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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Who is the old school friend of Darwin's he stays with in Chile?
(a) Oliver Swift
(b) Rudyard Kipling
(c) Robert Browning
(d) Richard Corfield

2. What is the modern name of the large island off the eastern coast of Africa, known at the time Darwin was there as the Isle of France?
(a) Gibraltar
(b) Ceylon
(c) Mauritius
(d) Zanzibar

3. What has Darwin observed on the 3,200 mile trip from the Galapagos?
(a) a formation of coral known as an atoll
(b) a blue whale mother and baby
(c) a maelstrom
(d) great white sharks circling the Beagle

4. Walking along a road cut through the landscape, what does Darwin reflect on?
(a) how civilization improves a land area
(b) how far the Beagle has traveled
(c) how devoid of resources New Zealand is
(d) how at one time the land was covered with forests

5. What does Darwin discover on the way back to Chile by way of the Uspallata pass north of Mendoza?
(a) silicified wood in the form of standing tree trunks
(b) hot springs where he stops to bathe
(c) ruins of an ancient civilization
(d) quarts cliffs of many colors

6. What unusual thing exists on another island some miles away from Keeling Island?
(a) hot spring geysers
(b) fresh water wells
(c) deciduous trees
(d) strange monoliths

7. How are Darwin and his Tahitian guides able to get inland on the island?
(a) along river valleys
(b) climbing over several mountains
(c) coming around from the other side
(d) through jungle pathways

8. Why can Darwin not explore the forest of Chiloe?
(a) It is too thick to pass through.
(b) It is too wet to support horse or man,
(c) It is held sacred by the natives.
(d) It is filled with poisonous plants.

9. What is located at the Bay of Valparaiso?
(a) the first of the southern islands
(b) Horsetail Falls
(c) the primary Chilean seaport
(d) the last Spanish trading post

10. What does Darwin find in relationship to his interest in plants and animals?
(a) almost no new species
(b) strange new species
(c) too much diversity to classify all
(d) specimens too large to take back

11. Arriving in Matavai Bay, what do they see coming toward the Beagle?
(a) floating logs from a recent tsunami
(b) Tahitians swimming out to greet them
(c) many canoes launching from Tahiti
(d) schools of porpoises

12. After the miserable climate around Tierra del Fuego, what does Darwin enjoy about Chile?
(a) the clear, dry and warm weather
(b) the gentle, constant rains
(c) the hot desert climate
(d) the calm sea and white beaches

13. What theory about volcanic activity and earthquakes does Darwin form that is years ahead of his time?
(a) fault lines come from underwater volcanoes
(b) volcanoes create fault lines in the earth
(c) volcanic activity has nothing to do with earthquakes
(d) fissures run along the same direction as the earthquake fault line

14. To what does Darwin compare the convict slave laborers in Australia?
(a) the slum dwellers of London
(b) the slaves of Africa
(c) the exiles on Devil's Rock
(d) the conscripted military

15. How are farms operated in Australia as Darwin rides through the countryside?
(a) with forced labor from convicted felons
(b) by large families who do all the work
(c) with the use of child labor
(d) by large numbers of horseback managers

Short Answer Questions

1. From where do many of the people living in Port Louis come?

2. What does Darwin see on the way to a saltpeter mine?

3. What does Darwin see at Chatham Island?

4. What has meant giving up his usual social circles and going off into unknown territories to meet unforeseen hardships?

5. What social condition does Darwin argue against at the end of his book?

(see the answer keys)

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