62 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 



were improved, though they were always fairly- 

 developed. 



The investigation of the geology of all the places 

 visited was far more important, as reasoning here 

 comes into play. On first examining a new district 

 nothing can appear more hopeless than the chaos of 

 rocks ; but by recording the stratification and nature 

 of the rocks and fossils at many points, always reason- 

 ing and predicting what will be found elsewhere, light 

 soon begins to dawn on the district, and the structure 

 of the whole becomes more or less intelligible. I had 

 brought with me the first volume of Lyell's ' Principles 

 of Geology,' which I studied attentively ; and the 

 book was of the highest service to me in many ways. 

 The very first place which I examined, namely 

 St. Jago in the Cape de Verde islands, showed me 

 clearly the wonderful superiority of Lyell's manner 

 of treating geology, compared with that of any other 

 author, whose works I had with me or ever afterwards 

 read. 



Another of my occupations was collecting animals 

 of all classes, briefly describing and roughly dissecting 

 many of the marine ones ; but from not being able to 

 draw, and from not having sufficient anatomical know- 

 ledge, a great pile of MS. which I made during the 

 voyage has proved almost useless. I thus lost much 

 time, with the exception of that spent in acquiring 

 some knowledge of the Crustaceans, as this was of 

 service when in after years I undertook a monograph 

 of the Cirripedia. 



During some part of the day I wrote my Journal 



