred with anger through half an hemisphere.

20th July 1836

2011-07-20T07:37:00.000+01:00

Ascension

The next morning I ascended Green Hill, 2,840 ft high, & walked from thence across the Isd to the windward point. — A good cart road leads from the coast settlement to the houses, gardens & fields placed near the summit of the central mountain. On the road side are milestones & cisterns, where each thirsty passer by can drink some good water. Similar care is displayed in each part of the establishment, & especially in the management of the Springs, so that a single drop of water shall not be lost. Indeed the whole Isld may be compared to [a] huge Ship kept in first rate order. I could not help, when admiring the active industry which has created such effects out of such means, at the same time regretting that it was wasted on so poor & trifling an end. — M. Lesson has remarked with justice that the English nation alone would ever have thought of making the Isd of Ascension a productive spot; any other people would have held it, without any further views, as a mere fortress in the ocean.

Near the coast, nothing grows, a little inland, an occasional green Castor oil plant & a few grasshoppers, true friends of the desert, may be met with. On the central elevated parts, some grass is scattered over the surface, much resembling the worse parts of the Welsh mountains. But scanty as it appears, about six hundred sheep, many goats, a few cows & horses, all thrive well. Of native animals, rats, mice, land-crabs are abundant: — of Birds the guinea-fowl imported from the C. Verd's, swarm in great numbers. — The Isd is entirely destitute of trees, in which & in every other respect it is very far inferior to St Helena. Mr Dring tells me that the witty people of the latter place say "We know we live on a rock, but the poor people at Ascension live on a cinder": the distinction is in truth very just.

19th July 1836

2011-07-19T08:04:00.000+01:00

Ascension

Reached the anchorage in the afternoon, & received some letters. This alone with such a surrounding scene, was capable of producing pleasant sensations. Those who have beheld a volcanic Island, situated within an arid climate, will be able at once to picture to themselves the aspect of Ascension. They will imagine smooth conical hills of a bright red colour, with their summits generally truncated, rising distinct out of a level surface of black horrid lava. — A principal mound in the centre of the Island seems the father of the lesser cones. It is called Green Hill, its name is taken from the faintest tinge of that colour, which at this time was barely perceptible from the anchorage. To complete this desolate scene, the black rocks on the coast are lashed by a wild turbulent sea. The settlement is near the beach, it consists of several houses & barracks, placed irregularly but well built of white freestone. The only inhabitants are Marines & some negroes liberated from slave ships, who are paid & victualled by government: there is not a private person on the island. Many of the Marines appeared well contented with their situation: they think it better to serve their one & twenty years on shore, let it be what it may, than in a Ship. — With which choice, if I was a Marine, I should most heartily agree.

14th July 1836

2011-07-14T21:25:00.000+01:00

St. Helena

I so much enjoyed my rambles amongst the rocks & mountains, that I almost felt sorry on the morning of the 14th, to descend to the town. Before noon I was on board, & the Beagle made sail for Ascension.

13th July 1836

2011-07-14T11:43:00.001+01:00

St. Helena

In my walks, I passed more than once over the grassy plain bounded by deep valleys, on which stands Longwood. — Viewed from a short distance, it appears like a respectable gentleman's country seat. In front there are a few cultivated fields, & beyond them at some distance the hill of coloured rocks called the Flagstaff, & the square black mass of the Barn. The view is rather bleak & uninteresting.

It is quite extraordinary, the scrupulous degree to which the coast must formerly have been guarded. There are alarm houses, alarm guns & alarm stations on every peak. — I was much struck with the number of forts & picket houses on the line leading down to Prosperous Bay; one would suppose this at least must be an easy descent. I found it, however, a mere goat path, & in one spot the use of ropes which are fixed into rings in the cliff, were almost indispensable. — At the present day two artillery men are kept there, for what use it is not easy to conjecture. Prosperous Bay, although with so flourishing a name, has nothing more attractive than a wild sea beach & black utterly barren rocks. In some other situations, which were formerly no doubt important, a couple of invalids were stationed; really the places are sufficient to kill the poor men with ennui & melancholy. — The only inconvenience I suffered in my walks was from the impetuous winds. One day I noticed a curious fact; standing on the edge of a plain terminated by a great cliff of about a thousand feet elevation, I saw at the distance of a few yards, right to windward, some Tern struggling against a very strong breeze, whilst where I stood the air was quite calm. Approaching close to the brink I stretched out my arm, which immediately felt the full force of the wind. An invisible barrier of two yards wide, separated a strongly agitated from a perfectly calm air. — The current meeting the bold face of the cliff must have been reflected upwards at a certain angle, beyond which there would be an eddy, or a calm.

Syms Covington Journal

I went to house the 13th; which is in a very decayed state, one room is a billiard room for visitors (wine sold also!). The remaining part serves as a barn and dwelling for the servants of the clergyman who inhabits the new house, which was built for Napoleon, but HE never inhabited it.

IN the interior part of island, houses are to be seen in all parts, with patches of cultivation. Pears, guavas, etc . are to be had here, Here is to be seen the gorze, and blackberry, etc., the latter now bearing fruit, and very plentiful. The small birds are numerous and pretty; partridges from France WITH blue feet and beak; pheasants indigenous to the islands, the male of which is said to be very beautiful BUT now out of season; horses, bullocks, sheep etc. are to be seen grazing on hills and valleys in THE interior. In many parts, ST. HELENA is very picturesque.

12th July 1836

2011-07-13T07:09:00.000+01:00

St. Helena

My guide was an elderly man, who had been a goatherd when a boy, & knew every step amongst the rocks. He was of a race many times mixed, & although with a dusky skin, he had not the disagreeable expression of a Mulatto: he was a very civil, quiet old man, & this appears the character of the greater part of the lower class. — It was strange to my ears to hear a man nearly white, & respectably dressed, talking with indifference of the times when he was a slave. — With my companion, who carried our dinners & a horn of water, which latter is quite necessary, as all in the lower valleys is saline, I every day took long walks. Beyond the limits of the elevated & central green circle, the wild valleys are quite desolate & untenanted. Here to the geologist, there are scenes of interest, which shew the successive changes & complicated violence, which have in past times happened. According to my views, St Helena has existed as an Isd from a very remote period, but that originally like most Volcanic Isds it has been raised in mass from beneath the waters. St Helena, situated so remote from any continent, in the midst of a great ocean & possessing an unique Flora, this little world, within itself excites our curiosity. — Birds & insects, as might be expected, are very few in number, indeed I believe all the birds have been introduced within late years. — Partridges & pheasant are tolerably abundant; the Isd is far too English not to be subject to strict game laws. I was told of a more unjust sacrifice to such ordinances, than I ever heard of even in England: the poor people formerly used to burn a plant which grows on the coast rocks, & export soda; — a peremptory order came out to prohibit this practice, giving as a reason, that the Partridges would have no where to build!

11th July 1836

2011-07-12T07:57:00.000+01:00

St. Helena

On viewing the Isd from an eminence, the first remark which occurs is on the infinite number of roads & likewise of forts. The public expenses, if one forgets its character as a prison, seems out of all proportion to the extent or value of the Island. So little level or useful land is there, that it seems surprising how so many people (about 5000) can subsist. The lower orders, or the emancipated slaves, are I believe extremely poor; they complain of want of work; a fact which is also shewn by the cheap labour. — From the reduction in number of public servants owing to the island being given up by the East Indian Company & consequent emigration of many of the richer people, the poverty probably will increase. — The chief food of the working class is rice with a little salt meat; as these articles must be purchased the low wages tell heavily: — the fine times, as my old guide called them, when "Bony" was here, can never again return. — Now that the people are blessed with freedom, a right which I believe they fully value, it seems probable their numbers will quickly increase: if so, what is to become of the little state of St Helena?

Syms Covington Journal

On the 11th, went to Napoleon's Grave, a distance of about two and a half miles from port. This tomb is situated in a valley, WHICH has gardens, houses, etc. The grave is simple for so great a man, having no more than a large oblong stone with no inscription, surrounded in same form by iron railings AND also with wooden railings round the iron ditto leaving a space of about ten to fifteen feet for visitors to walk, and that beautifully green with grass, with the willows and cypresses. Outside the wooden railings is the small beautiful, clear well, where he (NAPOLEON) constantly every morning used to send for water to wash etc. Beautiful, clear water. Here is stationed a non-commissioned officer, an old soldier, to take care that no one injures the above. The willow is strictly forbidden for anyone to touch, but from the cypresses, a small twig is allowed only. At the East end or head of tomb, within railings, is a geranium, planted by Lady Warren (Admiral Warren's wife) and HER daughters; at THE West end or foot are several Cape bulbs, etc. The house IS situated from THE tomb, about a mile, along a ridge of mountains.

10th July 1836

2011-07-11T08:21:00.001+01:00

St. Helena

I obtained lodgings in a cottage within stone's throw of Napoleon's tomb. I confess this latter fact possessed with me but little inducement. The one step between the sublime & the ridiculous has on this subject been too often passed. Besides, a tomb situated close by cottages & a frequented road does not create feelings in unison with the imagined resting place of so great a spirit. — With respect to the house in which Napoleon died, its state is scandalous, to see the filthy & deserted rooms, scored with the names of visitors, to my mind was like beholding some ancient ruin wantonly disfigured.— During the four days I staid in this central position, from morning to night I wandered over the Isd & examined its geological history. The house was situated at an elevation of about 2000 ft; here the weather was cold & very boisterous, with constant showers of rain; — every now & then the whole scene was veiled by thick clouds.

Near to the coast the rough lava is entirely destitute of vegetation; in the central & higher parts a different series of rocks have, from extreme decomposition, produced a clayey soil which is stained in broad bands of many colours, such as purple, red, white & yellow.— At this season, the land moistened by constant showers produces a singularly bright green pasture; this lower & lower down gradually fades away & at last disappears. — In latitude 16° & at the trifling elevation of 1500 ft, it is surprising to behold a vegetation possessing a decided English character. But such is the case; the hills are crowned with irregular plantations of scotch firs; the sloping banks are thickly scattered over with thickets of gorze, covered with its bright yellow flowers; along the course of the rivulets weeping willows are common, & the hedges are formed of the blackberry, producing its well known fruit. When we consider the proportional numbers of indigenous plants being 52, to 424 imported species, of which latter so many come from England, we see the cause of this resemblance in character. These numerous species, which have been so recently introduced, can hardly have failed to have destroyed some of the native kinds. I believe there is not any account extant of the vegetation at the period when the island was covered with trees; such would have formed a most curious comparison with its present sterile condition and limited Flora. It is not improbable that even at the present day similar changes may be in progress. — Many English plants appear to flourish here better than in their native country; some also from the opposite quarter of Australia succeed remarkably well, & it is only on the highest & steep mountain crests where the native Flora is predominant. The English, or rather the Welsh character of the scenery, is kept up by the numerous cottages & small white houses, some buried at the bottom of the deepest valleys & others stuck up on the lofty ridges. — Certainly some of the views are very striking; I may instance that of Sir W. Doverton's house, where the bold peak called Lott is seen over a dark wood of firs, the whole being backed by the red, waterworn mountains of the Southern shore. —

But a glowing tropical style of landscape would have afforded a finer contrast than the homely English scenery, with the wile arid rocks of the coast.

