Charles Darwin · Public domain edition · 268 cards · 69 chapters
Charles Darwin's The Voyage of the Beagle combines a narrative of the survey expedition with observations on natural history, geology, and the people and societies he encountered. This deck covers the book's preface and stated aims, contributors and funding, expedition purpose, and specific observations from the voyage, including marine animals, atmospheric dust, Brazilian slavery, vampire bats, and the mandioca plant.
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Chapter 1 · Question
Why did Darwin join the Beagle, according to the preface?
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Chapter 1 · Answer
Darwin states that Captain Fitz Roy wished to have a scientific person on board and offered to give up part of his own accommodations. Darwin volunteered, and the appointment received sanction from the Lords of the Admiralty through the kindness of the hydrographer, Captain Beaufort. Darwin says his opportunities for studying natural history were wholly due to Fitz Roy.
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Introduction4 cards
Why did Darwin join the Beagle, according to the preface?
Darwin states that Captain Fitz Roy wished to have a scientific person on board and offered to give up part of his own accommodations. Darwin volunteered, and the appointment received sanction from the Lords of the Admiralty through the kindness of the hydrographer, Captain Beaufort. Darwin says his opportunities for studying natural history were wholly due to Fitz Roy.
Chapter 1
What does Darwin say about the form and purpose of this volume?
Darwin describes the volume as a journal history of the voyage plus a sketch of natural history and geological observations he thinks will interest the general reader. In this edition he largely condensed and corrected some parts and added a little to others to make it more suitable for popular reading, while directing naturalists to the larger scientific publications for details.
Chapter 1
Who contributed to the Zoology of the Voyage of the Beagle, and who funded it?
The Zoology included Fossil Mammalia by Professor Owen, Living Mammalia by Mr. Waterhouse, Birds by Mr. Gould, Fish by the Rev. L. Jenyns, and Reptiles by Mr. Bell. Darwin appended accounts of each species' habits and range. The Lords Commissioners of Her Majesty's Treasury granted one thousand pounds toward part of the publication expenses.
Chapter 1
Whom does Darwin credit with fostering his early interest in natural history?
Darwin thanks the Reverend Professor Henslow, who when Darwin was an undergraduate at Cambridge was one chief means of giving him a taste for natural history. Henslow took charge of collections Darwin sent home during his absence, directed his endeavours by correspondence, and since his return has constantly rendered every assistance a kindest friend could offer.
Chapter 1
CHAPTER I4 cards
What was the stated purpose of the Beagle expedition?
The expedition aimed to complete the survey of Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego begun under Captain King in 1826-1830, to survey the shores of Chile, Peru, and some Pacific islands, and to carry a chain of chronometrical measurements around the world. The Beagle, a ten-gun brig under Captain Fitz Roy, sailed from Devonport on 27 December 1831.
Chapter 2
What did Ehrenberg find in the atmospheric dust Darwin collected?
Professor Ehrenberg found the dust consisted largely of infusoria with siliceous shields and siliceous plant tissue; in five packets he identified sixty-seven different organic forms. All but two infusoria species were freshwater inhabitants. Darwin notes the dust comes from Africa, yet Ehrenberg found none of the African species he knew, but two previously known only from South America.
Chapter 2
How does the Aplysia sea-slug defend itself when disturbed?
When disturbed, the sea-slug emits a very fine purplish-red fluid that stains the surrounding water for about a foot. It also has an acrid secretion spread over its body that causes a sharp stinging sensation, similar to that produced by the Physalia, or Portuguese man-of-war. It feeds on delicate sea-weeds among stones in muddy shallow water, and its stomach contained small pebbles.
Chapter 2
What abilities does the Octopus use to escape capture?
The octopus uses its long arms and suckers to drag its body into narrow crevices, where great force is needed to remove it. It can dart tail-first with the rapidity of an arrow, discolouring the water with dark chestnut-brown ink. It also has a chameleon-like power of changing colour: brownish purple in deep water, yellowish green on land or in shallow water, with varying French grey and yellow spots.
Chapter 2
CHAPTER II (part 1)4 cards
What did Darwin observe about evaporation after heavy rain in the Brazilian forest?
After the rain ceased, Darwin observed extraordinary evaporation over the whole forest: at a height of a hundred feet the hills were buried in dense white vapour rising like columns of smoke from the thickly wooded parts, especially the valleys. He supposed it was owing to the large surface of foliage previously heated by the sun's rays, and noted observing this phenomenon on several occasions.
Chapter 3
What did Darwin conclude about the happiness of slaves on Brazilian fazendas?
Darwin states he has no doubt that on such fazendas the slaves pass happy and contented lives, noting that on Saturdays and Sundays they work for themselves, and in the fertile climate two days' labour suffices to support a man and his family for the week. The author argues this while acknowledging the idea of slavery must be banished for the style of living to seem fascinating.
Chapter 3
What did Darwin witness regarding the vampire bat and horses?
Darwin was present when a vampire bat (Desmodus d'orbignyi) was caught on a horse's back while bivouacking near Coquimbo, Chile: his servant noticed a restive horse and secured the bat on its withers. In the morning the bite was slightly swollen and bloody, but the horse was ridden the third day afterwards without ill effects. Darwin says the injury is mostly from saddle-pressure inflammation, not blood loss.
Chapter 3
What useful products come from the mandioca plant, and what is its danger?
Every part of the mandioca (cassada) plant is useful: the leaves and stalks are eaten by horses, and the roots are ground into a pulp which, pressed dry and baked, forms farinha, the principal article of sustenance in the Brazils. Darwin notes the well-known fact that the juice of this most nutritious plant is highly poisonous; a cow died at the fazenda after drinking some.
Chapter 3
CHAPTER II (part 2)4 cards
What did Darwin conclude about the light production of the Lampyris occidentalis firefly?
Darwin found that the insect emitted its most brilliant flashes when irritated, and that when decapitated the rings remained bright but less so. Local irritation with a needle increased the light, and one specimen stayed luminous nearly twenty-four hours after death. From these facts he reasoned the animal likely can only conceal or extinguish the light briefly, and that otherwise the display is involuntary.
Chapter 4
How did Darwin describe the elater beetle's springing mechanism?
When placed on its back, the elater moved its head and thorax backward, drawing out the pectoral spine until it rested on the sheath's edge. Continued movement bent the spine like a spring; on sudden relaxation the head and thorax flew up, the wing-case base struck the surface, and the insect was jerked one or two inches high. Darwin argued prior descriptions understated the spine's elasticity, since simple muscular contraction could not explain so sudden a spring.
Chapter 4
What did Darwin observe about the cloud over the Corcovado's summit?
Darwin watched clouds roll in from the sea and form a bank just beneath the Corcovado's highest point, making the 2300-foot mountain appear taller than it was. Unlike Mr. Daniell's account of a cloud fixed on a summit while wind blows over it, Darwin saw the cloud clearly curl over and pass the summit without changing size. He attributed this to condensation from a southerly breeze meeting colder air, then re-dissolving in the warmer northern slope's atmosphere.
Chapter 4
What did Darwin note about the relation between the Hymenophallus fungus and insects in Brazil versus England?
Darwin found a Hymenophallus fungus whose odious smell, like the English Phallus, attracts certain beetles; a Strongylus alighted on it as he carried it. He saw this as a similar relation between plants and insects of the same families in two distant countries, though the species differ. He added that when humans introduce a new species, this relation is often broken, noting that cabbages and lettuces near Rio were untouched by the slugs and caterpillars that eat them in England.
Chapter 4
CHAPTER II (part 3)4 cards
How does the Epeira react when disturbed, depending on what lies below it?
If a thicket lies below, it suddenly falls, first lengthening a thread from its spinners while stationary. If the ground beneath is clear, it seldom falls, instead moving quickly through a central passage from one side to the other. When further disturbed, it violently jerks its elastic-twig-attached web until the whole vibrates so rapidly that even its body's outline becomes indistinct.
Chapter 5
What did Darwin observe a small spider doing to a large female wasp in Shropshire?
Instead of cutting the lines to free its prey and save the net, as most British spiders do, the small spider perseveringly entangled the wasp's body and especially its wings. After Darwin killed the wasp and replaced it, the spider returned and buried its jaws in the orifice where the sting protrudes, sucking there for twenty-four hours and becoming much distended.
Chapter 5
What gregarious habit did Darwin find in large black spiders near St. Fe Bajada?
He found large black spiders with ruby-coloured marks on their backs living gregariously. Their vertical webs, about two feet apart, were all attached to common lines of great length extending throughout the community, so united nets encompassed the tops of large bushes. Darwin notes this gregarious habit is very singular in so typical and normally bloodthirsty, solitary a genus as Epeira.
Chapter 5
What unusual web shape did Darwin find in a lofty valley of the Cordillera near Mendoza?
Strong lines radiated in a vertical plane from a common centre where the spider had its station, but only two of the rays were connected by a symmetrical mesh-work. The net, instead of being circular as is usual, consisted of a wedge-shaped segment, and all the webs there were similarly constructed.
Chapter 5
CHAPTER III (part 1)4 cards
What two weapons does Darwin describe the Gauchos using to catch cattle and ostriches?
The lazo is a strong, thin plaited raw-hide rope attached to the saddle's surcingle, ending in a small iron or brass ring that forms a noose about eight feet in diameter, which the Gaucho whirls and throws to fall on a chosen spot. The bolas consist of two or three leather-covered stones joined by plaited thongs about eight feet long, whirled and thrown so they wind round and firmly hitch the object.
Chapter 6
How did the country people of Banda Oriental react to Darwin's compass and other possessions?
They were astonished, asking him to show the compass and, with a map, to point out directions to places he had never visited. A sick woman sent for him to see it. Some asked whether the earth or sun moved, where Spain was, and many believed England, London, and North America were the same place, though the better informed thought London and North America were separate countries close together and England a large town in London.
Chapter 6
What etiquette did a traveler follow when seeking lodging at a stranger's house in this region?
One rode slowly to the door and gave the salutation 'Ave Maria'; nobody dismounted until someone came out and invited them to alight, the formal reply being 'sin pecado concebida.' After entering, general conversation was kept up for a few minutes before asking permission to stay the night, which was granted as a matter of course. The guest took meals with the family and slept on horsecloths from his recado.
Chapter 6
What did Darwin observe about the mixing of river and sea water at the mouth of the Plata?
He was interested by how slowly the waters mixed. The river water, muddy and discoloured, having less specific gravity, floated on the surface of the salt water. This was curiously shown in the wake of the vessel, where a line of blue water was seen mingling in little eddies with the adjoining fluid.
Chapter 6
CHAPTER III (part 2)4 cards
According to Darwin, what determines whether forests or deserts occupy opposite sides of South America's Cordillera?
The author argues the reversed positions of forest and desert relative to the Cordillera are apparently determined by the direction of the prevalent winds. In the trade-wind belt the eastern side has magnificent forests while the western coast is desert; north of lat. 4° S., where the trade-wind loses regularity and heavy rain falls, the Pacific shores near Cape Blanco become luxuriant.
Chapter 7
Why do the Falkland Islands lack forests despite conditions similar to Tierra del Fuego?
The Falklands share latitude, climate, and nearly identical geology with Tierra del Fuego, yet have few plants even worthy of being called bushes, while Tierra del Fuego is densely forested. Darwin notes winds and sea currents favor seed transport from Tierra del Fuego, shown by drifted canoes and trunks, but attempts to transplant Tierra del Fuego trees failed.
Chapter 7
How does the Cervus campestris deer behave toward humans on foot versus on horseback?
The deer is exceedingly abundant and tame; a person crawling slowly toward a herd can draw them close out of curiosity, and Darwin killed three from one spot this way. Yet they are wary of a mounted man, since nobody goes on foot there and the deer knows man as an enemy only when mounted and armed with the bolas.
Chapter 7
What does Darwin report about the tucutuco's blindness and its bearing on Lamarck's ideas?
The tucutuco is a subterranean gnawer with mole-like habits, and many are said to be invariably blind, a condition Mr. Reid attributes to inflammation of the nictitating membrane. Darwin notes Lamarck would have been delighted, having speculated on gradually acquired blindness in the Asphalax and Proteus, and suggests Lamarck would say the tucutuco is now passing into that state.
Chapter 7
CHAPTER III (part 3)4 cards
What feeding behaviors does Darwin attribute to the Carrancha on Azara's authority?
Darwin cites Azara for the Carrancha's varied diet: worms, shells, slugs, grasshoppers, and frogs. Azara also states it destroys young lambs by tearing the umbilical cord, pursues the Gallinazo until that bird vomits up recently swallowed carrion, and that five or six Carranchas will unite to chase large birds such as herons. Darwin concludes these facts show the bird has versatile habits and considerable ingenuity.
Chapter 8
How do the Falkland Islands Polyborus Novae Zelandiae behave, and where do they nest?
These birds live on dead animals and marine productions, and on the Ramirez rocks depend wholly on the sea. They are extraordinarily tame and fearless, haunt houses for offal, and readily attack wounded birds, such as a cormorant that took to shore. They are mischievous and inquisitive, carrying off a glazed hat, cattle balls, and a Kater's compass. They build on rocky sea-coast cliffs, but only on small adjoining islets, not the two main islands.
Chapter 8
How did Darwin explain the formation and shape of the siliceous tubes at Maldonado?
