VoL. T. 
HG Thk Queensland Naturalist. 
Darwin travelled over land and sea for five years, seeing 
a large part of the entire globe, and of the creatures that 
inhabit it. The starved fauna and flora of the British 
Islands, the mere leavings of the vast ice sheets that spread 
across our zone in the glacial epoch, show us a w'orld 
depopulated of all its largest, strangest and fiercest creatures ; 
a world d\varfed in al] its component elements. But the 
tropics still preserve, in all their jungles, something of the 
aspect that our planet must have presented in all latitudes 
before the advent of man. 
The Beagle sailed from England to the Cape Verde 
Islands, then touched at St. Paul’s Rocks, Bahia, Rio 
Janiero, and Monte Video. At each of these places ample 
time was given for landing parties, excursions and collec- 
tions. For Wo years following her arrival at Monte Video, 
the Beagle was emplo 3 md in surveying the eastern coast 
of South America, and Darwdn enjoyed unusual oppor- 
tunities for studying the geology, zoology and botany 
of the surrounding districts during all that period. 
In the autumn of 1833, Darwin made a journey to 
Buenos Ayres, and up the Parana to Santa Fe ; in 1834, 
he visited Patagonia and the Falkland Islands. Some 
natives of Terra del Fuego, taken to England by Captain 
Fitzroy on a former voyage, had accompanied the Beagle 
through all her wanderings, and were, doubtless, of great 
help to Darwin as guides and assistants. 1835 w'as chiefly 
spent on the coasts of Chili and Peru, and in the autumn 
of that year the vessel crossed from South America to the 
Galapagos Islands. These islands wall ever remain classic 
ground to the biologist, from their close connection with 
the master problems of the “ Origin of Species.” In these 
islands the great riddle of organic existence presented 
itself strongly, but the solution had yet to be found. Of 
the Galapagos islands, Darwin writes : — “ Most of the 
organic productions are aboriginal creations, found nowhere 
else ; there is even a difference between the inhabitants 
of the different islands ; yet all show a marked relationship 
with those of America, though separated from that con- 
tinent by an open space of ocean beWeen 500 and 600 
miles in width.” In conclusion, he adds : — “ One is aston- 
ished at the amount of creative force, if such an expression 
may be used, displayed on these small, barren and rocky 
islands ; and still more at its diverse, yet analagous action 
on points near each other.” From the Galapagos, the 
Beagle steered to Tahiti, New Zealand, Australia, Tas- 
mania, and then to the Keeling or Cocos Islands. A study 
of the Keeling Islands afforded a basis for his future famous 
observations on coral reefs. The return voyage was made 
by Mauritius, St. Helena, Ascension, Bahia, Perambuco, 
and the beautiful Azores to England. 
