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Presented by
Dr. Pearl Oliphant

COLLEGE OF OSTEOPATHIC PHYSICIANS
AND SURGEONS • LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA

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THE VOYAGE OF THE 'BEAGLE.'

C^ l

A NATURALISTS VOYAGE.

JOURNAL OF RESEARCHES

INTO THE

NATUEAL HISTORY AND GEOLOGY

COUNTRIES VISITED DURING THE VOYAGE OF
H.M.S. 'BEAGLE5 BOUND THE WORLD,

US DEB TIIK

(TommnnD of ©apt. dfit>

P,Y CHARLES DARWIN, SLA., F.R.S.,

AUTHOR OP 'OHIO IX or sl'KCIES,' ETC.

NEW EDITION,
WITH PORTRAIT.

LONDON:
JOHN MURRAY, ALP.EMARLE STREET.

1890.

, Al

LATELY PUBLISHED.

LIFE AND LETTERS OF CHARLES DARWIN, F.R.S.

With au Autobiographical Chapter. By his Son, FEAXCIS DARTVIX, F.R.S.
Seventh Thousand. With Portrait and Woodcuts. 3 vols. Svo. 36s.

ORIGIN OF SPECIES BY MEANS OF NATURAL

SELECTION. Library E-.lition. 2 vols. Crown Svo. 12s.

DESCENT OF MAN, AND SELECTION IX RELATION

TO SEX. Library Edition. 2 vols. Crown .?vo. 15s.

January. 1889,

%* The Publisher is indebted for the. Portrait of MR. DAKWIX.
prefixed to tlte present edition, to tlic kindness of Messrs. Macmillnn
and Co.

LONDON : PRINTED liY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SON.?, LIMITED,
,<~TAMronD STRtET AND CIIAKING CROSS.

TO

CHARLES LYELL, ESQ., F.R.S.,

THIS EDITION IS DEDICATED WITU GRATEFUL PLEASURE, AS AX
ACKNOWLEDGMENT THAT THE CHIEF PART OF WHATEVER
SCIENTIFIC MERIT THIS JOURNAL AND THE OTHER WORKS OF THE
AUTHOR MAY POSSESS, HAS BEEN DERIVED FROM STUDYING THE
WELL-KNOWN AND ADMIRABLE

PRINCIPLES OF GEOLOGY.

WORKS BY THE SAME AUTHOR.

THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF CHARLES DARWIX.

With an Autobiographical Chapter. Edited by his Son, FRAXCIS DAUWIX.
Seventh Thousand. Portraits. 3 vols. 8vo. 36s. MURRAY.

A NATURALIST'S JOURXAL OF RESEARCHES IXTO

THE NATUKAL HISTORY AXD GEOLOGY OF COUNTRIES VISITED DCRIXG A VOYAGE
ROUND THE WORLD. Thirty-eighth Thousand. Woodcuts. 3s. GcL MURRAY.

THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES BY MEANS OF NATURAL

SELECTION; or, THE PRESERVATION OF FAVOURED RACES IN THE
STRUGGLE FOU LIFE. Thirty-seventh- Thousand. Woodcuts. Large Type
Edition. 2 vols. Crown 8vo, 12s. Cheap Edition, 6s. MURRAY.

THE VARIOUS CONTRIVANCES BY WHICH ORCHIDS

AttE FERTILIZED BY INSECTS. Fourth Thousand. Woodcuts. Is. Gd.

MUBBA.Y.

THE VARIATION OF ANIMALS AND PLANTS UNDER

DOMESTICATION. Sixth Thousand. Illustrations. 15s. MURRAY.
THE DESCENT OF MAN, AND SELECTION IN RELA-
TION TO SEX. Twenty-fifth Thousand. Illustrations. Large Type Edition.
•J vols. Crown Svo, 15s.' Cheap Edition, 7s. 6d. MURRAY.

THE EXPRESSION OF THE EMOTIONS IN MAN AND

ANIMALS. A'inth Tliousand. Illustrations. MURRAY.

INSECTIVOROUS PLANTS. Fifth Thousand. Illustrations. 9s.

MURRAY.

THE MOVEMENTS AND HABITS OF CLIMBING PLANTS.

Third Thousand. Woodcuts. 6s. MURRAY.

THE EFFECTS OF CROSS AND SELF-FERTILIZATION

JN THE VEGETABLE KINGDOM. Third Thousand. Illustrations. »».

MURRAY.

THE DIFFERENT FORMS OF FLOWERS OX PLANTS OF

Tl I K SAME SPECIES. Third Thousand. Illustrations. 7s. 6d. MURRAY.

THE POWER OF MOVEMENT IN PLANTS. Third Thousand.

Woodcuts. MURRAY.

THE FORMATION OF VEGETABLE MOULD THROUGH

THE ACTION OF WORMS. Twelfth Thousand. Woodcuts. 6s. MURRAY.

LIFE OF ERASMUS DARWIN. With a Study of his Scientific

Works. Portrait. 7*. 6d. MURRAY.

THE STRUCTURE AND DISTRIBUTION OF CORAL

REEFS. Second Edition, revised. SMITH, ELDER & Co.

GEOLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS ON VOLCANIC ISLANDS
AND ON PARTS OF SOUTH AMERICA, visited during the Voyage of
H.M.S. ' Beagle.' Second Edition. SJIITH, ELDER & Co.

A MONOGRAPH OF THE CIRRIPEDIA. With numerous
Illustrations. 2 vols. Svo. RAY SOCIETY. HARDWICKE.

A MONOGRAPH OF THE FOSSIL LEPADID^E, OR
PEDUNCULA.TED CIRRIPEDS OF GREAT BRITAIN.

PAL^KONTOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY.

A MONOGRAPH OF THE FOSSIL BALANIDJE AND
VERRUCID (E OF GREAT BRITAIN. PAUEOXTOCIIAPHICAL SOCIETY.

FACTS AND ARGUMENTS FOR DARWIN. By FRITZ

MutLER. From the German, with Additions by the Author. Translated by
W. S. DALLAS, F.L.S. Illustration!?. 6s. MURRAY.

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 con-
sequence of a wish expressed by Captain Fitz Eoy, 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 hydro-
grapher, 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 Eoy, 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 Eoy and to all the Officers of the Beagle * 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

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

Vlii PREFACE.

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 Eev. L. Jenyns ; and of the Eeptiles, 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 Eight Honourable the Chancellor of the Ex-
chequer, 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 Eeefs;' 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 Archi-
pelago is the subject of a separate memoir by him, in the ' Linneau
Transactions.' The Eeverend Professor Henslow has published a
list of the plants collected by me at the Keeling Islands; and the
Eeverend 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 Eeverend 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 correspond-
ence directed my endeavours, — and who, since my return, has
constantly rendered me every assistance which the kindest friend
could offer.

Down, Bromley, Kent,
Jim?, 1845.

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I.

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 Colo-
nists of Islands — Fernando Noronha — Bahia
— Burnished Rocks — Habits of a Diodon—
Pelagic Confervas and Infusoria— Causes of
discoloured Sea Page 1

CHAPTER II.

Rio de Janeiro — Excursion north of Cape Frio
— G reat Evaporation — Slavery — Botofogo
Bay— Terrestrial Planariaj— Clouds on the
Corcovado — Heavy Rain — Musical Frogs —
Phosphorescent Insects — Elater, springing
powers of— Blue Haze— Noise made by a
Butterfly— Entomology — Ants — Wasp kill-
ing a Spider — Parasitical Spider — Artifices
of an Epeira — Gregarious Spider — Spider
with an unsymmetrical Web 18

CHAPTER III.

Monte Video— Maldonado— Excursion to R.
Polanco— Lazo and Bolas— Partridges— Ab-
sence of Trees — Deer — Capybara, or River
Hog — Tucutuco — Molothrus, cuckoo-like
habits — Tyrant-flycatcher — Mocking-bird
—Carrion Hawks— Tubes formed by Light-
ning—House struck 37

CHAPTER IV.

Rio Negro— Estanctas attacked by thu Indians
— Salt Lakes — Flamingoes — R.Negro to R.
Colorado — Sacred Tree — Patagonian 1 Fare —
fndian Families- General Rosas— Proceed
to Bahia Blanca — Sand Dunes — Negro Lieu-
tenant—Bahia Blanca— Saline Incrustations
— rivnta Alta— Zorillo , 59

CHAPTER V.

Bahia Blanca— Geology — Numerous gigantic
extinct 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 — Hyber-
nation of Animals — Habits of Sea-Pen—
Indian Wars and Massacres — Arrow-head,
antiquarian Relic 76

CHAPTER VI.

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
100

CHAPTER VII.

Excursion to St. Fe— Thistle-Beds— Habits of
the Bizcacha— Little Owl— Saline Streams —
Level Plains — 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,andScissor-tail— Revolution— Buenos
A yres— State of Government 1 1 C

CHAPTER VIII.

Excursion to Colonia del Sacramento -Value
of an Estancia — Cattle, how counted— Sin-
gular Breed of Oxen— Perforated Pebbles —

CONTEXTS.

Shepherd-Dogs— Horses broken-iu, < Jauchos
riding— Character of Inhabitants— Rio Plata
— Flocks of Butterflies— Aeronaut Spiders-
Phosphorescence of the Sea — Port Desire —
Guanaco— Port St. Julian— Geology of Pata-
gonia—Fossil gigantic Animal— Types of i
Organization constant — Change in the Zoo-
logy of America— Causes of Extinction . 1 35

CHAPTEll IX.

Santa Cruz— Expedition up the River— Indians
—Immense Streams of Basaltic Lava — Frag- ;
ments not transported by the Elver — Exca-
vation of the Valley — Condor, habits of — i
Cordillera —Erratic Boulders of great size— j
Indian Relics— Return to the Ship— Falk-
land Islands— Wild Horse?, Cattle, Rabbits
— Wolf-like Fox— Fire made of Bones —
Manner of hunting AVild Cattle— Geology— j
Streams of Stones — Scenes of Violence — j
Penguin — Geese — Eggs of Doris — Com- i

pound Animals 168

i
CHAPTER X.

Tierra del Fuego, first arrival — Good Success
Bay — An Account of the Fuegians on board
• — Interview with the Savages — Scenery of j
the Forests — Cape Horn — Wigwam Cove-
Miserable Condition of the Savages — Fa- j
mines — Cannibals — Matricide — Religious

' Feelings— Great Gale— Beagle Channel—
Ponsonby Sound — Build Wigwams and
settle the Fuegians — Bifurcation of the
Beagle Channel — Glaciers — Return to the
Ship— Second Visit in the Ship to the Settle-
ment— Equality of Condition amongst the
Natives .' 191

CHAPTER XI.

Strait of Magellan— Port Famine— Ascent of
Mount Tarn — Forests — Edible Fungus —
Zoology — Great Sea-weed— Leave Tierra del
Fuego— Climate — Fruit-trees and Produc-
tions of the Southern Coasts— Height of
Snow-line on the Cordillera — Descent of
Glaciers to the Sea — Icebergs formed —
Transportal of Boulders— Climate and Pro-
ductions of the Antartic Islands— Preserva-
tion of Frozen Carcasses — Recapitulation 220

> IIAPTER XII.

Valparaiso —Excursion to the Foot of the
Andes — Structure of the Land— Ascend the
IMl of Quillota— Shattered Masses of Green-
stone— Immense Valleys— Mines — State of
Miners — Santiago— Hot-baths of Cauquenes
— Gold-mines — Grimling-mills — Perforated
Stones— Habits of the Puma— El Turco and
Tapacolo— Humming-birds 241

CHAPTER, XIII.

Chiloo — General Aspect — Boat Excursion —
Native Indians — Castro — Tame Fox —
\si-en>l Sau Pedro— Chonos Archipelago

Peninsula of Tres Monies- Granitic Itangr
— Boat -wrecked Sailors — Low's Harbour —
AVild Potato— Formation of Peat— Myo-
potamus, Otter and Mice— Cheucau and
Barking-bird — Opetiorhynchus — Singular
Character of Ornithology— Petrels 261

CHAPTER XIV.

San Carlos, Chiloc— Osorno in eruption, con-
temporaneously with Aconcagua and Cose-
gn ina — Ride to Cncao — Impenetrable Forests
— Valdivia — Indians — Earthquake — Con-
cepcion— Great Earthquake — Rooks fissured
—Appearance of the former Towns — The Sea
Black and Boiling — Direction of the A'ibra-
tious — Stones twisted round — Great Wave —
Permanent Elevation of the Land— Area of
Volcanic Phenomena — The connection be-
tween the Elevatory and Eruptive Forces — •
Cause of earthquakes — Slow Elevation of
Mountain-chains , 2T9

CHAPTER XV.

Valparaiso— Portillo Pass— Sagacity of Mules
— Mountain-torrents — Mines.how discovered
—Proofs of the gradual Elevation of the
Cordillera— Effect of Snow on Rocks— Geo-
logical Structure of the two main Ranges — •
Their distinct Origin and Upheaval— Great
subsidence — Red Snow — AVinds — Pinnacles
of Snow — Dry and clear Atmosphere— Elec-
tricity—Pampas— Zoology of the opposite
Sides of the Andes — Locusts — Great Bugs — •
Mendoza — Uspallata Pass — Silicified trees
buried as they grew — Incas Bridge — Badness
of the Passes exaggerated— Cumbre— Casu-
chas— A'alparaiso 300

rllAPTER XVI.

i ''M-t-road to Coquimbo — Great Loads carried
by the Miners — Coquimbo — Earthquake —
Step-formed Terraces — Absence of recent De-
posits —Contemporaneousness of theTertiary
Formations — Excursion up the Aralley —
RoadtoGuasco — Deserts — Valley of Copiapo
— Rain and Earthquakes — Hydrophobia —
The Despoblado — Indian Ruins— Probal lie-
change of Climate — River-bed arched by an
Earthquake— Cold Gales of AVind — X"iv^
from a Hill — Iqtiique — Salt Alluvium —
Xitrate of Soda— Lima— UnhealthyCountry
— Ruins of Callao, overthrown by an
Earthquake — Recent subsidence — Elevated
Shells on San Lorenzo, their decomposition
— Plain with embedded Shells and frag-
ments of Pottery— Antiquity of the Indian
Race :'.'.':;

CHAPTER XVII.

Galapagos Archipelago — The whole GroupA'ol-
canie— Number of Craters — Leafless Ru-he-*
— Colony at Charles Island — James Island
—Salt-lake in Crater— Natural History of
ther Goup— Ornithology, curious Finches —

CONTENTS.

XI

Reptiles— Great Tortoises, habits of —Marine

Li /.ard.feeds on Sea-weed— Terrest rial Lizard,
burrowing habits, herbivorous— Importance

of Reptiles in the Archipelago — Fish, Shells,
Insects — Botany — American Type of Organi-
zation— Differences in the Species or Races on
different Islands — lameness of the Birds —
Fear of Man, an acquired Instinct .... J57

CHAPTER XVIII.

Pass through the Low Archipelago — Tahiti —
Aspect — Vegetation on the Mountains —
View of Eimeo — Excursion into the Interior
— Profound Ravines — Succession of Water-
falls — Number of wild useful Plants —
Temperance of the Inhabitants — Their
moral state — Parliament convened — New
Zealand — Bay of Islands — Hippahs — Excur-
sion to Waimate — Missionary Establish-
ment— English Weeds now run wild —
Waiomio — Fuoeralof a New Zealand Woman
— Sail for Australia 386

CHAPTER XIX.

Sydney— Excursion toBathurst— Aspectof the
Woods — Party of Natives — Gradual extinc-
tion of the Aborigines — Infection generated
by associated Men in health — Blue Moun-
tains— View of the grand gulf-like Valleys
— Their origin and formation — Bathurst,
general civility of the Lower Orders — State
of Society — Van Dieinen's Land — Hobart
Town — Aborigines all banished— Mount
"Wellington — King ^George's Sound — Cheer-
less Aspect of the Country— Bald Head, cal-

careous casts of branches of Trees — Party of
Natives— Leave Australia 414

CHAPTER XX.

Keeling Island — Singular appearance — Scanty
Flora— Transport of Seeds — Birds and In-
sects—Ebbing and flowing Springs— Fields
of dead Coral — Stones transported in the
roots of Trees — Great Crab — Stinging Corals
• — Coral-eating Fish — Coral Formations-
Lagoon Islands, or Atolls — Depth at which
reef-building Corals can live — Vast Areas
interspersed with low Coral Islands — Sub-
sidence of their foundations — Barrier Reefs
— Fringing Reel's — Conversion of Fringing
Reefs into Barrier Reefs, and into Atolls — •
Evidence of changes in Level — Breaches in
Barrier Reefs — Maldiva Atolls ; their pecu-
liar structure — Dead and submersed Reefs
— Areas of subsidence and elevation — Dis-
tribution of Volcanoes— Subsidence slow,
and vast in amount 434

CHAPTER XXI.

Mauritius, beautiful appearance of — Great cra-
teriform ring of Mountains — Hindoos — St.
Helena — History of the changes in the
Vegetation — Cause of the extinction of Land-
shells — Ascension — Variation in the im-
ported Rats — Volcanic Bombs — Beds of Infu-
soria— Bahia — Brazil — Splendour of Tropical
Scenery — Pernambuco — Singular Resf —
Slavery— Return to England— Retrospect
on our Voyage 463

CHAPTEE T.

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 Conferva? and
Infusoria — Causes of discoloured Sea.

ST. JAGO — CAPE DE YERD ISLANDS.

AFTER having been twice driven back by heavy south-western
gales, Her Majesty's ship Beagle, a ten-gun brig, under the com-
mand of Captain Fitz Koy, E.N., sailed from Devonport on the
27th of December, 1831. The object of the expedition was to com-
plete the survey of Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego, commenced
under Captain King in 1826 fo 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 sud-
denly illumine 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,

B

2 ST. JAGO — CAPE DE VEED ISLANDS. [CHAI\ I.

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 any one
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 JPorto Praya was clothed with
trees,* 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 watercourses, are clothed with thickets
of leafless bushes. Few living creatures inhabit these valleys. The
commonest bird is a kingfisher (Dacelo lagonesis), which tamely sits
on the branches of the castor-oil plant, and thence darts on grass-
hoppers and lizards. It is brightly coloured, but not so beaiitiful
as the European species : in its flight, manners, and place of habi-
tation, which is generally in the driest valley, there is also a wide
difference.

One day, two of the officers and myself rode to Eibeira 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 Eibeira 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

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

1832.] IIIBKIL'A GRANDE— ST. DOMINGO. 3

the governors and captain-generals of the islands have been buried.
Some of the tombstones recorded dates of the sixteenth century.*
The heraldic ornaments were the only things in this retired place
that reminded ITS 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 every-
thing 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 wo
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 Cape tie 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.

4 ST. JAGO — CAPE DE VERD ISLANDS. [CHAP. i.

The scenery of St. Domingo possesses a beauty totally unex-
pected, 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 moun-
tains 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 degrees, between the
temperature of the air, and the point at which dew was pre-
cipitated. 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 remark-
able 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 mast-head. 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*

* 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. ,.

1832.] ATMOSPHERIC DUST WITH INFUSORIA. 5

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 mouths when the harmattan is known to raise clouds of dust
high into the atmosphere, we may feel sure that it all comes from
Africa. Jt 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 tho laud, 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

6 ST. JAGO— CAPE DE VERD tSLAKDS. [CHAP. i.

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 branchia) 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

HABITS OF A CUTTLE-FISH. 7

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,* were
continually passing over the body. Any part, being subjected to
a slight shock of galvanism, became almost JLdack : a similar eftect,
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.f

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 phospho-
rescent 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° 58' north latitude, and 29° 15'
west longitude. It is 540 miles distant from the coast of America,
and 350 from the island of Fernando Norouha. The highest point
is only fifty feet above the level of the sea, and the entire circum-
ference is under three-quarters of a mile. This small point rises

* So named according to Patrick Symes's nomenclature,
t See Encyclop. of Anat. and Physiol., article Cephalopoda.

8 ST. PAUL'S EOCKS. [CHAP, j,

abruptly out of the deptlis of the ocean. Its mineralogical consti-
tution 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 be-
lieve, 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 sea-fowl, and partly to a coating of a hard glossy substance with
a pearly lustre, which is intimately iinited 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 nulliporso (a family of hard calcareous sea-
plants), that in lately looking hastily over my collection I did not

1832.] SINGULAR INCRUSTATIONS. 9

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 crypto-
gamic plants (Marchantiaj) 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 in-
crustation 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 * 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 sup-
pose, had been brought by the male bird for its partner. It was

* Mr. Homer and Sir David Brewster have described (Philosophical
Transactions, 1836, p. G5) 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.

10 FERNANDO NORONHA. [CHAP. i.

amusing to watch how quickly a large aud 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 \V.
Syrnonds, one of the few persons who have landed here, informs roc
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 sup-
pose 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 circum-
stance of fish having been observed in the neighbourhood.

FKRXANDO NORONHA, Feb. 20th. — As far as I was enabled to
observe, during the few hours we stayed at this place, the constitu-
tion 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.

1832.] BAHIA— BRAZIL. 11

The whole island is covered with wood ; but from the dryuess 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. 29</i. — 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 re-
turned 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 t
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 circum-
stance 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 cover-
ing of strata formerly extend over it, which has since been removed?
Can we believe that any power, acting for a time short of infinity,

12 BAHIA— BRAZIL. [CHAP. I.

could hare 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.*
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 thin-
ness ; 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 ferru-
ginous 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 inunda-
tions; 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 Diodou
autennatus, 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 exter-
nally 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
* Pers. Narr., vol. v. pt. i. p. 18.

1832.] HABITS OF A DIODOX. 13

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 papilke,
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 Torres, 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 confervas, in bundles or rafts of from twenty
to sixty in each. Mr. Berkeley informs me that they are the same
species (Trichoclcsmiuin erythrteum) with that found over large

14 BAHIA — BRAZIL. [CHAP, i,

spaces in the Red Sea, and whence its name of Red Sea is derived.*
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 confervas 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 confervas a few inches square, consisting of long cylin-
drical 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

* M. Montague, in Comptcs Rendus. etc., Jiiillet, 1844 ; and Annal. des
Scienc. Nat., Dec. 1841

1832.] TELAGIO CONFERVA AND INFUSORIA. 15

Chile, a few leagues north of Coucepcion, 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
auimalcula darting about, and often exploding. Their shape is
oval, and contracted in the middle by a ring of vibrating curved
cilife. 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 move-
ment 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
cilire, 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 micro-
scopical 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.*

* M. Lesson (Voyage rle la Coquille, torn, i., p. 255) mentions red water
off Lima, apparently produced by the same caiise. Peron, the dis-
tinguished 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, Humbolclt's Pers. Narr., vol. vi. p. 804 ; Flinders' 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,

16 DISCOLOURED SEA. [• HAP. I.

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 un wieldly 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 Gala-
pagos, the ship sailed through three strips of a dark yellowish, or
mud-like 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 carcass 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 bauds
with defined edges keep together ? In the case of the prawn-like
crabs, their movements were as co-instantaneous as in a regiment of
soldiers'; Jbut 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

1832.] DISCOLOURED SEA. 1?

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 confervse : 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.

18 RIO DE JANEIRO. [CHAP. it.

CHAPTER II.

l!io tie Janeiro — Excursion north of Cape Frio— Great Evaporation —
Slavery — Botofogo Bay — Terrestrial Planarise — Clouds on the Corcovado
— Heavy Rain — Musical Frogs— Phosphorescent Insects — Elater, spring-
ing 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.

EIO DE JANEIRO.

April ith 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
rery 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 sonic 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, re-
minded 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

1832.] LIVING AT A VENDA. 19

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 Komaii matron this would have been called the noble love of
freedom: in a poor negress it is mere brutal obstinacy. We con-
tinued 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 lireflies 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 9<7*. — 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 woiild
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 81°.
The beautiful view of the distant wooded hills, reflected in the
perfectly calm water of an extensive lagoon, quite refreshed us.
As the venda* 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 favoiu
* Veiula, the Portuguese name for an inn.

20 RIO DE JANEIRO. [CHAP. n.

to give us 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 pro-
ceeding, 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 ! 110, 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 uufrequently 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 dis-
agreeable 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 sumptiiously ;
having rice and fowls, biscuit, wine, and spirits, for dinner ; coft'ee
in the evening, and fish with coffee for breakfast. All this, with
good food for the horses, only cost 2s. Gd. 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 V
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 kind, I found a Limmea 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 *
has stated that he found in the neighbourhood of Eio, shells of the
marine genera soleu and mytilus, and fresh water anipullariaj,
living together in brackish water. I also frequently observed iu
the lagoon near the Botanic Garden, where the water is only a little
* Annales cles Sciences Naturelles for 1833.

1832.] ARRIVAL AT SOCEGO. 21

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. Travel-
ling 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 inflam-
mation which the pressure of the saddle afterwards produces. The
whole circumstance has lately been doubted in England ; I was there-
fore fortunate in being present when one (Desmodus d'orbignyi,
Wat.) was actually caught on a horse's back. We were bivouack-
ing late one evening near Coquinibo, 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 tthe
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

22 BIO DE JANEIRO. [CHAP. n.

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 principle 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
pei-son is expected to eat of every dish. One day, having, as I
thought, nicely calculated so that nothing should go away untested,
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 oppor-
tunity. 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.

1832.] TIMIDITY OF SLAVES. 23

April Hth. — Leaving Socego, we rode to another estate on the
Bio Macile, which was the last patch of cultivated ground in that
direction. The estate was two and a half miles long, and tho
owner had forgotten how many broad. Only a very small picco
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 tho
evening it rained very heavily, and although the thermometer stood
at 65°, 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 tho
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 tho
male slaves, and selling them separately at the public auction at
Eio. 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 necir his face. He, I suppose, thought I

24 1110 DE JANEIRO. [CHAP. n.

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
dimension. 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 mimosre. The
latter, in some parts, covered the surface witli a brushwood only
a few inches high. In walking across these thick beds of mimosze,
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, wo
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

1832.] PLANARI/E. 25

village of Maclre 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-waggon, could pass along. In our
whole journey we did not cross a single bridge built of stone ; and
thoso 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 wo arrived at Rio, having
finished our pleasant little excursion.

During the remainder of my stay at Eio, 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
pause, this organ still retained its vitality.

I found no less than twelve different species of terrestrial
Planarire in different parts of the southern hemisphere.* Some

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

20 RIO DE JANEIRO. [CHAP. n.

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 dis-
tinguished ; 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 Planarire; 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 Planarize 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 attri-
buted 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

1832.] SCENERY AND CLIMATE. 27

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 meteoro-
logical 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°. 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 pro-
duced by the drops pattering on the countless multitude of leaves
was very remarkable; it could be heard at the distance of a

28 EIO DE JANEIRO. [CHAP. n.

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
stickers ; and I found this animal could crawl up a pane of glass,
when placed absolutely perpendicular. Various cicidse 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, nereida3, a coralline of the genus
Clytia, and Pyrosoma), 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.* I found that this insect emitted the
most brilliant flashes when irritated : in the intervals, the abdomi-
nal 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

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

1832.] PHOSPHORESCENT INSECTS. 29

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 larva1
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, notwith-
standing 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 lunii-
nosus, 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.* 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, suf-
ficient 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.

* Kirby'a Entomology, vol. ii. p. 317.

30 RIO DE JANEIRO. [CHAP. H.

Ou 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 vegeta-
tation 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 arc sur-
rounded 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 har-
monious, 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 per-
fectly 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 be-
tween the dew point and temperature had increased from 7°'5 to 17°.

On another occasion I started early and walked to the Gavia, or
topsail mountain. The air was delightfully cool aud 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
rapidity as to be scarcely visible, I was reminded of the sphinx
moths: their movements and habits arc indeed in many respects
Very similar.

1832.] BUTTERFLIES. 31

Following a pathway, I entered a noble forest, and from a height
of five or six hundred feet, one of those splendid views was pre-
sented, 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 ex-
press 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 Hyinenophallus.
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 Strougylus, 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. AVhen 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 tem-
perate 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 in-
variably placed downwards; and its wings arc 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

32 RIO DE JANEIRO. [CHAP. n.

closing, and thus escaped. But a far more singular fact is the
power which this species possesses of making a noise.* 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 con-
tinued 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.f The cabinets of Europe can, as yet, boast only of the larger
species from tropical climates. It is sufficient to disturb the com-
posure of an entomologist's mind, to look forward to the future
dimensions of a complete catalogue. The carnivorous beetles, or
Carabidse, appear in extremely few numbers within the tropics :
this is the more remarkable when compared to the case of the car-
nivorous 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 Harpalidrc 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 Brachelytera
are very uncommon; on the other hand, the Khyncophora and
Chrysomelidee, all of which depend on the vegetable world for sub'
sistence, 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

* Mr. Doubleday has lately described (before the Entomological Society,
March 3rd, 1845) a peculiar structure iu 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 LangsdoriTs
travels (iu 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 Hoffinanseggi,
makes a noise, when flying away, like a rattle.

t I may mention, as a common instance of one day's (June 23rd) col-
lecting, 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 Carabidso, four Brachelytra, fifteen Rhyncophora, and fourteen
of the Chrysornelidje. Thiity-seven species of Arachnicla), which I brought
home, will be sufficient to prove that I was not paying overmuch attention
to the generally favoured order of Coleoptera.

1832.] SWARM OF AXTS. I'l]

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 ob-
serving 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 littlo
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 littlo warriors
scorned the idea of yielding.

Certain wasp-like insects, which construct in the corners of the
verandahs clay cells for their larva;, 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 larva) feed on the horrid
mass of powerless, half-killed victims — a sight which has been
described by an enthusiastic naturalist * as curious and pleasing !
I was much interested one day by watching a deadly contest be-

* In a MS. in the British Museum by Mr. Abbott, who made his observa-
tions 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. 55").

3-4 RIO DE JANEIRO. [CHAP. n.

tween a Pepsis and a largo 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 antenna?. The
spider, though well concealed, was soon discovered ; and the wasp,
evidently still afraid of its adversary's jaws, after much manoeuvr-
ing, 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.*

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 tibia;. 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
fere-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 there-
fore 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

* Don Felix Azara (vol. i. p. 175), mentioning a liymenopterous 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."

1832.] SPIDERS. 35

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 accord-
ing 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 is attached to clastic 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 largo 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 boiy, 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.
Tho 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

36 RIO DE JANEIRO. [CHAP. ir.

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* has described a gregarious spider in Paraguay, which
Walckenaer thinks must be a Theridion, but probably it is an
Epeira, and perhaps even the saire 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.

* Azara's Voyage, vol. i. p. 213.

1832.] ESTUARY OF THE PLATA. 37

CHAPTER III.

Monte Video — Maldouudo — Excursion to R. Polauco— Lazo and Bolus —
Partridges — Absence of Trees — Deer — Capybara, or River Hog — Tucu-
tuco — Molothrus, cuckoo-like habits — Tyraut-flycatcbev — Mocking-bird
— Carrion Hawks —Tubes formed by Lightning — House struck.

MALDOXADO.

July 5tk, 183'2. — In the morning we got under way, and stood out
of the splendid harbour of Piio 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 recvoss the bows with the greatest 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 bellow-
ing 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

38 MALDONADO. [CHAP. in.

wake of the vessel, where a line of blue water was seen mingling
in little eddies, with the adjoining fluid.

July %Qth. — 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 th"e 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 orna-
mented 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 staid ten weeks at Maldoiiado, in which time a nearly perfect

1832.] IGNORANCE OF THE PEOPLE. 39

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 Mo ate 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 astonish-
ment. 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.

40 MALDOX.VDO. [CHAP. ni.

He eyed me with much suspicion; perhaps he had heard of ablu-
tions 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 advantage-
ous, as with that, and the long stories my guides told of my
breaking stones, knowing venomous from harmless snakes, collect-
ing 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 Miiias. 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 rouky mountains. It is of the usual symmetri-
cal 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 polite-
ness 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

1832.] POINTS OF ETIQUETTE 41

turf we saw many ostriches (Strutbio rbea). Some of tbe 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
lauded proprietor, but not personally known to either of my com-
panions. 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 large 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

42 MALDONADO. [CHAP. irt.

beef, the other of boiled, with some pieces of pumpkin : besides this
latter there was no other vegetable, arid 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 laud,
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 Avritten 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, gene-
rally 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 tinited 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
varies, 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 some-
times 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

1832.] THROWING THE BOLAS. 43

whirl them so steadily rouud 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 oiit 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 rouud 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 * 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 cle 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 Aninias. 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 com-
panion 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
* Heavne's Journey, p. 383.

44 MALDOXADO. [CUAP. ill.

those so commonly found on the mountains of Wales. The desire
to signalize any event, on the highest point of the neighbouring
laud, 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 insignifi-
cant 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 Miuas, 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".
These, and the trees planted by the Spaniards, offer the only excep-
tions 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 fire-
wood 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
Maldouado, 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 * 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.f 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 remark-
able manner, that of the damp winds. In the southern part of the

* Maclaren. art. " America," Encyclop. Britann.

t Azara says, " Je crois que la quantite annuelle des pluies cst, dans
toutcs rr-s enntivc*, plus considerable qu'en Espagne." — Vol. i. p. 36.

1832.] CLIMATE AND VEGETATION. \~>

continent, whore the western gales, charged witli moisture from
the Pacific, prevail, every island on the broken west coast, from
lat. 38° to the extreme point of Tierra del Fuego, is densely covered
by -impenetrable forests. On tho 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 con-
tinent, 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° S. to lat. 32D S., may be described as a
desert : on this western coast, northward of lat. 4° S., where tho
trade-wind loses its regularity, and heavy torrents of rain fall
periodically, tho 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 favour-
able 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.

46 MALDONADO. [CHAP. in.

During our stay at Maldonaclo 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 over-
poweringly 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 montbs, when first unfolded, I distinctly perceived the odour.
This appears an astonishing instance of the permanence of some
matter, which nevertheless in its nature nmst 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.

1832-3.] THE CAPYBARA, OR WATER-HOG. 47

The order Rodentia is here very numerous in species : of mice
alone I obtained no less than eight kinds.* The largest gnawing
animal in the world, the Hydrochserus 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 day-
time they either lie among the aquatic plants, or openly feed on the
turf plain.f 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
bo 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

* 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 gentlemen attached to that Society, for their
kind and most liberal assistance on all occasions.

t 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
rcsophagus 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 ou which it feeds.

48 MALDONADO. [fii.\r. HI.

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 Eio 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
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 nmch surprised ;
for it is not easy to tell whence it conies, 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 : * the name Tucutuco is given in imita-
tion 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 uttered the tucu-tuco. 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.

* At the E. 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 Maklonado 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 sometime? remained
in doubt concerning it.

1832*3.] THE TUCUTUCO. 49

The man who caught them asserted that very many are inva-
riably found blind. A specimen which I preserved in spirits was
in this state ; Mr. Eeid 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 *
(probably with more truth than usual with him) on the gradually
acquired blindness of the Aspalax, 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 rudi-
mentary 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 Aspalax 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 the 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. Accord-
ing 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 (Zouotrichia matutina), with one egg in it
* Philosoph. Zoolog., torn. i. p. 242.

E

50 MALDONADO. tciiAi'. ni.

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,* that with the exception of the
Molothrus pecoris, to which must be added the M. niger, the
citckoos 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 cater-
pillars. 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 f 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

* Magazine of Zoology ami Botany, vol. i. p. 217.

t Kead before the Academy of Sciences in Puris. L'luslitut, 1834, p. 418.

1832-3.] THE TYRANT-FLYCATCHER. 51

her eggs at intervals, the cause of her depositing her eggs ill 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 Sauro-
phagus 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 Eapacious 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 un-
frequently kept either in cages or in courtyards, with their wiugs
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 uudulatory, 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 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 warbliug. It is
heard only during the spring. At other times its cry is harsh and

52 MALDONADO. [CHAP. in.

far from harmonious. Near Maldouado 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, 0. Patagouica 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, however, 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 Fucgo. The Carrauchas,
together with the Chimango, constantly attend in numbers the
estaucias 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 com •

1832-3.] OAJIRION HAWKS. 53

monly 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 bot-
tom 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 ac-
curacy. These false eagles most rarely kill any living bird or
animal ; and their vulture-like, necrophagous habits are very evi-
dent 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
recognise! by every one who has wandered over them. If a party
of men go out hunting with dogs and horses, they will be accom-
panied, 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, grass-
hoppers, and frogs ; that it destroys young lambs by tearing the um-

5-1 MALDOXADO. [CHAP. in.

bilicnl cord ; and that it pursues the Gallinazo, till that bird is com-
pelled 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 Nova? Zelandirc,
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 Eamirez rocks their whole sustenance must depend on the
sea. They are extraordinarily tame and fearless, and haunt the
neighbourhood 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 Imd 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 har-
bour ; 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 Eater's compass in a red

CARRION HAWKS. 55

morocco leather case, which was never recovered. These birds arc,
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 Eng-
lish rook ; hence the sealers always call them rooks. It is a curious
circumstance that, when crying out, they throw their heads up-
wards 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 tho
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 thePolyborus 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. It 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 tho carcasses of dead seals.
Wherever these animals are congregated on the rocks, there tho
vultures may be seen. The Gallinazo (Cathartes atratus) has a
different range from the last species, as it never occurs southward
of lat. 41°. Azara states that there exists a tradition that these
birds, at the time of the conquest, were not found near Monto
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.

56 MALDONADO. [CHAP. in.

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 intro-
duced 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 Laguua
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
tub?s resemble in every particular those from Drigg in Cumber-
land, described in the Geological Transactions.* The sand-
hillocks of Maldonado, not being protected by vegetation, arc
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

* Geolog. Transact., vol. ii. p. 528. In the Philosoph. Transact. (1790,
p. 294) Dr. Priestley 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.

1832-3.] TUBES FORMED BY LIGHTNIXG. 57

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 * succeeded in making tubes, in most
respects similar to these fulgurites, by passing very strong shocks
of galvinism 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 extraordi-
narily 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 consider-
able 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°, to the line of its main course. Besides the four
tubes which I found vertical, and traced beneath the surface, thero
* Annals de Chinrie et de Physique, torn, xxxvii. p. 319.

58 MALDONADO. [CHAP. in.

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-hil-
locks, and at the distance of about half a mile from a chain of hills
four or five hundred feet in height. The most remarkable circum-
stance, as it appears to me, in this case as well as in that of Drigg,
and in one described by M. Eibbentrop 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,* one of the most destruc-
tive 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.

* Azara's Voyage, vol. i. p. 3G.

18;',;!.] ARRIVE AT RIO XF.DRO. 59

CHAPTER IV.

Rio Negro — Estancias attacked by tlie Indians — Salt Lakes— Flamingoes
— R. Negro to R. Colorado — Sacred Tree — Patagoniau Hare — Indian
Families — General Rosas — Proceed to Bahia Blanca — Sand Dunes—
Negro Lieutenant — Bahia Blanca — Saline Incrustations — Punta Alia
— Zorillo.

RIO NEGEO TO BAHIA BLANCA.

July 21th, 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°) 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 remark-
able 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

60 TtlO NEGRO. [CHAP. iv.

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 " * 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 spear-
head. 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: ho thus laid thirty-nine of them on the ground; and, of
course, siich 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

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

1833.] SALT-LAKES OR SALINAS. (Jl

one behind the other on the northern boundary of the broad greeu
valley, forms, 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 them-
selves the elements of growth. Many Indians of pure blood reside
here : the tribe of the Cacique Lucanec constantly have their
Toldos * 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 admir-
able ; 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 h'eld 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
saliua : 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 Eeeks has kindly analyzed some
for me, and he finds in it only 0'26 of gypsum and O22 of earthy
matter. It is a singular fact, that it does not serve so well for
* The hovels of the Indians are thus called.

62 KIO NEGRO. [ciur. iv.

preserving meat as sea-salt from the Cape cle 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,*
that those salts answer best for preserving cheese which contain
most of the deliquescent chlorides.

The border of the 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 conferva : 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 anirnalcula. 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 conferva. Thus we have
a little living world within itself, adapted to these inland lakes of
brine. A minute crustaceous animal (Cancer salinus) is said f to

* lleport of the Agricult. Chcra. Assoc. in the Agricult. Gazette, 1815.
p. 93.

t Linnsean Trans., vol. xi. p. 205. It is remarkable how all the circum-
stances connected -with the salt-lakes in Siberia and Patagonia arc
similar. Siberia, like Patagonia, appears to have been recently elevated

1833.] 11. NEGRO TO R. COLORADO. 63

live iu countless numbers in the brine-pans at Lyrniiigton : 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 Eio 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 estaneias, 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 com-
munication with the capital. As the Beagle intended to call at
Bahia Blanca, I determined to proceed there by land ; and ulti-
mately I extended my plan to travel the whole way by the postas
to Buenos Ayres.

August llth. — 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

above the waters of the sea. Iu 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 magnesia
occurs, imperfectly crystallized; and in both, the muddy s.md is mixed
with lentils of gypsum. The Siberian salt-lakes are inhabited by small
crustaccous animals ; and flamingoes (Edin. New Philos. Jour., Jan. 1830)
likewise frequent them. As these circumstances, apparently HO trifling,
occur in two distant continents, we may feel sure that they are the
necessary results of common causes. — f?ec Pallas' 8 Travels, 1793 to 179-1,
pp. 129-i:ji.

64: R. NEGRO TO R. COLORADO. [CIIAP. iv.

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 Eio 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. Kicher 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 Wal-
leechu. 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 far more probable that they regard it as the
altar. The only cause which I can imagine for this choice, is its

1833.] PATAGONIAN HARES. 65

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 Eio 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 de-
scribed. 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 tho size, weighing from
twenty to twenty-five pounds. The Agouti is a true friend of tho
desert ; it is a common feature in 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. 87° 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

66 RIO COLORADO. [CHAV. iv,

have altered, ill 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
villanous, 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

1833.] ENCAMPMENT OF GENERAL ROSAS. 67

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 *
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 graciousuess. 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 overflowed by the river.
My chief amusement was watching the Indian families as they camo
to buy little articles at the rancho where wo stayed. It was sup-
posed 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 waists, were ornamented
by broad bracelets of blue beads. Nothing could be more inter-
esting than some of the family groups. A mother with one or two
daughters would often come to our rancho, mounted on the sarno
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,

* 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.

68 RIO COLORADO. [CHAP. iv.

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 bridal 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 Eosas 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 probable he will use to its prosperity and advance-
ment.* 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 Eosas, 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

* This prophecy has turned out entirely and miserably wrong. 1845. -

1833.] GENERAL ROSAS. 69

stocks." Such actions as these delighted the Gauchos, who all
possess high notions of their own equality and dignity.

General Kosas 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 Eosas.

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 Eosas, 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 fol-
lowing 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.

70 RIO COLORADO. [CHAP. iv.

lu 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 month of each, a tapering chuzo was stuck in
the ground. The toldos were divided into separate groups, which
belonged 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 con-
tinued dry and sterile : but it supported many different kinds of
plants, and the grass, though brown and withered, was more abun-
dant, 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 de-
posit, 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
cast 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 Piio 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 laud occur,
such speculations can hardly bo neglected by any one, although

1833.] A NEGRO LIEUTENANT. 71

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 any-
where 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
cat 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 govern-
ment of Buenos Ayres unjustly occupied it by force, instead ot

72 BAHIA BLAXCA. [CHAP. iv.

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 rnud. 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 mouths 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 over-
took 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. Spring-
ing 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

1833.] SALINE INCRUSTATIONS. 73

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 incrusta-
tions 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 these salitrales (as the
Spaniards improperly call them, mistaking this substance for
saltpetre), 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 * 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 in-
creased to 37 parts in a hundred. This circumstance would tempt
one to believe that the sulphate of soda is generated in the soil,

* Voyage dans 1'Amerique Mcricl par M. A. d'Orbigny. Part. Hist.
torn. i. p. CG4.

74 BAHIA BLAXCA. [CHAP. iv.

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 com-
pany, 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 retiirn 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 onr pace. He
said, " No, not until they do." When any little inequality con-
cealed 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 ; ho 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 bo the wife and sister-in-law of the major's son, hunting for
ostrich's eggs. I have described this man's conduct, because ho
acted under the full impression that they were Indians. As soon,
however, as the absurd mistake was found out, he gave me a hun-
dred reasons why they could not have been Indians ; but all these

1833.] ZOEILLOS. 75

were forgotten at the time. We then rode on in peace and quiet-
ness 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 numeroxis 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 oyer 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 oc-
casion, 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 tho
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 per-
ceived the odour on board the Beagle. Certain it is, that every
animal most willingly makes room for the Zorillo.

76 BAHIA BLAXCA. [ciiAp. v..

CHAPTER V.

Bahia Blanca— Geology — Numerous gigantic extinct 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 — Armadilloos — Venomous Snake,
Toad, Lizard— Hybernatiou of Animals — Habits of Sea-Pen—Indian
Wars and Massacres — Arrow-head, antiquarian Relic.

BAHIA BLANCA.

THE Beagle arrived here on the 2ith of August, and a week after-
wards sailed for the Plata. With Captain Fitz Boy'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. AtPunta 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,

1833.] EXTINCT QUADRUPEDS. 77

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 Ant-
eater, 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 Toxodou, 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 tho
position of its eyes, ears, and nostrils, it was probably aquatic, like
the Dugong and Manatee, to which it is also allied. How wonder-
fully 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

78 BAHIA BLANCA. [CHAP. v.

shells, of which thirteen are recent and four others very closely
related to recent forms.* From the bones of the Scelidotherium,
including even the knee-cap, being intornbed in their proper
relative positions, and from the osseous armour of the great arma-
dillo-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, f 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."t
The great size of the bones of the Megatheroid animals, includ-
ing 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 § 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 con-
ceive 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

* Since this was written, M. Alcide d'Orbigny Las examined these
shells, and pronounces them all to be recent.

t M. Aug. Bravard has described, in a Spanish work (' Observaciones
Gcologicas,' 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.

t Principles of Geology, vol. iv. p. 40.

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

1833.] FOOD OF LAKGE QUADRUPEDS. 70

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 incuinbrauce : their apparent clumsiness dis-
appears. 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, accord-
ing 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 laud 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 infer-
ence, 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 Kio 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 ;

80 BAHIA BLANCA. [CHAP. v.

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 siifficient 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 * 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 sup-
posed that although the species are numerous, the individuals of
each kind are few. By the kindness of Dr. Smith, I am enabled to

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

1833.] FOOD OP LARGE QUADRUPEDS. 81

show that the case is very different. He informs me, that in lat.
24°, in one day's march with the bullock- waggons, lie 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 clay he saw several herds of giraffes,
amounting together to nearly a hundred ; and that although no
elephant was observed, yet they arc 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 clay, as "b3inpj
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 hysena, and the
multitude of birds of prey, plainly speak of the abundance of tho
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 pro-
ducing so little food. The larger quadrupeds no doubt roam over
wide tracts in search of it ; and their food chiefly consists of under-
wood, 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 largo
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, tho vegetation
must necessarily be luxuriant, is the more remarkable, because the
converse is far from true. Mr. Burchell observed to me that when

G

82 BAHIA BLANCA. [CHAP. v.

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,* 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, f 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,^: that among
the mammalia there exists no close relation between the hulk 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.

* Travels in the Interior of South Africa, vol. ii. p. 207.

t 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 in-
termed, weighed one ton less ; so that we may take five as the average of a
full-grown elephant. I was told at the Surrey 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.

% 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 car-
cass so gigantic being supported on the minute Crustacea and mollusca
living in the frozen seas of the extreme North ?

1833.] SIBERIAN FOSSILS. 83

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
those epochs, we are at least bound so far to consider existing
analogies, as not to urge as absolutely necessary a luxuriant vegeta-
tion, when we see a state of things so totally different at the Cape
of Good Hope.

We know * 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 f (64°) 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 wo
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

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

t See Hnmboldt, Fragmens Asiatiques, p. 38G : 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°.

84: BAHIA BLANCA. [CHAP. v.

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 rnoro
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 Bias, 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 Sania
Cruz river, where its course was about four hundred yards wide,
and the stream rapid. Captain Sturt,* when descending the Mur-
rumbidgee, 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
* Shirt's Travels, vol. ii. p. 74.

1833.] SOUTH AMERICAN OSTRICH. 85

darker-coloured,* 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 conies, 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 after-
wards 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.f 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 extra-

* A Gaucho assured me that he had once seen a snow- white or Albiue
variety, and that it was a most beautiful bird.
, f Burchell's Travels, vol. i. p. 280.

86 liAIIIA BLAXCA. [CHAP. v.

ordinarily 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,* 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.f 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 plains, 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, arc generally whole.

"When at the Kio 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 resem-
blance. 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

* Azara, vol. iv.-p. 173.

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

1833.] THE AVESTKUZ PETISE. 87

other species. The few inhabitants who had seen both kinds,
affirmed they could distinguish them apart from a long distance.
The eggs of tho small species appeared, however, more generally
known ; and it was remarked, with surprise, that they were very
little less than those of the Ehea, but of a slightly different form,
and with a tinge of pale blue. This species occurs most rarely on
the plains bordering the Eio Negro ; but about a degree and a half
further south they are tolerably abundant. When at Port Desire,
in Patagonia (lat. 48°), Mr. Martens shot an ostrich ; and I looked
at it, forgetting at the moment, in the most unaccountable manner,
the whole subject of the Petiscs, 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 pre-
served; 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 de-
posited 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 Eio Negro in lat. 41°, and that the
Struthio Darwiuii takes its place in Southern Patagonia ; the part
about the Eio Negro being neutral territory. M. A. d'Orbigny,*

* When at the Kio Negro, \ve heard much of the indefatigable labours
of this naturalist. M. Alcide d'Orbigny, during the years 1825 to 183B,
traversed several large portions of South America, and has made a collec-

88 BAHIA I3LAXCA. [CHAP. v.

when at the Ivio Negro, made great exertions to procure this bird,
but never had the good fortune to succeed. Dobrizhoffer * 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 dif-
ferent tracts of land ; for those that inhabit the plains of Buenos
Ayres and Tucuman are larger, and have black, white, and gray
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 dis-
tinguished 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,

lion, 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.
* Account of the Abiponee, A.D. 17-19, vol. i. (English translation)

1833.] THE OVEX-TJIBD. 89

above the limits of the forest land; and the other just beneath the
siiow-liue 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, ulti-
mately 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. Or-
nithologists 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 house-
maker 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 niud and bits of
straw, raid 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 com-
plained of the little casarita, several of which I afterwards observed

90 BAHIA BLAXCA. [CHAP. v.

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 pelitdo, 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 tbe 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 *), 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
* M. Bibron calls it T. crepitans.

A CUKIOUS 'TOAD. 91

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 ex-
pression 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, ex-
cepting, perhaps, some of the vampire bats. I imagine this repiil-
sive 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 Eatrachian 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
Tinable to swim, but, I think without help it would soon have
been drowned.

Of lizards there were many kinds, but only one (Proctotretus

92 BAHIA BLAXCA. [CHAP. v.

multimaculatus) remarkable from its habits. It lives ou 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 hibernation 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, cenotherse, and geraniums ; and the birds began to lay
their eggs. Numerous Lainellicorn 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° ; and in the middle of the day the thermometer
seldom ranged above 55°. On the eleven succeeding days, in
which all living things became 'so animated, the mean was 58°,
and the range in the middle of the day between 60° and 70°. 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; the mean hottest day being 65°'5, and the coldest 46°. The
lowest point to which the thermometer fell was 410>5, and occa-
sionally in the middle of the day it rose to 69° or 70°. 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,

1833.] SEA-PEN. 93

•which is four degrees southward, and therefore with a climate only
a very little colder, this same temperature with a rather less ex-
treme 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 deter-
mined not by the temperature, but by the times of drought. Near
Eio 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 bo
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 tho
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.*

* The cavities leading from the fleshy compartments of the extremity,
•were filled with a yellow pulpy matter, which, examined under a micro-

94 BAHIA BLANCA. [CHAP. v.

"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 * 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

scope, presented an extraordinary appearance. The mass consisted of
rounded, semi-transparent, irregular grains, aggregated together into par-
ticles 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.
* Kerr's Collection of Voyages, vol. viii. p. 119.

1833.] EXPEDITION AGAINST THE INDIANS. 95

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 drunken-
ness, they cast it up again, and were besmeared with filth and
gore.

Nam sitmil expletus dapibus, vinoque sepultus
Cervictsn inflexain posuit, jacuitque per antrtim
Immensus, saniera crucians, ac frusta cruenta
Per sonmura commixta mem.

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. Sup-
posing 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 foot-
steps, 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 con-
sider 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 Chole-
chel, situated seventy leagues up the Eio 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

96 BAHIA BLANCA. [CHAP. v.

must have been far in tho 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
lie 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 ray 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
1 treed 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. Tho
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. Tho two first being
questioned, answered, " No se " (I do not know), and were one

1833.] CAPTIVE INDIANS. 97

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 communica-
tion, therefore, between the Indians, extends from the Cordillera to
the coast of the Atlantic.

General Eosas'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 direc-
tions. The escape of the Indians to the south of the Eio Negro,
where in such a vast unknown country they would be safe, is pre-
vented by a treaty with the Tehuelches to this effect ; — that Eosas
pays them so nmch to slaughter every Indian who passes to the
south of the river, but if they fail in so doing, they themselves are
to be extirminated. The war is waged chiefly against the Indians
near the Cordillera ; for many of the tribes on this eastern side are
fighting with Kosas. 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 Eio Negro. The
warfare is too bloody to last ; the Christians killing every Indian,
and the Indians doing the same by the Christians. It is melan-

H

98 BAHIA BLANCA. [CHAP. v.

choly to trace liow the Indians have given way before the Spanish
invaders. Schirdel* says that in 1535, when Buenos Ayres was
founded, there were villages containing two and three thousand in-
habitants. 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
* Purchas's Collection of Voyages. I believe the date was really 1537.

1833.]

ANTIQUAEIAN RELIC.

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 * relics of the
Indians, before the great change in habits consequent on the intro-
duction of the horse into South America.

* Azara lias even doubted whether the Pampas Indians ever used bows.

100 BAHIA BLANCA. [CHAR vr.

CHAPTEE VI.

Set out for Buenos Ayres— Kio 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.

BAHIA BLANCA TO BUEXOS AYRES.

September 8th.— 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
gr.eat distance in the interior, being on fire. After a long gallop,
having changed horses twice, we reached the Eio 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

1833.] SIEKKA VENTANA. 101

sea, it is quite impasscible, 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 consider-
able 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 ex-
tremely 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 Eoy 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 as-
cended 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

102 BAHIA BLANCA TO BUENOS AYEES. [CHAP. vi.

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.* 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
vjew ; — 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 bo
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 call these thistle-stalks for the vmnt of a more correct name. I believe
it is a species of Eryngium.

1833.] SIERRA VENTANA. 103

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 climbiug. 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 conglo-
merate adhered in several places to the solid rock. They re-
sembled 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 tbe
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 beau-
tiful 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.
On 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; wo were obliged in consequence to
make a considerable circuit before we could find a pass. We

104 BAHIA BLANCA TO BUENOS AYEES. [CHAP, vi

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 llth.— 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, giiarded by fifteen
soldiers ; but we were told many had been lost. It is very diffi-
cult to drive animals across the plains ; for if in the night a puma,
or even a fox, approaches, nothing can prevent the horses dispers-
ing 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 com-
panions 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,* 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 \1tli and 13th. — I staid at this posta two days, waiting

for a troop of soldiers, which General Kosas 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

* Travels in Africa, p. 233.

1833.] THKOWING THE BOLAS. 105

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 thirty-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 nondescripts ; namely,
an old Chilian miner, the colour of mahogany, and another partly
a mulatto ; but two such mongrels, with such detestable expres-
sions, I never saw before. At night, when they were sitting round
the fire, and playing at cards, I retired to view such a Salvator
Ilosa 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.

106 BAHIA BLANCA TO BUENOS AYRES. [CHAP. vi.

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 merelj
rode in a crescent, each being about a quarter of a mile apart froi
the other. A fine male ostrich being turned by the headmost
riders, tried to escape on one side. The Gauchos pursued at
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,* 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

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

1833.] HOSPITALITY. 107

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 hunt-
ing 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 14</t. — 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

108 BAHIA BLANCA TO BUENOS AYKES. [CHAP. vi.

in several places by brilliant conflagrations. This is done partly
for the sake of puzzling any stray Indians, b'ut chiefly for improv-
ing the pasture. In grassy plains unoccupied by the larger
ruminating quadrupeds, it seems necessary to remove the super-
fluous 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 conspictious.

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, how-
ever, 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 annoy-
ing, 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 breed-
ing 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 l&th. — 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 throngs 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

1833.] A VIOLENT HAIL-STOftM. 109

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
dead ©striches (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
clofKl 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 sup-
ported by the Jesuit Drobrizhoffer,* who, speaking of a country
much to the northward, says, hail fell of an enormous size and
killed vast numbers of cattle : tfie 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 hail-stones 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
* History of the Abipones, vol. ii. p. 6.

110 BAHIA BLANCA TO BUENOS AYRES. [CHAP. vr.

others larger. One which goes by the name of the " Corral," is said
to be two or three miles in diameter, and encompassed by perpen-
dicular cliffs, between thirty and forty feet high, excepting at one
spot, where the entrance lies. Falconer * give 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 stratifica-
tion. I was told that the rock of the " Corral " was white, and
would strike fire.

We did not reach the posta on the Bio 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, haying
no small affinity with veal, both in colour, taste, and flavdnr."
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, it-
self, or the town of Tapalguen, if ft 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 tlio
friendly Indians, who were fighting on the side of Rosas, residcc
here. We met and passed many young Indian women, riding
two or three together on the same horse : they, as well as many
the young men, were strikingly handsome, — their fine ruddy cor
plexions being the picture of health. Besides the toldos, there wei
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
* Falconer's Patagonia, p. 70.

1833.] MEAT DIET. Ill

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.
Kichardson,* 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 ISth. — 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 Eosas. 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 hun-
dred men were employed about this estate, and they defied all the
attacks of the Indians.

September 12th. — 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
* Fauna Boreali-Americana, vol. i. p. 35.

112 BAHIA BLANCA TO BUENOS AYKES. [CHAP. vi.

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 around Monte Video and the thinly-inhabited savannahs
of Colonia, the whole was to be attributed to the manuring and
"razing of the cattle. Exactly the same fact has been observed in
the prairies * 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 like-
wise 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,f
" 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 cir-
cumstance ? "VVe 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 : J it occurs in these latitudes
on both sides of the Cordillera, across the continent. I saw it in

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

t Azara's Voyage, vol. i. p. 373.

J M. A. d'Orbigny (vol. i. p. 474) says that the cardoon and artichoke
are both found wild. Dr. Hooker (Botanical Magazine, vol. Iv. 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, winch 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.

1833.] THE CARDOON. 113

unfrequented spots in Chile, Eutre Bios, 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. Accord-
ing 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 prob-
ably 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 num-
bers 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 enthu-
siasm for Rosas, and for the success of the " most just of all wars,
because against barbarians." This expression, it must be con-
fessed, 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 post-house we

i

114 BAHIA BLANCA TO BUENOS AYKES. [CHAP. vi.

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
Ay res. 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 ; * 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 equi-distant, 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

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

1833.] THE GREAT CORRAL. 115

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 ex-
pressive 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.

PAMPAS. [CHAP, vu,

CHAPTEE VII.

Excursion to St. Fe— Thistle Beds— Habits of the Bizcacha— Little Owl
—Saline Streams— Level Plains— Mastodon— St. Fe— Change in Land-
scape Geology — Tooth of extinct Horse — Kelation 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 Govern-
ment.

BUENOS AYRES TO ST. FE.

September 27^. — 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 extra-
ordinarily 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 conve-

1833.] THE BIZCACHA. 117

nience in this country. We passed also Areco. The plains ap-
peared 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 * is well known to form a prominent feature in the
zoology of the Pampas. It is found as far south as the Eio Negro,
in lat. 41°, 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 vege-
tation. 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 Eios, 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 bizcacha (Lagostomus trichoclactylus) 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
tbe sake of the fur.

118 PAMPAS. LCHAP. vn.

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

1833.] SALINE STREAMS. 119

birds may be seen in every direction standing frequently by pairs
on the hillock near their burrows. If disturbed they cither 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* there is a fishing genus of owls,
which likewise catches crabs.

In the evening we crossed the Eio 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.

2Q(h and oOth. — We continued to ride over plains of the same
character. At San Nicholas 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. Eozario 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 arc
the most picturesque part; sometimes they are absolutely perpen-
diciilar, 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 im-
portant a means of communication and commerce it forms between
one nation and another ; to what a distance it travels ; and from
* Journal of Asiatic Soc., vol. v. p. 3G3.

120 RIO TEECERO. [CHAP. vn.

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 Eozario,
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. This 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 Cordil-
lera 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
hixuriance 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 ;

1833.] ST. Ffi. 121

we saw also a spectacle, which my guides viewed with high satis-
faction ; it was tho 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 onabu-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 beau 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 tho 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 disgust-
ing 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

122 ST. F£. [CHAP. vn.

Spaniard, who treated me with the most uncommon hospitality.
The Bajada is the capital of Entre Rios. In 1825 the town con-
tained 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 pro-
ductive ; 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 Pamprean 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 con-
sidering 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-

1833.] ZOOLOGY OF NORTH AND SOUTH AMERICA. 123

shells of existing species, which also proves that the period of
elevation of the Pampas was within the recent period.

In the Pampsean 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,* 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 Pro-
fessor Owen could find in no species, either fossil or recent, a slight
but peculiar curvature characterizing it, until he thought of com-
paring 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 intro-
duced with the Spanish colonists !

The existence in South America of a fossil horse, of the masto-
don, possibly of an elephant,f 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 distribu-
tion of animals. At the present time, if we divide America, not
by the Isthmus of Panama, but by the southern part of Mexico %
in lat. 20°, where the great table-land presents an obstacle to the
migration of species, by affecting the climate, and by forming,

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

t Cuvicr. Ossemens Fossiles, torn. i. p. 158.

t This is the geographical division followed by Liclitenstein, 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 Synctheres prehensilis, says, "We do not know with what pro-
priety, 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."

124 ST. F£. [CHAP. vir.

•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 charac-
terized 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
armadillos. North America, on the other hand, is characterized
(putting on one side a few wandering species) by numerous pecu-
liar 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 zoolo-
gical 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 eleva-
tion 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 *

* 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 doubt-
ful. M. Gervais states that Ihe Didelphis crancrivora is found there. It
is certain that the AVest Indies possess some mammifers peculiar to them-
selves. A. tooth of a mastodon has been brought from Bahama : Ediii.
New Phil. Journ., 1826, p. 395.

1833.J THE GEEAT DROUGHT. 125

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 ele-
phants, mastodons, horse, and hollow-horned ruminants, it was
much more closely related in its zoological characters to tho
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 * and on the plains of Siberia, we are led to look to the
north-western side of North America as the former point of com-
munication 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 Beh-
ring'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
tho 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 f used to come into his courtyard to the well, which he

* See the admirable Appendix by Dr. Bucldand to Beechey's Voyage ;
also tho writings of Ckamisso in Kotzebue's Voyage.

t 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 discom-

126 ST. F£. [CHAP. vii.

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 quanti-
ties of dust were blown about, that in this open country the land-
marks 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 anims
drinks of such water it does not recover. Azara describes * the
fury of the wild horses on a similar occasion, rushing into the
marshes, those which arrived first being overwhelmed and crushec
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

fiture 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.
* Travels, vol. i. p. 374.

1833.] HABITS OF THE JAGUAR. 127

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 ? *

October 13ith. — 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
Porana 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 capy-
baras 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

* 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.

128 RIO PAEAN A. [CHAP. VH.

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.

1833.] THE SCISSOR-BEAK. 129

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 bs 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, kthe
thermometer standing at 79°. 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
Missioues. 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 intwiued 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,
differently 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

K

130 RIO PARANA. [CHAP. vil.

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 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 Eio
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 Khynchops 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 mactrte 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 king-
fisher (Ceryle Americana) ; it has a longer tail than the European

1833. THE SCISSOR-TAIL. 131

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 aro 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 omlu 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 IQth. — 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 dis-
tinguished 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 muyaflicto" — 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

132 RIO PARANA. [CHAP. vn.

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 un-
natural calm. That country will have to learn, like every other
South American state, that a republic cannot succeed till it con-
tains a certain body of men imbued with the principles of justice
and honour.

October 20#i. — Being arrived at the mouth of the Parana, and as
I was very anxious to reach Buenos Ayrcs, 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
1 and to the city, it was out of the question. After a long conversa-
tion with the commandant, I obtained permission to go the next
day to General Bolor, 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 lu's 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

1833.] REVOLUTION AT BUENOS AYRES. 133

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 Eio
Plata earlier than it took place. Having mentioned, however,
General Eosas'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 griev-
ances : 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 Balcarco — to the number
of seventy left the city, and with the cry of Eosas 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 Eosas 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
Sal a 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 pro-
tracted till it was possible to hear from Eosas. 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

134 REVOLUTION AT BUEXOS AYKES. [CHAP. vn.

number of 5500 men. From these proceedings, it was clear that
Eosas 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 Eosas has been
elected, with powers and for a time altogether opposed to the
constitutional principles of the republic.

1833.] EXCURSION TO COLONIA DEL SACRAMIENTO. 135

CHAPTEK VIII.

Excursion to Coloniu del Sacramiento — Value of au Estaucia — Cattle,
how counted — Singular Breed of Oxen — Perforated Pebbles — Shepherd
Dogs — PJorses brokeu-iu, Gauchos riding — Character of Inhabitants —
Rio Plata — Flocks of Butterflies — Aeronaut Spiders — Phosphorescence
of the Sea— Port Desire— Guanaco— Port St. Julian — Geology of Pata-
gonia— Fossil gigantic Animal — Types of Organization constant —
Change in the Zoology of America — Causes of Extinction.

BANDA ORIENTAL AND PATAGONIA.

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 l&h. — 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

]36 BAXDA ORIENTAL. [CHAI-. viu.

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 Yideo, 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 horso
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.

AVc 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 Bio Eozario 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 singu-
larly 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 abso-

1833.] COLONIA DEL SACRAMIENTO. 137

lately groat, 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 Eozario, 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 inhabi-
tants. 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 some-
thing 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 sur-
rounding groves of old orange and peach trees, gave it a pretty
appearance. The church is a curious ruin; it was used as a
poAvder-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
stable foundation. I noticed, however, both here and in othci*
places, a very general interest in the ensuing election for the Presi-
dent ; 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.

18^.— Eode 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

138 I3ANDA ORIENTAL. [CHAP. vra.

rincon; that is, one side was fronted by the Plata, and the two
others guarded by impassable brooks. There was au 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, and
he only wanted £500 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, E.N., which is now deposited
in the College of Surgeons.* Don F. Muniz, of Luxan, has kindly

* Mr. Waterhouse has drawn up a detailed description of this head,
which I hope he will publish in some Journal.

1833.] CURIOUS BREED OF OXEN. 139

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 * one of the niata breed, cha-
racterizes, 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 Seiior 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 jso 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 19^.— 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 projecting 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 wo

* A nearly similar abnormal, but I do not know whether hereditary,
structure has been observed in the carp, and likewise in the crocodile of
the Ganges : Histoirc'des Anomalies, par M. Isid. Geoffrey St. Hilairc,
torn. 1. p. 244.

140 BANDA ORIENTAL. CCHAI-. vm.

visited the trees, on which they arc said to sharpen their claws ;
but we did not succeed in disturbing one. From this point the
Eio 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
Eio 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 aston-
ishment at the globe being round, and could scarcely credit that n
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, "Charm-
ingly 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.

21s£. — 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 con-

1838.] SIERRA DEL PEDRO FLACO. 141

sequence, 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 situ-
ated in the neighbourhood of damp valleys, where fortunately
neither of these overwhelming plants can exist. As night canie 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.

Novemler 22nd.— Arrived at an estancia on the Berquelo be-
longing to a very hospitable Englishman, to whom I had a letter
of introduction from my friend Mr. Luinb. I stayed here three
days. One morning I rode with my host to the Sierra del Pedro
Flaco, about twenty miles up the Eio 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 pre-
sent 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 Eio 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 pre-
cipitous 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

14:> BANDA ORIENTAL. [CHAP. Vin.

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.* 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 com-
panions. 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 cas-
trated ; 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

* M. A. d'Orbigny has given nearly a similar account of these do<?s,
torn. i. p. 175.

1833.] BREAKING-IN WILD HORSES. 143

barking, and tho 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 Imngry
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

144 BANDA ORIENTAL. [CHAP. vni.

ground, the Gauclio, 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 (other-
wise 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 asto-
nishment 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, stand-
ing 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

1833.] HOKSEMANSHIP IN CHILE. 145

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, quo 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 un-
tamed 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 BO
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 tho
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 con-
sidered perfectly broken, till he can be brought up standing, in tho
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,

146 15ANDA ORIENTAL. [<;iiAr. vm.

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. It con-
sequence 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, \vhich 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 biish 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, ho 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 largo
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

1833.] REMAINS OF THE TOXODON. 147

for which I ever saw mares used; was to tread out wheat from tho
car ; 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 wholo
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 clays' 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 Eio Negro,
I rode there accompanied by my host, and purchased for the value
of eighteen pence the head of the Toxodon.* 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
Eio 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. Eeeks, 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 throiigh the Pampas would cut through some skeleton

* I must express iny obligation to Mr. Keaue, at whoso house I was
staying on the Berquelo, and to Mr. Lumb at Buenos Ayres, for without
their assistance these valuable remains would never have reached
England.

148 BANDA ORIENTAL. [CHAP. vin.

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 con-
clude 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 countrymen, 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 noise or eyes ; as is often attested by deep
and horrid-looking scars. Eobberies 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,

1833.J STATE OF SOCIETY.

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 pool-
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 pro-
tection 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 under-
standing 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, bxit 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

150 RIO PLATA. [CHAP. vnr.

the army can neither read nor write, yet all meet in society as
equals. In Eutre llios, the Sala consisted of only six repre-
sentives. 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 pro-
fession 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
alway 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 biit 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 re-
collected with gratitude by those who have visited Spanish South
America.

December Gth. — The Beagle sailed from the Eio 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 Bias, 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 Carabidte 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

JL833.] FLOCKS OF BUTTERFLIES. 151

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 ; *
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), Notaplms, Cynucus, Adimonia, and Sca-
rabseus. 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 Patagouian shore. Captain Cook observed it, as did
more lately Captain King in 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.t

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 par-

* Lycll's Principles of Geology, vol. iii. p. 63.

j- The flies which frequently accompany a ship for some days, on its
passage from harbour to harbour, wandering from the vessel, are soon lost,
and all disappear.

152 RIO PLATA. [CHAP. vin.

ticular attention to this subject. The weather had been fine and
clear, and in the morning the air was full of patches of the floccu-
lent 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 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 maxillee drank
eagerly of drops of water; this same circumstance has been ob-
served 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 iinaccountable. 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 Citi-
grade (therefore quite different from the gossamer), while standing

1833.] AERONAUT SPIDERS. 150

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 ap-
parently quite calm; yet under such circumstances, the atmo-
sphere 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 diificulty 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 ex-
plained, I believe by Mr. Murray, by their similar electrical con-
dition. 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.*

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

* Mr. Blackwall, in his Researches in Zoology, has many excellent
observations on the habits of spielers.

154 ATLANTIC OCEAN. [CHAP. vm.

thiii, 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 : soiith of the latitude 35°, I never succeeded in
catching anything besides some beroe, and a few species of minute
eutomostracous 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° 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 through-
out 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 phospho-
rescent; and off Cape Horn I do not recollect more than once
having seen it so, and then it was far from being brilliant. This

1833.] PHOSPHOKESOEXCE OF THE SEA. 155

circumstance probably has a close connection with the scarcity of
organic beings in that part of the ocean. After the elaborate
paper,* 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 Diansea 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 consider-
able 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 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

* An abstract is given in No. IV. of the Magazine of Zoology and
Botanv.

156 PORT DESIRE. [CHAP, vm

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 gela-
tinous 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.

December 23rrf. — We arrived at Port Desire, situated in lat. 47°,
on the coast of Patagonia. The creek runs for about twenty miles
inland, with an irregular width. The Beagle anchored a few miles
within the entrance, in front of the ruins of an old Spanish
settlement.

The same evening I went on shore. The first landing in any new
country is very interesting, and especially when, as in this case,
the whole aspect bears the stamp of a marked and individual
character. At the height of between two and three hundred feet
above some masses of porphyry a wide plain extends, which is truly
characteristic of Patagonia. The surface is quite level, and is
composed of well-rounded shingle mixed with a whitish earth.
Here and there scattered tufts of brown wiry grass are supported,
and, still more rarely, some low thorny bushes. The weather is
dry and pleasant, and the fine blue sky is but seldom obscured.
When standing in the middle of one of these desert plains and
looking towards the interior, the view is generally bounded by the
escarpment of another plain, rather higher, but equally level and
desolate ; and in every other direction the horizon is indistinct from
the trembling mirage which seems to rise from the heated surface.

In such a country the fate of the Spanish settlement was soon
decided ; the dryness of the climate during the greater part of the
year, and the occasional hostile attacks of the wandering Indians,

1833.] SPANISH SETTLEMENT. 157

compelled the colonists to desert their half-finished buildings.
The style, however, in which they were commenced shows the
strong and liberal hand of Spain in the old time. The result of all
the attempts to colonize this side of America south of 41°, have
been miserable. Port Famine expresses by its name the lingering
and extreme sufferings of several hundred wretched people, of
whom one alone survived to relate their misfortunes. At St.
Joseph's Bay, on the coast of Patagonia, a small settlement was
made; but during one Sunday the Indians made an attack and
massacred the whole party, excepting two men, who remained
captives during many years. At the Rio Negro I conversed with
one of these men, now in extreme old age.

The zoology of Patagonia is as limited as its flora.* On the
arid plains a few black beetles (Heteromera) might be seen slowly
crawling about, and bccasionally a lizard darted from side to side.
Of birds we have three carrion hawks, and in the valleys a few
finches and insect-feeders. An ibis (Theristicus melanops — a
species said to be found in central Africa) is not uncommon on the
most desert parts : in their stomachs I found grasshoppers, cicadfe,
small lizards, and even scorpions.f At one time of the year these
birds go in flocks, at another in pairs ; their cry is very loud and
singular, like the neighing of the guanaco.

The guanaco, or wild llama, is the characteristic quadruped of
the plains of Patagonia ; it is the South American representative
of the camel of the East. It is an elegant animal in a state of
nature, with a long slender neck and fine legs. It is very common
over the whole of the temperate parts of the continent, as far south
as the islands near Cape Horn. It generally lives in small herds
of from half a dozen to thirty in each ; but on the banks of the
St. Cruz we saw one herd which must have contained at least five
hundred.

They are generally wild and extremely wary. Mr. Stokes told

* I found here a species of cactus, described by Professor Henslow, under
the name of Opuntia Darwinii (Magazine of Zoology and Botany, vol. i.
p. 466), which was remarkable by the irritability of the stamens, when I
inserted either a piece of stick or the end of my linger in the flower. The
segments of the perianth also closed on the pistil, but more slowly than
the stamens. Plants of this family, generally considered as tropical,
occur in North America (Lewis and Clarke's Travels, p. 221), in the
same high latitude as here, namely, in both cases, in 47°.

t These insects were not uncommon beneath stones. I found one
cannibal scorpion quietly devouring another.

PORT DESIRE. [CHAP. vm.

me, that lie one day saw through a glass a herd of these animals
which evidently had been frightened, and were running away at
full speed, although their distance was so great that he could not
distinguish them with his naked eye. The sportsman frequently
receives the first notice of their presence, by hearing from a long
distance their peculiar shrill neighing note of alarm. If he then
looks attentively, he will probably see the herd standing in a line
on the side of some distant hill. On approaching nearer, a few
more squeals are given, and off they set at an apparently slow, but
really quick canter, along some narrow beaten track to a neighbour-
ing hill. If, however, by chance he abruptly meets a single
animal, or several together, they will generally stand motionless
and intently gaze at him ; then perhaps move on a few yards, turn
round, and look again. What is the cause of this difference in
their shyness ? Do they mistake a man in the distance for their
chief enemy the puma ? Or does curiosity overcome their timidity ?
That they are curious is certain ; for if a person lies on the ground,
and plays strange antics, such as throwing up his feet in the air,
they will almost always approach by degrees to reconnoitre him.
It was an artifice that was repeatedly practised by our sportsmen
with success, and it had moreover the advantage of allowing
several shots to be fired, which were all taken as parts of the
performance. On the mountains of Tierra del Fuego, I have more
than once seen a guanaco, on being approached, not only neigh
and squeal, but prance and leap about in the most ridiculous
manner, apparently in defiance as a challenge. These animals are
very easily domesticated, and I have seen some thus kept in
northern Patagonia near a house, though not under any restraint.
They are in this state very bold, and readily attack a man by
striking him from behind with both knees. It is asserted that the
motive for these attacks is jealousy on account of their females.
The wild guanacos, however, have no idea of defence ; even a single
dog will secure one of these large animals, till the huntsman can
come up. In many of their habits they are like sheep in a flock.
Thus when they see men approaching in several directions on
horseback, they soon become bewildered, and know not which way
to run. This greatly facilitates the Indian method of hunting, for
they are thus easily driven to a central point, and are encom-
passed.

The guanacos readily take to the water : several times at Port

1833.J HABITS OF THE GUANACO. 159

Valdes they were seen swimming from island to island. Byron, in
Ms voyage, says he saw them drinking salt water. Some of our
officers likewise saw a herd apparently drinking the briny fluid
from a salina near Cape Blanco. I imagine in several parts of the
country, if they do not drink salt water, they drink none at all. In
the middle of the clay they frequently roll in the dust, in saucer-
shaped hollows. The males fight together; two one day passed
quite close to me, squealing and trying to bite each other; and
several were shot with their hides deeply scored. Herds sometimes
appear to set out on exploring parties : at Bahia Blanca, where,
within thirty miles of the coast, these animals are extremely unfre-
quent, I one day saw the tracks of thirty or forty, which had come
in a direct line to a muddy salt-water creek. They then must have
perceived that they were approaching the sea, for they had wheeled
with the regularity of cavalry, and had returned back in as straight
a line as they had advanced. The guanacos have one singular
habit, which is to me quite inexplicable ; namely, that on successive
days they drop their diing in the same defined heap. I saw one of
these heaps which was eight feet in diameter, and was composed of
a large quantity. This habit, according to M. A. d'Orbigny, is
common to all the species of the genus ; it is very useful to the
Peruvian Indians, who use the dung for fuel, and are thus saved
the trouble of collecting it.

The guanacos appear to have favourite spots for lying down to
die. On the banks of the St. Cruz, in certain circumscribed spaces,
which were generally bushy and all near the river, the ground was
actually white with bones. On one such spot I counted between
ten and twenty heads. I particularly examined the bones ; they
did not appear, as some scattered ones which I had seen, gnawed
or broken, as if dragged together by beasts of prey. The animals
in most cases must have crawled, before dying, beneath and amongst
the bushes. Mr. Bynoe informs me that during a former voyage
he observed the same circumstance on the banks of the Rio Gallegos.
I do not at all understand the reason of this, but I may observe,
that the wounded guanacos at the St. Cruz invariably walked to-
wards the river. At St. Jago in the Cape de Verd islands, I
remember having seen in a ravine a retired corner covered with
bones of the goat ; we at the time exclaimed that it was the burial-
ground of all the goats in the island. I mention these trifling
circumstances, becaiise in certain cases they might explain the

1(30 PATAGONIA. [CHAP. via.

occurrence of a number of uninjured bones in a cave, or buried
under alluvial accumulations ; and likewise the cause why certain
animals are more commonly embedded than others in sedimentary

deposits.

One day the yawl was sent under the command of Mr. Chaffers
with three days' provisions to survey the upper part of the harbour.
In the morning we searched for some watering-places mentioned in
an old Spanish chart. We found one creek, at the head of which
there was a trickling rill (the first we had seen) of brackish water.
Here the tide compelled us to wait several hours ; and in the in-
terval I walked some miles into the interior. The plain as usual
consisted of gravel, mingled witli soil resembling chalk in appear-
ance, but very different from it in nature. From the softness of
these materials it was worn into many gulleys. There was not a
tree, and, excepting the guanaco, which stood on the hill-top a
watchful sentinel over its herd, scarcely an animal or a bird. All
was stillness and desolation. Yet in passing over these scenes,
without one bright object near, an ill-defined but strong sense of
pleasure is vividly excited. One asked how many ages the plain
had thus lasted, and how many more it was doomed thus to
continue.

" None can reply — all seems eternal now.
The wilderness has a mysterious tongue,
Which teaches awful doubt." *

In the evening we sailed a few miles further up, and then pitche
the tents for the night. By the middle of the next day the yawl
was aground, and from the shoalness of the water could not proceed
any higher. The water being found partly fresh, Mr. Chaffers took
the dingey and went up two or three miles further, where she also
grounded, but in a fresh-water river. The water was muddy, and
though the stream was most insignificant in size, it would be difficult
to account for its origin, except from the melting snow on the Cor-
dillera. At the spot where we bivouacked, we were surrounded by
bold cliffs and steep pinnacles of porphyry. I do not think I ever
saw a spot which appeared more secluded from the rest of the
world, than this rocky crevice in the wide plain.

The second day after our return to the anchorage, a party of
officers and myself went to ransack an old Indian grave, which I
had found on the summit of a neighbouring hill. Two immense,
* Shelley, Lines on M. Blanc.

