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Often appears with: fate, destiny, and necessity · weather, storms, and the seasons · geography and the description of places · fossils and the record of past life · matter, motion, and cause · strata, rocks, and the geological record · volcanoes, earthquakes, and catastrophe · species, variation, and descent · scientific theories and their history · experiment, observation, and evidence · logic, method, and demonstration · reason and the intellect
Usually: argument (264) · curiosity (201) · detachment (140) · skepticism (91) · narrative (50) · wonder (47) · description (45) · commentary or gloss (41) · reflection (26) · sudden reversal of fortune (16)
“Certainly it is a marvellous fact in the history of the Mammalia, that in South America a native horse should have lived and disappeared, to be succeeded in after-ages by the countless herds descended from the few introduced with the Spanish colonists!” Charles Darwin, The Voyage of the Beagle · insight
“Have the succulent, salt-loving plants, which are well known to contain much soda, the power of decomposing the muriate? Does the black fetid mud, abounding with organic matter, yield the sulphur and ultimately the sulphuric acid?” Charles Darwin, The Voyage of the Beagle · insight
“How wonderfully are the different Orders, at the present time so well separated, blended together in different points of the structure of the Toxodon!” Charles Darwin, The Voyage of the Beagle · observation
“The danger in an earthquake is not from the time lost in opening the door, but from the chance of its becoming jammed by the movement of the walls.” Charles Darwin, The Voyage of the Beagle · observation
“The climate of the southern part of America appears particularly favourable to the production of peat.” Charles Darwin, The Voyage of the Beagle · insight
“No one fact in the geology of South America, interested me more than these terraces of rudely-stratified shingle.” Charles Darwin, The Voyage of the Beagle · observation
“It was like thinking on time, where the minute that now glides past is irrevocable.” Charles Darwin, The Voyage of the Beagle · vivid
“So was it with these stones; the ocean is their eternity, and each note of that wild music told of one more step towards their destiny.” Charles Darwin, The Voyage of the Beagle · insight
“Farewell, Australia! you are a rising child, and doubtless some day will reign a great princess in the South: but you are too great and ambitious for affection, yet not great enough for respect. I leave your shores without sorrow or regret.” Charles Darwin, The Voyage of the Beagle · vivid
“From these observations, confirmed by many others, it may be safely inferred that the utmost depth at which corals can construct reefs is between 20 and 30 fathoms.” Charles Darwin, The Voyage of the Beagle · insight
“Where on the face of the earth can we find a spot, on which close investigation will not discover signs of that endless cycle of change, to which this earth has been, is, and will be subjected?” Charles Darwin, The Voyage of the Beagle · insight
“At this rate, on the above data, the denudation of the Weald must have required 306,662,400 years; or say three hundred million years.” Charles Darwin, On the Origin of Species By Means of Natural Selecti · vivid
Pepys continues west and south through Wiltshire/Berkshire, passing Littlecote and Newbury, then reaches Reading (or Reding), where he notes the broad river running through the town.
with pillars, which makes it a good walk. All the five coaches that come this day from Bath, as well as we, were gone out of the town before six. 16th. Tuesday. After paying the reckoning, 14s. 4d. and servants 2s., poor 1s., set out; and passing through a good part of this country of Wiltshire, saw a good house [Littlecote.] of Alexander Popham's, [M.P. for Bath.] and another of my Lord Craven's, [Hampstead Mar…
Darwin recapitulates the challenges and supporting conditions for natural selection, addresses why species were once thought immutable, and closes with remarks on how extending the theory should affect natural history study.
Recapitulation of the difficulties on the theory of Natural Selection. Recapitulation of the general and special circumstances in its favour. Causes of the general belief in the immutability of species. How far the theory of natural selection may be extended. Effects of its adoption on the study of Natural history. Concluding remarks. ON THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES. INTRODUCTION. When on board H.M.S. ‘Beag…
Darwin argues that agreement on ranking doubtful forms can emerge via close investigation, and he uses cases like Primula veris and elatior (cowslip and primrose) to weigh experimental evidence for common descent.
