 Chapter 17 Part 2 of The Voyage of the Beagle. We will now turn to the order of reptiles, which gives the most striking character to the zoology of these islands. The species are not numerous, but the numbers of individuals of each species are extraordinarily great. There is one small lizard belonging to a South American genus, and two species, and probably more, of the Ampley Rhynchus, a genus confined to the Galapagos Islands. There is one snake which is numerous. It is identical, as I am informed by M. Burbron, with the Samophis Tamaniki from Chile. Open footnote. This is stated by Dr. Gunther, Zoological Society, January 24th, 1859, to be a peculiar species not known to inhabit any other country. Close footnote. Of sea-turtle I believe there are more than one species, and of tortoises there are, as we shall presently show, two or three species or races. Of toads and frogs there are none. I was surprised at this, considering how well suited for them the temperate and damp upper woods appear to be. It recalled to my mind the remark made by Borey St. Vincent, namely that none of this family are found on any of the volcanic islands in the great oceans. As far as I can ascertain, from various works, this seems to hold good throughout the Pacific, and even in the large islands of the sandwich archipelago. Mauritius offers an apparent exception, where I saw the Rana mass karyenaesis in abundance. This frog is said now to inhabit the Seychelles, Madagascar, and Bourbon. But on the other hand, Dubois, in his voyage in 1669, states that there were no reptiles in Bourbon except tortoises. And the officer De Roy asserts that, before 1768, it had been attempted, without success, to introduce frogs into Mauritius. I presume for the purpose of eating. Hence it may be well doubted whether this frog is an aboriginal of these islands. The absence of the frog family in the Oceanic islands is the more remarkable, when contrasted with the case of lizards, which swarm on most of the smallest islands. May this difference not be caused by the great facility with which the eggs of lizards, captured by calcareous shells, might be transported through salt water, than could the slimy spawn of frogs? I will first describe the habits of the tortoise. Tetsudo nigra, formerly called indica, which has been so frequently alluded to. These animals are found, I believe, on all the islands of the archipelago, certainly on the greater number. They frequent in preference the high damp parts, but they likewise live in the lower and arid districts. I have already shown, from the numbers which have been caught in a single day, how very numerous they must be. Some grow to an immense size. Mr. Lawson, an Englishman, and vice-governor of the colony, told us that he had seen several so large that it required six or eight men to lift them from the ground, and that some had afforded as much as two hundred pounds of meat. The old males are the largest, the females rarely growing to so greater size. The male can be readily distinguished from the female by the greater length of its tail. The tortoises which live on those islands, where there is no water, or in the lower and arid parts of the others, feed chiefly on the succulent cactus. Those which frequent the higher and damp regions, eat the leaves of various trees, a kind of berry, called guivita, which is acid and austere, and likewise a pale green filamentous lichen, us near placata, the tangs from the bowels of the trees. The tortoises very fond of water, drinking large quantities and wallowing in the mud. The larger islands alone possesses springs, and these are always situated towards the central parts and at a considerable height. The tortoises therefore, which frequent the lower districts, when thirsty are obliged to travel from a long distance. Hence broad and well-beaten paths branch off in every direction from the wells down to the sea-coast, and the Spaniards, by following them up, first discovered the watering-places. When I landed at Chatham Island, I could not imagine what animal travelled so methodically along well-chosen tracks. Near the springs it was a curious spectacle to behold many of these huge creatures. One set eagerly travelling outwards, without stretched necks, and another set returning after having drunk their fill. When the tortoise arrives at the spring, quite regardless of any spectator, he buries his head in the water above his eyes, and greedily swallows great mouthfuls at the rate of about ten in a minute. The inhabitants say each animal stays three or four days in the neighbourhood of the water, and then returns to the lower country. Such they differed respecting the frequency of these visits. The animal probably regulates them according to the nature of the food on which it has lived. It is, however, certain that tortoises can subsist even on these islands where there is no other water than what falls during a few rainy days in the year. I believe it is well ascertained that the bladder of the frog acts as a reservoir for the moisture necessary to its existence. Such seems to be the case with the tortoise. For some time after a visit to the springs their urinary bladders are distended with fluid, which is said gradually to decrease in volume and to become less pure. The inhabitants, when walking in the lower district, and overcome with thirst, often take advantage of these circumstances and drink the contents of the bladder if full. In one I saw killed the fluid was quite limpid, and had only a very slightly bitter taste. The inhabitants, however, always first drink the water in the pericardium, which is described as being best. The tortoises, when purposely moving towards any point, travel by night and day, and arrive at their journey's end much sooner than would be expected. The inhabitants, from observing marked individuals, consider that they travel a distance of about eight miles in two or three days. One large tortoise, which I watched, walked at a rate of sixty yards in ten minutes, that is, three hundred sixty yards in the hour, or four miles in a day, allowing a little time for it to eat on the road. During the breeding season, when the male and female are together, the male utters a horse-raw or bellowing, which, it is said, can be heard at the distance of more than a hundred yards. The female never uses her voice, and the male only at these times, so that when the people hear this noise, they know that the two are together. They were at this time, October, laying their eggs. The female, where the soil is sandy, deposits them together and covers them up with sand. But where the ground is rocky, she drops them indiscriminately in any hole. Mr. Banoe found seven placed in a fissure. The egg is white and spherical. One which I measured was seven inches and three-eighths in circumference, and therefore larger than a hen's egg. The young tortoises, as soon as they are hatched, fall a prey in great numbers to the carrion-feeding buzzards. The old ones seem generally to die from accidents, as from falling down precipices. At least several of the inhabitants told me that they never found one dead without some evident cause. The inhabitants believe that these animals are absolutely deaf. Certainly they do not overhear a person walking close behind them. I was always amused when overtaking one of these great monsters, as it was quietly pacing along. To see how suddenly, the instant I passed, it would draw in its head and legs, and uttering a deep hiss, fall to the ground with a heavy sound, as if struck dead. I frequently got on their backs, and then, giving a few wraps on the hind apart of their shells, they would rise up and walk away. But I found it very difficult to keep my balance. The flesh of this animal is largely employed, both fresh and salted, and a beautifully clear oil is prepared from the fat. When a tortoise is caught, the man makes a slit in the skin near its tail, so as to see inside its body, whether the fat under the dorsal plate is thick. If it is not, the animal is liberated, and it is said to recover soon from this strange operation. In order to secure the tortoise, it is not sufficient to turn them like turtle, for they are often able to get on their legs again. There can be little doubt that this tortoise is an Aboriginal inhabitant of the Galapagos, for it is found on all, or nearly all, the islands, even on some of the smaller ones where there is no water. Had it been an imported species, this would hardly have been the case, in a group which has been so little frequented. Moreover the old buccaneers found this tortoise in greater numbers even than at present. Wood and Rogers also, in 1708, say that it is the opinion of the Spaniards, that it is found nowhere else in this quarter of the world. It is now widely distributed, but it may be questioned whether it is in any other place in Aboriginal. The bones of a tortoise at Mauritius, associated with those of the extinct dodo, have generally been considered as belonging to this tortoise. If this had been so, undoubtedly it must have been their indigenous. But Mr. Burbron informs me that he believes that it was distinct, as the species now living there certainly is. The Amplei rencus, a remarkable genus of lizards, is confined to this archipelago. There are two species resembling each other in general form, one being terrestrial and the other aquatic. This latter species, A. Christatus, was first characterised by Mr. Bell, who well foresaw from its short broad head and strong claws of equal length, that its habits of life would turn out very peculiar, and different from those of its nearest ally, the iguana. It is extremely common all the islands throughout the group, and lives exclusively on the rocky sea beaches, being never found, at least I never saw one, even ten yards in shore. It is a hideous looking creature of a dirty black colour, stupid and sluggish in its movements. The usual length of a full-grown one is about a yard, but there are some even four feet long. A large one weighed twenty pounds. On the island of Albemarle they seem to grow to a greater size than elsewhere. Their tails are flat on sideways, and all four feet are partially webbed. They are occasionally seen some hundred yards from the shore, swimming about. And Captain Cullnett, in his voyage, says, They go to see in herds a fishing, and sun themselves on the rocks, and may be called Alligators in miniature. It must not, however, be supposed that they live on fish. When in the water this lizard swims with perfect ease and quickness, by a serpentine movement of its body and flattened tail. The legs being motionless and closely collapsed on its sides. A seaman on board sank one, with a heavy weight attached to it, thinking thus to kill it directly. But when, an hour afterwards, he drew up the line, it was quite active. Their limbs and strong claws are admirably adapted for crawling over the rugged and fissured masses of lava, which everywhere form the coast. In such situations a group of six or seven of these hideous reptiles may often times be seen on the black rocks, a few feet above the surf, basking in the sun without stretched legs. I opened the stomachs of