1834.] INDIAN GRAVE. 161

stone.-?, each probably weighing at least a couple of tons, had been
placed in front of a ledge of rock about six feet high. At the
bottom of the grave on the hard rock there was a layer of earth
about a foot deep, which must have been brought up from the
plain below. Above it a pavement of flat stones was placed, on
which others were piled, so as to fill up the space between the ledgo
and the two great blocks. To complete the grave, the Indians had
contrived to detach from the ledge a huge fragment, and to throw
it over the pile so as to rest on the two blocks. We undermined
the grave on both sides, but could not find any relics, or even
bones. The latter probably had decayed long since (in which case
the grave must have been of extreme antiquity), for I found in
another place some smaller heaps, beneath which a very few crum-
bling fragments could yet be distinguished as having belonged to a
man. Falconer states, that where an Indian dies he is buried, but
that subsequently his bones are carefully taken up and carried, let
the distance be ever so great, to be deposited near the sea-coast.
This custom, I think, may be accounted for by recollecting, that
before the introduction of horses, these Indians must have led
nearly the same life as the Fuegians now do, and therefore gene-
rally have resided in the neighbourhood of the sea. The common
prejudice of lying where one's ancestors have lain, would make the
now roaming Indians bring the less perishable part of their dead
to their ancient burial-ground on the coast.

January $th, 1834. — Before it was dark the Beagle anchored in
the fine spacious harbour of Port St. Julian, situated about one
hundred and ten miles to the south of Port Desire. We remained
here eight days. The country is nearly similar to that of Port
Desire, but perhaps rather more sterile. One day a party accom-
panied Captain Fitz Eoy on a long walk round the head of the
harbour. We were eleven hours without tasting any water, and
some of the party were quite exhausted. From the summit of a
hill (since well named Thirsty Hill) a fine lake was spied, and two
of the party proceeded with concerted signals to show whether it
was fresh water. What was our disappointment to find a snow-
white expanse of salt, crystallized in great cubes ! We attributed
our extreme thirst to the dryness of the atmosphere ; but whatever
the cause might be, we ^yere exceedingly glad late in the evening
to get back to the boats. Although we could nowhere find, during
our whole visit, a single drop of fresh water, yet some must exist ;

M

1(52 POUT ST. JULIAN. [CHAP. vin.

for by an odd chance I found on the surface of the salt water, near
the head of the bay, a Colymbetes not quite dead, which must have
lived in some not far distant pool. Three other insects (a Cincin-
dela, like lujbrida, a Cyruindis, and a Harpalus, which all live on
muddy flats occasionally overflowed by the sea), and one other
found dead on the plain, complete the list of the beetles. A good-
sized fly (Tabanus) was extremely numerous, and tormented us by
its painful bite. The common horsefly, which is so troublesome in
the shady lanes of England, belongs to this same genus. We here
have the puzzle that so frequently occurs in the case of musquitoes
— on the blood of what animals do these insects commonly feed ?
The guanaco is nearly the only warm-blooded quadruped, and it is
found in quite inconsiderable numbers compared with the multitude
of flies.

The geology of Patagonia is interesting. Differently from Europe,
where the tertiary formations appear to have accumulated in bays,
here along hundreds of miles of coast we have one great deposit,
including many tertiary shells, all apparently extinct. The most
common shell is a massive gigantic oyster, sometimes even a foot
in diameter. These beds are covered by others of a peculiar soft
white stone, including much gypsum, and resembling chalk, but
really of a pumiceous nature. It is highly remarkable, from being
composed, to at least one-tenth part of its bulk, of Infusoria : Pro-
fessor Ehrenberg has already ascertained in it thirty oceanic forms.
This bed extends for 500 miles along the coast, and probably for a
considerably greater distance. At Port St. J ulian its thickness is
more than 800 feet ! These white beds are everywhere capped by
a mass of gravel, forming probably one of the largest beds of shingle
in the world : it certainly extends from near the Bio Colorado to
between 600 and 700 nautical miles southward ; at Santa Cruz (a
river a little south of St. Julian), it reaches to the foot of the
Cordillera ; half way up the river, its thickness is more than 200
feet ; it probably everywhere extends to this great chain, whence
the well-rounded pebbles of porphyry have been derived : we may
consider its average breath as 200 miles, and its average thickness
as about 50 feet. If this great bed of pebbles, without including
the mud necessarily derived from their attrition, was piled into a
mound, it would form a great mountain chain ! When we consider
that all these pebbles, countless as the grains of sand in the desert^

1834.] GEOLOGY OF PATAGONIA. 163

have been derived from the slow falling of masses of rock on the
old coast-lines and banks of rivers ; and that these fragments have
been dashed into smaller pieces, and that each of them has since
been slowly rolled, rounded, and far transported, the mind is
stupified in thinking over the long, absolutely necessary, lapse of
years. Yet all this gravel has been transported, and probably
rounded, subsequently to the deposition of the white beds, and
long subsequently to the underlying beds with the tertiary
shells.

Everything in this southern continent has been effected on a
grand scale : the land, from the Rio Plata to Tierra del Fuego, a
distance of 1200 miles, has been raised in mass (and in Patagonia
to a height of between 300 and 400 feet), within the period of the
now existing sea-shells. The old and weathered shells left on the
surface of the upraised plain still partially retain their colours.
The uprising movement has been interrupted by at least eight long
periods of rest, during which the sea ate deeply back into the land,
forming at successive levels the long lines of cliffs or escarpments,
which separate the different plains as they rise like steps one
behind the other. The elevatory movement, and the eating-back
power of the sea during the periods of rest, Lave been equable over
long lines of coast ; for I was astonished to find that the step-like
plains stand at nearly corresponding heights at far distant points.
The lowest plain is 90 feet high ; and the highest, which 1 ascended
near the coast, is 950 feet ; and of this, only relics are left in the
form of flat gravel-capped hills. The upper plain of Santa Cruz
slopes up to a height of 3000 feet at the foot of the Cordillera. I
have said that within the period of existing sea-shells Patagonia has
been upraised 300 to 400 feet : I may add, that within the period
when icebergs transported boulders over the upper plain of Santa
Cruz, the elevation has been at least 1500 feet. Nor has Patagonia
been affected only by upward movements: the extinct tertiary
shells from Port St. Julian and Santa Cruz cannot have lived,
according to Professor E. Forbes, in a greater depth of water than
from 40 to 250 feet ; but they are now covered with sea-deposited
strata from 800 to 1000 feet in thickness : hence the bed of the sea,
on which these shells once lived, must have sunk downwards
several hundred feet, to allow of the accumulation of the super-
incumbent strata. What a history of geological changes does the
simply-constructed coast of Patagonia reveal !

164 GEOLOGY OF PATAGONIA. [CHAP. vm.

At Port St. Julian,* in some red mud capping the gravel on the
90-feet plain, I found half the skeleton of the Macraucheuia Pata-
ehonica, a remarkable quadruped, full as large as a camel. It
belongs to the same division of the Pachydermata with the rhino-
cerous, tapir, and palseotherium ; but in the structure of the bones
of its long neck it shows a clear relation to the camel, or rather to
the guanaco and llama. From recent sea-shells being found on
two of the higher step-formed plains, which must have been
modelled and upraised before the mud was deposited in which the
Macrauchenia was intombed, it is certain that this curious quad-
ruped lived long after the sea was inhabited by its present shells.
I was at first much surprised how a large quadruped could so
lately have subsisted, in lat. 49° 15', on these wretched gravel
plains with their stunted vegetation ; but the relationship of the
Macrauchenia to the Guanaco, now an inhabitant of the most sterile
parts, partly explains this difficulty.

The relationship, though distant, between the Macrauchenia and
the Guanaco, between the Toxodon and the Capybara, — the closer
relationship between the many extinct Edentata and the living
sloths, ant-eaters, and armadillos, now so eminently characteristic
of South American zoology, — and the still closer relationship
between the fossil and living species of Ctenomys and Hydrochserus,
are most interesting facts. This relationship is shown wonderfully
—as wonderfully as between the fossil and extinct Marsupial
animals of Australia — by the great collection lately brought to
Europe from the caves of Brazil by MM. Lund and Clausen. In
this collection there are extinct species of all the thirty-two genera,
excepting four, of the terrestrial quadrupeds now inhabiting the
provinces in which the caves occur; and the extinct species are
much more numerous than those now living : there are fossil ant-
eaters, armadillos, tapirs, peccaries, guanacos, opossums, and
numerous South American gnawers and monkeys, and other
animals. This wonderful relationship in the same continent
between the dead and the living, will, I do not doubt, hereafter
throw more light on the appearance of organic beings on our earth,
and their disappearance from it, than any other class of facts.

* I have lately heard that Capt. Sulivan, R.N., lias found numerous
fossil bones, embedded in regular strata, on the banks of the R. Gallegos,
in lat. 51° 4'. Some of the bones are large ; others are small, and appear
to have belonged to an armadillo. This is a most interesting and
important discovery.

1834.] CAUSES OF EXTINCTION. 165

It is impossible to reflect oil the changed state of the American
continent without the deepest astonishment. Formerly it must
have swarmed with great monsters: now we find mere pigmies,
compared with the antecedent, allied races. If Buffon had known
of the gigantic sloth and armadillo-like animals, and of the lost
Pachydermata, he might have said with a greater semblance of
truth that the creative force in America had lost its power, rather
than that it had never possessed great vigour. The greater
number, if not all, of these extinct quadrupeds lived at a late
period, and were the contemporaries of most of the existing sea-
shells. Since they lived, no very great change in the form of the
land can have taken place. What, then, has exterminated so many
species and whole genera ? The mind at first is irresistibly hurried
into the belief of some great catastrophe; but thus to destroy
animals, both large and small, in Southern Patagonia, in Brazil, on
the Cordillera of Peru, in North America up to Behring's Straits,
AVC must shake the entire framework of the globe. An examina-
tion, moreover, of the geology of La Plata and Patagonia, leads to
the belief that all the features of the land result from slow and
gradual changes. It appears from the character of the fossils in
Europe, Asia, Australia, and in North and South America, that
those conditions which favour the life of the larger quadrupeds
were lately co-extensive with the world : what those conditions
were, no one has yet even conjectured. It could hardly have been
a change of temperature, which at about the same time destroyed
the inhabitants of tropical, temperate, and arctic latitudes on both
sides of the globe. In North America we positively know from
Mr. Lyell, that the large quadrupeds lived subsequently to that
period, when boulders were brought into latitudes at which icebergs
now never arrive : from conclusive but indirect reasons we may
feel sure, that in the southern hemisphere the Macrauchenia, also,
lived long subsequently to the ice-transporting boulder-period.
Did man, after his first inroad into South America, destroy, as has
been suggested, the unwieldly Megatherium and the other Eden-
tata ? We must at least look to some other cause for the destruc-
tion of the little tucutuco at Bahia Blanca, and of the many fossil
mice and other small quadrupeds in Brazil. No one will imagine
that a drought, even far severer than those which cause such
losses in the provinces of La Plata, could destroy every individual
of every species from Southern Patagonia to Behring's Straits.

CAUSES OF EXTINCTION. [CHAI-. vm.

What shall we say of the extinction of the horse? Did those
plains fail of pasture, which have since been overrun by thousands
and hundreds of thousands of the descendants of the stock intro-
duced by the Spaniards? Have the subsequently introduced
species consumed the food of the great ""antecedent races ? Can we
believe that the Capybara has taken the food of the Toxodon, the
Guanaco of the Macrauchenia, the existing small Edentata of their
numerous gigantic prototypes? Certainly, no fact in the long
history of the world is so startling as the wide and repeated
exterminations of its inhabitants.

Nevertheless, if we consider the subject under another point of
view, it will appear less perplexing. We do not steadily bear in
mind, how profoundly ignorant we are of the conditions of existence
of every animal ; nor do we always remember, that some check is
constantly preventing the too rapid increase of every organized
being left in a state of nature. The supply of food, on an average,
remains constant ; yet the tendency in every animal to increase by
propagation is geometrical ; and its surprising effects have nowhere
been more astonishingly shown, than in the case of the European
animals run wild during the last few centuries in America. Every
animal in a state of nature regularly breeds; yet in a species long
established, any great increase in numbers is obviously impossible,
and must be checked by some means. We are, nevertheless, seldom
able with certainty to tell in any given species, at what period of
life, or at what period of the year, or whether only at long intervals,
the check falls ; or, again, what is the precise nature of the check.
Hence probably it is, that we feel so little surprise at one, of two
species closely allied in habits, being rare and the other abundant
in the same district; or, again, that one should be abundant in one
district, and another, filling the same place in the economy of
nature, should be abundant in a neighbouring district, differing
very little in its conditions. If asked how this is, one immediately
replies that it is determined by some slight difference in climate,
food, or the number of enemies : yet how rarely, if ever, we can
point out the precise cause and manner of action of the check !
We are, therefore, driven to the conclusion, that causes generally
quite inappreciable by us, determine whether a given species shall
be abundant or scanty in numbers.

In the cases where we can trace the extinction of a species
through man, either wholly or in one limited district, we know

1834.] CAUSES OF EXTINCTION. 167

that it becomes rarer and rarer, and is then lost: it would be
difficult to point out any just distinction * between a species
destroyed by man or by the increase of its natural enemies. The
evidence of rarity preceding extinction, is more striking in the
successive tertiary strata, as remarked by several able observers ;
it has often been found that a shell very common in a tertiary
stratum is now most rare, and has even long been thought to be
extinct. If then, as appears probable, species first become rare
and then extinct — if the too rapid increase of every species, even
the most favoured, is steadily checked, as we must admit, though
how and when it is hard to say — and if we see, without the smallest
surprise, though unable to assign the precise reason, one species
abundant and another closely allied species rare in the same dis-
trict— why should we feel such great astonishment at the rarity
being carried a step further to extinction ? An action going on,
on every side of us, and yet barely appreciable, might surely be
carried a little further, without exciting our observation. Who
would feel any great surprise at hearing that the Megalonyx was
formerly rare compared with the Megatherium, or that one of the
fossil monkeys was few in number compared with one of the now
living monkeys? and yet in this comparative rarity, we should
have the plainest evidence of less favourable conditions for their
existence. To admit that species generally become rare before
they become extinct — to feel no surprise at the comparative rarity
of one species with another, and yet to call in some extraordinary
agent and to marvel greatly when a species ceases to exist, appears
to me much the same as to admit that sickness in the individual
is the prelude to death — to feel no surprise at sickness — but when
the sick man dies to wonder, and to believe that he died through
violence.

* See the excellent remarks ou this subject by Mr. Lyell, in his Prin-
ciples of Geology.

](38 S. CRUZ, PATAGONIA. [CHAP. ix.

CHAPTEB IX.

Santa Cruz— Expedition up the River— Indians— Immense Streams of
Basaltic Lava — Fragments not transported by the River — Excavation
of the Valley— Condor, Habits of— Cordillera— Erratic Boulders of great
size— Indian Eelics— Return to the Ship— Falkland Islands— Wild
Horses, Cattle, Rabbits— Wolf-like Fox— Fire made of Bones— Manner
of hunting Wild Cattle— Geology— Streams of Stones— Scenes of Vio-
lencc— Penguin— Geese— Eggs of Doris— Compound Animals.

SANTA CKTJZ, PATAGONIA, AND THE FALKLAND ISLANDS.

April 13th, 1834.— The Beagle anchored within the mouth of the
Santa Cruz. This river is situated about sixty miles south of Port
St. Julian. During the last voyage Captain Stokes proceeded
thirty miles up it, but then, from the want of provisions, was
obliged to return. Excepting what was discovered at that time,
scarcely anything was known about this large river. Captain Fitz
Roy now determined to follow its course as far as time would allow.
On the 18th three whale-boats started, carrying three weeks' pro-
visions ; and the party consisted of twenty-five souls — a force which
would have been sufficient to have defied a host of Indians. With
a strong flood-tide and a fine day we made a good run, soon drank
some of the fresh water, and were at night nearly above the tidal
influence.

The river here assumed a size and appearance which, even at
the highest point we ultimately reached, was scarcely diminished.
It was generally from three to four hundred yards broad, and in
the middle about seventeen feet deep. The rapidity of the current,
which in its whole course runs at the rate of from four to six knots
an hour, is perhaps its most remarkable feature. The water is of
a fine blue colour, but with a slight milky tinge, and not so trans-
parent as at first sight would have been expected. It flows over
a bed of pebbles, like those which compose the beach and the

1834.] INDIANS. 169

surrounding plains. It runs in a winding course through a valley,
which extends in a direct line westward. This valley varies from
five to ten miles in breadth ; it is bounded by step-formed terraces,
which rise in most parts, one above the other, to the height of five
hundred feet, and have on the opposite sides a remarkable corre-
spondence.

April 19^. — Against so strong a current it was, of course, quite
impossible to row or sail: consequently the three boats were
fastened together head and stern, two hands left in each, and the
rest came on shore to track. As the general arrangements made
by Captain Fitz Eoy were very good for facilitating the work of
all, and as all had a share in it, I will describe the system. The
party, including every one, was divided into two spells, each of
which hauled at the tracking line alternately for an hour and a
half. The officers of each boat lived with, ate the same food, and
slept in the same tent with their crew, so that each boat was quite
independent of the others. After sunset the first level spot where
any bushes were growing, was chosen for our night's lodging.
Each of the crew took it in turns to be cook. Immediately the
boat was hauled up, the cook made his fire; two others pitched
the tent ; the coxswain handed the things out of the boat ; the rest
carried them up to the tents and collected firewood. By this order,
in half an hour everything was ready for the night. A watch of
two men and an officer was always kept, whose duty it was to look
after the boats, keep up the fire, and guard against Indians. Each
in the party had his one hour every night.

During this day we tracked but a short distance, for there were
many islets, covered by thorny bushes, and the channels between
them were shallow.

April %Qth. — We passed the islands and set to work. Our regular
day's march, although it was hard enough, carried us on an average
only ten miles in a straight line, and perhaps fifteen or twenty
altogether. Beyond the place where we slept last night, the
country is completely terra incognita, for it was there that Captain
Stokes turned back. We saw in the distance a great smoke, and
found the skeleton of a horse, so we knew that Indians were in the
neighbourhood. On the next morning (21st) tracks of a party of
horse, and marks left by the trailing of the chuzos, or long spears,
were observed on the ground. It was generally thought that
the Indians had reconnoitred us during the night. Shortly after-

170 S. CRUZ, PATAGONIA. [CHAI>. is.

wards we came to a spot where, from the fresh footsteps of men,
children, and horses, it was evident that the party had crossed the

river.

April Z2nd. — The country remained the same, and was extremely
uninteresting. The complete similarity of the productions through-
out Patagonia is one of its most striking characters. The level
plains of arid shingle support the same stunted and dwarf plants ;
and in the valleys the same thorn-bearing bushes grow. Every-
where we see the same birds and insects. Even the very banks of
the river and of the clear streamlets which entered it, were scarcely
enlivened by a brighter tint of green. The curse of sterility is on
the land, and the water flowing over a bed of pebbles partakes of
the same curse. Hence the number of waterfowl is very scanty ;
for there is nothing to support life in the stream of this barren
river.

Patagonia, poor as she is in some respects, can however boast of
a greater stock of small rodents * than perhaps any other country
in the world. Several species of mice are externally characterized
by large thin ears and a very fine fur. These little animals swarm
amongst the thickets in the valleys, where they cannot for months
together taste a drop of water excepting the dew. They all seem
to be cannibals ; for no sooner was a mouse caught in one of my
traps than it was devoured by others. A small and delicately
shaped fox, which is likewise very abundant, probably derives its
entire support from these small animals. The guanaco is also in
his proper district ; herds of fifty or a hundred were common ; and,
as I have stated, we saw one which must have contained at least
five hundred. The puma, with the condor and other carrion-
hawks in its train, follows and preys upon these animals. The
footsteps of the puma were to be seen almost everywhere on the
banks of the rivers ; and the remains of several guanacos, with
their necks disclocated and bones broken, showed how they had
their death.

April 24^. — Like the navigators of old when approaching an
unknown land, we examined and watched for the most trivial
sign of a change. The drifted trunk of a tree, or a boulder of

* Tho deserts of Syria are characterized, according to Yoluey (torn. i.
p. 351), by woody bushes, numerous rats, gazelles, and bares. In the land-
scape of Patagonia, the guanaco replaces the gazelle, and the agouti the
hart'.

1834.] BASALTIC LAVA. 171

primitive rock, was hailed with joy, as if we had seen a forest
growing on the flanks of the Cordillera. The top, however, of a
heavy bank of clouds, which remained almost constantly in ono
position, was the most promising sign, and eventually turned out
a true harbinger. At first the clouds were mistaken for the
mountains themselves,, instead of the masses of vapour condensed
by their icy summits.

April 26£/i. — We this day met with a marked change in the
geological structure of the plains. From the first starting I had
carefully examined the gravel in the river, and for the two last
days had noticed the presence of a few small pebbles of a very
cellular basalt. These gradually increased in number and in size,
but none were as large as a man's head. This morning, however,
pebbles of the same rock, but more compact, suddenly became
abundant, and in the course of half an hour Ave saw, at the
distance of five or six miles, the angular edge of a great basaltic
platform. When we arrived at its base we found the stream
bubbling among the fallen blocks. For the next twenty-eight
miles the river-course was encumbered with these basaltic masses.
Above that limit immense fragments of primitive rocks, derived
from the surrounding boulder-formation, were equally numerous.
None of the fragments of any considerable size had been washed
more than three or four miles down the river below their parent-
source : considering the singular rapidity of the great body of
water in the Santa Cruz, and that no still reaches occur in any
part, this example is a most striking one, of the inefficiency of
rivers in transporting even moderately-sized fragments.

The basalt is only lava, which has flowed beneath the sea ; but
the eruptions must have been on the grandest scale. At the
point where we first met this formation it was 120 feet in thick-
ness ; following up the river course, the surface imperceptibly rose
and the mass became thicker, so that at forty miles above the first
station it was 320 feet thick. What the thickness may be close to
the Cordillera, I have no means of knowing, but the platform there
attains a height of about three thousand feet above the level of the
sea : we must therefore look to the mountains of that great chain
for its source ; and worthy of such a source are streams that have
flowed over the gently inclined bed of the sea to a distance of one
hundred miles. At the first glance of the basaltic cliffs on the
opposite sides of the valley, it was evident that the strata once were

172 S. CRUZ, PATAGONIA. [CHAP. ix.

united. What power, then, has removed along a whole line of
country, a solid mass of very hard rock, which had an average
thickness of nearly three hundred feet, and a breadth varying from
rather less than two miles to four miles ? The river, though it has
so little power in transporting even inconsiderable fragments, yet
in the lapse of ages might produce by its gradual erosion an effect,
of which it is difficult to judge the amount. But in this case,
independently of the insignificance of such an agency, good reasons
can be assigned for believing that this valley was formerly occupied
by an arm of the sea. It is needless in this work to detail the
arguments leading to this conclusion, derived from the form and
the nature of the step-formed terraces on both sides of the valley,
from the manner in which the bottom of the valley near the
Andes expands into a great estuary-like plain with sand-hil-
locks on it, and from the occurrence of a few sea-shells lying iu
the bed of the river. If I had space I could prove that South
America was formerly here cut off by a strait, joining the Atlantic
and Pacific oceans, like that of Magellan. But it may yet bo
asked, how has the solid basalt been moved ? Geologists formerly
would have brought into play, the violent action of some over-
whelming debacle ; but in this case such a supposition would have
been quite inadmissible ; because, the same step-like plains with
existing sea-shells lying on their surface, which front the long line
of the Patagonian coast, sweep up on each side of the valley of
Santa Cruz. No possible action of any flood could thus have
modelled the land, either within the valley or along the open
coast ; and by the formation of such step-like plains or terraces
the valley itself had been hollowed out. Although we know that
there are tides, which run within the Narrows of the Strait of
Magellan at the rate of eight knots an hour, yet we must confess
that it makes the head almost giddy to reflect on the number of
years, century after century, which the tides, unaided by a heavy
surf, must have required to have corroded so vast an area anc
thickness of solid basaltic lava. Nevertheless, we must believe
that the strata undermined by the waters of this ancient strait,
were broken up into huge fragments, and these lying scattered on
the beach, were reduced first to smaller blocks, then to pebbles
and lastly to the most impalpable mud, which the tides drifted far
into the Eastern or Western Ocean.
With .the change in the geological structure of the plains the

1834] THE CONDOR. 173

character of the landscape likewise altered. While rambling up
some of the narrow and rocky defiles, I conld almost have fancied
myself transported back again to the barren valleys of the island
of St. Jago. Among the basaltic cliffs, I found some plants which
I had seen nowhere else, but others I recognised as being wanderers
from Tierra del Fuego. These porous rocks serve as a reservoir
for the scanty rain-water ; and consequently on the line where the
igneous and sedimentary formations unite, some small springs
(most rare occurrences in Patagonia) burst forth ; and they could
be distinguished at a distance by the circumscribed patches of
bright green herbage.

April 27th. — The bed of the river became rather narrower, and
hence the stream more rapid. It here ran at the rate of six knots
an hour. From this cause, and from the many great angular
fragments, tracking the boats became both dangerous and
laborious.

This day I shot a condor. It measured from tip to tip of the
wings, eight and a half feet, and from beak to tail, four feet. This
bird is known to have a wide geographical range, being found on
the west coast of South America, from the Strait of Magellan along
the Cordillera as far as eight degrees north of the equator. The
steep cliff near the mouth of the Eio Negro is its northern limit on
the Patagonian coast ; and they have there wandered about four
hundred miles from the great central line of their habitation in the
Andes. Further south, among the bold precipices at the head of
Port Desire, the conder is not uncommon ; yet only a few stragglers
occasionally visit the sea-coast. A line of cliff near the month
of the Santa Cruz is frequented by these birds, and about eighty
miles up the river, where the sides of the valley are formed by
steep basaltic precipices, the condor reappears. From these facts,
it seems that the condors require perpendicular cliffs. In Chile,
they haunt, during the greater part of the year, the lower country
near the shores of the Pacific, and at night several roost together
in one tree; but in the early part of summer, they retire to the
most inaccessible parts of the inner Cordillera, there to breed in
peace.

With respect to their propagation, I was told by the country
people in Chile, that the condor makes no sort of nest, but in the
months of November and December lays two large white eggs on a

174 S- ORUX, PATAGONIA. [CHAP. ix.

shelf of bare rock. It is said that the young condors cannot fly for
an entire year; and long after they are able, they continue to roost
by night, and hunt by day with their parents. The old birds
generally live in pairs ; but among the inland basaltic cliffs of the
Santa Cruz, I found a spot, where scores must usually haunt. On
coming suddenly to the brow of the precipice, it was a grand
spectacle to see between twenty and thirty of these great birds
start heavily from their resting-place, and wheel away in majestic
circles. From the quantity of dung on the rocks, they must long
have frequented this cliff for roosting and breeding. Having gorged
themselves with carrion on the plains below, they retire to these
favourite ledges to digest their food. From these facts, the condor,
like the gallinazo, must to a certain degree be considered as a gre-
garious bird. In this part of the country they live altogether on
the guanacos which have died a natural death, or, as more com-
monly happens, have been killed by the pumas. I believe, from
what I saw in Patagonia, that they do not on ordinary occasions
extend their daily excursions to any great distance from their
regular sleeping-places.

The condors may oftentimes be seen at a great height, soaring-
over a certain spot in the most graceful circles. On some occasions
I am sure that they do this only for pleasure, but on others, the
Chileno countryman tells you that they are watching a dying
animal, or the puma devouring its prey. If the condors glide
down, and then suddenly all rise together, the Chileno knows that
it is the puma which, watching the carcass, has sprung out to drive
away the robbers. Besides feeding on carrion, the condors fre-
quently attack young goats and lambs ; and the shepherd-dogs are
trained, whenever they pass over, to run out, and looking upwards
to bark violently. The Chilenos destroy and catch numbers. Two
methods are used ; one is to place a carcass 'on a level piece of
ground within an enclosure of sticks with an opening, and when
the condors are gorged, to gallop up on horseback to the entrance,
and thus enclose them : for when this bird has not space to run, it
cannot give its body sufficient momentum to rise from the ground.
The second method is to mark the trees in which, frequently to
the number of five or six together, they roost, and then at night to
climb up and noose them. They are such heavy sleepers, as I have
myself witnessed, that this is not a difficult task. At Valparaiso,
I have seen a living condor sold for sixpence, but the common price

1834.] THE CONDOR. 175

is eight or ten shillings. One which I saw brought in, had been
tied with rope, and was much injured ; yet, the moment the lino
was cut by which its bill was secured, although surrounded by
people, it began ravenously to tear a piece of carrion. In a garden
at the same place, between twenty and thirty were kept alive.
They were fed only once a week, but they appeared in pretty good
health.* The Chileno countrymen assert that the condor will live,
and retain its vigour, between five and six weeks without eating :
I cannot answer for the truth of this, but it is a cruel experiment,
which very likely has been tried.

When an animal is killed in the country, it is well known that
the condors, like other carrion-vultures, soon gain intelligence of
it, and congregate in an inexplicable manner. In most cases it
must not be overlooked, that the birds have discovered their prey,
and have picked the skeleton clean, before the flesh is in the least
degree tainted. Eemembering the experiments of M. Audubon, on
the little smelling powers of carrion-hawks, I tried in the above-
mentioned garden the following experiment : the condors were tied,
each by a rope, in a long row at the bottom of a wall ; and having
folded up a piece of meat in white paper, I walked backwards and
forwards, carrying it in my hand at the distance of about three
yards from them, but no notice whatever was taken. I then threw
it on the ground, within one yard of an old male bird ; he looked
at it for a moment with attention, but then regarded it no more.
With a stick I pushed it closer and closer, until at last he touched
it with his beak ; the paper was then instantly torn off with fury,
and at the same moment, every bird in the long row began
struggling and flapping its wings. Under the same circumstances,
it would have been quite impossible to have deceived a dog. The
evidence in favour of and against the acute smelling powers of
carrion-vultures is singularly balanced. Professor Owen has
demonstrated that the olfactory nerves of the turkey-buzzard
(Cathartes aura) are highly developed ; and on the evening when
Mr. Owen's paper was read at the Zoological Society, it was men-
tioned by a gentleman that he had seen the carrion-hawks in the
West Indies on two occasions collect on the roof of a house, when
a corpse had become offensive from not having been buried ; in

* I noticed that several hours before any one of the condors died, all
the lice, with which it was infested, crawled to the outside feathers. I
was assured that this always happened.

17(3 S. CRUZ, PATAGONIA. [CHAP. ix.

this case, the intelligence could hardly have been acquired by
sight. On the other hand, besides the experiments of Audobon
and that one by myself, Mr. Bachman has tried in the United States
many varied plans, showing that neither the turkey-buzzard (the
species dissected by Professor Owen) nor the gallinazo find their
food by smell. He covered portions of highly offensive offal with
a thin canvas cloth, and strewed pieces of meat on it : these the
carrion-vultures ate up, and then remained quietly standing, with
their beaks within the eighth of an inch of the putrid mass, without
discovering it. A small rent was made in the canvas, and the
offal was immediately discovered; the canvas was replaced by a
fresh piece, and meat again put on it, and was again devoured by
the vultures without their discovering the hidden mass on which
they were trampling. These facts are attested by the signatures
of six gentlemen, besides that of Mr. Bachman.*

Often when lying down to rest on the open plains, on looking
upwards, I have seen carrion-hawks sailing through the air at a
great height. Where the country is level I do not believe a space
of the heavens, of more than fifteen degrees above the horizon, is
commonly viewed with any attention by a person either walking or
on horseback. If such be the case, and the vulture is on the wing
at a height of between three and four thousand feet, before it could
come within the range of vision, its distance in a straight line from
the beholder's eye, would be rather more than two British miles.
Might it not thus readily be overlooked? When an animal is
killed by the sportsman in a lonely valley, may he not all the while
be watched from above by the sharp-sighted bird ? And will not
the manner of its descent proclaim throughout the district to the
whole family of carrion-feeders, that their prey is at hand ?

When the condors are wheeling in a flock round and round any
spot, their flight is beautiful. Except when rising from the ground,
I do not recollect ever having seen one of these birds flap its wings.
Near Lima, I watched several for nearly half an hour, without once
taking off my eyes : they moved in large curves, sweeping in circles,
descending and ascending without giving a single flap. As they
glided close over my head, I intently watched from an oblique
position, the outlines of the separate and great terminal feathers of
each wing ; and these separate feathers, if there had been the least
vibratory movement, would have appeared as if blended together ;
* London's Magazine of Xat. Hist., vol. vii.

1834.] CORDILLERA. 1 77

but they were scon distinct against the blue sky. The head and
neck were moved frequently, and apparently with force ; and the
extended wings seemed to form the fulcrum on which the move-
ments of the neck, body, and tail acted. If the bird wished to
descend, the wings were for a moment collapsed; and when again
expanded with an altered inclination, the momentum gained by the
rapid descent seemed to urge the bird upwards with the even and
steady movement of a paper kite. In the case of any bird soaring,
its motion must be sufficiently rapid, so that the action of the
inclined surface of its body on the atmosphere may counterbalance
its gravity. The force to keep up the momentum of a body moving
in a horizontal plane in the air (in which there is so little friction)
cannot be great, and this force is all that is wanted. The move-
ment of the neck and body of the condor, we must suppose, is
sufficient for this. However this may be, it is truly wonderful and
beautiful to see so great a bird, hour after hour, without any
apparent exertion, wheeling and gliding over mountain and river.

J.ju-il 29^.— From some high laud we hailed with joy the white
summits of the Cordillera, as they wore seen occasionally peeping
through their dusky envelope of clouds. During the few suc-
ceeding days we continued to get on slowly, for we found the river-
course very tortuous, and strewed with immense fragments of
various ancient slaty rocks, and of granite. The plain bordering
the valley had here attained an elevation of about 1100 feet above
the river, and its character was much altered. The well-rounded
pebbles of porphyry were mingled with many immense angular
fragments of basalt and of primary rocks. The first of these erratic
boulders which I noticed, was sixty-seven miles distant from the
nearest mountain ; another which I measured was five yards square,
and projected five feet above the gravel. Its edges were so angular,
and its size so great, that I at first mistook it for a rock in situ, and
took out my compass to observe the direction of its cleavage.
The plain here was not quite so level as that nearer the coast, but
yet it betrayed no signs of any great violence. Under these cir-
cumstances it is, I believe, quite impossible to explain the transportal
of these gigantic masses of rock so many miles from their parent-
source, on any theory except by that of floating icebergs.

During the two last days we met with signs of horses, and with
several small articles which had belonged to the Indians^such as

178 S. CRUZ, PATAGONIA. [CHAP, ix

parts of a mantle and a bunch of ostrich feathers— but they ap-
peared to have been lying long on the ground. Between the place
where the Indians had so lately crossed the river and this neigh-
bourhood, though so many miles apart, the country appears to be
quite unfrequented. At first, considering the abundance of the
guanacos, I was surprised at this; but it is explained by the stony
nature of the plains, which would soon disable an unshod horse
from taking part in the chase. Nevertheless, in two places in this
very central region, I found small heaps of stones, which I do not
think could have been accidentally thrown together. They were
placed on points, projecting over the edge of the highest lava cliff,
and they resembled, but on a small scale, those near Port Desire.

Miy 4:th. — Captain Fitz Eoy determined to take the boats no
higher. The river had a winding course, and was very rapid ; and
the appearance of the country offered no temptation to proceed
any further. Everywhere we met with the same productions, and
the same dreary landscape. We were now one hundred and forty
miles distant from the Atlantic, and about sixty from the nearest
arm of the Pacific. The valley in this upper part expanded into a
Avide basin, bounded on the north and south by the basaltic plat-
forms, and fronted by the long range of the snow-clad Cordillera.
But we viewed these grand mountains with regret, for we were
obliged to imagine their nature and'productions, instead of stand-
ing, as we had hoped, on their summits. Besides the useless loss
of time which an attempt to ascend the river any higher would
have cost us, we had already been for some days on half allowance
of bread. This, although really enough for reasonable men, was,
after a hard day's march, rather scanty food : a light stomach and
an easy digestion are good things to talk about, but very unpleasant
in practice.

5th. — Before sunrise we commenced our descent. We shot down
the stream with great rapidity, generally at the rate of ten knots
an hour. In this one day we effected what had cost us five-and-a-
half hard days' labour in ascending. On the 8tb, we reached the
Beagle after our twenty-one days' expedition. Every one, excepting
myself, had cause to be dissatisfied ; but to me the ascent afforded
a most interesting section of the great tertiary formation of
Patagonia.

On March 1st, 1833, and again on March I6>h, 1834, the Beagle

1834.] FALKLAND ISLANDS. 170

anchored in Berkeley Sound, in East Falkland Island. This archi-
pelago is situated in nearly the same latitude with the mouth of
the Strait of Magellan; it covers a space of one hundred and
twenty by sixty geographical miles, and is a little more than half
the size of Ireland. After the possession of these miserable islands
had been contested by France, Spain, and England, they were left
uninhabited. The government of Buenos Ayres then sold them to
a private individual, but likewise used them, as old Spain had done
before, for a penal settlement. England claimed her right and
seized them. The Englishman who was left in charge of the flag
was consequently murdered. A British officer was next sent, un-
supported by any power : and when we arrived, we found him in
charge of a population, of which rather more than half were
runaway rebels and murderers.

The theatre is worthy of the scenes acted on it. An undulating-
laud, with a desolate and wretched aspect, is everywhere covered
by a peaty soil and wiry grass, of one monotonous brown colour.
Here and there a peak or ridge of grey quartz rock breaks through
the smooth surface. Every one has heard of the climate of these
regions ; it may be compared to that which is experienced at the
height of between one and two thousand feet, on the mountains of
North Wales ; having however less sunshine and less frost, but
more wind and rain.*

IQth. — I will now describe a short excursion which I made round
a part of this island. In the morning I started with six horses
and two Gauchos : the latter were capital men for the purpose, and
well accustomed to living on their own resources. The weather
was very boisterous and cold, with heavy hail-stornis. We got on,
however, pretty well, but, except the geology, nothing could be
less interesting than our day's ride. The country is uniformly the
same undulating moorland; the surface being covered by light
brown withered grass and a few very small shrubs, all springing
out of an elastic peaty soil. In the valleys here and there might
l>e seen a small flock of wild geese, and everywhere the ground was

* From accounts published since our voyage, and more especially from
several interesting letters from Capt. Sulivan, K.N., employed on the
survey, it appears that we took an exaggerated view of the badness of the
climate of these islands. But when I reflect on the almost universal
covering of peat, and on the fact of wheat seldom ripening here, I can
hardly believe that the climate in summer is so fine and dry as it has
lately been represented.

ISO FALKLAND ISLANDS. [CHAP, ix-

go soft that the snipe were ablo to feed. Besides these two birds
there were few others. There is one main range of hills, nearly
two thousand feet in height, and composed of quartz rock, the
rugged and barren crests of which gave us some trouble to cross.
On the south side we came to the best country for wild cattle ; we
met, however, no great number, for they had been lately much
harassed.

In the evening we came across a small herd. One of my com-
panions, St. Jago by name, soon separated a fat cow ; he threw the
bolas, and it struck her legs, but failed in becoming entangled.
Then dropping his hat to mark the spot where the balls were left,
Avhile at full gallop, he uncoiled his lazo, and after a most severe
chase, again came up to the cow, and caught her round the horns.
The other Gaucho had gone on ahead with the spare horses, so that
St. Jago had some difficulty in killing the furious beast. He
managed to get her on a level piece of ground, by taking advantage
of her as often as she rushed at him; and when she would not
move, my horse, from having been trained, would canter up, and
•with his chest give her a violent push. But when on level ground
it does not appear an easy job for one man to kill a beast mad with
terror. Nor would it be so, if the horse, when left to itself without
its rider, did not soon learn, for its own safety, to keep the lazo
tight ; so that, if the cow or ox moves forward, the horse moves
just as quickly forward ; otherwise, it stands motionless leaning on
one side. This horse, however,*Vas a young one, and would not
stand still, but gave in to the cow as she struggled. It was admir-
able to see with what dexterity St. Jago dodged behind the beast,
till at last he contrived to give the fatal touch to the main tendon
of the hind leg ; after which, without much difficulty, he drove his
knife into the head of the spinal marrow, and the cow dropped as
if struck by lightning. He cut off pieces of flesh with the skin to
it, but without any bones, sufficient for our expedition. We then
rode on to our sleeping-place, and had for supper ' carne con cuero,'
or meat roasted with the skin on it. This is as superior to common
beef as venison is to mutton. A large circular piece taken from
the back is roasted on the embers with the hide downwards and in
the form of a saucer, so that none of the gravy is lost. If any
worthy alderman had sapped with us that evening, ' carne con
cuero/ without doubt, would soon "have been celebrated in London.

During the night it rained, and the next day (17th) was very

. HAI. TX.] WILD HORSES. 181

stormy, with much hail and snow. AVo rode across the island to
the neck of land which joins the Eincon del Toro (the great
peninsula at the S.W. extremity) to the rest of the island. From
the great number of cows which have been killed, there is a large
proportion of bulls. These wander about single, or two and three
together, and are very savage. I never saw such magnificent
boasts; they equalled in the size of their huge heads and necks
the Grecian marble sculptures. Capt. Sulivan informs me that the
hide of an average-sized bull weighs forty-seven pounds, whereas a
hide of this weight, less thoroughly dried, is considered as a very
heavy one at Monte Video. The young bulls generally run away
for a short distance ; but the old ones do not stir a step, except to
rush at man and horse ; and many horses have been thus killed.
An old bull crossed a boggy stream, and took his stand on the
opposite side to us ; we in vain tried to drive him away, and fail-
ing, were obliged to make a large circuit. The Gauchos in revengo
determined to emasculate him and render him for the future harm-
less. It was very interesting to see how art completely mastered
force. One lazo was thrown over his horns as he rushed at tho
horse, and another round his hind legs : in a minute the monster
was stretched powerless on the g found. After the lazo has once
been drawn tightly round the horns of a furious animal, it does not
at first appear an easy thing to disengage it again without killing
the beast ; nor, I apprehend, would it be so if the man was by him-
self. By the aid, however, of a second person throwing his lazo so
as to catch both hind legs, it is quickly managed : for the animal,
as long as its hind legs are kept outstretched, is quite helpless, and
the first man can with his hands loosen his lazo from the horns,
and then quietly mount his horse; but the moment the second
man, by backing ever so little, relaxes the strain, the lazo slips off
the legs of the struggling beast, which then rises free, shakes
himself, and vainly rushes at his antagonist.

During our whole ride we saw only one troop of wild horses.
These animals, as well as the cattle, were introduced by the French
in 176i, since which time both have greatly increased. It is a
curious fact, that the horses have never left the eastern end of the
island, although there is no natural boundary to prevent them
from roaming, and that part of the island is not more tempting
than the rest. The Gauchos whom I asked, though asserting this
to be the case, were unable to account for it, except from the strong

FALKLAND ISLANDS. [CHAP. ix.

attachment which horses have to any locality to which they are
accustomed. Considering that the island does not appear fully
stocked, and that there are no beasts of prey, I was particularly
curious to know what has checked their originally rapid increase.
That in a limited island some check would sooner or later supervene,
is inevitable ; but why has the increase of the horse been checked
sooner than that of the cattle ? Capt. Sulivan has taken much
pains for me in this inquiry. The Gauchos employed here attribute
it chiefly to the stallions constantly roaming from place to place,
and compelling the rnares to accompany them, whether or not the
young foals are able to follow. One Gaucho told Capt. Sulivan that
he had watched a stallion for a whole hour, violently kicking and
biting a mare till he forced her to leave her foal to its fate. Capt.
Sulivan can so far corroborate this curious accoiint, that he has
several times found young foals dead, whereas he has never found
a dead calf. Moreover, the dead bodies of full-grown horses are
more frequently found, as if more subject to disease or accidents,
than those of the cattle. From the softness of the ground their
hoofs often grow irregularly to a great length, and this causes '
lameness. The predominant colours are roan and iron-grey. All
the horses bred here, both tame and wild, are rather small-sized,
though generally in good condition ; and they have lost so much
strength, that they are unfit to be used in taking wild cattle with
the lazo : in consequence, it is necessary to go to the great expense
of importing fresh horses from the Plata. At some future period
the southern hemisphere probably will have its breed of Falkland
ponies, as the northern has its Shetland breed.

The cattle, instead of having degenerated like the horses, seem,
as before remarked, to have increased in size ; and they are much
more numerous than the horses. Capt. Sulivan informs me that
they vary much less in the general form of their bodies and in the
shape of their horns than English cattle. In colour they differ
much ; and it is a remarkable circumstance, that in different parts
of this one small island, different colours predominate. Bound
Mount Usborne, at a height of from 1000 to 1500 feet above the
sea, about half of some of the herds are mouse or lead-coloured,
a tint which is not common in other parts of the island. Near Port
Pleasant dark brown prevails, whereas south of Choiseul Sound
(which almost divides the island into two parts), white beasts with
black heads and feet are the most common : in all parts black, and

. ix.] WILD RABBITS. 183

some spotted animals may be observed. Capt. Sulivan remarks,
that the difference in the prevailing colours was so obvious, that in
looking for the herds near Port Pleasant, they appeared from a long
distance like black spots, whilst south of Choiseul Sound they
appeared like white spots on the hill-sides. Capt. Sulivan thinks
that the herds do not mingle ; and it is a singular fact, that the
mouse-coloured cattle, though living on the high land, calve about
a month earlier in the season than the other coloured beasts on the
lower land. It is interesting thus to find the once domesticated
cattle breaking into three colours, of which some one colour would
in all probability ultimately prevail over the others, if the herds
were left undisturbed for the next several centuries.

The rabbit is another animal which has been introduced, and
has succeeded very well ; so that they abound over large parts of
the island. Yet, like the horses, they are confined within certain
limits; for they have not crossed the central chain of^iills, nor
would they have extended even so far as its base, if, as the Gauchos
informed me, small colonies had not been carried there. I should
not have supposed that these animals, natives of northern Africa,
could have existed in a climate so humid as this, and which enjoys
so little sunshine that even wheat ripens only occasionally. It is
asserted that in Sweden, which any one would have thought a more
favourable climate, the rabbit cannot live out of doors. The first
few pair, moreover, had here to contend against pre-existing enemies,
in the fox and some large hawks. The French naturalists have
considered the black variety a distinct species, and called it Lepus
Magellanicus.* They imagined that Magellan, when talking of an
animal under the Hame of " conejos " in the Strait of Magellan,
referred to this species ; but he was alluding to a small cavy, which
to this day is tlms called by the Spaniards. The Gauchos laughed
at the idea of the black kind being different from the grey, and
they said that at all events it had not extended its range any further
than the grey kind ; that the two were never found separate ; and
that they readily bred together, and produced piebald offspring.

* Lesson's Zoology of the Voyage of the Coquille, torn. i. p. 168. All
the early voyagers, and especially Bougainville, distinctly state that the
wolf-like fox was the only native animal on the island. The distinction of
the rabbit as a species, is taken from peculiarities in the fur, from the shape
of the head, and from the shortness of the cars. I may here observe that
the difference between the Irish and English hare rests upon nearly similar
characters, only more strongly marked.

184 FALKLAND ISLANDS. [CUAK ix.

Of the latter I now possess a specimen, and it is marked about the
head differently from the French specific description. This cir-
cumstance shows how cautious naturalists should be in making
species ; for even Cuvier, on looking at the skull of one of these
rabbits, thought it was probably distinct !

The only quadruped native to the island * is a large wolf-like fox
(Canis antarcticus), which is common to both East and West Falk-
land. I have no doubt it is a peculiar species, and confined to this
archipelago; because many sealers, Gauchos, and Indians, who
have visited these islands, all maintain that no such animal is
found in any part of South America. Molina, from a similarity in
habits, thought that this was the same with his "culpeu;"f but
I have seen both, and they ara quite distinct. These wolves are
well known, from Byron's account of their tameness and curiosity,
which the sailors, who ran into the water to avoid them, mistook
for fierceness. To this day their manners remain the same. They
have been observed to enter a tent, and actually pull some meat
from beneath the head of a sleeping seaman. The Gauchos also
have frequently in the evening killed them, by holding out a piece
of meat in one hand, and in the other a knife ready to stick them.
As far as I am aware, there is no other instance in any part of the
world, of so small a mass of broken land, distant from a continent,
possessing so large an aboriginal quadruped peculiar to itself.
Their numbers have rapidly decreased; they are already banished
from that half of the island which lies to the eastward of the neck
of land between St. Salvador Bay and Berkeley Sound. Within
a very few years after these islands shall have become regularly
settled, in all probability this fox will be classed with the dodo, as
an animal which has perished from the face of the earth.

At night (17th) we slept on the neck of land at the head of
Choiseul Sound, which forms the south-west peninsula. The
valley was pretty well sheltered from the cold wind; but there
was very little brushwood for fuel. The Gauchos, however, soon
found what, to my great surprise, made nearly as hot a fire as
coals ; this was the skeleton of a bullock lately killed, from which

* I have reason, however, to suspect that there is a field-mouse. The
common European rat and mouse have roamed far from the habitations of
the settlors. The common hog lias also run wild on one islet : all are of a
black colour : the hoars are very fierce, and have great tusks.

t The "culpeu" is the Canis Magellanicus brought home hv Captain
King from the Strait of Magellan. It is common in Chile

CHAP, ix.] ART IX MAKING A FIRE. 185

the flesh Lad been picked by tbc carrion-hawks. They told me
that in winter they often killed a beast, cleaned the flesh from the
bones with their knives, and then with these same bones roasted
the meat for their suppers.

18th. — It rained during nearly the whole day. At night we
managed, however, with our saddle-cloths to keep ourselves pretty
well dry and warm; but the ground on which we slept was on each
occasion nearly in the state of a bog, and there was not a dry spot
to sit down on after our day's ride. I have in another part stated
how singular it is that there should be absolutely no trees on these
islands, although Tierra del Fuego is covered by one large forest.
The largest bush in the island (belonging to the family of Com-
positse) is scarcely so tall as our gorse. The best fuel is afforded
by a green little bush about the size of common heath, which has
the useful property of burning while fresh and green. It was very
surprising to see the Gauchos, in the midst of rain and everything
soaking wet, with nothing more than a tinder-box and piece of rag,
immediately make a fire. They sought beneath the tufts of grass
and bushes for a few dry twigs, and these they rubbed into fibres ;
then surrounding them with coarser twigs, something like a birds'
nest, they put the rag with its spark of fire in the middle and
covered it up. The nest being then held up to the wind, by degrees
it smoked more and more, aud at last burst out in flames. I do not
think any other method would have had a chance of succeeding
with such damp materials.

19th. — Each morning, from not having ridden for some time
previously, I was very stiff. I was surprised to hear the Gauchos,
who have from infancy almost lived on horseback, say that, under
similar circumstances, they always suffer. St. Jago told me, that
having been confined for three months by illness, he went oiit
hunting wild cattle, and in conseqitence, for the next two days, his
thighs were so stiff that he was obliged to lie in bed. This shows
that the Gauchos, although they do not appear to do so, yet
really must exert much muscular effort in riding. The hunting
wild cattle, in a country so difficult to pass as this is on account
of the swampy ground, must be very hard work. The Gauchos
say they often pass at full speed over ground which would be
impassable at a slower pace ; in the same manner as a man is able
to skate over thin ice. When hunting, the party endeavours to
get as close as possible to the herd without being discovered. Each

186 FALKLAND ISLANDS. [CHAP. ix.

man carries four or five pair of the bolas; these he throws one after
the other at as many cattle, which, when once entangled, are left
for some days, till they become a little exhausted by hunger and
struggling. They are then let free and driven towards a small
herd of tame animals, which have been brought to the spot on
purpose. From their previous treatment, being too much terrified
to leave the herd, they are easily driven, if their strength last out,
to the settlement.

The weather continued so very bad that we determined to make
a push, and try to reach the vessel before night. From, the
quantity of rain which had fallen, the surface of the whole country
was swampy. I suppose my horse fell at least a dozen times, and
sometimes the whole six horses were floundering in the mud
together. All the little streams are bordered by soft peat, which
makes it very difficult for the horses to leap them without falling.
To complete our discomforts we were obliged to cross the head of
a creek of the sea, in which the water was as high as our horses'
backs; and the little waves, owing to the violence of the wind,
broke over us, and made us very wet and cold. Even the iron-
framed Gauchos professed themselves glad when they reached the
settlement, after our little excursion.

The geological structure of these islands is in most respects
simple. The lower country consists of clay-slate and sandstone,
containing fossils, very closely related to, but not identical with,
those found in the Silurian formations of Europe ; the hills are
formed of white granular quartz rock. The strata of the latter
are frequently arched with perfect symmetry, and the appearance
of some of the masses is in consequence most singular. Pernety *
has devoted several pages to the description of a Hill of Kuins, the
successive strata of which he has justly compared to the seats of an
amphitheatre. The quartz rock must have been quite pasty when
it underwent such remarkable flexures without being shattered
into fragments. As the quartz insensibly passes into the sand-
stone, it seems probable that the former owes its origin to the
sandstone having been heated to such a degree that it became
viscid, and upon cooling crystallized. While in the soft state it
must have been pushed up through the overlying beds.

In many parts of the island the bottoms of the valleys are
* Pernety, Voyage aux Isles Malouiuc?, p. 52G.

i-iiAi\ ix.] STREAMS OF STONES. 187

covered in an extraordinary manner by myriads of great loose
angular fragments of the quartz rock, forming " streams of stones."
These have been mentioned with surprise by every voyager since
the time of Pernety. The blocks are not waterworn, their angles
being only a little blunted ; they vary in size from one or two feet
in diameter to ten, or even more than twenty times as much.
They are not thrown together into irregular piles, but are spread
out into level sheets or great streams. It is not possible to
ascertain their thickness, but the water of small streamlets can be
heard trickling through the stones many feet below the surface.
The actual depth is probably great, because the crevices between
the lower fragments must long ago have been filled up with sand.
The width of these sheets of stones varies from a few hundred feet
to a mile ; but the peaty soil daily encroaches on the borders, and
even forms islets wherever a few fragments happen to lie close
together. In a valley south of Berkeley Sound, which some of our
party called the " great valley of fragments," it was necessary to
cross an uninterrupted band half a mile wide, by jumping from
one pointed stone to another. So large were the fragments, that
being overtaken by a shower of rain, I readily found shelter
beneath one of them.

Their little inclination is the most remarkable circumstance in
these '" streams of stones." On the hill-sides I have seen them
sloping at an angle of ten degrees with the horizon ; but in some
of the level, broad-bottomed valleys, the inclination is only just
sufficient to be clearly perceived. On so rugged a surface there
waa no means of measuring the angle; but to give a common
illustration, I may say that the slope would not have checked the
speed of an English mail-coach. In some places, a continuous
stream of these fragments followed up the course of a valley, and
even extended to the very crest of the hill. On these crests huge
masses, exceeding in dimensions any small building, seemed to
stand arrested in their headlong course : there, also, the curved
strata of the archways lay piled on each other, like the ruins of
some vast and ancient cathedral. In endeavouring to describe
these scenes of violence one is tempted to pass from one simile to
another. We may imagine that streams of white lava had flowed
from many parts of the mountains into the lower country, and that
when solidified they had been rent by some enormous convulsion
into myriads of fragments. The expression "streams of stones,"

188 FALKLAND ISLANDS. [CHAP. ix.

•which immediately occurred to every one, conveys the same idea.
These scenes are on the spot rendered more striking by the contrast
of the low rounded forms of the neighbouring hills.

I was interested by finding on the highest peak of one range
(about 700 feet above the sea) a great arched fragment, lying on its
convex side, or back downwards. Must we believe that it was
fairly pitched up in the air, and thus turned? Or, with more
probability, that there existed formerly a part of the same range
more elevated than the point on -which this monument of a great
convulsion of nature now lies. As the fragments in the valleys are
neither rounded nor the crevices filled up with sand, we must infer
that the period of violence was subsequent to the land having been
raised above the waters of the sea. In a transverse section within
these valleys, the bottom is nearly level, or rises biit very little
towards either side. Hence the fragments appear to have
travelled from the head of the valley ; but in reality it seems more
probable that they have been hurled down from the nearest slopes ;
and that since, by a vibratory movement of overwhelming force,*
the fragments have been levelled into one continuous sheet. If
during the earthquake f which in 1835 overthrew Concepcion, in
Chile, it was thought wonderful that small bodies should havo
been pitched a few inches from the ground, what must we say to
a movement which has caused fragments many tons in weight, to
move onwards like so much sand on a vibrating board, and find
their level? I have seen, in the Cordillera of the Andes, the
evident marks where stupendous mountains have been broken into
pieces like so nmch thin crust, and the strata thrown on their
vertical edges; but never did any scene, like these "streams of
stones," so forcibly convey to my mind the idea of a convulsion, of
which in historical records we might in vain seek for any counter-
part : yet the progress of knowledge will probably some day give
a simple explanation of this phenomenon, as it already has of the
so long-thought inexplicable transportal of the erratic boulders,
which are strewed over the plains of Europe.

* " Nous n'avons pas etc moins saisis d'e'tonnement a la vile cle 1'innora-
brable quantite cle pierrcs do toutes grandeurs, bouleverse'es les unes sur
les autres, et Dependant rauge'es, comme si ellcs avoient etc araoncele'cs
ne'gligemnient pour remplir des ravins. On ne se lassoit pas d'admirer
les eft'ets prodigieux de la nature."— Pernety, p. 526.

t Au inhabitant of Mendoza, and hence well capable of judging,
assured me that, during the several years he had resided on these islands,
he had never felt the slightest shock of an earthquake.

ix.] HABITS OF SOME BIEDS. 189

I have little to remark on the zoology of these islands. I have
before described the carrion-vulture or Polyborus. There are some
other hawks, owls, and a few small land-birds. The water-fowl
are particularly numerous, and they must formerly, from the
accounts of the old navigators, have been much more so. One
day I observed a cormorant playing with a fish which it had
caught. Eight times successively the bird let its prey go, then
dived after it, and although in deep water, brought it each time
to the surface. In the Zoological Gardens I have seen the otter
treat a fish in the same manner, much as a cat does a mouse : I
do not know of any other instance where dame Nature appears
so wilfully cruel. Another day, having placed myself between a
penguin (Aptenodytes demersa) and the water, I was much amused
by watching its habits. It was a bravo bird ; and till reaching
the sea, it regularly fought and drove me backwards. Nothing
less than heavy blows would have stopped him ; every inch he
gained he firmly kept, standing close before me erect and
determined. When thus opposed he continually rolled his head
from side to side, in a very odd manner, as if the power of distinct
vision lay only in the anterior and basal part of each eye. This
bird is commonly called the jackass penguin, from its habit, while
on shore, of throwing its head backwards, and making a loud
strange noise, very like the braying of an ass; but while at sea,
and undisturbed, its note is very deep and solemn, and is often
heard in the night-time. In diving, its little wings are used as
fins ; but on the land, as front legs. When crawling, it may be
said on four legs, through the tussocks or on the side of a grassy
cliff, it moves so very quickly that it might easily be mistaken for
a quadruped. When at sea and fishing, it comes to the surface for
the purpose of breathing with such a spring, and dives again so
instantaneously, that I defy any one at first sight to be sure that it
was not a fish leaping for sport.

Two kinds of geese frequent the Falklands. The upland species
(Anas Magellauica) is common, in pairs and in small flocks,
throughout the island. They do not migrate, but build on the
small outlying islets. This is supposed to be from fear of the
foxes : and it is perhaps from the same cause that these birds,
though very tame by day, are shy and wild in the dusk of the
evening. They live entirely on vegetable matter. The rock-goose
so called from living exclusively on the sea-beach (Anas antarctica),

190 FALKLAND ISLANDS. [CHAP. is.

is common both here and on the west coast of America, as far north
as Chile. In the deep and retired channels of Tierra del Fuego,
the snow-white gander, invariably accompanied by his darker
consort, and standing close by each other on some distant rocky
point, is a common feature in the landscape.

In these islands a great loggerheaded duck or goose (Anas
brachyptera), which sometimes weighs twenty-two pounds, is
very abundant. These birds were in former days called, from
their extraordinary manner of paddling and splashing upon the
water, race-horses; but now they are named, much more appro-
priately, steamers. Their wings are too small and weak to allow
of flight, but by their aid, partly swimming and partly flapping
the surface of the water, they move very quickly. The manner
is something like that by which the common house-duck escapes
when pursued by a dog ; but I am nearly sure that the steamer
moves its wings alternately, instead of both together, as in other
birds. These clumsy, loggerheaded ducks make such a noise and
splashing, that the effect is exceedingly curious.

Thus we find in South America three birds which use their
wings for other purposes besides flight; the penguin as fins, the
steamer as paddles, and the ostrich as sails : and the Apteryz of
New Zealand, as well as its gigantic extinct prototype the
Deinornis, possess only rudimentary representatives of wings.
The steamer is able to dive only to a very short distance. It feeds
entirely on shell-fish from the kelp and tidal rocks : hence the beak
and head, for the purpose of breaking them, are surprisingly heavy
and strong : the head is so strong that I have scarcely been able to
fracture it with my geological hammer ; and all our sportsmen soon
discovered how tenacious these birds were of life. When in the
evening pluming themselves in a flock, they make the same odd
mixture of sounds which bull-frogs do within the tropics.

In Tierra del Fuego, as well as at the Falkland Islands, I made
many observations on the lower marine animals,* but they are of

* I was surprised to find, on counting the eggs of a large white Doris
(this sea-slug was three and a half inches long), how extraordinarily
numerous they were. From t\vo to five eggs (each three-thousandths of
an inch in diameter) were contained in a spherical little case. These
were arranged two deep in transverse rows forming a ribbon. The ribbon
adhered by its edge to the rock in an oval spire. One which I found,
measured nearly twenty inches in length and half in breadth. By
counting how many balls were contained in a tenth of an inch in the row,

CHAP, ix.] ZOOPHYTES. 191

little general interest. I will mention only one class of facts,
relating to certain zoophytes in the more highly organized division
of that class. Several genera (Flustra, Eschara, Cellaria, Crisia,
and others) agree in having singular moveable organs (like those
of Flustra avicularia, found in the European seas) attached to
their cells. The organ, in the greater number of cases, very
closely resembles the head of a vulture ; but the lower mandible
can be opened much wider than in a real bird's beak. The head
itself possesses considerable powers of movement, by means of a
short neck. In one zoophyte the head itself was fixed, but the
lower jaw free : in another it was replaced by a triangular hood,
with a beautifully-fitted trap-door, which evidently answered to
the lower mandible. In the greater number of species, each cell
was provided with one head, but in others each cell had two.

The young cells at the end of the branches of these corallines
contain quite immature polypi, yet the vulture-heads attached to
them, though small, are in every respect perfect. When the
polypus was removed by a needle from any of the cells, these
organs did not appear in the least affected. When one of the
vulture-like heads was cut off from the cell, the lower mandible
retained its power of opening and closing. Perhaps the most
singular part of their structure is, that when there were more than
two rows of cells on a branch, the central cells were furnished with
these appendages, of only one-fourth the size of the outside ones.
Their movements varied according to the species ; but in some I
never saw the least motion ; while others, with the lower mandible
generally wide open, oscillated backwards and forwards at the rate
of about five seconds each turn ; others moved rapidly and by starts.
When touched with a needle, the beak generally seized the point so
firmly, that the whole branch might be shaken.

These bodies have no relation whatever with the production of
the eggs or gemmules, as they are formed before the young polypi
appear in the cells at the end of the growing branches ; as they
move independently of the polypi, and do not appear to be in any
way connected with them ; and as they differ in size on the outer

and how many rows in an equal length of the ribbon, on the most moderate
computation there were six hundred thousand eggs. Yet this Doris was
certainly not very common : although I was often searching under the
stones, I saw only seven individuals. No fallacy is more common with
naturalists, than that the numbers of an individual species depend on its
powers of propagation.

192 FALKLAND ISLANDS. [CHAI-. ix.

and inner rows of cells, I have little doubt, that in their functions,
they are related rather to the horny axis of the branches than to
the polypi in the cells. The fleshy appendage at the lower
extremity of the sea-pen (described at Bahia Blanca) also forms
part of the zoophyte, as a whole, in the same manner as the roots
of a tree form part of the whole tree, and not of the individual leaf
or flower-buds.

In another elegant little coralline (Crisia?), each cell was fur-
nished with a long-toothed bristle, which had the power of moving
quickly. Each of these bristles and each of the vulture-like heads
generally moved quite independently of the others, but sometimes
all on both sides of a branch, sometimes only those on one side,
moved together coinstantaneously ; sometimes each moved in
regular order one after another. In these actions we apparently
behold as perfect a transmission of will in the zoophyte, though
composed of thousands of distinct polypi, as in any single animal.
The case, indeed, is not different from that of the sea-pens, which,
when touched, drew themselves into the sand on the coast of Bahia
Blanca. I will state one other instance of uniform action, though
of a very different nature, in a zoophyte closely allied to Clytia,
and therefore very simply organized. Having kept a large tuft of
it in a basin of salt-water, when it was dark I found that as often
as I rubbed any part of a branch, the whole became strongly
phosphorescent with a green light : I do not think I ever saw any
object more beautifully so. But the remarkable circumstance was,
that the flashes of light always proceeded up the branches, from
the base towards the extremities.

The examination of these compound animals was always very
interesting to me. What can be more remarkable than to see a
plant-like body producing an egg, capable of swimming about and
of choosing a proper place to adhere to, which then sprouts into
branches, each crowded with innumerable distinct animals, often
of complicated organizations? The branches, moreover, as we
have just seen, sometimes possess organs capable of movement and
independent of the polypi. Surprising as this union of separate
individuals in a common stock must always appear, every tree
displays the same fact, for buds must be considered as individual
plants. It is, however, natural to consider a polypus, furnished
with a mouth, intestines, and other organs, as a distinct individual,
whereas the individuality of a leaf-bud is not easily realised ; so

( IIAP. ix.] COMPOUND ANIMALS. 193

that the union of separate individuals in a common body is more
striking in a coralline than in a tree. Our conception of a com-
pound animal, where in some respects the individuality of each is
not completed, may be aided, by reflecting on the production of
two distinct Creatures by bisecting a single one •with a knife, or
where Nature herself performs the task of bisection. We may
consider the polypi in a zoophyte, or the buds in a tree, as cases
where the division of the individual has not been completely effected.
Certainly in the case of trees, and judging from analogy in that of
corallines, the individuals propagated by buds seem more intimately
related to each other, than eggs or seeds are to their parents. It
seems now pretty well established that plants propagated by buds
all partake of a common duration of life ; and it is familiar to every
one, what singular and numerous peculiarities are transmitted with
certainty, by buds, layers, and grafts, which by seminal propagation
never or only casually reappear.

194: TIERRA DEL FUEGO. [CHAP, x.

CHAPTER X.

Tievra del Fuego, fiist arrival — Good Success Bay —An Account of the
Fucgiaus on board — Interview with the Savages — Scenery of the Forests
— Cape Horn— Wigwam Cove — Miserable Condition of the Savages —
Famines — Cannibals — Matricide — Religions Feelings — Great Gale —
Beagle Channel— Ponsonby Sound — Build Wigwams and settle the
Fuegians — Bifurcation of the Beagle Channel — Glaciers— Return to
the Ship — Second Visit in the Ship to the Settlement — Equality of
Condition amongst the Natives-.

TIERKA DEL FUEGO.

December TTth, 1832. — Having now finished with Patagonia and
the Falkland Islands, I will describe our first arrival in Tierra
del Fuego. A little after noon we doubled Cape St. Diego, and
entered the famous strait of Le Maire. We kept close to the
Fuegian shore, but the outline of the rugged, inhospitable Staten-
land was visible amidst the clouds. In the afternoon we anchored
in the Bay of Good Success. While entering we were saluted in a
manner becoming the inhabitants of this savage land. A group of
Fuegians partly concealed by the entangled forest, were perched
on a wild point overhanging the sea ; and as we passed by, they
sprang up and waving their tattered cloaks sent forth a loud and
sonorous shout. The savages followed the ship, and just before
dark we saw their fire, and again heard their wild cry. The
harbour consists of a fine piece of water half surrounded by low
rounded mountains of clay-slate, which are covered to the water's
edge by one dense gloomy forest. A single glance at the landscape
was sufficient to show me how widely different it was from anything
I had ever beheld. At night it blew a gale of wind, and heavy
squalls from the mountains swept past us. It would have been
a bad time out at sea, and we, as well as others, may call this Good
Success Bay.
In the morning the Captain sent a party to communicate with

CHAP, x.] INTERVIEW WITH THE NATIVES. 195

the Fuegians. When we came within hail, one of the four natives
who were present advanced to receive us, and began to shout most
vehemently, wishing to direct us where to land. When we were on
shore the party looked rather alarmed, but continued talking and
making gestures with great rapidity. It was without exception
the most curious and interesting spectacle I ever beheld : I could
not have believed how wide was the difference between savage and
civilized man : it is greater than between a wild and domesticated
animal, inasmuch as in man there is a greater power of improve-
ment. The chief spokesman was old, and appeared to be the head
of the family ; the three others were powerful young men, about
six feet high. The women and children had been sent away.
These Fuegians are a very different race from the stunted, miserable
wretches farther westward; and they seem closely allied to the
famous Patagonians of the Strait of Magellan. Their only garment
consists of a mantle made of guanaco skin, with the wool outside :
this they wear just thrown over their shoulders, leaving their
persons as often exposed as covered. Their skin is of a dirty
coppery red colour.

The old man had a fillet of white feathers tied round his head,
which partly confined his black, coarse, and entangled hair. His
face was crossed by two broad transverse bars ; one, painted bright
red, reached from ear to car and included the upper lip ; the other,
white like chalk, extended above and parallel to the first, so that
even his eyelids were thus coloured. The other two men were
ornamented by streaks of black powder, made of charcoal. The
party altogether closely resembled the devils which come on the
stage in plays like Der Freischutz.

Their very attitudes were abject, and the expression of their
countenances distrustful, surprised, and startled. After we had
presented them with some scarlet cloth, which they immediately
tied round their necks, they became good friends. This was shown
by the old man patting our breasts, and making a chuckling kind
of noise, as people do when feeding chickens. I walked \\ith the
old man, and this demonstration of friendship was repeated several
times; it was concluded by three hard slaps, which were given me on
the breast and back at the same time. He then bared his bosom
for me to return the compliment, which being done, he seemed
highly pleased. The language of these people, according to our
notions, scarcely deserves to be called articulate. Captain Cook has

196 TIERRA DEL FUEGO. [CHAP. x.

compared it to a man clearing Ins throat, but certainly no European
ever cleared his throat with so many hoarse, guttural, and clicking
sounds.

They are excellent mimics : as often as we coughed or yawned.
or made any odd motion, they immediately imitated us. Some
of our party began to squint and look awry ; but one of the young
Fuegians (whose whole face was painted black, excepting a white
band across his eyes) succeeded in making far more hideous
grimaces. They could repeat with perfect correctness each word
in any sentence we addressed them, and they remembered such
words for some time. Yet we Europeans all know how difficult it
is to distinguish apart the sounds in a foreign language. Which
of us, for instance, could follow an American Indian through a
sentence of more than three words ? All savages appear to possess,
to an uncommon degree, this power of mimicry. I was told,
almost in the same words, of the same ludicrous habit among the
Caffres : the Australians, likewise, have long been notorious for
being able to imitate and describe the gait of any man, so that he
may be recognized. How can this faculty be explained ? is it a
consequence of the more practised habits of perception and keener
senses, common to all men in a savage state, as compared with
those long civilized ?

When a song was struck up by our party, I thought the Fuegians
would have fallen down with astonishment. With equal surprise
they viewed our dancing ; but one of the young men, when asked,
had no objection to a little waltzing. Little accustomed to Euro-
peans as they appeared to be, yet they knew and dreaded our fire-
arms; nothing would tempt them to take a gun in their hands.
They begged for knives, calling them by the Spanish word "cuchilla."
They explained also what they wanted, by acting as if they had a
piece of blubber in their mouth, and then pretending to cut instead
of tear it.

I have not as yet noticed the Fuegians whom we had on board.
During the former voyage of the Adventure and Beagle in 1826 to
1830, Captain Fitz Boy seized on a party of natives, as hostages for
the loss of a boat, which had been stolen, to the great jeopardy of a
party employed on the survey ; and some of these natives, as well
as a child whom he bought for a pearl-button, he took with him to
England, determining to educate them and instruct them in religion
at his own expense. To settle these natives in their own country,

CHAP, x.] FUEGIANS ON BOARD. 197

was one chief .inducement to Captain Fitz Roy to undertake our
present voyage; and before the Admiralty had resolved to send out
this expedition, Captain Fitz Eoy had generously chartered a vessel,
and would himself have taken them back. The natives were
accompanied by a missionary, R. Matthews; of whom and of the
natives, Captain Fitz Roy has published a full and excellent account.
Two men, one of whom died in England of the small-pox, a boy and
a little girl, were originally taken; and we had now on board, York
Minster, Jemmy Button (whose name expresses his purchase-
money), and Fuegia Basket. York Minster was a full-grown, short,
thick, powerful man : his disposition was reserved, taciturn, morose,
and when excited violently passionate; his affections were very
strong towards a few friends on board ! his intellect good. Jemmy
Button was a universal favourite, but likewise passionate ; the
expression of his face at once showed his nice disposition. He was
merry and often laughed, and was remarkably sympathetic with
any one in pain : when the water was rough, I was often a little sea-
sick, and he used to come to me and say in a plaintive voice,
" Poor, poor fellow ! " but the notion, after his aquatic life, of a
man being sea-sick, was too ludicrous, and he was generally obliged
to turn on one side to hide a smile or laugh, and then he would
repeat his " Poor, poor fellow ! " He was of a patriotic disposition ;
and he liked to praise his own tribe and country, in which he truly
said there were "plenty of trees,'' and he abused all the other
tribes: he stoutly declared that there was no Devil in his land.
Jemmy was short, thick, and fat, but vain of his personal appear-
ance ; he used always to wear gloves, his hair was neatly cut, and
he was distressed if his well-polished shoes were dirtied. He was
fond of admiring himself in a looking glass; and a merry-faced
little Indian boy from the Rio Negro, whom we had for some
months on board, soon perceived this, and used to mock him :
Jemmy, who was always rather jealous of the attention paid to this
little boy, did not at all like this, and used to say, with rather a
contemptuous twist of his head, " Too much skylark." It seems
yet wonderful to me, when I think over all his many goad qualities,
that he should have been of the same race, and doubtless partaken
of the same character, with the miserable, degraded savages whom
we first met here. Lastly, Fuegia Basket was a nice, modest,
reserved young girl, with a rather pleasing but sometimes sullen
expression, and very quick in learning anything, especially

198 TIERRA DEL FUEGO. [CHAP. x.

languages, ^his she showed in picking tip some Portuguese and
Spanish, Avhen left on shore for only a short time at Rio de Janeiro
and Monte Video, and in her knowledge of English. York Minster
was very jealous of any attention paid to her ; for it was clear he
determined to marry her as soon as they were settled on shore.

Although all three could both speak and understand a good
deal of English, it was singularly difficult to obtain much in-
formation from them, concerning the habits of their countrymen :
this was partly owing to their apparent difficulty in understanding
the simplest alternative. Every one accustomed to very younjj
children, knows how seldom one can get an answer even to so
simple a question as whether a thing is black or white ; the idea
of black or white seems alternately to fill their minds. So it was
with these Fuegians, and hence it was generally impossible to find
out, by cross-questioning, whether one had rightly understood
anything which they had asserted. Their sight was remarkably
acute : it is well known that sailors, from long practice, can make
out a distant object much better than a landsman ; but both York
and Jemmy were much superior to any sailor on board : several
times they have declared what some distant object has been, and
though doubted by every one, they have proved right, when it has
been examined through a telescope. They were quite conscious of
this power; and Jemmy, whe'n he had any little quarrel with the
officer on watch, would say, " Me see ship, me no tell."

It was interesting to watch the conduct of the savages, when
we landed, towards Jemmy Button : they immediately perceived
the difference between him and ourselves, and held much con-
versation one with another on the subject. The old man addressed
a long harangue to Jemmy, which it seems was to invite him to
stay with them. But Jemmy understood very little of their lan-
guage, and was, moreover, thoroughly ashamed of his countrymen.
When York Minster afterwards cance on shore, they noticed him
in the same way, and told him he ought to shave; yet he had not
twenty dwarf hairs on his face, whilst we all wore our untrimmed
beards. They examined the colour of his skin, and compared it
with ours. One of our arms being bared, they expressed the live-
liest surprise and admiration at its whiteness, just in the same way
in which I have seen the ourang-outang do at the Zoological Gar-
dens. We thought that they mistook two or three of the officers,
who were rather shorter and fairer, though adorned with large

CHAP, x.] SCENERY OF THE MOUNTAINS. 199

beards, for the ladies of our party. The tallest amongst the Fucgians
was evidently much pleased at his height being noticed. When
placed back to back with the tallest of the boat's crew, he tried his
best to edge on higher ground, and to stand on tiptoe. He opened
his mouth to show his teeth, and turned his face for a side view;
and all this was done with such alacrity, that I dare say he thought
himself the handsomest man in Tierra del Fuego. After our first
feeling of grave astonishment was over, nothing could be more
ludicrous than the odd mixture of surprise and imitation which
these savages every moment exhibited.

The next day I attempted to penetrate gome way into the
country. Tierra del Fuego may be described as a mountainous
land, partly submerged in the sea, so that deep inlets and bays
occupy the place where valleys should exist. The mountain sides,
except on the exposed western coast, are covered from the water's
edge upwards by one great forest. The trees reach to an elevation
of between 1000 and 1500 feet, and are succeeded by a band of
peat, with minute alpine plants ; and this again is succeeded by the
line of perpetual snow, which, according to Captain King, in the
Strait of Magellan descends to between 3000 and 4000 feet. To
find an acre of level land in any part of the country is most rare. I
recollect only one little flat piece near Port Famine, and another of
rather larger extent near Goeree Road. In both places, and
everywhere else, the surface is covered by a thick bed of swampy
peat. Even within the forest, the ground is concealed by a nmss
of slowly putrefying vegetable matter, which, from being soaked
with water, yields to the foot.

Finding it nearly hopeless to push my way through the wood,
I followed the course of a mountain torrent. At first, from the
waterfalls and number of dead trees, I could hardly crawl along ;
but the bed of the stream soon became a little more open, from
the floods having swept the sides. I continued slowly to advance
for an hour along the broken and rocky banks, and was amply
repaid by the grandeur of the scene. The gloomy depth of the
ravine well accorded with the universal signs of violence. On
every side were lying irregular masses of rock and torn-up trees ;
other trees, though still erect, were decayed to the heart and ready
to fall. The entangled mass of the thriving and the fallen reminded
me of the forests within the tropics — yet there was a difference :

200 TIERRA DEL FUEGO. [CHAP. x.

for in these still solitudes, Death, instead of Life, seemed the pre-
dominant spirit. I followed the watercourse till I came to a spot,
•where a great slip had cleared a straight space down the mountain
side. By this road I ascended to a considerable elevation, and
obtained a good view of the surrounding woods. The trees all
belong to one kind, the Fagus betuloides ; for the number of the
other species of Fagus and of the Winter's Bark, is quite incon-
siderable. This beech keeps its leaves throughout the year ; but
its foliage is of a peculiar brownish-green colour, with a tinge of
yellow. As the whole landscape is thus coloured, it has a sombre,
dull appearance ; nor is it often enlivened by the rays of the sun.

December ZQtk. — One side of the harbour is formed by a hill about
1500 feet high, which Captain Fitz Koy has called after Sir J. Banks,
in commemoration of his disastrous excursion, which proved fatal
to two men of his party, and nearly so to Dr. Solander. The snow-
storm, which was the cause of their misfortune, happened in the
middle of January, corresponding to our July, and in the latitude
of Durham! I was anxious to reach the summit of this moun-
tain to collect alpine plants ; for flowers of any kind in the lower
parts are few in number. We followed the same watercourse as on
the previous day, till it dwindled away, and we were then compelled
to crawl blindly among the trees. These, from the effects of the
elevation and of the impetuous winds, were low, thick, and crooked.
At length we reached that which from a distance appeared like a
carpet of fine green turf, but which, to our vexation, turned out to
be a compact mass of little beech-trees about four or five feet high.
They were as thick together. as box in the border of a garden, and
we were obliged to struggle over the flat but treacherous surface.
After a little more trouble we gained the peat, and then the baro
slate rock.

A ridge connected this hill with another, distant some miles,
and more lofty, so that patches of snow were lying on it. As the
day was not far advanced, I determined to walk there and collect
plants along the road. It would have been very hard work, had it
not been for a well-beaten and straight path made by the guanacos;
for these animals, like sheep, always follow the same line. When
we reached the hill we found it the highest in the immediate
neighbourhood, and the waters flowed to the sea in opposite direc-
tions. We obtained a wide view over the surrounding country : to
the north a swampy moorland extended, but to the south we had a

CHAP, x.] CAPE HORN. 201

scene of savage magnificence, well becoming Tierra del Fuego.
There was a degree of mysterious grandeur in mountain behind
mountain, with the deep intervening valleys, all covered by one
thick, dusky mass of forest. The atmosphere, likewise, in this
climate, where gale succeeds gale, with rain, hail, and sleet, seems
blacker than anysvhere else. In the Strait of Magellan, looking
due southward from Port Famine, the distant channels between
the mountains appeared from their gloominess to lead beyond the
confines of this world.

