The Voyage of the Beagle
by Charles Darwin
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from the Encyclopedia of the Self
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BY

CHARLES DARWIN

PREFACE

I have stated in the preface to the first Edition of this work,
and in the Zoology of the Voyage of the Beagle, that it was in
consequence of a wish expressed by Captain Fitz Roy, of having
some scientific person on board, accompanied by an offer from
him of giving up part of his own accommodations, that I
volunteered my services, which received, through the kindness of
the hydrographer, Captain Beaufort, the sanction of the Lords of
the Admiralty. As I feel that the opportunities which I enjoyed
of studying the Natural History of the different countries we
visited, have been wholly due to Captain Fitz Roy, I hope I may
here be permitted to repeat my expression of gratitude to him;
and to add that, during the five years we were together, I
received from him the most cordial friendship and steady
assistance. Both to Captain Fitz Roy and to all the Officers of
the Beagle [1] I shall ever feel most thankful for the
undeviating kindness with which I was treated during our long
voyage.

This volume contains, in the form of a Journal, a history of
our voyage, and a sketch of those observations in Natural History
and Geology, which I think will possess some interest for the
general reader. I have in this edition largely condensed and
corrected some parts, and have added a little to others, in order
to render the volume more fitted for popular reading; but I trust
that naturalists will remember, that they must refer for details
to the larger publications which comprise the scientific results
of the Expedition. The Zoology of the Voyage of the Beagle
includes an account of the Fossil Mammalia, by Professor Owen;
of the Living Mammalia, by Mr. Waterhouse; of the Birds, by
Mr. Gould; of the Fish, by the Rev. L. Jenyns; and of the
Reptiles, by Mr. Bell. I have appended to the descriptions of
each species an account of its habits and range. These works,
which I owe to the high talents and disinterested zeal of the
above distinguished authors, could not have been undertaken, had
it not been for the liberality of the Lords Commissioners of Her
Majesty's Treasury, who, through the representation of the Right
Honourable the Chancellor of the Exchequer, have been pleased
to grant a sum of one thousand pounds towards defraying part
of the expenses of publication.

I have myself published separate volumes on the 'Structure
and Distribution of Coral Reefs;' on the 'Volcanic Islands
visited during the Voyage of the Beagle;' and on the 'Geology
of South America.' The sixth volume of the 'Geological
Transactions' contains two papers of mine on the Erratic
Boulders and Volcanic Phenomena of South America. Messrs.
Waterhouse, Walker, Newman, and White, have published several
able papers on the Insects which were collected, and I trust
that many others will hereafter follow. The plants from the
southern parts of America will be given by Dr. J. Hooker, in
his great work on the Botany of the Southern Hemisphere. The
Flora of the Galapagos Archipelago is the subject of a separate
memoir by him, in the 'Linnean Transactions.' The Reverend
Professor Henslow has published a list of the plants collected
by me at the Keeling Islands; and the Reverend J. M. Berkeley
has described my cryptogamic plants.

I shall have the pleasure of acknowledging the great assistance
which I have received from several other naturalists, in the
course of this and my other works; but I must be here allowed
to return my most sincere thanks to the Reverend Professor
Henslow, who, when I was an undergraduate at Cambridge, was
one chief means of giving me a taste for Natural History, --
who, during my absence, took charge of the collections I sent
home, and by his correspondence directed my endeavours, -- and
who, since my return, has constantly rendered me every
assistance which the kindest friend could offer.

DOWN, BROMLEY, KENT,
June 9, 1845

[1] I must take this opportunity of returning my sincere thanks
to Mr. Bynoe, the surgeon of the Beagle, for his very kind
attention to me when I was ill at Valparaiso.

THE VOYAGE OF THE BEAGLE

CHAPTER I

ST. JAGO -- CAPE DE VERD ISLANDS

Porto Praya -- Ribeira Grande -- Atmospheric Dust with
Infusoria -- Habits of a Sea-slug and Cuttle-fish -- St.
Paul's Rocks, non-volcanic -- Singular Incrustations --
Insects the first Colonists of Islands -- Fernando Noronha --
Bahia -- Burnished Rocks -- Habits of a Diodon -- Pelagic
Confervae and Infusoria -- Causes of discoloured Sea.

AFTER having been twice driven back by heavy southwestern
gales, Her Majesty's ship Beagle, a ten-gun
brig, under the command of Captain Fitz Roy, R. N.,
sailed from Devonport on the 27th of December, 1831. The
object of the expedition was to complete the survey of
Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego, commenced under Captain King
in 1826 to 1830, -- to survey the shores of Chile, Peru, and
of some islands in the Pacific -- and to carry a chain of
chronometrical measurements round the World. On the 6th
of January we reached Teneriffe, but were prevented landing,
by fears of our bringing the cholera: the next morning
we saw the sun rise behind the rugged outline of the Grand
Canary island, and suddenly illuminate the Peak of Teneriffe,
whilst the lower parts were veiled in fleecy clouds. This
was the first of many delightful days never to be forgotten.
On the 16th of January, 1832, we anchored at Porto Praya,
in St. Jago, the chief island of the Cape de Verd archipelago.

The neighbourhood of Porto Praya, viewed from the sea,
wears a desolate aspect. The volcanic fires of a past age,
and the scorching heat of a tropical sun, have in most places
rendered the soil unfit for vegetation. The country rises in
successive steps of table-land, interspersed with some truncate
conical hills, and the horizon is bounded by an irregular
chain of more lofty mountains. The scene, as beheld through
the hazy atmosphere of this climate, is one of great interest;
if, indeed, a person, fresh from sea, and who has just
walked, for the first time, in a grove of cocoa-nut trees, can
be a judge of anything but his own happiness. The island
would generally be considered as very uninteresting, but to
anyone accustomed only to an English landscape, the novel
aspect of an utterly sterile land possesses a grandeur which
more vegetation might spoil. A single green leaf can
scarcely be discovered over wide tracts of the lava plains;
yet flocks of goats, together with a few cows, contrive to
exist. It rains very seldom, but during a short portion of
the year heavy torrents fall, and immediately afterwards a
light vegetation springs out of every crevice. This soon
withers; and upon such naturally formed hay the animals
live. It had not now rained for an entire year. When the
island was discovered, the immediate neighbourhood of
Porto Praya was clothed with trees, [1] the reckless
destruction of which has caused here, as at St. Helena, and
at some of the Canary islands, almost entire sterility. The
broad, flat-bottomed valleys, many of which serve during a
few days only in the season as water-courses, are clothed
with thickets of leafless bushes. Few living creatures inhabit
these valleys. The commonest bird is a kingfisher (Dacelo
Iagoensis), which tamely sits on the branches of the castor-
oil plant, and thence darts on grasshoppers and lizards. It
is brightly coloured, but not so beautiful as the European
species: in its flight, manners, and place of habitation,
which is generally in the driest valley, there is also a wide
difference.

One day, two of the officers and myself rode to Ribeira
Grande, a village a few miles eastward of Porto Praya. Until
we reached the valley of St. Martin, the country presented
its usual dull brown appearance; but here, a very small rill
of water produces a most refreshing margin of luxuriant
vegetation. In the course of an hour we arrived at Ribeira
Grande, and were surprised at the sight of a large ruined
fort and cathedral. This little town, before its harbour was
filled up, was the principal place in the island: it now
presents a melancholy, but very picturesque appearance. Having
procured a black Padre for a guide, and a Spaniard who
had served in the Peninsular war as an interpreter, we visited
a collection of buildings, of which an ancient church
formed the principal part. It is here the governors and
captain-generals of the islands have been buried. Some of
the tombstones recorded dates of the sixteenth century. [2]

The heraldic ornaments were the only things in this retired
place that reminded us of Europe. The church or chapel
formed one side of a quadrangle, in the middle of which a
large clump of bananas were growing. On another side
was a hospital, containing about a dozen miserable-looking
inmates.

We returned to the Venda to eat our dinners. A considerable
number of men, women, and children, all as black as
jet, collected to watch us. Our companions were extremely
merry; and everything we said or did was followed by their
hearty laughter. Before leaving the town we visited the
cathedral. It does not appear so rich as the smaller church,
but boasts of a little organ, which sent forth singularly
inharmonious cries. We presented the black priest with a few
shillings, and the Spaniard, patting him on the head, said,
with much candour, he thought his colour made no great
difference. We then returned, as fast as the ponies would
go, to Porto Praya.

Another day we rode to the village of St. Domingo, situated
near the centre of the island. On a small plain which
we crossed, a few stunted acacias were growing; their tops
had been bent by the steady trade-wind, in a singular
manner -- some of them even at right angles to their trunks.
The direction of the branches was exactly N. E. by N., and S. W.
by S., and these natural vanes must indicate the prevailing
direction of the force of the trade-wind. The travelling had
made so little impression on the barren soil, that we here
missed our track, and took that to Fuentes. This we did
not find out till we arrived there; and we were afterwards
glad of our mistake. Fuentes is a pretty village, with a small
stream; and everything appeared to prosper well, excepting,
indeed, that which ought to do so most -- its inhabitants.
The black children, completely naked, and looking very
wretched, were carrying bundles of firewood half as big as
their own bodies.

Near Fuentes we saw a large flock of guinea-fowl --
probably fifty or sixty in number. They were extremely
wary, and could not be approached. They avoided us, like
partridges on a rainy day in September, running with their
heads cocked up; and if pursued, they readily took to the
wing.

The scenery of St. Domingo possesses a beauty totally
unexpected, from the prevalent gloomy character of the rest
of the island. The village is situated at the bottom of a
valley, bounded by lofty and jagged walls of stratified lava.
The black rocks afford a most striking contrast with the
bright green vegetation, which follows the banks of a little
stream of clear water. It happened to be a grand feast-day,
and the village was full of people. On our return we overtook
a party of about twenty young black girls, dressed in
excellent taste; their black skins and snow-white linen being
set off by coloured turbans and large shawls. As soon as
we approached near, they suddenly all turned round, and
covering the path with their shawls, sung with great energy
a wild song, beating time with their hands upon their legs.
We threw them some vintems, which were received with
screams of laughter, and we left them redoubling the noise
of their song.

One morning the view was singularly clear; the distant
mountains being projected with the sharpest outline on a
heavy bank of dark blue clouds. Judging from the appearance,
and from similar cases in England, I supposed that the
air was saturated with moisture. The fact, however, turned
out quite the contrary. The hygrometer gave a difference
of 29.6 degs., between the temperature of the air, and the
point at which dew was precipitated. This difference was
nearly double that which I had observed on the previous
mornings. This unusual degree of atmospheric dryness was
accompanied by continual flashes of lightning. Is it not an
uncommon case, thus to find a remarkable degree of aerial
transparency with such a state of weather?

Generally the atmosphere is hazy; and this is caused by
the falling of impalpably fine dust, which was found to have
slightly injured the astronomical instruments. The morning
before we anchored at Porto Praya, I collected a little packet
of this brown-coloured fine dust, which appeared to have
been filtered from the wind by the gauze of the vane at the
masthead. Mr. Lyell has also given me four packets of dust
which fell on a vessel a few hundred miles northward of
these islands. Professor Ehrenberg [3] finds that this dust
consists in great part of infusoria with siliceous shields, and
of the siliceous tissue of plants. In five little packets which
I sent him, he has ascertained no less than sixty-seven
different organic forms! The infusoria, with the exception of
two marine species, are all inhabitants of fresh-water. I
have found no less than fifteen different accounts of dust
having fallen on vessels when far out in the Atlantic. From
the direction of the wind whenever it has fallen, and from
its having always fallen during those months when the harmattan
is known to raise clouds of dust high into the atmosphere,
we may feel sure that it all comes from Africa. It
is, however, a very singular fact, that, although Professor
Ehrenberg knows many species of infusoria peculiar to
Africa, he finds none of these in the dust which I sent him.
On the other hand, he finds in it two species which hitherto
he knows as living only in South America. The dust falls
in such quantities as to dirty everything on board, and to
hurt people's eyes; vessels even have run on shore owing to
the obscurity of the atmosphere. It has often fallen on
ships when several hundred, and even more than a thousand
miles from the coast of Africa, and at points sixteen hundred
miles distant in a north and south direction. In some
dust which was collected on a vessel three hundred miles
from the land, I was much surprised to find particles of
stone above the thousandth of an inch square, mixed with
finer matter. After this fact one need not be surprised
at the diffusion of the far lighter and smaller sporules of
cryptogamic plants.

The geology of this island is the most interesting part of
its natural history. On entering the harbour, a perfectly
horizontal white band, in the face of the sea cliff, may be seen
running for some miles along the coast, and at the height of
about forty-five feet above the water. Upon examination
this white stratum is found to consist of calcareous matter
with numerous shells embedded, most or all of which now
exist on the neighbouring coast. It rests on ancient volcanic
rocks, and has been covered by a stream of basalt, which
must have entered the sea when the white shelly bed was
lying at the bottom. It is interesting to trace the changes
produced by the heat of the overlying lava, on the friable
mass, which in parts has been converted into a crystalline
limestone, and in other parts into a compact spotted stone
Where the lime has been caught up by the scoriaceous fragments
of the lower surface of the stream, it is converted into
groups of beautifully radiated fibres resembling arragonite.
The beds of lava rise in successive gently-sloping plains,
towards the interior, whence the deluges of melted stone
have originally proceeded. Within historical times, no signs
of volcanic activity have, I believe, been manifested in any
part of St. Jago. Even the form of a crater can but rarely
be discovered on the summits of the many red cindery hills;
yet the more recent streams can be distinguished on the
coast, forming lines of cliffs of less height, but stretching
out in advance of those belonging to an older series: the
height of the cliffs thus affording a rude measure of the age
of the streams.

During our stay, I observed the habits of some marine
animals. A large Aplysia is very common. This sea-slug
is about five inches long; and is of a dirty yellowish colour
veined with purple. On each side of the lower surface, or
foot, there is a broad membrane, which appears sometimes
to act as a ventilator, in causing a current of water to flow
over the dorsal branchiae or lungs. It feeds on the delicate
sea-weeds which grow among the stones in muddy and shallow
water; and I found in its stomach several small pebbles,
as in the gizzard of a bird. This slug, when disturbed, emits
a very fine purplish-red fluid, which stains the water for the
space of a foot around. Besides this means of defence, an
acrid secretion, which is spread over its body, causes a
sharp, stinging sensation, similar to that produced by the
Physalia, or Portuguese man-of-war.

I was much interested, on several occasions, by watching
the habits of an Octopus, or cuttle-fish. Although common
in the pools of water left by the retiring tide, these animals
were not easily caught. By means of their long arms and
suckers, they could drag their bodies into very narrow crevices;
and when thus fixed, it required great force to remove
them. At other times they darted tail first, with the rapidity
of an arrow, from one side of the pool to the other, at the
same instant discolouring the water with a dark chestnut-brown
ink. These animals also escape detection by a very
extraordinary, chameleon-like power of changing their colour.
They appear to vary their tints according to the nature
of the ground over which they pass: when in deep water,
their general shade was brownish purple, but when placed on
the land, or in shallow water, this dark tint changed into one
of a yellowish green. The colour, examined more carefully,
was a French grey, with numerous minute spots of bright
yellow: the former of these varied in intensity; the latter
entirely disappeared and appeared again by turns. These
changes were effected in such a manner, that clouds, varying
in tint between a hyacinth red and a chestnut-brown, [4] were
continually passing over the body. Any part, being subjected
to a slight shock of galvanism, became almost black: a similar
effect, but in a less degree, was produced by scratching
the skin with a needle. These clouds, or blushes as they may
be called, are said to be produced by the alternate expansion
and contraction of minute vesicles containing variously
coloured fluids. [5]

This cuttle-fish displayed its chameleon-like power both
during the act of swimming and whilst remaining stationary
at the bottom. I was much amused by the various arts to
escape detection used by one individual, which seemed fully
aware that I was watching it. Remaining for a time motionless,
it would then stealthily advance an inch or two, like a
cat after a mouse; sometimes changing its colour: it thus
proceeded, till having gained a deeper part, it darted away,
leaving a dusky train of ink to hide the hole into which it
had crawled.

While looking for marine animals, with my head about
two feet above the rocky shore, I was more than once saluted
by a jet of water, accompanied by a slight grating noise. At
first I could not think what it was, but afterwards I found
out that it was this cuttle-fish, which, though concealed in a
hole, thus often led me to its discovery. That it possesses
the power of ejecting water there is no doubt, and it appeared
to me that it could certainly take good aim by directing the
tube or siphon on the under side of its body. From the
difficulty which these animals have in carrying their heads,
they cannot crawl with ease when placed on the ground. I
observed that one which I kept in the cabin was slightly
phosphorescent in the dark.

ST. PAUL'S ROCKS. -- In crossing the Atlantic we hove-to
during the morning of February 16th, close to the island of
St. Paul's. This cluster of rocks is situated in 0 degs. 58'
north latitude, and 29 degs. 15' west longitude. It is 540
miles distant from the coast of America, and 350 from the island
of Fernando Noronha. The highest point is only fifty feet above
the level of the sea, and the entire circumference is under
three-quarters of a mile. This small point rises abruptly out
of the depths of the ocean. Its mineralogical constitution
is not simple; in some parts the rock is of a cherty, in others
of a felspathic nature, including thin veins of serpentine. It
is a remarkable fact, that all the many small islands, lying
far from any continent, in the Pacific, Indian, and Atlantic
Oceans, with the exception of the Seychelles and this little
point of rock, are, I believe, composed either of coral or of
erupted matter. The volcanic nature of these oceanic islands
is evidently an extension of that law, and the effect of those
same causes, whether chemical or mechanical, from which it
results that a vast majority of the volcanoes now in action
stand either near sea-coasts or as islands in the midst of the
sea.

The rocks of St. Paul appear from a distance of a brilliantly
white colour. This is partly owing to the dung of a
vast multitude of seafowl, and partly to a coating of a hard
glossy substance with a pearly lustre, which is intimately
united to the surface of the rocks. This, when examined
with a lens, is found to consist of numerous exceedingly
thin layers, its total thickness being about the tenth of an
inch. It contains much animal matter, and its origin, no
doubt, is due to the action of the rain or spray on the birds'
dung. Below some small masses of guano at Ascension, and
on the Abrolhos Islets, I found certain stalactitic branching
bodies, formed apparently in the same manner as the thin
white coating on these rocks. The branching bodies so closely
resembled in general appearance certain nulliporae (a family
of hard calcareous sea-plants), that in lately looking hastily
over my collection I did not perceive the difference. The
globular extremities of the branches are of a pearly texture,
like the enamel of teeth, but so hard as just to scratch plate-
glass. I may here mention, that on a part of the coast of
Ascension, where there is a vast accumulation of shelly sand,
an incrustation is deposited on the tidal rocks by the water
of the sea, resembling, as represented in the woodcut, certain
cryptogamic plants (Marchantiae) often seen on damp
walls. The surface of the fronds is beautifully glossy; and
those parts formed where fully exposed to the light are of a
jet black colour, but those shaded under ledges are only grey.
I have shown specimens of this incrustation to several
geologists, and they all thought that they were of volcanic
or igneous origin! In its hardness and translucency -- in
its polish, equal to that of the finest oliva-shell -- in the
bad smell given out, and loss of colour under the blowpipe -- it
shows a close similarity with living sea-shells. Moreover, in
sea-shells, it is known that the parts habitually covered and
shaded by the mantle of the animal, are of a paler colour
than those fully exposed to the light, just as is the case with
this incrustation. When we remember that lime, either as a
phosphate or carbonate, enters into the composition of the
hard parts, such as bones and shells, of all living animals, it
is an interesting physiological fact [6] to find substances
harder than the enamel of teeth, and coloured surfaces as well
polished as those of a fresh shell, reformed through inorganic
means from dead organic matter -- mocking, also, in
shape, some of the lower vegetable productions.

We found on St. Paul's only two kinds of birds -- the
booby and the noddy. The former is a species of gannet,
and the latter a tern. Both are of a tame and stupid
disposition, and are so unaccustomed to visitors, that I could
have killed any number of them with my geological hammer.
The booby lays her eggs on the bare rock; but the tern makes
a very simple nest with seaweed. By the side of many of
these nests a small flying-fish was placed; which I suppose,
had been brought by the male bird for its partner. It was
amusing to watch how quickly a large and active crab
(Graspus), which inhabits the crevices of the rock, stole the
fish from the side of the nest, as soon as we had disturbed
the parent birds. Sir W. Symonds, one of the few persons
who have landed here, informs me that he saw the crabs
dragging even the young birds out of their nests, and devouring
them. Not a single plant, not even a lichen, grows
on this islet; yet it is inhabited by several insects and
spiders. The following list completes, I believe, the
terrestrial fauna: a fly (Olfersia) living on the booby, and
a tick which must have come here as a parasite on the birds;
a small brown moth, belonging to a genus that feeds on feathers;
a beetle (Quedius) and a woodlouse from beneath the dung; and
lastly, numerous spiders, which I suppose prey on these small
attendants and scavengers of the water-fowl. The often repeated
description of the stately palm and other noble tropical
plants, then birds, and lastly man, taking possession of
the coral islets as soon as formed, in the Pacific, is probably
not correct; I fear it destroys the poetry of this story, that
feather and dirt-feeding and parasitic insects and spiders
should be the first inhabitants of newly formed oceanic
land.

The smallest rock in the tropical seas, by giving a foundation
for the growth of innumerable kinds of seaweed and
compound animals, supports likewise a large number of fish.
The sharks and the seamen in the boats maintained a constant
struggle which should secure the greater share of the
prey caught by the fishing-lines. I have heard that a rock
near the Bermudas, lying many miles out at sea, and at a
considerable depth, was first discovered by the circumstance
of fish having been observed in the neighbourhood.

FERNANDO NORONHA, Feb. 20th. -- As far as I was enabled
to observe, during the few hours we stayed at this place, the
constitution of the island is volcanic, but probably not of a
recent date. The most remarkable feature is a conical hill,
about one thousand feet high, the upper part of which is
exceedingly steep, and on one side overhangs its base. The
rock is phonolite, and is divided into irregular columns. On
viewing one of these isolated masses, at first one is inclined
to believe that it has been suddenly pushed up in a semi-fluid
state. At St. Helena, however, I ascertained that some
pinnacles, of a nearly similar figure and constitution, had
been formed by the injection of melted rock into yielding
strata, which thus had formed the moulds for these gigantic
obelisks. The whole island is covered with wood; but from
the dryness of the climate there is no appearance of luxuriance.
Half-way up the mountain, some great masses of the
columnar rock, shaded by laurel-like trees, and ornamented
by others covered with fine pink flowers but without a single
leaf, gave a pleasing effect to the nearer parts of the scenery.

BAHIA, OR SAN SALVADOR. BRAZIL, Feb. 29th. -- The day
has passed delightfully. Delight itself, however, is a weak
term to express the feelings of a naturalist who, for the first
time, has wandered by himself in a Brazilian forest. The
elegance of the grasses, the novelty of the parasitical plants,
the beauty of the flowers, the glossy green of the foliage,
but above all the general luxuriance of the vegetation, filled
me with admiration. A most paradoxical mixture of sound
and silence pervades the shady parts of the wood. The noise
from the insects is so loud, that it may be heard even in a
vessel anchored several hundred yards from the shore; yet
within the recesses of the forest a universal silence appears
to reign. To a person fond of natural history, such a day
as this brings with it a deeper pleasure than he can ever hope
to experience again. After wandering about for some hours,
I returned to the landing-place; but, before reaching it, I
was overtaken by a tropical storm. I tried to find shelter
under a tree, which was so thick that it would never have
been penetrated by common English rain; but here, in a
couple of minutes, a little torrent flowed down the trunk.
It is to this violence of the rain that we must attribute the
verdure at the bottom of the thickest woods: if the showers
were like those of a colder climate, the greater part would
be absorbed or evaporated before it reached the ground. I
will not at present attempt to describe the gaudy scenery
of this noble bay, because, in our homeward voyage, we
called here a second time, and I shall then have occasion to
remark on it.

Along the whole coast of Brazil, for a length of at least
2000 miles, and certainly for a considerable space inland,
wherever solid rock occurs, it belongs to a granitic formation.
The circumstance of this enormous area being constituted of
materials which most geologists believe to have
been crystallized when heated under pressure, gives rise to
many curious reflections. Was this effect produced beneath
the depths of a profound ocean? or did a covering of strata
formerly extend over it, which has since been removed?
Can we believe that any power, acting for a time short of
infinity, could have denuded the granite over so many thousand
square leagues?

On a point not far from the city, where a rivulet entered
the sea, I observed a fact connected with a subject discussed
by Humboldt. [7] At the cataracts of the great rivers
Orinoco, Nile, and Congo, the syenitic rocks are coated by
a black substance, appearing as if they had been polished
with plumbago. The layer is of extreme thinness; and on
analysis by Berzelius it was found to consist of the oxides
of manganese and iron. In the Orinoco it occurs on the
rocks periodically washed by the floods, and in those parts
alone where the stream is rapid; or, as the Indians say, "the
rocks are black where the waters are white." Here the coating
is of a rich brown instead of a black colour, and seems
to be composed of ferruginous matter alone. Hand specimens
fail to give a just idea of these brown burnished stones
which glitter in the sun's rays. They occur only within the
limits of the tidal waves; and as the rivulet slowly trickles
down, the surf must supply the polishing power of the cataracts
in the great rivers. In like manner, the rise and fall
of the tide probably answer to the periodical inundations;
and thus the same effects are produced under apparently different
but really similar circumstances. The origin, however, of
these coatings of metallic oxides, which seem as if
cemented to the rocks, is not understood; and no reason, I
believe, can be assigned for their thickness remaining the
same.

One day I was amused by watching the habits of the
Diodon antennatus, which was caught swimming near the
shore. This fish, with its flabby skin, is well known to possess
the singular power of distending itself into a nearly
spherical form. After having been taken out of water for
a short time, and then again immersed in it, a considerable
quantity both of water and air is absorbed by the mouth,
and perhaps likewise by the branchial orifices. This process
is effected by two methods: the air is swallowed, and is then
forced into the cavity of the body, its return being prevented
by a muscular contraction which is externally visible: but
the water enters in a gentle stream through the mouth,
which is kept wide open and motionless; this latter action
must, therefore, depend on suction. The skin about the
abdomen is much looser than that on the back; hence, during
the inflation, the lower surface becomes far more distended
than the upper; and the fish, in consequence, floats
with its back downwards. Cuvier doubts whether the Diodon
in this position is able to swim; but not only can it thus
move forward in a straight line, but it can turn round to
either side. This latter movement is effected solely by the
aid of the pectoral fins; the tail being collapsed, and not
used. From the body being buoyed up with so much air, the
branchial openings are out of water, but a stream drawn in
by the mouth constantly flows through them.

The fish, having remained in this distended state for a
short time, generally expelled the air and water with
considerable force from the branchial apertures and mouth. It
could emit, at will, a certain portion of the water, and it
appears, therefore, probable that this fluid is taken in partly
for the sake of regulating its specific gravity. This Diodon
possessed several means of defence. It could give a severe
bite, and could eject water from its mouth to some distance,
at the same time making a curious noise by the movement
of its jaws. By the inflation of its body, the papillae, with
which the skin is covered, become erect and pointed. But
the most curious circumstance is, that it secretes from the
skin of its belly, when handled, a most beautiful carmine-red
fibrous matter, which stains ivory and paper in so permanent
a manner that the tint is retained with all its brightness
to the present day: I am quite ignorant of the nature
and use of this secretion. I have heard from Dr. Allan of
Forres, that he has frequently found a Diodon, floating alive
and distended, in the stomach of the shark, and that on
several occasions he has known it eat its way, not only
through the coats of the stomach, but through the sides of
the monster, which has thus been killed. Who would ever
have imagined that a little soft fish could have destroyed
the great and savage shark?

March 18th. -- We sailed from Bahia. A few days afterwards,
when not far distant from the Abrolhos Islets, my;
attention was called to a reddish-brown appearance in the
sea. The whole surface of the water, as it appeared under a
weak lens, seemed as if covered by chopped bits of hay, with
their ends jagged. These are minute cylindrical confervae,
in bundles or rafts of from twenty to sixty in each. Mr.
Berkeley informs me that they are the same species
(Trichodesmium erythraeum) with that found over large spaces
in the Red Sea, and whence its name of Red Sea is derived. [8]
Their numbers must be infinite: the ship passed through
several bands of them, one of which was about ten yards
wide, and, judging from the mud-like colour of the water,
at least two and a half miles long. In almost every long
voyage some account is given of these confervae. They appear
especially common in the sea near Australia; and off
Cape Leeuwin I found an allied but smaller and apparently
different species. Captain Cook, in his third voyage, remarks,
that the sailors gave to this appearance the name of
sea-sawdust.

Near Keeling Atoll, in the Indian Ocean, I observed
many little masses of confervae a few inches square, consisting
of long cylindrical threads of excessive thinness, so as
to be barely visible to the naked eye, mingled with other
rather larger bodies, finely conical at both ends. Two of
these are shown in the woodcut united together. They vary
in length from .04 to .06, and even to .08 of an inch in
length; and in diameter from .006 to .008 of an inch. Near
one extremity of the cylindrical part, a green septum, formed
of granular matter, and thickest in the middle, may generally
be seen. This, I believe, is the bottom of a most delicate,
colourless sac, composed of a pulpy substance, which lines
the exterior case, but does not extend within the extreme
conical points. In some specimens, small but perfect spheres
of brownish granular matter supplied the
places of the septa; and I observed the curious process by
which they were produced. The pulpy matter of the internal
coating suddenly grouped itself into lines, some of which
assumed a form radiating from a common centre; it then
continued, with an irregular and rapid movement, to contract
itself, so that in the course of a second the whole was
united into a perfect little sphere, which occupied the
position of the septum at one end of the now quite hollow case.
The formation of the granular sphere was hastened by any
accidental injury. I may add, that frequently a pair of these
bodies were attached to each other, as represented above,
cone beside cone, at that end where the septum occurs.

I will add here a few other observations connected with
the discoloration of the sea from organic causes. On the
coast of Chile, a few leagues north of Concepcion, the Beagle
one day passed through great bands of muddy water, exactly
like that of a swollen river; and again, a degree south of
Valparaiso, when fifty miles from the land, the same appearance
was still more extensive. Some of the water placed
in a glass was of a pale reddish tint; and, examined under
a microscope, was seen to swarm with minute animalcula
darting about, and often exploding. Their shape is oval,
and contracted in the middle by a ring of vibrating curved
ciliae. It was, however, very difficult to examine them with
care, for almost the instant motion ceased, even while crossing
the field of vision, their bodies burst. Sometimes both
ends burst at once, sometimes only one, and a quantity of
coarse, brownish, granular matter was ejected. The animal
an instant before bursting expanded to half again its natural
size; and the explosion took place about fifteen seconds
after the rapid progressive motion had ceased: in a few
cases it was preceded for a short interval by a rotatory
movement on the longer axis. About two minutes after any
number were isolated in a drop of water, they thus perished.
The animals move with the narrow apex forwards, by the
aid of their vibratory ciliae, and generally by rapid starts.
They are exceedingly minute, and quite invisible to the
naked eye, only covering a space equal to the square of the
thousandth of an inch. Their numbers were infinite; for
the smallest drop of water which I could remove contained
very many. In one day we passed through two spaces of
water thus stained, one of which alone must have extended
over several square miles. What incalculable numbers of
these microscopical animals! The colour of the water, as
seen at some distance, was like that of a river which has
flowed through a red clay district, but under the shade of
the vessel's side it was quite as dark as chocolate. The line
where the red and blue water joined was distinctly defined.
The weather for some days previously had been calm, and the
ocean abounded, to an unusual degree, with living creatures. [9]

In the sea around Tierra del Fuego, and at no great distance
from the land, I have seen narrow lines of water of a
bright red colour, from the number of crustacea, which
somewhat resemble in form large prawns. The sealers call
them whale-food. Whether whales feed on them I do not
know; but terns, cormorants, and immense herds of great
unwieldy seals derive, on some parts of the coast, their
chief sustenance from these swimming crabs. Seamen
invariably attribute the discoloration of the water to spawn;
but I found this to be the case only on one occasion. At
the distance of several leagues from the Archipelago of the
Galapagos, the ship sailed through three strips of a dark
yellowish, or mudlike water; these strips were some miles
long, but only a few yards wide, and they were separated
from the surrounding water by a sinuous yet distinct margin.
The colour was caused by little gelatinous balls, about
the fifth of an inch in diameter, in which numerous minute
spherical ovules were imbedded: they were of two distinct
kinds, one being of a reddish colour and of a different shape
from the other. I cannot form a conjecture as to what two
kinds of animals these belonged. Captain Colnett remarks,
that this appearance is very common among the Galapagos
Islands, and that the directions of the bands indicate that
of the currents; in the described case, however, the line was
caused by the wind. The only other appearance which I
have to notice, is a thin oily coat on the water which displays
iridescent colours. I saw a considerable tract of the
ocean thus covered on the coast of Brazil; the seamen
attributed it to the putrefying carcase of some whale, which
probably was floating at no great distance. I do not here
mention the minute gelatinous particles, hereafter to be
referred to, which are frequently dispersed throughout the
water, for they are not sufficiently abundant to create any
change of colour.

There are two circumstances in the above accounts which
appear remarkable: first, how do the various bodies which
form the bands with defined edges keep together? In the
case of the prawn-like crabs, their movements were as
coinstantaneous as in a regiment of soldiers; but this cannot
happen from anything like voluntary action with the ovules,
or the confervae, nor is it probable among the infusoria.
Secondly, what causes the length and narrowness of the
bands? The appearance so much resembles that which may
be seen in every torrent, where the stream uncoils into long
streaks the froth collected in the eddies, that I must attribute
the effect to a similar action either of the currents of the
air or sea. Under this supposition we must believe that the
various organized bodies are produced in certain favourable
places, and are thence removed by the set of either wind
or water. I confess, however, there is a very great difficulty
in imagining any one spot to be the birthplace of the millions
of millions of animalcula and confervae: for whence come
the germs at such points? -- the parent bodies having been
distributed by the winds and waves over the immense ocean.
But on no other hypothesis can I understand their linear
grouping. I may add that Scoresby remarks that green
water abounding with pelagic animals is invariably found
in a certain part of the Arctic Sea.

[1] I state this on the authority of Dr. E. Dieffenbach, in his
German translation of the first edition of this Journal.

[2] The Cape de Verd Islands were discovered in 1449. There was
a tombstone of a bishop with the date of 1571; and a crest of a
hand and dagger, dated 1497.

[3] I must take this opportunity of acknowledging the great
kindness with which this illustrious naturalist has examined
many of my specimens. I have sent (June, 1845) a full account
of the falling of this dust to the Geological Society.

[4] So named according to Patrick Symes's nomenclature.

[5] See Encyclop. of Anat. and Physiol., article Cephalopoda

[6] Mr. Horner and Sir David Brewster have described
(Philosophical Transactions, 1836, p. 65) a singular
"artificial substance resembling shell." It is deposited in
fine, transparent, highly polished, brown-coloured laminae,
possessing peculiar optical properties, on the inside of a
vessel, in which cloth, first prepared with glue and then
with lime, is made to revolve rapidly in water. It is much
softer, more transparent, and contains more animal matter,
than the natural incrustation at Ascension; but we here
again see the strong tendency which carbonate of lime and
animal matter evince to form a solid substance allied to
shell.

[7] Pers. Narr., vol. v., pt. 1., p. 18.

[8] M. Montagne, in Comptes Rendus, etc., Juillet, 1844; and
Annal. des Scienc. Nat., Dec. 1844

[9] M. Lesson (Voyage de la Coquille, tom. i., p. 255) mentions
red water off Lima, apparently produced by the same cause.
Peron, the distinguished naturalist, in the Voyage aux Terres
Australes, gives no less than twelve references to voyagers
who have alluded to the discoloured waters of the sea (vol.
ii. p. 239). To the references given by Peron may be added,
Humboldt's Pers. Narr., vol. vi. p. 804; Flinder's Voyage,
vol. i. p. 92; Labillardiere, vol. i. p. 287; Ulloa's Voyage;
Voyage of the Astrolabe and of the Coquille; Captain King's
Survey of Australia, etc.

CHAPTER II

RIO DE JANEIRO

Rio de Janeiro -- Excursion north of Cape Frio -- Great
Evaporation --  Slavery -- Botofogo Bay -- Terrestrial
Planariae -- Clouds on the Corcovado -- Heavy Rain -- Musical
Frogs -- Phosphorescent Insects --  Elater, springing powers
of -- Blue Haze -- Noise made by a Butterfly --  Entomology --
Ants -- Wasp killing a Spider -- Parasitical Spider --
Artifices of an Epeira -- Gregarious Spider -- Spider with
an unsymmetrical Web.

APRIL 4th to July 5th, 1832. -- A few days after our
arrival I became acquainted with an Englishman who
was going to visit his estate, situated rather more
than a hundred miles from the capital, to the northward of
Cape Frio. I gladly accepted his kind offer of allowing me
to accompany him.

April 8th. -- Our party amounted to seven. The first stage
was very interesting. The day was powerfully hot, and as
we passed through the woods, everything was motionless,
excepting the large and brilliant butterflies, which lazily
fluttered about. The view seen when crossing the hills
behind Praia Grande was most beautiful; the colours were
intense, and the prevailing tint a dark blue; the sky and the
calm waters of the bay vied with each other in splendour.
After passing through some cultivated country, we entered
a forest, which in the grandeur of all its parts could not be
exceeded. We arrived by midday at Ithacaia; this small
village is situated on a plain, and round the central house
are the huts of the negroes. These, from their regular form
and position, reminded me of the drawings of the Hottentot
habitations in Southern Africa. As the moon rose early, we
determined to start the same evening for our sleeping-place
at the Lagoa Marica. As it was growing dark we passed
under one of the massive, bare, and steep hills of granite
which are so common in this country. This spot is notorious
from having been, for a long time, the residence of some
runaway slaves, who, by cultivating a little ground near the
top, contrived to eke out a subsistence. At length they were
discovered, and a party of soldiers being sent, the whole
were seized with the exception of one old woman, who,
sooner than again be led into slavery, dashed herself to
pieces from the summit of the mountain. In a Roman
matron this would have been called the noble love of freedom:
in a poor negress it is mere brutal obstinacy. We
continued riding for some hours. For the few last miles the
road was intricate, and it passed through a desert waste of
marshes and lagoons. The scene by the dimmed light of the
moon was most desolate. A few fireflies flitted by us; and
the solitary snipe, as it rose, uttered its plaintive cry. The
distant and sullen roar of the sea scarcely broke the stillness
of the night.

