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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Why do Darwin and Mariano Gonzales take ten pack mules on the trek across the Andes?
(a) in case they get lost
(b) in case they have to hire extra guides
(c) in case they become snowed in
(d) in case they stay longer than planned

2. Why must they stop regularly while ascending Peuquenes ridge?
(a) because the mules get tired
(b) because of the thin air
(c) because the rock formations shift
(d) because of plants Darwin discovers

3. How does Darwin get to the Blue Mountains?
(a) across the Nepean River in a ferry boat
(b) in a buckboard wagon
(c) across the Australian desert
(d) riding a camel

4. Leaving Lima, where does the Beagle sail?
(a) back to Chile
(b) Baja California
(c) the Galapagos archipelago
(d) Panama City

5. What impresses Darwin about the Tahitians?
(a) their friendliness and good looks, despite their tattoos
(b) their modesty of dress
(c) their body covering tattoos
(d) their warlike nature

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

7. What is Darwin's assessment of New Zealand?
(a) It is a paradise.
(b) It is not diverse.
(c) It is too isolated.
(d) It is not a pleasant place.

8. What do reddish brown clouds turn out to be?
(a) a desert dust storm
(b) a destructive swarm of locusts
(c) a reflection of the setting sun
(d) a mirage

9. What keeps Darwin on board the Beagle after it sails to Lima?
(a) his weakened health
(b) his lost passport
(c) a cholera epidemic in Peru
(d) the political unrest in Peru

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

11. What is the strange phenomenon Darwin sees at the mountain summit?
(a) rock flowers
(b) black rain
(c) ice castles
(d) red snow

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

13. Who are the six sailors who show up at the Beagle?
(a) runaways from a whaling ship
(b) survivors of a shipwreck
(c) guards from a prisoner ship
(d) keepers of a lighthouse

14. On his second attempt, what is Capt. Fitz Roy able to navigate successfully?
(a) the Sea of Sighs
(b) the Strait of Magellan
(c) the Great Barrier Reef
(d) the Antarctic Channel

15. What does Darwin see from the Blue Mountains?
(a) tall trees growing in the valleys below
(b) cliffs with magnificent views of a harbor
(c) vast areas of farmland
(d) many ships sailing around the continent

Short Answer Questions

1. What does Darwin find in relationship to his interest in plants and animals?

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

3. On his way up the coast of Chile toward Copiapo, why does Darwin turn inland toward the mining area?

4. What does Darwin speculate about as he observes the snow melt percolating and loosening rocks?

5. Where does the Beagle head after New Zealand?

(see the answer keys)

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