December 1\st. — The Beagle got under way : and on the succeed-
ing day, favoured to an uncommon degree by a fine easterly breeze,
we closed in with the Barnevelts, and running past Cape Deceit
with its stony peaks, about three o'clock doubled the weather-
beaten Cape Horn. The evening was calm and bright, and we
enjoyed a fine view of the surrounding isles. Cape Horn, how-
ever, demanded his tribute, and before night sent us a gale of
wind directly in our teeth. We stood out to sea, and on the
second day again made the land, when we saw on our weather-bow
this notorious promontory in its proper form — veiled in a mist,
and its dim outline surrounded by a storm of wind and water.
Great black clouds were rolling across the heavens, and squalls of
rain, with hail, swept by us with such extreme violence, that the
Captain determined to run into Wigwam Cove. This is a snug
little harbour, not far from Cape Horn ; and here, at Christmas-
eve, we anchored in smooth water. The only thing which reminded
us of the gale outside, was every now and then a puff from the
mountains, which made the ship surge at her anchors.

December 25<A.— Close by the Cove, a pointed hill, called Kater's
Peak, rises to the height of 1700 feet. The surrounding islands all
consist of conical masses of greenstone, associated sometimes with
less regular hills of baked and altered clay-slate. This part of Tierra
del Fuego may be considered as the extremity of the submerged chain
of mountains already alluded to. The cove takes its name of " Wig-
wam " from some of the Fuegian habitations; but every bay in the
neighbourhood might be so called with equal propriety. The in-
habitants, living chiefly upon shell-fish, are obliged constantly to
change their place of residence; but they return at intervals to the
same spots, as is evident from, the piles of old shells, which must
often amount to many tons in weight. These heaps can be distin-
guished at a long distance by the bright green colour of certain

202 TIEKBA DEL FUEGO. [CHAP. x.

plants, which invariably grow on them. Among these may be
enumerated the wild celery and scurvy grass, two very serviceable
plants, the use of which has not been discovered by the natives.

The Fuegian wigwam resembles, in size and dimensions, a hay-
cock. It merely consists of a few broken branches stuck in the
ground, and very imperfectly thatched on one side with a few tufts
of grass and rushes. The whole cannot ba the work of an hour,
and it is only used for a few days. At Goeree Koads I saw a place
where one of these naked men had slept, which absolutely offered
no more cover than the form of a hare. The man was evidently
living by himself, and York Minster said he was " very bad man,"
and that probably he had stolen something. On the west coast,
however, the wigwams are rather better, for they are covered with
seal-skins. We were detained here several days by the bad weather.
The climate is certainly wretched : the summer solstice was now
passed, yet every day snow fell on the hills, and in the valleys
there was rain, accompanied by sleet. The thermometer generally
stood about 45°, but in the night fell to 38° or 40°. From the
damp and boisterous state of the atmosphere, not cheered by a
gleam of sunshine, one fancied the climate even worse than it
really was.

While going one day on shore near Wollaston Island, we pulled
alongside a canoe with six Fuegiaus. These were the most abject
and miserable creatures I anywhere beheld. On the cast coast the
natives, as we have seen, have guanaco cloaks, and on the west they
possess seal-skins. Amongst these central tribes the men generally
have an otter-skin, or some small scrap about as large as a pocket-
handkerchief, which is barely sufficient to cover their backs as low
down as their loins. It is laced across the breast by strings, and
according as the wind blows, it is shifted from side to side. But
these Fuegians in the canoe were quite naked, and even one full-
grown woman was absolutely so. It was raining heavily, and the
fresh water, together with the spray, trickled down her body. In
another harbour not far distant, a woman, who was suckling a
recently-born child, came one day alongside the vessel, and remained
there out of mere curiosity, whilst the sleet fell and thawed on her
naked bosom, and on the skin of her naked baby ! These poor
wretches were stunted in their growth, their hideous faces bedaubed
with white paint, their skins filthy and greasy, their hair entangled,
their voices discordant, and their gestures violent. Viewing such

CHAP, x ] WRETCHED STATE OF THE NATIVES. 203

men, one can hardly make one's self believe that they are fellow-
creatures, and inhabitants of the same world. It is a common
subject of conjecture what pleasure in life some of the lower animals
can enjoy : how much more reasonably the same question may be
asked with respect to these barbarians ! A t night, five or six human
beings, naked and scarcely protected from the wind and rain of
this tempestuous climate, sleep on the wet ground coiled up like
animals. Whenever it is low water, winter or summer, night or
day, they must rise to pick shell-fish from the rocks; and the
women either dive to collect sea-eggs, or sit patiently in their
canoes, and with a baited hair-line without any hook, jerk out
little fish. If a seal is killed, or the floating carcass of a putrid
whale discovered, it is a feast ; and such miserable food is assisted
by a few tasteless berries and fungi.

They often suffer from famine: I heard Mr. Low, a sealing-
master intimately acquainted with the natives of this country, give
a curious account of the state of a party of one hundred and fifty
natives on the west coast, who were very thin and in great distress.
A succession of gales prevented the women from getting shell-fish
on the rocks, and they could not go out in their canoes to catch
seal. A small party of these men one morning set out, and the
other Indians explained to him, that they were going a four days'
journey for food : on their return, Low went to meet them, and he
found them excessively tired, each man carrying a great square piece
of putrid whale's-blubber with a hole in the middle, through which
they put their heads, like the Gauchos do through their ponchos
or cloaks. As soon as the blubber was brought into a wigwam, an
old man cut off thin slices, and muttering over them, broiled them
for a minute, and distributed them to the famished party, who
during this time preserved a profound silence. Mr. Low believes
that whenever a whale is cast on shore, the natives bury large
pieces of it in the sand, as a resource in time of famine ; and a
native boy, whom he had on board, once found a stock thus buried.
The different tribes when at war are cannibals. From the con-
current, but quite independent evidence of the boy taken by Mr.
Low, and of Jemmy Button, it is certainly true, that when pressed
in winter by hunger, they kill and devour their old women before
they kill their dogs : the boy, being asked by Mr. Low why they
did this, answered, " Doggies catch otters, old women no." This
boy described the manner in which they are killed by being held

204 TIERRA. DEL FUEGO. [CHAP. x.

over smoke and thus choked ; he imitated their screams as a joke,
and described the parts of their bodies which are considered best
to eat. Horrid as sudi a death by the hands of their friends and
relatives must be, the fears of the old women, when hunger begins
to press, are more painful to think of; we are told that they then
often run away into the mountains, but that they are pursued by
the men and brought back to the slaughter-house at their own
firesides!

Captain Fitz Roy could never ascertain that the Fuegians have
any distinct belief in a future life. They sometimes bury their
dead in caves, and sometimes in the mountain forests ; we do not
know what ceremonies they perform. Jemmy Button would not
eat land-birds, because "eat dead men:" they are unwilling even
to mention their dead friends. We have no reason to believe
that they perform any sort of religious worship ; though perhaps
the muttering of the 'old man before he distributed the putrid
blubber to his famished party, may be of this nature. Each family
or tribe has a wizard or conjuring doctor, whose office we could
never clearly ascertain. Jemmy believed in dreams, though not, as
I have said, in the devil : I do not think that our Fuegians were
much more superstitious than some of the sailors; for an old
quartermaster firmly believed that the successive heavy gales,
which we encountered off Cape Horn, were caused by our having
the Fuegians on board. The nearest approach to a religious feeding
which I heard of, was shown by York Minster, who, when Mr.
Bynoe shot some very young ducklings as specimens, declared in the
most solemn manner, " Oh, Mr. Bynoe, much rain, snow, blow
much." This was evidently a retributive punishment for wasting
human food. In a wild and excited manner he also related, that
his brother, one day whilst returning to pick up some dead birds
which he had left on the coast, observed some feathers blown by
the wind. His brother said (York imitating his manner), " What
that? "and crawling onwards, he peeped over the cliff, and saw
" wild man " picking his birds ; he crawled a little nearer, and then
hurled down a great stone and killed him. York declared for a
long time afterwards storms raged, and much rain and snow fell.
As far as we could make out, lie seemed to consider the elements
themselves as the avenging agents : it is evident in this case, how
naturally, in a race a little more advanced in culture, the elements
would become personified. " What the " bad wild men " were, has

CHAP, x.] ItELIGION OF THE FUEGIANS. 205

always appeared to me most mysterious : from what York said,
when we found the place like the form of a hare, where a single man
had slept the night before, I should have thought that they were
thieves who had been driven from their tribes; but other obscure
speeches made me doubt this; I have sometimes imagined that the
most probable explanation was that they were insane.

The different tribes have no government or chief; yet each is
surrounded by other hostile tribes, speaking different dialects, and
separated from each other only by a deserted border or neutral terri-
tory : the cause of their warfare appears to be the means of subsist-
ence. Their country is a broken mass of wild rocks, lofty hills, and
useless forests: and these are viewed through mists and endless
storms. The habitable land is reduced to the stones on the beach ; in
search of food they are compelled unceasingly to wander from spot to
spot, and so steep is the coast, that they can only move about in their
wretched canoes. They cannot know the feeling of having a home,
and still less that of domestic affection ; for the husband is to the
wife a brutal master to a laborious slave. Was a more horrid
deed ever perpetrated, than that witnessed on the west coast by
Byron, who saw a wretched mother pick up her bleeding dying
infant-boy, whom her husband had mercilessly dashed on the stones
for dropping a basket of sea-eggs! How little can the higher
powers of the mind be brought into play : what is there for imagi-
nation to picture, for reason to compare, for judgment to decide
upon ? to knock a limpet from the rock does not require even
cunning, that lowest power of the mind. Their skill in some re-
spects may be compared to the instinct of animals ; for it is not
improved by experience : the canoe, their most ingenious work,
poor as it is, has remained the same, as we know from Drake, for
the last two hundred and fifty years.

Whilst beholding these savages, one asks, whence have they
come ? What could have tempted, or what change compelled a
tribe of men, to leave the fine regions of the north, to travel down
the Cordillera or backbone of America, to invent and build canoes,
which are not used by the tribes of Chile, Peru, and Brazil, and
then to enter on one of the most inhospitable countries within the
limits of the globe ? Although such reflections must at first seize on
the mind, yet we may feel sure that they are partly erroneous. There
is no reason to believe that the Fucgians decrease in number ;
therefore we must suppose that they enjoy a sufficient share of

206 TIERRA DEL FUEGO. [CHAP. x.

happiness, of whatever kind it may be, to render life worth having.
Nature by making habit omnipotent, and its effects hereditary, has
fitted the Fuegian to the climate and the productions of his miserable
country.

After having been detained six days in Wigwam Cove by very
bad weather, we put to sea on the 30th of December. Captain
Fitz Eoy wished to get westward to land York and Fuegia in their
own country. When at sea we had a constant succession of gales,
and the current was against us : we drifted to 57° 23' south. On
the llth of January, 1833, by carrying a press of sail, we fetched
within a few miles of the great rugged mountain of York Minster
(so called by Captain Cook, and the origin of the name of the elder
Fuegian), when a violent squall compelled us to shorten sail and
stand out to sea. The surf was breaking fearfully on the coast,
and the spray was carried over a cliff estimated at 200 feet in
height. On the 12th the gale was very heavy, and we did not
know exactly where we were : it was a most unpleasant sound to
hear constantly repeated, " keep a good look-out to leeward." On
the 13th the storm raged with its full fury : our horizon was narrowly
limited by the sheets of spray borne by the wind. The sea looked
ominous, like a dreary waving plain with patches of drifted snow :
whilst the ship laboured heavily, the albatross glided with its ex-
panded wings right up the wind. At noon a great sea broke over
us, and filled one of the whale-boats, which was obliged to be
instantly cut away. The poor Beagle trembled at the shock, and
for a few minutes would not o^oey her helm; but soon, like a good
ship that she was, she righted and came up to the wind again.
Had another sea followed the first, our fate would have been de-
cided soon, and for ever. We had now been twenty-four days
trying in vain ta get westward ; the men were worn out with
fatigue, and they had not had for many nights or days a dry thing
to put on. Captain Fitz Roy gave up the attempt to get westward
by the outside coast. In the evening we ran in behind False Capo
Horn, and dropped our anchor in forty-seven fathoms, fire flashing
from the windlass as the chain rushed round it. How delightful
was that still night, after having been so long involved in the din
of the warring elements !

January 15th, 1833.— The Beagle anchored in Goeree Roads.
Captain Fitz Roy having resolved to settle the Fuegians, according

( IIAI-. x.] THE BEAGLE CHANNEL. 207

to their wishes, in Ponsonby Sound, four boats were equipped to
cany them there through, the Beagle Channel. This channel,
which was discovered by Captain Fitz Eoy during the last voyage,
is a most remarkable feature in the geography of this, or indeed
of any other country : it may be compared to the valley of Loch-
ness in Scotland, with its chain of lakes and friths. It is about
one hundred arid twenty miles long, with an average breadth, not
subject to any very great variation, of about two miles ; and is
throughout the greater part so perfectly straight, that the view,
bounded on each side by a line of mountains, gradually becomes
indistinct in the long distance. It crosses the southern part of
Tierra del Fuego in an east and west line, and in the middle is
joined at right angles on the south side by an irregular channel,
which has been called Ponsonby Sound. This is the residence of
Jemmy Button's tribe and family.

\§th. — Three whale-boats and the yawl, with a party of twenty-
eight, started under the command of Captain Fitz lioy. . In the
afternoon we entered the eastern mouth of the channel, and shortly
afterwards found a snug little cove concealed by some surrounding
islets. Here we pitched our tents and lighted our fires. Nothing
could look more comfortable than this scene. The glassy water of
the little harbour, with the branches of the trees hanging over the
rocky beach, the boats at anchor, the tents supported by the crossed
oars, and the smoke curling up the wooded valley, formed a picture
of quiet retirement. The next day (20th) we smoothly glided
onwards in our little fleet, and came to a more inhabited district.
Few if any of these natives could ever have seen a white man ;
certainly nothing could exceed their astonishment at the apparition
of the four boats. Fires were lighted on every point (hence the
name of Tierra del Fuego, or the land of fire), both to attract our
attention and to spread far and wide the news. Some of the men
ran for miles along the shore. I shall never forget how wild and
savage one group appeared : suddenly four or five men came to
the edge of an overhanging cliff; they were absolutely naked,
and their long hair streamed about their faces; they held rugged
staffs in their hands, and, springing from the ground, they waved
their arms round their heads, and sent forth the most hideous
yells.

At dinner-time we landed among a party of Fuegians. At first
they were not inclined to be friendly ; for until the Captain pulled

208 TIERRA DEL FUEGO. [CHAP. x.

in a-head of the other boats, they kept their slings in their hands.
We soon, however, delighted them by trifling presents, such as
tying red tape round their heads. They liked our biscuit : but
one of the savages touched with his finger some of the meat pre-
served in tin cases which I was eating, and feeling it soft and cold,
showed as much disgust at it, as I should have done at putrid
blubber. Jemmy was thoroughly ashamed of his countrymen, and
declared his own tribe were quite different, in which lie was wofully
mistaken. It was as easy to please as it was difficult to satisfy
these savages. Young and old, men and children, never ceased
repeating the word " yammerschooner," which means "give me."
After pointing to almost every object, one after the other, even to
the buttons on our coats, and saying their favourite word in as
many intonations as possible, they would then use it in a neuter
sense, and vacantly repeat "yammerschooner." After yammer-
schoonering for any article very eagerly, they would by a simple
artifice point to their young women or little children, as much
as to say, " If you will not give it me, surely you will to such as
these."

At night we endeavoured in vain to find an uninhabited cove ;
and at last were obliged to bivouac not far from a party of natives.
They were very inoffensive as long as they were few in numbers,
but in the morning (21st) being joined by others they showed
symptoms of hostility, and we thought that we should have come
to a skirmish. An European labours under great disadvantages
when treating with savages like these, who have not the least idea
of the power of fire-arms. In the very act of levelling his musket
he appears to the savage far inferior to a man armed with a bow
and arrow, a spear, or even a sling. Nor is it easy to teach them
our superiority except by striking a fatal blow. Like wild beasts,
they do not appear to compare numbers; for each individual, if
attacked, instead of retiring, will endeavour to dash your brains
out with a stone, as certainly as a tiger under similar circumstances
would tear you. Captain Fitz Roy on one occasion being very
anxious, from good reasons, to frighten away a small party, first
flourished a cutlass near them, at which they only laughed; he then
twice fired his pistol close to a native. The man both times looked
astounded, and carefully but quickly rubbed his head; he then
stared awhile, and gabbled to his companions, but he never seemed
to think of running away. We can hardly put ourselves in the

CHAP, x.] ASTONISHMENT OF NATIVES AT FIRE-ARMS. 209

position of these savages, and understand their actions. In the
case of this Fuegian, the possibility of such a sound as the report
of a guu close to his ear could never have entered his mind. He
perhaps literally did not far a second know whether it was a sound
or a blow, and therefore very naturally rubbed his head. In a
similar manner, when a savage sees a mark struck by a bullet, it
may be some time before he is able at all to understand how it is
effected ; for the fact of a body being invisible from its velocity
would perhaps be to him an idea totally inconceivable. Moreover,
the extreme force of a bullet, that penetrates a hard substance
without tearing it, may convince the savage that it has no force at
all. Certainly I believe that many savages of the lowest grade,
such as these of Tierra del Fuego, have seen objects struck, and
even small animals killed by the musket, without being in the least
aware how deadly an instrument it is.

22nc?. — After having passed an unmolested night, in what would
appear to be neutral territory between Jemmy's tribe and the
people whom we saw yesterday, we sailed pleasantly along. I do
not know anything which shows more clearly the hostile state of
the different tribes, than these -wide border or neutral tracts.
Although Jemmy Button well knew the force of our party, he was,
at first, unwilling to land amidst the hostile tribe nearest to his
own. He often told us how the savage Oens men " when the leaf
red," crossed the mountains from the eastern coast of Tierra del
Fuego, and made inroads on the natives of this part of the country.
It was most curious to watch him when thus talking, and see his
eyes gleaming and his whole face assume a new and wild expression.
As we proceeded along the Beagle Channel, the scenery assumed
a peculiar and very magnificent character ; but the effect was much
lessened from the lowness of the point of view in a boat, and from
looking along the valley, and thus losing all the beauty of a
succession of ridges. The mountains were here about three thousand
feet high, and terminated in sharp and jagged points. They rose
in one unbroken sweep from the water's edge, and were covered to
the height of fourteen or fifteen hundred feet by the dusky-coloured
forest. It was most curious to observe, as far as the eye could
range, how level and truly horizontal the lineoa the mountain side
was, at which trees ceased to grow : it precisely resembled the high-
water mark of drift-weed on a sea-beach.

At night we slept close to the junction of Ponsonby Sound with

210 TIERRA DEL FUEGO. [CHAP. x.

the Beagle Channel. A small family of Fuegians, who were living
in the cove, were quiet and inoffensive, and soon joined our party
round a blazing fire. We were well clothed, and though sitting
close to the fire were far from too warm ; yet these naked savages,
though further off, were observed, to our great surprise, to be
streaming with perspiration at undergoing such a roasting. They
seemed, however, very well pleased, and all joined in the chorus of
the seamen's songs : but the manner in which they were invariably
a little behindhand was quite ludicrous.

During the night the news had spread, and early in the morn-
ing (23rd) a fresh party arrived, belonging to the Tekenika, or
Jemmy's tribe. Several of them had run so fast that their noses
were bleeding, and their mouths frothed from the rapidity with
•which they talked; and with their naked bodies all dedaubed with
black, white,* and red, they looked like so many demoniacs who
had been fighting. We then proceeded (accompanied by twelve
canoes, each holding four or five people) down Ponsonby Sound to
the spot where poor Jemmy expected to find his mother and
relatives. He had already heard that his father was dead ; but
tw he had had a " dream in his head " to that effect, he did not
seem to care much about it, and repeatedly comforted himself with
the very natural reflection—" Me no help it." He was not able to
learn any particulars regarding his father's death, as his relations
would not speak about it.

Jemmy was now in a district well known to him, and guided
the boats to a quiet pretty cove named Woollya, surrounded by
islets, every one of which and every point had its proper native
name. We found here a family of Jemmy's tribe, but not his
relations : we made friends with them ; and in the evening they
sent a canoe to inform Jemmy's mother and brothers. The cove
was bordered by some acres of good sloping land, not covered (as

* This substance, when dry, is tolerably compact, and of little specific
gravity : Professor Ehrenberg has examined it : he states (Konig Akad.
der Wissun : Berlin, Feb. 1845) that it is composed of infusoria, including
fourteen polyuaslrica. and four phytolitliaria. He pays that they are all
inhabitants of fresh-water; this is a beautiful example of the results
obtainable through Professor Ehrenberg' s microscopic researches; for
Jemmy Button told me that it is always collected at the bottoms of moun-
tain-brooks. It is, moreover, a striking fact in the geographical distribu-
tion of the infusoriii, which are well known to have very wide ranges, that
all the species in this substance, although brought from the extreme
southern point of Tierra del Fucgo, are old, known forms.

CHAP, x.] SETTLEMENT AT \VOOLL YA. 211

elsewhere) cither by peat or by forest-trees. Captain Fitz Roy
originally intended, as before stated, to have taken York Minster
and Fuegia to their own tribe on the west coast; but as they
expressed a wish to remain here, and as the spot was singularly
favourable, Captain Fitz Roy determined to settle here the whole
party, including Matthews, the missionary. Five days were spent
in building for them three large wigwams, in landing their goods,
in digging two gardens, and sowing seeds.

The next morning after our arrival (the 24th) the Fuegians
began to pour in, and Jemmy's mother and brothers arrived.
Jemmy recognised the stentorian voice of one of his brothers at a
prodigious distance. The meeting was less interesting than that
between a horse, turned out into a field, when he joins an old com-
panion. There was no demonstration of affection; they simply
stared for a short time at each other ; and the mother immediately
went to look after her canoe. We heard, however, through York
that the mother has been inconsolable for the loss of Jemmy, and
had searched everywhere for him, thinking that he might have
been left after having been taken in the boat. The women took
much notice of and were very kind to Fuegia. We had already
perceived that Jemmy had almost forgotten his own language. I
should think there was scarcely another human being with so
small a stock of language, for his English was very imperfect. It
was laughable, but almost pitiable, to hear him speak to his wild
brother in English, and then ask him in Spanish ("no sabe?")
whether he did not understand him.

Everything went on peaceably during the three next days, whilst
the gardens were digging and wigwams building. We estimated
the number of natives at about one hundred and twenty. The
women worked hard, whilst the men lounged about all day long,
watching us. They asked for everything they saw, and stole what
they could. They were delighted at our dancing and singing, and
•were particularly interested at seeing us wash in a neighbouring
brook ; they did not pay much attention to anything else, not even
to our boats. Of all the things which York saw, during his
absence from his country, nothing seems more to have astonished
him than an ostrich, near Maldonado : breathless with astonish-
ment, he came running to Mr. Bynoe, with whom he was out
walking — " Oh, Mr. Bynoe, oh, bird all same horse ! " Much as
our white skins surprised the natives, by Mr. Low's account a

212 TIERRA DEL FUEGO. [CHAP. x.

negro-cook to a sealing vessel, did so more effectually ; and the
poor fellow was so mobbed and shouted at that he would never go
on shore again. Everything went on so quietly, that some of the
officers and myself took long walks in the surrounding hills and
woods. Suddenly, however, on the 27th, every woman and child
disappeared. We were all uneasy at this, as neither York nor
Jemmy could make out the cause. It was thought by some that
they had been frightened by our cleaning and firing off our
muskets on the previous evening; by others, that it was owing to
offence taken by an old savage, who, when told to keep further off,
had coolly spit in the sentry's face, and had then, by gestures acted
over a sleeping Fuegian, plainly showed, as it was said, that he
should like to cut up and eat our man. Captain Fitz Eoy, to
avoid the chance of an encounter, which would have been fatal to
so many of the Fuegians, thought it advisable for us to sleep at a
cove a few miles distant. Matthews, with his usual quiet fortitude
(remarkable in a man apparently possessing little energy of
character), determined to stay with the Fuegians, who evinced no
alarm for themselves ; and so we left them to pass their first awful
night.

On our return in the morning (23th) we were delighted to find
all quiet, and the men employed in their canoes spearing fish.
Captain Fitz Eoy determined to send the yawl and one whale-boat
back to the ship; and to proceed with the two other boats, one
under his own command (in which he most kindly allowed me to
accompany him), and one under Mr. Hammond, to survey the
western parts of the Beagle Channel, and afterwards to return and
visit the settlement. The day to our astonishment was over-
poweringly hot, so that our skins were; scorched : with this beauti-
ful weather, the view in the middle of the Beagle Channel was
very remarkable. Looking towards either hand, no object inter-
cepted the vanishing points of this long canal between the moun-
tains. The circumstance of its being an arm of the sea was
rendered very evident by several huge whales * spouting in
different directions. On one occasion I saw two of these monsters,
probably male and female, slowly swimming one after the other,

* One day, off the East coast of Tierra del Fuego, we saw a grand
sight in several spermaceti whales jumping upright quite out of the
water, with the exception of their tail-fins. As they fell down sideways,
they splashed the water high up, and the sound reverberated like a
distant broadside.

CHAP, x.] SETTLEMENT AT WOOLLY A. 213

within less than a stone's throw of the shore, over which the
beech-tree extended its branches.

We sailed on till it was dark, and then pitched our tents in a
quiet creek. The greatest luxury was to find for our beds a beach
of pebbles, for they were dry and yielded to the body. Peaty soil
is damp; rock is uneven and hard; sand gets into one's meat,
when cooked and eaten boat-fashion ; but when lying in our
blanket-bags, on a good bed of smooth pebbles, we passed most
comfortable nights.

It was my watch till one o'clock. There is something very
solemn in these scenes. At no time does the consciousness in
what a remote corner of the world you are then standing, come so
strongly before the mind. Everything tends to this effect ; the
stillness of the night is interrupted only by the heavy breathing of
the seamen beneath the tents, and sometimes by the cry of a night-
bird. The occasional barking of a dog, heard in the distance,
reminds one that it is the land of the savage.

January 29//i. — Early in the morning we arrived at the point
where the Beagle Channel divides into two arms; and we entered
the northern one. The scenery here becomes even grander than
before. The lofty mountains on the north side compose the
granitic axis, or backbone of the country, and boldly rise to a
height of between three and four thousand feet, with one peak
above six thousand feet. They are covered by a wide mantle of
perpetual snow, and numerous cascades pour their waters, through
the woods, into the narrow channel below. In many part-,
magnificent glaciers extend from the mountain side to the water's
edge. It is scarcely possible to imagine anything more beautiful
than the beryl-like blue of these glaciers, and especially as
contrasted with the dead white of the upper expanse of snow.
The fragments which had fallen from the glacier into the water
were floating away, and the channel with its icebergs presented,
for • the space of a mile, a miniature likeness of the Polar Sea.
The boats being hauled on shore at our dinner-hour, we were
admiring from the distance of half a mile a perpendicular cliff of
ice, and were wishing that some more fragments would fall. At
last, down came a mass with a roaring noise, and immediately we
saw the smooth outline of a wave travelling towards us. The
men ran down as quickly as they could to the boats ; for the
chance of their being dashed to pieces was evident. One of the

214 TIERRA DEL FUEGO. [CHAP. x.

seamen just caught hold of the bows, as the curling breaker
reached it : he was knocked over and over, but not hurt ; and the
boats, though thrice lifted on high and let fall again, received no
damage. This was most fortunate for us, for we were a hundred
miles distant from the ship, and we should have been left without
provisions or fire-arms. I had previously observed that some largo
fragments of rock on the beach had been lately displaced; but
until seeing this wave, I did not understand the cause. One side
of the creek was formed by a spur of mica-slate ; the head by a
cliff of ice about forty feet high ; and the other side by a promontory
fifty feet high, built up of huge rounded fragments of granite and
mica- slate, out of which old trees were growing. This promontory
was evidently a moraine, heaped up at a period when the glacier
had greater dimensions.

When we reached the western mouth of this northern branch of
the Beagle Channel, we sailed amongst many unknown desolate
islands, and the weather was wretchedly bad. We met with no
natives. The coast was almost everywhere so steep, that we had
several times to pull many miles before we could find space enough
to pitch our two tents : one night we slept on large round boulders,
with putrefying sea-weed between them ; and when the tide rose,
we had to get up and move our blanket-bags. The farthest point
westward which we reached was Stewart Island, a distance of
about one hundred and fifty miles from our ship. We returned
into the Beagle Channel by the southern arm, and thence pro-
ceeded, with no adventure, back to Ponsonby Sound.

February 6th. — We arrived at Woollya. Matthews gave so bad
an account of the conduct of the Fuegians, that Captain Fitz Eoy
determined to take him back to the Beagle; and ultimately he was
left at New Zealand, where his brother was a missionary. From
the time of our leaving, a regular system of plunder commenced ;
fresh parties of the natives kept arriving : York and Jemmy lost
many things, and Matthews almost everything which had not been
concealed underground. Every article seemed to have been torn
up and divided by the natives. Matthews described the watch he
was obliged always to kec p as most harassing ; night and day he was
surrounded by the natives, who tried to tire him out by making an
incessant noise close to his head. One day an old man, whom
Matthews asked to leave his wigwam, immediately returned with
a large stone in his hand : another day a whole party came armed

CHAP, x.] FUEGIANS. . 215

with stones and stakes, and some of the younger men and Jemmy's
brother were crying : Matthews met them with -presents. Another
party showed by signs that they wished to strip him naked and
pluck all the hairs out of his face and body. I think we arrived
just in time to save his life. Jemmy's relatives had been so vain
and foolish, that they had showed to strangers their plunder, and
their manner of obtaining it. It was quite melancholy leaving the
three Fuegians with their savage countrymen; but it was a great
comfort that they had no personal fears. York, being a powerful
resolute man, was pretty sure to get ou well, together with his
wife Fuegia. Poor Jemmy looked rather disconsolate, and would
then, I have little doubt, have been glad to have returned with us.
His own brother had stolen many things from him; and as he
remarked, " What fashion call that : " he abused his countrymen,
" all bad men, no sabe (know) nothing," and, though I never heard
him swear before, "damned fools." Our three Fuegians, though
they had been only three years with civilized men, would, I am
sure, have been glad to have retained their new habits; but this
was obviously impossible. I fear it is more than doubtful, whether
their visit will have been of any use to them.

In the evening, with Matthews on board, we made sail back to
the ship, not by the Beagle Channel, but by the southern coast.
The boats were heavily laden and the sea rough, and we had a
dangerous passage. By the evening of the 7th we were on board
the Beagle after an absence of twenty days, during which time
we had gone three hundred miles in the open boats. On the llth,
Captain Fitz Roy paid a visit by himself to the Fuegians and
found them going on well ; and that they had lost very few more
things.

On the last day of February in the succeeding year (1834), the
Beagle anchored in a benutiful little cove at the eastern entrance
of the Beagle Channel. Captain Fitz Eoy determined on the bold,
and as it proved successful, attempt to beat against the westerly
winds by the same route, which we had followed in the boats to the
settlement at Woollya. We did not see many natives until we were
near Ponsonby Sound, where we were followed by ten or twelve
canoes. The natives did not at all understand the reason of our
lacking, and, instead of meeting us at each tack, vainly strove to
follow us in our zigzag course. I was amused at finding what a

216 TiERRA DEL FUEGO. [CHAP. x.

difference the circumstance of being quite superior in force made,
in the interest of beholding these savages. While in the boats I got
to hate the very sound of their voices, so much trouble did they
give us. The first and last word was " yammerschooner." When,
entering some quiet little cove, we have looked round and thought
to pass a quiet night, the odious word "yammerschooner" has
shrilly sounded from some gloomy nook, and then the little signal-
smoke has curled up to spread the news far and wide. On leaving
some place we have said to each other, " Thank Heaven, we have
at last fairly left these wretches!" when one more faint hallo from
an all-powerful voice, heard at a prodigious distance, would reach
our ears, and clearly could we distinguish — " yammerschooner."
But now, the more Fuegiaus the merrier ; and very merry work it
was. Both parties laughing, wondering, gaping at each other ; we
pitying them, for giving us good fish and crabs for rags, etc. ; they
grasping at the chance of finding people so foolish as to exchange
such splendid ornaments for a good supper. It was most amusing
to see the undisguised smile of satisfaction with which one young
woman with her face painted black, tied several bits of scarlet cloth
round her head with rushes. Her husband, who enjoyed the very
universal privilege in this country of possessing two wives, evi-
dently became jealous of all the attention paid to his young wife ;
and, after a consultation with his naked beauties, was paddled
away by them.

Some of the Fuegians plainly showed that they had a fair notion
of barter. I gave one man a large nail (a most valuable present)
without making any signs for a return ; but he immediately picked
out two fish, and handed them up on the point of his spear. If
any present was designed for one canoe, and it fell near another,
it was invariably given to the right owner. The Fuegian boy,
whom Mr. Low had on board, showed, by going into the most
violent passion, that he quite understood the reproach of being
called a liar, which in truth he was. We were this time, as on all
former occasions, much surprised at the little notice, or rather none
whatever, which was taken of many things, the use of which must
have been evident to the natives. Simple circumstances — such as
the beauty of scarlet cloth or blue beads, the absence of women,
our care in washing ourselves, — excited their admiration far more
than any grand or complicated object, such as our ship. Bougain-
ville has well remarked concerning these people, that they treat

CHAP, x.] FUEGIANS.

the " cliefs-d'oeuvre de 1'industrie humaine, comme ils traitcnt les
loix de la nature et ses phenomenes."

On the 5th of March, we anchored in the cove at Woollya, but
we saw not a soul there. We were alarmed at this, for the natives
in Ponsonby Sound showed by gestures, that there had been
fighting ; and we afterwards heard that the dreaded Oens men had
made a descent. Soon a canoe, with a little flag flying, was seen
approaching, with one of the men in it washing the paint off his
face. This man was poor Jemmy, — now a thin, haggard savage,
with long disordered hair, and naked, except a bit of a blanket
round his waist. We did not recognize him till he was close to us,
for he was ashamed of himself, and turned his back to the ship.
We had left him plump, fat, clean, and well-dressed; — I never saw
so complete and grievous a change. As soon however as he was
clothed, and the first flurry was over, things wore a good appear-
ance. He dined with Captain Fitz Roy, and ate his dinner as
tidily as formerly. He told us he had ' too much ' (meaning
enough) to eat, that he was not cold, that his relations were very
good people, and that hs did not wish to go back to England : in
the evening we found out the cause of this great change in Jemmy's
feelings, in the arrival of his young and nice-lookiug wife. With
his usual good feeling, he brought two beautiful otter-skins for two
of his best friends, and some spear-heads and arrows made with
his own hands for the Captain. He said he had built a canoe for
himself, and he boasted that he could talk a little of his own lan-
guage ! But it is a most singular fact, that he appears to have
taught all his iribe some English : an old man spontaneously an-
nounced ' Jemmy Button's wife,' Jemmy had lost all his property.
He told us that York Minster had built a large canoe, and with
his wife Fuegia,* had several months since gone to his own country,
and had taken farewell by an act of consummate villainy; he
persuaded Jemmy and his mother to come with him, and then
on the way deserted them by night, stealing every article of their
property.

Jemmy went to sleep on shore, and in the morning returned,

* Captain Sullivan, who, since his voyage in the Beagle, has been em-
ployed on the survey of the Falkland Islands, heard from a sealer iu (1842?),
that when in the western part of the Strait of Magellan, he was astonished
Ly a native woman coming on board, who could talk some English. AViih-
out doubt this was Fuegia Basket. She lived (I fear the term probably
bt-i.rs a double interpretation) gome days on board.

218 TIERRA DEL FUEGO. [CHAP. x.

and remaimd on board till the ship got under way, which
frightened his wife, who continued crying violently till he got
into his canoe. He returned loaded with valuable property.
Every soul on board was heartily sorry to shake hands with him
for the last time. I do not now doubt that he will be as happy
as, perhaps happier than, if he had never left his own country.
Every one must sincerely hope that Captain Fitz Roy's noble hope
may be fulfilled, of being rewarded for the many generous sacrifices
which he made for these Fuegians, by some shipwrecked sailor
being protected by the descendants of Jemmy Button and his
tribe ! When Jernmy reached the shore, he lighted a signal fire,
and the smoke curled up, bidding us a last and long farewell, as
the ship stood on her course into the open sea.

The perfect equality among the individuals composing the
Fuegian tribes must for a long time retard their civilization.
As we see those animals, whose instinct compels them to live in
society and obey a chief, are most capable of improvement, so is
it with the races of mankind. Whether we look at it as a cause
or a consequence, the more civilized always have the most artificial
governments. For instance, the inhabitants of Otaheite, who, when
first discovered, were governed by hereditary kings, had arrived at
a far higher grade than another branch of the same people, the
New Zealanders, — who, although benefited by being compelled to
turn their attention to agriculture, were republicans in the most
absolute sense. In Tierra del Fuego, until some chief shall arise
with power sufficient to secure any acquired advantage, such as
the domesticated animals, it seems scarcely possible that the
political state of the country can be improved. At present, even
a piece of cloth given to one is torn into shreds and distributed ;
and no one individual becomes richer than another. On the other
hand, it is difficult to understand how a chief can arise till there
is property of some sort by which he might manifest his superiority
and increase his power.

I believe, in this extreme part of South America, man exists in
a lower state of improvement than in any other part of the world.
The South Sea Islanders, of the two races inhabiting the Pacific,
are comparatively civilized. The Esquimaux, in his subterranean
hut,' enjoys some of the comforts of life, and in his canoe, when
fully equipped, manifests much skill. Some of the tribes of

CHAP, x.] FAREWELL VISIT TO WOOLLYA. 219

Southern Africa, prowling about in search of roots, and living
concealed on the wild and arid plains, are sufficiently wretched.
The Australian, in the simplicity of the arts of life, comes nearest
the Fuegian : he can, however, boast of his boomerang, his spear
and throwing-stick, his method of climbing trees, of tracking
animals, and of hunting. Although the Australian may be su-
perior in acquirements, it by no means follows that he is likewise
superior in mental capacity: indeed, from what I saw of tho
Fuegians when on board, and from what I have read of the
Australians, I should think tho case was exactly the reverse.

220 TIKRRA DEL FUEGO. [CHAP. xi.

CHAPTER XI.

Strait of Magellan — Port Famine — Ascent of Mount Tarn— Forests —
Edible Fungus — Zoology — Groat Sea-weed — Leave Tierra del Fuego —
Climate — Fruit-trees and Productions of the Southern Coasts —Height
of Snow-line on the Cordillera — Descent of Glaciers to the Sea — Icebergs
formed — Transportal of Boulders — Climate and Productions of the
Antarctic Islands — Preservation of Frozen Carcasses — Recapitulation.

STRAIT OF MAGELLAN. — CLIMATE OF THE SOUTHERN COASTS.

Ix the end of May, 1834, we entered for the second time the eastern
mouth of the Strait of Magellan. The country on both sides of
this part of the Strait consists of nearly level plains, like those
of Patagonia. Cape Negro, a little within the second Narrows,
may be considered as the point where the land begins to assume
the marked features of Tierra del Fuego. On the east coast, south
of the Strait, broken park-like scenery in a like manner connects
these two countries, Avhich are opposed to each other in almost
every feature. It is truly surprising to find in a space of twenty
miles such a change in the landscape. If we take a rather greater
distance, as between Port Famine and Gregory Bay, that is about
sixty miles, the difference is still more wonderful. At the former
place, we have rounded mountains concealed by impervious forests,
which are drenched with the rain, brought by an endless succession
of gales ; while at Cape Gregory, there is a clear and bright blue
sky over the dry and sterile plains. The atmospheric currents,*

* The south-westerly breezes are generally very dry. January 29th,
being at anchor under Cape Gregory: a very hard gale from W. by S.,
clear sky with few cumuli ; temperature 57°, dew-point 36°, — difference
21°. On January loth, at Port St. Julian: in the morning, light winds
with much rain, followed by a very heavy squall with rain, — settled into
h(-avy gale with large cumuli,— cleared up, blowing very strong from
S.S.W. Temperature 60°, dew-paint 42°,— difference 18°.

1834.] STRAIT OF MAGELLAN. 221

although rapid, turbulent, and unconfined by any apparent limits,
yet seem to follow, like a river in its bed, a regularly determined
course.

During our previous visit (in January), we had an interview
at Cape Gregory with the famous so-called gigantic Patagonians,
who gave us a cordial reception. Their height appears greater
than it really is, from their large guanaco mantles, their long
flowing hair, and general figure : on an average, their height is
about six feet, with some men taller and only a few shorter; and
the women are also tall; altogether they are certainly the tallest
race which we anywhere saw. In features they strikingly resemble
the moi'3 northern Indians whom I saw with Rosas, but they have
a wilder and more formidable appearance : their faces were much
painted with red and black, and one man was ringed and dotted
with white like a Fuegian. Capt. Fitz Roy offered to take any
three of them on board, and all seemed determined to be of the
three. It was long before we could clear the boat; at last we got
on board with our three giants, who dined with the Captain, and
behaved quite like gentlemen, helping themselves with knives,
forks, and spoons : nothing was so much relished as sugar. This
tribe has had so much communication with sealers and whalers,
that most of the men can speak a little English and Spanish ; and
they are half civilized, and proportionally demoralized.

The next morning a large party went on shore, to barter for
skins and ostrich-feathers; fire-arms being refused, tobacco was
in greatest request, far more so than axes or tools. The whole
population of the toldos, men, women, and children, were arranged
on a bank. It was an amusing scene, and it was impossible not to
like the so-called giants, they were so thoroughly good-humoured
and unsuspecting : they asked us to come again. They seem to
like to have Europeans to live with them ; and old Maria, an im-
portant woman in the tribe, once begged Mr. Low to leave any one
of his sailors with them. They spend the greater part of the year
here ; but in summer they hunt along the foot of the Cordillera :
sometimes they travel as far as the Rio Negro, 750 miles to the
north. They are well stocked with horses, each man having,
according to Mr. Low, six or seven, and all the women, and even
children, their one own horse. In the time of Sarmiento (1580),
these Indians had bows and arrows, now long since disused ; they
then also possessed some horses. This is a very curious fact,

222 TIERRA DEL FUEGO. [CHAP. xr.

showing the extraordinarily rapid multiplication of horses in South
America. The horse was first landed at Buenos Ayres in 1537,
and the colony being then for a time deserted, the horse ran wild ; *
in 1580, only forty-three years afterwards, we hear of them at the
Strait of Magellan! Mr. Low informs me, that a neighbouring
tribe of foot-Indians is now changing into horse-Indians : the tribe
at Gregory Bay giving them their worn-out horses, and sending in
winter a few of their best skilled men to hunt for them.

June 1st. — We anchored in the fine bay of Port Famine. It was
now the beginning of winter, and I never saw a more cheerless
prospect ; the dusky woods, piebald with snow, could be only seen
indistinctly through a drizzling hazy atmosphere. We were,
however, lucky in getting two fine days. On one of these, Mount
Sarmiento, a distant mountain 6800 feet high, presented a very
noble spectacle. I was frequently surprised, in the scenery of
Tierra del Fuego, at the little apparent elevation of mountains
really lofty. I suspect it is owing to a cause which would not at
first be imagined, namely, that the whole mass, from the summit
to the water's edge, is generally in full view. I remember having
seen a mountain, first from the Beagle Channel, where the whole
sweep from the summit to the base was full in view, and then from
Ponsonby Sound across several successive ridges ; and it was
curious to observe in the latter case, as each fresh ridge afforded
fresh means of judging of the distance, how the mountain rose in
height.

Before reaching Port Famine, two men were seen running along
the shore and hailing the ship. A boat was sent for them. They
turned out to be two sailors who had run away from a sealing-
vessel, and had joined the Patagonians. These Indians had
treated them with their usual disinterested hospitality. They had
parted company through accident, and were then proceeding to
Port Famine in hopes of finding some ship. I dare say they were
worthless vagabonds, but I never saw more miserable-looking ones.
They had been living for some days on mussel-shells and berrie?,
and their tattered clothes had been burnt by sleeping so near their
fires. They had been exposed night and day, without any shelter,
to the late incessant gales, with rain, sleet, and snow, and yet they
were in good health.

During our stay at Port Famine, the Fuegians twice came and
* Rengger, Natur. de Saeugetliiere von Paraguay. S. 334.

1834.] ASCENT OF MOUNT TARN. 223

]>lagucd us. As there Avere many instruments, clothes, and men
on shore, it was thought necessary to frighten them away. The
first time a few great guns were fired, when they were far distant.
It was most ludicrous to watch through a glass the Indians, as
often as the shot struck the water, take up stones, and, as a bold
defiance, throw them towards the ship, though about a mile and
a half distant! A boat was then sent with orders to fire a few
muskets-shots wide of them. The Fuegians hid themselves behind
the trees, and for every discharge of the muskets they fired their
arrows; all, however, fell short of the boat, and the officer as he
pointed at them laughed. This made the Fuegians frantic with
passion, and they shook their mantles in vain rage. At List,
seeing the balls cut and strike the trees, they ran away, and we
were left in peace and quietness. During the former voyage the
Fuegians were here very troublesome, and to frighten them a
rocket was fired at night over their wigwams ; it answered effec-
tually, and one of the officers told me that the clamour first raised,
and the barking of the dogs, was quite ludicrous in contrast with
the profound silence which in a minute or two afterwards prevailed.
The next morning not a single Fuegian was in the neighbourhood.
When the Beagle was here in the month of February, I started
one morning at four o'clock to ascend Mount Tarn, which is 2GOO
feet high, and is the most elevated point in this immediate district.
We went in a boat to the foot of the mountain (but unluckily not
to the best part), and then began our ascent. The forest com-
mences at the line of high-water mark, and during the first two
hours I gave over all hopes of reaching the summit. So thick was
the wood, that it was necessary to have constant recourse to the
compass ; for every landmark, though in a mountainous country,
was completely shut out. In the deep ravines, the death-like
scene of desolation exceeded all description ; outside it was blowing
a gale, but in these hollows, not even a breath of wind stirred the
leaves of the tallest trees. So gloomy, cold, and wet was every
part, that not even the fungi, mosses, or ferns could flourish. In
the valleys it was scarcely possible to crawl along, they were so
completely barricaded by great mouldering trunks, which had
fallen down in every direction. When passing over these natural
bridges, one's course was often arrested by sinking knee deep
into the rotten wood; at other times, when attempting to lean
against a firm tree, one was startled by finding a mass of decayed

224 TIERRA DEL FUEGO. [CHAP. xi.

matter ready to fall at the slightest touch. "We at last found
ourselves among the stunted trees, and then soon reached the bare
ridge, which conducted us to the summit. Here was a view
characteristic of Tierra del Fuego; irregular chains of hills,
mottled with patches of snow, deep yellowish-green valleys, and
arms of the sea intersecting the land in many directions. The
strong wind was piercingly cold, and the atmosphere rather hazy,
so that we did not stay long on the top of the mountain. Our
descent was not quite so laborious as our ascent; for the weight of
the body forced a passage, and all the slips and falls were in the
right direction.

I have already mentioned the sombre and dull character of the
evergreen forests,* in which two or three specits of trees grow,
to the exclusion of all others. Above the forest land, there are
many dwarf alpine plants, which all spring from the mass of peat,
and help to compose it: these plants are very remarkable from
their close alliance with the species growing on the mountains of
Europe, though so many thousand miles distant. The central
part of Tierra del Fuego, where the clay-slate formation occurs, is
most favourable to the growth of trees ; on the outer coast the
poorer granitic soil, and a situation more exposed to the violent
winds, do not allow of their attaining any great size. Near Port
Famine I have seen more large trees than anywhere else : I
measured a Winter's Bark which was four feet six inches in girth,
and several of the beech were as much as thirteen feet. Captain
King also mentions a beech which was seven feet in diameter
seventeen feet above the roots.

There is one vegetable production deserving notice from its
importance as an article of food to the Fuegians. It is a globular,
bright-yellow fungus, which grows in vast numbers on the beech-
trees. When young it is elastic and turgid, with a smooth surface ;
but when mature it shrinks, becomes tougher, and has its entire

* Captain Fitz Roy informs me that in April (our October), the leaves
of those trees which grow near the base of the mountains, change colour,
but not those on the more elevated parts. I remember having read some
observations, showing that in England the leaves fall earlier in a warm
and fine autumn than in a late and cold one. The change in the colour
being here retarded in the more elevated, and therefore colder situations,
must be owing to the same general law of vegetation. The trees of
Tierra del Fuego during no part of the year entirely shed their leaves.

1834.] ZOOLOGY. 225

surface deeply pitted or honey-combed, as represented in tho
accompanying wood-cut. This fungus belongs to a new and
curious genus ; * I found a second
species on another species of beech in
Chile ; and Dr. Hooker informs me, that
just lately a third species has been dis-
covered on a third species of beech in
Van Diemen's Land. How singular is
this relationship between parasitical
fungi and the trees on which they grow,
in distant parts of the world ! In Tierra
del Fuego the fungus in its tough and
mature state is collected in large quantities by the women and
children, and is eaten uncooked. It has a mucilaginous, slightly
sweet taste, with a faint smell like that of a mushroom. With the
exception of a few berries, chiefly of a dwarf arbutus, the natives
cat no vegetable food besides this fungus. In New Zealand, before
the introduction of the potato, the roots of the fern were largely
consumed ; at the present time, I believe, Tierra del Fuego is the
only country in the world where a cryptogamic plant affords a
staple article of food.

. The zoology of Tierra del Fuego, as might have been expected
from the nature of its climate and vegetation, is very poor. Of
mammalia, besides whales and seals, there is one bat, a kind of
mouse (Ecithrodon chinchilloides), two true mice, a ctenomys
allied to or identical with the tucutuco, two foxes (Cam's Magel-
lanicus and C. AzaraV), a sea-otter, the guanaco, and a deer. Most
of these animals inhabit only the drier eastern parts of the country ;
and the deer has never been seen south of the Strait of Magellan.
Observing the general correspondence of the cliffs of soft sandstone,
mud, and shingle, on the opposite sides of the Strait, and on some
intervening islands, one is strongly tempted to believe that the
land was once joined, and thus allowed animals so delicate and
helpless as the tucutuco and Reithrodon to pass over. The corre-
spondence of the cliffs is far from proving any junction ; because
such cliffs generally are formed by the intersection of sloping

* Described from my specimens, and notes by the Eev. J. M. Berkeley,
in the Linnean Transactions (vol. xix. p. 37), under the name of Cyttaria
Darwiuii ; the Chilian species is the C. Berteroii. This genus is allied to
Bulgaria.

TIERRA DEL FVEGO. [< MAI-. xi.

deposits, which, before the elevation of the land, had been accu-
mulated near the then existing shores. It is, however, a remark-
able coincidence, that in the two large islands cut off by the
Beagle Channel from the rest of Tit-mi del Fuego, one has cliffs
composed of matter that may be called stratified alluvium, which
front similar ones on the opposite side of the channel,— while the
other is exclusively bordered by old crystalline rocks: in the
former, called Navarin Island, both foxes and guanacos occur; but
in the latter, Hoste Island, although similar in every respect, and
only separated by a channel a little more than half a mile wide,
I have the word of Jemmy Button for saying that neither of these
animals are found.

The gloomy woods are inhabited by few birds : occasionally the
plaintive note of a white-tufted tyrant-flycatcher (Myiobius albi-
ceps) may be heard, concealed near the summit of the most lofty
trees ; and more rarely the loud strange cry of a black wookpecker,
with a fine scarlet crest on its head. A little, dusky-coloured wren
(Scytalopus Magellanicus) hops in a skulking manner among the
entangled mass of the fallen and decaying trunks. But the creeper
(Oxyurus tupinieri) is the commonest bird in the country.
Throughout the beech forests, high up and low down, in the
most gloomy, wet, and impenetrable ravines, it may be met with.
This little bird no doubt appears more numerous than it really is,
from its habit of following with seeming curiosity any person who
enters these silent woods : continually uttering a harsh twitter, it
flutters from tree to tree, within a few feet of the intruder's face.
It is far from wishing for the modest concealment of the true creeper
(Certhia familiaris) ; nor does it, like that bird, run up the trunks of
trees; but industriously, after the manner of a willow-wren, hops
about, and searches for insects on every twig and branch. In the
more open parts, three or four species of finches, a thrush, a starling
(or Icterus), two Opetiorhynchi, and several hawks and owls occur.
The absence or any species whatever in the whole class of Eep-
tiles, is a marked feature in the zoology of this country, as well as
in that of the Falkland Islands. I do not ground this statement
merely on my own observation, but I heard it from the Spanish
inhabitants of the latter place, and from Jemmy Button with
regard to Tierra del Fuego. On the banks of the Santa Cruz, in
50° south, I saw a frog ; and it is not improbable that these
animals, as well as lizards, may be found as far south as the Strait

ls:!l.l GREAT SEA- WEED. 227

of Magellan, where the country retains the character of Patagonia;
Imt within the damp and cold limit of Tierra del Fuego not one
occurs. That the climate would not have suited some of the
orders, such as lizards, might have been foreseen; but with
respect to frogs, this was not so obvious.

Beetles occur in very small numbers : it was long before I could
believe that a country as large as Scotland, covered with vegetable
productions and with a variety of stations, could be so unproductive.
The few which I found were alpine species (Harpalidse and Hete-
romida?) living under stones. The vegetable-feeding Chrysomelida),
so eminently characteristic of the Tropics, are hero almost entirely
absent ; * I saw very few flics, butterflies, or bees, and no crickets or
Orthoptera. In the pools of water I found but a few aquatic beetles,
and not any fresh-water shells: Succinea at first appears an excep-
tion ; but here it must be called a terrestrial shell, for it lives
on the damp herbage far from water. Land-shells could be pro-
cured only in the same alpine situations with the beetles. I have
already contrasted the climate as well as the general appearance of
Tierra del Fuego with that of Patagonia; and the difference is
strongly exemplified in the entomology. 1 do not believe they
have one species in common; certainly the general character of
the insects is widely different.

If we turn from the land to the sea, we shall find the latter as
abundantly stocked with living creatures as the former is poorly
so. In all parts of the world a rocky and partially protected
shore perhaps supports, in a given space, a greater number of
individual animals than any other station. There is one marine
production which, from its importance, is worthy of a particular
history. It is the kelp, or Macrocystis pyrifcra. This plant grows
on every rock from low-water mark to a great depth, both on the
outer coast and within the channels.! I believe, during tho

* I believe I must except one alpine Haltica, and a single specimen of a
Melasoma. Mr. "VVaterhouse informs me, that of the Harpalidse there are
eight or nine species — the forms of the greater number being very pecu-
liar; of Heteromera, four or five species; of Rhyncophora, six or seven ;
and of the following families one species in each : Staphylinidse, Elate-
ridze, Cebrionidse, Melolonthidce. The species in the otiier orders are
even fewer. In all the orders, the scarcity of the individuals is even more
remarkable than that of the species. Most of the Colcoptera have been
carefully described by Mr. Waterhouse in the Annals of Nat. Hist.

f Its geographical range is remarkably wide ; it is found from the
extreme southern islets near Cape Horn, as far north ou the eastern coast

22S TIEBBA.DEL FUEGO [CHAP. XT.

voyages of the Adventure and Beagle, not one rock near the surface
was discovered which was not buoyed by this floating weed. The
good service it thus affords to vessels navigating near this stormy
land is evident ; and it certainly has saved many a one from being
wrecked. I know few things more surprising than to see this
plant growing and flourishing amidst those great breakers of the
western ocean, which no mass of rock, let it be ever so hard, can
long resist. The stem is round, slimy, and smooth, and seldom
lias a diameter of so much as an inch. A few taken together are
sufficiently strong to support the weight of the large loose stones,
to which in the inland channels they grow attached ; and yet some
of these stones were so heavy that when drawn to the surface, they
could scarcely be lifted into a boat by one person. Captain Cook,
in his second voyage, says, that this plant at Kerguelen Land rises
from a greater depth than twenty-four fathoms ; '•' and as it does
not grow in a perpendicular direction, but makes a very acute
angle with the bottom, and much of it afterwards spreads many
fathoms on the surface of the sea, I am well warranted to say that
some of it grows to the length of sixty fathoms and upwards." I
do not suppose the stem of any other plant attains so great a length
as three hundred and sixty feet, as stated by Captain Cook. Captain
Fitz Eoy, moreover, found it growing * up from the greater depth
of forty-five fathoms. The beds of this sea-weed, even when of
not great breadth, make excellent natural floating breakwaters. It
is quite curious to see, in an exposed harbour, how soon the waves
from the open sea, as they travel through the straggling stems, sink
in height, and pass into smooth water.

The number of living creatures of all Orders, whose existence
intimately depends on the kelp, is wonderful. A great volume
might be written, describing the inhabitants of one of these beds

(according to information given me by Mr. Stokes) at lat. 43°,— but
on the western coast, as Dr. Hooker tells me, it extends to the R. 8au
Francisco in California, and perhaps even to Kamtschatka. We thus have
an immense range in latitude; and as Cook, who must Lave been well
acquainted with the species, found it at Kerguelen Land, no less than 140°
in longitude.

* Voyages of the Adventure and Beagle, vol. i. p. 3C3.— It appears
that sea-weed grows extremely quick. Mr. Stepheuson found (Wilson's
A'oynge round Scotland, vol. ii. p. 228) that a rock uncovered only at
spring-tides, which had been chiselled smooth in November, on the follow-
ing May, that is, within six months afterwards, was thickly covered with.
FOOTS digitatus two feet, and F. csculcutus six feet, in length.

1834] GREAT SEA-WEED. 2:>9

of sea-weed. Almost all the leaves, excepting those that float on
the surface, are so thickly incrusted with corallines as to be of a
white colour. We find exquisitely delicate structures, some in-
habited by simple hydra-like polypi, others by more organized
kinds, and beautiful compound Ascidise. On the leaves, also,
various patelliform shells, Trochi, uncovered molluscs, and some
bivalves are attached. Innumerable Crustacea frequent every
part of the plant. On shaking the great entangled roots, a pile
of small fish, shells, cuttle-fish, crabs of all orders, sea-eggs, star-
fish, beautiful Iloluthuria?, Planarite, and crawling nereidous
animals of a multitude of forms, all fall out together. Often as
I recurred to a branch of the kelp, I never failed to discover
animals of new and curious structures. In Chiloe, where the kelp
does not thrive very well, the numerous shells, corallines, and
Crustacea are absent; but there yet remain a few of the Flus-
traceac, and some compound Ascidirc ; the latter, however, are of
different species from those in Tierra del Fuego: we here see
the fucus possessing a wider range than the animals which use it
as an abode. I can only compare these great aquatic forests of
the southern hemisphere with the terrestrial ones in the inter-
tropical regions. Yet if in any coiintry a forest was destroyed, I
do not believe nearly so many species of animals would perish as
would here, from the destruction of the kelp. Amidst the leaves
of this plant numerous species of fish live, which nowhere else
could find food or shelter ; with their destruction the many cor-
morants and other fishing birds, the otters, seals, and porpoises,
would soon perish also; and lastly, the Fuegian savage, the
miserable lord of this miserable land, would redouble his cannibal
feast, decrease in numbers, and perhaps cease to exist.

June 8th. — We weighed anchor early in the morning and left
Port Famine. Captain Fitz Roy determined to leave the Strait
of Magellan by the Magdalen Channel, which had not long been
discovered. Our course lay due south, down that gloomy passage
which I have before alluded to as appearing to lead to another
and worse world. The wind was fair, but the atmosphere was
very thick ; so that we missed much curious scenery. The dark
ragged clouds were rapidly driven over the mountains, from their
summits nearly down to their bases. The glimpses which wo
caught through the dusky mass were highly interesting; jagged
points, cones of snow, blue glaciers, strong outlines, marked on a

230 MOUNT SARMIENTO. tciui-. xi.

lurid sky, were seen at different distances and heights. In the
midst of such scenery we anchored at Cape Tarn, close to Mount
Sarrniento, which was then hidden in the clouds. At the base of
the lofty and almost perpendicular sides of our little cove there
was one deserted wigwam, and it alone reminded us that man
sometimes wandered into these desolate regions. But it would be
difficult to imagine a scene where he seemed to have fewer claims
or less authority. The inanimate works of nature— rock, ice, snow,
wind, and water— all warring with each other, yet combined against
man— here reigned in absolute sovereignty.

June $Ht— In the morning we were delighted by seeing the veil
of mist gradually rise from Sarmieuto, and display it to our view.
This mountain, which is one of the highest in Tierra del Fuego,
has an altitude of 6800 feet. Its base, for about an eighth of its
total height, is clothed by dusky-woods, and above this a field of
snow extends to the summit. These vast piles of snow, which
never melt, and seem destined to last as long as the world holds
together, present a noble and even sublime spectacle. The outline
of the mountain was admirably clear and defined. Owing to the
abundance of light reflected from the white and glittering surface,
no shadows were cast on any part ; and those lines which intersected
the sky could alone be distinguished : hence the mass stood out in
the boldest relief. Several glaciers descended in a winding course
from the upper great expanse of snow to the sea-coast : they may
be likened to great frozen Niagaras ; and perhaps these cataracts
of blue ice are full as beautiful as the moving ones of water. By
night we reached the western part of the channel ; but the water
was so deep that no anchorage could be found. We were in con-
sequence obliged to stand off and on in this narrow arm of the sea,
during a pitch-dark night of fourteen hours long.

June IQth. — In the morning we made the best of our way into
the open Pacific. The western coast generally consists of low,
rounded, quite barren hills of granite and greenstone. Sir J. Xar-
borough called one part South Desolation, because it is "so
desolate a land to behold : " and well indeed might he say so.
Outside the main islands, there are numberless scattered rocks on
which the long swell of the open ocean incessantly rages. We
passed out between the East and West Furies ; and a little farther
northward there are so many breakers that the sea is called the
Milky Way. One sight of such a coast is enough to make a lands-

1834.] CLIMATE AND PRODUCTIONS. 231

man dream for a week about shipwrecks, peril, and death ; aud
with this sight we bade farewell for ever to Tierra del Fuego.

The following discussion on the climate of the southern parts of
the continent with relation to its productions, on the snow-line,
on the extraordinarily low descent of the glaciers, and on the zone
of perpetual congelation in the antarctic islands, may be passed
over by any one not interested in these curious subjects, or the final
recapitulation alone may be read. I shall, however, here give only
an abstract, and must refer for details to the Thirteenth Chapter
and the Appendix of the former edition of this work.

On the Climate and Productions of Tierra del Fuego and of the
South-ivest Coast. — The following table gives the mean temperature
of Tierra del Fuego, the Falkland Islands, and, for comparison,
that of Dublin :—

Summer Winter Mean of Summer
Latitude. TCUII) Temp and Winter.

Tierra del Fuego . , 53° 38' S. 50° 33°-08 41°-54

Falkland Islands . . 51 30 S. 51

Dublin .... 53 21 N. 59-54 39'2 49'37

Hence we see that the central part of Tierra del Fuego is colder
in winter, and no less than 9^° less hot in summer, than Dublin.
According to Von Buch, the mean temperature of July (not the
hottest mouth in the year) at Saltenfiord in Norway, is as high as
57°'8, and this place is actually 13° nearer the pole than Port
Famine ! * Inhospitable as this climate appears to our feelings,
evergreen trees flourish luxuriantly under it. Humming-birds
may be seen sucking the flowers, and parrots feeding on the seeds
of the Winter's Bark, in lat. 55° S. I have already remarked to
what a degree the sea swarms with living creatures; and the shells
(such as the Patella?, Fissurells), Chitons, and Barnacles), according
to Mr. G. B. Sowerby, are of a much larger size, and of a more
vigorous growth, than the analogous species in the northern
hemisphere. A large Voluta is abundant in southern Tierra del
Fuego and the Falkland Islands. At Bahia Blanca, in lat. 39° S.,

* With respect to Tierra del Fuego, the results are deduced from the
observations by Capt. King (C4eographical Journal, 1830), and those taken
on board the Beagle. For the Falkland Islands, I am indebted to Capt.
8ulivan for the mean of the mean temperature (reduced from careful ob-
servation at midnight, 8 A.M., noon, and 8 P.M.) of the three hottest months,
vi/. December, January, and February. The temperature of Dublin is
taken from ttarton.

232 TIERRA DEL FUEGO AND THE WEST COAST. [CHAF. xi.

the most abundant shells were three species of Oliva (one of large
size), one or two Volutas, and a Terebra. Now, these are amongst
the best characterized tropical forms. It is doubtful whether even
one small species of Oliva exists on the southern shores of Europe,
and there are no species of the two other genera. If a geologist
were to find in Jat. 39° on the coast of Portugal a bed containing
numerous shells belonging to three species of Oliva, to a Yoluta
and Terebra, he would probably assert that the climate at the
period of their existence must have been tropical ; but, judging
from South America, such an inference might be erroneous.

The equable, humid, and windy climate of Tierra del Fuego
extends, with only a small increase of heat, for many degrees along
the west coast of the continent. The forests, for 600 miles north-
ward of Cape Horn, have a very similar aspect. As a proof of the
equable climate, even for 300 or 400 miles still further northward,
I may mention that in Chiloe (corresponding in latitude with the
northern parts of Spain) the peach seldom produces fruit, whilst
strawberries and apples thrive to perfection. Even the crops of
barley and wheat * are often brought into tfie, houses to be dried
and ripened. At Yaldivia (in the same latitude of 40°, with
Madrid) grapes and figs ripen, but are not common ; olives seldom
ripen even partially, and oranges not at all. These fruits, in
corresponding latitudes in Europe, are well known to succeed
to perfection; and even in this continent, at the Eio Negro,
under nearly the same parallel with Yaldivia, sweet potatoes
(convolvulus) are cultivated; and grapes, figs, olives, oranges,
water and musk melons, produce abundant fruit. Although the
humid and equable climate of Chiloe, and of the coast northward
and southward of it, is so unfavourable to our fruits, yet the native
forests, from lat. 45° to 38°, almost rival in luxuriance those of the
glowing intertropical regions. Stately trees of many kinds, with
smooth and highly coloured barks, are loaded by parasitical mono-
cotyledonous plants; large and elegant ferns are numerous, and
arborescent grasses entwine the trees into one entangled mass to
the height of thirty or forty feet above the ground. Palm-trees
grow in lat. 37° ; an arborescent grass, very like a bamboo, in 40° ;
and another closely allied kind, of great length, but not erect,
flourishes even as far south as 45° S.

An equable climate, evidently due to the large area of sea coin-
* Agiicros, Descrip. Hibt. th> la Piov. tic Chiloe. 1791, p. 94.

1834.] HEIGHT OF SNOW-LINK. 233

pared with the laud, seems to extend over the greater part of the
southern hemisphere ; and, as a consequence, the vegetation partakes
of a semi-tropical character. Tree-ferns thrive luxuriantly in Van
Diemen's Land (lat. 45°), and I measured one trunk no less than
six feet in circumference. An arborescent fern was found by
Forster in New Zealand in 46°, where orchideous plants are para-
sitical on the trees. In the Auckland Islands, ferns, according to
Dr. Dieffenbach,* have trunks so thick and high that they may be
almost called tree-ferns ; and in these islands, and even as far south
as lat. 55° in the Macquarrie Islands, parrots abound.

On the Height of the Snow-line, and on the Descent of the Glaciers,
in South America. — For the detailed authorities for the following
table, I must refer to the former edition :—

^»u<le. SKAS* Ob™

Equatorial region ; mean result 15,748 Humboldt.

Bolivia, lat. 16° to 18° S. . . 17,000 Pentland.

Central Chile, lat. 33° S. . . 14,500 to 15,000 Gillies, and the Author.

Chiloe, lat. 41° to 43° S. . . 6,000 Officers of the Beagle, and the Author.

Tierra del Fuego, 54° S. . . 3,500 to 4,000 King.

As the height of the plane of perpetual snow seems chiefly to be
determined by the extreme heat of the summer, rather than by the
mean temperature of the year, we ought not to be surprised at its
descent in the Strait of Magellan, where the summer is so cool, to
only 3500 or 4000 feet above the level of the sea ; although in
Norway, we must travel to between lat. 67° and 70° N., that is,
about 14° nearer the pole, to meet with perpetual snow at this low
level. The difference in height, namely, about 9000 feet, between
the snow-line on the Cordillera behind Chiloe (with its highest
points ranging from only 5600 to 7500 feet) and in central Chile t
(a distance of only 9° of latitude), is truly wonderful. The land
from the southward of Chiloe to near Concepcion (lat. 37°) is hidden
by one dense forest dripping with moisture. The sky is cloudy,
and we have seen how badly the fruits of southern Europe succeed.
In central Chile, on the other hand, a little northward of Con-
cepcion, the sky is generally clear, rain does not fall for the seven

* See the German Translation of this Journal : and for the other facts
Mr. Brown's Appendix to Fliuders's Voyage.

t On the Cordillera of central Chile, I believe the snow-line varies
exceedingly in height in different summers. I was assured that during
one very dry and long summer, all the snow disappeared from Aconcagua,
although it attains the prodigious height of 2:5,000 feet. It is probable
that much of the snow at these great heights is evaporated rather than
thawed,

DESCENT OF QLACtBBS. [CHAP. xi.

summer months, and southern European fruits succeed admirably ;
and even the sugar-cane has been cultivated. * Xo doubt the plane
of perpetual snow undergoes the above remarkable flexure of 9000
feet, unparalleled in other parts of the world, not far from the
latitude of Concepcion, where the laud ceases to be covered with
forest-trees ; for trees in South America indicate a rainy climate,
and rain a clouded sky and little heat in summer.

The descent of glaciers to the sea must, I conceive, mainly
depend (subject, of course, to a proper supply of snow in the upper
region) on the lowness of the line of perpetual snow on steep
mountains near the coast. As the snow-line is so low in Tierra
del Fuego, we might have expected that many of the glaciers
would have reached the sea. Nevertheless, I was astonished when
I first saw a range, only from 3000 to 1000 feet in height, in the
latitude of Cumberland, with every valley filled with streams of ice
descending to the sea-coast. Almost every arm of the sea, which
penetrates to the interior higher chain, not only in Tierra del Fuego,
but on the coast for 650 miles northwards, is terminated by " tre-
mendous and astonishing glaciers," as described by one of the
officers on the survey. Great masses of ice frequently fall from
these icy cliffs, and the crash reverberates like the broadside of a
man-of-war through the lonely channels. These falls, as noticed
in the last chapter, produce great waves which break on the
adjoining coasts. It is known that earthquakes frequently cause
masses of earth to fall from sea-cliffs : how terrific, then, would be
the effect of a severe shock (and such occur heref) on a body like a
glacier, already in motion, and traversed by fissures ! I can readily
believe that the water would be fairly beaten back out of the
deepest channel, and then, returning with an overwhelming force,
would whirl about huge masses of rock like so much chaff. In
Eyre's Sound, in the latitude of Paris, there are immense glaciers,
and yet the loftiest neighbouring mountain is only 6200 feet high.
In this Sound, about fifty icebergs were seen at one time floating
outwards, and one of them must have been at least 168 feet in total
height. Some of the icebergs were loaded with blocks of no

* Miers's Chile, vol. i. p. 415. It is said that the sugar-cane grew fit
Ingenio, lat. 32° to 33°, but not in sufficient quantity to make the manu-
facture profitable. In the valley of Quillota, south of Ingenio, I saw some
large date palm-trees.

t Bulkdey's and Cummin's Faithful Narrative of the Los* of the Wager,
flic earthquake happened August 2r>, 1741.

1834.]

FLOATING ICEBERGS.

235

inconsiderable size, of granite and other rocks, different from the
clay-slate of the surrounding mountains. The glacier furthest

°00'

from the pole, surveyed during the voyages of the Adventure and
Beagle, is in lat. 46° 50', in the Gulf of Penas. It is 15 miles long,
and in one part 7 broad, and descends to the sea-coast. Btit even
a few miles northward of this glacier, in the Laguna de San Rafael,
some Spanish missionaries * encountered " many icebergs, some
great, some small, and others middle-sized," in a narrow arm of the
sea, on the 22nd of the month corresponding with our June, and in
a latitude corresponding with that of the Lake of Geneva !

In Europe, the most southern glacier which comes down to the
sea is met with, according to Von Buch, on the coast of Norway, in
lat. 67°. Now, this is more than 20° of latitude, or 1230 miles,
nearer the pole than the Laguna de San Eafael. The position of
the glaciers at this place and in the Gulf of Penas may be put
even in a more striking point of view, for they descend to the sea-
coast within 7J° of latitude, or 450 miles, of a harbour, where
three species of Oliva, a Voluta, and a Terebra, are the commonest
shells, within less than 9° from where palms grow, within 4£° of a
region where the jaguar and puma range over the plains, less than
2-i° from arborescent grasses, and (looking to the westward in the
* Ajriieros. Dose. Hist. <lc Cln'lor, p. 227.

2oG EEBATIO BOULDEES. [CHAP. xi.

same hemisphere) less than 2° from orchideous parasites, and within
a single degree of tree-ferns !

These facts are of high geological interest with respect to the
climate of the northern hemisphere at the period when boulders
were transported. I will not here detail how simply the theory of
icebergs being charged with fragments of rock, explains the origin
and position of the gigantic boulders of eastern Tierra del Fuego,
on the high plain of Santa Cruz, and on the island of Chiloe. In
Tierra del Fuego, the greater number of boulders lie on the lines
of old sea-channels, now converted into dry valleys by the elevation
of the land. They are associated with a great unstratified forma-
tion of mud and sand, containing rounded and angular fragments
of all sizes, which has originated * in the repeated ploughing up of
the sea-bottom by the stranding of icebergs, and by the matter
transported on them. Few geologists now doubt that those erratic
boulders which lie near lofty mountains have been pushed forward
by the glaciers themselves, and that those distant from mountains,
and embedded in subaqueous deposits, have been conveyed thither
either on icebergs or frozen in coast-ice. The connection between
the transported of boulders and the presence of ice in some form,
is strikingly shown by their geographical distribution over the
earth. In South America they arc not found further than 48° of
latitude, measured from the southern pole; in North America it
appears that the limit of their transportal extends to 53 2° from the
northern pole ; but in Europe to not more than 40° of latitude,
measxired from the same point. On the other hand, in the intertro-
pical parts of America, Asia, and Africa, they have never been
observed; nor at the Cape of Good Hope, nor in Australia.!

On the Climate and Productions of the Antarctic Islands. — Con-
idering the rankness of the vegetation in Tierra del Fuego, and
on the coast northward of it, the condition of the islands south
and south-west of America is truly surprising. Sandwich Land,
in the latitude of the north part of Scotland, was found by Cook,
during the hottest month of the year, "covered many fathoms
thick with everlasting snow ;" and there seems to be scarcely any

* Geological Transactions, vol. vi. p. 415.

t I have given details (the first, I believe, publisher!) on this subject in
the first edition, and in the Appendix to it. I have there shown that the
apparent exceptions to the absence of erratic boulders in certain hot
countries, are due to erroneous observations : several statements there
given I have since found confirmed Ly various authors.

1834.] ANTARCTIC ISLANDS. 207

vegetation. Georgia, an island 96 miles long and 10 broad, in the
latitude of Yorkshire, "in the very height of summer, is in a man-
ner wholly covered with frozen snow." It can boast only of moss,
some tufts of grass, and wild burnet; it has only one land-bird
(Anthus correndera), yet Iceland, which is 10° nearer the pole, has,
according to Mackenzie, fifteen laud-birds. The South Shetland
Islands, in the same latitude as the southern half of Norway,
possess only some lichens, moss, and a little grass; and Lieut.
Kendall * found the bay, in which he was at anchor, beginning to
freeze at a period corresponding with our 8th of September. The
soil here consists of ice and volcanic ashes interstratified ; and at a
little depth beneath the surface it must remain perpetually con-
gealed, for Lieut. Kendall found the body of a foreign sailor which
had long been buried, with the flesh and all the features perfectly
preserved. It is a singular fact, that on the two great continents
in the northern hemisphere (but not in the broken land of Europe
between them), we have the zone of perpetually frozen under-soil
in a low latitude — namely, in 56° in North America at the depth of
three feet,f and in G2° in Siberia at the depth of twelve to fifteen
feet — as the result of a directly opposite condition of things to
those of the southern hemisphere. On the northern continents,
the winter is rendered excessively cold by the radiation from a
large area of land into a clear sky, nor is it moderated by the
warmth-bringing currents of the sea; the short summer, on the
other hand, is hot. In the Southern Ocean the winter is not so
excessively cold, but the summer is far less hot, for the clouded sky
seldom allows the sun to warm the ocean, itself a bad absorbent of
heat ; and hence the mean temperature of the year, which regulates
the zone of perpetually congealed under-soil, is low. It is evident
that a rank vegetation, which does not so much require heat as
it does protection from intense cold, would approach much nearer
to this zone of perpetual congelation under the equable climate of
the southern hemisphere, than tinder the extreme climate of the
northern continents.

The case of the sailor's body perfectly preserved in the icy soil
of the South Shetland Islands (lat. 62° to 63° S.), in a rather lower
latitude than that (lat. 64° N.) under which Pallas found the

* Geographical Journal, 1830, pp. Go, 66.

f Richardson's Append, to Back's Exped,, and Humboldt's Fragm.
Asiat., torn. ii. p. 386.

1>3S PRESERVATION <)F FROZEN CARCASSES. [CHAI-. xi.

frozen rhinoceros in Siberia, is very interesting. Although it is a
fallacy, as I have endeavoured to show in a former chapter, to
suppose that the larger quadrupeds require a luxuriant vegetation
for their support, nevertheless it is important to find in the South
Shetland Islands, a frozen uuder-soil within 360 miles of the forest-
clad islands near Cape Horn, where, as far as the bulk of vegetation
is concerned, any number of great quadrupeds might be supported.
The perfect preservation of the carcasses of the Siberian elephants
and rhinoceroses is certainly one of the most wonderful facts in
geology ; but independently of the imagined difficulty of supplying
them with food from the adjoining countries, the whole case is not,
I think, so perplexing as it has generally been considered. The
plains of Siberia, like those of the Pampas, appear to have been
formed under the sea, into which rivers brought down the bodies
of many animals ; of the greater number of these, only the skeletons
have been preserved, but of others the perfect carcass. Now, it is
known that in the shallow sea on the Arctic coast of America the
bottom freezes,* and does not thaw in spring so soon as the surface
of the land ; moreover at greater depths, where the bottom of the
sea does not freeze, the mud a few feet beneath the top layer might
remain even in summer below 32°, as in the case on the land with
the soil at the depth of a few feet. At still greater depths, the
temperature of the mud and water would probably not be low
enough to preserve the flesh ; and hence, carcasses drifted beyond
the shallow parts near an Arctic coast, would have only their
skeletons preserved : now in the extreme northern parts of Siberia
bones are infinitely numerous, so that even islets are said to bo
almost composed of them ; f and those islets lie no less than ten
degrees of latitude north of the place where Pallas found the
frozen rhinoceros. On the other hand, a carcass washed by a flood
into a shallow part of the Arctic Sea, would be preserved for an
indefinite period, if it were soon afterwards covered with mud
sufficiently thick to prevent the heat of the summer- water penetrat-
ing to it ; and if, when the sea-bottom was upraised into land, the
covering was sufficiently thick to prevent the heat of the summer
air and sun thawing and corrupting it.
Recapitulation. — I will recapitulate the principal facts with

* Messrs. Boaso and Simpson, in Geograph. Journ., vol. viii. pp. 218
t Cuvier (Ossemens Fossiles, torn. i. p. 151), from Billing's Voyage. '

1S31.] RECAPITULATION. 239

regard to the climate, ice-action, and organic productions of the
southern hemisphere, transposing the places in imagination to
Europe, with which we are so much better acquainted. Then,
near Lisbon, the commonest sea-shells, namely, three species of
Oliva, a Voluta, and a Terebra, would have a tropical character. In
the southern provinces of France, magnificent forests, intwined by
arborescent grasses and with the trees loaded with parastical plants,
would hide the face of the land. The puma and the jaguar would
haunt the Pyrenees. In the latitude of Mont Blanc, but on an
island as far westward as central North America, tree-ferns and
parastical Orchiderc would thrive amidst the thick woods. Even
as far north as central Denmark, humming-birds would be seen
fluttering about delicate flowers, and parrots feeding amidst the
evergreen woods ; and in the sea there, we should have a Voluta,
and all the shells of large size and vigorous growth. Nevertheless,
on some islands only 360 miles northward of our new Cape Horn
in Denmark, a carcass buried in the soil (or if washed into a shallow
sea, and covered up with mud) would be preserved perpetually
frozen. If some bold navigator attempted to penetrate northward
of these islands, he would run a thousand dangers amidst gigantic
icebergs, on some of which he would see great blocks of rock borne
far away from their original site. Another island of largo size
in the latitude of southern Scotland, but twice as far to the
west, would be " almost wholly covered with everlasting snow," and
would have each bay terminated by ice-cliffs, whence great masses
would be yearly detached : this island would boast only of a little
moss, grass, and burnet, and a titlark would be its only land
inhabitant. From our new Cape Horn in Denmark, a chain of
mountains, scarcely half the height of the Alps, would run in
a straight line due southward; and on its western flank every
deep creek of the sea, or fiord, would end in " bold and astonishing
glaciers." These lonely channels would freqiiently reverberate
with the falls of ice, and so often would great waves rush
along their coasts ; numerous icebergs, some as tall as cathedrals,
and occasionally loaded with " no inconsiderable blocks of rock,"
would be stranded on the outlying islets ; at intervals violent
earthquakes would shoot prodigious masses of ice into the waters
below. Lastly, some missionaries attempting to penetrate a long
arm of the sea, would behold the not lofty surrounding mountains,
sending dawn their many grand icy streams to the sea-coast, and

2 10 RECAPITULATION. \cu\r. xr.

tlicir progress in the boats would be checked by the innumerable
floating icebergs, some small and some great ; and this would have
occurred on our twenty-second of June, and where the Lake of
Geneva is now spread out ! *

* In the former edition and Appendix, I have given some facts on the
transportal of erratic boulders and icebergs in the Antarctic Ocean. This
subject has lately been treated excellently by Mr. Hayes, in the Boston
Journal (vol. iv. p. 426). The author does not appear aware of a case
published by me (Geographical Journal, vol. ix. p. 528) of a gigantic
boulder embedded in an iceberg in the Antarctic Ocean, almost certainly
one hundred miles distant from any land, and perhaps much more distant.
In the Appendix I have discussed at length the probability (at that time
hardly thought of) of icebergs, when stranded, grooving and polishing
rocks, like glaciers. This is now a very commonly received opinion ; and
I cannot still avoid the suspicion that it is applicable even to such cases
as that of the Jura. Dr. Richardson has assured me that the icebergs oft'
North America push before them pebbles and sand, and leave the sub-
marine rocky flats quite bare : it is hardly possible to doubt that such
ledges must be polished and scored in the direction of the set of the pre-
vailing currents. Since writing that Appendix, I havo seen in North
Wales (London Phil. Mag., vol. xxi. p. 180) the adjoining action of
glaciers and of floating icebergs.

