For the Beagle this was just another port of call in a very long voyage, but for Darwin it was much more than that, for it was here, in the most unexpected way-just as a man might have a sudden inspiration while he is travelling in a car or a train-that he began to form a coherent view of the evolution of life on this planet. To put it into his own words: 'Here, both in space and time, we seem to be brought somewhat near to that great fact-that mystery of mysteries-the first appearance of new beings on this earth'. The Beagle cruised for just over a month in the Galapagos, and whenever they reached an interesting point FitzRoy dropped off a boatload of men to explore. On Narborough Island the turtles were coming in at night to lay their eggs in the sand, thousands of them; they laid six eggs in each hole. On Charles Island there was a penal settlement of two hundred convicts, who cultivated sugar-cane, bananas and corn on the high ground. But the group that concerns us is the one that was put ashore on James Island. Here Darwin, Covington, Bynoe and two sailors were landed with a tent and provisions, and FitzRoy promised to come back and pick them up at the end of a week. Darwin visited other islands as well, but they did not differ very much from James Island, and so we can conveniently group all his experiences into this