Darwin found vitrified siliceous tubes in shifting sand-hillocks near Maldonado, formed by lightning entering loose sand. The interior is completely vitrified, glossy, and smooth, with walls a thirtieth to a tenth of an inch thick; compressed tubes have longitudinal furrows, caused by surrounding loose sand pressing while the tube was still softened by heat. He traced one two feet deep, and fragments measured five feet three inches total.
Chapter 8
What evidence and reasoning does Darwin use for lightning dividing into branches before entering the ground?
Darwin notes that many tubes occur in small areas: more than four within a sixty-by-twenty-yard space, three at Drigg within fifteen yards, and three in Germany. Since successive distinct shocks seem improbable, he reasons the lightning must divide into separate branches shortly before entering the ground. He also records one tube deviating thirty-three degrees, with two branches sent off about a foot apart, one downward and one upward.
Chapter 8
CHAPTER IV (part 1)4 cards
Why did the iron nails in the corral fence save the settlement from the Indians?
The Araucanian attackers expected the corral posts to be bound with leather thongs and tried to cut them with knives. The posts were fastened with iron nails instead, so the Indians could not cut through. This, combined with musket fire and cannon, repulsed the attack; the besieged had nearly exhausted their ammunition when the Indians retreated.
Chapter 9
Why was Patagonian salt considered inferior to Cape Verde salt for preserving meat?
The salina salt is remarkably pure, containing only 0.26 of gypsum and 0.22 of earthy matter, but a Buenos Ayres merchant rated it fifty per cent less valuable for preserving meat than sea-salt from Cape Verde. Darwin suggests its purity, or absence of other saline bodies found in seawater, is the only assignable cause, noting salts richest in deliquescent chlorides best preserve cheese.
Chapter 9
What was the sacred tree Walleechu, and how did Indians make offerings to it?
It is a low, thorny tree standing alone on a high part of the plain, revered as an altar rather than a god. Indians shout on first sight of it, hang offerings like cigars, bread, meat, and cloth on threads, pour spirits and mate into a hole, and smoke upwards. Bleached horse bones from sacrifices surround it. Darwin argues it was likely chosen as a landmark.
Chapter 9
What did Darwin observe about life in the salt-lake, and what did it lead him to conclude?
Flamingoes waded in the brine, probably seeking worms burrowing in the mud, which likely fed on infusoria or confervae. Green froth and reddish patches suggested other organisms. Darwin describes this as a little living world adapted to brine lakes and affirms that every part of the world is habitable, from brine lakes to snow and ocean depths.
Chapter 9
CHAPTER IV (part 2)4 cards
What roles did men and women have among the Indians Darwin describes?
The author states that women load and unload the horses and make the tents for the night, calling them, like the wives of all savages, useful slaves. Men fight, hunt, take care of the horses, and make the riding gear. A chief indoor occupation is knocking two stones round to make bolas, a labor of two days.
Chapter 10
How did Rosas enforce his rule and gain power, according to the chapter?
The author reports Rosas gained fame through laws for his estancias and by disciplining men to resist Indian attacks. One law forbade carrying a knife on Sunday; when Rosas himself broke it, he entered the stocks and later had the steward take his place. By conforming to Gaucho dress and habits, he won popularity and despotic power.
Chapter 10
What did Darwin observe about the land and vegetation north of the Colorado River?
North of the Colorado the shingle bed thins, pebbles become very small, and Patagonia's characteristic vegetation ceases. The land stays dry and sterile but supports more kinds of plants, with grass more abundant as thorny bushes disappear. This change marks the start of the calcareo-argillaceous deposit forming the Pampas.
Chapter 10
What happened to Darwin's guide before the journey, and what order followed?
The guide told Darwin that two months earlier, while hunting with two others, a party of Indians chased and killed his companions. His horse's legs were caught by bolas, but he cut them free with his knife, took two wounds from chuzos, and escaped to the fort. An order then forbade anyone straying far from the settlement.
Chapter 10
CHAPTER IV (part 3)4 cards
How does the Zorillo (skunk) defend itself against dogs and men?
The Zorillo resembles a polecat but is larger and thicker. Conscious of its power, it roams by day on the open plain and fears neither dog nor man. If a dog is urged to attack, a few drops of its fetid oil bring on violent sickness and a running nose, instantly checking the dog's courage. Whatever is once polluted by it is forever useless, and every animal willingly makes room for it.
Chapter 11
How far can the Zorillo's smell be perceived, according to Azara and Darwin?
Azara says the smell can be perceived at a league distant. Darwin adds that more than once, when entering the harbour of Monte Video with the wind off shore, the odour was perceived on board the Beagle. He concludes that it is certain every animal most willingly makes room for the Zorillo.
Chapter 11
What similarities does Darwin note between the salt-lakes of Siberia and Patagonia?
Darwin remarks how all circumstances connected with the salt-lakes of Siberia and Patagonia are similar. Both countries appear recently elevated above the sea; the lakes occupy shallow depressions in the plains; the border mud is black and fetid; beneath common salt, sulphate of soda or magnesia occurs imperfectly crystallized; and the muddy sand is mixed with lentils of gypsum. Both are inhabited by small crustaceans, and flamingoes frequent them.
Chapter 11
What does Darwin say about the Buenos Ayres government's passports?
Darwin states he is bound to express in the strongest terms his obligation to the government of Buenos Ayres for the obliging manner in which passports to all parts of the country were given to him as naturalist of the Beagle. The remark appears as a footnote, crediting official cooperation rather than describing any difficulty in obtaining the documents.
Chapter 11
CHAPTER V (part 1)4 cards
What did Darwin conclude about the claim that large animals require luxuriant vegetation?
The author argues the assumption is completely false and has vitiated geological reasoning. He notes it probably came from India, where elephants and jungles are associated. Instead, he cites southern Africa and Dr. Smith's reports of immense numbers of large animals—elephants, rhinos, giraffes, hippos—in a sterile country with scanty vegetation, showing large quadrupeds can thrive on poor vegetation.
Chapter 12
What did Professor Owen conclude about how the Megatheroid animals fed?
The author reports that Owen solved the puzzle: rather than climbing trees back-downwards like sloths, as some naturalists believed, the Megatheroids pulled branches down and tore up smaller trees by the roots to eat leaves. Their huge hindquarters and tails, fixed like a tripod, let them exert full force with powerful arms and claws. The Mylodon also had a long extensile tongue like a giraffe's.
Chapter 12
What evidence showed the Punta Alta fossils were deposited fresh, and what law did this confirm?
Bones of the Scelidotherium, including the knee-cap, were embedded in proper relative positions, and the armadillo-like animal's armour and leg bones were well preserved—showing the remains were fresh and ligament-connected when deposited with shells. This confirmed Lyell's law that mammalian species have less longevity than testacea (shellfish), since the quadrupeds were extinct while most shells still live.
Chapter 12
Which gigantic quadrupeds did Darwin list from the Punta Alta deposit?
Within about 200 yards square, Darwin found remains of nine great quadrupeds: the Megatherium, Megalonyx, Scelidotherium (nearly perfect skeleton, rhinoceros-sized), Mylodon Darwinii, another gigantic edental, an armadillo-like animal with osseous armour, an extinct horse, a pachydermatous tooth probably Macrauchenia, and the Toxodon—which blended features of Gnawers and Pachydermata and was probably aquatic.
Chapter 12
CHAPTER V (part 2)4 cards
According to Darwin, how do male rheas/ostriches participate in incubation?
The male bird alone hatches the eggs and for some time afterwards accompanies the young. The cock lies very close on the nest; Darwin says he almost rode over one. Gauchos affirm several females lay in one nest, and Darwin argues this spreads laying so eggs in one collection are nearly the same age, while each cock gets a fair share of incubation labour.
Chapter 13
Why did Darwin initially fail to recognize the Avestruz Petise?
At Port Desire he shot an ostrich, and forgetting the whole subject of the Petises, thought it was a not full-grown bird of the common sort. It was cooked and eaten before his memory returned. Fortunately the head, neck, legs, wings, larger feathers and much skin were preserved, and from these a nearly perfect specimen was assembled, now in the Zoological Society museum.
Chapter 13
What does Darwin say about the oven-bird's nest?
The common oven-bird of La Plata, the Casara or housemaker, builds a nest of mud and bits of straw with strong thick walls, shaped precisely like an oven or depressed beehive. It is placed in exposed situations such as a post top, bare rock, or cactus. The opening is large and arched, and a partition reaching nearly to the roof forms an antechamber to the true nest.
Chapter 13
How does the mataco armadillo defend itself, and how does this compare to a hedgehog?
The apar, commonly called mataco, has only three moveable bands, the rest of its tesselated covering being nearly inflexible, and it can roll itself into a perfect sphere like an English woodlouse. In this state it is safe from dogs: the dog cannot take the whole in its mouth, tries to bite one side, and the ball slips away. Darwin says its smooth hard covering defends better than a hedgehog's sharp spines.
Chapter 13
CHAPTER V (part 3)3 cards
How did Captain Lancaster in 1601 describe the twig-like creature of Sombrero?
Lancaster narrated finding a small twig growing like a young tree that shrank to the ground when plucked unless held hard. Pulled up, a great worm was found as its root, the worm diminishing as the tree grew, and if stripped while young it became a hard stone like white coral. Darwin suggests the habits of the Virgularia explain this old voyager's tale.
Chapter 14
What does Darwin say a glance at the rastro reveals to these people?
Darwin reports that one glance at the rastro, or track, tells these people a whole history. Examining the tracks of a thousand horses, they guess the number of mounted ones by how many cantered, judge by depth whether horses carried loads, read tiredness from irregular footsteps, tell haste from how food was cooked, and estimate how long since the party passed. A rastro of ten days or a fortnight is considered recent enough to hunt.
Chapter 14
What did the three captured Indian ambassadors do when questioned?
Darwin recounts that three ambassadors from a large Indian confederation near the Cordillera were captured. Placed in a line and questioned, the first two answered 'No se' and were shot one after the other. The third also said 'No se,' adding, 'Fire, I am a man, and can die!' None would breathe a syllable to injure the united cause of their country, unlike the cacique who betrayed it to save his life.
Chapter 14
CHAPTER VI4 cards
Why did Darwin think the Sauce's floods came from Andes snowmelt?
The Gauchos told Darwin that in mid-summer the Sauce has periodic floods at the same time as the Colorado. He reasoned such floods can only originate in snow melting on the Andes. He doubted the small stream crossed the whole continent, noting a large river's residue would be saline, and instead looked to springs near the Sierra Ventana in winter.
Chapter 15
What did Darwin find on the Sierra Ventana's summit and why did he stop?
After a fatiguing climb, Darwin reached the ridge only to find a deep, narrow, flat-bottomed valley cutting the chain and separating him from the four peaks. He reached the second peak by two o'clock but got severe cramps in both thighs. Since every geological purpose was answered, he gave up the two higher peaks rather than risk further exertion.
Chapter 15
How did the bolas perform on foot versus on horseback?
In the soldiers' trial, two spears twenty-five yards apart were struck and entangled only once in four or five throws. The balls can be thrown fifty or sixty yards but with little certainty. Darwin notes this does not apply to a man on horseback, where the horse's speed added to the arm's force lets them be whirled with effect to about eighty yards.
Chapter 15
What did Darwin conclude about the pebbles and conglomerate near the Sierra Ventana?
The mountain is white quartz rock with some glossy clay-slate. A few hundred feet above the plain, patches of conglomerate adhered to the solid rock, resembling masses forming on some coasts in hardness and cement. Darwin did not doubt the pebbles were aggregated similarly while the great calcareous formation was depositing beneath the surrounding sea, and that the battered quartz shows the effects of open-ocean waves.
Chapter 15
CHAPTER VII (part 1)4 cards
What does Darwin say about the bizcacha's odd habit of collecting hard objects?
The bizcacha drags bones, stones, thistle-stalks, and dung into heaps above its burrow, sometimes as much as a wheelbarrow would hold. Darwin admits he cannot form even a remote conjecture as to the purpose, noting it cannot be for defence since the rubbish sits above a shallow entrance. He compares it to the Australian Calodera maculata, which collects shells and bones near its playing passage.
Chapter 16
How does the little owl relate to the bizcacha's burrows?
On the plains of Buenos Ayres the little owl (Athene cunicularia) exclusively inhabits bizcacha holes, but in Banda Oriental it digs its own. It stands by pairs near burrows in the evening, and if disturbed either enters the hole or flies off with undulatory flight, then turns to gaze at its pursuer. Darwin found mice remains in two stomachs and saw a small snake carried away; snakes are said to be common daytime prey.
Chapter 16
What fossils did Darwin find at the Rio Tercero cliff, and what did the locals think?
Besides a perfect tooth of the Toxodon and scattered bones, Darwin found two immense skeletons projecting from the perpendicular cliff of the Parana. They were so decayed he could bring away only small fragments of a great molar tooth, sufficient to show the remains belonged to a Mastodon, probably the same species once abundant in Upper Peru. The canoe men, needing a theory, concluded the mastodon was formerly a burrowing animal like the bizcacha.
Chapter 16
What change did Darwin notice at St. Fe compared with Buenos Ayres?
Darwin was surprised at how great a climatic change only three degrees of latitude had caused, evident in the men's dress and complexion, the larger ombu-trees, new cacti and plants, and especially the birds: within an hour he noted half-a-dozen species he had never seen at Buenos Ayres. He observed that there is no natural boundary between the two places and the country is nearly similar, so the difference exceeded his expectations.
Chapter 16
CHAPTER VII (part 2)4 cards
What did Darwin propose caused the zoological separation of North and South America?