1834.] fcAY OF VALPARAISO. 241

CHAPTER XII.

Valparaiso — Excursion fo the Foot of the Andes— Structure of the Laud —
Ascend the Bell of Quillota— Shattered Masses of Greenstone — Immense
Valleys — Mines — State of Miners — Santiago — Hot-baths of Cauquenes — •
Gold-mines— (Irimliug-inills — Perforated Stones — Habits of the Puma — •
El Turco and Tapacolo— Humming-birds.

CENTRAL CHILE.

July 23rd. — The Beagle anchored late at night in the bay of
Valparaiso, the chief seaport of Chile. When morning came,
everything appeared delightful. After Tierra del Fuego, the
climate felt quite delicious — the atmosphere so dry, and the
heavens so clear and blue with the sun shining brightly, that all
nature seemed sparkling with life. The view from the anchorage
is very pretty. The town is built at the very foot of a range of
hills, about 1600 feet high, and rather steep. From its position, it
consists of one long, straggling street, which runs parallel to the
beach, and wherever a ravine comes down, the houses are piled
up on each side of it. The rounded hills, being only partially
protected by a very scanty vegetation, are worn into numberless
little gullies, which expose a singularly bright red soil. From this
cause, and from the low whitewashed houses with tile roofs, the
view reminded me of St. Cruz in Tcneriffe. In a north-westerly
direction there are some fine glimpses of the Andes: but these
mountains appear much grander when viewed from the neighbour-
ing hills; the great distance at which they are situated can then
more readily be perceived. The volcano of Aconcagua is parti-
cularly magnificent. This huge and irregularly conical mass has
an elevation greater than that of Chimborazo ; for, from measure-
ments made by the officers in the Beagle, its height is no less than
23,000 feet. The Cordillera, however, viewed from this point, owe
the greater part of their beauty to the atmosphere through which

242 CENTRAL CHILE. Iciui'. xu.

they are seen. When the sun was setting in the Pacific, it was
admirable to watch how clearly their rugged outlines could be
distiugiiished, yet how varied and how delicate were the shades of

their colour.

I had the good fortune to find living here Mr. Eichard Corfield,
an old schoolfellow and friend, to whose hospitality and kindness
I was greatly indebted, in having afforded me a most pleasant
residence during the Beagle's stay in Chile. The immediate
neighbourhood of Valparaiso is not very productive to the
naturalist. During the long summer the wind blows steadily
from the southward, and a little off shore, so that rain never
falls ; during the three winter months, however, it is sufficiently
abundant. The vegetation in consequence is very scanty : except
in some deep valleys, there are no trees, and only a little grass and
a few low bushes are scattered over the less steep parts of the hills.
"When we reflect, that at the distance of 850 miles to the south,
this side of the Andes is completely hidden by one impenetrable
forest, the contrast is very remarkable. I took several long
walks while collecting objects of natural history. The country
is pleasant for exercise. There are many very beautiful flowers ;
and, as in most other dry climates, the plants and shrubs possess
strong and peculiar odours — even one's clothes by brushing through
them became scented. I did not cease from wonder at finding each
succeeding day as fine as the foregoing. What a difference does
climate make in the enjoyment of life! How opposite are the
sensations when viewing black mountains half enveloped in clouds,
and seeing another range through the light blue haze of a fine day !
The one for a time may be very sublime ; the other is all gaiety and
happy life.

August ~L4:th. — I set out on a riding excursion, for the purpose of
geologizing the basal parts of the Andes, which alone at this time
of the year are not shut up by the winter snow. Our first day's
ride was northward along the sea-coast. After dark we reached
the Hacienda of Quintero, the estate which formerly belonged to
Lord Cochrane. My object in coming here was to see the great
beds of shells, which stand some yards above the level of the sea,
and are burnt for lime. The proofs of the elevation of this whole
line of coast are unequivocal : at the height of a few hundred feet
old-looking shells are numerous, and I found some at 1300 feet.
These shells either lie loose on the surface, or are embedded in a

1&J4.] THE VALLEY OF QUILLOTA. 243

reddish-black vegetable mould. I was much surprised to find
under the microscope that this vegetable mould is really marine
mud, full of minute particles of organic bodies.

15th. — We returned towards the valley of Quiilota. The country
was exceedingly pleasant; just such as poets would call pastoral :
green open lawns, separated by small valleys with rivulets, and
the cottages, we may suppose of the shepherds, scattered on the
hill-sides. We were obliged to cross the ridge of the Chilicauquen.
At its base there were many fine evergreen forest-trees, but these
flourished only in the ravines, where there was running water.
Any person who had seen only the country near Valparaiso, would
never have imagined that there had been such picturesque spots in
Chile. As soon as we reached the brow of the Sierra, the valley of
Quiilota was immediately under our feet. The prospect was one
of remarkable artificial luxuriance. The valley is very broad and
quite flat, and is thus easily irrigated in all parts. The little
square gardens are crowded with orange and olive trees, and
every sort of vegetable. On each side huge bare mountains rise,
and this from the contrast renders the patchwork valley the more
pleasing. Whoever called " Valparaiso " the " Valley of Paradise,"
must have been thinking of Quiilota. We crossed over to the
Hacienda de San Isidro, situated at the very foot of the Bell
Mountain.

Chile, as may be seen in the maps, is a narrow strip of laud
between the Cordillera and the Pacific; and this strip is itself
traversed by several mountain-lines, which in this part run
parallel to the great range. Between these oiiter lines and the
main Cordillera, a succession of level basins, generally opening
into each other by narrow passages, extend far to the southward :
in these, the principal towns are situated, as San Felipe, Santiago,
San Fernando. These basins or plains, together with the transverse
flat valleys (like that of Quiilota) which connect them with the
coast, I have no doubt are the bottoms of ancient inlets and deep
bays, such as at the present day intersect every part of Tierra del
Fuego and the western coast. Chile must formerly have resembled
the latter country in the configuration of its land and water. The
resemblance was occasionally shown strikingly when a level fog-
bank covered, as with a mantle, all the lower parts of the country :
the white vapour curling into the ravines, beautifully represented
little coves and bays ; and here and there a solitary hillock peeping

CENTRAL CHILE. [CHAP. xti.

up, showed that it had formerly stood there as au islet. The
contrast of these flat valleys and basins with the irregular
mountains, gave the scenery a character which to me was new
and very interesting.

From the natural slope to seaward of these plains, they are very
easily irrigated, and in consequence singularly fertile. Without
this process the laud would produce scarcely anything, for during
the whole summer the sky is cloudless. The mountains and hills
are dotted over with bushes and low trees, and excepting these the
vegetation is very scanty. Each landowner in the valley possesses
a certain portion of hill-country, where his half-wild cattle, in
considerable numbers, manage to find sufficient pasture. Once
every year there is a grand " rodeo," when all the cattle are driven
down, counted, and marked, and a certain number separated to be
fattened in the irrigated fields. Wheat is extensively cultivated,
and a good deal of Indian corn : a kind of bean is, however, the
staple article of food for the common labourers. The orchards
produce an overflowing abundance of peaches, figs, and grapes.
With all these advantages, the inhabitants of the country ought to
be much more prosperous than they are.

IGfh. — The mayor-domo of the Hacienda was good enough to
give me a guide and fresh horses ; and in the morning we set out
to ascend the Campana, or Bell Mountain, which is 6400 feet high.
The paths were very bad, but both the geology and scenery amply
repaid the trouble. We reached, by the evening, a spring called
the Agua del Guanaco, which is situated at a great height. This
must be an old name, for it is very many years since a guauaco
drank its waters. During the ascent I noticed that nothing but
bushes grew on the northern slope, whilst on the southern slope
there was a bamboo about fifteen feet high. In a few places there
were palms, and I was surprised to see one at an elevation of at
least 4500 feet. These palms are, for their family, ugly trees.
Their stem is very large, and of a curious form, being thicker in
the middle than at the base or top. They are excessively numerous
in some parts of Chile, and valuable on account of a sort of treacle
made from the sap. On one estate near Petorca they tried to count
them, but failed, after having numbered several hundred thousand.
Every year in the early spring, in August, very many are cut
down, and when the trunk is lying on the ground, the crown of
leaves is lopped off. The sap then immediately begins to flow from

183-1.] THE BELL OF QUILLOTA. '1 L">

the upper end, and continues so doing for sonic months : it is.
however, necessary that a thin slice should be shaved off from that
end every morning, so as to expose a fresh surface. A good tree
will give ninety gallons, and all this must have been contained in
the vessels of the apparently dry trunk. It is said that the sap
flows much more quickly on those days when the sun is powerful ;
and likewise, that it is absolutely necessary to take care, in cutting
down the tree, that it should fall with its head upwards on the
side of the hill ; for if it falls down the slope, scarcely any sap will
flow ; although in that case one would have thought that the action
would have been aided, instead of checked, by the force of gravity.
The sap is concentrated by boiling, and is then called treacle,
which it very much resembles in taste.

We unsaddled our horses near the spring, and prepared to pass
the night. The evening was fine, and the atmosphere so clear, that
the masts of the vessels at anchor in the bay of Valparaiso, although
no less than twenty-six geographical miles distant, could be dis-
tinguished clearly as little black streaks. A ship doubling the
point under sail, appeared as a bright white speck. Anson
expresses much surprise, in his voyage, at the distance at which
his vessels were discovered from the coast; but he did not
sufficiently allow for the height of the land, and the great
transparency of the air.

The setting of the sun was glorious; the valleys being black
whilst the snowy psaks of the Andes yet retained a ruby tint.
When it was dark, Ave made a fire beneath a little arbour of
bamboos, fried our charqui (or dried slips of beef), took our mate,
and were quite comfortable. There is an inexpressible charm in thus
living in the open air. The evening was calm and still ; — the shrill
noise of the mountain bizcacha, and the faint cry of a goatsucker,
were occasionally to be heard. Besides these, few birds, or even
insects, frequent these dry, parched mountains.

Augmt 17M.— In the morning we climbed up the rough mass of
greenstone which crowns the summit. This rock, as frequently
happens, was much shattered and broken into huge angular frag-
ments. I observed, however, one remarkable circumstance, namely,
that many of the surfaces presented every degree of freshness — some
appearing as if broken the day before, whilst on others lichens had
either just become, or had long grown, attached. I so fully believed
that this was owing to the frequent earthquakes, that I felt inclined

2:16 ( EXTRA L CHILE. [ciiAi>. XIT.

to hurry from below each loose pile. As one might very easily be
deceived in a fact of this kind, I doubted its accuracy, until ascend-
ing Mount Wellington, in Van Dienien's Laud, where earthquakes
do not occur ; and there I saw the summit of the mountain similarly
composed and similarly shattered, but all the blocks appeared as
if they had been hurled into their present position thousands of
years ago.

We spent the day on the summit, and I never enjoyed one more
thoroughly. Chile, bounded by the Andes and the Pacific, was
seen as in a map. The pleasure from the scenery, in itself beautiful,
was heightened by the many reflections which arose from the mere
view of the Campana range with its lesser parallel ones, and -of the
broad valley of Quillota directly intersecting them. Who can avoid
wondering at the force wliich has upheaved these mountains, and
even more so at the countless ages which it must have required to
have broken through, removed, and levelled whole masses of them ?
It is well in this case to call to mind the vast shingle and sedi-
mentary beds of Patagonia, which, if heaped on the Cordillera,
would increase its height by so many thousand feet. When in that
country, I wondered how any mountain-chain could have supplied
such masses, and not have been utterly obliterated. We must not
now reverse the wonder, and doubt whether all-powerful time can
grind down moiintains — even the gigantic Cordillera —into gravel
and mud.

The appearance of the Andes was different from that which I
had expected. The lower line of the snow was of course hori-
zontal, and to this line the even summits of the range seemed
quite parallel. Only at long intervals, a group of points or a
single cone showed where a volcano had existed, or does now
exist. Hence the range resembled a great solid wall, surmounted
here and there by a tower, and making a most perfect barrier to the
country.

Almost every part of the hill had been drilled by attempts to
open gold-mines : the rage for mining has left scarcely a spot in
Chile unexarnined. I spent the evening as before, talking round
the fire with my two companions. The Guasbs of Chile, who
correspond to the Gauchos of the Pampas, are, however, a very
different set of beings. Chile is the more civilized of the two
countries, and the inhabitants, in consequence, have lost much
individual character. Gradations in rank are much more strongly

1*31.] r/r IT/LOTA. 247

marked : the Guaso does not by any means consider every man his
equal ; and I was quite surprised to find that my companions did
not like to eat at the same time with myself. This feeling of in-
equality is a necessary consequence of the existence of an aristocracy
of wealth. It is said that some few of the greater landowners
possess from five to ten thousand pounds sterling per annum : an
inequality of riches which I believe is not met with in any of the
cattle-breeding countries eastward of the Andes. A traveller does
not here meet that unbounded hospitality which refuses all pay-
ment, but yet is so kindly offered that no scruples can be raised in
accepting it. Almost every house in Chile will receive you for the
night, but a trifle is expected to be given in the morning ; even a
rich man will accept two or three shillings. The Gaucho, although
he may be a cut-throat, is a gentleman ; the Guaso is in few respects
better, but at the same time a vulgar, ordinary fellow. The two
men, although employed much in the same manner, are different in
their habits and attire ; and the peculiarities of each are universal
in their respective countries. The Gaucho seems part of his horse,
and scorns to exert himself except when on his back : the Guaso
may be hired to work as a labourer in the fields. The former lives
entirely on animal food ; the latter almost wholly on vegetable.
We do not here see the white boots, the broad drawers, and scarlet
chilipa ; the picturesque costume of the Pampas. Here, common
trousers are protected by black and green worsted leggings. The
poncho, however, is common to both. The chief pride of the Guaso
lies in his spurs, which are absurdly large. I measured one which
was six inches in the diameter of the rowel, and the rowel itself
contained upwards of thirty points. The stirrups are on the same
scale, each consisting of a square, carved block of wood, hollowed
out, yet weighing three or four pounds. The Guaso is perhaps
more expert with the lazo than the Gaucho ; but, from the nature
of the country, he does not know the use of the bolas.

August 18t7i. — "We descended the mountain, and passed some
beautiful little spots, with rivulets and fine trees. Having slept at
the same hacienda as before, we rode during the two succeeding
days up the valley, and passed through Quillota, which is more like
a collection of nursery-gardens than a town. The orchards were
beautiful, presenting one mass of peach-blossoms. I saw, also, in
one or two places the date-palm; it is a most stately tree; and I
should think a group of them in their native Asiatic or African

248 CENTRAL CIIILK, ['MAP. xn,

deserts must be superb. We passed likewise San Felipe, a pretty
straggling town like Quillota. The valley in this part expands into
one of those great bays or plains, reaching to the foot of the
Cordillera, which have been mentioned as forming so curious a part
of the scenery of Chile. In the evening we reached the mines of
Jajuel, situated in a ravine at the flank of the great chain. I
stayed' here five days. My host, the superintendent of the mine,
was a shrewd but rather ignorant Cornish miner. He had married
a Spanish woman, and did not mean to return home ; but his
admiration for the mines of Cornwall remained unbounded.
Amongst many other questions, he asked me, "Now that George
Eex is dead, how many more of the family of Hexes are yet alive ? "
This Eex certainly must be a relation of the great author Finis,
who wrote all books !

These mines are of copper, and the ore is all shipped to Swan-
sea, to be smelted. Hence the mines have an aspect singularly
quiet, as compared to those in England : here no smoke, furnaces,
or great steam-engines, disturb the solitude of the surrounding
mountains.

The Chilian government, or rather the old Spanish law, en-
courages by every method the searching for mines. The discoverer
may work a mine on any ground, by paying five shillings ; and
before paying this he may try, even in the garden of another man,
for twenty days.

It is now well known that the Chilian method of mining is the
cheapest. My host says that the two principal improvements
introduced by foreigners have been, first, reducing by previous
roasting the copper pyrites — which, being the common ore in
Cornwall, the English miners were astounded on their arrival to
find thrown away as useless : secondly, stamping and washing the
scoriae from the old furnaces — by which process particles of metal
arc recovered in abundance. I have actually seen mules carrying
to the coast, for transportation to England, a cargo of such cinders.
Bat the first case is much the most curious. The Chilian miners
were so convinced that copper pyrites contained not a particle of
copper, that they laughed at the Englishmen for their ignorance,
who laughed in turn, and bought their richest reins for a few
dollars. It is very odd that, in a country where mining had been
extensively carried on for many years, so simple a process as gently
roasting the ore to expel the sulphur previous to smelting it, had

ls:;i.] MorNTATX SCKNKKV.

never been discovered. A few improvements have likewise been
introduced in some of the simple machinery ; but even to the present
day, water is removed from some mines by men carrying it up the
shaft in leathern bags!

The labouring men work very hard. They have little time
allowed for their meals, and during summer and winter they begin
when it is light, and leave off at dark. They are paid one pound
sterling a month, and their food is given them : this for breakfast
consists of sixteen figs and two small loaves of bread; for dinner,
boiled beans; for supper, broken roasted wheat grain. They
scarcely ever taste meat ; as, with the twelve pounds per annum,
they have to clothe themselves, and support their families. The
miners who work in the mine itself have twenty-five shillings per
month, and arc allowed a little charqui. But these men come down
from their bloak habitations only once in every fortnight or three
weeks.

During my stay hero I thoroughly enjoyed scrambling about
these huge mountains. The geology, as might have been expected,
was very interesting. The shattered and baked rocks, traversed
by innumerable dykes of greenstone, showed what commotions had
formerly taken place. The scenery was much the same as that
near the Bell of Quillota— dry barren mountains, dotted at inter-
vals by bushes with a scanty foliage. The cactuses, or rather
opuntias, were here very numerous. I measured one of a spherical
figure, which, including the spines, was six feet and four inches in
circumference. The height of the common cylindrical, branching
kind, is from twelve to fifteen feet, and the girth (with spines) of
the branches between three and four feet.

A heavy fall of snow on the mountains prevented mo, during
the last two days, from making some interesting excursions. I
attempted to reach a lake which the inhabitants, from some un-
accountable reason, believe to be an arm of the sea. During a
very dry season, it was proposed to attempt cutting a channel
from it for the sake of the water, but the padre, after a consulta-
tion, declared it was too dangerous, as all Chile would be inundated,
if, as generally supposed, the lake was connected with the Pacific.
We ascended to a great height, but becoming involved in the snow*
drifts failed in reaching this wonderful lake, and had some diffi-
culty in returning. I thought we should have lost our horses ; for
there was no means of guessing how deep the drifts were, and the

250 CEXTRAL CHILE. [ciui>. xn.

animals, when led, could only move by jumping. The black sky
showed that a fresh snow-storm was gathering, and we therefore
were not a little glad when we escaped. By the time we reached
the base the storm commenced, and it was lucky for us that this
did not happen three hours earlier in the day.

August 26th. — We left Jajuel and again crossed the basin of
Ran Felipe. The day was truly Chilian : glaringly bright, and the
atmosphere quite clear. The thick and uniform covering of newly
fallen snow rendered the view of the volcano of Aconcagua and the
main chain qiiite glorious. "We were now on the road to Santiago,
the capital of Chile. We crossed the Cerro del Talguen, and slept
at a little rancho. The host, talking about the state of Chile as
compared to other countries, was very humble : " Some see with
two eyes, and some with one, but for niy part I do not think that
Chile sees with any."

Awjust 27th. — After crossing many low hills we descended into
the small land-locked plain of Guitron. In the basins, such as this
one, which are elevated from one thousand to two thousand feet
above the sea, two species of acacia, which are stunted in their
forms, and stand wide apart from each other, grow in large numbers.
These trees are never found near the sea-coast ; and this gives
another characteristic feature to the scenery of these basins. We
crossed a low ridge which separates Guitron from the great plain
on which Santiago stands. The view was here pre-eminently
striking: the dead level surface, covered in parts by woods of
acacia, and with the city in the distance, abutting horizontally
against the base of the Andes, whose snowy peaks were bright
with the evening sun. At the first glance of this view, it was
quite evident that the plain represented the extent of a former
inland sea. As soon as we gained the level road we pushed our
horses into a gallop, and reached the city before it was dark.

I stayed a week in Santiago, and enjoyed myself very much. In
the morning I rode to various places on the plain, and in the
evening dined with several of the English merchants, whose hos-
pitality at this place is well known. A never-failing source of
pleasure was to ascend the little hillock of rock (St. Lucia) which
projects in the middle of the city. The scenery certainly is most
striking, and, as I have said, very peculiar. I am informed that
this same character is common to the cities on the great Mexican
platform. Of the town I have nothing to say in detail : it is not

1831.1 HOT SPRINGS OF CAUQUKXEP. 251

so fine or so large as Buenos Ayres, Imt is built after tlio same
model. I arrived here by a circuit to the north; so I resolved
to return to Valparaiso by a rather longer excursion to the south
of the direct road.

September 5th. — By the middle of the day we arrived at one of
the suspension bridges, made of hide, which cross the Maypu,
a large turbulent river a few leagues southward of Santiago.
These bridges are very poor affairs. The road, following the
curvature of the suspending ropes, is made of bundles of sticks
placed close together. It was full of holes, and oscillated rather
fearfully, even with the weight of a man leading his horse. In
the evening we reached a comfortable farm-house, where there
were several very pretty sefioritas. They were much horrified at
my having entered one of their churches out of mere curiosity.
They asked me, " Why do you not become a Christian— for our
religion is certain ? " I assured them I was a sort of Christian ;
but they would not hear of it — appealing to my own words, " Do
not your padres, your very bishops, marry?" The absurdity
of a bishop having a wife particularly struck them : they scarcely
knew whether to be most amused or horror-struck at such an
enormity.

6th. — We proceeded due south, and slept at Eancagua. The
road passed over the level but narrow plain, bounded on one side
by lofty hills, and on the other by the Cordillera. The next day
•we turned up the valley of the Kio Cachapual, in which the hot-
baths of Cauquenes, long celebrated for their medicinal properties,
are situated. The suspension bridges, in the less frequented parts,
are generally taken down during the winter when the rivers are
low. Such was the case in this valley, and we were therefore
obliged to cross the stream on horseback. This is rather dis-
agreeable, for the foaming water, though not deep, rushes so quickly
over the bed of large rounded stones, that one's head becomes quite
confused, and it is difficult even to perceive whether the horse is
moving onward or .standing still. In summer, when the snow
melts, the torrents are quite impassable ; their strength and fury
are then extremely great, as might be plainly seen by the marks
which they had left. We reached the baths in the evening, and
stayed there five days, being confined the two last by heavy rain.
The buildings consist of a square of miserable little hovels, each
with a single table and bench. They are situated in a narrow deep

252 ( 'EN'J'lt A 1. cJfl !.!•:. ['HAi'. XTI.

valley just without the central Cordillera, It is a quiet, solitary
spot, with a good deal of wild beauty.

The mineral springs of Cauquenes burst forth ou a lino of dis
location, crossing a mass of stratified rock, the whole of whicn
betrays the action of heat. A considerable quantity of gas is con
tinually escaping from the same orifices with the water. Though
the springs are only a few yards apart, they have very different
temperatures ; and this appears to be the result of an unequal
mixture of cold water : for those with the lowest temperature have
scarcely any mineral taste. After the great earthquake of 1822
the springs ceased, and the water did not return for nearly a
year. They were also much affected by the earthquake of 1885 ;
the temperature being suddenly changed from 118° to 92°.* It
seems probable that mineral waters rising deep from the bowels of
the earth, would always be more deranged by subterranean dis-
turbances than those nearer the surface. The man who had charge
of the baths assured me that in summer the water is hotter and
more plentiful than in winter. The former circumstance I should
have expected, from the less mixture, during the dry season, of
cold water; but the latter statement appears very strange and
contradictory. The periodical increase during the summer, when
rain never falls, can, I think, only be accounted for by the melting
of the snow : yet the mountains which are covered by snow during
that season, are three or four leagues distant from the springs. I
have no reason to doubt the accuracy of my informer, who,
having lived on the spot for several years, ought to be well ac-
quainted with the circumstance,— which, if true, certainly is very
curious: for we must suppose that the snow-water, being con-
ducted through poroiis strata to the regions of heat, is again thrown
up to the surface by the line of dislocated and injected rocks at
Cauquenes ; and the regularity of the phenomenon would seem to
indicate that in this district heated rock occurred at a depth not
very great.

One day I rode up the valley to the farthest inhabited spot,
Shortly above that point, the Cachapual divides into two deep
tremendous ravines, which penetrate directly into the great range.
I scrambled up a peaked mountain, probably more than six thou-
sand feet high. Here, as indeed everywhere else, scenes of the
highest interest presented themselves. It was by one of these
; Caldclcugh, iu PUilosopli. Transact, for 183G.

1*34.] FLOATING ISLANDS. 253

ravines, that Piucheira entered Chile and ravaged the neighbour-
ing country. This is the same man whose attack on an estancia at
the Eio Negro I have described. He was a renegade half-caste
Spaniard, who collected a great body of Indians together and
established himself by a stream in the Pampas, which place none
of the forces sent after him could ever discover. From this point
he used to sally forth, and crossing the Cordillera by passes hitherto
nnattempted, he ravaged the farm-houses and drove the cattle to
his secret rendezvous. Pincheira was a capital horseman, and he
made all 'around him equally good, for he invariably shot any one
who hesitated to follow him. It was against this man, and other
wandering Indian tribes, that Kosas waged the war of extermina-
tion.

September 13th. — We left the baths of Cauquenes, and, rejoining
the main road, slept at the Eio Claro. From this place we rode to
the town of San Fernando. Before arriving there, the last land-
locked basin had expanded into a great plain, which extended so
far to the south, that the snowy summits of the more distant Andes
were seen as if above the horizon of the sea. San Fernando is forty
leagues from Santiago; and it was my farthest point southward;
for we here turned at right angles towards the coast. We slept
at the gold-mines of Yaquil, which are worked by Mr. Nixon,
an American gentleman, to whose kindness I was much indebted
during the four days I stayed at his house. The next morning \ve
rode to the mines, which are situated at the distance of some leagues,
near the summit of a lofty hill. On the way we had a glimpse of
the lake Tagua-tagua, celebrated for its floating islands, which have
been described by M. Gay.* They are composed of the stalks of
various dead plants intertwined together, and on the surface of
which other living ones take root. Their form is generally circular,
and their thickness from four to six feet, of which the greater part
is immersed in the water. As the wind blows, they pass from one
side of the lake to the other, and often carry cattle and horses as
passengers.

When we arrived at the mine, I was struck by the pale appear-
ance of many of the men, and inquired from Mr. Nixon respecting
their condition. The mine is 450 feet deep, and each man brings

* Annales des Sciences Xaturelles, March, 1833. M* Gay, a zealous
and able naturalist, \vas then occupied in studying every branch of
natural history throughout the kingdom of Chile.

vJoi CENTRAL CHILE. [CHAP. xtr.

up about 200 pouuds weight of stone. With this load they have to
eliinb up the alternate notches cut in the trunks of trees, placed in
a zigzag line up the shaft. Even beardless young men, eighteen
and twenty years old, with little muscular development of their
bodies (they are quite naked excepting drawers) ascend with this
great load from nearly the same depth. A strong man, who is not
accustomed to this labour, perspires most profusely, with merely
carrying up his own body. With this very severe labour, they live
entirely on boiled beans aud bread. They would prefer having
bread alone ; but their masters, finding that they cannot work so
hard upon this, treat them like horses, and make them eat the
beans. Their pay is here rather more than at the mines of Jajucl,
being from 24 to 28 shillings per month. They leave the mine
only once in three weeks ; when they stay with their families for
two days. One of the rules in this mine sounds very harsh, but
answers pretty well for the master. The only method of stealing
gold is to secrete pieces of the ore, and take them out as occasion
may offer. Whenever the major-domo finds a lump thus hidden,
its full value is stopped out of the wages of all the men; who
thus, without they all combine, are obliged to keep watch over each
other.

When the ore is brought to the mill, it is ground into an im-
palpable powder ; the process of washing removes all the lighter
particles, and amalgamation finally secures the gold-dust. The
washing, when described, sounds a very simple process ; but it is
beautiful to see how the exact adaptation of the current of water
to the specific gravity of the gold, so easily separates the powdered
matrix from the metal. The mud which passes from the mills is
collected into pools, where it subsides, and every now and then is
cleared out, and thrown into a common heap. A great deal of
chemical action then commences, salts of various kinds effloresce
on the surface, and the mass becomes hard. After having been left
for a year or two, and then rewashed, it yields gold ; and this pro-
cess may be repeated even six or seven times ; but the gold each
time becomes less in quantity, and the intervals required (as the
inhabitants say, to generate the metal) are longer. There can be
no doubt that the chemical action, already mentioned, each time
liberates fresh gold from some combination. The discovery of a
method to effect this before the first grinding, would without doubt
raise the value of gold-ores many fold. It is curious to find how

1834.] INDIAN IIELIC. 255

the minute particles of gold, being scattered about and not corrod-
ing, at last accumulate in some quantity. A short time since a few
miners, being out of work, obtained permission to scrape the ground
round the house and mills; they washed the earth thus got together,
and so procured thirty dollars' worth of gold. This is an exact
counterpart of what takes place in nature. Mountains suffer
degradation and wear away, and with them the metallic veins
which they contain. The hardest rock is worn into impalpable
mud, the ordinary metals oxidate, and both are removed ; but gold,
platina, and a few others are nearly indestructible, and from their
weight, sinking to the bottom, are left behind. After whole moun-
tains have passed through this grindiug-inill, and have been washed
by the hand of nature, the residue becomes metalliferous, and man
finds it worth his while to complete the task of separation.

Bad as the above treatment of the miners appears, it is gladly
accepted of by them ; for the condition of the labouring agricul-
turists is much worse. Their wages are lower, and they live almost
exclusively on beans. This poverty must be chiefly owing to the
feudal-like system on which the land is tilled : the landowner gives
a small plot of ground to the labourer, for building on and culti-
vating, and in return has his services (or those of a proxy) for
every day of his life, without any wages. Until a father has a
grown-up son, who can by his labour pay the rent, there is no one,
except on occasional days, to take care of his own patch of ground.
Hence extreme poverty is very common among the labouring classes
in this country.

There are some old Indian ruins in this neighbourhood, and I
was shown one of the perforated stones, which Molina mentions
as being found in many places in considerable numbers. They
are of a circular flattened form, from five to six inches in diameter,
with a hole passing quite through the centre. It has generally
been supposed that they were used as heads to clubs, although
their form does not appear at all well adapted for that purpose.
Burchell * states that some of the tribes in Southern Africa dig up
roots by the aid of a stick pointed at one end, the force and
weight of which are increased by a round stone with a hole in it,
into which the other end is firmly wedged. It appears probable
that the Indians of Chile formerly used some such rude agricultural
instrument.

* Burohell'e Travels, vol. ii. p. 45.

250 CENTRAL CHILE. [<:n\t. xn.

One day, a German collector in natural history, of the name of
Eenous, called, and nearly at the same time an old Spanish lawyer.
I was amused at being told the conversation which took place be-
tween them. Eenous speaks Spanish so well, that the old lawyer
mistook him for a Chilian. Eenous, alluding to me, asked him
what he thought of the King of England sending out a collector to
their country, to pick up lizards and beetles, and to break stones ?
The old gentleman thought seriously for some time, and then said,
" It is not well, — hay un gato encerrado aqui (there is a cat shut up
here). No man is so rich as to send out people to pick up such
rubbish. I do not like it : if one of us were to go and do such
things in England, do not you think the King of England would
very soon send us out of his country ? " And this old gentleman,
from his profession, belongs to the better informed and more intelli-
gent classes ! Eenous himself, two or three years before, left in a
house at San Fernando some caterpillars, under charge of a girl to
feed, that they might turn into butterflies. This was rumoured
through the town, and at last the padres and governor consulted
together, and agreed it must be some heresy. Accordingly, when
Eenous returned, he was arrested.

September 19^.— We left Yaquil, and followed the flat valley,
formed like that of Quillota, in which the Eio Tinderidica flows.
Even at these few miles south of Santiago the climate is much
•damper; in consequence there are flue tracts of pasturage, which
are not irrigated. (20th.) We followed this valley till it expanded
into a great plain, which reaches from the sea to the mountains
west of Eancagua. We shortly lost all trees and even bushes ; so
that the inhabitants are nearly as badly off for firewood as those in
the Pampas. Never having heard of these plains, I was much sur-
prised at meeting with such scenery in Chile. The plains belong
to more than one series of different elevations, and they are tra-
versed by broad flat-bottomed valleys ; both of which circumstances,
as in Patagonia, bespeak the action of the sea on gently rising land.
In the steep cliffs bordering these valleys, there are some largo
caves, which no doubt were originally formed by the waves : one of
these is celebrated under the name of Cueva del Obispo ; having
formerly been consecrated. During the day I felt very unwell, and
from that time till the end of October did not recover.

September 22«cZ. — We continued to pass over green plains without
a tree. The next day we arrived at a house near Navedad, on the

1834.] THE PUMA. 257

sea-coast, whore a rich Hacienclero gave us lodgings. I stayed here
the two ensuing days, and although very unwell, managed to collect
from the tertiary formation some marine shells.

1±tli. — Our course was now directed towards Valparaiso, which
with great difficulty I reached on the 27th, and was there confined
to my bed till the end of October. During this time I was an
inmate in Mr. Cor field's house, whose kindness to me I do not
know how to express.

I will here add a few observations on some of the animals and
birds of Chile. The Puma, or South American Lion, is not
uncommon. This animal has a wide geographical range; being
found from the equatorial forests, throughout the deserts of Pata-
gonia, as far south as the clamp and cold latitudes (53° to 54°) of
Tierra del Fuego. I have seen its footsteps in the Cordillera of
central Chile, at an elevation of at least 10,000 feet. In La Plata
the puma preys chiefly on deer, ostriches, bizcacha, and other small
quadrupeds; it there seldom attacks cattle or horses, and most
rarely man. In Chile, however, it destroys many young horses and
cattle, owing probably to the scarcity of other quadrupeds : I heard,
likewise, of two men and a woman who had been thus killed. It
is asserted that the puma always kills its prey by springing on the
shoulders, and then drawing back the head with one of its paws,
until the vertebrae break : I have seen in Patagonia the skeletons
of guanacos, with their necks thus dislocated.

The puma, after eating its fill, covers the carcass with many
large bushes, and lies down to watch it. This habit is often the
cause of its being discovered ; for the condors wheeling in the air
every now and then descend to partake of the feast, and being
angrily driven away, rise all together on the wing. The Chileno
Guaso then knows there is a lion watching his prey — the word is given
— and men and dogs hurry to the chase. Sir F. Head says that a
Gaucho in the Pampas, upon merely seeing some condors wheeling
in the air, cried " A lion ! " I could never myself meet with any one
who pretended to such powers of discrimination. It is asserted
that, if a puma has once been betrayed by thus watching the
carcass, and has then been hunted, it never resumes this habit ; but
that, having gorged itself, it wanders far away. The puma is easily
killed. In an open country, it is first entangled with the bolas,
then lazoed, and dragged along the ground till rendered insensible.

s

258 CENTRAL CHILE. [CHAI-. xii.

At Tandeel (south of the Plata), I was told that within three
mouths oue hundred were thus destroyed. In Chile they are
generally driven up bushes or trees, and are then either shot, or
baited to death by dogs. The dogs employed in this chase belong-
to a particular breed, called Leoneros: they are weak, slight
animals, like long-legged terriers, but are born with a particular
instinct for this sport. The puma is described as being very
crafty: when pursued, it often returns on its former track, and
then suddenly making a spring on one side, waits there till the
dogs have passed by. It is a very silent animal, uttering no cry
even when wounded, and only rarely during the breeding season.

Of birds, two species of the genus Pteroptochos (megapodius and
albicollis of Kittlitz) are perhaps the most conspicuous. The
former, called by the Chilenos " el Turco," is as large as a fieldfare,
to which bird it has some alliance ; but its legs are much longer,
tail shorter, and beak stronger: its colour is a reddish brown.
The Turco is not uncommon. It lives on the ground, sheltered
among the thickets which are scattered over the dry and sterile
hills. With its tail erect, and stilt-like legs, it may be seen every
now and then popping from one bush to another with uncommon
quickness. It really requires little imagination to believe that the
bird is ashamed of itself, and is aware of its most ridiculous figure.
On first seeing it, one is tempted to exclaim, " A vilely stuffed
specimen has escaped from some museum, and has come to life
again!" It cannot be made to take flight without the greatest
trouble, nor does it run, but only hops. The various loud cries
which it utters when concealed amongst the bushes, are as strange
as its appearance. It is said to build its nest in a deep hole
beneath the ground. I dissected several specimens : the gizzard,
which was very muscular, contained beetles, vegetable fibres, and
pebbles. From this character, from the length of its legs, scratching
feet, membranous covering to the nostrils, short and arched wings,
this bird seems in a certain degree to connect the thrushes with
the gallinaceous order.

The second species (or P. albicollis) is allied to the first in its
general form. It is called Tapacolo, or " cover your posterior ;"
and well does the shameless little bird deserve its name; for it
carries its tail more than erect, that is, inclined backwards towards
its head. It is very common, and frequents the bottoms of hedge-
rows, and the bushes scattered over the barren hillSj where scarcely

1H34.] HUMMING-BIRDS. 259

another bird can exist. In its general manner of feeding, of quickly
hopping out of the thickets and back again, in its desire of con-
cealment, unwillingness to take flight, and nidification, it bears a
close resemblance to the Turco ; but its appearance is not quite so
ridiculous. The Tapacolo is very crafty : when frightened by any
person, it will remain motionless at the bottom of a bush, and will
then, after a little while, try with much address to crawl away on
the opposite side. It is also an active bird, and continually making
a noise : these noises are various and strangely odd ; some are like
the cooing of doves, others like the bubbling of water, and many
defy all similes. The country people say it changes its cry five
times in the year— according to some change of season, I suppose.*
Two species of humming-birds are common ; Trochilus forficatus
is found over a space of 2500 miles on the west coast, from the hot
dry country of Lima, to the forests of Tierra del Fuego— where it
may be seen flitting about in snow-storms. In the wooded island
of Chiloe, which has an extremely humid climate, this little bird,
skipping from side to side amidst the dripping foliage, is perhaps
more abundant than almost any other kind. I opened the stomachs
of several specimens, shot in different parts of the continent, and
in all, remains of insects were as numerous as in the stomach of a
creeper. When this species migrates in the summer southward,
it is replaced by the arrival of another species coming from the
north. This second kind (Trochilus gigas) is a very large bird for
the delicate family to which it belongs: when on the wing its
appearance is singular. Like others of the genus, it moves from
place to place with a rapidity which may be compared to that of
Syrphus amongst flies, and Sphinx among moths ; but whilst
hovering over a flower, it flaps its wings with a very slow and
powerful movement, totally different from that vibratory one
common to most of the species, which produces the humming
noise. I never saw any other bird where the force of its wings
appeared (as in a butterfly) so powerful in proportion to the weight
of its body. When hovering by a flower, its tail is constantly

* It is a remarkable fact, that Molina, though describing in detail all
the birds and animals of Chile, never once mentions this genus, the species
of which are so common, and so remarkable in their habits. Was he at a
loss how to classify them, and did he consequently think that silence was
the more prudent course ? It is one more instance of the frequency of
omissions by authors, on those very subjects where it might have been
least expected.

260 CENTRAL CHILE. [CHAP. xn.

expanded and shut like a fan, the body being kept in a nearly
vertical position. This action appears to steady and support the
bird, between the slow movements of its wings. Although flying
from flower to flower in search of food, its stomach generally
contained abundant remains of insects, -which I suspect are much
more the object of its search than honey. The note of this species,
like that of nearly the whole family, is extremely shrill.

1834.] ASPECT OF CHILOE. 261

CHAPTER XIII.

Chiloe — General Aspect — Boat Excursion — Native Indians — Castro —
Tame Fox — Ascend San Pedro— Chouos Archipelago — Peninsula of
Tres Montes — Granitic Kange — Boat-wrecked Sailors — Low's Harbour
— Wild Potato — Formation of Peat — Myopotamus, Otter and Mice —
Cheucau and Barking-bird — Opetiorhyuchus — Singular Character of
Ornithology — Petrels.

CHILOE AND CHONOS ISLANDS.

Novemler 10th.— THE Beagle sailed from Valparaiso to the south,
for the purpose of surveying the southern part of Chile, the island
of Chiloe, and the broken land called the Chonos Archipelago, as far
south as the Peninsula of Tres Montes. On the 21st we anchored
in the bay of S. Carlos, the capital of Chiloe.

This island is about ninety miles long, with a breadth of rather
less than thirty. The land is hilly, but not mountainous, and is
covered by one great forest, except where a few green patches have
been cleared round the thatched cottages. From a distance the
view somewhat resembles that of Tierra del Fuego ; but the woods,
when seen nearer, are incomparably more beautiful. Many kinds
of fine evergreen trees, and plants with a tropical character, here
take the place of the gloomy beech of the southern shores. In
winter the climate is. detestable, and in summer it is only a little
better. I should think there are few parts of the world, within
the temperate regions, where so much rain falls. The winds are
very boisterous, and the sky almost always clouded : to have a
week of fine weather is something wonderful. It is even difficult
to get a single glimpse of the Cordillera: during our first visit,
once only the volcano of Osorno stood out in bold relief, and that
was before sunrise ; it was curious to watch, as the sun rose, the
outline gradually fading away in the glare of the eastern sky.

The inhabitants, from their complexion and low stature, appear
to have three-fourths of Indian blood in their veins. They are an

202 CIIILOE, [< IIAI-. xni.

humble, quiet, illustrious set of men. Although the fertile soil,
resulting from the decomposition of the volcanic rocks, supports a
rank vegetation, yet the climate is not favourable to any pro-
duction which requires much sunshine to ripen it. There is very
little pasture for the larger quadrupeds ; and in consequence, the
staple articles of food are pigs, potatoes, and fish. The people all
dress iu strong woollen garments, which each family makes for
itself, and dyes with indigo of a dark blue colour. The arts, how-
ever, are in the rudest state ; — as may be seen in their strange
fashion of ploughing, their method of spinning, grinding corn, and
in the construction of their boats. The forests are so impenetrable,
that the land is nowhere cultivated except near the coast and on
the adjoining islets. Even where paths exist, they arc scarcely
passable from the soft and swampy state of the soil. The inhabi-
tants, like those of Tierra del Fuego, move about chiefly on the
beach or in boats. Although with plenty to eat, the people arc
very poor : there is no demand for labour, and consequently the
lower orders cannot scrape together money sufficient to pur-
chase even the smallest luxuries. There is also a great deficiency
of a circulating medium. I have seen a man bringing on his back
a bag of charcoal, with which to buy some trifle, and another carry-
ing a plank to exchange for a bottle of wine. Hence every trades-
man must also be a merchant, and again sell the goods which he
takes in exchange.

November 24<A. — The yawl and whale-boat were sent under the
command of Mr. (now Captain) Sulivan, to survey the eastern or
inland coast of Chiloe ; and with orders to meet the Beagle at the
southern extremity of the island ; to which point she would pro-
ceed by the outside, so as thus to circumnavigate the whole. I
accompanied this expedition, but instead of going in the boats the
first day, I hired horses to take me to Chacao, at the northern ex-
tremity of the island. The road followed the coast; every now and
then crossing promontories covered by fine forests. In these shaded
paths it is absolutely necessary that the whole road should be
made of logs of wood, which are squared and placed by the side of
each other. From the rays of the sun never penetrating the ever-
green foliage, the ground is so damp and soft, that except by this
means neither man nor horse would be able to pass along. I
arrived at the village of Chacao, shortly after the tents belonging
to the boats were pitched for the night.

hOAT EXCURSION. 2C3

The land in this neighbourhood has been extensively cleared,
and there were many quiet and most picturesque nooks in the
forest. Chacao was formerly the principal port in the island ; but
many vessels having been lost, owing to the dangerous currents
and rocks in the straits, the Spanish government burnt the church,
and thus arbitrarily compelled the greater number of inhabitants
to migrate to S. Carlos. "NVo had not long bivouacked, before
the barefooted sou of the governor came down to reconnoitre us.
.Seeing the English flag hoisted at the yawl's mast-head, he asked,
with the utmost indifference, whether it was always to fly at
Chacao. In several places the inhabitants were much astonished
at the appearance of men-of-war's boats, and hoped and believed
it was the forerunner of a Spanish fleet, coming to recover the
island from the patriot government of Chile. All the men in
power, however, had been informed of our intended visit, and were
exceedingly civil. While we were eating our supper, the governor
paid us a visit. He had been a lieutenant-colonel in the Spanish
service, but now was miserably poor. He gave us two sheep, and
accepted in return two cotton handkerchiefs, some brass trinkets,
and a little tobacco.

25tf*. — Torrents of rain : we managed, however, to run down the
coast as far as Huapi-lenou. The whole of this eastern side of
Chiloe has one aspect ; it is a plain, broken by valleys and divided
into little islands, and the whole thickly covered with one im-
pervious blackish-green forest. On the margins there are some
cleared spaces, surrounding the high-roofed cottages.

(26th. — The day rose splendidly clear. The volcano of Osorno
was spouting out volumes of smoke. This most beautiful niouin
itiin, formed like a perfect cone, and white with snow, stands oat
in front of the Cordillera. Another great volcano, with a saddle-
shaped summit, also emitted from its immense crater little jets of
steam. Subsequently we saw the lofty-peaked Corcovado — well
deserving the name of " el famoso Corcovado." Thus we beheld,
from one point of view, three great active volcanoes, each about
seven thousand feet high. In addition to this, far to the south,
there were other lofty cones covered with snow, which, although
not known to be active, must be in their origin volcanic. The line
of the Andes is not, in this neighbourhood, nearly so elevated as in
Chile ; neither does it appear to form so perfect a barrier between
the regions of the earth. This great range, although running in a

264 CfilLOi:. [CHAP. int.

straight north and south line, owing to an optical deception, always
appeared more or less curved ; for the lines drawn from each peak
to .the beholder's eye, necessarily converged like the radii of a
semicircle, and as it was not possible (owing to the clearness of the
atmosphere and the absence of all intermediate objects) to judge
how far distant the farthest peaks were off, they appeared to
stand in a flattish semicircle.

Landing at midday, we saw a family of pure Indian extraction.
The father was singularly like York Minster; and some of the
younger boys, with their ruddy complexions, might have been
mistaken for Pampas Indians. Everything I have seen, convinces
rnc of the close connexion of the different American tribes, who
nevertheless speak distinct languages. This party could muster
but little Spanish, and talked to each other in their own tongue.
It is a pleasant thing to see the aborigines advanced to the same
degree of civilization, however low that may be, which their white
conquerors have attained. More to the south we saw many pure
Indians : indeed, all the inhabitants of some of the islets retain
their Indian surnames. In the census of 1832, there were in
Chiloe and its dependencies forty-two thousand souls; the greater
number of these appear to be of mixed blood. Eleven thousand
retain their Indian surnames, but it is probable that not nearly
all of these are of a pure breed. Their manner of life is the
game with that of the other poor inhabitants, and they are all
Christians ; but it is said that they yet retain some strange super-
stitious ceremonies, and that they pretend to hold communication
with the devil in certain caves. Formerly, every one convicted of
this offence was sent to the Inquisition at Lima. Many of the
inhabitants who are not included in the eleven thousand with
Indian surnames, cannot be distinguished by their appearance
from Indians. Gomez, the governor of Lemuy, is descended from
noblemen of Spain on both sides ; but by constant intermarriages
with the natives the present man is an Indian: On the other
hand, the governor of Quinchao boasts much of his purely kept
Spanish blood.

We reached at night a beautiful little cove, north of the island
of Caucahue. The people here complained of want of land. This
is partly owing to their own negligence in not clearing the woods,
and partly to restrictions by the government, which makes it
necessary, before buying over so small a piece, to pay two shillings

1834.] TENURE OP LAND. 265

to the surveyor, for measuring each quadra (150 yards square),
together with whatever price he fixes for the value of the land.
After his valuation, the laud must be put up three times to auction,
and if no one bids more, the purchaser can have it at that rate.
All these exactions must be a serious check to clearing the ground,
where the inhabitants are so extremely poor. In most countries,
forests are removed without much difficulty by the aid of fire ; but
in Chiloe, from the damp nature of the climate, and the sort of
trees, it is necessary first to cut them down. This is a heavy draw-
back to the prosperity of Chiloe. In the time of the Spaniards the
Indians could not hold laud; and a family, after having cleared a
piece of ground, might be driven away, and the property seized by
the government. The Chilian authorities are now performing an
act of justice by making retribution to these poor Indians, giving
to each man, according to his grade of life, a certain portion of
land. The value of uncleared ground is very little. The govern-
ment gave Mr. Douglas (the present surveyor, who informed me of
these circumstances) eight and a half square miles of forest near
S. Carlos, in lieu of a debt ; and this he sold for 350 dollars, or
about 701. sterling.

The two succeeding days were fine, and at night we reached the
island of Quinchao. This neighbourhood is the most cultivated
part of the Archipelago ; for a broad strip of land on the coast of
the main island, as well as on many of the smaller adjoining ones,
is almost completely cleared. Some of the farmhouses seemed very
comfortable. I was curious to ascertain how rich any of these
people might be, but Mr. Douglas says that no one can be con-
sidered as possessing a regular income. One of the richest land-
owners might possibly accumulate, in a long industrious life, as
much as 1000?. sterling ; but should this happen, it would all be
stowed away in some secret corner, for it is the custom of almost
every family to have a jar or treasure-chest buried in the ground.

November 3Qtk. — Early on Sunday morning we reached Castro,
the ancient capital of Chiloe, but now a most forlorn and deserted
place. The visual quadrangular arrangement of Spanish towns
could be traced, but the streets and plaza were coated with fine
green turf, on which sheep were browsing. The church, which
stands in the middle, is entirely built of plank, and has a pic-
turesque and venerable appearance. The poverty of the place
may l>e conceived from the fact, that although containing some

26G CHILOE. [CHAP. xiii.

hundreds of inhabitants, one of our party was unable anywhere to
purchase either a pound of sugar or an ordinary knife. Xo indi-
vidual possessed either a wateh or a clock ; and an old man, who
was supposed to have a good idea of time, was employed to strike
the church bell by guess. The arrival of our boats was a rare
event in this quiet retired corner of the world ; and nearly all the
inhabitants came down to the beach to see us pitch our tents.
They were very civil, and offered us a house ; and one man even
sent us a cask of cider as a present. In the afternoon we paid our
respects to the governor — a quiet old man, who, in his appearance
and manner of life, was scarcely superior to an English cottager.
At night heavy rain set in, which was hardly sufficient to drive
away from our tents the large circle of lookers-on. An Indian
family, who had come to trade in a canoe from Caylen, bivouacked
near us. They had no shelter during the rain. In the morning
I asked a young Indian, who was wet to the skin, how lie had passed
the night. He seemed perfectly content, and answered, " Muy bien,
senor."

December 1st. — We steered for the island of Lemuy. I was
anxious to examine a reported coal-mine which turned out to be
lignite of little value, in the sandstone (probably of an ancient
tertiary epoch) of which these islands are composed. When we
reached Lemuy we had much difficulty in finding any place to
pitch our tents, for it was spring-tide, and the land was wooded
down to the water's edge. In a short time we were surrounded by
a large group of the nearly pure Indian inhabitants. They were
much surprised at our arrival, and said one to the other, " This is
the reason we have seen so many parrots lately ; the cheucau (an
odd red-breasted little bird, which inhabits the thick forest, and
utters very peculiar noises) has not cried ' beware ' for nothing."
They were soon anxious for barter. Money was scarcely worth
anything, but their eagerness for tobacco was something quite
extraordinary. After tobacco, indigo came next in value ; then
capsicum, old clothes, and gunpowder. The latter article was
required for a very innocent purpose: each parish has a public-
musket, and the gunpowder was wanted for making a noise on their
saint or feast days.

The people here live chiefly on shell-fish and potatoes. At
certain seasons they catch also, in "corrales," or hedges under
water, many fish which are left on the mud-banks as the tide falls.

1834.] POVERTY OF THE INDIANS. 267

They occasionally possess fowls, sheep, goats, pigs, horses, ami
cattle; the order in which they are here mentioned, expressing
their respective numbers. I never saw anything more obliging
and humble than the manners of these people. They generally
began with stating that they were poor natives of the place, and
not Spaniards, and that they were in sad want of tobacco and other
comforts. At Caylen, the most southern island, the sailors bought
with a stick of tobacco, of the value of three-halfpence, two fowls,
one of which, the Indian stated, had skin between its toes, and
turned out to be a fine duck ; and with some cotton handkerchiefs,
worth three shillings, three sheep and a large bunch of onions
were procured. The yawl at this place was anchored some way
from the shore, and we had fears for her safety from robbers during
the night. Our pilot, Mr. Douglas, accordingly told the constable
of the district that we always placed sentinels with loaded arms,
and not xinderstauding Spanish, if we saw any person in the dark,
we should assuredly shoot him. The constable, with much humi-
lity, agreed to the perfect propriety of this arrangement, and
promised us that no one should stir out of his house during that
night.

During the four succeeding days we continued sailing southward.
The general features of the country remained the same, but it was
much less thickly inhabited. On the large island of Tauqui thero
was scarcely one cleared spot, the trees on every side extending
their branches over the sea-beach. I one day noticed, growing on
the sandstone cliffs, some very fine plants of the panke (Gunnera
scabra), which somewhat resembles the rhubarb on a gigantic
scale. The inhabitants eat the stalks, which are subacid, and tan
leather with the roots, and prepare a black dye from them. Tho
leaf is nearly circular, but deeply indented on its margin. I mea-
sured one which was nearly eight feet in diameter, and therefore no
less than twenty-four in circumference! The stalk is rather more
than a yard high, and each plant sends out four or five of these
enormous leaves, presenting together a very noble appearance.

December 6th. — We reached Caylen, called " el fin del Cristian-
dad." In the morning wo stopped for a few minutes at a house
on the northern end of Laylec, which was the extreme point of
South American Christendom, and a miserable hovel it was. The
latitude is 43° 10', which is two degrees farther south than the Rio
Negro on the Atlantic coast. These extreme Christians were very

2(58 CHILOE. [CHAP! xni.

poor, aucl, under the plea of their situation, begged for some to-
bacco. As a proof of the poverty of these Indians, I may mention
that shortly before this, we had met a man, who had travelled three
days and a half on foot, and had as many to return, for the sake
of recovering the value of a small axe and a few fish. How very
difficult it must be to buy the smallest article, when such trouble
is taken to recover so small a debt !

In the evening we reached the island of San Pedro, where we
found the Beagle at anchor. In doubling the point, two of the
officers landed to take a round of angles with the theodolite. A
fox (Cam's fulvipes), of a kind said to be peculiar to the island,
and very rare in it, and which is a new species, was sitting on
the rocks. He was so intently absorbed in watching the work of
the officers, that I was able, by quietly walking up behind, to
knock him on the head with my geological hammer. This fox,
more curious or more scientific, but less wise, than the generality
of his brethren, is now mounted in the museum of the Zoological
Society.

We stayed three days in this harbour, on one of which Captain
Fitz Eoy, with a party, attempted to ascend to the summit of San
Pedro. The woods here had rather a different appearance from
those on the northern part of the island. The rock, also, being
micaceous slate, there was no beach, but the steep sides dipped
directly beneath the water. The general aspect in consequence
was more like that of Tierra del Fuego than of Chiloe. In vain
we tried to gain the summit : the forest was so impenetrable, that
no one who has not beheld it can imagine so entangled a mass of
dying and dead trunks. I am sure that often, for more than ten
minutes together, our feet never touched the ground, and we were
frequently ten or fifteen feet above it, so that the seamen as a joke
called out the soundings. At other times we crept one after
another on our hands and knees, under the rotten trunks. In the
lower part of the mountain, noble trees of the Winter's Bark, and
a laurel like the sassafras with fragrant leaves, and others, the
names of which I do not know, were matted together by a trailing
bamboo or cane. Here we were more like fishes struggling in a
net than any other animal. On the higher parts, brushwood takes
the place of larger trees, with here and there a red cedar or an
alcrco pine. I was also pleased to see, at an elevation of a little
less than 1000 feet, our old friend the southern beech. They were,

1834.] SAN PEDRO. 269

however, poor stunted trees ; and I should think that this must bo
nearly their northern limit. We ultimately gave up the attempt
in despair.

December 10th. — The yawl and whale-boat, with Mr. Sulivau,
proceeded on their survey, but I remained on board the Beagle,
which the next day left San Pedro for the southward. On the 13th
we ran into an opening in the southern part of Guayatecas, or the
Chonos Archipelago ; and it was fortunate we did so, for on the
following day a storm, worthy of Tierra del Fuego, raged with great
fury. White massive clouds were piled up against a dark blue sky,
and across them black ragged sheets of vapour were rapidly driven.
The successive mountain ranges appeared like dim shadows ; and
the setting sun cast on the woodland a yellow gleam, much like
that produced by the flame of spirits of wine. The water was white
with the flying spray, and the wind lulled and roared again through
the rigging: it was an ominous, sublime scene. During a few
minutes there was a bright rainbow, and it was curious to observe
the effect of the spray, which, being carried along the surface of the
water, changed the ordinary semicircle into a circle— a band of
prismatic colours being continued, from both feet of the common
arch across the bay, close to the vessel's side : thus forming a dis-
torted, but very nearly entire ring.

We stayed here three days. The weather continued bad; but
this did not nmch signify, for the surface of the land in all these
islands is all but impassable. The coast is so very rugged that
to attempt to walk in that direction requires continued scrambling
up and down over the sharp rocks of mica-slate ; and as for the
woods, our faces, hands, and shin-bones all bore witness to the
maltreatment we received, in merely attempting to penetrate their
forbidden recesses.

December 18th. — We stood out to sea. On the 20th we bade
farewell to the south, and with a fair wind turned the ship's head
northward. From Cape Tres Montes we sailed pleasantly along
the lofty weather-beaten coast, which is remarkable for the bold
outline of its hills, and the thick covering of forest even on the
almost precipitous flanks. Thejnext day a harbour was discovered,
which on this dangerous coast might be of great service to a dis-
tressed vessel. It can easily be recognized by a hill 1600 feet high,
which is even more perfectly conical than the famous sugar-loaf at
Bio de Janeiro. The next day, after anchoring, I succeeded in

270 CHONOS ARCHIPELAGO. [CHAP. xnr.

reaching the summit of this hill. It was a laborious undertaking,
for the sides were so steep that in some parts it was necessary to
use the trees as ladders. There were also several extensive brakes
of the Fuchsia, covered with its beautiful drooping flowers, but
very difficult to crawl through. In these wild countries it gives
much delight to gain the summit of any mountain. There is an
indefinite expectation of seeing something very strange, which,
however often it may be balked, never failed with me to recur oil
each successive attempt. Every one must know the feeling of
triumph and pride which a grand view from a height communicates
to the mind. In these little frequented countries there is also joined
to it some vanity, that you perhaps are the first man who ever stood
on this pinnacle or admired this view.

A strong desire is always felt to ascertain whether any human
being has previously visited an unfrequented spot. A bit of wood
with a nail in it, is picked up and studied as if it were covered
with hieroglyphics. Possessed with this feeling, I was much
interested by finding, on a wild part of the coast, a bed made of
grass beneath a ledge of rock. Close by it there had been a fire,
and the man had used an axe. The fire, bed, and situation showed
the dexterity of an Indian ; but he could scarcely have been an
Indian, for the race is in this part extinct, owing to the Catholic
desire of making at one blow Christians and Slaves. I had at the
time some misgivings that the solitary man who had made his bed
on this wild spot, must have been some poor shipwrecked sailor,
who, in trying to travel up the coast, had here laid himself down
for his dreary night.

December 28tf/;. — The weather continued very bad, but it at last
permitted us to proceed with the survey. The time hung heavy
on our hands, as it always did when we were delayed from day to
day by successive gales of wind. In the evening another harbour
was discovered, where we anchored. Directly afterwards a man
was seen waving his shirt, and a boat was sent which brought back
two seamen. A party of six had run away from an American
whaling vessel, and had landed a little to the southward in a boat,
which was shortly afterwards knocked to pieces by the surf. They
had now been wandering up and down the coast for fifteen months,
without knowing which way to go, or where they were. What a
singular piece of good fortune it was that this harbour was now
discovered ! Had it not been for this one chance, they might have

1835.] BOAT-WRECKED SAILORS. 271

wandered till they had grown old men, and at last have perished
on this wild coast. Their sufferings had been very great, and one
of their party had lost his life by falling from the cliffs. They were
sometimes obliged to separate in search of food, and this explained
the bed of the solitary man. Considering what they had undergone,
I think they had kept a very good reckoning of time, for they had
lost only four days.

December SQth. — We anchored in a snug little cove at the foot of
some high hills, near the northern extremity of Tres Montes. After
breakfast the next morning, a party ascended one of these mountains,
which was 2400 feet high. The scenery was remarkable. The chief
part of the range was composed of grand, solid, abrupt masses of
granite, which appeared as if they had been coeval with the begin-
ning of the world. The granite was capped with mica-slate, and
this in the lapse of ages had been worn into strange finger-shaped
points. These two formations, thus differing in their outlines, agree
in being almost destitute of vegetation. This barrenness had to
our eyes a strange appearance, from having been so long accustomed
to the sight of an almost universal forest of dark-green trees. I
took much delight in examining the structure of these mountains.
The complicated and lofty ranges bore a noble aspect of durability
— equally profitless, however, to man and to all other animals.
Granite to the geologist is classic ground: from its widespread
limits, and its beautiful and compact texture, few rocks have been
more anciently recognised. Granite has given rise, perhaps, to more
discussion concerning its origin than any other formation. We
generally see it constituting the fundamental rock, and, however
formed, we know it is the deepest layer in the crust of this globe
to which man has penetrated. The limit of man's knowledge in
any subject possesses a high interest, which is perhaps increased
by its close neighbourhood to the realms of imagination.

January 1st, 1835. — The new year is ushered in with the
ceremonies proper to it in these regions. She lays out no false
hopes : a heavy north-western gale, with steady rain, bespeaks
the rising year. Thank God, we are not destined here to see the
end of it, but hope then to be in the Pacific Ocean, where a blue
sky tells one there is a heaven, — a something beyond the clouds
above our heads.

The north-west winds prevailing for the next four days, we only
managed to cross a great bay, and then anchored in another secure

272 CHONOS ARCHIPELAGO, [CHAP. xm.

harbour. I accompanied the Captain in a boat to the head of a
deep creek. On the way the number of seals which we saw was qiiite
astonishing : every bit of flat rock, and parts of the beach, were
covered with them. They appeared to be of a loving disposition,
and lay huddled together, fast asleep, like so many pigs ; but even
pigs would have been ashamed of their dirt, and of the foul smell
which came from them. Each herd was watched by the patient but
inauspicious eyes of the turkey-buzzard. This disgusting bird,
with its bald scarlet head, formed to wallow in putridity, is', very
common on the west coast, and their attendance on the seals shows
on what they rely for their food. We found the water (probably
only that of the surface) nearly fresh: this was caused by the
number of torrents which, in the form of cascades, came tumbling
over the bold granite mountains into the sea. The fresh water
attracts the fish, and these bring many terns, gulls, and two kinds
of cormorant. We saw also a pair of the beautiful black-necked
swans, and several small sea-otters, the fur of which is held in such
high estimation. In returning, we were again amused by the im-
petuous manner in which the heap of seals, old and young, tumbled
into the water as the boat passed. They did not remain long under
water, but rising, followed us with outstretched necks, expressing
great wonder and curiosity.

7th. — Having run up the coast, we anchored near the northern
end of the Chonos Archipelago, in Low's Harbour, where we
remained a week. The islands were here, as in Chiloe, composed
of a stratified, soft, littoral deposit ; and the vegetation in conse-
quence was beautifully luxuriant. The woods came down to the
sea-beach, just in the manner of an evergreen shrubbery over a
gravel walk. We also enjoyed from the anchorage a splendid
view of four great snowy cones of the Cordillera, including "el
famoso Corcovado ; " the range itself had in this latitude so little
height, that few parts of it appeared above the tops of the neigh-
bouring islets. We found here a party of five men from Caylen,
" el fin del Cristiandad," who had most adventurously crossed in
their miserable boat-canoe, for the purpose of fishing, the open
space of sea which separates Chonos from Chiloe. These islands
will, in all probability, in a short time become peopled like those
adjoining the coast of Chiloe.

The wild potato grows on these islands iii great abundance, on

1835.] WILD POTATO. 2?o

the sandy, shelly soil near the sea-beach. The tallest plant was
four feet in height. The tubers were generally small, but I found
one, of an oval shape, two inches in diameter : they resembled in
every respect, and had the same smell as English potatoes; but
when boiled they shrunk much, and were watery and insipid, with-
out any bitter taste. They are undoubtedly here indigenous : they
grow as far south, according to Mr. Low, as lat. 50°, and are
called Aquinas by the wild Indians of that part: the Chilotan
Indians have a different name for them. Professor Henslow, who
has examined the dried specimens which I brought home, says
that they are the same with those described by Mr. Sabine * from
Valparaiso, but that they form a variety which by some botanists
has been considered as specifically distinct. It is remarkable that
the same plant should be found on the sterile mountains of central
Chile, where a drop of rain does not fall for more than six months,
and within the damp forests of these southern islands.

In the central parts of the Choiios Archipelago (lat. 45°), the
forest has very much the same character with that along the
whole west coast, for 600 miles southward to Cape Horn. The
arborescent grass of Chiloe is not found here; while the beech of
Tierra del Fuego grows to a good size, and forms a considerable
proportion of the wood ; not, however, in the same exclusive
manner as it does farther southward. Cryptogamic plants here
find a most congenial climate. In the Strait of Magellan, as I
have before remarked, the country appears too cold and wet to
allow of their arriving at perfection ; but in these islands, within
the forest, the number of species and great abundance of mosses,
lichens, and small ferns, is quite extraordinary.! In Tierra del
Fuego trees grow only on the hillsides ; every level piece of land
being invariably covered by a thick bed of peat ; but in Chiloe flat
land supports the most luxuriant forests. Here, within the Chonos
Archipelago, the nature of the climate more closely approaches

* Horticultural Transact., vol. v. p. 249. Mr. Caldcleugh sent home
two tubers, which, being well manured, even the first season pro J need
numerous potatoes and an abundance of leaves. See Humboldt's
interesting discussion on this plant, which it appears was unknown
in Mexico, — in Polit. Essay on Xew Spain, book iv. chap. ix.

t By sweeping with uiy insect-net, I procured from these situations a,
considerable number of minute insects, of the family of Staphyliuidse, and
others allied to Pseluplms, and minute Hymenoptera. But the mos(
characteristic family in number, both of individuals and species, through-
out the more open parts of Chiloe and Chonos is that of the Telephoridiu.

I

274 CHONOS ARCHIPELAGO. [CHAP. xm.

that of Tierra del Fuego than that of northern Chiloe ; for every
patch of level ground is covered by two species of plants (Astelia
pumila and Donatia raagellanica), which by their joint decay com-
pose a thick bed of elastic peat.

In Tierra del Fuego, above the region of woodland, the former
of these eminently sociable plants is the chief agent in the pro-
duction of peat. Fresh leaves are always succeeding one to the
other round the central tap-root ; the lower ones soon decay, and
in tracing a root downwards in the peat, the leaves, yet holding
their place, can be observed passing through every stage of decom-
position, till the whole becomes blended in one confused mass.
The Astelia is assisted by a few other plants, — here and there a
small creeping Myrtus (M. numniularia), with a woody stem like
our cranberry and with a sweet berry,— an Empetrum (E. rubrran),
like our heath, — a rush (Juncus grandiflorus), are nearly the only
ones that grow on the swampy surface. These plants, though
possessing a very close general resemblance to the English species
of the same genera, are different. In the more level parts of the
country, the surface of the peat is broken up into little pools of
water, which stand at different heights, and appear as if artificially
excavated. Small streams of water, flowing underground, com-
plete the disorganization of the vegetable matter, and consolidate
the whole.

The climate of the southern part of America appears particularly
favourable to the production of peat. In the Falkland Islands
almost every kind of plant, even the coarse grass which covers the
whole surface of the land, becomes converted into this substance :
scarcely any situation checks its growth ; some of the beds are as
much as twelve feet thick, and the lower part becomes so solid when
dry, that it will hardly burn. Although every plant lends its aid,
yet in most parts the Astelia is the most efficient. It is rather a
singular circumstance, as being so very different from what occurs
in Europe, that I nowhere saw moss forming by its decay any por-
tion of the peat in South America. With respect to the northern
limit, at which the climate allows of that peculiar kind of slow
decomposition which is necessary for its production, I believe that
in Chiloe (lat. 41° to 42°), although there is much swampy ground,
no well-characterized peat occurs : but in the Chonos Islands, three
degrees farther southward, we have seen that it is abundant. On
the eastern coast in La Plata (lat. 85°) I was told by a Spanish

1835.] TWO VERY STRANGE BIRDS. 275

resident, who had visited Ireland, that he had often sought for
this substance, but had never been able to find any. He showed
me, as the nearest approach to it which he had discovered, a black
peaty soil, so penetrated with roots as to allow of an extremely slow
and imperfect combustion.

The zoology of these broken islets of the Chonos Archipelago
is, as might have been expected, very poor. Of quadrupeds two
aquatic kinds are common. The Myopotamus Coypus (like a
beaver, but with a round tail) is well known from its fine fur,
which is an object of trade throughout the tributaries of La Plata.
It here, however, exclusively frequents salt water ; which same
circumstance has been mentioned as sometimes occurring with the
great rodent, the Capybara. A small sea-otter is very numerous ;
this animal does not feed exclusively on fish, but, like the seals,
draws a large supply from a small red crab, which swims in shoals
near the surface of the water. Mr. Bynoe saw one in Tierra del
Fuego eating a cuttle-fish ; and at Low's Harbour, another was
killed in the act of carrying to its hole a large volute shell. At
one place I caught in a trap a singular little mouse (M. brachiotis) ;
it appeared common on several of the islets, but the Chilotans at
Low's Harbour said that it was not found in all. What a suc-
cession of chances,* or what changes of level must have been
brought into play, thus to spread these small animals throughout
this broken archipelago !

In all parts of Chiloe and Chonos, two very strange birds occur,
which are allied to, and replace, the Turco and Tapacolo of central
Chile. One is called by the inhabitants " Cheucau " (Pteroptochos
rubecula) : it frequents the most gloomy and retired spots within
the damp forests. Sometimes, although its cry may be heard close
at hand, let a person watch ever so attentively he will not see the
cheucau; at other times, let him stand motionless and the red-
breasted little bird will approach within a few feet in the most
familiar manner. It then busily hops about the entangled mass
of rotting canes and branches, with its little tail cocked upwards.
The cheucau is held in sitperstitious fear by the Chilotans, on

* It is said that some rapacious birds bring their prey alive to their
nests. If so, in the course of centuries, every now and then, one might
escape from the young birds. Some such agency is necessary, to account
for the distribution of the smaller gnawing animals on islands not very
near each other.

CHONOS ARCHIPELAGO. [CHAP. xin.

account of its strange and varied cries. There are three very
distinct cries : one is called " chidnco," and is an omen of good ;
another, "huitreu," which is extremely unfavourable; and a third,
which I have forgotten. These words are given in imitation of the
noises ; and the natives are in some things absolutely governed by
them. The Chilotans assuredly have chosen a most comical little
creature for their prophet. An allied species, but rather larger, is
called by the natives " Guid-guid " (Pteroptochos Tamil), and by
the English the barking-bird. This latter name is well given ; for
1 defy any one at first to feel certain that a small dog is not yelping
somewhere in the forest. Just as with the cheucau, a person will
sometimes hear the bark close by, but in vain many endeavour by
watching, and with still less chance by beating ^the bushes, to see
the bird ; yet at other times the guid-guid fearlessly comes near.
Its manner of feeding and its general habits are very similar to
those of the cheucau.

On the coast,* a small dusky-coloured bird (Opetiorhynchus Pata-
gonicus) is very common. It is remarkable from its quiet habits ;
it lives entirely on the sea-beach, like a sandpiper. Besides these
birds only few others inhabit this broken land. In my rough notes
I describe the strange noises, which, although frequently heard
within these gloomy forests, yet scarcely disturb the general silence.
The yelping of the guid-guid, and the sudden whew-whew of the
cheucau, sometimes come from afar off, and sometimes from close
at hand ; the little black wren of Tierra del Fuego occasionally adds
its cry; the creeper (Oxyurus) follows the intruder screaming and
twittering; the humming-bird may be seen every now and then
darting from side to side, and emitting, like an insect, its shrill
chirp; lastly, from the top of some lofty tree the indistinct but
plaintive note of the white-tufted tyrant-flycatcher (Myiobius) may
be noticed. From the great preponderance in most countries of
certain common genera of birds, such as the finches, one feels at
lirst surprised at meeting with the peculiar forms above enumerated,
as the commonest birds in any district. In central Chile two of
them, namely, the Oxyurus and Scytalopus, occur, although most

* I may mention, as a proof of how great a difference there is between
the seasons of the wooded and the open parts of this coast, that on Sep-
tember 20th, in lat. 31°, these birds had young ones in the nest, while
uuioiig the Chouos Islands, three months later in the summer, they were
only laying, the difference in latitude between these two places' being
about 700 miles.

1835.] ORNITHOLOGY. 277

rarely. When finding, as in this case, animals which seem to play
so insignificant a part in the great scheme of nature, one is apt to
wonder why they were created. But it should always be recollected,
that in some other country perhaps they are essential members of
society, or at some former period may have been so. If America
south of 37° were sunk beneath the waters of the ocean, these two
birds might continue to exist in central Chile for a long period, but
it is very improbable that their numbers would increase. We
should then see a case which must inevitably have happened with
very many animals.

These southern seas are frequented by several species of Petrels:
the largest kind, Procellaria gigantea, or nelly (quebrautahuesos,
or break-bones, of the Spaniards), is a common bird, both in the
inland channels and on the open sea. In its habits and manner of
flight, there is a very close resemblance with the albatross; and as
with the albatross, a person may watch it for hours together with-
out seeing on what it feeds. The " break-bones " is, however, a
rapacious bird, for it was observed by some of the officers at Tort
St. Antonio chasing a diver, which tried to escape by diving and
flying, but was continually struck down, and at last killed by a
blow on its head. At Port St. Julian these great petrels were seen
killing and devouring young gulls. A second species (Puffinus
cinereus), which is common to Europe, Cape Horn, and the coast of
Peru, is of a much smaller size than the P. gigantea, but, like it, of
a dirty black colour. It generally frequents the inland sounds in
very large flocks : I do not think I ever saw so many birds of any
other sort together, as I once saw of these behind the island of
Chiloo. Hundreds of thousands flew in an irregular line for several
hours in one direction. When part of the flock settled on the water
the surface was blackened, and a noise proceeded from them as of
human beings talking in the distance.

There are several other species of petrels, but I will only mention
one other kind, the Pelacanoides Berardi, which offers an example
of those extraordinary cases, of a bird evidently belonging to one
well-marked family, yet both in its habits and structure allied to a
very distinct tribe. This bird never leaves the quiet inland sounds.
When disturbed it dives to a distance, and on coming to the surface,
with the same movement takes flight. After flying by the rapid
movement of its short wings for a space in a straight line, it drops,
as if struck dead, and dives again, The form of its beak and

278 CHONOS ARCHIPELAGO. [CHAP. xm.

nostrils, length of foot, and even the colouring of its plumage, show
that this bird is a petrel : on the other hand, its short wings and
consequent little power of flight, its form of body and shape of tail,
the absence of a hind toe to its foot, its habit of diving, and its
choice of situation, make it at first doubtful whether its relation-
ship is not equally close with the auks. It would undoubtedly be
mistaken for an auk, when seen from a distance, either on the wing,
or when diving and quietly swimming about the retired channels of
Tierra del Fuego.

1835.] CHILOE. 279

CHAPTER XIV.

Sau Carlos, Chiloe — Osorno in eruption, contemporaneously with Acon-
cagua and Coscguina — Ride to Cucao — Impenetrable Forests — Valdivia
Indians — Earthquake — Concepcion — Great Earthquake — Kocks fissured
Appearance of the former Towns — The Sea Black and Boiling — Direc-
tion of the Vibrations — Stones twisted round — Great Wave — Permanent
Elevation of the Land — Area of Volcanic Phenomena— The connection
between the Elevatory and Eruptive Forces — Cause of Earthquakes —
Slow Elevation of Mountain-chains.

OH1LOB AND CONCEPCION: GREAT EARTHQUAKE.

ON January the 15th we sailed from Low's Harbour, and three
days afterwards anchored a second time in the bay of S. Carlos in
Chiloe. On the night of the 19th the volcano of Osorno was in
action. At midnight the sentry observed something like a large
star, which gradually increased in size till about three o'clock,
when it presented a very magnificent spectacle. By the aid of a
glass, dark objects, in constant succession, were seen, in the midst
of a great glare of red light, to be thrown up and to fall down. The
light was sufficient to cast on the water a long bright reflection.
Large masses of molten matter seem very commonly to be cast out
of the craters in this part of the Cordillera. I was assured that
when the Corcovado is in eruption, great masses are projected
upwards and are seen to burst in the air, assuming many fantastical
forms, such as trees : their size must be immense, for they can be
distinguished from the high land behind S. Carlos, which is no less
than ninety-three miles from the Corcovado. In the morning the
volcano became tranquil.

I was surprised at hearing afterwards that Aconcagua in Chile,
480 miles northwards, was in action on the same night ; and still
more surprised to hear that the great eruption of Coseguina
(2700 miles north of Aconcagua), accompanied by an earthquake

280 CHILOE.

felt over a 1000 miles, also occurred within six hours of this same
time. This coincidence is the more remarkable, as Coseguina had
been dormant for twenty-six years; and Aconcagua most rarely
shows any signs of action. It is difficult even to conjecture
whether this coincidence was accidental, or shows some subter-
ranean connection. If Vesuvius, Etna, and Hecla in Iceland (all
three relatively nearer each other than the corresponding points in
South America) suddenly burst forth in eruption on the same nighl,
the coincidence would be thought remarkable ; but it is far more
remarkable in this case, where the three vents fall on the same
great mountain-chain, and where the vast plains along the entire
eastern coast, and the upraised recent shells along more than 2000
miles on the western coast, show in how equable and connected a
manner the elevatory forces have acted.

Captain Fitz Eoy being anxious that some bearings should be
taken on the outer coast of Chiloe, it was planned that Mr. King
and myself should ride to Castro, and thence across the island to
the Capella de Cucao, situated on the west coast. Having hired
horses and a guide, we set out on the morning of the 22nd. We
had not proceeded far, before we were joined by a woman and t\vo
boys, who were bent on the same journey. Every one on this road
acts on a " hail fellow well met " fashion ; and one may here enjoy
the privilege, so rare in South America, of travelling without fire-
arms. At first, the country consisted of a succession of hills and
valleys: nearer to Castro it became very level. The road itself is
a curious affair; it consists in its whole length, with the exception
of very few parts, of great logs of wood, which are either broad and
luid longitudinally, or narrow and placed transversely. In summer
the road is not very bad; but in winter, when the wood is rendered
slippery from rain, travelling is excetdingly difficult. At that time
of the year, the ground on each side becomes a morass, and is often
overflowed : hence it is necessary that the longitudinal logs should
be fastened down by transverse poles, which are pegged on each
side into the earth. These pegs render a fall from a horse dan-
gerous, as the chance of alighting on one of them is not small. It
is remarkable, however, how active custom has made" the Chilotan
horses. In crossing bad parts, where the logs had been displaced,
they skipped from one to the other, almost with the quickness and
certainty of a dog. On both hands the road is bordered by the
lofty forest-trees, with their bases matted together by canes. When

18H5.] OHILOE. 281

occasionally a long reach of this avennc could be behold, it pre-
sented a carious scsnc of uniformity : the white line of logs, narrow-
ing in perspective, became hidden by the gloomy forest, or terminated
in a zigzag which ascended some steep hill.

Although the distance from S. Carlos to Castro is only twelve
leagues in a straight line, the formation of the road must have
been a great labour. I was told that several people had formerly
lost their lives in attempting to cross the forest. The first who
succeeded was an Indian, who cut his way through the canes in
eight days, and reached S. Carlos: he was rewarded by the Spanish
government with a grant of land. During the summer, many of
the Indians wander about the forests (but chiefly in the higher
parts, where the woods are not quite so thick) in search of the
half-wild cattle which live on the leaves of the cane and certain
trees. It was one of these huntsmen who by chance discovered,
a few years since, an English vessel, which had been wrecked on
the outer coast. The crew were beginning to fail in provisions,
and it is not probable that, without the aid of this man, they
would ever have extricated themselves from these scarcely pene-
trable woods. As it was, one seaman died on the march, from
fatigue. The Indians in these excursions steer by the sun ; so that
if there is a continuance of cloudy weather, they cannot travel.

