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An Odyssey JS scroll example
```
-title: "The voyage of the Beagle"
-author: "@clhenrick"
```
#The Voyage of the HMS Beagle
```
- center: [50.343, -4.143]
- zoom: 2
```
![map of the voyage of the HMS Beagle](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/42/Voyage_of_the_Beagle.jpg/640px-Voyage_of_the_Beagle.jpg)
_Content sourced from [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_voyage_of_HMS_Beagle)_
The second voyage of HMS Beagle, from 27 December 1831 to 2 October 1836, was the second survey expedition of HMS Beagle, under captain Robert FitzRoy who had taken over command of the ship on its first voyage after the previous captain committed suicide. FitzRoy had already thought of the advantages of having an expert in geology on board, and sought a gentleman naturalist as a supernumerary who could be his companion while the ship was at sea. The young graduate Charles Darwin had hoped to see the tropics before becoming a parson, and accepted the opportunity. By the end of the expedition he had already made his name as a geologist and fossil collector, and the publication of his journal which became known as The Voyage of the Beagle gave him wide renown as a writer.
The Beagle sailed across the Atlantic Ocean, and then carried out detailed hydrographic surveys around the coasts of the southern part of South America, returning via Tahiti and Australia after having circumnavigated the Earth. While the expedition was originally planned to last two years, it lasted almost five.
#The HMS Beagle departs
## Plymouth Sound, England
```
- center: [50.343, -4.143]
- zoom: 8
```
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/ce/British_Museum_Marine_Chronometer.jpg/363px-British_Museum_Marine_Chronometer.jpg)
_A nautical chronometer made by Thomas Earnshaw (1749–1828), and once part of the equipment of HMS Beagle_
The morning of 27 December, the Beagle left its anchorage in the Barn Pool, under Mount Edgecumbe on the west side of Plymouth Sound and set out on its surveying expedition.
#Porto Praya
## St. Jago, Cape Verde Islands
```
- center: [14.918, -23.509]
- zoom: 6
L.marker([14.9180, -23.5090]).actions.addRemove(S.map)
```
![current day Praia](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4a/Praia_Cabo_Verde.jpg/640px-Praia_Cabo_Verde.jpg)
_modern day Praia_
It is here that Darwin's description in his published Journal begins. His initial impression was of a desolate and sterile volcanic island, but after visiting the town he came to a deep valley where he "first saw the glory of tropical vegetation" and had "a glorious day", finding overwhelming novelty in the sights and sounds. FitzRoy set up tents and an observatory on Quail Island to determine the exact position of the islands, while Darwin collected numerous sea animals, delighting in vivid tropical corals in tidal pools, and investigating the geology of Quail Island.
# Salvador
## Bahia, Brazil
```
- center: [-12.974722, -38.476667]
- zoom: 7
```
![modern day Salvador](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/06/Salvador_BA_%28cropped%29.jpg/640px-Salvador_BA_%28cropped%29.jpg)
_modern day Salvador_
Due to heavy surf they only stayed at Fernando de Noronha for a day to make the required observations, and Fitzroy decided to make for Bahia, Brazil, to rate the chronometers and take on water. On 28 February they reached the continent, arriving at the magnificent sight of the town now known as Salvador, with large ships at harbour scattered across the bay. On the next day, Darwin was in "transports of pleasure" walking by himself in the tropical forest, and in "long naturalizing walks" with others continued to "add raptures to the former raptures". He found the sights of slavery offensive and when FitzRoy defended the practice by describing a visit to a slaveowner whose slaves replied "no" on being asked by their master if they wished to be freed, Darwin suggested that answers in such circumstances were worthless. Enraged that his word had been questioned, FitzRoy lost his temper and banned Darwin from his company. The officers had nicknamed such outbursts "hot coffee," and within hours FitzRoy apologised and asked Darwin to remain.
