244 LIFE OF DARWIN 



of his father's life. But he has given a new charm to 

 it by printing a few of the letters written during the 

 voyage, which help us to realise still more vividly 

 the life and work of the naturalist in his circumnavi- 

 gation of the world. We can picture him in his little 

 cabin, working diligently at the structure of marine 

 creatures, but driven every now and then to lie down 

 as a relief from sea-sickness, which worried him 

 during the voyage and which was thought by some 

 to have permanently injured his health. We see him 

 littering the deck with his specimens, and thereby 

 raising the indignation of the prim first lieutenant, who 

 declared he would like to turn the naturalist and his 

 mess f out of the place,' but who, in spite of this want 

 of sympathy, was recognised by Darwin as a ' glorious 

 fellow.' We watch him in the tropical forests and in 

 the calm glories of the tropical nights with the young 

 officers listening to his exposition of the wonders of 

 Nature around them. And, above all, we mark his 

 exuberant enthusiasm in the new aspects of the world 

 that came before him, his gentleness, unfailing good- 

 nature and courtesy, that endeared him alike to every 

 officer and sailor in the ship. The officers playfully 

 dubbed him their ' dear old philosopher,' and the men 

 called him ' our flycatcher.' 



For one who was to take a foremost place among the 

 naturalists of all time — that is, in the true old sense of 

 the word naturalist, men with sympathies and insight 

 for every department of Nature, and not mere special- 

 ists working laboriously in their own limited field of 

 research — there could hardly have been chosen a more 

 instructive and stimulating journey than that which was 