April 9th. -- We left our miserable sleeping-place before
sunrise. The road passed through a narrow sandy plain,
lying between the sea and the interior salt lagoons. The
number of beautiful fishing birds, such as egrets and cranes,
and the succulent plants assuming most fantastical forms,
gave to the scene an interest which it would not otherwise
have possessed. The few stunted trees were loaded with
parasitical plants, among which the beauty and delicious
fragrance of some of the orchideae were most to be admired.
As the sun rose, the day became extremely hot, and the
reflection of the light and heat from the white sand was very
distressing. We dined at Mandetiba; the thermometer in
the shade being 84 degs. The beautiful view of the distant
wooded hills, reflected in the perfectly calm water of an
extensive lagoon, quite refreshed us. As the venda [1] here
was a very good one, and I have the pleasant, but rare
remembrance, of an excellent dinner, I will be grateful and
presently describe it, as the type of its class. These houses
are often large, and are built of thick upright posts, with
boughs interwoven, and afterwards plastered. They seldom
have floors, and never glazed windows; but are generally
pretty well roofed. Universally the front part is open, forming
a kind of verandah, in which tables and benches are
placed. The bed-rooms join on each side, and here the passenger
may sleep as comfortably as he can, on a wooden
platform, covered by a thin straw mat. The venda stands
in a courtyard, where the horses are fed. On first arriving
it was our custom to unsaddle the horses and give them
their Indian corn; then, with a low bow, to ask the senhor
to do us the favour to give up something to eat. "Anything
you choose, sir," was his usual answer. For the few first
times, vainly I thanked providence for having guided us
to so good a man. The conversation proceeding, the case
universally became deplorable. "Any fish can you do us the
favour of giving ?" -- "Oh! no, sir." -- "Any soup?" -- "No,
sir." -- "Any bread?" -- "Oh! no, sir." -- "Any dried meat?"
-- "Oh! no, sir." If we were lucky, by waiting a couple of
hours, we obtained fowls, rice, and farinha. It not unfrequently
happened, that we were obliged to kill, with stones,
the poultry for our own supper. When, thoroughly exhausted
by fatigue and hunger, we timorously hinted that we should
be glad of our meal, the pompous, and (though true) most
unsatisfactory answer was, "It will be ready when it is
ready." If we had dared to remonstrate any further, we
should have been told to proceed on our journey, as being
too impertinent. The hosts are most ungracious and disagreeable
in their manners; their houses and their persons
are often filthily dirty; the want of the accommodation of
forks, knives, and spoons is common; and I am sure no cottage
or hovel in England could be found in a state so utterly
destitute of every comfort. At Campos Novos, however, we
fared sumptuously; having rice and fowls, biscuit, wine, and
spirits, for dinner; coffee in the evening, and fish with coffee
for breakfast. All this, with good food for the horses, only
cost 2s. 6d. per head. Yet the host of this venda, being
asked if he knew anything of a whip which one of the party
had lost, gruffly answered, "How should I know? why did
you not take care of it? -- I suppose the dogs have eaten it."

Leaving Mandetiba, we continued to pass through an intricate
wilderness of lakes; in some of which were fresh,
in others salt water shells. Of the former kinds, I found
a Limnaea in great numbers in a lake, into which, the inhabitants
assured me that the sea enters once a year, and
sometimes oftener, and makes the water quite salt. I have
no doubt many interesting facts, in relation to marine and
fresh water animals, might be observed in this chain of
lagoons, which skirt the coast of Brazil. M. Gay [2] has
stated that he found in the neighbourhood of Rio, shells of
the marine genera solen and mytilus, and fresh water ampullariae,
living together in brackish water. I also frequently
observed in the lagoon near the Botanic Garden, where the
water is only a little less salt than in the sea, a species of
hydrophilus, very similar to a water-beetle common in the
ditches of England: in the same lake the only shell belonged
to a genus generally found in estuaries.

Leaving the coast for a time, we again entered the forest.
The trees were very lofty, and remarkable, compared with
those of Europe, from the whiteness of their trunks. I see
by my note-book, "wonderful and beautiful, flowering parasites,"
invariably struck me as the most novel object in these
grand scenes. Travelling onwards we passed through tracts
of pasturage, much injured by the enormous conical ants'
nests, which were nearly twelve feet high. They gave to the
plain exactly the appearance of the mud volcanos at Jorullo,
as figured by Humboldt. We arrived at Engenhodo after it
was dark, having been ten hours on horseback. I never
ceased, during the whole journey, to be surprised at the
amount of labour which the horses were capable of enduring;
they appeared also to recover from any injury much
sooner than those of our English breed. The Vampire bat
is often the cause of much trouble, by biting the horses on
their withers. The injury is generally not so much owing
to the loss of blood, as to the inflammation which the pressure
of the saddle afterwards produces. The whole circumstance
has lately been doubted in England; I was therefore
fortunate in being present when one (Desmodus d'orbignyi,
Wat.) was actually caught on a horse's back. We were
bivouacking late one evening near Coquimbo, in Chile, when
my servant, noticing that one of the horses was very restive,
went to see what was the matter, and fancying he could
distinguish something, suddenly put his hand on the beast's
withers, and secured the vampire. In the morning the spot
where the bite had been inflicted was easily distinguished
from being slightly swollen and bloody. The third day
afterwards we rode the horse, without any ill effects.

April 13th. -- After three days' travelling we arrived at
Socego, the estate of Senhor Manuel Figuireda, a relation
of one of our party. The house was simple, and, though like
a barn in form, was well suited to the climate. In the sitting-
room gilded chairs and sofas were oddly contrasted with the
whitewashed walls, thatched roof, and windows without
glass. The house, together with the granaries, the stables,
and workshops for the blacks, who had been taught various
trades, formed a rude kind of quadrangle; in the centre
of which a large pile of coffee was drying. These buildings
stand on a little hill, overlooking the cultivated ground, and
surrounded on every side by a wall of dark green luxuriant
forest. The chief produce of this part of the country is
coffee. Each tree is supposed to yield annually, on an average,
two pounds; but some give as much as eight. Mandioca
or cassada is likewise cultivated in great quantity. Every
part of this plant is useful; the leaves and stalks are eaten
by the horses, and the roots are ground into a pulp, which,
when pressed dry and baked, forms the farinha, the principal
article of sustenance in the Brazils. It is a curious,
though well-known fact, that the juice of this most nutritious
plant is highly poisonous. A few years ago a cow died at
this Fazenda, in consequence of having drunk some of it.
Senhor Figuireda told me that he had planted, the year before,
one bag of feijao or beans, and three of rice; the
former of which produced eighty, and the latter three hundred
and twenty fold. The pasturage supports a fine stock
of cattle, and the woods are so full of game that a deer had
been killed on each of the three previous days. This profusion
of food showed itself at dinner, where, if the tables did
not groan, the guests surely did; for each person is expected
to eat of every dish. One day, having, as I thought, nicely
calculated so that nothing should go away untasted, to my
utter dismay a roast turkey and a pig appeared in all their
substantial reality. During the meals, it was the employment
of a man to drive out of the room sundry old hounds,
and dozens of little black children, which crawled in together,
at every opportunity. As long as the idea of slavery could be
banished, there was something exceedingly fascinating in
this simple and patriarchal style of living: it was such a
perfect retirement and independence from the rest of the
world.

As soon as any stranger is seen arriving, a large bell is set
tolling, and generally some small cannon are fired. The
event is thus announced to the rocks and woods, but to nothing
else. One morning I walked out an hour before daylight
to admire the solemn stillness of the scene; at last, the
silence was broken by the morning hymn, raised on high by the
whole body of the blacks; and in this manner their daily
work is generally begun. On such fazendas as these, I have
no doubt the slaves pass happy and contented lives. On
Saturday and Sunday they work for themselves, and in this
fertile climate the labour of two days is sufficient to support
a man and his family for the whole week.

April 14th. -- Leaving Socego, we rode to another estate on
the Rio Macae, which was the last patch of cultivated ground
in that direction. The estate was two and a half miles long,
and the owner had forgotten how many broad. Only a very
small piece had been cleared, yet almost every acre was
capable of yielding all the various rich productions of a tropical
land. Considering the enormous area of Brazil, the proportion
of cultivated ground can scarcely be considered as
anything, compared to that which is left in the state of
nature: at some future age, how vast a population it will
support! During the second day's journey we found the
road so shut up, that it was necessary that a man should go
ahead with a sword to cut away the creepers. The forest
abounded with beautiful objects; among which the tree ferns,
though not large, were, from their bright green foliage, and
the elegant curvature of their fronds, most worthy of admiration.
In the evening it rained very heavily, and although the
thermometer stood at 65 degs., I felt very cold. As soon as
the rain ceased, it was curious to observe the extraordinary
evaporation which commenced over the whole extent of the
forest. At the height of a hundred feet the hills were buried
in a dense white vapour, which rose like columns of smoke
from the most thickly wooded parts, and especially from the
valleys. I observed this phenomenon on several occasions.
I suppose it is owing to the large surface of foliage, previously
heated by the sun's rays.

While staying at this estate, I was very nearly being an
eye-witness to one of those atrocious acts which can only
take place in a slave country. Owing to a quarrel and a
lawsuit, the owner was on the point of taking all the women
and children from the male slaves, and selling them separately
at the public auction at Rio. Interest, and not any
feeling of compassion, prevented this act. Indeed, I do not
believe the inhumanity of separating thirty families, who
had lived together for many years, even occurred to the
owner. Yet I will pledge myself, that in humanity and
good feeling he was superior to the common run of men.
It may be said there exists no limit to the blindness of interest
and selfish habit. I may mention one very trifling anecdote,
which at the time struck me more forcibly than any
story of cruelty. I was crossing a ferry with a negro, who
was uncommonly stupid. In endeavouring to make him
understand, I talked loud, and made signs, in doing which I
passed my hand near his face. He, I suppose, thought I was
in a passion, and was going to strike him; for instantly,
with a frightened look and half-shut eyes, he dropped his
hands. I shall never forget my feelings of surprise, disgust,
and shame, at seeing a great powerful man afraid even to
ward off a blow, directed, as he thought, at his face. This
man had been trained to a degradation lower than the
slavery of the most helpless animal.

April 18th. -- In returning we spent two days at Socego,
and I employed them in collecting insects in the forest. The
greater number of trees, although so lofty, are not more
than three or four feet in circumference. There are, of
course, a few of much greater dimensions. Senhor Manuel
was then making a canoe 70 feet in length from a solid trunk,
which had originally been 110 feet long, and of great thickness.
The contrast of palm trees, growing amidst the common
branching kinds, never fails to give the scene an intertropical
character. Here the woods were ornamented by the
Cabbage Palm -- one of the most beautiful of its family. With
a stem so narrow that it might be clasped with the two
hands, it waves its elegant head at the height of forty or
fifty feet above the ground. The woody creepers, themselves
covered by other creepers, were of great thickness: some
which I measured were two feet in circumference. Many of
the older trees presented a very curious appearance from
the tresses of a liana hanging from their boughs, and resembling
bundles of hay. If the eye was turned from the world
of foliage above, to the ground beneath, it was attracted by
the extreme elegance of the leaves of the ferns and mimosae.
The latter, in some parts, covered the surface with a brushwood
only a few inches high. In walking across these thick
beds of mimosae, a broad track was marked by the change
of shade, produced by the drooping of their sensitive petioles.
It is easy to specify the individual objects of admiration in
these grand scenes; but it is not possible to give an adequate
idea of the higher feelings of wonder, astonishment, and
devotion, which fill and elevate the mind.

April 19th.--Leaving Socego, during the two first days,
we retraced our steps. It was very wearisome work, as the
road generally ran across a glaring hot sandy plain, not
far from the coast. I noticed that each time the horse put
its foot on the fine siliceous sand, a gentle chirping noise
was produced. On the third day we took a different line,
and passed through the gay little village of Madre de Deos.
This is one of the principal lines of road in Brazil; yet it
was in so bad a state that no wheeled vehicle, excepting the
clumsy bullock-wagon, could pass along. In our whole journey
we did not cross a single bridge built of stone; and
those made of logs of wood were frequently so much out of
repair, that it was necessary to go on one side to avoid them.
All distances are inaccurately known. The road is often
marked by crosses, in the place of milestones, to signify
where human blood has been spilled. On the evening of the
23rd we arrived at Rio, having finished our pleasant little
excursion.

During the remainder of my stay at Rio, I resided in a
cottage at Botofogo Bay. It was impossible to wish for
anything more delightful than thus to spend some weeks
in so magnificent a country. In England any person fond
of natural history enjoys in his walks a great advantage, by
always having something to attract his attention; but in
these fertile climates, teeming with life, the attractions are
so numerous, that he is scarcely able to walk at all.

The few observations which I was enabled to make were
almost exclusively confined to the invertebrate animals. The
existence of a division of the genus Planaria, which inhabits
the dry land, interested me much. These animals are of so
simple a structure, that Cuvier has arranged them with the
intestinal worms, though never found within the bodies of
other animals. Numerous species inhabit both salt and fresh
water; but those to which I allude were found, even in the
drier parts of the forest, beneath logs of rotten wood, on
which I believe they feed. In general form they resemble
little slugs, but are very much narrower in proportion, and
several of the species are beautifully coloured with
longitudinal stripes. Their structure is very simple: near the
middle of the under or crawling surface there are two small
transverse slits, from the anterior one of which a funnel-
shaped and highly irritable mouth can be protruded. For
some time after the rest of the animal was completely dead
from the effects of salt water or any other cause, this organ
still retained its vitality.

I found no less than twelve different species of terrestrial
Planariae in different parts of the southern hemisphere. [3]
Some specimens which I obtained at Van Dieman's Land,
I kept alive for nearly two months, feeding them on rotten
wood. Having cut one of them transversely into two nearly
equal parts, in the course of a fortnight both had the shape
of perfect animals. I had, however, so divided the body,
that one of the halves contained both the inferior orifices,
and the other, in consequence, none. In the course of twenty-
five days from the operation, the more perfect half could
not have been distinguished from any other specimen. The
other had increased much in size; and towards its posterior
end, a clear space was formed in the parenchymatous mass,
in which a rudimentary cup-shaped mouth could clearly be
distinguished; on the under surface, however, no corresponding
slit was yet open. If the increased heat of the weather,
as we approached the equator, had not destroyed all the
individuals, there can be no doubt that this last step would
have completed its structure. Although so well-known an
experiment, it was interesting to watch the gradual production
of every essential organ, out of the simple extremity
of another animal. It is extremely difficult to preserve these
Planariae; as soon as the cessation of life allows the ordinary
laws of change to act, their entire bodies become soft
and fluid, with a rapidity which I have never seen equalled.

I first visited the forest in which these Planariae were
found, in company with an old Portuguese priest who took
me out to hunt with him. The sport consisted in turning
into the cover a few dogs, and then patiently waiting to fire
at any animal which might appear. We were accompanied
by the son of a neighbouring farmer -- a good specimen of
a wild Brazilian youth. He was dressed in a tattered old
shirt and trousers, and had his head uncovered: he carried
an old-fashioned gun and a large knife. The habit of carrying
the knife is universal; and in traversing a thick wood
it is almost necessary, on account of the creeping plants.
The frequent occurrence of murder may be partly attributed
to this habit. The Brazilians are so dexterous with the
knife, that they can throw it to some distance with precision,
and with sufficient force to cause a fatal wound. I have seen
a number of little boys practising this art as a game of play
and from their skill in hitting an upright stick, they promised
well for more earnest attempts. My companion, the day
before, had shot two large bearded monkeys. These animals
have prehensile tails, the extremity of which, even after
death, can support the whole weight of the body. One of
them thus remained fast to a branch, and it was necessary
to cut down a large tree to procure it. This was soon effected,
and down came tree and monkey with an awful crash. Our
day's sport, besides the monkey, was confined to sundry small
green parrots and a few toucans. I profited, however, by my
acquaintance with the Portuguese padre, for on another
occasion he gave me a fine specimen of the Yagouaroundi
cat.

Every one has heard of the beauty of the scenery near
Botofogo. The house in which I lived was seated close
beneath the well-known mountain of the Corcovado. It has
been remarked, with much truth, that abruptly conical hills
are characteristic of the formation which Humboldt designates
as gneiss-granite. Nothing can be more striking than
the effect of these huge rounded masses of naked rock rising
out of the most luxuriant vegetation.

I was often interested by watching the clouds, which,
rolling in from seaward, formed a bank just beneath the
highest point of the Corcovado. This mountain, like most
others, when thus partly veiled, appeared to rise to a far
prouder elevation than its real height of 2300 feet. Mr.
Daniell has observed, in his meteorological essays, that a
cloud sometimes appears fixed on a mountain summit, while
the wind continues to blow over it. The same phenomenon
here presented a slightly different appearance. In this case
the cloud was clearly seen to curl over, and rapidly pass
by the summit, and yet was neither diminished nor increased
in size. The sun was setting, and a gentle southerly breeze,
striking against the southern side of the rock, mingled its
current with the colder air above; and the vapour was thus
condensed; but as the light wreaths of cloud passed over
the ridge, and came within the influence of the warmer
atmosphere of the northern sloping bank, they were immediately
re-dissolved.

The climate, during the months of May and June, or the
beginning of winter, was delightful. The mean temperature,
from observations taken at nine o'clock, both morning
and evening, was only 72 degs. It often rained heavily, but
the drying southerly winds soon again rendered the walks
pleasant. One morning, in the course of six hours, 1.6 inches
of rain fell. As this storm passed over the forests which
surround the Corcovado, the sound produced by the drops
pattering on the countless multitude of leaves was very
remarkable, it could be heard at the distance of a quarter of
a mile, and was like the rushing of a great body of water.
After the hotter days, it was delicious to sit quietly in the
garden and watch the evening pass into night. Nature, in
these climes, chooses her vocalists from more humble performers
than in Europe. A small frog, of the genus Hyla,
sits on a blade of grass about an inch above the surface of
the water, and sends forth a pleasing chirp: when several
are together they sing in harmony on different notes. I had
some difficulty in catching a specimen of this frog. The
genus Hyla has its toes terminated by small suckers; and I
found this animal could crawl up a pane of glass, when
placed absolutely perpendicular. Various cicidae and crickets,
at the same time, keep up a ceaseless shrill cry, but which,
softened by the distance, is not unpleasant. Every evening
after dark this great concert commenced; and often have I
sat listening to it, until my attention has been drawn away
by some curious passing insect.

At these times the fireflies are seen flitting about from
hedge to hedge. On a dark night the light can be seen at
about two hundred paces distant. It is remarkable that in
all the different kinds of glowworms, shining elaters, and
various marine animals (such as the crustacea, medusae,
nereidae, a coralline of the genus Clytia, and Pyrosma),
which I have observed, the light has been of a well-marked
green colour. All the fireflies, which I caught here, belonged
to the Lampyridae (in which family the English glowworm
is included), and the greater number of specimens were of
Lampyris occidentalis. [4] I found that this insect emitted
the most brilliant flashes when irritated: in the intervals,
the abdominal rings were obscured. The flash was almost
co-instantaneous in the two rings, but it was just perceptible
first in the anterior one. The shining matter was fluid and
very adhesive: little spots, where the skin had been torn,
continued bright with a slight scintillation, whilst the
uninjured parts were obscured. When the insect was decapitated
the rings remained uninterruptedly bright, but not so brilliant
as before: local irritation with a needle always increased
the vividness of the light. The rings in one instance retained
their luminous property nearly twenty-four hours after the
death of the insect. From these facts it would appear probable,
that the animal has only the power of concealing or
extinguishing the light for short intervals, and that at other
times the display is involuntary. On the muddy and wet
gravel-walks I found the larvae of this lampyris in great
numbers: they resembled in general form the female of the
English glowworm. These larvae possessed but feeble luminous
powers; very differently from their parents, on the
slightest touch they feigned death and ceased to shine; nor
did irritation excite any fresh display. I kept several of
them alive for some time: their tails are very singular organs,
for they act, by a well-fitted contrivance, as suckers or organs
of attachment, and likewise as reservoirs for saliva, or some
such fluid. I repeatedly fed them on raw meat; and I invariably
observed, that every now and then the extremity
of the tail was applied to the mouth, and a drop of fluid
exuded on the meat, which was then in the act of being consumed.
The tail, notwithstanding so much practice, does not
seem to be able to find its way to the mouth; at least the neck
was always touched first, and apparently as a guide.

When we were at Bahia, an elater or beetle (Pyrophorus
luminosus, Illig.) seemed the most common luminous insect.
The light in this case was also rendered more brilliant by
irritation. I amused myself one day by observing the springing
powers of this insect, which have not, as it appears to
me, been properly described. [5] The elater, when placed on
its back and preparing to spring, moved its head and thorax
backwards, so that the pectoral spine was drawn out, and
rested on the edge of its sheath. The same backward movement
being continued, the spine, by the full action of the
muscles, was bent like a spring; and the insect at this moment
rested on the extremity of its head and wing-cases.
The effort being suddenly relaxed, the head and thorax flew
up, and in consequence, the base of the wing-cases struck
the supporting surface with such force, that the insect by
the reaction was jerked upwards to the height of one or
two inches. The projecting points of the thorax, and the
sheath of the spine, served to steady the whole body during
the spring. In the descriptions which I have read, sufficient
stress does not appear to have been laid on the elasticity of
the spine: so sudden a spring could not be the result of simple
muscular contraction, without the aid of some mechanical
contrivance.

On several occasions I enjoyed some short but most pleasant
excursions in the neighbouring country. One day I went
to the Botanic Garden, where many plants, well known for
their great utility, might be seen growing. The leaves of the
camphor, pepper, cinnamon, and clove trees were delightfully
aromatic; and the bread-fruit, the jaca, and the mango,
vied with each other in the magnificence of their foliage.
The landscape in the neighbourhood of Bahia almost takes
its character from the two latter trees. Before seeing them,
I had no idea that any trees could cast so black a shade on
the ground. Both of them bear to the evergreen vegetation
of these climates the same kind of relation which laurels
and hollies in England do to the lighter green of the deciduous
trees. It may be observed, that the houses within the
tropics are surrounded by the most beautiful forms of
vegetation, because many of them are at the same time most
useful to man. Who can doubt that these qualities are united
in the banana, the cocoa-nut, the many kinds of palm, the
orange, and the bread-fruit tree?

During this day I was particularly struck with a remark
of Humboldt's, who often alludes to "the thin vapour which,
without changing the transparency of the air, renders its
tints more harmonious, and softens its effects." This is an
appearance which I have never observed in the temperate
zones. The atmosphere, seen through a short space of half
or three-quarters of a mile, was perfectly lucid, but at a
greater distance all colours were blended into a most beautiful
haze, of a pale French grey, mingled with a little blue.
The condition of the atmosphere between the morning and
about noon, when the effect was most evident, had undergone
little change, excepting in its dryness. In the interval,
the difference between the dew point and temperature had
increased from 7.5 to 17 degs.

On another occasion I started early and walked to the
Gavia, or topsail mountain. The air was delightfully cool
and fragrant; and the drops of dew still glittered on the
leaves of the large liliaceous plants, which shaded the
streamlets of clear water. Sitting down on a block of granite,
it was delightful to watch the various insects and birds as
they flew past. The humming-bird seems particularly fond of
such shady retired spots. Whenever I saw these little creatures
buzzing round a flower, with their wings vibrating so
rapidly as to be scarcely visible, I was reminded of the
sphinx moths: their movements and habits are indeed in
many respects very similar.

Following a pathway, I entered a noble forest, and from
a height of five or six hundred feet, one of those splendid
views was presented, which are so common on every side
of Rio. At this elevation the landscape attains its most
brilliant tint; and every form, every shade, so completely
surpasses in magnificence all that the European has ever
beheld in his own country, that he knows not how to express
his feelings. The general effect frequently recalled
to my mind the gayest scenery of the Opera-house or the
great theatres. I never returned from these excursions
empty-handed. This day I found a specimen of a curious
fungus, called Hymenophallus. Most people know the English
Phallus, which in autumn taints the air with its odious
smell: this, however, as the entomologist is aware, is, to
some of our beetles a delightful fragrance. So was it here;
for a Strongylus, attracted by the odour, alighted on the
fungus as I carried it in my hand. We here see in two distant
countries a similar relation between plants and insects of the
same families, though the species of both are different. When
man is the agent in introducing into a country a new species,
this relation is often broken: as one instance of this I may
mention, that the leaves of the cabbages and lettuces, which
in England afford food to such a multitude of slugs and
caterpillars, in the gardens near Rio are untouched.

During our stay at Brazil I made a large collection of
insects. A few general observations on the comparative
importance of the different orders may be interesting to the
English entomologist. The large and brilliantly coloured
Lepidoptera bespeak the zone they inhabit, far more plainly
than any other race of animals. I allude only to the
butterflies; for the moths, contrary to what might have been
expected from the rankness of the vegetation, certainly
appeared in much fewer numbers than in our own temperate
regions. I was much surprised at the habits of Papilio
feronia. This butterfly is not uncommon, and generally
frequents the orange-groves. Although a high flier, yet
it very frequently alights on the trunks of trees. On these
occasions its head is invariably placed downwards; and its
wings are expanded in a horizontal plane, instead of being
folded vertically, as is commonly the case. This is the only
butterfly which I have ever seen, that uses its legs for running.
Not being aware of this fact, the insect, more than once, as I
cautiously approached with my forceps, shuffled on one side
just as the instrument was on the point of closing, and thus
escaped. But a far more singular fact is the power which
this species possesses of making a noise. [6] Several times when
a pair, probably male and female, were chasing each other
in an irregular course, they passed within a few yards of me;
and I distinctly heard a clicking noise, similar to that
produced by a toothed wheel passing under a spring catch. The
noise was continued at short intervals, and could be
distinguished at about twenty yards' distance: I am certain
there is no error in the observation.

I was disappointed in the general aspect of the Coleoptera.
The number of minute and obscurely coloured beetles
is exceedingly great. [7] The cabinets of Europe can, as yet,
boast only of the larger species from tropical climates. It
is sufficient to disturb the composure of an entomologist's
mind, to look forward to the future dimensions of a complete
catalogue. The carnivorous beetles, or Carabidae, appear
in extremely few numbers within the tropics: this is
the more remarkable when compared to the case of the
carnivorous quadrupeds, which are so abundant in hot
countries. I was struck with this observation both on entering
Brazil, and when I saw the many elegant and active forms
of the Harpalidae re-appearing on the temperate plains of
La Plata. Do the very numerous spiders and rapacious
Hymenoptera supply the place of the carnivorous beetles?
The carrion-feeders and Brachelytra are very uncommon;
on the other hand, the Rhyncophora and Chrysomelidae, all
of which depend on the vegetable world for subsistence, are
present in astonishing numbers. I do not here refer to the
number of different species, but to that of the individual
insects; for on this it is that the most striking character in
the entomology of different countries depends. The orders
Orthoptera and Hemiptera are particularly numerous; as
likewise is the stinging division of the Hymenoptera the bees,
perhaps, being excepted. A person, on first entering a tropical
forest, is astonished at the labours of the ants: well-beaten
paths branch off in every direction, on which an army
of never-failing foragers may be seen, some going forth, and
others returning, burdened with pieces of green leaf, often
larger than their own bodies.

A small dark-coloured ant sometimes migrates in countless
numbers. One day, at Bahia, my attention was drawn
by observing many spiders, cockroaches, and other insects,
and some lizards, rushing in the greatest agitation across
a bare piece of ground. A little way behind, every stalk and
leaf was blackened by a small ant. The swarm having
crossed the bare space, divided itself, and descended an old
wall. By this means many insects were fairly enclosed; and
the efforts which the poor little creatures made to extricate
themselves from such a death were wonderful. When the
ants came to the road they changed their course, and in
narrow files reascended the wall. Having placed a small
stone so as to intercept one of the lines, the whole body
attacked it, and then immediately retired. Shortly afterwards
another body came to the charge, and again having failed
to make any impression, this line of march was entirely
given up. By going an inch round, the file might have
avoided the stone, and this doubtless would have happened,
if it had been originally there: but having been attacked, the
lion-hearted little warriors scorned the idea of yielding.

Certain wasp-like insects, which construct in the corners
of the verandahs clay cells for their larvae, are very numerous
in the neighbourhood of Rio. These cells they stuff full
of half-dead spiders and caterpillars, which they seem
wonderfully to know how to sting to that degree as to leave
them paralysed but alive, until their eggs are hatched; and
the larvae feed on the horrid mass of powerless, half-killed
victims -- a sight which has been described by an enthusiastic
naturalist [8] as curious and pleasing! I was much interested
one day by watching a deadly contest between a Pepsis and
a large spider of the genus Lycosa. The wasp made a sudden
dash at its prey, and then flew away: the spider was evidently
wounded, for, trying to escape, it rolled down a little
slope, but had still strength sufficient to crawl into a thick
tuft of grass. The wasp soon returned, and seemed surprised
at not immediately finding its victim. It then commenced
as regular a hunt as ever hound did after fox;
making short semicircular casts, and all the time rapidly vibrating
its wings and antennae. The spider, though well
concealed, was soon discovered, and the wasp, evidently still
afraid of its adversary's jaws, after much manoeuvring, inflicted
two stings on the under side of its thorax. At last,
carefully examining with its antennae the now motionless
spider, it proceeded to drag away the body. But I stopped
both tyrant and prey. [9]

The number of spiders, in proportion to other insects, is
here compared with England very much larger; perhaps
more so than with any other division of the articulate animals.
The variety of species among the jumping spiders
appears almost infinite. The genus, or rather family, of
Epeira, is here characterized by many singular forms; some
species have pointed coriaceous shells, others enlarged and
spiny tibiae. Every path in the forest is barricaded with the
strong yellow web of a species, belonging to the same division
with the Epeira clavipes of Fabricius, which was formerly
said by Sloane to make, in the West Indies, webs so
strong as to catch birds. A small and pretty kind of spider,
with very long fore-legs, and which appears to belong to an
undescribed genus, lives as a parasite on almost every one
of these webs. I suppose it is too insignificant to be noticed
by the great Epeira, and is therefore allowed to prey on the
minute insects, which, adhering to the lines, would otherwise
be wasted. When frightened, this little spider either
feigns death by extending its front legs, or suddenly drops
from the web. A large Epeira of the same division with
Epeira tuberculata and conica is extremely common, especially
in dry situations. Its web, which is generally placed
among the great leaves of the common agave, is sometimes
strengthened near the centre by a pair or even four zigzag
ribbons, which connect two adjoining rays. When any large
insect, as a grasshopper or wasp, is caught, the spider, by
a dexterous movement, makes it revolve very rapidly, and at
the same time emitting a band of threads from its spinners,
soon envelops its prey in a case like the cocoon of a silkworm.
The spider now examines the powerless victim, and
gives the fatal bite on the hinder part of its thorax; then
retreating, patiently waits till the poison has taken effect.
The virulence of this poison may be judged of from the fact
that in half a minute I opened the mesh, and found a large
wasp quite lifeless. This Epeira always stands with its head
downwards near the centre of the web. When disturbed, it
acts differently according to circumstances: if there is a
thicket below, it suddenly falls down; and I have distinctly
seen the thread from the spinners lengthened by the animal
while yet stationary, as preparatory to its fall. If the ground
is clear beneath, the Epeira seldom falls, but moves quickly
through a central passage from one to the other side. When
still further disturbed, it practises a most curious manoeuvre:
standing in the middle, it violently jerks the web, which it
attached to elastic twigs, till at last the whole acquires such
a rapid vibratory movement, that even the outline of the
spider's body becomes indistinct.

It is well known that most of the British spiders, when
a large insect is caught in their webs, endeavour to cut the
lines and liberate their prey, to save their nets from being
entirely spoiled. I once, however, saw in a hot-house in
Shropshire a large female wasp caught in the irregular web
of a quite small spider; and this spider, instead of cutting
the web, most perseveringly continued to entangle the body,
and especially the wings, of its prey. The wasp at first aimed
in vain repeated thrusts with its sting at its little antagonist.
Pitying the wasp, after allowing it to struggle for more than
an hour, I killed it and put it back into the web. The spider
soon returned; and an hour afterwards I was much surprised to
find it with its jaws buried in the orifice, through which the
sting is protruded by the living wasp. I drove the spider away
two or three times, but for the next twenty-four hours I
always found it again sucking at the same place. The spider
became much distended by the juices of its prey, which was
many times larger than itself.

I may here just mention, that I found, near St. Fe Bajada,
many large black spiders, with ruby-coloured marks on their
backs, having gregarious habits. The webs were placed
vertically, as is invariably the case with the genus Epeira:
they were separated from each other by a space of about
two feet, but were all attached to certain common lines,
which were of great length, and extended to all parts of
the community. In this manner the tops of some large bushes
were encompassed by the united nets. Azara [10] has described
a gregarious spider in Paraguay, which Walckanaer thinks
must be a Theridion, but probably it is an Epeira, and
perhaps even the same species with mine. I cannot, however,
recollect seeing a central nest as large as a hat, in which,
during autumn, when the spiders die, Azara says the eggs are
deposited. As all the spiders which I saw were of the same
size, they must have been nearly of the same age. This
gregarious habit, in so typical a genus as Epeira, among
insects, which are so bloodthirsty and solitary that even
the two sexes attack each other, is a very singular fact.

In a lofty valley of the Cordillera, near Mendoza, I found
another spider with a singularly-formed web. Strong lines
radiated in a vertical plane from a common centre, where the
insect had its station; but only two of the rays were connected
by a symmetrical mesh-work; so that the net, instead of being,
as is generally the case, circular, consisted of a wedge-shaped
segment. All the webs were similarly constructed.

[1] Venda, the Portuguese name for an inn.

[2] Annales des Sciences Naturelles for 1833.

[3] I have described and named these species in the Annals of
Nat. Hist., vol. xiv. p. 241.

[4] I am greatly indebted to Mr. Waterhouse for his kindness
in naming for me this and many other insects, and giving me
much valuable assistance.

[5] Kirby's Entomology, vol. ii. p. 317.

[6] Mr. Doubleday has lately described (before the Entomological
Society, March 3rd, 1845) a peculiar structure in the wings
of this butterfly, which seems to be the means of its making
its noise. He says, "It is remarkable for having a sort of
drum at the base of the fore wings, between the costal nervure
and the subcostal. These two nervures, moreover, have a peculiar
screw-like diaphragm or vessel in the interior." I find in
Langsdorff's travels (in the years 1803-7, p. 74) it is said,
that in the island of St. Catherine's on the coast of Brazil,
a butterfly called Februa Hoffmanseggi, makes a noise, when
flying away, like a rattle.

[7] I may mention, as a common instance of one day's (June 23rd)
collecting, when I was not attending particularly to the
Coleoptera, that I caught sixty-eight species of that order.
Among these, there were only two of the Carabidae, four
Brachelytra, fifteen Rhyncophora, and fourteen of the
Chrysomelidae. Thirty-seven species of Arachnidae, which I
brought home, will be sufficient to prove that I was not
paying overmuch attention to the generally favoured order
of Coleoptera.

[8] In a MS. in the British Museum by Mr. Abbott, who made
his observations in Georgia; see Mr. A. White's paper in the
"Annals of Nat. Hist.," vol. vii. p. 472. Lieut. Hutton has
described a sphex with similar habits in India, in the "Journal
of the Asiatic Society," vol. i. p. 555.

[9] Don Felix Azara (vol. i. p. 175), mentioning a hymenopterous
insect, probably of the same genus, says he saw it dragging
a dead spider through tall grass, in a straight line to its
nest, which was one hundred and sixty-three paces distant. He
adds that the wasp, in order to find the road, every now and
then made "demi-tours d'environ trois palmes."

[10] Azara's Voyage, vol. i. p. 213

CHAPTER III

MALDONADO

Monte Video -- Excursion to R. Polanco -- Lazo and Bolas --
Partridges -- Absence of Trees -- Deer -- Capybara, or River
Hog -- Tucutuco -- Molothrus, cuckoo-like habits -- Tyrant-
flycatcher -- Mocking-bird -- Carrion Hawks -- Tubes formed
by Lightning -- House struck.

July 5th, 1832 -- In the morning we got under way, and stood
out of the splendid harbour of Rio de Janeiro. In our passage
to the Plata, we saw nothing particular, excepting on one day
a great shoal of porpoises, many hundreds in number. The whole
sea was in places furrowed by them; and a most extraordinary
spectacle was presented, as hundreds, proceeding together by
jumps, in which their whole bodies were exposed, thus cut the
water. When the ship was running nine knots an hour, these
animals could cross and recross the bows with the greatest of
ease, and then dash away right ahead. As soon as we entered
the estuary of the Plata, the weather was very unsettled. One
dark night we were surrounded by numerous seals and penguins,
which made such strange noises, that the officer on watch
reported he could hear the cattle bellowing on shore. On a
second night we witnessed a splendid scene of natural fireworks;
the mast-head and yard-arm-ends shone with St. Elmo's light;
and the form of the vane could almost be traced, as if it had
been rubbed with phosphorus. The sea was so highly luminous,
that the tracks of the penguins were marked by a fiery wake,
and the darkness of the sky was momentarily illuminated by
the most vivid lightning.

When within the mouth of the river, I was interested by
observing how slowly the waters of the sea and river mixed.
The latter, muddy and discoloured, from its less specific
gravity, floated on the surface of the salt water. This was
curiously exhibited in the wake of the vessel, where a line
of blue water was seen mingling in little eddies, with the
adjoining fluid.

July 26th. -- We anchored at Monte Video. The Beagle
was employed in surveying the extreme southern and eastern
coasts of America, south of the Plata, during the two succeeding
years. To prevent useless repetitions, I will extract
those parts of my journal which refer to the same districts
without always attending to the order in which we visited
them.

MALDONADO is situated on the northern bank of the Plata,
and not very far from the mouth of the estuary. It is a
most quiet, forlorn, little town; built, as is universally the
case in these countries, with the streets running at right
angles to each other, and having in the middle a large plaza
or square, which, from its size, renders the scantiness of the
population more evident. It possesses scarcely any trade;
the exports being confined to a few hides and living cattle.
The inhabitants are chiefly landowners, together with a few
shopkeepers and the necessary tradesmen, such as blacksmiths
and carpenters, who do nearly all the business for a
circuit of fifty miles round. The town is separated from the
river by a band of sand-hillocks, about a mile broad: it is
surrounded, on all other sides, by an open slightly-undulating
country, covered by one uniform layer of fine green turf,
on which countless herds of cattle, sheep, and horses graze.
There is very little land cultivated even close to the town.
A few hedges, made of cacti and agave, mark out where
some wheat or Indian corn has been planted. The features
of the country are very similar along the whole northern
bank of the Plata. The only difference is, that here the
granitic hills are a little bolder. The scenery is very
uninteresting; there is scarcely a house, an enclosed piece of
ground, or even a tree, to give it an air of cheerfulness
Yet, after being imprisoned for some time in a ship, there is
a charm in the unconfined feeling of walking over boundless
plains of turf. Moreover, if your view is limited to a small
space, many objects possess beauty. Some of the smaller
birds are brilliantly coloured; and the bright green sward,
browsed short by the cattle, is ornamented by dwarf flowers,
among which a plant, looking like the daisy, claimed the
place of an old friend. What would a florist say to whole
tracts, so thickly covered by the Verbena melindres, as, even
at a distance, to appear of the most gaudy scarlet?