several, and found them largely distended with mint seaweed, alve, which grows in thin fallacious expansions of a bright green or a dull red colour. I do not recollect having observed this seaweed in any quantity on the tidal rocks, and I have reason to believe it grows at the bottom of the sea, at some little distance from the coast. If such be the case, the object of these animals occasionally going out to the sea is explained. The stomach contains nothing but the seaweed. Mr. Benoy, however, found a piece of crab in one. But this might have got in accidentally. In the same manner as I have seen a caterpillar, in the midst of some lichen, in the paunch of a tortoise. The intestines were large, as in other herbivorous animals. The nature of this lizard's food, as well as the structure of its tail and feet, and the fact of its having been seen voluntarily swimming out at sea, absolutely prove its aquatic habits. Yet there is, in this respect, one strange anomaly. Only that, when frightened, it will not enter the water. Hence it is easy to drive these lizards down to any little point overhanging the sea, where they will sooner allow a person to catch hold of their tails than jump into the water. They do not seem to have any notion of biting, but when much frightened they squirt a drop of fluid from each nostril. I threw one several times as far as I could, into a deep pool left by the retiring tide, but it invariably returned in a direct line to the spot where I stood. It swam near the bottom with a very graceful and rapid movement, and occasionally aided itself over the uneven ground with its feet. As soon as it arrived near the edge, but still being underwater, it tried to conceal itself in the tufts of seaweed, or it entered some crevice. As soon as it thought the danger was past, it crawled out on the dry rocks, and shuffled away as quickly as it could. I several times caught this same lizard by driving it down to a point, and though possessed of such perfect powers of diving and swimming, nothing would induce it to enter the water. And as often as I threw it in, it returned in the manner above described. Perhaps a singular piece of apparent stupidity may be accounted for by the circumstance, that this reptile has no enemy whatever on shore, whereas at sea it must often fall prey to the numerous sharks. Hence probably, urged by a fixed and hereditary instinct, that the shore is its place of safety, whatever the emergency may be, it there takes refuge. During our visit in October, I saw extremely few small individuals of this species, and none I should think under a year old. From this circumstance it seems probable that the breeding season had not then commenced. I asked several of the inhabitants if they knew where it laid its eggs. They said that they knew nothing of its propagation, although well acquainted with the eggs of the land-kind. A fact, considering how very common this lizard is, not a little extraordinary, we will now turn to the terrestrial species, A. DiMali, with a round tail and toes without webs. This lizard, instead of being found like the other on all the islands, is confined to the central part of the archipelago, namely to Albemarle, James, Barrington, and Indefatigable Islands, to the southward, in Charles, Hood, and Chatham Islands, and to the northward. In Towers, Bindelows, and Abingdon I neither saw nor heard of any. It would appear as if it had been created in the centre of the archipelago, and thence had been distributed only to a certain distance. Some of these lizards inhabit the high and damp parts of the island, but they are much more numerous than the lower and sterile districts near the coast. I cannot give a more forcible proof of their numbers, then by stating that when we were left at James Island, we could not for some time find a spot free from their burrows, on which to pitch our single tent. Like their brothers the sea kind, they are ugly animals, of a yellowish-orange beneath, and of a brownish-red colour above. From their low, facial angle, they have a singularly stupid appearance. They are perhaps of a rather less size than the marine species, but several of them weighed between ten and fifteen pounds. In their movements they are lazy and half torpid. When not frightened they slowly crawl along with their tails and bellies dragging on the ground. They often stop, and doze for a minute or two with closed eyes and hind legs spread out on the parched soil. They inhabit burrows, which they sometimes make between fragments of lava, but more generally on level patches of the soft sandstone like tough. The holes do not appear to be very deep, and they enter the ground at a small angle, so that when walking over these lizard-warrens the soil is constantly giving way, much to the annoyance of the tired walker. Works alternatively the opposite sides of its body. One front leg for a short time scratches up the soil, and throws it toward the hind foot, which is well placed so as to heave it beyond the mouth of the hole. That side of the body being tired, the other takes up the task, and so on alternatively. I watched one for a long time, till half its body was buried. I then walked up and pulled it by the tail. At this it was greatly astonished, and soon shuffled up to see what was the matter, and then stared me in the face, as much as to say, What made you pull my tail? They feed by day, and do not wander far from their burrows. If frightened they rush to them with the most awkward gate. Except when running downhill they cannot move very fast, apparently from the lateral position of their legs. They are not at all timorous. When attentively watching any one they curl their tails, and raising themselves in their front legs, nod their heads vertically with a quick movement, and try to look very fierce. But in reality they are not at all so. If one stamps on the ground, down go their tails, and off they shuffle as quickly as they can. They have frequently observed small, fly-eating lizards, when watching anything, nod their heads in precisely the same manner. But I do not know at all for what purpose. If the assembly rancous is held and plagued with a stick, it will bite it very severely. But I caught many by the tail, and they never tried to bite me. If two are placed on the ground and held together, they will fight, and bite each other till blood is drawn. The individuals, and they are the greater number, which inhabit the lower country, can scarcely taste a drop of water throughout the year. But they consume much of the succulent cactus, the branches of which are occasionally broken off by the wind. I several times threw a piece to two or three of them went together, and it was amusing enough to see them trying to seize and carry it away in their mouths, like so many hungry dogs with a bone. They eat very deliberately, but do not chew their food. The little birds are aware how harmless these creatures are. I have seen one of the thick-billed finches picking at one end of a piece of cactus, which is much relished by all the animals of the lower region, whilst a lizard was eating at the other end. And afterwards the little bird, with the utmost indifference, hopped on the back of the reptile. I opened the stomachs of several, and found them full of vegetable fibres and leaves of different trees, especially of an acacia. In the upper region they live chiefly on the acid and astringent berries of the guivita, under which trees I have seen these lizards and the huge tortoises feeding together. To obtain the acacia leaves they crawl up the low stunted trees, and it is not uncommon to see a pair quietly browsing, whilst seated on a branch several feet above the ground. These lizards, when cooked, yield a white meat, which is liked by those whose stomachs soar above all prejudices. Humboldt has remarked that in intertropical South America, all lizards which inhabit dry regions are esteemed delicacies for the table. The inhabitants state that those which inhabit the upper damp parts drink water, but that the others do not, like the tortoises, travel up for it from the lower sterile country. At the time of our visit the females had within their bodies numerous, large, elongated eggs, which they lay in their burrows. The inhabitants seek them for food. These two species of amplarencus agree, as I have already stated, in their general structure, and in many of their habits. Neither have that rapid movement so characteristic of the general asserta and iguana. They are both herbivorous, although the kind of vegetation on which they feed is so very different. Mr. Bell has given the name to the genus from the shortness of the snout. Indeed the form of the mouth may almost be compared to that of the tortoise. One is led to suppose that this is an adaptation to the herbivorous appetites. It is very interesting thus to find a well characterised genus. Having its marine and terrestrial species, belonging to so confined a portion of the world. The aquatic species is by far the most remarkable, because it is the only existing lizard which lives on marine vegetable productions. As I had first observed, these islands are not so remarkable for the number of species of reptiles, as for that of the individuals. When we remember the well-beaten paths made by the thousands of huge tortoises, the many turtles, the great warrens of the terrestrial amplarencus, and the groups of the marine species basking on the coast rocks of every island, we must admit that there is no other quarter of the world where this order replaces the herbivorous mammalia in so extraordinary a manner. The geologist, on hearing this, will probably refer back in his mind, to the secondary epoch, when lizards, some herbivorous, some carnivorous, and of dimensions comparable only with our existing whales, swarmed on the land and in the sea. It is therefore worthy of his observation that this archipelago, instead of possessing a humid climate and rank vegetation, cannot be considered otherwise than extremely arid, and for an equatorial region remarkably temperate. To finish with the zoology, the fifteen kinds of sea fish, which I procured here, are all new species. They belong to twelve genera, or widely distributed, with the exception of prionotus, of which the four previously known species live on the eastern side of America. Of land-shells I collected sixteen kinds, and two marked varieties, of which, with the exception of one helix found at Tahiti, all other are peculiar to this archipelago. A single freshwater shell, Palludina, is common to Tahiti, and Vandy Amsland. Mr. Cumming, before our voyage, procured here ninety species of seashells, and this does not include several species not yet specifically examined, of trochus, turbo, monodonta, and nasa. He has been kind enough to give me the following interesting results. Of the ninety shells, no less than forty-seven are unknown elsewhere. A wonderful fact, considering how widely distributed seashells generally are. Of the forty-three shells found in other parts of the world, twenty-five inhabit the western coast of America, and of these eight are distinguishable as varieties. The remaining eighteen, including one variety, was