 Chapter 18. Part 3. The Voyage of the Beagle. December 23. At a place called Waimate, about fifteen miles from the bay of islands and midway between the eastern and western coasts, the missionaries have purchased some land for agricultural purposes. I had been introduced to the Reverend W. Williams, who, upon my expressing a wish, invited me to pay him a visit there. Mr. Bushby, the British resident, offered to take me in his boat by a creek, where I should see a pretty waterfall, and by which means my walk would be shortened. He likewise procured for me a guide. Upon asking a neighbouring chief to recommend a man, the chief himself offered to go, but his ignorance of the value of money was so complete that at first he asked how many pounds I would give him, but afterwards was well contented with two dollars. When I showed the chief a very small bundle, which I wanted to carry, it became absolutely necessary for him to take a slave. These feelings of pride are beginning to wear away, but formerly a leading man would sooner have died than undergone the indignity of carrying the smallest burden. My companion was a light, active man, dressed in a dirty blanket, and with his face completely tattooed. He had formerly been a great warrior. He appeared to be on very cordial terms with Mr. Bushby, but at various times they had quarreled violently. Mr. Bushby remarked that a little quiet irony would frequently silence any one of these natives in their most blustering moments. This chief has come and harangued Mr. Bushby in a hectoring manner, saying, Great chief, a great man, a friend of mine, has come to pay me a visit. You must give him something good to eat, some fine presents, etc. Mr. Bushby has allowed him to finish his discourse and then has quietly replied by some answer such as, What else shall your slave do for you? The man would then instantly, with a very comical expression, cease his braggadocio. Some time ago Mr. Bushby suffered a far more serious attack. A chief and a party of men tried to break into his house in the middle of the night and, not finding this so easy, commenced a brisk firing with their muskets. Mr. Bushby was slightly wounded, but the party was at length driven away. Shortly afterwards it was discovered who was the aggressor and a general meeting of the chiefs was convened to consider the case. It was considered by the New Zealanders as very atrocious in as much as it was a night attack and that Mrs. Bushby was lying ill in the house. This latter circumstance, much to their honour, being considered in all cases as a protection. The chiefs agreed to confiscate the land of the aggressor to the King of England. The whole proceeding, however, in thus trying and punishing a chief was entirely without precedent. The aggressor moreover lost caste in the estimation of his equals and this was considered by the British as of more consequence than the confiscation of his land. As the boat was shoving off a second chief stepped into her who only wanted the amusement of the passage up and down the creek. I never saw a more horrid and ferocious expression than this man had. It immediately struck me I had somewhere seen his likeness. It will be found in Wretches' outlines to Schiller's Ballad of Fridolin where two men are pushing Robert into the burning iron furnace. It is the man who has his arm on Robert's breast. Physiognomy here spoke the truth. This chief had been a notorious murderer and was an errant coward to boot. At the point where the boat landed Mr. Bushby accompanied me a few hundred yards on the road. I could not help admiring the cool impudence of the horrid old villain whom we left lying in the boat. When he shouted to Mr. Bushby, Do not you stay long I shall be tired of waiting here. We now commenced our walk. The road lay along a well-beaten path bordered on each side by the tall fern which covers the whole country. After travelling some miles we came to a little country village where a few hovels were collected together and some patches of ground cultivated with potatoes. The introduction of the potato has been the most essential benefit to the islands. It is now much more used than any native vegetable. New Zealand is favoured by one great natural advantage namely that the inhabitants can never perish from famine. The whole country abounds with fern and the roots of this plant if not very palatable yet contain much nutriment. A native can always subsist on these and on the shellfish which are abundant in all parts of the sea coast. The villages are chiefly conspicuous by the platforms which are raised on four posts ten or twelve feet above the ground and on which the produce of the fields is kept secure from all accidents. On coming near one of the huts I was much amused by seeing in due form the ceremony of rubbing or as it ought to be called pressing noses. The women on our first approach began uttering something in a most dolerous voice. They then squatted themselves down and held up their faces. My companion standing over them one after another placed the bridge of his nose at right angles to theirs and commenced pressing. This lasted rather longer than a cordial shake of the hand with us and as we vary the force of the grasp of the hand in shaking so do they in pressing. During the process they uttered comfortable little grunts very much in the same manner as two pigs do when rubbing against each other. I noticed that the slave would press noses with anyone he met, indifferently either before or after his master, the chief. Although among the savages the chief has absolute power of life and death over his slave yet there is an entire absence of ceremony between them. Mr. Birchell has remarked the same thing in southern Africa with the rude butchapins. Where civilization has arrived at a certain point complex formalities soon arise between the different grades of society. Thus at Tahiti all were formerly obliged to uncover themselves as low as the waist in the presence of the king. The ceremony of pressing noses having been duly completed with all present we seated ourselves in a circle in the front of one of the hovels and rested there half an hour. All the hovels have nearly the same form and dimensions and all agree in being filthily dirty. They resemble a cow shed with one end open but having a partition a little way within with a square hole in it making a small gloomy chamber. In this the inhabitants keep all their property and when the weather is cold they sleep there. They eat however and pass their time in the open part in front. My guides having finished their pipes we continued our walk. The path led through the same undulating country the whole uniformly clothed as before with fern. On our right hand we had a serpentine river the banks of which were fringed with trees and here and there on the hillsides there was a clump of wood. The whole scene in spite of its green color had rather a desolate aspect. The sight of so much fern impresses the mind with an idea of sterility. This however is not correct for wherever the fern grows thick and breast high the land by tillage becomes productive. Some of the residents think that all this extensive open country originally was covered with forests and that it has been cleared by fire. It is said that by digging in the barest spots lumps of the kind of resin that flows from the cowry pine are frequently found. The natives had an evident motive in clearing the country for the fern formerly a staple article of food flourishes only in the open cleared tracks. The almost entire absence of associated grasses which forms so remarkable a feature in the vegetation of this island may perhaps be accounted for by the land having been aboriginally covered with forest trees. The soil is volcanic. In several parts we passed over shaggy lavas and craters could clearly be distinguished on several of the neighboring hills. Although the scenery is nowhere beautiful and only occasionally pretty I enjoyed my walk. I should have enjoyed it more if my companion the chief had not possessed extraordinary conversational powers. I knew only three words good bad and yes and with these I answered all his remarks without of course having understood one word he said. This however was quite sufficient. I was a good listener and agreeable person and he never ceased talking to me. At length we reached Waimate. After having passed over so many miles of an uninhabited useless country the sudden appearance of an English farmhouse and its well-dressed fields placed there as if by an enchanter's wand was exceedingly pleasant. Mr. Williams not being at home I received in Mr. Davies house a cordial welcome. After drinking tea with his family party we took a stroll about the farm. At Waimate there are three large houses where the missionary gentlemen Messers Williams Davies and Clark reside and near them are the huts of the native laborers. On an adjoining slope fine crops of barley and wheat were standing in full ear and in another part fields of potatoes and clover. But I cannot attempt to describe all I saw. There were large gardens with every fruit and vegetable which England produces and many belonging to a warmer climb. I may instance asparagus, kidney beans, cucumbers, rhubarb, apples, pears, figs, peaches, apricots, grapes, olives, gooseberries, currents, hops, gorse for fences, and English oaks. Also many kinds of flowers. Around the farm yard there were stables, a thrashing barn with its winnowing machine, a blacksmith's forge, and on the ground plowshares and other tools. In the middle was that happy mixture of pigs and poultry lying comfortably together as in every English farm yard. At the distance of a few hundred yards where the water of a little real had been dammed up into a pool there was a large and substantial water mill. All this is very surprising when it is considered that five years ago nothing but the fern flourished here. Moreover native workmanship taught by the missionaries has affected this change. The lesson of the missionary is the enchanter's wand. The house had been built, the windows framed, the fields plowed, and even the trees grafted by a New Zealander. At the mill a New Zealander was seen powdered white with flour like his brother miller in England. When I looked at this whole scene I thought it admirable. It was not merely that England was brought vividly before my mind, yet as the evening drew to a close the domestic sounds, the fields of corn, the distant undulating country with its trees might well have been mistaken for our fatherland. Nor was it the triumphant feeling at seeing what Englishmen could effect, but rather the high hopes thus inspired for the future progress of this fine island. Several young men redeemed by the missionaries from slavery were employed on the farm. They were dressed in a shirt, jacket, and trousers, and had a respectable appearance. Judging from one trifling anecdote I should think they must be honest. When walking in the fields a young labourer came up to Mr Davies and gave him a knife and gimlet, saying that he had found them on the road and did not know to whom they belonged. These young men and boys appeared very merry and good-humoured. In the evening I saw a party of them at Cricket. When I thought of the austerity of which the missionaries have been accused, I