The author argues that the recent elevation of the Mexican platform, or more probably the recent submergence of land in the West Indian Archipelago, caused the present zoological separation of North and South America. He notes the South American character of West Indian mammals suggests the archipelago was formerly united to the southern continent and has since subsided.
Chapter 17
How did Darwin explain the arrival of elephants, mastodons, horse, and hollow-horned ruminants in America?
Darwin reasoned that these animals migrated from Siberia into North America over land since submerged near Behring's Straits, then into South America over land since submerged in the West Indies, where they mingled with southern forms and later became extinct. He based this on remains found on both sides of Behring's Straits and on the Siberian plains.
Chapter 17
What effects did the "gran seco" of 1827-1830 have on animals in Buenos Ayres and St. Fe?
So little rain fell that vegetation failed, brooks dried up, and the country looked like a dusty road. Great numbers of birds, wild animals, cattle, and horses died of hunger and thirst. The lowest estimate of cattle lost in Buenos Ayres alone was one million head; one proprietor with 20,000 cattle ended with none. Herds rushing into the Parana drowned, and saline small rivers killed many more.
Chapter 17
How does the scissor-beak (Rhynchops nigra) catch fish, according to Darwin?
The bird flies rapidly close to the surface with its bill wide open and the lower mandible, which is an inch and a half longer than the upper, half buried in the water. It ploughs the surface, leaving a narrow wake, and twists quickly to scoop up small fish, which are secured by the shorter upper half. Darwin repeatedly observed this and suspects the bird generally fishes by night.
Chapter 17
CHAPTER VII (part 3)4 cards
Why did the outside party's blockade of Buenos Ayres succeed?
The outside party stopped all provisions, cattle, and horses from entering the city, knowing that cutting off the meat supply would make them victorious. There was otherwise only light skirmishing with a few men killed daily. The author notes the warfare on both sides was deliberately prolonged until word could be heard from Rosas.
Chapter 18
What happened in Buenos Ayres after Rosas's note arrived?
Rosas's note disapproved of the peace being broken but said the outside party had justice on their side. On bare receipt of it, the governor, ministers, and some hundreds of the military fled the city. The rebels entered, elected a new governor, and were paid as 5,500 men. The author concluded Rosas would ultimately become dictator.
Chapter 18
What does the author say about how often the government changed?
The author states that in nine months, from February to October 1820, the state underwent fifteen changes in government, with each governor constitutionally elected for three years. He argues it would be unreasonable to ask for pretexts for the revolution, since the government changed so constantly.
Chapter 18
What did Rosas require before accepting the governorship a year earlier?
A year before, Rosas was elected governor but refused the post unless the Sala also granted him extraordinary powers. That request was refused, and afterward his party demonstrated that no other governor could hold the position. The author argues from these proceedings that Rosas would ultimately become dictator, noting republics dislike the term king.
Chapter 18
CHAPTER VIII (part 1)4 cards
How did Darwin describe the Plata estuary, contrary to its appearance on a map?
Darwin calls the Plata a poor affair: a wide expanse of muddy water with neither grandeur nor beauty. Both shores are extremely low, and at some times of day they could barely be distinguished from the deck. He contrasts this reality with the noble estuary the river appears to be on a map.
Chapter 19
How are large herds of cattle counted on an estancia?
Cattle naturally divide into small troops (tropillas) of forty to one hundred, each recognized by a few peculiarly marked animals whose number is known. If one animal is missing from ten thousand, its absence from its tropilla is noticed. Though herds mingle during stormy nights, the tropillas separate again the next morning.
Chapter 19
What is the niata breed of oxen like, and why is it disadvantaged in droughts?
The niata has a short broad forehead, upturned nose, projecting lower jaw with exposed teeth, and projecting eyes. The breed is true, and a niata bull crossed with a common cow yields intermediate offspring. In great droughts niatas perish before common cattle because their lips do not join, so they cannot browse twigs and reeds as common cattle do.
Chapter 19
What did Darwin conclude from the niata cattle's disadvantage during droughts?
Darwin argues this is a good illustration of how little we can judge, from ordinary habits of life, what circumstances occurring only at long intervals may determine a species' rarity or extinction. The niata feeds fine on long pasture but perishes in droughts that common cattle survive by browsing.
Chapter 19
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How does Darwin explain wild dogs fleeing from one shepherd-dog guarding a flock?
The author argues it is a curious instance of the pliability of the affections in the dog: the shepherd-dog ranks the sheep as fellow-brethren and gains confidence, while wild dogs partly accept this view when seeing the flock with a dog at its head. He cites F. Cuvier's observation that animals easily domesticated consider man a member of their own society, fulfilling their instinct of association.
Chapter 20
What steps does a Gaucho take to break in a wild colt alone?
He lazos both front legs, then catches one hind leg and binds all three together. Sitting on the horse's neck, he fixes a bitless bridle to the lower jaw with a thong round jaw and tongue, ties the front legs with a slip-knot, and leads the horse out. A second man helps hold the head while saddling; the rider pulls the slip-knot as he mounts. Darwin calls the process tremendously severe, but two or three trials tame the horse.
Chapter 20
Why does Darwin say a well-broken horse matters when catching bullocks with the lazo?
When a bullock is caught it may gallop in circles, and a horse alarmed by the strain, if not well broken, will not turn like the pivot of a wheel. Darwin says many men have been killed this way, for if the lazo takes a twist round a man's body, the power of the two opposed animals will almost cut him in twain. He argues Chilean mouth-training, though seemingly useless, carries daily necessities into perfection.
Chapter 20
What did Darwin purchase at the Sarandis, and what condition was it in?
He rode to a farm-house on the Sarandis, a stream entering the Rio Negro, and purchased for eighteen pence the head of the Toxodon. It was quite perfect when found, but boys had knocked out some teeth with stones and set the head up as a mark to throw at. By fortunate chance he found a perfect tooth fitting a socket, embedded by itself about 180 miles away on the Rio Tercero.
Chapter 20
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What did Darwin conclude about the Colias butterflies and other insects seen far offshore?
Darwin argued they could not have been blown off the land, since the day and the previous one were fine and calm with light variable airs. He concluded the insects voluntarily took flight. A strong north breeze before sunset likely caused tens of thousands of the butterflies and other insects to perish.
Chapter 21
What did Darwin find in his tow-net seventeen miles off Cape Corrientes, and how did he explain it?
He caught a considerable number of beetles, which did not appear much injured by salt water. Eight species included Colymbetes, Hydroporus, Hydrobius, Notaphus, Cynucus, Adimonia, and Scarabaeus. Since four were aquatic and two partly so, he thought it most probable they were floated into the sea by a small stream draining a lake near Cape Corrientes.
Chapter 21
How did Darwin explain the ascent of gossamer spiders' threads and the spiders themselves?
He noted that on a warm day ascending currents of heated air are evident in shadows and in soap-bubbles that will not rise indoors. Such upward currents, he thought, explain the ascent of the fine lines from the spinners and afterwards the spider itself. He rejected Latreille's supposition that gossamer comes indifferently from young of several genera.
Chapter 21
What did Darwin suggest about the cause of sea phosphorescence?
He observed minute torn gelatinous particles, visible to the naked eye yet passing fine gauze, as the common cause in both hemispheres. He noted water agitated in a tumbler gave sparks, but a watch-glass portion scarcely ever was luminous. He was inclined to consider phosphorescence the result of decomposition of organic particles, by which the ocean becomes purified.
Chapter 21
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What singular dung-related habit do guanacos show, and who benefits from it?
Guanacos drop their dung in the same defined heap on successive days; Darwin saw one heap eight feet in diameter. According to M. A. d'Orbigny, this habit is common to all species of the genus and is useful to Peruvian Indians, who use the dung for fuel and are thus saved the trouble of collecting it.
Chapter 22
Where do guanacos appear to go to die, and what did Darwin observe there?
Guanacos appear to have favourite spots for lying down to die. On the banks of the St. Cruz, in bushy spaces near the river, the ground was white with bones; at one spot Darwin counted between ten and twenty heads. The bones were not gnawed or broken as if dragged together by beasts of prey, and the animals had mostly crawled beneath the bushes before dying.
Chapter 22
What did Darwin's party find when they opened the Indian grave on the hill?
Two immense stones, each perhaps two tons, stood before a ledge of rock about six feet high. Beneath was a foot of earth brought from the plain, a pavement of flat stones, and a huge fragment detached from the ledge and thrown over the pile. They undermined it on both sides but found no relics or bones, which had probably long since decayed.
Chapter 22
What does the geology of Patagonia reveal about uplift and subsidence?
Darwin reports the land from the Rio Plata to Tierra del Fuego raised in mass, in Patagonia 300 to 400 feet, within the period of existing sea-shells, interrupted by at least eight long periods of rest during which the sea cut step-like cliffs. Professor E. Forbes held the extinct tertiary shells lived in only 40 to 250 feet of water, yet they are now covered by 800 to 1000 feet of strata, so the sea bed must have sunk.
Chapter 22
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What evidence led Darwin to conclude the Santa Cruz valley was once an arm of the sea?
Darwin cites the form and nature of step-formed terraces on both sides of the valley, the valley bottom expanding near the Andes into an estuary-like plain with sand-hillocks, and a few sea-shells in the river bed. He argues the same step-like plains with existing sea-shells along the Patagonian coast sweep up each side of the valley, so no flood could have modelled the land.
Chapter 23
Why did Darwin think rivers are poor at transporting rock fragments?
In the Santa Cruz, none of the considerable fragments had been washed more than three or four miles below their parent-source, despite the river's rapid current of four to six knots and no still reaches. Darwin calls this a striking example of the inefficiency of rivers in transporting even moderately-sized fragments, and uses it to argue the valley was not carved by river action alone.
Chapter 23
What did Darwin observe about condor habitat and range?
Darwin shot a condor measuring eight and a half feet across the wings and four feet beak to tail. He notes its wide range along the Cordillera from the Strait of Magellan to eight degrees north, with the Rio Negro cliff as its northern Patagonian coastal limit. From its reappearance at perpendicular cliffs, he concludes condors require such cliffs, and in Chile they breed in inaccessible inner Cordillera.
Chapter 23
How did the expedition organize tracking and camping on the Santa Cruz?
The three whale-boats were lashed head to stern; two hands stayed in each while the rest tracked from shore. The party was split into two spells hauling the line alternately for an hour and a half. Officers lived, ate, and slept with their crews, each boat independent. At sunset they camped where bushes grew; the cook made fire, others pitched tents and collected wood, and a watch of two men and an officer guarded against Indians.
Chapter 23
CHAPTER IX (part 2)4 cards
How does Darwin explain the condor's soaring without wing-flapping?
Darwin argues a soaring bird's motion must be rapid enough that the inclined surface of its body on the atmosphere counterbalances gravity. He notes the force needed to maintain momentum in nearly frictionless air is small, and supposes the condor's frequent neck and body movements suffice. He observed condors near Lima circling for nearly half an hour without a single flap.
Chapter 24
How does Darwin explain erratic boulders far from their mountain source?
Darwin states it is quite impossible to explain the transport of these gigantic angular rock masses so many miles from their parent-source on any theory except floating icebergs. He describes one boulder sixty-seven miles from the nearest mountain, and another five yards square projecting five feet above the gravel, so angular he first mistook it for rock in situ.
Chapter 24
What checked the increase of horses on East Falkland, and what puzzled Darwin?
Darwin notes horses and cattle were introduced by the French in 1764 and greatly increased. He found it curious the horses never left the eastern end of the island despite no natural boundary, which the Gauchos attributed to horses' attachment to accustomed localities. He was particularly curious what checked their increase, since the island seemed not fully stocked and had no beasts of prey.
Chapter 24
How did the Gauchos capture and kill a wild cow, and what did they eat?
St. Jago threw the bolas, which struck the cow's legs but failed to entangle; he marked the spot with his hat, used his lazo to catch her by the horns, and with his trained horse's help brought her to level ground. He severed the main tendon of the hind leg, then stabbed the spinal marrow. They supped on 'carne con cuero,' meat roasted with the skin on, which Darwin judged superior to common beef as venison is to mutton.
Chapter 24
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What does Darwin predict will happen to the Falkland Islands fox as settlement proceeds?
The author argues that the fox, peculiar to this small broken land mass, has already been banished from the eastern half of the island and its numbers are rapidly decreasing. He predicts that within a very few years after the islands become regularly settled, it will probably be classed with the dodo as an animal that has perished from the face of the earth.
Chapter 25
How did the Gauchos start a fire in wet conditions?
With only a tinder-box and a piece of rag, they sought dry twigs beneath tufts of grass and bushes and rubbed these into fibres. They surrounded the fibres with coarser twigs like a bird's nest, placed the burning rag in the middle, and held the nest up to the wind until it smoked and burst into flames. Darwin doubted any other method would succeed with such damp materials.
Chapter 25
What are the 'streams of stones' and how does Darwin explain them?
These are myriads of large, loose, angular quartz fragments, only slightly blunted, spread in level sheets or streams in the valleys rather than piled irregularly. Their slight inclination is remarkable. Darwin argues they were probably hurled down from nearby slopes and then levelled into a continuous sheet by a vibratory movement of overwhelming force, since the fragments are neither rounded nor are crevices filled with sand.
Chapter 25
How does Darwin describe the Falkland steamer duck's movement?
The great loggerheaded duck or goose, sometimes weighing twenty-two pounds, was formerly called a race-horse for its paddling and splashing, but is now more appropriately named the steamer. Its wings are too small and weak for flight, but by partly swimming and partly flapping the water's surface it moves very quickly, similar to a house-duck escaping a dog.