# Montevideo
## Uruguay
```
- center:[-34.883611, -56.181944]
- zoom: 5
L.marker([-34.8836, -56.1819]).actions.addRemove(S.map)
```
![Cerro de Montevideo as seen from the city, in 1865](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d0/Cerro_de_Montevideo_desde_la_ciudad._A%C3%B1o_1865.jpg/640px-Cerro_de_Montevideo_desde_la_ciudad._A%C3%B1o_1865.jpg)
_Cerro de Montevideo as seen from the city, in 1865._
After storms, the Beagle reached Montevideo on 26 July 1832, and took observations for the chronometers. An attempt to call at Buenos Aires for information was thwarted by officials, then FitzRoy agreed a request for ship's crew (and Darwin) to briefly occupy a Montevideo fort to dispel a revolution. On 22 August, after taking soundings in Samborombón Bay, the Beagle began survey work down the coast from Cape San Antonio.
At Bahía Blanca, in the southern part of present Buenos Aires Province, Darwin rode inland into Patagonia with gauchos: he saw them use bolas to bring down "ostriches" (rheas), and ate roast armadillo. With FitzRoy, he went for "a very pleasant cruize about the bay" on 22 September, and about ten miles (16 km) from the ship they stopped for a while at Punta Alta. In low cliffs near the point Darwin found conglomerate rocks containing numerous shells and fossilised teeth and bones of gigantic extinct mammals,in strata near an earth layer with shells and armadillo fossils, suggesting to him quiet tidal deposits rather than a catastrophe. With assistance (possibly including the young sailor Syms Covington acting as his servant) Darwin collected numerous fossils over several days.
Much of the second day was taken up with excavating a large skull which Darwin found embedded in soft rock, and seemed to him to be allied to the rhinoceros. On 8 October he returned to the site, and found a jawbone and tooth which he was able to identify using Bory de Saint-Vincent's Dictionnaire classique. He wrote home describing this and the large skull as Megatherium fossils, or perhaps Megalonyx, and excitedly noted that the only specimens in Europe were locked away in the King's collection at Madrid. In the same layer he found a large surface of polygonal plates of bony armour. His immediate thought was that they came from an enormous armadillo like the small creatures common in the area, but from Cuvier's misleading description of the Madrid specimen and a recent newspaper report about a fossil found by Woodbine Parish, Darwin thought that the bony armour identified the fossil as the Megatherium. With FitzRoy, Darwin went about 30 miles (48 km) across the bay to Monte Hermoso on 19 October, and found numerous fossils of smaller rodents in contrast to the huge Edentatal mammals of Punta Alta. In November at Buenos Aires he "purchased fragments of some enormous bones" which he "was assured belonged to the former giants!!" and subsequently took any chance to get fossils "by gold or galloping".
At Montevideo in November the mail from home included a copy of the second volume of Charles Lyell's Principles of Geology, a refutation of Lamarckism in which there was no shared ancestry of different species or overall progress to match the gradual geological change, but a continuing cycle in which species mysteriously appeared, closely adapted to their "centres of creation", then went extinct when the environment changed to their disadvantage.
# Tierra del Fuego
## southern tip of South America
```
- center: [-54, -70]
- zoom: 5
```
![A watercolor of a native from the Tierra del Fuego](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/ef/Fuegian_BeagleVoyage.jpg/399px-Fuegian_BeagleVoyage.jpg)
_A watercolor of a native from the Tierra del Fuego, from around the time that Charles Darwin was on his Voyage of the Beagle._
They reached Tierra del Fuego on 18 December 1832 and Darwin was taken aback at what he perceived as the crude savagery of the Yaghan natives, in stark contrast to the "civilised" behaviour of the three Fuegians they were returning as missionaries (who had been given the names York Minster, Fuegia Basket and Jemmy Button). He described his first meeting with the native Fuegians as being "without exception the most curious and interesting spectacle I ever beheld: I could not have believed how wide was the difference between savage and civilised man: it is greater than between a wild and domesticated animal, inasmuch as in man there is a greater power of improvement." In contrast, he said of Jemmy that "It seems yet wonderful to me, when I think over all his many good qualities, that he should have been of the same race, and doubtless partaken of the same character, with the miserable, degraded savages whom we first met here." (Four decades later, he recalled these impressions in The Descent of Man to support his argument that just as humans had descended from "a lower form", civilised society had arisen by graduations from a more primitive state. He recalled how closely the Fuegians on board the Beagle "resembled us in disposition and in most of our mental faculties.")