The day was beautiful, and the number of trees which were in
full flower perfumed the air; yet even this could hardly dissipate
the effect of the gloomy dampness of the forest. Moreover, the
many dead trunks that stand like skeletons, never fail to give to
these primeval woods a character of solemnity, absent in those of
countries long civilized. Shortly after sunset we bivouacked for
the night. Our female companion, who was rather good-looking,
belonged to one of the most respectable families in Castro: she
rode, however, astride, and without shoes or stockings. I was
surprised at the total want of pride shown by her and her brother.
They brought food with them, but at all oiir meals sat watching
Mr. King and myself whilst eating, till we were fairly shamed into
feeding the whole party. The night was cloudless; and while
lying in our beds, we enjoyed the sight (and it is a high enjoy-
ment) of the multitude of stars which illumined the darkness of
the forest.

January 23>'d. — We rose early in the morning, and reached the
pretty quiet town of Castro by two o'clock. The old governor had

282 CHILOE. [CHAP. xiv.

died since our last visit, and a Chileno was acting in his place,
We had a letter of introduction to Don Pedro, whom we found
exceedingly hospitable and kind, and moi-e disintei-ested than is
usual on this side of the continent. The next day Don Pedro
procured us fresh horses, and offered to accompany us himself.
We proceeded to the south— generally following the coast, and
passing through several hamlets, each with its large barn-like
chapel built of wood. At Vilipilli, Don Pedro asked the com-
mandant to give us a guide to Cucao. The old gentleman offered
to come himself; but for a long time nothing would persuade him
that two Englishmen really wished to go to such an out-of-the-
way place as Cucao. We were thus accompanied by the two
greatest aristocrats in the country, as was plainly to be seen in
the manner of all the poorer Indians towards them. At Chonchi
we struck across the island, following intricate winding paths,
sometimes passing through magnificent forests, and sometimes
through pretty cleared spots, abounding with corn and potato
crops. This undulating woody country, partially cultivated, re-
minded me of the wilder parts of England, and therefore had to
my eye a most fascinating aspect. At Vilinco, which is situated
on the borders of the lake of Cucao, only a few fields were cleared ;
and all the inhabitants appeared to be Indians. This lake is
twelve miles long, and runs in an east and west direction. From
local circumstances, the sea-breeze blows very regularly during
the day, and during the night it falls calm : this has given rise
to strange exaggerations, for the phenomenon, as described to us
at S. Carlos, was quite a prodigy.

The road to Cucao was so very bad that we determined to
embark in a periagua. The commandant, in the most authoritative
manner, ordered six Indians to get ready to pull us over, without
deigning to tell them whether they woiild be paid. The periagua
is a strange rough boat, but the crew were still stranger : I doubt
if six uglier little men ever got into a boat together. They pulled,
however, very well and cheerfully. The stroke-oarsman gabbled
Indian, and uttered strange cries, much after the fashion of a pig-
driver driving his pigs. We started with a light breeze against
us, but yet reached the Capella de Cucao before it was late. The
country on each side of the lake was one unbroken forest. In the
same periagua with us, a cow was embarked. To get so large an
animal into a small boat appears at first a difficulty, but the

1835.] RIDE TO CUOAO. 283

Indians managed it in a minute. They brought the cow alongside
the boat, which was heeled towards her; then placing two oars
under her belly, with their ends resting on the gunwale, by the
aid of these levers they fairly tumbled the poor beast heels over
head into the bottom of the boat, and then lashed her down with
ropes. At Cucao we found an uninhabited hovel (which is the
residence of the padre when he pays this Capella a visit), where,
lighting a fire, we cooked our supper, and were very comfortable.

The district of Cucao is the only inhabited part on the whole
west coast of Chiloe. It contains about thirty or forty Indian
families, who are scattered along four or five miles of the shore.
They are very much secluded from the rest of Chiloe, and have
scarcely any sort of commerce, except sometimes in a little oil,
which they get from seal-blubber. They are tolerably dressed in
clothes of their own 'manufacture, and they have plenty to eat.
They seemed, however, discontented, yet humble to a degree which
it was quite painful to witness. These feelings are, I think, chiefly
to be attributed to the harsh and authoritative manner in which
they are treated by their rulers. Our companions, although so
very civil to us, behaved to the poor Indians as if they had been
slaves, rather than free men. They ordered provisions and the
use of their horses, without ever condescending to say how much,
or indeed whether the owners should be paid at all. In. the
morning, being left alone with these poor people, we soon ingra-
tiated ourselves by presents of cigars and mate. A lump of white
sugar was divided between all present, and tasted with the greatest
curiosity. The Indians ended all their complaints by saying,
" And it is only because we are poor Indians, and know nothing ;
but it was not so when we had a King."

The next day after breakfast, we rode a few miles northward
to Punta Huantamo. The road lay along a very broad beach,
on which, even after so many fine days, a terrible surf was break-
ing. I was assured that after a heavy gale, the roar can be heard
at night even at Castro, a distance of no less than twenty-one sea-
miles across a hilly and wooded country. We had some difficulty
in reaching the point, owing to the intolerably bad paths; for
everywhere in the shade the ground soon becomes a perfect quag-
mire. The point itself is a bold rocky hill. It is covered by a
plant allied, I believe, to Bromelia, and called by the inhabitants
Chepones. In scrambling through the beds, our hands were very

2S-1 CHILOE. [CHAP. XIY.

much scratched. I was amused by observing the precaution our
Indian guide took, in turning up his trousers, thinking that they
were more delicate than his own hard skin. This plant bears a
fruit, in shape like an artichoke, in which a number of seed-vessels
are packed: these contain a pleasant sweet pulp, here nmch
esteemed. I saw at Low's Harbour the Chilotans making chichi,
ov cider, with this fruit : so true is it, as Humboldt remarks, that
almost everywhere man finds means of preparing some kind of
1 .overage from the vegetable kingdom. The savages, however,
of Tierva del Fuego, and I believe of Australia, have not advanced
ilms far in the arts.

The coast to the north of Punta Huautamo is exceedingly rugged
and broken, and is fronted by many breakers, on which the sea is
eternally roaring. Mr. King and myself were anxious to return,
if it had been possible, on foot along this coast; but even the
Indians said it was quite impracticable. We were told that men
have crossed by striking directly through the woods from Cucao
to S. Carlos, but never by the coast. On these expeditions, the
Indians carry with them only roasted corn, and of this they eat
sparingly twice a day.

26th. — Re-embarking in the periagua, we returned across the
lake, and then mounted our horses. The whole of Chiloe took
advantage of this week of unusually fine weather, to clear the
ground by burning. In every direction volumes of smoke were
curling upwards. Although the inhabitants were so assiduous
in setting fire to every part of the wood, yet I did not see a single
fire which they had succeeded in making extensive. We dined
with our friend the commandant, and did not reach Castro till
after dark. The next morning we started very early. After
having ridden for some time, we obtained from the brow of a
steep hill an extensive view (and it is a rare thing on this road)
of the great forest. Over the horizon of trees, the volcano of
Corcovado, and the great flat-topped one to the north, stood out
in proud pre-eminence : scarcely another peak in the long range
showed its snowy summit. I hope it will be long before I forget
this farewell view of the magnificent Cordillera fronting Chiloe.
At night we bivouacked under a cloudless sky, and the next
morning reached S. Carlos. We arrived on the right day, for
before evening heavy rain commenced.

February 4^.— Sailed from Chiloe. During the last week I

1835.] VALDIVIA. 285

made several short excursions. One was to examine a great bed of
now-existing shells, elevated 350 feet above the level of the sea :
from among these shells, large forest-trees were growing. Another
ride was to P. Huechucucuy. I had with me a guide who knew
the country far too well ; for he would pertinaciously tell me
endless Indian names for every little point, rivulet, and creek.
In the same manner as in Tierra del Fuego, the Indian language
appears singularly well adapted for attaching names to the most
trivial features of the land. I believe every one was glad to say
farewell to Chiloe ; yet if we could forget the gloorn and ceaseless
rain of winter, Chiloe might pass for a charming island. There is
also something very attractive in the simplicity and humble polite-
ness of the poor inhabitants.

We steered northward along shore, but owing to thick weather
did not reach Valdivia till the night of the 8th. The next morning
the boat proceeded to the town, which is distant about ten miles.
We followed the course of the river, occasionally passing a few
hovels, and patches of ground cleared out of the otherwise unbroken
forest; and sometimes meeting a canoe with an Indian family.
The town is situated on the low banks of the stream, and is so
completely buried in a wood of apple-trees that the streets are
merely paths in an orchard. I have never seen any country, where
apple-trees appeared to thrive so well as in this damp part of South
America : on the borders of the roads there were many young
trees evidently self-sown. In Chiloe the inhabitants possess a
marvellously short method of making an orchard. At the lower
part of almost every branch, small, conical, brown, wrinkled points
project : these are always ready to change into roots, as may some-
times be seen, where any mud has been accidentally splashed
against the tree. A branch as thick as a man's thigh is chosen in
the early spring, and is cut off just beneath a group of these points;
all the smaller branches are lopped off, and it is then placed about
two feet deep in the ground. During the ensuing summer the
stump throws out long shoots, and sometimes even bears fruit : I
was shown one which had produced as many as twenty-three
apples, but this was thought very unusual. In the third season
the stump is changed (as I have myself seen) into a well-wooded
tree, loaded with fruit. An old man near Valdivia illustrated
his motto, " Necesidad es la madre del invention," by giving an
account of the several useful things ho manufactured from his

286 VALDIVIA. [CHAP. xiv.

apples. After making cider, aud likewise wine, he extracted from
the refuse a white and finely flavoured spirit ; by another process
he procured a sweet treacle, or, as he called it, honey. His children
and pigs seemed almost to live, during this season of the year, in
his orchard.

February llth. — I set out with a guide on a short ride, in which,
however, I managed to see singularly little, either of the geology
of the country or of its inhabitants. There is not much cleared
land near Valdivia : after crossing a river at the distance of a few
miles, we entered the forest, and then passed only one miserable
hovel, before reaching our sleeping-place for the night. The short
difference in latitude, of 150 miles, has given a new aspect to the
forest, compared with that of Chiloe. This is owing to a slightly
different proportion in the kinds of trees. The evergreens do not
appear to be quite so numerous, and the forest in consequence has
a brighter tint. As in Chiloe, the lower parts are matted together
by canes : here also another kind (resembling the bamboo of Brazil
and about twenty feet in height) grows in clusters, and ornaments
the banks of some of the streams in a very pretty manner. It is
with this plant that the Indians make their chuzos, or Jong taper-
ing spears. Our resting-house was so dirty that I preferred sleeping
outside : on these journeys the first night is generally very un-
comfortable, because one is not accustomed to the tickling and
biting of the fleas. I am sure, in the morning, there was not a space
on my legs of the size of a shilling which had not its little red mark
where the flea had feasted.

12£/i. — "We continued to ride through the uncleared forest ; only
occasionally meeting an Indian on horseback, or a troop of fine
mules bringing alerce-planks and corn from the southern plains.
In the afternoon one of the horses knocked up : we were then on
a brow of a hill, which commanded a fine view of the Llanos. The
view of these open plains was very refreshing, after being hemmed
in and buried in the wilderness of trees. The uniformity of a forest
soon becomes very wearisome. This west coast makes me remember
with pleasure the free, unbounded plains of Patagonia ; yet, with
the true spirit of contradiction, I cannot forget how sublime is the
silence of the forest. The Llanos are the most fertile and thickly
peopled parts of the country, as they possess the immense
advantage of being nearly free from trees. Before leaving the
forest we crossed some flat little lawns, around which single trees

.1835.] ARAUCARIAN INDIANS. 287

stood, as in an English park : I have often noticed with surprise,
in wooded undulatory districts, that the quite level parts have been
destitute of trees. On account of the tired horse, I determined to
stop at the Mission of Cudico, to the friar of which I had a letter
of introduction. Cudico is an intermediate district between the
forest and the Llanos. There are a good many cottages, with
patches of corn and potatoes, nearly all belonging to Indians. The
tribes dependent on Valdivia are "reducidos y cristianos." The
Indians farther northward, about Arauco and Imperial, are still
very wild, and not converted ; but they have all much intercourse
with the Spaniards. The padre said that the Christian Indians
did not much like coming to mass, but that otherwise they showed
respect for religion. The greatest difficulty is in making them
observe the ceremonies of marriage. The wild Indians take as
many wives as they can support, and a cacique will sometimes
have more than ten : on entering his house, the number may be
told by that of the separate fires. Each wife lives a week in turn
with the cacique ; but all are employed in weaving ponchos, etc.,
for his profit. To be the wife of a cacique, is an honour much
sought after by the Indian women.

The men of all these tribes wear a coarse woollen poncho : those
south of Valdivia wear short trousers, and those north of it a petti-
coat, like the chilipa of the Gauchos. All have their long hair
bound by a scarlet fillet, but with no other covering on their heads.
These Indians are good-sized men; their cheek-bones are prominent,
and in general appearance they resemble the great American family
to which they belong ; but their physiognomy seemed to me to be
slightly different from that of any other tribe which I had before
seen. Their expression is generally grave, and even austere, and
possesses much character : this may pass either for honest bluntness
or fierce determination. The long black hair, the grave and much-
lined features, and the dark complexion, called to my mind old
portraits of James I. On the road we met with none of that humble
politeness so universal in Chiloe. Some gave their " mari-mari "
(good morning) with promptness, but the greater number did not
seem inclined to offer any salute. This independence of manners is
probably a consequence of their long wars, and the repeated victories
which they alone, of all the tribes in America, have gained over the
Spaniards.
I spent the evening very pleasantly, talking with the padre. He

288 VALDIVIA. [CHAP. xiv.

was exceedingly kind and hospitable ; and coming from Santiago,
had contrived to surround himself with some few comforts. Being
a man of some little education, he bitterly complained of the total
want of society. With no particular zeal for religion, no business
or pursuit, how completely must this man's life be wasted ! The
next day, on our return, we met seven very wild-looking Indians,
of whom some were caciques that had just received from the Chilian
government their yearly small stipend for having long remained
faithful. They were fine-looking men, and they rode one after the
other, Avith most gloomy faces. An old cacique, who headed them,
had been, I suppose, more excessively drunk than the rest, for he
seemed both extremely grave and very crabbed. Shortly before
this, two Indians joined us, who were travelling from a distant
mission to Valdivia concerning some lawsuit. One was a good-
humoured old man, but from his wrinkled beardless face looked
more like an old woman than a man. I frequently presented both
of them with cigars ; and though ready to receive them, and I dare
say grateful, they would hardly condescend to thank me. A Chilotan
Indian would have taken off his hat, and given his" Dios le page!"
The travelling was very tedious, both from the badness of the roads,
and from the number of great fallen trees, which it was necessary
either to leap over or to avoid by making long circuits. We slept
on the road, and next morning reached Valdivia, whence I proceeded
on board.

A few days afterwards I crossed the bay with a party of officers,
and lauded near the fort called Niebla. The buildings were in a
most ruinous state, and the gun-carriages quite rotten. Mr. Wickham
remarked to the commanding officer, that with one discharge they
would certainly all fall to pieces. The poor man, trying to put a
good face upon it, gravely replied, " No, I am sure, sir, they would
stand two ! " The Spaniards must have intended to have made this
place impregnable. There is now lying in the middle of the court-
yard a little mountain of mortar, which rivals in hardness the rock
on which it is placed. It was brought from Chile, and costs 7000
dollars. The revolution having broken out, prevented its being
applied to any purpose, and now it remains a monument of the
fallen greatness of Spain.

I wanted to go to a house about a mile and a half distant, but my
guide said it was quite impossible to penetrate the wood in a straight
line, lie offered, however, to lead me, by following obscure cattle-

1835.] GREAT EARTHQUAKE.

tracks, the shortest way : the walk, nevertheless, took no less than
three hours ! This man is employed iu hunting strayed cattle ; yet,
well as he must know the woods, he was not long since lost for two
whole days, and had nothing to eat. These facts convey a good
idea of the impracticability of the forests of these countries. A
question often occurred to me — how long does any vestige of a
fallen tree remain ? This man showed me one which a party of
fugitive royalists had cut down fourteen years ago ; and taking this
as a criterion, I should think a bole a foot and a half in diameter
would in thirty years be changed into a heap of mould.

February %Qth.— This day has been memorable in the annals of
Valdivia, for the most severe earthquake experienced by the oldest
inhabitant. I happened to be on shore, and was lying down in the
wood to rest myself. It came on suddenly, and lasted two minutes,
but the time appeared much longer. The rocking of the ground
was very sensible. The undulations appeared to nay companion
and myself to come from due east, whilst others thought they pro-
ceeded from south-west : this shows how difficult it sometimes is to
perceive the direction of the vibrations. There was no difficulty in
standing upright, but the motion made me almost giddy : it was
something like the movement of a vessel in a little cross-ripple, or
still more like that felt by a person skating over thin ice, which
bends under the weight of his body.

A bad earthquake at once destroys our oldest associations ; the
earth, the very emblem of solidity, has moved beneath our feet like
a thin crust over a fluid ; — one second of time has created in the
mind a strange idea of insecurity, which hours of reflection would
not have produced. In the forest, as a breeze moved the trees, I
felt only the earth tremble, but saw no other effect. Captain Fitz
Hoy and some officers were at the town during the shock, and there
the scene was more striking; for although the houses, from being
built of wood, did not fall, they were violently shaken, and the
boards creaked and rattled together. The people rushed out of
doors in the greatest alarm. It is these accompaniments that
create that perfect horror of earthquakes, experienced by all who
have thus seen, as well as felt, their effects. Within the forest it
was a deeply interesting, but by no means an awe-exciting pheno-
menon. The tides were very curiously affected. The great shock
took place at the time of low water ; and an old woman who was on
the beach told me that the water flowed very quickly, but not in

u

2L'0 CONCEPCION. [CHAP. xiv.

great waves, to high-water mark, and then as quickly returned to
its proper level ; this was also evident by the line of wet sand. This
same kind of quick but quiet movement in the tide happened a
few years since at Chiloe, during a slight earthquake, and created
much causeless alarm. In the course of the evening there were
many weaker shocks, which seemed to produce in the harbour the
most complicated currents, and some of great strength.

Uh. — We entered the harbour of Concepcion. While the
ship was beating up to the anchorage, I landed on the island of
Quiriquina. The mayor-domo of the estate quickly rode down to
tell me the terrible news of the great earthquake of the 20th : —
" That not a house in Concepcion or Talcahuano (the port) was
standing ; that seventy villages were destroyed ; and that a great
wave had almost washed away the ruins of Talcuhuano." Of this
latter statement I soon saw abundant proofs — the whole coast being
strewed over with timber and furniture as if a thousand ships had
been wrecked. Besides chairs, tables, book-shelves, etc., in great
numbers, there were several roofs of cottages, which had been
transported almost whole. The storehouses at Talcahuano had
been burst open, and great bags of cotton, yerba, and other valuable
merchandise were scattered on the shore. During my walk round
the island, I observed that numerous fragments of rock, which,
from the marine productions adhering to them, must recently have
been lying in deep water, had been cast up high on the beach ; one
of these was six feet long, three broad, and two thick.

The island itself as plainly showed the overwhelming power
of the earthquake, as the beach did that of the consequent great
wave. The ground in many parts was fissured in north and south
lines, perhaps caused by the yielding of the parallel and steep sides
of this narrow island. Some of the fissures near the cliffs were a
yard wide. Many enormous masses had already fallen on the
beach ; and the inhabitants thought that when the rains commenced
far greater slips would happen. The effect of the vibration on the
hard primary slate, Avhich composes the foundation of the island,
was still more curious : the superfical parts of some narrow ridges
were as completely shivered as if they had been blasted by gun-
powder. This effect, which was rendered conspicuous by the fresh
fractures and displaced soil, must be confined to near the surface,
for otherwise; there would not exist a block of solid rock through-

1835.] EFFECTS OF THE EARTHQUAKE. 291

out Chile ; nor is this improbable, as it is known that the surface
of a vibrating body is affected differently from the central part. It
is, perhaps, owing to this same reason, that earthquakes do not cause
quite such terrific havoc within deep mines as would be expected.
I believe this convulsion has been more effectual in lessening the
size of the island of Quiriquina, than the ordinary wear-and-tear of
the sea and weather during the course of a whole century.

The next day I landed at Talcahuano, and afterwards rode to
Concepcion. Both towns presented the most awful yet interesting
spectacle I ever beheld. To a person who had formerly known
them, it possibly might have been still more impressive ; for the
ruins were so mingled together, and the whole scene possessed so
little the air of a habitable place, that it was scarcely possible to
imagine its former condition. The earthquake commenced at half-
past eleven o'clock in the forenoon. If it had happened in the
middle of the night, the greater number of the inhabitants (which
in this one province amount to many thousands) must have
perished, instead of less than a hundred : as it was, the invariable
practice of running out of doors at the first trembling of the
ground, alone saved them. In Concepcion each house, or row of
houses, stood by itself, a heap or line of ruins ; but in Talcahuano,
owing to the great wave, little more than one layer of bricks, tiles,
and timber, with here and there part of a wall left standing, could
bo distinguished. From this circumstance Concepcion, although
not so completely desolated, was a more terrible, and, if I may so
call it, picturesque sight. The first shock was very sudden. The
mayor-domo at Quiriquina told me, that the first notice he received
of it, was finding both the horse he rode and himself, rolling together
on the ground. Eising up, he was again thrown down. He also
told me that some cows which were standing on the steep side of
the island were rolled into the sea. The great wave caused the
destruction of many cattle ; on one low island, near the head of the
bay, seventy animals were washed off and drowned. It is generally
thought that this has been the worst earthquake ever recorded in
Chile ; but as the very severe ones occur only after long intervals,
this cannot easily be known ; nor indeed would a much worse shock
have made any great difference, for the ruin was now complete.
Innumerable small tremblings followed the great earthquake, and
within the first twelve days no less than three hundred were
counted.

2(J2 CONCEPCIOtf. [CHAP, xiv.

After viewing Concepcion, I cannot understand how the greater
number of inhabitants escaped unhurt. The houses in many parts
fell outwards; thus forming in the middle of the streets little
hillocks of brickwork and rubbish. Mr. Bouse, the English consul,
told us that he was at breakfast when the first movement warned
him to run out. He had scarcely reached the middle of the court-
yard, when one side of his house came thundering down. He
retained presence of mind to remember, that if he once got on the
top of that part which had already fallen, he would be safe. Not
being able from the motion of the ground to stand, he crawled up
on his hands and knees ; and no sooner had he ascended this little
eminence, than the other side of the house fell in, the great beams
sweeping close in front of his head. With his eyes blinded, and
his mouth choked with the cloud of dust which darkened the sky,
at last he gained the street. As shock succeeded shock, at the
interval of a few minutes, no one dared approach the shattered
ruins ; and no one knew whether his dearest friends and relations
were not perishing from the want of help. Those who had saved
any property were obliged to keep a constant watch, for thieves
prowled about, and at each little trembling of the ground, with one
hand they beat their breasts and cried " Misericordia ! " and then
with the other filched what they could from the ruins. The
thatched roofs fell over the fires, and flames burst forth in all parts.
Hundreds knew themselves ruiued, and few had the means of pro-
viding food for the day.

Earthquakes alone are sufficient to destroy the prosperity of any
country. If beneath England the now inert subterranean forces
should exert those powers, which most assuredly in former geo-
logical ages they have exerted, how completely would the entire
condition of the country be changed! What would become of
the lofty houses, thickly packed cities, great manufactories, tho
beautiful public and private edifices? If the ne\v period of dis-
turbance were first to commence by some great earthquake in the
dead of the night, how terrific would be the carnage ! England
would at once be bankrupt; all papers, records, and accounts
would from that moment be lost. Government being unable to
collect the taxes, and failing to maintain its authority, the hand of
violence and rapine would remain uncontrolled. In every large
town famine would go forth, pestilence and death following in its
train.

1835.] GEEAT WAVE. 293

Shortly after the shock, a great wave was seen from the distance
of three or four miles, approaching in the middle of the bay with
a smooth outline; but along the shore it tore up cottages and trees,
as it swept onwards with irresistible force. At the head of the bay
it broke in a fearful line of white breakers, which rushed up to a
height of 23 vertical feet above the highest spring-tides. Their
force must have been prodigious ; for at the Fort a cannon with its
carriage, estimated at four tons in weight, was moved 15 feet in-
wards. A schooner was left in the midst of the ruins, 200 yards
from the beach. The first wave was followed by two others, which
in their retreat carried away a vast wreck of floating objects. In
one part of the bay, a ship was pitched high and dry on shore,
was carried off, again driven on shore, and again carried off. In
another part, two large vessels anchored near together were whirled
about, and their cables were thrice wound round each other :
though anchored at a depth of 36 feet, they were for some minutes
aground. The great wave must have travelled slowly, for the
inhabitants of Talcahuano had time to run up the hills behind the
town ; and some sailors pulled out seaward, trusting sitccessfully
to their boat riding securely over the swell, if they could reach it
before it broke. One old woman with a little boy, four or five
years old, ran into a boat, but there was nobody to row it out : the
boat was consequently dashed against an anchor and cut in twain ;
the old woman was drowned, but the child was picked up some
hours afterwards clinging to the wreck. Pools of salt-water were
still standing amidst the ruins of the houses, and children, making
boats with old tables and chairs, appeared as happy as their
parents were miserable. It was, however, exceedingly interesting
to observe, how much more active and cheerful all appeared than
could have been expected. It was remarked with much truth,
that from the destruction being universal, no one individual was
humbled more than another, or could suspect his friends of cold-
ness— that most grievous result of the loss of wealth. Mr. House,
and a large party whom he kindly took under his protection, lived
for the first week in a garden beneath some apple-trees. At first
they were as merry as if it had been a picnic ; but soon afterwards
heavy rain caused much discomfort, for they were absolutely with-
out shelter.

In Captain Fitz Roy's excellent account of the earthquake, it is
said that two explosions, one like a column of smoke and another

294 CONCEPCIOX. [CHAP. xiv.

like tbc blowing of a great whale, were seen in the bay. The
water also appeared everywhere to be boiling; and it "became
black, and exhaled a most disagreeable sulphureous smell." These
latter circumstances were observed in the Bay of Valparaiso during
the earthquake of 1822 ; they may, I think, be accounted for, by
the disturbance of the mud at the bottom of the sea containing
organic matter in decay. In the Bay of Callao, during a calm day,
I noticed, that as the ship dragged her cable over the bottom, its
course was marked by a line of bubbles. The lower orders in
Talcahuano thought that the earthquake was caused by some old
Indian women, who two years ago, being offended, stopped the
volcano of Antuco. This silly belief is curious, because it shows
that experience has taught them to observe, that there exists a
relation between the suppressed action of the volcanos, and the
trembling of the ground. It was necessary to apply the witchcraft
to the point where their perception of cause and effect failed ; and
this was the closing of the volcanic vent. This belief is the more
singular in this particular instance, because, according to Captain
Fitz Roy, there is reason to believe that Antuco was noways
affected.

The town of Concepcion was built in the usual Spanish fashion,
with all the streets running at right angles to each other ; one set
ranging S.W. by W., and the other set N.W. by N. The walls in
the former direction certainly stood better than those in the latter ;
the greater number of the masses of brickwork were thrown down
towards the N.E. Both these circumstances perfectly agree with
the general idea, of the undulations having come from the S.W.,
in which quarter subterranean noises were also heard; for it is
evident that the walls running S.W. and N.E. which presented
their ends to the point whence the undulations came, would be
much less likely to fall than those walls which, running N.W. and
S.E., must in their whole lengths have been at the same instant
thrown out of the perpendicular ; for the undulations, coming from
the S.W., must have extended in N.W. and S.E. waves, as they
passed under the foundations. This may be illustrated by placing
books edgeways on a carpet, and then, after the manner suggested
by Michell, imitating the undulations of an earthquake : it will be
found that they fall with more or less readiness, according as their
direction more or less nearly coincides with the line of the waves.
The fissures in the ground generally, though not uniformly, ex-

1835.] LINES OF VIBRATION. 295

tended iii a S.E. and N.W. direction, and therefore corresponded
to the lines of undulation or of principle flexure. Bearing in mind
all these circumstances, which so clearly point to the S.W. as the
chief focus of disturbance, it is a very interesting fact that the
island of S. Maria, situated in that quarter, was, during the general
uplifting of the land, raised to nearly three times the height of any
other part of the coast.

The different resistance offered by the walls, according to their
direction, was well exemplified in the case of the Cathedral. The
side which fronted the N.E. presented a grand pile of ruins, in the
midst of which door-cases and masses of timber stood up, as if
floating in a stream. Some of the angular blocks of brickwork
were of great dimensions ; and they were rolled to a distance on
the level plaza, like fragments of rock at the base of some high
mountain. The side walls (running S.W. and N.E.), though ex-
ceedingly fractured, yet remained standing; but the vast buttresses
(at right angles to them, and therefore parallel to the walls that
fell) were in many cases cut clean off, as if by a chisel, and hurled
to the ground. Some square ornaments on the coping of these
same walls, were moved by the earthquake into a diagonal position.
A similar circumstance was observed after an earthquake at
Valparaiso, Calabria, and other places, including some of the
ancient Greek temples.* This twisting displacement, at first ap-
pears to indicate a vorticose movement beneath each point thus
affected ; but this is highly improbable. May it not be caused by
a tendency in each stone to arrange itself in some particular posi-
tion, with respect to the lines of vibration, — in a manner somewhat
similar to pins on a sheet of paper when shaken? Generally
speaking, arched doorways or windows stood much better than any
other part of the buildings. Nevertheless, a poor lame old man,
who had been in the habit, during trifling shocks, of crawling to a
certain doorway, was this time crushed to pieces.

I have not attempted to give any detailed description of the
appearance of Concepcion, for I feel that it is quite impossible to
convey the mingled feelings which I experienced. Several of the
officers visited it before me, but their strongest language failed to
give a just idea of the scene of desolation. It is a bitter and
humiliating thing to see works, which have cost man so much time

* M. Arago in L'Institut, 1839, p. 337. See also Micro's Chile, vol. i.
. "92 ; also Lyell's Principles of Geology, chap, xv., book ii.

296 CONCEPCIOX. [CHAP. xiv.

and labour, overthrown in one minute; yet compassion for the
inhabitants was almost instantly banished, by the surprise in see-
jug a state of things produced in a moment of time, which one was
accustomed to attribute to a succession of ages. In my opinion,
we have scarcely beheld, since leaving England, any sight so deeply
interesting.

In almost every severe earthquake, the neighbouring waters of
the sea are said to have been greatly agitated. The disturbance
seems generally, as in the case of Concepcion, to have been of two
kinds : first, at the instant of the shock, the water swells high up
on the beach with a gentle motion, and then as quietly retreats ;
secondly, some time afterwards, the whole body of the sea retires
from the coast, and then returns in waves of overwhelming force.
The first movement seems to be an immediate consequence of the
earthquake affecting differently a fluid and a solid, so that their
respective levels are slightly deranged : but the second case is a far
more important phenomenon. During most earthquakes, and
especially during those on the west coast of America, it is certain
that the first great movement of the waters has been a retirement.
Some authors have attempted to explain this, by supposing that
the water retains its level, whilst the land oscillates upwards ; but
surely the water close to the land, even on a rather steep coast,
would partake of the motion of the bottom: moreover, as urged
by Mr. Lyell, similar movements of the sea have occurred at
islands far distant from the chief line of disturbance, as was the
case with Juan Fernandez during this earthquake, and with Ma-
deira during the famous Lisbon shock. I suspect (but the subject
is a very obscure one) that a wave, however produced, first draws
the water from the shore, on which it is advancing to break : I have
observed that this happens with the little waves from the paddles
of a steam-boat. It is remarkable that whilst Talcahuano and
Callao (near Lima), both situated at the head of large shallow bays,
have suffered during every severe earthquake from great waves,
Valparaiso, seated close to the edge of profoundly deep water, has
never been overwhelmed, though so often shaken by the severest
shocks. From the great wave not immediately following the
earthquake, but sometimes after the interval of even half an hour,
and from distant islands being affected similarly with the coasts
near the focus of the disturbance, it appears that the wave first
rises in the offing ; and as this is of general occurrence, the cause

1835.] PERMANENT ELEVATION OF THE LAND. 297

must be general : I suspect we must look to the line, where the
less disturbed waters of the deep ocean join the water nearer
the coast, which has partaken of the movements of the land, as the
place where the great wave is first generated ; it would also appear
that the wave is larger or smaller, according to the extent of shoal
water which has been agitated together with the bottom on which
it rested.

The most remarkable effect of this earthquake was the perma-
nent elevation of the land ; it would probably be far more correct
to speak of it as the cause. There can be no doubt that the land
round the Bay of Concepcion was upraised two or three feet ; but
it deserves notice, that owing to the wave having obliterated the
old lines of tidal action on the sloping sandy shores, I could dis-
cover no evidence of this fact, except in the united testimony of the
inhabitants, that one little rocky shoal, now exposed, was formerly
covered with water. At the island of S. Maria (about thirty miles
distant) the elevation was greater ; on one part, Captain Fitz Roy
found beds of putrid mussel-shells still adhering to the rocks, ten
feet above high-water mark : the inhabitants had formerly dived
at low-water spring-tides for these shells. The elevation of this
province is particularly interesting, from its having been the
theatre of several other violent earthquakes, and from the vast
numbers of sea-shells scattered over the land, up to a height of
certainly 600, and I believe, of 1000 feet. At Valparaiso, as I
aave remarked, similar shells are found at the height of 1300 feet :
it is hardly possible to doubt that this great elevation has been
effected by successive small uprisings, such as that which accorn-

inied or caused the earthquake of this year, and likewise by
insensibly slow rise, which is certainly in progress on some

xrts of this coast.

The island of Juan Fernandez, 360 miles to the N.E., was, at the
time of the great shock of the 20th, violently shaken, so that the

rees beat against each other, and a volcano burst forth under water
3lose to the shore : these facts are remarkable because this island,
luring the earthquake of 1751, was then also affected more
violently than other places at an equal distance from Concepcion,
ind this seems to show some subterranean connection between
these two points. Chiloe, about 340 miles southward of Concep-
cion, appears to have been shaken more strongly than the inter-

298 CONNEXION OF THE ELEVATOR? [CHAP. xiv.

mediate district of Valdivia, where the volcano of Villarica was
noways affected, whilst in the Cordillera in front of Chiloe, two
of the volcanos burst forth at the same instant in violent action.
These two volcanos, and some neighbouring ones, continued for
a long time in eruption, and ten months afterwards were again
influenced by an earthquake at Concepcion. Some men, cutting
wood near the base of one of these volcanos, did not perceive the
shock of the 20th, although the whole surrounding Province was
then trembling; here we have an eruption relieving and taking
the place of an earthquake, as would have happened at Concepcion,
according to the belief of the lower orders, if the volcano at Antuco
had not been closed by witchcraft. Two years and three quarters
afterwards, Valdivia and Chiloe were again shaken, more violently
than on the 20th, and an island in the Chonos Archipelago was
permanently elevated more than eight feet. It will give a better
idea of the scale of these phenomena, if (as in the case of the
glaciers) we suppose them to have taken place at corresponding
distances in Europe : — then would the land from the North Sea to
the Mediterranean have been violently shaken, and at the same
instant of time a large tract of the eastern coast of England would
have been permanently elevated, together with some outlying
islands, — a train of volcanos on the coast of Holland would have
burst forth in action, and an eruption taken place at the bottom
of the sea, near the northern extremity of Ireland — and lastly, the
ancient vents of Auvergne, Cantal, and Mont d'Or would each
have sent up to the sky a dark column of smoke, and have long
remained in fierce action. Two years and three quarters after-
wards, France, from its centre to the English Channel, would have
been again desolated by an earthquake, and an island permanently
upraised in the Mediterranean.

The space, from under which volcanic matter on the 20th was
actually erupted, is 720 miles in one line, and 400 miles in another
line at right angles to the first : hence, in all probability, a sub-
terranean lake of lava is here stretched out, of nearly double the
area of the Black Sea. From the intimate and complicated man-
ner in which the elevatory and eruptive forces were shown to be
connected during this train of phenomena, we may confidently
come to the conclusion, that the forces which slowly and by little
starts uplift continents, and those which at successive periods pour
forth volcanic matter from open orifices, are identical. From many

1835.] AND ERUPTIVE FORCES.

reasons, I believe that the frequent quakings of the earth on this
line of coast are caused by the rending of the strata, necessarily
consequent on the tension of the land when upraised, and their
injection by fluidified rock. This rending and injection would, if
repeated often enough (and we know that earthquakes repeatedly
affect the same areas in the same manner), form a chain of hills ;
— and the linear island of S. Mary, which was upraised thrice the
height of the neighbouring country, seems to be undergoing this
process. I believe that the solid axis of a mountain, differs in its
manner of formation from a volcanic hill, only in the molten stone
having been repeatedly injected, instead of having been repeatedly
ejected. Moreover, I believe that it is impossible to explain the
structure of great mountain-chains, such as that of the Cordillera,
where the strata, capping the injected axis of plutonic rock, have
been thrown on their edges along several parallel and neighbour-
ing lines of elevation, except on this view of the rock of the axis
having been repeatedly injected, after intervals sufficiently long to
allow the upper parts or wedges to cool and become solid;— for if
the strata had been thrown into their present highly-inclined,
vertical, and even inverted positions, by a single blow, the very
bowels of the earth would have gushed out; and instead of be-
holding abrupt mountain-axes of rock solidified under great pres-
sure, deluges of lava would have flowed out at innumerable points
on every line of elevation.*

* For a full account of the volcanic phenomena which accompanied tho
earthquake of the 20th, and for the conclusions deducible from them, I
must refer to Volume V. of the Geological Transactions.

500 VALPARAISO. [CHAP. xv.

CHAPTEE XV.

Valparaiso— Portillo Pass — Sagacity of Mules— Mountain-torrents—
Mines, how discovered — Proofs of the gradual Elevation of the Cordillera
— Effect of Snow on Eocks — Geological Structure of the two main
Ranges, their distinct Origin and Upheaval— Great Subsidence — Rod
Snow— Winds — Pinnacles of Snow — Dry and clear Atmosphere —
Electricity — Pampas— Zoology of the opposite Side of the Andes — •
Locusts— Great Bugs — Mendoza — Uspallata Pass — Silicified Trees
buried as they grew— Incas Bridge — Badness of the Passes exagge-
rated— Cumbre— Casuohas — Valparaiso.

PASSAGE OF THE CORDILLERA.

March 7th, 1835. — We stayed three days at Concepcion, and then
sailed for Valparaiso. The wind being northerly, we only reached
the mouth of the harbour of Concepcion before it was dark. Being
very near the land, and a fog coming on, the anchor was dropped.
Presently a large American whaler appeared alongside of us ; and
we heard the Yankee swearing at his men to keep quiet, whilst
he listened for the breakers. Captain Fitz Roy hailed him, in a
loud clear voice, to anchor where he then was. The poor man
must have thought the voice came from the shore : such a Babel
of cries issued at once from the ship — every one hallooing out,
" Let go the anchor ! veer cable ! shorten sail ! '' It was the most
laughable thing I ever heard. If the ship's crew had been all
captains, and no men, there could not have been a greater uproar
of orders. We afterwards found that the mate stuttered : I suppose
all hands were assisting him in giving his orders.

On the llth we anchored at Valparaiso, and two days afterwards
I set out to cross the Cordillera. I proceeded to Santiago, where
Mr. Caldcleugh most kindly assisted me in every possible way in
making the little preparations which were necessary. In this part
of Chile there are two passes across the Andes to Mendoza : the
one most commonly used— namely, that of Aconcagua or Uspallata

1835.] PORTILLO PASS. 301

— is situated some way to the north; the other, called the Portillo,
is to the south, and nearer, but more lofty and dangerous.

March 18th. — We set out for the Portillo pass. Leaving Santiago
we crossed the wide burnt-up plain on which that city stands, and
in the afternoon arrived at the Maypu, one of the principal rivers
in Chile. The valley, at the point where it enters the first Cor-
dillera, is bounded on each side by lofty barren mountains ; and
although not broad, it is very fertile. Numerous cottages were
surrounded by vines, and by orchards of apple, nectarine, and peach-
trees — their boughs breaking with the weight of the beautiful ripe
fruit. In the evening we passed the custom-house, where our
luggage was examined. The frontier of Chile is better guarded by
the Cordillera, than by the waters of the sea. There are very few
valleys which lead to the central ranges, and the mountains are
quite impassable in other parts by beasts of burden. The cus-
tom-house officers were very civil, which was perhaps partly owing
to the passport which the President of the Eepublic had given me ;
but I must express my admiration at the natural politeness of
almost every Chileno. In this instance, the contrast with the
same class of men in most other countries was strongly marked. I
may mention an anecdote with which I was at the time much
pleased : we met near Mendoza a little and very fat negress, riding
astride on a mule. She had a goitre so enormous that it was
scarcely possible to avoid gazing" at her for a moment ; but my two
companions almost instantly, by way of apology, made the common
salute of the country by taking off their hats. Where would one
of the lower or higher classes in Europe, have shown such feeling
politeness to a poor and miserable object of a degraded race ?

At night we slept at a cottage. Our manner of travelling was
delightfully independent. In the inhabited parts we bought a
little firewood, hired pasture for the animals, and bivouacked in
the corner of the same field with them. Carrying an iron pot,
we cooked and ate our supper under a cloudless sky, and knew
no trouble. My companions were Mariano Gonzales, who had
formerly accompanied me in Chile, and an "arriero," with his
ten mules and a " madrina." The madrina (or godmother) is a
most important personage : she is an old steady mare, with a little
bell round her neck; and wherever she goes, the mules, like
good children, follow her. The affection of these animals for their
madrinas saves infinite trouble. If several large troops arc turned

302 PORTILLO PASS. [CHAP. xV.

into one field to graze, in the morning the muleteers have only to
lead the madrinas a little apart, and tinkle their bells; and
although there may be two or three hundred together, each mule
immediately knows the bell of its own madrina, and comes to her.
It is nearly impossible to lose an old mule ; for if detained for
several hours by force, she will, by the power of smell, like a
dog, track out her companions, or rather the madrina, for, accord-
ing to the muleteer, she is the chief object of affection. The feel-
ing, however, is not of an individual nature ; for I believe I am
right in saying that any animal with a bell will serve as a madrina.
In a troop each animal carries on a level road, a cargo weighing
416 pounds (more than 29 stone), but in a mountainous country 100
pounds less ; yet with what delicate slim limbs, without any pro-
portional bulk of muscle, these animals support so great a burden !
The mule always appears to me a most surprising animal. That a
hybrid should possess more reason, memory, obstinacy, social
affection, powers of muscular endurance, and length of life, than
..cither of its parents, seems to indicate that art has here outdone
nature. Of our ten animals, six were intended for riding, and four
for carrying cargoes, each taking turn about. We carried a good
deal of food, in case we should be snowed up, as the season was
rather late for passing the Portillo.

March l$th. — We rode during this day to the last, and therefore
most elevated, house in the yalley. The number of inhabitants
became scanty ; but wherever water could be brought on the land, it
was very fertile. All the main valleys in the Cordillera are charac-
terized by having, on both sides, a fringe or terrace of shingle and
sand, rudely stratified, and generally of considerable thickness.
These fringes evidently once extended across the valleys, and were
united ; and the bottoms of the valleys in northern Chile, where
there are no streams, are thus smoothly filled up. On these fringes
the roads are generally carried, for their surfaces are even, and
they rise with a very gentle slope up the valleys : hence, also, they
are easily cultivated by irrigation. They may be traced up to a
height of between 7000 and 9000 feet, where they become hidden
by the irregular piles of debris. At the lower end or mouths of
the valleys, they are continuously united to those land-locked
plains (also formed of shingle) at the foot of the main Cordillera,
which I have described in a former chapter as charateristic of the
scenery of Chile, and which were undoubtedly deposited when the

1835.] TORRENTS OF THE CORDILLERA. 303

sea penetrated Chile, as it now does the more southern coasts. No
one fact in the geology of South America, interested me more than
these terraces of rudely-stratified shingle. They precisely resemble
in composition the matter which the torrents in each valley would
deposit, if they were checked in their course by any cause, such as
entering a lake or arm of the sea ; but the torrents, instead of de-
positing matter, are now steadily at work wearing away both the
solid rock and these alluvial deposits, along the whole line of every
main valley and side valley. It is impossible here to give the
reasons, but I am convinced that the shingle terraces were accu-
mulated, during the gradual elevation of the Cordillera, by the
torrents delivering, at successive levels, their detritus on the beach-
heads of long narrow arms of the sea, first high up the valleys,
then lower and lower down as the land slowly rose. If this be so,
and I cannot doubt it, the grand and broken chain of the Cordillera,
instead of having been suddenly thrown up, as was till lately the
universal, and still is the common opinion of geologists, has been
slowly upheaved in mass, in the same gradual manner as the
coasts of the Atlantic and Pacific have risen within the recent
period. A multitude of facts in the structure of the Cordillera, on
this view receive a simple explanation.

The rivers which flow in these valleys ought rather to be called
mountain-torrents. Their inclination is very great, and their
water the colour of mud. The roar which the Maypu made, as
it rushed over the great rounded fragments, was like that of the
sea. Amidst the din of rushing waters, the noise from the stones,
as they rattled one over another, was most distinctly audible even
from a distance. This rattling noise, night and day, may be heard
along the whole course of the torrent. The sound spoke eloquently
to the geologist ; the thousands and thousands of stones, which,
striking against each other, made the one dull uniform sound,
were all hurrying in one direction. It was like thinking on time,
where the minute that now glides past is irrecoverable. So was it
with these stones ; the ocean is their eternity, and each note of that
wild music told of one more step towards their destiny.

It is not possible for the mind to comprehend, except by a slow
process, any effect which is produced by a cause repeated so often,
that the multiplier itself conveys an idea, not more definite than
the savage implies when he points to the hairs of his head. As
often as I have seen beds of mud, sand, and shingle, accumulated

304 PORTILLO PASS. tcii.\r. xv.

to the thickness of many thousand feet, I have felt inclined to
exclaim that causes, such as the present rivers and the present
beaches, could never have ground down and produced such masses.
But, on the other hand, when listening to the rattling noise of these
torrents, and calling to mind that whole races of animals have
passed away from the face of the earth, and that during this whole
period, night and day, these stones have gone rattling onwards in
their course, I have thought to myself, can any mountains, any
continent, withstand such waste ?

In this part of the valley, the mountains on each side were from
3000 to 6000 or 8000 feet high, with rounded outlines and steep
bare flanks. The general colour of the rock was dullish purple,
and the stratification very distinct. If the scenery was not beautiful,
it was remarkable and grand. We met during the day several
herds of cattle, which men were driving down from the higher
valleys in the Cordillera. This sign of the approaching winter
hurried our steps, more than was convenient for geologizing. The
house where we slept was situated at the foot of a mountain, on the
summit of which are the mines of S. Pedro de Nolasko. Sir F.
Head marvels how mines have been discovered in such extra-
ordinary situations, as the bleak summit of the mountain of S.
Pedro de Nolasko. In the first place, metallic veins in this country
are generally harder than the surrounding strata: hence, during
the gradual wear of the hills, they project above the surface of the
ground. Secondly, almost every labourer, especially in the northern
parts of Chile, understands something about the appearance of ores.
In the great mining provinces of Coquimbo and Copiapo, firewood
is very scarce, and men search for it over every hilt and dale ; and
by this means nearly all the richest mines have there been discovered.
Chanuncillo, from which silver to the value of many hundred
thousand pounds has been raised in the course of a few years,
was discovered by a man who threw a stone at his loaded donkey,
and thinking that it was very heavy, he picked it up, and found
it full of pure silver: the vein occurred at no great distance,
standing up like a wedge of metal. The miners, also, taking
a crowbar with them, often wander on Sundays over the moun-
tains. In this south part of Chile, the men who drive cattle into
the Cordillera, and who frequent every ravine where there is a little
pasture, are the usual discoverers.

20^. — As we ascended the valley, the vegetation, with the

1835.] EFFECT OF SXOW OX ROCKS. 305

exception of a few pretty alpine flowers, became exceedingly
scanty; and of quadrupeds, birds, or insects, scarcely one could
be seen. The lofty mountains, their summits marked with a few-
patches of snow, stood well separated from each other, the valleys
being filled up with an immense thickness of stratified alluvium.
The features in the scenery of the Andes Avhich struck me most,
as contrasted with the other mountain chains with which I am
acquainted, were, — the flat fringes sometimes expanding into
narrow plains on each side of the valleys, — the bright colours,
chiefly red and purple, of the utterly bare and precipitous hills
of porphyry, — the grand and continuous wall-like dykes, — the
plainly-divided strata which, where nearly vertical, formed the
picturesque and wild central pinnacles, but where less inclined,
composed the great massive mountains on the outskirts of the
range, — and lastly, the smooth conical piles of fine and brightly
coloured detritus, which sloped up at a high angle from the baso
of the mountains, sometimes to a height of more than 2000 feet.

I frequently observed, both in Tierra del Fuego and within the
Andes, that where the rock was covered during the greater part of
the year with snow, it was shivered in a very extraordinary manner
into small angular fragments. Scoresby * has observed the same
fact in Spitzbergen. The case appears to me rather obscure : for
that part of the mountain which is protected by a mantle of snow,
must be less subject to repeated and great changes of temperature
than any other part. I haA'e sometimes thought, that the earth
and fragments of stone on the surface, were perhaps less effectually
removed by slowly percolating snow- water f than by rain, and
therefore that the appearance of a quicker disintegration of the
solid rock under the snow, was deceptive. Whatever the cause
may be, the quantity of crumbling stone on the Cordillera is very
great. Occasionally in the spring, great masses of this detritus
slide down the mountains, and cover the snow-drifts in the valleys,
thus forming natural ice-houses. We rode over one, the height of
which was far below the limit of perpetual snow.

* Scoresby's Arctic Eegions, vol. i. p. 122.

t I have heard it remarked in Shropshire, that the water, when the
Severn is flooded from long-continued rain, is much more turbid than
when it proceeds from the snow melting in the Welsh mountains.
D'Orbigny (torn. i. p. 184), in explaining the cause of the various colours
of the rivers in South America, remarks that those with blue or clear water
have their source in the Cordillera, where the snow melts.

GEOLOGY OF THE CORDILLERA. [CHAP. xv.

As the evening drew to a close, we reached a singular basin-like
plain, called the Valle del Yeso. It was covered by a little dry
pasture, and we had the pleasant sight of a herd of cattle amidst
the surrounding rocky deserts. The valley takes its name of Yeso
from a great bed, I should think at least 2000 feet thick, of white,
and in some parts quite pure, gypsum. We slept with a party of
men, who were employed in loading mules with this substance,
which is used in the manufacture of wine. We set out early in the
morning (21st), and continued to follow the course of the river,
which had become very small, till we arrived at the foot of the
ridge, that separates the waters flowing into the Pacific and
Atlantic Oceans. The road, which as yet had been good with
a steady but very gradual ascent, now changed into a steep zigzag
track up the great range, dividing the republics of Chile and
Mendoza.

I will here give a very brief sketch of the geology of the several
parallel lines forming the Cordillera. Of these lines, there are two
considerably higher than the others ; namely, on the Chilian side,
the Peuquenes ridge, which, where the road crosses it, is 13,210
feet above the sea; and the Portillo ridge, on the Mendoza side,
which is 14,305 feet. The lower beds of the Peuquenes ridge, and
of the several great lines to the westward of it, are composed of a
vast pile, many thousand feet in thickness, of porphyries which
have flowed as submarine lavas, alternating with angular and
rounded fragments of the same rocks, thrown out of the submarine
craters. These alternating masses are covered in the central parts,
by a great thickness of red sandstone, conglomerate, and calcareous
clay-slate, associated with, and passing into, prodigious beds of
gypsum. In these upper beds shells are tolerably frequent ; and
they belong to about the period of the lower chalk of Europe. It
is an old story, but not the less wonderful, to hear of shells which
were once crawling on the bottom of the sea, now standing nearly
14,000 feet above its level. The lower beds in this great pile of
strata, have been dislocated, baked, crystallized and almost blended
together, through the agency of mountain masses of a peculiar
white soda-granitic rock.

The other main line, namely, that of the Portillo, is of a totally
different formation : it consists chiefly of grand bare pinnacles of
a red potash-granite, which low down on the western flank aro
covered by a sandstone, converted by the former heat into a quartz-

183.;.] GEOLOGY OF THE COEDILLERA. 307

rock. On the quartz, there rest beds of a conglomerate several
thousand feet in thickness, which have been upheaved by the red
granite, and dip at an angle of 45° towards the Peuqiaenes line. I
was astonished to lind that this conglomerate was partly composed
of pebbles, derived from the rocks, with their fossil shells, of the
Peuquenes range; and partly of red potash-granite, like that of
the Portillo. Hence we must conclude, that both the Peuquenes
and Portillo ranges were partially upheaved and exposed to wear
and tear, when the conglomerate was forming ; but as the beds of
the conglomerate have been thrown off at an angle of 45° by the
red Portillo granite (with the underlying sandstone baked by it),
we may feel sure, that the greater part of the injection and upheaval
of the already partially formed Portillo line, took place after the
accumulation of the conglomerate, and long after the elevation of
the Peuquenes ridge. So that the Portillo, the loftiest line in this
part of the Cordillera, is not so old as the less lofty line of the
Peuquenes. Evidence derived from an inclined stream of lava at
the eastern base of the Portillo, might be adduced to show, that it
owes part of its great height to elevations of a still later date.
Looking to its earliest origin, the red granite seems to have been
injected on an ancient pre-existing line of white granite and mica-
slate. In most parts, perhaps in all parts, of the Cordillera, it may
be concluded that each line has been formed by repeated upheavals
and injections ; and that the several parallel lines are of different
ages. Only thus can we gain time, at all siifficient to explain the
truly astonishing amount of denudation, which these great, though
comparatively with most other ranges recent, mountains havo
suffered.

Finally, the shells in the Peuquenes or oldest ridge, prove, as
before remarked, that it has been upraised 14,000 feet since a
Secondary period, which in Europe we are accustomed to consider
as far from ancient ; but since these shells lived in a moderately
deep sea, it can be shown that the area now occupied by the
Cordillera, must have subsided several thousand feet — in northern
Chile as much as 6000 feet — so as to have allowed that amount of
submarine strata to have been heaped on the bed on which the
shells lived. The proof is the same with that by which it was
shown, that at a much later period since the tertiary shells of
Patagonian lived, there must have been there a subsidence of
several hundred feet, as well as an ensuing elevation. Daily it is

308 GEOLOGY OF THE COEDILLERA. [CHAP. xv.

forced home on the mind of the geologist, that nothing, not even
the wind that blows, is so unstable as the level of the crust of this
earth.

I will make only one other geological remark: although the
Porfcillo chain is here higher than the Peuquenes, the waters,
draining the intermediate valleys, have burst through it. The
same fact, on a grander scale, has been remarked in the eastern
and loftiest line of the Bolivian Cordillera, through which the
rivers pass : analogous facts have also been observed in other
quarters of the world. On the supposition of the subsequent and
gradual elevation of the Portillo line, this can be understood ; for
a chain of islets would at first appear, and, as these were lifted up,
the tides would be always wearing deeper and broader channels
between them. At the present day, even in the most retired
Sounds on the coast of Tierra del Fuego, the currents in the
transverse breaks which connect the longitudinal channels, are
very strong, so that in one transverse channel even a small vessel
under sail was whirled round and round.

About noon we began the tedious ascent of the Peuquenes ridge,
and then for the first time experienced some little difficulty in our
respiration. The mules would halt every fifty yards, and after
resting for a few seconds the poor willing animals started of their
own accord again. The short breathing from the rarefied atmo-
sphere is called by the Chilenos "puna;" and they have most
ridiculous notions concerning its origin. Some say " all the waters
here have puna ; " others that " where there is snow there is puna ; "
— and this no doubt is true. The only sensation I experienced was
a slight tightness across the head and chest, like that felt on leaving
a warm room and running quickly in frosty weather. There was
some imagination even in this; for upon finding fossil shells on
the highest ridge, I entirely forgot the puna in my delight.
Certainly the exertion of walking was extremely great, and the
respiration became deep and laborious : I am told that in Potosi
(about 13,000 feet above the sea) strangers do not become
thoroughly accustomed to the atmosphere for an entire year.
The inhabitants all recommend onions for the puna; as this
vegetable has sometimes been given in Europe for pectoral com-
plaints, it may possibly be of real service :— for my part I found
nothing so good as the fossil shells !

1835.] BED SNOW. 309

Wlicu about half-way up we met a large party with seventy
loaded mules. It was interesting to hear the wild cries of the
muleteers, and to watch the long descending string of the animals ;
they appeared so diminutive, there being nothing but the bleak
mountains with which they could be compared. When near the
summit, the wind, as generally happens, was impetuous and
extremely cold. On each side of the ridge we had to pass over
broad bands of perpetual snow, which were now soon to be covered
by a fresh layer. When we reached the crest and looked back-
wards, a glorious view was presented. The atmosphere resplcn-
dently clear ; the sky an intense blue ; the profound valleys ; the
wild broken forms ; the heaps of ruins, piled up during the lapse
of ages; the bright-coloured rocks, contrasted with the quiet
mountains of snow; all these together produced a scene no one
could have imagined. Neither plant nor bird, excepting a few
condors wheeling around the higher pinnacles, distracted my
attention from the inanimate mass. I felt glad that I was alone :
it was like watching a thunderstorm, or hearing in full orchestra
a chorus of the Messiah.

On several patches of the snow I found the Protococcus nivalis,
or red snow, so well known from the accounts of Arctic navigators.
My attention was called to it, by observing the footsteps of the
mules stained a pale red, as if their hoofs had been slightly bloody.
I at first thought that it was owing to dust blown from the sur-
rounding mountains of red porphyry; for from the magnifying
power of the crystals of snow, the groups of these microscopical
plants appeared like coarse particles. The snow was coloured only
where it had thawed very rapidly, or had been accidentally crushed.
A little rubbed on paper gave it a faint rose tinge mingled with a
little brick-red. I afterwards scraped some off the paper, and found
that it consisted of groups of little spheres in colourless cases, each
the thousandth part of an inch in diameter.

The wind on the crest of the Peuquenes, as just remarked, is
generally impetuous and very cold: it is said* to blow steadily
from the westward or Pacific side. As the observations have been
chiefly made in summer, this wind must be an upper and return
current. The Peak of Teneriffe, with a less elevation, and situated
in lat. 28°, in like manner falls within an upper return stream. At

* Dr. Gillies in Journ. of Nat. and Geograph. Science, Aug., 1830. This
author gives the heights of the Passes.

310 PORTILLO PASS. [cn.\r. xv.

first it appears rather surprising, that the trade-wind along the
northern parts of Chile and on the coast of Peru, should blow in so
very southerly a direction as it does ; but when we reflect that the
Cordillera, running in a north and south line, intercepts, like a
great wall, the entire depth of the lower atmospheric current, we
can easily see that the trade-wind must be drawn northward, fol-
lowing the line of mountains, towards the equatorial regions, and
thus lose part of that easterly movement which it otherwise would
have gained from the earth's rotation. At Mendoza, on the eastern
foot of the Andes, the climate is said to be subject to long calms,
and to frequent though false appearances of gathering rain-storms :
wo may imagine that the wind, which coming from the eastward is
thus banked up by the line of mountains, would become stagnant
and irregular in its movements.

Having crossed the Peuquenes, we descended into a mountainous
country, intermediate between the two main ranges, and then took
up our quarters for the night. We were now in the republic of
Mendoza. The elevation was probably not under 11,000 feet, and
the vegetation in consequence exceedingly scanty. The root of a
small scrubby plant served as fuel, but it made a miserable fire,
and the wind was piercingly cold. Being quite tired with my day's
work, I made up my bed as quickly as I could, and went to sleep.
About midnight I observed the sky became suddenly clouded : I
awakened the arriero to know if there was any danger of bad
weather; but he said that without thunder and lightning there
was no risk of a heavy snow-storm. The peril is imminent, and
the difficulty of subsequent escape great, to any one overtaken by
bad weather between the two ranges. A certain cave offers the
only place of refuge : Mr. Caldcleugh, who crossed on this same day
of the month, was detained there for some time by a heavy fall of
snow. Casuchas, or houses of refuge, have not been built in this
pass as in that of Uspallata, and therefore, during the autumn, the
Portillo is little frequented. I may here remark that within the
main Cordillera rain never falls, for during the summer the sky is
cloudless, and in winter snow-storms alone occur.

At the place where we slept water necessarily boiled, from the
diminished pressure of the atmosphere, at a lower temperature than
it does in a less lofty country ; the case being the converse of that
of a Papin's digester. Hence the potatoes, after remaining for some
hours in the boiling water, were nearly as hard as ever. The pot

1835.] PINNACLES OF SNOW. 311

was left on the fire all night, and next morning it was boiled again,
but yet the potatoes were not cooked. I found out this, by over-
hearing my two companions discussing the cause ; they had come
to the simple conclusion, " that the cursed pot (which was a new
one) did not choose to boil potatoes."

March 22nd. — After eating our potatoless breakfast, we travelled
across the intermediate tract to the foot of the Portillo range. In
the middle of summer cattle are brought up here to graze ; but
they had now all been removed: even the greater number of the
guanacos had decamped, knowing well that if overtaken here by a
snow-storm, they would be caught in a trap. We had a fine view
of a mass of mountains called Tupungato, the whole clothed with
unbroken snow, in the midst of which there was a blue patch, no
doubt a glacier ; — a circumstance of rare occurrence in these moun-
tains. Now commenced a heavy and long climb, similar to that
of the Peuquenes. Bold conical hills of red granite rose on each
hand ; in the valleys there were several broad fields of perpetual
snow. These frozen masses, during the process of thawing, had in
some parts been converted into pinnacles or columns,* which, as
they were high and close together, made it difficult for the cargo
mules to pass. On one of these columns of ice, a frozen horse was
sticking as on a pedestal, but with its hind legs straight up in the
air. The animal, I suppose, must have fallen with its head down-
ward into a hole, when the snow was continuous, and afterwards
the surrounding parts must have been removed by the thaw.

When nearly on the crest of the Portillo, we were enveloped in a
falling cloud of minute frozen spicula. This was very unfortunate,
as it continued the whole day, and quite intercepted our view. The
pass takes its name of Portillo, from a narrow cleft or doorway on
the highest ridge, through which the road passes. From this
point, on a clear day, those vast plains which uninterruptedly
extend to the Atlantic Ocean, can be seen. We descended to the
upper limit of vegetation, and found good quarters for the night

* This structure iu frozen snow was long since observed by Scoresby in
the icebergs near Spitzbergen, and, lately, with more care, by Colonel
Jackson (Joum. of Geograph. Soc., vol. v. p. 12) on the Neva. Mr.
Lyell (Principles, vol. iv. p. 360) has compared the fissures, by which
the columnar structure seems to be determined, to the joints that traverse
nearly all rocks, but which are best seen in the non-stratified masses.
I may observe, that in the case of the frozen snow, the columnar structure
must be owing to a " rnetiunorphic " action, and not to a process during
deposition.

312 TORTILLO PASS. tciiAi-. xv.

under the shelter of some large fragments of rock. We met here
some passengers, who made anxious inquiries about the state of
the road. Shortly after it was dark the clouds suddenly cleared
away, and the effect was quite magical. The great mountains,
bright with the fall moon, seemed impending over us on all sides,
as over a deep crevice : one morning, very early, I witnessed the
same striking effect. As soon as the clouds were dispersed it froze
severely ; but as there was no wind, we slept very comfortably.

The increased brilliancy of the moon and stars at this elevation,
owing to the perfect transparency of the atmosphere, was very
remarkable. Travellers having observed the difficulty of judging
heights and distances amidst lofty mountains, have generally
attributed it to the absence of objects of comparison. It appears
to me, that it is fully as much owing to the transparency of the air
confounding objects at different distances, and likewise partly to
the novelty of an unusual degree of fatigue arising from a little
exertion, — habit being thus opposed to the evidence of the senses.
I am sure that this extreme clearness of the air gives a peculiar
character to the landscape, all objects appearing to be brought
nearly into one plane, as in a drawing or panorama. The trans-
parency is, I presume, owing to the equable and high state of
atmospheric dryness. This dryness was shown by the manner in
which woodwork shrank (as I soon found by the trouble my
geological hammer gave me); by articles of food, such as bread
and sugar, becoming extremely hard ; and by the preservation of
the skin and parts of the flesh of the beasts, which had perished on
the road. To the same cause we must attribute the singular
facility with which electricity is excited. My flannel waistcoat,
when rubbed in the dark, appeared as if it had been washed with
phosphorus ; — every hair on a dog's back crackled ; — even the linen
sheets, and leathern straps of the saddle, when handled, emitted
sparks.

March 23rd. — The descent on the eastern side of the Cordillera,
is much shorter or steeper than on the Pacific side ; in other words,
the mountains rise more abruptly from the plains than from the
alpine country of Chile. A level and brilliantly white sea of clouds
was stretched out beneath our feet, shutting out the view of the
equally level Pampas. We soon entered the band of clouds, and
did not again emerge from it that day. About noon, finding
pasture for the animals and bushes for firewood at Los Arenales,

1835.] PORTILLO PASS. olo

we stopped for the night. This was near the uppermost limit of
bushes, and the elevation, I suppose, was between seven and eight
thousand feet.

I was much struck with the marked difference between the
vegetation of these eastern valleys and those on the Chilian side :
yet the climate, as well as the kind of soil, is nearly the same, and
the difference of longitude very trifling. The same remark holds
good with the quadrupeds, and in a lesser degree with the birds
and insects. I may instance the mice, of which I obtained thirteen
species on the shores of the Atlantic, and five on the Pacific, and
not one of them is identical. We must except all those species,
which habitually or occasionally frequent elevated mountains ; and
certain birds, which range as far south as the Strait of Magellan.
This fact is in perfect accordance with the geological history of the
Andes ; for these mountains have existed as a great barrier, since
the present races of animals have appeared ; and therefore, unless
we suppose the same species to have been created in two different
places, we ought not to expect any closer similarity between the
organic beings on the opposite sides of the Andes, than on the
opposite shores of the ocean. In both cases, we must leave out of
the question those kinds which have been able to cross the barrier,
whether of solid rock or salt-water.*

A great number of the plants and animals were absolutely the
same as, or most closely allied to those of Patagonia. We here
have the agouti, bizcacha, three species of armadillo, the ostrich,
certain kinds of partridges and other birds, none of which are ever
seen in Chile, but are the characteristic animals of the desert plains
of Patagonia. We have likewise many of the same (to the eyes of
a person who is not a botanist) thorny stunted bushes, withered
grass, and dwarf plants. Even the black slowly crawling beetles
are closely similar, and some, I believe, on rigorous examination,
absolutely identical. It had always been to me a subject of regret,
that we were unavoidably compelled to give up the ascent of the S.
Cruz river, before reaching the mountains : I always had a latent
hope of meeting with some great change in the features of the

* This is merely an illustration of the admirable laws, first laid down
by Mr. Lyell, on the geographical distribution of animals, as influenced
l>y geological changes. The whole reasoning, of course, is founded on the
assumption of the immutability of species ; otherwise the difference in the
species in the two regions, might be considered as superinduced during a
length of time.

31-i POilTILLO PASS. [CHAP. xv.

country ; but I now feel sure, that it would only have been follow-
ing the plains of Patagonia up a mountainous ascent.

March 24/7*. — Early in the morning I climbed up a mountain on
one side of the valley, and enjoyed a far extended view over the
Pampas. This was a spectacle to which I had always looked forward
with interest, but I was disappointed : at the first glance it much
resembled a distant view of the ocean, but in the northern parts
many irregularities were soon distinguishable. The most striking
feature consisted in the rivers, which, facing the rising sun, glittered
like silver threads, till lost in the immensity of the distance. At
midday we descended the valley, and reached a hovel, where an
officer and three soldiers were posted to examine passports. One
of these men was a thoroughbred Pampas Indian : he was kept
much for the same purpose as a bloodhound, to track out any
person who might pass by secretly, either on foot or horseback.
Some years ago, a passenger endeavoured to escape detection, by
making a long circuit over a neighbouring mountain ; but this
Indian, having by chance crossed his track, followed it for the
whole day over dry and very stony hills, till at last he came on his
prey hidden in a gully. We here heard that the silvery clouds,
which we had admired from the bright region above, had poured
down torrents of fain. The valley from this point gradually opened,
and the hills became mere water-worn hillocks compared to the
giants behind : it then expanded into a gently sloping plain of
shingle, covered with low trees and bushes. This talus, although
appearing narrow, must be nearly ten miles wide before it blends
into the apparently dead level Pampas. We passed the only house
in this neighbourhood, the Estancia of Chaquaio ; and at sunset we
pulled up in the first snug corner, and there bivouacked.

March *25th. — I was reminded of the Pampas of Buenos Ayres, by
seeing the disk of the rising sun, intersected by an horizon, level as
that of the ocean. During the night a heavy dew fell, a circumstance
•which we did not experience within the Cordillera. The road pro-
ceeded for some distance due east across a low swamp; then
meeting the dry plain, it turned to the north towards Mendoza,
The distance is two very long days' journey. Our first day's journey
was called fourteen leagues to Estacado, and the second seventeen
to Luxan, near Mendoza. The whole distance is over a level desert
plain, with not more than two or three houses. The sun was ex-
ceedingly powerful, and the ride devoid of all interest. There is

1835.] SWARM OF LOCUSTS. 315

very little water in this "traversia," and in our second day's journey
we found only one little pool. Little water flows from the moun-
tains, and it soon becomes absorbed by the dry and porous soil; so
that, although we travelled at the distance of only ten or fifteen
miles from the outer range of the Cordillera, we did not cross a
single stream. In many parts the ground was incrusted with
a saline efflorescence; hence we had the same salt-loving plants,
which are common near Bahia Blanca. The landscape has a uniform
character from the Strait of Magellan, along the whole eastern
coast of Patagonia, to the Rio Colorado ; and it appears that the
same kind of country extends inland from this river, in a sweeping
line as far as San Luis, and perhaps even further north. To the
eastward of this curved line, lies the basin of the comparatively
damp and green plains of Buenos Ayres. The sterile plains of
Mendoza and Patagonia consist of a bed of shingle, worn smooth
and accumulated by the waves of the sea; while the Pampas,
covered by thistles, clover, and grass, have been formed by the
ancient estuary mud of the Plata.

After our two days' tedious journey, it was refreshing to see in
the distance the rows of poplars and willows growing round the
village and river of Luxan. Shortly before we arrived at this place,
we observed to the south a ragged cloud of a dark reddish-brown
colour. At first we thought that it was smoke from some great
fire on the plains; but we soon found that it was a swarm of
locusts. They were flying northward ; and with the aid of a light
breeze, they overtook us at a rate of ten or fifteen miles an hour.
The main body filled the air from a height of twenty feet, to that,
as it appeared, of two or three thousand above the ground ; " and
the sound of their wings was as the sound of chariots of many
horses running to battle : " or rather, I should say, like a strong
breeze passing through the rigging of a ship. The sky, seen through
tbe advanced guard, appeared like a mezzotinto engraving, but the
main body was impervious to sight ; they were not, however, so
thick together, but that they could escape a stick waved backwards
and forwards. When they alighted, they were more numerous
than the leaves in the field, and the surface became reddish instead
of being green : the swarm having once alighted, the individuals
flew from side to side in all directions. Locusts are not an un-
common pest in this country : already during this season, several
smaller swarms had come up from the south, where, as apparently

316 MENDOZA. [CHAP. xv.

in all other parts of the world, they arc bred ill the deserts. The
poor cottagers in vain attempted by lighting fires, by shouts, and
by waving branches to avert the attack. This species of locust
closely resembles, and perhaps is identical with the famous Gryllus
niigratorius of the East.

We crossed the Luxau, which is a river of considerable size,
though its course towards the sea-coast is very imperfectly known :
it is even doubtful whether, in passing over the plains, it is not
evaporated and lost. We slept in the village of Luxan, which is a
small place surrounded by gardens, and forms the most southern
cultivated district in the Province of Mendoza ; it is five leagues
south of the capital. At night I experienced an attack (for it
deserves no less a name) of the Benckuca,& species of Eeduvius, the
great black bug of the Pampas. It is most disgusting to feel soft
wingless insects, about an inch long, crawling over one's body.
Before sucking they are quite thin, bxit afterwards they become
round and bloated with blood, and in this state are easily crushed.
One which I caught at Iquique, (for they are found iu Chile and
Peru,) was very empty. When placed on a table, and though sur-
rounded by people, if a finger was presented, the bold insect would
immediately protrude its sucker, make a charge, and if allowed,
draw blood. No pain was caused by the wound. It was curious
to watch its body during the act of sucking, as in less than ten
minutes it changed from being as flat as a wafer to a globular form.
This one feast, for which the benchuca was indebted to one of the
officers, kept it fat during four whole months ; but, after the first
fortnight, it was quite ready to have another suck.

March 27<7«. — We rode on to Mendoza. The country was beauti-
fully cultivated, and resembled Chile. This neighbourhood is
celebrated for its fruit ; and certainly nothing could appear more
flourishing than the vineyards and the orchards of figs, peaches,
and olives. We bought water-melons nearly twice as large as a
man's head, most deliciously cool and well-flavoured, for a halfpenny
apiece ; and for the value of threepence, half a wheelbarrowful of
peaches. The cultivated and enclosed part of this province is very
small; there is little more than that which we passed through
between Luxan and the capital. The land, as in Chile, owes its
fertility entirely to artificial irrigation ; and it is really wonderful
to observe how extraordinarily productive a barren haversia is
thus rendered.

1835.] MENDOZA. 317

We stayed the ensuing day in Mendoza. The prosperity of the
place has much declined of late years. The inhabitants say " it is
good to live in, but very bad to grow rich in." The lower orders
have the lounging, reckless manners of the Gauchos of the Pampas ;
and their dress, riding-gear, and habits of life, are nearly the same.
To my mind the town had a stupid, forlorn aspect. Neither the
boasted alameda, nor the scenery, is at all comparable with that of
Santiago ; but to those who, coming from Buenos Ayres, have just
crossed the unvaried Pampas, the gardens and orchards must appear
delightful. Sir F. Head, speaking of the inhabitants, says, " They
eat their dinners, and it is so very hot, they go to sleep— and could
they do better ? " I quite agree with Sir F. Head : the happy doom
of the Mendozinos is to eat, sleep, and be idle.

March 29th. — We set out on our return to Chile, by the Uspallata
pass situated north of Mendoza. We had to cross a long and most
sterile traversia of fifteen leagues. The soil in parts was absolutely
bare, in others covered by numberless dwarf cacti, armed with
formidable spines, and called by the inhabitants "little lions."
There were, also, a few low bushes. Although the plain is nearly
three thousand feet above the sea, the sun was very powerful ; and
the heat, as well as the clouds of impalpable dust, rendered the
travelling extremely irksome. Our course during the day lay
nearly parallel to the Cordillera, but gradually approaching them.
Before sunset we entered one of the wide valleys, or rather bays,
which open on the plain : this soon narrowed into a ravine, where
a little higher up the house of Villa Vicencio is situated. As AVC
had ridden all day without a drop of water, both our mules and
selves were very thirsty, and we looked out anxiously for the
stream which flows down this valley. It was curious to observe
how gradually the water made its appearance: on the plain the
course was quite dry ; by degrees it became a little damper ; then
puddles of water appeared ; these soon became connected ; and at
Villa Vicencio there was a nice little rivulet.

30th. — The solitary hovel which bears the imposing name of
Villa Vicencio, has been mentioned by every traveller who has
crossed the Andes. I stayed here and at some neighbouring mines
during the two succeeding days. The geology of the surrounding-
country is very curious. The Uspallata range is separated from
the main Cordillera by a long narrow plain or basin, like those so

318 USPALLATA PASS. [CHAP. xv.

often mentioned in Chile, but higher, being six thousand feet
above the sea. This range has nearly the same geographical
position with respect to the Cordillera, which the gigantic Portillo
line has, but it is of a totally different origin : it consists of various
kinds of submarine lava, alternating with volcanic sandstones and
other remarkable sedimentary deposits ; the whole having a very
close resemblance to some of the tertiary beds on the shores of the
Pacific. From this resemblance I expected to find silicified wood,
which is generally characteristic of those formations. I was
gratified in a very extraordinary manner. In the central part of
the range, at an elevation of about seven thousand feet, I observed
on a bare slope some snow-white projecting columns. These were
petrified trees, eleven being silicified, and from thirty to forty con-
verted into coarsely-crystallized white calcareous spar. They were
abruptly broken off, the upright stumps projecting a few feet above
the ground. The trunks measured from three to five feet each in
circumference. They stood a little way apart from each other, but
the whole formed one group. Mr. Kobert Brown has been kind
enough to examine the wood : he says it belongs to the fir tribe,
partaking of the character of the Araucariau family, but with some
curious points of affinity with the yew. The volcanic sandstone in
which the trees were embedded, and from the lower part of which
they must have sprung, had accumulated in successive thin layers
around their trunks; and the stone yet retained the impression of
the bark.

It required little geological practice to interpret the marvellous
story which this scene at once unfolded ; though I confess I was
at first so much astonished that I could scarcely believe the plainest
evidence. I saw the spot where a cluster of fine trees once waved
their branches on the shores of the Atlantic, when that ocean (now
driven back 700 miles) came to the foot of the Andes. I saw that
they had sprung from a volcanic soil which had been raised above
the level of the sea, and that subsequently this dry land, with its
upright trees, had been let down into the depths of the ocean. In
these depths, the formerly dry land was covered by sedimentary
beds, and these again by enormous streams of submarine lava — one
such mass attaining the thickness of a thousand feet ; and these
deluges of molten stone and aqueous deposits five times alternately
had been spread out. The ocean which received such thick
masses, must have been profoundly deep; but again the subter-

SILICIFIED TREES. 319

rauean forces exerted themselves, and 1 now beheld the bed of that
ocean, forming a chain of mountains more than seven thousand
feet in height. Nor had those antagonistic forces been dormant,
which are always at work wearing down the surface of the land ;
the great piles of strata had been intersected by many wide valleys,
and the trees now changed into silex, were exposed projecting from
the volcanic soil, now changed into rock, whence formerly, in a
green and budding state, they had raised their lofty heads. Now,
all is utterly irreclaimable and desert; even the lichen cannot
adhere to the stony casts of former trees. Vast, and scarcely
comprehensible as such changes must ever appear, yet they have
all occurred within a period, recent when compared with the
history of the Cordillera ; and the Cordillera itself is absolutely
modern as compared with many of the fossiliferous strata of Europe
and America.

April list. — We crossed the Uspallata range, and at night slept at
the custom-house — the only inhabited spot on the plain. Shortly
before leaving the mountains, there was a very extraordinary view ;
red, purple, green, and quite white sedimentary rocks, alternating
with black lavas, were broken up and thrown into all kinds of
disorder by masses of porphyry of every shade of colour, from dark
brown to the brightest lilac. It was the first view I ever saw,
which really resembled those pretty sections which geologists make
of the inside of the earth.

The next day we crossed the plain, and followed the course of
the same great mountain stream which flows by Luxan. Here it
was a furious torrent, quite impassable, and appeared larger than
in the low country, as was the case with the rivulet of Villa
Vicencio. On the evening of the succeeding day, we reached the
Rio de las Vacas, Avhich is considered the worst stream in the
Cordillera to cross. As all these rivers have a rapid and short
course, and are formed by the melting of the snow, the hour of the
day makes a considerable difference in their volume. In the
evening the stream is muddy and full, but about daybreak it
becomes clearer and much less impetuous. This we found to be
the case with the Kio Vacas, and in the morning we crossed it with
little difficulty.

The scenery thus far was very uninteresting, compared with that
of the Portillo pass. Little can be seen beyond the bare walls of
the one grand flat-bottomed valley, which the road follows up to

320 USPALLATA PASS. [CHAP. xv.

the highest crest. The valley and the huge rocky mountains are
extremely barren : during the two previous nights the poor mules
had absolutely nothing to eat, for excepting a few low resinous
bushes, scarcely a plant can be seen. In the course of this clay we
crossed some of the worst passes in the Cordillera, but their danger
has been much exaggerated. I was told that if I attempted to
pass on foot, my head would turn giddy, and that there was no
room to dismount ; but I did not see a place where any one might
not have walked over backwards, or got oif his mule on either side.
One of the bad passes, called las Animas (the Souls), I had crossed,
and did not find out till a day afterwards, that it was one of the
awful dangers. No doubt there are many parts in which, if the
mule should stumble, the rider would be hurled down a great
precipice; but of this there is little chance. I dare say, in the
spring, the " laderas," or roads, which each year are formed anew
across the piles of fallen detritus, are very bad ; but from what I
saw, I suspect the real danger is nothing. With cargo-mules the
case is rather different, for the loads project so far, that the animals,
occasionally running against each other, or against a point of rock,
lose their balance, and are thrown down the precipices. In cross-
ing the rivers I can well believe that the difficulty may be very
great : at this season there was little trouble, but in the summer
they must be very hazardous. I can quite imagine, as Sir F. Head
describes, the different expressions of those who have passed the
gulf, and those who are passing. I never heard of any man being
drowned, but with loaded mules it frequently happens. The
arriero tells you to show your mule the best line, and then allow
her to cross as she likes : the cargo-mule takes a bad line, and is
often lost.