I stayed ten weeks at Maldonado, in which time a nearly
perfect collection of the animals, birds, and reptiles, was
procured. Before making any observations respecting them,
I will give an account of a little excursion I made as far
as the river Polanco, which is about seventy miles distant,
in a northerly direction. I may mention, as a proof how
cheap everything is in this country, that I paid only two
dollars a day, or eight shillings, for two men, together with
a troop of about a dozen riding-horses. My companions
were well armed with pistols and sabres; a precaution which
I thought rather unnecessary but the first piece of news
we heard was, that, the day before, a traveller from Monte
Video had been found dead on the road, with his throat
cut. This happened close to a cross, the record of a former
murder.

On the first night we slept at a retired little country-house;
and there I soon found out that I possessed two or
three articles, especially a pocket compass, which created
unbounded astonishment. In every house I was asked to
show the compass, and by its aid, together with a map, to
point out the direction of various places. It excited the
liveliest admiration that I, a perfect stranger, should know
the road (for direction and road are synonymous in this open
country) to places where I had never been. At one house
a young woman, who was ill in bed, sent to entreat me to
come and show her the compass. If their surprise was great,
mine was greater, to find such ignorance among people who
possessed their thousands of cattle, and "estancias" of great
extent. It can only be accounted for by the circumstance
that this retired part of the country is seldom visited by
foreigners. I was asked whether the earth or sun moved;
whether it was hotter or colder to the north; where Spain
was, and many other such questions. The greater number of
the inhabitants had an indistinct idea that England, London,
and North America, were different names for the same
place; but the better informed well knew that London and
North America were separate countries close together, and
that England was a large town in London! I carried with
me some promethean matches, which I ignited by biting; it
was thought so wonderful that a man should strike fire with
his teeth, that it was usual to collect the whole family to
see it: I was once offered a dollar for a single one. Washing
my face in the morning caused much speculation at the village
of Las Minas; a superior tradesman closely cross-questioned
me about so singular a practice; and likewise why on
board we wore our beards; for he had heard from my guide
that we did so. He eyed me with much suspicion; perhaps
he had heard of ablutions in the Mahomedan religion, and
knowing me to be a heretick, probably he came to the conclusion
that all hereticks were Turks. It is the general custom
in this country to ask for a night's lodging at the first
convenient house. The astonishment at the compass, and
my other feats of jugglery, was to a certain degree
advantageous, as with that, and the long stories my guides
told of my breaking stones, knowing venomous from harmless
snakes, collecting insects, etc., I repaid them for their
hospitality. I am writing as if I had been among the inhabitants
of central Africa: Banda Oriental would not be flattered by
the comparison; but such were my feelings at the time.

The next day we rode to the village of Las Minas. The
country was rather more hilly, but otherwise continued the
same; an inhabitant of the Pampas no doubt would have
considered it as truly Alpine. The country is so thinly
inhabited, that during the whole day we scarcely met a single
person. Las Minas is much smaller even than Maldonado.
It is seated on a little plain, and is surrounded by low rocky
mountains. It is of the usual symmetrical form, and with
its whitewashed church standing in the centre, had rather
a pretty appearance. The outskirting houses rose out of the
plain like isolated beings, without the accompaniment of
gardens or courtyards. This is generally the case in the
country, and all the houses have, in consequence an
uncomfortable aspect. At night we stopped at a pulperia,
or drinking-shop. During the evening a great number of Gauchos
came in to drink spirits and smoke cigars: their appearance
is very striking; they are generally tall and handsome, but
with a proud and dissolute expression of countenance. They
frequently wear their moustaches and long black hair curling
down their backs. With their brightly coloured garments,
great spurs clanking about their heels, and knives
stuck as daggers (and often so used) at their waists, they
look a very different race of men from what might be expected
from their name of Gauchos, or simple countrymen.
Their politeness is excessive; they never drink their spirits
without expecting you to taste it; but whilst making their
exceedingly graceful bow, they seem quite as ready, if occasion
offered, to cut your throat.

On the third day we pursued rather an irregular course,
as I was employed in examining some beds of marble. On
the fine plains of turf we saw many ostriches (Struthio
rhea). Some of the flocks contained as many as twenty or
thirty birds. These, when standing on any little eminence,
and seen against the clear sky, presented a very noble
appearance. I never met with such tame ostriches in any other
part of the country: it was easy to gallop up within a short
distance of them; but then, expanding their wings, they
made all sail right before the wind, and soon left the horse
astern.

At night we came to the house of Don Juan Fuentes, a
rich landed proprietor, but not personally known to either
of my companions. On approaching the house of a stranger,
it is usual to follow several little points of etiquette: riding
up slowly to the door, the salutation of Ave Maria is given,
and until somebody comes out and asks you to alight, it is
not customary even to get off your horse: the formal answer
of the owner is, "sin pecado concebida" -- that is, conceived
without sin. Having entered the house, some general conversation
is kept up for a few minutes, till permission is
asked to pass the night there. This is granted as a matter
of course. The stranger then takes his meals with the family,
and a room is assigned him, where with the horsecloths
belonging to his recado (or saddle of the Pampas) he makes
his bed. It is curious how similar circumstances produce
such similar results in manners. At the Cape of Good Hope
the same hospitality, and very nearly the same points of
etiquette, are universally observed. The difference, however,
between the character of the Spaniard and that of the Dutch
boer is shown, by the former never asking his guest a single
question beyond the strictest rule of politeness, whilst the
honest Dutchman demands where he has been, where he is
going, what is his business, and even how many brothers
sisters, or children he may happen to have.

Shortly after our arrival at Don Juan's, one of the largest
herds of cattle was driven in towards the house, and three
beasts were picked out to be slaughtered for the supply of
the establishment. These half-wild cattle are very active;
and knowing full well the fatal lazo, they led the horses a
long and laborious chase. After witnessing the rude wealth
displayed in the number of cattle, men, and horses, Don
Juan's miserable house was quite curious. The floor consisted
of hardened mud, and the windows were without
glass; the sitting-room boasted only of a few of the roughest
chairs and stools, with a couple of tables. The supper, although
several strangers were present, consisted of two huge
piles, one of roast beef, the other of boiled, with some pieces
of pumpkin: besides this latter there was no other vegetable,
and not even a morsel of bread. For drinking, a large
earthenware jug of water served the whole party. Yet this
man was the owner of several square miles of land, of which
nearly every acre would produce corn, and, with a little
trouble, all the common vegetables. The evening was spent in
smoking, with a little impromptu singing, accompanied by
the guitar. The signoritas all sat together in one corner
of the room, and did not sup with the men.

So many works have been written about these countries,
that it is almost superfluous to describe either the lazo or
the bolas. The lazo consists of a very strong, but thin,
well-plaited rope, made of raw hide. One end is attached to the
broad surcingle, which fastens together the complicated gear
of the recado, or saddle used in the Pampas; the other is
terminated by a small ring of iron or brass, by which a noose
can be formed. The Gaucho, when he is going to use the
lazo, keeps a small coil in his bridle-hand, and in the other
holds the running noose which is made very large, generally
having a diameter of about eight feet. This he whirls
round his head, and by the dexterous movement of his wrist
keeps the noose open; then, throwing it, he causes it to fall
on any particular spot he chooses. The lazo, when not used,
is tied up in a small coil to the after part of the recado.
The bolas, or balls, are of two kinds: the simplest, which
is chiefly used for catching ostriches, consists of two round
stones, covered with leather, and united by a thin plaited
thong, about eight feet long. The other kind differs only
in having three balls united by the thongs to a common
centre. The Gaucho holds the smallest of the three in his
hand, and whirls the other two round and round his head;
then, taking aim, sends them like chain shot revolving
through the air. The balls no sooner strike any object, than,
winding round it, they cross each other, and become firmly
hitched. The size and weight of the balls vary, according
to the purpose for which they are made: when of stone,
although not larger than an apple, they are sent with such
force as sometimes to break the leg even of a horse. I have
seen the balls made of wood, and as large as a turnip, for
the sake of catching these animals without injuring them.
The balls are sometimes made of iron, and these can be
hurled to the greatest distance. The main difficulty in using
either lazo or bolas is to ride so well as to be able at full
speed, and while suddenly turning about, to whirl them so
steadily round the head, as to take aim: on foot any person
would soon learn the art. One day, as I was amusing myself
by galloping and whirling the balls round my head, by accident
the free one struck a bush, and its revolving motion
being thus destroyed, it immediately fell to the ground, and,
like magic, caught one hind leg of my horse; the other ball
was then jerked out of my hand, and the horse fairly secured.
Luckily he was an old practised animal, and knew
what it meant; otherwise he would probably have kicked
till he had thrown himself down. The Gauchos roared with
laughter; they cried out that they had seen every sort of
animal caught, but had never before seen a man caught by
himself.

During the two succeeding days, I reached the furthest
point which I was anxious to examine. The country wore
the same aspect, till at last the fine green turf became more
wearisome than a dusty turnpike road. We everywhere saw
great numbers of partridges (Nothura major). These birds
do not go in coveys, nor do they conceal themselves like
the English kind. It appears a very silly bird. A man on
horseback by riding round and round in a circle, or rather
in a spire, so as to approach closer each time, may knock
on the head as many as he pleases. The more common
method is to catch them with a running noose, or little lazo,
made of the stem of an ostrich's feather, fastened to the
end of a long stick. A boy on a quiet old horse will frequently
thus catch thirty or forty in a day. In Arctic North
America [1] the Indians catch the Varying Hare by walking
spirally round and round it, when on its form: the middle
of the day is reckoned the best time, when the sun is high,
and the shadow of the hunter not very long.

On our return to Maldonado, we followed rather a different
line of road. Near Pan de Azucar, a landmark well
known to all those who have sailed up the Plata, I stayed
a day at the house of a most hospitable old Spaniard. Early
in the morning we ascended the Sierra de las Animas. By
the aid of the rising sun the scenery was almost picturesque.
To the westward the view extended over an immense level
plain as far as the Mount, at Monte Video, and to the eastward,
over the mammillated country of Maldonado. On
the summit of the mountain there were several small heaps
of stones, which evidently had lain there for many years.
My companion assured me that they were the work of the
Indians in the old time. The heaps were similar, but on
a much smaller scale, to those so commonly found on the
mountains of Wales. The desire to signalize any event, on
the highest point of the neighbouring land, seems an universal
passion with mankind. At the present day, not a
single Indian, either civilized or wild, exists in this part
of the province; nor am I aware that the former inhabitants
have left behind them any more permanent records than
these insignificant piles on the summit of the Sierra de las
Animas.

The general, and almost entire absence of trees in Banda
Oriental is remarkable. Some of the rocky hills are partly
covered by thickets, and on the banks of the larger streams,
especially to the north of Las Minas, willow-trees are not
uncommon. Near the Arroyo Tapes I heard of a wood of
palms; and one of these trees, of considerable size, I saw
near the Pan de Azucar, in lat. 35 degs. These, and the trees
planted by the Spaniards, offer the only exceptions to the
general scarcity of wood. Among the introduced kinds may
be enumerated poplars, olives, peach, and other fruit trees:
the peaches succeed so well, that they afford the main supply
of firewood to the city of Buenos Ayres. Extremely level
countries, such as the Pampas, seldom appear favourable to
the growth of trees. This may possibly be attributed either
to the force of the winds, or the kind of drainage. In the
nature of the land, however, around Maldonado, no such
reason is apparent; the rocky mountains afford protected
situations; enjoying various kinds of soil; streamlets of
water are common at the bottoms of nearly every valley;
and the clayey nature of the earth seems adapted to retain
moisture. It has been inferred with much probability, that
the presence of woodland is generally determined [2] by the
annual amount of moisture; yet in this province abundant
and heavy rain falls during the winter; and the summer,
though dry, is not so in any excessive degree. [3] We see nearly
the whole of Australia covered by lofty trees, yet that country
possesses a far more arid climate. Hence we must look
to some other and unknown cause.

Confining our view to South America, we should certainly
be tempted to believe that trees flourished only under a very
humid climate; for the limit of the forest-land follows, in a
most remarkable manner, that of the damp winds. In the
southern part of the continent, where the western gales,
charged with moisture from the Pacific, prevail, every island
on the broken west coast, from lat. 38 degs. to the extreme
point of Tierra del Fuego, is densely covered by impenetrable
forests. On the eastern side of the Cordillera, over the same
extent of latitude, where a blue sky and a fine climate prove
that the atmosphere has been deprived of its moisture by
passing over the mountains, the arid plains of Patagonia
support a most scanty vegetation. In the more northern
parts of the continent, within the limits of the constant
south-eastern trade-wind, the eastern side is ornamented by
magnificent forests; whilst the western coast, from lat.
4 degs. S. to lat. 32 degs. S., may be described as a
desert; on this western coast, northward of lat. 4 degs.
S., where the trade-wind loses its regularity, and heavy
torrents of rain fall periodically, the shores of the
Pacific, so utterly desert in Peru, assume near Cape
Blanco the character of luxuriance so celebrated at
Guyaquil and Panama. Hence in the southern and northern
parts of the continent, the forest and desert lands occupy
reversed positions with respect to the Cordillera, and these
positions are apparently determined by the direction of the
prevalent winds. In the middle of the continent there is a
broad intermediate band, including central Chile and the
provinces of La Plata, where the rain-bringing winds have
not to pass over lofty mountains, and where the land is neither
a desert nor covered by forests. But even the rule, if
confined to South America, of trees flourishing only in a
climate rendered humid by rain-bearing winds, has a strongly
marked exception in the case of the Falkland Islands. These
islands, situated in the same latitude with Tierra del Fuego
and only between two and three hundred miles distant from
it, having a nearly similar climate, with a geological
formation almost identical, with favourable situations and the
same kind of peaty soil, yet can boast of few plants deserving
even the title of bushes; whilst in Tierra del Fuego it is
impossible to find an acre of land not covered by the densest
forest. In this case, both the direction of the heavy gales
of wind and of the currents of the sea are favourable to
the transport of seeds from Tierra del Fuego, as is shown
by the canoes and trunks of trees drifted from that country,
and frequently thrown on the shores of the Western Falkland.
Hence perhaps it is, that there are many plants in
common to the two countries but with respect to the trees
of Tierra del Fuego, even attempts made to transplant them
have failed.

During our stay at Maldonado I collected several quadrupeds,
eighty kinds of birds, and many reptiles, including
nine species of snakes. Of the indigenous mammalia, the
only one now left of any size, which is common, is the Cervus
campestris. This deer is exceedingly abundant, often in
small herds, throughout the countries bordering the Plata
and in Northern Patagonia. If a person crawling close along
the ground, slowly advances towards a herd, the deer frequently,
out of curiosity, approach to reconnoitre him. I
have by this means, killed from one spot, three out of the
same herd. Although so tame and inquisitive, yet when
approached on horseback, they are exceedingly wary. In this
country nobody goes on foot, and the deer knows man as its
enemy only when he is mounted and armed with the bolas.
At Bahia Blanca, a recent establishment in Northern Patagonia,
I was surprised to find how little the deer cared for
the noise of a gun: one day I fired ten times from within
eighty yards at one animal; and it was much more startled
at the ball cutting up the ground than at the report of
the rifle. My powder being exhausted, I was obliged to
get up (to my shame as a sportsman be it spoken, though
well able to kill birds on the wing) and halloo till the deer
ran away.

The most curious fact with respect to this animal, is the
overpoweringly strong and offensive odour which proceeds
from the buck. It is quite indescribable: several times
whilst skinning the specimen which is now mounted at the
Zoological Museum, I was almost overcome by nausea. I
tied up the skin in a silk pocket-handkerchief, and so carried
it home: this handkerchief, after being well washed, I
continually used, and it was of course as repeatedly washed;
yet every time, for a space of one year and seven months, when
first unfolded, I distinctly perceived the odour. This appears
an astonishing instance of the permanence of some
matter, which nevertheless in its nature must be most subtile
and volatile. Frequently, when passing at the distance of
half a mile to leeward of a herd, I have perceived the whole
air tainted with the effluvium. I believe the smell from the
buck is most powerful at the period when its horns are perfect,
or free from the hairy skin. When in this state the
meat is, of course, quite uneatable; but the Gauchos assert,
that if buried for some time in fresh earth, the taint is
removed. I have somewhere read that the islanders in the
north of Scotland treat the rank carcasses of the fish-eating
birds in the same manner.

The order Rodentia is here very numerous in species:
of mice alone I obtained no less than eight kinds. [4] The
largest gnawing animal in the world, the Hydrochaerus capybara
(the water-hog), is here also common. One which I
shot at Monte Video weighed ninety-eight pounds: its
length from the end of the snout to the stump-like tail, was
three feet two inches; and its girth three feet eight. These
great Rodents occasionally frequent the islands in the mouth
of the Plata, where the water is quite salt, but are far more
abundant on the borders of fresh-water lakes and rivers.
Near Maldonado three or four generally live together. In
the daytime they either lie among the aquatic plants, or
openly feed on the turf plain. [5] When viewed at a distance,
from their manner of walking and colour they resemble pigs:
but when seated on their haunches, and attentively watching
any object with one eye, they reassume the appearance
of their congeners, cavies and rabbits. Both the front and
side view of their head has quite a ludicrous aspect, from
the great depth of their jaw. These animals, at Maldonado,
were very tame; by cautiously walking, I approached within
three yards of four old ones. This tameness may probably
be accounted for, by the Jaguar having been banished for
some years, and by the Gaucho not thinking it worth his
while to hunt them. As I approached nearer and nearer
they frequently made their peculiar noise, which is a low
abrupt grunt, not having much actual sound, but rather arising
from the sudden expulsion of air: the only noise I know
at all like it, is the first hoarse bark of a large dog. Having
watched the four from almost within arm's length (and they
me) for several minutes, they rushed into the water at full
gallop with the greatest impetuosity, and emitted at the
same time their bark. After diving a short distance they
came again to the surface, but only just showed the upper
part of their heads. When the female is swimming in the
water, and has young ones, they are said to sit on her back.
These animals are easily killed in numbers; but their skins
are of trifling value, and the meat is very indifferent. On
the islands in the Rio Parana they are exceedingly abundant,
and afford the ordinary prey to the Jaguar.

The Tucutuco (Ctenomys Brasiliensis) is a curious small
animal, which may be briefly described as a Gnawer, with
the habits of a mole. It is extremely numerous in some
parts of the country, but it is difficult to be procured, and
never, I believe, comes out of the ground. It throws up at
the mouth of its burrows hillocks of earth like those of the
mole, but smaller. Considerable tracts of country are so
completely undermined by these animals, that horses in passing
over, sink above their fetlocks. The tucutucos appear,
to a certain degree, to be gregarious: the man who procured
the specimens for me had caught six together, and he
said this was a common occurrence. They are nocturnal in
their habits; and their principal food is the roots of plants,
which are the object of their extensive and superficial burrows.
This animal is universally known by a very peculiar
noise which it makes when beneath the ground. A person,
the first time he hears it, is much surprised; for it is not
easy to tell whence it comes, nor is it possible to guess what
kind of creature utters it. The noise consists in a short, but
not rough, nasal grunt, which is monotonously repeated
about four times in quick succession: [6] the name Tucutuco is
given in imitation of the sound. Where this animal is
abundant, it may be heard at all times of the day, and sometimes
directly beneath one's feet. When kept in a room, the
tucutucos move both slowly and clumsily, which appears
owing to the outward action of their hind legs; and they are
quite incapable, from the socket of the thigh-bone not having
a certain ligament, of jumping even the smallest vertical
height. They are very stupid in making any attempt to
escape; when angry or frightened they utter the tucutuco.
Of those I kept alive several, even the first day, became
quite tame, not attempting to bite or to run away; others
were a little wilder.

The man who caught them asserted that very many are
invariably found blind. A specimen which I preserved in
spirits was in this state; Mr. Reid considers it to be the
effect of inflammation in the nictitating membrane. When the
animal was alive I placed my finger within half an inch of
its head, and not the slightest notice was taken: it made its
way, however, about the room nearly as well as the others.
Considering the strictly subterranean habits of the tucutuco,
the blindness, though so common, cannot be a very serious
evil; yet it appears strange that any animal should possess
an organ frequently subject to be injured. Lamarck would
have been delighted with this fact, had he known it, when
speculating [7] (probably with more truth than usual with him)
on the gradually _acquired_ blindness of the Asphalax, a
Gnawer living under ground, and of the Proteus, a reptile
living in dark caverns filled with water; in both of which
animals the eye is in an almost rudimentary state, and is
covered by a tendinous membrane and skin. In the common
mole the eye is extraordinarily small but perfect, though
many anatomists doubt whether it is connected with the true
optic nerve; its vision must certainly be imperfect, though
probably useful to the animal when it leaves its burrow. In
the tucutuco, which I believe never comes to the surface of
the ground, the eye is rather larger, but often rendered blind
and useless, though without apparently causing any inconvenience
to the animal; no doubt Lamarck would have said
that the tucutuco is now passing into the state of the
Asphalax and Proteus.

Birds of many kinds are extremely abundant on the undulating,
grassy plains around Maldonado. There are several
species of a family allied in structure and manners to our
Starling: one of these (Molothrus niger) is remarkable from
its habits. Several may often be seen standing together on
tbe back of a cow or horse; and while perched on a hedge,
pluming themselves in the sun, they sometimes attempt to
sing, or rather to hiss; the noise being very peculiar,
resembling that of bubbles of air passing rapidly from a small
orifice under water, so as to produce an acute sound. According
to Azara, this bird, like the cuckoo, deposits its eggs
in other birds' nests. I was several times told by the country
people that there certainly is some bird having this
habit; and my assistant in collecting, who is a very accurate
person, found a nest of the sparrow of this country (Zonotrichia
matutina), with one egg in it larger than the others,
and of a different colour and shape. In North America
there is another species of Molothrus (M. pecoris), which
has a similar cuckoo-like habit, and which is most closely
allied in every respect to the species from the Plata, even in
such trifling peculiarities as standing on the backs of cattle;
it differs only in being a little smaller, and in its plumage
and eggs being of a slightly different shade of colour. This
close agreement in structure and habits, in representative
species coming from opposite quarters of a great continent,
always strikes one as interesting, though of common
occurrence.

Mr. Swainson has well remarked, [8] that with the exception
of the Molothrus pecoris, to which must be added the
M. niger, the cuckoos are the only birds which can be called
truly parasitical; namely, such as "fasten themselves, as it
were, on another living animal, whose animal heat brings
their young into life, whose food they live upon, and whose
death would cause theirs during the period of infancy." It
is remarkable that some of the species, but not all, both of
the Cuckoo and Molothrus, should agree in this one strange
habit of their parasitical propagation, whilst opposed to each
other in almost every other habit: the molothrus, like our
starling, is eminently sociable, and lives on the open plains
without art or disguise: the cuckoo, as every one knows,
is a singularly shy bird; it frequents the most retired thickets,
and feeds on fruit and caterpillars. In structure also
these two genera are widely removed from each other.
Many theories, even phrenological theories, have been advanced
to explain the origin of the cuckoo laying its eggs in
other birds' nests. M. Prevost alone, I think, has thrown
light by his observations [9] on this puzzle: he finds that the
female cuckoo, which, according to most observers, lays at
least from four to six eggs, must pair with the male each time
after laying only one or two eggs. Now, if the cuckoo was
obliged to sit on her own eggs, she would either have to sit
on all together, and therefore leave those first laid so long,
that they probably would become addled; or she would have
to hatch separately each egg, or two eggs, as soon as laid:
but as the cuckoo stays a shorter time in this country than
any other migratory bird, she certainly would not have time
enough for the successive hatchings. Hence we can perceive
in the fact of the cuckoo pairing several times, and laying
her eggs at intervals, the cause of her depositing her eggs
in other birds' nests, and leaving them to the care of
foster-parents. I am strongly inclined to believe that this
view is correct, from having been independently led (as we
shall hereafter see) to an analogous conclusion with regard
to the South American ostrich, the females of which are
parasitical, if I may so express it, on each other; each
female laying several eggs in the nests of several other
females, and the male ostrich undertaking all the cares
of incubation, like the strange foster-parents with the
cuckoo.

I will mention only two other birds, which are very common,
and render themselves prominent from their habits.
The Saurophagus sulphuratus is typical of the great American
tribe of tyrant-flycatchers. In its structure it closely
approaches the true shrikes, but in its habits may be compared
to many birds. I have frequently observed it, hunting
a field, hovering over one spot like a hawk, and then proceeding
on to another. When seen thus suspended in the air,
it might very readily at a short distance be mistaken for one
of the Rapacious order; its stoop, however, is very inferior
in force and rapidity to that of a hawk. At other times
the Saurophagus haunts the neighbourhood of water, and
there, like a kingfisher, remaining stationary, it catches any
small fish which may come near the margin. These birds are
not unfrequently kept either in cages or in courtyards, with
their wings cut. They soon become tame, and are very
amusing from their cunning odd manners, which were
described to me as being similar to those of the common
magpie. Their flight is undulatory, for the weight of the
head and bill appears too great for the body. In the
evening the Saurophagus takes its stand on a bush, often
by the roadside, and continually repeats without a change
a shrill and rather agreeable cry, which somewhat resembles
articulate words: the Spaniards say it is like the words
"Bien te veo" (I see you well), and accordingly have given
it this name.

A mocking-bird (Mimus orpheus), called by the inhabitants
Calandria, is remarkable, from possessing a song far
superior to that of any other bird in the country: indeed, it
is nearly the only bird in South America which I have
observed to take its stand for the purpose of singing. The
song may be compared to that of the Sedge warbler, but
is more powerful; some harsh notes and some very high
ones, being mingled with a pleasant warbling. It is heard
only during the spring. At other times its cry is harsh and
far from harmonious. Near Maldonado these birds were
tame and bold; they constantly attended the country houses
in numbers, to pick the meat which was hung up on the posts
or walls: if any other small bird joined the feast, the
Calandria soon chased it away. On the wide uninhabited plains
of Patagonia another closely allied species, O. Patagonica
of d'Orbigny, which frequents the valleys clothed with
spiny bushes, is a wilder bird, and has a slightly different
tone of voice. It appears to me a curious circumstance, as
showing the fine shades of difference in habits, that judging
from this latter respect alone, when I first saw this second
species, I thought it was different from the Maldonado kind.
Having afterwards procured a specimen, and comparing the
two without particular care, they appeared so very similar,
that I changed my opinion; but now Mr. Gould says that they
are certainly distinct; a conclusion in conformity with the
trifling difference of habit, of which, of course, he was not
aware.

The number, tameness, and disgusting habits of the
carrion-feeding hawks of South America make them
pre-eminently striking to any one accustomed only to the birds
of Northern Europe. In this list may be included four species
of the Caracara or Polyborus, the Turkey buzzard, the Gallinazo,
and the Condor. The Caracaras are, from their
structure, placed among the eagles: we shall soon see how
ill they become so high a rank. In their habits they well
supply the place of our carrion-crows, magpies, and ravens;
a tribe of birds widely distributed over the rest of the world,
but entirely absent in South America. To begin with the
Polyborus Brasiliensis: this is a common bird, and has a wide
geographical range; it is most numerous on the grassy savannahs
of La Plata (where it goes by the name of Carrancha),
and is far from unfrequent throughout the sterile plains of
Patagonia. In the desert between the rivers Negro and Colorado,
numbers constantly attend the line of road to devour
the carcasses of the exhausted animals which chance to
perish from fatigue and thirst. Although thus common in
these dry and open countries, and likewise on the arid shores
of the Pacific, it is nevertheless found inhabiting the damp
impervious forests of West Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego.
The Carranchas, together with the Chimango, constantly
attend in numbers the estancias and slaughtering-houses. If
an animal dies on the plain the Gallinazo commences the
feast, and then the two species of Polyborus pick the bones
clean. These birds, although thus commonly feeding together,
are far from being friends. When the Carrancha is
quietly seated on the branch of a tree or on the ground, the
Chimango often continues for a long time flying backwards
and forwards, up and down, in a semicircle, trying each time
at the bottom of the curve to strike its larger relative. The
Carrancha takes little notice, except by bobbing its head.
Although the Carranchas frequently assemble in numbers,
they are not gregarious; for in desert places they may be
seen solitary, or more commonly by pairs.

The Carranchas are said to be very crafty, and to steal
great numbers of eggs. They attempt, also, together with
the Chimango, to pick off the scabs from the sore backs of
horses and mules. The poor animal, on the one hand, with
its ears down and its back arched; and, on the other, the
hovering bird, eyeing at the distance of a yard the disgusting
morsel, form a picture, which has been described by Captain
Head with his own peculiar spirit and accuracy. These
false eagles most rarely kill any living bird or animal; and
their vulture-like, necrophagous habits are very evident to
any one who has fallen asleep on the desolate plains of
Patagonia, for when he wakes, he will see, on each surrounding
hillock, one of these birds patiently watching him with an
evil eye: it is a feature in the landscape of these countries,
which will be recognised by every one who has wandered
over them. If a party of men go out hunting with dogs
and horses, they will be accompanied, during the day, by
several of these attendants. After feeding, the uncovered
craw protrudes; at such times, and indeed generally, the
Carrancha is an inactive, tame, and cowardly bird. Its
flight is heavy and slow, like that of an English rook. It
seldom soars; but I have twice seen one at a great height
gliding through the air with much ease. It runs (in
contradistinction to hopping), but not quite so quickly as some
of its congeners. At times the Carrancha is noisy, but is
not generally so: its cry is loud, very harsh and peculiar, and
may be likened to the sound of the Spanish guttural g, followed
by a rough double r r; when uttering this cry it
elevates its head higher and higher, till at last, with its
beak wide open, the crown almost touches the lower part of
the back. This fact, which has been doubted, is quite true;
I have seen them several times with their heads backwards
in a completely inverted position. To these observations I
may add, on the high authority of Azara, that the Carrancha
feeds on worms, shells, slugs, grasshoppers, and frogs; that
it destroys young lambs by tearing the umbilical cord; and
that it pursues the Gallinazo, till that bird is compelled to
vomit up the carrion it may have recently gorged. Lastly,
Azara states that several Carranchas, five or six together,
will unite in chase of large birds, even such as herons. All
these facts show that it is a bird of very versatile habits and
considerable ingenuity.

The Polyborus Chimango is considerably smaller than the
last species. It is truly omnivorous, and will eat even bread;
and I was assured that it materially injures the potato crops
in Chiloe, by stocking up the roots when first planted. Of
all the carrion-feeders it is generally the last which leaves
the skeleton of a dead animal, and may often be seen within
the ribs of a cow or horse, like a bird in a cage. Another
species is the Polyborus Novae Zelandiae, which is exceedingly
common in the Falkland Islands. These birds in many
respects resemble in their habits the Carranchas. They live
on the flesh of dead animals and on marine productions; and
on the Ramirez rocks their whole sustenance must depend
on the sea. They are extraordinarily tame and fearless, and
haunt the neighborhood of houses for offal. If a hunting
party kills an animal, a number soon collect and patiently
await, standing on the ground on all sides. After eating,
their uncovered craws are largely protruded, giving them a
disgusting appearance. They readily attack wounded birds:
a cormorant in this state having taken to the shore, was
immediately seized on by several, and its death hastened
by their blows. The Beagle was at the Falklands only
during the summer, but the officers of the Adventure, who
were there in the winter, mention many extraordinary instances
of the boldness and rapacity of these birds. They
actually pounced on a dog that was lying fast asleep close
by one of the party; and the sportsmen had difficulty in
preventing the wounded geese from being seized before their
eyes. It is said that several together (in this respect
resembling the Carranchas) wait at the mouth of a rabbit-hole,
and together seize on the animal when it comes out. They
were constantly flying on board the vessel when in the harbour;
and it was necessary to keep a good look out to prevent
the leather being torn from the rigging, and the meat or
game from the stern. These birds are very mischievous and
inquisitive; they will pick up almost anything from the
ground; a large black glazed hat was carried nearly a mile,
as was a pair of the heavy balls used in catching cattle. Mr.
Usborne experienced during the survey a more severe loss,
in their stealing a small Kater's compass in a red morocco
leather case, which was never recovered. These birds are,
moreover, quarrelsome and very passionate; tearing up the
grass with their bills from rage. They are not truly gregarious;
they do not soar, and their flight is heavy and clumsy;
on the ground they run extremely fast, very much like
pheasants. They are noisy, uttering several harsh cries, one
of which is like that of the English rook, hence the sealers
always call them rooks. It is a curious circumstance that,
when crying out, they throw their heads upwards and backwards,
after the same manner as the Carrancha. They build
in the rocky cliffs of the sea-coast, but only on the small
adjoining islets, and not on the two main islands: this is a
singular precaution in so tame and fearless a bird. The sealers
say that the flesh of these birds, when cooked, is quite
white, and very good eating; but bold must the man be who
attempts such a meal.

We have now only to mention the turkey-buzzard (Vultur
aura), and the Gallinazo. The former is found wherever
the country is moderately damp, from Cape Horn to North
America. Differently from the Polyborus Brasiliensis and
Chimango, it has found its way to the Falkland Islands. The
turkey-buzzard is a solitary bird, or at most goes in pairs. It
may at once be recognised from a long distance, by its lofty,
soaring, and most elegant flight. lt is well known to be a
true carrion-feeder. On the west coast of Patagonia, among
the thickly-wooded islets and broken land, it lives exclusively
on what the sea throws up, and on the carcasses of dead
seals. Wherever these animals are congregated on the rocks,
there the vultures may be seen. The Gallinazo (Cathartes
atratus) has a different range from the last species, as it
never occurs southward of lat. 41 degs. Azara states that
there exists a tradition that these birds, at the time of the
conquest, were not found near Monte Video, but that they
subsequently followed the inhabitants from more northern
districts.At the present day they are numerous in the valley
of the Colorado, which is three hundred miles due south of Monte
Video. It seems probable that this additional migration has
happened since the time of Azara. The Gallinazo generally
prefers a humid climate, or rather the neighbourhood of
fresh water; hence it is extremely abundant in Brazil and
La Plata, while it is never found on the desert and arid
plains of Northern Patagonia, excepting near some stream.
These birds frequent the whole Pampas to the foot of the
Cordillera, but I never saw or heard of one in Chile; in Peru
they are preserved as scavengers. These vultures certainly
may be called gregarious, for they seem to have pleasure in
society, and are not solely brought together by the attraction
of a common prey. On a fine day a flock may often be
observed at a great height, each bird wheeling round and
round without closing its wings, in the most graceful
evolutions. This is clearly performed for the mere pleasure of
the exercise, or perhaps is connected with their matrimonial
alliances.

I have now mentioned all the carrion-feeders, excepting
the condor, an account of which will be more appropriately
introduced when we visit a country more congenial to its
habits than the plains of La Plata.

In a broad band of sand-hillocks which separate the
Laguna del Potrero from the shores of the Plata, at the
distance of a few miles from Maldonado, I found a group of
those vitrified, siliceous tubes, which are formed by lightning
entering loose sand. These tubes resemble in every particular
those from Drigg in Cumberland, described in the
Geological Transactions. [10] The sand-hillocks of Maldonado
not being protected by vegetation, are constantly changing
their position. From this cause the tubes projected above
the surface, and numerous fragments lying near, showed
that they had formerly been buried to a greater depth. Four
sets entered the sand perpendicularly: by working with
my hands I traced one of them two feet deep; and some
fragments which evidently had belonged to the same tube,
when added to the other part, measured five feet three
inches. The diameter of the whole tube was nearly equal,
and therefore we must suppose that originally it extended to
a much greater depth. These dimensions are however small,
compared to those of the tubes from Drigg, one of which
was traced to a depth of not less than thirty feet.

The internal surface is completely vitrified, glossy, and
smooth. A small fragment examined under the microscope
appeared, from the number of minute entangled air or perhaps
steam bubbles, like an assay fused before the blowpipe.
The sand is entirely, or in greater part, siliceous; but some
points are of a black colour, and from their glossy surface
possess a metallic lustre. The thickness of the wall of the
tube varies from a thirtieth to a twentieth of an inch, and
occasionally even equals a tenth. On the outside the grains
of sand are rounded, and have a slightly glazed appearance:
I could not distinguish any signs of crystallization. In a
similar manner to that described in the Geological Transactions,
the tubes are generally compressed, and have deep
longitudinal furrows, so as closely to resemble a shrivelled
vegetable stalk, or the bark of the elm or cork tree. Their
circumference is about two inches, but in some fragments,
which are cylindrical and without any furrows, it is as much
as four inches. The compression from the surrounding loose
sand, acting while the tube was still softened from the
effects of the intense heat, has evidently caused the creases
or furrows. Judging from the uncompressed fragments, the
measure or bore of the lightning (if such a term may be used)
must have been about one inch and a quarter. At Paris, M.
Hachette and M. Beudant [11] succeeded in making tubes, in
most respects similar to these fulgurites, by passing very
strong shocks of galvanism through finely-powdered glass:
when salt was added, so as to increase its fusibility, the tubes
were larger in every dimension, They failed both with
powdered felspar and quartz. One tube, formed with
pounded glass, was very nearly an inch long, namely .982,
and had an internal diameter of .019 of an inch. When we
hear that the strongest battery in Paris was used, and that
its power on a substance of such easy fusibility as glass was
to form tubes so diminutive, we must feel greatly astonished
at the force of a shock of lightning, which, striking the sand
in several places, has formed cylinders, in one instance of at
least thirty feet long, and having an internal bore, where not
compressed, of full an inch and a half; and this in a material
so extraordinarily refractory as quartz!

The tubes, as I have already remarked, enter the sand
nearly in a vertical direction. One, however, which was less
regular than the others, deviated from a right line, at the
most considerable bend, to the amount of thirty-three degrees.
From this same tube, two small branches, about a
foot apart, were sent off; one pointed downwards, and the
other upwards. This latter case is remarkable, as the electric
fluid must have turned back at the acute angle of 26 degs.,
to the line of its main course. Besides the four tubes which
I found vertical, and traced beneath the surface, there were
several other groups of fragments, the original sites of which
without doubt were near. All occurred in a level area of
shifting sand, sixty yards by twenty, situated among some
high sand-hillocks, and at the distance of about half a mile
from a chain of hills four or five hundred feet in height. The
most remarkable circumstance, as it appears to me, in this
case as well as in that of Drigg, and in one described by
M. Ribbentrop in Germany, is the number of tubes found
within such limited spaces. At Drigg, within an area of
fifteen yards, three were observed, and the same number
occurred in Germany. In the case which I have described,
certainly more than four existed within the space of the
sixty by twenty yards. As it does not appear probable that
the tubes are produced by successive distinct shocks, we must
believe that the lightning, shortly before entering the ground,
divides itself into separate branches.

The neighbourhood of the Rio Plata seems peculiarly subject
to electric phenomena. In the year 1793, [12] one of the
most destructive thunderstorms perhaps on record happened
at Buenos Ayres: thirty-seven places within the city were
struck by lightning, and nineteen people killed. From facts
stated in several books of travels, I am inclined to suspect
that thunderstorms are very common near the mouths of
great rivers. Is it not possible that the mixture of large
bodies of fresh and salt water may disturb the electrical
equilibrium? Even during our occasional visits to this part
of South America, we heard of a ship, two churches, and a
house having been struck. Both the church and the house
I saw shortly afterwards: the house belonged to Mr. Hood,
the consul-general at Monte Video. Some of the effects were
curious: the paper, for nearly a foot on each side of the line
where the bell-wires had run, was blackened. The metal had
been fused, and although the room was about fifteen feet
high, the globules, dropping on the chairs and furniture, had
drilled in them a chain of minute holes. A part of the wall
was shattered, as if by gunpowder, and the fragments had
been blown off with force sufficient to dent the wall on the
opposite side of the room. The frame of a looking-glass was
blackened, and the gilding must have been volatilized, for a
smelling-bottle, which stood on the chimney-piece, was coated
with bright metallic particles, which adhered as firmly as
if they had been enamelled.