At the island of "Buttons Land" on 23 January 1833 they set up a mission post, with huts, gardens, furniture and crockery, but when they returned nine days later the possessions had been looted and divided up equally by the natives. Matthews gave up, rejoining the ship and leaving the three civilised Fuegians to continue the missionary work. The Beagle went on to the Falkland Islands arriving just after the British return. Darwin studied the relationships of species to habitats and found ancient fossils like those he'd found in Wales. Fitzroy bought a schooner to assist with the surveying, and they returned to Patagonia where this was fitted with a new copper bottom and renamed Adventure. Darwin was assisted by Syms Covington in preserving specimens and his collecting was so successful that with FitzRoy's agreement he took on Covington as a full-time servant for £30 a year.
# Valparaíso
```
- center: [-33.05, -71.616667]
- zoom: 6
L.marker([-33.0500, -71.6167]).actions.addRemove(S.map)
```
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a5/Remains_of_the_Cathedral_of_Conception_-_1835.png/640px-Remains_of_the_Cathedral_of_Conception_-_1835.png)
_Concepción after the earthquake, as drawn by Lieutenant John Clements Wickham of the Beagle._
The Beagle and Adventure now surveyed the Straits of Magellan before sailing north round up the west coast, reaching the island of Chiloé in the wet and heavily wooded Chonos Archipelago on 28 June 1834. They then spent the next six months surveying the coast and islands southwards. On Chiloé, Darwin found fragments of black lignite and petrified wood, at least two of which the British Geological Survey discovered in 2011 locked away in their collection labeled "unregistered fossil plants". Exchanged with Joseph Dalton Hooker about ten years later, one slide was signed "Chiloe, C. Darwin Esq".
They arrived at Valparaiso on 23 July. After several walks in the area, Darwin obtained horses and on 14 August set off up the volcanic Andes with a companion. Three days later they spent an enjoyable day on the summit of the Bell mountain. Darwin visited a copper mine and spent five days scrambling in the mountains before going on to Santiago, Chile. On his way back, he fell ill on 20 September and had to spend a month in bed. It is possible that he contracted Chagas' disease here, leading to his health problems after his return to England, but this diagnosis of his symptoms is disputed. He learnt that the Admiralty had reprimanded FitzRoy for buying the Adventure. FitzRoy had taken it badly, selling the ship and announcing they would go back to recheck his survey, then had resigned his command doubting his sanity, but was persuaded by his officers to withdraw his resignation and proceed. The artist Conrad Martens left the ship and took passage to Australia.
After waiting for Darwin, the Beagle sailed on 11 November to survey the Chonos Archipelago. From here they saw the eruption of the volcano Osorno in the Andes. They sailed north, and Darwin wondered about the fossils he had found. The giant Mastodons and Megatheriums were extinct, but he had found no geological signs of a "diluvial debacle" or of the changed circumstances that, in Lyell's view, led to species no longer being adapted to the position they were created to fit. He agreed with Lyell's idea of "the gradual birth & death of species" but, unlike Lyell, Darwin was willing to believe Giovanni Battista Brocchi's idea that extinct species had somehow aged and died out.
They arrived at the port of Valdivia on 8 February 1835, then twelve days later Darwin was on shore when he experienced a severe earthquake and returned to find the port town badly damaged. They sailed two hundred miles (320 km) north to Concepción, and arrived on 4 March to find that the same earthquake had devastated the city by repeated shocks and a tidal wave, with even the cathedral in ruins. Darwin noted the horrors of death and destruction, and FitzRoy carefully established that mussel beds were now above high tide, giving clear evidence of the ground rising some 9 ft (2.7 m) which he confirmed a month later. They had actually experienced the gradual process of the continent emerging from the ocean as Lyell had indicated.