8th July 1836

2011-07-07T07:42:00.001+01:00

St. Helena

In the morning arrived off St Helena. This island, the forbidding aspect of which has been so often described, rises like a huge castle from the ocean. A great wall, built of successive streams of black lava, forms around its whole circuit, a bold coast. — Near to the town, as if in aid of the natural defence, small forts & guns are everywhere built up & mingled with the rugged rocks. The town extends up a flat & very narrow valley; the houses look respectable & from among them a few green trees arise. When approaching the anchorage, there is one striking view; an irregular castle perched on the summit of a lofty hill & surrounded by a few scattered fir trees, boldly projects against the sky. — It is called High Knoll hill.

Syms Covington Journal

On Friday, anchored at St. Helena, July 8th am, twenty days being rather a good passage in this part of year (distance from the Cape 1600 miles).

From the ship, St. Helena appears like a garrison on a large scale, viz. for wherever the eye is attracted it meets with a battery or multiples of guns, etc. The land, or Rock I should say, is very high, and most parts are inaccessible. It is very dark rock, and without herbage. At this time, the beginning of Winter, the climate is very pleasant, but on the mountains it is rather cold. It rains very frequently in the course of the day: showers, or a misty rain.

29th June 1836

2011-06-27T07:58:00.001+01:00

South Atlantic

The Beagle crossed the Tropic of Capricorn for the sixth & last time. We were surprised & grieved by finding light northerly breezes, within limits generally occupied by a strong trade wind.

Not a lot, it seems, happening at sea at present, but very soon the Beagle stops at St. Helena and is driven by the prevailing winds/currents to Brazil. So... much more to come as yet. (Roger R.)

18th June 1836

2011-06-17T19:31:00.006+01:00

In the afternoon put to sea; our usual ill fortune followed us; first with a gale of wind, & then with scarcely any wind at all.

17th June 1836

2011-06-17T08:23:00.002+01:00

Cape Town

Took a long walk with Mr Sullivan to examine several interesting features in the geology of the surrounding mountains.

16th June 1836

2011-06-16T07:54:00.000+01:00

Cape Town

Returned to Simon's bay; the bad weather having set in caused our stay to be rather longer here than usual.

8th - 15th June 1836

2011-06-08T07:31:00.003+01:00

Cape Town

During these days I became acquainted with several very pleasant people: With Dr A. Smith, who has lately returned from his most interesting expedition to beyond the Tropic, I took some long geological rambles. — I dined out several days, — with Mr Maclear (the astronomer), with Colonel Bell, and with Sir J. Herschel; this last was the most memorable event which, for a long period, I have had the good fortune to enjoy.

7th June 1836

2011-06-07T08:35:00.002+01:00

Cape Town

At an early hour the next day we descended by Sir Lowry's pass, which like the last has been cut at much expence along the side of a steep mountain. From the summit there was a noble view of the whole of False Bay & of the Table mountain; & immediately below, of the cultivated country of Hottentot Holland. — The flat, covered with sand dunes, did not appear from the height of the tedious length, which we found it to be before reaching in the evening Cape town.

6th June 1836

2011-06-06T07:44:00.002+01:00

Cape Town

My intention was to return by Sir Lowry Cole's pass, over the same chain of mountains but a little further to the South. Following unfrequented paths we crossed over an irregular hilly country to the other line of road. During the whole long day I met scarcely a single person, & saw but few inhabited spots or any number of cattle. A few Raebucks were grazing on the sides of the hills, & some large dirty white Vultures like the Condor of America slowly wheeled over the place where probably some dead animal was lying. There was not even a tree to break the monotomous uniformity of the sandstone hills. I never saw a much less interesting country. — At night we slept at the house of an English farmer.

5th June 1836

2011-06-05T07:58:00.000+01:00

Cape Town

After riding about three hours, we came near to the French Hoeck pass. This is so called from a number of emigrant protestant Frenchmen having originally settled in a flat valley at the foot of the mountain: it is one of the prettiest places I saw in the colony. — The pass is a considerable work, an inclined road having been cut along the steep side of the mountain: it forms one of the principal roads from the low land of the coast to the mountains & great plains of the interior. We reached the foot of the mountains on the opposite or SE side of the pass a little after noon; here at the Toll-bar we found comfortable lodgings for the night. The surrounding mountains were destitute of trees & even of brushwood, but they supported a scattered vegetation of rather a brighter green than usual, the quantity however of white siliceous sandstone which every where protruded itself uncovered, gave to the country a bleak & desolate aspect.

4th June 1836

2011-06-04T07:24:00.004+01:00

Cape Town

I set out on a short excursion to see the neighbouring country, but I saw so very little worth seeing, that I have scarcely anything to say. I hired a couple of horses & a young Hottentot groom to accompany me as a guide. he spoke English very well, & was most tidily drest; he wore a long coat, beaver hat, & white gloves! The Hottentots, or Hodmadods as old Dampier calls them, to my eye look like partially bleached negroes; they are of small stature, & have most singularly formed heads & faces. The temple & cheek bones project so much, that the whole face is hidden from a person standing in the same side position, in which he would be enabled to see part of the features of a European. Their hair is very short & curly.

Our first days ride was to the village of the Paarl, situated between thirty & forty miles to the NE of the Cape town. After leaving the neighbourhood of the town, where white houses stand as if picked out of a street & then by chance dropped down in the open country, we had to cross a wide level sandy flat totally unfit for cultivation. In the hopes of finding some hard materials, the sands have been bored along the whole line of road to the depth of forty feet. Leaving the flat, we crossed a low undulating country thinly clothed with a slight, green vegetation. This is not the flowering season, but even at the present time, there were some very pretty oxalis's & mesembryanthemums, & on the sandy spots, fine tufts of heaths. Even at this short distance from the coast, there were several very pretty little birds. — If a person could not find amusement in observing the animals & plants, there was very little else during the whole day to interest him: only here & there we passed a solitary white farm house.

Directly after arriving at the Paarl, I ascended a singular group of rounded granite hills close behind the village. I enjoyed a fine view from the summit; directly in front extended the line of mountains which I had to cross on the following morning. Their colors were grey, or partly rusty red, their outlines irregular but far from picturesque. The general tint of the lower country was a pale brownish green & the whole entirely destitute of wood-land. In the naked state of the mountains, seen also through a very clear atmosphere, I was reminded of Northern Chili, but the rocks there possess at least a brilliant colouring.

Immediately beneath the hill on which I was standing the long village of the Paarl extended, all the houses were very tidy & comfortable & white-washed; there was not a single hovel. Each house had its garden & a few trees planted in straight rows, & there were many considerable vineyards being at this time of year destitute of leaves. The whole village possessed an air of quiet & respectable comfort.

3rd June 1836

2011-06-03T05:49:00.001+01:00

Cape Town

In Cape town it is said the present number of inhabitants is about 15,000, and in the whole colony, including coloured people, 200,000. Many different nations are here mingled together; the Europæans consist of Dutch, French & English, & scattered people from other parts. The Malays, descendants of slaves brought from the East Indian archipelago, form a large body; they appear a fine set of men; they can always be distinguished by conical hats, like the roof of a circular thatched cottage, or by a red handkerchief on their heads. — The number of Negroes is not very great, & the Hottentots, the ill treated aboriginals of the country, are, I should think, in a still smaller proportion. The first object in Cape town which strikes the eye of a stranger, is the number of bullock waggons; several times I saw eighteen & heard of twenty four oxen being all yoked together in one team;2 Besides these, in all parts waggons with four, six, & eight horses in hand, go trotting about the streets.— I have as yet not mentioned the well known Table mountain; this great mass of horizontally stratified sandstone rises quite dose behind the town to a height of 3500 feet; the upper part forms an absolute wall, often reaching into the region of the clouds. I should think so high a mountain, not forming part of a platform & yet being composed of horizontal strata, must be a rare phenomenon; it certainly gives the landscape a very peculiar, & from some points of view, a grand character.

2nd June 1836

2011-06-02T07:35:00.002+01:00

Cape Town

In the morning I walked to a neighbouring hill to look at the town. It is laid out with the rectangular precision of a Spanish city; the streets are in good order & macadamized, & some of them have rows of trees on each side; the houses are all white-washed & look clean. In several trifling particulars the town has a foreign air; but daily it is becoming more English. There is scarcely a resident in the town, excepting among the lowest order, who does not speak some English; in this facility in becoming Anglefied, there appears to exist a wide difference between this colony & that of Mauritius. This however does not arise from the popularity of the English, for the Dutch, as the French at Mauritius, although having profited to an immense degree by the English government, yet thoroughly dislike our whole nation. In the country universally there is one price for a Dutchman, & another & much higher one, for an Englishman; nevertheless some few of the Dutchmen have lately sent their sons to England to learn a proper system of agriculture.

All the fragments of the civilized world, which we have visited in the southern hemisphere, all appear to be flourishing; little embryo Englands are hatching in all parts. The Cape Colony, although possessing but a moderately fertile country, appears in a very prosperous condition. In one respect it suffers like New South Wales, namely in the absence of water communication, and in the interior being separated from the coast by a high chain of mountains. This country does not possess coal, & timber, excepting at a considerable distance, is quite deficient. Hides, tallow & wine, are the chief export, & latterly a considerable quantity of corn. The farmers are beginning also to pay attention to sheep grazing, a hint taken from Australia. It is no small triumph to Van Diemens Land, that live sheep have been exported from a colony of thirty three years standing to this one, founded in 1651.

1st June 1836

2011-06-01T08:35:00.000+01:00

Cape Town

There being nothing worth seeing here, I procured a gig & set out for the Cape town, which is 22 miles distant. Both of these towns are situated within the heads, but at opposite extremities of a range of mountains, which is joined to the mainland by a low sandy flat. The road skirted the base of these mountains: for the first 14 miles the country is very desert; & with the exception of the pleasure which the sight of an entirely new vegetation never fails to communicate, there was very little of interest. The view however of the mountains on the opposite side of the flat, brightened by the declining sun, was fine.