[1] Hearne's Journey, p. 383.

[2] Maclaren, art. "America," Encyclop. Brittann.

[3] Azara says, "Je crois que la quantite annuelle des pluies
est, dans toutes ces contrees, plus considerable qu'en Espagne."
-- Vol. i. p. 36.

[4] In South America I collected altogether twenty-seven
species of mice, and thirteen more are known from the works
of Azara and other authors. Those collected by myself have
been named and described by Mr. Waterhouse at the meetings
of the Zoological Society. I must be allowed to take this
opportunity of returning my cordial thanks to Mr. Waterhouse,
and to the other gentleman attached to that Society, for their
kind and most liberal assistance on all occasions.

[5] In the stomach and duodenum of a capybara which I opened
I found a very large quantity of a thin yellowish fluid,
in which scarcely a fibre could be distinguished. Mr. Owen
informs me that a part of the oesophagus is so constructed
that nothing much larger than a crowquill can be passed down.
Certainly the broad teeth and strong jaws of this animal are
well fitted to grind into pulp the aquatic plants on which it
feeds.

[6] At the R. Negro, in Northern Patagonia, there is an animal
of the same habits, and probably a closely allied species, but
which I never saw. Its noise is different from that of the
Maldonado kind; it is repeated only twice instead of three or
four times, and is more distinct and sonorous; when heard from
a distance it so closely resembles the sound made in cutting
down a small tree with an axe, that I have sometimes remained
in doubt concerning it.

[7] Philosoph. Zoolog., tom. i. p. 242.

[8] Magazine of Zoology and Botany, vol. i. p. 217.

[9] Read before the Academy of Sciences in Paris. L'Institut,
1834, p. 418.

[10] Geolog. Transact. vol. ii. p. 528. In the Philosoph.
Transact. (1790, p. 294) Dr. Priestly has described some
imperfect siliceous tubes and a melted pebble of quartz,
found in digging into the ground, under a tree, where a man
had been killed by lightning.

[11] Annals de Chimie et de Physique, tom. xxxvii. p. 319.

[12] Azara's Voyage, vol. i. p. 36.

CHAPTER IV

RIO NEGRO TO BAHIA BLANCA

Rio Negro -- Estancias attacked by the Indians -- Salt-Lakes --
Flamingoes -- R. Negro to R. Colorado -- Sacred Tree --
Patagonian Hare -- Indian Families -- General Rosas --
Proceed to Bahia Blanca -- Sand Dunes -- Negro Lieutenant --
Bahia Blanca -- Saline Incrustations -- Punta Alta -- Zorillo.

JULY 24th, 1833. -- The Beagle sailed from Maldonado,
and on August the 3rd she arrived off the mouth of the
Rio Negro. This is the principal river on the whole line
of coast between the Strait of Magellan and the Plata. It
enters the sea about three hundred miles south of the estuary
of the Plata. About fifty years ago, under the old Spanish
government, a small colony was established here; and it is
still the most southern position (lat. 41 degs.) on this
eastern coast of America inhabited by civilized man.

The country near the mouth of the river is wretched in
the extreme: on the south side a long line of perpendicular
cliffs commences, which exposes a section of the geological
nature of the country. The strata are of sandstone, and
one layer was remarkable from being composed of a firmly-
cemented conglomerate of pumice pebbles, which must have
travelled more than four hundred miles, from the Andes.
The surface is everywhere covered up by a thick bed of
gravel, which extends far and wide over the open plain.
Water is extremely scarce, and, where found, is almost
invariably brackish. The vegetation is scanty; and although
there are bushes of many kinds, all are armed with formidable
thorns, which seem to warn the stranger not to enter on
these inhospitable regions.

The settlement is situated eighteen miles up the river.
The road follows the foot of the sloping cliff, which forms
the northern boundary of the great valley, in which the Rio
Negro flows. On the way we passed the ruins of some fine
"estancias," which a few years since had been destroyed by
the Indians. They withstood several attacks. A man present
at one gave me a very lively description of what took place.
The inhabitants had sufficient notice to drive all the cattle
and horses into the "corral" [1] which surrounded the house,
and likewise to mount some small cannon. The Indians were
Araucanians from the south of Chile; several hundreds in
number, and highly disciplined. They first appeared in two
bodies on a neighbouring hill; having there dismounted, and
taken off their fur mantles, they advanced naked to the
charge. The only weapon of an Indian is a very long bamboo
or chuzo, ornamented with ostrich feathers, and pointed
by a sharp spearhead. My informer seemed to remember
with the greatest horror the quivering of these chuzos as they
approached near. When close, the cacique Pincheira hailed
the besieged to give up their arms, or he would cut all their
throats. As this would probably have been the result of
their entrance under any circumstances, the answer was
given by a volley of musketry. The Indians, with great
steadiness, came to the very fence of the corral: but to their
surprise they found the posts fastened together by iron nails
instead of leather thongs, and, of course, in vain attempted
to cut them with their knives. This saved the lives of the
Christians: many of the wounded Indians were carried away
by their companions, and at last, one of the under caciques
being wounded, the bugle sounded a retreat. They retired to
their horses, and seemed to hold a council of war. This was
an awful pause for the Spaniards, as all their ammunition,
with the exception of a few cartridges, was expended. In
an instant the Indians mounted their horses, and galloped
out of sight. Another attack was still more quickly repulsed.
A cool Frenchman managed the gun; he stopped till the
Indians approached close, and then raked their line with
grape-shot: he thus laid thirty-nine of them on the ground;
and, of course, such a blow immediately routed the whole
party.

The town is indifferently called El Carmen or Patagones.
It is built on the face of a cliff which fronts the river, and
many of the houses are excavated even in the sandstone.
The river is about two or three hundred yards wide, and is
deep and rapid. The many islands, with their willow-trees,
and the flat headlands, seen one behind the other on the
northern boundary of the broad green valley, form, by the
aid of a bright sun, a view almost picturesque. The number
of inhabitants does not exceed a few hundreds. These Spanish
colonies do not, like our British ones, carry within themselves
the elements of growth. Many Indians of pure blood
reside here: the tribe of the Cacique Lucanee constantly have
their Toldos [2] on the outskirts of the town. The local
government partly supplies them with provisions, by giving them
all the old worn-out horses, and they earn a little by making
horse-rugs and other articles of riding-gear. These Indians
are considered civilized; but what their character may have
gained by a lesser degree of ferocity, is almost counterbalanced
by their entire immorality. Some of the younger men
are, however, improving; they are willing to labour, and a
short time since a party went on a sealing-voyage, and behaved
very well. They were now enjoying the fruits of their
labour, by being dressed in very gay, clean clothes, and by
being very idle. The taste they showed in their dress was
admirable; if you could have turned one of these young
Indians into a statue of bronze, his drapery would have been
perfectly graceful.

One day I rode to a large salt-lake, or Salina, which is
distant fifteen miles from the town. During the winter it
consists of a shallow lake of brine, which in summer is
converted into a field of snow-white salt. The layer near the
margin is from four to five inches thick, but towards the
centre its thickness increases. This lake was two and a half
miles long, and one broad. Others occur in the neighbourhood
many times larger, and with a floor of salt, two and
three feet in thickness, even when under water during the
winter. One of these brilliantly white and level expanses
in the midst of the brown and desolate plain, offers an
extraordinary spectacle. A large quantity of salt is annually
drawn from the salina: and great piles, some hundred
tons in weight, were lying ready for exportation. The season
for working the salinas forms the harvest of Patagones; for
on it the prosperity of the place depends. Nearly the whole
population encamps on the bank of the river, and the people
are employed in drawing out the salt in bullock-waggons,
This salt is crystallized in great cubes, and is remarkably
pure: Mr. Trenham Reeks has kindly analyzed some for me,
and he finds in it only 0.26 of gypsum and 0.22 of earthy
matter. It is a singular fact, that it does not serve so well
for preserving meat as sea-salt from the Cape de Verd
islands; and a merchant at Buenos Ayres told me that he
considered it as fifty per cent. less valuable. Hence the
Cape de Verd salt is constantly imported, and is mixed with
that from these salinas. The purity of the Patagonian salt,
or absence from it of those other saline bodies found in all
sea-water, is the only assignable cause for this inferiority:
a conclusion which no one, I think, would have suspected,
but which is supported by the fact lately ascertained, [3]
that those salts answer best for preserving cheese which
contain most of the deliquescent chlorides.

The border of this lake is formed of mud: and in this
numerous large crystals of gypsum, some of which are three
inches long, lie embedded; whilst on the surface others of
sulphate of soda lie scattered about. The Gauchos call the
former the "Padre del sal," and the latter the "Madre;"
they state that these progenitive salts always occur on the
borders of the salinas, when the water begins to evaporate.
The mud is black, and has a fetid odour. I could not at first
imagine the cause of this, but I afterwards perceived that the
froth which the wind drifted on shore was coloured green,
as if by confervae; I attempted to carry home some of this
green matter, but from an accident failed. Parts of the lake
seen from a short distance appeared of a reddish colour, and
this perhaps was owing to some infusorial animalcula. The
mud in many places was thrown up by numbers of some kind
of worm, or annelidous animal. How surprising it is that
any creatures should be able to exist in brine, and that they
should be crawling among crystals of sulphate of soda and
lime! And what becomes of these worms when, during the
long summer, the surface is hardened into a solid layer of
salt? Flamingoes in considerable numbers inhabit this lake,
and breed here, throughout Patagonia, in Northern Chile,
and at the Galapagos Islands, I met with these birds wherever
there were lakes of brine. I saw them here wading
about in search of food -- probably for the worms which burrow
in the mud; and these latter probably feed on infusoria or
confervae. Thus we have a little living world within itself
adapted to these inland lakes of brine. A minute crustaceous
animal (Cancer salinus) is said [4] to live in countless numbers
in the brine-pans at Lymington: but only in those in which
the fluid has attained, from evaporation, considerable
strength -- namely, about a quarter of a pound of salt to a
pint of water. Well may we affirm that every part of the
world is habitable! Whether lakes of brine, or those
subterranean ones hidden beneath volcanic mountains -- warm
mineral springs -- the wide expanse and depths of the ocean
-- the upper regions of the atmosphere, and even the surface
of perpetual snow -- all support organic beings.

To the northward of the Rio Negro, between it and the
inhabited country near Buenos Ayres, the Spaniards have
only one small settlement, recently established at Bahia
Blanca. The distance in a straight line to Buenos Ayres is
very nearly five hundred British miles. The wandering
tribes of horse Indians, which have always occupied the
greater part of this country, having of late much harassed
the outlying estancias, the government at Buenos Ayres
equipped some time since an army under the command of
General Rosas for the purpose of exterminating them. The
troops were now encamped on the banks of the Colorado;
a river lying about eighty miles northward of the Rio Negro
When General Rosas left Buenos Ayres he struck in a direct
line across the unexplored plains: and as the country was
thus pretty well cleared of Indians, he left behind him, at
wide intervals, a small party of soldiers with a troop of
horses (a posta), so as to be enabled to keep up a communication
with the capital. As the Beagle intended to call at
Bahia Blanca, I determined to proceed there by land; and
ultimately I extended my plan to travel the whole way by
the postas to Buenos Ayres.

August 11th. -- Mr. Harris, an Englishman residing at
Patagones, a guide, and five Gauchos who were proceeding
to the army on business, were my companions on the journey.
The Colorado, as I have already said, is nearly eighty
miles distant: and as we travelled slowly, we were two days
and a half on the road. The whole line of country deserves
scarcely a better name than that of a desert. Water is found
only in two small wells; it is called fresh; but even at this
time of the year, during the rainy season, it was quite brackish.
In the summer this must be a distressing passage; for
now it was sufficiently desolate. The valley of the Rio
Negro, broad as it is, has merely been excavated out of the
sandstone plain; for immediately above the bank on which
the town stands, a level country commences, which is interrupted
only by a few trifling valleys and depressions. Everywhere
the landscape wears the same sterile aspect; a dry
gravelly soil supports tufts of brown withered grass, and
low scattered bushes, armed with thorns.

Shortly after passing the first spring we came in sight of
a famous tree, which the Indians reverence as the altar of
Walleechu. It is situated on a high part of the plain; and
hence is a landmark visible at a great distance. As soon as a
tribe of Indians come in sight of it, they offer their adorations
by loud shouts. The tree itself is low, much branched,
and thorny: just above the root it has a diameter of about
three feet. It stands by itself without any neighbour, and
was indeed the first tree we saw; afterwards we met with a
few others of the same kind, but they were far from common.
Being winter the tree had no leaves, but in their place
numberless threads, by which the various offerings, such as
cigars, bread, meat, pieces of cloth, etc., had been suspended.
Poor Indians, not having anything better, only pull a thread
out of their ponchos, and fasten it to the tree. Richer
Indians are accustomed to pour spirits and mate into a certain
hole, and likewise to smoke upwards, thinking thus to
afford all possible gratification to Walleechu. To complete
the scene, the tree was surrounded by the bleached bones
of horses which had been slaughtered as sacrifices. All
Indians of every age and sex make their offerings; they then
think that their horses will not tire, and that they themselves
shall be prosperous. The Gaucho who told me this, said that
in the time of peace he had witnessed this scene, and that
he and others used to wait till the Indians had passed by, for
the sake of stealing from Walleechu the offerings.

The Gauchos think that the Indians consider the tree as
the god itself, but it seems for more probable that they
regard it as the altar. The only cause which I can imagine
for this choice, is its being a landmark in a dangerous passage.
The Sierra de la Ventana is visible at an immense
distance; and a Gaucho told me that he was once riding with
an Indian a few miles to the north of the Rio Colorado
when the Indian commenced making the same loud noise
which is usual at the first sight of the distant tree, putting
his hand to his head, and then pointing in the direction of the
Sierra. Upon being asked the reason of this, the Indian said
in broken Spanish, "First see the Sierra." About two
leagues beyond this curious tree we halted for the night: at
this instant an unfortunate cow was spied by the lynx-eyed
Gauchos, who set off in full chase, and in a few minutes
dragged her in with their lazos, and slaughtered her. We
here had the four necessaries of life "en el campo," -- pasture
for the horses, water (only a muddy puddle), meat and
firewood. The Gauchos were in high spirits at finding all
these luxuries; and we soon set to work at the poor cow. This
was the first night which I passed under the open sky, with
the gear of the recado for my bed. There is high enjoyment
in the independence of the Gaucho life -- to be able at any
moment to pull up your horse, and say, "Here we will pass
the night." The death-like stillness of the plain, the dogs
keeping watch, the gipsy-group of Gauchos making their
beds round the fire, have left in my mind a strongly-marked
picture of this first night, which will never be forgotten.

The next day the country continued similar to that above
described. It is inhabited by few birds or animals of any
kind. Occasionally a deer, or a Guanaco (wild Llama) may
be seen; but the Agouti (Cavia Patagonica) is the commonest
quadruped. This animal here represents our hares. It
differs, however, from that genus in many essential respects;
for instance, it has only three toes behind. It is also nearly
twice the size, weighing from twenty to twenty-five pounds.
The Agouti is a true friend of the desert; it is a common
feature of the landscape to see two or three hopping quickly
one after the other in a straight line across these wild plains.
They are found as far north as the Sierra Tapalguen (lat.
37 degs. 30'), where the plain rather suddenly becomes greener
and more humid; and their southern limit is between Port
Desire and St. Julian, where there is no change in the nature
of the country. It is a singular fact, that although the
Agouti is not now found as far south as Port St. Julian, yet
that Captain Wood, in his voyage in 1670, talks of them as
being numerous there. What cause can have altered, in a
wide, uninhabited, and rarely-visited country, the range of
an animal like this? It appears also, from the number shot
by Captain Wood in one day at Port Desire, that they must
have been considerably more abundant there formerly than
at present. Where the Bizcacha lives and makes its burrows,
the Agouti uses them; but where, as at Bahia Blanca, the
Bizcacha is not found, the Agouti burrows for itself. The
same thing occurs with the little owl of the Pampas (Athene
cunicularia), which has so often been described as standing
like a sentinel at the mouth of the burrows; for in Banda
Oriental, owing to the absence of the Bizcacha, it is obliged
to hollow out its own habitation.

The next morning, as we approached the Rio Colorado,
the appearance of the country changed; we soon came on a
plain covered with turf, which, from its flowers, tall clover,
and little owls, resembled the Pampas. We passed also a
muddy swamp of considerable extent, which in summer dries,
and becomes incrusted with various salts; and hence is called
a salitral. It was covered by low succulent plants, of the
same kind with those growing on the sea-shore. The Colorado,
at the pass where we crossed it, is only about sixty
yards wide; generally it must be nearly double that width.
Its course is very tortuous, being marked by willow-trees
and beds of reeds: in a direct line the distance to the mouth
of the river is said to be nine leagues, but by water
twenty-five. We were delayed crossing in the canoe by some
immense troops of mares, which were swimming the river in
order to follow a division of troops into the interior. A
more ludicrous spectacle I never beheld than the hundreds
and hundreds of heads, all directed one way, with pointed
ears and distended snorting nostrils, appearing just above
the water like a great shoal of some amphibious animal.
Mare's flesh is the only food which the soldiers have when
on an expedition. This gives them a great facility of movement;
for the distance to which horses can be driven over
these plains is quite surprising: I have been assured that an
unloaded horse can travel a hundred miles a day for many
days successively.

The encampment of General Rosas was close to the river.
It consisted of a square formed by waggons, artillery, straw
huts, etc. The soldiers were nearly all cavalry; and I should
think such a villainous, banditti-like army was never before
collected together. The greater number of men were of a
mixed breed, between Negro, Indian, and Spaniard. I know
not the reason, but men of such origin seldom have a good
expression of countenance. I called on the Secretary to show
my passport. He began to cross-question me in the most
dignified and mysterious manner. By good luck I had a
letter of recommendation from the government of Buenos
Ayres [5] to the commandant of Patagones. This was taken
to General Rosas, who sent me a very obliging message; and
the Secretary returned all smiles and graciousness. We took
up our residence in the _rancho_, or hovel, of a curious old
Spaniard, who had served with Napoleon in the expedition
against Russia.

We stayed two days at the Colorado; I had little to do,
for the surrounding country was a swamp, which in summer
(December), when the snow melts on the Cordillera, is over-
flowed by the river. My chief amusement was watching the
Indian families as they came to buy little articles at the
rancho where we stayed. It was supposed that General
Rosas had about six hundred Indian allies. The men were
a tall, fine race, yet it was afterwards easy to see in the
Fuegian savage the same countenance rendered hideous by
cold, want of food, and less civilization. Some authors,
in defining the primary races of mankind, have separated
these Indians into two classes; but this is certainly
incorrect. Among the young women or chinas, some deserve to
be called even beautiful. Their hair was coarse, but bright
and black; and they wore it in two plaits hanging down
to the waist. They had a high colour, and eyes that
glistened with brilliancy; their legs, feet, and arms were
small and elegantly formed; their ankles, and sometimes
their wrists, were ornamented by broad bracelets of blue
beads. Nothing could be more interesting than some of the
family groups. A mother with one or two daughters would
often come to our rancho, mounted on the same horse. They
ride like men, but with their knees tucked up much higher.
This habit, perhaps, arises from their being accustomed,
when travelling, to ride the loaded horses. The duty of the
women is to load and unload the horses; to make the tents
for the night; in short to be, like the wives of all savages,
useful slaves. The men fight, hunt, take care of the horses,
and make the riding gear. One of their chief indoor occupations
is to knock two stones together till they become round,
in order to make the bolas. With this important weapon the
Indian catches his game, and also his horse, which roams
free over the plain. In fighting, his first attempt is to throw
down the horse of his adversary with the bolas, and when
entangled by the fall to kill him with the chuzo. If the balls
only catch the neck or body of an animal, they are often
carried away and lost. As the making the stones round is
the labour of two days, the manufacture of the balls is a
very common employment. Several of the men and women
had their faces painted red, but I never saw the horizontal
bands which are so common among the Fuegians. Their
chief pride consists in having everything made of silver; I
have seen a cacique with his spurs, stirrups, handle of his
knife, and bridle made of this metal: the head-stall and reins
being of wire, were not thicker than whipcord; and to see a
fiery steed wheeling about under the command of so light
a chain, gave to the horsemanship a remarkable character of
elegance.

General Rosas intimated a wish to see me; a circumstance
which I was afterwards very glad of. He is a man of an
extraordinary character, and has a most predominant influence
in the country, which it seems he will use to its prosperity
and advancement. [6] He is said to be the owner of
seventy-four square leagues of land, and to have about three
hundred thousand head of cattle. His estates are admirably
managed, and are far more productive of corn than those of
others. He first gained his celebrity by his laws for his own
estancias, and by disciplining several hundred men, so as to
resist with success the attacks of the Indians. There are
many stories current about the rigid manner in which his
laws were enforced. One of these was, that no man, on
penalty of being put into the stocks, should carry his knife
on a Sunday: this being the principal day for gambling and
drinking, many quarrels arose, which from the general manner
of fighting with the knife often proved fatal. One
Sunday the Governor came in great form to pay the estancia
a visit, and General Rosas, in his hurry, walked out to receive
him with his knife, as usual, stuck in his belt. The steward
touched his arm, and reminded him of the law; upon which
turning to the Governor, he said he was extremely sorry, but
that he must go into the stocks, and that till let out, he
possessed no power even in his own house. After a little time
the steward was persuaded to open the stocks, and to let
him out, but no sooner was this done, than he turned to the
steward and said, "You now have broken the laws, so you
must take my place in the stocks." Such actions as these
delighted the Gauchos, who all possess high notions of their
own equality and dignity.

General Rosas is also a perfect horseman -- an accomplishment
of no small consequence In a country where an assembled
army elected its general by the following trial: A troop
of unbroken horses being driven into a corral, were let out
through a gateway, above which was a cross-bar: it was
agreed whoever should drop from the bar on one of these
wild animals, as it rushed out, and should be able, without
saddle or bridle, not only to ride it, but also to bring it back
to the door of the corral, should be their general. The person
who succeeded was accordingly elected; and doubtless
made a fit general for such an army. This extraordinary
feat has also been performed by Rosas.

By these means, and by conforming to the dress and habits
of the Gauchos, he has obtained an unbounded popularity in
the country, and in consequence a despotic power. I was
assured by an English merchant, that a man who had murdered
another, when arrested and questioned concerning his
motive, answered, "He spoke disrespectfully of General
Rosas, so I killed him." At the end of a week the murderer
was at liberty. This doubtless was the act of the general's
party, and not of the general himself.

In conversation he is enthusiastic, sensible, and very
grave. His gravity is carried to a high pitch: I heard one
of his mad buffoons (for he keeps two, like the barons of
old) relate the following anecdote. "I wanted very much to
hear a certain piece of music, so I went to the general two
or three times to ask him; he said to me, 'Go about your
business, for I am engaged.' I went a second time; he said,
'If you come again I will punish you.' A third time I
asked, and he laughed. I rushed out of the tent, but it was
too late -- he ordered two soldiers to catch and stake me. I
begged by all the saints in heaven he would let me off; but it
would not do, -- when the general laughs he spares neither
mad man nor sound." The poor flighty gentleman looked quite
dolorous, at the very recollection of the staking. This is a
very severe punishment; four posts are driven into the
ground, and the man is extended by his arms and legs
horizontally, and there left to stretch for several hours.
The idea is evidently taken from the usual method of drying
hides. My interview passed away, without a smile, and I
obtained a passport and order for the government post-horses,
and this he gave me in the most obliging and ready
manner.

In the morning we started for Bahia Blanca, which we
reached in two days. Leaving the regular encampment, we
passed by the toldos of the Indians. These are round like
ovens, and covered with hides; by the mouth of each, a tapering
chuzo was stuck in the ground. The toldos were divided
into separate groups, which belong to the different caciques'
tribes, and the groups were again divided into smaller ones,
according to the relationship of the owners. For several
miles we travelled along the valley of the Colorado. The
alluvial plains on the side appeared fertile, and it is supposed
that they are well adapted to the growth of corn. Turning
northward from the river, we soon entered on a country, differing
from the plains south of the river. The land still continued
dry and sterile: but it supported many different kinds
of plants, and the grass, though brown and withered, was
more abundant, as the thorny bushes were less so. These
latter in a short space entirely disappeared, and the plains
were left without a thicket to cover their nakedness. This
change in the vegetation marks the commencement of the
grand calcareo argillaceous deposit, which forms the wide
extent of the Pampas, and covers the granitic rocks of Banda
Oriental. From the Strait of Magellan to the Colorado, a
distance of about eight hundred miles, the face of the country
is everywhere composed of shingle: the pebbles are
chiefly of porphyry, and probably owe their origin to the
rocks of the Cordillera. North of the Colorado this bed
thins out, and the pebbles become exceedingly small, and
here the characteristic vegetation of Patagonia ceases.

Having ridden about twenty-five miles, we came to a
broad belt of sand-dunes, which stretches, as far as the eye
can reach, to the east and west. The sand-hillocks resting
on the clay, allow small pools of water to collect, and thus
afford in this dry country an invaluable supply of fresh
water. The great advantage arising from depressions and
elevations of the soil, is not often brought home to the mind.
The two miserable springs in the long passage between the
Rio Negro and Colorado were caused by trifling inequalities
in the plain, without them not a drop of water would have
been found. The belt of sand-dunes is about eight miles
wide; at some former period, it probably formed the margin
of a grand estuary, where the Colorado now flows. In this
district, where absolute proofs of the recent elevation of
the land occur, such speculations can hardly be neglected by
any one, although merely considering the physical geography
of the country. Having crossed the sandy tract, we arrived
in the evening at one of the post-houses; and, as the fresh
horses were grazing at a distance we determined to pass
the night there.

The house was situated at the base of a ridge between
one and two hundred feet high -- a most remarkable feature
in this country. This posta was commanded by a negro
lieutenant, born in Africa: to his credit be it said, there
was not a ranche between the Colorado and Buenos Ayres in
nearly such neat order as his. He had a little room for
strangers, and a small corral for the horses, all made of
sticks and reeds; he had also dug a ditch round his house
as a defence in case of being attacked. This would, however,
have been of little avail, if the Indians had come; but
his chief comfort seemed to rest in the thought of selling
his life dearly. A short time before, a body of Indians had
travelled past in the night; if they had been aware of the
posta, our black friend and his four soldiers would assuredly
have been slaughtered. I did not anywhere meet a more
civil and obliging man than this negro; it was therefore
the more painful to see that he would not sit down and eat
with us.

In the morning we sent for the horses very early, and
started for another exhilarating gallop. We passed the
Cabeza del Buey, an old name given to the head of a large
marsh, which extends from Bahia Blanca. Here we changed
horses, and passed through some leagues of swamps and
saline marshes. Changing horses for the last time, we again
began wading through the mud. My animal fell and I was
well soused in black mire -- a very disagreeable accident
when one does not possess a change of clothes. Some miles
from the fort we met a man, who told us that a great gun
had been fired, which is a signal that Indians are near. We
immediately left the road, and followed the edge of a marsh,
which when chased offers the best mode of escape. We
were glad to arrive within the walls, when we found all the
alarm was about nothing, for the Indians turned out to be
friendly ones, who wished to join General Rosas.

Bahia Blanca scarcely deserves the name of a village. A
few houses and the barracks for the troops are enclosed by
a deep ditch and fortified wall. The settlement is only of
recent standing (since 1828); and its growth has been one of
trouble. The government of Buenos Ayres unjustly occupied
it by force, instead of following the wise example of the
Spanish Viceroys, who purchased the land near the older
settlement of the Rio Negro, from the Indians. Hence the
need of the fortifications; hence the few houses and little
cultivated land without the limits of the walls; even the
cattle are not safe from the attacks of the Indians beyond
the boundaries of the plain, on which the fortress stands.

The part of the harbour where the Beagle intended to
anchor being distant twenty-five miles, I obtained from the
Commandant a guide and horses, to take me to see whether
she had arrived. Leaving the plain of green turf, which
extended along the course of a little brook, we soon entered
on a wide level waste consisting either of sand, saline
marshes, or bare mud. Some parts were clothed by low
thickets, and others with those succulent plants, which
luxuriate only where salt abounds. Bad as the country was,
ostriches, deer, agoutis, and armadilloes, were abundant. My
guide told me, that two months before he had a most narrow
escape of his life: he was out hunting with two other men,
at no great distance from this part of the country, when they
were suddenly met by a party of Indians, who giving chase,
soon overtook and killed his two friends. His own horse's
legs were also caught by the bolas, but he jumped off, and
with his knife cut them free: while doing this he was obliged
to dodge round his horse, and received two severe wounds
from their chuzos. Springing on the saddle, he managed, by
a most wonderful exertion, just to keep ahead of the long
spears of his pursuers, who followed him to within sight of
the fort. From that time there was an order that no one
should stray far from the settlement. I did not know of this
when I started, and was surprised to observe how earnestly
my guide watched a deer, which appeared to have been
frightened from a distant quarter.

We found the Beagle had not arrived, and consequently
set out on our return, but the horses soon tiring, we were
obliged to bivouac on the plain. In the morning we had
caught an armadillo, which although a most excellent dish
when roasted in its shell, did not make a very substantial
breakfast and dinner for two hungry men. The ground at
the place where we stopped for the night, was incrusted with
a layer of sulphate of soda, and hence, of course, was without
water. Yet many of the smaller rodents managed to
exist even here, and the tucutuco was making its odd little
grunt beneath my head, during half the night. Our horses
were very poor ones, and in the morning they were soon
exhausted from not having had anything to drink, so that
we were obliged to walk. About noon the dogs killed a kid,
which we roasted. I ate some of it, but it made me intolerably
thirsty. This was the more distressing as the road,
from some recent rain, was full of little puddles of clear
water, yet not a drop was drinkable. I had scarcely been
twenty hours without water, and only part of the time under
a hot sun, yet the thirst rendered me very weak. How people
survive two or three days under such circumstances, I cannot
imagine: at the same time, I must confess that my guide did
not suffer at all, and was astonished that one day's
deprivation should be so troublesome to me.

I have several times alluded to the surface of the ground
being incrusted with salt. This phenomenon is quite
different from that of the salinas, and more extraordinary.
In many parts of South America, wherever the climate is
moderately dry, these incrustations occur; but I have nowhere
seen them so abundant as near Bahia Blanca. The salt here,
and in other parts of Patagonia, consists chiefly of sulphate
of soda with some common salt. As long as the ground
remains moist in the salitrales (as the Spaniards improperly
call them, mistaking this substance for saltpeter), nothing is
to be seen but an extensive plain composed of a black, muddy
soil, supporting scattered tufts of succulent plants. On returning
through one of these tracts, after a week's hot weather,
one is surprised to see square miles of the plain white, as if
from a slight fall of snow, here and there heaped up by the
wind into little drifts. This latter appearance is chiefly
caused by the salts being drawn up, during the slow evaporation
of the moisture, round blades of dead grass, stumps of
wood, and pieces of broken earth, instead of being crystallized
at the bottoms of the puddles of water. The salitrales
occur either on level tracts elevated only a few feet above
the level of the sea, or on alluvial land bordering rivers.
M. Parchappe [7] found that the saline incrustation on the plain,
at the distance of some miles from the sea, consisted chiefly
of sulphate of soda, with only seven per cent. of common
salt; whilst nearer to the coast, the common salt increased
to 37 parts in a hundred. This circumstance would tempt
one to believe that the sulphate of soda is generated in the
soil, from the muriate, left on the surface during the slow
and recent elevation of this dry country. The whole phenomenon
is well worthy the attention of naturalists. Have
the succulent, salt-loving plants, which are well known to
contain much soda, the power of decomposing the muriate?
Does the black fetid mud, abounding with organic matter,
yield the sulphur and ultimately the sulphuric acid?

Two days afterwards I again rode to the harbour: when
not far from our destination, my companion, the same man
as before, spied three people hunting on horseback. He
immediately dismounted, and watching them intently, said,
"They don't ride like Christians, and nobody can leave the
fort." The three hunters joined company, and likewise
dismounted from their horses. At last one mounted again
and rode over the hill out of sight. My companion said,
"We must now get on our horses: load your pistol;" and he
looked to his own sword. I asked, "Are they Indians?" --
"Quien sabe? (who knows?) if there are no more than three,
it does not signify." It then struck me, that the one man
had gone over the hill to fetch the rest of his tribe. I
suggested this; but all the answer I could extort was, "Quien
sabe?" His head and eye never for a minute ceased scanning
slowly the distant horizon. I thought his uncommon
coolness too good a joke, and asked him why he did not
return home. I was startled when he answered, "We are
returning, but in a line so as to pass near a swamp, into
which we can gallop the horses as far as they can go, and
then trust to our own legs; so that there is no danger." I did
not feel quite so confident of this, and wanted to increase
our pace. He said, "No, not until they do." When any
little inequality concealed us, we galloped; but when in sight,
continued walking. At last we reached a valley, and turning
to the left, galloped quickly to the foot of a hill; he gave me
his horse to hold, made the dogs lie down, and then crawled
on his hands and knees to reconnoitre. He remained in this
position for some time, and at last, bursting out in laughter,
exclaimed, "Mugeres!" (women!). He knew them to be
the wife and sister-in-law of the major's son, hunting for
ostrich's eggs. I have described this man's conduct, because
he acted under the full impression that they were Indians.
As soon, however, as the absurd mistake was found out, he
gave me a hundred reasons why they could not have been
Indians; but all these were forgotten at the time. We then
rode on in peace and quietness to a low point called Punta
Alta, whence we could see nearly the whole of the great harbour
of Bahia Blanca.

The wide expanse of water is choked up by numerous
great mud-banks, which the inhabitants call Cangrejales, or
_crabberies_, from the number of small crabs. The mud is so
soft that it is impossible to walk over them, even for the
shortest distance. Many of the banks have their surfaces
covered with long rushes, the tops of which alone are visible
at high water. On one occasion, when in a boat, we were
so entangled by these shallows that we could hardly find
our way. Nothing was visible but the flat beds of mud; the
day was not very clear, and there was much refraction, or
as the sailors expressed it, "things loomed high." The only
object within our view which was not level was the horizon;
rushes looked like bushes unsupported in the air, and water
like mud-banks, and mud-banks like water.

We passed the night in Punta Alta, and I employed myself
in searching for fossil bones; this point being a perfect
catacomb for monsters of extinct races. The evening was
perfectly calm and clear; the extreme monotony of the view
gave it an interest even in the midst of mud-banks and gulls
sand-hillocks and solitary vultures. In riding back in the
morning we came across a very fresh track of a Puma, but
did not succeed in finding it. We saw also a couple of
Zorillos, or skunks, -- odious animals, which are far from
uncommon. In general appearance, the Zorillo resembles a
polecat, but it is rather larger, and much thicker in proportion.
Conscious of its power, it roams by day about the open
plain, and fears neither dog nor man. If a dog is urged to
the attack, its courage is instantly checked by a few drops
of the fetid oil, which brings on violent sickness and running
at the nose. Whatever is once polluted by it, is for
ever useless. Azara says the smell can be perceived at a
league distant; more than once, when entering the harbour
of Monte Video, the wind being off shore, we have perceived
the odour on board the Beagle. Certain it is, that
every animal most willingly makes room for the Zorillo.

[1] The corral is an enclosure made of tall and strong
stakes. Every estancia, or farming estate, has one attached
to it.

[2] The hovels of the Indians are thus called.

[3] Report of the Agricult. Chem. Assoc. in the Agricult.
Gazette, 1845, p. 93.

[4] Linnaean Trans,. vol. xi. p. 205. It is remarkable how
all the circumstances connected with the salt-lakes in Siberia
and Patagonia are similar. Siberia, like Patagonia, appears
to have been recently elevated above the waters of the sea.
In both countries the salt-lakes occupy shallow depressions
in the plains; in both the mud on the borders is black and
fetid; beneath the crust of common salt, sulphate of soda or
of magnesium occurs, imperfectly crystallized; and in both,
the muddy sand is mixed with lentils of gypsum. The Siberian
salt-lakes are inhabited by small crustaceous animals; and
flamingoes (Edin. New Philos. Jour., Jan 1830) likewise
frequent them. As these circumstances, apparently so trifling,
occur in two distant continents, we may feel sure that they
are the necessary results of a common cause -- See Pallas's
Travels, 1793 to 1794, pp. 129 - 134.

[5] I am bound to express in the strongest terms, my obligation
to the government of Buenos Ayres for the obliging manner in
which passports to all parts of the country were given me, as
naturalist of the Beagle.

[6] This prophecy has turned out entirely and miserably wrong.
1845.

[7] Voyage dans l'Amerique Merid par M. A. d'Orbigny. Part.
Hist. tom. i. p. 664

CHAPTER V

BAHIA BLANCA

Bahia Blanca -- Geology -- Numerous gigantic Quadrupeds --
Recent Extinction -- Longevity of species -- Large Animals
do not require a luxuriant vegetation -- Southern Africa --
Siberian Fossils -- Two Species of Ostrich -- Habits of
Oven-bird -- Armadilloes -- Venomous Snake, Toad, Lizard --
Hybernation of Animal -- Habits of Sea-Pen -- Indian Wars and
Massacres -- Arrow-head, antiquarian Relic.

The Beagle arrived here on the 24th of August, and a
week afterwards sailed for the Plata. With Captain
Fitz Roy's consent I was left behind, to travel by land
to Buenos Ayres. I will here add some observations, which
were made during this visit and on a previous occasion, when
the Beagle was employed in surveying the harbour.

The plain, at the distance of a few miles from the coast,
belongs to the great Pampean formation, which consists in
part of a reddish clay, and in part of a highly calcareous
marly rock. Nearer the coast there are some plains formed
from the wreck of the upper plain, and from mud, gravel,
and sand thrown up by the sea during the slow elevation of
the land, of which elevation we have evidence in upraised
beds of recent shells, and in rounded pebbles of pumice
scattered over the country. At Punta Alta we have a section of
one of these later-formed little plains, which is highly
interesting from the number and extraordinary character of the
remains of gigantic land-animals embedded in it. These have
been fully described by Professor Owen, in the Zoology of the
voyage of the Beagle, and are deposited in the College of
Surgeons. I will here give only a brief outline of their nature.