#Galápagos Islands
```
- center: [-0.4504, -90.6482]
- zoom: 7
```
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/18/Galapagos_mockingbird_-Santa_Cruz_-Charles_Darwin_Research_Centre.jpg/640px-Galapagos_mockingbird_-Santa_Cruz_-Charles_Darwin_Research_Centre.jpg)
_The various Galápagos Mockingbirds Darwin caught resembled the Chilean Mockingbird Mimus thenka, but differed from island to island._
A week out of Lima, the Beagle reached the Galápagos Islands on 15 September 1835. The next day Captain FitzRoy dropped anchor near the site of the modern town of Puerto Baquerizo Moreno on Chatham Island.
At the location that is now known as Frigatebird Hill/Cerro Tijeretas, Darwin spent his first hour on shore in the Galapagos islands. Darwin eagerly looked forward to seeing newly formed volcanic islands, and took every opportunity to go ashore while the Beagle was methodically moved round to chart the coast. He found broken black rocky volcanic lava scorching under the hot sun, and made detailed geological notes of features including volcanic cones like chimneys which reminded him of the iron foundries of industrial Staffordshire. He was disappointed that he did not see active volcanoes or find strata showing uplift as he had hoped, though one of the officers found broken oyster-shells high above the sea on one of the islands. Abundant giant Galápagos tortoises appeared to him almost antediluvian, and large black marine iguanas seemed "most disgusting, clumsy Lizards" well suited to their habitat – he noted that someone had called them "imps of darkness". Darwin had learnt from Henslow about studying the geographical distribution of species, and particularly of linked species on oceanic islands and on nearby continents, so he endeavoured to collect plants in flower. He found widespread "wretched-looking" thin scrub thickets of only ten species, and very few insects. Birds were remarkably unafraid of humans, and in his first field note he recorded that a mockingbird was similar to those he had seen on the continent.
#Tahiti
```
- center: [-17.666667, -149.416667]
- zoom: 8
```
![Diadem Mountain at Sunset, Tahiti by John La Farge](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cc/Brooklyn_Museum_-_Diadem_Mountain_at_Sunset%2C_Tahiti_-_John_La_Farge_-_overall.jpg)
_Diadem Mountain at Sunset, Tahiti. Painting by John La Farge_
They sailed on, dining on Galapagos tortoises, and passed the atoll of Honden Island on 9 November. They passed through the Low Islands archipelago, with Darwin remarking that they had "a very uninteresting appearance; a long brilliantly white beach is capped by a low bright line of green vegetation." Arriving at Tahiti on 15 November he soon found interest in luxuriant vegetation and the pleasant intelligent natives who showed the benefits of Christianity, refuting allegations he had read about tyrannical missionaries overturning indigenous cultures.
#New Zealand
```
- center: [-41.283333, 174.45]
- zoom: 4
```
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/71/HekeKawiti1846.jpg/494px-HekeKawiti1846.jpg)
_Hone Heke, holding a musket, with his wife Hariata and his uncle Kawiti, holding a taiaha._
On 19 December they reached New Zealand where Darwin thought the tattooed Māori to be savages with character of a much lower order than the Tahitians, and noted that they and their homes were "filthily dirty and offensive". He saw missionaries bringing improvement in character as well as new farming practices with an exemplary "English farm" employing natives. Richard Matthews was left here with his elder brother Joseph Matthews who was a missionary at Kaitaia. Darwin and FitzRoy were agreed that missionaries had been unfairly misrepresented in tracts, particularly one written by the artist Augustus Earle which he had left on the ship. Darwin also noted many English residents of the most worthless character, including runaway convicts from New South Wales. By 30 December he was glad to leave New Zealand.