Within seven miles of Cape town, in the neighbourhood of Wynberg, a great improvement was visible. In this vicinity are situated all the country houses of the more wealthy residents of the Capital. The numerous woods of young Scotch firs & stunted oak trees form the chief attraction of this locality; there is indeed a great charm in shade & retirement after the unconcealed bleakness of a country like this. — The houses & plantations are backed by a grand wall of mountains which gives to the scene a degree of uncommon beauty. I arrived late in the evening in Cape Town, & had a good deal of difficulty in finding quarters: in the morning several ships from India had arrived at this great inn on the great highway of nations, & they had disgorged on shore a host of passengers, all longing to enjoy the delights of a temperate climate. There is only one good hotel, so that all strangers live in boarding houses — a very uncomfortable fashion to which I was obliged to conform, although I was fortunate in my quarters.

31st May 1836

2011-05-30T07:46:00.003+01:00

Darwin Beagle Diary

In the evening came to an anchor in Simon's Bay. — In the early part of the passage we passed in sight of the south end of Madagascar; we subsequently made the coast of Africa at Natal, & from that part coasted along a considerable length of the southern shores. We lost a week near Cape Lagullas by contrary winds & a severe gale. — The little town of Simon's Bay offers but a cheerless aspect to the stranger. About a couple of hundred square whitewashed houses, with very few gardens & scarcely a single tree, are scattered along the beach at the foot of a lofty, steep, bare wall of horizontally stratified sandstone.

Captain Fitzroy’s Journal
Anchored in Simon's Bay, at the Cape of Good Hope, on the 31st.

A note from Roger R.

2011-05-19T07:18:00.001+01:00

No entries in the Diary until the 31st May. Perhaps Darwin is running short of paper on which to write, he is sea-sick again (a frequent occurrence), or perhaps he is thinking how he can use all the knowledge he has gained over the years of the Beagle's voyage? Captain Fitzroy and 'Darwin's personal servant' Syms Covington are similarly quiet. All I can suggest is a re-reading of the wonderful Galapagos entries, or Darwin's adventures crossing and re-crossing the Andes... it's all here.

13th May 1836

2011-05-14T07:19:00.003+01:00

Syms Covington Journal

The 13th am saw the South end of that great Island, Madagascar; the land IS high and mountainous. WE WERE ABOUT ten or twelve miles off from the land; at the same time the ship WAS running AT eight knots. From here the Current began, which carried the ship forty nine miles in twenty four hours, besides her distance by log.

9th May 1836

2011-05-09T07:52:00.002+01:00

Darwin Beagle Diary

In the evening we sailed from Port Louis on our way to the C. of Good Hope; since leaving England I have not spent so idle & dissipated a time. I dined out almost every day in the week. all would have been very delightful, if it had been possible to have banished the remembrance of England. Pleasant as the society appeared to us, it was manifest even during our short visit that no small portion of jealousy, envy & hatred was common here, as in most other small societies. — Alas, there does not exist a terrestrial paradise where such feelings have not found an entrance!

Syms Covington Journal
Left the Mauritius at 5 o'clock pm May 9th; the 10th saw the Island of Bourbon, but very indistinctly. Had a fair and strong breeze, and IT WAS much cooler, which made it very pleasant to our feelings after being in hot climates for many months.

5th May 1836

2011-05-05T08:51:00.003+01:00

Mauritius

Lloyd took us to the Rivière Noire which is several miles to the southward, in order that I might examine some rocks of elevated coral. We passed through pleasant gardens & fine fields of sugar cane growing amidst huge blocks of lava. The roads were bordered by hedges of mimosa, & near many of the houses there were avenues of the Mango. Some of the views, where the peaked hills & the cultivated farms were seen together, were exceedingly picturesque, & we were constantly tempted to exclaim, "how pleasant it would be to pass one's life in such quiet abodes". — Capt. Lloyd possessed an elephant; he sent it half way on the road, that we might enjoy a ride in true Indian fashion. I should think, as is commonly said to be the case, that the motion must be fatiguing for a long journey. The circumstance which surprised me most was the perfectly noiseless step: the whole ride on so wonderful an animal was extremely interesting. This elephant is the only one at present on the island; but it is said that others will be sent for.

3rd May 1836

2011-05-03T08:27:00.002+01:00

Mauritius

In the evening Capt. Lloyd, the surveyor general so well known from his survey across the Isthmus of Panama, invited Mr Stokes & myself to his country house, which is situated on the edge of Wilheim plains & about six miles from the port. We staid at this delightful place two days; being elevated nearly 800 ft above the sea, the air is pleasantly cool & fresh; & on every side there are delightful walks. Close by a grand ravine extends which is about 500 ft deep, & worn through the slightly inclined streams of lava that have flowed from the central platform.

2nd May 1836

2011-05-02T08:37:00.001+01:00

Mauritius

I took a quiet walk along the sea coast to the north of the town; the plain is there quite uncultivated, consisting of a field of black lava smoothed over with coarse grass & bushes, the greater part of which are mimosas. Capt. FitzRoy before arriving here said he expected the island would have a character intermediate between the Galapagos & Tahiti. This is a very exact comparison, but it will convey a definite idea to a very few excepting those on board the Beagle. It is a very pleasant country, but it has not the charms of Tahiti or the grandeur of a Brazilian landscape.

The next day I ascended La Pouce, a mountain so called from a thumb like projection, which rises close behind the town to a height of 2600 feet. M. Lesson in the voyage of the Coquille has stated that the central plain of the Island appeared like the basin of a grand crater, & that La Pouce & the other mountains once formed parts of a connected wall; thus it likewise appeared to me.1 From our elevated position, we enjoyed an excellent view over this great mass of volcanic matter: the country on this side of the island appears pretty well cultivated, the whole being divided into fields & studded with farmhouses. I am, however, assured that of the whole land not more than a half is yet in a productive state; if such is the case & considering the present great export of sugar, at some period this island when thickly peopled, will be of very great value. Since England took possession, which is only twenty five years ago, the export of sugar is said to have increased in the proportion of seventy five to one. — One great cause of this prosperity is due to the excellent roads & means of communication throughout the island. At the present day in the neighbouring island of Bourbon under the French Government, the roads are in the same miserable order as they were only a few years past in this place. The Macadamizing art has perhaps been of greater advantage to the colonies, even than to the parent country. Although the French residents must have largely profited by the increased prosperity of their island, yet the English government is far from popular. It seems unfortunate that among the higher order of French & English there appears to exist scarcely any intercourse.

1st May 1836

2011-05-01T08:38:00.000+01:00

Mauritius

One of the most interesting spectacles in Port Louis is the number of men of various races which may be met with in the streets. Convicts from India are banished here for life; of them at present there are about 800 who are employed in various public works. Before seeing these people I had no idea that the inhabitants of India were such noble looking men; their skin is extremely dark, and many of the older men had large moustachios & beards of a snow white colour; this, together with the fire of their expressions, gave to them an aspect quite imposing. The greater number have been banished for murder & the worst crimes; others for causes which can scarcely be considered as moral faults, such as for not obeying, from superstitious motives, the English Government & laws. I saw one man of high cast, who had been banished because he would not bear witness against his neighbour who had committed some offence; this poor man was also remarkable as being a confirmed opium eater, of which fact his emaciated body & strange drowsy expression bore witness. These convicts are generally quiet & well conducted; from their outward conduct, their cleanliness, & faithful observance of their strange religious enactments, it was impossible to look at these men with the same eyes as at our wretched convicts in New S. Wales.

Besides such prisoners, large numbers of free people are yearly imported from India; for the planters feared that the negroes, when emancipated, would not work: from these causes the Indian population is very considerable. With respect to the negroes, they appeared a very inferior race of men to those of Brazil, & as I believe, of the W. Indies: they come from Madagascar & the Zanzibar coast. The great act of emancipation caused no excitement amongst these people; it seems a general opinion that at first when free, nothing will tempt them to undergo much labor. I was however surprised to find how little the few people with whom I conversed seemed to care about the subject. Feeling confident in a resource in the countless population of India, the result of the emancipation was here much less regarded than in the West Indies

30th April 1836

2011-04-30T08:53:00.002+01:00

Mauritius

I spent the greater part of the next day in walking about the town & visiting different people. The town is of considerable size, & is said to contain 20,000 inhabitants; the streets are very clean & regular. Although the island has been so many years under the English government, the general character of the place is quite French. Englishmen speak to their servants in French, & the shops are all French; indeed I should think that Calais or Boulogne was much more Anglefied. There is a very pretty little theatre, in which operas are excellently performed, & are much preferred by the inhabitants1 to common plays. We were also surprised at seeing large booksellers shops with well stored shelves: — music & reading bespeak our approach to the old world of civilization, for in truth both Australia & America may be considered as New Worlds.

Syms Covington Journal

THE town IS situated nearly at THE base of the highest mountains, and gradual ascent from the coast, with small race ground at THE back of town. The port is very snug, and a good anchorage, with a fort on each side of Outside of THE Basin, round the islands at seven tenths of a mile from THE entrance, which entrance is about a quarter of a mile wide. THERE ARE moorings for three men of war, viz. line of battle ship, frigate and sloop.

Here THERE are frequent squalls, or showers of rain, occasioned by the mountains back of town, which break the clouds in their passage. Fort Adelaide, now building, is said will be bomb proof when finished. IT will contain all the English on the island with provisions for seven years, AND commands the town and harbour, by being situated AT THE back of town and TO THE left of race ground. THERE are situated here 2500 soldiers, the general standard complement. Paul and Virginia's graves seven miles from town.

The town is laid out, like Spanish towns in South America, viz. in squares. THE houses ARE nearly all built of wood. Here the scene was greatly changed from the Spanish style, to the Eastern or turbaned heads, with their long white (sort of) tunicks, with the white trousers of some. Their large pipes, etc. having a very novel appearance. THERE WERE people from various nations, both from Europe and the East. Here silks, etc. are very little cheaper than in England.

29th April 1836

2011-04-28T07:22:00.000+01:00

Mauritius

In the morning we passed round the northern extremity of the Isle of France or Mauritius. From this point of view the aspect of the island equalled the expectations raised by the many well known descriptions of its beautiful scenery. The sloping plain of the Pamplemousses, scattered over with houses & coloured bright green from the large fields of sugar cane, composed the foreground. The brilliancy of the green was the more remarkable because it is a colour which generally is only conspicuous from a very short distance. Towards the centre of the island groups of wooded mountains arose out of the highly cultivated plain, their summits, as so commonly happens with ancient volcanic rocks, being jagged by the sharpest points. Masses of white clouds were collected around these pinnacles, as if merely for the sake of pleasing the stranger's eye. The whole island, with its sloping border & central mountains, was adorned with an air of perfect elegance; — the scenery, If I may use such an expression, appeared to the senses harmonious.

