No further detail has been given you in these instructions, for, as you have been made aware of the motives which have induced his Majesty's Government to send out the expedition, it is supposed each individual will do his utmost in his situation to carry these objects out, either by obtaining all possible information or by such other means as may be in his power.
Although the instructions regarding the expedition are addressed to you conjointly as conductors of it, it is necessary that the principal authority and direction should be vested in one individual, on whom the chief responsibility would rest.
It is to be understood that Lieutenant Grey, the senior military officer, is considered as commanding the party and the person by whose orders and instructions all individuals composing the party will be guided and conform.
1837.
All our preparations being completed, there embarked in the Beagle, besides myself and Mr. Lushington, Mr. Walker, a surgeon and naturalist, and Corporals Coles and Auger, Royal Sappers and Miners, who had volunteered their services; and we sailed from Plymouth on the 5th July 1837.
TENERIFE. AQUEDUCT AT SANTA CRUZ.
The usual incidents of a sea voyage brought us to Santa Cruz in Tenerife, where I landed on Wednesday 19th July 1837, about 2 o'clock in the afternoon. There was a sort of table d'hote at 3 o'clock at an hotel kept by an Englishman, at which I dined, and was fortunate in so doing as I met there a German and several English merchants who were principally engaged in the trade of the country. There was also a gentleman who had been from his earliest years in the African trade for gums, etc.; and he gave me many interesting particulars of the wild life the individuals so occupied are compelled to lead. In the afternoon I made a set of magnetic observations and then walked out to see the aqueduct; which at about three-quarters of a mile to the north-east of the town approaches it by a passage cut through a mountain. The execution of this work must have been attended with immense labour, for, although the design is grand and noble, the actual plan upon which it has been completed was by no means well conceived. The average depth of this cut is at least one hundred and twenty feet, its length is about one hundred and eighty, whilst its breadth in many parts is not more than four.
Previously to the construction of this aqueduct the town of Santa Cruz was very badly supplied with water, indeed so much so that the inhabitants were, at some periods of the year, compelled to send upwards of three miles for it; but no want of this nature has ever been experienced since its completion. The expenses of its construction as also of keeping it in repair are principally defrayed by a tax upon all wine and spirits actually consumed in the town.
The scenery of the country I walked through was bold and romantic but by no means rich; fig-trees grew wild about the mountains, and it seemed singular that, whenever I approached one, the peasants on the adjacent hills shouted out in loud tones. As far as I could understand the guide, this was done to deter us from eating the fruits now just ripe, and, upon my return to the town and making further enquiries, I found that such was their custom.