#Sydney
```
- center: [-33.8339, 151.0620]
- zoom: 6
```
##Australia
![Koala and eucalyptus tree](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/49/Koala_climbing_tree.jpg/488px-Koala_climbing_tree.jpg)
_The koala and the eucalyptus form an iconic Australian pair._
The first sight of Australia on 12 January 1836 reminded him of Patagonia, but inland the country improved and he was soon filled with admiration at the bustling city of Sydney. On a journey into the interior he came across a group of aborigines who looked "good-humoured & pleasant & they appeared far from such utterly degraded beings as usually represented". They gave him a display of spear throwing for a shilling, and he reflected sadly on how their numbers were rapidly decreasing. At a large sheep farm he joined a hunting party and caught his first marsupial, a "potoroo" (rat-kangaroo). Reflecting on the strange animals of the country, he thought that an unbeliever "might exclaim 'Surely two distinct Creators must have been work; their object however has been the same & certainly the end in each case is complete'," yet an antlion he was watching was very similar to its European counterpart. That evening he saw the even stranger platypus and noticed that its bill was soft, unlike the preserved specimens he had seen. Aboriginal stories that they laid eggs were believed by few Europeans.
#Hobart
##Tasmania
```
L.marker([-42.8806, 147.3250]).actions.addRemove(S.map)
- center: [-42.8806, 147.3250]
- zoom: 4
```
![Mount Wellington and Hobart from Kangaroo Point, c. 1834](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/46/John_Glover_-_Mount_Wellington_and_Hobart_Town_from_Kangaroo_Point_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg/640px-John_Glover_-_Mount_Wellington_and_Hobart_Town_from_Kangaroo_Point_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg)
_Mount Wellington and Hobart from Kangaroo Point, c. 1834_
The Beagle visited Hobart, Tasmania, where Darwin was impressed by the agreeable high society of the settlers, but noted that the island's "Aboriginal blacks are all removed & kept (in reality as prisoners) in a Promontory, the neck of which is guarded. I believe it was not possible to avoid this cruel step; although without doubt the misconduct of the Whites first led to the Necessity." They then sailed to King George's Sound in south west Australia, a dismal settlement then being replaced by the Swan River Colony. Darwin was impressed by the "good disposition of the aboriginal blacks... Although true Savages, it is impossible not to feel an inclination to like such quiet good-natured men." He provided boiled rice for an aboriginal "Corrobery" dancing party performed by the men of two tribes to the great pleasure of the women and children, a "most rude barbarous scene" in which everyone appeared in high spirits, "all moving in hideous harmony" and "perfectly at their ease". The Beagle's departure in a storm was delayed when she ran aground. She was refloated and got on her way.
#Keeling Islands
```
- center: [-12.1167, 96.9000]
- zoom: 4
L.marker([-12.1167, 96.9000]).actions.addRemove(S.map)
```
![Palm trees on the Keeling Islands](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/92/Keelingpalms.jpg/502px-Keelingpalms.jpg)
_Palm trees on the Keeling Islands_
FitzRoy's instructions from the Admiralty required a detailed geological survey of a circular coral atoll to investigate how coral reefs formed, particularly whether they rose from the bottom of the sea or from the summits of extinct volcanoes, and the effects of tides measured with specially constructed gauges. He chose the Keeling Islands in the Indian Ocean, and on arrival on 1 April the entire crew set to work. Darwin found a coconut economy, serving both the small settlement and wildlife. There was a limited range of native plants and no land birds, but hermit crabs everywhere. The lagoons teemed with a rich variety of invertebrates and fish, and he examined the atoll's structure in view of the theory he had developed in Lima, of encircling reefs becoming atolls as an island sank. This idea was supported by the numerous soundings FitzRoy had taken showing a steep slope outside the reef with no living corals below 20–30 fathoms (10–15 m).
#Mauritius
```
- center: [-20.2, 57.5]
- zoom: 7
```
![Panoramic view showing houses, mountain ranges and sugar cane plantation](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/13/Mauritius.png/800px-Mauritius.png)
Panoramic view showing houses, mountain ranges and sugar cane plantation
Arriving at Mauritius on 29 April 1836, Darwin was impressed by the civilised prosperity of the French colony which had come under British rule. He toured the island, examining its volcanic mountains and fringing coral reefs. The Surveyor-general Captain Lloyd took him on the only elephant on the island to see an elevated coral plain. By then FitzRoy was writing the official Narrative of the Beagle voyages, and after reading Darwin’s diary he proposed incorporating it into the account, a suggestion Darwin discussed with his family.