are hybrids; and there is, as it seems to me, an overwhelming amount of experimental evidence, showing that they descend from common parents, and consequently must be ranked as varieties. Close investigation, in most cases, will bring naturalists to an agreement how to rank doubtful forms. Yet it must be confessed, that it is in the best-known countries that we find the greatest number of forms of doubtful value. I …
He argues that as divergent lineages accumulate, new species can become clearly distinct genera or even families, and he uses the diagram to explain affinities of extinct intermediates and branching origins.
the earlier varieties will have become extinct, having been replaced by eight new species (*a*14 to *m*14); and (I) will have been replaced by six (*n*14 to *z*14) new species. But we may go further than this. The original species of our genus were supposed to resemble each other in unequal degrees, as is so generally the case in nature; species (A) being more nearly related to B, C, and D, than to the other species…
He argues that the thickness and extent of sedimentary strata reflect long crustal degradation, and that denudation evidence from volcanic islands and major faults like the Craven fault shows enormous lapse of time.
erroneous; yet, considering over what wide spaces very fine sediment is transported by the currents of the sea, the process of accumulation in any one area must be extremely slow. But the amount of denudation which the strata have in many places suffered, independently of the rate of accumulation of the degraded matter, probably offers the best evidence of the lapse of time. I remember having been much struck with t…
Using the denudation of the Weald, Darwin estimates sea-wear at about one inch per century for 500-foot cliffs, calculating roughly 300 million years (or more) since late Secondary deposition.
having been smoothly swept away. The consideration of these facts impresses my mind almost in the same manner as does the vain endeavour to grapple with the idea of eternity. I am tempted to give one other case, the well-known one of the denudation of the Weald. Though it must be admitted that the denudation of the Weald has been a mere trifle, in comparison with that which has removed masses of our palæozoic strata…
Darwin contends that fossil records are highly imperfect because most areas are poorly explored, soft organisms rarely preserve, and sediment is often not deposited fast enough to embed and protect remains.
have escaped the action of the coast-waves. So that in all probability a far longer period than 300 million years has elapsed since the latter part of the Secondary period. I have made these few remarks because it is highly important for us to gain some notion, however imperfect, of the lapse of years. During each of these years, over the whole world, the land and the water has been peopled by hosts of living forms.…
He attributes much imperfection in geology to wide time gaps between formations, arguing that blank intervals and intervening continental history make it unlikely to reconstruct continuous evolutionary sequences.
been discovered either in caves or in lacustrine deposits; and that not a cave or true lacustrine bed is known belonging to the age of our secondary or palæozoic formations. But the imperfection in the geological record mainly results from another and more important cause than any of the foregoing; namely, from the several formations being separated from each other by wide intervals of time. When we see the formatio…
Darwin proposes that fossil-rich formations usually form during subsidence when seas stay shallow and life remains abundant, while elevation and subsequent coast-waves erase deposited beds.
balance each other, the sea will remain shallow and favourable for life, and thus a fossiliferous formation thick enough, when upraised, to resist any amount of degradation, may be formed. I am convinced that all our ancient formations, which are rich in fossils, have thus been formed during subsidence. Since publishing my views on this subject in 1845, I have watched the progress of Geology, and have been surprised…
Darwin argues that thick deposits require balanced subsidence and sediment supply, but this balance is rare and often produces barren layers; thus each formation is intermittent and species may reappear across levels.
embedded fossils had been less than that of the glacial period, instead of having been really far greater, that is extending from before the glacial epoch to the present day. In order to get a perfect gradation between two forms in the upper and lower parts of the same formation, the deposit must have gone on accumulating for a very long period, in order to have given sufficient time for the slow process of variatio…
Darwin addresses a graver difficulty: many species of allied groups appear in the lowest fossiliferous strata, implying vast undetected pre-Silurian life; he weighs evidence like phosphatic nodules and proposes explanations involving long periods and later erosion/metamorphism.
immense territories in Russia and in North America, do not support the view, that the older a formation is, the more it has suffered the extremity of denudation and metamorphism. The case at present must remain inexplicable; and may be truly urged as a valid argument against the views here entertained. To show that it may hereafter receive some explanation, I will give the following hypothesis. From the nature of th…
He proposes an overarching hypothesis: continents and ocean areas may have shifted over immense times due to oscillations of level and varying elevation/subsidence, so older strata may now be missing or metamorphosed; he concludes these difficulties remain serious arguments.
