4o6 MY LIFE [Chap. 



getting them drawn, either from my own sketches, from 

 photographs, or from actual specimens, and having obtained 

 the services of the best artists and wood engravers then in 

 London, the result was, on the whole, satisfactory. I would 

 particularly indicate the frontispiece by Wolf as a most 

 artistic and spirited picture, while the two plates of beetles 

 by Robinson, the "twelve-wired" and "king'* birds of 

 paradise by Keulemaus, and the head of the black cockatoo 

 by Wood, are admirable specimens of life-like drawing and 

 fine wood engraving. I was especially indebted to Mr. T. 

 Baines, the well-known African traveller, and the first artist 

 to depict the Victoria Falls and numerous scenes of Kaffir 

 life, for the skill with which he has infused life and movement 

 into an outline sketch of my own, of " Dobbo in the Trading 

 Season.'* 



The book was published in 1869, but during its progress, 

 and while it was slowly passing through the press, I wrote 

 several important papers, among which was one in the 

 Quarterly Review for April, 1889, on "Geological Climates 

 and the Origin of Species," which was in large part a review 

 and eulogy of Sir Charles LyelFs great work, The Principles 

 of Geology," which greatly pleased him as well as Darwin. 

 A considerable part of this article was devoted to a discussion 

 of Mr. Croll's explanation of the glacial epoch, and, by a 

 combination of his views with those of Lyell on the great 

 effect of changed distribution of sea and land, or of differences 

 in altitude, I showed how we might arrive at a better explana- 

 tion than either view by itself could give us. As the article 

 was too long, a good deal of it had to be cut out, but it served 

 as the foundation for my more detailed examination of the 

 whole question when writing my " Island Life," twelve years 

 later. 



As soon as the proofs of the " Malay Archipelago " were 

 out of my hands, I began the preparation of a small volume 

 of my scattered articles dealing with various aspects of the 

 theory of Natural Selection. Many of these had appeared 

 in little known periodicals, and were now carefully revised, 