Shortly after midday we came to an anchor at Port Louis.

Captain Fitzroy’s Journal
We anchored in Port Louis, at the Mauritius, on the 29th of April.

Syms Covington Journal

Anchored ship in Port Louis, Mauritius or Isle of France, April 29th. Passed several small islands very near the main island previous to entrance in port, and very low point of Isle. The sea shore very low and flat, until the base of the mountains. Mountains rise very abruptly, their tops very rugged. Some run up like pinnacles, their height 2,000 to 3,000 feet.

25th April 1836

2011-04-25T07:26:00.002+01:00

Captain Fitzroy’s Journal

Our passage to the Mauritius was slow, but in smooth water. Tropic birds, a few terns, and gannets were seen, at intervals, when passing the neighbourhood of the Chagos Islands, and at our approach to the island Rodriguez.

A note from Roger R.

2011-04-16T08:54:00.001+01:00

There will be a short hiatus until the Beagle reaches Mauritius on the 29th April. Another opportunity to read back?

12th April 1836

2011-04-12T08:07:00.004+01:00

South Keeling Islands

In the morning we stood out of the Lagoon. I am glad we have visited these Islands; such formations surely rank high amongst the wonderful objects of this world. It is not a wonder which at first strikes the eye of the body, but rather after reflection, the eye of reason. We feel surprised when travellers relate accounts of the vast piles & extent of some ancient ruins; but how insignificant are the greatest of them, when compared to the matter here accumulated by various small animals. Throughout the whole group of Islands, every single atom, even from the most minute particle to large fragments of rocks, bear the stamp of once having been subjected to the power of organic arrangement. Capt. FitzRoy at the distance of but little more than a mile from the shore sounded with a line 7200 feet long, & found no bottom.

Hence we must consider this Isl^d as the summit of a lofty mountain; to how great a depth or thickness the work of the Coral animal extends is quite uncertain. If the opinion that the rock-making Polypi continue to build upwards, as the foundation of the Isl^d from volcanic agency, after intervals gradually subsides, is granted to be true; then probably the Coral limestone must be of great thickness. We see certain Is^ds in the Pacifick, such as Tahiti & Eimeo, mentioned in this journal, which are encircled by a Coral reef separated from the shore by channels & basins of still water. Various causes tend to check the growth of the most efficient kinds of Corals in these situations. Hence if we imagine such an Island, after long successive intervals to subside a few feet, in a manner similar, but with a movement opposite to the continent of S. America; the coral would be continued upwards, rising from the foundation of the encircling reef. In time the central land would sink beneath the level of the sea & disappear, but the coral would have completed its circular wall. Should we not then have a Lagoon Island? — Under this view, we must look at a Lagoon Is^d as a monument raised by myriads of tiny architects, to mark the spot where a former land lies buried in the depths of the ocean.

The Beagle stood over to the Northern Is^d, distant about 12 miles. This likewise is a small Lagoon Is^d, but its centre is nearly filled up: the entrance is not deep enough even for a boat to enter. — The plan being completed; in the evening a course was taken for the Isle of France.

Captain Fitzroy’s Journal

On the 12th we sailed, carrying a good sea-stock of cocoanuts, pigs, poultry, pumpkins, and turtle. Maize and sugarcane might have been had, if wanted. We first went round the northern Keeling:—on this island, about a mile across and but a few feet above the ocean, two English vessels have been lost since 1825, and probably other ships met a similar fate there in earlier years, when its existence was hardly known. We found the current setting towards the north-west, as I had been led to expect; but, from what I could observe, during our stay, as well as from oral information, I am led to believe that the current only sets strongly during about the last half of the flood tide, and the first half of the ebb; and that during the other six hours there is little or no current; as is the case off Cape Horn, and in many other places.

Syms Covington Journal

Sailed from the Cocos, April 12th for the Isle of France; from here we had the Trade Winds the whole passage, a distance of about 2200 miles. During our passage we had frequent heavy showers of rain with but little wind, AS about the middle of April the hurricanes are all over.

10th April 1836

2011-04-10T07:10:00.013+01:00

Captain Fitzroy’s Journal

I was informed by the residents that between October and April, they are occasionally visited by severe gales of wind, at times almost hurricanes, so strong as to root up trees, strip the leaves off others, and unroof or blow down houses. These storms begin between south-east and south, and when they abate draw towards the west (by the south) there ending. For those who take interest in the course of storms I subjoin extracts from Mr. Ross's Journal given to me by Leisk. Earthquakes have been felt several times, I was told by Mr. Leisk, but I could get only one extract from the Journal which mentioned a shock.

9th April 1836

2011-04-08T20:47:00.004+01:00

Captain Fitzroy’s Journal

A word about the inhabitants, and I leave the Keelings. No material difference was detected by me between the Malays on these islands, and the natives of Otaheite or New Zealand. I do not mean to assert that there were not numbers of men at each of those islands to whom I could not trace resemblances (setting individual features aside,) at the Keelings; I merely say that there was not one individual among the two hundred Malays I saw there whom I could have distinguished from a Polynesian Islander, had I seen him in the Pacific.

Two boys attracted my notice particularly, because their colour was of a brighter red than that of any South American or Polynesian whom I had seen, and upon enquiry I found that these two boys were sons of Alexander Hare and a Malay woman.

Excepting the two English families I have mentioned, all on the Keelings in 1836, were Mahometans. One of their number officiated as priest; but exclusive of an extreme dislike to pigs, they showed little outward attention to his injunctions. As no Christian minister had ever visited the place, and there was no immediate prospect of one coming there, I was asked to baptize the children of Mrs. Leisk. So unusual a demand occasioned some scruples on my part, but at last I complied, and performed the appointed service in Mr. Ross's house; where six children of various ages were christened in succession. This and other facts I have mentioned respecting these sequestered islands shew the necessity that exists for some inspecting influence being exercised at every place where British subjects are settled. A visit from a man of war, even once only in a year, is sufficient (merely in prospect) to keep bad characters in tolerable check, and would make known at head quarters the more urgent wants of the settlers.

In observing the sun's meridian altitude at this place, the sextants were used, which I have adverted to before, and the latitude deduced from their results only differed two or three seconds from that obtained by stars, without using the additional glass: I forgot to say, in speaking of the Galapagos, how useful those instruments were there; enabling us to measure the sun's meridian altitude in an artificial horizon when nearly eighty degrees high. I would not say this in favour of my own invention, if I did not feel certain that seamen will find it useful, and that somebody ought to tell them of it, for their own sake. (These sextants were made by Worthington.)

7th to 11th April 1836

2011-04-07T07:19:00.004+01:00

South Keeling Islands

During these days nearly every one was employed in parts of the examination of the Island; but the winds being very strong rendered the most important part, the deep sea sounding, scarcely practicable. I visited Horsburgh & West Isd. — In the latter the vegetation is perhaps more luxuriant than in any other part. Generally the Cocoa nut trees grow separate, but here the young ones flourish beneath their tall parents & formed with their long & curved fronds the most shady arbors. Those alone who have tried it, can tell how delicious it is to be seated in such shade & there drink the cool pleasant fluid of the Cocoa nut which close by hangs in great bunches. In this Isd there is a large bay, or little lagoon, composed of the finest white sand; it is quite level & is only covered by the tide at high water. From this large bay smaller creeks penetrate the surrounding woods; thus to see a field of glittering sand representing water, & around the border of which the Cocoa nut trees extend their tall waving trunks, formed a singular & very pretty view.

Captain Fitzroy’s Journal

Except sea-fowl and the domestic creatures which have accompanied man to the Keelings, there is no bird or animal; but a kind of land-rail, which is numerous. Besides the palm there are upon the largest islets other trees, particularly a kind of teak, and some less valuable wood, from which a vessel was built.

Fresh water is not scarce on the larger islets of the group, but it is only to be got by digging wells in the coral foundation, covered as it is by vegetation. In these wells, about six feet deep, the water rises and falls as the tide of the ocean flows and ebbs; which I believe to be the case at most other coral islands where there is fresh water. It appears that the fresh water of heavy rains is held in the loose soil, (a mixture of coral, sand, and decayed vegetable substances,) and does not mix with the salt water which surrounds it, except at the edges of the land. The flowing tide pushes on every side, the mixed soil being very porous, and causes the fresh water to rise: when the tide falls the fresh water sinks also. A sponge full of fresh water placed gently in a basin of salt water, will not part with its contents for a length of time if left untouched. The water in the middle of the sponge will be found untainted by salt for many days; perhaps much longer, if tried.

6th April 1836

2011-04-06T07:55:00.004+01:00

South Keeling Islands

I accompanied Capt. FitzRoy to an island near the head of the Lagoon; the channel was exceedingly intricate, winding through fields of delicately branched Corals. We saw several turtle & two boats were then employed in catching them. — The method is rather curious; the water is so clear & shallow that although at first the turtle dives away with much rapidity, yet a canoe or a boat under sail will after no very long chase overtake it; a man standing ready in the bows at this moment dashes through the water upon its back. Then clinging with both hands by the shell of the neck, he is carried away till the turtle becomes exhausted & is secured. It was quite an interesting chase to see the two boats doubling about, & the men dashing into the water till at last their prey was seized.

When we arrived at the head of the lagoon we crossed the island, & found a great surf breaking on the windward coast. I can hardly explain the cause, but there is to my mind a considerable degree of grandeur in the view of the outer shores of these Lagoon Islands. There is a simplicity in the barrier-like beach, the margin of green bushes & tall Cocoa nuts, the solid flat of Coral rock, strewed with occasional great fragments, & the line of furious breakers all rounding away towards either hand. The ocean throwing its waters over the broard reef appears an invincible all-powerful enemy, yet we see it resisted & even conquered by means which would have been judged most weak & inefficient. The little sketch of Whit sunday Isd in Capt. Beechey's voyage, gives as accurate an idea of the scene as can be well imagined. We did not return on board till late in the evening, as we staid sometime in the lagoon, looking at the Coral fields & collecting specimens of the giant Chama.

Robert Fitzroy Journal

Among the great variety of corals forming the walls around the immediately visible basement, and the under-water forests of the Keeling islands, there is more difference than between a lily of the valley and a gnarled oak. Some are fragile and delicate, of various colours, and just like vegetables to the eye, others are of a solid description, like petrified tropical plants; but all these grow within the outer reef, and chiefly in the lagoons.