found by Mr. Cumming in the low archipelago, and some of them also at the Philippines. This fact of shells from Ireland in the central parts of the Pacific occurring here deserves notice. For not one single seashell is known to be common to the islands of that ocean, and to the west coast of America. The space of open sea running north and south of the west coast separates two quite distinct concollogical provinces. But at the Galapagos Archipelago we have a halting place where many new forms are being created, and where these two great concollogical provinces have each sent up several colonists. The American province has also sent here representative species, for there is a Galapagian species of monoceros, a genus only found on the west coast of America. And there are Galapagian species of Fissurellia and Cancerellia, genus are common on the west coast, but not found, as I am informed by Mr. Cumming, in the central islands of the Pacific. On the other hand there are Galapagian species of Onesia and Stifler, genus are common to the west Indies and to the Chinese and Indian seas, but not found either on the west coast of America or in the central Pacific. I may here add, that after the comparison by Messas Cumming and Tynes, of about 2,000 shells on the eastern and western coast of America, only one single shell was found in common, namely the Papura Petula, which inhabits the west Indies, the coast of Panama and the Galapagos. We have therefore in this quarter of the world three great concoological sea provinces, quite distinct, though surprisingly near each other, being separated by long north and south spaces, either of land or of open sea. I took great pains in collecting the insects, but except in the Tierra del Fuego, I never saw in this respect so poor a country. Even in the upper and damp region, I procured very few, except in some minute-dipped terra and hymnoptera, mostly of common mundane forms. As before I marked, the insects for a tropical region are of a very small size and dull colors. Of beetles I collected twenty-five species, excluding a domestus and cornettas imported, wherever a ship touches. Of these, two belonged to the Harpalidae, two to the Hydrophilidae, nine to three families of the hetromera, and the remaining twelve to as many different families. This circumstance of insects, and I may add plants, where few in number, belonging to many different families, is, I believe, very general. Mr. Waterhouse, who has published an account of the insects of this archipelago, and to whom I am indebted for the above details, informs me that there are several new genera, and that of the genera not new, one or two are American, and the rest of mundane distribution, with the exception of the wood-feeding a peat, and of one, or probably two, water beetles from the American continent, all the species appear to be new. End of Chapter 17 Part 2 Chapter 17 Part 3 of The Voyage of the Beagle This is the LibriVox recording, all the LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org Recording by Lizzie Driver The Voyage of the Beagle by Charles Darwin Chapter 17 Part 3 The Galapagos Archipelago The botany of this group is fully as interesting as the zoology. Dr. J. Hooker was soon published, in the linean transactions, a full account of the flora, and I am much indebted to him for the following details. Of flowering plants there are, as far as it present is known, 185 species, and 40 cryptogamic species, making altogether 225. Of this number I was fortunate enough to bring home 193. Of the flowering plants, 100 are new species, and are probably confined to this archipelago. Dr. Hooker concedes that, of the plants not so confined, at least 10 species found in the cultivated ground at Charles Island have been imported. It is, I think, surprising that more American species have not been introduced naturally, considering that the distance is only 500 and 600 miles from the continent, and that, according to Colnette page 58, driftwood, bamboos, canes, and the nuts of a palm are often washed on the south-eastern shores. The proportion of 100 flowering plants out of 183, or 175 excluding the imported weeds, being new, is sufficient, I conceive, to make the Galapagos Archipelago a distinct botanical province. But this flora is not nearly so peculiar as that of St. Helena, nor, as I am informed by Dr. Hooker, of one Ferdinand's. The peculiarity of the Galapagian flora is best shown in certain families. Thus there are 21 species of Compositeae, of which 20 are peculiar to this archipelago. These belong to 12 genera, and of these genera no less than 10 are confined to this archipelago. Dr. Hooker informs me that the flora has an undoubtedly western American character, nor can he detect in it any affinity with that of the Pacific. If, therefore, we accept the 18 marine, the one freshwater and one land-shell, which have apparently come here as colonists from the central islands of the Pacific, and likewise the one distinct Pacific species of the Galapagian group of finches, we see that this archipelago, though standing in the Pacific Ocean, is zoologically part of America. If this character were owing merely to immigrants from America, there would be little remarkable in it. But we see that a vast majority of all the land-animals, and that more than half of the flowering plants are Aboriginal productions. It was most striking to be surrounded by new birds, new reptiles, new shells, new insects, new plants, and yet by innumerable trifling details of structure, and even by the tones of voice and plumage of the birds, to have the temperate plains of Patagonia, or rather the hot dry deserts of northern Chile, vividly brought before my eyes. Why, on these small points of land, which within the late geological period must have been covered by the ocean, which are formed by basaltic lava, and therefore differ in geological character from the American continent, and which are placed under a peculiar climate? Why were there Aboriginal inhabitants, associated, I may add, in different proportions, both in kind and number from those on the continent, and therefore acting on each other in a different manner? Why were they created on American types of organisation? It is probable that the islands of the Cape de Verde Group resemble, in all their physical conditions, far more closely the Galapagos Islands, than these latter physically resemble the coast of America. Yet the Aboriginal inhabitants of the two groups are totally unlike. Those of the Cape de Verde Islands bearing the impress of Africa, as the inhabitants of the Galapagos Archipelago are stamped with that of America. I have not as yet noticed by far the most remarkable feature in the natural history of this archipelago. It is that the different islands to a considerable extent are inhabited by a different set of beings. My attention was first called to this fact by the Vice Governor, Mr. Lawson, declaring that the tortoises differed from the different islands, and that he could with certainty tell from which island any one was brought. I do not for some time pay sufficient attention to this statement, and I had already partially mingled together the collections from two of the islands. I never dreamed that islands, about fifty or sixty miles apart, and most of them in sight of each other, formed of precisely the same rocks, placed under a quite similar climate, rising to a nearly equal height, would have been differently tenanted. But we shall soon see that this is the case. It is the fate of most voyages, no sooner to discover what is most interesting in any locality than they are hurried from it. But I ought perhaps to be thankful that I obtain sufficient materials to establish this most remarkable fact in the distribution of organic beings. The inhabitants, as I have said, state that they can distinguish the tortoises from the different islands. And that they differ not only in size, but in other characters. Captain Porter has described those from Charles and from the nearest island to it, namely Hood Island, as having their shells in front thick and turned up like a Spanish saddle, whilst the tortoises from James Island are rounder, blacker, and have a better taste when cooked. M. Bibron, moreover, informs me that he has seen what he considers two distinct species of tortoise from the Galapagos, but he does not know from which islands. The specimens that I brought from three islands were young ones, and, probably owing to this cause, neither Mr. Gray nor myself could find in them any specific differences. I have remarked that the marine ampliarincus was larger at Albemarle Island than elsewhere, and M. Bibron informs me that he is seen two distinct aquatic species of his genus. So that the different islands probably have their representative species or races of the ampliarincus, as well as of the tortoise. My attention was first thoroughly aroused by comparing together the numerous specimens shot by myself and several other parties on board of the mocking thrushes, when, to my astonishment, I discovered that all those from Charles Island belong to one species. Mimas trifasciatus, all from Albemarle Island to M. Parvoulas, and all from James and Chatham Islands, between which two other islands are situated as connecting links, belong to M. Melanontis. These two latter species are closely allied, and word by some ornithologists, be considered as only well-marked races or varieties. But the Mimas trifasciatus is very distinct. Unfortunately, most of the specimens of the Finch tribe were mingled together, that I have strong reasons to suspect that some other species of the subgroup, Geospesa, are confined to separate islands. If the different islands have their representatives of Geospesa, it may help to explain the singularly large number of the species of the subgroup, in this one small archipelago. And, as a probable consequence of their numbers, the perfectly graduated series in the size of their beaks, two species of the subgroup Cactornis, and two of the Camarincas, but procured in the archipelago, and of the numerous specimens of these two subgroups, shot by four collectors at James Island, all were found to belong to one species, of each, whereas the numerous specimens shot either on Chatham or Charles Island, for the two sets were mingled together, all belonged to the two other species. Hence, you may feel almost sure that these islands possess their respective species of these two subgroups. In land shells, this law of distribution does not appear to hold good. In my very small collection of insects, Mr. Waterhouse remarks, that of those who tritigated with their locality, not one was common to any two of the islands. If we now turn to the flora, we shall find the aboriginal plants of the different islands wonderfully different. I give all the following results on the high authority of my friend, Dr. J. Hooker. I may premise that I indiscriminately collected everything and flower on the different islands, and fortunately kept my collection separate. Too much confidence, however, must not be placed in the proportional results. As the small collections brought home by some other naturalists, though