April Uh. — From the Eio de las Vacas to the Puente del Incas,
half a day's journey. As there was pasture for the mules, and
geology for me, we bivouacked here for the night. When one hears
of a natural Bridge, one pictures to one's self some deep and
narrow ravine, across which a bold mass of rock has fallen ; or a
great arch hollowed out like the vault of a cavern. Instead of
this, the Incas Bridge consists of a crust of stratified shingle,
cemented together by the deposits of the neighbouring hot springs.
It appears, as if the stream had scooped out a channel on one side,
leaving an overhanging ledge, which was met by earth and stones
falling down from the opposite cliff. Certainly an oblique junction,

1835.] OJOS DEL AGUA. 321

as would happen in such a case, was very distinct on one side.
The Bridge of the Incas is by no means worthy of the great monarchs
whose name it bears.

5th.— We had a long day's ride across the central ridge, from
the Incas Bridge to the Ojos del Agua, which are situated near
the lowest casucha on the Chilian side. These casuchas are round
little towers, with steps outside to reach the floor, which is raised
some feet above the ground on account of the snow-drifts. They
are eight in number, and under the Spanish government were kept
during the winter well stored with food and charcoal, and each
courier had a master-key. Now they only answer the purpose of
caves, or rather dungeons. Seated on some little eminence, they
are not, however, ill suited to the surrounding scene of desolation.
The zigzag ascent of the Cumbre, or the partition of the waters,
was very steep and tedious ; its height, according to Mr. Pentland,
is 12,454 feet. The road did not pass over any perpetual snow,
although there were patches of it on both hands. The wind on
the summit was exceedingly cold, but it was impossible not to stop
for a few minutes to admire, again and again, the colour of the
heavens,, and the brilliant transparency of the atmosphere. The
scenery was grand : to the westward there was a fine chaos of
mountains, divided by profound ravines. Some snow generally falls
before this period of the season, and it has even happened that the
Cordillera have been finally closed by this time. But we were most
fortunate. The sky, by night and by day, was cloudless, excepting
a few round little masses of vapour, that floated over the highest
pinnacles. I have often seen these islets in the sky, marking the
position of the Cordillera, when the far-distant mountains have
been hidden beneath the horizon.

April 6th. — In the morning we found some thief had stolen one
of our mules, and the bell of the madrina. We therefore rode only
two or three miles down the valley, and stayed there the ensuing
day in hopes of recovering the mule, which the arriero thought had
been hidden in some ravine. The scenery in this part had assumed
a Chilian character : the lower sides of the mountains, dotted over
with the pale evergreen Quillay tree, and with the great chandelier-
like cactus, are certainly more to be admired than the bare eastern
valleys ; but I cannot quite agree with the admiration expressed by
some travellers. The extreme pleasure, I suspect, is chiefly owing
to the prospect of a good fire and of a good supper, after escaping

Y

322 USPALLATA PASS. [CHAP. xr.

from the cold regions above : and I am sure I most heartily par-
ticipated in these feelings.

8#i. — "We left the valley of the Aconcagua, by which we had
descended, and reached in the evening a cottage near the Villa
del St. Eosa. The fertility of the plain was delightful: the
autumn being advanced, the leaves of many of the fruit-trees
were falling; and of the labourers, — some were busy in drying
figs and peaches on the roofs of their cottages, while others were
gathering the grapes from the vineyards. It was a pretty scene ;
but I missed that pensive stillness which makes the autumn in
England indeed the evening of the year. On the 10th we reached
Santiago, where I received a very kind and hospitable reception
from Mr. Caldcleugh. My exciirsion only cost me twenty-four
days, and never did I more deeply enjoy an equal space of time.
A few days afterwards I returned to Mr. Corfield's house at
Valparaiso.

1835.] COAST-ROAD TO COQUIMBO. 82.'

CHAPTEK XVI.

Coast-road to Coquimbo— Great Loads carried by the Miners— Coquiinbo—
Earthquake— Step-formed Terraces — Absence of recent Deposits — Con-
temporaneousness of the Tertiary Formations— Excursion up the Valley
— Road to Guasco — Deserts — Valley of Copiapo — Rain and Earthquakes
-Hydrophobia— The Despoblado— Indian Ruins— Probable change of

Climate — River-bed arched by an Earthquake — Cold Gales of Wind

Xoises from a Hill — Iquique — Salt Alluvium — Nitrate of soda — Lima-
Unhealthy Country — Ruins of Callao, overthrown by an Earthquake-
Recent subsidence— Elevated Shells on San Lorenzo, their decomposi-
tion— Plain with embedded Shells and fragments of Pottery— Antiquity
of the Indian Race.

NORTHERN CHILE AND PERU.

April 27th. — I set out on a journey to Coquimbo, and thence
through Guasco to Copiapo, where Captain Fitz Eoy kindly offered
to pick me up in the Beagle. The distance in a straight line
along the shore northward in only 420 miles ; but my mode of
travelling made it a very long journey. I bought four horses and
two mules, the latter carrying the luggage on alternate days. The six
animals together only cost the value of twenty-five pounds sterling,
and at Copiapo I sold them again for twenty-three. We travelled
in the same independent manner as before, cooking our own meals,
and sleeping in the open air. As we rode towards the Vino del
Mar, I took a farewell view of Valparaiso, and admired its pic-
turesque appearance. For geological purposes I made a detour
from the high road to the foot of the Bell of Quillota. We passed
through an alluvial district rich in gold, to the neighbourhood of
Limache, where we slept. Washing for gold supports the inhabi-
tants of numerous hovels, scattered along the sides of each little
rivulet; but, like all those whose gains are uncertain, they are
unthrifty in their habits, and consequently poor.

28M.— In the afternoon we arrived at a cottage at the foot of
the Bell mountain. The inhabitants were freeholders, which is not

,324 NORTHERN CHILE. [CHAP. xvi.

very usual in Chile. They supported themselves ou the produce
of a gardeu and a little field, but were very poor. Capital is here
so deficient, that the people are obliged to sell their green corn while
standing in the field, in order to buy necessaries for the ensuing
year. "Wheat in consequence was dearer in the very district of its
production than at Valparaiso, where the contractors live. The
next day we joined the main road to Coquimbo. At night there
was a very light shower of rain : this was the first drop that had
fallen since the heavy rain of September llth and 12th, which de-
tained me a prisoner at the Baths of Cauquenes. The interval was
seven and a half months ; but the rain this year in Chile was rather
later than usual. The distant Andes were now covered by a thick
mass of snow ; and were a glorious sight.

May 2nd. — The road continued to follow the coast, at no great
distance from the sea. The few trees and bushes which are common
in central Chile decreased rapidly in numbers, and were replaced
by a tall plant, something like a yucca in appearance. The surface
of the country, on a small scale, was singularly broken and irre-
gular ; abrupt little peaks of rock rising out of small plains or
basins. The indented coast and the bottom of the neighbouring
sea, studded with breakers, would, if converted into dry land, pre-
sent similar forms; and such a conversion without doubt has
taken place in the part over which we rode.

3rd. — Quilirnari to Conchalee. The country became more and
more barren. In the valleys there was scarcely sufficient water for
any irrigation; and the intermediate land was quite bare, not sup-
porting even goats. In the spring, after the winter showers, a thin
pasture rapidly springs up, and cattle are then driven down from
the Cordillera to graze for a short time. It is curious to observe
how the seeds of the grass and other plants seem to accommodate
themselves, as if by an acquired habit, to the quantity of rain
which falls on different parts of this coast. One shower far north-
ward at Copiapo produces as great an effect on the vegetation, as
two at Guasco, and as three or four in this district. At Valparaiso
a winter so dry as greatly to injure the pasture, would at Guasco
produce the most unusual abundance. Proceeding northward, the
quantity of rain does not appear to decrease in strict proportion to
the latitude. At Conchalee, which is only 67 miles north of Val-
paraiso, rain is not expected till the end of May; whereas, at
Valparaiso some generally falls early in April : the annual quantity

1835.] CHILIAN MINERS. 325

is likewise small in proportion to the lateness of the season at
which it commences.

4<7i.— Finding the coast-road devoid of interest of any kind, wo
turned inland towards the mining district and valley of Illapel.
This valley, like every other in Chile, is level, broad, and very
fertile: it is bordered on each side, either by cliffs of stratified
shingle, or by bare rocky mountains. Above the straight line of
the uppermost irrigating ditch, all is brown as on a high road ;
while all below is of as bright a green as verdigris, from the beds
of alfarfa, a kind of clover. We proceeded to Los Hornos, another
mining district, where the principal hill was drilled with holes,
like a great ants'-nest. The Chilian miners are a peculiar race of
men in their habits. Living for weeks together in the most desolate
spots, when they descend to the villages on feast-days, there is no
excess or extravagance into which they do not run. They some-
times gain a considerable sum, and then, like sailors with prize-
money, they try how soon they can contrive to squander it. They
drink excessively, buy quantities of clothes, and in a few days
return penniless to their miserable abodes, there to work harder
than beasts of burden. This thoughtlessness, as with sailors, is
evidently the result of a similar manner of life. Their daily food
is found them, and they acquire no habits of carefulness ; more-
over, temptation and the means of yielding to it are placed in their
power at the same time. On the other hand, in Cornwall, and
some other parts of England, where the system of selling part
of the vein is followed, the miners, from being obliged to act and
think for themselves, are a singularly intelligent and well-conducted
set of men.

The dress of the Chilian miner is peculiar and rather picturesque.
He wears a very long shirt of some dark-coloured baize, with a
leathern apron ; the whole being fastened round his waist by a
bright-coloured sash. His trousers are very broad, and his small
cap of scarlet cloth is made to fit the head closely. We met a
party of these miners in full costume, carrying the body of one of
their companions to be buried. They marched at a very quick
trot, four men supporting the corpse. One set having run as hard
as they could for about two hundred yards, were relieved by four
others, who had previously dashed on ahead on horseback. Thus
they proceeded, encouraging each other by wild cries : altogether
the scene formed a most strange funeral.

326 NORTHERN CHILE. [CHAI-. xvi.

We continued travelling northward, in a zigzag line ; sometimes
stopping a day to geologize. The country was so thinly inhabited,
and the track so obscure, that we often had difficulty in finding
our way. On the 12th I stayed at some mines. The ore in this
case was not considered particularly good, but from being abundant
it was supposed the mine would sell for about thirty or forty
thousand dollars (that is, 6000 or 8000 pounds sterling) ; yet it had
been bought by one of the English Associations for an ounce of
gold (31. 8s.). The ore is yellow pyrites, which, as I have already
remarked, before the arrival of the English, was not supposed
to contain a particle of copper. On a scale of profits nearly as
great as in the above instance, piles of cinders, abounding with
minute globules of metallic copper, were purchased; yet with
these advantages, the mining associations, as is well known,
contrived to lose immense sums of money. The folly of the
greater number of the commissioners and shareholders amounted
to infatuation; — a thousand pounds per annum given in some
cases to entertain the Chilian authorities ; libraries of well-bound
geological books ; miners brought out for particular metals, as tin,
which are not found in Chile ; contracts to supply the miners with
milk, in parts where there are no cows ; machinery, where it could
not possibly be used ; and a hundred similar arrangements, bore
witness to our absurdity, and to this day afford amusement to the
natives. Yet there can be no doubt, that the same capital well
employed in these mines would have yielded an immense return :
a confidential man of business, a practical miner and assayer,
would have been all that was required.

Captain Head has described the wonderful load which the
" Apires," truly beasts of burden, carry up from the deepest
mines. I confess I thought the account exaggerated; so that I
was glad to take an opportunity of weighing one of the loads,
which I picked out by hazard. It required considerable exertion
on my part, when standing directly over it, to lift it from the
ground. The load was considered under weight when found to
be 197 pounds. The apire had carried this up eighty perpen-
dicular yards,— part of the way by a steep passage, but the greater
part up notched poles, placed in a zigzag line up the shaft. Ac-
cording to the general regulation, the apire is not allowed to halt
for breath, except the mine is six hundred feet deep. The average
load is considered as rather more than 200 pounds, and I have been

1835.] CHILIAN MINERS. 327

assured that one of 300 pounds (twenty-two stone and a half) by
way of a trial has been brought up from the deepest mine ! At
this time the apires were bringing up the usual load twelve times
in the day ; that is, 2400 pounds from eighty yards deep ; and they
were employed in the intervals in breaking and picking ore.

These men, excepting from accidents, are healthy, and appear
cheerful. Their bodies are not very muscular. They rarely eat
meat once a week, and never oftener, and then only the hard dry
charqui. Although with a knowledge that the labour was volun-
invy, it was nevertheless quite' revolting to see the state in which
they reached the mouth of the mine ; their bodies bent forward,
leaning -with their arms on the steps, their legs bowed, their
muscles quivering, the perspiration streaming from their faces
over their breasts, their nostrils distended, the corners of their
mouth forcibly drawn back, and the expulsion of their breath
most laborious. Each time they draw their breath, they utter an
articulate cry of " ay-ay," which ends in a sound rising from deep
in the chest, but shrill like the note of a fife. After staggering to
the pile of ore, they emptied the "carpacho;" in two or three
seconds recovering their breath, they wiped the sweat from their
brows, and apparently quite fresh descended the mine again at a
quick pace. This appears to me a wonderful instance of the amount
of labour which habit, for it can be nothing else, will enable a man
to endure.

In the evening, talking with the mayor-domo of these mines,
about the number of foreigners now scattered over the whole
country, he told me that, though quite a young man, he remembers
when he was a boy at school at Coquimbo, a holiday being given
to see the captain of an English ship, who was brought to the city
to speak to the governor. He believes that nothing would have
induced any boy in the school, himself included, to have gone close
to the Englishman ; so deeply had they been impressed with an
idea of the heresy, contamination, and evil to be derived from
contact with such a person. To this day they relate the atrocious
actions of the bucaniers; and especially of one man, who took
away the figure of the Virgin Mary, and returned the year after for
that of St. Joseph, saying it was a pity the lady should not have a
husband. I heard also of an old lady who, at a dinner in Coquimbo,
remarked how wonderfully strange it was that she should have
lived to dine in the same room with an Englishman; for she

328 NORTHERN CHILE. [CHAP. xvi.

remembered as a girl, that twice, at the more cry of " Los
Ingleses," every soul, carrying what valuables they could, had
taken to the mountains.

14th. — We reached Coquimbo, where we stayed a few days. The
town is remarkable for nothing but its extreme quietness. It is
said to contain from 6000 to 8000 inhabitants. On the morning
of the 17th it rained lightly, the first time this year, for about five
hours. The farmers, who plant corn near the sea-coast where the
atmosphere is most humid, taking advantage of this shower, would
break up the ground ; after a second they would put the seed in ;
and if a third shower should fall, they would reap a good harvest
in the spring. It was interesting to watch the effect of this trifling
amount of moisture. Twelve hours afterwards the ground appeared
as dry as ever ; yet after an interval of ten days, all the hills were
faintly tinged with green patches; the grass being sparingly
scattered in hair-like fibres a full inch, in length. Before this
shower every part of the surface was bare as on a high road.

In the evening, Captain Fitz Roy and myself were dining with
Mr. Edwards, an English resident well known for his hospitality
by all who have visited Coquimbo, when a sharp earthquake
happened. I heard the forecoming rumble, but from the screams
of the ladies, the running of the servants, and the rush of several
of the gentlemen to the doorway, I could not distinguish the
motion. Some of the women afterwards were crying with terror,
and one gentleman said he should not be able to sleep all night, or
if he did, it would only be to dream of falling houses. The father
of this person had lately lost all his property at Talcahuano, and
he himself had only just escaped a falling roof at Valparaiso, in
1822. He mentioned a curious coincidence which then happened:
he was playing at cards, when a German, one of the party, got up,
and said he would never sit mja room in these countries with the
door shut, as, owing to his having done so, he had nearly lost his
life at Copiapo. Accordingly he opened the door ; and no sooner
had he done this, than he cried out, " Here it comes again ! " and
the famous shock commenced. The whole party escaped. The
danger in an earthquake is not from the time lost in opening a
door, but from the chance of its becoming jammed by the move-
ment of the walls.

It is impossible to be much surprised at the fear which natives
and old residents, though some of them known to be men of great

1835.] SHINGLE-TERRACES OF COQUIMBO. 329

command of mind, so generally experience during earthquakes.
I think, however, this excess of panic may be partly attributed to
a want of habit in governing their fear, as it is not a feeling they
are ashamed of. Indeed, the natives do not like to see a person
indifferent. I heard of two Englishmen who, sleeping in the open
air during a smart shock, knowing that there was no danger, did
not rise. The natives cried out indignantly, " Look at those here-
tics, they will not even get out of their beds ! "

I spent some days in examining the step-formed terraces of
shingle, first noticed by Captain B. Hall, and believed by Mr. Lyell
to have been formed by the sea, during the gradual rising of the
land. This certainly is the true explanation, for I found numerous
shells of existing species on these terraces. Five narrow, gently
sloping, fringe-like terraces rise one behind the other, and where
best developed are formed of shingle : they front the bay, and
sweep up both sides of the valley. At Guasco, north of Coquimbo,
the phenomenon is displayed on a much grander scale, so as to
strike with surprise even some of the inhabitants. The terraces
are thero much broader, and may be called plains ; in some parts
there are six of them, but generally only five; they run up the
valley for thirty-seven miles from the coast. These step-formed
terraces or fringes closely resemble those in the valley of S. Cruz,
and except in being on a smaller scale, those great ones along
the whole coast-line of Patagonia. They have undoubtedly been
formed by the denuding power of the sea, during long periods of
rest in the gradual elevation of the continent.

Shells of many existing species not only lie on the surface of the
terraces at Coquimbo (to a height of 250 feet), but are embedded
in a friable calcareous rock, which in some places is as much as
between twenty and thirty feet in thickness, but is of little extent.
These modern beds rest on an ancient tertiary formation containing
shells, apparently all extinct. Although I examined so many hun-
dred miles of coast on the Pacific, as well as Atlantic side of the
continent, I found no regular strata containing sea-shells of recent
species, excepting at this place, and at a few points northward on
the road to Guasco. This fact appears to me highly remarkable ;
for the explanation generally given by geologists, of the absence in
any district of stratified fossiliferous deposits of a given period,
namely, that the surface then existed as dry land, is not here appli-

330 CONTEMPORANEOUS DEPOSITION [CTI.U-. xvi.

cable; for we know from the shells strewed on the surface and
embedded in loose sand or mould, that the land for thousands of
miles along both coasts has lately been submerged. The explana-
tion, no doubt, must be sought in the fact, that the whole southern
part of the continent has been for a long time slowly rising ; and
therefore that all matter deposited along shore in shallow water,
must have been soon brought up and slowly exposed to the wearing
action of the sea-beach; and it is only in comparatively shallow
water that the greater number of marine organic beings can flourish,
and in such water it is obviously impossible that strata of any great
thickness can accumulate. To show the vast power of the wearing
action of sea-beaches, we need only appeal to the great cliffs along
the present coast of Patagonia, and to the escarpments or ancient
sea-cliffs at different levels, one above another, on that same line
of coast.

The old underlying tertiary formation at Coquimbo, appears to
be of about the same age with several deposits on the coast of
Chile (of which that of Navedad is the principal one), and with
the great formation of Patagonia. Both at Navedad and in Patagonia
there is evidence, that since the shells (a list of which has been
seen by Professor E. Forbes) there intombed were living, there has
been a subsidence of several hundred feet, as well as an ensuing
elevation. It may naturally be asked, how it comes that, although
no extensive fossiliferous deposits of the recent period, nor of any
period intermediate between it and the ancient tertiary epoch, have
been preserved on either side of the continent, yet that at this
ancient tertiary epoch, sedimentary matter containing fossil re-
mains, should have been deposited and preserved at different
points in north and south lines, over a space of 1100 miles on the
shores of the Pacific, and of at least 1350 miles on the shores of
the Atlantic, and in an east and west line of 700 miles across the
widest part of the continent? I believe the explanation is not
difficult, and that it is perhaps applicable to nearly analogous facts
observed in other quarters of the world. Considering the enormous
power of denudation which the sea possesses, as shown by number-
less facts, it is not probable that a sedimentary deposit, when being
upraised, could pass through the ordeal of the beach, so as to be
preserved in sufficient masses to last to a distant period, without it
were originally of wide extent and of considerable thickness : now
it is impossible on a moderately shallow bottom, which alone is

1835.] OF THE TERTIARY FORMATIONS. 331

favourable to most living creatures, that a thick and widely ex-
tended covering of sediment could be spread out, without the
bottom sank down to receive the successive layers. This seems to
have actually taken place at about the same period in southern
Patagonia and Chile, though these places are a thousand miles
apart. Hence, if prolonged movements of approximately contem-
poraneous subsidence are generally widely extensive, as I am
strongly inclined to believe from my examination of the Coral Eecfs
of the great oceans — or if, confining our view to South America,
the subsiding movements have been coextensive with those of
elevation, by which, within the same period of existing shells, the
shores of Peru, Chile, Tierra del Fuego, Patagonia, and La Plata
have been upraised — then we can see that at the same time, at far
distant points, circumstances would have been favourable to the
formation of fossiliferous deposits, of wide extent and of consider-
able thickness ; and such deposits, consequently, would have a good
chance of resisting the wear and tear of successive beach-lines, and
of lasting to a future epoch.

May 2lst. — I set out in company with Don Jose Edwards to the
silver-mine of Arqueros, and thence up the valley of Coquimbo.
Passing through a mountainous country, we reached by nightfall
the mines belonging to Mr. Edwards. I enjoyed my night's rest
here from a reason which will not be fully appreciated in England,
namely, the absence of fleas ! The rooms in Coquimbo swarm with
them ; but they will not live here at the height of only three or four
thousand feet : it can scarcely be the trifling diminution of tem-
perature, but some other cause which destroys these troublesome
insects at this place. The mines are now in a bad state, though
they formerly yielded about 2000 pounds in weight of silver a year.
It has been said that " a person with a copper-mine will gain ; with
silver he may gain ; but with gold he is sure to lose." This is not
true : all the large Chilian fortunes have been made by mines^ of
the more precious metals. A short time since an English physician
returned to England from Copiapo, taking with him the profits of
one share in a silver-mine, which amounted to about 24,000 pounds
sterling. No doubt a copper-mine with care is a sure game, whereas
the other is gambling, or rather taking a ticket in a lottery. The
owners lose great quantities of rich ores; for no precautions can
prevent robberies. I heard of a gentleman laying a bet with

332 NOETHEKN CHILE. [CHAP. xvi.

another, that one of his men should rob him before his face.
The ore when brought out of the mine is broken into pieces, and
the useless stone thrown on one side. A couple of the miners
who were thus employed, pitched, as if by accident, two fragments
away at the same moment, and then cried out for a joke " Let us
see which rolls furthest." The owner, who was standing by, bet a
cigar with his friend on the race. The miner by this means
watched the very point amongst the rubbish where the stone lay.
In the evening he picked it up and carried it to his master, showing
him a rich mass of silver-ore, and saying, " This was the stone on
which you won a cigar by its rolling so far."

May %3rd. — We descended into the fertile valley of Coquimbo,
and followed it till we reached an Hacienda belonging to a relation
of Don Jose, where we stayed the next day. I then rode one day's
journey further, to see what were declared to be some petrified
shells and beans, which latter turned out to be small quartz peb-
bles. We passed through several small villages; and the valley
was beautifully cultivated, and the whole scenery very grand. We
were here near the main Cordillera, and the surrounding hills were
lofty. In all parts of northern Chile, fruit trees produce much
more abundantly at a considerable height near the Andes than in
the lower country. The figs and grapes of this district are famous
for their excellence, and are cultivated to a great extent. This
valley is, perhaps, the most productive one north of Quillota: I
believe it contains, including Coquirnbo, 25,000 inhabitants. The
next day I returned to the Hacienda, and thence, together with
Don Jose, to Coquimbo.

June 2nd. — We set out for the valley of Guasco, following the
coast-road, which was considered rather less desert than the other.
Our first day's ride was to a solitary house, called Yerba Buena,
where there was pasture for our horses. The shower mentioned as
having fallen a fortnight ago, only reached about half-way to
Guasco ; we had, therefore, in the first part of our journey a most
faint tinge of green, which soon faded quite away. Even where
brighest, it was scarcely sufficient to remind one of the fresh turf
and budding flowers of the spring of other countries. While
travelling through these deserts one feels like a prisoner shut up in
a gloomy court, who longs to see something green and to smell a
moist atmosphere.

June 3rd. — Yerba Buena to Carizal. During the first part of

1835.] DESERT COUNTRY. 333

the day we crossed a mountainous rocky desert, and afterwards
a long deep sandy plain, strewed with broken sea-sliells. There
was very little water, and that little saline: the whole country,
from the coast to the Cordillera, is an uninhabited desert. I saw
traces only of one living animal in abundance, namely, the shells
of a Bulimus, which were collected together in extraordinary
numbers on the driest spots. In the spring one humble little
plant sends out a few leaves, and on these the snails feed. As
they are seen only very early in the morning, when the ground is
slightly damp with dew, the Guascos believe that they are bred
from it. I have observed in other places that extremely dry and
sterile districts, where the soil is calcareous, are extraordinarily
favoiarable to land-shells. At Carizal there were a few cottages,
some brackish water, and a trace of cultivation : but it was with
difficulty that we purchased a little corn and straw for our horses.

4th. — Carizal to Sauce. We continued to ride over desert plains,
tenanted by large herds of guanaco. We crossed also the valley of
Chaneral; which, although the most fertile one between Guasco
and Coquimbo, is very narrow, and produces so little pasture, that
we could not purchase any for our horses. At Sauce we found a
very civil old gentleman, superintending a copper-smelting furnace.
As an especial favour, he allowed me to purchase at a high price
an armful of dirty straw, which was all the poor horses had for
supper after their long day's journey. Few smelting-furnaces are
now at work in any part of Chile ; it is found more profitable, on
account of the extreme scarcity of firewood, and from the Chilian
method of reduction being so unskilful, to ship the ore for Swan-
sea. The next day we crossed some mountains to Freyrina, in the
valley of Guasco. During each day's ride further northward, the
vegetation became more and more scanty ; even the great chandelier-
like cactus was here replaced by a different and much smaller
species. During the winter months, both in northern Chile and in
Peru, a uniform bank of clouds hangs, at no great height, over the
Pacific From the mountains we had a very striking view of this
white and brilliant aerial-field, which sent arms up the valleys,
leaving islands and promontories in the same manner, as the ;
does in the Chonos archipelago and in Tierra del Fuego.

We stayed two days at Freyrina. In the valley of Guasco there
are four small towns. At the mouth there istte port, a spot
entirely desert, and without any water in the immediate neigh-

334 NOKTHERN CHILE. [CHAP. xvi.

born-hood. Five leagues higher up stands Freyrina, a long
straggling village, with decent whitewashed houses. Again, ten
leagues further up Ballenar is situated; and above this Guasco
Alto, a horticultural village, famous for its dried fruit. On a
clear day the view up the valley is very fine ; the straight opening
terminates in the far-distant snowy Cordillera; on each side an
infinity of crossing lines are blended together in a beautiful haze.
The foreground is singular from the number of parallel and step-
formed terraces ; and the included strip of green valley, with its
willow-bushes, is contrasted on both hands with the naked hills.
That the surrounding country was most barren will be readily
believed, when it is known that a shower of rain had not fallen
during the last thirteen months. The inhabitants heard with the
greatest envy of the rain at Coquimbo ; from the appearance of the
sky they had hopes of equally good fortune, which, a fortnight
afterwards, were realized. I was at Copiapo at the time ; and
there the people, with equal envy, talked of the abundant rain at
Guasco. After two or three very dry years, perhaps with not more
than one shower during the whole time, a rainy year generally
follows; and this does more harm than even the drought. The
rivers swell, and cover with gravel and sand the narrow strips of
ground, which alone are fit for cultivation. The floods also injure
the irrigating ditches. Great devastation had thus been caused
three years ago.

June 8th. — We rode on to Ballenar, which takes its name from
Ballenagh in Ireland, the birthplace of the family of O'Higgins,
who, under the Spanish government, were presidents and generals
in Chile. As the rocky mountains on each hand were concealed
by clouds, the terrace-like plains gave to the valley an appearance
like that of Santa Cruz in Patagonia. After spending one day at
Ballenar I set out, on the 10th, for the upper part of the valley of
Copiapo. We rode all day over an uninteresting country. I am
tired of repeating the epithets barren and sterile. These words,
however, as commonly used, are comparative; I have always
applied them to the plains of Patagonia, which can boast of spiny
bushes and some tufts of grass ; and this is absolute fertility, as
compared with northern Chile. Here again, there are not many
•spaces of two hundred yards square, where some little bush,
cactus or lichen, may not be discovered by careful examination ;
and in the soil seeds lie dormant ready to spring up daring the first

1835.] VALLEY OF COPIAPO. 335

rainy winter. lu Peru real deserts occur over wide tracts of
country. In the evening we arrived at a valley, in which the bed
of the streamlet was damp : following it up, we came to tolerably
good water. Daring the night, the stream, from not being
evaporated and absorbed so quickly, flows a league lower down
than during the day. Sticks were plentiful for firewood, so that it
was a good place of bivouac for us ; but for the poor animals there
was not a mouthful to eat.

June llth. — We rode without stopping for twelve hours, till wo
reached an old smelting-furnace, where there was water and fire-
wood ; but our horses again had nothing to eat, being shut up in
an old courtyard. The line of road was hilly, and the distant
views interesting" from the varied colours of the bare mountains.
It was almost a pity to see the sun shining constantly over so use-
less a country; such splendid weather ought to have brightened
fields and pretty gardens. The next day we reached the valley of
Copiapo. I was heartily glad of it ; for the whole journey was a
continued source of anxiety; it was most disagreeable to hear,
whilst eating our own suppers, our horses gnawing the posts to
which they were tied, and to have no means of relieving their
hunger. To all appearance, however, the animals were quite
fresh ; and no one could have told that they had eaten nothing for
the last fifty -five hours.

I had a letter of introduction to Mr. Bingley, who received me
very kindly at the Hacienda of Potrero Seco. This estate is
between twenty and thirty miles long, but very narrow, being
generally only two fields wide, one on each side the river. In
some parts the estate is of no width, that is to say, the land cannot
be irrigated, and therefore is valueless, like the surrounding rocky
desert. The small quantity of cultivated land in the whole line of
valley, does not so much depend on inequalities of level, and con-
sequent unfitness for irrigation, as on the small supply of water.
The river this year was remarkably full : here, high up the valley ;
it reached to the horse's belly, and was about fifteen yards wide,
and rapid ; lower down it becomes smaller and smaller, and is
generally quite lost, as happened during one period of thirty years,
so that not a drop entered the sea. The inhabitants watch a storm
over the Cordillera with great interest ; as one good fall of snow
provides them with water for the ensuing year. This is of
infinitely more consequence than rain in the lower country. Rain,

336 NORTHERN CHILE. [CHAP. xvi.

as often as it falls, which is about once in every two or three years,
is a great advantage, because the cattle and mules can for some time
afterwards find a little pasture on the mountains. But without
snow on the Andes, desolation extends throughout the valley. It
is on record that three times nearly all the inhabitants have been
obliged to emigrate to the south. This year there was plenty of
water, and every man irrigated his ground as much as he chose ;
but it has frequently been necessary to post soldiers at the sluices, to
see that each estate took only its proper allowance during so many
hours in the week. The valley is said to contain 12,000 souls, but
its produce is sufficient only for three months in the year ; the rest
of the supply being drawn from Valparaiso and the south. Before
the discovery of the famous silver-mines of Chanuncillo, Copiapo
was in a rapid state of decay ; but now it is in a very thriving
condition ; and the town, which was completely overthrown by an
earthquake, has been rebuilt.

The valley of Copiapo, forming a mere ribbon of green in a
desert, runs in a very southerly direction; so that it is of con-
siderable length to its source in the Cordillera. The valleys of
Guasco and Copiapo may both be considered as long narrow
islands, separated from the rest of Chile by deserts of rock instead
of by salt water. Northward of these, there is one other very
miserable valley, called Paposo, which contains about two hundred
souls; and then there extends the real desert of Atacama— a
barrier far worse than the most turbulent ocean. After staying
a few days at Potrero Seco, I proceeded up the valley to the
house of Don Benito Cruz, to whom I had a letter of introduction.
I found him most hospitable ; indeed it is impossible to bear too
strong testimony to the kindness with which travellers are received
in almost every part of South America. The next day I hired
some mules to take me by the ravine of Jolquera into the central
Cordillera. On the second night the weather seemed to foretell
a storm of snow or rain, and whilst lying in our beds we felt a
trifling shock of an earthquake.

The connexion between earthquakes and the weather has been
often disputed : it appears to me to be a point of great interest,
which is little understood. Humboldt has remarked in one part
of the Personal Narrative,* that it would bo difficult for any

* Vol. iv. p. 11, and vol. ii. p. 217. For the remarks on Guayaquil, see
Silliman's Journ., vol. xxiv. p. 384. For those on Tacna by Mr. Hamilton,

1835.] EAIX AND EARTHQUAKES. 337

person who had long resided in New Andalusia, or in Lower Peru,
to deny that there exists some connection between these phenomena:
in another part, however, he seems to think the connection fanciful.
At Guayaquil, it is said that a heavy shower in the dry season is
invariably followed by an earthquake. In Northern Chile, from
the extreme infrequency of rain, or even of weather foreboding
rain, the probability of accidental coincidences becomes very
small ; yet the inhabitants are here most firmly convinced of some
connection between the state of the atmosphere and of the trem-
bling of the ground : I was much struck by this, when mentioning
to some people at Copiapo that there had been a sharp shock at
Coquimbo: they immediately cried out, "How fortunate! there
will be plenty of pasture there this year." To their minds an
earthquake foretold rain, as surely as rain foretold abundant
pasture. Certainly it did so happen that on the very day of the
earthquake, that shower of rain fell, which I have described as in
ten days' time producing a thin sprinkling of grass. At other
times rain has followed earthquakes at a period of the year when
it is a far greater prodigy than the earthquake itself: this hap-
pened after the shock of November, 1822, and again in 1829, at
Valparaiso; also after that of September, 1833, at Tacna. A person
must be somewhat habituated to the climate of these countries to
perceive the extreme improbability of rain falling at such seasons,
except as a consequence of some law quite unconnected with the
ordinary course of the weather. In the cases of great volcanic
eruptions, as that of Coseguina, where torrents of rain fell at a
time of the year most unusual for it, and " almost unprecedented
in Central America," it is not difficult to understand that the
volumes of vapour and clouds of ashes might have disturbed the
atmospheric equilibrium. Humboldt extends this view to the case
of earthquakes unaccompanied by eruptions; but I can hardly
conceive it possible, that the small quantity of aeriform fluids
which then escape from the fissured ground, can produce such
remarkable effects. There appears much probability in the view
first proposed by Mr. P. Scrope, that when the barometer is low,
and when rain might naturally be expected to fall, the diminished

see Trans, of British Association, 1840. For those on Coseguina see Mr.
Caldcleugh in Phil. Trans., 1835. In the former edition, I collected
several references on the coincidences between sudden falls in the baro-
meter and earthquakes ; and between earthquakes and meteors.

Z

338 NORTHERN CHILE. [CHAP. xvi.

pressure of the atmosphere over a wide extent of country, might
well determine the precise day on which the earth, already stretched
to the utmost by the subterranean forces, should yield, crack, and
consequently tremble. It is, however, doubtful how far this idea
will explain the circumstance of torrents of rain falling in the dry
season during several days, after an earthquake unaccompanied
by an eruption ; such cases seem to bespeak some more intimate
connexion between the atmospheric and subterranean regions.

Finding little of interest in this part of the ravine, we retraced
our steps to the house of Don Benito, where I stayed two days
collecting fossil shells and wood. Great prostrate silicified trunks
of trees, embedded in a conglomerate, were extraordinarily nume-
rous. I measured one, which was fifteen feet in circumference:
how surprising it is that every atom of the woody matter in this
great cylinder should have been removed and replaced by silex so
perfectly, that each vessel and pore is preserved! These trees
nourished at about the period of our lower chalk; they all be-
longed to the fir-tribe. It was amusing to hear the inhabitants
discussing the nature of the fossil shells which I collected, almost
in the same terms as were used a century ago in Europe, — namely,
whether or not they had been thus " born by nature." My geo-
logical examination of the country generally created a good deal
of surprise amongst the Chilenos : it was long before they could
be convinced that I was not hunting for mines. This was some-
times troublesome : I found the most ready way of explaining my
employment, was to ask them how it was that they themselves
were not curious concerning earthquakes and volcanos? — why
some springs were hot and others cold ? — why there were moun-
tains in Chile, and not a hill in La Plata ? These bare questions
at once satisfied and silenced the greater number; some, however
(like a few in England who are a century behindhand), thought
that all such inquiries were useless and impious ; and that it was
quite sufficient that God had thus made the mountains.

An order had recently been issued that all stray dogs should be
killed, and we saw many lying dead on the road. A great number
had lately gone mad, and several men had been bitten and had
died in consequence. On several occasions hydrophobia has pre-
vailed in this valley. It is remarkable thus to find so strange and
dreadful a disease, appearing time after time in the same isolated
gppt. It has been remarked that certain villages in England are

1835-J HYDROPHOBIA. 339

in like manner much more subject to this visitation than others.
Dr. Unaniie states that hydrophobia was first known in South
America in 1803: this statement is corroborated by Azara and
Ulloa having never heard of it in their time. Dr. Unaniie says
that it broke out in Central America, and slowly travelled south-
ward. It reached Arequipa in 1807; and it is said that some men
there, who had not been bitten, were affected, as were some negroes,
who had eaten a bullock which had died of hydrophobia. At lea
forty-two people thus miserably perished. The disease came on
between twelve and ninety days after the bite; and in those cases
where it did come on, death ensued invariably within five clays.
After 1808, a long interval ensued without any cases. On inquiry,
I did not hear of hydrophobia in Van Diemen's Land, or in
Australia ; and Burchell says, that during the five years he was at
the Cape of Good Hope, he never heard of an instance of it.
Webster asserts that at the Azores hydrophobia has never oc-
curred; and the same assertion has been made with respect to
Mauritius and St. Helena.* In so strange a disease, some infor-
mation might possibly be gained by considering the circumstances
under which it originates in distant climates ; for it is improbable
that a dog already bitten, should have been brought to these distant
countries.

At night, a stranger arrived at the house of Don Bem'to, and
asked permission to sleep there. He said he had been wandering
about the mountains for seventeen days, having lost his way. He
started from Guasco, and being accustomed to travelling in the
Cordillera, did not expect any difficulty in following the track to
Copiapo; but he soon became involved in a labyrinth of moun-
tains, whence he could not escape. Some of his mules had fallen
over precipices, and he had been in great distress. His chief
difficulty arose from not knowing where to find water in the lower
country, so that he was obliged to keep bordering the central
ranges.

We returned down the valley, and on the 22nd reached the town
of Copiapo. The lower part of the valley is broad, forming a fine
plain like that of Quillota. The town covers a considerable space

* Observa. sobro cl Cliuia de Lima, p. 67.— Azara's Travels, vol. i.
p. 381.— Ulloa's Voyage, vol. ii. p. 28.— Burchell's Travels, vol. n. p. 524.
-Webster's Description of the Azores, p. 124.— Voyage a 1 Isle de * ranee
par im Officer du Roi, tome i. p. 248.- Description of St. Helena, p. 12d.

340 NORTHERN CHILE. [CHAP. xvi.

of ground, each house possessing a garden : but it is an uncom-
fortable place, and the dwellings are poorly furnished. Every ono
seems bent on the one object of making money, and then migrating
as quickly as possible. All the inhabitants are more or less
directly concerned \vith mines: and mines and ores are the solo
subjects of conversation. Necessaries of all sorts are extremely
dear; as the distance from the town to the port is eighteen leagues,
and the land carriage very expensive. A fowl costs five or six
shillings; meat is nearly as dear as in England; firewood, or
rather sticks, are brought on donkeys from a distance of two
and three days' journey within the Cordillera ; and pasturage for
animals is a shilling a day : all this for South America is wonder-
fully exorbitant.

June 26M. — I hired a guide and eight mules to take me into the
Cordillera by a different line from my last excursion. As the
country was utterly desert, we took a cargo and a half of barley
mixed with chopped straw. About two leagues above the town,
a broad valley called the " Despoblado," or uninhabited, branches
off from that one by which we had arrived. Although a valley of
the grandest dimensions, and leading to a pass across the Cordillera,
yet it is completely dry, excepting perhaps for a few days during
some very rainy winter. The sides of the crumbling mountains
were furrowed by scarcely any ravines; and the bottom of the
main valley, filled with shingle, was smooth and nearly level. No
considerable torrent could ever have flowed down this bed of
shingle ; for if it had, a great cliff-bounded channel, as in all the
southern valleys, would assuredly have been formed. I feel little
doubt that this valley, as well as those mentioned by travellers in
Peru, were left in the state we now see them by the waves of the
sea, as the land slowly rose. I observed in one place, where the
Despoblado was joined by a ravine (which in almost any other
chain would have been called a grand valley), that its bed, though
composed merely of sand and gravel, was higher than that of its
tributary. A mere rivulet of water, in the course of an hour,
would have cut a channel for itself; but it was evident that ages
had passed away, and no such rivulet had drained this great
tributary. It was curious to behold the machinery, if such a term
may be used, for the drainage, all, with the last trifling exception,
perfect, yet without any signs of action. Every ono must have

INDIAN RUINS. ri-ll

remarked how mud-banks, left by the retiring tide, imitate in
miniature a country with hill and dale ; and here we have the
original model in rock, formed as the continent rose during the
secular retirement of the ocean, instead of during the ebbing and
flowing of the tides. If a shower of rain falls on the mud-bank,
when left dry, it deepens the already-formed shallow lines of
excavation ; and so it is with the rain of successive centuries on
the bank of rock and soil, which we call a continent.

We rode on after it was dark, till we reached a side ravine with
a small well, called " Agua amarga." The water deserved its
name, for besides being saline it was most offensively putrid and
bitter ; so that we could not force ourselves to drink either tea or
mate. I suppose the distance from the river of Copiapo to this
spot was at least twenty-five or thirty English miles ; in the whole
space there was not a single drop of water, the country deserving
the name of desert in the strictest sense. Yet about half way AVC
passed some old Indian ruins near Punta Gorda : I noticed also in
front of some of the valleys, which branch off from the Desploblado,
two piles of stones placed a little way apart, and directed so as to
point up the mouths of these small valleys. My companions knew
nothing about them, and only answered my queries by their imper-
turbable " quien sabe ? "

I observed Indian ruins in several parts of the Cordillera : the
most perfect which I saw, were the Euinas de Tambillos, in the
Uspallata Pass. Small square rooms were there huddled together
in separate groups : some of the doorways were yet standing ; they
were formed by a cross slab of stone only about three feet high.
Ulloa has remarked on the lowness of the doors in the ancient
Peruvian dwellings. These houses, when perfect, must have been
capable of containing a considerable number of persons. Tradition
says, that they were used as halting places for the Incas, when
they crossed the mountains. Traces of Indian habitations have
been discovered in many other parts, where it does not appear
probable that they were used as mere resting-places, but yet where
the land is as utterly unfit for any kind of cultivation as it is near
the Tambillos or at the Incas Bridge, or in the Portillo Pass, at all
which places I saw ruins. In the ravine of Jajuel, near Aconcagua,
where there is no pass, I heard of remains of houses situated at a
great height, where it is extremely cold and sterile. At first I
imagined that these buildings had been places of refuge, built by

342 NORTHERN CHILE. [CIIAV. xvi.

the Indians on the first arrival of the Spaniards ; Imt I have since
been inclined to speculate on the probability of a small change of
climate.

In this northern part of Chile, within the Cordillera, old Indian
houses are said to be especially numerous : by digging amongst
the ruins, bits of woollen articles, instruments of precious metals,
and heads of Indian corn, are not tmfrequently discovered: an
arrow-head made of agate, and of precisely the same form with
those now used in Tierra del Fuego, was given me. I am aware
that the Peruvian Indians now frequently inhabit most lofty and
bleak situations; but at Copiapo I was assured by men who had
spent their lives in travelling through the Andes, that there were
very many (muchisimcu) buildings at heights so great as almost to
border on the perpetual snow, and in parts where there exist no
passes, and where the land produces absolutely nothing, and what
is still more extraordinary, where there is no water. Nevertheless
it is the opinion of the people of the country (although they are
much puzzled by the circumstance), that, from the appearance of
the houses, the Indians must have used them as places of residence.
In this valley, at Punta Gorda, the remains consisted of seven or
eight square little rooms, which were of a similar form with those
at Tambillos, but built chiefly of mud, which the present inhabi-
tants cannot, either here or, according to Ulloa, in Peru, imitate in
durability. They were situated in the most conspicuous and
defenceless position, at the bottom of the flat broad valley. There
was no water nearer than three or four leagues, and that only in
very small quantity, and bad : the soil was absolutely sterile ; I
looked in vain even for a lichen adhering to the rocks. At the
present day, with the advantage of beasts of burden, a mine, unless
it were very rich, could scarcely be worked here with profit. Yet
the Indians formerly chose it as a place of residence ! If at the
present time two or three showers of rain were to fall annually,
instead of one, as now is the case during as many years, a small
rill of water would probably be formed in this great valley ; and
then, by irrigation (which was formerly so well understood by the
Indians), the soil would easily be rendered sufficiently productive
to support a few families.

I have convincing proofs that this part of the continent of South
America has been elevated near the coast at least from 400 to 500,
and in some parts from 1000 to 1300 feet, since the epoch of

1-a-.] ELEVATION OF A RIVER-COURSE. 343

existing shells; and further inland the rise possibly may have
been greater. As the peculiarly arid character of the climate is
evidently a consequence of the height of the Cordillera, we may
feel almost sure that before the later elevations, the atmosphere
could not have been so completely drained of its moisture as it now
is; and as the rise has been gradual, so would have been the
change in climate. On this notion of a change of climate since the
buildings were inhabited, the ruins must be of extreme antiquity,
but I do not think their preservation under the Chilian climate
any great difficulty. We must also admit on this notion (and this
perhaps is a greater difficulty) that man has inhabited South
America for an immensely long period, inasmuch as any change
of climate effected by the elevation of the land must have been
extremely gradual. At Valparaiso, within the last 220 years, the
rise has been somewhat less than 19 feet : at Lima a sea-beach has
certainly been upheaved from 80 to 90 feet, within the Indo-human
period : but such small elevations could have had little power in
deflecting the moisture-bringing atmospheric currents. Dr. Lund,
however, found human skeletons in the caves of Brazil, the appear-
ance of which induced him to believe that the Indian race has
existed during a vast lapse of time in South America.

When at Lima, I conversed on these subjects * with Mr. Gill,
a civil engineer, who had seen much of the interior country. He
told me that a conjecture of a change of climate had sometimes
crossed his mind; but that he thought that the greater portion of
land, now incapable of cultivation, but covered with Indian ruins,
had been reduced to this state by the water-conduits, which the
Indians formerly constructed on so wonderful a scale, having been
injured by neglect and by subterranean movements. I may here
mention, that the Peruvians actually carried their irrigating
streams in tunnels through hills of solid rock. Mr. Gill told me,
he had been employed professionally to examine one : he found the
passage low, narrow, crooked, and not of uniform breadth, but of
very considerable length. Is it not most wonderful that men
should have attempted such operations, without the use of iron or

* Temple, in his travels through Upper Peru or Bolivia, in going
from Potosi to Oruro, says, " I saw many Indian villages or dwellings in
ruins up even to the very tops of the mountains, attesting a former

popu aSLThere now all is desolate." He f*f/m^ *T

is desolation has been

another place; but I cannot tell whether this

by a want of population, or by an altered condition of the land.

344 NORTHERN CHILE. [CHAP. xVI.

gunpowder? Mr. Gill also mentioned to me a most interesting,
and, as far as I am aware, quite unparalleled case, of a subterranean
disturbance having changed the drainage of a country. Travelling
from Casma to Huaraz (not very far distant from Lima), he found
a plain covered with ruins and marks of ancient cultivation, but
now quite barren. Near it was the dry course of a considerable
river, whence the water for irrigation had formerly been conducted.
There was nothing in the appearance of the water-course, to
indicate that the river had not flowed there a few years previously ;
in some parts, beds of sand and gravel were spread out ; in others,
the solid rock had been worn into a broad channel, which in one
spot was about 40 yards in breadth and 8 feet deep. It is self-
evident that a person following up the course of a stream, will
always ascend at a greater or less inclination : Mr. Gill, therefore,
was much astonished, when walking up the bed of this ancient
river, to find himself suddenly going down hill. He imagined that
the downward slope had a fall of about 40 or 50 feet perpendicular.
We here have unequivocal evidence that a ridge had been uplifted
right across the old bed of a stream. From the moment the river-
course was thus arched, the water must necessarily have been
thrown back, and a new channel formed. From that moment, also,
the neighbouring plain must have lost its fertilizing stream, and
become a desert.

June 27th. — We set out early in the morning, and by midday
reached the ravine of Paypote, where there is a tiny rill of water,
with a little vegetation, and even a few algarroba trees, a kind of
mimosa. From having fire-wood, a smelting-furnace had for-
merly been built here : we found a solitary man in charge of it,
whose sole employment was hunting guanacos. At night it froze
sharply ; but having plenty of wood for our fire, we kept ourselves
warm.

28<A. — We continued gradually ascending, and the valley now
changed into a ravine. During the day we saw several guanacos,
and the track of the closely-allied species, the Vicuna : this latter
animal is pre-eminently alpine in its habits ; it seldom descends
much below the limit of perpetual snow, and therefore haunts even
a more lofty and sterile situation than the guanaco. The only
other animal which we saw in any number was a small fox : I
suppose this animal preys on the mice and other small rodents,

1835.] COLD GALES OF WIND.

which, as long as there is the least vegetation, subsist in consi-
derable numbers in very desert places. In Patagonia, even on the
borders of the salinas, where a drop of fresh water can never be
found, excepting dew, these little animals swarm. Next to lizards,
mice appear to be able to support existence on the smallest and
driest portions of the earth — even on islets in the midst of great
oceans.

The scene on all sides showed desolation, brightened and made
palpable by a clear, unclouded sky. For a time such scenery
is sublime, but this feeling cannot last, and then it becomes un-
interesting. We bivouacked at the foot of the " primera linea," or
the first line of the partition of the waters. The streams, however,
on the east side do not flow to the Atlantic, but into an elevated
district, in the middle of which there is a large salina, or salt lake ;
thus forming a little Caspian Sea at the height, perhaps, of ten
thousand feet. Where we slept, there were some considerable
patches of snow, but they do not remain throughout the year. The
winds in these lofty regions obey very regular laws : every day a
fresh breeze blows up the valley, and at night, an hour or two
after sunset, the air from the cold regions above descends as through
a funnel. This night it blew a gale of wind, and the temperature
must have been considerably below the freezing-point, for water in
a vessel soon became a block of ice. No clothes seemed to oppose
any obstacle to the air ; I suffered very much from the cold, so that
I could not sleep, and in the morning rose with my body quite dull
and benumbed.

In the Cordillera further southward, people lose their lives from
snowstorms ; here, it sometimes happens from another cause. My
guide, when a boy of fourteen years old, was passing the Cordillera
with a party in the month of May ; and while in the central parts,
a furious gale of wind arose, so that the men could hardly cling on
their mules, and stones were flying along the ground. The day
was cloudless, and not a speck of snow fell, but the temperature
was low. It is probable that the thermometer would not have
stood very many degrees below the freezing-point, but the effect
on their bodies, ill protected by clothing, must have beeen in pro-
portion to the rapidity of the current of cold air. The gale lasted
for more than a day; the men began to lose their strength, and the
mules would not move onwards. My guide's brother tried to return ,
but he perished, and his body was found two years afterwards, lying

o4G NORTHERN CHILE. [< 'HAP. xvr.

by the side of his mule near the road, with the bridle still in his
hand. Two other men in the party lost their fingers and toes ; and
out of two hundred mules and thirty cows, only fourteen mules
escaped alive. Many years ago the whole of a large party are sup-
posed to have perished from a similar cause, but their bodies to this
day have never been discovered. The union of a cloudless sky, low
temperature, and a furious gale of wind, must be, I should think,
in all parts of the world an unusual occurrence.

June 29</;. — We gladly travelled down the valley to our former
night's lodging, and thence to near the Agua amarga. On July 1st
•we reached the valley of Copiapo. The smell of the fresh clover
was quite delightful, after the scentless air of the dry sterile
Despoblado. Whil'st staying in the town I heard an account from
several of the inhabitants, of a hill in the neighbourhood •which
they called " El Bramador,"— the roarer or bellower. I did not at
the time pay sufficient attention to the account ; but, as far as I
understood, the hill was covered by sand, and the noise was pro-
duced only \vhen people, by ascending it, put the sand in motion.
The same circumstances are described in detail on the authority of
Seetzen and Ehrenberg,* as the cause of the sounds which have
been heard by many travellers on Mount Sinai near the Eed Sea.
One person with whom I conversed had himself heard the noise :
he described it as very surprising ; and he distinctly stated that,
although he could not understand how it was caused, yet it was
necessary to set the sand rolling down the acclivity. A horse walk-
ing over dry and coarse sand, causes a peculiar chirping noise from
the friction of the particles ; a circumstance which I several times
noticed on the coast of Brazil.

Three days afterwards I heard of the Beagle's arrival at the Port,
distant eighteen leagues from the town. There is very little land
cultivated down the valley ; its wide expanse supports a wretched
wiry grass, which even the donkeys can hardly eat. This poorness
of the vegetation is owing to the quantity of saline matter with
which the soil is impregnated. The Port consists of an assemblage
of miserable little hovels, situated at the foot of a sterile plain. At
present, as the river contains water enough to reach the sea, the
inhabitants enjoy the advantage of having fresh water within a mile

* Edinburgh Phil. Journ., Jan. 1830, p. 74; and April, 1830, p. 258—
also Daubeny on Volcanoes, p. 433 ; and Bengal Jonru.. vol. vii. p. 324.

IQUIQUE. 347

and a half. On the beach there were large piles of merchandise,
and the little place had an air of activity. In the evening I gave
my adios, with a hearty good-will, to my companion Mariano
Gonzales, with whom I had ridden so many leagues in Chile. The
next morning the Beagle sailed for Iquique.

July 12th.— We anchored in the port of Iquique, in lat. 20° 12',
on the coast of Peru. The town contains about a thousand in-
habitants, and stands on a little plain of sand at the foot of a great
wall of rock, 2000 feet in height, here forming the coast. The
whole is utterly desert. A light shower of rain falls only once in
very many years; and the ravines consequently are filled with
detritus, and the mountain-sides covered by piles of fine white sand,
even to a height of a thousand feet. During this season of the year
a heavy bank of clouds, stretched over the ocean, seldom rises above
the wall of rocks on the coast. The aspect of the place was most
gloomy ; the little port, with its few vessels, and small group of
wretched houses, seemed overwhelmed and out of all proportion
with the rest of the scene.

The inhabitants live like persons on board a ship : every necessary
comes from a distance : water is brought in boats from Pisagua,
aboiit forty miles northward, and is sold at the rate of nine reals
(•is. 6d.) an eighteen-gallon cask : I bought a wine-bottle full for
threepence. In like manner firewood, and of course every article
of food, is imported. Very few animals can be maintained in such
a place : on the ensuing morning I hired with difficulty, at the
price of four pounds sterling, two mules and a guide to take me to
the nitrate of soda works. These are at present the support of
Iquique. This salt was first exported in 1830: in one year an
amount in value of one hundred thousand pounds sterling, was
sent to France and England. It is principally used as a manure
and in the manufacture of nitric acid : owing to its deliquescent
property it will not serve for gunpowder. Formerly there were two
exceedingly rich silver-mines in this neighbourhood, but their pro-
duce is now very small.

Our arrival in the offing caused some little apprehension. Peru
was in a state of anarchy; and each party having demanded a
contribution, the poor town of Iquique was in tribulation, thinking
the evil hour was come. The people had also their domestic
troubles ; a short time before, three French carpenters had broken

348 PERU. [Yii.M'. xvr.

open, during the same night, the two churches, and stolen all the
plate : one of the robbers, however, subsequently confessed, and the
plate was recovered. The convicts were sent to Arequipa, which,
though the capital of this province, is two hundred leagues distant ;
the government there thought it a pity to punish such useful
workmen, who could make all sorts of furniture ; and accordingly
liberated them. Things being in this state, the churches were
again broken open, but this time the plate was not recovered. The
inhabitants became dreadfully enraged, and declaring that none
but heretics would thus " eat God Almighty," proceeded to torture
some Englishmen, with the intention of afterwards shooting them.
At last the authorities interfered, and peace was established.

13th. — In the morning I started for the saltpetre-works, a dis-
tance of fourteen leagues. Having ascended the steep coast-moun-
tains by a zigzag sandy track, we soon came in view of the mines
of Guantajaya and St. Eosa. These two small villages are placed
at the very mouths of the mines ; and being perched up on hills,
they had a still more unnatural and desolate appearance than the
town of Iquique. We did not reach the saltpetre- works till after
sunset, having ridden all day across an undulating country, a
complete and utter desert. The road was strewed with the bones
and dried skins of the many beasts of burden which had perished
on it from fatigue. Excepting the Yultur aura, which preys on
the carcasses, I saw neither bird, quadruped, reptile, nor insect.
On the coast-mountains, at the height of about 2000 feet, where
during this season the clouds generally hang, a very few cacti were
growing in the clefts of rock ; and the loose sand was strewed over
with a lichen, which lies on the surface quite unattached. This
plant belongs to the genus Cladonia, and somewhat resembles the
reindeer lichen. In some parts it was in sufficient quantity to
tinge the sand, as seen from a distance, of a pale yellowish colour.
Further inland, during the Avhole ride of fourteen leagues, I saw
only one other vegetable production, and that was a most minute
yellow lichen, growing on the bones of the dead mules. This was
the first true desert which I had seen : the effect on rnc was not
impressive ; but I believe this was owing to my having become
gradually accustomed to such scenes, as I" rode northward from
Valparaiso, through Coquimbo, to Copiapo. The appearance of
the country was remarkable, from being covered by a thick crust
of common salt, and of a stratified saliferous alluvium, which

1835.] BAY OF CALLAO. 349

seems to have been deposited as the laud slowly rose above the
level of the sea. The salt is white, very hard, and compact : it
occurs in water-worn nodules projecting from the agglutinated
sand, and is associated with much gypsum. The appearance of
this superficial mass very closely resembled that of a country after
snow, before the last dirty patches are thawed. The existence of
this crust of a soluble substance over the whole face of the country,
shows how extraordinarily dry the climate must have been for a
long period.

At night I slept at the house of the owner of one of the saltpetre
mines. The country is here as unproductive as near the coast ;
but water, having rather a bitter and brackish taste, can be pro-
cured by digging wells. The well at this house was thirty-six
yards deep : as scarcely any rain falls, it is evident the water is
not thus derived ; indeed if it were, it could not fail to be as salt
as brine, for the whole surrounding country is incrusted with
various saline substances. We must therefore conclude that it
percolates under ground from the Cordillera, though distant many
leagues. In that direction there are a few small villages, where
the inhabitants, having more water, are enabled to irrigate a little
land, and raise hay, on which the mules and asses, employed in
carrying the saltpetre, are fed. The nitrate of soda was now
selling at the ship's side at fourteen shillings per hundred pounds :
the chief expense is its transport to the sea-coast. The mine
consists of a hard stratum, between two and three feet thick, of the
nitrate mingled with a little of the sulphate of soda and a good
deal of common salt. It lies close beneath the surface, and follows
for a length of one hundred and fifty miles the margin of a grand
basin or plain ; this, from its outline, manifestly must once have
been a lake, or more probably an inland arm of the sea, as may be
inferred from the presence of iodic salts in the saline stratum.
The surface of the plain is 3300 feet above the Pacific.

ISth. — We anchored in the Bay of Callao, the seaport of Lima,
the capital of Peru. We stayed here six weeks, but from the
troubled state of public affairs, I saw very little of the country.
During our whole visit the climate was far from being so delight-
ful, as it is generally represented. A dull heavy bank of clouds
constantly hung over the land, so that during the first sixteen days
I had onlv one view of the Cordillera behind Lima. These moun-

350 PERU. [ciiAi>. xvi.

tains, seen in stages, one above the other, through openings in the
clouds, had a very grand appearance. It is almost become a
proverb, that rain never falls in the lower part of Peru. Yet this
can hardly be considered correct ; for during almost every day of
our visit there was a thick drizzling mist, which was sufficient to
make the streets muddy and one's clothes damp : this the people
are pleased to call Peruvian dew. That much rain does not fall is
very certain, for the houses are covered only with flat roofs made
of hardened mud ; and on the mole ship-loads of wheat were piled
up, being thus left for weeks together without any shelter.

I cannot say I liked the very little I saw of Peru : in summer,
however, it is said that the climate is much pleasanter. In all
seasons, both inhabitants and foreigners suffer from severe attacks
of ague. This disease is common on the whole coast of Peru, but
is unknown in the interior. The attacks of illness which arise from
miasma never fail to appear most mysterious. So difficult is it to
judge from the aspect of a country, whether or not it is healthy,
that if a person had been told to choose within the tropics a situa-
tion appearing favourable for health, very probably he would have
named this coast. The plain round the outskirts of Callao is
sparingly covered with a coarse grass, and in some parts there are
a few stagnant, though very small, pools of water. The miasma,
in all probability, arises from these : for the town of Arica was
similarly circumstanced, and its healthiness was much improved by
the drainage of some little pools. Miasma is not always produced
by a luxuriant vegetation with an ardent climate ; for many parts
of Brazil, even where there are marshes and a rank vegetation, are
much more healthy than this sterile coast of Peru. The densest
forests in a x temperate climate, as in Chiloe, do not seem in the
slightest degree to affect the healthy condition of the atmosphere.

The island of St. Jago, at the Cape de Yerds, offers another
strongly marked instance of a country, which any one would have
expected to find most healthy, being very much the contrary. I
have described the bare and open plains as supporting, during a
few weeks after the rainy season, a thin vegetation, which directly
withers away and dries up : at this period the air appears to
become quite poisonous ; both natives and foreigners often being
affected with violent fevers. On the other hand, the Galapagos
Archipelago, in the Pacific, with a similar soil, and periodically
sul'ject to the same process of vegetation, is perfectly healthy.

1835.] UNHEALTHY COUNTRY. 351

Humboldt has observed, that, " under the torrid zone, the smallest
marshes are the most dangerous, being surrounded, as at Vera
Cruz and Carthagena, with an arid and sandy soil, which raises
the temperature of the ambient air." * On the coast of Peru, how-
ever, the temperature is not hot to any excessive degree ; and
perhaps in consequence, the intermittent fevers are not of the most
malignant order. In all unhealthy countries the greatest risk is
run by sleeping on shore. Is this owing to the state of the body
during sleep, or to a greater abundance of miasma at such times ?
It appears certain that those who stay on board a vessel, though
anchored at only a short distance from the coast, generally suffer
less than those actually on shore. On the other hand, I have
heard of one remarkable case where a fever broke out among the
crow of a man-of-war some hundred miles off the coast of Africa,
and at the very same time that one of those fearful periods f of
death commenced at Sierra Leone.

No State in South America, since the declaration of independence,
has suffered more from anarchy than Peru. At the time of our
visit, there were four chiefs in arms contending for supremacy in
the government : if one succeeded in becoming for a time very
powerful, the others coalesced against him ; but no sooner were
they victorious, than they were again hostile to each other. „ The
other day, at the Anniversary of the Independence, high mass was
performed, the President partaking of the sacrament : during the
Te Deum laudamus, instead of each regiment displaying the Peru-
vian flag, a black one with death's head was unfurled. Imagine a
government under which such a scene could be ordered, on such
an occasion, to be typical of their determination of fighting to
death ! This state of affairs happened at a time very unfortunately
for rue, as I was precluded from taking any excursions much
beyond the limits of the town. The barren island of S. Lorenzo,
which forms the harbour, was nearly the only place where one
could walk securely. The upper part, which is upwards of 1000
feet in height, during this season of the year (winter), comes within
the lower limit of the clouds ; and in consequence, an abundant

* Political Essuy on the Kingdom of Now Spain, vol. iv. p. 199.

t A similar interesting case is recorded in the Madras Medical Quart.
Journ., 1839, p. 340. Dr. Ferguson, in his admirable Paper (see 9th vol.
of Edinburgh Royal Trans.), shows clearly that the poison is generated
in the drying process; and hence th.it dry hot countries are often the
most unhealthy.

352 PERU. [CHAP. xvr.

cryptogamic vegetation, and a few flowers cover the summit. Oa
the hills near Lima, at a height but little greater, the ground is
carpeted with moss, and beds of beautiful yellow lilies, called
Amancaes. This indicates a very much greater degree of humidity,
than at a corresponding height at Iquique. Proceeding northward
of Lima, the climate becomes damper, till on the banks of the
Guyaquil, nearly under the equator, we find the most luxuriant
forests. The change, however, from the sterile coast of Peru to
that fertile land is described as taking place rather abruptly in tho
latitude of Cape Blanco, two degrees south of Guyaquil.

Callao is a filthy, ill-built, small seaport. The inhabitants, both
here and at Lima, present every imaginable shade of mixture,
between European, Negro, and Indian blood. They appear a
depraved, drunken set of people. The atmosphere is loaded with
foul smells, and that peculiar one, which may be perceived in
almost every town within the tropics, was here very strong. The
fortress, which withstood Lord Cochrane's long siege, has an im-
posing appearance. But the President, during our stay, sold the
brass guns, and proceeded to dismantle parts of it. The reason
assigned was, that he had not an officer to whom he could trust
so important a charge. He himself had good reasons for thinking
so, as he had obtained the presidentship by rebelling while in
charge of this same fortress. After we left South America, he
paid the penalty in the usual manner, by being conquered, taken
prisoner, and shot.

Lima stands on a plain in a valley, formed during the gradual
retreat of the sea. It is seven miles from Callao, and is elevated
500 feet above it ; but from the slope being very gradual, the road
appears absolutely level ; so that when at Lima it is difficult to
believe one has ascended even one hundred feet : Humboldt has
remarked on this singularly deceptive case. Steep, barren hills
rise like islands from the plain, which is divided, by straight
mud-walls, into large green fields. In these scarcely a tree grows
excepting a few willows, and an occasional clump of bananas and
of oranges. The city of Lima is now in a wretched state of decay :
the streets are nearly unpaved ; and heaps of filth are piled up in
all directions, where the black gallinazos, tame as poultry, pick up
bits of carrion. The houses have generally an upper story, built,
on account of the earthquakes, of plastered woodwork ; but some
of the old ones, which are now used by several families, are

1835.] RUINS OF CALLAO. 353

immensely large, and would rival in suites of apartments the most
magnificent in any place. Lima, the City of the Kings, must
formerly have been a splendid town. The extraordinary number
of churches gives it, even at the present day, a peculiar and
striking character, especially when viewed from a short distance.

One day I went out with some merchants to hunt in the imme-
diate vicinity of the city. Our sport was very poor; but I had
an opportunity of seeing the ruins of one of the ancient Indian
villages, with its mound like a natural hill in the centre. The
remains of houses, enclosures, irrigating streams, and burial
mounds, scattered over this plain, cannot fail to give one a high
idea of the condition and number of the ancient population.
When their earthenware, woollen clothes, utensils of elegant forms
cut out of the hardest rocks, tools of copper, ornaments of precious
stones, palaces, and hydraulic works, are considered, it is impos-
sible not to respect the considerable advance made by them in the
arts of civilization. The burial mounds, called Huacas, are really
stupendous; although in some places they appear to be natural
hills incased and modelled.

There is also another and very different class of ruins, which
possesses some interest, namely, those of old Callao, overwhelmed
by the great earthquake of 1746, and its accompanying wave. The
destruction must have been more complete even than at Talcahuano.
Quantities of shingle almost conceal the foundations of the walls,
and vast masses of brickwork appear to have been whirled about
like pebbles by the retiring waves. It has been stated that the
land subsided during this memorable shock : I could not discover
any proof of this ; yet it seems far from improbable, for the form
of the coast must certainly have undergone some change since the
foundation of the old town; as no people in their senses would
willingly have chosen for their building place, the narrow spit
of shingle on which the ruins now stand. Since our voyage,
M. Tschudi has come to the conclusion, by the comparison of old
and modern maps, that the coast both north and south of Lima
has certainly subsided.

On the island of San Lorenzo, there are very satisfactory proofs
of elevation within the recent period ; this of course is not opposed
to the belief, of a small sinking of the ground having subsequently
taken place. The side of this island fronting the Bay of Callao,
is worn into three obscure terraces, the lower one of which is

2 A

854 PEIiI". .[CHAP. xvi.

covered by a bed a mile in length, almost wholly composed of
shells of eighteen species, now living in the adjoining sea. The
height of this bed is eighty-five feet. Many of the shells are
deeply corroded, and have a much older and more decayed appear-
ance than those at the height of 500 or 600 feet on the coast of
Chile. These shells are associated with much common salt, a
little sulphate of lime (both probably left by the evaporation of
the spray, as the land slowly rose), together with sulphate of soda
and muriate of lime. They rest on fragments of the underlying
sandstone, and are covered by a few inches thick of detritus. The
shells, higher up on this terrace, could be traced scaling off in
flakes, and falling into an impalpable powder; and on an upper
terrace, at the height of 170 feet, and likewise at some considerably
higher points, I found a layer of saline powder of exactly similar
appearance, and lying in the same relative position. I have no
doubt that this upper layer originally existed as a bed of shells,
like that on the eighty-five-feet ledge ; but it does not now contain
even a trace of organic structure. The powder has been analyzed
for me by Mr. T. Eeeks ; it consists of siilphates and muriates both
of lime and soda, with very little carbonate of lime. It is known
that common salt and carbonate of lime left in a mass for some
time together, partly decompose each other ; though this does not
happen with small quantities in solution. As the half-decomposed
shells in the lower parts are associated with much common salt,
together with some of the saline substances composing the upper
saline layer, and as these shells are corroded and decayed in a
remarkable manner, I strongly suspect that this double decompo-
sition has here taken place. The resultant salts, however, ought
to be carbonate of soda and muriate of lime ; the latter is present,
but not the carbonate of soda. Hence I am led to imagine that
by some unexplained means, the carbonate of soda becomes changed
into the sulphate. It is obvious that the saline layer could not
have been preserved in any country in which abundant rain
occasionally fell : on the other hand, this very circumstance, which
at first sight appears so highly favourable to the long preservation
of exposed shells, has probably been the indirect means, through
the common salt not having been washed away, of their decompo-
sition and early decay.

I was much interested by finding on the terrace, at the height of
eighty-five feet, embedded amidst the shells and much sea-drifted

1835.] FOSSIL HUMAN RELICS. 355

rubbish, some bits of cotton thread, plaited rush, and the head
of a stalk of Indian corn: I compared these relics with similar
ones taken out of the Huacas, or old Peruvian tombs, and found
them identical in appearance. On the mainland in front of San
Lorenzo, near Bellavista, there is an extensive and level plain
about a hundred feet high, of which the lower part is formed of
alternating layers of sand and impure clay, together with some
gravel, and the surface, to the depth of from three to six feet, of
a reddish loam, containing a few scattered sea-shells and numerous
small fragments of coarse red earthenware, more abundant at
certain spots than at others. At first I was inclined to believe that
this superficial bed, from its wide extent and smoothness, must
have been deposited beneath the sea ; but I afterwards found in
one spot, that it lay on an artificial floor of round stones. It
seems, therefore, most probable that at a period when the land
stood at a lower level there was a plain very similar to that now
surrounding Callao, which being protected by a shingle beach, is
raised but very little above the level of the sea. On this plain,
with its underlying red-clay beds, I imagine that the Indians
manufactured their earthen vessels ; and that, during some violent
earthquake, the sea broke over the beach, and converted the plain
into a temporary lake, as happened round Callao in 1713 and 1746.
The water would then have deposited mud, containing fragments
of pottery from the kilns, more abundant at some spots than at
others, and shells from the sea. This bed, with fossil earthenware,
stands at about the same height with the shells on the lower
terrace of San Lorenzo, in which the cotton-thread and other
relics were embedded. Hence we may safely conclude, that within
the Indo-human period there has been an elevation, as before
alluded to, of more than eighty-five feet ; for some little elevation
must have been lost by the coast having subsided since the old
maps were engraved. At Valparaiso, although in the 220 years
before our visit, the elevation cannot have exceeded nineteen feet,
yet subsequently to 1817 there has been a rise, partly insensible
and partly by a start during the shock of 1822, of ten or eleven
feet. The antiquity of the Indo-human race here, judging by the
eighty-five feet rise of the land since the relics were embedded, is
the more remarkable, as on the coast of Patagonia, when the land
stood about the same number of feet lower, the Macrauchenia was
a living beast; but as the Patagoniau coast is some way distant

356

PERU.

[CHAP, xvr,

from the Cordillera, the rising there may have been slower than
here. At Bahia Blanca, the elevation has been only a few feet
since the numerous gigantic quadrupeds were there entombed ;
and, according to the generally received opinion, when these ex-
tinct animals were living, man did not exist. But the rising of
that part of the coast of Patagonia, is perhaps no way connected
with the Cordillera, but rather with a line of old volcanic rocks
in Banda Oriental, so that it may have been infinitely slower than
on the shores of Peril. All these speculations, however, must be
vague ; for who will pretend to say that there may not have been
several periods of subsidence, intercalated between the movements
of elevation ; for we know that along the whole coast of Patagonia,
there have certainly been many and long pauses in the upward
action of the elevatory forces.

1836.J

GALAPAGOS ARCHIPELAGO.

357

CHAPTER XVII.

GALAPAGOS ARCHIPELAGO.

The whole Group Volcanic — Numbers of Craters — Leafless Bushes — Colony
at Charles Island — James Island — Salt-lake in Crater — Natural History
of the Group — Ornithology, curious Finches — Reptiles — Great Tortoises,
habits of — Marine Lizard, feeds on Sea-weed — Terrestrial Lizard, burrow -
inghabits, herbivorous — Importance of Reptiles in the Archipelago — Fish,
Shells, Insects — Botany — American Type of Organization — Differences
in the Species or Races on different Islands — Tameness of the Birds —
Fear of Man, an acquired Instinct.

September 15th. — This archipelago consists of ten principal islands,
of which five exceed the others in size. They arc situated under

Cnl pepper I.

Wenman I.

60 Miles

\ Abinydon I.

,.,,

Narborough L {

Albemarlc 1.

ower I.

Tn3.eratigc.Llc I.

Chatham L

Bamngionl.

Charles I. Hood's I.

358 GALAPAGOS AECHIPELAGO. [CHAP. xvn.

the Equator, and between five and six hundred miles westward of
the coast of America. They are all formed of volcanic rocks ; a fe\v
fragments of granite curiously glazed and altered by the heat, can
hardly be considered as an exception. Some of the craters, sur-
mounting the larger islands, are of immense size, and they rise to
a height of between three and four thousand feet. Their flanks are
studded by innumerable smaller orifices. I scarcely hesitate to
affirm, that there must be in the whole archipelago at least two
thoitsand craters. These consist either of lava and scorise, or of
finely-stratified, sandstone-like tuff. Most of the latter are beauti-
fully symmetrical ; they owe their origin to eruptions of volcanic
mud without any lava : it is a remarkable circumstance that every
one of the twenty-eight tuff-craters which were examined, had
their southern sides either much lower than the other sides, or
quite broken down and removed. As all these craters apparently
have been formed when standing in the sea, and as the waves from
the trade wind and the swell from the open Pacific here unite their
forces on the southern coasts of all the islands, this singular uni-
formity in the broken state of the craters, composed of the soft and
yielding tuff, is easily explained.

Considering that these islands are placed directly under the
equator, the climate is far from being excessively hot ; this seems
chiefly caused by the singularly low temperature of the surrounding
water, brought here by the great southern Polar current. Except-
ing during one short season, very little rain falls, and even then it
is irregular; but the clouds generally hang low. Hence, whilst
the lower parts of the islands are very sterile, the upper parts, at
a height of a thousand feet and upwards, possess a damp climate
and a tolerably luxuriant vegetation. This is especially Ihe case
on the windward sides of the islands, which first receive and
condense the moisture from the atmosphere.

In the morning (17th) we landed on Chatham Island, which,
like the others, rises with a tame and rounded outline, broken
here and there by scattered hillocks, the remains of former craters.
Nothing could be less inviting than the first appearance. A broken
field of black basaltic lava, thrown into the most rugged waves,
and crossed by great fissures, is everywhere covered by stunted,
sun-burnt brushwood, which shows little signs of life. The dry
and parched surface, being heated by the noon-day sun, gave to
the air a close and sultry feeling, like that from a stove: we fancied

1835.1 LEAFLESS BUSHES. 359

even that the bashes smelt unpleasantly. Although I diligently
tried to collect as many plants as possible, I succeeded in getting
very few; and such wretched-looking little weeds would have
better become an arctic than an equatorial Flora. The brushwood
appears, from a short distance, as leafless as our trees during
winter; and it was some time before I discovered that not only
almost every plant was now in full leaf, bnt that the greater
number were in flower. The commonest bush is one of the Eu-
phorbiaceao : an acacia and a great odd-looking cactus are the only
trees which afford any shade. After the season of heavy rains, the
islands are said to appear for a short time partially green. The
volcanic island of Fernando Noronha, placed in many respects
under nearly similar conditions, is the only other country where
I have seen a vegetation at all like this of the Galapagos Islands.

The Beagle sailed round Chatham Island, and anchored in
several bays. One night I slept on shore on a part of the island,
where black truncated cones were extraordinarily numerous : from
one small eminence I counted sixty of them, all surmounted by
craters more or less perfect. The greater number consisted merely
of a ring of red scoriae or slags, cemented together: and their height
above the plain of lava was not more than from, fifty to a hundred
feet ; none had been very lately active. The entire surface of this
part of the island seems to have been permeated, like a sieve, by
the subterranean vapours : here and there the lava, whilst soft, has
been blown into great bubbles; and in other parts, the tops of
caverns similarly formed have fallen in, leaving circular pits with
steep sides. From the regular form of the many craters, they
gave to the country an artificial appearance, which vividly re-
minded me of those parts of Staffordshire, where the great iron-
foundries are most numerous. The day was glowing hot, and the
scrambling over the rough surface and through the intricate
thickets, was very fatiguing ; but I was well repaid by the strange
Cyclopean scene. As I was walking along I met two large
tortoises, eacli of which must have weighed at least two hundred
pounds: one was eating a piece of cactus, and as I approached,
it stared at me and slowly walked away ; the other gave a deep
hiss, and drew in its head. These huge reptiles, surrounded by
the black lava, the leafless shrubs, and large cacti, seemed to my
fancy like some antediluvian animals. The few dull-coloured
i-irds cared no more for me than they did for the great tortoises.

3CO GALAPAGOS ARCHIPELAGO. [CHAP. xvn.

23rd -The Beagle proceeded to Charles Island. This archi-
pelago has long been frequented, first by the bucaniers, and
latterly by whalers, but it is only within the last six years, that
a small colony has been established here. The inhabitants are
between two and three hundred in number; they are nearly all
people of colour, who have been banished for political crimes from
the Eepublic of the Equator, of which Quito is the capital. The
settlement is placed about four and a half miles inland, and at a
height probably of a thousand feet. In the first part of the road
we passed through leafless thickets, as in Chatham Island. Higher
up, the woods gradually became greener; and as soon as we crossed
the ridge of the island, we were cooled by a fine southerly breeze,
and our sight refreshed by a green and thriving vegetation. In
this upper region coarse grasses and ferns aboiind ; but there arc
no tree-ferns : I saw nowhere any member of the Palm family,
which is the more singular, as 360 miles northward, Cocos Island
take its name from the number of cocoa-nuts. The houses are
irregularly scattered over a flat space of ground, which is culti-
vated with sweet potatoes and bananas. It will not easily be
imagined how pleasant the sight of black mud was to us, after
having been so long accustomed to the parched soil of Peru and
northern Chile. The inhabitants, although complaining of poverty,
obtain, without much trouble, the means of subsistence. In the
woods there are many wild pigs and goats ; but the staple article
of animal food is supplied by the tortoises. Their mimbers have
of course been greatly reduced in this island, but the people yet
count on two days' hunting giving them food for the rest of the
week. It is said that formerly single vessels have taken away as
many as seven hundred, and that the ship's company of a frigate
some years since brought down in one day two hundred tortoises
to the beach.

September 29^. — We doubled the south-west extremity of Albe-
marle Island, and the faext day were nearly becalmed between it
and Narborough Island. Both are covered with immense deluges
of black naked lava, which have flowed either over the rims of the
great caldrons, like pitch over the rim of a pot in which it has
been boiled, or have burst forth from smaller orifices on the flanks ;
in their descent they have spread over miles of the sea- coast. On
both of these islands, eruptions are known to have taken place ;
and in Albemarle, wp saw a small jet of smoke curling from the

1835.] JAMES ISLAND. 361

summit of one of the great craters. In the evening we anchored
in Bank's Cove, in Albemarle Island. The next morning I went
out walking. To the south of the broken tuff-crater, in which the
Beagle was anchored, there was another beautifully symmetrical one
of an elliptic form ; its longer axis was a little less than a mile,
and its depth about 500 feet. At its bottom there was a shallow
lake, in the middle of which a tiny crater formed an islet. The
day was overpoweringly hot, and the lake looked clear and blue :
I hurried down the cindery slope, and, choked with dust, eagerly
tasted the water— but, to my sorrow, I found it salt as brine.