The wall, or outer reef, about which so much has been said and thought, by able men, without their having arrived at any definite conclusion, is solid and rock-like, with a smooth surface; and where the surf is most violent, there the coral is fullest of animated matter. I was anxious to ascertain if possible, to what depth the living coral extended, but my efforts were almost in vain, on account of a surf always violent, and because the outer wall is so solid that I could not detach pieces from it lower down than five fathoms. Small anchors, hooks, grappling irons, and chains were all tried—and one after another broken by the swell almost as soon as we 'hove a strain' upon them with a 'purchase' in our largest boats. Judging however, from impressions made upon a large lead, the end of which was widened, and covered with tallow hardened with lime, and from such small fragments as we could raise, I concluded that the coral was not alive at a depth exceeding seven fathoms below low water. But this subject has been, or will be, fully discussed by Mr. Darwin, therefore I need say no more.

As if in speaking of these singular, though so small islands,—where crabs eat cocoa-nuts, fish eat coral, dogs catch fish, men ride on turtle, and shells are dangerous man-traps,—any thing more were necessary to ensure the voyager's being treated like the old woman's son who talked to her about flying-fish,—it must yet be said that the greater part of the sea-fowl roost on branches, and that many rats make their nests at the top of high palm-trees.

5th April 1836

2011-04-05T07:44:00.004+01:00

Captain Fitzroy’s Journal

The manner of ascending tall palm-trees is similar to that described at Otaheite, and requires strength as well as agility: both which are also shown by these Malays in their chases after turtle among the shallows and coral 'thickets' of the lagoon, where they abound. A party of men go in a light boat and look for a fine turtle in some shallow place. Directly one is seen, they give chase in the boat, endeavouring to keep it in a shallow, and tolerably clear place, till it begins to be tired by its exertions to escape; then, watching a favourable moment, a man jumps out of the boat and seizes the turtle. Away it darts, with the man on its back grasping its neck until he can get an opportunity, by touching ground with his feet, to turn it over, and secure his prize. Only the more active men can succeed well in this sort of fishing.

Other unusual things were seen by us at this place, one or two of which I will mention. There are fish that live by feeding upon small branches of the coral, which grows in such profusion in the lagoon. One species of these fish is about two feet and a half long, of a beautiful green colour about the head and tail, with a hump on its head, and a bony kind of mouth, almost like that of a turtle, within which are two rows of saw-like teeth. Mr. Stokes saw a dog, (bred on the island), catch three such fish in the course of a few hours by chasing them in shallow water, springing after them, almost as a kangaroo springs on land. Sometimes one would take shelter under a rock, when the dog would drive it out with his paw, and seize it with his mouth as it bolted.

Syms Covington Journal

Only one genus of land bird here, viz. the land rail, indigenous to THESE islands. A great many sea birds and very tame, as to let you come close to the them or within a yard or two. THEY build their nests on the trees close to beach. On this Island were great numbers of the land rail, about several houses. The Java sparrow WAS brought here.

Outside of THE Basin, round the islands at seven tenths of a mile from THE beach, soundings 100 fathoms; a mile out, no bottom. AT THE southernmost part of basin a channel is cut through coral for the boats, and stakes drove in different places to mark the channel. Even then, you are very apt to run foul of or branches of coral. WE had a pilot in the boat.

4th April 1836

2011-04-04T18:08:00.002+01:00

Darwin Beagle Diary

I was employed all the day in examining the very interesting yet simple structure & origin of these islands. The water being unusually smooth, I waded in as far as the living mounds of coral on which the swell of the open sea breaks. In some of the gullies & hollows, there were beautiful green & other colored fishes, & the forms & tints of many of the Zoophites were admirable. It is excusable to grow enthusiastic over the infinite numbers of organic beings with which the sea of the tropics, so prodigal of life, teems; yet I must confess I think those Naturalists who have described in well known words the submarine grottoes, decked with a thousand beauties, have indulged in rather exuberant language.

Captain Fitzroy’s Journal

By some strange misconception, not intentional act of injustice, Mr. Ross had refused to give Hare's slaves their freedom, for fear that the executors of that man should demand their value from him; but he paid them each two rupees a week, in goods (at his own valuation), provided that they worked for him, both men and women, as he thought proper. Mr. Leisk told me this, and said that "many of the Malays were very discontented, and wanted to leave the island." "No wonder," thought I, "for they are still slaves, and only less ill used than they were by the man who purchased them."

These Malays were allowed to rear poultry, which they sometimes sold to shipping. They were also allowed to have the produce of a certain number of cocoa-nut trees, and might catch fish and turtle for their own use; but the sale of turtle to shipping, when they touched there, and the immense crops of cocoa-nuts which are produced annually on all the islets of the group were monopolized by Mr. Ross for his sole advantage. One daily task imposed upon the Malay women was to "husk" a hundred nuts, collected for them by the men, who extract a gallon of oil from every ten.

Another kind of oil, said to be very good, is derived from the fat tail of a large land-crab, which feeds on cocoa-nuts. About a pint and a half may be obtained from one crab. The manner in which these creatures—nearly the size of a large cray-fish—tap the nuts in order to get at their contents is curious. Numbers of windfall nuts, in a comparatively soft state, are always to be found lying about under the trees: a crab seizes one of these, and pegs away at the eyes (each nut has three eyes) with one of its claws, that is long and sharp, purposely, it would seem, until it opens a hole, through which the crab extracts the juice, and some of the solid part.

Syms Covington Journal

A lake (lagoon) IS on the largest island. In the small lagoons or pools on reefs are immense numbers of small fish of different species, and of the most brilliant colours and shapes I ever saw or fancy could paint. Here are great numbers A green fish, THE coral eater. Here also are land crabs, very curious and very strong in claws. THEY are eaten by the inhabitants. Here, I should suppose is one of the largest shells in the world, sort of clam shell, WHICH would take a very strong man to lift one with the animal in. The largest is about nine feet long. Different sorts OF SHELL AS WELL, leopard shells, etc. Great quantities of bêche-de-mer, WHICH is like A large, black English slug only about ten times the size, are dried here for the Indies.

3rd April 1836

2011-04-04T06:57:00.004+01:00

South Keeling Islands

After service I accompanied Capt. FitzRoy to the Settlement. We found on a point thickly scattered over with tall Cocoa nut trees, the town. Capt Ross & Mr Liesk live in a large barn-like house open at both ends & lined with mats made of the woven bark: the houses of the Malays are arranged along the shore of the lagoon. The whole place bore rather a desolate air, because there were no gardens to show the signs of care & cultivation. The natives come from different islands of the East Indian Archipelago, but all speak the same language; we saw inhabitants of Borneo, Celebes, Java & Sumatra. In color of the skin they resemble the Tahitians, nor widely differ from them in form of features: some of the women, however, showed a good deal of the Chinese character. I liked both their general expression & the sound of their voices. They appeared poor & their houses were destitute of furniture; but it was evident from the plumpness of the little children, that cocoa nuts & turtle afford no bad sustenance. On this island the wells occur from which ships obtain water; at first sight it appears not a little remarkable that the fresh water regularly ebbs & flows with the usual tide. We must believe that the compressed sand & porous Coral rock act like a sponge, & that the rain water which falls on the ground, being specifically lighter than the salt, merely floats on its surface & is subject to the same movements. There can be no actual attraction between salt & fresh water, & the spongy texture must tend to prevent all mixture from slight movements; on the other hand, where the land solely consists of loose fragments, a well being dug, salt or brackish water enters, of which fact we saw an instance.

After dinner we staid to see a half superstitious scene, acted by the Malay women. They dress a large wooden spoon in garments — carry it to the grave of a dead man — & then at the full of the moon they pretend it becomes inspired & will dance & jump about. After the proper preparations the spoon held by two women became convulsed & danced in good time to the song of the surrounding children & women. It was a most foolish spectacle, but Mr Liesk maintained that many of the Malays believed in its spiritual movements. The dance did not commence till the moon had risen & it was well worth remaining to behold her bright globe so quietly shining through the long arms of the Cocoa nuts, as they waved in the evening breeze. These scenes of the Tropics are in themselves so delicious, that they almost equal those dearer ones to which we are bound by each best feeling of the mind.

Captain Fitzroy’s Journal

These lonely islands (also called Cocos,) were discovered in 1608-9 by Captain William Keeling, who was in the East India Company's service, and held a commission from King James I. Little or no notice was taken of them from that time till 1823, when one Alexander Hare, a British subject, established himself and a small party of Malays, upon the Southern Keeling Island, which he thought a favourable place for commerce, and for maintaining a seraglio of Malay women, whom he confined to one island,—almost to one house.

In 1826, or within a year of that time, Mr. J. C. Ross, some time master of a merchant ship, took up his abode on the south-eastern islet of the group; and in a very short time Hare's Malay slaves, aggrieved by his harsh treatment of them, especially by his taking away the women, and shutting them up on an island which the Malay men might not approach, deserted in a body, and claimed protection from Mr. Ross. Hare then left the Keelings, and about a year afterwards was arrested in his lawless career by death, while establishing another harem at Batavia.

From that time Mr. Ross and the Malays lived peaceably, collecting cocoa-nut oil, turtle, tortoise-shell, and bicho do mar; and occasionally sailing to the Mauritius, Singapore, or Batavia, to dispose of them, and buy necessaries with their produce. Another Englishman, Mr. C. Leisk, who had served as mate of Mr. Ross's ship, lived with him, and they both had wives (English) and children, the whole party residing together in a large house of Malay build—just such a structure as one sees represented upon old japanned work. At the time of our visit Mr. Ross was absent on one of their trading excursions, and his deputy, Leisk, was left in charge of everything.

Syms Covington Journal

Captain Ross, the governor, is now absent at the Cape. Plenty of poultry (A Chinese breed) and turtles, the latter of which the ship was supplied during our stay: two per day, each about A hundred fifty pounds IN weight. Also hogs, sugar cane and bananas (the latter I never saw); tobacco, planted here, produces well. I believe the coffee plant was also tried but never saw it. THERE ARE two sorts of indigenous fruit AND plenty OF watermelon, ALSO maiz. The water is very brackish and for which one is obliged to dig wells; THE WATER LEVEL rises and falls with the tide although IT IS some distance from THE beach, and THEY WERE obliged to dig until they came to a number OF stones, under which springs the water.

On Sunday the 3rd of April was caught a shark eight feet long, which put a stop to our bathing, which before was at every evening by moonlight.

It is excessively hot. When sitting still the sweat is constantly dropping off the body

2nd April 1836

2011-04-03T08:22:00.003+01:00

South Keeling Islands

I went on shore. The strip of dry land is only a few hundred yards wide; on the lagoon side we have the white beach, the radiation from which in such a climate is very oppressive; & on the outer coast a solid broad flat of coral rock, which serves to break the violence of the open ocean. Excepting near the lagoon where there is some sand, the land is entirely composed of rounded fragments of coral. In such a loose, dry, stony soil, nothing but the climate of the intertropical regions could produce a vigorous vegetation. Besides the Cocoa nut which is so numerous as at first to appear the only tree, there are five or six other kinds. One called the Cabbage tree, grows to a great bulk in proportion to its height, & has an irregular figure; its wood being very soft. Besides these trees the number of native plants is exceedingly limited; I suppose it does not exceed a dozen. Yet the woods, from the dead branches of the trees, & the arms of the Cocoa nuts is a thick jungle.