was amused by observing one of their own sons taking an active part in the game. A more decided and pleasing change was manifested in the young women, who acted as servants within the houses. Their clean, tidy and healthy appearance, like that of the dairymaids in England, formed a wonderful contrast with the women of the filthy hovels in Coeratica. The wives of the missionaries tried to persuade them not to be tattooed, but a famous operator having arrived from the south they said, we really must just have a few lines on our lips. Else when we grow old our lips will shrivel and we shall be so very ugly. There is not nearly so much tattooing as formerly, but as it is a badge of distinction between the chief and the slave it will probably long be practised. So soon does any train of ideas become habitual that the missionaries told me that even in their eyes a plain face looked mean and not like that of a New Zealand gentleman. Late in the evening I went to Mr. Williams' house where I passed the night. I found there a large party of children collected together for Christmas Day and all sitting round a table at tea. I never saw a nicer or more merry group, and to think that this was the centre of the land of cannibalism, murder and all atrocious crimes. The cordiality and happiness so plainly pictured in the faces of the little circle appeared equally felt by the older persons of the mission. December 24. In the morning prayers were read in the native tongue to the whole family. After breakfast I rambled about the gardens and farm. This was a market day when the natives of the surrounding hamlets bring their potatoes, Indian corn or pigs to exchange for blankets, tobacco and sometimes through the persuasions of the missionaries for soap. Mr. Davies' eldest son, who manages a farm of his own, is the man of business in the market. The children of the missionaries, who came while young to the island, understand the language better than their parents and can get anything more readily done by the natives. A little before noon Messrs. Williams and Davies walked with me to a part of the neighbouring forest to show me the famous Cowry Pine. I measured one of the noble trees and found it thirty-one feet in circumference above the roots. There was another close by which I did not see, thirty-three feet, and I heard of one no less than forty feet. These trees are remarkable for their smooth cylindrical bowls which run up to a height of sixty and even ninety feet with a nearly equal diameter and without a single branch. The crown of branches at the summit is out of all proportion small to the trunk, and the leaves are likewise small compared with the branches. The forest was here almost composed of the Cowry and the largest trees from the parallelism of their sides stood up like giant columns of wood. The timber of the Cowry is the most valuable production of the island. Moreover, a quantity of resin oozes from the bark which is sold at a penny a pound to the Americans, but its use was then unknown. Some of the New Zealand forests must be impenetrable to an extraordinary degree. Mr. Matthews informed me that one forest only thirty-four miles in width and separating two inhabited districts had only lately for the first time been crossed. He and another missionary each with a party of about fifty men undertook to open a road, but it cost more than a fortnight's labour. In the woods I saw very few birds. With regard to animals it is a most remarkable fact that so large an island extending over more than seven hundred miles in latitude and in many parts ninety broad, with varied stations, a fine climate and land of all heights from fourteen thousand feet downwards, with the exception of a small rat did not possess one indigenous animal. The several species of that gigantic genus of birds, the dinornus, seem here to have replaced mammiferous quadrupeds in the same manner as the reptiles still do at the Galapagos Archipelago. It is said that the common Norway rat, in the short space of two years annihilated in this northern end of the island, the New Zealand species. In many places I noticed several sorts of weeds which, like the rats, I was forced to own as countrymen. A leak has overrun whole districts and will prove very troublesome, but it was imported as a favour by a French vessel. The common dock is also widely disseminated and will I fear forever remain a proof of the rascality of an Englishman who sold the seeds for those of the tobacco plant. On returning from our pleasant walk to the house I dined with Mr. Williams and then, a horse being lent me, I returned to the Bay of Islands. I took leave of the missionaries with thankfulness for their kind welcome and with feelings of high respect for their gentlemen-like, useful and upright characters. I think it would be difficult to find a body of men better adapted for the high office which they fulfill. Christmas Day In a few more days the fourth year of our absence from England will be completed. Our first Christmas Day was spent at Plymouth, the second at St. Martin's Cove near Cape Horn, the third at Port Desire in Patagonia, the fourth at Anchor in a wild harbour in the peninsula of Trémont, this fifth here and the next I trust in Providence will be in England. We attended divine service in the Chapel of Pahia, part of the service being read in English and part in the native language. While St. New Zealand we did not hear of any recent acts of cannibalism, but Mr. Stokes found burnt human bones strewn round a fireplace on a small island near the anchorage. But these remains of a comfortable banquet might have been lying there for several years. It is probable that the moral state of the people will rapidly improve. Mr. Bushby mentioned one pleasing anecdote as a proof of the sincerity of some, at least of those who profess Christianity. One of his young men left him, who had been accustomed to read prayers to the rest of the servants. Some weeks afterwards, happening to pass late in the evening by an outhouse, he saw and heard one of his men reading the Bible with difficulty by the light of the fire to the others. After this the party knelt and prayed. In their prayers they mentioned Mr. Bushby and his family and the missionaries, each separately in his respective district. December 26. Mr. Bushby offered to take Mr. Sullivan and myself in his boat some miles up the river to Kawa Kawa and proposed afterwards to walk on to the village of Waomio where there are some curious rocks. Following one of the arms of the bay we enjoyed a pleasant row and passed through pretty scenery until we came to a village beyond which the boat could not pass. From this place a chief and a party of men volunteered to walk with us to Waomio a distance of four miles. The chief was at this time rather notorious from having lately hung one of his wives and a slave for adultery. When one of the missionaries remonstrated with him he seemed surprised and said he thought he was exactly following the English method. Old Shangi, who happened to be in England during the Queen's trial, expressed great disapprobation at the whole proceeding. He said he had five wives and he would rather cut off all their heads than be so much troubled about one. Leaving this village we crossed over to another, seated on a hillside at a little distance. The daughter of a chief who was still a heathen had died there five days before. The hovel in which she had expired had been burnt to the ground. Her body being enclosed between two small canoes was placed upright on the ground and protected by an enclosure bearing wooden images of their gods and the hole was painted bright red so as to be conspicuous from afar. Her gown was fastened to the coffin and her hair being cut off was cast at its foot. The relatives of the family had torn the flesh of their arms, bodies and faces so that they were covered with clotted blood and the old women looked most filthy disgusting objects. On the following day some of the officers visited this place and found the women still howling and cutting themselves. We continued our walk and soon reached Waomio. Here there are some singular masses of limestone resembling ruined castles. These rocks have long served for burial places and in consequence are held too sacred to be approached. One of the young men however cried out, Let us all be brave! and he ran on ahead. But when within a hundred yards the whole party thought better of it and stopped short. With perfect indifference however they allowed us to examine the whole place. At this village we rested some hours during which time there was a long discussion with Mr. Bushby concerning the right of sale of certain lands. One old man who appeared a perfect genealogist illustrated the successive possessors by bits of stick driven into the ground. Before leaving the houses a little basket full of roasted sweet potatoes was given to each of our party and we all according to the custom carried them away to eat on the road. I noticed that among the women employed in cooking there was a manslave. It must have been a humiliating thing for a man in this war-like country to be employed in doing that which is considered the lowest women's work. Slaves are not allowed to go to war but this perhaps can hardly be considered as a hardship. I heard of one poor wretch who during hostilities ran away to the opposite party. Being met by two men he was immediately seized. But as they could not agree to whom he should belong each stood over him with a stone hatchet and seemed determined that the other at least should not take him away alive. The poor man almost dead with fright was only saved by the address of a chief's wife. We afterwards enjoyed a pleasant walk back to the boat but did not reach the ship till late in the evening. December 30. In the afternoon we stood out of the Bay of Islands on our course to Sydney. I believe we were all glad to leave New Zealand. It is not a pleasant place. Amongst the natives there is absent that charming simplicity which is found in Tahiti and the greater part of the English are the very refuse of society. Neither is the country itself attractive. I look back but to one bright spot and that is Waimate with its Christian inhabitants. End of Chapter 18 Part 3 Reporting by Carol Goode www.soundsgood.com Chapter 29 Part 1 Of The Voyages of the Beagle This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org. This reading by Lucy Burgoyne. The Voyages of the Beagle by Charles Darwin Chapter 29 Part 1 Australia January 12, 1836 Early in the morning a light air carried us towards the entrance of Port Jackson instead of beholding a verdant country interspersed with fine houses a straight line of yellowish cliff brought to our minds the coast of Patagonia. A solitary lighthouse built of white stone alone told us that we were near a great and popular city. Having entered the harbour it appears fine and spacious with cliff-formed shores of horizontally stratified sandstone. The nearly level country is covered with thin scrubby trees, bespeaking the curse of sterility. Proceeding further inland the country improves. Beautiful villas and nice cottages are here and there scattered along the beach. In the distance stone houses two and three stories high and windmills standing on the edge of the bank pointed