LETTERS. igg 



half the world is between me and home, beginning to arrange 

 what I shall do, where I shall go during the first week." 



Another feature in his letters is the surprise and delight 

 with which he hears of his collections and observations being 

 of some use. It seems only to have gradually occurred to 

 him that he would ever be more than a collector of specimens 

 and facts, of which the great men were to make use. And 

 even as to the value of his collections he seems to have had 

 much doubt, for he wrote to Henslow in 1834 : — " I really 

 began to think that my collections were so poor that you were 

 puzzled what to say ; the case is now quite on the opposite 

 tack, for you are guilty of exciting all my vain feelings to a 

 most comfortable pitch ; if hard work will atone for these 

 thoughts, I vow it shall not be spared." 



After his return and settlement in London, he began 

 to realise the value of what he had done, and wrote to Cap- 

 tain Fitz-Roy — " However others may look back to the Beagle s 

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

 forgotten, I think it far the most fortunate ciixumstance 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 

 1 Journal ' has given to so many readers.] 



