Volume I Part 16 (2/2)

We were becalmed for a day between Teneriffe and the Grand Canary, and here I first experienced any enjoylorious The Peak of Teneriffe was seen ast the clouds like another world Our only drawback was the extrelorious island TELL EYTON NEVER TO FORGET EITHER THE CANARY ISLANDS OR SOUTH AMERICA; that I am sure it ell repay the necessary trouble, but that he ood deal of the latter I feel certain he will regret it if he does not e was extrereat numbers of curious animals, and fully occupied htful and clear, that the sky and water together made a picture On the 16th we arrived at Port Praya, the capital of the Cape de Verds, and there we remained twenty-three days, viz, till yesterday, the 7th of February The ti can be pleasanter; exceedingly busy, and that business both a duty and a great delight I do not believe I have spent one half-hour idly since leaving Teneriffe

St Jago has afforded ly rich harvest in several branches of Natural History I find the descriptions scarcely worth anything of many of the commoner animals that inhabit the Tropics I allude, of course, to those of the lower classes

Geologising in a volcanic country is htful; besides the interest attached to itself, it leads you into most beautiful and retired spots nobody but a person fond of Natural History can i under cocoa-nuts in a thicket of bananas and coffee-plants, and an endless nuiven ht, is reckoned theour voyage It certainly is generally very barren, but the valleys are more exquisitely beautiful, fro about the scenery; it would be as profitable to explain to a blind man colours, as to a person who has not been out of Europe, the total dissi, I always either look forward to writing it down, either in -book (which increases in bulk), or in a letter; so you must excuse raptures, and those raptures badly expressed I findwonderfully, and froo home

All the endless delays which we experienced at Plymouth have been most fortunate, as I verily believe no person ever went out better provided for collecting and observing in the different branches of Natural History In a ood I find to ularly co is so close at hand, and being craainer I already have got to look at going to sea as a regular quiet place, like going back to ho away from it In short, I find a shi+p a very co you want, and if it was not for sea-sickness the whole world would be sailors I do not think there isthe example, but in case there should be, he s of sea-sickness

I like the officersKing and Stokes, and indeed all of them The Captain continues steadily very kind, and does everything in his power to assist me We see very little of each other when in harbour, our pursuits lead us in such different tracks I never in reat a share of fatigue He works incessantly, and when apparently not e If he does not kill hie do a wonderful quantity of work

I find I am very well, and stand the little heat we have had as yet as well as anybody We shall soon have it in real earnest We are now sailing for Fernando Noronha, off the coast of Brazil, where we shall not stay very long, and then exa perhaps at Bahia I will finish this letter when an opportunity of sending it occurs

FEBRUARY 26TH

About 280 miles froe to Rio I sent a short letter by her, to be sent to England on [the] first opportunity We have been singularly unlucky in notwith any homeward-bound vessels, but I suppose [at] Bahia we certainly shall be able to write to England Since writing the first part of [this] letter nothing has occurred except crossing the Equator, and being shaved Thisyour face rubbed with paint and tar, which forms a lather for a sahich represents the razor, and then being half drowned in a sail filled with salt water About 50 miles north of the line we touched at the rocks of St Paul; this little speck (about 1/4 of a mile across) in the Atlantic has seldom been visited It is totally barren, but is covered by hosts of birds; they were so unused to men that we found we could kill plenty with stones and sticks After re some hours on the island, we returned on board with the boat loaded with our prey From this ent to Fernando Noronha, a small island where the [Brazilians]

send their exiles The landing there was attended with so[to] a heavy surf that the Captain deter My one day on shore was exceedingly interesting, the whole island is one single wood so ether by creepers that it is very difficult to move out of the beaten path

I find the Natural History of all these unfrequented spots y I have written this much in order to save ti in the Tropics is the novelty of the vegetable fors, if you add to thehtness which no European tree partakes of

Bananas and plantains are exactly the same as those in hothouses, the acacias or tae; but of the glorious orange trees, no description, no drawings, will give any just idea; instead of the sickly green of our oranges, the native ones exceed the Portugal laurel in the darkness of their tint, and infinitely exceed it in beauty of fores, loaded with fruit, generally surround thesuch scenes, one feels the impossibility that any description would come near the mark, much less be overdrawn

MARCH 1ST

Bahia, or San Salvador I arrived at this place on the 28th of February, and a in real earnest strolled in the forests of the neorld No person could i so beautiful as the ancient town of Bahia, it is fairly embosomed in a luxuriant wood of beautiful trees, and situated on a steep bank, and overlooks the calreat bay of All Saints The houses are white and lofty, and, froht and elegant appearance Convents, porticos, and public buildings, vary the unifore shi+ps; in short, and what can be said more, it is one of the finest views in the Brazils But the exquisite glorious pleasure of walking ast such flowers, and such trees, cannot be coh in so low a latitude the locality is not disagreeably hot, but at present it is very darees ad to live quietly for some time in such a country If you really want to have [an idea] of tropical countries, study Humboldt

Skip the scientific parts, and cos amount to ad to ly I enjoy Areat pity if he does not o on the 5th, and I am afraid will be so how in other parts of the world you ht by accident thus pass

About the 12th we start for Rio, but we re the Albrolhos shoals Tell Eyton as far as , and Humboldt I do sincerely hope to hear of (if not to see him) in South America I look forward to the letters in Rio--till each one is acknowledged, mention its date in the next

We have beat all the shi+ps inofficer says, we need not follow his exareat shi+p I begin to take great interest in naval points, more especially now, as I find they all say we are the No

1 in South America I suppose the Captain is a lorious to-day hoe beat the ”Sa for a ”sounding shi+p” to beat a regular le” is not at all a particular shi+p

Erasht I have actually sat down in the sacred precincts of the quarter deck You enerally written in the evening after -book, so that eventually you will have a good account of all the places I visit

Hitherto the voyage has answered ADMIRABLY to me, and yet I a cold water on the whole sche out quite the reverse; to such an extent do I feel this, that if my advice was asked by any person on a si him I have not time to write to anybody else, so send to Maer to let thelorious tropical scenery, I do not forget how instruain, but I give ht

Give my love to every soul at home, and to the Owens

I think one's affections, like other good things, flourish and increase in these tropical regions

The conviction that I a in the New World is even yet marvellous in my own eyes, and I dare say it is little less so to you, the receiving a letter from a son of yours in such a quarter

Believe me, my dear Father, Your most affectionate son, CHARLES DARWIN

CHARLES DARWIN TO WD FOX Botofogo Bay, near Rio de Janeiro, May, 1832