out to us the neighbourhood of the capital of Australia. At last we anchored within Sydney Co. We found the little basin occupied by many large ships and surrounded by warehouses. In the evening I walked through the town and returned full of admiration at the whole scene. It is the most magnificent testimony to the power of the British notion. Here in a less promising country scores of years have done many more times more than an equal number of centuries having affected in South America. My first feeling was to congratulate myself that I was born an Englishman. Upon seeing more of the town afterwards perhaps my admiration fell a little but yet it is a fine town. The streets are regular, broad, clean and kept in excellent order. The houses are of a good size and the shops well furnished. It may be faithfully compared to the large suburbs which stretch out from London and a few other great towns in England but not even near London or Birmingham is there an appearance of such rapid growth. The number of large houses and other buildings just finished was truly surprising. Nevertheless everyone complained of the high rents and difficulty in procuring a house. Coming from South America where in the towns every man of property is known no one thing surprised me more than not being able to ascertain at once to whom this or that courage belonged. I hired a man and two horses to take me to Bathurst a village about 120 miles in the interior and the centre of the great pastoral district. By this means I hope to gain a general idea of the appearance of the country. On the morning of the 16th January I set out on my excursion. The first stage took us to Parramatta a small country town next to Sydney in importance. The roads were excellent and made upon the Macadam principle wine stone having been brought for the purpose from the distance of several miles. In all respects there was a close resemblance to England perhaps the ale houses here were more numerous. The iron gangs or parties of convicts who have committed here some events appeared the least like England. They were working in chains under the charge of sentries with loaded arms. The power which the government possesses by means of forced labour of at once opening good roads throughout the country has been I believe one main cause at the early prosperity of this colony. I slept at night at a very comfortable inn at Emu Ferry 35 miles from Sydney and near the ascent of the Blue Mountains. This line of road is the most frequented and has been the longest inhabited of any in the colony. The whole land is enclosed with high railings for the farmers have not succeeded in rearing hedges. There are many substantial houses and good cottages scattered about but although considerable pieces of land are under cultivation the greater part yet remains as when first discovered. The extreme uniformity of the vegetation is the most remarkable feature in the landscape of the greater part of New South Wales. Everywhere we have an open woodland the ground being partially covered with a very thin pasture with little appearance of Urdu. The trees nearly all belong to one family and mostly have their leaves placed in a vertical direction instead of as in Europe in a nearly horizontal position. The foliage is scanty and a peculiar pale green tint without any gloss. Hence the woods appear light and shadowless. This although a loss of comfort to the traveller under the scorching rays of summer is of importance to the farmer and it allows grass to grow and the eyes would not. The leaves are not shed periodically this character appears common to the entire southern hemisphere namely South America, Australia and the Cape of Good Hope. The inhabitants of this hemisphere and of the intertropical regions thus lose perhaps one of the most glorious though to our eyes common spectacles in the world. The first bursting into full foliage at the leafless tree. They may however say that we pay dearly for this by having the land covered with mere naked skeletons for so many months. This is too true that our senses thus acquire a keen relish for the exquisite green of the spring which the eyes of those living within the tropics sat her during the long year with the gorgeous productions of those glowing climates can never experience. The greater number of the trees with the exception of some of the blue gums do not attain a large size but they grow tall and tolerably straight and stand well apart. The bark of some of the eucalypti falls annually or hangs dead in long shreds which swing about with the wind and give to the woods a desolate and untidy appearance. I cannot imagine a more complete contrast in every respect than between the forests of Belvedivia or Chilo and the woods of Australia. At sunset a party of a score of the black aborigines pass by each carrying in their accustomed manner a bundle of spears and other weapons. By giving a leading young man a shilling they were easily detained and through their spears for my amusement they were all partly clothed and several could speak a little English. Their countenances were good, humid and pleasant and they appeared far from being such utterly degraded beings as they have usually been represented. In their own arts they are admirable. A cat being fixed at 30 yards distance they transfixed it with a spear delivered by the throwing stick with the rapidity of an arrow from the bow of a practised archer. In tracking animals or men they show most wonderful sagacity and I heard of several of their remarks which manifested considerable acuteness. They will not however cultivate the ground or build houses and remain stationary or even take the trouble attending a flock of sheep when given to them. On the whole they appeared to me to stand some few degrees higher in the scale of civilisation than the Fugians. It is very curious thus to see in the midst of a civilised people a set of harmless savages wandering about without knowing where they shall sleep at night and gaining their livelihood by hunting in the woods. As the white man has travelled onwards he has spread over the country belonging to several tribes. These although thus enclosed by one common people keep up their ancient distinctions and sometimes go to war with each other. In an engagement which took place lately the two parties most singularly chose the centre of the village of Bathurst for the field of battle. This was of service to the defeated side for the runaway warriors took refuge in the barracks. The number of aborigines is rapidly decreasing. In my whole ride with the exception of some boys brought up by Englishmen I saw only one other party. This decrease no doubt must be partly owing to the introduction of spirits to European diseases even the milder ones of which such as the measles prove very destructive and to the gradual extinction of the wild animals. It is said that numbers of their children invariably perish in very early infancy from the effects of their wandering life and as the difficulty of procuring food increases so must their wandering habits increase and hence the population without any apparent deaths from famine is repressed in a manner extremely sudden compared to what happens in civilised countries and the father though in adding to his labour he may injure himself does not destroy his offspring. Footnote it is remarkable how the same disease is modified in different climates at the little island of St Helena the introduction of scarlet fever is dreaded as a plague in some countries foreigners and natives are most differently affected by certain contagious disorders as if they had been different animals of which fact some instances have occurred in Chile and according to Hamburg in Mexico polite SA New Spain volume 4 end of footnote besides the several evident causes of destruction we may see some more mysterious agency generally at work wherever the European has trod death seems to pursue the Aboriginal we may look to the wide extent of the Americas Polynesia the Cape of Good Hope and Australia and we find the same result nor is it the white man alone that thus acts the Polynesian of Malay extraction has in parts of the East Indian Archipelago those driven before him the dark coloured native the varieties of man seem to act on each other in the same way as different species of animals the stronger always the weaker it was melancholy at New Zealand to hear the fine energetic natives saying that they knew the land was doomed to pass from their children everyone has heard of the inexplicable reduction of the population in the beautiful and healthy island of Tahiti since the date of Captain Cook's voyages although in that case we might have expected that it would have been increased for infant aside which formally prevail to so extraordinary a degree has ceased probability has greatly diminished and the murderous wars become less frequent the reverent Jay Williams in his interesting work says that the first intercourse between natives and Europeans is invariably attended with the introduction of fever dysentery or some other disease that carries off numbers of the people again he affirms it is certainly a fact which cannot be contributed that most of the diseases which have raged in the islands during the residence there have been introduced by ships and what renders this fact remarkable is that there might be no appearance of disease among the crew of the ship which conveyed in portation this statement is not quite so extraordinary as it at first appears for several cases are on record of the most malignant fevers having broken out although the parties themselves who were the cause were not affected in the early part of the reign of George III a prisoner who had been confined in a dungeon and was taken in a coat with four constables before a magistrate and although the man himself was not ill the four constables died from a short cutered fever but the contagion extended to no others from these facts it would almost appear as if the effluvium of one set of men shut up for some time together was poisonous when inhaled and possibly more so if the men be of different races mysterious as this circumstance appears to be it is not more surprising than that the body of one's fellow creature directly after death and before putrification has commenced should often be of so delectrous a quality that the mere puncture from an instrument used in its dissection should prove fatal Footnote Narrative Admissionary Enterprise Page 282 End of Footnote Footnote Captain Beachy Chapter 4, Volume 1 states that the inhabitants of Pitcairn Island are firmly convinced that after the arrival of every ship they suffer cuteness and other disorders Captain Beachy attributes this to the change of diet during the time of the visit Dr. McCulloch Western Isles Volume 2, Page 32 says it is asserted that on the arrival of a stranger at St. Kilda all the inhabitants in the common prosology of the whole Dr. McCulloch considers the whole case although often previously affirmed as ludicrous he adds however that the question was put by us to the inhabitants who unanimously agreed in the story in Vancouver's voyage there is a somewhat similar statement with respect to utter hate Dr. Divenbuck Henry's translation of the journal states that the same fact is universally believed