require some special explanation; and we may perhaps believe that we see in these large areas, the many formations long anterior to the silurian epoch in a completely metamorphosed condition. The several difficulties here discussed, namely our not finding in the successive formations infinitely numerous transitional links between the many species which now exist or have existed; the sudden manner in which whole grou…
He adds that much of the fossil record comes from periods of sea subsidence with long blank intervals, during which modification, extinction, and migration occur, making near-contemporaneous formations show similar but not identical faunas.
therefore as new and improved groups spread throughout the world, old groups will disappear from the world; and the succession of forms in both ways will everywhere tend to correspond. There is one other remark connected with this subject worth making. I have given my reasons for believing that all our greater fossiliferous formations were deposited during periods of subsidence; and that blank intervals of vast dura…
Darwin argues that closely consecutive fossil formations contain more closely related species than remote ones, which supports slow mutation over long intervals despite gaps and changing climates in marine life.
carriers which are extreme in the important character of length of beak originated earlier than short-beaked tumblers, which are at the opposite end of the series in this same respect. Closely connected with the statement, that the organic remains from an intermediate formation are in some degree intermediate in character, is the fact, insisted on by all palæontologists, that fossils from two consecutive formations …
In the chapter continuation, Darwin argues that fresh-water organisms spread widely despite barriers, explaining it via pond-to-pond migration and accidental transport, illustrated by his observations of duck-weed and shells clinging to ducks.
GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION—*continued*. Distribution of fresh-water productions. On the inhabitants of oceanic islands. Absence of Batrachians and of terrestrial Mammals. On the relation of the inhabitants of islands to those of the nearest mainland. On colonisation from the nearest source with subsequent modification. Summary of the last and present chapters. As lakes and river-systems are separated from each other…
Darwin claims the best natural classification is genealogical, arguing that embryo similarity reveals shared descent even when adult structures are modified, and he notes limits posed by the geological record.
for sites or habits, in which organs of locomotion or of the senses, etc., would be useless; and in this case the final metamorphosis would be said to be retrograde. As all the organic beings, extinct and recent, which have ever lived on this earth have to be classed together, and as all have been connected by the finest gradations, the best, or indeed, if our collections were nearly perfect, the only possible arran…
He contrasts sterility in first crosses with fertility of varieties and mongrel offspring, then discusses how common ancestry implies species must migrate across distant regions despite gaps in evidence.
the varieties which have been experimentised on have been produced under domestication; and as domestication apparently tends to eliminate sterility, we ought not to expect it also to produce sterility. The sterility of hybrids is a very different case from that of first crosses, for their reproductive organs are more or less functionally impotent; whereas in first crosses the organs on both sides are in a perfect c…
Darwin argues that transitional forms are often not directly found because intermediates are supplanted by neighboring species, and he treats the sparse fossil record and sudden appearances of groups as consequences of incompleteness.
of migration will have been possible during a very long period; and consequently the difficulty of the wide diffusion of species of the same genus is in some degree lessened. As on the theory of natural selection an interminable number of intermediate forms must have existed, linking together all the species in each group by gradations as fine as our present varieties, it may be asked, Why do we not see these linkin…
He answers questions about absent pre-Silurian fossils by claiming the geological record is too imperfect to preserve all links, with long time, incomplete exploration, and selective fossilization shaping what we find.
progenitors of the Silurian groups of fossils? For certainly on my theory such strata must somewhere have been deposited at these ancient and utterly unknown epochs in the world’s history. I can answer these questions and grave objections only on the supposition that the geological record is far more imperfect than most geologists believe. It cannot be objected that there has not been time sufficient for any amount …
He explains rudimentary organs as products of disuse acting mainly after maturity, then concludes that species are slowly changing, despite resistance among naturalists and misunderstandings about geological time.
or bird having branchial slits and arteries running in loops, like those in a fish which has to breathe the air dissolved in water, by the aid of well-developed branchiæ. Disuse, aided sometimes by natural selection, will often tend to reduce an organ, when it has become useless by changed habits or under changed conditions of life; and we can clearly understand on this view the meaning of rudimentary organs. But di…
Darwin offers his famous image of an “entangled bank” where interdependent organisms arise from laws of growth, reproduction, inheritance, variability, and struggle leading to natural selection, yielding the evolution of higher animals.