First, parts of three heads and other bones of the Megatherium,
the huge dimensions of which are expressed by its
name. Secondly, the Megalonyx, a great allied animal.
Thirdly, the Scelidotherium, also an allied animal, of which
I obtained a nearly perfect skeleton. It must have been as
large as a rhinoceros: in the structure of its head it comes
according to Mr. Owen, nearest to the Cape Anteater, but
in some other respects it approaches to the armadilloes.
Fourthly, the Mylodon Darwinii, a closely related genus of
little inferior size. Fifthly, another gigantic edental quadruped.
Sixthly, a large animal, with an osseous coat in compartments,
very like that of an armadillo. Seventhly, an
extinct kind of horse, to which I shall have again to refer.
Eighthly, a tooth of a Pachydermatous animal, probably the
same with the Macrauchenia, a huge beast with a long neck
like a camel, which I shall also refer to again. Lastly, the
Toxodon, perhaps one of the strangest animals ever discovered:
in size it equalled an elephant or megatherium, but
the structure of its teeth, as Mr. Owen states, proves
indisputably that it was intimately related to the Gnawers, the
order which, at the present day, includes most of the smallest
quadrupeds: in many details it is allied to the Pachydermata:
judging from the position of its eyes, ears, and nostrils,
it was probably aquatic, like the Dugong and Manatee,
to which it is also allied. How wonderfully are the different
Orders, at the present time so well separated, blended together
in different points of the structure of the Toxodon!

The remains of these nine great quadrupeds, and many
detached bones, were found embedded on the beach, within
the space of about 200 yards square. It is a remarkable
circumstance that so many different species should be found
together; and it proves how numerous in kind the ancient
inhabitants of this country must have been. At the distance
of about thirty miles from Punta Alta, in a cliff of red earth,
I found several fragments of bones, some of large size.
Among them were the teeth of a gnawer, equalling in size
and closely resembling those of the Capybara, whose habits
have been described; and therefore, probably, an aquatic
animal. There was also part of the head of a Ctenomys; the
species being different from the Tucutuco, but with a close
general resemblance. The red earth, like that of the Pampas,
in which these remains were embedded, contains, according
to Professor Ehrenberg, eight fresh-water and one salt-water
infusorial animalcule; therefore, probably, it was an estuary
deposit.

The remains at Punta Alta were embedded in stratified
gravel and reddish mud, just such as the sea might now wash
up on a shallow bank. They were associated with twenty-
three species of shells, of which thirteen are recent and four
others very closely related to recent forms. [1] From the bones
of the Scelidotherium, including even the knee-cap, being
intombed in their proper relative positions, and from the
osseous armour of the great armadillo-like animal being so
well preserved, together with the bones of one of its legs, we
may feel assured that these remains were fresh and united by
their ligaments, when deposited in the gravel together with
the shells. [2] Hence we have good evidence that the above
enumerated gigantic quadrupeds, more different from those
of the present day than the oldest of the tertiary quadrupeds
of Europe, lived whilst the sea was peopled with most
of its present inhabitants; and we have confirmed that remarkable
law so often insisted on by Mr. Lyell, namely, that
the "longevity of the species in the mammalia is upon the
whole inferior to that of the testacea." [3]

The great size of the bones of the Megatheroid animals,
including the Megatherium, Megalonyx, Scelidotherium, and
Mylodon, is truly wonderful. The habits of life of these
animals were a complete puzzle to naturalists, until Professor
Owen [4] solved the problem with remarkable ingenuity. The
teeth indicate, by their simple structure, that these Megatheroid
animals lived on vegetable food, and probably on the
leaves and small twigs of trees; their ponderous forms and
great strong curved claws seem so little adapted for locomotion,
that some eminent naturalists have actually believed,
that, like the sloths, to which they are intimately related,
they subsisted by climbing back downwards on trees, and
feeding on the leaves. It was a bold, not to say preposterous,
idea to conceive even antediluvian trees, with branches
strong enough to bear animals as large as elephants. Professor
Owen, with far more probability, believes that, instead
of climbing on the trees, they pulled the branches down to
them, and tore up the smaller ones by the roots, and so fed on
the leaves. The colossal breadth and weight of their hinder
quarters, which can hardly be imagined without having been
seen, become on this view, of obvious service, instead of
being an incumbrance: their apparent clumsiness disappears.
With their great tails and their huge heels firmly fixed like
a tripod on the ground, they could freely exert the full force
of their most powerful arms and great claws. Strongly
rooted, indeed, must that tree have been, which could have
resisted such force! The Mylodon, moreover, was furnished
with a long extensile tongue like that of the giraffe, which,
by one of those beautiful provisions of nature, thus reaches
with the aid of its long neck its leafy food. I may remark,
that in Abyssinia the elephant, according to Bruce, when it
cannot reach with its proboscis the branches, deeply scores
with its tusks the trunk of the tree, up and down and all
round, till it is sufficiently weakened to be broken down.

The beds including the above fossil remains, stand only
from fifteen to twenty feet above the level of high-water;
and hence the elevation of the land has been small (without
there has been an intercalated period of subsidence, of which
we have no evidence) since the great quadrupeds wandered
over the surrounding plains; and the external features of
the country must then have been very nearly the same as
now. What, it may naturally be asked, was the character
of the vegetation at that period; was the country as wretchedly
sterile as it now is? As so many of the co-embedded
shells are the same with those now living in the bay, I was
at first inclined to think that the former vegetation was
probably similar to the existing one; but this would have
been an erroneous inference for some of these same shells
live on the luxuriant coast of Brazil; and generally, the
character of the inhabitants of the sea are useless as guides
to judge of those on the land. Nevertheless, from the following
considerations, I do not believe that the simple fact
of many gigantic quadrupeds having lived on the plains
round Bahia Blanca, is any sure guide that they formerly
were clothed with a luxuriant vegetation: I have no doubt
that the sterile country a little southward, near the Rio
Negro, with its scattered thorny trees, would support many
and large quadrupeds.

That large animals require a luxuriant vegetation, has
been a general assumption which has passed from one work
to another; but I do not hesitate to say that it is completely
false, and that it has vitiated the reasoning of geologists
on some points of great interest in the ancient history of
the world. The prejudice has probably been derived from
India, and the Indian islands, where troops of elephants,
noble forests, and impenetrable jungles, are associated together
in every one's mind. If, however, we refer to any
work of travels through the southern parts of Africa, we
shall find allusions in almost every page either to the desert
character of the country, or to the numbers of large animals
inhabiting it. The same thing is rendered evident
by the many engravings which have been published of various
parts of the interior. When the Beagle was at Cape
Town, I made an excursion of some days' length into the
country, which at least was sufficient to render that which
I had read more fully intelligible.

Dr. Andrew Smith, who, at the head of his adventurous
party, has lately succeeded in passing the Tropic of Capricorn,
informs me that, taking into consideration the whole
of the southern part of Africa, there can be no doubt of its
being a sterile country. On the southern and south-eastern
coasts there are some fine forests, but with these exceptions,
the traveller may pass for days together through open plains,
covered by a poor and scanty vegetation. It is difficult to
convey any accurate idea of degrees of comparative fertility;
but it may be safely said that the amount of vegetation
supported at any one time [5] by Great Britain, exceeds,
perhaps even tenfold, the quantity on an equal area, in the
interior parts of Southern Africa. The fact that bullock-
waggons can travel in any direction, excepting near the
coast, without more than occasionally half an hour's delay
in cutting down bushes, gives, perhaps, a more definite notion
of the scantiness of the vegetation. Now, if we look to the
animals inhabiting these wide plains, we shall find their
numbers extraordinarily great, and their bulk immense. We
must enumerate the elephant, three species of rhinoceros,
and probably, according to Dr. Smith, two others, the hippopotamus,
the giraffe, the bos caffer -- as large as a full-grown
bull, and the elan -- but little less, two zebras, and the
quaccha, two gnus, and several antelopes even larger than these
latter animals. It may be supposed that although the species
are numerous, the individuals of each kind are few.
By the kindness of Dr. Smith, I am enabled to show that
the case is very different. He informs me, that in lat. 24 degs.,
in one day's march with the bullock-waggons, he saw, without
wandering to any great distance on either side, between
one hundred and one hundred and fifty rhinoceroses, which
belonged to three species: the same day he saw several herds
of giraffes, amounting together to nearly a hundred; and
that although no elephant was observed, yet they are found
in this district. At the distance of a little more than one
hour's march from their place of encampment on the previous
night, his party actually killed at one spot eight
hippopotamuses, and saw many more. In this same river there
were likewise crocodiles. Of course it was a case quite
extraordinary, to see so many great animals crowded together,
but it evidently proves that they must exist in great numbers.
Dr. Smith describes the country passed through that
day, as "being thinly covered with grass, and bushes about
four feet high, and still more thinly with mimosa-trees."
The waggons were not prevented travelling in a nearly
straight line.

Besides these large animals, every one the least acquainted
with the natural history of the Cape, has read of
the herds of antelopes, which can be compared only with the
flocks of migratory birds. The numbers indeed of the lion,
panther, and hyaena, and the multitude of birds of prey,
plainly speak of the abundance of the smaller quadrupeds:
one evening seven lions were counted at the same time prowling
round Dr. Smith's encampment. As this able naturalist
remarked to me, the carnage each day in Southern Africa
must indeed be terrific! I confess it is truly surprising how
such a number of animals can find support in a country
producing so little food. The larger quadrupeds no doubt
roam over wide tracts in search of it; and their food chiefly
consists of underwood, which probably contains much nutriment
in a small bulk. Dr. Smith also informs me that the
vegetation has a rapid growth; no sooner is a part consumed,
than its place is supplied by a fresh stock. There can be
no doubt, however, that our ideas respecting the apparent
amount of food necessary for the support of large quadrupeds
are much exaggerated: it should have been remembered
that the camel, an animal of no mean bulk, has always been
considered as the emblem of the desert.

The belief that where large quadrupeds exist, the vegetation
must necessarily be luxuriant, is the more remarkable,
because the converse is far from true. Mr. Burchell observed
to me that when entering Brazil, nothing struck him more
forcibly than the splendour of the South American vegetation
contrasted with that of South Africa, together with
the absence of all large quadrupeds. In his Travels, [6] he has
suggested that the comparison of the respective weights (if
there were sufficient data) of an equal number of the largest
herbivorous quadrupeds of each country would be extremely
curious. If we take on the one side, the elephant, [7] hippopotamus,
giraffe, bos caffer, elan, certainly three, and probably
five species of rhinoceros; and on the American side,
two tapirs, the guanaco, three deer, the vicuna, peccari,
capybara (after which we must choose from the monkeys to
complete the number), and then place these two groups
alongside each other, it is not easy to conceive ranks more
disproportionate in size. After the above facts, we are compelled
to conclude, against anterior probability, [8] that among
the mammalia there exists no close relation between the
bulk of the species, and the _quantity_ of the vegetation, in
the countries which they inhabit.

With regard to the number of large quadrupeds, there
certainly exists no quarter of the globe which will bear
comparison with Southern Africa. After the different statements
which have been given, the extremely desert character
of that region will not be disputed. In the European division
of the world, we must look back to the tertiary epochs,
to find a condition of things among the mammalia, resembling
that now existing at the Cape of Good Hope. Those
tertiary epochs, which we are apt to consider as abounding
to an astonishing degree with large animals, because we
find the remains of many ages accumulated at certain spots,
could hardly boast of more large quadrupeds than Southern
Africa does at present. If we speculate on the condition
of the vegetation during these epochs we are at least bound
so far to consider existing analogies, as not to urge as
absolutely necessary a luxuriant vegetation, when we see
a state of things so totally different at the Cape of Good
Hope.

We know [9] that the extreme regions of North America,
many degrees beyond the limit where the ground at the depth
of a few feet remains perpetually congealed, are covered by
forests of large and tall trees. In a like manner, in Siberia,
we have woods of birch, fir, aspen, and larch, growing in a
latitude [10] (64 degs.) where the mean temperature of the
air falls below the freezing point, and where the earth is so
completely frozen, that the carcass of an animal embedded in it
is perfectly preserved. With these facts we must grant, as
far as _quantity alone_ of vegetation is concerned, that the
great quadrupeds of the later tertiary epochs might, in most
parts of Northern Europe and Asia, have lived on the spots
where their remains are now found. I do not here speak of
the kind of vegetation necessary for their support; because,
as there is evidence of physical changes, and as the animals
have become extinct, so may we suppose that the species of
plants have likewise been changed.

These remarks, I may be permitted to add, directly bear
on the case of the Siberian animals preserved in ice. The
firm conviction of the necessity of a vegetation possessing
a character of tropical luxuriance, to support such large
animals, and the impossibility of reconciling this with the
proximity of perpetual congelation, was one chief cause of
the several theories of sudden revolutions of climate, and of
overwhelming catastrophes, which were invented to account
for their entombment. I am far from supposing that the
climate has not changed since the period when those animals
lived, which now lie buried in the ice. At present I
only wish to show, that as far as _quantity_ of food _alone_ is
concerned, the ancient rhinoceroses might have roamed over
the _steppes_ of central Siberia (the northern parts probably
being under water) even in their present condition, as well
as the living rhinoceroses and elephants over the _Karros_
of Southern Africa.

I will now give an account of the habits of some of the
more interesting birds which are common on the wild plains
of Northern Patagonia: and first for the largest, or South
American ostrich. The ordinary habits of the ostrich are
familiar to every one. They live on vegetable matter, such
as roots and grass; but at Bahia Blanca I have repeatedly
seen three or four come down at low water to the extensive
mud-banks which are then dry, for the sake, as the Gauchos
say, of feeding on small fish. Although the ostrich in its
habits is so shy, wary, and solitary, and although so fleet
in its pace, it is caught without much difficulty by the Indian
or Gaucho armed with the bolas. When several horsemen
appear in a semicircle, it becomes confounded, and does
not know which way to escape. They generally prefer running
against the wind; yet at the first start they expand
their wings, and like a vessel make all sail. On one fine
hot day I saw several ostriches enter a bed of tall rushes,
where they squatted concealed, till quite closely approached.
It is not generally known that ostriches readily take to the
water. Mr. King informs me that at the Bay of San Blas,
and at Port Valdes in Patagonia, he saw these birds swimming
several times from island to island. They ran into
the water both when driven down to a point, and likewise
of their own accord when not frightened: the distance
crossed was about two hundred yards. When swimming,
very little of their bodies appear above water; their necks
are extended a little forward, and their progress is slow.
On two occasions I saw some ostriches swimming across the
Santa Cruz river, where its course was about four hundred
yards wide, and the stream rapid. Captain Sturt, [11] when
descending the Murrumbidgee, in Australia, saw two emus
in the act of swimming.

The inhabitants of the country readily distinguish, even
at a distance, the cock bird from the hen. The former is
larger and darker-coloured, [12] and has a bigger head. The
ostrich, I believe the cock, emits a singular, deep-toned,
hissing note: when first I heard it, standing in the midst of
some sand-hillocks, I thought it was made by some wild
beast, for it is a sound that one cannot tell whence it comes,
or from how far distant. When we were at Bahia Blanca
in the months of September and October, the eggs, in
extraordinary numbers, were found all over the country. They
lie either scattered and single, in which case they are never
hatched, and are called by the Spaniards huachos; or they
are collected together into a shallow excavation, which forms
the nest. Out of the four nests which I saw, three contained
twenty-two eggs each, and the fourth twenty-seven.
In one day's hunting on horseback sixty-four eggs were
found; forty-four of these were in two nests, and the remaining
twenty, scattered huachos. The Gauchos unanimously
affirm, and there is no reason to doubt their statement,
that the male bird alone hatches the eggs, and for
some time afterwards accompanies the young. The cock
when on the nest lies very close; I have myself almost
ridden over one. It is asserted that at such times they
are occasionally fierce, and even dangerous, and that they
have been known to attack a man on horseback, trying to
kick and leap on him. My informer pointed out to me an old
man, whom he had seen much terrified by one chasing him. I
observe in Burchell's travels in South Africa, that he remarks,
"Having killed a male ostrich, and the feathers being
dirty, it was said by the Hottentots to be a nest bird." I
understand that the male emu in the Zoological Gardens
takes charge of the nest: this habit, therefore, is common
to the family.

The Gauchos unanimously affirm that several females
lay in one nest. I have been positively told that four or
five hen birds have been watched to go in the middle of the
day, one after the other, to the same nest. I may add, also,
that it is believed in Africa, that two or more females lay
in one nest. [13] Although this habit at first appears very
strange, I think the cause may be explained in a simple
manner. The number of eggs in the nest varies from twenty
to forty, and even to fifty; and according to Azara, some
times to seventy or eighty. Now, although it is most probable,
from the number of eggs found in one district being
so extraordinarily great in proportion to the parent birds,
and likewise from the state of the ovarium of the hen, that
she may in the course of the season lay a large number, yet
the time required must be very long. Azara states, [14] that a
female in a state of domestication laid seventeen eggs, each
at the interval of three days one from another. If the hen
was obliged to hatch her own eggs, before the last was laid
the first probably would be addled; but if each laid a few
eggs at successive periods, in different nests, and several
hens, as is stated to be the case, combined together, then
the eggs in one collection would be nearly of the same age.
If the number of eggs in one of these nests is, as I believe,
not greater on an average than the number laid by one
female in the season, then there must be as many nests as
females, and each cock bird will have its fair share of the
labour of incubation; and that during a period when the
females probably could not sit, from not having finished
laying. [15] I have before mentioned the great numbers of
huachos, or deserted eggs; so that in one day's hunting
twenty were found in this state. It appears odd that so
many should be wasted. Does it not arise from the difficulty
of several females associating together, and finding a male
ready to undertake the office of incubation? It is evident
that there must at first be some degree of association between
at least two females; otherwise the eggs would remain
scattered over the wide plain, at distances far too great to
allow of the male collecting them into one nest: some authors
have believed that the scattered eggs were deposited
for the young birds to feed on. This can hardly be the case
in America, because the huachos, although often found
addled and putrid, are generally whole.

When at the Rio Negro in Northern Patagonia, I repeatedly
heard the Gauchos talking of a very rare bird which
they called Avestruz Petise. They described it as being less
than the common ostrich (which is there abundant), but
with a very close general resemblance. They said its colour
was dark and mottled, and that its legs were shorter, and
feathered lower down than those of the common ostrich.
It is more easily caught by the bolas than the other species.
The few inhabitants who had seen both kinds, affirmed they
could distinguish them apart from a long distance. The
eggs of the small species appeared, however, more generally
known; and it was remarked, with surprise, that they were
very little less than those of the Rhea, but of a slightly
different form, and with a tinge of pale blue. This species occurs
most rarely on the plains bordering the Rio Negro; but about
a degree and a half further south they are tolerably abundant.
When at Port Desire, in Patagonia (lat. 48 degs.), Mr.
Martens shot an ostrich; and I looked at it, forgetting at
the moment, in the most unaccountable manner, the whole
subject of the Petises, and thought it was a not full-grown
bird of the common sort. It was cooked and eaten before
my memory returned. Fortunately the head, neck, legs,
wings, many of the larger feathers, and a large part of the
skin, had been preserved; and from these a very nearly perfect
specimen has been put together, and is now exhibited
in the museum of the Zoological Society. Mr. Gould, in
describing this new species, has done me the honour of
calling it after my name.

Among the Patagonian Indians in the Strait of Magellan,
we found a half Indian, who had lived some years with
the tribe, but had been born in the northern provinces. I
asked him if he had ever heard of the Avestruz Petise? He
answered by saying, " Why, there are none others in these
southern countries." He informed me that the number of
eggs in the nest of the petise is considerably less than in that
of the other kind, namely, not more than fifteen on an average,
but he asserted that more than one female deposited
them. At Santa Cruz we saw several of these birds. They
were excessively wary: I think they could see a person
approaching when too far off to be distinguished themselves.
In ascending the river few were seen; but in our quiet and
rapid descent, many, in pairs and by fours or fives, were
observed. It was remarked that this bird did not expand
its wings, when first starting at full speed, after the manner
of the northern kind. In conclusion I may observe, that
the Struthio rhea inhabits the country of La Plata as far
as a little south of the Rio Negro in lat. 41 degs., and that
the Struthio Darwinii takes its place in Southern Patagonia;
the part about the Rio Negro being neutral territory. M.
A. d'Orbigny, [16] when at the Rio Negro, made great exertions
to procure this bird, but never had the good fortune to
succeed. Dobrizhoffer [17] long ago was aware of there being
two kinds of ostriches, he says, "You must know, moreover,
that Emus differ in size and habits in different tracts
of land; for those that inhabit the plains of Buenos Ayres
and Tucuman are larger, and have black, white and grey
feathers; those near to the Strait of Magellan are smaller
and more beautiful, for their white feathers are tipped with
black at the extremity, and their black ones in like manner
terminate in white."

A very singular little bird, Tinochorus rumicivorus, is
here common: in its habits and general appearance, it nearly
equally partakes of the characters, different as they are, of
the quail and snipe. The Tinochorus is found in the whole
of southern South America, wherever there are sterile plains,
or open dry pasture land. It frequents in pairs or small
flocks the most desolate places, where scarcely another living
creature can exist. Upon being approached they squat close,
and then are very difficult to be distinguished from the
ground. When feeding they walk rather slowly, with their
legs wide apart. They dust themselves in roads and sandy
places, and frequent particular spots, where they may be
found day after day: like partridges, they take wing in a
flock. In all these respects, in the muscular gizzard adapted
for vegetable food, in the arched beak and fleshy nostrils,
short legs and form of foot, the Tinochorus has a close affinity
with quails. But as soon as the bird is seen flying, its
whole appearance changes; the long pointed wings, so different
from those in the gallinaceous order, the irregular
manner of flight, and plaintive cry uttered at the moment
of rising, recall the idea of a snipe. The sportsmen of the
Beagle unanimously called it the short-billed snipe. To this
genus, or rather to the family of the Waders, its skeleton
shows that it is really related.

The Tinochorus is closely related to some other South
American birds. Two species of the genus Attagis are in
almost every respect ptarmigans in their habits; one lives
in Tierra del Fuego, above the limits of the forest land; and
the other just beneath the snow-line on the Cordillera of
Central Chile. A bird of another closely allied genus, Chionis
alba, is an inhabitant of the antarctic regions; it feeds
on sea-weed and shells on the tidal rocks. Although not
web footed, from some unaccountable habit, it is frequently
met with far out at sea. This small family of birds is one
of those which, from its varied relations to other families,
although at present offering only difficulties to the systematic
naturalist, ultimately may assist in revealing the
grand scheme, common to the present and past ages, on
which organized beings have been created.

The genus Furnarius contains several species, all small
birds, living on the ground, and inhabiting open dry countries.
In structure they cannot be compared to any European
form. Ornithologists have generally included them
among the creepers, although opposed to that family in every
habit. The best known species is the common oven-bird of
La Plata, the Casara or housemaker of the Spaniards. The
nest, whence it takes its name, is placed in the most exposed
situations, as on the top of a post, a bare rock, or on
a cactus. It is composed of mud and bits of straw, and has
strong thick walls: in shape it precisely resembles an oven,
or depressed beehive. The opening is large and arched,
and directly in front, within the nest, there is a partition,
which reaches nearly to the roof, thus forming a passage
or antechamber to the true nest.

Another and smaller species of Furnarius (F. cunicularius),
resembles the oven-bird in the general reddish tint
of its plumage, in a peculiar shrill reiterated cry, and in an
odd manner of running by starts. From its affinity, the
Spaniards call it Casarita (or little housebuilder), although
its nidification is quite different. The Casarita builds its
nest at the bottom of a narrow cylindrical hole, which is
said to extend horizontally to nearly six feet under ground.
Several of the country people told me, that when boys, they
had attempted to dig out the nest, but had scarcely ever
succeeded in getting to the end of the passage. The bird
chooses any low bank of firm sandy soil by the side of a
road or stream. Here (at Bahia Blanca) the walls round
the houses are built of hardened mud, and I noticed that
one, which enclosed a courtyard where I lodged, was bored
through by round holes in a score of places. On asking the
owner the cause of this he bitterly complained of the little
casarita, several of which I afterwards observed at work.
It is rather curious to find how incapable these birds must
be of acquiring any notion of thickness, for although they
were constantly flitting over the low wall, they continued
vainly to bore through it, thinking it an excellent bank for
their nests. I do not doubt that each bird, as often as it
came to daylight on the opposite side, was greatly surprised
at the marvellous fact.

I have already mentioned nearly all the mammalia common
in this country. Of armadilloes three species occur
namely, the Dasypus minutus or _pichy_, the D. villosus or
_peludo_, and the _apar_. The first extends ten degrees further
south than any other kind; a fourth species, the _Mulita_,
does not come as far south as Bahia Blanca. The four species
have nearly similar habits; the _peludo_, however, is nocturnal,
while the others wander by day over the open plains,
feeding on beetles, larvae, roots, and even small snakes. The
_apar_, commonly called _mataco_, is remarkable by having only
three moveable bands; the rest of its tesselated covering
being nearly inflexible. It has the power of rolling itself
into a perfect sphere, like one kind of English woodlouse.
In this state it is safe from the attack of dogs; for the dog
not being able to take the whole in its mouth, tries to bite
one side, and the ball slips away. The smooth hard covering
of the _mataco_ offers a better defence than the sharp
spines of the hedgehog. The _pichy_ prefers a very dry soil;
and the sand-dunes near the coast, where for many months
it can never taste water, is its favourite resort: it often tries
to escape notice, by squatting close to the ground. In the
course of a day's ride, near Bahia Blanca, several were generally
met with. The instant one was perceived, it was
necessary, in order to catch it, almost to tumble off one's
horse; for in soft soil the animal burrowed so quickly, that
its hinder quarters would almost disappear before one could
alight. It seems almost a pity to kill such nice little animals,
for as a Gaucho said, while sharpening his knife on
the back of one, "Son tan mansos" (they are so quiet).

Of reptiles there are many kinds: one snake (a Trigonocephalus,
or Cophias [18]), from the size of the poison channel
in its fangs, must be very deadly. Cuvier, in opposition to
some other naturalists, makes this a sub-genus of the rattlesnake,
and intermediate between it and the viper. In confirmation
of this opinion, I observed a fact, which appears
to me very curious and instructive, as showing how every
character, even though it may be in some degree independent
of structure, has a tendency to vary by slow degrees.
The extremity of the tail of this snake is terminated by a
point, which is very slightly enlarged; and as the animal
glides along, it constantly vibrates the last inch; and this
part striking against the dry grass and brushwood, produces
a rattling noise, which can be distinctly heard at the distance
of six feet. As often as the animal was irritated or
surprised, its tail was shaken; and the vibrations were extremely
rapid. Even as long as the body retained its irritability,
a tendency to this habitual movement was evident.
This Trigonocephalus has, therefore, in some respects the
structure of a viper, with the habits of a rattlesnake: the
noise, however, being produced by a simpler device. The
expression of this snake's face was hideous and fierce; the
pupil consisted of a vertical slit in a mottled and coppery
iris; the jaws were broad at the base, and the nose terminated
in a triangular projection. I do not think I ever saw
anything more ugly, excepting, perhaps, some of the vampire
bats. I imagine this repulsive aspect originates from
the features being placed in positions, with respect to each
other, somewhat proportional to those of the human face;
and thus we obtain a scale of hideousness.

Amongst the Batrachian reptiles, I found only one little
toad (Phryniscus nigricans), which was most singular from
its colour. If we imagine, first, that it had been steeped in
the blackest ink, and then, when dry, allowed to crawl over
a board, freshly painted with the brightest vermilion, so
as to colour the soles of its feet and parts of its stomach, a
good idea of its appearance will be gained. If it had been
an unnamed species, surely it ought to have been called
_Diabolicus_, for it is a fit toad to preach in the ear of Eve.
Instead of being nocturnal in its habits, as other toads are,
and living in damp obscure recesses, it crawls during the heat
of the day about the dry sand-hillocks and arid plains, where
not a single drop of water can be found. It must necessarily
depend on the dew for its moisture; and this probably is
absorbed by the skin, for it is known, that these reptiles possess
great powers of cutaneous absorption. At Maldonado,
I found one in a situation nearly as dry as at Bahia Blanca,
and thinking to give it a great treat, carried it to a pool of
water; not only was the little animal unable to swim, but
I think without help it would soon have been drowned.
Of lizards there were many kinds, but only one (Proctotretus
multimaculatus) remarkable from its habits. It
lives on the bare sand near the sea coast, and from its mottled
colour, the brownish scales being speckled with white,
yellowish red, and dirty blue, can hardly be distinguished
from the surrounding surface. When frightened, it attempts
to avoid discovery by feigning death, with outstretched
legs, depressed body, and closed eyes: if further
molested, it buries itself with great quickness in the loose
sand. This lizard, from its flattened body and short legs,
cannot run quickly.

I will here add a few remarks on the hybernation of animals
in this part of South America. When we first arrived
at Bahia Blanca, September 7th, 1832, we thought nature
had granted scarcely a living creature to this sandy and dry
country. By digging, however, in the ground, several insects,
large spiders, and lizards were found in a half-torpid
state. On the 15th, a few animals began to appear, and by
the 18th (three days from the equinox), everything announced
the commencement of spring. The plains were ornamented
by the flowers of a pink wood-sorrel, wild peas,
cenotherae, and geraniums; and the birds began to lay their
eggs. Numerous Lamellicorn and Heteromerous insects, the
latter remarkable for their deeply sculptured bodies, were
slowly crawling about; while the lizard tribe, the constant
inhabitants of a sandy soil, darted about in every direction.
During the first eleven days, whilst nature was dormant, the
mean temperature taken from observations made every two
hours on board the Beagle, was 51 degs.; and in the middle of
the day the thermometer seldom ranged above 55 degs. On the
eleven succeeding days, in which all living things became so
animated, the mean was 58 degs., and the range in the middle
of the day 7 between 60 and 70 degs. Here, then, an
increase of seven degrees in mean temperature, but a greater one
of extreme heat, was sufficient to awake the functions of life.
At Monte Video, from which we had just before sailed, in
the twenty-three days included between the 26th of July
and the 19th of August, the mean temperature from 276
observations was 58.4 degs.; the mean hottest day being
65.5 degs., and the coldest 46 degs. The lowest point to
which the thermometer fell was 41.5 degs., and occasionally
in the middle of the day it rose to 69 or 70 degs.
Yet with this high temperature, almost every beetle, several
genera of spiders, snails, and land-shells, toads and
lizards were all lying torpid beneath stones. But
we have seen that at Bahia Blanca, which is four degrees
southward and therefore with a climate only a very little
colder, this same temperature with a rather less extreme
heat, was sufficient to awake all orders of animated beings.
This shows how nicely the stimulus required to arouse hybernating
animals is governed by the usual climate of the
district, and not by the absolute heat. It is well known that
within the tropics, the hybernation, or more properly aestivation,
of animals is determined not by the temperature, but
by the times of drought. Near Rio de Janeiro, I was at first
surprised to observe, that, a few days after some little
depressions had been filled with water, they were peopled by
numerous full-grown shells and beetles, which must have
been lying dormant. Humboldt has related the strange accident
of a hovel having been erected over a spot where a
young crocodile lay buried in the hardened mud. He adds,
"The Indians often find enormous boas, which they call Uji
or water serpents, in the same lethargic state. To reanimate
them, they must be irritated or wetted with water."

I will only mention one other animal, a zoophyte (I believe
Virgularia Patagonica), a kind of sea-pen. It consists
of a thin, straight, fleshy stem, with alternate rows of polypi
on each side, and surrounding an elastic stony axis, varying
in length from eight inches to two feet. The stem at one
extremity is truncate, but at the other is terminated by a
vermiform fleshy appendage. The stony axis which gives
strength to the stem may be traced at this extremity into a
mere vessel filled with granular matter. At low water hundreds
of these zoophytes might be seen, projecting like stubble,
with the truncate end upwards, a few inches above the
surface of the muddy sand. When touched or pulled they
suddenly drew themselves in with force, so as nearly or quite
to disappear. By this action, the highly elastic axis must
be bent at the lower extremity, where it is naturally slightly
curved; and I imagine it is by this elasticity alone that the
zoophyte is enabled to rise again through the mud. Each
polypus, though closely united to its brethren, has a distinct
mouth, body, and tentacula. Of these polypi, in a large
specimen, there must be many thousands; yet we see that
they act by one movement: they have also one central axis
connected with a system of obscure circulation, and the ova
are produced in an organ distinct from the separate
individuals. [19] Well may one be allowed to ask, what is an
individual? It is always interesting to discover the foundation
of the strange tales of the old voyagers; and I have no doubt
but that the habits of this Virgularia explain one such case.
Captain Lancaster, in his voyage [20] in 1601, narrates that on
the sea-sands of the Island of Sombrero, in the East Indies,
he "found a small twig growing up like a young tree, and
on offering to pluck it up it shrinks down to the ground,
and sinks, unless held very hard. On being plucked up, a
great worm is found to be its root, and as the tree groweth
in greatness, so doth the worm diminish, and as soon as the
worm is entirely turned into a tree it rooteth in the earth,
and so becomes great. This transformation is one of the
strangest wonders that I saw in all my travels: for if this
tree is plucked up, while young, and the leaves and bark
stripped off, it becomes a hard stone when dry, much like
white coral: thus is this worm twice transformed into
different natures. Of these we gathered and brought home
many."

During my stay at Bahia Blanca, while waiting for the
Beagle, the place was in a constant state of excitement, from
rumours of wars and victories, between the troops of Rosas
and the wild Indians. One day an account came that a small
party forming one of the postas on the line to Buenos Ayres,
had been found all murdered. The next day three hundred
men arrived from the Colorado, under the command of Commandant
Miranda. A large portion of these men were Indians
(mansos, or tame), belonging to the tribe of the Cacique
Bernantio. They passed the night here; and it was
impossible to conceive anything more wild and savage than
the scene of their bivouac. Some drank till they were
intoxicated; others swallowed the steaming blood of the
cattle slaughtered for their suppers, and then, being sick
from drunkenness, they cast it up again, and were besmeared
with filth and gore.

Nam simul expletus dapibus, vinoque sepultus
Cervicem inflexam posuit, jacuitque per antrum
Immensus, saniem eructans, ac frusta cruenta
Per somnum commixta mero.

In the morning they started for the scene of the murder,
with orders to follow the "rastro," or track, even if it led
them to Chile. We subsequently heard that the wild Indians
had escaped into the great Pampas, and from some
cause the track had been missed. One glance at the rastro
tells these people a whole history. Supposing they examine
the track of a thousand horses, they will soon guess the number
of mounted ones by seeing how many have cantered; by
the depth of the other impressions, whether any horses were
loaded with cargoes; by the irregularity of the footsteps,
how far tired; by the manner in which the food has been
cooked, whether the pursued travelled in haste; by the general
appearance, how long it has been since they passed.
They consider a rastro of ten days or a fortnight, quite
recent enough to be hunted out. We also heard that Miranda
struck from the west end of the Sierra Ventana, in a direct
line to the island of Cholechel, situated seventy leagues up
the Rio Negro. This is a distance of between two and three
hundred miles, through a country completely unknown.
What other troops in the world are so independent? With
the sun for their guide, mare's flesh for food, their saddle-
cloths for beds, -- as long as there is a little water, these
men would penetrate to the end of the world.

A few days afterwards I saw another troop of these banditti-like
soldiers start on an expedition against a tribe of
Indians at the small Salinas, who had been betrayed by a
prisoner cacique. The Spaniard who brought the orders
for this expedition was a very intelligent man. He gave
me an account of the last engagement at which he was present.
Some Indians, who had been taken prisoners, gave
information of a tribe living north of the Colorado. Two
hundred soldiers were sent; and they first discovered the
Indians by a cloud of dust from their horses' feet, as they
chanced to be travelling. The country was mountainous and
wild, and it must have been far in the interior, for the
Cordillera were in sight. The Indians, men, women, and children,
were about one hundred and ten in number, and they
were nearly all taken or killed, for the soldiers sabre every
man. The Indians are now so terrified that they offer no
resistance in a body, but each flies, neglecting even his wife
and children; but when overtaken, like wild animals, they
fight against any number to the last moment. One dying Indian
seized with his teeth the thumb of his adversary, and
allowed his own eye to be forced out sooner than relinquish
his hold. Another, who was wounded, feigned death, keeping
a knife ready to strike one more fatal blow. My informer
said, when he was pursuing an Indian, the man cried out
for mercy, at the same time that he was covertly loosing the
bolas from his waist, meaning to whirl it round his head and
so strike his pursuer. "I however struck him with my sabre
to the ground, and then got off my horse, and cut his throat
with my knife." This is a dark picture; but how much more
shocking is the unquestionable fact, that all the women who
appear above twenty years old are massacred in cold blood!
When I exclaimed that this appeared rather inhuman, he
answered, "Why, what can be done? they breed so!"

Every one here is fully convinced that this is the most
just war, because it is against barbarians. Who would
believe in this age that such atrocities could be committed in
a Christian civilized country? The children of the Indians
are saved, to be sold or given away as servants, or rather
slaves for as long a time as the owners can make them
believe themselves slaves; but I believe in their treatment
there is little to complain of.

In the battle four men ran away together. They were
pursued, one was killed, and the other three were taken alive.
They turned out to be messengers or ambassadors from a
large body of Indians, united in the common cause of
defence, near the Cordillera. The tribe to which they had
been sent was on the point of holding a grand council, the
feast of mare's flesh was ready, and the dance prepared: in
the morning the ambassadors were to have returned to the
Cordillera. They were remarkably fine men, very fair, above
six feet high, and all under thirty years of age. The three
survivors of course possessed very valuable information and
to extort this they were placed in a line. The two first being
questioned, answered, "No se" (I do not know), and were
one after the other shot. The third also said " No se;" adding,
"Fire, I am a man, and can die!" Not one syllable
would they breathe to injure the united cause of their country!
The conduct of the above-mentioned cacique was very
different; he saved his life by betraying the intended plan
of warfare, and the point of union in the Andes. It was
believed that there were already six or seven hundred Indians
together, and that in summer their numbers would be
doubled. Ambassadors were to have been sent to the Indians
at the small Salinas, near Bahia Blanca, whom I have mentioned
that this same cacique had betrayed. The communication,
therefore, between the Indians, extends from the
Cordillera to the coast of the Atlantic.

General Rosas's plan is to kill all stragglers, and having
driven the remainder to a common point, to attack them in
a body, in the summer, with the assistance of the Chilenos.
This operation is to be repeated for three successive years.
I imagine the summer is chosen as the time for the main
attack, because the plains are then without water, and the
Indians can only travel in particular directions. The escape
of the Indians to the south of the Rio Negro, where in such
a vast unknown country they would be safe, is prevented by
a treaty with the Tehuelches to this effect; -- that Rosas pays
them so much to slaughter every Indian who passes to the
south of the river, but if they fail in so doing, they
themselves are to be exterminated. The war is waged chiefly
against the Indians near the Cordillera; for many of the
tribes on this eastern side are fighting with Rosas. The
general, however, like Lord Chesterfield, thinking that his
friends may in a future day become his enemies, always
places them in the front ranks, so that their numbers may
be thinned. Since leaving South America we have heard
that this war of extermination completely failed.

