DARWIN AND WALLACE 25 
charts of all the seas. Frequently she has sent out 
great charting expeditions to various parts of the 
world. One of these was to go out in Her Majesty’s 
ship, Beagle, for a voyage around the world. Captain 
Fitzroy was in command, and he was especially com- 
missioned to map the coast of South America from 
La Plata to Cape Horn and up the western side. In 
addition to this work, by carrying a set of accurate 
chronometers, he was to check up the longitude of 
the various ports to be visited in this circumnaviga- 
tion of the globe. It was customary on such expe- 
ditions to carry a young man whose duty it was to 
study the natural history of the countries visited on 
the trip. The salary of such a naturalist was so small 
that an experienced man could scarcely afford to take 
the place. Therefore the appointment usually went to 
a man rather of promise than of achievement. 
Through Henslow’s influence, Charles Darwin was 
offered this position in 1831. Darwin hastened to ob- 
tain his father’s permission, but the elder Darwin at 
first declined to consider the matter. He felt that his 
son had not made such use of his time at the univer- 
sity as warranted the hope that much could be ex- 
pected of such a journey. He believed it necessary 
that Charles should have some means of earning an 
adequate living before he could think of devoting his 
time to science. Charles found an efficient advocate 