based on a new foundation, that of the necessary acquirement of each mental power and capacity by gradation. Light will be thrown on the origin of man and his history. Authors of the highest eminence seem to be fully satisfied with the view that each species has been independently created. To my mind it accords better with what we know of the laws impressed on matter by the Creator, that the production and extinctio…
Livy digresses to describe Roman affairs after consular elections, including campaigns in Liguria, founding a colony at Vibo, and disasters at Rome from an earthquake and a fire.
among the houses near to the Tiber, continued through all that day and the following night, and all the shops, with wares of very great value, were reduced to ashes. 41. The year was now almost at an end, while the rumours of impending hostility, and, consequently, the anxiety of the senate, daily increased. They therefore set about adjusting the provinces of the magistrates elect, in order that they might be all th…
The passage answers demands for miracle proof, asserts every person tastes death and faces resurrection judgment, emphasizes creation as a sign for reflection, and depicts prayers for forgiveness and promised gardens for the righteous.
To those who say, "Verily, God hath enjoined us that we are not to credit an apostle until he present us a sacrifice which fire out of Heaven shall devour," SAY: Already have apostles before me come to you with miracles, and with that of which ye speak. Wherefore slew ye them? Tell me, if ye are men of truth. And if they treat thee as a liar, then verily apostles have been treated as liars before thee, though they …
The narrative continues with specific Nile-and-Egypt marvels: seasonal sun-shadow effects at Syene and Meroe, Egypt’s animal lore, pyramids and underground passages, and a sketch of Egyptian provincial divisions.
great abundance in that country during the hot season; but both these theories seem inconsistent with the truth--for rain never falls in Ethiopia, or at least only at rare intervals. 7. A more common opinion is, that during the continuance of the wind from the north, called the Precursor, and of the Etesian gales, which last forty-five days without interruption, they drive back the stream and check its speed, so tha…
Darwin describes St. Jago geology, including a white shelly limestone band over volcanic rock, transformed by basalt flows, and then observes marine animals like Aplysia that emit purplish-red and stinging secretions.
thousandth of an inch square, mixed with finer matter. After this fact one need not be surprised at the diffusion of the far lighter and smaller sporules of cryptogamic plants. The geology of this island is the most interesting part of its natural history. On entering the harbour, a perfectly horizontal white band, in the face of the sea cliff, may be seen running for some miles along the coast, and at the height o…
Darwin reports brief observations at Fernando Noronha, describing its volcanic phonolite conical hill with columnar rock and trees, including laurel-like vegetation and pink flowers without leaves.
teeth, and coloured surfaces as well polished as those of a fresh shell, reformed through inorganic means from dead organic matter--mocking, also, in shape, some of the lower vegetable productions. We found on St. Paul's only two kinds of birds--the booby and the noddy. The former is a species of gannet, and the latter a tern. Both are of a tame and stupid disposition, and are so unaccustomed to visitors, that I c…
Darwin discusses salt incrustations near Bahia Blanca, explaining how sulphate of soda and common salt concentrate through evaporation and speculating about how salts form via plants and black organic mud.
cannot imagine: at the same time, I must confess that my guide did not suffer at all, and was astonished that one day's deprivation should be so troublesome to me. I have several times alluded to the surface of the ground being incrusted with salt. This phenomenon is quite different from that of the salinas, and more extraordinary. In many parts of South America, wherever the climate is moderately dry, these incrus…
Darwin’s Bahia Blanca section links settlement geography and fossil discoveries to geological elevation, describes Pleistocene megafauna at Punta Alta with Owen’s identifications, and argues that large animals need not imply lush vegetation.