Among the captive girls taken in the same engagement,
there were two very pretty Spanish ones, who had been carried
away by the Indians when young, and could now only
speak the Indian tongue. From their account they must
have come from Salta, a distance in a straight line of nearly
one thousand miles. This gives one a grand idea of the
immense territory over which the Indians roam: yet, great
as it is, I think there will not, in another half-century, be
a wild Indian northward of the Rio Negro. The warfare
is too bloody to last; the Christians killing every Indian,
and the Indians doing the same by the Christians. It is
melancholy to trace how the Indians have given way before
the Spanish invaders. Schirdel [21] says that in 1535, when
Buenos Ayres was founded, there were villages containing
two and three thousand inhabitants. Even in Falconer's
time (1750) the Indians made inroads as far as Luxan,
Areco, and Arrecife, but now they are driven beyond the
Salado. Not only have whole tribes been exterminated, but
the remaining Indians have become more barbarous: instead
of living in large villages, and being employed in the arts of
fishing, as well as of the chase, they now wander about the
open plains, without home or fixed occupation.

I heard also some account of an engagement which took
place, a few weeks previously to the one mentioned, at
Cholechel. This is a very important station on account of
being a pass for horses; and it was, in consequence, for
some time the head-quarters of a division of the army.
When the troops first arrived there they found a tribe of
Indians, of whom they killed twenty or thirty. The cacique
escaped in a manner which astonished every one. The chief
Indians always have one or two picked horses, which they
keep ready for any urgent occasion. On one of these, an old
white horse, the cacique sprung, taking with him his little
son. The horse had neither saddle nor bridle. To avoid the
shots, the Indian rode in the peculiar method of his nation
namely, with an arm round the horse's neck, and one leg
only on its back. Thus hanging on one side, he was seen
patting the horse's head, and talking to him. The pursuers
urged every effort in the chase; the Commandant three
times changed his horse, but all in vain. The old Indian
father and his son escaped, and were free. What a fine picture
one can form in one's mind, -- the naked, bronze-like
figure of the old man with his little boy, riding like a
Mazeppa on the white horse, thus leaving far behind him the
host of his pursuers!

I saw one day a soldier striking fire with a piece of flint,
which I immediately recognised as having been a part of the
head of an arrow. He told me it was found near the island
of Cholechel, and that they are frequently picked up there.
It was between two and three inches long, and therefore
twice as large as those now used in Tierra del Fuego: it was
made of opaque cream-coloured flint, but the point and barbs
had been intentionally broken off. It is well known that no
Pampas Indians now use bows and arrows. I believe a small
tribe in Banda Oriental must be excepted; but they are
widely separated from the Pampas Indians, and border close
on those tribes that inhabit the forest, and live on foot. It
appears, therefore, that these arrow-heads are antiquarian [22]
relics of the Indians, before the great change in habits
consequent on the introduction of the horse into South
America.

[1] Since this was written, M. Alcide d'Orbingy has examined
these shells, and pronounces them all to be recent.

[2] M. Aug. Bravard has described, in a Spanish work
('Observaciones Geologicas,' 1857), this district, and he
believes that the bones of the extinct mammals were washed
out of the underlying Pampean deposit, and subsequently became
embedded with the still existing shells; but I am not convinced
by his remarks. M. Bravard believes that the whole enormous
Pampean deposit is a sub-aerial formation, like sand-dunes: this
seems to me to be an untenable doctrine.

[3] Principles of Geology, vol. iv. p. 40.

[4] This theory was first developed in the Zoology of the
Voyage of the Beagle, and subsequently in Professor Owen's
Memoir on Mylodon robustus.

[5] I mean this to exclude the total amount which may have been
successively produced and consumed during a given period.

[6] Travels in the Interior of South Africa, vol. ii. p. 207

[7] The elephant which was killed at Exeter Change was
estimated (being partly weighed) at five tons and a half.
The elephant actress, as I was informed, weighed one ton less;
so that we may take five as the average of a full-grown
elephant. I was told at the Surry Gardens, that a hippopotamus
which was sent to England cut up into pieces was estimated at
three tons and a half; we will call it three. From these
premises we may give three tons and a half to each of the five
rhinoceroses; perhaps a ton to the giraffe, and half to the
bos caffer as well as to the elan (a large ox weighs from
1200 to 1500 pounds). This will give an average (from the above
estimates) of 2.7 of a ton for the ten largest herbivorous
animals of Southern Africa. In South America, allowing 1200
pounds for the two tapirs together, 550 for the guanaco and
vicuna, 500 for three deer, 300 for the capybara, peccari, and
a monkey, we shall have an average of 250 pounds, which I
believe is overstating the result. The ratio will therefore
be as 6048 to 250, or 24 to 1, for the ten largest animals
from the two continents.

[8] If we suppose the case of the discovery of a skeleton of
a Greenland whale in a fossil state, not a single cetaceous
animal being known to exist, what naturalist would have ventured
conjecture on the possibility of a carcass so gigantic being
supported on the minute crustacea and mollusca living in the
frozen seas of the extreme North?

[9] See Zoological Remarks to Capt. Back's Expedition, by Dr.
Richardson. He says, "The subsoil north of latitude 56 degs.
is perpetually frozen, the thaw on the coast not penetrating
above three feet, and at Bear Lake, in latitude 64 degs., not
more than twenty inches. The frozen substratum does not of
itself destroy vegetation, for forests flourish on the surface,
at a distance from the coast."

[10] See Humboldt, Fragments Asiatiques, p. 386: Barton's
Geography of Plants: and Malte Brun. In the latter work it is
said that the limit of the growth of trees in Siberia may be
drawn under the parallel of 70 degs.

[11] Sturt's Travels, vol. ii. p. 74.

[12] A Gucho assured me that he had once seen a snow-white or
Albino variety, and that it was a most beautiful bird.

[13] Burchell's Travels, vol. i. p. 280.

[14] Azara, vol. iv. p. 173.

[15] Lichtenstein, however, asserts (Travels, vol. ii. p. 25)
that the hens begin sitting when they have laid ten or twelve
eggs; and that they continue laying, I presume, in another
nest. This appears to me very improbable. He asserts that four
or five hens associate for incubation with one cock, who sits
only at night.

[16] When at the Rio Negro, we heard much of the indefatigable
labours of this naturalist. M. Aleide d'Orbigny, during the
years 1825 to 1833, traversed several large portions of South
America, and has made a collection, and is now publishing the
results on a scale of magnificence, which at once places himself
in the list of American travellers second only to Humboldt.

[17] Account of the Abipones, A.D. 1749, vol. i. (English
Translation) p. 314

[18] M. Bibron calls it T. crepitans.

[19] The cavities leading from the fleshy compartments of
the extremity, were filled with a yellow pulpy matter, which,
examined under a microscope, presented an extraordinary
appearance. The mass consisted of rounded, semi-transparent,
irregular grains, aggregated together into particles of
various sizes. All such particles, and the separate grains,
possessed the power of rapid movement; generally revolving
around different axes, but sometimes progressive. The movement
was visible with a very weak power, but even with the highest
its cause could not be perceived. It was very different from
the circulation of the fluid in the elastic bag, containing
the thin extremity of the axis. On other occasions, when
dissecting small marine animals beneath the microscope, I have
seen particles of pulpy matter, some of large size, as soon as
they were disengaged, commence revolving. I have imagined, I know
not with how much truth, that this granulo-pulpy matter was in
process of being converted into ova. Certainly in this zoophyte
such appeared to be the case.

[20] Kerr's Collection of Voyages, vol. viii. p. 119.

[21] Purchas's Collection of Voyages. I believe the date was
really 1537.

[22] Azara has even doubted whether the Pampas Indians ever
used bows.

CHAPTER VI

BAHIA BLANCA TO BUENOS AYRES

Set out for Buenos Ayres -- Rio Sauce -- Sierra Ventana --
Third Posta -- Driving Horses -- Bolas -- Partridges and
Foxes -- Features of the Country -- Long-legged Plover --
Teru-tero -- Hail-storm -- Natural Enclosures in the Sierra
Tapalguen -- Flesh of Puma -- Meat Diet -- Guardia del
Monte -- Effects of Cattle on the Vegetation -- Cardoon --
Buenos Ayres -- Corral where Cattle are Slaughtered.

SEPTEMBER 18th. -- I hired a Gaucho to accompany me
on my ride to Buenos Ayres, though with some difficulty,
as the father of one man was afraid to let him
go, and another, who seemed willing, was described to me
as so fearful, that I was afraid to take him, for I was told
that even if he saw an ostrich at a distance, he would mistake
it for an Indian, and would fly like the wind away.
The distance to Buenos Ayres is about four hundred miles,
and nearly the whole way through an uninhabited country.
We started early in the morning; ascending a few hundred
feet from the basin of green turf on which Bahia Blanca
stands, we entered on a wide desolate plain. It consists of
a crumbling argillaceo-calcareous rock, which, from the dry
nature of the climate, supports only scattered tufts of withered
grass, without a single bush or tree to break the monotonous
uniformity. The weather was fine, but the atmosphere
remarkably hazy; I thought the appearance foreboded
a gale, but the Gauchos said it was owing to the plain, at
some great distance in the interior, being on fire. After a
long gallop, having changed horses twice, we reached the Rio
Sauce: it is a deep, rapid, little stream, not above twenty-five
feet wide. The second posta on the road to Buenos Ayres
stands on its banks, a little above there is a ford for horses,
where the water does not reach to the horses' belly; but from
that point, in its course to the sea, it is quite impassable,
and hence makes a most useful barrier against the Indians.

Insignificant as this stream is, the Jesuit Falconer, whose
information is generally so very correct, figures it as a
considerable river, rising at the foot of the Cordillera. With
respect to its source, I do not doubt that this is the case
for the Gauchos assured me, that in the middle of the dry
summer, this stream, at the same time with the Colorado
has periodical floods; which can only originate in the snow
melting on the Andes. It is extremely improbable that a
stream so small as the Sauce then was, should traverse the
entire width of the continent; and indeed, if it were the
residue of a large river, its waters, as in other ascertained
cases, would be saline. During the winter we must look to
the springs round the Sierra Ventana as the source of its
pure and limpid stream. I suspect the plains of Patagonia
like those of Australia, are traversed by many water-courses
which only perform their proper parts at certain periods.
Probably this is the case with the water which flows into the
head of Port Desire, and likewise with the Rio Chupat, on
the banks of which masses of highly cellular scoriae were
found by the officers employed in the survey.

As it was early in the afternoon when we arrived, we
took fresh horses, and a soldier for a guide, and started for
the Sierra de la Ventana. This mountain is visible from
the anchorage at Bahia Blanca; and Capt. Fitz Roy calculates
its height to be 3340 feet -- an altitude very remarkable
on this eastern side of the continent. I am not aware
that any foreigner, previous to my visit, had ascended this
mountain; and indeed very few of the soldiers at Bahia
Blanca knew anything about it. Hence we heard of beds
of coal, of gold and silver, of caves, and of forests, all of
which inflamed my curiosity, only to disappoint it. The
distance from the posta was about six leagues over a level
plain of the same character as before. The ride was, however,
interesting, as the mountain began to show its true
form. When we reached the foot of the main ridge, we had
much difficulty in finding any water, and we thought we
should have been obliged to have passed the night without
any. At last we discovered some by looking close to the
mountain, for at the distance even of a few hundred yards
the streamlets were buried and entirely lost in the friable
calcareous stone and loose detritus. I do not think Nature
ever made a more solitary, desolate pile of rock; -- it well
deserves its name of _Hurtado_, or separated. The mountain
is steep, extremely rugged, and broken, and so entirely destitute
of trees, and even bushes, that we actually could not
make a skewer to stretch out our meat over the fire of thistle-
stalks. [1] The strange aspect of this mountain is contrasted
by the sea-like plain, which not only abuts against its steep
sides, but likewise separates the parallel ranges. The uniformity
of the colouring gives an extreme quietness to the
view, -- the whitish grey of the quartz rock, and the light
brown of the withered grass of the plain, being unrelieved
by any brighter tint. From custom, one expects to see in
the neighbourhood of a lofty and bold mountain, a broken
country strewed over with huge fragments. Here nature
shows that the last movement before the bed of the sea is
changed into dry land may sometimes be one of tranquillity.
Under these circumstances I was curious to observe how
far from the parent rock any pebbles could be found. On
the shores of Bahia Blanca, and near the settlement, there
were some of quartz, which certainly must have come from
this source: the distance is forty-five miles.

The dew, which in the early part of the night wetted the
saddle-cloths under which we slept, was in the morning
frozen. The plain, though appearing horizontal, had insensibly
sloped up to a height of between 800 and 900 feet
above the sea. In the morning (9th of September) the guide
told me to ascend the nearest ridge, which he thought would
lead me to the four peaks that crown the summit. The climbing
up such rough rocks was very fatiguing; the sides
were so indented, that what was gained in one five minutes
was often lost in the next. At last, when I reached the ridge,
my disappointment was extreme in finding a precipitous
valley as deep as the plain, which cut the chain transversely
in two, and separated me from the four points. This valley
is very narrow, but flat-bottomed, and it forms a fine horse-
pass for the Indians, as it connects the plains on the northern
and southern sides of the range. Having descended, and
while crossing it, I saw two horses grazing: I immediately
hid myself in the long grass, and began to reconnoitre; but
as I could see no signs of Indians I proceeded cautiously on
my second ascent. It was late in the day, and this part of
the mountain, like the other, was steep and rugged. I was
on the top of the second peak by two o'clock, but got there
with extreme difficulty; every twenty yards I had the cramp
in the upper part of both thighs, so that I was afraid I
should not have been able to have got down again. It was
also necessary to return by another road, as it was out of
the question to pass over the saddle-back. I was therefore
obliged to give up the two higher peaks. Their altitude was
but little greater, and every purpose of geology had been
answered; so that the attempt was not worth the hazard
of any further exertion. I presume the cause of the cramp
was the great change in the kind of muscular action, from
that of hard riding to that of still harder climbing. It is
a lesson worth. remembering, as in some cases it might cause
much difficulty.

I have already said the mountain is composed of white
quartz rock, and with it a little glossy clay-slate is
associated. At the height of a few hundred feet above the plain
patches of conglomerate adhered in several places to the
solid rock. They resembled in hardness, and in the nature
of the cement, the masses which may be seen daily forming
on some coasts. I do not doubt these pebbles were in a similar
manner aggregated, at a period when the great calcareous
formation was depositing beneath the surrounding sea.
We may believe that the jagged and battered forms of the
hard quartz yet show the effects of the waves of an open
ocean.

I was, on the whole, disappointed with this ascent. Even
the view was insignificant; -- a plain like the sea, but without
its beautiful colour and defined outline. The scene, however,
was novel, and a little danger, like salt to meat, gave
it a relish. That the danger was very little was certain, for
my two companions made a good fire -- a thing which is never
done when it is suspected that Indians are near. I reached
the place of our bivouac by sunset, and drinking much mate,
and smoking several cigaritos, soon made up my bed for the
night. The wind was very strong and cold, but I never slept
more comfortably.

September 10th. -- In the morning, having fairly scudded
before the gale, we arrived by the middle of the day at the
Sauce posta. In the road we saw great numbers of deer,
and near the mountain a guanaco. The plain, which abuts
against the Sierra, is traversed by some curious gullies, of
which one was about twenty feet wide, and at least thirty
deep; we were obliged in consequence to make a considerable
circuit before we could find a pass. We stayed the night
at the posta, the conversation, as was generally the case,
being about the Indians. The Sierra Ventana was formerly
a great place of resort; and three or four years ago there
was much fighting there. My guide had been present when
many Indians were killed: the women escaped to the top of
the ridge, and fought most desperately with great stones;
many thus saving themselves.

September 11th. -- Proceeded to the third posta in company
with the lieutenant who commanded it. The distance
is called fifteen leagues; but it is only guess-work, and is
generally overstated. The road was uninteresting, over a
dry grassy plain; and on our left hand at a greater or less
distance there were some low hills; a continuation of which
we crossed close to the posta. Before our arrival we met
a large herd of cattle and horses, guarded by fifteen soldiers;
but we were told many had been lost. It is very difficult to
drive animals across the plains; for if in the night a puma,
or even a fox, approaches, nothing can prevent the horses
dispersing in every direction; and a storm will have the
same effect. A short time since, an officer left Buenos Ayres
with five hundred horses, and when he arrived at the army
he had under twenty.

Soon afterwards we perceived by the cloud of dust, that
a party of horsemen were coming towards us; when far distant
my companions knew them to be Indians, by their long
hair streaming behind their backs. The Indians generally
have a fillet round their heads, but never any covering; and
their black hair blowing across their swarthy faces, heightens
to an uncommon degree the wildness of their appearance.
They turned out to be a party of Bernantio's friendly tribe,
going to a salina for salt. The Indians eat much salt, their
children sucking it like sugar. This habit is very different
from that of the Spanish Gauchos, who, leading the same
kind of life, eat scarcely any; according to Mungo Park, [2]
it is people who live on vegetable food who have an unconquerable
desire for salt. The Indians gave us good-humoured
nods as they passed at full gallop, driving before them a
troop of horses, and followed by a train of lanky dogs.

September 12th and 13th. -- I stayed at this posta two days,
waiting for a troop of soldiers, which General Rosas had
the kindness to send to inform me, would shortly travel to
Buenos Ayres; and he advised me to take the opportunity
of the escort. In the morning we rode to some neighbouring
hills to view the country, and to examine the geology. After
dinner the soldiers divided themselves into two parties for
a trial of skill with the bolas. Two spears were stuck in
the ground twenty-five yards apart, but they were struck
and entangled only once in four or five times. The balls can
be thrown fifty or sixty yards, but with little certainty.
This, however, does not apply to a man on horseback; for when
the speed of the horse is added to the force of the arm, it
is said, that they can be whirled with effect to the distance
of eighty yards. As a proof of their force, I may mention,
that at the Falkland Islands, when the Spaniards murdered
some of their own countrymen and all the Englishmen, a
young friendly Spaniard was running away, when a great
tall man, by name Luciano, came at full gallop after him,
shouting to him to stop, and saying that he only wanted to
speak to him. Just as the Spaniard was on the point of
reaching the boat, Luciano threw the balls: they struck him
on the legs with such a jerk, as to throw him down and
to render him for some time insensible. The man, after
Luciano had had his talk, was allowed to escape. He told
us that his legs were marked by great weals, where the thong
had wound round, as if he had been flogged with a whip.
In the middle of the day two men arrived, who brought a
parcel from the next posta to be forwarded to the general:
so that besides these two, our party consisted this evening
of my guide and self, the lieutenant, and his four soldiers.
The latter were strange beings; the first a fine young negro;
the second half Indian and negro; and the two others non-
descripts; namely, an old Chilian miner, the colour of mahogany,
and another partly a mulatto; but two such mongrels
with such detestable expressions, I never saw before.
At night, when they were sitting round the fire, and playing
at cards, I retired to view such a Salvator Rosa scene. They
were seated under a low cliff, so that I could look down
upon them; around the party were lying dogs, arms, remnants
of deer and ostriches; and their long spears were stuck
in the turf. Further in the dark background, their horses
were tied up, ready for any sudden danger. If the stillness
of the desolate plain was broken by one of the dogs barking,
a soldier, leaving the fire, would place his head close to the
ground, and thus slowly scan the horizon. Even if the noisy
teru-tero uttered its scream, there would be a pause in the
conversation, and every head, for a moment, a little inclined.

What a life of misery these men appear to us to lead!
They were at least ten leagues from the Sauce posta, and
since the murder committed by the Indians, twenty from
another. The Indians are supposed to have made their attack
in the middle of the night; for very early in the morning
after the murder, they were luckily seen approaching
this posta. The whole party here, however, escaped, together
with the troop of horses; each one taking a line for himself,
and driving with him as many animals as he was able to
manage.

The little hovel, built of thistle-stalks, in which they slept,
neither kept out the wind nor rain; indeed in the latter case
the only effect the roof had, was to condense it into larger
drops. They had nothing to eat excepting what they could
catch, such as ostriches, deer, armadilloes, etc., and their
only fuel was the dry stalks of a small plant, somewhat
resembling an aloe. The sole luxury which these men enjoyed
was smoking the little paper cigars, and sucking mate. I
used to think that the carrion vultures, man's constant
attendants on these dreary plains, while seated on the little
neighbouring cliffs seemed by their very patience to say,
"Ah! when the Indians come we shall have a feast."

In the morning we all sallied forth to hunt, and although
we had not much success, there were some animated chases.
Soon after starting the party separated, and so arranged
their plans, that at a certain time of the day (in guessing
which they show much skill) they should all meet from different
points of the compass on a plain piece of ground,
and thus drive together the wild animals. One day I went
out hunting at Bahia Blanca, but the men there merely rode
in a crescent, each being about a quarter of a mile apart
from the other. A fine male ostrich being turned by the
headmost riders, tried to escape on one side. The Gauchos
pursued at a reckless pace, twisting their horses about with
the most admirable command, and each man whirling the
balls round his head. At length the foremost threw them,
revolving through the air: in an instant the ostrich rolled
over and over, its legs fairly lashed together by the thong.
The plains abound with three kinds of partridge, [3] two
of which are as large as hen pheasants. Their destroyer,
a small and pretty fox, was also singularly numerous; in
the course of the day we could not have seen less than forty
or fifty. They were generally near their earths, but the dogs
killed one. When we returned to the posta, we found two
of the party returned who had been hunting by themselves.
They had killed a puma, and had found an ostrich's nest with
twenty-seven eggs in it. Each of these is said to equal in
weight eleven hen's eggs; so that we obtained from this one
nest as much food as 297 hen's eggs would have given.

September 14th. -- As the soldiers belonging to the next
posta meant to return, and we should together make a party
of five, and all armed, I determined not to wait for the expected
troops. My host, the lieutenant, pressed me much
to stop. As he had been very obliging -- not only providing
me with food, but lending me his private horses -- I wanted
to make him some remuneration. I asked my guide whether
I might do so, but he told me certainly not; that the only
answer I should receive, probably would be, "We have meat
for the dogs in our country, and therefore do not grudge it
to a Christian." It must not be supposed that the rank of
lieutenant in such an army would at all prevent the acceptance
of payment: it was only the high sense of hospitality,
which every traveller is bound to acknowledge as nearly universal
throughout these provinces. After galloping some
leagues, we came to a low swampy country, which extends
for nearly eighty miles northward, as far as the Sierra
Tapalguen. In some parts there were fine damp plains, covered
with grass, while others had a soft, black, and peaty soil.
There were also many extensive but shallow lakes, and large
beds of reeds. The country on the whole resembled the better
parts of the Cambridgeshire fens. At night we had some
difficulty in finding amidst the swamps, a dry place for our
bivouac.

September 15th. -- Rose very early in the morning and
shortly after passed the posta where the Indians had murdered
the five soldiers. The officer had eighteen chuzo
wounds in his body. By the middle of the day, after a hard
gallop, we reached the fifth posta: on account of some difficulty
in procuring horses we stayed there the night. As this
point was the most exposed on the whole line, twenty-one
soldiers were stationed here; at sunset they returned from
hunting, bringing with them seven deer, three ostriches, and
many armadilloes and partridges. When riding through the
country, it is a common practice to set fire to the plain;
and hence at night, as on this occasion, the horizon was
illuminated in several places by brilliant conflagrations.
This is done partly for the sake of puzzling any stray Indians,
but chiefly for improving the pasture. In grassy
plains unoccupied by the larger ruminating quadrupeds, it
seems necessary to remove the superfluous vegetation by fire,
so as to render the new year's growth serviceable.

The rancho at this place did not boast even of a roof,
but merely consisted of a ring of thistle-stalks, to break
the force of the wind. It was situated on the borders of an
extensive but shallow lake, swarming with wild fowl, among
which the black-necked swan was conspicuous.

The kind of plover, which appears as if mounted on
stilts (Himantopus nigricollis), is here common in flocks of
considerable size. It has been wrongfully accused of inelegance;
when wading about in shallow water, which is its
favourite resort, its gait is far from awkward. These birds
in a flock utter a noise, that singularly resembles the cry of
a pack of small dogs in full chase: waking in the night, I
have more than once been for a moment startled at the distant
sound. The teru-tero (Vanellus cayanus) is another
bird, which often disturbs the stillness of the night. In
appearance and habits it resembles in many respects our peewits;
its wings, however, are armed with sharp spurs, like
those on the legs of the common cock. As our peewit takes
its name from the sound of its voice, so does the teru-tero.
While riding over the grassy plains, one is constantly pursued
by these birds, which appear to hate mankind, and I
am sure deserve to be hated for their never-ceasing, unvaried,
harsh screams. To the sportsman they are most annoying,
by telling every other bird and animal of his approach: to
the traveller in the country, they may possibly, as Molina
says, do good, by warning him of the midnight robber. During
the breeding season, they attempt, like our peewits, by
feigning to be wounded, to draw away from their nests dogs
and other enemies. The eggs of this bird are esteemed a
great delicacy.

September 16th. -- To the seventh posta at the foot of the
Sierra Tapalguen. The country was quite level, with a
coarse herbage and a soft peaty soil. The hovel was here
remarkably neat, the posts and rafters being made of about
a dozen dry thistle-stalks bound together with thongs of
hide; and by the support of these Ionic-like columns, the
roof and sides were thatched with reeds. We were here told
a fact, which I would not have credited, if I had not had
partly ocular proof of it; namely, that, during the previous
night hail as large as small apples, and extremely hard, had
fallen with such violence, as to kill the greater number of the
wild animals. One of the men had already found thirteen
deer (Cervus campestris) lying dead, and I saw their _fresh_
hides; another of the party, a few minutes after my arrival
brought in seven more. Now I well know, that one man
without dogs could hardly have killed seven deer in a week.
The men believed they had seen about fifteen ostriches (part
of one of which we had for dinner); and they said that
several were running about evidently blind in one eye.
Numbers of smaller birds, as ducks, hawks, and partridges,
were killed. I saw one of the latter with a black mark on
its back, as if it had been struck with a paving-stone. A
fence of thistle-stalks round the hovel was nearly broken
down, and my informer, putting his head out to see what was
the matter, received a severe cut, and now wore a bandage.
The storm was said to have been of limited extent: we
certainly saw from our last night's bivouac a dense cloud
and lightning in this direction. It is marvellous how such
strong animals as deer could thus have been killed; but I
have no doubt, from the evidence I have given, that the
story is not in the least exaggerated. I am glad, however,
to have its credibility supported by the Jesuit Dobrizhoffen, [4]
who, speaking of a country much to the northward, says,
hail fell of an enormous size and killed vast numbers of cattle:
the Indians hence called the place _Lalegraicavalca_, meaning
"the little white things." Dr. Malcolmson, also, informs me
that he witnessed in 1831 in India, a hail-storm, which
killed numbers of large birds and much injured the cattle.
These hailstones were flat, and one was ten inches in
circumference, and another weighed two ounces. They
ploughed up a gravel-walk like musket-balls, and passed
through glass-windows, making round holes, but not cracking
them.

Having finished our dinner, of hail-stricken meat, we
crossed the Sierra Tapalguen; a low range of hills, a few
hundred feet in height, which commences at Cape Corrientes.
The rock in this part is pure quartz; further eastward I
understand it is granitic. The hills are of a remarkable
form; they consist of flat patches of table-land, surrounded
by low perpendicular cliffs, like the outliers of a sedimentary
deposit. The hill which I ascended was very small, not
above a couple of hundred yards in diameter; but I saw
others larger. One which goes by the name of the "Corral,"
is said to be two or three miles in diameter, and encompassed
by perpendicular cliffs, between thirty and forty feet high,
excepting at one spot, where the entrance lies. Falconer [5]
gives a curious account of the Indians driving troops of
wild horses into it, and then by guarding the entrance, keeping
them secure. I have never heard of any other instance
of table-land in a formation of quartz, and which, in the
hill I examined, had neither cleavage nor stratification. I
was told that the rock of the "Corral" was white, and would
strike fire.

We did not reach the posta on the Rio Tapalguen till
after it was dark. At supper, from something which was
said, I was suddenly struck with horror at thinking that I
was eating one of the favourite dishes of the country
namely, a half-formed calf, long before its proper time of
birth. It turned out to be Puma; the meat is very white
and remarkably like veal in taste. Dr. Shaw was laughed
at for stating that "the flesh of the lion is in great esteem
having no small affinity with veal, both in colour, taste,
and flavour." Such certainly is the case with the Puma.
The Gauchos differ in their opinion, whether the Jaguar is
good eating, but are unanimous in saying that cat is excellent.

September 17th. -- We followed the course of the Rio
Tapalguen, through a very fertile country, to the ninth
posta. Tapalguen, itself, or the town of Tapalguen, if it
may be so called, consists of a perfectly level plain, studded
over, as far as the eye can reach, with the toldos or
oven-shaped huts of the Indians. The families of the friendly
Indians, who were fighting on the side of Rosas, resided
here. We met and passed many young Indian women, riding
by two or three together on the same horse: they, as
well as many of the young men, were strikingly handsome, --
their fine ruddy complexions being the picture of health.
Besides the toldos, there were three ranchos; one inhabited
by the Commandant, and the two others by Spaniards with
small shops.

We were here able to buy some biscuit. I had now been
several days without tasting anything besides meat: I did
not at all dislike this new regimen; but I felt as if it would
only have agreed with me with hard exercise. I have heard
that patients in England, when desired to confine themselves
exclusively to an animal diet, even with the hope of life
before their eyes, have hardly been able to endure it. Yet
the Gaucho in the Pampas, for months together, touches
nothing but beef. But they eat, I observe, a very large
proportion of fat, which is of a less animalized nature; and
they particularly dislike dry meat, such as that of the Agouti.
Dr. Richardson [6] also, has remarked, "that when people
have fed for a long time solely upon lean animal food, the
desire for fat becomes so insatiable, that they can consume
a large quantity of unmixed and even oily fat without
nausea:" this appears to me a curious physiological fact.
It is, perhaps, from their meat regimen that the Gauchos,
like other carnivorous animals, can abstain long from food.
I was told that at Tandeel, some troops voluntarily pursued
a party of Indians for three days, without eating or drinking.

We saw in the shops many articles, such as horsecloths,
belts, and garters, woven by the Indian women. The patterns
were very pretty, and the colours brilliant; the workmanship
of the garters was so good that an English merchant
at Buenos Ayres maintained they must have been
manufactured in England, till he found the tassels had been
fastened by split sinew.

September 18th. -- We had a very long ride this day. At
the twelfth posta, which is seven leagues south of the Rio
Salado, we came to the first estancia with cattle and white
women. Afterwards we had to ride for many miles through
a country flooded with water above our horses' knees. By
crossing the stirrups, and riding Arab-like with our legs
bent up, we contrived to keep tolerably dry. It was nearly
dark when we arrived at the Salado; the stream was deep,
and about forty yards wide; in summer, however, its bed
becomes almost dry, and the little remaining water nearly
as salt as that of the sea. We slept at one of the great
estancias of General Rosas. It was fortified, and of such an
extent, that arriving in the dark I thought it was a town
and fortress. In the morning we saw immense herds of
cattle, the general here having seventy-four square leagues
of land. Formerly nearly three hundred men were employed
about this estate, and they defied all the attacks of
the Indians.

September 19th. -- Passed the Guardia del Monte. This
is a nice scattered little town, with many gardens, full of
peach and quince trees. The plain here looked like that
around Buenos Ayres; the turf being short and bright green,
with beds of clover and thistles, and with bizcacha holes.
I was very much struck with the marked change in the
aspect of the country after having crossed the Salado. From
a coarse herbage we passed on to a carpet of fine green verdure.
I at first attributed this to some change in the nature
of the soil, but the inhabitants assured me that here, as
well as in Banda Oriental, where there is as great a difference
between the country round Monte Video and the
thinly-inhabited savannahs of Colonia, the whole was to be
attributed to the manuring and grazing of the cattle. Exactly
the same fact has been observed in the prairies [7] of
North America, where coarse grass, between five and six
feet high, when grazed by cattle, changes into common pasture
land. I am not botanist enough to say whether the
change here is owing to the introduction of new species,
to the altered growth of the same, or to a difference in their
proportional numbers. Azara has also observed with astonishment
this change: he is likewise much perplexed by the
immediate appearance of plants not occurring in the neighbourhood,
on the borders of any track that leads to a newly-
constructed hovel. In another part he says, [8] "ces chevaux
(sauvages) ont la manie de preferer les chemins, et le bord
des routes pour deposer leurs excremens, dont on trouve des
monceaux dans ces endroits." Does this not partly explain
the circumstance? We thus have lines of richly manured
land serving as channels of communication across wide districts.

Near the Guardia we find the southern limit of two European
plants, now become extraordinarily common. The
fennel in great profusion covers the ditch-banks in the
neighbourhood of Buenos Ayres, Monte Video, and other towns.
But the cardoon (Cynara cardunculus) has a far wider
range: [9] it occurs in these latitudes on both sides of the,
Cordillera, across the continent. I saw it in unfrequented
spots in Chile, Entre Rios, and Banda Oriental. In the
latter country alone, very many (probably several hundred)
square miles are covered by one mass of these prickly plants,
and are impenetrable by man or beast. Over the undulating
plains, where these great beds occur, nothing else can now
live. Before their introduction, however, the surface must
have supported, as in other parts, a rank herbage. I doubt
whether any case is on record of an invasion on so grand
a scale of one plant over the aborigines. As I have already
said, I nowhere saw the cardoon south of the Salado; but
it is probable that in proportion as that country becomes
inhabited, the cardoon will extend its limits. The case is
different with the giant thistle (with variegated leaves) of
the Pampas, for I met with it in the valley of the Sauce.
According to the principles so well laid down by Mr. Lyell,
few countries have undergone more remarkable changes,
since the year 1535, when the first colonist of La Plata landed
with seventy-two horses. The countless herds of horses,
cattle, and sheep, not only have altered the whole aspect of
the vegetation, but they have almost banished the guanaco,
deer and ostrich. Numberless other changes must likewise
have taken place; the wild pig in some parts probably replaces
the peccari; packs of wild dogs may be heard howling
on the wooded banks of the less-frequented streams; and
the common cat, altered into a large and fierce animal, inhabits
rocky hills. As M. d'Orbigny has remarked, the increase
in numbers of the carrion-vulture, since the introduction
of the domestic animals, must have been infinitely great;
and we have given reasons for believing that they have extended
their southern range. No doubt many plants, besides
the cardoon and fennel, are naturalized; thus the islands
near the mouth of the Parana, are thickly clothed with
peach and orange trees, springing from seeds carried there
by the waters of the river.

While changing horses at the Guardia several people questioned
us much about the army, -- I never saw anything like
the enthusiasm for Rosas, and for the success of the "most
just of all wars, because against barbarians." This expression,
it must be confessed, is very natural, for till lately,
neither man, woman nor horse, was safe from the attacks
of the Indians. We had a long day's ride over the same
rich green plain, abounding with various flocks, and with
here and there a solitary estancia, and its one _ombu_ tree.
In the evening it rained heavily: on arriving at a posthouse
we were told by the owner, that if we had not a
regular passport we must pass on, for there were so
many robbers he would trust no one. When he read, however,
my passport, which began with "El Naturalista Don
Carlos," his respect and civility were as unbounded as his
suspicions had been before. What a naturalist might be,
neither he nor his countrymen, I suspect, had any idea;
but probably my title lost nothing of its value from that
cause.

September 20th. -- We arrived by the middle of the day at
Buenos Ayres. The outskirts of the city looked quite pretty,
with the agave hedges, and groves of olive, peach and willow
trees, all just throwing out their fresh green leaves. I rode
to the house of Mr. Lumb, an English merchant, to whose
kindness and hospitality, during my stay in the country, I
was greatly indebted.

The city of Buenos Ayres is large; [10] and I should think
one of the most regular in the world. Every street is at right
angles to the one it crosses, and the parallel ones being
equidistant, the houses are collected into solid squares of
equal dimensions, which are called quadras. On the other hand,
the houses themselves are hollow squares; all the rooms opening
into a neat little courtyard. They are generally only
one story high, with flat roofs, which are fitted with seats
and are much frequented by the inhabitants in summer. In
the centre of the town is the Plaza, where the public offices,
fortress, cathedral, etc., stand. Here also, the old viceroys,
before the revolution, had their palaces. The general assemblage
of buildings possesses considerable architectural beauty,
although none individually can boast of any.

The great _corral_, where the animals are kept for slaughter
to supply food to this beef-eating population, is one of
the spectacles best worth seeing. The strength of the horse
as compared to that of the bullock is quite astonishing: a
man on horseback having thrown his lazo round the horns
of a beast, can drag it anywhere he chooses. The animal
ploughing up the ground with outstretched legs, in vain
efforts to resist the force, generally dashes at full speed to
one side; but the horse immediately turning to receive the
shock, stands so firmly that the bullock is almost thrown
down, and it is surprising that their necks are not broken.
The struggle is not, however, one of fair strength; the
horse's girth being matched against the bullock's extended
neck. In a similar manner a man can hold the wildest horse,
if caught with the lazo, just behind the ears. When the
bullock has been dragged to the spot where it is to be
slaughtered, the matador with great caution cuts the hamstrings.
Then is given the death bellow; a noise more expressive
of fierce agony than any I know. I have often distinguished
it from a long distance, and have always known
that the struggle was then drawing to a close. The whole
sight is horrible and revolting: the ground is almost made of
bones; and the horses and riders are drenched with gore.

[1] I call these thistle-stalks for the want of a more correct
name. I believe it is a species of Eryngium.

[2] Travels in Africa, p. 233.

[3] Two species of Tinamus and Eudromia elegans of A. d'Orbigny,
which can only be called a partridge with regard to its habits.

[4] History of the Abipones, vol. ii. p. 6.

[5] Falconer's Patagonia, p. 70.

[6] Fauna Boreali-Americana, vol. i. p. 35.

[7] See Mr. Atwater's account of the Prairies, in Silliman's
N. A. Journal, vol. i. p. 117.

[8] Azara's Voyages, vol. i. p. 373.

[9] M. A. d'Orbigny (vol. i. p. 474) says that the cardoon
and artichoke are both found wild. Dr. Hooker (Botanical
Magazine, vol. lv. p. 2862), has described a variety of the
Cynara from this part of South America under the name of
inermis. He states that botanists are now generally agreed
that the cardoon and the artichoke are varieties of one plant.
I may add, that an intelligent farmer assured me that he had
observed in a deserted garden some artichokes changing into
the common cardoon. Dr. Hooker believes that Head's vivid
description of the thistle of the Pampas applies to the
cardoon, but this is a mistake. Captain Head referred to the
plant, which I have mentioned a few lines lower down, under
the title of giant thistle. Whether it is a true thistle I do
not know; but it is quite different from the cardoon; and more
like a thistle properly so called.

[10] It is said to contain 60,000 inhabitants. Monte Video, the
second town of importance on the banks of the Plata, has
15,000.

CHAPTER VII

BUENOS AYRES AND ST. FE

Excursion to St. Fe -- Thistle Beds -- Habits of the Bizcacha --
Little Owl -- Saline Streams -- Level Plain -- Mastodon -- St.
Fe -- Change in Landscape -- Geology -- Tooth of extinct
Horse -- Relation of the Fossil and recent Quadrupeds of North
and South America --  Effects of a great Drought -- Parana --
Habits of the Jaguar --  Scissor-beak -- Kingfisher, Parrot,
and Scissor-tail -- Revolution -- Buenos Ayres State of
Government.