by the inhabitants of the Chatham Islands and in parts of New Zealand it is impossible that such a belief should have become universal in the Northern Hemisphere at the Antipodes and in the Pacific without some good foundation Humboldt on King of New Spain Volume 4 says that the great epidemics of Padamá and Callao are marked by the arrival of ships from Chile because the people from that temperate region first experience the fatal effects of the torrid zones I may add that I have heard it stated in Shropshire that ships which have been imported to the islands although themselves in a healthy condition it placed in the same fold with others frequently produce sickness in the flock End of footnote 17th early in the morning we passed the Nipien in a ferry boat the river although at this spot both broad and deep crossed a low piece of land on the opposite side we reached the slope of the Blue Mountains the ascent is not steep the road having been cut with much care on the side of a sandstone cliff on the summit an almost level plain extends which rising imperceptibly to the westward at last detains a height of more than 3000 feet from so grand a title as Blue Mountains and from their absolute altitude I expected to have seen a bold chain of mountains crossing the country but instead of this a sloping plain presents merely an inconsiderable front to the low land near the coast from this first slope the view of the extensive woodland to the east was striking the surrounding trees grew bold and lofty but when once on the sandstone platform the scenery becomes exceedingly monotonous each side of the road is bordered by scrubby trees at the never failing Eucalyptus family and with the exception of two or three small ends there are no houses or cultivated land the road moreover is solitary a frequent object being a bullock wagon piled up with bales of wool in the middle of the day we baited our horses at a little inn called the weather board the country here is elevated 2800 feet above the sea about a mile and a half from this place there is a view exceedingly well worth visiting following down a little valley and its tiny real of water an immense gulf unexpectedly opens through the trees which border the pathway at the depth of perhaps 1500 feet walking on a few yards one stands on the brink of a vast precipice and below one sees a grand bay or gulf for I know not what other name to give it thickly covered with forest the point of view is situated at the head of the bay the line of cliff diverging on each side and showing headland behind headland as on a bold sea coast these cliffs are composed of horizontal strata a whitish sandstone and are absolutely vertical and in many places a person standing on the edge and throwing down a stone can see its drive the trees in the abyss below so unbroken is the line of cliff that in order to reach the foot of the waterfall formed by this little stream it is said to be necessary to go 16 miles round about 5 miles distant in front another line of cliff extends which thus appears completely to encircle the valley and hence the name a bay is justified as applied to this grand amphitheatrical depression if we imagine a winding harbour with its deep water surrounded by bold cliff life shores to be laid dry and the forest to spring up on its sandy bottom we should then have the appearance and structure here exhibited this kind of view was to me quite novel and extremely magnificent in the evening we reached the black heath the sandstone plateau has here attained the height of 3400 feet and is covered as before with the same scrubby woods from the road there were occasional glimpses into a profound valley of the same character as one described in the darkness and depth of its sides the bottom was scarcely even to be seen the black heath is a very comfortable inn kept by an old soldier and it reminded me of the small inns in north wales 18th very early in the morning I walked about 3 miles to seek of its sleep a view of a similar character to the board that perhaps even more stupendous so early in the day the gulf was filled with a thin blue haze which although destroying the general effect of the view added to the apparent depth at which the forest was stretched out beneath our feet these valleys which so long presented an insurmple barrier to the attempts of the most enterprising colonists to reach the interior are most remarkable great arm like face expanding at their upper ends often branched from the main valleys and penetrate the sandstone platform on the other hand the platform often sends promontories into the valleys and even leaves in them great almost insulated messes to descend into some of these valleys it is necessary to go around 20 miles and into others the surveyors have only lately penetrated and the colonists have not yet been able to drive in their cattle but the most remarkable feature in their structure is that although several miles wide at their heads they generally contract towards their mouths to such a degree to become impassable the Surveyor General Sue T. Mitchell endeavored in vain first walking and then by crawling between the great fallen fragments of sandstone to ascend through the gorge by which the river-gross joins the Nepean yet the valley of the gross in its upper part as I saw forms a magnificent level basin and is on all sides surrounded by cliffs the summits of which are believed to be nowhere less than 3000 feet above the level of the sea when cattle are driven into the valley of the Walgen by a path which I descended partly natural and partly made by the owner of the land they cannot escape but this valley is in every other part surrounded by perpendicular cliffs and 8 miles lower down it contracts from an average width of half a mile to a mere chasm impassable to man or beast Sir T. Mitchell states that the great valley of the Cox River with all its branches contracts where it unites with the Nepean into a gorge and 200 yards in width and about 1000 feet in depth other similar cases might have been added footnote travels in Australia volume 1 page 154 I must express my obligation to Sir T. Mitchell for several interesting personal communications on the subject the first impression on seeing the correspondence of the horizontal strata on each side of these valleys and great amperteatrical depressions is that they have been hollowed out like other valleys by the action of water that when one reflects on the enormous amount of stone which on this view must have been removed through mere gorges or chasms one is led to ask whether these faces may not have subsided but considering the form of the irregularly branching valleys and of the narrow primontaries projecting into them from the platforms we are compelled to abandon this notion to attribute these hollows to the present alluvial action would be preposterous and all does the drainage from the summit level always fall as I remarked near the weather board into the head of these valleys but into one side of their bay like recesses some of the inhabitants remarked to me that they never viewed one of those bay like recesses with the headlands receding on both hands without being struck with their resemblance to a bold sea coast this is certainly the case moreover on the present coast of New South Wales the numerous fine widely branching harbours which are generally connected with the sea by a narrow mouth worn through the sandstone coast cliffs bearing from one mile in width to a quarter of a mile present alightness though on a miniature scale to the great valleys of the interior but then immediately occurs the startling difficulty why has the sea worn out this great though circumscribed depressions on a wide platform and left mere gorges at openings through which the whole vast amount a triturated matter must have been carried away the only light I can throw upon this enigma is by remarking that banks are the most irregular forms appear to be now forming in some seas as in parts of the west indies and in the red sea and that their sides are exceedingly steep such banks I have been led to suppose have been formed by sediment heat by strong currents on an irregular bottom that in some cases the sea instead of spreading out sediment in a uniform sheet heaps it round submarine rocks and islands it is hardly possible to doubt after examining the charts of the west indies and that the waves have powered to form high and precipitous cliffs even in landlocked harbours I have noticed in many parts of South America to apply these ideas to the sandstone platforms I imagine that the strata were heaped by the action of strong currents and of the undulations of an open sea on an irregular bottom and that the valley like spaces thus left unfilled had their steeply sloping flanks worn into cliffs during a slow elevation of the land the worn down sandstone being removed either at the time when the narrow gorges were cut by the retreating sea or subsequently by LU vile action soon after leading the blackheath we descended from the sandstone platform by the pass of mount victoria to affect this pass an enormous quantity of stone has been cut through the design and its manner of execution being worthy of any line of road in England we now entered upon a country less elevated by nearly a thousand feet and consisting of granite with the change of rock the vegetation improved the trees were both finer and stood farther apart and the pasture between them was a little greener and more plentiful at hasons falls I left the high road and made a short detour to the superintendent of which I had a letter of introduction from the owner in Sydney Mr Brown had the kindness to ask me to stay the ensuing day which I had much pleasure in doing this place offers an example of one of the large farming or rather sheep grazing establishments at the colony cattle and horses are however in this case more numerous than usual owing to some of the valleys being swampy and producing across the pasture two or three flat pieces of ground near the house were cleared and cultivated with corn which the harvest men were now reaping but no more wheat is sown than sufficient for the annual support of the labourers employed on the establishment the usual number of assigned convicts servants here is about 40 but at the present time there were rather more although the farm was well stock with every necessary there was an apparent absence of comfort and not one single woman resided here the sunset of the fine day will generally cast an air of happy contentment on any scene but here at this retired farmhouse the brightest tints on the surrounding woods could not make me forget that 40 hardened prophlegate men were ceasing from their daily labours loved the slaves from Africa yet without their holy claim for compassion early on the next morning Mr. Archer the joint superintendent had the kindness to take me out kangaroo hunting we continued riding along the path of the day that had very bad sport not seeing a kangaroo or even a wild dog the greyhounds pursued a kangaroo rat into a hollow tree out of which we graved it it is an animal as large as a rabbit but with the figure of a kangaroo a few years since this country abounded with wild animals that now the emu have reached to a long distance and the kangaroo has become scarce