in some respects confirming the results, plainly show that much remains to be done in the botany of this group. The leguminose, moreover, has as yet been only approximately worked out. Name of island, James. Total number of species, 71. Number of species found in other parts of the world, 33. Number of species confined to the Galapagos Archipelago, 38. Number confined to the One Island, 30. Number of species confined to the Galapagos Archipelago, but found on more than one island, 8. Name of island, Albemarle. Total number of species, 4. Number of species found in other parts of the world, 18. Number of species confined to the Galapagos Archipelago, 26. Number confined to the One Island, 22. Number of species confined to the Galapagos Archipelago, but found on more than one island, 4. Name of island, Chatham. Total number of species, 32. Number of species found in other parts of the world, 16. Number of species confined to the Galapagos Archipelago, 16. Number confined to the One Island, 12. Number of species confined to the Galapagos Archipelago, but found on more than one island, 4. Name of island, Charles. Total number of species, 68. Number of species found in other parts of the world, 39. Or 29, if the probably imported plants be subtracted. Number of species confined to the Galapagos Archipelago, 29. Number confined to the One Island, 21. Number of species confined to the Galapagos Archipelago, but found on more than one island, 8. Hence we have the truly wonderful fact, that in James Island, of 38 Galapagian plants, or those found in no other part of the world, 30 are exclusively confined to this One Island. And in Albemarle Island, of the 26 Aboriginal Galapagian plants, 22 are confined to this One Island. That is, only 4 are at present known to grow in the other islands of the Archipelago. And so on, as shown in the above table, with the plants from Chatham and Charles Island. This fact will perhaps be rendered even more striking, by giving a few illustrations. Thus, Scalasia, a remarkable arborescent genus of the Composite, is confined to the Archipelago. It is six species, one from Chatham, one from Albemarle, one from Charles Island, two from James Island, and the sixth from one of the three latter islands. But it is not known from which. Not one of these six species grows on any two islands. Again, Euphrobrea, a mundane or widely distributed genus, has here eight species, of which seven are confined to the Archipelago, and not one found on any two islands. A calypher, Boreria, both mundane genera, have respectively six and seven species. None of which have the same species on two islands, with the exception of one Boreria, which does occur on two islands. The species of the Composite are particularly local, and Dr. Hooker has furnished me with several other most striking illustrations of the differences of the species on the different islands. He remarks that this law of distribution holds good, both with those genera confined to the Archipelago, and those distributed in other quarters of the world. In like manner we have seen that the different islands have their proper species of the mundane genus of tortoise, and of the widely distributed American genus of the Mockingthrash, as well as of two of the Galapagian subgroups of Finches, and almost certainly of the Galapagian genus Ambliarencus. The distribution of the tenets of this Archipelago would not be nearly so wonderful, for instance one island had a Mockingthrash, and a second island some other quite distinct genus. If one island had its genus of lizard, and a second island another distinct genus, or none whatever, or if the different islands were inhabited, not by representative species of the same genera of plants, but by totally different genera, as does to a certain extent hold good. For, to give one instance, a large berry-bearing tree at James Island has no representative species in Charles Island. But it is the circumstance that several of the islands possesses their own species of the tortoise, Mockingthrash, Finches, and numerous plants. These species have in the same general habits, occupying analogous situations, and obviously filling the same place in the natural economy of the Archipelago that strikes me with wonder. It may be suspected that some of these representative species, at least in the case of the tortoise and of some of the birds, may hereafter prove to be only well-marked races. But this would be of equally great interest to the philosophical naturalist. I have said that most of the islands are inside of each other. I may specify that Charles Island is fifty miles from the nearest part of Chatham Island, and thirty-three miles from the nearest part of Albemarle Island. Chatham Island is sixty miles from the nearest part of James Island, but there are two intermediate islands between them, which were not visited by me. James Island is only ten miles from the nearest part of Albemarle Island, but the two points where the collections were made are thirty-two miles apart. I must repeat that neither the nature of the soil, nor height of the land, nor the climate, nor the general character of the associated beings, and therefore the action one on another, can differ much in the different islands. If there be any sensible difference in their climates, it must be between the Windward Group, namely Charles and Chatham Islands, and that to the Leeward. But there seems to be no corresponding difference in the productions of these two halves of the archipelago. The only light which I can throw on this remarkable difference in the inhabitants of the different islands is that very strong currents of the sea running in a westerly and west-northwesterly direction must separate, as far as transportal by the sea is concerned, the southern islands from the northern ones, and between these northern islands a strong northwest current was observed, which must effectively separate James and Albemarle Island. As the archipelago is free to a most remarkable degree from Gales of Wind, neither the birds, insects, nor lighter seeds would be blown from island to island. And lastly, the profound depth of the ocean between the islands, and their apparent recent, in a geological sense, volcanic origin, render it highly unlikely that they were ever united. And this, probably, is a far more important consideration than any other, with respect to the geographical distribution of their inhabitants. Reviewing the facts here given, one is astonished at the amount of creative force, if such an expression may be used, displayed on these small, barren and rocky islands, and still more so at its diverse yet analogous action on points so near each other. I have said that the Galapagos archipelago might be called a satellite attached to America, but it should rather be called a group of satellites, physically similar, organically distinct, yet intimately related to each other, and all related in a marked, though much lesser degree, to the great American continent. I will conclude my description of the natural history of these islands by giving an account of the extreme tameness of the birds. This disposition is common to all the terrestrial species, namely to the mocking thrushes, the finches, wrens, tyrant catches, the dove, and carrion buzzard. All of them are often approached sufficiently near to be killed with a switch, and sometimes, as I myself tried, with a cap or hat. A gun here is almost superfluous, for with the muzzle I pushed a hawk off the branch of a tree. One day, whilst lying down, a mocking thrush alighted on the edge of a picture, made of the shell of a tortoise, which I held in my hand, and begun very quietly to sip the water. It allowed me to lift it from the ground whilst seated on the vessel. I often tried, and very nearly succeeded, in catching these birds by their legs. Formerly the birds appear to have been even tamer than at present. Cowley, in the year 1684, says that the turtle doves were so tame that they would often alight on our hats and arms, so as that we could take them alive, they are not fearing man, until such time as some of our company did fire at them, whereby they were rendered more shy. Dampier, also in the same year, says that a man in a morning's walk might kill six or seven dozen of these doves. At present, although certainly very tame, they do not alight on people's arms, nor do they suffer themselves to be killed in such large numbers. It is surprising that they have not become wilder, for these islands, during the last 150 years, have been frequently visited by buccaneers and whalers, and the sailors, wandering through the woods in search of tortoises, always take cruel delight in knocking down the little birds. These birds, although now still more persecuted, do not readily become wild. In Charles Island, which had then been colonised about six years, I saw a boy sitting by a well with a switch in his hand, with which he killed the doves and finches as they came to drink. He had already procured a little heap of them for his dinner, and he said that he had constantly been in the habit of waiting by this well for the same purpose. It would appear that the birds of this archipelago, not having as yet learnt that man is a more dangerous animal than the tortoise or the amblyorincus, disregard him. In the same manner as in England, shy birds, such as magpies, disregard the cows and horses grazing in our fields. The Falkland Islands offer a second instance of birds of the similar disposition. The extraordinary tameness of the little optiorincus, has been remarked by Pernity, Lesson and other voyages. It is not, however, peculiar to that bird. The polyborus, snipe, upland and lowland goose, thrush, bunting and even some true hawks, are all more or less tame. As the birds are so tame there, where foxes, hawks and owls occur, we may infer that the absence of all rapacious animals at the Galapagos is not the cause of their tameness here. The upland geese at the Falkland show, by the precaution they take in building on the islets, that they are aware of their danger from the foxes, but they are not by this rendered wild towards man. This tameness of the birds, especially of the waterfowl, is strongly contrasted with the habits in Tierra del Fuego, where for ages past they have been persecuted by the wild inhabitants. In the Falklands, the sportsmen may sometimes kill more of the upland geese in one day than he can carry home. Whereas in Tierra del Fuego, it is nearly as difficult to kill one as it is in England to shoot the common wild goose. In the time of Pernity, 1763, all the birds there appear to be much tamer than at present. He states that the optiorencus would almost perch on his finger, and that with a wand he killed ten in half an hour. At that period the birds must have been about as tame as they are now at the Galapagos. They appear to have learned caution more slowly at these latter islands than at the Falklands, where they have proportionate means of experience. For besides frequent visits from vessels, these islands have been at intervals, colonised during the entire period. Even formerly when all the birds were so tame, it was impossible, by Pernity's