n 1831 the HMS Beagle, a 10 gun brig, left England on a voyage to circumnavigate the globe and perform naturalist studies along the way. On board was a twenty- two year old unknown naturalist who was to become one of the most famous scientists of the 19th centurty and one of the most controversial scientists ever, Charles Darwin. Darwin"s studies of the flora and fauna of South America and the Galapagos Islands in conjunction with his observations in the fossil beds of Patagonia were to develop into his theory of evolution of species due to natural selection. This book is the description of this voyage and his observation on it from 1831 through 1835.