#Cape Town
```
- zoom: 8
- center: [-33.925278, 18.423889]
```
![The Cape of Good Hope; looking towards the west, from the coastal cliffs above Cape Point, overlooking Dias beach.](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/84/Cape_of_Good_Hope_%28Zaian_2008%29.JPG/640px-Cape_of_Good_Hope_%28Zaian_2008%29.JPG)
_The Cape of Good Hope; looking towards the west, from the coastal cliffs above Cape Point, overlooking Dias beach._
The Beagle reached the Cape of Good Hope on 31 May. In Cape Town Darwin received a letter dated 29 December from his sister Caroline telling him that his fame was spreading. On 18 November 1835 Sedgwick had read extracts from Darwin's geological notes to the Geological Society of London. and this had been reported in The Athenæum on 21 November. On 25 December their father received a letter from Henslow which said that Darwin would become one of the premier naturalists of the time, and enclosed some copies of a book of extracts of Darwin's letters on South American geology which had been printed for private distribution. Their father "did not move from his seat till he had read every word of your book & he was very much gratified – he liked so much the simple clear way you gave your information". Darwin was horrified that his careless words were in print, but No hay remedio (it can't be helped). He explored the geology of the area, reaching conclusions about slate formation and the injection of granite seams as liquid which differed from the ideas of Lyell and Sedgwick. The zoologist Andrew Smith showed him formations, and later discussed the large animals living on sparse vegetation, showing that a lack of luxuriant vegetation did not explain the extinction of the giant creatures in South America.
Around 15 June Darwin and FitzRoy visited the noted astronomer Sir John Herschel. In his diary Darwin called this "the most memorable event which, for a long period, I have had the good fortune to enjoy." His zeal for science had been stirred at Cambridge by reading Herschel's book on philosophy of science, which had guided his theorising during the voyage. Their discussion is not recorded, but a few months earlier, on 20 February 1836, Herschel had written to Lyell praising his Principles of Geology as a work which would bring "a complete revolution in [its] subject, by altering entirely the point of view in which it must thenceforward be contemplated." and opening a way for bold speculation on "that mystery of mysteries, the replacement of extinct species by others." Herschel himself thought catastrophic extinction and renewal "an inadequate conception of the Creator", and by analogy with other intermediate causes "the origination of fresh species, could it ever come under our cognizance, would be found to be a natural in contradistinction to a miraculous process".
In Cape Town missionaries were being accused of causing racial tension and profiteering, and after the Beagle set to sea on 18 June FitzRoy wrote an open letter to the evangelical South African Christian Recorder on the Moral State of Tahiti incorporating extracts from both his and Darwin's diaries to defend the reputation of missionaries. This was given to a passing ship which took it to Cape Town to become FitzRoy's (and Darwin's) first published work.
#St. Helena
```
- center: [-15.95, -5.716667]
- zoom: 5
L.marker([-15.9500, -5.7167]).actions.addRemove(S.map)
```
![Jamestown, the capital of Saint Helena](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/ac/St-Helena-Jamestown.jpg/640px-St-Helena-Jamestown.jpg)
Jamestown, the capital of Saint Helena
On 8 July they stopped at St. Helena for six days. Darwin took lodgings near Napoleon's tomb, and when writing to Henslow asking to be proposed for the Geological Society, mentioned his suspicions "that differently from most Volcanic Islds. its structure is rather complicated. It seems strange, that this little centre of a distinct creation should, as is asserted, bear marks of recent elevation." With a guide he wandered over the island, noting its complex sloping strata showing fault lines, interlaced with volcanic dykes. He examined beds high on the hill which had been taken as seashells showing that St. Helena had risen from the ocean in recent times, but Darwin identified them as extinct species of land-shells. He noted that woodland had been destroyed by goats and hogs which had run wild since being introduced in 1502 and native vegetation only predominated on high steep ridges, having been replaced by imported species.
