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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Who invites Darwin to visit an estate near Rio de Janeiro?
(a) a French explorer
(b) an English landowner
(c) a Brazilian general
(d) a wealthy Brazilian

2. Who are York Minster, Jemmy Button and Fuegia Basket?
(a) guides on Tierra del Fuego
(b) Natives of the Tierra del Fuego area
(c) Gauchos from Argentina
(d) Crewmen on the Beagle

3. What is Darwin's assessment of the natives on Tierra del Fuego?
(a) They are an advanced civilization.
(b) They are stupid because of inbreeding.
(c) They are too primitive to civilize.
(d) They are intelligent enough to someday become civilized.

4. What does Darwin have to do for two days at the military encampment?
(a) listen to stories about native religion
(b) classify the various fish caught in the Colorado
(c) catch up on entries in his journal
(d) little else but observe the natives

5. Why does sea salt work better than lake salt as a preservative?
(a) Sea salt contains more sodium chloride.
(b) Sea salt is more plentiful.
(c) Sea salt contains other chemicals that aid in preservation.
(d) Sea salt is purer than lake salt.

6. What do the gauchos prepare for a meal on the island?
(a) a spit roasted wild goat
(b) a soup made with a large turtle
(c) a boneless roast with the hide still on the meat
(d) puma steaks

7. What is a particular riding skill of a gaucho?
(a) going around a post at full gallop touching a finger to the post
(b) riding on the underside of the horse to avoid detection
(c) riding for days without getting out of the saddle
(d) standing up in the saddle at full gallop

8. What does Darwin see at Punta Alta?
(a) a cat called gatito
(b) a squirrel called rocky
(c) a man called horse
(d) a skunk called a zorillo

9. What is one of the industries of the native population near the military post?
(a) trading horses they caught and trained
(b) making lazo, or lassos, for the gauchos
(c) making the round stones for the bolas
(d) weaving ponchos for gauchos

10. What amusing thing does Darwin witness outside of Monte Video?
(a) a small owl trying to catch an anaconda
(b) a rabbit hitching a rind on a crocodile
(c) a chicken trying to scare a fox
(d) a gaucho crossing a deep river with a reluctant horse

11. Leaving Monte Video, where is the Beagle headed?
(a) for North America
(b) for Baja California
(c) for Port Desire on the coast of Patagonia
(d) for Alaska

12. What do Darwin and his gaucho companion hear at the Sauce outpost?
(a) stories about a volcanic eruption in another area
(b) stories about a Spanish warship
(c) stories about strange animals in that area
(d) stories about the battles between the army and natives

13. What has Darwin observed on the ship that lets out silk into the wind and takes flight over the ocean?
(a) beetles
(b) sea gulls
(c) silkworms
(d) spiders

14. What is the composition of the Cape de Verd Islands?
(a) tectonic geology and biological diversity
(b) tectonic geology with sparce vegetation
(c) volcanic geology with lush vegetation
(d) volcanic geology and not much vegetation

15. Where does the Beagle anchor at Tierra del Fuego island?
(a) the Bay of Good Hope
(b) the Bay of Bengal
(c) the Bay of Good Success
(d) the Bay of Santiago

Short Answer Questions

1. What is Capt. Fitz Roy's plan after anchoring at the mouth of the Santa Cruz River?

2. What does Darwin discover that some small owls eat by examining the contents of their stomachs?

3. How does the Santa Cruz River bed change as Darwin moves upstream?

4. How does Darwin attempt to communicate with a large black man on a ferry?

5. Where does Darwin get his first walk through a rain forest?

(see the answer keys)

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