The Voyage of the Beagle · Chapter
I: St. Jago—Cape de Verd Islands explained
The Beagle sails from Devonport on December 27, 1831, under Captain Fitz Roy, to survey Patagonia, Tierra del Fuego, and other regions.
What happens
The Beagle sails from Devonport on December 27, 1831, under Captain Fitz Roy, to survey Patagonia, Tierra del Fuego, and other regions. After a brief stop at Teneriffe, the ship anchors at Porto Praya, St. Jago, in the Cape Verde Islands on January 16, 1832. Darwin describes the desolate volcanic landscape, the effects of deforestation, and the sparse vegetation and wildlife. He rides to Ribeira Grande, observes the ruined fort and cathedral, and notes the black inhabitants. Later, at St. Paul's Rocks, he examines the unique incrustations formed from bird dung, the tame seabirds, and the insects and spiders that are the first colonists. At Fernando Noronha, he notes the volcanic phonolite rock. Finally, at Bahia, Brazil, he revels in the luxuriant tropical forest, the loud insect noise, and the granitic geology, reflecting on the forces that shaped the landscape.
Themes in this chapter
Human Impact on Environment
Darwin notes that reckless destruction of trees around Porto Praya has caused almost entire sterility, similar to St. Helena and the Canary Islands.
Exploration and Discovery
The chapter details the Beagle's departure and early stops, including the first landing at Porto Praya and observations at St. Paul's Rocks and Fernando Noronha.
Natural Selection and Adaptation
Darwin describes the kingfisher's adaptation to the dry valleys, the tameness of seabirds on St. Paul's Rocks, and the insects and spiders as first colonists of newly formed land.
Characters to notice
- Captain Fitz Roy
Commander of the Beagle; the ship sailed under his command from Devonport.
- Captain King
Previous commander of the survey of Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego (1826–1830), which the Beagle expedition was to complete.
- Humboldt
Darwin references Humboldt's discussion of a subject connected with a fact observed at Bahia.
Key passages
“After having been twice driven back by heavy southwestern gales, Her Majesty's ship Beagle, a ten-gun brig, under the command of Captain Fitz Roy, R.N., sailed from Devonport on the 27th of December, 1831.”
The Beagle, a ten-gun brig commanded by Captain Fitz Roy, departed from Devonport on December 27, 1831, after being forced back twice by strong southwestern winds.
Opening of the chapter, setting the voyage in motion.
“The island would generally be considered as very uninteresting, but to anyone accustomed only to an English landscape, the novel aspect of an utterly sterile land possesses a grandeur which more vegetation might spoil.”
Though the island might seem dull to most, someone used to English scenery finds a certain majesty in its stark barrenness that lush greenery would diminish.
Darwin reflects on the aesthetic appeal of the desolate Cape Verde landscape.
“When the island was discovered, the immediate neighbourhood of Porto Praya was clothed with trees, the reckless destruction of which has caused here, as at St. Helena, and at some of the Canary islands, almost entire sterility.”
At the time of discovery, the area around Porto Praya was forested, but careless deforestation has left it nearly barren, similar to St. Helena and parts of the Canary Islands.
Observation on human-induced environmental degradation.
“The often repeated description of the stately palm and other noble tropical plants, then birds, and lastly man, taking possession of the coral islets as soon as formed, in the Pacific, is probably not correct; I fear it destroys the poetry of this story, that feather and dirt-feeding and parasitic insects and spiders should be the first inhabitants of newly formed oceanic land.”
The common poetic notion that palms, birds, and then humans colonize new coral islands is likely wrong; instead, the first settlers are insects and spiders that feed on feathers, dung, and parasites.
Darwin challenges romanticized views of island colonization with empirical observation.
