74 THE UNFINISHED BOOK. [1856. 



humble, and allow you all to make continents, as easily as a. 

 cook does pancakes. 



C. Darwin to C, LyelL 



Down, June 25th [1856]. 



My DEAR LYELL, I will have the following tremendous 

 letter copied to make the reading easier, and as I want to 

 keep a copy. 



As you say you would like to hear my reasons for being 

 most unwilling to believe in the continental extensions of late 

 authors, I gladly write them, as, without I am convinced of 

 my error, I shall have to give them condensed in my essay, 

 when I discuss single and multiple creation ; I shall therefore 

 be particularly glad to have your general opinion on them. 

 I may quite likely have persuaded myself in my wrath that 

 there is more in them than there is. If there was much more 

 reason to admit a continental extension in any one or two 

 instances (as in Madeira) than in other cases, I should feel no 

 difficulty whatever. But if on account of European plants, 

 and littoral sea shells, it is thought necessary to join Madeira 

 to the mainland, Hooker is quite right to join New Holland 

 to New Zealand, and Auckland Island (and Raoul Island to 

 N.E.), and these to S. America and the Falklands, and these 

 to Tristan d'Acunha, and these to Kerguelen Land ; thus 

 making, either strictly at the same time, or at different periods, 

 but all within the life of recent beings, an almost circumpolar 

 belt of land. So again Galapagos and Juan Fernandez must 

 be joined to America ; and if we trust to littoral sea shells, the 

 Galapagos must have been joined to the Pacific Islands (2400 

 miles distant) as well as to America, and as Woodward seems 

 to think all the islands in the Pacific into a magnificent con- 

 tinent ; also the islands in the Southern Indian Ocean into 

 another continent, with Madagascar and Africa, and perhaps 

 India. In the North Atlantic, Europe will stretch half-way- 