Chapter 25
CHAPTER IX (part 4)4 cards
How does Darwin compare individuality in corallines and trees?
The author argues that the union of separate individuals in a common body is more striking in a coralline than in a tree. He suggests we may consider the polypi in a zoophyte, or the buds in a tree, as cases where the division of the individual has not been completely effected, and that individuals propagated by buds seem more intimately related than eggs or seeds are to their parents.
Chapter 26
What does Darwin say about plants propagated by buds?
It seems now pretty well established that plants propagated by buds all partake of a common duration of life. Darwin notes that singular and numerous peculiarities are transmitted with certainty by buds, layers, and grafts, which by seminal propagation never or only casually reappear. He offers this as analogy supporting the intimacy of bud-propagated individuals in corallines.
Chapter 26
What did Darwin observe about lice on dying condors?
Darwin noticed that several hours before any one of the condors died, all the lice with which it was infested crawled to the outside feathers. He states he was assured that this always happens. He records this as an observation, relying on the assurance of others for the claim that it invariably occurs.
Chapter 26
What did Darwin conclude from counting the eggs of a Doris?
Darwin found a large white Doris, three and a half inches long, whose egg ribbon measured nearly twenty inches by half an inch. By counting eggs in a tenth of an inch and rows in equal length, he estimated on the most moderate computation six hundred thousand eggs. Yet he had seen only seven individuals, and concludes no fallacy is more common than that numbers of a species depend on its powers of propagation.
Chapter 26
CHAPTER X (part 1)4 cards
How did Darwin describe the difference between the Fuegians and civilized man?
Darwin called the encounter the most curious and interesting spectacle he ever beheld, saying he could not have believed how wide the difference was between savage and civilized man. He argued it is greater than between a wild and a domesticated animal, because in man there is a greater power of improvement.
Chapter 27
Why did Captain Fitz Roy take Fuegian natives to England?
During the earlier Adventure and Beagle voyage of 1826 to 1830, Fitz Roy seized a party of natives as hostages after a boat was stolen. He took some of them, plus a child he bought for a pearl-button, to England, determining to educate them and instruct them in religion at his own expense. Settling them back home was a chief inducement for the present voyage.
Chapter 27
What were York Minster, Jemmy Button, and Fuegia Basket like on board?
York Minster was a full-grown, short, thick, powerful man, reserved, taciturn, and morose, but with strong affections and good intellect. Jemmy Button was a universal favourite, merry, sympathetic, and patriotic, praising his own tribe and denying a Devil in his land. Fuegia Basket was a nice, modest, reserved young girl, quick at learning languages.
Chapter 27
What did Darwin notice about the Fuegians' sight and mimicry?
Darwin noted the Fuegians were excellent mimics, imitating coughs, yawns, and odd motions, and repeating words with perfect correctness. Their sight was remarkably acute: York and Jemmy were superior to any sailor on board at identifying distant objects, proving right when checked by telescope. Jemmy would tease the officer on watch, saying 'Me see ship, me no tell.'
Chapter 27
CHAPTER X (part 2)4 cards
What did the boy taken by Mr. Low say when asked why old women were killed before dogs?
Asked why the Fuegians killed and devoured old women before dogs when pressed by winter hunger, the boy answered, "Doggies catch otters, old women no." Darwin reports this as confirmed by the concurrent but independent testimony of the boy and Jemmy Button. The boy described the women being held over smoke and choked, and imitated their screams as a joke.
Chapter 28
What did York Minster say after Mr. Bynoe shot young ducklings, and how did Darwin interpret it?
York Minster solemnly declared, "Oh, Mr. Bynoe, much rain, snow, blow much." Darwin took this as evident retributive punishment for wasting human food. He noted this was the nearest approach to a religious feeling he heard of among the Fuegians, and that York seemed to regard the elements themselves as avenging agents.
Chapter 28
How does Darwin explain the Fuegians' fitness for their harsh climate despite their misery?
Though he calls them the most abject creatures he beheld, Darwin argues we may be sure such reflections are partly erroneous: there is no reason to believe the Fuegians decrease in number, so they must enjoy enough happiness to make life worth having. He concludes that nature, by making habit omnipotent and its effects hereditary, has fitted the Fuegian to the climate and productions of his miserable country.
Chapter 28
What did Captain Fitz Roy resolve to do with the Fuegians, and how was the Beagle Channel described?
Fitz Roy resolved to settle the Fuegians, according to their wishes, in Ponsonby Sound, so four boats were equipped to carry them through the Beagle Channel. Darwin describes the channel, discovered by Fitz Roy on the previous voyage, as about one hundred and twenty miles long and roughly two miles wide, mostly straight, crossing southern Tierra del Fuego east to west, with Ponsonby Sound joining at right angles on the south side.
Chapter 28
CHAPTER X (part 3)4 cards
How did Jemmy react to news of his father's death, and why?
Jemmy had already heard his father was dead, but because he had had a "dream in his head" to that effect, he did not seem to care much. He repeatedly comforted himself with the reflection "Me no help it." He could not learn particulars of the death because his relations would not speak about it.
Chapter 29
What did Darwin observe about the Fuegians' reaction to the fire and their work habits?
Though well clothed and sitting close to the fire, the party was far from too warm, yet the naked Fuegians further off were streaming with perspiration from the heat. They seemed well pleased and joined the seamen's songs, though always a little behindhand, which Darwin found ludicrous. The women worked hard while the men lounged about all day watching.
Chapter 29
Why was Matthews taken back to the Beagle, and what had happened at the settlement?
Matthews gave so bad an account of the Fuegians' conduct that Captain Fitz Roy determined to take him back; he was ultimately left at New Zealand, where his brother was a missionary. After the Beagle left, a regular system of plunder began: fresh parties arrived, York and Jemmy lost many things, and Matthews almost everything not hidden underground. Darwin thought they arrived just in time to save Matthews's life.
Chapter 29
What did Darwin conclude about whether the three Fuegians' visit to England would benefit them?
Darwin says the three Fuegians, after only three years with civilized men, would surely have been glad to retain their new habits, but this was obviously impossible. He fears it is more than doubtful whether their visit will have been of any use to them. He calls leaving them melancholy, though a comfort that they had no personal fears.
Chapter 29
CHAPTER X (part 4)3 cards
Why does Darwin think political improvement is nearly impossible in Tierra del Fuego?
He reasons that until a chief arises with power to secure an acquired advantage, such as domesticated animals, the political state can scarcely improve. Property is torn up and distributed, so no one becomes richer. Yet he finds it difficult to understand how a chief can arise until there is property to manifest superiority and increase power.
Chapter 30
How does Darwin compare the Fuegians with the Australians?
The author says the Australian, in the simplicity of the arts of life, comes nearest the Fuegian, but can boast of his boomerang, spear, throwing-stick, tree-climbing, tracking, and hunting. Although the Australian may be superior in acquirements, Darwin argues it does not follow that he is superior in mental capacity; from what he saw and read, he thinks the reverse.
Chapter 30
What did Ehrenberg conclude about the substance Jemmy Button said came from mountain-brook bottoms?
Professor Ehrenberg examined the substance and stated it is composed of infusoria, including fourteen polygastrica and four phytolitharia, all inhabitants of fresh-water. Darwin calls this a beautiful example of Ehrenberg's microscopic research, since Jemmy Button told him it is always collected at the bottoms of mountain-brooks. All species found were old, known forms.
Chapter 30
CHAPTER XI (part 1)4 cards
What is the average height of the Patagonians Darwin met at Cape Gregory?
About six feet on average, with some taller and only a few shorter; the women are also tall. Darwin says their apparent height is exaggerated by large guanaco mantles, long flowing hair, and general figure, and calls them the tallest race he saw anywhere. He notes they had much contact with sealers and whalers, most men speaking a little English and Spanish, and were 'half civilized, and proportionally demoralized.'
Chapter 31
How did horses spread from Buenos Ayres to the Strait of Magellan so quickly?
Darwin reports horses first landed at Buenos Ayres in 1537; when the colony was temporarily deserted the horses ran wild. By 1580, only forty-three years later, Sarmiento recorded Indians at the Strait of Magellan possessing horses. Darwin calls this a curious fact showing the extraordinarily rapid multiplication of horses in South America, and notes the Indians there had bows and arrows in Sarmiento's time, now long disused.
Chapter 31
What food fungus did the Fuegians collect, and how was it eaten?
A globular, bright-yellow fungus growing in vast numbers on beech trees, belonging to a new and curious genus. When mature and tough it is collected in large quantities by women and children and eaten uncooked; it has a mucilaginous, slightly sweet taste and a faint mushroom smell. Apart from a few berries, chiefly of a dwarf arbutus, the natives eat no other vegetable food. Darwin notes Tierra del Fuego is, he believes, the only country where a cryptogamic plant affords a staple article of food.
Chapter 31
What did Darwin conclude about a former land connection across the Strait of Magellan?
Matching cliffs on opposite sides of the Strait and on intervening islands tempted him to believe the land was once joined, letting delicate animals like the tucutuco and Reithrodon cross. But he says the cliff correspondence is far from proving a junction, since such cliffs generally form by intersection of sloping deposits accumulated near former shores before the land was elevated. He notes Navarin Island has both foxes and guanacos, while Hoste Island, separated by a channel just over half a mile wide, reportedly has neither.
Chapter 31
CHAPTER XI (part 2)3 cards
What does Darwin claim would happen if the kelp forests were destroyed?
The author argues that destroying the kelp would kill far more species than destroying a land forest, since fish live among its leaves and depend on it for food and shelter. With them would perish cormorants and other fishing birds, otters, seals, and porpoises, and finally the Fuegian people would decline and perhaps cease to exist.
Chapter 32
How does the snow-line height change between central Chile and Tierra del Fuego?
It falls from 14,500–15,000 feet in central Chile (lat. 33° S) to only 3,500–4,000 feet in Tierra del Fuego (lat. 54° S). Darwin attributes this chiefly to the coolness of the summer rather than the mean annual temperature, noting Norway must be reached at lat. 67–70° N to find perpetual snow at so low a level.
Chapter 32
What evidence does Darwin give that southern hemisphere climates are equable?
He notes that in Chiloe, at the latitude of northern Spain, peaches seldom fruit while strawberries and apples thrive, and barley and wheat are often brought indoors to ripen. At Valdivia, grapes and figs ripen but olives seldom do and oranges not at all, unlike corresponding European latitudes. He attributes this to the large sea area relative to land.
Chapter 32
CHAPTER XI (part 3)3 cards
What does Darwin's European recapitulation place near Lisbon and France?
Imagining the southern hemisphere transposed to Europe, Darwin says near Lisbon the commonest sea-shells—three species of Oliva, a Voluta, and a Terebra—would have a tropical character. In southern France, magnificent forests intertwined by arborescent grasses, with trees loaded with parasitical plants, would hide the face of the land.
Chapter 33
What would the island in the latitude of southern Scotland be like?
Darwin describes a large island in the latitude of southern Scotland, but twice as far west, as almost wholly covered with everlasting snow, with each bay terminated by ice-cliffs from which great masses yearly detach. It would boast only a little moss, grass, and burnet, with a titlark as its only land inhabitant.
Chapter 33
What does Darwin say about icebergs grooving and polishing rocks?
Darwin notes he had argued in his Appendix for the probability, then little considered, that stranded icebergs groove and polish rocks like glaciers, an idea now commonly received. He still suspects it applies even to cases like the Jura. Dr. Richardson told him icebergs off North America push pebbles and sand before them, leaving submarine rocky flats bare.
Chapter 33
CHAPTER XII (part 1)4 cards
What evidence did Darwin find for the elevation of Chile's coastline?
At Quintero, Darwin observed great beds of shells standing several yards above sea level and burnt for lime. He found old-looking shells numerous at a few hundred feet and some at 1300 feet, lying loose on the surface or embedded in reddish-black vegetable mould. Under the microscope, this mould proved to be marine mud full of minute organic particles, confirming the coast's uplift.
Chapter 34
How does Darwin explain the origin of Chile's level basins and valleys?
The author argues these level basins and transverse flat valleys, like Quillota, are the bottoms of ancient inlets and deep bays, such as those that intersect Tierra del Fuego today. He suggests Chile formerly resembled that country in land and water configuration, a resemblance shown when fog filled the lower country, with hillocks appearing as former islets.
Chapter 34
What did Darwin observe about the palms and their sap in Chile?
The palms have thick, curiously shaped trunks, thicker in the middle than at base or top, and are excessively numerous. In August many are cut down and the crown lopped off; sap flows from the upper end for months if a slice is shaved off each morning. A good tree yields ninety gallons, boiled down into treacle. Darwin notes the tree must fall head upwards, or scarcely any sap flows.
Chapter 34
Why did Darwin doubt that earthquakes caused the shattered greenstone on the Bell summit?
Darwin initially believed the shattered, angular greenstone fragments with varying lichen freshness were due to frequent earthquakes, and felt inclined to hurry past loose piles. Doubting his own accuracy, he later ascended Mount Wellington in Van Diemen's Land, where earthquakes do not occur, and saw similarly shattered blocks that appeared hurled into place thousands of years ago.
Chapter 34
CHAPTER XII (part 2)4 cards
What did Darwin observe about the Cauquenes springs after earthquakes?
Darwin notes the springs ceased after the great earthquake of 1822 and did not return for nearly a year. They were also affected by the 1835 earthquake, with temperature suddenly changing from 118 to 92 degrees. He suggests mineral waters rising deep from the earth would always be more deranged by subterranean disturbances than those nearer the surface.