The rocks on the coast abounded with great black lizards, be-
tween three and four feet long; and on the hills, an ugly yellowish-
brown species was equally common. We saw many of this latter
kind, some clumsily running out of our way, and others shuffling
into their burrows. I shall presently describe in more detail the
habits of both these reptiles. The whole of this northern part of
Albemarle Island is miserably sterile.

October 8th. — We arrived at James Island : this island, as well
as Charles Island, were long since thus named after our kings of
the Stuart line. Mr. Bynoe, myself, and our servants were left
here for a week, with provisions and a tent, whilst the Beagle
went for water. We found here a party of Spaniards, who had
been sent from Charles Island to dry fish, and to salt tortoise-
meat. About six miles inland, and at the height of nearly 2000
feet, a hovel had been built in which two men lived, who were
employed in catching tortoises, whilst the others were fishing on
the coast. I paid this party two visits, and slept there one night.
As in the other islands, the lower region was covered by nearly
leafless bushes, but the trees were here of a larger growth than
elsewhere, several being two feet and some even two feet nine
inches in diameter. The upper region being kept damp by the
clouds, supports a green and flourishing vegetation. So damp was
the ground, that there were large beds of a coarse cyperus, in
which great numbers of a very small water-rail lived and bred.
While staying in this upper region, we lived entirely upon tortoise-
meat : the breast-plate roasted (as the Gauchos do came con ciiero),
with the flesh on it, is very good ; and the young tortoises make
excellent soup ; but otherwise the meat to my taste is indifferent.

One day we accompanied a party of the Spaniards in their
whale-boat to a salina, or lake from which salt is procured. After

362 GALAPAGOS ARCHIPELAGO. [CHAP. xvn.

landing, we had a very rough walk over a rugged field of recent
lava, which has almost surrounded a tuff-crater, at the bottom of
which the salt-lake lies. The water is only three or four inches
deep, and rests on a layer of beautifully crystallized, white salt.
The lake is quite circular, and is fringed with a border of bright
green succulent plants ; the almost precipitous walls of the crater
are clothed with wood, so that the scene was altogether both pic-
turesque and curious. A few years since, the sailors belonging to
a sealing-vessel murdered their captain in this quiet spot ; and we
saw his skull lying among the bushes.

During the greater part of our stay of a week, the sky was
cloudless, and if the trade-wind failed for an hour, the heat became
very oppressive. On two days, the thermometer within the tent
stood for some hours at 93° ; but in the open air, in the wind and
sun, at only 85°. The sand was extremely hot ; the thermometer
placed in some of a brown colour immediately rose to 137°, and
how much above that it would have risen, I do not know, for it
was not graduated any higher. The black sand felt much hotter,
so that even in thick boots it was quite disagreeable to walk
over it.

The natural history of these islands is eminently curious, and
well deserves attention. Most of the organic productions are abori-
ginal creations, found nowhere else; there is even a difference
between the inhabitants of the different islands ; yet all show a
marked relationship with those of America, though separated from
that continent by an open space of ocean, between 500 and 600
miles in width. The archipelago is a little world within itself, or
rather a satellite attached to America, whence it has derived a few
stray colonists, and has received the general character of its indi-
genous productions. Considering the small size of these islands,
we feel the more astonished at the number of their aboriginal
beings, and at their confined range. Seeing every height crowned
with its crater, and the boundaries of most of the lava-streams still
distinct, we are led to believe that within a period, geologically
recent, the unbroken ocean was here spread out. Hence, both in
space and time, we seem to be brought somewhat near to that great
fact — that mystery of mysteries — the first appearance of new beings
on this earth.

Of terrestrial mammals, there is only one which must be con-

1835.] ORNITHOLOGY, CUEIOUS FINCHES. 363

sidered as indigenous, namely, a mouse (Mas Galapagoensis), and
this is confined, as far as I could ascertain, to Chatham Island, the
most easterly island of the group. It belongs, as I am informed by
Mr. Waterhouse, to a division of the family of mice characteristic
of America. At James Island, there is a rat sufficiently distinct
from the common kind to have been named and described by Mr-
Waterhouse ; but as it belongs to the old-world division of the
family, and as this island has been frequented by ships for the last
hundred and fifty years, I can hardly doubt that this rat is merely
a variety, produced by the new and peculiar climate, food, and soil,
to which it has been subjected. Although no one has a right to
speculate without distinct facts, yet even with respect to the Chat-
ham Island mouse, it should be borne in mind, that it may possibly
be an American species imported here ; for I have seen, in a most
unfrequented part of the Pampas, a native mouse living in the roof
of a newly built hovel, and therefore its transportation in a vessel
is not improbable: analogous facts have been observed by Dr.
Richardson in North America.

Of land-birds I obtained twenty-six kinds, all peculiar to the
group and found nowhere else, with the exception of one lark-like
finch from North America (Dolichonyx oryzivorus), which ranges
on that continent as far north as 54°, and generally frequents
marshes. The other twenty-five birds consist, firstly, of a hawk,
curiously intermediate in structure between a buzzard and the
American group of carrion-feeding Polybori ; and with these latter
birds it agrees most closely in every habit and even tone of voice.
Secondly, there are two owls, representing the short-eared and white
barn-owls of Europe. Thirdly, a wren, three tyrant-flycatchers
(two of them species of Pyrocephalus, one or both of which would
be ranked by some ornithologists as only varieties), and a dove —
all analogous to, but distinct from, American species. Fourthly, a
swallow, which though differing from the Progne purpurea of both
Americas, only in being rather duller coloured, smaller, and slen-
derer, is considered by Mr. Gould as specifically distinct. Fifthly,
there are three species of mocking-thrush — a form highly charac-
teristic of America. The remaining land-birds form a most singular
group of finches, related to each other in the structure of their
beaks, short tails, form of body and plumage : there are thirteen
species, which Mr. Gould has divided into four sub-groups. All
these species are peculiar to this archipelago ; and so is the whole

GALAPAGOS ARCHIPELAGO.

[CHAP. xvn.

group, with the exception of one species of the sub-group Cac-
tornis,' lately brought from Bow Island, in the low Archipelago.
Of Cactornis, the two species may be often seen climbing about the
flowers of the great cactus-trees ; but all the other species of this
group of finches, mingled together in flocks, feed on the dry and
sterile ground of the lower districts. The males of all, or certainly
of the greater number, are jet black ; and the females (with perhaps
one or two exceptions) are brown. The most curious fact is the
perfect gradation in the size of the beaks in the different species of
Geospiza, from one as large as that of a hawfinch to that of a
J

1. Geospiza miignirostris.
3. Geospiza parvula.

2. Gpo.-piza 1'oitis.
4. Certliidea olivasea.

chaffinch, and (if Mr. Gould is right in including his sub-group,
Certhidea, in the main group) even to that of a warbler. The
largest beak in the genus Geospiza is shown in Fig. 1, and the
smallest in Fig. 3 ; but instead of there being only one intermediate
species, with a beak of the size shown in Fig. 2, there are no less
than six species with insensibly graduated beaks. The beak of the
sub-group Certhidea, is shown in Fig. 4. The beak of Cactornis
is somewhat like that of a starling; and that of the fourth sub-
group, Camarhynchus, is slightly parrot-shaped. Seeing this gra-
dation and diversity of structure in one small, intimately related
group of birds, one might really fancy that from an original
paucity of birds in this archipelago, one species had been taken and

1835.] BIRDS. 365

modified for different ends. In a like manner it might be fancied
that a bird originally a buzzard, had been induced here to under-
take the office of the carrion-feeding Polybori of the American
continent.

Of waders and water-birds I was able to get only eleven kinds,
and of these only three (including a rail confined to the damp
summits of the islands) are new species. Considering the wander-
ing habits of the gulls, I was surprised to find that the species
inhabiting these islands is peculiar, but allied to one from the
southern parts of South America. The far greater peculiarity of
the land-birds, namely, twenty-five out of twenty-six being new
species or at least new races, compared with the waders and
web-footed birds, is in accordance with the greater range which
these latter orders have in all parts of the world. We shall
hereafter see this law of aquatic forms, whether marine or fresh-
water, being less peculiar at any given point of the earth's surface
than the terrestrial forms of the same classes strikingly illustrated
in the shells, and in a lesser degree in the insects of this archi-
pelago.

Two of the waders are rather smaller than the same species
brought from other places : the swallow is also smaller, though it is
doubtful whether or not it is distinct from its analogue. The two
owls, the two tyrant-flycatchers (Pyrocephalus) and the dove, are
also smaller than the analogous but distinct species, to which they
are most nearly related ; on the other hand, the gull is rather larger.
The two owls, the swallow, all three species of mocking-thrush,
the dove in its separate colours though not in its whole plumage,
the Totauus, and the gull, are likewise duskier coloured than their
analogous species; and in the case of the mocking-thrush and
Totanus, than any other species of the two genera. With the
exception of a wren with a fine yellow breast, and of a tyrant-fly-
catcher Avith a scarlet tuft and breast, none of the birds are
brilliantly coloured, as might have been expected in an equatorial
district. Hence it would appear probable, that the same causes
which here make the immigrants of some species smaller, make
most of the peculiar Galapageian species also smaller, as well as
very generally more dusky coloured. All the plants have a wretched,
weedy appearance, and I did not see one beautiful flower. The
insects, again, are small-sized and dull-coloured, and, as Mr. Water-
house informs me, there is nothing in their general appearance

366 GALAPAGOS ARCHIPELAGO. [CHAP. xvn.

which would have led him to imagine that they had come from
under the equator.* The birds, plants, and insects have a desert
character, and are not more brilliantly coloured than those from
southern Patagonia; we may, therefore, conclude that the usual
gaudy colouring of the intertropical productions, is not related
either to the heat or light of those zones, but to some other cause,
perhaps to the conditions of existence being generally favourable
to life.

We will now turn to the order of reptiles, which gives the most
striking character to the zoology of these islands. The species are
not numerous, but the numbers of individuals of each species are
extraordinarily great. There is one small lizard belonging to a
South American genus, and two species (and probably more) of the
Amblyrhynchus— a genus confined to the Galapagos Islands. There
is one snake which is numerous ; it is identical, as I am informed
by M. Bibron, with the Psammophis Teruminckii from Chile. f Of
sea-turtle I believe there are more than one species ; and of tortoises
there are, as we shall presently show, two or three species or races.
Of toads and frogs there are none : I was surprised at this, con-
sidering how well suited for them the temperate and damp upper
woods appeared to be. It recalled to my mind the remark made by
Bory St. Vincent,:]: namely, that none of this family are found on
any of the volcanic islands in the great oceans. As far as I can
ascertain from various works, this seems to hold good throughout
the Pacific, and even in the large islands of the Sandwich archi-

* The progress of research has shown that some of these birds, which
were then thought to be confined to the islands, occur on the American
continent. The eminent ornithologist, Mr. Sclater, informs me that this
is Hie case with the Strix punctatissima and Pyrocephalus nanus; and
probably with the Otus Galapagocusis and Zenaida Galapagoensis : so
that the number of endemic birds is reduced to twenty-three, or probably
to twenty-one. Mr. Sclater thinks that one or two of these endemic
forms should be ranked rather as varieties than species, which always
seemed to me probable.

t This is stated by Dr. Giinther (Zoolog. Soc., Jan. 24th, 1859) to be a
peculiar species, not known to inhabit any other country.

% Voyage aux Quatre lies d'Afrique. With respect to the Sandwich
Islands, see Tyermau and Bennett's Journal, vol. i. p. 434. For Mauri-
tius, see Voyage par un Officier, etc., part i., p. 170. There are no frogs
in the Canary Islands (Webb et Berthelot, Hist. Nat. des lies Canaries).
I saw none at St. Jago in the Cape de Verds. There are none at
St. Helena.

1835.] HABITS OF GREAT TORTOISE. 367

pelago. Mauritius offers an apparent exception, where I saw the
Kana Mascariensis in abundance : this frog is said now to inhabit
the Seychelles, Madagascar, and Bourbon ; but on the other hand,
Du Bois, in his voyage in 1669, states that there were no reptiles
in Bourbon except tortoises ; and the Officier du Eoi asserts that
before 1768 it had been attempted, without success, to introduce
frogs into Mauritius — I presume, for the purpose of eating : hence
it may be well doubted whether this frog is an aboriginal of these
islands. The absence of the frog family in the oceanic islands is
the more remarkable, when contrasted with the case of lizards,
which swarm on most of the smallest islands. May this difference
not be caused, by the greater facility with which the eggs of lizards,
protected by calcareous shells, might be transported through salt-
water, than could the slimy spawn of frogs ?

I will first describe the habits of the tortoise (Testudo nigra,
formerly called ludica), which has been so frequently alluded
to. These animals are found, I believe, on all the islands of the
archipelago; certainly on the greater number. They frequent in
preference the high damp parts, but they likewise live in the lower
and arid districts. I have already shown, from the numbers
which have been caught in a single day, how very numerous they
must be. Some grow to an immense size : Mr. Lawson, an Eng-
lishman, aud vice-governor of the colony, told us that he had seen
several so large, that it required six or eight men to lift them from
the ground ; and that some had afforded as much as two hundred
pounds of meat. The old males are the largest, the females rarely
growing to so great a size : the male can readily be distinguished
from the female by the greater length of its tail. The tortoises
which live on those islands where there is no water, or in the
lower and arid parts of the others, feed chiefly on the succulent
cactus. Those which frequent the higher and damp regions, eat
the leaves of various trees, a kind of berry (called guayavita)
which is acid and austere, and likewise a pale green filamentous
lichen (Usnera plicata), that hangs in tresses from the boughs of
the trees.

The tortoise is very fond of water, drinking large quantities,
and wallowing in the mud. The larger islands alone possess
springs, and these are always situated towards the central parts,
and at a considerable height. The tortoises, therefore, which
frequent the lower districts, when thirsty, are obliged to travel

368 GALAPAGOS AKCHIPELAGO. [CHAP. xvn.

from a long distance. Hence broad and well-beaten paths branch
off in every direction from the wells down to the sea-coast ; and
the Spaniards by following them up, first discovered the watering-
places. When I landed at Chatham Island, I could not imagine
what animal travelled so methodically along well-chosen tracks.
Near the springs it was a curious spectacle to behold many of
these huge creatures, one set eagerly travelling onwards with
outstretched necks, and another set returning, after having drunk
their fill. When the tortoise arrives at the spring, quite regardless
of any spectator, he buries his head in the water above his eyes,
and greedily swallows great mouthfuls, at the rate of about ten
in a minute. The inhabitants say each animal stays three or
four days in the neighbourhood of the water, and then returns
to the lower country ; but they differed respecting the frequency
of these visits. The animal probably regulates them according
to the nature of the food on which it has lived. It is, however,
certain, that tortoises can subsist even on those islands, where
there is no other water than what falls during a few rainy days in
the year.

I believe it is well ascertained, that the bladder of the frog acts
as a reservoir for the moisture necessary to its existence: such
seems to be the case with the tortoise. For some time after a visit
to the springs, their urinary bladders are distended with fluid,
which is said gradually to decrease in volume, and to become less
pure. The inhabitants, when walking in the lower district, and
overcome with thirst, often take advantage of this circumstance,
and drink the contents of the bladder if full : in one I saw killed,
the fluid was quite limpid, and had only a very slightly bitter taste.
The inhabitants, however, always first drink the water in the
pericardium, which is described as being best.

The tortoises, when purposely moving towards any point, travel
by night and day, and arrive at their journey's end much sooner
than would be expected. The inhabitants, from observing marked
individuals, consider that they travel a distance of about eight
miles in two or three days. One large tortoise, which I watched,
walked at the rate of sixty yards in ten minutes, that is 360 yards
in the hour, or four miles a day,— allowing a little time for it to eat
on the road. During the breeding season, when the male and
female are together, the male utters a hoarse roar or bellowing,
which, it is said, can be heard at the distance of more than a

1835.] GREAT TORTOISE. 369

hundred yards. The female never uses her voice, and the male
only at these times ; so that when the people hear this noise, they
know that the two are together. They were at this time (October)
laying their eggs. The female, where the soil is sandy, deposits
them together, and covers them up with sand; but where the
ground is rocky she drops them indiscriminately in any hole : Mr.
Bynoe found seven placed in a fissure. The egg is white and
spherical ; one which I measured was seven inches and three-eighths
in circumference, and therefore larger than a hen's egg. The young
tortoises, as soon as they are hatched, fall a prey in great numbers
to the carrion-feeding buzzard. The old ones seem generally to die
from accidents, as from falling down precipices : at least, several of
the inhabitants told me, that they had never found one dead with-
out some evident cause.

The inhabitants believe that these animals are absolutely deaf;
certainly they do not overhear a person walking close behind them.
I was always amused when overtaking one of these great monsters,
as it was quietly pacing along, to sec how suddenly, the instant I
passed, it would draw in its head and legs, and uttering a deep
hiss fall to the ground with a heavy sound, as if struck dead. I
frequently got on their backs, and then giving a few raps on the
hinder part of their shells, they would rise up and walk away ; —
but I found it very difficult to keep my balance. The flesh of this
animal is largely employed, both fresh and salted ; and a beautifully
clear oil is prepared from the fat. When a tortoise is caught, the
man makes a slit in the skin near its tail, so as to see inside its
body, whether the fat under the dorsal plate is thick. If it is not,
the animal is liberated ; and it is said to recover soon from this
strange operation. In order to secure the tortoises, it is not suffi-
cient to turn them like turtle, for they are often able to get on their
legs again.

There can be little doubt that this tortoise is an aboriginal
inhabitant of the Galapagoes; for it is found on all, or nearly all,
the islands, even on some of the smaller ones where there is no
water ; had it been an imported species, this would hardly have
been the case in a group which has been so little frequented.
Moreover, the old Bucaniers found this tortoise in greater numbers
even than at present : Wood and Rogers also, in 1708, say that it
is the opinion of the Spaniards, that it is found nowhere else in
this quarter of the world. It is now widely distributed; but it

2 B

370 GALAPAGOS ARCHIPELAGO. [CHAP. xvn.

may be questioned whether it is in any other place an aboriginal.
The bones of a tortoise at Mauritius, associated with those of the
extinct Dodo, have generally been considered as belonging to this
tortoise : if this had been so, undoubtedly it must have been there
indigenous ; but M. Bibron informs me that he believes that it \vas
distinct, as the species now living there certainly is.

The Arnblyrhynchus, a remarkable genus of lizards, is confined
to this archipelago : there are two species, resembling each other
in general form, one being terrestrial and the other aquatic. This
latter species (A. cristatus) was first characterized by Mr. Bell, who
well foresaw, from its short, broad head, and strong claws of equal
length, that its habits of life would turn out very peculiar, and
different from those of its nearest ally, the Iguana. It is extremely
common on all the islands throughout the group, and lives exclu-
sively on the rocky sea-beaches, being never found, at least I never
saw one, even ten yards in-shore. It is a hideous-looking creature,
of a dirty black colour, stupid, and sluggish in its movements.

Amblyrhynchus cristatus. a, Tooth of, natural size, and likewise magnified.

The usual length of a full-grown one is about a yard, but there
are some even four feet long ; a large one weighed twenty pounds :
on the island of Albemarle they seem to grow to a greater size
than elsewhere. Their tails are flattened sideways, and all four feet
partially webbed. They are occasionally seen some hundred yards
from the shore, swimming about; and Captain Collnett, in his
Voyage, says, " They go to sea in herds a-fishing, and sun them-
selves on the rocks; and may be called alligators in miniature."
It must not, however, be supposed that they live on fish. When
in the water this lizard swims with perfect ease and quickness,
by a serpentine movement of its body and flattened tail— the legs

1835. J MARINE AMBLYRHYNOIIUS. 371

bciug motionless arid closely collapsed on its sides. A seaman on
board sank one, with a heavy weight attached to it, thinking thus to
kill it directly ; but when, an hour afterwards, he drew up the line,
it was quite active. Their limbs and strong claws are admirably
adapted for crawling over the rugged and fissured masses of lava?
which everywhere form the coast. In such situations, a group of
six or seven of these hideous reptiles may oftentimes be seen on
the black rocks, a few feet above the surf, basking in the sun with
outstretched legs.

I opened the stomachs of several, and found them largely dis-
tended with minced sea-weed (Ulvre), which grows in thin foliaceous
expansions of a bright green or a dull red colour. I do not
recollect having observed this sea-weed in any quantity on the tidal
rocks ; and I have reason to believe it grows at the bottom of the
sea, at some little distance from the coast. If such be the case, the
object of these animals occasionally going out to sea is explained.
The stomach contained nothing but the sea-weed. Mr. Bynoc,
however, found a piece of a crab in one ; but this might have got
in accidentally, in the same manner as I have seen a caterpillar, in
the midst of some lichen, in the paunch of a tortoise. The
intestines were large, as in other herbivorous animals. The nature
of this lizard's food, as well as the structure of its tail and feet,
and the fact of its having been seen voluntarily swimming out at
sea, absolutely prove its acquatic habits; yet there is in this
respect one strange anomaly, namely, that when frightened it will
not enter the water. Hence it is easy to drive these lizards down
to any little point overhanging the sea, where they will sooner
allow a person to catch hold of their tails than jump into the water.
They do not seem to have any notion of biting ; but when much
frightened they squirt a drop of fluid from each nostril. I threw
one several times as far as I could, into a deep pool left by the
retiring tide ; biit it invariably returned in a direct line to the spot
where I stood. It swam near the bottom, with a very graceful
and rapid movement, and occasionally aided itself over the uneven
ground with its feet. As soon as it arrived near the edge, but
still being under water, it tried to conceal itself in the tufts of
sea-weed, or it entered some crevice. As soon as it thought the
danger was past, it crawled out on the dry rocks, and shuffled
away as quickly as it could. I several timee caught this same
lizard, by driving it down to a point, and though possessed of

GALAL'AGOS AliCHIPELAGO. [ciur. xvn.

such perfect powers of diving and swimming, nothing would induce
it to enter the water ; and as often as I threw it in, it returned
in the manner above described. Perhaps this singular piece of
apparent stupidity may be accounted for by the circumstance,
that this reptile has no enemy whatever on shore, whereas at sea it
must often fall a prey to the numerous sharks. Hence, probably,
urged by a fixed and hereditary instinct that the shore is its place
of safety, whatever the emergency may be, it there takes refuge.

During our visit (in October), I saw extremely few small indi-
viduals of this species, and none I should think tinder a year old.
From this circumstance it seems probable that the breeding season
had not then commenced. I asked several of the inhabitants if
they knew where it laid its eggs: they said that they knew nothing
of its propagation, although well acquainted with the eggs of the
land kind— a fact, considering how very common this lizard is, not
a little extraordinary.

AVo will now turn to the terrestrial species (A. Demarlii), with
a round tail, and toes without webs. This lizard, instead of being
found like the other on all the islands, is confined to the central
part of the archipelago, namely to Albemarle, James, Barriugton,
and Indefatigable islands. To the southward, in Charles, Hood, and
Chatham islands, and to the northward, in Towers, Bindloes,
and Abingdon, I neither saw nor heard of any. It would appear
as if it had been created in the centre of the archipelago, and
thence had been dispersed only to a certain distance. Some of
these lizards inhabit the high and damp parts of the islands, but
they arc much more numerous in the lower and sterile districts
near the coast. I cannot give a more forcible proof of their
numbers, than by stating that when we were left at James Island,
we could not for some time find a spot free from their burrows on
which to pitch our single tent. Like their brothers the sea-kind,
they are ugly animals, of a yellowish orange beneath, and of a
brownish red colour above : from their low facial angle they have
a singularly stupid appearance. They arc, perhaps, of a rather
less size than the [marine species; but several of them weighed
between ten and fifteen pounds. In their movements they are
lazy and half torpid. When not frightened, they slowly crawl
along with their tails and bellies dragging on the ground. They
often stop, and doze for a minute or two, with closed eyes and
hind legs spread out on the parched soil.

1835.] TERRESTRIAL AM13LYRHYNCIIUS. o?.",

They inhabit burrows, which they sometimes make between
fragments of lava, but more generally on level patches of the soft
sandstone-like tuff. The holes do not appear to be very deep, and
they enter the ground at a small angle; so that when walking
over these lizard-warrens, the soil is constantly giving way, much
to the annoyance of the tired walker. This animal, when making
its burrow, works alternately the opposite sides of its body. One
front leg for a short time scratches up the soil, and throws it
towards the hind foot, which is well placed so as to heave it
beyond the mouth of the hole. That side of the body being tired,
the other takes up the task, and so on alternately. 1 watched one
for a long time, till half its body was buried ; I then walked up
and pulled it by the tail ; at this it was greatly astonished, and
soon shuffled up to see what was the matter; and then stared
me in the face, as much as to say, "What made you pull my
tail ? "

They feed by day, and do not wander far from their burrows ;
if frightened, they rush to them with a most awkward gait.
Except when running down hill, they cannot move very fast,
apparently from the lateral position of their legs. They are not
at all timorous: when attentively watching any one, they curl
their tails, and, raising themselves on their front legs, nod their
heads vertically, with a quick movement, and try to look very
fierce : but in reality they are not at all so : if one just stamps
on the ground, down go their tails, and off they shuffle as quickly
as they can. I have frequently observed small fly-eating lizards,
when watching anything, nod their heads in precisely the same
manner; but I do not at all know for what piirpose. If this
Amblyrhyuchus is held and plagued with a stick, it will bite it
very severely ; but I caught many by the tail, and they never tried
to bite me. If two are placed on the ground and held together,
they will fight, and bite each other till blood is drawn.

The individuals, and they are the greater number, which inhabit
the lower country, can scarcely taste a drop of water throughout
the year; but they consume much of the succulent cactus, the
branches of which are occasionally broken off by the wind. I
several times threw a piece to two or three of them when
together; and it was amusing enough to see them trying to seize
and carry it away in their mouths, like so many hungry dogs with
a bone. They eat very deliberately, but do not chew their food.

374 GALAPAGOS ARCHIPELAGO. [CHAP, xvir.

The little birds are aware how harmless these creatures are : I
have seen one of the thick-billed finches picking at one end of
a piece of cactus (which is much relished by all the animals of the
lower region), whilst a lizard was eating at the other end; and
afterwards the little bird with the utmost indifference hopped on
the back of the reptile.

I opened the stomachs of several, and found them full of vege-
table fibres and leaves of different trees, especially of an acacia.
In the upper region they live chiefly on the acid and astringent
berries of the guayavita, under which trees I have seen these
lizards and the huge tortoises feeding together. To obtain the
acacia-leaves they crawl up the low stunted trees ; and it is not
uncommon to see a pair quietly browsing, whilst seated on a
branch several feet above the ground. These lizards, when cooked,
yield a white meat, which is liked by those whose stomachs soar
above all prejudices. Humboldt has remarked that in intertropical
South America, all lizards which inhabit dry regions are esteemed
delicacies for the table. The inhabitants state that those which
inhabit the upper damp parts drink water, but that the others
do not, like the tortoises, travel up for it from the lower sterile
country. At the time of our visit, the females had within their
bodies numerous, large, elongated eggs, which they lay in their
burrows : the inhabitants seek them for food.

These two species of Amblyrhynchus agree, as I have already
stated, in their general structure, and in many of their habits.
Neither have that rapid movement, so characteristic of the genera
Lacerta and Iguana. They are both herbivorous, although the
kind of vegetation on which they feed is so very different. Mr.
Bell has given the name to the genus from the shortness of the
snout: indeed, the form of the mouth may almost be compared
to that of the tortoise : one is led to suppose that this is an adapta-
tion to their herbivorous appetites. It is very interesting thus to
find a well-characterized genus, having its marine and terrestial
species, belonging to so confined a portion of the world. The
aquatic species is by far the most remarkable, because it is the
only existing lizard which lives on marine vegetable productions.
As I at first observed, these islands are not so remarkable for the
number of the species of reptiles, as for that of the individuals ;
when we remember the well-beaten paths made by the thousands
of huge tortoises— the many turtles— the great warrens of the

1835.] DISTRIBUTION OF THE SHELLS. 375

terrestrial Amblyrhynchus — 'and the groups of the marine species
basking on the coast-rocks of every island — we must admit that
there is no other quarter of the world where this Order replaces
the herbivorous mammalia in so extraordinary a manner. The
geologist on hearing this will probably refer back in his mind to
the Secondary epochs, when lizards, some herbivorous, some car-
nivorous, and of dimensions comparable only with our existing
whales, swarmed on the land and in the sea. It is, therefore,
worthy of his observation, that this archipelago, instead of pos-
sessing a humid climate and rank vegetation, cannot be considered
otherwise than extremely arid, and, for an equatorial region,
remarkably temperate.

To finish with the zoology : the fifteen kinds of sea-fish which
I procured here are all new species ; they belong to twelve genera,
all widely distributed, with the exception of Prionotus, of which
the four previously known species live on the eastern side of
America. Of land-shells I collected sixteen kinds (and two marked
varieties), of which, with the exception of one Helix found kat
Tahiti, all are peculiar to this archipelago: a single fresh- water
shell (Paludina) is common to Tahiti and Van Diemen's Land.
Mr. Cuming, before our voyage, procured here ninety species of
sea-shells, and this does not include several species not yet speci-
fically examined, of Trochus, Turbo, Monodonta, and Nassa. He
has been kind enough to give me the following interesting results :
Of the ninety shells, no less than forty-seven are unknown else-
where— a wonderful fact, considering how widely distributed sea-
shells generally are. Of the forty-three shells found in other parts
of the world, twenty-five inhabit the western coast of America, and
of these eight are distinguishable as varieties; the remaining
eighteen (including one variety) were found by Mr. Cuming in
the Low Archipelago, and some of them also at the Philippines.
This fact of shells from islands in the central parts of the Pacific
occurring here, deserves notice, for not one single sea-shell is
known to be common to the islands of that ocean and to the west
coast of America. The space of open sea running north and south
off the west coast, separates two quite distinct conchological
provinces ; but at the Galapagos Archipelago we have a halting-
place, where many new forms have been created, and whither
these two great conchological provinces have each sent several
colonists. The American province has also sent here representa-

37(5 GALAPAGOS APiCHIPELAGO. [CHAI-. xvir.

live species; for there is a Galapageian species of Monoceros, a
genus only found on the west coast of America; and there are
Galapageian species of Fissurella and Cancellaria, genera common
on the west coast, but not found (as I am informed by Mr. Curning)
in the central islands of the Pacific. On the other hand, there are
Galapageian species of Oniscia and Stylifer, genera common to the
West Indies and to the Chinese and Indian seas, but not found
either on the west coast of America or in the central Pacific. I
may here add, that after the comparison by Messrs. Curning and
Hinds of about 2000 shells from the eastern and western coasts of
America, only one single shell was found in common, namely, the
Purpura patula, which inhabits the West Indies, the coast of
Panama, and the Galapagos. We have, therefore, in this quarter
of the world, three great conchological sea-provinces, quite distinct,
though surprisingly near each other, being separated by long north
and south spaces either of land or of open sea.

I took great pains in collecting the insects, but, excepting Tierra
del Fuego, I never saw in this respect so poor a country. Even in
the upper and damp region I procured very few, excepting some
minute Diptera and Hymenoptera, mostly of common mundane
forms. As before remarked, the insects, for a tropical region, are
of very small size and dull colours. Of beetles I collected twenty-
five species (excltiding a Dermestes and Corynetes imported, where-
over a ship touches); of these, two belong to the Harpalidee, two
to the Hydrophilida3, nine to three families of the Heteromera, and
the remaining twelve to as many different families. This circum-
stance of insects (and I may add plants), where few in number,
belonging to many different families, is, I believe very general.
Mr. Waterhouse, who has published * an account of the insects
of this archipelago, and to whom I am indebted for the above
details, informs me that there are several new genera ; and that
of the genera not new, one or two are American, and the rest
of mundane distribution. With the exception of a wood-feeding
Apate, and of one or probably two water-beetles from the American
continent, all the species appear to be new.

The botany of this group is fully as interesting as the zoology.

Dr. J. Hooker will soon publish in the " Linnean Transactions "

a full account of the Flora, and I am much indebted to him for the

following details. Of flowering plants there are, as far as at present

* Ann. anrl Mag. of Nat. Hist., vol. xvi. p. 19.

1835.] BOTANY. 377

is known, 185 species, and 40 cryptogamic species, making together
225 ; of this number I was fortunate enough to bring home 193.
Of the flowering plants, 100 are new species, and are probably
confined to this archipelago. Dr. Hooker conceives that, of the
plants not so confined, at least 10 species found near the cultivated
ground at Charles Island, have been imported. It is, I think,
surprising that more American species have not been introduced
naturally, considering that the distance is only between 500 and
600 miles from the continent ; and that (according to Collnet, p. 58)
drift-wood, bamboos, canes, and the nuts of a palm, are often
washed on the south-eastern shores. The proportion of 100
flowering plants out of 185 (or 175 excluding the imported weeds)
being new, is sufficient, I conceive, to make the Galapagos
Archipelago a distinct botanical province ; but this Flora is
not nearly so peculiar as that of St. Helena, nor, as I am informed
by Dr. Hooker, of Juan Fernandez. The peculiarity of the
Galapageian Flora is best shown in certain families ;— thus there
are 21 species of Composite, of which 20 are peculiar to this
archipelago ; these belong to twelve genera, and of the&e genera
no less than ten are confined to the archipelago! Dr. Hooker
informs me that the Flora has an undoubted Western American
character ; nor can he detect in it any affinity with that of the
Pacific. If, therefore, we except the eighteen marine, the one
fresh-water, and one land-shell, which have apparently come here
as colonists from the central islands of the Pacific, and likewise
the one distinct Pacific species of the Galapageian group of finches,
we see that this archipelago, though standing in the Pacific Ocean,
is zoologically part of America.

If this character were owing merely to immigrants from America,
there would be little remarkable in it ; but we see that a vast
majority of all the land animals, and that more than half of the
flowering plants, are aboriginal productions. It was most striking
to be surrounded by new birds, new reptiles, new shells, new
insects, new plants, and yet by innumerable trifling details of
structure, and even by the tones of voice and plumage of the
birds, to have the temperate plains of Patagonia, or the hot dry
deserts of Northern Chile, vividly brought before my eyes. Why,
on these small points of land, which within a late geological period
must have been covered by the ocean, which are formed of basaltic
lava, and therefore differ in geological character from the American

;;7S GALAPAGOS ARCHIPELAGO. [CHAP. xvn.

continent, and which are placed under a peculiar climate,— why
were their aboriginal inhabitants, associated, I may add, in
different proportions both in kind and number from those on
the continent, and therefore acting on each other in a different
manner — why were they created on American types of organi-
zation ? It is probable that the islands of the Cape de Verd group
resemble, in all their physical conditions, far more closely the
Galapagos Islands than these latter physically resemble the coast
of America, yet the aboriginal inhabitants of the two groups are
totally unlike; those of the Cape de Verd Islands bearing the
impress of Africa, as the inhabitants of the Galapagos Archipelago
are stamped with that of America.

I have not as yet noticed by far the most remarkable feature in
the natural history of this archipelago ; it is, that the different
islands to a considerable extent are inhabited by a different set
of beings. My attention was first called to this fact by the Vice-
Governor, Mr. Lawson, declaring that the tortoises differed from
the different islands, and that he could with certainty tell from
which island any one was brought. I did not for some time pay
sufficient attention to this statement, and I had already partially
mingled together the collections from two of the islands. I never
dreamed that islands, about fifty or sixty miles apart, and most of
them in sight of each other, formed of precisely the same rocks,
placed under a quite similar climate, rising to a nearly equal
height, would have been differently tenanted ; but we shall soon
see that this is the case. It is the fate of most voyagers, no sooner
to discover what is most interesting in any locality, than they are
hurried from it ; but I ought, perhaps, to be thankful that I
obtained sufficient materials to establish this most remarkable fact
in the distribution of organic beings.

The inhabitants, as I have said, state that they can distinguish
the tortoises from the different islands ; and that they differ not
only in size, but in other "characters. Captain Porter has de-
scribed* those from Charles and from the nearest island to it,
namely, Hood Island, as having their shells in front thick and
turned up like a Spanish saddle, whilst the tortoises from James
Island are rounder, blacker, and have a better taste when cooked.
M. Bibron, moreover, informs me that he has seen what he con-
* Voyage in the U. S. ship Essex vol. i. p. 215.

1835.1 DISTRIBUTION OF THE ORGANIC BEINGS. .°>79

siders two distinct species of tortoise from the Galapagos, but he
does not know from which islands. The specimens that I brought
from three islands were young ones : and probably owing to this
cause, neither Mr. Gray nor myself could find in them any specific
differences. I have remarked that the marine Amblyrhynchus
was larger at Albemarle Island than elsewhere; and M. Bibron
informs me that he has seen two distinct aquatic species of this
genus; so that the different islands probably have their repre-
sentative species or races of the Amblyrhynchus, as well as of the
tortoise. My attention was first thoroughly aroused, by com-
paring together the numerous specimens, shot by myself and
several other parties on board, of the mocking-thrushes, when,
to my astonishment, I discovered that all those from Charles
Island belonged to one species (Mimus trifasciatus) ; all from
Albemarle Island to M. parvulus ; and all from James and Chatham
Islands (between which two other islands are situated, as connecting
links) belonged to M. melanotis. These two latter species are
closely allied, and would by some ornithologists be considered as
only well-marked races or varieties; but the Mimus trifasciatus
is very distinct. Unfortunately most of the specimens of the
finch tribe were mingled together ; but I have strong reasons to
suspect that some of the species of the sub-group Geospiza are
confined to separate islands. If the different islands have their
representatives of Geospiza, it may help to explain the singularly
large number of the species of this sub-group in this one small
archipelago, and as a probable consequence of their numbers,
the perfectly graduated series in the size of their beaks. Two
species of the sub-group Cactornis, and two of Camarhynchus,
were procured in the archipelago ; and of the numerous specimens
of these two sub-groups shot by four collectors at James Island,
all were found to belong to one species of each ; whereas the
numerous specimens shot either on Chatham or Charles Island
(for the two sets were mingled together) all belonged to the two
other species : hence we may feel almost sure that these islands
possess their ^representative species of these two sub-groups. In
land-shells this law of distribution does not appear to hold good.
In my very small collection of insects, Mr. Waterhouse remarks,
that of those which were ticketed with their locality, not one was
common to any two of the islands.

If we now turn to the Flora, we shall find the aboriginal plants

380

GAl.AI'AGO* ARCHIPELAGO.

[OH AT. XYIT.

of the different islands wonderfully different. I give all the follow-
ing results on the high authority of my friend Dr. J. Hooker. I
may premise that I indiscriminately collected everything in flower
on the different islands, and fortunately kept my collections
separate. Too much confidenee, however, must not be placed in
the proportional results, as the small collections brought home by
some other naturalists, though in some respects confirming the
results, plainly show that much remains to be done in the botany
of this group: the Leguniinosfe, moreover, has as yet been only
approximately worked out : —

Name
of
Island.

Total

\U. Cif

Species.

Xo. of No. of
Species Species
found in confined
other parts to the
of the Galapagos
world. Archipelago.

No. of Species
No. confined to the
confined Galapagos
to the Archipelago,
one but found on
Island. more than tin-
one Island.

James Island

71

p>:> :i,s

:;<> s

Albemarle Island

46

18 -2C,

2-2 -t

Chatham Island

32

ic n;

12 4

( 'liarles Island .

G8

39 29

•21 8

(or 29, if the

probably im-

,

ported plants

be subtracted)

Hence we have the truly wonderful fact, that in James Island, of
the thirty-eight Galapageian plants, or those found in no other part
of the world, thirty are exclusively confined to this one island ; and
in Albemarle Island, of the twenty-six aboriginal Galapageian
plants, twenty-two are confined to this one island, that is, only four
are at present known to grow in the other islands of the archipelago ;
and so on, as shown in the above table, with the plants from
Chatham and Charles Islands. This fact will, perhaps, be rendered
even more striking, by giving a few illustrations :— thus, Scalesia,
a remarkable arborescent genus of the Compositre, is confined to
the archipelago : it has six species : one from Chatham, one from
Albemarle, one from Charles Island, two from James Island, and
the sixth from one of the three latter islands, but it is not known
from which : not one of these six species grows on any two islands.
Again, Euphorbia, a mundane or widely distributed genus, has
here eight species, of which seven are confined to the archipelago,
and not one found on any two islands: Acalypha and Borreria,

1«:«.| DISTRIBUTION OF Tliti ORGANIC BEINGS. 381

both mundane genera, have respectively six and seven species, none
of which have the same species on two islands, with the exception
of one Borreria, which does occur on two islands. The species of
the Composite arc particularly local ; and Dr. Hooker has furnished
me with several other most striking illustrations of the difference
of the species on the different islands. He remarks that this law of
distribution holds good both with those genera confined to the
archipelago, and those distributed in other quarters of the world :
in like manner we have seen that the different islands have their
proper species of the mundane genus of tortoise, and of the widely
distributed American genus of the mocking thrush, as well as of
two of the Galapageian sub-groups of finches, and almost certainly
of the Galapageiau genus Amblyrhynchus.

The distribution of the tenants of this archipelago would not bo
nearly so wonderful, if, for instance, one island had a mockiog-
thrush, and a second island some other quite distinct genus; — if
one island had its genus of lizard, and a second island another
distinct genus, or none whatever ; — or if the different islands wero
inhabited, not by representative species of the same genera of
plants, but by totally different genera, as does to a certain extent
hold good : for, to give one instance, a large berry-bearing tree at
James Island has no representative species in Charles Island. But
it is the circumstance, that several of the islands possess their own
species of the tortoise, mocking-thrush, finches, and numerous
plants, these species having the same general habits, occupying
analogous situations, and obviously filling the same place in the
natural economy of this archipelago, that strikes me with wonder.
It may bo suspected that some of these representative species, at
least in the case of the tortoise and of some of the birds, may here-
after prove to be only well-marked races ; but this would be of
equally great interest to the philosophical naturalist. I have said
that most of the islands are in sight of each other : I may specify
that Charles Island is fifty miles from the nearest part of Chatham
Island, and thirty-three miles from the nearest part of Albemarle
Island. Chatham Island is sixty miles from the nearest part of
James Island, but there are two intermediate islands between them
Avhich were not visited by me. James Island is only ten miles
from the nearest part of Albemarle Island, but the two points
where the collections were made are thirty-two miles apart. I
nmst repeat, that neither the nature of the soil, nor height of the

382 GALAPAGOS ARCHIPELAGO. [CHAP. xvn.

land, nor the climate, nor the general character of the associated
beings, and therefore their action one on another, can differ much
in the different islands. If there be any sensible difference in their
climates, it must be between the Windward group (namely Charles
and Chatham Islands), and that to leeward ; but there seems to be
no corresponding difference in the productions of these two halves
of the archipelago.

The only light which I can throw on this remarkable difference
in the inhabitants of the different islands, is, that very strong
currents of the sea running in a westerly and W.N.W. direction
must separate, as far as transportal by the sea is concerned, the
southern islands from the northern ones; and between these
northern islands a strong N.W. current was observed, which must
effectually separate James and Albemarle Islands. As the archi-
pelago is free to a most remarkable degree from gales of wind,
neither the birds, insects, nor lighter seeds, would be blown from
island to island. And lastly, the profound depth of the ocean
between the islands, and their apparently recent (in a geological
sense) volcanic origin, render it highly unlikely that they were
ever united ; and this, probably, is a far more important considera-
tion than any other, with respect to the geographical distribution
of their inhabitants. Eeviewing the facts here given, one is
astonished at the amount of creative force, if such an expression
may be used, displayed on these small, barren, and rocky islands ;
and still more so, at its diverse yet analogous action on points so
near each other. I have said that the Galapagos Archipelago might
be called a satellite attached to America, but it should rather be
called a group of satellites, physically similar, organically distinct,
yet intimately related to each other, and all related in a marked,
though much lesser degree, to the great American continent.

I will conclude my description of the natural history of these
islands, by giving an account of the extreme tameness of the birds.
• This disposition is common to all the terrestrial species ; namely,
to the mocking-thrushes, the finches, wrens, tyrant-flycatchers,
the dove, and carrion-buzzard. All of them are often approached
sufficiently near to be killed with a switch, and sometimes, as I.
myself tried, with a cap or hat. A gun is here almost superfluous ;
for with the muzzle I pushed a hawk off the branch of a tree. One
day, whilst lying down, a mocking-thrush alighted on the edge of

1835.] TAMENESS OF THE BIRDS. 383

a pitcher, made of the shell of a tortoise, which I held in iny hand,
and began very quietly to sip the water ; it allowed me to lift it
from the ground whilst seated on the vessel : I often tried, and very
nearly succeeded, in catching these birds by their legs. Formerly
the birds appear to have been even tamer than at present. Cowley
(in the year 1684) says that the " Turtle-doves were so tame, that
they would often alight upon our hats and arms, so as that we
could take them alive : they not fearing man, until such time as
some of our company did fire at them, whereby they were rendered
more shy." Dampier also, in the same year, says that a man in a
morning's walk might kill six or seven dozen of these doves. At
present, although certainly very tame, they do not alight on people's
arms, nor do they suffer themselves to be killed in such large
numbers. It is surprising that they have not become wilder ; for
these islands during the last hundred and fifty years have been
frequently visited by bucaniers and whalers ; and the sailors,
wandering through the woods in search of tortoises, always take
cruel delight in knocking down the little birds.

These birds, although now still more persecuted, do not readily
become wild. In Charles Island, which had then been colonized
about six years, I saw a boy sitting by a well with a switch in his
hand, with which he killed the doves and finches as they came to
drink. He had already procured a little heap of them for his
dinner ; and he said that he had constantly been in the habit of
waiting by this well for the same purpose. It would appear that
the birds of this archipelago, not having as yet learnt that man is
a more dangerous animal than the tortoise or the Amblyrhynchus,
disregard him, in the same manner as in England shy birds, such
as magpies, disregard the cows and horses grazing in our fields.

The Falkland Islands offer a second instance of birds with a
similar disposition. The extraordinary tameness of the little
Opetiorhynchus has been remarked by Pernety, Lesson, and other
voyagers. It is not, however, peculiar to that bird : the Polyborus,
snipe, upland and lowland goose, thrush, bunting, and even some
true hawks, are all more or less tame. As the birds are so tame
there, where foxes, hawks, and owls occur, we may infer that the
absence of all rapacious animals at the Galapagos, is not the cause
of their tameness here. The upland geese at the Falklands show,
by the precaution they take in building on the islets, that they are
aware of their danger from the foxes ; but they are not by this

384 GALAPAGOS ARCHIPELAGO. [CHAP. xvn.

.ndered wild towards man. This tameness of the birds especially

o he wate fowl, is strongly contrasted with the habits of the same

ecies in Tierra del Fuego, where for ages past they have been

" c , ted bv the wild inhabitants. In the Falkland*, the sports-

lav sometimes kill more of the upland geese m one day than

e can carry home; whereas in Tierra del Fuego, it is nearly as

difficult to kill one, as it is in England to shoot the common wild

e time of Pernety (1763), all the birds there appear to have
been much tamer than at present ; he states that the Opetiorhynchua
would almost perch on his finger; and that with a wand he killed
ten in half an hour. At that period the birds must have been about
as tame as they now are at the Galapagos. They appear to have
learnt caution more slowly at these latter islands than at the
Falklands, where they have had proportionate means of experience ;
for besides frequent visits from vessels, those islands have been at
intervals colonized during the entire period. Even formerly, when
all the birds were so tame, it was impossible by Pernety's account
to kill the black-necked swan— a bird of passage, which probably
brought with it the wisdom learnt in foreign countries.

I may add that, according to Du Bois, all the birds at Bourbon
in 1571-72, with the exception of the flamingoes and geese, were so
extremely tame, that they could be caught by the hand, or killed
in any number with a stick. Again, at Tristan d' Acunha in the
Atlantic, Carmichael * states that the only two land-birds, a thrush
and a bunting, were " so tame as to suffer themselves to be caught
with a hand-net." From these several facts we may, I think, con-
clude, first, that the wildness of birds with regard to man, is a
particular instinct directed against him, and not dependent on any
general degree of caution arising from other sources of danger ;
secondly, that it is not acquired by individual birds in a short

* Linn. Trans., vol. xii. p. 496. The most anomalous fact on this sub-
ject which I have met with is the wildness of the small birds in the
Arctic parts of North America (as described by Richardson, Fauna Bor.,
vol. ii. p. 332), where they are said never to be persecuted. This case-
is the more strange, because it is asserted that some of the same species
iu their winter-quarters in the United States are tame. There is much,
as Dr. Richardson well remarks, utterly inexplicable connected with the
different degrees of shyness and care with which birds conceal their
nests. How strange it is that the English wood-pigeon, generally so wild
a bird, should very frequently rear its young iu shrubberies elf'*:.- to
hou-

1835.] FEAR, AN ACQUIRED INSTINCT. 385

time, even -when much persecuted; but that in the course of
successive generations it becomes hereditary. With domesticated
animals we are accustomed to see new mental habits or instincts
acquired or rendered hereditary; but with animals in a state of
nature, it must always be most difficult to discover instances of
acquired hereditary knowledge. In regard to the wildness of birds
towards man, there is no way of accounting for it, except as au
inherited habit: comparatively few young birds, in anyone year,
have been injured by man in England, yet almost all, even nestlings,
are afraid of him ; many individuals, on the other hand, both at
the Galapagos and at the Falklands, have been pursued and injured
by man, but yet have not learned a salutary dread of him. We
may infer from these facts, what havoc the introduction of any new
beast of prey must cause in a country, before the instincts of the
indigenous inhabitants have become adapted to the stranger's craft
or power.

2 c

386 TAHITI. [CHAP. xvm.

CHAPTER XVIII.

TAHITI AND NEW ZEALAND.

Pass through the Low Archipelago— Tahiti — Aspect — Vegetation on the
Mountains — View of Eimeo — Excursion into the Interior— Profound
Eavinos— Succession of Waterfalls— dumber of wild useful Plants-
Temperance of the Inhabitants — Their moral state— Parliament con-
vened— New Zealand — Bay of Islands — Hippahs — Excursion to Wai-
mate— Missionary Establishment— English Weeds now run wild —
Waiomio — Funeral of a New Zealand Woman — Sail for Australia.

October 20th. — The survey of the Galapagos Archipelago being
concluded, we steered towards Tahiti and commenced our long
passage of 3200 miles. In the course of a few days we sailed out
of the gloomy and clouded ocean-district which extends during tho
winter far from the coast of South America. Wo then enjoyed
bright and clear weather, while running pleasantly along at tho
rate of 150 or 160 miles a day before the steady trade-wind. The
temperature in this more central part of the Pacific is higher than
near the American shore. The thermometer in the poop cabin,
by night and day, ranged between 80° and 83°, which feels very
pleasant; but with one degree or two higher, the heat becomes
oppressive. We passed through, the Low or Dangerous Archi-
pelago, and saw several of those most curious rings of coral land,
just rising above the water's edge, which have been called Lagoon
Islands. A long and brilliantly white beach is capped by a margin
of green vegetation; and the strip, looking either way, rapidly
narrows away in the distance, and sinks beneath the horizon.
From the mast-head a wide expanse of smooth water can be seen
within the ring. These low hollow coral islands bear no propor-
tion to the vast ocean out of which they abruptly rise; and it
seems wonderful, that such weak invaders are not overwhelmed,
by the all-powerful and never-tiring waves of that great sea,
miscalled the Pacific.

1835.] PEODUCTIONS OF THE SOIL. 387

November 15tk. — At daylight, Tahiti, an island which must for
ever remain classical to the voyager in the South Sea, was in view.
At a distance the appearance was not attractive. The luxuriant
vegetation of the lower part could not yet be seen, and as the
clouds rolled past, the wildest and most precipitous peaks showed
themselves towards the centre of the island. As soon as we
anchored in Matavai Bay, we were surrounded by canoes. This
was our Sunday, but the Monday of Tahiti : if the case had been
reversed, we should not have received a single visit ; for the in-
junction not to launch a canoe on the sabbath is rigidly obeyed.
After dinner wo landed to enjoy all the delights produced by the
first impressions of a new country, and that country the charming
Tahiti. A crowd of men, women, and children, was collected on
the memorable Point Venus, ready to receive us with laughing,
merry faces. They marshalled us towards the house of Mr. Wilson,
the missionary of the district, who met us on the road, and gave
us a very friendly reception. After sitting a short time in his
house, wo separated to walk about, but returned there in the
evening.

The land capable of cultivation, is scarcely in any part more
than a fringe of low alluvial soil, accumulated round the base of
the mountains, and protected from the waves of the sea by a coral
reef, which encircles the entire line of coast. Within the reef
there is an expanse of smooth water, like that of a lake, where
the canoes of the natives can ply with safety and where ships
anchor. The low land which comes down to the beach of coral-
sand, is covered by the most beautiful productions of the inter-
tropical regions. In the midst of bananas, orange, cocoa-nut, and
bread-fruit trees, spots arc cleared where yams, sweet potatoes, the
sugar-cane, and pine-apples are cultivated. Even the brushwood
is an imported fruit-tree, namely, the guava, which from its
abundance has become as noxious as a weed. In Brazil I have
often admired the varied beauty of the bananas, palms, and
orange-trees contrasted together; and here we also have the
bread-fruit, conspicuous from its large, glossy, and deeply digi-
tated leaf. It is admirable to behold groves of a tree, sending
forth its branches with the vigour of an English oak, loaded with
large and most nutritious fruit. However seldom the usefulness
of an object can account for the pleasure of beholding it, in the
case of these beautiful woods, the knowledge of their high pro-

383 TAHITI. [CIIAI-. xvm.

ductiveuess no doubt enters largely into the feeling of admiration.
The little winding paths, cool from the surrounding shade, led to
the scattered houses; the owners of which everywhere gave us
a cheerful and most hospitable reception.

I was pleased with nothing so much as with the inhabitants.
There is a mildness in the expression of their countenances which
at once banishes the idea of a savage ; and an intelligence which
shows that they are advancing in civilization. The common
people, when working, keep the upper part of their bodies quite
naked; and it is then that the Tahitians are seen to advantage.
They are very tall, broad-shouldered, athletic, and well-propor-
tioned. It has been remarked, that it requires little habit to make
a dark skin more pleasing and natural to the eye of an European
than his own colour. A white man bathing by the side of a
Tahitian, was like a plant bleached by the gardener's art compared
with a fine dark green one growing vigorously in the open fields.
Most of the men are tattooed, and the ornaments follow the curva-
ture of the body so gracefully, that they have a very elegant effect.
One common pattern, varying in its details, is somewhat like the
crown of a palm-tree. It springs from the central line of the back,
and gracefully curls round both sides. The simile may be a
fanciful one, but I thought the body of a man thus ornamented
was like the trunk of a noble tree embraced by a delicate
creeper.

Many of the elder people had their feet covered with small
figures, so placed as to resemble a sock. This fashion, however,
is partly gone by, and has been succeeded by others. Here,
although fashion is far from immutable, every one must abide by
that prevailing in his youth. An old man has thus his age for
ever stamped on his body, and he cannot assume the airs of a
young dandy. The women are tattooed in the same manner as
the men, and very commonly on their fingers. One unbecoming
fashion is now almost universal: namely, shaving the hair from
the upper part of the head, in a circular form, so as to leave only
an outer ring. The missionaries have tried to persuade the people
to change this habit ; .but it is the fashion, and that is a sufficient
answer at Tahiti, as well as at Paris. I was much disappointed in
the personal appearance of the women: they are far inferior in
every respect to the men. The custom of wearing a white or
scarlet flower in the back of the head, or through a small hole

1835.] WEALTH OF THE CHIEFS. 389

in each car, is pretty. A crown of woven cocoa-nut leaves is also
worn as a shade for the eyes. The women appear to be in greater
want of some becoming costume even than the men.

Nearly all the natives understand a little English — that is, they
know the names of common things ; and by the aid of this,
together with signs, a lame sort of conversation could be carried
on. In returning in the evening to the boat, we stopped to witness
a very pretty scene. Numbers of children were playing on the
beach, and had lighted bonfires which illumined the placid sea
and surrounding trees; others, in circles, were singing Tahitian
verses. Wo seated ourselves on the sand, and joined their party.
The songs were impromptu, and I believe related to our arrival :
one little girl sang a line, which the rest took up in parts, forming
a very pretty chorus. The whole scene made iis unequivocally
aware that we were seated on the shores of an island in the far-
famed South Sea.

17th. — This day is reckoned in the log-book as Tuesday the 17th,
instead of Monday the 16th, owing to our, so far, successful chase
of the sun. Before breakfast the ship was hemmed in by a flotilla
of canoes ; and when the natives were allowed to come on board,
I suppose there could not have been less than two hundred. It
was the opinion of every one that it would have been difficult to
have picked out an equal number from any other nation, who
would have given so little trouble. Everybody brought something
for sale : shells were the main article of trade. The Tahitians now
fully understand the value of money, and prefer it to old clothes
or other articles. The various coins, however, of English and
Spanish denomination puzzle them, and they never seemed to
think the small silver quite secure until changed into dollars.
Some of the chiefs have accumulated considerable sums of money.
One chief, not long since, offered 800 dollars (about 1GO?. sterling)
for a small vessel ; and frequently they purchase whale-boats and
horses at the rate of from 50 to 100 dollars.

After breakfast I went on shore, and ascended the nearest slope
to a height of between two and three thousand feet. The outer
mountains are smooth and conical, but steep ; and the old volcanic
rocks, of which they are formed, have been cut through by many
profound ravines, diverging from the central broken parts of the
island to the coast. Having crossed the narrow low girt of
inhabited and fertile land, I followed a smooth steep ridge between

390 TAHITI. [CHAP. xvm.

two of the deep ravines. The vegetation was singular, consisting
almost exclusively of small dwarf ferns, mingled, higher up, with
coarse grass ; it was not very dissimilar from that on some of the
Welsh hills, and this so close above the orchard of tropical plants
on the coast was very surprising. At the highest point, which I
reached, trees again appeared. Of the three zones of comparative
luxuriance, the lower one owes its moisture, and therefore fertility,
to its flatness ; for, being scarcely raised above the level of the sea,
the water from the higher land drains away slowly. The inter-
mediate zone does not, like the upper one, reach into a damp and
cloudy atmosphere, and therefore remains sterile. The woods in
the upper zone are very pretty, tree-ferns replacing the cocoa-nuts
on the coast. It must not, however, be supposed that these woods
at all equal in splendour the forests of Brazil. The vast number
of productions, which characterize a continent, cannot be expected
to occur in an island.

From the highest point which I attained, there was a good view
of the distant island of Eimeo, dependent on the same sovereign
with Tahiti. On the lofty and broken pinnacles, white massive
clouds were piled up, which formed an island in the blue sky,
as Eimeo itself did in the blue ocean. The island, with the ex-
ception of one small gateway, is completely encircled by a reef.
A t this distance, a narrow but well-defined brilliantly white lino
was alone visible, where the waves first encountered the wall of
coral. The mountains rose abruptly out of the glassy expanse
of the lagoon, included within this narrow white line, outside
which the heaving waters of the ocean were dark-coloured. The
view was striking: it may aptly be compared to a framed en-
graving, where the frame represents the breakers, the marginal
paper the smooth lagoon, and the drawing the island itself. When
in the evening I descended from the mountain, a man, whom I
had pleased with a trifling gift, met me, bringing with him hot
roasted bananas, a pine-apple, and cocoa-nuts. After walking
under a burning sun, I do not know anything more delicious than
the milk of a young cocoa-nut. Pine-apples are here so abundant
that the people eat them in the same wasteful manner as we might
turnips. They are of an excellent flavour — perhaps even better
than those cultivated in England ; and this I believe is the highest
compliment which can be paid to any fruit. Before going on
board, Mr. Wilson interpreted for me to the Tahitian who had

1835.] EXCURSION IN THE MOUNTAINS. 391

paid mo so adroit an attention, that I wanted him and another
man to accompany me on a short excursion into the mountains.

18th. — In the morning I came on shore early, bringing with me
some provisions in a bag, and two blankets for myself and servant.
These were lashed to each end of a long pole, which was alter-
nately carried by my Tahitian companions on their shoulders.
These men are accustomed thus to carry, for a whole day, as much
as fifty pounds at each end of their poles. I told my guides to
provide themselves with food and clothing; but they said that
there was plenty of food in the mountains, and for clothing, that
their skins were sufficient. Our line of march was the valley of
Tia-auru, down which a river flows into the sea by Point Venus.
This is one of the principal streams in the island, and its source
lies at the base of the loftiest central pinnacles, which rise to a
height of about 7000 feet. The whole island is so mountainous
that the only way to penetrate into the interior is to follow up the
valleys. Our road, at first, lay through woods which bordered
each side of the river ; and the glimpses of the lofty central peaks,
seen as through an avenue, with here and there a waving cocoa-
nut tree on one side, were extremely picturesque. The valley
soon began to narrow, and the sides to grow lofty and more pre-
cipitous. After having walked between three and four hours, wo
found the width of the ravine scarcely exceeded that of the bed of
the stream. On each hand the walls were nearly vertical; yet
from the soft nature of the volcanic strata, trees and a rank
vegetation sprung from every projecting ledge. These precipices
must have been some thousand feet high; and the whole formed a
mountain gorge far more magnificent than anything which I had
ever before beheld. Until the midday sun stood vertically over
the ravine, the air felt cool and damp, but now it became very
sultry. Shaded by a ledge of rock, beneath a fagade of columnar
lava, we ate our dinner. My guides had already procured a dish
of small fish and fresh-water prawns. They carried with them a
small net stretched on a hoop ; and where the water was deep and
in eddies, they dived, and like otters, with their eyes open followed
the fish into holes and corners, and thus caught them.

The Tahitians have the dexterity of amphibious animals in the
water. An anecdote mentioned by Ellis shows how nrach they
feel at home in this element. When a horse was landing for
Pomarre in 1817, the slings broke, and it fell into the water;

392 TAHITI. ['HAP. xvnr.

immediately the natives jumped overboard, and by their cries and
vain efforts at assistance almost drowned it. As soon, however, as
it reached the shore, the whole population took to flight, and tried
to hide themselves from the man-carrying pig, as they christened
the horse.

A little higher up, the river divided itself into three little
streams. The two northern ones were impracticable, owing to a
succession of waterfalls which descended from the jagged summit
of the highest mountain ; the other to all appearance was equally
inaccessible, but we managed to ascend it by a most extraordinary
road. The sides of the valley were here nearly precipitous; but,
as frequently happens with stratified rocks, small ledges projected,
which were thickly covered by wild bananas, liliaceous plants,
and other luxuriant productions of the tropics. The Tahitians, by
climbing amongst these ledges, searching for fruit, had discovered
a track by which the whole precipice could be scaled. The first
ascent from the valley was very dangerous ; for it was necessary to
pass a steeply inclined face of naked rock, by the aid of ropes
which we brought with us. How any person discovered that this
formidable spot was the only point where the side of the mountain
was practicable, I cannot imagine. We then cautiously walked
along one of the ledges till we came to one of the three streams.
This ledge formed a flat spot, above which a beautiful cascade,
some hundred feet in height, poured down its waters, and beneath,
another high cascade fell into the main stream in the valley below.
From this cool and shady recess we made a circuit to avoid the
overhanging waterfall. As before, we followed little projecting
ledges, the danger being partly concealed by the thickness of the
vegetation. In passing from one of the ledges to another, there
was a vertical wall of rock. One of the Tahitians, a fine active
man, placed the trunk of a tree against this, climbed up it, and
then by the aid of crevices reached the summit. He fixed the
ropes to a projecting point, and lowered them for our dog and
luggage, and then we clambered up ourselves. Beneath the ledge
on which the dead tree was placed, the precipice must have been
five or six hundred feet deep; and if the abyss had not been partly
concealed by the overhanging ferns and lilies, my head would have
turned giddy, and nothing should have induced me to have
attempted it. "We continued to ascend, sometimes along ledges,
and sometimes along knife-edged ridges, having on each hand pro-

1835.] MODE OF PRODUCING FIRE. 393

found ravines. In the Cordillera I have seen mountains on a far
grander scale, but for abruptness, nothing at all comparable with
this. In the evening we reached a flat little spot on the banks of
the same stream, which we had continued to follow, and which
descends in a chain of waterfalls : here we bivouacked for the night.
On each side of the ravine there were great beds of the mountain-
banana, covered with ripe fruit. Many of these plants were from
twenty to twenty-five feet high, and from three to four in circum-
ference. By the aid of strips of bark for rope, the stems of
bamboos for rafters, and the large leaf of the banana for a thatch,
the Tahitians in a few minutes built us an excellent house ; and
with withered leaves made a soft bed.

They then proceeded to make a fire, and cook our evening meal.
A light was procured, by rubbing a blunt pointed stick in a groove
made in another, as if with intention of deepening it, until by the
friction the dust became ignited. A peculiarly white arid very
light wood (the Hibiscus tiliaceus) is alone used for this purpose :
it is the same which serves for poles to carry any burden, and for
the floating outriggers to their canoes. The fire was produced in
a few seconds : but to a person who does not understand the art,
it requires, as I found, the greatest exertion ; but at last, to my
great pride, I succeeded in igniting the dust. The Gaucho in the
Pampas uses a different method: taking an elastic stick about
eighteen inches long, he presses one end on his breast, and the
other pointed end into a hole in a piece of wood, and then rapidly
turns the curved part, like a carpenter's centre-bit. The Tahitians
having made a small fire of sticks, placed a score of stones, of
about the size of cricket-balls, on the burning wood. In about
ten minutes the sticks were consumed, and the stones hot. They
had previously folded up in small parcels of leaves, pieces of beef,
fish, ripe and unripe bananas, and the tops of the wild arum. These
green parcels were laid in a layer between two layers of the hot
stones, and the whole then covered up with earth, so that no smoke
or steam could escape. In about a quarter of an hour, the whole
was most deliciously cooked. The choice green parcels were now
laid on a cloth of banana leaves, and with a cocoa-nut shell we
drank the cool water of the running stream ; and thus we enjoyed
oui1 rustic meal.

I could not look on the surrounding plants without admiration.
On every side were forests of banana ; the fruit of which, though

394 TAHITI. [CHAP. XVTII.

serving for food in various ways, lay in heaps decaying on the
ground. In front of us there was an extensive brake of wild sugar-
cane ; and the stream was shaded by the dark green knotted stem
of the Ava,— so famous in former days for its powerful intoxicating
effects. I chewed a piece, and found that it had an acrid and
unpleasant taste, which would have induced any one at once to
have pronounced it poisonous. Thanks to the missionaries, this
plant now thrives only in these deep ravines, innocuous to every
one. Close by I saw the wild arum, the roots of which, when well
baked, are good to eat, and the young leaves better than spinach.
There was the wild yam, and a liliaceous plant called Ti, which
grows in abundance, and has a soft brown root, in shape and size
like a huge log of wood : this served us for dessert, for it is as sweet
as treacle, and with a pleasant taste. There were, moreover,
several other wild fruits, and useful vegetables. The little stream,
besides its cool water, produced eels and cray-fish. I did indeed
admire this scene, when I compared it with an uncultivated one in
the temperate zones. I felt the force of the remark, that man, at
least savage man, with his reasoning powers only partly developed,
is the child of the tropics.

As the evening drew to a close, I strolled beneath the gloomy
shade of the bananas up the course of the stream. My walk was
soon brought to a close, by coming to a waterfall between two
and three hundred feet high ; and again above this there was
another. I mention all these waterfalls in this one brook, to give
a general idea of the inclination of the land. In the little recess
where the water fell, it did not appear that a breath of wind had
ever blown. The thin edges of the great leaves of the banana,
damp with spray, were unbroken, instead of being, as is so generally
the case, split into a thousand shreds. From our position, almost
suspended on the mountain side, there were glimpses into the
depths of the neighbouring valleys; and the lofty points of the
central mountains, towering up within sixty degrees of the zenith,
hid half the evening sky. Thus seated, it was a sublime spectacle
to watch the shades of night gradually obscuring the last and
highest pinnacles.

Before we laid ourselves down to sleep, the elder Tahitian fell on
his knees, and with closed eyes repeated a long prayer in his native
tongue. He prayed as a Christian should do, with fitting reverence,
and without the fear of ridicule or any ostentation of piety. At

1835.] TEMPEEANCE OF THE NATIVES. 395

our meals neither of the men would taste food, without saying
beforehand a short grace. Those travellers who think that a
Tahitian prays only when the eyes of the missionary are fixed
on him, should have slept with us that night on the moiTntain-
side. Before morning it rained very heavily ; but the good thatch
of banana-leaves kept us dry.

November 19th. — At daylight my friends, after their morning
prayer, prepared an excellent breakfast in the same manner as in
the evening. They themselves certainly partook of it largely ;
indeed I never saw any men eat near so much. I suppose such
enormously capacious stomachs must be the effect of a large part
of their diet consisting of fruit and vegetables, which contain,
in a given bulk, a comparatively small poition of nutriment.
Unwittingly, I was the means of my companions breaking, as I
afterwards learned, one of their own laws and resolutions : I took
with me a flask of spirits, which they could not refuse to partake
of; but as often as they drank a little, they put their fingers
before their mouths, and uttered the word " Missionary." About
two years ago, although the use of the ava was prevented, drunken-
ness from the introduction of spirits became very prevalent.
The missionaries prevailed on a few good men, who saw that
their country was rapidly going to ruin, to join with them in a
Temperance Society. From good sense or shame, all the chiefs
and the qiieen were at last persuaded to join. Immediately a law
was passed, that no spirits should be allowed to be introduced into
the island, and that he who sold and he who bought the forbidden
article should be punished by a fine. With remarkable justice,
a certain period was allowed for stock in hand to be sold, before
the law came into effect. But when it did, a general search was
made, in which even the houses of the missionaries were not
exempted, and all the ava (as the natives call all ardent spirits)
was poured on the ground. When one reflects on the effect of
intemperance on the aborigines of the two Americas, I think it
will be acknowledged that every well-wisher of Tahiti owes no
common debt of gratitude to the missionaries. As long as the
little island of St. Helena remained under the government of the
East India Company, spirits, owing to the great injury they had
produced, were not allowed to be imported ; but wine was supplied
from the Cape of Good Hope. It is rather a striking, and not very
gratifying fact, that in the same year that spirits were allowed to

396 TAHITI. [< HAP. xVill.

be sold in St. Helena, their use was banished from Tahiti by the
free will of the people.

After breakfast we proceeded on our journey. As my object was
merely to see a little of the interior scenery, we returned by another
track, which descended into the main valley lower down. For
some distance we wound, by a most intricate path, along the side
of the mountain which formed the valley. In the less precipitous
parts we passed through extensive groves of the wild banana.
The Tahitians, with their naked, tattooed bodies, their heads
ornamented with flowers, and seen in the dark shade of these
groves, would have formed a fine picture of man inhabiting some
primeval land. In our descent we followed the line of ridges ;
these were exceedingly narrow, and for considerable lengths steep
as a ladder ; but all clothed with vegetation. The extreme care
necessary in poising each step rendered the walk fatiguing. I did
not cease to wonder at these ravines and precipices : when viewing
the country from one of the knife-edged ridges, the point of support
was so small, that the effect was nearly the same as it must be from
a balloon. In this descent we had occasion to use the ropes only
once, at the point where we entered the main valley. We slept
under the same ledge of rock where we had dined the day before :
the night was fine, but from the depth and narrowness of the
gorge, profoundly dark.

Before actually seeing this country, I found it difficult to
understand two facts mentioned by Ellis ; namely, that after the
rrmrderous battles of former times, the survivors on the conquered
side retired into the mountains, where a handful of men could
resist a multitude. Certainly half a dozen men, at the spot where
the Tahitian reared the old tree, could easily have repulsed
thousands. Secondly, that after the introduction of Christianity,
there were Avild men who lived in the mountains, and whose
retreats were unknown to the more civilized inhabitants.

November 20^.— In the morning AVC started early, and reached
Matavai at noon. On the road we met a large party of noble
athletic men, going for wild bananas. I found that the ship, on
account of the difficulty in watering, had moved to the harbour of
Papawa, to which place I immediately walked. This is a very pretty
spot. The cove is surrounded by reefs, and the water as smooth as
in a lake. The cultivated ground, with its beautiful productions,
interspersed with cottages, conies close down to the water's edge.

1835.] CONDITION OF THE PEOPLE. 397

From the varying accounts which I had read before reaching
these islands, I was very anxious to form, from my own observation,
a judgment of their moral state,— although such judgment would
necessarily be very imperfect. First impressions at all times very
much depend ou one's previously acquired ideas. My notions
were drawn from Ellis's " Polynesian Eesearches " — an admirable
and most interesting work, but naturally looking at everything
under a favourable point of view ; from Beechey's Voyage ; and
from that of Kotzebue, which is strongly adverse to the whole
missionary system. He who compares these three accounts will,
I think, form a tolerably accurate conception of the 'present state
of Tahiti. One of my impressions, which I took from the two last
authorities, was decidedly incorrect ; viz., that the Tahitians had
become a gloomy race, and lived in fear of the missionaries. Of
the latter feeling I saw no trace, unless, indeed, fear and respect
be confounded under one name. Instead of discontent being
a common feeling, it would be difficult in Europe to pick out
of a crowd half so many merry and happy faces. The prohibition
of the flute and dancing is inveighed against as wrong and foolish ;
— the more than presbyterian manner of keeping the sabbath is
looked at in a similar light. On these points I will not pretend
to oft'er any opinion, in opposition to men who have resided as
many years as I was days on the island.

On the whole, it appears to me that the morality and religion
of the inhabitants are highly creditable. There are many who
attack, even more acrimoniously than Kotzebue, both the mis-
sionaries, their system, and the effects produced by it. Such
reasoners never compare the present state with that of the island
only twenty years ago ; nor even with that of Europe at this day ;
but they compare it with the high standard of Gospel perfection.
They expect the missionaries to effect that which the Apostles
themselves failed to do. In as much as the condition of the people
falls short of this high standard, blame is attached to the missionary,
instead of credit for that which he has effected. They forget, or
will not remember, that human sacrifices, and the power of an
idolatrous priesthood— a system of profligacy unparalleled in any
other part of the world— infanticide a consequence of that system
—bloody wars, where the conquerors spared neither women nor
children— that all these have been abolished ; and that dishonesty,
intemperance, and licentiousness have been greatly reduced by the

398 TAHITI. [CHAP. xvm.

introduction of Christianity. In a voyager to forget these things is
base ingratitude ; for should he chance to be at the point of ship-
wreck on souio unknown coast, he will most devoutly pray that the
lesson of the missionary may have extended thus far.

In point of morality, the virtue of the women, it has been often
said, is most open to exception. Bat before they are blamed too
severely, it will be well distinctly to call to mind the scenes de-
scribed by Captain Cook and Mr. Banks, in which the grand-
mothers and mothers of the present race played a part. Those
Avho are most severe, should consider how much of the morality
of the women in Europe, is owing to the system early impressed
by mothers on their daughters, and how much in each individual
case to the precepts of religion. But it is useless to argue against
such reasoners; — I believe that, disappointed in not finding the
field of licentiousness quite so open as formerly, they will not
give credit to a morality which they do not wish to practise, or to
a religion which they undervalue, if not despise.

Sunday, fflnd. — The harbour of Papiete, where the queen resides,
may be considered as the capital of the island : it is also the seat
of government, and the chief resort of shipping. Captain Fitz
Hoy took a party there this day to hear divine service, first in the
Tahitian language, and afterwards in our own. Mr. Pritchard,
the leading missionary in the island, performed the service. The
chapel consisted of a large airy framework of wood ; and it was
filled to excess by tidy, clean people, of all ages and both sexes.
I was rather disappointed in the apparent degree of attention;
but I believe my expectations were raised too high. At all events
the appearance was quite equal to that in a country church in Eng-
land. The singing of the hymns was decidedly very pleasing ; but
the language from the pulpit, although fluently delivered, did not
sound well : a constant repetition of words, like " tata ta, mata
mai" rendered it monotonous. After English service, a party
returned on foot to Matavai. It was a pleasant walk, sometimes
along the sea-beach and sometimes under the shade of the mauy
beautiful trees.

About two years ago, a small vessel under English colours was
plundered by some of the inhabitants of the Low Islands, which
were then under the dominion of the Queen of Tahiti. It was
believed that the perpetrators were instigated to this act by some
indiscreet laws issued by her majesty. The British government

1835.] TAHITIAN PARLIAMENT. 399

demanded compensation; which was acceded to, and a sum of
nearly three thousand dollars was agreed to be paid on the first
of last September. The Commodore at Lima ordered Captain Fitz
Eoy to inquire concerning this debt, and to demand satisfaction if
it were not paid. Captain Fitz Eoy accordingly requested an
interview with the Queen Pomarre, since famous from the ill-
treatment she has received from the French ; and a parliament was
held to consider the question, at which all the principal chiefs of
the island, and the queen were assembled. I will not attempt to
describe what took place, after the interesting account given by
Captain Fitz Roy. The money, it appeared, had not been paid ;
perhaps the alleged reasons were rather equivocal ; but otherwise
I cannot sufficiently express our general surprise at the extreme
good sense, the reasoning powers, moderation, candour, and prompt
resolution, which were displayed on all sides. I believe we all left
the meeting with a very different opinion of the Tahitians, from
what we entertained when we entered. The chiefs and people
resolved to subscribe and complete the sum which was wanting ;
Captain Fitz Eoy urged that it was hard that their private property
should be sacrificed for the crimes of distant islanders. They
replied, that they were grateful for his consideration, but that
Pomarre was their Queen, and that they were determined to help
her in this her difficulty. This resolution and its prompt execu-
tion, for a book was opened early the next morning, made a
perfect conclusion to this very remarkable scene of loyalty and
good feeling.

After the main discussion was ended, several of the chiefs took
the opportunity of asking Captain Fitz Eoy many intelligent
questions on international customs and laws, relating to the treat-
ment of ships and foreigners. On some points, as soon as the
decision was made, the law was issued verbally on the spot. This
Tahitian parliament lasted for several hours; and when it was
over Captain Fitz Eoy invited Queen Pomarre to pay the Beagle
a visit.

November 25tJi. — In the evening four boats were sent for her
majesty ; the ship was dressed with flags, and the yards manned
on her coming on board. She was accompanied by most of the
chiefs. The behaviour of all was very proper: they begged for
nothing, and seemed much pleased with Captain Fitz Eoy's pre-
sents. The Queen is a large awkward woman, without any beauty,

400 TAHITI. [CIIAI-. xvni.

grace, or dignity. She has only one royal attribute: a perfect
immovability of expression tinder all circumstances, and that
rather a sullen one. The rockets were most admired ; and a deep
" Oh ! " could be heard from the shore, all round the dark bay,
after each explosion. The sailors' songs were also much admired ;
and the queen said she thought that one of the most boisterous
ones certainly could not be a hymn! The royal party did not
return on shore till past midnight.

26M. — In the evening, with a gentle land-breeze, a course was
steered for New Zealand ; and as the sun set, we had a farewell view
of the mountains of Tahiti— the island to which every voyager has
offered up his tribute of admiration.

December l$th. — In the evening we saw in the distance New
Zealand. We may now consider that we have nearly crossed the
Pacific. It is necessary to sail over this gr.eat ocean to comprehend
its immensity. Moving quickly onwards for weeks together, we
meet with nothing but the same blue, profoundly deep, ocean.
Even within the archipelagoes, the islands are mere specks, and
far distant one from the other. Accustomed to look at maps
drawn on a small scale, where dots, shading, and names are crowded
together, we do not rightly judge how infinitely small the propor-
tion of dry land is to the water of this vast expanse. The meridian
of the Antipodes has likewise been passed ; and now every league,
it made us happy to think, was one league nearer to England.
These Antipodes call to one's mind old recollections of childish
doubt and wonder. Only the other day I looked forward to this
airy barrier as a definite point in our voyage homewards; but now
I find it, and all such resting-places for the imagination, are like
shadows, which a man moving onwards cannot catch. A gale of
wind lasting for some days, has lately given us full leisure'to mea-
sure the future stages in our long homeward voyage, and to wish
most earnestly for its termination.

December '21st. — Early in the morning we entered the Bay of
Islands, and being becalmed for some hours near the mouth, we
did not reach the anchorage till the middle of the day. The
country is hilly, with a smooth outline, and is deeply intersected
by numerous arms of the sea extending from the bay. The sur-
face appears from a distance as if clothed with coarse pasture,
but this in truth is nothing but fern. On the more distant hills,
as well as in parts of the valleys, there is a good deal of woodland.

1835.] BAY OF ISLANDS. 401

The general tint of the landscape is not a bright green ; and it
resembles the country a short distance to the south of Concepciou
in Chile. In several parts of the bay, little villages of square tidy-
looking houses are scattered close clown to the water's edge. Three
whaling-ships were lying at anchor, and a canoe every now and
then crossed from shore to shore ; with these exceptions, an air of
extreme quietness reigned over the whole district. Only a single
canoe came alongside. This, and the aspect of the whole scene,
afforded a remarkable, and not very pleasing contrast, with our
joyful and boisterous welcome at Tahiti.

In the afternoon we went on shore to one of the larger groups
of houses, which yet hardly deserves the title of a village. Its
name is Pahia : it is the residence of the missionaries ; and there
are no native residents except servants and labourers. In the
vicinity of the Bay of Islands, the number of Englishmen, includ-
ing their families, amounts to between two and three hundred.
All the cottages, many of which are white-washed and look very
neat, are the property of the English. The hovels of the natives
are so diminutive and paltry, that they can scarcely be perceived
from a distance. At Pahia, it was quite pleasing to behold the
English flowers in the gardens before the houses ; there were roses
of several kinds, honeysuckle, jasmine, stocks, and whole hedges of
sweetbriar.

