Editor’s note: Feb. 12 is Charles Darwin’s birthday, and on that date the CVPost began a six-part series on the life of the British naturalist whose theory of evolution transformed scientific views of the natural world. The series is written by Wil Taylor, chair of the biology department at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire. As a paleontologist and educator, Taylor has a lifelong passion for the study of evolution. His study has taken him, among other places, to the Galapagos Islands and Darwin’s country estate at Downe, England.
By Wil Taylor
For the CVPost
On December 27, 1831, the HMS Beagle set sail from Plymouth, England, on a journey that would last five years. This momentous trip is widely remembered as having inspired Charles Darwin’s insights about evolution. But the central “errand” was something unrelated, largely forgotten and by modern standards pretty wacky.
The captain of the Beagle, Robert FitzRoy, previously had sailed the ship to the extreme southern coast of South America, Tierra del Fuego. There, he encountered the local Fuegian natives.
FitzRoy wondered if these “wretched” people could be “improved” by being exposed to what he, as a Caucasian European, considered “civilized” society – namely his society. So he decided to try a little experiment.
FitzRoy “acquired” four of the natives. Accounts differ as to whether these natives or their families realized what was going on, but the truth most likely lies somewhere between their being “purchased” and “abducted.”
FitzRoy sailed back to England with his “cargo” of four Fuegians, the most famous of whom was given the name Jemmy Button because his family received a mother-of-pearl button before his departure.
One of the four Fuegians died of smallpox shortly after arriving in England. For the three survivors, Fitzroy enlisted the aid of local parishioners to educate them in the ways of British society. They received training in manners, culture and Christianity. They became celebrities for a time, even meeting with King William IV and Queen Adelaide.
Natives returned to Tierra del Fuego
Thus trained, the Fuegians also were on board on the second journey of the Beagle, the trip made famous by Darwin and his work. On that trip, the ship’s cargo included donated items such as tea sets and fine china, as well as a Christian missionary.
The results, predictably, were a disaster.
FitzRoy dropped the natives off at Tierra del Fuego, along with the supplies and the missionary. The Beagle crew built a primitive shelter for the beginnings of a mission and planted vegetable gardens before continuing along on their journey.
Upon returning a few weeks later, the crew found the mission buildings wrecked, the china shattered, the newly planted gardens trodden to ruins, and the missionary begging to be taken back to England.
Of course, once back in their real home, the Fuegians had returned to their former selves. This paternalistic attempt at “improvement” had proven to be ill advised, even arrogant by our modern standards.
But we must be careful about judging past events this way. What ordinary practices of today might be viewed harshly by others 150 years from now?
FitzRoy and Darwin collaborated on publication
This was not the only time on the second voyage of the Beagle when Darwin and FitzRoy would discuss the “lowly state” of “primitive” people. The second, which followed stops at New Zealand and Tahiti, both of which had been visited by missionaries previously, resulted in Darwin’s first official publication with FitzRoy as co-author.
The publication was entitled “The Moral State of Tahiti” and appeared in the South African Christian Recorder for 1836. Written primarily by FitzRoy, it also contained lengthy excerpts from Darwin’s diary.
In the publication, FitzRoy and Darwin lamented the prejudices towards missionaries they encountered in various places and speculated as to their possible causes – of course, being oblivious to the same arrogant paternalism they’d displayed earlier.
But eventually they focused on the one shining example of “success” they witnessed.
The natives of Tahiti were famous among sailors for their casual attitudes toward sex. In his publication with Darwin, FitzRoy described a noteworthy reduction in such “licentiousness” by the Tahitians, attributing it to their adoption of Christianity under the guidance of missionaries.
No doubt these moral successes were not so happily received by many of the sailors.
These two specific episodes were minor parts of the voyage of the Beagle, both in terms of time and historical importance. But a full account of them can be found in Darwin’s travelogue originally entitled “Journal of Researches into the Geology and Natural History of the various countries visited by H.M.S. Beagle.” A later version of that publication, entitled “The Voyage of the Beagle: a Naturalist’s Voyage Round the World,” is available as a free download from Project Gutenberg (www.gutenberg.org).
Next Week: Part III – Darwin’s return home and the barnacle years (1835-1859)