Chapter 35
Why did the padre oppose cutting a channel from the lake?
During a very dry season it was proposed to cut a channel from the lake for water. The padre, after a consultation, declared it too dangerous, since all Chile would be inundated if the lake were connected with the Pacific, as was generally supposed. Darwin's party failed to reach the lake, becoming stuck in snow-drifts.
Chapter 35
How were workers treated at the Yaquil gold mine?
The mine is 450 feet deep and each man carries up about 200 pounds of stone, climbing notched tree trunks. They live on boiled beans and bread; masters make them eat beans since they cannot work as hard on bread alone. Pay is 24 to 28 shillings monthly, and they leave only once in three weeks for two days.
Chapter 35
What rule governed theft at the Yaquil mine and why?
The only way to steal gold is secreting pieces of ore. When the major-domo finds a hidden lump, its full value is stopped from the wages of all the men, so unless they all combine, they must watch each other. Darwin calls the rule harsh but says it answers pretty well for the master.
Chapter 35
CHAPTER XII (part 3)4 cards
How does the puma kill its prey, according to the chapter?
The puma springs on the prey's shoulders and draws back the head with one of its paws until the vertebrae break. Darwin reports having seen guanaco skeletons in Patagonia with necks dislocated in this way. After eating its fill, the puma covers the carcass with large bushes and lies down to watch it.
Chapter 36
How does a puma's habit of guarding a carcass lead to its discovery?
Condors wheeling in the air descend to feed on the covered carcass and are angrily driven off by the puma, rising together on the wing. The Chileno Guaso recognizes this as a sign that a lion is watching its prey, and men and dogs hurry to the chase. Darwin notes he never met anyone who could identify a lion merely from condors, as Sir F. Head claimed.
Chapter 36
What is the Turco (Pteroptochos megapodius) like in appearance and habits?
The Turco is a reddish-brown ground bird about the size of a fieldfare, with longer legs, a shorter tail, and a stronger beak. It lives among thickets on dry, sterile hills, hops rather than runs, and takes flight only with great trouble. Its gizzard contained beetles, vegetable fibres, and pebbles. Darwin argues it somewhat connects the thrushes with the gallinaceous order.
Chapter 36
What does Darwin report about the two common humming-birds?
Trochilus forficatus ranges over 2,500 miles on the west coast, from Lima to Tierra del Fuego, and is seen flitting about in snow-storms; its stomachs contained numerous insect remains. It is replaced in summer by Trochilus gigas, a very large species that hovers with slow, powerful wing beats unlike the usual vibratory humming, fanning its tail and keeping its body nearly vertical. Its stomach also held abundant insects, which Darwin suspects it seeks more than honey.
Chapter 36
CHAPTER XIII (part 1)4 cards
What climate and food staples characterize Chiloe, according to Darwin?
Darwin describes Chiloe's climate as detestable in winter and only slightly better in summer, with so much rain that a week of fine weather is remarkable. The volcanic soil supports rank vegetation, but little sunshine ripens crops and there is scant pasture for large quadrupeds, so the staple foods are pigs, potatoes, and fish.
Chapter 37
How does Darwin describe the inhabitants and economy of Chiloe?
The inhabitants appear to have three-fourths Indian blood, and Darwin calls them humble, quiet, and industrious. Though food is plentiful, they are very poor: there is no demand for labour and little circulating medium, so people barter goods like charcoal or planks. Every tradesman must also be a merchant, reselling what he takes in exchange.
Chapter 37
What did Darwin observe about volcanoes near the Andes in this region?
From one viewpoint Darwin saw three great active volcanoes, each about seven thousand feet high: the cone-shaped, snow-white Osorno spouting smoke, another saddle-shaped volcano emitting steam, and the lofty Corcovado. He notes the Andes here are less elevated than in Chile and seem less of a barrier, and that the range appeared curved due to an optical deception.
Chapter 37
What does Darwin say about Indian land tenure and poverty in Chiloe?
Darwin notes the people complained of want of land, partly from their own failure to clear woods and partly from government restrictions: a surveyor's fee plus valuation, then auction three times before purchase. Clearing is hard because damp climate and tree type require cutting before burning. Under the Spaniards Indians could not hold land; Chilean authorities were then making retribution by granting each man land according to his station.
Chapter 37
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What did Darwin find on a wild part of the coast, and what did it suggest?
Darwin found a bed of grass beneath a rock ledge, with a fire nearby and an axe used. The fire, bed, and situation showed the dexterity of an Indian, but he noted the race was extinct there due to the Catholic desire to make Christians and slaves at once. He also suspected it might be a shipwrecked sailor.
Chapter 38
How were the six runaway seamen from the American whaling vessel discovered and rescued?
A man waving a shirt was seen after anchoring in a newly discovered harbour, and a boat brought back two seamen. Six had run away from an American whaling vessel, landed southward, and their boat was smashed by surf. They wandered the coast for fifteen months, lost one man to a fall from cliffs, and had kept good time, losing only four days.
Chapter 38
What did Darwin observe about the wild potato in the Chonos Archipelago?
The wild potato grew abundantly on sandy, shelly soil near the beach; the tallest was four feet, tubers generally small, one oval two inches across, resembling English potatoes in smell but watery and insipid when boiled, without bitter taste. Darwin states they are undoubtedly indigenous, growing as far south as latitude 50, called Aquinas by wild Indians.
Chapter 38
What did Darwin conclude about peat formation in southern South America?
Darwin argues the southern American climate favours peat production. In the Falklands almost every plant, even coarse grass, becomes peat, some beds twelve feet thick. In most parts Astelia is most efficient, though every plant aids. He notes, unlike Europe, he nowhere saw moss forming peat in South America, and no well-characterized peat occurs in Chiloe, though abundant in the Chonos Islands.
Chapter 38
CHAPTER XIII (part 3)4 cards
What two families does Darwin say the bird Pelacanoides Berardi resembles?
Darwin states that the Pelacanoides Berardi is evidently a petrel, shown by its beak and nostril form, foot length, and plumage colouring. Yet its short wings, weak flight, body and tail shape, absence of a hind toe, diving habit, and inland-sound habitat make its relationship seem equally close with the auks. From a distance, on the wing or diving in Tierra del Fuego's channels, it would undoubtedly be mistaken for an auk.
Chapter 39
How does the Pelacanoides Berardi behave when disturbed?
According to the chapter, this bird never leaves the quiet inland sounds. When disturbed, it dives to a distance and, on returning to the surface, takes flight in the same movement. It then flies rapidly in a straight line on short wings for a space, drops as if struck dead, and dives again.
Chapter 39
What seasonal difference does Darwin note between two coastal locations?
Darwin notes a great difference between the seasons of the wooded and open parts of the coast. On September 20th, at latitude 34 degrees, these birds had young in the nest, while among the Chonos Islands three months later in summer they were only laying. The two places differ in latitude by about 700 miles.
Chapter 39
What does Darwin suggest may explain small rodents on distant islands?
In a footnote, Darwin notes it is said that some rapacious birds bring their prey alive to their nests. If so, over centuries one might now and then escape from the young birds. He says some such agency is necessary to account for the distribution of the smaller gnawing animals on islands not very near each other.
Chapter 39
CHAPTER XIV (part 1)4 cards
What simultaneous volcanic events surprised Darwin in January 1835?
Darwin was surprised that Osorno erupted on the night of January 19, and that Aconcagua in Chile, 480 miles north, was in action the same night. Even more striking, the great eruption of Coseguina, 2700 miles north of Aconcagua and accompanied by an earthquake felt over 1000 miles, occurred within six hours of the same time. Coseguina had been dormant twenty-six years, and Aconcagua rarely shows action.
Chapter 40
What was the road from S. Carlos to Castro like, and why was it built?
The road consisted almost entirely of great logs, either broad and laid longitudinally or narrow and placed transversely. In summer it was not very bad, but in winter the wet wood became slippery and the ground on each side a morass, often overflowed, so longitudinal logs were pegged down with transverse poles. These pegs made falls from a horse dangerous. The first person to cross the forest was an Indian who cut through the canes in eight days and was rewarded with a grant of land.
Chapter 40
How did the Indians of Cucao live, and how were they treated?
The district of Cucao was the only inhabited part of Chiloe's west coast, with about thirty or forty Indian families scattered along four or five miles of shore. They were much secluded, with scarcely any commerce except sometimes in seal-blubber oil. They were tolerably dressed in their own manufactures and had plenty to eat, yet seemed discontented and painfully humble. Darwin attributes this chiefly to the harsh, authoritative treatment by their rulers, who behaved toward them as slaves rather than free men.
Chapter 40
What did Darwin observe about the sea and land during the great earthquake at Concepcion?
The chapter describes the great earthquake at Concepcion: rocks were fissured, the former towns presented a changed appearance, and the sea appeared black and boiling. It also notes the direction of the vibrations, stones twisted round, a great wave, and permanent elevation of the land. Darwin connects the elevatory and eruptive forces and discusses the cause of earthquakes and the slow elevation of mountain-chains.
Chapter 40
CHAPTER XIV (part 2)3 cards
Why did relatively few people die in the Concepcion earthquake?
The earthquake began at half-past eleven in the forenoon. Darwin states that had it struck at night, many thousands in the province must have perished instead of fewer than a hundred. The invariable practice of running out of doors at the first trembling of the ground alone saved them.
Chapter 41
What did Darwin observe about the tide during and after the Valdivia earthquake?
The great shock occurred at low water. An old woman on the beach told Darwin the water flowed very quickly, but not in great waves, to high-water mark and then returned as quickly to its proper level, which he confirmed by the line of wet sand. A similar quiet quick movement had happened years earlier at Chiloe during a slight earthquake, causing causeless alarm.
Chapter 41
How did Darwin describe the direction and sensation of the Valdivia earthquake's vibrations?
The rocking was very sensible and lasted two minutes, though it seemed much longer. Darwin and his companion thought the undulations came from due east, while others thought south-west, showing how difficult it is to perceive vibration directions. He compared the motion to a vessel in a cross-ripple, or to skating over thin ice that bends under one's weight.
Chapter 41
CHAPTER XIV (part 3)4 cards
What did Darwin observe about the sea during the Concepcion earthquake?
Darwin describes two kinds of water disturbance: first, at the moment of the shock, the sea swells gently up the beach and retreats quietly; second, some time later, the whole sea retires and returns in overwhelming waves. He notes the first is likely from the earthquake affecting fluid and solid differently, while the second is the more important phenomenon.
Chapter 42
Why did Valparaiso escape the great waves that struck Talcahuano and Callao?
Darwin observes that Talcahuano and Callao, both at the heads of large shallow bays, suffered great waves during every severe earthquake, while Valparaiso, seated close to profoundly deep water, was never overwhelmed despite frequent severe shocks. He suspects the wave is generated where deep ocean water meets water that has shared the land's movement, and is larger with more shoal water agitated.
Chapter 42
What evidence showed the Concepcion earthquake permanently raised the land?
Darwin says the land around Concepcion Bay was upraised two or three feet, though the wave had erased old tidal lines, so he relied on inhabitants' testimony that a rocky shoal was formerly submerged. At S. Maria, about thirty miles away, Fitz Roy found putrid mussel-shells still adhering to rocks ten feet above high-water mark; inhabitants had dived for them at spring tides.
Chapter 42
What did Darwin conclude about uplift and volcanic forces from this earthquake?
Darwin argues the elevatory and eruptive forces shown connected during these phenomena are identical: the forces that slowly uplift continents by little starts and those that pour forth volcanic matter are the same. He believes frequent earthquakes on this coast come from strata rending under tension as land is raised, then injected by fluidified rock, forming chains of hills and mountain axes.
Chapter 42
CHAPTER XV (part 1)3 cards
How were mines commonly discovered in this part of Chile, according to the chapter?
Metallic veins are generally harder than surrounding strata, so during gradual wear they project above the surface. Almost every labourer, especially in northern Chile, knows something about the appearance of ores. In Coquimbo and Copiapo men searching scarce firewood over every hill found nearly all the richest mines; Chanuncillo was found when a man threw a stone at his donkey and picked up the heavy, silver-filled rock.
Chapter 43
What did Darwin observe about rock covered by snow for much of the year?
Darwin frequently observed, both in Tierra del Fuego and within the Andes, that where rock was covered by snow for most of the year it was shivered into small angular fragments. Scoresby observed the same in Spitzbergen. Darwin found the case obscure, since snow-covered rock should face fewer great temperature changes, and suggested the appearance of quicker disintegration might be deceptive.
Chapter 43
What role does the madrina play in a mule troop?
The madrina is an old steady mare with a bell around her neck; mules follow her like children. If several troops graze together, muleteers lead the madrinas apart and tinkle their bells, and each mule recognizes its own madrina's bell even among two or three hundred animals. An old mule can track the madrina by smell, and any animal with a bell can serve.
Chapter 43
CHAPTER XV (part 2)4 cards
What did Darwin identify as the cause of the red snow he found on the Peuquenes ridge?
Darwin found the red snow, Protococcus nivalis, after noticing mule footprints stained pale red. He first suspected dust from red porphyry mountains, but on examination found it consisted of groups of little spheres in colourless cases, each about a thousandth of an inch in diameter. The snow was coloured only where it had thawed rapidly or been crushed, and rubbed on paper it gave a faint rose tinge mixed with brick-red.
