Wednesday, January 22, 2014

MY YEAR OF DARWIN

 Charles Darwin

22 Jan 2014: "On the 16th of January 1832 we anchored at Porto Praya, in St. Jago, the chief island of the Cape de Verd archipelago" -Charles Darwin, Voyage of the Beagle 

The Beagle is at sea and heading south towards the Canary Islands, where they were scheduled to stop in Teneriffe but were turned away because of the threat of them bringing cholera. The bacterium Vibrium cholerae causes cholera and sufferers essentially shit themselves to death. Mostly due to improved sanitation, cholera has declined in the US thought it is currently an increasing threat to global health (look up cholera in Haiti). 

The Beagle comes close enough to the Canary Islands for Darwin to describe them from a distance. Since they were turned away from the Canary Islands, the Beagle makes landing in the Cape Verde Islands, also off the west coast of Africa. Darwin describes the landscape as "utterly sterile" but large numbers of goats (probably over-browsing). The most common bird is the Grey-headed Kingfisher. Despite the name, this species primarily predates lizards and insects. 


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