account, to kill the blacked next one. A bird of passage, which probably brought with it the wisdom learnt in foreign countries. I may add that, according to Dubois, all the birds at Bourbon, in 1571 to 72, with the exception of the flamingos and geese, were so extremely tame that they could be caught by the hand or killed in any number with a stick. Again at Trist and Dachna in the Atlantic, Carmichael states that the only two land birds, a thrush and a bunting, were so tame as to suffer themselves to be caught with a hand-net. From these several facts we may, I think, conclude first that the wildness of the bird with regard to man is a particular instinct directed against him and not dependent upon any general degree of caution arising from other sources of danger. Secondly, that it is not acquired by individual birds in a short time, even when much persecuted, but that in the course of successive generations it becomes hereditary. With domestic animals we are accustomed to see new mental habits or instincts acquired or rendered hereditary, but with animals in a state of nature it must always be more difficult to discover instincts of acquired hereditary knowledge. In regard to the wildness of birds towards man there is no way of accounting for it, except as an inherited habit. Comparatively few young birds in any one year have been injured by man in England. Yet almost all even nestlings are afraid of him. Many individuals, on the other hand, both at the Galapagos and at the Falklands, have been pursued and injured by man and yet have not learned a solitary dread of him. We may infer from these facts what havoc the introduction of any new beast of prey must cause in a country before the instincts of the indigenous inhabitants have become adapted to the strangest craft or power. End of Chapter 17 Part 3 Chapter 18 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 Recorded by Laurie Ann Walden The Voyage of the Beagle by Charles Darwin Chapter 18 Part 1 Tahiti and New Zealand Pass through the low archipelago Tahiti Aspect Vegetation on the mountains View of Aimeo Excursion into the interior Profound ravines Succession of waterfalls Number of wild, useful plants Temperance of the inhabitants Their moral state Is not convened New Zealand Bay of Islands Hippos Excursion to Waimati Missionary establishment English weeds now run wild Waimeo Funeral of a New Zealand woman Sail for Australia October 20th The survey of the Galapagos Archipelago being concluded we steered towards Tahiti and commenced our long passage of 3200 miles. It was the largest ocean district which extends during the winter far from the coast of South America. We then enjoyed bright and clear weather while running pleasantly along at the rate of 150 or 160 miles a day before the steady trade wind. The temperature in this more central part of the Pacific is higher than near the American shore. The thermometer in the poop cabin by day and night ranged between 80 and 83 degrees which feels very pleasant but with one degree or two higher it becomes oppressive. We passed through the low or dangerous archipelago and saw several of those most curious rings of coral land just rising above the water's edge which have been called lagoon islands. A long and brilliantly white beach is capped by a margin of green vegetation and the strip looking either way rapidly narrows away in the distance and sinks beneath the horizon. From the mast head a wide expanse of smooth water can be seen within the ring. These low hollow coral islands bear no proportion to the vast ocean out of which they abruptly rise and it seems wonderful that such weak invaders are not overwhelmed by the all-powerful and never-tiring waves of that great sea miscalled the Pacific. November 15th at daylight, Tahiti, an island which must forever remain classical to the Voyager in the South Sea was in view. At a distance the appearance was not attractive. The luxuriant vegetation of the lower part could not yet be seen and as the clouds rolled past the wildest and most precipitous peaks showed themselves towards the center of the island. As soon as we anchored in Matavé Bay we were surrounded by canoes. This was our Sunday but the Monday of Tahiti. If the case had been reversed we should not have received a single visit for the injunction not to launch a canoe on the Sabbath is rigidly obeyed. After dinner we landed to enjoy all the delights produced by the first impressions of a new country and that country the charming Tahiti. A crowd of men, women, and children was collected on the memorable Point Venus ready to receive us with laughing, merry faces. They marshaled us towards the house of Mr. Wilson, the missionary of the district who met us on the road and gave us a very friendly reception. After sitting a very short time in his house we separated to walk about the land capable of cultivation is scarcely in any part more than a fringe of low alluvial soil accumulated around the base of the mountains and protected from the waves of the sea by our coral reef which encircles the entire line of coast. Within the reef there is an expanse of smooth water like that of a lake where the canoes of the natives comply with safety and where ships anchor. They are the most beautiful productions of the intertropical regions. In the midst of bananas, orange, coconut, and breadfruit trees spots are cleared where yams, sweet potatoes, and sugarcane and pineapples are cultivated. Even the brushwood is an imported fruit tree namely the guava which from its abundance has become as noxious as a weed. In Brazil I have often admired the varied beauty of the bananas, palms, and orange trees together. And here we also have the breadfruit conspicuous from its large, glossy, and deeply digitated leaf. It is admirable to behold groves of a tree sending forth its branches with the vigor of an English oak loaded with large and most nutritious fruit. However seldom the usefulness of an object can account for the pleasure of beholding it. In the case of these beautiful woods the knowledge of their high productiveness no doubt enters largely into the feeling of admiration. As cool from the surrounding shade led to the scattered houses the owners of which everywhere gave us a cheerful and most hospitable reception. I was pleased with nothing so much as with the inhabitants. There is a mildness in the expression of their countenances which at once vanishes the idea of a savage and intelligence which shows that they are advancing in civilization. The common people when working keep the upper part of their bodies quite naked and it is then that the Tahitians are seen to advantage. They are very tall, broad-shouldered, athletic and well proportioned. It has been remarked that it requires little habit to make a dark skin more pleasing and natural to the eye of a European than his own color. A white man bathing by the side of a Tahitian was like a plant bleached by the gardener's art compared with a fine dark green one growing vigorously in the open fields. Most of the men are tattooed and the ornaments follow the curvature of the body so gracefully that they have a very elegant effect. One common pattern varying in its details is somewhat like the crown of a palm tree. It springs from the central line of the back and gracefully curls round both sides. The simile may be a fanciful one but I thought the body of a man thus ornamented was like the trunk of a noble tree embraced by a delicate creeper. Many of the elder people had their feet covered with small figures so placed as to resemble a sock. This fashion, however, is partly gone by and has been succeeded by others. Here, although fashion is far from immutable, everyone must abide by that prevailing in his youth. An old man has thus his age forever stamped on his body and he cannot assume the heirs of a young dandy. The women are tattooed in the same manner as the men and very commonly on their fingers. One unbecoming fashion is now almost universal, namely shaving the hair from the upper part of the head in a circular form so as to leave only an outer ring. The missionaries have tried to persuade the people to change this habit but it is the fashion and that is a sufficient answer at Tahiti as well as at Paris. I was much disappointed in the personal appearance of the women. They are far inferior in every respect to the men. The custom of wearing a white or scarlet flower in the back of the head or through a small hole in each ear is pretty. A crown of woven coconut leaves is also worn as a shade for the eyes. The women appear to be in greater want of some becoming costume even than the men. Nearly all the natives understand a little English, that is they know the names of common things and by the aid of this together with signs a lame sort of conversation could be carried on. In returning in the evening to the boat we stopped to witness a very pretty scene. Numbers of children were playing and had lighted bonfires which illumined the placid sea in surrounding trees. Others in circles were singing Tahitian verses. We seated ourselves on the sand and joined their party. The songs were impromptu and I believe related to our arrival. One little girl sang a line which the rest took up in parts forming a very pretty chorus. The whole scene made us unequivocally aware that we were seated on the shores of an island This day is reckoned in the logbook is Tuesday the 17th instead of Monday the 16th owing to our so far successful chase of the sun. Before breakfast the ship was hemmed in by a flotilla of canoes and when the natives were allowed to come on board I suppose there could not have been less than 200. It was the opinion of everyone that it would have been difficult to have picked out an equal number from any other nation who would have given so little trouble. The Tahitians now fully understand the value of money and prefer it to old clothes or other articles. The various coins however of English and Spanish denomination puzzle them and they never seemed to think the small silver quite secure until changed into dollars. Some of the chiefs have accumulated considerable sums of money. One chief not long since offered 800 dollars about 160 pounds sterling they purchased whale boats and horses at the rate of from 50 to 100 dollars. After breakfast I went on shore and ascended the nearest slope to a height of between 2 and 3,000 feet. The outer mountains are smooth and conical but steep and the old volcanic rocks of which they are formed have been cut through by many profound ravines diverging from the central broken parts of the island to the coast. Having crossed the narrow low gert of inhabited and fertile land there was a deep bridge between two of the deep ravines. The vegetation was singular consisting almost exclusively of small dwarf ferns mingled higher up with coarse grass. It was not very dissimilar from that on some of the Welsh hills and this so close above the orchard of tropical plants on the coast was very surprising. At the highest point which I reached trees again appeared. Of the three zones of comparative luxuriance the lower one was flatness. Four being scarcely raised above the level of the sea