BAHIA BLANCA Bahia Blanca--Geology--Numerous gigantic Quadrupeds--Recent Extinction--Longevity of species--Large Animals do not require a luxuriant vegetation--Southern Africa--Siberian Fossils--Two Species of Ostrich--Habits of Oven-bird--Armadilloes--Venomous Snake, Toad, Lizard--Hybernation of Animal--Habits of Sea-Pen--Indian Wars and Massacres--Arrow-head, antiquarian Relic. The Beagle arrived here on the 24th…
Darwin quotes the idea that mammal species generally have shorter longevity than molluscs, then uses Owen’s reasoning to infer megatheroid diets and argues against the assumption that sterile regions cannot support big animals.
to which it is also allied. How wonderfully are the different Orders, at the present time so well separated, blended together in different points of the structure of the Toxodon! The remains of these nine great quadrupeds, and many detached bones, were found embedded on the beach, within the space of about 200 yards square. It is a remarkable circumstance that so many different species should be found together; and…
Darwin explains that megatherium-like animals’ fossil bed sits only slightly above high-water, estimates limited uplift since their time, and debates what vegetation existed then versus present-day sterility.
remarkable law so often insisted on by Mr. Lyell, namely, that the "longevity of the species in the mammalia is upon the whole inferior to that of the testacea." [3] The great size of the bones of the Megatheroid animals, including the Megatherium, Megalonyx, Scelidotherium, and Mylodon, is truly wonderful. The habits of life of these animals were a complete puzzle to naturalists, until Professor Owen [4] solved th…
On September 16 Darwin reports a hailstorm that kills many deer and other animals near the seventh posta, discusses comparative accounts of hail from Jesuit Dobrizhoffen and India, and then crosses the Sierra Tapalguen.
they attempt, like our peewits, by feigning to be wounded, to draw away from their nests dogs and other enemies. The eggs of this bird are esteemed a great delicacy. September 16th.--To the seventh posta at the foot of the Sierra Tapalguen. The country was quite level, with a coarse herbage and a soft peaty soil. The hovel was here remarkably neat, the posts and rafters being made of about a dozen dry thistle-stal…
From the Bajada area opposite St. Fe, Darwin crosses the Paraná, studies geology at cliff bases and the Pampas sequence of estuary deposits, and uses microscopic infusoria evidence to argue ancient brackish water conditions during Pampas elevation.
was brackish. Below Buenos Ayres there are upraised beds of sea-shells of existing species, which also proves that the period of elevation of the Pampas was within the recent period. In the Pampaean deposit at the Bajada I found the osseous armour of a gigantic armadillo-like animal, the inside of which, when the earth was removed, was like a great cauldron; I found also teeth of the Toxodon and Mastodon, and one to…
Darwin continues his geological explanation of step-like raised plains and changing sea levels, then describes finding a half skeleton of Macrauchenia patachonica at Port St. Julian and argues its kinship with living South American mammals.
common prejudice of lying where one's ancestors have lain, would make the now roaming Indians bring the less perishable part of their dead to their ancient burial-ground on the coast. January 9th, 1834.--Before it was dark the Beagle anchored in the fine spacious harbour of Port St. Julian, situated about one hundred and ten miles to the south of Port Desire. We remained here eight days. The country is nearly simila…
He links fossil-extant relationships across South America—citing collections from Brazilian caves—to argue that studying dead and living species together will explain patterns of appearance and extinction, and concludes with reflections on mass extinctions.
of what animals do these insects commonly feed? The guanaco is nearly the only warm-blooded quadruped, and it is found in quite inconsiderable numbers compared with the multitude of flies. The geology of Patagonia is interesting. Differently from Europe, where the tertiary formations appear to have accumulated in bays, here along hundreds of miles of coast we have one great deposit, including many tertiary shells, …
From April 22–24 Darwin reports barren, sterile Patagonia with few water-fowl, abundant mice and cannibalism, and a transition in geology marked by persistent high clouds and hope for change.
promising sign, and eventually turned out a true harbinger. At first the clouds were mistaken for the mountains themselves, instead of the masses of vapour condensed by their icy summits. April 26th.--We this day met with a marked change in the geological structure of the plains. From the first starting I had carefully examined the gravel in the river, and for the two last days had noticed the presence of a few sma…
Around April 26 Darwin observes basaltic lava platforms blocking the Santa Cruz for 28 miles, argues rivers cannot transport such blocks, and proposes an ancient strait whose tides eroded the basalt.
