The Voyage of the Beagle (1839)

Probably a bit dry for many readers, but I enjoyed the journal and it is much more readable than the 'Origin of Species'. Darwin corrected his first edition and merged some chapters in this, the second edition. This narrative was easiest to assimilate in small doses whilst skimming through some of the long treatises. In the second edition, the subtitle was transposed (originally, 'the Geology and Natural History...'), perhaps by John Murray (publisher). The steel engraved illustrations are gorgeous. I've never chanced across the first edition. ( )

Tja, weinig van te zeggen. Dit kon me totaal niet boeien. 1 ster voor de moeite. ( )

larger print

This record from the 1830s describes the second HMS Beagle survey expedition. Captain Robert Fitzroy thought that a follow-up survey would benefit from having a naturalist onboard, and the recently graduated Darwin's keen enthusiam won him the role. While this voyage is perhaps best known for its stopover in the Galapagos, that was merely one location visited on a round-the-world-trip. Nearly half of Darwin's journal is devoted to Argentina where the captain's primary map-making mission was served. Much of the rest is spent on Chile, one chapter in the Galapagos, and the remainder of the voyage is summarized in four final chapters.

In my younger days I sailed the Great Lakes with my father, lodging fond memories of island stopovers and casual exploration. I took up this journal expecting something of a similar degree but Darwin's interest in flora and fauna far, far exeeds mine. It's very slow-paced through dwelling on the details, and an interest in biology would have helped me since the vast majority of his attention is on the life he encounters both large and small. He also has a lot to say about geological formations and the peoples encountered, which I found more engaging. Very quickly there were too many details for me to follow or remember, but several things stood out and the cumulative effect is impressive. Darwin's attentiveness and observational skills are beyond the pale, and were frankly almost beyond my toleration, but for another reader I can believe this is a gold mine of science and its history that is not to be missed. ( )

Charles Darwin

The Voyage of the Beagle

Wordsworth Classics, Paperback, 1997.
8vo. xiv+480 pp. Introduction by David Amigoni [vii-xiv]. Preface [Jun 1845, pp. 1-2] and Postscript [1 Feb 1860, pp. 3-4] by the author.

First published, 1839.
Second edition, 1845.
This edition, 1997.

Contents

Introduction

Preface
Postscript
I. St Jago – Cape de Verdi Islands
II. Rio de Janeiro
III. Maldonado
IV. Rio Negro to Bahia Blanca
V. Bahia Blanca
VI. Bahia Blanca to Buenos Ayres
VII. Buenos Ayres to Santa Fé
VIII. Banda Oriental and Patagonia
IX. Santa Cruz, Patagonia, and the Falkland Islands
X. Tierra Del Fuego
XI. Strait of Magellan – Climate of the Southern Coasts
XII. Central Chile
XIII. Chiloe and Chonos islands
XIV. Chiloe and Concepcion – Great Earthquake
XV. Passage of the Cordillera
XVI. Northern Chile and Peru
XVII. Galapagos Archipelago
XVIII. Tahiti and New Zealand
XIX. Australia
XX. Keeling Island – Coral Formations
XXI. Mauritius and England

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This is not a review of Darwin’s work, but rather a few random comments on the second edition and how it differs from the first (reprinted abridged in Penguin Classics).

First, let us clear the obvious issue. The first edition contains two chapters more, but this is only because in the second some chapters were merged. More specifically, chapters VIII and IX from 1839 became Chapter VIII in 1845. The same deal with chapters X and XII which were merged into Chapter IX. The other chapters are renumbered accordingly, but there are no major rearrangements among them.

There are, however, numerous minor and not so minor alterations. As Darwin explains in his new Preface, he “largely condensed and corrected some parts” and “added a little to others, in order to render the volume more fitted for popular reading”. Some obvious errors are corrected, for instance the “wasp-killing spider” from the contents of Chapter II which becomes, correctly, “Wasp killing a Spider”. Sometimes whole new paragraphs are added, including the very first one and several about the three “Fuegians” (natives of Tierra del Fuego) that were taken to England during the previous voyage of the Beagle in order to be “educated” as Christians and then brought back as part of a Christian mission (in the first edition Darwin simply refers the reader to Captain FitzRoy’s detailed account). More often, the old paragraphs are heavily revised. There are fewer footnotes here, which includes unfortunate casualties like this personal favourite:

In the neighbourhood of the great towns on the shores of the Plata, the number of bones strewed over the ground is truly astonishing. Since our return I have been informed, that ships have been freighted to this country with a cargo of bones. That cattle should be fattened on turnips manured with the bones of animals that lived in the southern hemisphere, is a curious fact in the commerce of the world. In the East Indies the luxurious drink wine cooled with North-American ice, which in its journey has twice crossed the equator!

There are also some new footnotes that reflect the author’s changed attitude to certain subjects. One of them is General Rosas, the governor of Buenos Aires and celebrated exterminator of the native population. Darwin met personally this “man of an extraordinary character” and speculated that he would use his “predominant influence in the country […] to its prosperity and advancement.” Six years later he added at the bottom of the page: “This prophecy has turned out entirely and miserably wrong.”

Evolution-wise, there are fewer changes than you might expect considering that by 1844 Darwin had prepared a sketch of his main ideas. He probably resisted including more hints in this second edition for the same reasons because of which he delayed the writing of The Origin until the late 1850s (and would have delayed still further but for the danger of being scooped). He wanted to collect as much evidence as possible and he knew only too well he had a time bomb in his hands. The second edition does contain the famous words that the natural history of Galapagos seems to bring us “somewhat near to that great fact – the mystery of mysteries – the first appearance on new beings on this earth.” But the equally famous passage about the “perfect gradation” of the beak in different finches is there in the first edition as well: here it is expanded with some pointed remarks like “one species […] modified for different ends”, and it benefits from the addition of an illustration, but it’s not significantly different. Neither are other suggestive passages, for instance the one about “compound animals” in the end of Chapter IX. Darwin did drop the embarrassing last sentence – “We may fancy that in these two circumstances we see a step towards the final cause of the shortness of life”, a rather unscientific statement – but there is little change otherwise.

But reading The Voyage in pre-evolutionary light, tempting though it may be, is really rather misguided. The value of the book lies elsewhere, namely in the immense fascination of a young and quiet Englishman confronted with natural grandeur he could not have imagined in his native country. Darwin’s awe-struck amazement and boundless curiosity are faithfully preserved in the second edition, if perhaps slightly less vivid than in the first.

If you want but one edition, I would say go for the first. But, let me repeat, do avoid the Penguin Classics version. Much too much is missing, and not necessarily the driest parts either. For instance, the whole and perfectly fascinating passage about the insects of Brazil in the end of Chapter 2 is completely omitted. This includes a breathtaking account of a battle between a wasp and a spider. The second edition explains that these wasps “seem wonderfully to know how to sting to that degree as to leave [the spiders] paralysed but alive, until their eggs are hatched; and the larvae feed on the horrid mass of powerless, half-killed victims”. So the second edition has its nice little bonuses, and you can’t go wrong with it anyway. ( )