the water from the higher land drains away slowly. The intermediate zone does not like the upper one reach into a damp and cloudy atmosphere and therefore remains sterile. The woods in the upper zone are very pretty tree ferns replacing the coconuts on the coast. It must not however be supposed that these woods at all equal in splendor the forests of Brazil. Cannot be expected to occur in an island. From the highest point which I attained there was a good view of the distant island of Aimeo dependent on the same sovereign with Tahiti. On the lofty and broken pinnacles white massive clouds were piled up which formed an island in the blue sky as Aimeo itself did in the blue ocean. The island with the exception of one small gateway is completely encircled by a reef. At this distance a narrow but well defined brilliantly white line was alone visible where the waves first encountered the wall of coral. The mountains rose abruptly out of the glassy expanse of the lagoon included within this narrow white line outside which the heaving waters of the ocean were dark colored. The view was striking. It may aptly be compared to a framed engraving where the frame represents the breakers, the marginal paper the smooth lagoon and the drawing the island itself. When in the evening I descended from the mountain a man whom I had pleased with a trifling gift met me bringing with him hot roasted bananas, a pineapple and coconuts. After walking under a burning sun I do not know anything more delicious than the milk of a young coconut. Pineapples are here so abundant that the people eat them in the same wasteful manner as we might turnips. They are of an excellent flavor perhaps even better than those cultivated in England and this I believe is the highest compliment which can be paid to any fruit. Before going on board Mr. Wilson interpreted for me to the Tahitian who had paid me so adroit in attention that I wanted him and another man to accompany me on a short excursion into the mountains. Eighteenth. In the morning I came on shore early bringing with me some provisions in a bag and two blankets for myself and servant. These were lashed to each end by my Tahitian companions on their shoulders. These men are accustomed thus to carry for a whole day as much as fifty pounds at each end of their poles. I told my gods to provide themselves with food and clothing but they said that there was plenty of food in the mountains and for clothing that their skins were sufficient. Our line of march was in the valley of Tiaru down which a river flows into the sea by Point Venus. This is one of the principal levels which rise to a height of about seven thousand feet. The whole island is so mountainous that the only way to penetrate into the interior is to follow up the valleys. Our road at first lay through woods which bordered each side of the river and the glimpses of the lofty central peaks seen as through an avenue with here and there a waving coconut tree on one side were extremely picturesque. The valley soon began to narrow and the sides to grow lofty between three and four hours we found the width of the ravine scarcely exceeded that of the bed of the stream. On each hand the walls were nearly vertical yet from the soft nature of the volcanic strata trees and a rank vegetation sprung from every projecting ledge. These precipices must have been some thousand feet high and the whole formed a mountain gorge far more magnificent than anything which I had ever before beheld. The valley was still in damp but now it became very sultry shaded by a ledge of rock beneath a façade of columnar lava we ate our dinner. My guides had already procured a dish of small fish and fresh water prawns they carried with them a small net stretched on a hoop and where the water was deep and in eddies they dived and like otters with their eyes open followed the fish into holes and corners and thus caught them the Tahitians have the dexterity of their lives. An anecdote mentioned by Ellis shows how much they feel at home in this element. When a horse was landing for Pamar in 1817 the slings broke and it fell into the water. Immediately the natives jumped overboard and by their cries and vain efforts at assistance almost drowned it. As soon however as it reached the shore the whole population took to flight and tried to hide themselves from the man carrying three little streams. The two northern ones were impracticable owing to a succession of waterfalls which descended from the jagged summit of the highest mountain. The other to all appearance was equally inaccessible but we managed to ascend it by a most extraordinary road. The sides of the valley were here nearly precipitous but as frequently happens with stratified rocks small ledges projected which were thickly covered by wild bananas, lilyaceous plants the Tahitians by climbing amongst these ledges searching for fruit had discovered a track by which the whole precipice could be scaled. The first ascent from the valley was very dangerous for it was necessary to pass a steeply inclined face of naked rock by the aid of ropes which we brought with us. How any person discovered that this formidable spot was the only point where the side of the mountain was practicable I cannot imagine. We then cautiously walked along one of the ledges till we came to the top of the valley and then we saw some of the waterfalls and streams. This ledge formed a flat spot above which a beautiful cascade some hundred feet in height poured down its waters and beneath another high cascade fell into the main stream in the valley below. From this cool and shady recess we made a circuit to avoid the overhanging waterfall. As before we followed little projecting ledges the danger came to us. One of the Tahitians, a fine active man, placed the trunk of a tree against this, climbed up it, and then by the aid of crevices reached the summit. He fixed the ropes to a projecting point and lowered them for our dog and luggage and then we clambered up ourselves. Beneath the ledge on which the dead tree was placed the precipice must have been five or six hundred feet deep to attempt it. We continued to ascend sometimes along ledges and sometimes along knife-edged ridges having on each hand profound ravines. In the Cordillera I have seen mountains on a far grander scale but for abruptness nothing at all comparable with this. In the evening we reached a flat little spot on the banks of the same stream which we had continued to follow and which descends in a chain there were great beds of the mountain banana covered with ripe fruit. Many of these plants were from twenty to twenty-five feet high and from three to four in circumference. By the aid of strips of bark for rope, the stems of bamboo for rafters, and a large leaf of the banana for a thatch, the Tahitians in a few minutes built us an excellent house and with withered leaves made a soft bed. A light was procured by rubbing a blunt pointed stick in a groove made in another as if with intention of deepening it until by the friction the dust became ignited. A peculiarly white and very light wood, the Hibiscus Tilliaeus is alone used for this purpose. It is the same which serves for poles to carry any burden and for the floating outriggers to their canoes. The fire was produced in a few seconds but to a person who had the greatest exertion. But at last to my great pride I succeeded in igniting the dust. The Gaucho in the Pampus uses a different method. Taking an elastic stick about eighteen inches long he presses one end on his breast and the other pointed end into a hole in a piece of wood and then rapidly turns the curved part like a carpenter's center bit. The Tahitians having made a small fire of sticks for about ten minutes the sticks were consumed and the stones hot. They had previously folded up in small parcels of leaves, pieces of beef, fish, ripe and unripe bananas and the tops of the wild arum. These green parcels were laid in a layer between two layers of the hot stones and the hole then covered up with earth so that no smoke or steam could escape. In about a quarter of an hour in the coconut shell we drank the cool water of the running stream and thus we enjoyed our rustic meal. I could not look on the surrounding plants without admiration. On every side were forests of banana, the fruit of which serving for food in various ways lay in heaps decaying on the ground. In front of us there was an extensive break of wild sugarcane and the stream was shaded by the dark green knotted leaves. I chewed a piece and found that it had an acrid and unpleasant taste which would have induced anyone at once to have pronounced it poisonous. Thanks to the missionaries this plant now thrives only in these deep ravines, innocuous to everyone. Close by I saw the wild arum, the roots of which, when well baked, are good to eat and the young leaves better than spinach. There was the wild yam and a liliaceous plant called tea which lies like a huge log of wood. This served us for dessert for it is as sweet as treacle and with a pleasant taste. There were, moreover, several other wild fruits and useful vegetables. The little stream besides its cool water produced eels and crayfish. I did indeed admire this scene when I compared it with an uncultivated one in the temperate zones. I felt the force of the remark that man, at least savage man, with his reasoning powers of the tropics. As the evening drew to a close I strolled beneath the gloomy shade of the bananas of the course of the stream. My walk was soon brought to a close by coming to a waterfall between two and three hundred feet high and again above this there was another. I mentioned all these waterfalls in this one brook to give a general idea of the inclination of the land. In the little recess where the water fell it did not appear that a breath of wind the thin edges of the great leaves of the banana damp with spray were unbroken instead of being as is so generally the case split into a thousand shreds. From our position almost suspended on the mountain side there were glimpses into the depths of the neighboring valleys and the lofty points of the central mountains towering up within 60 degrees of the zenith hid half the evening sky. Thus seated it was a sublime spectacle to watch the shades of night gradually obscuring the last and highest pinnacles. Before we laid ourselves down to sleep the elder Tahitian fell on his knees and with closed eyes repeated a long prayer in his native tongue. He prayed as a Christian should do with fitting reverence and without the fear of ridicule or any ostentation of piety. At our meals neither of the men would taste food without saying beforehand a short grace. Those travelers who think that a man when the eyes of the missionary are fixed on him should have slept with us that night on the mountain side. Before morning it rained very heavily but the good patch of banana leaves kept us dry. End of Chapter 18 Part 1 Chapter 18 Part 2 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 Chris Chapman The Voyage of the Beagle by Charles Darwin Chapter 18 Part 2 Tahiti and New Zealand November 19th At daylight my friends after their morning prayer prepared an excellent