in the Santa Cruz, and that no still reaches occur in any part, this example is a most striking one, of the inefficiency of rivers in transporting even moderately-sized fragments. The basalt is only lava, which has flowed beneath the sea; but the eruptions must have been on the grandest scale. At the point where we first met this formation it was 120 feet in thickness; following up the river course, the surface imp…
Continuing the geological narrative, Darwin notes new landscape character near basalt cliffs, small springs where formations meet, and later April 27 faster currents and dangerous tracking.
on the beach were reduced first to smaller blocks, then to pebbles and lastly to the most impalpable mud, which the tides drifted far into the Eastern or Western Ocean. With the change in the geological structure of the plains the character of the landscape likewise altered. While rambling up some of the narrow and rocky defiles, I could almost have fancied myself transported back again to the barren valleys of the…
Darwin shifts to geology and animals, describing “streams of stones” of quartz fragments, interpreting them as convulsion effects, and then gives observations on waterfowl and penguins.
expense of importing fresh horses from the Plata. At some future period the southern hemisphere probably will have its breed of Falkland ponies, as the northern has its Shetland breed. The cattle, instead of having degenerated like the horses seem, as before remarked, to have increased in size; and they are much more numerous than the horses. Capt. Sulivan informs me that they vary much less in the general form of t…
He narrates the Beagle rounding Cape Horn, enduring gales, anchoring in Wigwam Cove at Christmas Eve, and describing conical greenstone islands and Fuegian shell-fish living patterns reflected in shell piles.
colour, with a tinge of yellow. As the whole landscape is thus coloured, it has a sombre, dull appearance; nor is it often enlivened by the rays of the sun. December 20th.--One side of the harbour is formed by a hill about 1500 feet high, which Captain Fitz Roy has called after Sir J. Banks, in commemoration of his disastrous excursion, which proved fatal to two men of his party, and nearly so to Dr. Solander. The …
At San Pedro harbor Darwin kills a rare island fox, stays three days, and then fails to reach the summit due to impenetrable forest, unusual coastal geology, and dense tangled vegetation.
of a small axe and a few fish. How very difficult it must be to buy the smallest article, when such trouble is taken to recover so small a debt. In the evening we reached the island of San Pedro, where we found the Beagle at anchor. In doubling the point, two of the officers landed to take a round of angles with the theodolite. A fox (Canis fulvipes), of a kind said to be peculiar to the island, and very rare in i…
Darwin compares peat formation across Chiloé, the Chonos Archipelago, and Tierra del Fuego, attributing peat growth largely to Astelia and describing how climate limits peat and decomposes vegetation.
found on the sterile mountains of central Chile, where a drop of rain does not fall for more than six months, and within the damp forests of these southern islands. In the central parts of the Chonos Archipelago (lat. 45 degs.), the forest has very much the same character with that along the whole west coast, for 600 miles southward to Cape Horn. The arborescent grass of Chiloe is not found here; while the beech of …
He argues the earthquake’s most remarkable effect was permanent land uplift around the Bay of Concepción, cites raised tidal-shell evidence at S. Maria and Valparaiso, and suggests successive small uprisings.
it would also appear that the wave is larger or smaller, according to the extent of shoal water which has been agitated together with the bottom on which it rested. The most remarkable effect of this earthquake was the permanent elevation of the land, it would probably be far more correct to speak of it as the cause. There can be no doubt that the land round the Bay of Concepcion was upraised two or three feet; but…
On March 19 the party rides to the highest house in a northern Chile valley, describing fertile irrigable shingle terraces and arguing the Cordillera was gradually uplifted by torrents depositing detritus at rising sea levels.
carrying cargoes, each taking turn about. We carried a good deal of food in case we should be snowed up, as the season was rather late for passing the Portillo. March 19th.--We rode during this day to the last, and therefore most elevated, house in the valley. The number of inhabitants became scanty; but wherever water could be brought on the land, it was very fertile. All the main valleys in the Cordillera are ch…
Darwin reflects on how repeated, long-term causes produce enormous geological effects, linking the roaring, rattling mountain torrents and accumulated sediments to deep time and relentless erosion.
glides past is irrevocable. So was it with these stones; the ocean is their eternity, and each note of that wild music told of one more step towards their destiny. It is not possible for the mind to comprehend, except by a slow process, any effect which is produced by a cause repeated so often, that the multiplier itself conveys an idea, not more definite than the savage implies when he points to the hairs of his he…
On March 20-21 Darwin compares Andean scenery and weathering, discusses snow-shattering of rocks and spring detritus avalanches forming natural ice-houses, then reaches the Valle del Yeso with gypsum used to make wine.