There are no true land birds; a snipe & land-rail are the only two "waders", the rest are all birds of the sea. Insects are very few in number; I must except some spiders & a small ant, which swarms in countless numbers in every spot & place. These strips of land are raised only to the height to which during gales of wind the surf can throw loose fragments; their protection is due to the outward & lateral increase of the reef, which must break off the sea. The aspect & constitution of these Islets at once calls up the idea that the land & the ocean are here struggling for the mastery: although terra firma has obtained a footing, the denizens of the other element think their claim at least equal. In every part one meets Hermit-Crabs of more than one species, The large claw or pincers of some of these crabs are most beautifully adapted, when drawn back to form an operculum to the shell, which is nearly as perfect as the proper one which the living molluscous animal formerly possessed. I was assured, and as far as my observation went, it was confirmed, that there are certain kinds of these hermits which always use certain kinds of old shells. Carrying on their backs the houses they have stolen from the neighbouring beach.

Overhead, the trees are occupied by numbers of gannets, frigate birds & terns; from the many nests & smell of the air, this might be called a sea rookery; but how great the contrast with a rookery in the fresh budding woods of England! The gannets, sitting on their rude nests look at an intruder with a stupid yet angry air. The noddies, as their name expresses, are silly little creatures. But there is one charming bird, it is a small and snow white tern, which smoothly hovers at the distance of an arm's length from ones head, its large black eye scanning with quiet curiosity your expression. Little imagination is required to fancy that so light & delicate a body must be tenanted by some wandering fairy spirit.

Captain Fitzroy’s Journal

Until the 12th every one was actively occupied; our boats were sent in all directions, though there was so much wind almost each day as materially to impede surveying. Soundings on the seaward sides of the islands could seldom be obtained; but two moderate days were eagerly taken advantage of to go round the whole group in a boat, and get the few deep soundings… The two principal islands (considering the whole southern group as one island,) lie north and south of each other, fifteen miles apart; and as soundings were obtained two miles north of the large island, it may be inferred, I think, that the sea is not so deep between the two as it is in other directions. Only a mile from the southern extreme of the South Keeling, I could get no bottom with more than a thousand fathoms of line.

The southern cluster of islets encircle a shallow lagoon, of an oval form, about nine miles long, and six wide. The islets are mere skeletons—little better than coral reefs, on which broken coral and dust have been driven by sea and wind till enough has been accumulated to afford place and nourishment for thousands of cocoa-palms. The outer edges of the islands are considerably higher than the inner, but nowhere exceed about thirty feet above the mean level of the sea. The lagoon is shallow, almost filled with branching corals and coral sand. The small northern island is about a mile in diameter; a strip of low coral land, almost surrounding a small lagoon, and thickly covered with cocoa-nut trees.

1st April 1836

2011-04-02T08:30:00.007+01:00

South Keeling Islands

We arrived in view of the Southern Keeling or Cocos Isd. Our passage would have been a very good one, if during the last five days when close to our journey's end, the weather had not become thick & tempestuous. Much rain fell, & the heat & damp together were very oppressive: in the Poop cabin the thermometer however only stood at 81° or 82°. Keeling Isd is one of the low circular Coral reefs, on the greater part of which matter has accumulated & formed strips of dry land. Within the chain of Isds there is an extensive shallow lake or lagoon. The reef is broken on the Northern side & there lies the entrance to the anchorage. The general appearance of the land at a distance is precisely similar to what I have mentioned at the Low Isds of the Pacifick.

On entering the Lagoon the scene is very curious & rather pretty, its beauty is however solely derived from the brilliancy of the surrounding colors. The shoal, clear & still water of the lagoon, resting in its greater part on white sand, is when illuminated by a vertical sun of a most vivid green. This brilliant expanse, which is several miles wide, is on all sides divided either from the dark heaving water of the ocean by a line of breakers, or from the blue vault of Heaven by the strip of land, crowned at an equal height by the tops of the Cocoa nut trees. As in the sky here & there a white cloud affords a pleasing contrast, so in the lagoon dark bands of living Coral are seen through the emerald green water. — Looking at any one & especially a smaller Islet, it is impossible not to admire the great elegant manner in which the young & full grown Cocoa-nut trees, without destroying each others symmetry, mingle together into one wood: the beach of glittering white Calcareous sand, forms the border to these fairy spots.

When the ship was in the channel at the entrance, Mr Liesk, an English resident, came off in his boat. The history of the inhabitants of this place, is, in as few words as possible, as follows. About nine years ago a Mr Hare, a very worthless character, brought from the E. Indian Archipelago a number of Malay slaves which now including children amount to more than a hundred. Shortly afterwards Capt. Ross, who had before visited these Isds in his merchant ship, arrived from England bringing with him his family & goods for Settlement. — Along with him came Mr Liesk, who had been a Mate in the same ship. The Malay slaves soon ran away from the Isd on which Mr Hare was settled & joined Capt. Ross's party: Mr Hare upon this was ultimately obliged to leave these Islands. The Malays are now nominally in a state of freedom, & certainly so as far as respects their personal treatment; but in most other points they are considered as slaves. From the discontented state of the people, the repeated removals & perhaps from a little mismanagement, things are not very prosperous. The Island has no quadruped excepting pigs, & no vegetables in any quantity excepting Cocoa nuts. On this tree depends the prosperity of the Isld. — The only export is Cocoa nut oil. At this present time Capt. Ross has taken, in a small schooner which was built here, a cargo of this oil & that of the nuts to Singapore. He will bring back rice & goods for the Malays. — On the Cocoa nuts, the Pigs, which are loaded with fat, almost entirely subsist, as likewise do the poultry & ducks. Even a huge land-crab is furnished by nature with a curious instinct & form of legs to open & feed on the same fruit. There is no want of animal food at these Islands, for turtle & fish abound in the lagoon. — The situation of this Isld & its facilities for shipping must one day make it of some consequence, & then its natural advantages will be more fully developed. The ship came to an anchor in the evening, but on the following morning was warped nearer to Direction or Rat Isd.

Captain Fitzroy’s Journal

Early next morning (after making but little way during a fine night) saw the Keelings right ahead, about sixteen miles distant.

A long but broken line of cocoa-palm trees, and a heavy surf breaking upon a low white beach, nowhere rising many feet above the foaming water, was all we could discern till within five miles of the larger Keeling, (there are two distinct groups) and then we made out a number of low islets, nowhere more than thirty feet above the sea, covered with palm-trees, and encircling a large shallow lagoon.

We picked our way into Port Refuge (the only harbour), passing cautiously between patches of coral rock, clearly visible to an eye at the mast-head, and anchored in a safe, though not the best berth. An Englishman (Mr. Leisk) came on board, and, guided by him, we moved into a small but secure cove close to Direction Island.

Many reasons had induced me to select this group of coral islets for such an examination as our time and means would admit of; and, as the tides were to be an object of especial attention in a spot so favourably situated for observing them, a tide-guage was immediately placed. Its construction was then new, and, being found to answer, I will describe it briefly. Two poles were fixed upright, one on shore (above high water mark, and sheltered from wind), the other in the sea beyond the surf at low water. A block was fastened to the top of each pole, and a piece of well-stretched log-line 'rove' through them. One end of the line was attached to a board that floated on the water; the other suspended a leaden weight, which traversed up and down the pole, on shore, as the float fell or rose with the tide. Simple as this contrivance was, and useful as we should have found it in many places where the surf or swell made it difficult to measure tides at night, without using a boat, I never thought of it till after we left King George Sound.

Syms Covington Journal

Anchored in the Basin, Keeling or Cocos Islands, after having a heavy breeze the last two or three days of our passage.

The Islands ARE all very low; the beaches appear to be the highest. AND the highest I should suppose not more than twelve to fifteen feet high; all coral, about forty in number, the largest not more than ten miles long. The islands are complete forests of cocoa nut trees; if not for THE trees, the land would be seen FROM but a very short distance. ONE can wade from one island to another when the tide is low, to nearly all except THE entrance to THE Basin, which Basin is formed by the islands being as placed to form a circle. The Basin IS about twelve miles across. ONE cannot go far in with A ship; we anchored in seven or eight fathom OF water; coral bottom with white sand, the water always being clear. Beautiful branches of coral can be seen from the ship's side, the fish constantly passing and repassing amongst the coral, has a most beautiful effect, etc.

An Englishman and HIS family, with about sixty or seventy Mulattos from the Cape of Good Hope, live on one of the islands.

31st March 1836

2011-03-30T18:16:00.004+01:00

Captain Fitzroy’s Journal

On the 31st were in much doubt whether they [Southern Keeling or Cocos Isd] lay eastward or to the west of us. There was most reason to induce me to steer eastward — indeed I was about to give orders to that effect just as the sun was setting, (no land being seen from the mast-head, though the horizon was clear) — when a number of gannets flew past the ship towards the west. We steered directly after them…

27th to 31st March 1836

2011-03-27T16:58:00.007+01:00

Captain Fitzroy’s Journal

From the 27th to the 30th we had a severe gale of wind, when near the situation of those remote isles [Southern Keeling or Cocos Isd].

13th March 1836

2011-03-12T19:45:00.005Z

King George's Sound
Our departure was delayed by strong winds & cloudy weather until this day. Since leaving England I do not think we have visited any one place so very dull & uninteresting as K. George's Sound. Farewell Australia, you are a rising infant & doubtless some day will reign a great princess in the South; but you are too great & ambitious for affection, yet not great enough for respect; I leave your shores without sorrow or regret.

Captain Fitzroy’s Journal
We sailed, and advanced towards Cape Leuwin, but it was the 18th before our little ship was sufficiently far westward of that promontory to steer for my next object, the Keeling Islands.

As the Beagle sails across the Indian Ocean neither Darwin nor Fitzroy mad any entries in their Diary/Journal for two weeks. So we will leave them for a while. Do take this opportunity of re-reading some of Darwin's amazing adventures over the past 4 years... it's all here!

10th March 1836

2011-03-11T08:05:00.000Z

Captain Fitzroy’s Journal
During our stay at this place we caught plenty of fish, of twenty different kinds, with a seine; yet with such an abundant supply close at hand, the settlers were living principally on salt provisions.

