of walking at these high altitudes as great and his breathing as deep and laborious,
but the excitement of finding fossil marine shells on the highest ridges of the Andes,
surrounded by snow-capped mountains, completely dispelled any fatigue. Feeling on
top of the world he writes poetically of the view from the top of the Andes:
When we reached the crest and looked backwards, a glorious view was presented. The
atmosphere so resplendently clear, the sky an immense blue, the profound valleys, the wild
broken forms, the heaps of ruins piled up during the lapse of ages, the bright coloured rocks,
contrasted with the quiet mountains of snow, together produced a scene I never could have
imagined. Neither a plant nor bird, excepting a few condors wheeling around the higher
pinnacles, distracted the attention from the inanimate mass. – I felt glad I was by myself, it
was like watching a thunderstorm, or hearing in the full Orchestra a Chorus of the Messiah.Even for someone like Darwin, finding fossil marine shells thousands of feet up on
the highest ridges of the Andes was unbelievable. Discussing these observations later
with FitzRoy he was probably met with disbelief, if not ridicule, and in writing his
narrative of The Voyage of the Beagle he felt the need to be more conservative:
I have certain proofs that this part of the continent of South America has been elevated near
the coast, at least from 400 to 500 feet since the epoch of the existing shells, and further
inland the rise possibly may have been greater.Darwin’s collecting of flora, fauna and rock samples caused some confusion
in South America and he describes an incident in Peru when a villager is asked in
conversation what he thought of the King of England sending out someone to Peru
to pick up lizards, beetles, and break stones. The villager thinks seriously and then
replies, ‘It is not well. No man is so rich as to send out people to pick up such rubbish.
I do not like it: if one of us were to go and do such things in England, do you not think
the King of England would very soon send us out of his country?’
FitzRoy had purchased and fitted out a ship in Argentina which he renamed the
Adventurer to help with the surveying and act as a support vessel. This virtually
doubled his charting progress and offered his crew some safety in the hazardous
waters around Cape Horn and Tierra del Fuego. Hydrographic surveying is hazardous
because the survey ship is always sailing close to the coastline and in unchartered
waters. At any time a reef or pinnacle could rise out of the depths and wreck the
vessel or a gale could drive them onto a rocky coast. This required constant vigilance
by all of the crew and especially the captain. The stress had taken its toll on Pringle
Stokes and it was beginning to take its toll on Robert FitzRoy. He knew that his orders
Charles Darwin – The Voyage of the Beagle 77