to both the English greyhound has been highly destructive it may be long before these animals are all together exterminated but their doom is fixed the aborigines are always anxious to borrow the dogs from the farmhouses the use of them the awful when an animal is killed and some milk cows are the peace offerings of the settlers who push father and father towards the interior the thoughtless aboriginal blinded by these trifling advantages is delighted at the approach of the white man who seems predestined to inherit the country of his children although having poor sport we enjoyed a pleasant ride the woodland is generally so open that a person on horseback can gallop through it it is traversed by a few flat bottomed valleys which are green and free from trees in such spots the scenery was pretty like that of a park in the whole country I scarcely saw a place without the marks of a fire whether these had been more or less recent whether the stumps were more or less black was the greatest change which varied the uniformity so worrisome to the traveller's eye in these woods there are not many birds I saw however some large flocks of the white cockatoo feeding in a cornfield and a few most beautiful parrots crows like adjectors were not uncommon and another bird something like the magpie in the dusk of the evening I took a stroll along a chain of ponds which in this dry country represented the course of a river and had the good fortune to see several of the famous ornithorhynchus paradoxus they were diving and playing about the surface of the water that showed so little of their bodies that they might easily have been mistaken for water rats Mr Brown shot one certainly it is a most extraordinary animal a stuffed specimen does not at all live a good idea of the appearance of the head and beak when fresh the latter becoming hard and contracted footnote I was interested by finding here the hollow conical pit form of the lion ant or some other insect first a fly fell down the treacherous slope and immediately disappeared then came a large but unwary ant it struggles to escape being very violent those curious little jets of sand described by Kirby and Spence Entomol volume 1 page 425 is being flirted by the insects tail were promptly directed against the expected victim but the ant enjoyed a better fate than the fly and escaped the fatal jaws which they concealed at the base of the conical hollow this Australian pitfall was only about half the size of that made by the European lion ant end of footnote end of chapter 29 part 1 chapter 29 part 2 of The Voyages of the Beagle this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information all to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org this reading by Lucy Burgoyne The Voyages of the Beagle by Charles Darwin chapter 29 part 2 20th a long day's ride to Bathurst before joining the high road we followed a mere path through the forest and the country with the exception of a few squatter's hearts was very solitary we experienced this day the Sirocco like wind of Australia which comes from the patched deserts of the interior clouds of dust were travelling in every direction and the wind felt as if it had passed over a fire I afterwards heard that the thermometer had stood at 119 degrees and in a closed room at 96 degrees in the afternoon we came in view of the Downs of Bathurst these undulating but nearly smooth plains are very remarkable in this country and being absolutely destitute of trees they support only a thin brown pasture we rode some miles over this country and then reached the township of Bathurst suited in the middle of what may be called either a very broad valley or narrow plain I was told at Sydney not to form too bad an opinion of Australia by judging of the country nor too good a one from Bathurst in this letter respect I did not feel myself in the least danger a being prejudiced the season it must be owned had been one of the great drought and the country did not wear a favourable aspect although I understand it was incomparable worse two or three months before the secret of the rapidly growing prosperity of Bathurst is that the brown pasture which appears to the strangers eye so rich is excellent for sheep grazing the town stands at the height of 2200 feet above the sea on the banks of the Macquarie this is one of the rivers flowing into the vast and scarcely known interior the line of watershed which divides the inland streams from those on the coast has a height of about 3000 feet and runs in a north and south direction at the distance of from 80 to 100 miles from the seaside the Macquarie figures in the map as a respectable river and it is the largest of those draining this part of the watershed yet to my surprise a mere chain of ponds separated from each other by spaces almost dry generally a small stream is running and sometimes there are high and impetuous floods scanty as the supply of the water is throughout this district it becomes still scantier further inland 22nd I commence my return and followed a new road called Lafayette's Line along which the country is rather more hilly and picturesque this was a long day's ride and the house where I wished to sleep was some way off the road and not easily found I met on this occasion and indeed on all others a very general and ready stability among the lower orders which when one considers and what they had been would scarcely have been expected the farm where I passed the night was owned by two young men who had only lately come out and were beginning a settler's life the total want of almost every comfort was not attractive but future and certain prosperity was before their eyes and that not far distant the next day we pass through large tracks of country in flames volumes of smoke sweeping across the road before noon we joined our former road and ascended Mount Victoria I slept at the weather board and before dark took another walk to the Amphitheater on the road to Sydney I spent a very pleasant evening with Captain King and thus ended my little excursion in the colony of New South Wales before arriving here the three things which interested me most were the state of society amongst the higher classes the condition of the convicts and the degree of attraction sufficient to induce persons to emigrate of course after so very short a visit one's opinion is worth scarcely anything but it is as difficult not to form some opinion as it is to form a correct judgment on the whole from what I heard more than from what I saw I was disappointed in the state of society the whole community is rankorously divided into parties on almost every subject among those who have a passion in life ought to be the best many live in such open prolificacy and respectable people cannot associate with them there is much jealousy between the children of the rich, emancipist and the free settlers the former being pleased to consider honest men and interlopers the whole population amongst the higher orders more and sheep grazing form the constant subject of conversation there are many serious drawbacks to the comforts of the family the chief of which perhaps is being surrounded by convict servants how thoroughly odious to every feeling to be waited on by a man who the day before perhaps was flogged by representation for some trifling misdemeanor the female servants are of course much worse hence children learn the vilest expressions and it is fortunate if not equally vile ideas on the other hand the capital of a person without any trouble on his part produces him treble interest to what it will and with care he is sure to grow rich the luxuries of life are in abundance and very little dearer than in England and most articles of food are cheaper the climate is splendid and perfectly healthy but to my mind its charms are lost by the unenviting aspect of the country settlers possesses a great advantage in finding their sons of service when very young at the age of from 16 to 20 they frequently take charge of distant farming stations this however must happen at the expense of their boys associating entirely with convict servants I am not aware that the tone of society has assumed any peculiar character but with such habits and without intellectual pursuits it can hardly fail to deteriorate my opinion is such that nothing but rather sharp necessity should compel me to emigrate the rapid prosperity and future prospects of this colony are to me not understanding these subjects very puzzling the two main exports are wool and wile oil and to both of these productions there is a limit the country is totally unfit for canals therefore there is not a very distant point beyond which the land carriage of wool will not repay the expense of shearing and tending sheep pasture everywhere is so thin that settlers have already pushed far into the interior moreover the country further inland becomes extremely poor agriculture on account of the droughts can never succeed on an extended scale therefore so far as I can see Australia must ultimately depend upon being the centre of commerce for the southern hemisphere and perhaps on her future manufactures possessing coal she always has the moving power at hand from the habitable country extending along the coast from her English extraction she is sure to be a maritime nation I formally imagine that Australia would rise to be as grand and powerful a country as North America but now it appears to me that such future grandeur is rather problematical with respect to the state of the convicts I had still fewer opportunities of judging than on other points the first question is whether the condition is at all one of punishment no one will maintain that it is a very severe one this however I suppose is of little consequence as long as it continues to be an object of threat to criminals at home the corporelle once at the convicts are tolerable wealth supplied their prospect of future liberty and comfort is not distant and after good conduct certain a ticket of leave which as long as a man keeps clear of suspicion as well as of crime makes him free within a certain district is given up good conduct after years proportional to the length of the sentence yet with all this and overlooking the previous imprisonment and wretched passage out I believe the years of assignment are passed away with discontent and unhappiness as an intelligent man remarked to me the convicts know no pleasure beyond sensuality and in this they are not gratified the enormous bribe which government possesses in offering free pardons together with the decoror of the secluded penal settlements destroys confidence between the convicts and so prevents crime as to a sense of shame such a feeling does not appear to be known and of this I witness some very singular proofs though it is a curious fact I was universally told that the character of the convict population is one of a rank cowardness not unfrequently some become desperate and quite indifferent as to life yet a plain requiring cool or continued courage is sold and put into execution the worst feature in the whole case is that although there exists what may be called a legal reform and comparatively little is committed which the law can touch yet that any moral reform should take place appears to be quite out of the question I was explored by