as yet had been good with a steady but very gradual ascent, now changed into a steep zigzag track up the great range, dividing the republics of Chile and Mendoza. I will here give a very brief sketch of the geology of the several parallel lines forming the Cordillera. Of these lines, there are two considerably higher than the others; namely, on the Chilian side, the Peuquenes ridge, which, where the road crosses it…
Darwin gives a geology sketch of parallel Cordillera lines (Peuquenes ridge and Portillo ridge), argues for repeated upheaval and injections, uses fossil shells to infer subsidence and elevation, and describes ascent symptoms of puna.
Only thus can we gain time, at all sufficient to explain the truly astonishing amount of denudation, which these great, though comparatively with most other ranges recent, mountains have suffered. Finally, the shells in the Peuquenes or oldest ridge, prove, as before remarked, that it has been upraised 14,000 feet since a Secondary period, which in Europe we are accustomed to consider as far from ancient; but since …
At Villa Vicencio and nearby mines around March 30–April 1, Darwin studies the geology of the Uspallata range and reports silicified fir-like petrified trees with bark impressions.
course was quite dry; by degrees it became a little damper; then puddles of water appeared; these soon became connected; and at Villa Vicencio there was a nice little rivulet. 30th.--The solitary hovel which bears the imposing name of Villa Vicencio, has been mentioned by every traveller who has crossed the Andes. I stayed here and at some neighbouring mines during the two succeeding days. The geology of the surro…
Darwin interprets the petrified trees and surrounding strata as evidence of huge geological uplift and later marine submergence, then crosses toward the Andes plain, observing colored rock strata and torrential rivers.
and from the lower part of which they must have sprung, had accumulated in successive thin layers around their trunks; and the stone yet retained the impression of the bark. It required little geological practice to interpret the marvellous story which this scene at once unfolded; though I confess I was at first so much astonished that I could scarcely believe the plainest evidence. I saw the spot where a cluster o…
While dining with Captain Fitz Roy at Coquimbo, Darwin records a sharp earthquake, reflects on how natives panic but may learn to manage fear, and explains step-formed marine terraces as sea-cut features during gradual uplift.
green patches; the grass being sparingly scattered in hair-like fibres a full inch in length. Before this shower every part of the surface was bare as on a high road. In the evening, Captain Fitz Roy and myself were dining with Mr. Edwards, an English resident well known for his hospitality by all who have visited Coquimbo, when a sharp earthquake happened. I heard the forecoming rumble, but from the screams of the…
Darwin argues that Coquimbo’s raised shell terraces imply recent sea submergence and ongoing coastal uplift, noting the rarity of recent shell strata elsewhere on the Pacific coast and linking preservation to slow continental rising.
along the whole coast-line of Patagonia. They have undoubtedly been formed by the denuding power of the sea, during long periods of rest in the gradual elevation of the continent. Shells of many existing species not only lie on the surface of the terraces at Coquimbo (to a height of 250 feet), but are embedded in a friable calcareous rock, which in some places is as much as between twenty and thirty feet in thicknes…
He connects the ancient tertiary shells at Coquimbo to deposits along Chile and Patagonia, then explains why thick fossiliferous beds could form and survive beach erosion through contemporaneous subsidence and later elevation across South America.
appeal to the great cliffs along the present coast of Patagonia, and to the escarpments or ancient sea-cliffs at different levels, one above another, on that same line of coast. The old underlying tertiary formation at Coquimbo, appears to be of about the same age with several deposits on the coast of Chile (of which that of Navedad is the principal one), and with the great formation of Patagonia. Both at Navedad an…
On June 26 Darwin hires guides and mules into the Cordillera via the “Despoblado,” explaining its dry valley as former sea-level drainage shaped by gradual land uplift and past tides.
