Volume I Part 19 (1/2)

My dear Catherine, Yours affectionately, CHAS DARWIN

My best love to my father, and all of you Love to Nancy

CHARLES DARWIN TO MISS S DARWIN Valparaiso, April 23, 1835

My dear Susan,

I received, a few days since, your letter of November; the three letters which I before , but I do not doubt they will coo froland I have never made so successful a journey; it has, however, been very expensive I aret it, if he could kno deeply I have enjoyed it: it was soht which I felt at such a fay in South A over my day's work

The scenery was so new, and soat an elevation of 12,000 feet bears so different an aspect from that in a lower country I have seen ly ist, also, there are such hest pinnacles are tossed about like the crust of a broken pie

I crossed by the Portillo Pass, which at this tierous, so could not afford to delay there After staying a day in the stupid town of Mendoza, I began my return by Uspallate, which I did very leisurely My whole trip only took up twenty-two days I travelled with, for me, uncommon comfort, as I carried a BED! My party consisted of two Peons and ten e, or rather food, in case of being snowed up Everything, however, favoured me; not even a speck of this year's snow had fallen on the road I do not suppose any of you can be ical details, but I will justto a certain extent the description and reat line of mountains, I can clearly de posterior to the other

In the more ancient line, which is the true chain of the Andes, I can describe the sort and order of the rocks which co a bed of gypsum nearly 2000 feet thick--a quantity of this substance I should think unparalleled in the world What is of reater consequence, I have procured fossil shells (from an elevation of 12,000 feet) I think an exae to these mountains, as compared to the strata of Europe In the other line of the Cordilleras there is a strong presumption (in my own mind, conviction) that the enormous mass of mountains, the peaks of which rise to 13,000 and 14,000 feet, are so very onia (or about with the UPPER strata of the Isle of Wight) If this result shall be considered as proved (The iists), it is a very important fact in the theory of the fores have taken place so recently in the crust of the globe, there can be no reason for supposing former epochs of excessive violence Thesethreaded with old, copper, etc; hitherto these have been considered as appertaining to older foroldht, with layers of fine sandstone deposited round the the impression of their bark These trees are covered by other sandstones and streams of lava to the thickness of several thousand feet These rocks have been deposited beneath water; yet it is clear the spot where the trees grew must once have been above the level of the sea, so that it is certain the land must have been depressed by at least as many thousand feet as the superincumbent subaqueous deposits are thick But I aical descriptions and theories

Your account of Eras to be back there I cannot fancy anything 's, Trinity, and those talking giants, Whewell and Sedgwick; I hope your musical tastes continue in due force I shall be ravenous for the pianoforte

I have not quite deterht when I arrive per 'Wonder,' or disturb you all in the dead of night; everything short of that is absolutely planned Everything about Shrewsbury is growing in er and more beautiful; I am certain the acacia and copper beech are two superb trees; I shall know every bush, and I will trouble you young ladies, when each of you cut down your tree, to spare a few As for the view behind the house, I have seen nothing like it It is the saher and much more beautiful than any peak in the Cordilleras So you will say, with hted faculties, it is ti to be with you Whatever the trees are, I knohat I shall find all you I a nonsense, so farewell My iveness from my father

Yours most affectionately, CHARLES DARWIN

CHARLES DARWIN TO WD FOX Lima, July, 1835

My dear Fox,

I have lately received two of your letters, one dated June and the other November, 1834 (they reached lad to receive a history of this most important year in your life

Previously I had only heard the plain fact that you were ood for evil, to send two such letters to so bad a correspondent as I have been God bless you for writing so kindly and affectionately; if it is a pleasure to have friends in England, it is doubly so to think and know that one is not forgotten because absent This voyage is terribly long I do so earnestly desire to return, yet I dare hardly look forward to the future, for I do not knoill become of me Your situation is above envy: I do not venture even to frame such happy visions To a person fit to take the office, the life of a clergyman is a type of all that is respectable and happy You te of your fireside, whereas it is a sort of scene I never ought to think about I saw the other day a vessel sail for England; it was quite dangerous to kno easily I lish lady, I have alood As for the women in these countries, they wear caps and petticoats, and a very few have pretty faces, and then all is said But if we are not wrecked on some unlucky reef, I will sit by that sae and tell some of the wonderful stories, which you seem to anticipate and, I presume, are not very ready to believe Gracias a dios, the prospect of such times is rather shorter than fors' we sail in a fortnight, froos, Marquesas, Society Islands, etc, etc I look forward to the Galapagos with e They abound with active volcanoes, and, I should hope, contain Tertiary strata I ay I hope you will; there is so ht than in the other branches of Natural History I am become a zealous disciple of Mr Lyell's views, as known in his ad in South Areater extent even than he does Geology is a capital science to begin, as it requires nothing but a little reading, thinking, and haether; but it is a constant subject of perplexity to me, whether they are of sufficient value for all the time I have spent about them, or whether animals would not have been of ain to see you and tell you how grateful I feel for your steady friendshi+p God bless you, my very dear Fox

Believe me, Yours affectionately, CHAS DARWIN

CHARLES DARWIN TO JS HENSLOW Sydney, January, 1836

My dear Henslow,

This is the last opportunity of co with you before that joyful day when I shall reach Cae I have very little to say: but I must write if it is only to express my joy that the last year is concluded, and that the present one, in which the ”Beagle” will return, is gliding onwards We have all been disappointed here in not finding even a single letter; we are, indeed, rather before our expected ti I htful to feel the certainty that within eight e Certainly, I never was intended for a traveller;over past or future scenes; I cannot enjoy the present happiness for anticipating the future, which is about as foolish as the dog who dropped the real bone for its shadow

In our passage across the Pacific we only touched at Tahiti and New Zealand; at neither of these places or at sea had Ispot Everything which forators have written is true 'A new Cytheraea has risen from the ocean' Delicious scenery, climate, manners of the people are all in harmony It is, moreover, admirable to behold what the missionaries both here and at New Zealand have effected I firood cause I much suspect that those who have abused or sneered at the enerally been such as were not very anxious to find the nativesthe reenerally acknowledged as civilised, and nearly all under the British flag These will be a poor field for Natural History, and without it I have lately discovered that the pleasure of seeing new places is as nothing I must return to my old resource and think of the future, but that I may not become more prosy, I will say farewell till the day arrives, when I shall see rateful I feel for his kindness and friendshi+p

Believe me, dear Henslow, Ever yours, most faithfully, CHAS DARWIN