well informed people that a man who should try to improve could not while living with other assigned servants his life would be one of intolerable misery and persecution nor must the contamination of the convict ships and prisons both here and in England be forgotten on the whole as a place of punishment the object is scarcely gained the legal system of reform it has failed as perhaps would every other plane but as a means of making men outwardly honest of converting vagabonds most useless in one hemisphere into active citizens of another and thus giving birth to a new and splendid country a grand centre of civilisation it has succeeded to a degree perhaps unparalleled in history 30th the beagle sailed to Hobart town in Van Diemen's land on the 5th of February after a six days passage of which the first part was fine and the latter very cold and squally we entered the mouth of Storm Bay the weather justified this awful name the bay should rather be called an estuary for it receives the waters of the Derwent near the mouth there are some extensive basaltic platforms but higher up the land becomes mountainous and is covered by a light wood the lower parts of the hills which skirt the bay are cleared and the bright yellow fields of corn and dark green ones of potatoes appear very luxuriant late in the evening we anchored in the snug cove on the shores of which stands the capital of Tasmania the first aspect of the place was very inferior to that of Sydney the latter might be called a city this is only a town it stands at the base of Mount Wellington a mountain 3100 feet high but of little picturesque beauty from this source however it receives a good supply of water round the cove there are some fine warehouses and on one side a small fort coming from the Spanish settlements where much magnificent care has generally been paid to the fortifications the means of defence in these colonies appeared very contemptible comparing the town with Sydney I was chiefly struck with the comparative pureness of the large houses either built or building Hobart town from the census at 1835 contained 13,826 inhabitants and the whole of Tasmania 36,505 all the abrugines had been removed to an island in Bassas Straits so that Van Diemen's land enjoys the great advantage of being free from a native population this most cruel step seems to have been quite unavoidable as the only means of stopping a fearful succession of robberies, burnings and murders committed by the blacks and which sooner or later would have ended in their utter destruction I fear there is no doubt that this train of evil and its consequences originated in the infamous conduct of some of our countrymen 30 years is a short period in which to have banished the last aboriginal from his native island and that island nearly as large as island the correspondence on this subject which took place between the government at home and that of Van Diemen's land is very interesting although numbers of natives were shot and taken prisoners in the skirmishing which was going on at intervals for several years nothing seems fully to have impressed them with the idea of our overwhelming power until the whole island in 1830 was put under martial law and by proclamation the whole population commanded to assist in one great attempt to secure the entire race the plan adopted was nearly similar to that of great hunting matches in India a line was formed reaching across the island with the intention of driving the natives into a cold sack on Tasman's peninsula the attempt failed the natives having tied up their dogs stalled during one night through the lines this is far from surprising when their practice senses and usual manner of crawling after wild animals is considered I have then assured that they can conceal themselves on almost bare ground in a manner which until witnessed is scarcely credible their dusky bodies being easily mistaken for the blacken stumps which are scattered all over the country I was told of a trial between a party of Englishman and a native who was to stand in full view on the side of the bare hill if the Englishman closed their eyes for less than a minute he would squat down and then they were never able to distinguish him from the surrounding stumps but to return to the hunting match the natives understanding this kind of warfare were terribly alarmed for they at once perceived the power and numbers of the whites shortly afterwards a party of 13 belonging to two tribes came in and conscious of their unprotected condition delivered themselves of in despair subsequently by the intrepid exertions of Mr. Robinson an active and benevolent man who fearlessly visited by himself the most hostile of the natives to act in a similar manner they were then removed to an island where food and clothes were provided them that at the epoch of their deportation in 1835 the number of natives amounted to 210 in 1842 that is after the interval of 7 years they mustered only 54 individuals and while each family of the interior of New South Wales unprontaminated by contact with the whites swarms with children those of Flinders Island had during 8 years and a session of only 14 in number footnote physical description of New South Wales and Van Diemen's land page 354 end of footnote the Beagle stayed here 10 days and in this time I made several pleasant little excursions chiefly with the object of examining the geological structure of the immediate neighbourhood the main points of interest consist first in some highly fossil ferrous strata belonging to the Devonian or carbon ferrous period secondly in proofs of a late small rise of the land and lastly in a solitary and superficial patch of yellowish limestone or traverton which contains numerous impressions of leaves of trees together with land shells not now existing it is not improbable that this one small quarry includes the only remaining record of vegetation of Van Diemen's land during one former epoch the climate here is damper than in New South Wales and hence the land is more fertile agriculture flourishes the cultivated fields look well and the gardens are bound with thriving vegetables and fruit trees some of the farmhouses situated in retired spots had a very attractive appearance the general aspect of the vegetation is similar to that of Australia perhaps it is a little more green and cheerful and the pasture between the trees rather more abundant one day I took a long walk on the side of the bay opposite to the town I crossed in a steamboat two of which are constantly flying backwards and forwards the machinery of one of these vessels was entirely manufactured in this colony which from its very foundation then numbered only three and thirty years another day I ascended Mount Wellington I took with me a guide for I failed in a first attempt from the thickness of the wood our guide however was a stupid fellow and conducted us to the southern and damp side of the mountain where the vegetation was very luxuriant and where the labour of the ascent from the number of rotten trunks was almost as great as on a mountain in Tierra, Del Fugo or in July it was five and a half hours of hard climbing before we reached the summit in many parts the eucalyptite grew to a great size and composed a noble forest in some of the dampest ravines tree ferns flourished in an extraordinary manner I saw one which must have been at least twenty feet high to the base of the fronds and was in girth exactly six feet the fronds forming the most elegant parasols produced a gloomy shade like that of the first hour of the night the summit of the mountain is broad and flat it is composed of huge angular masses of naked greenstone its elevation is 3100 feet above the level of the sea the day was splendidly clear and we enjoyed a most extensive view to the north the country appeared a mass of wooded mountains on about the same height with that on which we were standing and with an equally tame outline to the south the broken land and water forming many intricate bays was mapped with clearness before us after staying some hours on the summit we found a better way to descend that did not reach the beagle till 8 o'clock after a severe day's work February 7 the beagle sailed from Tasmania and on the 6th of ensuing month reached King George's Sound situated close to the SW corner of Australia we stayed there 8 days and we did not during our voyage pass a more dumb and uninteresting time the country viewed from an eminence appears a woody plain with here and there rounded and partly bare hills of granite protruding one day I went out with a party in hopes of seeing a kangaroo hunt and walked over a good many miles of country everywhere we found the soil sandy and very poor it supported either a coarse vegetation of thin low brushwood and mirey grass or a forest of stunted trees this scenery resembled that of the high sandstone platform of the blue mountains the casuarina a tree somewhat resembling a Scotch fir is however hearing greater number and the eucalyptus in rather less in the open parts there were many grass trees a plant which in appearance has some affinity with the palm but instead of being surmounted by a crown of noble fronds it can boast merely of a tough very coarse grass life leaves the general bright green color of the brushwood and other plants viewed from a distance seemed to promise fertility a single war however was enough to dispel such an illusion and he who thinks with me will never wish to walk again in so uninviting a country one day I accompanied Captain Fitzroy to Bald Head by so many navigators where some imagine that they saw corals and others that they saw petrified trees standing in the position in which they had grown according to our view the beds have been formed by the wind having heaped up fine sand composed of minute rounded particles of shells and corals during which process branches and roots of trees together with many land shells became enclosed the whole then became consolidated by the percolation of calcareous matter and the cylindrical cavities looked by the decaying of the wood where that's also filled up a hard persuadosed electrical stone the weather is now wearing away the softer parts and in consequence the hard casts of the roots and branches of the trees project above the surface and in a singly deceptive manner resemble the stumps of a dead thicket a large tribe of natives called the white cockatoo men happened to pay the settlement a visit while we were there these men as well as those of the tribe belonging to King George's Sound being tempted by the opera of some tubs of rice and sugar were persuaded to hold a carobery or great dancing party as soon as it grew dark small fires were lighted and the men commenced their toilet which consisted in painting themselves white in spots and lines as soon as all was ready large fires were kept blazing round which the women and children were collected as spectators the cockatoo and King George's men formed two distinct parties and generally danced in answer to each other the dancing consisted in their running either sideways or in Indian file into an open space and stamping the ground with great force as they marched together their heavy footsteps were accompanied by a kind of grunt by beating their cubs and by various other gesticulations such