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whom I am going to tell you presently, was one of the best seers that ever lived, partly because he had learned so well what to look for, and partly because nothing escaped his eyes. Before he himself travelled, he read a great many books of travel, and he seemed to remember at the right time just what it was useful for him to remember. But before that, he had trained himself, with the aid of the microscope, to observe little things; and people have not yet got over their astonishment at learning how many important things he thus saw which they had never seen, or had seen without thinking them of any consequence. And now all the world looks at things differently from what it used to before he showed it how. How he saw things you will partly see by reading the following pages, taken from his account of the voyage of the Beagle.

Charles Darwin (whose full name was Charles Robert Darwin) was born at Shrewsbury, a famous town in Shrop shire, England, February 12, 1809. His father was Dr. Rob ert Waring Darwin; his grandfather Dr. Erasmus Darwin, also a distinguished naturalist. His mother's father was Josiah Wedgwood, the celebrated manufacturer of pottery, some of which goes by his name. Mr. Darwin was educated, first at Shrewsbury, then at the University of Edinburgh, and finally at Christ's College, Cambridge. The end of his schooling was in 1831. Then Captain Fitzroy invited him to join the Beagle as naturalist, and he sailed from Devonport, England, December 27, 1831, not to return till October

22, 1836. The object of the expedition was principally "to complete the survey of Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego, commenced under Captain King in 1826 to 1830, and to survey

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the shores of Chili, Peru, and of some islands in the Pacific," besides sailing round the world. The first Christmas-day spent away from England (1832) was at St. Martin's Cove,

near Cape Horn; the second (1833), at Port Desire, in Patagonia; the third (1834), in a wild harbor in the peninsula of Tres Montes, also in Patagonia; the fourth and last (1835), at the Bay of Islands, New Zealand. The map facing page 17 will show you the course of the expedition. Mr. Darwin died April 19, 1882.

Before beginning to read "What Mr. Darwin Saw," try how good a seer you are by counting the various animals shown in the wood-engraving on the opposite page, by the great Thomas Bewick.

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