The Voyage of the Beagle · Chapter
Buenos Aires and St. Fe explained
Darwin recounts his excursion from Buenos Aires to Santa Fe, describing the difficult roads, thistle beds, and the habits of the bizcacha and little owl.
What happens
Darwin recounts his excursion from Buenos Aires to Santa Fe, describing the difficult roads, thistle beds, and the habits of the bizcacha and little owl. He observes the geology of the plains, discovers a tooth of an extinct horse, and reflects on the relationship between fossil and recent quadrupeds. He also details the effects of a great drought, the habits of the jaguar, and the political revolution in Buenos Aires.
Themes in this chapter
Natural Selection and Adaptation
Darwin observes the bizcacha's adaptation to clayey soils and its inability to cross the Uruguay River, illustrating geographic barriers to migration.
Human Impact on Environment
Darwin reflects on how the Parana River's potential for navigation and trade is wasted due to political turmoil and lack of English colonization.
Savagery vs. Civilization
The revolution and the behavior of the rebel general are contrasted with the ideal of a stable republic governed by justice and honor.
Characters to notice
- General Rosas
Darwin mentions General Rosas's obliging kindness and his party's involvement in the revolution.
- Sir F. Head
Darwin references Sir F. Head's animated description of the thistle beds.
- Falconer
Darwin cites Falconer's account of jaguars near the Plata.
- M. Bibron
Darwin mentions M. Bibron in the context of the scissor-beak.
- Captain Fitz Roy
Darwin refers to Captain Fitz Roy's observations on the revolution.
Key passages
“The roads in the neighbourhood of the city after the rainy weather, were extraordinarily bad. I should never have thought it possible for a bullock wagon to have crawled along: as it was, they scarcely went at the rate of a mile an hour, and a man was kept ahead, to survey the best line for making the attempt.”
After rain, the roads near Buenos Aires were so terrible that ox-drawn wagons could barely move at a mile per hour, requiring a man to walk ahead and find the best path.
Darwin describes the poor condition of roads and the slow pace of travel.
“When the thistles are full grown, the great beds are impenetrable, except by a few tracts, as intricate as those in a labyrinth. These are only known to the robbers, who at this season inhabit them, and sally forth at night to rob and cut throats with impunity.”
Fully grown thistle beds become impenetrable except for a few labyrinthine paths known only to robbers, who hide there and commit crimes at night without fear.
Darwin notes the thistle beds as a haven for outlaws.
“What would be the opinion of a geologist, viewing such an enormous collection of bones, of all kinds of animals and of all ages, thus embedded in one thick earthy mass? Would he not attribute it to a flood having swept over the surface of the land, rather than to the common order of things?”
A geologist seeing a massive deposit of bones from various animals and ages might mistakenly think a great flood caused it, rather than the normal sequence of events.
Darwin reflects on how natural processes like drought and flood can create misleading geological evidence.
“One of the best gifts of nature, in so grand a channel of communication, seems here wilfully thrown away—a river in which ships might navigate from a temperate country, as surprisingly abundant in certain productions as destitute of others, to another possessing a tropical climate, and a soil which, according to the best of judges, M. Bonpland, is perhaps unequalled in fertility in any part of the world.”
The Parana River, a magnificent natural waterway connecting temperate and tropical regions with immense fertility, is being wasted due to lack of proper development.
Darwin laments the underutilization of the Parana River for trade and colonization.
