Early Years 



ground covered by the two men was similar, it never 

 actually overlapped. The countries and islands visited by 

 the Beagle came in the following order : Cape de Verde 

 Islands, St. PauPs Rocks, Fernando Noronha, South 

 America (including the Galapagos Archipelago, the Falk- 

 land Isles, and Tierra del Fuego), Tahiti, New Zealand, 

 Australia, Tasmania, Keeling Island, Maldive coral atolls, 

 Mauritius, St. Helena, Ascension. Brazil was revisited for 

 a short time, and the Beagle touched at the Cape de Verde 

 Islands and the Azores on the homeward voyage. 



The very nature of this voyage did not permit Darwin 

 to give unlimited time to the study of any particular 

 spot or locality; but his accurate observation of every 

 detail, together with his carefully kept journal, afforded 

 ample scope and foundation for future contemplation. To 

 Wallace, the outstanding result may be summed up in the 

 fact that he discovered that the Malay Archipelago is 

 divided into a western group of islands, which in their 

 zoological affinities are Asiatic, and an eastern, which 

 are Australian. The Oriental Borneo and Bali are re- 

 spectively divided from the Australian Celebes and Lombok 

 by a narrow belt of sea known as " Wallace^s line,'' on 

 the opposite side of which the indigenous mammalia are 

 as widely divergent as in any two parts of the world. 



To both men Darwin's estimate of the influence of 

 travel may aptly apply in the sense that from a geographi- 

 cal point of view ^^ the map of the world ceases to be a 

 blank . . . each part assumes its proper dimensions," con- 

 tinents are no longer considered islands, nor islands as 

 mere specks. 



Wallace's homeward journey was not so eventful as the 

 previous one had been, except for the unsuccessful efforts 

 to bring back several species of live birds, which, with the 

 exception of his birds of paradise, died on the way. On 



43 