Chapter 44
Why did the potatoes fail to cook at the high camp, and what did Darwin's companions conclude?
At high elevation the diminished atmospheric pressure made water boil at a lower temperature than in less lofty country, the converse of a Papin's digester. The potatoes stayed in the boiling water for hours and were boiled again the next morning, yet remained nearly as hard as ever. Darwin's companions concluded simply that the cursed new pot did not choose to boil potatoes.
Chapter 44
How did Darwin explain the greater difficulty of judging heights and distances in lofty mountains?
Travelers generally attributed it to the absence of objects of comparison, but the author argues it is fully as much owing to the transparency of the air confounding objects at different distances, and partly to the novelty of unusual fatigue from slight exertion, habit being opposed to the evidence of the senses. He says the extreme clearness gives the landscape a peculiar character, objects appearing brought nearly into one plane, like a drawing or panorama.
Chapter 44
Why did Darwin expect little similarity between animals on opposite sides of the Andes?
Darwin notes the marked difference between vegetation and quadrupeds of the eastern valleys and the Chilian side, despite similar climate and soil and slight difference in longitude. He obtained thirteen mouse species on the Atlantic shores and five on the Pacific, none identical. He argues this accords with the Andes having existed as a great barrier since present animal races appeared, so closer similarity should not be expected unless species were created in two places, excepting those able to cross the barrier.
Chapter 44
CHAPTER XV (part 3)4 cards
What did Darwin find at seven thousand feet in the Uspallata range?
Darwin observed a group of petrified trees on a bare slope: eleven were silicified and thirty to forty were converted into coarsely crystallized white calcareous spar. The upright stumps, three to five feet in circumference, were abruptly broken off and projected a few feet above the ground. Robert Brown identified the wood as belonging to the fir tribe, partaking of the Araucarian family with affinities to the yew.
Chapter 45
How did Darwin explain the formation of the petrified trees' landscape?
The author argues the trees once grew on the shores of the Atlantic, on volcanic soil raised above the sea. The land was later submerged, covered by sedimentary beds and enormous submarine lava flows, then uplifted by subterranean forces into mountains over seven thousand feet high. Erosion then cut valleys and exposed the silicified trees. He notes these changes occurred within a period recent compared with the history of the Cordillera.
Chapter 45
What does Darwin say about the danger of the Cordillera passes?
Darwin states the danger of the worst passes has been much exaggerated. He crossed one called las Animas without realizing it was considered dangerous, and saw no place where a rider could not walk or dismount on either side. He concedes mules might fall down precipices, and that cargo-mules are at greater risk because projecting loads cause them to lose balance.
Chapter 45
What is the Puente del Incas made of, according to Darwin?
Darwin says the Incas Bridge is not a fallen rock mass or a hollowed cavern arch, as one might picture a natural bridge. Instead it consists of a crust of stratified shingle cemented together by deposits from neighbouring hot springs. The stream appears to have scooped a channel on one side, leaving an overhanging ledge met by earth and stones from the opposite cliff. He judges it unworthy of the monarchs whose name it bears.
Chapter 45
CHAPTER XVI (part 1)4 cards
What load did Darwin weigh carried by an apire, and from what depth?
Darwin weighed a load he picked at hazard and found it 197 pounds, considered under weight; the apire had carried it up eighty perpendicular yards, mostly by notched poles in a zigzag up the shaft. The average load was thought rather more than 200 pounds, and he was assured one of 300 pounds had been brought up from the deepest mine.
Chapter 46
How did Darwin explain the Chilian miners' reckless spending compared with Cornish miners?
Darwin attributed the Chilian miners' extravagance to their manner of life: their daily food was provided, so they acquired no habits of carefulness, and temptation came with the means to yield to it—like sailors with prize-money. He contrasted Cornwall, where miners sold part of the vein and had to think for themselves, making them singularly intelligent and well-conducted.
Chapter 46
What did Darwin observe about vegetation after the first light rain at Coquimbo?
After about five hours of light rain, the ground appeared dry again within twelve hours. Yet ten days later all the hills were faintly tinged with green, the grass scattered in hair-like fibres a full inch long; before the shower the surface was bare as a high road. Farmers would break ground after one shower, sow after a second, and reap a good harvest if a third fell.
Chapter 46
What did Darwin conclude about the load-carrying apires' health and endurance?
Darwin found the apires healthy and cheerful except for accidents, though not very muscular; they rarely ate meat more than once a week, and then only hard dry charqui. Their labour was voluntary, yet their condition at the mine mouth was revolting to see. He called it a wonderful instance of how much labour habit, for it can be nothing else, enables a man to endure.
Chapter 46
CHAPTER XVI (part 2)4 cards
Why does Darwin say distant upraised shores favor lasting fossil deposits?
The author argues that if shores across Peru, Chile, Tierra del Fuego, Patagonia, and La Plata were upraised within the same period, then circumstances at far distant points would favor fossiliferous deposits of wide extent and considerable thickness. Such deposits would have a good chance of resisting the wear and tear of successive beach-lines and lasting to a future epoch.
Chapter 47
What saying about mines does Darwin quote, and how does he judge it?
Darwin quotes the saying that a person with a copper-mine will gain, with silver he may gain, but with gold he is sure to lose. He calls this not true, noting that all the large Chilian fortunes have been made from mines of the more precious metals. He adds that a copper-mine with care is a sure game, whereas the others are gambling, or taking a ticket in a lottery.
Chapter 47
How did a miner trick his owner into revealing rich ore?
The owner had bet a cigar on which of two discarded fragments would roll furthest. Two miners pitched fragments away as if by accident and cried out to see which rolled furthest. The owner bet a cigar with his friend on the race. The miner thus watched where the stone landed, picked it up in the evening, and showed his master a rich mass of silver-ore, saying it was the stone on which he won the cigar.
Chapter 47
What does Darwin say about rain, snow, and water in the Copiapo valley?
The inhabitants watch a storm over the Cordillera with great interest, since one good fall of snow provides water for the ensuing year, more important than rain in the lower country. Rain falls about once every two or three years and lets cattle and mules find pasture. Without snow on the Andes, desolation extends throughout the valley; it is on record that three times nearly all inhabitants were obliged to emigrate south.
Chapter 47
CHAPTER XVI (part 3)4 cards
What does Darwin suggest about the dry Despoblado valley's origin?
Darwin argues the Despoblado valley and similar Peruvian valleys were left in their present state by the waves of the sea as the land slowly rose. He notes the shingle-filled floor lacks the cliff-bounded channel a great torrent would have cut, and compares the drainage pattern to mud-banks left by a retiring tide, formed during the secular retirement of the ocean.
Chapter 48
What did Darwin observe at the Indian ruins near Punta Gorda?
Darwin found seven or eight square mud rooms in the flat valley bottom, in a conspicuous and defenceless position, with no water nearer than three or four leagues and utterly sterile soil. He noted the present inhabitants could not imitate the mud's durability, and speculated the ruins might reflect a small change of climate since they were inhabited.
Chapter 48
How does Darwin explain the possible change of climate since the ruins were inhabited?
Darwin argues the arid climate results from the height of the Cordillera, so before later elevations the atmosphere could not have been so drained of moisture. Since the rise was gradual, the climate change would also have been gradual, implying the ruins are extremely ancient and that man has inhabited South America for an immensely long period.
Chapter 48
What did Mr. Gill report about a subterranean disturbance near Casma?
Gill described a barren plain with ruins and an ancient dry river course, whose bed he found suddenly sloping downhill while walking up it, with a fall of about 40 or 50 feet. Darwin interprets this as a ridge uplifted across the old stream bed, throwing the water back, forming a new channel, and leaving the plain a desert.
Chapter 48
CHAPTER XVI (part 4)4 cards
Why could nitrate of soda not be used for gunpowder?
Darwin states the nitrate of soda from Iquique was principally used as manure and in making nitric acid, but owing to its deliquescent property it would not serve for gunpowder. It was first exported in 1830, and in one year an amount worth one hundred thousand pounds sterling was sent to France and England.
Chapter 49
What did Darwin conclude about the source of well water at the saltpetre mine?
Darwin reasoned the water could not come from rain, since scarcely any falls and the surrounding country is crusted with saline substances, which would make rain-derived water as salt as brine. He therefore concluded it percolates underground from the distant Cordillera. The well was thirty-six yards deep, and the water tasted bitter and brackish.
Chapter 49
What evidence led Darwin to think the nitrate plain was once a lake or inland sea?
The nitrate stratum follows for one hundred and fifty miles the margin of a grand basin or plain, whose outline manifestly suggests it was once a lake, or more probably an inland arm of the sea. Darwin infers this from the presence of iodic salts in the saline stratum. The plain's surface lies 3300 feet above the Pacific.
Chapter 49
What did Darwin observe about miasma and health on the coast of Peru?
Darwin notes ague was common on the whole Peruvian coast but unknown in the interior, and that miasma likely arose from small stagnant pools near Callao, since draining similar pools improved Arica's health. He argues miasma is not always produced by luxuriant vegetation, citing unhealthy sterile coasts and healthy dense forests in Chiloe.
Chapter 49
CHAPTER XVI (part 5)4 cards
What evidence does Darwin use to judge the antiquity of the Indo-human race in Chile?
Darwin infers the antiquity of the Indo-human race from the eighty-five feet rise of the land since the relics were embedded. He notes this is more remarkable because on the Patagonian coast, when the land stood about the same number of feet lower, the Macrauchenia was a living beast. He adds that the Patagonian coast is some distance from the Cordillera, so its rise may have been slower.
Chapter 50
How much has the land risen at Valparaiso since 1817, and by what means?
At Valparaiso, the elevation cannot have exceeded nineteen feet in the 220 years before the visit. Subsequently to 1817, there has been a rise of ten or eleven feet, partly insensible and partly by a start during the shock of 1822. Darwin thus distinguishes gradual uplift from sudden earthquake-driven uplift.
Chapter 50
Why does Darwin call all these elevation speculations vague?
Darwin calls the speculations vague because one cannot pretend to say there may not have been several periods of subsidence intercalated between movements of elevation. He notes that along the whole Patagonian coast there have certainly been many and long pauses in the upward action of the elevatory forces, so simple steady-rise stories are unreliable.
Chapter 50
What does Dr. Ferguson show about the poison in question?
Darwin cites Dr. Ferguson's paper as showing clearly that the poison is generated in the drying process, and hence that dry hot countries are often the most unhealthy. Darwin calls the paper admirable and also records a similar interesting case in the Madras Medical Quarterly Journal of 1839.
Chapter 50
CHAPTER XVII (part 1)4 cards
What explanation does Darwin give for the broken southern sides of the tuff-craters?
Darwin notes that all twenty-eight tuff-craters examined had southern sides much lower or broken away. He explains this by the craters having formed while standing in the sea, where trade-wind waves and Pacific swell unite their forces on the southern coasts of all the islands, wearing away the soft, yielding tuff.
Chapter 51
Why is the Galapagos climate not excessively hot despite sitting on the equator?
Darwin attributes the surprisingly mild climate chiefly to the low temperature of the surrounding water, brought by the great southern Polar current. Rain is scarce except in one short irregular season, though clouds hang low. Consequently the lower parts are sterile while upper parts above a thousand feet, especially windward sides, are damp and tolerably luxuriant.
Chapter 51
How does Darwin account for the rat found on James Island?
Darwin says the James Island rat is distinct enough to be named and described by Mr. Waterhouse, but it belongs to the Old World division of the mouse family. Since the island had been frequented by ships for a hundred and fifty years, Darwin argues it is merely a variety produced by the new and peculiar climate, food, and soil.
Chapter 51
What does Darwin find remarkable about the archipelago's organic productions?
Darwin states most organic productions are aboriginal creations found nowhere else, with differences even between inhabitants of different islands, yet all show marked relationship to American forms despite 500-600 miles of open ocean. He calls the archipelago a little world within itself, a satellite attached to America, and says it brings us near the mystery of the first appearance of new beings.
Chapter 51
CHAPTER XVII (part 2)4 cards
Why does Darwin think frogs are absent from oceanic islands but lizards are not?
Darwin suggests the difference may be caused by the greater facility with which lizards' eggs, protected by calcareous shells, could be transported through salt-water, compared with the slimy spawn of frogs. He notes the absence of the frog family on oceanic islands is more remarkable when contrasted with lizards, which swarm on most of the smallest islands. He cites Bory St. Vincent's remark that none of this family are found on volcanic islands in the great oceans.
Chapter 52
How do Galapagos tortoises survive in arid districts far from springs?
Tortoises in lower arid districts feed chiefly on succulent cactus and must travel long distances to springs, creating well-beaten paths the Spaniards followed to find water. Darwin reports that after visiting springs their urinary bladders are distended with fluid that gradually decreases and becomes less pure; inhabitants overcome with thirst drink the bladder contents, though they first drink the pericardium water, described as best. Tortoises can subsist where the only water is a few rainy days yearly.
Chapter 52
What does Darwin conclude about the marine iguana's diet and aquatic habits?
Darwin opened stomachs and found them largely distended with minced sea-weed (Ulvae), which he believes grows at the bottom of the sea some distance from the coast, explaining why the animals go out to sea. He notes one crab piece found by Mr. Bynoe might have got in accidentally. The flattened tail, partially webbed feet, and voluntary swimming prove aquatic habits, yet there is a strange anomaly: when frightened it will not enter the water, perhaps because it has no enemy on shore but faces sharks at sea.
Chapter 52
What evidence does Darwin give that the Galapagos tortoise is aboriginal there?
