viii 



PREFACE. 



I shall ever feel most thankful for the undeviating 

 kindness with which I was treated, during our long 

 voyage. 



The present volume contains in the form of a 

 journal, a sketch of those observations in Geology and 

 Natural History, which I thought would possess some 

 general interest. As it was originally intended to 

 have preceded any more detailed account, and as its 

 publication has been unavoidably delayed, the brief- 

 ness and imperfection of several parts, I hope, will 

 be excused. I have given a list of those errata 

 (partly caused by my absence from town when some 

 of the sheets were in the press) w^hich affect the 

 sense ; and have added an Appendix, containing some 

 additional facts (especially on the theory of the trans- 

 portation of erratic blocks) which I have accidentally 

 met with during the past year. I hope shortly to 

 publish my geological observations ; the first Part of 

 which will be on the Volcanic Islands of the Atlantic 

 and Pacific Oceans, and on Coral Formations; and 

 the second Part will treat of South America. Several 

 numbers of the Zoology of the Voyage of the Beagle, 

 due to the disinterested zeal of several of our first 

 naturalists, have already appeared. These works 

 could not have been undertaken, had it not been for 

 the liberality of the Lords Commissioners of Her 

 Majesty's Treasury, who, through the representation 

 of the Right Honourable the Chancellor of the Ex- 

 chequer, have been pleased to grant a sum of one 



