226 



THE VOYAGE. ^ETAT. 22. 



[I8 3 2. 



voyage, now that the small disagreeable parts are well-nigh 

 forgotten, I think it far the most fortunate circumstance 

 in my life that the chance afforded by your offer of taking 

 a Naturalist fell on me. I often have the most vivid and 

 delightful pictures of what I saw on board the Beagle pass 

 before my eyes. These recollections, and what I learnt on 

 Natural History, I would not exchange for twice ten thousand 

 a year." 



In selecting the following series of letters, I have been 

 guided by the wish to give as much personal detail as pos- 

 sible. I have given only a few scientific letters, to illustrate 

 the way in which he worked, and how he regarded his own 

 results. In his * Journal of Researches ' he gives incidentally 

 some idea of his personal character ; the letters given in the 

 present chapter serve to amplify in fresher and more spon- 

 taneous words that impression of his personality which the 

 ' Journal ' has given to so many readers.] 



C. Darwin to R. W. Darwin. 



Bahia, or San Salvador, Brazils 



[February 8, 1832]. 



I find after the first page I have been writing 

 MY DEAR FATHER, to my sisters. 



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, however, 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 