apart, and directed so as to point up the mouths of these small valleys. My companions knew nothing about them, and only answered my queries by their imperturbable "quien sabe?" I observed Indian ruins in several parts of the Cordillera: the most perfect which I saw, were the Ruinas de Tambillos, in the Uspallata Pass. Small square rooms were there huddled together in separate groups: some of the doorways were yet …
Darwin describes walking to “Agua amarga” (saline, putrid water), notes nearby Indian ruins and stone alignments toward valley mouths, and continues interpreting the landscape as shaped by long-term climatic and geological change.
in this great valley; and then, by irrigation (which was formerly so well understood by the Indians), the soil would easily be rendered sufficiently productive to support a few families. I have convincing proofs that this part of the continent of South America has been elevated near the coast at least from 400 to 500, and in some parts from 1000 to 1300 feet, since the epoch of existing shells; and further inland th…
Darwin investigates earthquake damage at old Callao (1746) and uses coastal terraces, shell beds, and embedded relics on San Lorenzo to infer recent sea-level and land-elevation changes.
advance made by them in the arts of civilization. The burial mounds, called Huacas, are really stupendous; although in some places they appear to be natural hills incased and modelled. There is also another and very different class of ruins, which possesses some interest, namely, those of old Callao, overwhelmed by the great earthquake of 1746, and its accompanying wave. The destruction must have been more complete…
Darwin summarizes his findings: the coast near Lima has risen by more than 85 feet within the “Indo-human” period, and he compares uplift timelines at Valparaíso and Patagonia after older maps.
Since our voyage, M. Tschudi has come to the conclusion, by the comparison of old and modern maps, that the coast both north and south of Lima has certainly subsided. On the island of San Lorenzo, there are very satisfactory proofs of elevation within the recent period; this of course is not opposed to the belief, of a small sinking of the ground having subsequently taken place. The side of this island fronting the…
They produce fire by friction using hibiscus tiliareus wood, cook meat and greens by burying parcels of food in hot stones under earth, and Darwin inventories edible plants and stream life in the ravine.
rafters, and the large leaf of the banana for a thatch, the Tahitians in a few minutes built us an excellent house; and with withered leaves made a soft bed. They then proceeded to make a fire, and cook our evening meal. A light was procured, by rubbing a blunt pointed stick in a groove made in another, as if with intention of deepening it, until by the friction the dust became ignited. A peculiarly white and very …
At King George’s Sound Darwin explains wind-blown sand and calcareous cement forming pseudo-petrified “tree” casts, then recounts a night “corrobery” dance by White Cockatoo and King George’s men.
promise fertility. A single walk, however, was enough to dispel such an illusion; and he who thinks with me will never wish to walk again in so uninviting a country. One day I accompanied Captain Fitz Roy to Bald Head; the place mentioned by so many navigators, where some imagined that they saw corals, and others that they saw petrified trees, standing in the position in which they had grown. According to our view, …
On April 6th (later that day), Darwin continues shore and lagoon observations: coral-grove death from changing lagoon levels, a puzzling greenstone pebble linked to tree-root drift, and the cocoa-nut island landscape and crab ecology.
native element, where, after a certain time, a new shell is formed; it is, however, too thin to be of any service, and the animal always appears languishing and sickly." When we arrived at the head of the lagoon, we crossed a narrow islet, and found a great surf breaking on the windward coast. I can hardly explain the reason, but there is to my mind much grandeur in the view of the outer shores of these lagoon-isla…
On April 12th, Darwin departs the lagoon on the way to the Isle of France, explains deep submarine mountain atolls and coral-reef types, quotes early observers, and critiques existing theories in favor of coral-formation reasoning.
has, I believe, caused the death of those coral-groves, which under the former and more open condition of the outer reef has attained the utmost possible limit of upward growth. A few miles north of Keeling there is another small atoll, the lagoon of which is nearly filled up with coral-mud. Captain Ross found embedded in the conglomerate on the outer coast, a well-rounded fragment of greenstone, rather larger than…
Darwin argues that reef-building corals only survive down to about 20–30 fathoms, so Pacific and Indian coral atolls must have formed on shallow foundations that later subsided.
well as in the crater-theory, a most important consideration has been overlooked, namely, on what have the reef-building corals, which cannot live at a great depth, based their massive structures? Numerous soundings were carefully taken by Captain Fitz Roy on the steep outside of Keeling atoll, and it was found that within ten fathoms, the prepared tallow at the bottom of the lead, invariably came up marked with the…