as extending their arms and wriggling their bodies it was the most rude barbarious scene and to our ideas without sort of meaning but we observed that the black women and children watched it with the greatest pleasure perhaps these dances originally represented actions such as wars and victories there was one called the emu dance in which each man extended his arm in a bent manner like the neck of that bird in another dance one man imitated the movements of a kangaroo grazing in the woods whilst a second crawled up and pretended to spear him when both tribes mingled in the dance the ground trembled with the heaviness of their steps and the air resounded with their wild cries everyone appeared in high spirits and the group of nearly naked figures viewed by the light of the blazing fires all moving in hideous harmony formed a perfect display of the festival amongst the lowest barbarians in tiara del fugo we have beheld many curious scenes in savage life but never i think one where the notice were in such high spirits and so perfectly at their ease after the dancing was over the whole party formed a great circle on the ground and the boil rice and sugar was distributed to the delight of all after several tedious delays from clouded weather on the 14th of march we gladly stood out in George's sound on our course to Keeling Island farewell Australia you are a rising child and doubtless someday will reign a great princess in the south but you are too great and ambitious for affection yet not great enough for respect i leave your shores without sorrow or regret end of chapter 29 part 2 part 1 of The Voyage of the Beagle this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recording by Joseph Eugoretz The Voyage of the Beagle by Charles Darwin chapter 20 part 1 Keeling Island Coral Formations Keeling Island Singular Appearance Scanty Flora Transport of Seeds Birds and Insects Ebbing and Flowing Springs Fields of Dead Coral Stones transported in the roots of trees Great Crab Stinging Corals Coral Eating Fish Coral Formations Lagoon Islands or Atolls Depth at which reef-building corals can live vast areas interspersed with low coral islands subsidence of their foundations Fringing Reefs Conversion of Fringing Reefs into Barrier Reefs and into Atolls Evidence of changes in level Breaches in Barrier Reefs Maldiva Atolls their peculiar structure Dead and Submerged Reefs Areas of Subsidence and Elevation Distribution of Volcanoes Subsidence Slow and Vast in Amount April 1st We arrived in view of the Keeling or Cocos Islands situated in the Indian Ocean and about 600 miles distant from the coast of Sumatra This is one of the Lagoon Islands or Atolls of Coral Formation similar to those in the low archipelago which we passed near When the ship was in the channel at the entrance Mr. Leisk, an English resident came off in his boat The history of the inhabitants of this place in as few words as possible as as follows About nine years ago Mr. Hare, a worthless character, brought from the East Indian archipelago a number of Malay slaves which now including children amount to more than a hundred Shortly afterwards Captain Ross who had before visited these islands in his merchant ship arrived from England bringing with him his family and goods for settlement Along with him came Mr. Leisk who had been a mate in his vessel The Malay slaves soon ran away from the islet on which Mr. Hare was settled and joined Captain Ross's party Mr. Hare upon this was ultimately obliged to leave the place The Malays are now nominally in a state of freedom and certainly are so as far as regards their personal treatment but in most other points they are considered as slaves From their discontented state from the repeated removals from islet to islet and perhaps also from a little mismanagement things are not very prosperous The island has no domestic quadruped accepting the pig and the main vegetable production of the coconut The whole prosperity of the place depends on this tree the only exports being oil from the nut and the nuts themselves which are taken to Singapore and Mauritius where they are chiefly used when graded in making curries On the coconut also the pigs which are loaded with fat almost entirely subsist as do the ducks and poultry Even a huge land crab is furnished by nature with the means to open a useful production The ring-formed reef of the lagoon island is surmounted in the greater part of its length by linear islets On the northern or leeward side there is an opening through which vessels can pass to the anchorage On entering the scene was very curious and rather pretty its beauty however entirely depended on the brilliancy of the surrounding colors The shallow clear and still water of the lagoon resting in its greater part on white sand formed by a vertical sun of the most vivid green This brilliant expanse several miles in width is on all sides divided either by a line of snow white breakers from the dark heaving waters of the ocean or from the blue vault of heaven by the strips of land crowned by the level tops of the coconut trees As a white cloud here and there affords a pleasing contrast with the Asia sky so in the lagoon bands of living coral darken water The next morning after anchoring I went on shore on Direction Island The strip of dry land is only a few hundred yards in width On the lagoon side there is a white calcareous beach The radiation from which under this sultry climate was very oppressive And on the outer coast a solid broad flat of coral rocks served to break the violence of the open sea Accepting near the lagoon where there is some sand the land is entirely composed of shattered fragments of coral In such a loose dry stony soil the climate of the intertropical regions alone could produce a vigorous vegetation On some of the smaller islands nothing could be more elegant than the matter in which the young and full-grown coconut trees without destroying each other's symmetry were mingled into one wood A beach of glittering white sand formed a border to these very spots I will now give a sketch of the natural history of these islands From its very paucity possesses a peculiar interest The coconut tree at first glance seems to compose the whole wood There are however five or six other trees One of these grows to a very large size but from the extremes of softness of its wood is useless Another sword affords excellent timber for shipbuilding Besides the trees the number of plants is exceedingly limited and consists of insignificant weeds In my collection which includes I believe nearly the perfect flora there are 20 species without reckoning a moss, lichen and fungus To this number two trees must be added one of which was not in flower and the other only heard of The latter is a solitary tree of its kind and grows near the beach where without doubt the one seed was thrown up by the waves A Yilan Dina also grows on only one of the islets I do not include in the above list the sugarcane, banana, some other vegetables fruit trees and imported grasses As the islands consist entirely of coral and at one time must have existed as mere water washed reefs all their terrestrial productions must have been transported here by the waves of the sea In accordance with this the flora has quite the character of a refuge for the destitute Professor Henslow informs me that of the 20 species 19 belong to different genera these again to no less than 16 families Footnote 1 These plants are described in the annals of natural history Volume 1, 1838 Page 337 In Holman's travels an account is given on the authority of Mr. A.S. Keating who resided 12 months on these islands of the various seeds in other bodies which have been known to have been washed on shore Footnote 2 Holman's travels page 344 page 378 Seeds and plants from Sumatra and Java have been driven up by the surf on the windward side of the islands Among them have been found the Khmeri native of Sumatra and the peninsula of Malacca the coconut of Balci known by its shape and size the Dadas which is planted by the Malays with the pepper vine the latter entwining round its trunk and supporting itself by the prickles the castor oil plant trunks of the Sago palm and various kinds of seeds unknown to the Malays settled on the islands These are all supposed to have been driven by the northwest monsoon to the coast of New Holland and thence to these islands by the southeast trade wind Large masses of Javateek and yellow wood have also been found besides immense trees of red and white cedar and the blue gumwood of New Holland in perfectly sound condition such as creepers retain their germinating power but the softer kinds among which is the mangosteen are destroyed in the passage Fishing canoes apparently from Java have at times been washed on shore It is interesting thus to discover how numerous the seeds are which coming from several countries are drifted over the wide ocean Professor Henslow tells me he believes that nearly all the plants which I brought from these islands can go from the direction however of the winds and currents it seems scarcely possible that they could have come here in a direct line if as suggested with much probability by Mr. Keating they were first carried toward the coast of New Holland and thence drifted back together with the productions of that country the seeds before germinating must have traveled between 1800 and 2400 miles Chamizo when describing the erratic archipelago situated in the western part of the pacific states that the sea brings to these islands the seeds and fruits of many trees most of which have not yet grown here the greater part of these seeds appear to have not yet lost the capability of growing footnote 3 cutsabuse first voyage volume 3 page 155 it is also said that palms and bamboos from somewhere in the torrid zone and trunks of northern furs are washed on shore these furs must have come from an immense distance these facts are highly interesting it cannot be doubted that if there were land birds to pick up the seeds when first cast on shore and a soil better adapted for their growth than the loose blocks of coral that the most isolated of the lagoon islands would in time possess a far more abundant flora than they now have the list of land animals is even poorer than that of the plants the islands are inhabited by rats which were brought in a ship from the Mauritius wrecked here these rats are considered by Mr. Waterhouse as identical with the English kind but they are smaller and more brightly colored there are no true land birds for a snipe and a rail a Rallus filipensis though living entirely in the dry herbage belong to the order of waders birds of this order are said to occur on several of these small low islands in the pacific at Ascension where there is no land bird a rail, poor Firio Simplex was shot near the summit of the mountain and it was evidently a solitary straggler at Tristan de Cunha where according to Carmichael there are only two land birds there is a coot from these facts I believe that the waders after the innumerable webfooted species are generally the first colonists of small isolated islands that whenever I notice birds not of oceanic species very far out at sea they always belong to this order and hence they would naturally become the earliest colonists of any remote point