breakfast in the same manner as in the evening. They themselves certainly partook of it largely. Indeed I never saw any men eat near so much. I suppose such enormously capacious stomachs must be the effect of a large part of their diet consisting of fruit and vegetables which contain in a given bulk a comparatively small portion of nutriment. Unwittingly I was the means of my companions breaking as I afterwards learned one of their own laws and resolutions. I took with me a flask of spirits which they could not refuse to partake of but as often as they drank a little they put their fingers before their mouths and uttered the word missionary. About two years ago although the use of the arva was prevented drunkenness from the introduction of spirits became very prevalent. The missionaries prevailed on a few good men who saw that their country was rapidly going to ruin to join with them in a temperance society. From good sense or shame all the chiefs and the queen were at last persuaded to join. Immediately a law was passed that no spirits should be allowed to be introduced into the island and that he who sold and he who bought the forbidden article with remarkable justice a certain period was allowed for stock in hand to be sold before the law came into effect but when it did a general search was made in which even the houses of the missionaries were not exempted and all the arva as the natives call all ardent spirits was poured on the ground. When one reflects on the effect of intemperance on the aborigines of the two Americas every well-wisher of Tahiti owes no common debt of gratitude to the missionaries. As long as the little island of Saint Helena remained under the government of the East India Company spirits owing to the great injury they had produced were not allowed to be imported but wine was supplied from the Cape of Good Hope. It is rather a striking and not very gratifying fact that in the same year their use was banished from Tahiti by the free will of the people. After breakfast we proceeded on our journey as my object was merely to see a little of the interior scenery we returned by another track which descended into the main valley lower down for some distance we wound by a most intricate path along the side of the mountain which formed the valley in the less precipitous part we passed through extensive groves of the wild banana the Tahitians with their naked, tattooed bodies their heads ornamented with flowers and seen in the dark shade of these groves would have formed a fine picture of man inhabiting some primeval land in our descent we followed the line of ridges these were exceedingly narrow and for considerable lengths steep as a ladder but all clothed with vegetation the extreme care necessary in poisoning each step rendered the walk fatiguing I did not cease to wonder at these ravines and precipices when viewing the country from one of the knife-edged ridges the point of support was so small that the effect was nearly the same as it must be from a balloon in this descent we had occasion to use the ropes only once at the point where we entered the main valley we slept under the same ledge of rock where we had dined the day before the night was fine but from the depth and narrowness of the gorge profoundly dark before actually seeing this country I found it difficult to understand two facts mentioned by Ellis only that after the murderous battles of former times the survivors on the conquered side retired into the mountains where a handful of men could resist a multitude certainly half a dozen men at the spot where the Tahitian reared the old tree could easily have repulsed thousands secondly that after the introduction of Christianity there were wild men who lived in the mountains and whose retreats were unknown to the more civilized inhabitants November the 20th in the morning we started early and reached Matavai at noon on the road we met a large party of noble athletic men going for wild bananas I found that the ship on account of the difficulty in watering had moved to the harbour of Papua to which place I immediately walked this is a very pretty spot the cove is surrounded by reefs and the water as smooth as in a lake the cultivated ground with its beautiful productions interspersed with cottages comes close down to the water's edge from the varying accounts which I had read before reaching these islands I was very anxious to form from my own observation a judgement of their moral state although such judgement would necessarily be very imperfect first impressions at all times very much depend on one's previously acquired ideas my notions were drawn from Ellis's Polynesian researchers an admirable and most interesting work but naturally looking at everything under a favourable point of view from Beechie's voyage and from that of Kotzebue which is strongly adverse to the whole missionary system he who compares these three accounts will I think form a tolerably accurate conception of the present state of Tahiti one of my impressions which I took from the two last authorities was decidedly incorrect namely that the Tahitians had become a gloomy race and lived in fear of the missionaries of the latter feeling I saw no trace unless indeed fear and respect be confounded under one name instead of discontent being a common feeling it would be difficult in Europe to pick out of a crowd half so many merry and happy faces the prohibition of the flute and dancing is invade against as wrong and foolish the more than presbyterian manner of keeping the Sabbath is looked at in a similar light on these points I do not intend to offer any opinion to men who have resided as many years as I was days on the island on the whole it appears to me that the morality and religion of the inhabitants are highly creditable there are many who attack even more acrimoniously than Kotzebue both the missionaries their system and the effects produced by it such reason as never compare the present state with that of the island 20 years ago nor even with that of Europe at this day but they compare it with the high standard of gospel perfection they expect the missionaries to effect that which the apostles themselves failed to do in as much as the condition of the people falls short of this high standard blame is attached to the missionary instead of credit for that which he has affected they forget or will not remember the sacrifices and the power of an idolatrous priesthood a system of profligacy unparalleled in any other part of the world infanticide a consequence of that system bloody wars where the conquerors spared neither women nor children that all these have been abolished and that dishonesty intemperance and licentiousness have been greatly reduced to the notion of Christianity in a voyager to forget these things is based in gratitude for should he chance to be at the point of shipwreck on some unknown coast he will most devoutly pray that the lesson of the missionary may have extended thus far in point of morality the virtue of the women it has been often said is most open to exception but before they are blamed too severely it will be well distinctly to call to mind the scenes described by Captain Cook and Mr Banks in which the grandmothers and mothers of the present race played a part those who are most severe should consider how much of the morality of the women in Europe is owing to the system early impressed by mothers on their daughters and how much in each individual case to the precepts of religion that it is useless to argue against such reasoners I believe that disappointed in not finding the field of licentiousness quite so open as formally they will not give credit to a morality which they do not wish to practice or to a religion which they undervalue if not despise Sunday the 22nd the harbour of Papeete where the queen resides may be considered as the capital of the island it is also the seat of government and the chief resort of shipping Captain Fitzroy took a party there this day to hear divine service first in the Tahitian language and afterwards in our own Mr Prichard the leading missionary in the island performed the service the chapel consisted of a large airy framework of wood and it was filled to excess by tidy, clean people of all ages and both sexes I was rather disappointed in the apparent degree of attention but I believe my expectations were raised too high at all events the appearance was quite equal to that in a country church in England the singing of the hymns was decidedly very pleasing but the language from the pulpit although fluently delivered did not sound well like Matamai rendered it monotonous after English service a party returned on foot to Matavai it was a pleasant walk sometimes along the sea beach and sometimes under the shade of the many beautiful trees about two years ago a small vessel under English colours was plundered by some of the inhabitants of the low islands which were then under the dominion of the Queen of Tahiti the perpetrators were instigated to this act by some indiscreet laws issued by Her Majesty the British government demanded compensation which was exceeded to and the sum of nearly $3,000 was agreed to be paid on the 1st of last September the Commodore at Lima ordered Captain Fitzroy to inquire concerning this debt and to demand satisfaction if it were not paid Captain Fitzroy accordingly requested an interview with the Queen Pamare since famous from the ill treatment she had received from the French and a parliament was held to consider the question at which all the principal chiefs of the island and the Queen were assembled I will not attempt to describe what took place after the interesting account given by Captain Fitzroy the money it appeared had not been paid at all but otherwise I cannot sufficiently express our general surprise at the extreme good sense the reasoning powers, moderation candor and prompt resolution which were displayed on all sides I believe we all left the meeting with a very different opinion of the Tahitians from what we entertained when we entered the chiefs and people resolved urged that it was hard that their private property should be sacrificed for the crimes of distant islanders they replied that they were grateful for his consideration but that Pamare was their queen and that they were determined to help her in this her difficulty this resolution and its prompt execution for a book was opened early the next morning made a perfect conclusion to this very remarkable scene of loyalty and good feeling after the main discussion was ended several of the chiefs took the opportunity of asking Captain Fitzroy many intelligent questions on international customs and laws relating to the treatment of ships and foreigners on some points as soon as the decision was made the law was issued verbally on the spot this Tahitian parliament was closed for a few hours and when it was over Captain Fitzroy invited Queen Pamare to pay the beagle a visit November 25th in the evening four boats were sent for her majesty the ship was dressed with flags and the yards manned on her coming on board she was accompanied by most of the chiefs the behavior of all was very proper they begged