Before quitting King George Sound I must add my slight testimony to the skill and accuracy with which Flinders laid down and described those parts of New Holland and Van Die-men's Land that I have seen. His accounts also of wind, weather, climate, currents, and tides, are excellent; and there are other points of information in his large work, useful to many, but especially to seamen, which would be well worth separating from the technicalities among which they are almost lost in the present cumbersome volumes.

9th March 1836

2011-03-10T07:52:00.002Z

King George's Sound
One day I accompanied Capt. FitzRoy to Bald head; this is the spot mentioned by so many navigators, where some have imagined they have seen Coral & other trees petrified in the position in which they grew. — According [to] our view of the case, the rocks have been formed by the wind heaping up Calcareous sand, which by the percolation of rain water has been consolidated & during this process enclosed trees, roots & land shells. — In time the wood would decay & as this took place, lime was washed into the cylindrical cavities & became hard like stalactites. — The weather is now again in parts wearing away these soft rocks & hence the harder casts of roots & branches stand out in exact imitation of a dead shrubbery. — The day was to me very interesting, as I had never before heard of such a case.

Captain Fitzroy’s Journal
Most of the aborigines had rather good countenances, and well-formed heads, as compared with those about Sydney, or in Van Diemen's land. The lathy thinness of their persons, which seemed totally destitute of fat, and almost without flesh, is very remarkable. I have since seen some drawings of South African aborigines, executed under the critical eye of Doctor Andrew Smith, by the correct hand of Mr. Charles Bell, which are so like the natives who live near King George Sound in colour, as well as countenance, and extraordinary shape, that they might be taken for full-length portraits of the latter instead of Africans.

Many of these natives have features smaller and less marked than are usual among savages; but their foreheads are higher and more full: they are not tall, few exceeding five feet eight inches in height: and the women are wretched objects. Some of the men had pieces of bone stuck through the cartilage of the nose, which, I heard, was to prevent their being killed by another tribe, who were seeking to revenge the death of one of their own party. I was told also, that when any death occurs in one tribe, the first individual of another that is encountered is sacrificed by the bereaved party, if strong enough; but I suspect my informant confused revenge for manslaughter with the strange story—that for every death in one tribe, however caused, a life must be taken from another. Should it be true, however, the scarcity of aboriginal population would have an explanation in addition to those which various writers have given. These natives bury their dead in a short grave; the body being laid on its side, with the knees drawn up to the chin.

8th March 1836

2011-03-09T07:59:00.002Z

King George's Sound

During the two first days after our arrival, there happened to be a large tribe called the White Coccatoo men, who come from a distance paying the town a visit. — Both these men & the K. George's Sound men were asked to hold a "Corrobery" or dancing party near one of the Residents houses. — They were tempted with the offer of some tubs of boiledt rice or sugar. As soon as it grew dark they lighted small fires & commenced their toilet, which consisted in painting themselves in spots & lines with a white colour. — As soon as all was ready, large fires were kept blazing, round which the women & children were collected as spectators. — The Cockatoo and King George's men formed two distinct parties & danced generally in answer to each other.

The dancing consisted in the whole set running either sideways or in Indian file into an open space & stamping the ground as they marched all together & with great force. — Their heavy footsteps were accompanied by a kind of grunt, & by beating their clubs & weapons, & various other gesticulations, such as extending their arms & wriggling their bodies. It was a most rude barbarous scene, & to our ideas without any sort of meaning; but we observed that the women & children watched the whole proceeding with the greatest pleasure. — Perhaps these dances originally represented some scenes such as wars & victories; there was one called the Emu dance in which each man extended his arm in a bent manner, so as to imitate the movement of the neck of one of those birds. In another dance, one man took off all the motions of a Kangaroo grazing in the woods, whilst a second crawled up & pretended to spear him. — When both tribes mingled in one dance, the ground trembled with the heaviness of their steps & the air resounded with their wild crys. — Every one appeared in high spirits; & the group of nearly naked figures viewed by the light of the blazing fires, all moving in hideous harmony, formed a perfect representation of a festival amongst the lowest barbarians. — In T. del Fuego we have beheld many curious scenes in savage life, but I think never one where the natives were in such high spirits & so perfectly at their ease. — After the dancing was over, the whole party formed a great circle on the ground & the boiled rice & sugar was distributed to the delight of all.

Captain Fitzroy’s Journal
We had a good opportunity of seeing several of the aborigines; for not only were there unusual numbers of neighbouring natives then about the settlement, but a strange tribe, called 'Cocotu,' had lately arrived from a distance, and as the residents wished to conciliate them, a 'corobbery' was proposed, and Mr. Darwin ensured the compliance of all the savages by providing an immense mess of boiled rice, with sugar, for their entertainment.

About two hours after dark the affair began. Nearly all the settlers, and their visitors, had assembled on a level place just outside the village, while the native men belonging to both tribes were painting, or rather daubing and spotting their soot-coloured bodies with a white pigment, as they clustered round blazing fires. When all was ready—the fires burning brightly—the gloom at a little distance intense, by contrast, and the spectators collected together—a heavy tramp shook the ground, and a hundred prancing demon-like figures emerged from the darkness, brandishing their weapons, stamping together in exact accordance, and making hoarse guttural sounds at each exertion. It was a fiendish sight, almost too disagreeable to be interesting. What pains savage man takes—in all parts of the world where he is found—to degrade his nature; that beautiful combination which is capable of so much intelligence and noble exertion when civilized and educated. While watching the vagaries of these performers, I could not but think of our imprudence in putting ourselves so completely into their power: about thirty unarmed men being intermixed with a hundred armed natives. The dancers were all men; a short kangaroo-skin cloak was thrown about their hips, and white feathers were stuck round their heads: many were not painted, but those who were had similar figures on their breasts; some a cross, others something like a heart. Many had spears, and all had the 'throwing-stick'; and a kind of hatchet, in a girdle round the waist. Much of the dancing was monotonous enough, after the first appearance, reminding me of persons working in a treadmill; but their imitation of snakes, and kangaroos, in a kind of hunting dance, was exceedingly good and interesting.

The whole exhibition lasted more than an hour, during most of which time upwards of a hundred savages were exerting themselves in jumping and stamping as if their lives depended on their energetic movements. There was a boy who appeared to be idiotic, or afflicted with a kind of fit; but the man who was holding him seemed to be quite unconcerned about his convulsive efforts, saying, "by and bye he would be a doctor" (as I was told by a resident who understood the language), which reminded me of what Falkner says of the Patagonians. After the corobbery the natives collected round the house where the feast was preparing; and it will not be easy to forget the screams of delight that burst from old and young as they looked in at the door and saw the tub in which their rice was smoking. Before the food was distributed they were told to sit down, which they immediately did, in a circle round the house. They separated, of their own accord, into families, each little party lighting a small fire before them. Their behaviour, and patience, were very remarkable and pleasing. One family had a native dog, which in size, colour, and shape, was like a fox, excepting that the nose was not quite so sharp, nor the tail so bushy.

7th March 1836

2011-03-08T12:01:00.003Z

King George's Sound

The settlement consist of from 30–40 small white washed cottages, which are scattered on the side of a bank & along a white sea beach. — There are a very few small gardens; with these exceptions all the land remains in the state of Nature & hence the town has an uncomfortable appearance. — At the distance of a mile over the hill, Sir R. Spencer has a small & nice farm, & which is the only cultivated ground in the district. The inhabitants live on salted meat & of course have no fresh meat or vegetables to sell; they do not even take the trouble to catch the fish with which the bay abounds: indeed I cannot make out what they are or intend doing. — I understand & believe it is true, that thirty miles inland there is excellent land for all purposes; this is already granted into allotments & will soon be under cultivation. The settlement of King George's Sound will ultimately be the Sea port of this inland district.

Certainly I have formed a very low opinion of the place; it must however be remembered that only from two to three years have elapsed since its effectual colonization, & for this great allowances must be made. Whether, however, it will ever be able to compete with the Colonies which possess the cheap labor of convicts, time alone will show. — They possess here some advantages, the climate is very pleasant, & more rain falls than in the Eastern colonies. I judge of this from the fact that all the broad flat bottomed valleys which are covered over with the rush-like grasses & brushwood, are in winter so swampy as scarcely to be passable.

The second grand advantage is the good disposition of the aboriginal blacks; it is not easy to imagine a more truly good natured & good humoured expression than their faces show: Moreover they are quite willing to work & to make themselves very useful; in this respect they are very different from those in the other Australian colonies. — In their habits, manners, instruments & general appearance they resemble the natives of New S. Wales. — Like them, they are very remarkable by the extreme slightness of their limbs, especially their legs; yet without, as it would appear, muscles to move their legs, they will carry a burthen for a longer time than most white men. — Their faces are very ugly, the beard is curly & not at all deficient, the skin of the whole body is very hairy & their persons most abominably filthy. Although true Savages, it is impossible not to feel an inclination to like such quiet good-natured men.

Captain Fitzroy’s Journal
Next day, however, we found that appearances were worse than the reality; for behind a hill, which separates the harbour from the sound, a thick wood was discovered, where there were many trees of considerable size; and in the midst of this wood I found Sir Richard Spencer's house, much resembling a small but comfortable farm-house in England. This sort of isolated residence has a charm for some minds; but the loss of society, the numerous privations, and the vastly retrograde step necessarily taken in civilized existence by emigrating to perfectly new countries, are I think stronger objections to the plan than usually occur to persons who have not seen its consequences in actual operation.

At this time there were about thirty houses, or cottages, in the neighbourhood of the sound and harbour; some had small gardens; but, generally speaking, there was no appearance of agriculture, excepting immediately around Sir Richard's house, where a few fields had been cleared and cultivated in the midst of the wood.

There is an extraordinary degree of local magnetic attraction about this place. We could not ascertain the amount of variation with any degree of accuracy until our compasses were placed upon a sandy beach of considerable extent, near the sea. Wherever there was stone (a kind of granite) near the instruments, they were so much affected as to vary many degrees from the truth, and quite irregularly: those on board were not influenced, at least not more than a degree. We were also perplexed by the irregular and peculiar tides; but as they are mentioned elsewhere, I will refrain from farther remark on them here.

6th March 1836

2011-03-07T07:44:00.004Z

King George's Sound (Western Australia)

In the evening came to an anchor in the mouth of the inner harbor of King Georges Sound. Our passage has been a tolerable one; & what is surprising, we had not a single encounter with a gale of wind. — Yet to me, from the long Westerly swell, the time has passed with no little misery. We staid there eight days & I do not remember since leaving England having passed a more dull, uninteresting time. The country viewed from an eminence, appears a woody plain, with here & there rounded & partly bare hills of granite. — One day I went out with a party in hopes of seeing a Kangaroo hunt, & so walked over a good many miles of country. — Every where we found the soil sandy & very poor; it either supported a coarse vegetation of thin low brushwood & wiry grass, or a forest of stunted trees. — The scenery resembled the elevated sandstone platform of the Blue Mountains: the Casuarina (a tree which somewhat resembles a Scotch fir) is however in greater proportion as the eucalyptus is rather less. In the open parts there are great numbers of the grass-tree, a plant which in appearance has some affinity with the palm, but instead of the crown of noble leaves, it can boast merely of a tuft of coarse grass. The general bright green color of the brushwood & other plants viewed from a distance seems to bespeak fertility; a single walk will however quite dispel such an illusion; & if he thinks like me, he wilI never wish to walk again in so uninviting a country.