Darwin argues there can be little doubt the tortoise is an aboriginal inhabitant, since it is found on all or nearly all the islands, even small ones without water, which would hardly be the case had it been imported into a group so little frequented. He adds that old Bucaniers found it in greater numbers than at present, and Wood and Rogers in 1708 report the Spaniards' opinion that it is found nowhere else in that quarter. He questions whether it is aboriginal anywhere else.
Chapter 52
CHAPTER XVII (part 3)3 cards
What did Darwin find remarkable about the distribution of mocking-thrushes among the Galapagos islands?
Darwin was astonished to discover that mocking-thrushes from Charles Island all belonged to Mimus trifasciatus, those from Albemarle to M. parvulus, and those from James and Chatham to M. melanotis. The latter two are closely allied and might be considered well-marked races, but Mimus trifasciatus is very distinct. This comparison first thoroughly aroused his attention to the fact that different islands have different inhabitants.
Chapter 53
How does the Galapagos flora compare to other island floras, according to Hooker?
Of 185 flowering plants, 100 are new species probably confined to the archipelago. Hooker conceives at least 10 species near cultivated ground at Charles Island were imported. Darwin concludes this makes the Galapagos a distinct botanical province, but the flora is not nearly so peculiar as St. Helena's, nor, per Hooker, as Juan Fernandez's. The Compositae show it best: 21 species, 20 peculiar, in twelve genera, ten confined to the archipelago.
Chapter 53
What does Darwin conclude about the zoological affinities of the Galapagos archipelago?
Darwin argues the archipelago, though in the Pacific, is zoologically part of America. Exceptions include eighteen marine, one fresh-water, and one land-shell apparently arriving as colonists from central Pacific islands, plus one distinct Pacific species of Galapageian finches. Since a vast majority of land animals and over half the flowering plants are aboriginal, he finds the American character striking rather than merely explained by immigration.
Chapter 53
CHAPTER XVII (part 4)4 cards
What did Darwin observe a boy doing at a well on Charles Island?
Darwin saw a boy sitting by a well with a switch, killing doves and finches as they came to drink. The boy had already gathered a small heap of birds for his dinner and said he regularly waited there for this purpose. Darwin uses this to show the birds had not yet learned that man is more dangerous than the tortoise or Amblyrhynchus.
Chapter 54
Why does Darwin reject the absence of predators as the cause of Galapagos tameness?
Darwin notes the Falkland Islands birds are also tame even though foxes, hawks, and owls occur there. The upland geese build on islets to avoid foxes, showing awareness of that danger, yet remain tame toward man. He concludes wildness toward man is a particular instinct directed against him, not general caution from other dangers.
Chapter 54
How does Darwin explain birds' fear of man as inherited rather than learned?
Darwin argues few young English birds are injured by man each year, yet nearly all, even nestlings, fear him. Meanwhile many birds at the Galapagos and Falklands have been pursued and injured by man without learning dread of him. He concludes the wildness is not acquired individually in a short time but becomes hereditary over successive generations.
Chapter 54
What does Darwin infer about introducing a new predator into a country?
From the birds' slow, inherited acquisition of fear, Darwin infers what havoc a new beast of prey would cause in a country before the instincts of indigenous inhabitants had adapted to the stranger's craft or power. He also cites the black-necked swan at the Falklands, a bird of passage presumably carrying wisdom learned abroad, as impossible to kill even when other birds were tame.
Chapter 54
CHAPTER XVIII (part 1)4 cards
How does Darwin describe the vegetation zones on Tahiti's mountains?
Darwin identifies three zones of differing luxuriance. The lower flat zone is fertile because water drains slowly from it. The intermediate zone stays sterile because it does not reach the damp, cloudy atmosphere of the upper zone. The upper zone has pretty woods with tree-ferns replacing coastal cocoa-nuts, though he notes these woods do not equal the splendour of Brazil's forests.
Chapter 55
What does Darwin say about the Tahitians' appearance and character?
Darwin was pleased most by the inhabitants, finding a mildness in their faces that banishes the idea of a savage, and intelligence showing advancing civilization. He describes the common people as tall, broad-shouldered, athletic and well-proportioned when working half-naked. He was disappointed in the women's appearance, judging them inferior to the men in every respect.
Chapter 55
How does Darwin describe the coral reef and lagoon around Eimeo?
Eimeo is almost completely encircled by a reef, with only one small gateway. From a distance only a narrow, brilliantly white line was visible where waves met the coral wall. The mountains rose abruptly from the glassy lagoon inside this white line, while outside it the ocean waters were dark. Darwin compares the view to a framed engraving: breakers as frame, lagoon as margin, island as drawing.
Chapter 55
What does Darwin report about money and trade among the Tahitians?
Darwin says the Tahitians fully understand the value of money and prefer it to old clothes or other goods. English and Spanish coins puzzle them, and they never seemed to think small silver secure until changed into dollars. Some chiefs had accumulated considerable sums; one offered 800 dollars for a small vessel, and they often bought whale-boats and horses for 50 to 100 dollars.
Chapter 55
CHAPTER XVIII (part 2)4 cards
What foods did Darwin's Tahitian companions eat, and how did he explain their large appetites?
Darwin describes wild yam, a sweet liliaceous plant called Ti with a soft brown root, other wild fruits and vegetables, plus eels and cray-fish from the stream. He notes his companions ate enormously, and supposes such capacious stomachs result from a diet largely of fruit and vegetables, which contain comparatively little nutriment in a given bulk.
Chapter 56
Why did Tahiti's chiefs and queen join a Temperance Society, and what law followed?
Spirits had been introduced and drunkenness became prevalent about two years earlier, after ava use was prevented. Missionaries persuaded a few good men to join a Temperance Society; from good sense or shame the chiefs and queen joined too. A law then banned importing spirits, fining seller and buyer, with a period allowed for existing stock before a general search poured all ava on the ground.
Chapter 56
How did Darwin judge the moral state of Tahitians, and which of his preconceptions was wrong?
Darwin drew his notions from Ellis's favourable account, Beechey's Voyage, and Kotzebue's strongly anti-missionary one. He found his impression that Tahitians had become gloomy and feared the missionaries decidedly incorrect; he saw no trace of such fear and many merry, happy faces. He argues critics compare Tahiti with Gospel perfection rather than its state twenty years earlier, crediting missionaries with abolishing human sacrifice, infanticide, and bloody wars.
Chapter 56
What did the Tahitian parliament do about the unpaid compensation debt, and how did Darwin react?
A vessel under English colours had been plundered, and Britain demanded nearly three thousand dollars, due the previous September. Captain Fitz Roy was ordered to demand satisfaction; Queen Pomarre and the principal chiefs met in a parliament. The money was unpaid, and the chiefs resolved to subscribe the shortfall themselves, though Fitz Roy urged it was hard their private property be sacrificed for distant islanders' crimes. Darwin was surprised by their good sense, candour, and loyalty.
Chapter 56
CHAPTER XVIII (part 3)4 cards
Why did New Zealand Pas include spurs or buttresses on the inner protected side?
The Rev. W. Williams noticed spurs or buttresses projecting on the inner, protected side of a Pa mound. When he asked the chief their purpose, the chief replied that if two or three of his men were shot, their neighbours would not see the bodies and so be discouraged. Darwin notes the attacking force is never disciplined enough to rush the stockade in a body, since each man fights as he pleases.
Chapter 57
What argument did a southern chief use to justify going to war despite a missionary's reasoning?
A missionary reasoned at length with a chief about the uselessness of war and the little provocation given, shaking his resolution. The chief then recalled that a barrel of his gunpowder was in bad condition and would not keep long. This he presented as an unanswerable argument for immediately declaring war, since letting good gunpowder spoil was unthinkable, and it settled the matter.
Chapter 57
How does Darwin compare the New Zealander with the Tahitian?
Darwin says the comparison tells heavily against the New Zealander, who may be superior in energy but in every other respect is of a much lower order. He argues one glance at their expressions shows one is a savage and the other a civilized man, and that tattooing gives a disagreeable expression by destroying play of the superficial muscles. He also calls their persons and houses filthily dirty.
Chapter 57
What was the purpose of the raised platforms Darwin saw near Maori villages?
Darwin observed platforms raised on four posts ten or twelve feet above the ground, chiefly conspicuous in the villages. On these platforms the produce of the fields was kept secure from all accidents. He also noted the introduction of the potato as the most essential benefit to the island, now used more than any native vegetable, and that fern roots and abundant shell-fish meant inhabitants could never perish from famine.
Chapter 57
CHAPTER XVIII (part 4)4 cards
What does Darwin say about indigenous animals in New Zealand?
Darwin calls it remarkable that such a large island, spanning over 700 miles of latitude and with varied climate and terrain, possessed no indigenous animal except a small rat. He suggests the giant moa species (Deinornis) replaced mammiferous quadrupeds there, as reptiles still do at the Galapagos. He also notes the Norway rat reportedly annihilated the native rat in the north within two years.
Chapter 58
How did a leek and a dock spread in New Zealand?
Darwin noticed weeds he was forced to own as countrymen. A leek had overrun whole districts and would prove troublesome, but it was imported as a favour by a French vessel. The common dock was also widely disseminated, and Darwin fears it will forever remain proof of the rascality of an Englishman who sold dock seeds as tobacco plant seeds.
Chapter 58
What did Darwin observe at the burial site of a chief's daughter?
The daughter of a still-heathen chief had died five days earlier. The hovel where she died was burnt down; her body, enclosed between two small canoes, stood upright, protected by an enclosure with wooden images of gods and painted bright red. Her gown was fastened to the coffin and her cut hair cast at its foot. Relatives had torn their flesh, and old women looked filthy.
Chapter 58
What did Darwin conclude about New Zealand overall?
Darwin says he believes all were glad to leave New Zealand, calling it not a pleasant place. He finds the natives lacking the charming simplicity found in Tahiti, and says most of the English there are the very refuse of society. The country itself is not attractive either. He looks back to only one bright spot: Waimate, with its Christian inhabitants.
Chapter 58
CHAPTER XIX (part 1)4 cards
What did Darwin identify as the main cause of New South Wales's early prosperity?
Darwin argues that the government's power to use forced convict labour to open good roads throughout the country was, he believes, one main cause of the colony's early prosperity. He noted the iron gangs—convicts working in chains under sentries with loaded arms—as the least English-looking feature of the otherwise familiar landscape.
Chapter 59
What did Darwin observe about the leaves of Australian trees compared to Europe?
Darwin noted that Australian trees mostly have leaves placed vertically rather than nearly horizontally as in Europe, with scanty foliage of a pale green tint lacking gloss. Hence the woods appear light and shadowless—a loss of comfort for travellers under summer sun, but important to farmers since it lets grass grow where it otherwise would not.
Chapter 59
What impression did Darwin form of the Aboriginal people he met near Bathurst?
Darwin found them good-humoured and pleasant, far from the utterly degraded beings usually represented. He admired their skill: they transfixed a cap at thirty yards with a spear thrown by throwing-stick, and showed wonderful sagacity in tracking. Yet he noted they would not cultivate ground, build houses, or tend sheep. He judged them a few degrees higher in civilization than the Fuegians.
Chapter 59
What causes did Darwin give for the rapid decrease of the Aboriginal population?
Darwin attributed the decrease partly to introduced spirits, European diseases (even mild ones like measles proving destructive), and the gradual extinction of wild animals. He also cited children perishing in infancy from the wandering life, and argued some more mysterious agency was at work—wherever the European trod, death seemed to pursue the aboriginal, a pattern he saw across the Americas, Polynesia, the Cape, and Australia.
Chapter 59
CHAPTER XIX (part 2)4 cards
What did Darwin identify as the main exports and limits of New South Wales?
Darwin states the two main exports are wool and whale-oil, and that both have limits. He argues the country is unfit for canals, so land-carriage of wool will eventually not repay the expense of shearing and tending sheep. He also notes droughts make extended agriculture impossible, concluding Australia must ultimately depend on commerce and perhaps future manufactories, with coal providing power.
Chapter 60
How did Darwin judge the convict system as punishment, reform, and colonization?
Darwin argues the convict system scarcely achieves punishment and fails as real reform, since moral improvement is nearly impossible among assigned servants. Yet as a means of making men outwardly honest and turning vagabonds into active citizens of a new country, he says it succeeded to a degree perhaps unparalleled in history. He notes convicts' material wants are tolerably supplied and tickets of leave reward good conduct.
Chapter 60
What did Darwin observe about the platypus and the fate of native animals?
Darwin saw several Ornithorhynchus paradoxus diving and playing in a chain of ponds, showing so little of their bodies they resembled water-rats. Mr. Browne shot one, and Darwin noted a stuffed specimen poorly conveys the fresh head and beak, which harden and contract. He also observed that the emu is banished and the kangaroo scarce, with the English greyhound highly destructive, and their doom fixed.
Chapter 60
What was Darwin's overall opinion of emigrating to New South Wales?
Darwin argues nothing but rather sharp necessity should compel him to emigrate. He was disappointed in society, which he found rancorously divided into parties, with open profligacy among the upper classes and the drawback of being surrounded by convict servants. He acknowledges capital yields treble interest, the climate is splendid, and prosperity is certain, but finds the country's uninviting aspect spoils its charms.
Chapter 60
CHAPTER XIX (part 3)3 cards
What did Darwin conclude about the 'petrified trees' at Bald Head?
