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Chapter 11: THE NEW LIFE BEGINS 
OW STUPID I WAS! WHILE WE WERE PACKING AND MAK- 
ing all our arrangements I often imagined that the time 
would come when I should not know what to do 
for boredom. I thought that once we had established 
our home there, there would be nothing left to do, 
            and I was not sure whether I had in me the power to 
be happy though idle in a place where there was absolutely no 
kind of diversion at all. But this, like almost everything else that 
I imagined, turned out otherwise. I had believed, for instance, that 
we were just two people quietly setting out in search of themselves, 
neither asking nor desiring the interest of the world which we were 
leaving. That we could become of interest to it did not enter our 
calculations. Yet no sooner had we set foot upon our island than 
it became the stage on which a drama, so weird and fantastic that 
no invention could ever have created it, was enacted with us as 
central characters. We were, of course, not quite so naive as not 
to know that if our plans were made known the newspapers would 
find in them something to feed the public's desire for sensation, 
and knowing this, we were most careful to do everything with 
great secrecy. 
  It was William Beebe's excellent and deservedly famous book 
about the Galapagos that led to our choice of these islands as our 
destination. The German sub-title described them as World's End, 
which added to their charm for us. During the two years' friendship 
which preceded our decision to join our lives together, it had been 
one of Frederick's and my chief recreations to plan our flight into 
the ideal solitudes. We were agreed that the region should be 
tropical: the harsh, cold climates of the north with their depressing 
skies were not, we felt, inspiring to people whose lives were to 
depend entirely on nature. We felt that in a paradise of sunshine 
our minds would be illuminated and that, in not having to spend 
our energy in the rough struggle against inclement weather, we 
should have the more left for that higher struggle in which we 
were engaged. Also our island must be capable of supplying us 
with the nourishment we needed. It would not do to be faced 
with periods when, owing to the unproductive condition of the 
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