for nothing and seemed much pleased Captain Fitzroy's presence the queen is a large, awkward woman without any beauty, grace or dignity she has only one royal attribute a perfect immovability of expression under all circumstances and that rather a sullen one the rockets were most admired and a deep oh could be heard from the shore all round the dark bay after each explosion the sailors songs were also much admired and the queen said she thought that one of the most boisterous ones certainly could not be a hymn the royal party did not return on shore till past midnight 26th in the evening with the gentle land breeze a course was steered for New Zealand and as the sun set we had a farewell view of the mountains of Tahiti the island to which every voyager has offered up his tribute of admiration December 19th in the evening we saw in the distance New Zealand we may now consider that we have nearly crossed the Pacific it is necessary to sail over this great ocean to comprehend its immensity moving quickly onwards for weeks together we meet with nothing but the same blue profoundly deep ocean even within the archipelagos the islands are mere specks and far distant one from the other accustomed to look at maps drawn on a small scale where dots, shading and names are crowded together we do not rightly judge how infinitely small the proportion of dry land is to water of this vast expanse the meridian of the antipodes has likewise been passed and now every league it made us happy to think was one league nearer to England these antipodes call to one's mind old recollections of childish doubt and wonder only the other day I looked forward to this airy barrier as a definite point in our voyage homewards but now I find it and all such resting places for the imagination are like shadows which a man moving onwards cannot catch a gale of wind lasting for some days has lately given us full leisure to measure the future stages in our homeward voyage and to wish most earnestly for its termination December 21st early in the morning we entered the bay of islands and being becalmed for some hours near the mouth we did not reach the anchorage till the middle of the day the country is hilly with a smooth outline and is deeply intersected by numerous arms of the sea extending from the bay the surface appears from a distance as if clothed with coarse pasture but this in truth is nothing but fern on the more distant hills as well as in parts of the valleys there is a good deal of woodland the general tint of the landscape is not a bright green and it resembles the country a short distance to the south of Concepcion in Chile in several parts of the bay little villages of square tidy looking houses are scattered close down to the water's edge three wailing ships were lying at anchor and a canoe every now and then crossed from shore to shore with these exceptions an air of extreme quietness reigned over the whole district only a single canoe came alongside this and the aspect of the whole scene afforded a remarkable and not very pleasing contrast with our joyful and boisterous welcome at Tahiti in the afternoon we went on shore to one of the larger groups of houses which yet hardly deserves the title of a village its name is Pajia it is the residence of the missionaries and there are no native residents except servants and labourers in the vicinity of the bay of islands the number of Englishmen including their families amounts to between two and three hundred all the cottages many of which are whitewashed and look very neat are the property of the English the hovels of the natives are so diminutive and poultry that they can scarcely be perceived from a distance at Pajia it was quite pleasing to behold the English flowers in the gardens before the houses there were roses of several kinds honeysuckle, jasmine, stocks and whole hedges of sweet briar December 22 in the morning I went out walking but I soon found that the country was very impracticable all the hills are thickly covered with tall fern together with a low brush which grows like a cypress and very little ground has been cleared or cultivated I then tried the sea beach but proceeding towards either hand my walk was soon stopped by saltwater creeks and deep brooks the communication between the inhabitants of the different parts of the bay is as in Chilaue almost entirely kept up by boats I was surprised to find that almost every hill which I ascended had been at some form of time more or less fortified the summits were cut into steps or successive terraces and frequently they had been protected by deep trenches I afterwards observed that the printable hills in land in like manner showed these are the pars so frequently mentioned by Captain Cook under the name of Hippar the difference of sound being owing to the prefixed article that the pars had formerly been much used was evident from the piles of shells and the pits in which as I was informed sweet potatoes used to be kept as reserve as there was no water on these hills the defenders could never have anticipated a long siege but only a hurried attack for plunder against which the successive terraces would have afforded good protection the general introduction of firearms has changed the whole system of warfare and an exposed situation on the top of a hill is now worse than useless the pars in consequence are at the present day always built on the level piece of ground they consist of a double stockade of thick and tall posts placed in a zigzag line so that every part can be flanked within the stockade a mound of earth is thrown up behind which the defenders can rest in safety or use their firearms over it on the level of the ground little archways sometimes pass through this breast work by which means the defenders can crawl out to the stockade and reconnoitre their enemies the Reverend W. Williams who gave me this account added that in one parse he had noticed spurs or buttresses projecting on the inner and protected side of the mound of earth on asking the chief the use of them he replied that if two or three of his men were shot their neighbors would not see the bodies and so be discouraged these pars are considered by the New Zealanders as very perfect means of defence for the attacking force is so well disciplined as to rush in a body to the stockade cut it down and affect their entry when a tribe goes to war the chief cannot order one party to go here and another there but every man fights in the manner which best pleases himself and to each separate individual to approach a stockade defended by firearms must appear certain death I should think a more war like race of inhabitants could not be found in any part of the world than the New Zealanders their conduct on first seeing a ship as described by Captain Cook strongly illustrates this the act of throwing volleys of stones at so great and novel an object and their defiance of come on shore and we will kill and eat you all shows uncommon boldness this war like spirit is evident in many of their customs and even in their smallest actions if a New Zealander is struck although but in joke the blow must be returned and of this I saw an instance with one of our officers at the present day from the progress of civilization there is much less warfare except among some of the southern tribes I heard a characteristic anecdote of what took place some time ago in the south a missionary found a chief and his tribe in preparation for war their muskets clean and bright and their ammunition ready he reasoned long on the inutility of the war and the little provocation which had been given for it the chief was much shaken in his resolution and seemed in doubt but at length it occurred to him that a barrel of his gunpowder was in a bad state and that it would not keep much longer as an unanswerable argument for the necessity of immediately declaring war the idea of allowing so much good gunpowder to spoil was not to be thought of and this settled the point I was told by the missionaries that in the life of Shonji the chief who visited England the love of war was the one and lasting spring of every action the tribe in which he was a principal chief had at one time been oppressed by another tribe from the Thames River a solemn oath was taken by the men that when their boys should grow up and they should be powerful enough they would never forget or forgive these injuries to fulfill this oath appears to have been Shonji's chief motive for going to England and when there it was his sole object presence were valued only as they could be converted into arms of the arts those alone interested him which were connected with the manufacture of arms when at Sydney Shonji by a strange coincidence met the hostile chief of the Thames River at the house of Mr Marsden their conduct was civil to each other but Shonji told him that when again in New Zealand he would never cease to carry war into his country the challenge was accepted and Shonji on his return fulfilled the threat to the utmost letter the tribe on the Thames River was utterly overthrown and the chief to whom the challenge had been given was himself killed Shonji although harboring such deep feelings of hatred and revenge is described as having been a good natured person in the evening I went with Captain Fitzroy and Mr Baker one of the missionaries to pay a visit to Kora Radica we wandered about the village and saw and conversed with many of the people both men, women and children looking at the New Zealander one naturally compares him with the Tahitian both belonging to the same family of mankind this comparison however tells heavily against the New Zealander he may perhaps be superior in energy but in every other respect his character is of a much lower order one glance at their respective expressions brings conviction to the mind that one is a savage the other a civilized man it would be vain to seek in the whole of New Zealand a person with the face and mien of the old Tahitian chief Utami no doubt the extraordinary manner in which tattooing is here practised gives a disagreeable expression to their countenances the complicated but symmetrical figures covering the whole face puzzle and mislead an unaccustomed eye it is moreover probable that the deep incisions by destroying the play of the superficial muscles give an air of rigid inflexibility but besides this there is a twinkling in the eye which cannot indicate anything but cunning and ferocity their figures are tall and bulky but not comparable in elegance with those of the working classes in Tahiti but their persons and houses are filthily dirty and offensive the idea of washing either their bodies or their clothes never seems to enter their heads I saw a chief who was wearing a shirt black and matted with filth and when asked how it came to be so dirty he replied with surprise do you not see it as an old one? some of the men have shirts but the common dress is one or two large blankets generally black with dirt which are thrown over their shoulders in a very inconvenient and awkward fashion a few of the principal chiefs have decent suits of English clothes but these are only worn on great occasions end of chapter 18 thank you