SEPTEMBER  27th. -- In the evening I set out on an
excursion to St. Fe, which is situated nearly three hundred
English miles from Buenos Ayres, on the banks of
the Parana. The roads in the neighbourhood of the city after
the rainy weather, were extraordinarily bad. I should never
have thought it possible for a bullock waggon to have
crawled along: as it was, they scarcely went at the rate of a
mile an hour, and a man was kept ahead, to survey the best
line for making the attempt. The bullocks were terribly
jaded: it is a great mistake to suppose that with improved
roads, and an accelerated rate of travelling, the sufferings of
the animals increase in the same proportion. We passed a
train of waggons and a troop of beasts on their road to
Mendoza. The distance is about 580 geographical miles, and
the journey is generally performed in fifty days. These
waggons are very long, narrow, and thatched with reeds;
they have only two wheels, the diameter of which in some
cases is as much as ten feet. Each is drawn by six bullocks,
which are urged on by a goad at least twenty feet long: this
is suspended from within the roof; for the wheel bullocks a
smaller one is kept; and for the intermediate pair, a point
projects at right angles from the middle of the long one.

The whole apparatus looked like some implement of war.

September 28th. -- We passed the small town of Luxan
where there is a wooden bridge over the river -- a most
unusual convenience in this country. We passed also Areco.
The plains appeared level, but were not so in fact; for in
various places the horizon was distant. The estancias are
here wide apart; for there is little good pasture, owing to
the land being covered by beds either of an acrid clover,
or of the great thistle. The latter, well known from the
animated description given by Sir F. Head, were at this
time of the year two-thirds grown; in some parts they were
as high as the horse's back, but in others they had not yet
sprung up, and the ground was bare and dusty as on a turnpike-
road. The clumps were of the most brilliant green, and
they made a pleasing miniature-likeness of broken forest
land. When the thistles are full grown, the great beds are
impenetrable, except by a few tracts, as intricate as those
in a labyrinth. These are only known to the robbers, who
at this season inhabit them, and sally forth at night to rob
and cut throats with impunity. Upon asking at a house
whether robbers were numerous, I was answered, "The thistles
are not up yet;" -- the meaning of which reply was not at
first very obvious. There is little interest in passing over
these tracts, for they are inhabited by few animals or birds,
excepting the bizcacha and its friend the little owl.

The bizcacha [1] is well known to form a prominent feature
in the zoology of the Pampas. It is found as far south as
the Rio Negro, in lat. 41 degs., but not beyond. It cannot,
like the agouti, subsist on the gravelly and desert plains of
Patagonia, but prefers a clayey or sandy soil, which produces a
different and more abundant vegetation. Near Mendoza, at
the foot of the Cordillera, it occurs in close neighbourhood
with the allied alpine species. It is a very curious
circumstance in its geographical distribution, that it has never
been seen, fortunately for the inhabitants of Banda Oriental, to
the eastward of the river Uruguay: yet in this province there
are plains which appear admirably adapted to its habits.
The Uruguay has formed an insuperable obstacle to its
migration: although the broader barrier of the Parana has
been passed, and the bizcacha is common in Entre Rios, the
province between these two great rivers. Near Buenos Ayres
these animals are exceedingly common. Their most favourite
resort appears to be those parts of the plain which during
one-half of the year are covered with giant thistles, to the
exclusion of other plants. The Gauchos affirm that it lives
on roots; which, from the great strength of its gnawing
teeth, and the kind of places frequented by it, seems probable.
In the evening the bizcachas come out in numbers, and quietly
sit at the mouths of their burrows on their haunches. At
such times they are very tame, and a man on horseback passing
by seems only to present an object for their grave
contemplation. They run very awkwardly, and when running
out of danger, from their elevated tails and short front legs
much resemble great rats. Their flesh, when cooked, is very
white and good, but it is seldom used.

The bizcacha has one very singular habit; namely, dragging
every hard object to the mouth of its burrow: around
each group of holes many bones of cattle, stones, thistle-
stalks, hard lumps of earth, dry dung, etc., are collected into
an irregular heap, which frequently amounts to as much as
a wheelbarrow would contain. I was credibly informed that
a gentleman, when riding on a dark night, dropped his
watch; he returned in the morning, and by searching the
neighbourhood of every bizcacha hole on the line of road,
as he expected, he soon found it. This habit of picking
up whatever may be lying on the ground anywhere near its
habitation, must cost much trouble. For what purpose it
is done, I am quite unable to form even the most remote
conjecture: it cannot be for defence, because the rubbish
is chiefly placed above the mouth of the burrow, which
enters the ground at a very small inclination. No doubt
there must exist some good reason; but the inhabitants of
the country are quite ignorant of it. The only fact which
I know analogous to it, is the habit of that extraordinary
Australian bird, the Calodera maculata, which makes an
elegant vaulted passage of twigs for playing in, and
which collects near the spot, land and sea-shells, bones
and the feathers of birds, especially brightly coloured
ones. Mr. Gould, who has described these facts, informs
me, that the natives, when they lose any hard object,
search the playing passages, and he has known a tobacco-
pipe thus recovered.

The little owl (Athene cunicularia), which has been so
often mentioned, on the plains of Buenos Ayres exclusively
inhabits the holes of the bizcacha; but in Banda Oriental it
is its own workman. During the open day, but more especially
in the evening, these birds may be seen in every direction
standing frequently by pairs on the hillock near their
burrows. If disturbed they either enter the hole, or, uttering
a shrill harsh cry, move with a remarkably undulatory
flight to a short distance, and then turning round, steadily
gaze at their pursuer. Occasionally in the evening they may
be heard hooting. I found in the stomachs of two which
I opened the remains of mice, and I one day saw a small
snake killed and carried away. It is said that snakes are
their common prey during the daytime. I may here mention,
as showing on what various kinds of food owls subsist,
that a species killed among the islets of the Chonos
Archipelago, had its stomach full of good-sized crabs. In
India [2] there is a fishing genus of owls, which likewise
catches crabs.

In the evening we crossed the Rio Arrecife on a simple
raft made of barrels lashed together, and slept at the post-
house on the other side. I this day paid horse-hire for
thirty-one leagues; and although the sun was glaring hot I
was but little fatigued. When Captain Head talks of riding
fifty leagues a day, I do not imagine the distance is equal
to 150 English miles. At all events, the thirty-one leagues
was only 76 miles in a straight line, and in an open country
I should think four additional miles for turnings would be
a sufficient allowance.

29th and 30th. -- We continued to ride over plains of the
same character. At San Nicolas I first saw the noble river
of the Parana. At the foot of the cliff on which the town
stands, some large vessels were at anchor. Before arriving
at Rozario, we crossed the Saladillo, a stream of fine clear
running water, but too saline to drink. Rozario is a large
town built on a dead level plain, which forms a cliff about
sixty feet high over the Parana. The river here is very
broad, with many islands, which are low and wooded, as is
also the opposite shore. The view would resemble that of a
great lake, if it were not for the linear-shaped islets, which
alone give the idea of running water. The cliffs are the most
picturesque part; sometimes they are absolutely perpendicular,
and of a red colour; at other times in large broken
masses, covered with cacti and mimosa-trees. The real
grandeur, however, of an immense river like this, is derived
from reflecting how important a means of communication
and commerce it forms between one nation and another; to
what a distance it travels, and from how vast a territory
it drains the great body of fresh water which flows past
your feet.

For many leagues north and south of San Nicolas and
Rozario, the country is really level. Scarcely anything which
travellers have written about its extreme flatness, can be
considered as exaggeration. Yet I could never find a spot
where, by slowly turning round, objects were not seen at
greater distances in some directions than in others; and
this manifestly proves inequality in the plain. At sea, a
person's eye being six feet above the surface of the water,
his horizon is two miles and four-fifths distant. In like
manner, the more level the plain, the more nearly does the
horizon approach within these narrow limits; and this, in
my opinion, entirely destroys that grandeur which one would
have imagined that a vast level plain would have possessed.

October 1st. - We started by moonlight and arrived at the
Rio Tercero by sunrise. The river is also called the Saladillo,
and it deserves the name, for the water is brackish.
I stayed here the greater part of the day, searching for fossil
bones. Besides a perfect tooth of the Toxodon, and many
scattered bones, I found two immense skeletons near each
other, projecting in bold relief from the perpendicular cliff
of the Parana. They were, however, so completely decayed,
that I could only bring away small fragments of one of the
great molar teeth; but these are sufficient to show that the
remains belonged to a Mastodon, probably to the same species
with that, which formerly must have inhabited the Cordillera
in Upper Peru in such great numbers. The men
who took me in the canoe, said they had long known of these
skeletons, and had often wondered how they had got there:
the necessity of a theory being felt, they came to the
conclusion that, like the bizcacha, the mastodon was formerly
a burrowing animal! In the evening we rode another stage,
and crossed the Monge, another brackish stream, bearing the
dregs of the washings of the Pampas.

October 2nd. -- We passed through Corunda, which, from
the luxuriance of its gardens, was one of the prettiest
villages I saw. From this point to St. Fe the road is not very
safe. The western side of the Parana northward, ceases to
be inhabited; and hence the Indians sometimes come down
thus far, and waylay travellers. The nature of the country
also favours this, for instead of a grassy plain, there is an
open woodland, composed of low prickly mimosas. We
passed some houses that had been ransacked and since deserted;
we saw also a spectacle, which my guides viewed
with high satisfaction; it was the skeleton of an Indian
with the dried skin hanging on the bones, suspended to the
branch of a tree.

In the morning we arrived at St. Fe. I was surprised
to observe how great a change of climate a difference of only
three degrees of latitude between this place and Buenos
Ayres had caused. This was evident from the dress and
complexion of the men -- from the increased size of the
ombu-trees -- the number of new cacti and other plants --
and especially from the birds. In the course of an hour I
remarked half-a-dozen birds, which I had never seen at
Buenos Ayres. Considering that there is no natural boundary
between the two places, and that the character of the
country is nearly similar, the difference was much greater
than I should have expected.

October  3rd and 4th. -- I was confined for these two days
to my bed by a headache. A good-natured old woman,
who attended me, wished me to try many odd remedies. A
common practice is, to bind an orange-leaf or a bit of black
plaster to each temple: and a still more general plan is, to
split a bean into halves, moisten them, and place one on
each temple, where they will easily adhere. It is not thought
proper ever to remove the beans or plaster, but to allow
them to drop off, and sometimes, if a man, with patches on
his head, is asked, what is the matter? he will answer, "I
had a headache the day before yesterday." Many of the
remedies used by the people of the country are ludicrously
strange, but too disgusting to be mentioned. One of the
least nasty is to kill and cut open two puppies and bind
them on each side of a broken limb. Little hairless dogs are
in great request to sleep at the feet of invalids.

St. Fe is a quiet little town, and is kept clean and in good
order. The governor, Lopez, was a common soldier at the
time of the revolution; but has now been seventeen years
in power. This stability of government is owing to his
tyrannical habits; for tyranny seems as yet better adapted
to these countries than republicanism. The governor's favourite
occupation is hunting Indians: a short time since
he slaughtered forty-eight, and sold the children at the rate
of three or four pounds apiece.

October 5th. -- We crossed the Parana to St. Fe Bajada,
a town on the opposite shore. The passage took some hours,
as the river here consisted of a labyrinth of small streams,
separated by low wooded islands. I had a letter of introduction
to an old Catalonian Spaniard, who treated me with
the most uncommon hospitality. The Bajada is the capital
of Entre Rios. In 1825 the town contained 6000 inhabitants,
and the province 30,000; yet, few as the inhabitants are, no
province has suffered more from bloody and desperate
revolutions. They boast here of representatives, ministers, a
standing army, and governors: so it is no wonder that they
have their revolutions. At some future day this must be
one of the richest countries of La Plata. The soil is varied
and productive; and its almost insular form gives it two
grand lines of communication by the rivers Parana and
Uruguay.

I was delayed here five days, and employed myself in examining
the geology of the surrounding country, which was
very interesting. We here see at the bottom of the cliffs,
beds containing sharks' teeth and sea-shells of extinct species,
passing above into an indurated marl, and from that
into the red clayey earth of the Pampas, with its calcareous
concretions and the bones of terrestrial quadrupeds. This
vertical section clearly tells us of a large bay of pure salt-
water, gradually encroached on, and at last converted into
the bed of a muddy estuary, into which floating carcasses
were swept. At Punta Gorda, in Banda Oriental, I found
an alternation of the Pampaean estuary deposit, with a
limestone containing some of the same extinct sea-shells; and
this shows either a change in the former currents, or more
probably an oscillation of level in the bottom of the ancient
estuary. Until lately, my reasons for considering the Pampaean
formation to be an estuary deposit were, its general
appearance, its position at the mouth of the existing great
river the Plata, and the presence of so many bones of
terrestrial quadrupeds: but now Professor Ehrenberg has had
the kindness to examine for me a little of the red earth,
taken from low down in the deposit, close to the skeletons
of the mastodon, and he finds in it many infusoria, partly
salt-water and partly fresh-water forms, with the latter
rather preponderating; and therefore, as he remarks, the
water must have been brackish. M. A. d'Orbigny found on
the banks of the Parana, at the height of a hundred feet,
great beds of an estuary shell, now living a hundred miles
lower down nearer the sea; and I found similar shells at a
less height on the banks of the Uruguay; this shows that
just before the Pampas was slowly elevated into dry land,
the water covering it was brackish. Below Buenos Ayres
there are upraised beds of sea-shells of existing species,
which also proves that the period of elevation of the Pampas
was within the recent period.

In the Pampaean deposit at the Bajada I found the osseous
armour of a gigantic armadillo-like animal, the inside
of which, when the earth was removed, was like a great
cauldron; I found also teeth of the Toxodon and Mastodon,
and one tooth of a Horse, in the same stained and decayed
state. This latter tooth greatly interested me, [3] and I took
scrupulous care in ascertaining that it had been embedded
contemporaneously with the other remains; for I was not
then aware that amongst the fossils from Bahia Blanca
there was a horse's tooth hidden in the matrix: nor was it
then known with certainty that the remains of horses are
common in North America. Mr. Lyell has lately brought
from the United States a tooth of a horse; and it is an
interesting fact, that Professor Owen could find in no species,
either fossil or recent, a slight but peculiar curvature
characterizing it, until he thought of comparing it with my
specimen found here: he has named this American horse Equus
curvidens. Certainly it is a marvellous fact in the history
of the Mammalia, that in South America a native horse
should have lived and disappeared, to be succeeded in after-
ages by the countless herds descended from the few introduced
with the Spanish colonists!

The existence in South America of a fossil horse, of the
mastodon, possibly of an elephant, [4]  and of a hollow-horned
ruminant, discovered by MM. Lund and Clausen in the
caves of Brazil, are highly interesting facts with respect to
the geographical distribution of animals. At the present
time, if we divide America, not by the Isthmus of Panama,
but by the southern part of Mexico [5] in lat. 20 degs., where
the great table-land presents an obstacle to the migration of
species, by affecting the climate, and by forming, with the
exception of some valleys and of a fringe of low land on
the coast, a broad barrier; we shall then have the two
zoological provinces of North and South America strongly
contrasted with each other. Some few species alone have
passed the barrier, and may be considered as wanderers from
the south, such as the puma, opossum, kinkajou, and peccari.
South America is characterized by possessing many peculiar
gnawers, a family of monkeys, the llama, peccari, tapir,
opossums, and, especially, several genera of Edentata, the
order which includes the sloths, ant-eaters, and armadilloes.
North America, on the other hand, is characterized (putting
on one side a few wandering species) by numerous peculiar
gnawers, and by four genera (the ox, sheep, goat, and antelope)
of hollow-horned ruminants, of which great division
South America is not known to possess a single species.
Formerly, but within the period when most of the now existing
shells were living, North America possessed, besides
hollow-horned ruminants, the elephant, mastodon, horse, and
three genera of Edentata, namely, the Megatherium, Megalonyx,
and Mylodon. Within nearly this same period (as
proved by the shells at Bahia Blanca) South America possessed,
as we have just seen, a mastodon, horse, hollow-
horned ruminant, and the same three genera (as well as
several others) of the Edentata. Hence it is evident that
North and South America, in having within a late geological
period these several genera in common, were much
more closely related in the character of their terrestrial
inhabitants than they now are. The more I reflect on this
case, the more interesting it appears: I know of no other
instance where we can almost mark the period and manner
of the splitting up of one great region into two well-
characterized zoological provinces. The geologist, who is fully
impressed with the vast oscillations of level which have
affected the earth's crust within late periods, will not fear
to speculate on the recent elevation of the Mexican platform,
or, more probably, on the recent submergence of land
in the West Indian Archipelago, as the cause of the present
zoological separation of North and South America. The
South American character of the West Indian mammals [6]
seems to indicate that this archipelago was formerly united
to the southern continent, and that it has subsequently been
an area of subsidence.

When America, and especially North America, possessed
its elephants, mastodons, horse, and hollow-horned ruminants,
it was much more closely related in its zoological
characters to the temperate parts of Europe and Asia than
it now is. As the remains of these genera are found on
both sides of Behring's Straits [7] and on the plains of
Siberia, we are led to look to the north-western side of North
America as the former point of communication between the Old
and so-called New World. And as so many species, both
living and extinct, of these same genera inhabit and have
inhabited the Old World, it seems most probable that the
North American elephants, mastodons, horse, and hollow-
horned ruminants migrated, on land since submerged near
Behring's Straits, from Siberia into North America, and
thence, on land since submerged in the West Indies, into
South America, where for a time they mingled with the
forms characteristic of that southern continent, and have
since become extinct.

While travelling through the country, I received several
vivid descriptions of the effects of a late great drought; and
the account of this may throw some light on the cases where
vast numbers of animals of all kinds have been embedded
together. The period included between the years 1827 and
1830 is called the "gran seco," or the great drought. During
this time so little rain fell, that the vegetation, even to the
thistles, failed; the brooks were dried up, and the whole
country assumed the appearance of a dusty high road. This
was especially the case in the northern part of the province
of Buenos Ayres and the southern part of St. Fe. Very
great numbers of birds, wild animals, cattle, and horses
perished from the want of food and water. A man told me
that the deer [8] used to come into his courtyard to the well,
which he had been obliged to dig to supply his own family
with water; and that the partridges had hardly strength to
fly away when pursued. The lowest estimation of the loss
of cattle in the province of Buenos Ayres alone, was taken
at one million head. A proprietor at San Pedro had previously
to these years 20,000 cattle; at the end not one remained.
San Pedro is situated in the middle of the finest
country; and even now abounds again with animals; yet
during the latter part of the "gran seco," live cattle were
brought in vessels for the consumption of the inhabitants.
The animals roamed from their estancias, and, wandering
far southward, were mingled together in such multitudes,
that a government commission was sent from Buenos Ayres
to settle the disputes of the owners. Sir Woodbine Parish
informed me of another and very curious source of dispute;
the ground being so long dry, such quantities of dust were
blown about, that in this open country the landmarks became
obliterated, and people could not tell the limits of their
estates.

I was informed by an eye-witness that the cattle in herds
of thousands rushed into the Parana, and being exhausted
by hunger they were unable to crawl up the muddy banks,
and thus were drowned. The arm of the river which runs
by San Pedro was so full of putrid carcasses, that the master
of a vessel told me that the smell rendered it quite impassable.
Without doubt several hundred thousand animals
thus perished in the river: their bodies when putrid were
seen floating down the stream; and many in all probability
were deposited in the estuary of the Plata. All the small
rivers became highly saline, and this caused the death of
vast numbers in particular spots; for when an animal drinks
of such water it does not recover. Azara describes [9] the
fury of the wild horses on a similar occasion, rushing into
the marshes, those which arrived first being overwhelmed
and crushed by those which followed. He adds that more
than once he has seen the carcasses of upwards of a thousand
wild horses thus destroyed. I noticed that the smaller
streams in the Pampas were paved with a breccia of bones
but this probably is the effect of a gradual increase, rather
than of the destruction at any one period. Subsequently
to the drought of 1827 to 1832, a very rainy season followed
which caused great floods. Hence it is almost certain that
some thousands of the skeletons were buried by the deposits
of the very next year. What would be the opinion of a
geologist, viewing such an enormous collection of bones, of
all kinds of animals and of all ages, thus embedded in one
thick earthy mass? Would he not attribute it to a flood
having swept over the surface of the land, rather than to
the common order of things? [10]

October 12th. -- I had intended to push my excursion further,
but not being quite well, I was compelled to return by
a balandra, or one-masted vessel of about a hundred tons'
burden, which was bound to Buenos Ayres. As the weather
was not fair, we moored early in the day to a branch of a
tree on one of the islands. The Parana is full of islands,
which undergo a constant round of decay and renovation.
In the memory of the master several large ones had disappeared,
and others again had been formed and protected
by vegetation. They are composed of muddy sand, without
even the smallest pebble, and were then about four feet
above the level of the river; but during the periodical floods
they are inundated. They all present one character; numerous
willows and a few other trees are bound together by a
great variety of creeping plants, thus forming a thick jungle.
These thickets afford a retreat for capybaras and jaguars.
The fear of the latter animal quite destroyed all pleasure
in scrambling through the woods. This evening I had not
proceeded a hundred yards, before finding indubitable signs
of the recent presence of the tiger, I was obliged to come
back. On every island there were tracks; and as on the
former excursion "el rastro de los Indios" had been the
subject of conversation, so in this was "el rastro del tigre."
The wooded banks of the great rivers appear to be the
favourite haunts of the jaguar; but south of the Plata, I
was told that they frequented the reeds bordering lakes:
wherever they are, they seem to require water. Their common
prey is the capybara, so that it is generally said, where
capybaras are numerous there is little danger from the
jaguar. Falconer states that near the southern side of the
mouth of the Plata there are many jaguars, and that they
chiefly live on fish; this account I have heard repeated. On
the Parana they have killed many wood-cutters, and have
even entered vessels at night. There is a man now living
in the Bajada, who, coming up from below when it was
dark, was seized on the deck; he escaped, however, with
the loss of the use of one arm. When the floods drive these
animals from the islands, they are most dangerous. I was
told that a few years since a very large one found its way
into a church at St. Fe: two padres entering one after the
other were killed, and a third, who came to see what was the
matter, escaped with difficulty. The beast was destroyed by
being shot from a corner of the building which was unroofed.
They commit also at these times great ravages
among cattle and horses. It is said that they kill their prey
by breaking their necks. If driven from the carcass, they
seldom return to it. The Gauchos say that the jaguar, when
wandering about at night, is much tormented by the foxes
yelping as they follow him. This is a curious coincidence
with the fact which is generally affirmed of the jackals
accompanying, in a similarly officious manner, the East Indian
tiger. The jaguar is a noisy animal, roaring much by night,
and especially before bad weather.

One day, when hunting on the banks of the Uruguay, I
was shown certain trees, to which these animals constantly
recur for the purpose, as it is said, of sharpening their
claws. I saw three well-known trees; in front, the bark
was worn smooth, as if by the breast of the animal, and on
each side there were deep scratches, or rather grooves,
extending in an oblique line, nearly a yard in length. The
scars were of different ages. A common method of ascertaining
whether a jaguar is in the neighbourhood is to
examine these trees. I imagine this habit of the jaguar is
exactly similar to one which may any day be seen in the
common cat, as with outstretched legs and exserted claws it
scrapes the leg of a chair; and I have heard of young fruit-
trees in an orchard in England having been thus much injured.
Some such habit must also be common to the puma,
for on the bare hard soil of Patagonia I have frequently
seen scores so deep that no other animal could have made
them. The object of this practice is, I believe, to tear off
the ragged points of their claws, and not, as the Gauchos
think, to sharpen them. The jaguar is killed, without much
difficulty, by the aid of dogs baying and driving him up a
tree, where he is despatched with bullets.

Owing to bad weather we remained two days at our moorings.
Our only amusement was catching fish for our dinner:
there were several kinds, and all good eating. A fish called
the "armado" (a Silurus) is remarkable from a harsh grating
noise which it makes when caught by hook and line,
and which can be distinctly heard when the fish is beneath
the water. This same fish has the power of firmly catching
hold of any object, such as the blade of an oar or the fishing-
line, with the strong spine both of its pectoral and dorsal
fin. In the evening the weather was quite tropical, the
thermometer standing at 79 degs. Numbers of fireflies were
hovering about, and the musquitoes were very troublesome.
I exposed my hand for five minutes, and it was soon black
with them; I do not suppose there could have been less than
fifty, all busy sucking.

October 15th. -- We got under way and passed Punta
Gorda, where there is a colony of tame Indians from the
province of Missiones. We sailed rapidly down the current,
but before sunset, from a silly fear of bad weather, we
brought-to in a narrow arm of the river. I took the boat
and rowed some distance up this creek. It was very narrow,
winding, and deep; on each side a wall thirty or forty feet
high, formed by trees intwined with creepers, gave to the
canal a singularly gloomy appearance. I here saw a very
extraordinary bird, called the Scissor-beak (Rhynchops
nigra). It has short legs, web feet, extremely long-pointed
wings, and is of about the size of a tern. The beak is flattened
laterally, that is, in a plane at right angles to that
of a spoonbill or duck. It is as flat and elastic as an ivory
paper-cutter, and the lower mandible, differing from every
other bird, is an inch and a half longer than the upper. In
a lake near Maldonado, from which the water had been
nearly drained, and which, in consequence, swarmed with
small fry, I saw several of these birds, generally in small
flocks, flying rapidly backwards and forwards close to the
surface of the lake. They kept their bills wide open, and
the lower mandible half buried in the water. Thus skimming
the surface, they ploughed it in their course: the water was
quite smooth, and it formed a most curious spectacle to behold
a flock, each bird leaving its narrow wake on the mirror-like
surface. In their flight they frequently twist about
with extreme quickness, and dexterously manage with their
projecting lower mandible to plough up small fish, which are
secured by the upper and shorter half of their scissor-like

[picture]

bills. This fact I repeatedly saw, as, like swallows, they
continued to fly backwards and forwards close before me.
Occasionally when leaving the surface of the water their
flight was wild, irregular, and rapid; they then uttered loud
harsh cries. When these birds are fishing, the advantage
of the long primary feathers of their wings, in keeping them
dry, is very evident. When thus employed, their forms resemble
the symbol by which many artists represent marine
birds. Their tails are much used in steering their irregular
course.

These birds are common far inland along the course of
the Rio Parana; it is said that they remain here during the
whole year, and breed in the marshes. During the day they
rest in flocks on the grassy plains at some distance from
the water. Being at anchor, as I have said, in one of the
deep creeks between the islands of the Parana, as the evening
drew to a close, one of these scissor-beaks suddenly appeared.
The water was quite still, and many little fish were
rising. The bird continued for a long time to skim the
surface, flying in its wild and irregular manner up and down
the narrow canal, now dark with the growing night and the
shadows of the overhanging trees. At Monte Video, I observed
that some large flocks during the day remained on the
mud-banks at the head of the harbour, in the same manner
as on the grassy plains near the Parana; and every evening
they took flight seaward. From these facts I suspect
that the Rhynchops generally fishes by night, at which time
many of the lower animals come most abundantly to the
surface. M. Lesson states that he has seen these birds
opening the shells of the mactrae buried in the sand-banks on
the coast of Chile: from their weak bills, with the lower
mandible so much projecting, their short legs and long
wings, it is very improbable that this can be a general habit.

In our course down the Parana, I observed only three
other birds, whose habits are worth mentioning. One is a
small kingfisher (Ceryle Americana); it has a longer tail
than the European species, and hence does not sit in so stiff
and upright a position. Its flight also, instead of being direct
and rapid, like the course of an arrow, is weak and
undulatory, as among the soft-billed birds. It utters a low
note, like the clicking together of two small stones. A small
green parrot (Conurus murinus), with a grey breast, appears
to prefer the tall trees on the islands to any other
situation for its building-place. A number of nests are
placed so close together as to form one great mass of sticks.
These parrots always live in flocks, and commit great ravages
on the corn-fields. I was told, that near Colonia 2500 were
killed in the course of one year. A bird with a forked tail,
terminated by two long feathers (Tyrannus savana), and
named by the Spaniards scissor-tail, is very common near
Buenos Ayres: it commonly sits on a branch of the _ombu_
tree, near a house, and thence takes a short flight in pursuit
of insects, and returns to the same spot. When on the wing
it presents in its manner of flight and general appearance
a caricature-likeness of the common swallow. It has the
power of turning very shortly in the air, and in so doing
opens and shuts its tail, sometimes in a horizontal or lateral
and sometimes in a vertical direction, just like a pair of
scissors.

October 16th. -- Some leagues below Rozario, the western
shore of the Parana is bounded by perpendicular cliffs,
which extend in a long line to below San Nicolas; hence it
more resembles a sea-coast than that of a fresh-water river.
It is a great drawback to the scenery of the Parana, that,
from the soft nature of its banks, the water is very muddy.
The Uruguay, flowing through a granitic country, is much
clearer; and where the two channels unite at the head of
the Plata, the waters may for a long distance be distinguished
by their black and red colours. In the evening, the
wind being not quite fair, as usual we immediately moored,
and the next day, as it blew rather freshly, though with a
favouring current, the master was much too indolent to think
of starting. At Bajada, he was described to me as "hombre
muy aflicto" -- a man always miserable to get on; but certainly
he bore all delays with admirable resignation. He
was an old Spaniard, and had been many years in this
country. He professed a great liking to the English, but
stoutly maintained that the battle of Trafalgar was merely
won by the Spanish captains having been all bought over;
and that the only really gallant action on either side was
performed by the Spanish admiral. It struck me as rather
characteristic, that this man should prefer his countrymen
being thought the worst of traitors, rather than unskilful or
cowardly.

18th and 19th. -- We continued slowly to sail down the
noble stream: the current helped us but little. We met,
during our descent, very few vessels. One of the best gifts
of nature, in so grand a channel of communication, seems
here wilfully thrown away -- a river in which ships might
navigate from a temperate country, as surprisingly abundant
in certain productions as destitute of others, to another
possessing a tropical climate, and a soil which, according to
the best of judges, M. Bonpland, is perhaps unequalled in
fertility in any part of the world. How different would
have been the aspect of this river if English colonists had
by good fortune first sailed up the Plata! What noble towns
would now have occupied its shores! Till the death of
Francia, the Dictator of Paraguay, these two countries must
remain distinct, as if placed on opposite sides of the globe.
And when the old bloody-minded tyrant is gone to his long
account, Paraguay will be torn by revolutions, violent in
proportion to the previous unnatural calm. That country
will have to learn, like every other South American state,
that a republic cannot succeed till it contains a certain body
of men imbued with the principles of justice and honour.

October 20th. -- Being arrived at the mouth of the Parana,
and as I was very anxious to reach Buenos Ayres, I went
on shore at Las Conchas, with the intention of riding there.
Upon landing, I found to my great surprise that I was to
a certain degree a prisoner. A violent revolution having
broken out, all the ports were laid under an embargo. I
could not return to my vessel, and as for going by land to
the city, it was out of the question. After a long conversation
with the commandant, I obtained permission to go the
next day to General Rolor, who commanded a division of
the rebels on this side the capital. In the morning I rode
to the encampment. The general, officers, and soldiers, all
appeared, and I believe really were, great villains. The
general, the very evening before he left the city, voluntarily
went to the Governor, and with his hand to his heart, pledged
his word of honour that he at least would remain faithful
to the last. The general told me that the city was in a state
of close blockade, and that all he could do was to give me
a passport to the commander-in-chief of the rebels at Quilmes.
We had therefore to take a great sweep round the
city, and it was with much difficulty that we procured horses.
My reception at the encampment was quite civil, but I was
told it was impossible that I could be allowed to enter the
city. I was very anxious about this, as I anticipated the
Beagle's departure from the Rio Plata earlier than it took
place. Having mentioned, however, General Rosas's obliging
kindness to me when at the Colorado, magic itself could
not have altered circumstances quicker than did this
conversation. I was instantly told that though they could not
give me a passport, if I chose to leave my guide and horses,
I might pass their sentinels. I was too glad to accept of
this, and an officer was sent with me to give directions that
I should not be stopped at the bridge. The road for the
space of a league was quite deserted. I met one party of
soldiers, who were satisfied by gravely looking at an old
passport: and at length I was not a little pleased to find
myself within the city.

This revolution was supported by scarcely any pretext of
grievances: but in a state which, in the course of nine months
(from February to October, 1820), underwent fifteen
changes in its government -- each governor, according to the
constitution, being elected for three years -- it would be very
unreasonable to ask for pretexts. In this case, a party of
men -- who, being attached to Rosas, were disgusted with
the governor Balcarce -- to the number of seventy left the
city, and with the cry of Rosas the whole country took arms.
The city was then blockaded, no provisions, cattle or horses,
were allowed to enter; besides this, there was only a little
skirmishing, and a few men daily killed. The outside party
well knew that by stopping the supply of meat they would
certainly be victorious. General Rosas could not have known
of this rising; but it appears to be quite consonant with the
plans of his party. A year ago he was elected governor, but
he refused it, unless the Sala would also confer on him
extraordinary powers. This was refused, and since then
his party have shown that no other governor can keep his
place. The warfare on both sides was avowedly protracted
till it was possible to hear from Rosas. A note arrived a
few days after I left Buenos Ayres, which stated that the
General disapproved of peace having been broken, but that
he thought the outside party had justice on their side. On
the bare reception of this, the Governor, ministers, and part
of the military, to the number of some hundreds, fled from
the city. The rebels entered, elected a new governor, and
were paid for their services to the number of 5500 men.
From these proceedings, it was clear that Rosas ultimately
would become the dictator: to the term king, the people in
this, as in other republics, have a particular dislike. Since
leaving South America, we have heard that Rosas has
been elected, with powers and for a time altogether opposed
to the constitutional principles of the republic.

[1] The bizcacha (Lagostomus trichodactylus) somewhat resembles
a large rabbit, but with bigger gnawing teeth and a long tail;
it has, however, only three toes behind, like the agouti. During
the last three or four years the skins of these animals have
been sent to England for the sake of the fur.

[2] Journal of Asiatic Soc., vol. v. p. 363.

[3] I need hardly state here that there is good evidence
against any horse living in America at the time of Columbus.

[4] Cuvier. Ossemens Fossils, tom. i. p. 158.

[5] This is the geographical division followed by Lichtenstein,
Swainson, Erichson, and Richardson. The section from Vera Cruz
to Acapulco, given by Humboldt in the Polit. Essay on Kingdom
of N. Spain will show how immense a barrier the Mexican
table-land forms. Dr. Richardson, in his admirable Report on
the Zoology of N. America read before the Brit. Assoc. 1836
(p. 157), talking of the identification of a Mexican animal
with the Synetheres prehensilis, says, "We do not know with
what propriety, but if correct, it is, if not a solitary
instance, at least very nearly so, of a rodent animal being
common to North and South America."

[6] See Dr. Richardson's Report, p. 157; also L'Institut,
1837, p. 253. Cuvier says the kinkajou is found in the larger
Antilles, but this is doubtful. M. Gervais states that the
Didelphis crancrivora is found there. It is certain that the
West Indies possess some mammifers peculiar to themselves. A
tooth of a mastadon has been brought from Bahama; Edin. New
Phil. Journ., 1826, p. 395.

[7] See the admirable Appendix by Dr. Buckland to Beechey's
Voyage; also the writings of Chamisso in Kotzebue's Voyage.

[8] In Captain Owen's Surveying Voyage (vol. ii. p. 274)
there is a curious account of the effects of a drought on the
elephants, at Benguela (west coast of Africa). "A number of
these animals had some time since entered the town, in a body,
to possess themselves of the wells, not being able to procure
any water in the country. The inhabitants mustered, when a
desperate conflict ensued, which terminated in the ultimate
discomfiture of the invaders, but not until they had killed
one man, and wounded several others." The town is said to
have a population of nearly three thousand! Dr. Malcolmson
informs me that, during a great drought in India, the wild
animals entered the tents of some troops at Ellore, and that
a hare drank out of a vessel held by the adjutant of the
regiment.

[9] Travels, vol. i. p. 374.

[10] These droughts to a certain degree seem to be almost
periodical; I was told the dates of several others, and the
intervals were about fifteen years.

CHAPTER VIII

BANDA ORIENTAL AND PATAGONIA

Excursion to Colonia del Sacramiento -- Value of an Estancia --
Cattle, how counted -- Singular Breed of Oxen -- Perforated
Pebbles  --  Shepherd Dogs -- Horses broken-in, Gauchos
riding -- Character of Inhabitants -- Rio Plata -- Flocks of
Butterflies  --  Aeronaut Spiders --  Phosphorescence of the
Sea -- Port Desire -- Guanaco -- Port St. Julian -- Geology
of Patagonia -- Fossil gigantic Animal -- Types of Organization
constant -- Change in the Zoology of America -- Causes of
Extinction.

HAVING been delayed for nearly a fortnight in the
city, I was glad to escape on board a packet bound
for Monte Video. A town in a state of blockade
must always be a disagreeable place of residence; in this case
moreover there were constant apprehensions from robbers
within. The sentinels were the worst of all; for, from
their office and from having arms in their hands, they robbed
with a degree of authority which other men could not
imitate.

Our passage was a very long and tedious one. The Plata
looks like a noble estuary on the map; but is in truth a poor
affair. A wide expanse of muddy water has neither grandeur
nor beauty. At one time of the day, the two shores,
both of which are extremely low, could just be distinguished
from the deck. On arriving at Monte Video I found that
the Beagle would not sail for some time, so I prepared for a
short excursion in this part of Banda Oriental. Everything
which I have said about the country near Maldonado is applicable
to Monte Video; but the land, with the one exception
of the Green Mount 450 feet high, from which it takes
its name, is far more level. Very little of the undulating
grassy plain is enclosed; but near the town there are a few
hedge-banks, covered with agaves, cacti, and fennel.

November 14th. -- We left Monte Video in the afternoon.
I intended to proceed to Colonia del Sacramiento, situated
on the northern bank of the Plata and opposite to Buenos
Ayres, and thence, following up the Uruguay, to the village
of Mercedes on the Rio Negro (one of the many rivers of
this name in South America), and from this point to return
direct to Monte Video. We slept at the house of my guide
at Canelones. In the morning we rose early, in the hopes
of being able to ride a good distance; but it was a vain
attempt, for all the rivers were flooded. We passed in boats
the streams of Canelones, St. Lucia, and San Jose, and thus
lost much time. On a former excursion I crossed the Lucia
near its mouth, and I was surprised to observe how easily
our horses, although not used to swim, passed over a width
of at least six hundred yards. On mentioning this at Monte
Video, I was told that a vessel containing some mountebanks
and their horses, being wrecked in the Plata, one horse
swam seven miles to the shore. In the course of the day I
was amused by the dexterity with which a Gaucho forced
a restive horse to swim a river. He stripped off his clothes,
and jumping on its back, rode into the water till it was out
of its depth; then slipping off over the crupper, he caught
hold of the tail, and as often as the horse turned round
the man frightened it back by splashing water in its face.
As soon as the horse touched the bottom on the other side,
the man pulled himself on, and was firmly seated, bridle
in hand, before the horse gained the bank. A naked man
on a naked horse is a fine spectacle; I had no idea how well
the two animals suited each other. The tail of a horse is a
very useful appendage; I have passed a river in a boat with
four people in it, which was ferried across in the same way
as the Gaucho. If a man and horse have to cross a broad
river, the best plan is for the man to catch hold of the pommel
or mane, and help himself with the other arm.

