en. vi.] 1831-1836. 135 



booms of the Beagle, will always, to the day of my death, 

 make me glad to hear of your happiness and prosperity." 

 Mr. King describes the pleasure my father seemed to take " in 

 pointing out to me as a youngster the delights of the tropi- 

 cal nights, with their balmy breezes eddying out of the sails 

 above us, and the sea lighted up by the passage of the ship 

 through the never-ending streams of phosphorescent ani- 

 malcule." 



It has been assumed that his ill-health in later years was 

 due to his having suffered so much from sea-sickness. This 

 he did not himself believe, but rather ascribed his bad health 

 to the hereditary fault which took shape as gout in some of 

 the past generations. I am not quite clear as to how much 

 he actually suffered from sea-sickness ; my impression is 

 distinct that, according to his own memory, he was not 

 actually ill after the first three weeks, but constantly un- 

 comfortable when the vessel pitched at all heavily. But, 

 judging from his letters, and from the evidence of some of 

 the officers, it would seem that in later years he forgot the 

 extent of the discomfort. Writing June 3, 1836, from the 

 Cape of Good Hope, he says : " It is a lucky thing for me 

 that the voyage is drawing to its close, for I positively suf- 

 fer more from sea-sickness now than three years ago." 



C. D. to R. W. Darwin. [February 8, 1832.] Bahia, or 



San Salvador, Brazil. 



I find after the first page I have been writing 

 to my sisters. 



My dear Father I am writing this on the 8th of 

 February, one day's sail past St. Jago (Cape de Verd), and 

 intend taking the chance of meeting with a homeward- 

 bound vessel somewhere about the equator. The date, how- 

 ever, will tell this whenever the opportunity occurs. I will 

 now begin from the day of leaving England, and give a 

 short account of our progress. We sailed, as you know, on 

 the 27th of December, and have been fortunate enough to 

 have had from that time to the present a fair and moderate 

 breeze. It afterwards proved that we had escaped a heavy 

 gale in the Channel, another at Madeira, and another on 

 [the] Coast of Africa. But in escaping the gale, we felt its 

 consequence a heavy sea. In the Bay of Biscay there was 

 a long and continuous swell, and the misery I endured from 

 sea-sickness is far beyond what I ever guessed at. I believe 

 you are curious about it. I will give you all my dear-bought 

 10 



