Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
as the
Voyage of the Beagle
: “I can only add raptures to the former raptures . . .
each new valley is more beautiful than the last. It is not possible to give an
adequate idea of the high feeling of wonder, admiration and devotion which
fi ll the mind” (Darwin's works are widely available; readers can refer to the
Penguin edition or to such sites as the Complete Works of Darwin Online,
http://darwin-online.org.uk/).
These mountains are slightly older and much lower than the Central and
Northern Andes, averaging about 1 km in height. The two principal inter-
vals of rapid plate movement and mountain uplift occurred between 50-
42 Ma and 25-10 Ma. The movements also resulted in accretion of island
arcs that form part of the coastal mountains. The continental margin was
pulled down along the subduction zone, and more recently sea levels have
risen from glacial melting to further inundate the coast. As a result, the
landscape is a series of islands extending from Chiloé Island at 42°S (just
southwest of Puerto Montt) to Tierra del Fuego at 55°S (fi g. 2.40).
Tierra del Fuego, Land of Fire, is separated from mainland South Amer-
ica by the 334-mile-long Strait of Magellan. Any number of things could
have suggested the region's name: the native people signal with fi re, they
use torches to hunt at night, and there is often a smokelike mist over the
land. The strait is characterized by darkness, dense fog, extreme cold, and
fi erce westerly winds called the Roaring Forties. The setting is vividly cap-
tured in Samuel Taylor Coleridge's
The Rime of the Ancient Mariner
: “The
ice was here, the ice was there, / The ice was all around: / It crack'd and
growl'd and roar'd and howl'd, / Like voices in a swoon!” Magellan and his
crew spent thirty-eight days navigating the uncharted labyrinth of passages
between the masses of ice:
We ate biscuit, which was no longer biscuit, but powder of biscuits swarm-
ing with worms, for they had eaten the good. It stank strongly of the urine of
rats. We drank yellow water that had been putrid for many days. We also ate
some ox hides that covered the top of the mainyard to prevent the yard from
chafi ng the shrouds, which had become exceedingly hard because of the sun,
rain, and wind. We left them in the sea for four or fi ve days, and then placed
them for a few moments on top of the embers, and so ate them; and often
we ate sawdust from boards. Rats were sold for one-half ducado [about $1.16
in gold] apiece, and even then we could not get them. The gums of both the
lower and upper teeth of some of our men swelled, so they could not eat
under any circumstances and therefore died. Nineteen men died from that
sickness and the [Patagonian] giant together with an Indian from the coun-
try of Verzin. (Antio Pigafeta, quoted in Boorstin 1983, 265)