We slept and stayed the following day at the post of
Cufre. In the evening the postman or letter-carrier arrived.
He was a day after his time, owing to the Rio Rozario being
flooded. It would not, however, be of much consequence;
for, although he had passed through some of the principal
towns in Banda Oriental, his luggage consisted of two letters!
The view from the house was pleasing; an undulating
green surface, with distant glimpses of the Plata. I find
that I look at this province with very different eyes from
what I did upon my first arrival. I recollect I then thought
it singularly level; but now, after galloping over the Pampas,
my only surprise is, what could have induced me ever
to call it level. The country is a series of undulations, in
themselves perhaps not absolutely great, but, as compared
to the plains of St. Fe, real mountains. From these
inequalities there is an abundance of small rivulets, and
the turf is green and luxuriant.

November 17th. -- We crossed the Rozario, which was
deep and rapid, and passing the village of Colla, arrived
at midday at Colonia del Sacramiento. The distance is
twenty leagues, through a country covered with fine grass,
but poorly stocked with cattle or inhabitants. I was invited
to sleep at Colonia, and to accompany on the following
day a gentleman to his estancia, where there were some
limestone rocks. The town is built on a stony promontory
something in the same manner as at Monte Video. It is
strongly fortified, but both fortifications and town suffered
much in the Brazilian war. It is very ancient; and the
irregularity of the streets, and the surrounding groves of
old orange and peach trees, gave it a pretty appearance.
The church is a curious ruin; it was used as a powder-
magazine, and was struck by lightning in one of the ten
thousand thunder-storms of the Rio Plata. Two-thirds of
the building were blown away to the very foundation; and
the rest stands a shattered and curious monument of the
united powers of lightning and gunpowder. In the evening
I wandered about the half-demolished walls of the town. It
was the chief seat of the Brazilian war; -- a war most injurious
to this country, not so much in its immediate effects,
as in being the origin of a multitude of generals and all
other grades of officers. More generals are numbered (but
not paid) in the United Provinces of La Plata than in the
United Kingdom of Great Britain. These gentlemen have
learned to like power, and do not object to a little
skirmishing. Hence there are many always on the watch to
create disturbance and to overturn a government which as yet
has never rested on any staple foundation. I noticed, however,
both here and in other places, a very general interest
in the ensuing election for the President; and this appears
a good sign for the prosperity of this little country. The
inhabitants do not require much education in their
representatives; I heard some men discussing the merits of those
for Colonia; and it was said that, "although they were not
men of business, they could all sign their names:" with this
they seemed to think every reasonable man ought to be
satisfied.

18th. -- Rode with my host to his estancia, at the Arroyo
de San Juan. In the evening we took a ride round the
estate: it contained two square leagues and a half, and was
situated in what is called a rincon; that is, one side was
fronted by the Plata, and the two others guarded by impassable
brooks. There was an excellent port for little vessels,
and an abundance of small wood, which is valuable
as supplying fuel to Buenos Ayres. I was curious to know
the value of so complete an estancia. Of cattle there were
3000, and it would well support three or four times that
number; of mares 800, together with 150 broken-in horses,
and 600 sheep. There was plenty of water and limestone,
a rough house, excellent corrals, and a peach orchard. For
all this he had been offered 2000 Pounds, and he only wanted
500 Pounds additional, and probably would sell it for less. The
chief trouble with an estancia is driving the cattle twice a
week to a central spot, in order to make them tame, and to count
them. This latter operation would be thought difficult,
where there are ten or fifteen thousand head together. It
is managed on the principle that the cattle invariably divide
themselves into little troops of from forty to one hundred.
Each troop is recognized by a few peculiarly marked
animals, and its number is known: so that, one being lost
out of ten thousand, it is perceived by its absence from one
of the tropillas. During a stormy night the cattle all mingle
together; but the next morning the tropillas separate as
before; so that each animal must know its fellow out of ten
thousand others.

On two occasions I met with in this province some oxen
of a very curious breed, called nata or niata. They appear
externally to hold nearly the same relation to other cattle,
which bull or pug dogs do to other dogs. Their forehead
is very short and broad, with the nasal end turned up, and
the upper lip much drawn back; their lower jaws project
beyond the upper, and have a corresponding upward curve;
hence their teeth are always exposed. Their nostrils are
seated high up and are very open; their eyes project outwards.
When walking they carry their heads low, on a short
neck; and their hinder legs are rather longer compared
with the front legs than is usual. Their bare teeth, their
short heads, and upturned nostrils give them the most ludicrous
self-confident air of defiance imaginable.

Since my return, I have procured a skeleton head,
through the kindness of my friend Captain Sulivan, R. N.,
which is now deposited in the College of Surgeons. [1] Don
F. Muniz, of Luxan, has kindly collected for me all the
information which he could respecting this breed. From his
account it seems that about eighty or ninety years ago, they
were rare and kept as curiosities at Buenos Ayres. The
breed is universally believed to have originated amongst
the Indians southward of the Plata; and that it was with
them the commonest kind. Even to this day, those reared
in the provinces near the Plata show their less civilized
origin, in being fiercer than common cattle, and in the cow
easily deserting her first calf, if visited too often or
molested. It is a singular fact that an almost similar structure
to the abnormal [2] one of the niata breed, characterizes, as I
am informed by Dr. Falconer, that great extinct ruminant
of India, the Sivatherium. The breed is very _true_; and a
niata bull and cow invariably produce niata calves. A niata
bull with a common cow, or the reverse cross, produces offspring
having an intermediate character, but with the niata
characters strongly displayed: according to Senor Muniz,
there is the clearest evidence, contrary to the common belief
of agriculturists in analogous cases, that the niata cow when
crossed with a common bull transmits her peculiarities more
strongly than the niata bull when crossed with a common
cow. When the pasture is tolerably long, the niata cattle
feed with the tongue and palate as well as common cattle;
but during the great droughts, when so many animals perish,
the niata breed is under a great disadvantage, and would
be exterminated if not attended to; for the common cattle,
like horses, are able just to keep alive, by browsing with
their lips on twigs of trees and reeds; this the niatas cannot
so well do, as their lips do not join, and hence they are found
to perish before the common cattle. This strikes me as a
good illustration of how little we are able to judge from the
ordinary habits of life, on what circumstances, occurring
only at long intervals, the rarity or extinction of a species
may be determined.

November 19th. --  Passing the valley of Las Vacas, we
slept at a house of a North American, who worked a lime-
kiln on the Arroyo de las Vivoras. In the morning we rode
to a protecting headland on the banks of the river, called
Punta Gorda. On the way we tried to find a jaguar. There
were plenty of fresh tracks, and we visited the trees, on
which they are said to sharpen their claws; but we did not
succeed in disturbing one. From this point the Rio Uruguay
presented to our view a noble volume of water. From
the clearness and rapidity of the stream, its appearance was
far superior to that of its neighbour the Parana. On the
opposite coast, several branches from the latter river entered
the Uruguay. As the sun was shining, the two colours of
the waters could be seen quite distinct.

In the evening we proceeded on our road towards Mercedes
on the Rio Negro. At night we asked permission to
sleep at an estancia at which we happened to arrive. It was
a very large estate, being ten leagues square, and the owner
is one of the greatest landowners in the country. His nephew
had charge of it, and with him there was a captain in
the army, who the other day ran away from Buenos Ayres.
Considering their station, their conversation was rather
amusing. They expressed, as was usual, unbounded astonishment
at the globe being round, and could scarcely credit
that a hole would, if deep enough, come out on the other
side. They had, however, heard of a country where there
were six months of light and six of darkness, and where
the inhabitants were very tall and thin! They were curious
about the price and condition of horses and cattle in England.
Upon finding out we did not catch our animals with
the lazo, they cried out, "Ah, then, you use nothing but
the bolas:" the idea of an enclosed country was quite new
to them. The captain at last said, he had one question to
ask me, which he should be very much obliged if I would
answer with all truth. I trembled to think how deeply scientific
it would be: it was, "Whether the ladies of Buenos
Ayres were not the handsomest in the world." I replied, like
a renegade, "Charmingly so." He added, "I have one other
question: Do ladies in any other part of the world wear
such large combs?" I solemnly assured him that they did
not. They were absolutely delighted. The captain exclaimed,
"Look there! a man who has seen half the world
says it is the case; we always thought so, but now we know
it." My excellent judgment in combs and beauty procured
me a most hospitable reception; the captain forced me to
take his bed, and he would sleep on his recado.

21st. -- Started at sunrise, and rode slowly during the
whole day. The geological nature of this part of the province
was different from the rest, and closely resembled that
of the Pampas. In consequence, there were immense beds
of the thistle, as well as of the cardoon: the whole country,
indeed, may be called one great bed of these plants. The
two sorts grow separate, each plant in company with its
own kind. The cardoon is as high as a horse's back, but the
Pampas thistle is often higher than the crown of the rider's
head. To leave the road for a yard is out of the question;
and the road itself is partly, and in some cases entirely
closed. Pasture, of course there is none; if cattle or horses
once enter the bed, they are for the time completely lost.
Hence it is very hazardous to attempt to drive cattle at
this season of the year; for when jaded enough to face the
thistles, they rush among them, and are seen no more. In
these districts there are very few estancias, and these few
are situated in the neighbourhood of damp valleys, where
fortunately neither of these overwhelming plants can exist.
As night came on before we arrived at our journey's end,
we slept at a miserable little hovel inhabited by the poorest
people. The extreme though rather formal courtesy of our
host and hostess, considering their grade of life, was quite
delightful.

November 22nd. -- Arrived at an estancia on the Berquelo
belonging to a very hospitable Englishman, to whom I had
a letter of introduction from my friend Mr. Lumb. I stayed
here three days. One morning I rode with my host to the
Sierra del Pedro Flaco, about twenty miles up the Rio
Negro. Nearly the whole country was covered with good
though coarse grass, which was as high as a horse's belly;
yet there were square leagues without a single head of cattle.
The province of Banda Oriental, if well stocked, would support
an astonishing number of animals, at present the annual
export of hides from Monte Video amounts to three
hundred thousand; and the home consumption, from waste,
is very considerable. An "estanciero" told me that he often
had to send large herds of cattle a long journey to a salting
establishment, and that the tired beasts were frequently
obliged to be killed and skinned; but that he could never
persuade the Gauchos to eat of them, and every evening
a fresh beast was slaughtered for their suppers! The view
of the Rio Negro from the Sierra was more picturesque than
any other which I saw in this province. The river, broad,
deep, and rapid, wound at the foot of a rocky precipitous
cliff: a belt of wood followed its course, and the horizon
terminated in the distant undulations of the turf-plain.

When in this neighbourhood, I several times heard of
the Sierra de las Cuentas: a hill distant many miles to the
northward. The name signifies hill of beads. I was assured
that vast numbers of little round stones, of various colours,
each with a small cylindrical hole, are found there. Formerly
the Indians used to collect them, for the purpose of
making necklaces and bracelets -- a taste, I may observe,
which is common to all savage nations, as well as to the most
polished. I did not know what to understand from this
story, but upon mentioning it at the Cape of Good Hope
to Dr. Andrew Smith, he told me that he recollected finding
on the south-eastern coast of Africa, about one hundred
miles to the eastward of St. John's river, some quartz crystals
with their edges blunted from attrition, and mixed with
gravel on the sea-beach. Each crystal was about five lines
in diameter, and from an inch to an inch and a half in
length. Many of them had a small canal extending from
one extremity to the other, perfectly cylindrical, and of a
size that readily admitted a coarse thread or a piece of fine
catgut. Their colour was red or dull white. The natives
were acquainted with this structure in crystals. I have
mentioned these circumstances because, although no crystallized
body is at present known to assume this form, it may
lead some future traveller to investigate the real nature of
such stones.

While staying at this estancia, I was amused with what
I saw and heard of the shepherd-dogs of the country. [3] When
riding, it is a common thing to meet a large flock of sheep
guarded by one or two dogs, at the distance of some miles
from any house or man. I often wondered how so firm a
friendship had been established. The method of education
consists in separating the puppy, while very young, from
the bitch, and in accustoming it to its future companions.
An ewe is held three or four times a day for the little thing
to suck, and a nest of wool is made for it in the sheep-pen;
at no time is it allowed to associate with other dogs, or with
the children of the family. The puppy is, moreover, generally
castrated; so that, when grown up, it can scarcely
have any feelings in common with the rest of its kind. From
this education it has no wish to leave the flock, and just
as another dog will defend its master, man, so will these
the sheep. It is amusing to observe, when approaching a
flock, how the dog immediately advances barking, and the
sheep all close in his rear, as if round the oldest ram. These
dogs are also easily taught to bring home the flock, at a
certain hour in the evening. Their most troublesome fault,
when young, is their desire of playing with the sheep; for
in their sport they sometimes gallop their poor subjects most
unmercifully.

The shepherd-dog comes to the house every day for some
meat, and as soon as it is given him, he skulks away as if
ashamed of himself. On these occasions the house-dogs are
very tyrannical, and the least of them will attack and pursue
the stranger. The minute, however, the latter has reached
the flock, he turns round and begins to bark, and then all
the house-dogs take very quickly to their heels. In a similar
manner a whole pack of the hungry wild dogs will scarcely
ever (and I was told by some never) venture to attack a
flock guarded by even one of these faithful shepherds. The
whole account appears to me a curious instance of the pliability
of the affections in the dog; and yet, whether wild or
however educated, he has a feeling of respect or fear for
those that are fulfilling their instinct of association. For
we can understand on no principle the wild dogs being
driven away by the single one with its flock, except that they
consider, from some confused notion, that the one thus
associated gains power, as if in company with its own kind.
F. Cuvier has observed that all animals that readily enter
into domestication, consider man as a member of their own
society, and thus fulfil their instinct of association. In
the above case the shepherd-dog ranks the sheep as its fellow-
brethren, and thus gains confidence; and the wild dogs,
though knowing that the individual sheep are not dogs, but
are good to eat, yet partly consent to this view when seeing
them in a flock with a shepherd-dog at their head.

One evening a "domidor" (a subduer of horses) came
for the purpose of breaking-in some colts. I will describe
the preparatory steps, for I believe they have not been
mentioned by other travellers. A troop of wild young horses
is driven into the corral, or large enclosure of stakes, and
the door is shut. We will suppose that one man alone has
to catch and mount a horse, which as yet had never felt
bridle or saddle. I conceive, except by a Gaucho, such a feat
would be utterly impracticable. The Gaucho picks out a
full-grown colt; and as the beast rushes round the circus
he throws his lazo so as to catch both the front legs. Instantly
the horse rolls over with a heavy shock, and whilst
struggling on the ground, the Gaucho, holding the lazo
tight, makes a circle, so as to catch one of the hind legs
just beneath the fetlock, and draws it close to the two front
legs: he then hitches the lazo, so that the three are bound
together. Then sitting on the horse's neck, he fixes a strong
bridle, without a bit, to the lower jaw: this he does by passing
a narrow thong through the eye-holes at the end of the
reins, and several times round both jaw and tongue. The
two front legs are now tied closely together with a strong
leathern thong, fastened by a slip-knot. The lazo, which
bound the three together, being then loosed, the horse rises
with difficulty. The Gaucho now holding fast the bridle
fixed to the lower jaw, leads the horse outside the corral. If
a second man is present (otherwise the trouble is much
greater) he holds the animal's head, whilst the first puts on
the horsecloths and saddle, and girths the whole together.
During this operation, the horse, from dread and astonishment
at thus being bound round the waist, throws himself
over and over again on the ground, and, till beaten, is
unwilling to rise. At last, when the saddling is finished, the
poor animal can hardly breathe from fear, and is white with
foam and sweat. The man now prepares to mount by pressing
heavily on the stirrup, so that the horse may not lose
its balance; and at the moment that he throws his leg over
the animal's back, he pulls the slip-knot binding the front
legs, and the beast is free. Some "domidors" pull the knot
while the animal is lying on the ground, and, standing over
the saddle, allow him to rise beneath them. The horse, wild
with dread, gives a few most violent bounds, and then starts
off at full gallop: when quite exhausted, the man, by patience,
brings him back to the corral, where, reeking hot and
scarcely alive, the poor beast is let free. Those animals
which will not gallop away, but obstinately throw themselves
on the ground, are by far the most troublesome. This process
is tremendously severe, but in two or three trials the horse
is tamed. It is not, however, for some weeks that the animal
is ridden with the iron bit and solid ring, for it must learn
to associate the will of its rider with the feel of the rein,
before the most powerful bridle can be of any service.

Animals are so abundant in these countries, that humanity
and self-interest are not closely united; therefore I
fear it is that the former is here scarcely known. One day,
riding in the Pampas with a very respectable "estanciero,"
my horse, being tired, lagged behind. The man often shouted
to me to spur him. When I remonstrated that it was a pity,
for the horse was quite exhausted, he cried out, "Why not?
-- never mind -- spur him -- it is my horse." I had then some
difficulty in making him comprehend that it was for the
horse's sake, and not on his account, that I did not choose
to use my spurs. He exclaimed, with a look of great surprise,
"Ah, Don Carlos, que cosa!" It was clear that such
an idea had never before entered his head.

The Gauchos are well known to be perfect riders The
idea of being thrown, let the horse do what it likes; never
enters their head. Their criterion of a good rider is, a man
who can manage an untamed colt, or who, if his horse falls,
alights on his own feet, or can perform other such exploits.
I have heard of a man betting that he would throw his horse
down twenty times, and that nineteen times he would not
fall himself. I recollect seeing a Gaucho riding a very
stubborn horse, which three times successively reared so
high as to fall backwards with great violence. The man
judged with uncommon coolness the proper moment for
slipping off, not an instant before or after the right time;
and as soon as the horse got up, the man jumped on his back,
and at last they started at a gallop. The Gaucho never appears
to exert any muscular force. I was one day watching
a good rider, as we were galloping along at a rapid pace,
and thought to myself, "Surely if the horse starts, you
appear so careless on your seat, you must fall." At this moment,
a male ostrich sprang from its nest right beneath the
horse's nose: the young colt bounded on one side like a stag;
but as for the man, all that could be said was, that he started
and took fright with his horse.

In Chile and Peru more pains are taken with the mouth
of the horse than in La Plata, and this is evidently a
consequence of the more intricate nature of the country. In
Chile a horse is not considered perfectly broken, till he can
be brought up standing, in the midst of his full speed, on
any particular spot, -- for instance, on a cloak thrown on
the ground: or, again, he will charge a wall, and rearing,
scrape the surface with his hoofs. I have seen an animal
bounding with spirit, yet merely reined by a fore-finger and
thumb, taken at full gallop across a courtyard, and then
made to wheel round the post of a veranda with great speed,
but at so equal a distance, that the rider, with outstretched
arm, all the while kept one finger rubbing the post. Then
making a demi-volte in the air, with the other arm outstretched
in a like manner, he wheeled round, with astonishing
force, in an opposite direction.

Such a horse is well broken; and although this at first
may appear useless, it is far otherwise. It is only carrying
that which is daily necessary into perfection. When a bullock
is checked and caught by the lazo, it will sometimes
gallop round and round in a circle, and the horse being
alarmed at the great strain, if not well broken, will not
readily turn like the pivot of a wheel. In consequence many
men have been killed; for if the lazo once takes a twist
round a man's body, it will instantly, from the power of the
two opposed animals, almost cut him in twain. On the
same principle the races are managed; the course is only
two or three hundred yards long, the wish being to have
horses that can make a rapid dash. The racehorses are
trained not only to stand with their hoofs touching a line,
but to draw all four feet together, so as at the first spring
to bring into play the full action of the hind-quarters. In
Chile I was told an anecdote, which I believe was true; and
it offers a good illustration of the use of a well-broken
animal. A respectable man riding one day met two others, one
of whom was mounted on a horse, which he knew to have
been stolen from himself. He challenged them; they answered
him by drawing their sabres and giving chase. The
man, on his good and fleet beast, kept just ahead: as he
passed a thick bush he wheeled round it, and brought up
his horse to a dead check. The pursuers were obliged to
shoot on one side and ahead. Then instantly dashing on,
right behind them, he buried his knife in the back of one,
wounded the other, recovered his horse from the dying
robber, and rode home. For these feats of horsemanship
two things are necessary: a most severe bit, like the Mameluke,
the power of which, though seldom used, the horse
knows full well; and large blunt spurs, that can be applied
either as a mere touch, or as an instrument of extreme pain.
I conceive that with English spurs, the slightest touch of
which pricks the skin, it would be impossible to break in a
horse after the South American fashion

At an estancia near Las Vacas large numbers of mares
are weekly slaughtered for the sake of their hides, although
worth only five paper dollars, or about half a crown apiece.
It seems at first strange that it can answer to kill mares
for such a trifle; but as it is thought ridiculous in this
country ever to break in or ride a mare, they are of no value
except for breeding. The only thing for which I ever saw
mares used, was to tread out wheat from the ear, for which
purpose they were driven round a circular enclosure, where
the wheat-sheaves were strewed. The man employed for
slaughtering the mares happened to be celebrated for his
dexterity with the lazo. Standing at the distance of twelve
yards from the mouth of the corral, he has laid a wager
that he would catch by the legs every animal, without missing
one, as it rushed past him. There was another man
who said he would enter the corral on foot, catch a mare,
fasten her front legs together, drive her out, throw her down,
kill, skin, and stake the hide for drying (which latter is a
tedious job); and he engaged that he would perform this
whole operation on twenty-two animals in one day. Or he
would kill and take the skin off fifty in the same time. This
would have been a prodigious task, for it is considered a
good day's work to skin and stake the hides of fifteen or
sixteen animals.

November 26th. -- I set out on my return in a direct line
for Monte Video. Having heard of some giant's bones at
a neighbouring farm-house on the Sarandis, a small stream
entering the Rio Negro, I rode there accompanied by my
host, and purchased for the value of eighteen pence the head
of the Toxodon. [4] When found it was quite perfect; but
the boys knocked out some of the teeth with stones, and then
set up the head as a mark to throw at. By a most fortunate
chance I found a perfect tooth, which exactly fitted one of
the sockets in this skull, embedded by itself on the banks
of the Rio Tercero, at the distance of about 180 miles from
this place. I found remains of this extraordinary animal
at two other places, so that it must formerly have been common.
I found here, also, some large portions of the armour
of a gigantic armadillo-like animal, and part of the great
head of a Mylodon. The bones of this head are so fresh,
that they contain, according to the analysis by Mr. T. Reeks,
seven per cent of animal matter; and when placed in a
spirit-lamp, they burn with a small flame. The number
of the remains embedded in the grand estuary deposit which
forms the Pampas and covers the granitic rocks of Banda
Oriental, must be extraordinarily great. I believe a straight
line drawn in any direction through the Pampas would cut
through some skeleton or bones. Besides those which I
found during my short excursions, I heard of many others,
and the origin of such names as "the stream of the animal,"
"the hill of the giant," is obvious. At other times I heard
of the marvellous property of certain rivers, which had the
power of changing small bones into large; or, as some
maintained, the bones themselves grew. As far as I am aware,
not one of these animals perished, as was formerly supposed,
in the marshes or muddy river-beds of the present land, but
their bones have been exposed by the streams intersecting the
subaqueous deposit in which they were originally embedded.
We may conclude that the whole area of the Pampas is one
wide sepulchre of these extinct gigantic quadrupeds.

By the middle of the day, on the 28th, we arrived at
Monte Video, having been two days and a half on the road.
The country for the whole way was of a very uniform character,
some parts being rather more rocky and hilly than
near the Plata. Not far from Monte Video we passed
through the village of Las Pietras, so named from some
large rounded masses of syenite. Its appearance was rather
pretty. In this country a few fig-trees round a group of
houses, and a site elevated a hundred feet above the general
level, ought always to be called picturesque.

During the last six months I have had an opportunity of
seeing a little of the character of the inhabitants of these
provinces. The Gauchos, or countryrmen, are very superior
to those who reside in the towns. The Gaucho is invariably
most obliging, polite, and hospitable: I did not meet with
even one instance of rudeness or inhospitality. He is modest,
both respecting himself and country, but at the same
time a spirited, bold fellow. On the other hand, many robberies
are committed, and there is much bloodshed: the
habit of constantly wearing the knife is the chief cause
of the latter. It is lamentable to hear how many lives are
lost in trifling quarrels. In fighting, each party tries to
mark the face of his adversary by slashing his nose or eyes;
as is often attested by deep and horrid-looking scars. Robberies
are a natural consequence of universal gambling,
much drinking, and extreme indolence. At Mercedes I asked
two men why they did not work. One gravely said the days
were too long; the other that he was too poor. The number
of horses and the profusion of food are the destruction of
all industry. Moreover, there are so many feast-days; and
again, nothing can succeed without it be begun when the
moon is on the increase; so that half the month is lost from
these two causes.

Police and justice are quite inefficient. If a man who is
poor commits murder and is taken, he will be imprisoned,
and perhaps even shot; but if he is rich and has friends,
he may rely on it no very severe consequence will ensue.
It is curious that the most respectable inhabitants of the
country invariably assist a murderer to escape: they seem
to think that the individual sins against the government,
and not against the people. A traveller has no protection
besides his fire-arms; and the constant habit of carrying
them is the main check to more frequent robberies.
The character of the higher and more educated classes
who reside in the towns, partakes, but perhaps in a lesser
degree, of the good parts of the Gaucho, but is, I fear, stained
by many vices of which he is free. Sensuality, mockery of
all religion, and the grossest corruption, are far from
uncommon. Nearly every public officer can be bribed. The
head man in the post-office sold forged government franks.
The governor and prime minister openly combined to plunder
the state. Justice, where gold came into play, was
hardly expected by any one. I knew an Englishman, who
went to the Chief Justice (he told me, that not then
understanding the ways of the place, he trembled as he entered
the room), and said, "Sir, I have come to offer you two hundred
(paper) dollars (value about five pounds sterling) if
you will arrest before a certain time a man who has cheated
me. I know it is against the law, but my lawyer (naming
him) recommended me to take this step." The Chief Justice
smiled acquiescence, thanked him, and the man before
night was safe in prison. With this entire want of principle
in many of the leading men, with the country full of
ill-paid turbulent officers, the people yet hope that a
democratic form of government can succeed!

On first entering society in these countries, two or three
features strike one as particularly remarkable. The polite
and dignified manners pervading every rank of life, the
excellent taste displayed by the women in their dresses, and
the equality amongst all ranks. At the Rio Colorado some
men who kept the humblest shops used to dine with General
Rosas. A son of a major at Bahia Blanca gained his
livelihood by making paper cigars, and he wished to accompany
me, as guide or servant, to Buenos Ayres, but his
father objected on the score of the danger alone. Many
officers in the army can neither read nor write, yet all meet
in society as equals. In Entre Rios, the Sala consisted of
only six representatives. One of them kept a common shop,
and evidently was not degraded by the office. All this is
what would be expected in a new country; nevertheless the
absence of gentlemen by profession appears to an Englishman
something strange.

When speaking of these countries, the manner in which
they have been brought up by their unnatural parent, Spain,
should always be borne in mind. On the whole, perhaps,
more credit is due for what has been done, than blame for
that which may be deficient. It is impossible to doubt but
that the extreme liberalism of these countries must ultimately
lead to good results. The very general toleration of
foreign religions, the regard paid to the means of education,
the freedom of the press, the facilities offered to all
foreigners, and especially, as I am bound to add, to every one
professing the humblest pretensions to science, should be
recollected with gratitude by those who have visited Spanish
South America.

December 6th. -- The Beagle sailed from the Rio Plata,
never again to enter its muddy stream. Our course was
directed to Port Desire, on the coast of Patagonia. Before
proceeding any further, I will here put together a few
observations made at sea.

Several times when the ship has been some miles off the
mouth of the Plata, and at other times when off the shores
of Northern Patagonia, we have been surrounded by insects.
One evening, when we were about ten miles from the Bay
of San Blas, vast numbers of butterflies, in bands or flocks
of countless myriads, extended as far as the eye could range.
Even by the aid of a telescope it was not possible to see a
space free from butterflies. The seamen cried out "it was
snowing butterflies," and such in fact was the appearance.
More species than one were present, but the main part belonged
to a kind very similar to, but not identical with, the
common English Colias edusa. Some moths and hymenoptera
accompanied the butterflies; and a fine beetle (Calosoma)
flew on board. Other instances are known of this
beetle having been caught far out at sea; and this is the
more remarkable, as the greater number of the Carabidae
seldom or never take wing. The day had been fine and calm,
and the one previous to it equally so, with light and variable
airs. Hence we cannot suppose that the insects were blown
off the land, but we must conclude that they voluntarily took
flight. The great bands of the Colias seem at first to afford
an instance like those on record of the migrations of another
butterfly, Vanessa cardui; [5] but the presence of other insects
makes the case distinct, and even less intelligible. Before
sunset a strong breeze sprung up from the north, and this
must have caused tens of thousands of the butterflies and
other insects to have perished.

On another occasion, when seventeen miles off Cape Corrientes,
I had a net overboard to catch pelagic animals.
Upon drawing it up, to my surprise, I found a considerable
number of beetles in it, and although in the open sea, they
did not appear much injured by the salt water. I lost some
of the specimens, but those which I preserved belonged
to the genera Colymbetes, Hydroporus, Hydrobius (two species),
Notaphus, Cynucus, Adimonia, and Scarabaeus. At
first I thought that these insects had been blown from the
shore; but upon reflecting that out of the eight species four
were aquatic, and two others partly so in their habits, it
appeared to me most probable that they were floated into the
sea by a small stream which drains a lake near Cape Corrientes.
On any supposition it is an interesting circumstance
to find live insects swimming in the open ocean seventeen
miles from the nearest point of land. There are several
accounts of insects having been blown off the Patagonian
shore. Captain Cook observed it, as did more lately Captain
King of the Adventure. The cause probably is due to the
want of shelter, both of trees and hills, so that an insect on
the wing with an off-shore breeze, would be very apt to
be blown out to sea. The most remarkable instance I have
known of an insect being caught far from the land, was that
of a large grasshopper (Acrydium), which flew on board,
when the Beagle was to windward of the Cape de Verd
Islands, and when the nearest point of land, not directly
opposed to the trade-wind, was Cape Blanco on the coast of
Africa, 370 miles distant. [6]

On several occasions, when the Beagle has been within
the mouth of the Plata, the rigging has been coated with
the web of the Gossamer Spider. One day (November 1st,
1832) I paid particular attention to this subject. The weather
had been fine and clear, and in the morning the air was full
of patches of the flocculent web, as on an autumnal day in
England. The ship was sixty miles distant from the land, in
the direction of a steady though light breeze. Vast numbers
of a small spider, about one-tenth of an inch in length, and of
a dusky red colour, were attached to the webs. There must
have been, I should suppose, some thousands on the ship. The
little spider, when first coming in contact with the rigging,
was always seated on a single thread, and not on the flocculent
mass. This latter seems merely to be produced by the
entanglement of the single threads. The spiders were all of
one species, but of both sexes, together with young ones.
These latter were distinguished by their smaller size and
more dusky colour. I will not give the description of this
spider, but merely state that it does not appear to me to be
included in any of Latreille's genera. The little aeronaut as
soon as it arrived on board was very active, running about,
sometimes letting itself fall, and then reascending the same
thread; sometimes employing itself in making a small and
very irregular mesh in the corners between the ropes. It
could run with facility on the surface of the water. When
disturbed it lifted up its front legs, in the attitude of
attention. On its first arrival it appeared very thirsty, and
with exserted maxillae drank eagerly of drops of water, this
same circumstance has been observed by Strack: may it not be in
consequence of the little insect having passed through a dry
and rarefied atmosphere? Its stock of web seemed inexhaustible.
While watching some that were suspended by a
single thread, I several times observed that the slightest
breath of air bore them away out of sight, in a horizontal
line.

On another occasion (25th) under similar circumstances,
I repeatedly observed the same kind of small spider,
either when placed or having crawled on some little eminence,
elevate its abdomen, send forth a thread, and then
sail away horizontally, but with a rapidity which was quite
unaccountable. I thought I could perceive that the spider,
before performing the above preparatory steps, connected
its legs together with the most delicate threads, but I am not
sure whether this observation was correct.

One day, at St. Fe, I had a better opportunity of observing
some similar facts. A spider which was about three-tenths
of an inch in length, and which in its general appearance
resembled a Citigrade (therefore quite different from the
gossamer), while standing on the summit of a post, darted
forth four or five threads from its spinners. These, glittering
in the sunshine, might be compared to diverging rays of
light; they were not, however, straight, but in undulations
like films of silk blown by the wind. They were more than a
yard in length, and diverged in an ascending direction from
the orifices. The spider then suddenly let go its hold of the
post, and was quickly borne out of sight. The day was hot
and apparently calm; yet under such circumstances, the
atmosphere can never be so tranquil as not to affect a vane so
delicate as the thread of a spider's web. If during a warm
day we look either at the shadow of any object cast on a
bank, or over a level plain at a distant landmark, the effect
of an ascending current of heated air is almost always evident:
such upward currents, it has been remarked, are also
shown by the ascent of soap-bubbles, which will not rise in
an in-doors room. Hence I think there is not much difficulty
in understanding the ascent of the fine lines projected from
a spider's spinners, and afterwards of the spider itself; the
divergence of the lines has been attempted to be explained, I
believe by Mr. Murray, by their similar electrical condition.
The circumstance of spiders of the same species, but of
different sexes and ages, being found on several occasions at
the distance of many leagues from the land, attached in vast
numbers to the lines, renders it probable that the habit of
sailing through the air is as characteristic of this tribe, as
that of diving is of the Argyroneta. We may then reject
Latreille's supposition, that the gossamer owes its origin
indifferently to the young of several genera of spiders:
although, as we have seen, the young of other spiders do
possess the power of performing aerial voyages. [7]

During our different passages south of the Plata, I often
towed astern a net made of bunting, and thus caught many
curious animals. Of Crustacea there were many strange
and undescribed genera. One, which in some respects is
allied to the Notopods (or those crabs which have their
posterior legs placed almost on their backs, for the purpose
of adhering to the under side of rocks), is very remarkable
from the structure of its hind pair of legs. The penultimate
joint, instead of terminating in a simple claw, ends in three
bristle-like appendages of dissimilar lengths -- the longest
equalling that of the entire leg. These claws are very thin,
and are serrated with the finest teeth, directed backwards:
their curved extremities are flattened, and on this part five
most minute cups are placed which seem to act in the same
manner as the suckers on the arms of the cuttle-fish. As
the animal lives in the open sea, and probably wants a place
of rest, I suppose this beautiful and most anomalous structure
is adapted to take hold of floating marine animals.

In deep water, far from the land, the number of living
creatures is extremely small: south of the latitude 35 degs.,
I never succeeded in catching anything besides some beroe,
and a few species of minute entomostracous crustacea.
In shoaler water, at the distance of a few miles from the
coast, very many kinds of crustacea and some other animals
are numerous, but only during the night. Between latitudes
56 and 57 degs. south of Cape Horn, the net was put
astern several times; it never, however, brought up anything
besides a few of two extremely minute species of Entomostraca.
Yet whales and seals, petrels and albatross, are exceedingly
abundant throughout this part of the ocean. It has always
been a mystery to me on what the albatross, which lives far
from the shore, can subsist; I presume that, like the condor,
it is able to fast long; and that one good feast on the carcass
of a putrid whale lasts for a long time. The central and
intertropical parts of the Atlantic swarm with Pteropoda,
Crustacea, and Radiata, and with their devourers the flying-
fish, and again with their devourers the bonitos and albicores;
I presume that the numerous lower pelagic animals
feed on the Infusoria, which are now known, from the
researches of Ehrenberg, to abound in the open ocean: but
on what, in the clear blue water, do these Infusoria subsist?

While sailing a little south of the Plata on one very dark
night, the sea presented a wonderful and most beautiful
spectacle. There was a fresh breeze, and every part of the
surface, which during the day is seen as foam, now glowed
with a pale light. The vessel drove before her bows two
billows of liquid phosphorus, and in her wake she was followed
by a milky train. As far as the eye reached, the crest
of every wave was bright, and the sky above the horizon,
from the reflected glare of these livid flames, was not so
utterly obscure as over the vault of the heavens.

As we proceed further southward the sea is seldom
phosphorescent; and off Cape Horn I do not recollect more than
once having seen it so, and then it was far from being
brilliant. This circumstance probably has a close connection
with the scarcity of organic beings in that part of the ocean.
After the elaborate paper, [8] by Ehrenberg, on the
phosphorescence of the sea, it is almost superfluous on my part
to make any observations on the subject. I may however
add, that the same torn and irregular particles of gelatinous
matter, described by Ehrenberg, seem in the southern as
well as in the northern hemisphere, to be the common cause
of this phenomenon. The particles were so minute as easily
to pass through fine gauze; yet many were distinctly visible
by the naked eye. The water when placed in a tumbler and
agitated, gave out sparks, but a small portion in a watch-
glass scarcely ever was luminous. Ehrenberg states that
these particles all retain a certain degree of irritability. My
observations, some of which were made directly after taking
up the water, gave a different result. I may also mention,
that having used the net during one night, I allowed it to
become partially dry, and having occasion twelve hours
afterwards to employ it again, I found the whole surface
sparkled as brightly as when first taken out of the water.
It does not appear probable in this case, that the particles
could have remained so long alive. On one occasion having
kept a jelly-fish of the genus Dianaea till it was dead, the
water in which it was placed became luminous. When the
waves scintillate with bright green sparks, I believe it is
generally owing to minute crustacea. But there can be no
doubt that very many other pelagic animals, when alive, are
phosphorescent.

On two occasions I have observed the sea luminous at
considerable depths beneath the surface. Near the mouth
of the Plata some circular and oval patches, from two to
four yards in diameter, and with defined outlines, shone with
a steady but pale light; while the surrounding water only
gave out a few sparks. The appearance resembled the reflection
of the moon, or some luminous body; for the edges were
sinuous from the undulations of the surface. The ship,
which drew thirteen feet of water, passed over, without
disturbing these patches. Therefore we must suppose that some
animals were congregated together at a greater depth than
the bottom of the vessel.

Near Fernando Noronha the sea gave out light in flashes.
The appearance was very similar to that which might be
expected from a large fish moving rapidly through a luminous
fluid. To this cause the sailors attributed it; at the
time, however, I entertained some doubts, on account of the
frequency and rapidity of the flashes. I have already
remarked that the phenomenon is very much more common
in warm than in cold countries; and I have sometimes imagined
that a disturbed electrical condition of the atmosphere
was most favourable to its production. Certainly I
think the sea is most luminous after a few days of more
calm weather than ordinary, during which time it has
swarmed with various animals. Observing that the water
charged with gelatinous particles is in an impure state, and
that the luminous appearance in all common cases is produced
by the agitation of the fluid in contact with the atmosphere,
I am inclined to consider that the phosphorescence is
the result of the decomposition of the organic particles, by
which process (one is tempted almost to call it a kind of
respiration) the ocean becomes purified.