of science they are nearly as well hidden as if in their primeval rock.
These giant bones were the remains of extinct animals and extinct animals were
supposed to bear no ancestral relationship to living species. However, Darwin
recognized they were similar to species now living in the same area, such as the tree
climbing sloths, the burrowing armadillo and the rodent like guanaco. Had these giant
beasts died out in the Flood and then been replaced by the animals that Noah took
on his Ark? Or could they be linked by descent? Was it an example of what was then
called transmutation – considered a wild idea espoused only by a few followers of the
French naturalist Jean-Baptiste Lamarck? These were questions that went directly to
the origin of species, questions which the young Darwin knew were important, but
which he was still unable to answer:
This wonderful relationship in the same continent between the dead and the living, will, I
do not doubt, hereafter throw more light on the appearance of organic beings on our earth,
and their disappearance from it, than any other class of facts.Towards the end of July, the Beagle reached the east coast of modern Argentina,
where its crew began the laborious task of survey triangulations up and down the
east coast for the next year. The coastline was mapped using a compass, a sextant
to calculate latitude, and the ship’s twenty-two chronometers to calculate longitude.
Soundings were taken to map water depth, shoals and reefs, and records were kept of
the currents, tides, winds and other natural hazards. As described by Robert FitzRoy:
Our first object was to find a safe harbour in which to secure the ship. There we made observations
of latitude, time and true bearing; on tides and magnetism. We also made a plan of the harbour
and its environs; and triangulations, including all the visible heights, and more remarkable
features of the coast, so far as it could be clearly distinguished from the summits of the highest
hills near the harbour. Upon these summits a good theodolite was used.The months the Beagle spent surveying coastlines allowed Darwin ample time to
spend ashore collecting insects, beetles, butterflies, birds, plants, rocks and fossils.
September 1832 found him galloping on horseback across the Argentinian pampas
‘shooting, riding, collecting and looking forward to a few revolutions’. As there
was a standing order aboard the ship forbidding land excursions alone, Darwin was
accompanied by his assistant Syms Covington, who originally signed aboard as
‘fiddler and boy to the poop cabin’. He now was on Darwin’s payroll and he taught
him to shoot, collect, preserve and pack specimens. Syms Covington remained a good
(^70) Where Australia Collides with Asia
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