of land of reptiles I saw only one small lizard of insects I took paints to collect every kind exclusive of spiders which were numerous there were 13 species of these one only was a beetle footnote 4 the 13 species belong to the following orders in the colioptera a minutilator orthoptera a grilis and ablada hemiptera one species homoptera 2 noroptera a chrysopa hymenoptera 2 ants lepidoptera nocturna a diopia and a terraforus diptera 2 species a small ant swarmed by thousands under the loose dry blocks of coral and was the only true insect which was abundant although the productions of the land are thus scanty if we look to the waters of the surrounding sea the number of organic beings is indeed infinite cemiso has described the natural history of a lagoon island in the radac archipelago and it is remarkable how closely its inhabitants in number and kind resemble those of keeling island footnote 5 cotspews first voyage volume 3 page 222 there is one lizard and two waders namely a snipe and curlew of plants there are 19 species including a fern and some of these are the same with those growing here though on a spot so immensely remote and in a different ocean the long strips of land forming the linear islets have been raised only to that height to which the surf can throw fragments of coral and the wind heap up calcareous sand the flat of coral rock on the outside by its breadth breaks the first violence of the waves which otherwise in a day would sweep away these islets and all their productions the ocean and the land seem here struggling for mastery although terra firma has obtained a footing the denizens of the water think their claim at least equally good in every part one meets hermit crabs of more than one species carrying on their backs the shells which they have stolen from the neighboring footnote six the large claws or pincers of some of these crabs are most beautifully adapted when drawn back to form an operculum to the shell nearly as perfect as the proper one originally belonging to the Molosskis animal I was assured and as far as my observations went I found it so that certain species of the hermit crab always use certain species of shells overhead numerous gannets frigate birds and turns rest on the trees and the wood from the many nests and from the smell of the atmosphere might be called a sea rookery the gannets sitting on their rude nest gazed one 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 snow white turn which smoothly hovers at the distance of a few feet above one's head its large black eyes scanning with quiet curiosity your expression little imagination is required to fancy that so light and delicate a body must be tenanted by some wandering fairy spirit Sunday, April 3rd after service I accompanied Captain Fitzroy to the settlement situated at the distance of some miles on the point of an islet thickly covered with tall coconut trees Captain Ross and Mr. Leisk live in a large barn like house open at both ends in line with mats made of woven bark the houses of the malaise are arranged along the shore of the lagoon the whole place had rather a desolate aspect for there were no gardens to show the signs of care and cultivation the natives belong to different islands in the East Indian archipelago but all speak the same language we saw the inhabitants of Borneo Celebes, Java and Sumatra in color they resemble the Tahitians from whom they do not widely differ in features some of the women however show a good deal of the Chinese character I liked both their general expressions and the sound of their voices they appeared poor and their houses were destitute of furniture but it was evident from the plumpness of the little children that coconuts and turtle afford no bad sustenance on this island the wells are situated from which ships obtain water at first sight it appears not a little remarkable that the fresh water should regularly ebb and flow with the tides as you've been imagined that sand has the power of filtering the salt from the sea water these ebbing wells are common on some of the low islands in the West Indies the compressed sand or porous coral rock is permeated like a sponge with the salt water but the rain which falls on the surface must sink to the level of the surrounding sea and must accumulate there displacing an equal bulk of the salt water as the water in the lower part of the great sponge like coral mass rises and falls with the tides so will the water near the surface and this will keep fresh if the mass be sufficiently compact to prevent much mechanical admixture but where the land consists of great loose blocks of coral with open interstices if a well be dug the water as I have seen is brackish after dinner we stayed to see a curious half superstitious scene acted by the Malay women in a modern spoon dressed in garments and which had been carried to the grave of a dead man they pretend becomes inspired at the full of the moon and will dance and jump about after the proper preparations the spoon held by two women became convulsed and danced in good time to the song of the surrounding children and women it was a most foolish spectacle but Mr. Lisk maintained that many of the Malays believed in its spiritual movements the dance did not commence until the moon had risen and it was well worth remaining to behold her bright orb so quietly shining through the long arms of the coconut trees as they waved in the evening breeze these scenes of the tropics are in themselves so delicious that they almost equal those dearer ones at home to which we are bound by each best feeling of the mind the next day I enjoyed myself in examining the very interesting yet simple structure and origin of these islands the water being unusually smooth and I wandered over the outer flat of Dead Rock as far as the living mounds of coral on which the swell of the open sea breaks in some of the gullies and hollows there were beautiful green and other colored fishes and the forms and tints of many of the zoophytes 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 teams yet I must confess I think those naturals who have described in well-known words the submarine grottoes decked with a thousand beauties have indulged in rather exuberant language April 6th I accompanied Captain Fitzroy to an island at the head of the lagoon the channel was exceedingly intricate winding through fields of delicately branched corals we saw several turtle and two boats were then employed in catching them the water was so clear and shallow that when it dives out of sight yet in a canoe or boat under sail the pursuers after no very long chase come up to it a man standing ready in the bow at this moment dashes through the water upon the turtle's back then, clinging with both hands by the shell of its neck he is carried away till the animal becomes exhausted and is secured it was quite an interesting chase to see the two boats thus doubling about and the men dashing head foremost into the water trying to seize their prey Captain Morsby informs me that in the Chagos archipelago in the same ocean the natives by horrible process take the shell from the back of the living turtle it is covered with burning charcoal which causes the outer shell to curl upwards it is then forced off with a knife and before it becomes cold flattened between boards after this barbarous process the animal has suffered to regain its native element where, after a certain time it is formed it is however too thin to be of any service and the animal always appears languishing and sickly when we arrived at the head of the lagoon we crossed a narrow islet and found a great surf breaking on the windward coast I can hardly explain the reason but there is to my mind much 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 and tall coconuts the solid flat of dead coral rock strewed here and there with great loose fragments and the line of furious breakers all rounding away towards either hand the ocean throwing its waters over the broad reef appears an invincible all powerful enemy yet we see it resisted and even conquered by means which at first seem most weak and inefficient it is not that the ocean spares the rock of coral the great fragments scattered over the reef and heaped on the beach when the tall coconut springs plainly bespeak the unrelenting power of the waves nor are any periods of repose granted the long swell caused by the gentle but steady action of the trade wind always blowing in one direction over a wide area causes breakers almost equalling enforce those during a gale of wind in the temperate regions in which never cease to rage it is impossible to behold these waves without feeling a conviction that an island though built of the hardest rock let it be porphyry graniter quartz would ultimately yield and be demolished by such an irresistible power yet these low insignificant coral islets stand and are victorious for here another power as an antagonist takes part in the contest the organic forces separate the atoms of carbonate of lime one by one from the foaming breakers and unite them into a symmetrical structure let the hurricane tear up its thousand large fragments yet what will that tell against the accumulated labor of myriads of architects that work night and day month after month thus do we see the soft and gelatinous body of apolipus through the agency of the vital laws conquering the great mechanical power of the waves of an ocean which neither the art of man or the inanimate works of nature could successfully resist we did not return on board till late morning for we stayed a long time in the lagoon examining the fields of coral and the gigantic shells of the Chama into which if a man were to put his hand he would not as long as the animal lived to be able to withdraw it near the head of the lagoon I was much surprised to find a wide area considerably more than a mile square covered with a forest of delicately branching corals which though standing upright were all dead and rotten at first I was quite surprised to find the cause afterwards it occurred to me that it was owing to the following rather curious combination of circumstances it should however first be stated that corals are not able to survive even a short exposure in the air to the sun's rays so that their upward limit of growth is determined by that of lowest water at spring tides it appears from some old charts that the Long Island to Windward was formerly separated by wide channels this fact is likewise indicated by the trees being younger on these portions under the former condition of the reef a strong breeze by throwing more water over the barrier would tend to raise the level of the lagoon now it acts in a directly contrary manner for the water within the lagoon not only is not increased by currents from the outside but is itself blown outwards by the force of the wind hence it is observed that the tide near the head of the lagoon does not rise so high during a strong breeze as it does when it is calm this difference of level although no doubt very small has I believe caused the death of those coral groves which under the former and more open condition of the outer reef has attained the utmost limit of upward growth End of Chapter 20 Part 1 Recording by Joseph Hugeritz Brooklyn, New York www.mountabank.org www.mountabank.org