My dear Caroline

I have been unwell & in bed for the last fortnight, & am now only able to sit up for a short time. As I want occupation I will try & fill this letter.— Returning from my excursion into the country I staid a few days at some Goldmines & whilst there I drank some Chichi a very weak, sour new made wine, this half poisoned me, I staid till I thought I was well; but my first days ride, which was a long one again disordered my stomach, & afterwards I could not get well; I quite lost my appetite & became very weak. I had a long distance to travel & I suffered very much; at last I arrived here quite exhausted. But Bynoe with a good deal of Calomel & rest has nearly put me right again & I am now only a little feeble.— I consider myself very lucky in having reached this place, without having tried it, I should have thought it not possible; a man has a great deal more strength in him, when he is unwell, than he is aware of. If it had not been for this accident, my ride would have been very pleasant. I made a circuit, taking in St Iago. I set out by the valley of Aconcagua I had some capital scrambling about the mountains. I slept two nights near the summit of the Bell of Quillota. This is the highest mountain out of the chain of the Andes, being 4700 ft high.¹ The view was very interesting, as it afforded a complete map of the Cordilleras & Chili.— From here I paid a visit to a Cornish miner who is working some mines in a ravine in the very Andes. I throughily enjoyed rambling about, hammer in hand, the bases of these great giants, as independently as I would the mountains in Wales. I reached the Snow but found it quite impossible to penetrate any higher.— I now struck down to the South, to St Iago the gay Capital of Chili.— I spent a very pleasant week there, receiving unbounded hospitality from the few English merchants who reside there.— Corfield was there also & we lived together at an inn.— St Iago is built on a plain; the basin of a former inland sea; the perfect levelness of this plain is contrasted in a strange & picturesque manner with great, snow topped mountains, which surround it.— From St Iago I proceeded to S. Fernando about 40 leagues to the South.— Every one in the city talked so much about the robbers & murderers, I was persuaded to take another man with me, this added very much to the expense; & now I do not think it was necessary. Altogether it has been the most expensive excursion, I ever made, & in return I have seen scarcely enough of the Geology to repay it.— I was however lucky in getting a good many fossil shells from the modern formation of Chili.—

On my road to S. Fernando, I had some more hammering at the Andes, as I staid a few days at the hot springs of Cauquenes, situated in one of the valleys.— From S. Fernando I cut across the country to the coast & then returned, as I have said very miserable to Corfields house here at Valparaiso. You will be sorry to hear, the Schooner, the Adventure is sold; the Captain received no sort of encouragement from the Admiralty & he found the expense ⁠⟨⁠of⁠⟩⁠ so large a vessel so immense he determined at once to ⁠⟨⁠give⁠⟩⁠ her up.—² We are now in the same state as when we left England with Wickham for 1^st Lieut, which part of the business anyhow is a good job.— we shall all be very badly off for room; & I shall have trouble enough with stowing my collections. It is in every point of view a grievous affair in our little world; a sad tumbling down for some of the officers, from 1^st. Lieut of the Schooner to the miserable midshipmans birth.—& many similar degradations.— It is necessary also to leave our little painter, Martens, to wander about y^e world.—³ Thank Heavens, however, the Captain positively asserts that this change shall not prolong the voyage.—that in less than 2 years we shall be at New S. Wales.—

I find being sick at stomach inclines one also to be home-sick. In about a fortnight the Beagle proceeds down the coast, touches at Concepcion & Valdivia & sets to work behind Chiloe. I suspect we shall pay T del Fuego another visit; but of this good Lord deliver us: it is kept very secret, lest the men should desert; every one so hates the confounded country. Our voyage sounded much more delightful in the instructions, than it really is; in fact it is a survey of S. America, & return by the C. of Good Hope instead of C. Horn. We shall see nothing of any country, excepting S. America. But I ought not to grumble, for the voyage is for this very reason, I believe, much better for my pursuits, although not nearly so agreeable as a tour.— I will write again before sailing. I am however at present deeply in debt with letters. I received shortly since a very kind long one from M^r Owen, which I will shortly answer.— Letter writing is a task, which I throughly dislike.— I do not mean writing to home: but to any body else, for really after such interval I have nothing to tell but my own history, & that is very tedious.—

I have picked up one very odd correspondent, it is M^r Fox the Minister at Rio. (it is the M^r Fox, who in one of Lord Byrons letters is said to be so altered after an illness that his oldest Creditors would not know him)

I forgot to thank Susan for her letter of May & Catherine for her pithy message “We do not write” because M^r Owen does.— I must previously have acknowledged your long letter for the foregoing month.—

We are all here in great anxiety to hear some political news. A Ship sailed from Liverpool just after L^d Greys resignation & we cannot guess who will succeed him.—⁴

Give my best love to my Father & all of you & Believe me my very dear Caroline | Yours affectionately | Charles Darwin.—