Darwin and Captain Fitz Roy concluded the beds were formed by wind piling up fine sand of minute shell and coral particles, which enclosed tree branches, roots, and land-shells. Percolation of calcareous matter consolidated the mass, and cylindrical cavities left by decaying wood were filled with hard pseudo-stalactical stone. Weathering now exposes the hard casts, which deceptively resemble dead tree stumps.
Chapter 61
How does Darwin describe the country around King George's Sound?
Darwin calls it dull and uninteresting, a woody plain with rounded granite hills. The soil is sandy and poor, supporting coarse brushwood, wiry grass, or stunted trees. He notes the bright green from a distance seems to promise fertility, but a single walk dispels the illusion, and he says he would never wish to walk again in so uninviting a country.
Chapter 61
What did Darwin observe at the 'corrobery' held by the White Cockatoo men?
After dark, fires were lit and the men painted themselves white in spots and lines. The Cockatoo and King George's men formed two parties and danced in answer to each other, running sideways or in file and stamping heavily, accompanied by grunts and beating clubs and spears. Darwin judged it rude and barbarous, but noted the women and children watched with great pleasure, and dances like the Emu dance seemed to represent actions.
Chapter 61
CHAPTER XX (part 1)4 cards
How does Darwin explain the fresh water in Keeling Island's ebbing wells?
The author rejects the idea that sand filters salt from seawater. Instead, rain sinking through the porous, sponge-like coral rock collects at the level of the surrounding sea, displacing an equal bulk of salt water. As the salt water in the lower coral mass rises and falls with the tides, so does the fresh water near the surface, producing the ebbing and flowing wells.
Chapter 62
Why does Darwin call Keeling Island's flora a 'refuge for the destitute'?
The islands are entirely coral and once existed as bare water-washed reefs, so all terrestrial plants must have arrived by sea. Of the twenty species Darwin collected, Professor Henslow found nineteen belong to different genera and sixteen different families, showing no close relationships. Seeds drift in from Sumatra, Java and New Holland, though softer seeds like the mangostin are destroyed in passage.
Chapter 62
Which animals does Darwin believe are the first colonists of small isolated islands?
The author argues that waders, after the numerous web-footed species, are generally the first colonists of small isolated islands. He notes Keeling has no true land-birds, only a snipe and a rail, both waders living in dry herbage. He adds that whenever he saw non-oceanic birds far out at sea, they always belonged to this order, supporting their role as early colonists.
Chapter 62
What evidence does Darwin give that seeds can travel vast ocean distances to coral islands?
Darwin cites Mr. Keating's account of seeds and plants from Sumatra and Java washed ashore, including kimiri, cocoa-nut, dadass, soap-tree and castor-oil, plus Java teak and New Holland blue gumwood. He suggests seeds may travel 1800 to 2400 miles via New Holland. Chamisso similarly reported seeds and fruits reaching the Radack Archipelago still capable of growing.
Chapter 62
CHAPTER XX (part 2)4 cards
How did Darwin explain the greenstone fragment found embedded in coral conglomerate on Keeling atoll?
Darwin concluded the stone likely arrived entangled in the roots of a large tree floated from distant land, though he found the combination of chances so improbable he was almost afraid to imagine it. He was reassured by Chamisso's account that inhabitants of the Radack archipelago obtain sharpening stones by searching roots of trees cast on the beach, where laws reserve such stones for the chief.
Chapter 63
How does the Birgos latro crab open a cocoa-nut, according to Mr. Liesk?
The crab tears the husk fibre by fibre, always starting from the end with the three eye-holes, then hammers one eye-hole with its heavy front claws until it opens. Turning its body, it extracts the white albuminous substance using its posterior, narrower pincers. Darwin calls this a curious case of instinct and adaptation between two objects remote in nature. The crab is diurnal and said to visit the sea nightly.
Chapter 63
What did Darwin observe about the stinging power of Millepora corals?
Darwin found two Millepora species (M. complanata and alcicornis) that sting. Fresh branches felt harsh, not slimy, with a strong disagreeable smell. Rubbing a piece on tender facial or arm skin usually caused a pricking sensation after about a second, lasting minutes. Once, merely touching his face caused instant pain, sharp for minutes and perceptible for half an hour, like a nettle but more like Physalia, leaving little red spots.
Chapter 63
Why did Darwin reject the crater theory and Chamisso's theory for atoll formation?
Darwin rejected submarine-crater bases because atoll shapes and sizes vary too much: Suadiva is 44 by 34 miles, Rimsky 54 by 20 with a sinuous margin, and Maldiva atolls are bounded by many separate little atolls rather than narrow reefs. Chamisso's theory that corals grow most vigorously on exposed outer edges, producing a ring, was better, but Darwin says both overlook a most important consideration—on what foundation the corals rest.
Chapter 63
CHAPTER XX (part 3)4 cards
What depth limit does Darwin give for reef-building coral?
Darwin states that reef-building coral cannot live at a greater depth than from 20 to 30 fathoms. He uses this limit to argue that barrier-reefs and atolls must rest on foundations that have subsided, since the corals themselves cannot build upward from great depths without the land sinking gradually beneath them.
Chapter 64
How does Darwin explain the formation of an atoll from a barrier-reef?
The author argues that as an encircling barrier-reef slowly subsides, corals keep growing vigorously upward while the enclosed land sinks. The mountains first become separate islands within one reef, and when the last and highest pinnacle disappears, a perfect atoll is left. Removing the high land from within a barrier-reef leaves an atoll.
Chapter 64
What evidence does Darwin cite for recent subsidence at Keeling atoll?
At Keeling atoll Darwin observed old cocoa-nut trees undermined and falling on all sides of the lagoon. The foundation-posts of a shed, said to have stood above high-water mark seven years earlier, were then washed by every tide. He learned three earthquakes, one severe, had been felt there in the last ten years.
Chapter 64
Why do passages through barrier-reefs face valleys in the included land?
Darwin argues that fringing reefs are breached by narrow gateways in front of even the smallest rivulets, because mud, sand, or gravel washed down kills the corals there. When an island subsides, most gateways close by coral growth, but those kept open by sediment and impure water flowing from the lagoon-channel continue to face the valleys.
Chapter 64
CHAPTER XX (part 4)4 cards
Why does Darwin say atolls are absent from the West Indies?
The author argues atolls can only form during subsidence, so where there has been no subsidence they cannot exist. He notes the West Indies and parts of the East Indies are known to have been rising within the recent period, which explains why atolls, though common in some oceanic tracts, are entirely absent there.
Chapter 65
How does Darwin relate active volcanoes to areas of elevation and subsidence?
Darwin marks known active volcanoes on his map and finds them entirely absent from the great subsiding areas colored blue, while the chief volcanic chains coincide with red areas concluded to be stationary or recently upraised. He notes encircled Pacific islands are often volcanic in origin yet none is known to have erupted, concluding volcanoes act and go extinct as elevatory or subsiding movements prevail.
Chapter 65
What does Darwin call the most important deduction from studying coral formations?
He concludes the subsidence must have been immense in amount and extremely slow, whether continuous or recurrent with intervals long enough for corals to regrow to the surface. He calls this conclusion probably the most important deducible from coral study, and one difficult to imagine reaching by any other means.
Chapter 65
What does Darwin suggest atolls reveal about former islands and species distribution?
He suggests the probability of former large archipelagoes of lofty islands where now only rings of coral-rock remain, which throws some light on how the inhabitants of other high islands, now left remote from each other in the oceans, came to be distributed. Each barrier-reef proves subsidence and each atoll is a monument over a lost island.
Chapter 65
CHAPTER XXI (part 1)4 cards
What did Darwin conclude about St. Helena's extinct land-shells?
Darwin found several species of a peculiar land-shell (Cochlogena) embedded in the soil, none of them living. He attributes their extinction to the entire destruction of the woods during the early part of the last century, which removed their food and shelter.
Chapter 66
How did St. Helena's vegetation become predominantly British?
Of 746 plants on the island, only fifty-two are indigenous; the rest were imported, most from England. Darwin notes many English plants flourish better there than in their native country, and that imported species destroyed some native kinds, with indigenous flora now predominant only on the highest, steepest ridges.
Chapter 66
What did Darwin think of the crater-of-elevation theory for Mauritius?
The island's central platform is surrounded by basaltic mountains classed as Craters of Elevation, supposedly formed by sudden upheaval. Darwin states there appear to him insuperable objections to this view, though he also finds it hard to believe the marginal mountains are merely remnants of immense volcanoes.
Chapter 66
How did Darwin describe the Indian convicts on Mauritius?
About 800 Indian convicts banished for life worked on public works. Darwin calls them noble-looking figures, notes many were banished for murder and worst crimes, others for causes scarcely moral faults such as disobeying English laws from superstitious motives, and found them quiet, clean, and faithful in their rites, unlike New South Wales convicts.
Chapter 66
CHAPTER XXI (part 2)4 cards
What does Darwin suggest about the rats and mice on Ascension Island?
Darwin doubts the rats are truly indigenous, noting two varieties—a black glossy one on the grassy summit and a brown, less glossy one near the coast—both one-third smaller than the common black rat. He argues they, like the common mouse, were imported and have varied from new conditions, as at the Galapagos.
Chapter 67
How does Darwin explain the internal structure of the volcanic bombs?
Darwin reasons the external crust cooled rapidly as seen; the still-fluid interior was packed by centrifugal force from the bomb's revolution against the cooled crust, forming a solid shell; and that same force relieved central pressure, letting heated vapours expand cells, producing the coarse cellular centre.
Chapter 67
What did Professor Ehrenberg find in the pink tufaceous layer, and what did he conclude?
Ehrenberg found the layer almost wholly composed of organized matter: siliceous-shielded fresh-water infusoria and twenty-five kinds of plant tissue, chiefly grasses. From the absence of carbonaceous matter, he believes these organic bodies passed through volcanic fire and were erupted as seen. Darwin had thought the layers were deposited under water.
Chapter 67
How does Darwin describe the scenery and his feelings at Bahia?
Darwin calls the country a level plain about three hundred feet high, worn into flat-bottomed valleys, covered with stately trees and patches of cultivation, with whitewashed buildings standing out like shadows. He says his enjoyment of tropical scenery had not decreased, and calls the land a great wild luxuriant hothouse made by Nature.
Chapter 67
CHAPTER XXI (part 3)4 cards
What does Darwin identify as the highest and most constant pleasure of his voyage?
The author argues that beholding the scenery and general aspect of the various countries visited was decidedly the most constant and highest source of enjoyment. He adds that comparing scenery across countries gives a growing pleasure distinct from mere admiration of beauty, depending on acquaintance with each view's individual parts, much as understanding every note deepens enjoyment of music.
Chapter 68
Why does Darwin think a traveller should be a botanist?
The author argues a traveller should be a botanist because plants form the chief embellishment in all views. Naked rock masses may seem sublime briefly but soon grow monotonous; painted with bright colours they become fantastic, but clothed with vegetation they must form a decent, if not beautiful, picture.
Chapter 68
Why do the plains of Patagonia impress Darwin more than the fertile Pampas?
The author finds the arid Patagonian plains, called wretched and useless by all, take a firmer hold on memory than the greener, more fertile Pampas. He attributes this partly to the free scope given to imagination: the plains are boundless, scarcely passable and hence unknown, bearing the stamp of lasting for ages with no limit to their future duration.
Chapter 68
What benefits and drawbacks does Darwin say a distant journey offers a young naturalist?
The author argues nothing improves a young naturalist more than travel in distant countries. Novelty and chance of success stimulate activity, and the habit of comparison leads from isolated facts to generalization. But short stays mean descriptions are mere sketches, creating, as he found to his cost, a constant tendency to fill knowledge gaps with inaccurate and superficial hypotheses.
Chapter 68
MM.4 cards
What relationship does Darwin note between extinct and living quadrupeds in the cave deposits?
Of the thirty-two genera of terrestrial quadrupeds now inhabiting the provinces where the caves occur, all but four have extinct species represented in the collection, and the extinct species outnumber the living. Darwin calls this relationship between the dead and the living on the same continent a class of facts that will throw more light on the appearance and disappearance of organic beings than any other.
Chapter 69
Why does Darwin doubt a great catastrophe or temperature change caused the extinctions?
Destroying animals large and small from Southern Patagonia to Behring's Straits would require shaking the entire framework of the globe, yet the geology of La Plata and Patagonia suggests slow, gradual changes. A temperature change could hardly have killed tropical, temperate, and arctic inhabitants on both sides of the globe at once. He also notes the horse's extinction is puzzling, since Spanish-introduced horses later thrived on the same plains.
Chapter 69
How does Darwin explain extinction as a gradual process rather than an extraordinary event?
Darwin argues we forget how ignorant we are of each animal's conditions of existence and that some check constantly prevents too-rapid increase, since food supply stays constant while propagation is geometrical. Causes generally inappreciable to us determine whether a species is abundant or scanty. Species first become rare and then extinct, as seen in tertiary strata; he compares marveling at extinction to wondering why a sick man died.
Chapter 69
What does Darwin say about human-caused extinction versus natural causes?
Where extinction by man can be traced, a species becomes rarer and rarer and is then lost, and Darwin finds it difficult to draw any just distinction between a species destroyed by man and one destroyed by increase of its natural enemies. He suggests human hunting cannot explain the loss of small animals like the tucutuco and fossil mice, so other causes must be sought.
Chapter 69
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Text used: Project Gutenberg eBook #944 (Public domain in the United States). Generated from the full text; cards paraphrase the source.
Version: Public domain edition. Retrieved 2026-10-29. Cards reviewed 2026-10-29.
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