At this stage Darwin had an acute interest in island biogeography, and his description of St Helena as "a little centre of creation" in his geological diary reflects Charles Lyell's speculation in Volume 2 of Principles of Geology that the island would have acted as a "focus of creative force". He later recalled believing in the permanence of species, but "as far as I can remember, vague doubts occasionally flitted across my mind"
The Beagle reached Ascension Island on 19 July 1836, and Darwin was delighted to receive letters from his sisters with news that Sedgwick had written "He is doing admirably in S. America, & has already sent home a Collection above all praise.— It was the best thing in the world for him that he went out on the Voyage of Discovery— There was some risk of his turning out an idle man: but his character will now be fixed, & if God spare his life, he will have a great name among the Naturalists of Europe." Darwin later recalled how he "clambered over the mountains... with a bounding step and made the volcanic rocks resound under my geological hammer!." He agreed with the saying attributed to the people of St Helena that "We know we live on a rock, but the poor people at Ascension live on a cinder", and noted the care taken to sustain "houses, gardens & fields placed near the summit of the central mountain". (In the 1840s Darwin worked with Hooker, who proposed in 1847 that the Royal Navy import tree species, a project started in 1850 which led to the creation of an artificial cloud forest.)
# Bahia
## Brazil
```
- center: [-12.974722, -38.476667]
- zoom: 6
```
On 23 July they set off again longing to reach home, but FitzRoy wanted to ensure the accuracy of his longitude measurements and so took the ship across the Atlantic back to Bahia in Brazil to take check readings. Darwin was glad to see the beauties of the jungle for a last time, but now compared "the stately Mango trees with the Horse Chesnuts of England." The return trip was delayed for a further 11 days when weather forced the Beagle to shelter further up the coast at Pernambuco, where Darwin examined rocks for signs of elevation, noted "Mangroves like rank grass" and investigated marine invertebrates at various depths on the sandbar. The Beagle departed for home on 17 August. After a stormy passage including a stop for supplies at the Azores, the Beagle finally reached Falmouth, Cornwall, England on 2 October 1836. A plaque now commemorates his arrival point in Falmouth, Cornwall.
#Falmouth, Cornwall
## England
```
- center: [50.15, -5.07]
- zoom: 7
```
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e1/Scelidotherium_leptocephalum_side.jpg/640px-Scelidotherium_leptocephalum_side.jpg)
_One of the fossils Darwin collected, a Scelidotherium._
Upon his return, Darwin was quick to take the coach home, arriving late at night on 4 October 1836 at The Mount House, the family home in Shrewsbury, Shropshire. Darwin reportedly headed straight to bed and greeted his family at breakfast. After ten days of catching up with family he went on to Cambridge and sought Henslow's advice on organising the description and cataloguing of his collections.
Darwin's father gave him an allowance that enabled him to put aside other careers, and as a scientific celebrity with a reputation established by his fossils and Henslow's publication of his letters on South American geology, he toured London's society institutions. By this time he was part of the "scientific establishment", collaborating with expert naturalists to describe his specimens, and working on ideas he had been developing during the voyage. Charles Lyell gave him enthusiastic backing. In December 1836, Darwin presented a talk to the Cambridge Philosophical Society. He wrote a paper proving that Chile, and the South American continent, was slowly rising, which he read to the Geological Society of London on 4 January 1837.
Darwin thought of having his diary published mixed in with FitzRoy's account, but his relatives including Emma and Hensleigh Wedgwood urged that it be published separately. On 30 December the question was settled by FitzRoy taking the advice of William Broderip that Darwin's journal should form the third volume of the Narrative. Darwin set to work reorganising and trimming his diary, and incorporating scientific material from his notes. He completed his Journal and Remarks (now commonly known as The Voyage of the Beagle) in August 1837, but FitzRoy was slower and the three volumes were published in August 1839
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