THE VOYAGE OF THE BEAGLE 



21 



moth, belonging to a genus that feeds on feathers ; a beetle 

 (Quedius) and a woodlouse from beneath the dung; and 

 lastly, numerous spiders, which I suppose prey on these small 

 attendants and scavengers of the water-fowl. The often re- 

 peated description of the stately palm and other noble tropi- 

 cal plants, then birds, and lastly man, taking possession of 

 the coral islets as soon as formed, in the Pacific, is probably 

 not correct; I fear it destroys the poetry of this story, that 

 feather and dirt-feeding and parasitic insects and spiders 

 should be the first inhabitants of newly formed oceanic 

 land. 



The smallest rock in the tropical seas, by giving a foun- 

 dation for the growth of innumerable kinds of seaweed and 

 compound animals, supports likewise a large number of fish. 

 The sharks and the seamen in the boats maintained a con- 

 stant struggle which should secure the greater share of the 

 prey caught by the fishing-lines. I have heard that a rock 

 near the Bermudas, lying many miles out at sea, and at a 

 considerable depth, was first discovered by the circumstance 

 of fish having been observed in the neighbourhood. 



Fernando Noronha, Feb. 20th. — As far as I was enabled 

 to observe, during the few hours we stayed at this place, the 

 constitution of the island is volcanic, but probably not of a 

 recent date. The most remarkable feature is a conical hill, 

 about one thousand feet high, the upper part of which is 

 exceedingly steep, and on one side overhangs its base. The 

 rock is phonolite, and is divided into irregular columns. On 

 viewing one of these isolated masses, at first one is inclined 

 to believe that it has been suddenly pushed up in a semi- 

 fluid state. At St. Helena, however, I ascertained that some 

 pinnacles, of a nearly similar figure and constitution, had 

 been formed by the injection of melted rock into yielding 

 strata, which thus had formed the moulds for these gigantic 

 obelisks. The whole island is covered with wood; but from 

 the dryness of the climate there is no appearance of luxuri- 

 ance. Half-way up the mountain, some great masses of the 

 columnar rock, shaded by laurel-like trees, and ornamented 

 by others covered with fine pink flowers but without a single 

 leaf, gave a pleasing effect to the nearer parts of the scenery, 