Captain Fitzroy’s Journal
We made the land off King George Sound on the 6th of March; and a few hours afterwards moored in the principal anchorage, called Princess Royal Harbour; a wide but shallow place, with a very narrow entrance. The country round King George Sound has a dull, uniform aspect; there are no mountains or rivers; few trees are visible; white, sandy patches; scrubby bushes; bare masses of granite; and a slightly undulating outline meet and disappoint the eye of a stranger.

A few straggling houses, ill-placed in an exposed, cheerless situation, were seen by us as we entered the harbour; and had inclination been our guide, instead of duty, I certainly should have felt much disposed to 'put the helm up,' and make all sail away from such an uninviting place.

Syms Covington Journal
Anchored in King George Sound; three islands ARE in the mouth of the entrance, with a flat on each side, which makes it narrow. The settlement is small AND very scattered. This colony belongs to New South Wales; Sir Richard Spencer IS the present Governor. The country at large IS sterile and very sandy, yet a few potatoes, pumpkins, etc. grown; salt provisions are used here, except when the kangaroo and wolwar can be caught, the latter very small. Kangaroo flesh sold at eight pence per pound. Great numbers of Indians here and the most miserable and meagre set of beings I have yet seen. No tattooing among natives, but gashes with sharp stones, knives etc., which they inflict on themselves, (on their breasts), said to be done out of bravado, to see which can stand the most pain without crying out.

19th February 1836

2011-02-21T07:29:00.001Z

Syms Covington Journal

Doubled the southwest cape of Van Diemens land. Here we felt the cold.

17th February 1836

2011-02-17T07:18:00.002Z

Hobart

The Beagle stood out with a fair wind on her passage to K. George's Sound. The Gun-room officers gave a passage to England to Mr Duff of the 21st Reg.

Captain Fitzroy’s Journal
We sailed out of the picturesque Derwent, an arm of the sea extending inland many miles beyond Hobart Town, and thence worked our way southward round the Land of Van Diemen. We then steered westward, or as much so as the contrary winds would admit.

16th February 1836

2011-02-16T07:40:00.002Z

[Modern New Norfolk]

The weather has been cloudy, which has prolonged our stay beyond what was expected. I went this day in a Stage Coach to New Norfolk. This flourishing village contains 1822 inhabitants. It is distant 22 miles from Hobart town; the line of road follows the Derwent. We passed very many nice farms & much Corn land. Returned in the evening by the same Coach.

12th - 15th February 1836

2011-02-12T06:50:00.003Z

Hobart

I had been introduced [to] Mr Frankland, the Surveyor General, & during these days I was much in his Society. — He took me two very pleasant rides & I passed at his house the most agreeable evening since leaving England. There appears to be a good deal of Society here: I heard of a Fancy Ball, at which 113 were present in costumes! I suspect also the Society is much pleasanter than that of Sydney. — They enjoy an advantage in there being no wealthy Convicts. — If I was obliged to emigrate I certainly should prefer this place: the climate & aspect of the country almost alone would determine me. — The Colony moreover is well governed; in this convict population, there certainly is not more, if not less, crimes, than in England.

Syms Covington Journal
Steam ferry-boats cross the river Derwent almost every hour of the day; that is from Hobart Town to Kangaroo Point, which is nearly opposite. Sixpence the fare; we went there during our stay though the ferries, made in the colony, crossed the river frequently.

A lighthouse IS situated on a small island in the river between the entrance and the place for shipping.

Hobart town now has 15,000 free subjects. Colonel G. Arthur superseded, Colonel William Sorell as Governor in May 1824, a post which he retains at this period. Van Diemen's Land, was in the first place, a penal colony for the Sister Colony, or New South Wales, in 1803 -- or a large jail, as it was termed -- until 1817 when Colonel William Sorell was appointed governor by our home government. On his arrival the population amounted to about 2000 souls, and depended on themselves and the Mother Country alone for every article of food and clothing. Under him every thing thrived in the island. At the close of his governorship, which was about seven years, the exports were large and valuable. Under him free emigration was greatly forwarded, under which policy he found the colony quickly thrived -- as before nearly all the population were convicts.

11th February 1836

2011-02-11T08:28:00.003Z

Hobart

I ascended Mount Wellington. I made the attempt the day before, but from the thickness of the wood failed. — I took with me this time a guide, but he was a stupid fellow & led me up by the South or wet side. Here the vegetation was very luxuriant & from the number of dead trees & branches, the labor of ascent was almost as great as in T. del Fuego or Chiloe, — It cost us five & a half hours of hard climbing before we reached the summit. — In many parts the gum trees grew to a great size & the whole composed a most noble forest. — In some of the dampest ravines, tree-ferns flourished in an extraordinary manner; — I saw one which must have been about twenty five feet high to the base of the fronds, & was in girth exactly six feet: — the foliage of these trees forming so many most elegant parasols created a shade gloomy like that of the first hour of night. — The summit of the mountain is broard & flat & is composed of huge angular masses of naked greenstone; its elevation is 3100 ft above the level of the Sea. — The day was splendidly clear & we enjoyed a most extensive view. — To the Northward the country appeared a mass of wooded mountains of about the same elevation & tame outline as the one on which we stood. To the South the intricate outline of the broken land & water forming many bays was mapped with clearness before us. — After staying some hours on the summit we found a better way to descend, but did not reach the Beagle till eight oclock, after a severe day's work.

Syms Covington Journal
The land is high and mountainous, Mt. Wellington the highest near town. I went up to the summit its summit, February 11th. From the town to the top is about eight or nine miles, I should suppose, but on very intricate roads. Its top is rugged, with low bushes and fresh water in small pools. The lake that is said to be there, is merely a small pool. Snipes are to be shot on summit occasionally or in season. The land here is much higher than at Sydney.

7th - 10th February 1836

2011-02-07T08:04:00.003Z

Tasmania

During these days I took some long pleasant walks examining the geology of the country. The climate here is damper than in New S. Wales & hence the land is more fertile. Agriculture here flourishes; the cultivated fields looked very well & the gardens abounded with the most luxuriant vegetables & fruit trees. Some of the farm houses, situated in retired spots, had a very tempting appearance. The general aspect of the Vegetation is similar to that of Australia; perhaps it is a little more green & cheerful & the pasture between the trees rather more abundant. — One long walk which I took was on the opposite side of the Bay; I crossed in a Steam boat, two of which are constantly plying backwards & forwards. The machinery of one [of] these vessels was entirely manufactured in this Colony, which from its very foundation only numbers three & thirty years!

Captain Fitzroy’s Journal
During a few days' stay in Sullivan Cove, the chief anchorage, we had opportunities of going to some distance into the country, and seeing things which led me to think that there is a more solid foundation for future prosperity in Van Diemen's Land than can be found near Sydney. Natural advantages are greater; and likely to increase as the country is cleared and inhabited — because rain is now almost too plentiful, though corn ripens well and is of excellent quality. As a convict colony, it of course partakes of the evils I have mentioned; but it does so in a far less degree, partly because the convicts sent there were of a less profligate and more reclaimable class than those landed at Sydney, and partly because an excellent local government restrained the licentious, and encouraged the moral to a far greater extent than was, or perhaps could be effected among the more numerous and dispersed population of Sydney and its environs.

5th February 1836

2011-02-05T06:44:00.005Z

Van Dieman's Land (Tasmania)

After a six days passage, of which the first part was fine & the latter very cold & squally, we entered the mouth of Storm Bay: the weather justified this awful name. — This Bay should rather be called a deep Estuary, which receives at its head the waters of the Derwent. — Near its mouth there are extensive basaltic platforms, the sides of which show fine façades of columns; higher up the land becomes mountainous, & is all covered by a light wood. — The bases of these mountains, following the edges of the bay, are cleared & cultivated; the bright yellow fields of corn & dark green ones of potato crops appear very luxuriant. Late in the evening we came to an anchor in the snug cove on the shores of which stands the capital of Tasmania, as Van Diemen's land is now called. — The first aspect of the place was very inferior to that of Sydney; the latter might be called a city, this only a town.

In the morning I walked on shore. — The streets are fine & broad; but the houses rather scattered: the shops appeared good: The town stands at the base of M. Wellington, a mountain 3100 ft high, but of very little picturesque beauty: from this source however it receives a good supply of water, a thing much wanted in Sydney. — Round the cove there are some fine warehouses; & on one side a small Fort. — Coming from the Spanish Settlements, where such magnificent care has generally been paid to the fortifications, the means of defence in these colonies appeared very contemptible. Comparing this town to Sydney, I was chiefly struck with the comparative fewness of the large houses, either built or building. I should think this must indicate that fewer people are gaining large fortunes. The growth however of small houses has been most abundant; & the vast number of little red brick dwellings, scattered on the hill behind the town, sadly destroys its picturesque appearance. — In London I saw a Panorama of a Hobart town; the scenery was very magnificent, but unfortunately there is no resemblance to it in nature. The inhabitants for this year are 13,826; in the whole of Tasmania 36,505. The 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.

Captain Fitzroy’s Journal
The Beagle anchored off Hobart Town (or Hobarton) on the 5th of February. The change of scene was as striking as a view of Gibraltar or Madeira after leaving the Downs. Comparatively speaking, near Sydney all was light-coloured and level; while in Van Diemen's Land we almost thought ourselves in another Tierra del Fuego. But this was only a first impression, on a blustering wet day. Fields of ripe corn, dotted, as it were, about the hilly woodlands, told us that the climate must generally be favourable; and the number of red brick cottages, thickly scattered about, though apparently at random, proved an extent of population incompatible with an unproductive place.

Syms Covington Journal
After a moderate passage anchored in the harbour of Hobart Town, February 5th.

The town is situated up the River Derwent on the slope of hill, and very much scattered about suburbs, and well cultivated. Here for the first time in four years I've had the pleasure of seeing the wheat in sheaves, etc. Here, as at Sydney, are great numbers of convicts, but this place, I think, is far preferable in every respect to Sydney. The harbour is fine, when at anchor ships being landlocked. A lighthouse is on a small island to the starboard hand going in. Here, as at Sydney, are hot winds.