Darwin

I His holy slowly mulled over matter not all “delirium of delight” as were the forests of Brazil “Species are not (it is like confessing a murder) immutable” He was often becalmed in this Port Desire by illness or rested from species at billiard table As to Man “I believe Man… in the same predicament with other animals” II Cordilleras to climb—Andean peaks “tossed about like the crust of a broken pie” Icy wind Higher, harder Chileans advised eat onions for shortness of breath Heavy on him: Andes miners carried up great loads—not allowed to stop for breath Fossil bones near Santa Fé Spider-bite-scauld Fever Tended by an old woman “Dear Susan… I am ravenous for the sound of the pianoforte” III FitzRoy blinked— sea-shells on mountain tops! The laws of change rode the seas without the good captain who could not concede land could rise from the sea until—before his eyes earthquake— Talcahuana Bay drained out— all-water wall up from the ocean —six  seconds— demolished the town The will of God? Let us pray And now the Galápagos Islands— hideous black lava The shore so hot it burned their feet through their boots Reptile life Melville here later said the chief sound was a hiss A thousand turtle monsters drive together to the water Blood-bright crabs hunt ticks on lizards’ backs Flightless cormorants Cold-sea creatures— penguins, seals here in tropical waters Hell for FitzRoy but for Darwin Paradise Puzzle with the jig-saw gists beginning to fit IV Years… balancing probabilities I am ill, he said and books are slow work Studied pigeons barnacles, earthworms Extracted seeds from bird dung Brought home Drosera— saw insects trapped by its tentacles—the fact that a plant should secrete an acid acutely akin to the digestive fluid of an animal! Years till he published He wrote Lyell: Don’t forget to send me the carcass of your half-bred African cat should it die V I remember, he said those tropical nights at sea— we sat and talked on the booms Tierra del Fuego’s shining glaciers translucent blue clear down (almost) to the indigo sea (By the way Carlyle thought it most ridiculous that anyone should care whether a glacier moved a little quicker or a little slower or moved at all) Darwin sailed out of Good Success Bay to carcass- conclusions— the universe not built by brute force but designed by laws The details left to the working of chance “Let each man hope and believe what he can”