December ffind. — In the morning I went out walking; but I soon
found that the country was very impracticable. All the hills are
thickly covered with tall fern, together with a low bush which
grows like a cypress; and very little ground has been cleared or
cultivated. I then tried the sea-beach; but proceeding towards
either hand, my walk was soon stopped by salt-water creeks and
deep brooks. The communication between the inhabitants of the
different parts of the bay, is (as in Chiloe) almost entirely kept up
by boats. I was surprised to find that almost every hill which I
ascended, had been at some former time more or less fortified.
The summits were cut into steps or successive terraces, and fre-
quently they had been protected by deep trenches. I afterwards
observed that the principal hills inland in like manner showed an
artificial outline. These are the Pas, so frequently mentioned by
Captain Cook under the name of " hippah ; " the difference of sound
being owing to the prefixed article.

That the Pas had formerly been much used, was evident from

2 D

402 NEW ZEALAND. [CHAP. xvm.

the piles of shells, and the pits in which, as I was informed, sweet
potatoes used to be kept as a reserve. As there was no water on
these hills, the defenders could never have anticipated a long siege,
but only a' hurried attack for plunder, against which the successive
terraces would have afforded good protection. The general intro-
duction of fire-arms has changed the whole system of warfare ;
and an exposed situation on the top of a hill is now worse than
useless. The Pas in consequence are, at the present day, always
built on a level piece of ground. They consist of a double stock-
ade of thick and tall posts, placed in a zigzag line, so that every
part can be flanked. "Within the stockade a mound of earth is
thrown up, behind which the defenders can rest in safety, or use
their fire-arms over it. On the level of the ground little archways
sometimes pass through this breastwork, by which means the
defenders can crawl out to the stockade to reconnoitre their ene-
mies. The Eev. W. Williams, who gave mo this account, added,
that in one Pas he had noticed spurs or buttresses projecting on
the inner and protected side of the mound of earth. On asking
the chief the use of them, he replied, that if two or three of his
men were shot, their neighbours would not see the bodies, and so
be discouraged.

These Pas are considered by the New Zealanders as very perfect
means of defence: for the attacking force is never so well dis-
ciplined as to rush in a body to the stockade, cut it down, and effect
their entry. "When a tribe goes to war, the chief cannot order one
party to go here and another there ; but every man fights in the
manner which best pleases himself; and to each separate individual
to approach a stockade defended by fire-arms must appear certain
death. I should think a more warlike race of inhabitants could
not be found in any part of the world than the New Zealanders.
Their conduct on first seeing a ship, as described by Captain Cook,
strongly illustrates this : the act of throwing volleys of stones at so
great and novel an object, and their defiance of '•' Come on shore
and we will kill and eat you all," shows uncommon boldness.
This warlike spirit is evident in many of their customs, and even
in their smallest actions. If a New Zealander is struck, although
but iu joke, the blow must be returned; and of this I saw an
instance with one of our officers.

At the present day, from the progress of civilization, there is
much less warfare, except among some of the southern tribes. I

1835.] PROGRESS OF CIVILIZATION. 403

heard a characteristic anecdote of what took place some time ago
in the south. A missionary found a chief and his tribe in pre-
paration for war;— their muskets cleau and bright, and their
ammunition ready. He reasoned long on the inutility of the war,
and the little provocation which had been given for it. The chief
was much shaken in his resolution, and seemed in doubt : but at
length it occurred to him that a barrel of his gunpowder was in a
bad state, and that it would not keep much longer. This was
brought forward as an unanswerable argument for the necessity of
immediately declaring war: the idea of allowing so much good
gunpowder to spoil was not to be thought of; and this settled the
point. I was told by the missionaries that in the life of Shongi,
the chief who visited England, the love of war was the one and
lasting spring of every action. The tribe in which he was a prin-
cipal chief, had at one time been much oppressed by another tribe,
from the Thames Eiver. A solemn oath was taken by the men,
that when their boys should grow up, and they should be power-
ful enough, they would never forget or forgive these injuries.
To fulfil this oath appears to have been Shongi's chief motive for
going to England; and when there it was his sole object. Pre-
sents were valued only as they could be converted into arms ; of
the arts, those alone interested him which were connected with
the manufacture of arms. When at Sydney, Shongi, by a strange
coincidence, met the hostile chief of the Thames Paver at the
house of Mr. Marsden : their conduct was civil to each other ;
but Shongi told him that when again in New Zealand he would
never cease to carry war into his country. The challenge was
accepted ; and Shongi on his return fulfilled the threat to the
iitmost letter. The tribe on the Thames Eiver was utterly over-
thrown, and the chief to whom the challenge had been given was
himself killed. Shongi, although harbouring such deep feelings
of hatred and revenge, is described as having been a good-natured
person.

In the evening I went with Captain Fitz Eoy and Mr. Baker,
one of the missionaries, to pay a visit to Kororadika : we wandered
about the village, and saw and conversed with many of the people,
both men, women, and children. Looking at the New Zealander,
one naturally compares him with the Tahitian ; both belonging to
the same family of mankind. The comparison, however, tells
heavily against the New Zealander. He may, perhaps, be superior

NEW ZEALAND. [CHAP. xvni.

in energy, but in every other respect his character is of a much
lower order. One glance at their respective expressions, brings
conviction to the mind that one is a savage, the other a civilized
man. It would be vain to seek in the whole of New Zealand a
person with the face and mien of the old Tahitian chief Utamme.
Xo doubt the extraordinary manner in which tattooing is hero
practised, gives a disagreeable expression to their countenances.
The complicated but symmetrical figures covering the whole face,
puzzle and mislead an unaccustomed eye : it is moreover probable,
that the deep incisions, by destroying the play of the superficial
muscles, give an air of rigid inflexibility. But, besides this,
there is a twinkling in the eye, which cannot indicate anything
but cunning and ferocity. Their figures are tall and bulky ; but
not comparable in elegance with those, of the working-classes in
Tahiti.

Both their persons and houses are filthily dirty and offensive:
the idea of washing either their bodies or their clothes never seems
to enter their heads. I saw a chief, who was wearing a shirt black
and matted with filth, and when asked how it came to be so dirty,
he replied, with surprise, "Do not you see it is an old one?"
Some of the men have shirts; but the common dress is one or two
large blankets, generally black with dirt, which are thrown over
their shoulders in a very inconvenient and awkward fashion. A
few of the principal chiefs have decent suits of English clothes ;
but these are only worn on great occasions.

December 23rd.— At a place called Waimate, about fifteen miles
from the Bay of Islands, and midway between the eastern and
western coasts, the missionaries have purchased some land for
agricultural purposes. I had been introduced to the Rev. W.
Williams, who, upon my expressing a wish, invited me to pay him
a visit there. Mr. Bushby, the British resident, offered to take me
in his boat by a creek, where I should see a pretty waterfall, and
by which means my walk would be shortened. He likewise pro-
cured for me a guide. Upon asking a neighbouring chief to
recommend a man, the chief himself offered to go; but his igno-
rance of the value of money was so complete, that at first he asked
how many pounds I would give him, but afterwards was well
contented with two dollars. When I showed the chief a very
small bundle, which I wanted carried, it became absolutely neces-
sary for him to take a slave. These feelings of pride are beginning

1835.] EXCURSION TO WAIMATE. 405

to wear away; but formerly a leading man would sooner have
died, than undergone the indignity of carrying the smallest
burden. My companion was a light active man, dressed in a dirty
blanket, and with his face completely tattooed. He had formerly
been a great warrior. He appeared to be on very cordial terms
with Mr. Bushby; but at various times they had quarrelled
violently. Mr. Bushby remarked that a little quiet irony would
frequently silence any one of these natives in their most blustering
moments. This chief has come and harangued Mr. Bushby in
a hectoring manner, saying, " A great chief, a great man, a friend
of mine, has come to pay me a visit — you must give him some-
thing good to eat, some fine presents, etc." Mr. Bushby has
allowed him to finish his discourse, and then has quietly replied
by some such answer as, " What else shall your slave do for you? "
The man would then instantly, with a very comical expression,
cease his braggadocio.

Some time ago, Mr. Bushby suffered a far more serious attack.
A chief and a party of men tried to break into his house in the
middle of the night, and not finding this so easy, commenced a
brisk firing with their muskets. Mr. Bushby was slightly wounded;
but the party was at length driven away. Shortly afterwards it
was discovered who was the aggressor ; and a general meeting of
the chiefs was convened to consider the case. It was considered
by the New Zealanders as very atrocious, inasmuch as it was a
night attack, and that Mrs. Bushby was lying ill in the house:
this latter circumstance, much to their honour, being considered
in all cases as a protection. The chiefs agreed to confiscate the
land of the aggressor to the King of England. The whole pro-
ceeding, however, in thus trying and punishing a chief was
entirely without precedent. The aggressor, moreover, lost caste
in the estimation of his equals; and this was considered by tho
British as of more consequence than the confiscation of his land.

As the boat was shoving off, a second chief stepped into her,
who only wanted the amusement of the passage up and down the
creek. I never saw a more horrid and ferocious expression than
this man had. It immediately struck me I had somewhere seen
his likeness : it will be found in Eetzch's outlines to Schiller's
ballad of Fridolin, where two men are pushing Robert into the
burning iron furnace. It is the man who has his arm on Robert's
breast. Physiognomy here spoke the truth ; this chief had been

406 NEW ZEALAND. [< HAF. XYJII.

ft notorious murderer, and was an arrant coward to boot. At the
point where the boat landed, Mr. Bushby accompanied me a few
hundred yards on the road: I could not help admiring the cool
impudence of the hoary old villain, whom AVO left lying in the
boat, when he shouted to Mr. Bushby, "Bo not you stay long,
I shall be tired of waiting here."

We now commenced our walk. The road lay along a well-
beaten path, bordered on each side by the tall fern, which covers
the whole country. After travelling some miles, we came to a
little country village, where a few hovels were collected together,
and some patches of ground cultivated with potatoes. The intro-
duction of the potato has been the most essential benefit to the
island; it is now much more used than any native vegetable.
New Zealand is favoured by one great natural advantage ; namely,
that the inhabitants can never perish from famine. The whole
country abounds with fern : and the roots of this plant, if not very
palatable, yet contain much nutriment. A native can always
subsist on these, and on the shell-fish, which are abundant on all
parts of the sea-coast. The villages are chiefly conspicuous by
the platforms which are raised on four posts ten or twelve feet
above the ground, and on which the produce of the fields is kept
secure from all accidents.

On coming near one of the huts I was much amused by seeing
in due form the ceremony of rubbing, or, as it ought to be called,
pressing noses. The women, on our first approach, began uttering
something in a most dolorous voice; they then squatted themselves
down and held up their faces ; my companion standing over them,
one after another, placed the bridge of his nose at right angles to
theirs, and commenced pressing. This lasted rather longer than
a cordial shake of the hand with us ; and as we vary the force of
the grasp of the hand in shaking, so do they in pressing. During
the process they uttered comfortable little grunts, very much in
the same manner as two pigs do, when rubbing against each other.
I noticed that the slave would press noses with any one he met,
indifferently either before or after his master the chief. Although
among these savages, the chief has absolute power of life and death
over his slave, yet there is an entire absence of ceremony between
them. Mr. Burchell has remarked the same thing in Southern
Africa, with the rude Baohapins. Where civilization has arrived
at a certain point, complex formalities soon arise between the

1835.] CEREMONY OF KUBBIXG NOSES. 407

different grades of society : thus at Tahiti all were formerly obliged
to uncover themselves as low as the waist in presence of the king.

The ceremony of pressing noses having been duly completed
with all present, we seated ourselves in a circle in the front of one
of the hovels, and rested there half-an-hour. All the hovels have
nearly the same form and dimensions, and all agree in being filthily
dirty. They resemble a cow-shed with one end open, but having a
partition a little way within, with a square hole in it, making
a small gloomy chamber. In this the inhabitants keep all their
property, and when the weather is cold they sleep there. They eat,
however, and pass their time in the open part in front. My guides
having finished their pipes, we continued our walk. The path led
through the same undulating country, the whole uniformly clothed
as before with fern. On our right hand we had a serpentine river,
the banks of which were fringed with trees, and here and there on
the hill sides there was a clump of wood. The whole scene, in spite
of its green colour, had rather a desolate aspect. The sight of so
much fern impresses the mind with an idea of sterility : this, how-
ever, is not correct ; for wherever the fern grows thick and breast-
high, the land by tillage becomes productive. Some of the residents
think that all this extensive open country originally was covered
with forests, and that it has been cleared by fire. It is said, that
by digging in the barest spots, lumps of the kind of resin which
flows from the kauri pine are frequently found. The natives had
an evident motive in clearing the country ; for the fern, formerly a
staple article of food, flourishes only in the open cleared tracks.
The almost entire absence of associated grasses, which forms so
remarkable a feature in the vegetation of this island, may perhaps
be accounted for by the land having been aboriginally covered with
forest-trees.

The soil is volcanic ; in several parts we passed over slaggy lavas,
and craters could clearly be distinguished on several of the neigh-
bouring hills. Although the scenery is nowhere beautiful, and
only occasionally pretty, I enjoyed my walk. I should have enjoyed
it more, if my companion, the chief, had not possessed extraordinary
conversational powers. I knew only three words ; " good," " bad,"
and " yes : " and with these I answered all his remarks, without of
course having understood one word he said. This, however, was
quite sufficient : I was a good listener, an agreeable person, and he
never ceased talking to me.

XEW ZEALAND. [CHAP. xvm.

At length wo reached Waimate. After having passed over so
many miles of an uninhabited useless country, the sudden appear-
ance of an English farm-house, and its well-dressed fields, placed
there as if by an enchanter's wand, was exceedingly pleasant. Mr.
Williams not being at home, I received in Mr. Davies's house a
cordial welcome. After drinking tea with his family party, we
took a stroll about the farm. At Waimate there are three large
houses, where the missionary gentlemen Messrs. Williams, Davies,
and Clarke, reside ; and near them are the huts of the native
labourers. On an adjoining slope, fine crops of barley and wheat
were standing in full ear; and in another part, fields of potatoes
and clover. But I cannot attempt to describe all I saw; there
were large gardens, with every fruit and vegetable which England
produces ; and many belonging to a warmer clime. I may instance
asparagus, kidney beans, cucumbers, rhubarb, apples, pears, figs,
peaches, apricots, grapes, olives, gooseberries, currants, hops, gorse
for fences, and English oaks ; also many kinds of flowers. Around
the farm-yard there were stables, a thrashing-barn with its winnow-
ing machine, a blacksmith's forge, and on the ground ploughshares
and other tools : in the middle was that happy mixture of pigs and
poultry, lying comfortably together, as in every English farm-yard.
At the distance of a few hundred yards, where the water of a little
rill had been dammed up into a pool, there was a large and sub-
stantial water-mill.

All this is very surprising, when it is considered that five years
ago nothing but the fern flourished here. Moreover, native work-
manship, taught by the missionaries, has effected this change ; —
the lesson of the missionary is the enchanter's wand. The house
had been built, the windows framed, the fields ploughed, and even
the trees grafted, by the New Zealander. At the mill, a Xcw
Zealauder was seen powdered white with flour, like his brother
miller in England. When I looked at this whole scene, I thought
it admirable. It was not merely that England was brought vividly
before my mind ; yet, as the evening drew to a close, the domestic
sounds, the fields of corn, the distant undulating country with its
trees might well have been mistaken for our father-land: nor was
it the triumphant feeling at seeing what Englishmen could effect ;
but rather the high hopes thus inspired for the future progress of
this fine island.

Several young men, redeemed by the missionaries from slavery,

18S5..1 WAIMATE. 409

were employed on the farm. They were dressed in a shirt, jacket,
and trousers, and had a respectable appearance. Judging from
one trifling anecdote, I should think they must be honest. When
walking in the fields, a young labourer came up to Mr. Davies, and
gave him a knife and gimlet, saying that he had found them on
the road, and did not know to whom they belonged ! These young
men and boys appeared very merry and good-humoured. In tho
evening I saw a parly of them at cricket : when I thought of the
austerity of which the missionaries have been accused, I was
amused by observing one of their own sons taking an active part
in the game. A more decided and pleasing change was manifested
in the young women, who acted as servants within the houses.
Their clean, tidy, and healthy appearance, like that of dairy-maids
in England, formed a wonderful contrast with the women of the
filthy hovels in Kororadika. The wives of the missionaries tried
to persuade them not to be tattooed ; but a famous operator having
arrived from the south, they said, " We really must just have a few
lines on our lips ; else when we grow old, our lips will shrivel, and
we shall lie so very ugly." There is not nearly so much tattooing
as formerly ; but as it is a badge of distinction between the chief
and the slave, it will probably long be practised. So soon does any
train of ideas become habitual, that the missionaries told me that
even in their eyes a plain face looked mean, and not like that of a
New Zealand gentleman.

Late in the evening I went to Mr. Williams's house, where I
passed the night. I found there a large party of children, collected
together for Christmas Day, and all sitting round a table at tea. I
never saw a nicer or more merry group ; and to think that this was
in the centre of the land of cannibalism, murder, and all atrocious
crimes ! The cordiality and happiness so plainly pictured in the
faces of the little circle, appeared equally felt by the older persons
of the mission.

December IMli. — In the morning, prayers were read in the native
tongue to the whole family. After breakfast I rambled about tho
gardens and farm. This was a market-day, when the natives of
the surrounding hamlets bring their potatoes, Indian corn, or pigs,
to exchange for blankets, tobacco, and sometimes, through the per-
suasions of the missionaries, for soap. Mr. Davies's eldest son, who
manages a farm of his own, is the man of business in the market.
The children of the missionaries, who came while young to the

410 NEW ZEALAND. [CHAP. xvm.

island, understand the language better than their parents, and can
get anything more readily done by the natives.

A little before noon Messrs. Williams and Davies walked with me
to part of a neighbouring forest, to show me the famous kauri
pine. I measured one of the noble trees, and found it thirty-one
feet in circumference above the roots. There was another close by,
which I did not see, thirty-three feet ; and I heard of one no less
than forty feet. These trees are remarkable for their smooth
cylindrical boles, which run up to a height of sixty, and even
ninety feet, with a nearly equal diameter, and without a single
branch. The crown of branches at the summit is out of all propor-
tion small to the trunk ; and the leaves are likewise small compared
with the branches. The forest was here almost composed of the
kauri ; and the largest trees, from the parallelism of their sides,
stood up like gigantic columns of wood. The timber of the kauri
is the most valuable production of the island ; moreover, a quantity
of resin oozes from the bark, which is sold at a penny a pound to
the Americans, but its use was then unknown. Some of the New
Zealand forest must be impenetrable to an extraordinary degree.
Mr. Matthews informed me that one forest only thirty-four miles
in width, and separating two inhabited districts, had only lately,
for the first time, been crossed. He and another missionary, each
with a party of about fifty men, undertook to open a road ; but it
cost them more than a fortnight's labour! In the woods I saw very
few birds. With regard to animals, it is a most remarkable fact,
that so large an island, extending over more than 700 miles in
latitude, and in many parts ninety broad, with varied stations, a
fine climate, and land of all heights, from 14,000 feet downwards,
with the exception of a small rat, did not possess one indigenous
animal. The several species of that gigantic genus of birds, the
Deinornis seem here to have replaced mammiferous quadrupeds, in
the same manner as the reptiles still do at the Galapagos archi-
pelago. It is said that the common Norway rat, in the short space
of two years, annihilated in this northern end of the island, the
New Zealand species. In many places I noticed several soits of
weeds, which, like the rats, I was forced to own as countrymen. A
leek has overrun whole districts, and will prove very troublesome,
but it was imported as a favour by a French vessel. 1 he common
dock is also widely disseminated, and will, I fear, for ever remain
a proof of the rascality of an Englishman, who sold the seeds for
those of the tobacco plant.

1835.] -\VAIMATE. 411

On returning from our pleasant walk to the house, I dined with
Mr. Williams ; and then, a horse being lent me, I returned to the
Bay of Islands. I took leave of the missionaries with thankfulness
for their kind welcome, and with feelings of high respect for their
gentlemanlike, useful, and upright characters. I think it would be
difficult to find a body of men better adapted for the high office
which they fulfil.

Christmas Day. — In a few more days the fourth year of our
absence from England will be completed. Our first Christmas Day
was spent at Plymouth ; the second at St. Martin's Cove, near Cape
Horn ; the third at Port Desire, in Patagonia ; the fourth at anchor
in a wild harbour in the peninsula of Tres Montes ; this fifth here ;
and the next, I trust in Providence, will be in England. We
attended divine service in the chapel of Pahia ; part of the service
being read in English, and part in the native language. Whilst at
New Zealand we did not hear of any recent acts of cannibalism ;
but Mr. Stokes found burnt human bones strewed round afire-place
on a small island near the anchorage; but these remains of a
comfortable banquet might have been lying there for several years.
It is probable that the moral state of the people will rapidly
improve. Mr. Bushby mentioned one pleasing anecdote as a proof
of the sincerity of some, at least, of those who profess Christianity.
One of his young men left him, who had been accustomed to read
prayers to the rest of the servants. Some weeks afterwards,
happening to pass late in the evening by an outhouse, he saw and
heard one of his men reading the Bible with difficulty by the light
of the fire, to the others. After this the party knelt and prayed :
in their prayers they mentioned Mr. Bushby and his family, and
the missionaries, each separately in his respective district.

December 26</i.— Mr. Bushby offered to take Mr. Sulivan and
myself in his boat some miles up tthe river to Cawa-Cawa; and
proposed afterwards to walk on to the village of Waiomio, where
there are some curious rocks. Following one of the arms of the
bay, we enjoyed a pleasant row, and passed through pretty scenery,
until we came to a village, beyond which the boat could not pass.
From this place a chief and a party of men volunteered to walk
with us to WTaiomio, a distance of four miles. The chief was at
this time rather notorious from having lately hung one of his wives
and a slave for adultery. When one of the missionaries re-
monstrated with him he seemed surprised, and said he thought he

419 NEW ZEALAND. [CHAI-. xvm.

was exactly following the English method. Old Shongi, who
happened to be in England during the Queen's trial, expressed
great disapprobation at the whole proceeding : he said he had five
wives, and he would rather cut off all their heads than be so much
troubled about one. Leaving this village, we crossed over to
another, seated on a hill-side at a little distance. The daughter of
a chief, who was still a heathen, had died there five days before.
The hovel in which she had expired had been burnt to the ground :
her body being enclosed between two small canoes, was placed
upright on the ground, and protected by an enclosure bearing
wooden images of their gods, and the whole was painted bright red,
so as to be conspicuous from afar. Her gown was fastened to the
coffin, and her hair being cut off was cast at its foot. The relatives
of the family had torn the flesh of their arms, bodies, and faces, so
that they were covered with clotted blood ; and the old women
looked most filthy, disgusting objects. On the following day some
of the officers visited this place, and found the women still howling
and cutting themselves.

We continued our walk, and soon reached Waiomio. Here there
are some singular masses of limestone, resembling ruined castles.
These rocks have long served for burial-places, and in consequence
are held too sacred to be approached. One of the young men,
however, cried out, "Let us all be brave,1' and ran on ahead ; but
when witliin a hundred yards, the whole party thought better of it,
and stopped short. With perfect indifference, however, they
allowed us to examine the whole place. At this village we rested
some hours, during which time there was a long discussion with
Mr. Bushby, concerning the right of sale of certain lands. One old
man, who appeared a perfect genealogist, illustrated the successive
possessors by bits of stick driven into the ground. Before leaving
the houses a little basketful of roasted sweet potatoes was given to
each of our party ; and we all, according to the custom, carried
them away to eat on the road. I noticed that among the women
employed in cooking, there was a man-slave : it must be a
humiliating thing for a man in this warlike country to be employed
in doing that Avhich is considered as the lowest woman's work.
Slaves are not allowed to go to war ; but this perhaps can hardly
be considered as a hardship. I heard of one poor wretch who,
during hostilities, ran away to the opposite party ; being met by
two men, he was immediately seized ; but as they could not agree

1835.] SAIL FOR AUSTRALIA. 413

to whom he should belong, each stood over him with a stone
hatchet, and seemed determined that the other at least should not
take him away alive. The poor man, almost dead with fright, was
only saved by the address of a chief's Avife. We afterwards enjoyed
a pleasant walk back to the boat, but did not reach the ship till
late in the evening.

December 30th. — In the afternoon we stood out of the Bay of
Islands, on our course to Sydney. I believe we were all glad to
leave New Zealand. It is not a pleasant place. Amongst the
natives there is absent that charming simplicity which is found
at Tahiti; and the greater part of the English are the very refuse
of society. Neither is the country itself attractive. I look back
but to one bright spot, and that is Waimate, with its Christian
inhabitants.

414 NEW SOUTH WALES. [CHAP. MX.

CHAPTER XIX.

AUSTRALIA.

Sydliey_Excursion to Bathurst— Aspect of the Woods— Party of Natives
" —Gradual extinction of the Aborigines — Infection generated by
associated Men in health— Blue Mountains— View of the grand gulf-
like Valleys— Their origin and formation— Bathurst, general civility of
the Lower Orders — State of Society — Van Dieuien's Land — HobartTown

Aborigines all banished— Mount Wellington— King George's Sound

Cheeriest Aspect of the Country — Bald Head, calcareous casts of

branches of Trees— Party of Natives— Leave Australia.

January l%th, 1836. — EAULY in the morning a light air carried us
towards the entrance of Port Jackson. Instead of beholding a
verdant country, interspersed \vith fins houses, a straight line of
yellowish cliff brought to our minds the coast of Patagonia. A
solitary lighthouse, built of white stone, alone told us that we were
near a great and populous city. Having entered the harbour, it
appears fine and spacious, with cliff-formed shores of horizontally
stratified sandstone. The nearly level country is covered with thin
scrubby trees, bespeaking the curse of sterility. Proceeding further
inland, the country improves : beautiful villas and nice cottages
arc here and there scattered along the beach. In the distance
stone houses, two and three stories high, and windmills standing
on the edge of a bank, pointed out to us the neighbourhood of the
capital of Australia.

At last we anchored within Sydney Cove. We found the little
basin occupied by many large ships, and surrounded by warehouses.
In the evening. I walked through the town, and returned full of
admiration at the whole scene. It is a most magnificent testimony
to the power of the British nation. Here, in a less promising
country, scores of years have done many times more than an equal
number of centuries have effected in South America. My first feel-
ing was to congratulate myself that I was born an Englishman.

1836.] EXCUKSIOX TO BATHURST. 415

Upon seeing more of the town afterwards, perhaps my admiration
fell a little ; but yet it is a fine town. The streets are regular,
broad, clean, and kept in excellent order ; the houses are of a good
size, and the shops well furnished. It may be faithfully compared
to the large suburbs which stretch out from London and a few
other great towns in England ; but not even near London or
Birmingham is there an appearance of such rapid growth. The
number of large houses and other buildings just finished was truly
surprising ; nevertheless, every one complained of the high rents
and difficulty in procuring a house. Coming from South America, .
where in the towns every man of property is known, no one thing
surprised me more than not being able to ascertain at once to whom
this or that carriage belonged.

I hired a man and two horses to take me to Bathurst, a village
about one hundred and twenty miles in the interior, and the centre
of a great pastoral district. By this means I hoped to gain a
general idea of the appearance of the country. On the morning of
the IGth (January) I set out on my excursion. The first stage took
us to Paramatta, a small country town, next to Sydney in im-
portance. The roads were excellent, and made upon the MacAdam
principle, whiustone having been brought for the purpose from the
distance of several miles. In all respects there was a close re-
semblance to England : perhaps the alehouses here were more
numerous. The iron gangs, or parties of convicts who have
committed here some offence, appeared the least like England : they
were working in chains, under the charge of sentries with loaded
arms. The power which the government possesses, by means of
forced labour, of at once opening good roads throughout the
country, has been, I believe, one main cause of the early prosperity
of this colony. I slept at night at a very comfortable inn at Emu
ferry, thirty-five miles from Sydney, and near the ascent of the
Blue Mountains. This line of road is the most frequented, and has
been the longest inhabited of any in the colony. The whole land
is enclosed with high railings, for the farmers have not succeeded
in rearing hedges. There are many substantial houses and good
cottages scattered about ; but although considerable pieces of land
are under cultivation, the greater part yet remains as when first
discovered.

The extreme iiniformity of the vegetation is the most remarkable
feature in the landscape of the greater part of New South Wales.

416 NEW SOUTH WALES. [( HAP. xix.

Everywhere \ve have an open woodland, the ground being partially
covered with a very thin pasture, with little appearance of verdure.
The trees nearly all belong to one family, and mostly have their
leaves placed in a vertical, instead of, as in Europe, in a nearly
horizontal position : the foliage is scanty, and of a peculiar pale
great tint, without any gloss. Hence the woods appear light and
shadowless : this, although a loss of comfort to the traveller under
the scorching rays of summer, is of importance to the farmer, as it
allows grass to grow where it otherwise would not. The leaves are
not shed periodically : this character appears common to the entire
southern hemisphere, namely, South America, Australia, and the
Cape of Good Hope. The inhabitants of this hemisphere, and of
the intertropical regions, thus lose perhaps one of the most glorious,
though to our eyes common, spectacles in the world — the first
bursting into full foliage of the leafless tree. They may, however,
say that we pay dearly for this by having the land covered with
mere naked skeletons for so many months. This is too true ; but
our senses thus acquire a keen relish for the exquisite green of the
spring, which the eyes of those living within the tropics, sated
during the long year with the gorgeous productions of those glow-
ing climates, can never experience. The greater number of the
trees, with the exception of some of the Blue-gums, do not attain
a large size ; but they grow tall and tolerably straight, and stand
well apart. The bark of some of tho Eucalypti falls annually, or
hangs dead in long shreds which swing about with the wind, and
give to the woods a desolate and untidy appearance. I cannot
imagine a more complete contrast, in every respect, than between
the forests of Yaldivia or Chiloe, and the woods of Australia.
: At sunset, a party of a score of the black aborigines passed by,
each carrying, in their accustomed manner, a bundle of spears and
other weapons. By giving a leading yonng man a shilling, they
were easily detained, and threw their spears for my amusement.
They were all partly clothed, and several could speak a little
English : their countenances were good-humoured and pleasant, and
they appeared far from being such utterly degraded beings as they
have usually been represented. In their own arts they are admir-
able. A cap being fixed at thirty yards distance, they transfixed it
with a spear, delivered by the throwing-stick with the rapidity of an
arrow from the bow of a practised archer. In tracking animals or
men they show most wonderful sagacity; and I heard of several of

1836.] DECREASE OF THE ABORIGINES. 417

their remarks which manifested considerable acuteness. They will
not, however, cultivate the ground, or build houses and remain
stationary, or even take the trouble of tending a flock of sheep
when given to them. On the whole they appear to me to stand
some few degrees higher in the scale of civilization than the
Fuegians.

It is very curious thus to see iu the midst of a civilized people,
a set of harmless savages wandering about without knowing where
they shall sleep at night, and gaining their livelihood by hunting
in the woods. As the white man has travelled onwards, he has
spread over the country belonging to several tribes. These,
although thus enclosed by one common people, keep up their
ancient distinctions, and sometimes go to war with each other. In
an engagement which took place lately, the two parties most
singularly chose the centre of the village of Bathurst for the field
of battle. This was of service to the defeated side, for the runaway
warriors took refuge in the barracks.

The number of aborigines is rapidly decreasing. In my whole
ride, with the exception of some boys brought up by Englishmen,
I saw only one other party. This decrease, no doubt, must be
partly owing to the introduction of spirits, to European diseases
(even the milder ones of which, such as the measles,* prove very
destructive), and to the gradual extinction of the wild animals. It
is said that numbers of their children invariably perish in very
early infancy from the effects of their wandering life ; and as the
difficx;lty of procuring food increases, so must their wandering
habits increase ; and hence the population, without any apparent
deaths from famine, is repressed in a manner extremely sudden
compared to wrhat happens in civilized countries, where the father,
though in adding to his labour he may injure himself, does not
destroy his offspring.

Besides these several evident causes of destruction, there appears
to be some more mysterious agency generally at work. Wherever
the European has trod, death seems to pursue the aboriginal. We
may look to the wide extent of the Americas, Polynesia, the Cape

* It is remarkable how the same disease is modified in different climates.
At the little island of St. Helena, the introduction of scarlet-fever is
dreaded as a plague. In some countries, foreigners and natives are as
differently affected by certain contagious disorders, as if they had been
different animals ; of which fact some instances have occurred in Chile ;
and, according to Humboldt, in Mexico (Polit. Essay, New Spain, vol. iv.).

2 E

418 NEW SOUTH WALES. [CHAP. xix.

of Good Hope, and Australia, and we find the same result. Nor is
it the white man alone that thus acts the destroyer; the Polynesian
of Malay extraction has in parts of the East Indian archipelago,
thus driven before him the dark-coloured native. The varieties
of man seem to act on each other in the same way as different
species of animals— the stronger always extirpating the weaker. It
was melancholy at New Zealand to hear the fine energetic natives
saying, that they knew the land was doomed to pass from their
children. Every one has heard of the inexplicable reduction of the
population in the beautiful and healthy island of Tahiti since the
date of Captain Cook's voyages : although in that case we might
have expected that it would have been increased ; for infanticide,
which formerly prevailed to so extraordinary a degree, has ceased,
profligacy has greatly diminished, and the murderous wars become
less frequent.

The Eev. J. Williams, in his interesting work,* says, that the
first intercourse between natives and Europeans, "is invariably
attended with the introduction of fever, dysentery, or some other
disease, which carries off numbers of the people." Again he affirms,
" It is certainly a fact, which cannot be controverted, that most of
the diseases which have raged in the islands during my residence
there, have been introduced by ships ; t and what renders this fact

* Narrative of Missionary Enterprise, p. 282.

t Captain Beechey (chap, iv., vol. i.) states that the inhabitants of
Pitcairn Island are firmly convinced that after the arrival of every ship
they suffer cutaneous and other disorders. Captain Beechey attributes
this to the change of diet during the time of the visit. Dr. Macculloch
(Western Isles, vol. ii. p. 32) says, " It is asserted, that on the arrival of a
.stranger (at St. Kilda) all the inhabitants, in the common phraseology,
catch a cold." Dr. Macculloch considers the whole case, although often
previously affirmed, as ludicrous. He adds, however, that " the question
Avas put by us to the inhabitants who unanimously agreed in the story."
In Vancouver's Voyage, there is a somewhat similar statement with respect
to Otaheite. Dr. Dieffenbach, in a note to his translation of this Journal,
states that the same fact is universally believed by the inhabitants of the
Chatham Islands, and in parts of New Zealand. It is impossible that such
a belief should have become universal in the northern hemisphere, at the
Antipodes, and in the Pacific, without some good foundation. Humboldt
(Polit. Essay on King of New Spain, vol. iv.)says, that the great epidemics
at Panama and Callao are " marked " by the arrival of ships from Chile,
because the people from that temperate region, first experience the fatal
effects of the torrid zones. I may add, that I have heard it stated in
Shropshire, that sheep, which have been imported from vessels, although
themselves in a healthy condition, if placed in the same fold with others,
frequently produce sickness in the flock.

1836.] BLUE MOUNTAINS. 419

remarkable is, that there might be no appearance of disease among
the crew of the ship which conveyed this destructive importation."
This statement is not quite so extraordinary as it at first appears ;
for several cases are on record of the most malignant fevers having
broken out, although the parties themselves, who were the cause,
were not affected. In the early part of the reign of George III., a
prisoner who had been confined in a dungeon, was taken in a coach
with four constables before a magistrate ; and, although the man
himself was not ill, the four constables died from a short putrid
fever ; but the contagion extended to no others. From these facts
it would almost appear as if the effluvium of one set of men shut
tip for some time together was poisonous when inhaled by others ;
and possibly more so, if the men be of different races. Mysterious
as this circumstance appears to be, it is not more surprising than
that the body of one's fellow-creature, directly after death, and
before putrefaction has commenced, should often be of so deleterious
a quality, that the mere puncture from an instrument used in its
dissection, should prove fatal.

17th. — Early in the morning we passed the Nepean in a ferry-
boat. The river, although at this spot both broad and deep, had a
very small body of running water. Having crossed a low piece of
land on the opposite side, we reached the slope of the Blue Moun-
tains. The ascent is not steep, the road having been cut with much
care on the side of a sandstone cliff. On the summit an almost
level plain extends, which, rising imperceptibly to the westward, at
last attains a height of more than 3000 feet. From so grand a title
as Blue Mountains, and from their absolute altitude, I expected to
have seen a bold chain of mountains crossing the country; but
instead of this, a sloping plain presents merely an inconsiderable
front to the low land near the coast. From this first slope, the
view of the extensive woodland to the east was striking, and the
surrounding trees grew bold and lofty. But when once on the sand-
stone platform, the scenery becomes exceedingly monotonous ; each
side of the road is bordered by scrubby trees of the never-failing
Eucalyptus family ; and with the exception of two or three small
inns, there are no hoTises or cultivated land : the road, moreover, is
solitary ; the most frequent object being a bullock-waggon, piled
np with bales of wool.

In the middle of the day we baited our horses at a little inn,
called the Weatherboard. The country here is elevated 2800 feet

420 NEW SOUTH WALES. [CHAP. xix.

above the sea. About a mile and a half from this place there is a
view exceedingly well worth visiting. Following down a little
valley and its tiny rill of water, an immense gulf unexpectedly
opens through the trees which border the pathway, at the depth of
pephaps 1500 feet. Walking on a few yards, one stands on the
brink of a vast precipice, and below one sees a grand bay or gulf, for
I know not what other name to give it, thickly covered with forest.
The point of view is situated as if at the head of a bay, the line of cliff
diverging on each side, and showing headland behind headland, as
on a bold sea-coast. These cliffs are composed of horizontal strata
of whitish sandstone ; and are so absolutely vertical, that in many
places a person standing on the edge and throwing down a stone,
can see it strike the trees in the abyss below. So unbroken is the line
of cliff, that in order to reach the foot of the waterfall, formed by
this little stream, it is said to be necessary to go sixteen miles
round. About five miles distant in front, another line of cliff ex-
tends, which thus appears completely to encircle the valley; and
hence the name of bay is justified, as applied to this grand amphi-
theatrical depression. If we imagine a winding harbour, with its
deep water surrounded by bold cliff-like shores, to be laid dry, and
a forest to spring up on its sandy bottom, we should then have the
appearance and structure here exhibited. This kind of view was
to me quite novel, and extremely magnificent.

In the evening we reached the Blackheath. The sandstone
plateau has here attained the height of 3400 feet ; and is covered,
as before, with the same scrubby woods. From the road, there
were occasional glimpses into a profound valley, of the same
character as the one described ; but from the steepness and depth
of its sides, the bottom was scarcely ever to be seen. The Black-
heath is a very comfortable inn, kept by an old soldier; and it
reminded me of the small inns in North Wales.

18th.— Very early in the morning, I walked about three miles to
see Govett's Leap : a view of a similar character with that near the
Weatherboard, but perhaps even more stupendous. So early in
the day the gulf was filled with a thin blue haze, which, although
destroying the general effect of the view, added to the apparent
depth at which the forest was stretched out beneath our feet.
These valleys, which so long presented an insuperable barrier to
the attempts of the most enterprising of the colonists to reach the
interior, are most remarkable. Great arm-like bays, expanding at

1836.] GREAT VALLEYS. 421

their upper ends, often branch from the main valleys and penetrate
the sandstone platform; on the other hand, the platform often
sends promontories into the valleys, and even leaves in them great,
almost insulated, masses. To descend into some of these valleys, it
is necessary to go round twenty miles ; and into others, the sur-
veyors have only lately penetrated, and the colonists have not yet
been able to drive in their cattle. But the most remarkable feature
in their structure is, that although several miles wide at their
heads, they generally contract towards their mouths to such a
degree as to become impassable. The Surveyor-General, Sir T.
Mitchell,* endeavoured in vain, first walking and then by crawling
between the great fallen fragments of sandstone, to ascend through
the gorge by which the river Grose joins the Nepean ; yet the valley
of the Grose in its upper part, as I saw, forms a magnificent level
basin some miles in width, and is on all sides surrounded by cliffs,
the summits of which are believed to be nowhere less than 3000 feet
above the level of the sea. When cattle are driven into the valley
of the Wolgau by a path (which I descended), partly natural and
partly made by the owner of the land, they cannot escape ; for this
valley is in every other part surrounded by perpendicular cliffs,
and eight miles lower down, it contracts from an average width of
half a mile, to a mere chasm, impassable to man or beast. Sir T.
Mitchell states that the great valley of the Cox river with all its
branches, contracts, where it unites with the Nepean, into a gorge
2200 yards in width, and about 1000 feet in depth. Other similar
cases might have been added.

The first impression, on seeing the correspondence of the horizontal
strata on each side of these valleys and great amphitheatrical de-
pressions, is that they have been hollowed out, like other valleys,
by the action of water ; but when one reflects on the enormous
amount of stone, which on this view must have been removed
through mere gorges or chasms, one is led to ask whether these
spaces may not have subsided. But considering the form of the
irregularly branching valleys, and of the narrow promontories pro-
jecting into them from the platforms, we are compelled to abandon
this notion. To attribute these hollows to the present alluvial
action would be preposterous ; nor does the drainage from the

* Travels in Australia, vol. i., p. 154. I must express my obligation to
Sir T. Mitchell, for several interesting personal communications, on the
subject of these great valleys of New South Wales.

422 NEW SOUTH WALES. [ciur. xix.

summit-level always fall, as I remarked near the Weatherboard,
into the head of these valleys, but into one side of their bay-like
recesses. Some of the inhabitants remarked to rne that they never
viewed one of those bay-like recesses, with the headlands receding
on both hands, without being struck with their resemblance to a
bold sea-coast. This is certainly the case ; moreover, on the present
coast of New South Wales, the numerous, fine, widely-branching
harbours, which are generally connected with the sea by a narrow
mouth worn through the sandstone coast-cliffs, varying from one
mile in width to a quarter of a mile, present a likeness, though on
a miniature scale, to the great valleys of the interior. But then
immediately occurs the startling difficulty, why has the sea worn
out these great, though circumscribed depressions on a wide plat-
form, and left mere gorges at the openings, through which the
whole vast amount of triturated matter must have been carried
away? The only light I can throw upon this enigma, is by re-
marking that banks of the most irregular forms appear to be now
forming in some seas, as in parts of the West Indies and in the Red
Sea, and that their sides are exceedingly steep. Such banks, I have
been led to suppose, have been formed by sediment heaped by
strong currents on an irregular bottom. That in some cases the
sea, instead of spreading out sediment in a uniform sheet, heaps it
round submarine rocks and islands, it is hardly possible to doubt,
after examining the charts of the West Indies ; and that the waves
have power to form high and precipitous cliffs, even in land-locked
harbours, I have noticed in many parts of South America. To
apply these ideas to the sandstone platforms of New South Wales,
I imagine that the strata were heaped by the action of strong
currents, and of the undulations of an open sea, on an irregular
bottom ; and that the valley-like spaces thus left unfilled had their
steeply sloping flanks worn into cliffs, during a slow elevation of
the land; the worn-down sandstone being removed, either at the
time when the narrow gorges were cut by the retreating sea, or
.subsequently by alluvial action.

Soon after leaving the Blackheath, we descended from the sand-
stone platform by the pass of Mount Victoria. To effect this pass,
an enormous quantity of stone has been cut through ; the design,
and its manner of execution, being worthy of any line of road in
England. We now entered upon a country less elevated by nearly

1836.] KANGAROO-HUNTING. 423

a thousand feet, and consisting of granite. With the change of
rock, the vegetation improved ; the trees were both finer and stood
farther apart ; and the pasture between them was a little greener
and more plentiful. At Hassan's Walls, I left the high road, and
made a short detour to a farm called Walerawang ; to the superin-
tendent of which I had a letter of introduction from the owner in
Sydney. Mr. Browne had the kindness to ask me to stay the
ensuing day, which I had much pleasure in doing. This place
offers an example of one of the large farming, or rather sheep-
grazing, establishments of the colony. Cattle and horses arc, how-
ever, in this case "rather more numerous than usual, owing to some
of the valleys being swampy and producing a coarser pasture. Two
or three flat pieces of ground near the house were cleared and
cultivated with corn, which the harvest-men were now reaping :
but no more wheat is sown than sufficient for the annual support
of the labourers employed on the establishment. The usual number
of assigned convict-servants here is about forty, but at the present
time there were rather more. Although the farm was well stocked
with every necessary, there was an apparent absence of comfort ;
and not one single woman resided here. The sunset of a fine day
will generally cast an air of happy contentment on any scene ; but
here, at this retired farm-house, the brightest tints on the sur-
rounding woods could not make me forget that forty hardened,
profligate men were ceasing from their daily labours, like the slaves
from Africa, yet without their holy claim for compassion.

Early on the next morning, Mr. Archer, the joint superintendent,
had the kindness to take me out kangaroo-hunting. We continued
riding the greater part of the day, but had very bad sport, not
seeing a kangaroo, or even a wild dog. The greyhounds pursued
a kangaroo rat into a hollow tree, out of which we dragged it : it
is an animal as large as a rabbit, but with the figure of a kangaroo.
A few years since this country abounded with wild animals ; but
now the emu is banished to a long distance, and the kangaroo is
become scarce; to both the English greyhound has been highly
destructive. It may be long before these animals are altogether
exterminated, but their doom is fixed. The aborigines are always
anxious to borrow the dogs from the farm-houses : the use of them,
the offal when an animal is killed, and some milk from the cows,
are the peace-offerings of the settlers, who push farther and farther
towards the interior. The thoughtless aboriginal, blinded by these

424 NEW .SOUTH WALES. [CHAP. xix.

trifling advantages, is delighted at the approach of the white man,
who seems predestined to inherit the country of his children.

Although having poor sport, we enjoyed a pleasant ride. The
woodland is generally so open that a person on horseback can
gallop through it. It is traversed by a few flat-bottomed valleys,
which are green and free from trees: in such spots the scenery
was pretty like that of a park. In the whole country I scarcely
saw a place without the marks of a fire; whether these had
been more or less recent— whether the stumps were more or less
black, was the greatest change which varied the uniformity, so
wearisome to the traveller's eye. In these woods there are not
many birds ; I saw, however, some large flocks of the white cockatoo
feeding in a corn-field, and a few most beautiful parrots ; crows,
like our jackdaws were not xtncommon, and another bird something
like the magpie. In the dusk of the evening I took a stroll along
a chain of ponds, which in this dry country represented the course
of a river, and had the good fortune to see several of the famous
Ornithorhynchus paradoxus. They were diving and playing about
the surface of the water, but showed so little of their bodies, that
they might easily have been mistaken for water-rats. Mr. Browne
shot one : certainly it is a most extraordinary animal ; a stuffed
specimen does sot at all give a good idea of the appearance of
the head and beak when fresh ; the latter becoming hard and
contracted.*

'20th.— A long day's ride to Bathurst. Before joining the high-
road we followed a mere path through the forest ; and the country,
with the exception of a few squatters' huts, was very solitary. We
experienced this day the sirocco-like wind of Australia, which
comes from the parched deserts of the interior. Clouds of dust
were travelling in every direction ; and the wind felt as if it had
passed over a fire. I afterwards heard that the thermometer out
of doors had stood at 119°, and in a closed room at 96°. In the
afternoon we came in view of the downs of Bathurst. These undu-

* I was interested by Sliding liere the hollow conical pitfall of the lion-
ant, or some other insect ; first a fly fell down the treacherous slope and
immediately disappeared ; then came a large but unwary ant ; its struggles
to escape being very violent, those curious little jets of sand, described by
Kirby and Spence (Etomol., vol. i., p. 425) as being flirted by the insect's
tail, were promptly directed against the expected victim. But the ant
enjoyed a better fate than the fly, and escaped the fatal jaws which lay
concealed at the base of the conical hollow. This Australian pit-fall was
only about half the size of that made by the European lion-ant.

1836.] BATHURST. 425

lating but nearly smooth plains arc very remarkable in this
country, from being absolutely destitute of trees. They support
only a thin brown pasture. We rode some miles over this country,
and then reached the township of Bathurst, seated in the middle
of what may be called either a very broad valley, or narrow plain.
I was told at Sydney not to form too bad an opinion of Australia
by judging of the country from the road-side, nor too good a one from
Bathurst ; in this latter respect, I did not feel myself in the least
danger of being prejudiced. The season, it must be owned, had
been one of great drought, and the country did not wear a favour-
able aspect ; although I understand it was incomparably worse two
or three months before. The secret of the rapidly growing pros-
perity of Bathurst is, that the brown pasture which appears to the
stranger's eye so wretched, is excellent for sheep-grazing. The
town stands, at the height of 2200 feet above the sea, on the banks
of the Macquarie : this is one of the rivers flowing into the vast and
scarcely known interior. The line of watershed, which divides the
inland streams from those on the coast, has a height of about 3000
feet, and runs in a north and south direction at the distance of from
eighty to a hundred miles from the sea-side. The Macquarie
figures in the map as a respectable river, and it is the largest of
those draining this part of the water-shed ; yet to my surprise I
found it a mere chain of ponds, separated from each other by spaces
almost dry. Generally a small stream is running ; and sometimes
there are high and impetuous floods. Scanty as the supply of the
water is throughout this district, it becomes still scantier further
inland.

22nd. — I commenced my return, and followed a new road called
Lockyer's Line, along which the country is rather more hilly and
picturesque. This was a long clay's ride ; and the house where I
wished to sleep was some way off the road, and not easily found.
I met on this occasion, and indeed on all others, a very general and
ready civility among the lower orders, which, when one considers
what they are, and what they have been, would scarcely have been
expected. The farm where I passed the night, was owned by two
young men who had only lately come out, and were beginning a
settler's life. The total want of almost every comfort was not very
attractive ; but future and certain prosperity was before their eyes,
and that not far distant.

The next day we passed through large tracts of country in

426 NEW SOUTH WALES. [CHAP. xix.

flames, volumes of smoke sweeping across the road. Before noon
we joined our former road, and ascended Mount Victoria. I slept
at the Weatherboard, and before dark took another walk to the
amphitheatre. On the road to Sydney I spent a very pleasant
evening with Captain King atDunheved; and thus ended my little
excursion in the colony of New South Wales.

Before arriving here the three things which interested me most
were — the state of society amongst the higher classes, the condition
of the convicts, and the degree of attraction sufficient to induce
persons to emigrate. Of course, after so very short a visit, one's
opinion is worth scarcely anything; but it is as difficult not to
form some opinion, as it is to form a correct judgment. On the
whole, from what I heard, more than from what I saw, I was dis-
appointed in the state of society. The whole community is ran-
corously divided into parties on almost every subject. Among
those who, from their station in life, ought to be the best, many
live in such open profligacy that respectable people cannot associate
with them. There is much jealousy between the children of the
rich emancipist and the free settlers, the former being pleased to
consider honest men as interlopers. The whole population, poor
and rich, are bent on acquiring wealth : amongst the higher orders,
wool and sheep-grazing form the constant subject of conversation.
There are many serious drawbacks to the comforts of a family, the
chief of which, perhaps, is being surrounded by convict servants.
How thoroughly odious to every feeling, to be waited on by a man
who the day before, perhaps, was flogged, from your representation,
for some trifling misdemeanour. The female servants are of course,
much worse : hence children learn the vilest expressions, and it is
fortunate, if not equally vile ideas.

On the other hand, the capital of a person, without any trouble
on his part, produces him treble interest to what it will in Eng-
land; and with care he is sure to grow rich. The luxuries of
life are in abundance, and very little dearer than in England, and
most articles of food are cheaper. The climate is splendid, and
perfectly healthy ; but to my mind its charms are lost by the un-
inviting aspect of the country. Settlers possess a great advantage
in finding their sons of service when very young. At the age of
from sixteen to twenty, they frequently take charge of distant
farming stations. This, however, must happen at the expense of
their boys associating entirely with convict servants. I am not

1836.] STATE OF THE CONVICTS. 427

aware that the tone of society has assumed any peculiar character ;
but with such habits, and without intellectual pursuits, it can
hardly fail to deteriorate. My opinion is such, that nothing but
rather sharp necessity should compel me to emigrate.

The rapid prosperity and future- prospects of this colony are to
me, not understanding these subjects, very puzzling. The two
main exports are wool and whale-oil, and to both of these produc-
tions there is a limit. The country is totally unfit for canals,
therefore there is a not very distant point, beyond which the land-
carriage of wool will not repay the expense of shearing and tending
sheep. Pasture everywhere is so thin that settlers have already
pushed far into the interior : moreover, the country further inland
becomes extremely poor. Agriculture, on account of the droughts,
can never succeed on an extended scale : therefore, so far as I can
see, Australia must ultimately depend upon being the- centre of
commerce for the southern hemisphere, and perhaps on her future
manufactories. Possessing coal, she always has the moving power
at hand. From the habitable country extending along the coast,
and from her English extraction, she is sure to be a maritime
nation. I formerly imagined that Australia would rise to be as
grand and powerful a country as North America, but now it
appears to me that such future grandeur is rather problematical.

With respect to the state of the convicts, I had still fewer oppor-
tunities of judging than on the other points. The first question is,
whether their condition is at all one of punishment : no one will
maintain that it is a very severe one. This, however, I suppose, is
of little consequence as long as it continues to be an object of dread
to criminals at home. The corporeal wants of the convicts are
tolerably well supplied ; their prospect of future liberty and comfort
is not distant, and, after good conduct, certain. A " ticket of leave,"
which, as long as a man keeps clear of suspicion as well as of
crime, makes him free within a certain district, is given upon good
conduct, after years proportional to the length of the sentence ; yet
with all this, and overlooking the previous imprisonment and
wretched passage out, I believe the years of assignment are passed
away with discontent and unhappiness. As an intelligent man
remarked to me, the convicts know no pleasure beyond sensuality,
and in this they are not gratified. The enormous bribe which
Government possesses in offering free pardons, together with the
deep horror of the secluded penal settlements, destroys confidence

428 VAN DIEMEN'S LAND. [CHAP. xix.

between the convicts, and so prevents crime. As to a sense of
shame, such a feeling does not appear to be known, and of this I
witnessed some very singular proofs. Though it is a curious fact,
I was universally told that the character of the convict population
is one of arrant cowardice : not unfrequently some become desperate,
and quite indifferent as to life, yet a plan requiring cool or continued
courage is seldom put into execution. The worst feature in the
whole case is, that although there exists what may be called a legal
reform, and comparatively little is committed which the law can
touch, yet that any moral reform should take place appears to bo
quite out of the question. I was assured by well-informed people,
that a man who should try to improve, could not while living with
other assigned servants ;— his life would be one of intolerable misery
and persecution. Nor must the contamination of the convict-ships
and prisons, both here and in England, be forgotten. On the whole,
as a place of punishment, the object is scarcely gained ; as a real
system of reform it has failed, as perhaps would every other plan ;
but as a means of making men outwardly honest, — of converting
vagabonds, most useless in one hemisphere, into active citizens of
another, and thus giving birth to a new and splendid country — a
grand centre of civilization — it has succeeded to a degree perhaps
unparalleled in history.

30th. — The Beagle sailed for Hobart Town in Van Dieman's Laud.
On the 5th of February, after a six days' passage, of which the first
part was fine, and the latter very cold and squally, we entered the
mouth of Storm Bay : the weather justified this awful name. The
bay should rather be called an estuary, for it receives at its head
the waters of the Derwent. Near the mouth, there are some ex-
tensive basaltic platforms ; but higher up the land becomes moun-
tainous, and is covered by a light wood. The lower parts of the
hills which skirt the bay are cleared ; and the bright yellow fields
of corn, and dark green ones of potatoes, appear very luxuriant.
Late in the evening we anchored in the snug cove, on the shores of
which stands the capital of Tasmania. The first aspect of the place
was very inferior to that of Sydney ; the latter might be called a
city, this is only a town. It stands at the base of Mount Wellington,
a mountain 3100 feet high, but of little picturesque beauty: from
this source, however, it receives a good supply of water. Round
the cove there are some fine warehouses, and on one side a small

1836.] ABORIGINES. 429

fort. Coming from the Spanish settlements, where such magnificent
care has generally been paid to the fortifications, the means of
defence in these colonies appeared very contemptible. Comparing
the town with Sydney, I was chiefly struck with the comparative
fewness of the large houses, either built or building. Hobart Town,
from the census of 1835, contained 13,826 inhabitants, and the whole
of Tasmania 36,505.

All the aborigines have been removed to an island in Bass's
Straits, so that Van Diemen's Land enjoys the great advantage of
being free from a native population. This most cruel step seems to
have been quite unavoidable, as the only means of stopping a fearful
succession of robberies, burnings, and murders, committed by the
blacks ; and which sooner or later would have ended in their utter
destruction. I fear there is no doubt, that this train of evil and
its consequences, originated in the infamous conduct of some of our
countrymen. Thirty years is a short period, in which to have
banished the last aboriginal from his native island, — and that island
nearly as large as Ireland. The correspondence on this subject,
which took place between the government at home and that of Van
Diemen's Land, is very interesting. Although numbers of natives
were shot and taken prisoners in the skirmishing, which was going
on at intervals for several years ; nothing seems fully to have im-
pressed them with the idea of our overwhelming power, until the
whole island, in 1830, was put under martial law, and by procla-
mation the whole population commanded to assist in one great
attempt to secure the entire race. The plan adopted was nearly
similar to that of the great hunting-matches in India: a line was
formed reaching across the island, with the intention of driving
the natives into a cul-de-sac on Tasman's peninsula. The attempt
failed; the natives, having tied up their dogs, stole during one
night through the lines. This is far from surprising, when their
practised senses, and usual manner of crawling after wild animals
is considered. I have been assured that they can conceal them-
selves on almost bare ground, in a manner which until witnessed
is scarcely credible ; their dusky bodies being easily mistaken for
the blackened stumps which are scattered all over the country. I
was told of a trial between a party of Englishmen and a native, who.
was to stand in full view on the side of a bare hill ; if the English-
men closed their eyes for less than a minute, he would squat down,
and then they were never able to distinguish him from the sur-

430 VAN DIEMEN'S LAND. [CHAP. six.

rounding stumps. But to return to the hunting-match ; the natives
understanding this kind of warfare, were terribly alarmed, for they
at once perceived the power and numbers of the whites. Shortly
afterwards a party of thirteen belonging to two tribes came in ; and,
conscious of their unprotected condition, delivered themselves up
in despair. Subsequently by the intrepid exertions of Mr. Robinson,
an active and benevolent man, who fearlessly visited by himself the
most hostile of the natives, the whole were induced to act in a
similar manner. They were then removed to an island, where food
and clothes were provided them. Count Strzelecki states,* that " at
the epoch of their deportation in 1835, the number of natives
amounted to 210. In 1842, that is, after the interval of seven years,
they mustered only fifty-four individuals; and, while each family
of the interior of New South Wales, uncontaminated by contact
with the whites, swarms with children, those of Flinders' Island
had during eight years, an accession of only fourteen in number ! "

The Beagle stayed here ten days, and in this time I made several
pleasant little excursions, chiefly with the object of examining the
geological structure of the immediate neighbourhood. The main
points of interest consist, first in some highly fossiliferous strata,
belonging to the Devonian or Carboniferous period ; secondly, in
proofs of a late small rise of the land ; and lastly, in a solitary and
superficial patch of yellowish limestone or travertin, which contains
numerous impressions of leaves of trees, together with land-shells,
not now existing. It is not improbable that this one small quarry,
includes the only remaining record of the vegetation of Van
Diemen's Land during one former epoch.

The climate here is damper than in New South Wales, and henco
the land is more fertile. Agriculture flourishes: the cultivated
fields look well, and the gardens abound with thriving vegetables
and fruit-trees. Some of the farm-houses, situated in retired spots,
had a very attractive appearance. The general aspect of the vege-
tation is similar to that of Australia ; perhaps it is a little more
green and cheerful ; and the pasture between the trees rather more
abundant. One day I took a long walk on the side of the bay
opposite to the town : I crossed in a steamboat, two of which are
constantly plying backwards and forwards. The machinery of one
of these vessels was entirely manufactured in this colony, which,

* Physical Description of New South Wales ami Van Die-men's Land,
p. Ro4.

1836.] KING GEOBGE'S SOUND. 431

from its very foundation, then numbered only three and thirty
years ! Another day I ascended Mount Wellington ; I took with
me a guide, for I failed in a first attempt, from the thickness of the
wood. Our guide, however, was a stupid fellow, and conducted us
to the southern and damp side of the mountain, where the vegeta-
tion was very luxuriant ; and where the labour of the ascent, from
the number of rotten trunks, was almost as great as on a mountain
inTierra del Fuego or in Chiloe. It cost us five and a half hours
of hard climbing before we reached the summit. In may parts the
Eucalypti grew to a great size, and composed a noble forest. In
some of the dampest ravines, tree-ferns flourished in an extra-
ordinary manner ; I saw one which must have been at least twenty
feet high to the base of the fronds, and was in girth exactly six feet.
The fronds forming the most elegant parasols, produced a gloomy
shade, like that of the first hour of night. The summit of the
mountain is broad and flat, and is composed of huge angular masses
of naked greenstone. Its elevation is 3100 feet above the level of
the sea. The day was splendidly clear, and we enjoyed a most
extensive view ; to the north, the country appeared a mass of
wooded mountains, of about the same height with that on which
we were standing, and with an equally tame outline : to the south
the broken land and water, forming many intricate bays, was
mapped with clearness before us. After staying some hours on
the summit, we found a better way to descend, but did not reach
the Beagle till eight o'clock, after a severe day's work.

February 7th. — The Beagle sailed from Tasmania, and, on the 6th
of the ensuing month, reached King George's Sound, situated close
to the S.W. corner of Australia. We stayed there eight days ; and
we did not during our voyage pass a more dull and uninteresting-
time. The country, viewed from an eminence, appears a woody
plain, with here and there rounded and partly bare hills of granite
protruding. One day I went out with a party, in hopes of seeing a
kangaroo hunt, and walked over a good many miles of country.
Everywhere we found the soil sandy, and very poor ; it supported
either a coarse vegetation of thin, low brushwood and wiry grass,
or a forest of stunted trees. The scenery resembled that of the
high sandstone platform of the Blue Mountains ; the Casuarina (a
tree somewhat resembling a Scotch fir) is, however, here in greater
number, and the Eucalyptus in rather less. In the open parts
there were many grass-trees,— a plant which, in appearance, has

432 KING GEORGE'S SOUND. [CHAP. xix.

some affinity with the palm ; but, instead of being surmounted by
a crown of noble fronds, it can boast merely of a tuft of very coarse
grass-like leaves. The general bright green colour of the brush-
wood and other plants, viewed from a distance, seemed to promise
fertility. A single walk, however, was enough to dispel such an
illusion ; and he who thinks with me will never wish to walk again
in so uninviting a country.

One day I accompanied Captain Fitz Roy to Bald Head ; the
place mentioned by so many navigators, where some imagined
that they saw corals, and others that they saw petrified trees,
standing in the position in which they had grown. According to
our view, the beds have been formed by the wind having heaped
up fine sand, composed of minute rounded particles of shells and
corals, during which process branches and roots of trees, together
with many land-shells, became enclosed. The whole then became
consolidated by the percolation of calcareous matter; and the
cylindrical cavities left by the decaying of the wood, were thus
also filled up with a hard pseudo-stalactitical stone. The weather
is now wearing away the softer parts, and in consequence the hard
casts of the roots and branches of the trees project above the
surface, and, in a singularly deceptive manner, resemble the stumps
of a dead thicket.

A large tribe of natives, called the White Cockatoo men, hap-
pened to pay the settlement a visit while we were there. These
men, as well as those of the tribe belonging to King George's
Sound, being tempted by the offer of some tubs of rice and sugar,
were persuaded to hold a " corrobery," or great dancing-party. As
soon as it grew dark, small fires were lighted, and the men com-
menced their toilet, which consisted in painting themselves white
in spots and lines. As soon as all was ready, large fires were kept
blazing, round which the women and children were collected as
spectators ; the Cockatoo and King George's men formed two
distinct parties, and generally danced in answer to each other.
The dancing consisted in their running either sideways or in
Indian file into an open space, and stamping the ground with great
force as they marched together. Their heavy footsteps were
accompanied by a kind of grunt, by beating their clubs and spears
together, and by various other gesticulations, such as extending
their arms and wriggling their bodies. It was a most rude,
barbarous scene, and, to our ideas, without any sort of meaning ;

1836.] COEEOBEEY, OH NATIVE DANCE. 433

but we observed that the black women and children watched it
with the greatest pleasure. Perhaps these dances originally
represented actions, such as wars and victories; there was one
called the Emu dance, in which each man extended his arm in a
bent manner, like the neck of that bird. In another dance, one
man imitated the movements of a kangaroo grazing in the woods,
whilst a second crawled up, and pretended to spear him. When
both tribes mingled in the dance, the ground trembled with the
heaviness of their steps, and the air resounded with their wild
cries. Every one appeared in high spirits, and the group of nearly
naked figures, viewed by the light of the blazing fires, all moving
in hideous harmony, formed a perfect display of a festival amongst
the lowest barbarians. In Tierra del Fuego, wo have beheld many
curious scenes in savage life, but never, I think, one where the
natives were in such high spirits, and so perfectly at their ease.
After the dancing was over, the whole party formed a great circle
on the ground, and the boiled rice and sugar was distributed, to the
delight of all.

After several tedious delays from clouded weather, on the 14th
of March, we gladly stood out of King George's Sound on our
course to Keeling Island. Farewell, Australia ! you are a rising
child, and doubtless some day will reign a great princess in the
South : but you are too great and ambitious for affection, yet not
great enough for respect. I leave your shores without sorrow or
regret.

434 KEELING ISLAND. [CHAP. xx.

CHAPTER XX.

KEELING ISLAND :— CORAL FORMATIONS.

Keeling Island— Singular appearance— Scanty Flora— Transport of Seeds
— Birds and Insects— Ebbing and flowing Springs— Fields of dead
.Coral— Stones transported iii the roots of Trees— Great Crab— Stinging
Corals — Coral-eating Fish — Coral Formations — Lagoon Islands, or
Atolls— Depth at which reef-building Corals can live — Vast Areas in-
terspersed with low Coral Islands — Subsidence of their foundations—
Bariier Reefs — Fringing Reefs— Conversion of Fringing Reefs into
Barrier Reefs, and into Atolls — Evidence of changes iu Level —
Breaches in Barrier Reefs — Maldiva Atolls ; their peculiar structure —
Dead :md submerged Reefs — Areas of subsidence and elevation — Dis-
tribution of Volcanoes — Subsidence slow, and vast in amount.

April 1st. — We arrived in view of the Keeling or Cocos Islands,
situated in the Indian Ocean, and about six hundred miles distant
from the coast of Sumatra. This is one of the lagoon-islands (or
atolls) of coral formation, similar to those in the Low Archipelago
which we passed near. When the ship was in the channel at the
entrance, Mr. Liesk, an English resident, came off in his boat.
The history of the inhabitants of this place, in as few words as
possible, is as follows. About nine years ago, Mr. Hare, a worth-
less character, brought from the East Indian archipelago a number
of Malay slaves, which now, including children, amount to more
than a hundred. Shortly afterwards, Captain Ross, who had before
visited these islands in his merchant-ship, arrived from England,
bringing with him his family and goods for settlement : along with
him came Mr. Liesk, who had been a mate in his vessel. The
Malay slaves soon ran away from the islet on which Mr. Hare was
settled, and joined Captain Boss's party. Mr. Hare upon this was
ultimately obliged to leave the place.
The Malays are now nominally in a state of freedom, and cer-

1836.] SINGULAR APPEARANCE. 435

tainly arc so, as far as regards their personal treatment ; but iri
most other points they are considered as slaves. From their dis-
contented state, from the repeated removals from islet to islet, and
perhaps also from a little mismanagement, things are not very
prospeimis. The island has no domestic quadruped, excepting the
pig, and the main vegetable production is the cocoa-nut. The
whole prosperity of the place depends on this tree: the only
exports being oil from the nut, and the nuts themselves, which are
taken to Singapore and Mauritius, where they are chiefly used,
when grated, in making curries. On the cocoa-nut, also, the pigs,
which are loaded with fat, almost entirely subsist, as do the ducks
and poultry. Even a huge laud-crab is furnished by nature with
the means to open and feed on this most useful production.

The ring-formed reef of the lagoon-island is surmounted in
the greater part of its length by linear islets. On the northern
or leeward side, there is an opening through which vessels can
pass to the anchorage within. On entering, the scene was very
curious and rather pretty; its beauty, however, entirely de-
pended on the brilliancy of the surrounding colours. The shallow,
clear, and still water of the lagoon, resting in its greater part on
white sand, is, when illumined by a vertical sun, of the most
vivid green. This brilliant expanse, several miles in width, is
on all sides divided, either by a line of snow-white breakers from
the dark heaving waters of the ocean, or from the blue vault of
heaven by the strips of land, crowned by the level tops of the
cocoa-nut trees. As a white cloud here and there affords a pleasing
contrast with the azure sky, so in the lagoon, bands of living coral
darken the emerald green water.

The next morning after anchoring, I went on shore on Direction
Island. The strip of dry land is only a few hundred yards in
width ; on the lagoon side there is a white calcareous beach, the
radiation from which under this sultry climate was very oppressive ;
and on the outer coast, a solid broad flat of coral-rock served to
break the violence of the open sea. Excepting near the lagoon,
where there is some sand, the land is entirely composed of rounded
fragments of coral. In such a loose, dry, stony soil, the climate of
the intertropical regions alone could produce a vigorous vegetation.
On some of the smaller islets, nothing could be more elegant than
the manner in which the young and full-grown cocoa-nut trees,
without destroying each other's symmetry, were mingled into one

436 KEELING ISLAND. [CHAI-. xx.

wood. A beach of glittering white sand formed a border to these
fairy spots.

I will now give a sketch of the natural history of these islands,
which, from its very paucity, possesses a peculiar interest. The
cocoa-nut tree, at the first glance, seems to compose the whole
wood; there are, however, five or six other trees. One of these
grows to a very large size, but, from the extreme softness of its
wood, is useless; another sort affords excellent timber for ship-
building. Besides the trees, the number of plants is exceedingly
limited, and consists of insignificant weeds. In my collection,
which includes, I believe, nearly the perfect Flora, there are twenty
species, without reckoning a moss, lichen, and fungus. To this
number two trees must be added ; one of which was not in flower,
and the other I only heard of. The latter is a solitary tree of its
kind, and grows near the beach, where, without doubt, the one
seed was thrown up by the waves. A Guilandina also grows on
only one of the islets. I do not include in the above list the sugar-
cane, banana, some other vegetables, fruit-trees, and imported
grasses. As the islands consist entirely of coral, and at one time
must have existed as mere water-washed reefs, all their terrestrial
productions must have been transported here by the waves of the
sea. In accordance with this, the Florula has quite the character
of a refuge for the destitute : Professor Henslow informs rne that of
the twenty species nineteen belong to different genera, and these
again to no less than sixteen families ! *

In Holman's t Travels an account is given, on the authority of
Mr. A. S. Keating, who resided twelve months on these islands, of
the various seeds and other bodies which have been known to have
been washed on shore. " Seeds and plants from Sumatra and Java
have been driven up by the surf on the windward side of the
islands. Among them have been found the Kimiri, native of
Sumatra and the peninsula of Malacca; the cocoa-nut of Balci,
known by its shape and size ; the Dadass, which is planted by the
Malays with the pepper-vine, the latter intwining round its trunk,
and supporting itself by the prickles on its stem ; the soap-tree ; the
castor-oil plant ; trunks of the sago palm ; and various kinds of seeds
unknown to the Malays settled on the islands. These are all sup-

* These plants are described in the Anuals of Nat. Hist., vol. i., 1838.
p. 337.
t Holman's Travels, vol. iv. p. 378.

1836.] SEEDS TRANSPORTED BY THE SEA. 437

posed to have been driven by the N.W. monsoon to the coast of
New Holland, and thence to these islands by the S.E. trade-wind.
Large masses of Java teak and Yellow wood have also been found,
besides immense trees of red and white cedar, and the blue gum-
wood of New Holland, in a perfectly sound condition. All the
hardy seeds, such as creepers, retain their germinating power, but
the softer kinds, among which is the mangostin, are destroyed in
the passage. Fishing-canoes, apparently from Java, have at times
been washed on shore." It is interesting thus to discover how
numerous the seeds are, which, coming from several countries, are
drifted over the wide ocean. Professor Henslow tells me, he
believes that nearly all the plants which I brought from these
islands, are common littoral species in the East Indian archipelago.
From the direction, however, of the winds and currents, it seems
scarcely possible that they could have come here in a direct lino.
If, as suggested with much probability by Mr. Keating, they were
first carried towards the coast of New Holland, and thence drifted
back together with the productions of that country, the seeds,
before germinating, must have travelled between 1800 and 2400
miles.

Chamisso,* when describing the Uadack Archipelago, situated in
the western part of the Pacific/states that " the sea brings to these
islands the seeds and fruits of many trees, most of which have yet
not grown here. The greater part of these seeds appear to have
not yet lost the capability of growing." It is also said that palms
and bamboos from somewhere in the torrid zone, and trunks of
northern firs, are washed on shore : these firs must have come from
an immense distance. These facts are highly interesting. It
cannot be doubted that if there were land-birds to pick up the
seeds when first cast on shore, and a soil better adapted for their
growth than the loose blocks of coral, that the most isolated of the
lagoon-islands would in time possess a far more abundant Flora
than they now have.

The list of land animals is even poorer than that of the plants.
Some of the islets are inhabited by rats, which were brought in
a ship from the Mauritius, wrecked here. These rats are con-
sidered by Mr. "\Vaterhouse as identical with the English kind,
but they are smaller, and more brightly coloured. There are no
true land-birds ; for a snipe and a rail (Rallus Phillippensis), though
* Kotzebue's First Voyage, vol. iii. p. 155.

438 KEELING ISLAND. [CHAP. xx.

living entirely in the dry herbage, belong to the order of Waders.
Birds of this order are said to occur on several of the small low
islands in the Pacific. At Ascension, where there is no land-bird,
a rail (Porphyrio simplex) was shot near the summit of the moun-
tain, and it was evidently a solitary straggler. At Tristan
d'Acunha, where, according to Carmichael, there are only two
land-birds, there is a coot. From these facts I believe that the
waders, after the innumerable web-footed species, are generally the
first colonists of small isolated islands. I may add, that whenever
I noticed birds, not of oceanic species, very far out at sea, they
always belonged to this order; and hence they would naturally
become the earliest colonists of any remote point of land.

Of reptiles I saw only one small lizard. Of insects I took pains
to collect every kind. Exclusive of spiders, which were numerous,
there were thirteen species.* Of these, one only was a beetle. A
small ant swarmed by thousands under the loose dry blocks of
coral, and was the only true insect which was abundant. Although
the productions of the land are thus scanty, if we look to the
waters of the surrounding sea, the number of organic beings is
indeed infinite. Charnisso has described t the natural history of a
lagoon-island in the Radack Archipelago ; and it is remarkable how
closely its inhabitants, in number and kind, resemble those of
Keeling Island. There is one lizard and two waders, namely, a
snipe and curlew. Of plants there are nineteen species, includ-
ing a fern; and some of these are the same with those growing
here, though on a spot so immensely remote, and in a different
ocean.

The long strips of land, forming the linear islets, have been
raised only to that height to which the surf can throw fragments
of coral, and the wind heap up calcareous sand. The solid flat
of coral rock on the outside, by its breadth, breaks the first violence
of the waves, which otherwise, in a day, would sweep away these
islets and all their productions. The ocean and the land seem here
struggling for mastery : although terra firma has obtained a foot-
ing, the denizens of the water think their claim at least equally

* The thirteen species belong to the following orders : — In the Coleoplera,
a minute Elater ; OrtJwptera, a Gryllus and a Blatta ; Hemiptera, one spe-
cies; Homoptera, two; Neuroptira, a Chrysopa ; Hymenoptera, two ants;
Lepidoptera nocturna, a Dio^sen, and a Pterophorus (?) ; Diptera, two
species.

t Kotzebue's First Voyage, vol. iii. p. 222.

1836.] THE SETTLEMENT. 439

good. In every part one meets hermit crabs of more than one
species,* carrying on their backs the shells which they have stolen
from the neighbouring beach. Overhead, numerous gannets,
frigate-birds, and terns, rest on the trees ; and the wood, from the
many nests and from the smell of the atmosphere, might be called
a sea-rookery. The gannets, sitting on their rude nests, gaze at
one with a stupid yet angry air. The noddies, as their name
expresses, are silly little creatures. Bat there is one charming
bird : it is a small snow-white tern, which smoothly hovers at the
distance of a few feet above one's head, its large black eye scan-
ning, with quiet curiosity, your expression. Little imagination is
required to fancy that so light and delicate a body must be tenanted
by some wandering fairy spirit.

Sunday, April 3rd. — After service I accompanied Captain Fitz
Roy to the settlement, situated at the distance of some miles, on
the point of an islet thickly covered with tall cocoa-nut trees,
Captain Ross and Mr. Liesk live in a large barn-like house open at
both ends, and lined with mats made of woven bark. The houses
of the Malays are arranged along the shore of the lagoon. The
whole place had rather a desolate aspect, for there were no gardens
to show the signs of care and cultivation. The natives belong to
different islands in the East Indian archipelago, bitt all speak the
same language : we saw the inhabitants of Borneo, Celebes, Java,
and Sumatra. In colour they resemble the Tahitians, from whom
they do not widely differ in features. Some of the women, however,
show a good deal of the Chinese character. I liked both their
general expressions and the sound of their voices. They appeared
poor, and their houses were destitute of furniture; but it was
evident, from the plumpness of the little children, that cocoa-nuts
and turtle afford no bad sustenance.

On this island the wells are situated, from which ships obtain
water. At first sight it appears not a little remarkable that the
fresh water should regularly ebb and flow with the tides ; and it
has even been imagined, that sand has the power of filtering the
salt from the sea-water. These ebbing wells are common on some

* The large claws or pincers of some of these crabs are most beautifully
adapted, when drawn back, to form an operculum to the shell, nearly as
perfect as the proper one originally belonging to the molluscous animal. I
was assured, and as far as my observation went I found it so, that certain
species of the hermit-crabs always use certain species of shells.

410 KEELING ISLAND. [CHAP. xx.

of the low islands in the West Indies. The compressed sand, or
porous coral rock, is permeated like a sponge with the salt water ;
but the rain which falls on the surface must sink to the level of the
surrounding sea, and must accumulate there, displacing an equal
bulk of the salt water. As the water in the lower part of the great
sponge-like coral mass rises and falls with the tides, so will the
water near the surface ; and this will keep fresh, if the mass be
sufficiently compact to prevent much mechanical admixture ; but
where the land consists of great loose blocks of coral with open
interstices, if a well be dug, the water, as I have seen, is brackish.

After dinner we stayed to see a curious half superstitious scene
acted by the Malay women. A large wooden spoon dressed in
garments, and which had been carried to the grave of a dead man,
they pretend becomes inspired at the full of the moon, and will
dance and jump about. After the proper preparations, the spoon,
held by two women, became convulsed, and danced in good time to
the song of the surrounding children and women. It was a most
foolish spectacle; but Mr. Liesk maintained that many of the
Malays believed in its spiritual movements. The dance did not
commence till the moon had risen, and it was well worth remaining
to behold her bright orb so quietly shining through the long arms
of the cocoa-nut trees as they waved in the evening breeze. These
scenes of the tropics are in themselves so delicious, that they almost
equal those dearer ones at home, to which we are bound by each
best feeling of the mind.

The next day I employed myself in examining the very interest-
ing, yet simple structure and origin of these islands. The water
being unusually smooth, I waded over the outer flat of dead rock
as far as the living mounds of coral, on which the swell of the open
sea breaks. In some of the gullies and hollows there were beautiful
green and other coloured fishes, and the form and tints of many of
the zoophytes were admirable. It is excusable to grow enthusiastic
over the infinite numbers of organic beings with which the sea of
the tropics, so prodigal of life, teems ; yet I must confess I think
those naturalists who have described, in well-known words, the
submarine grottoes decked with a thousand beauties, have indulged
in rather exuberant language.

April 6th.— I accompanied Captain Fitz Eoy to an island at the
head of the lagoon : the channel was exceedingly intricate, winding
through fields of delicately branched corals. AVe saw several turtle

1836.] FIELDS OF DEAD CORAL. 441

and two boats were then employed in catching them. The water
was so clear and shallow, that although at first a turtle quickly
dives out of sight, yet in a canoe or boat under sail, the pursuers
after no very long chase come up to it. A man standing ready in
the bow, at this moment dashes through the water upon the turtle's
back ; then clinging with both hands by the shell of its neck, he is
carried away till the animal becomes exhausted and is secured. It
was quite an interesting chase to see the two boats thus doubling
about, and the men dashing head foremost into the water trying to
seize their prey. Captain Moresby informs me that in the Chagos
archipelago in this same ocean, the natives, by a horrible process,
take the shell from the back of the living turtle. " It is covered
with burning charcoal, which causes the outer shell to curl up-
wards ; it is then forced off with a knife, and before it becomes cold
flattened between boards. After this barbarous process the animal
is suffered to regain its native element, where, after a certain time,
a new shell is formed ; it is, however, too thin to be of any service,
and the animal always appears languishing and sickly."

When we arrived at the head of the lagoon, we crossed a narrow
islet, and found a great surf breaking on the windward coast. I
can hardly explain the reason, but there is to my mind much
grandeur in the view of the outer shores of these lagoon-islands.
There is a simplicity in the barrier-like beach, the margin of green
bushes and tall cocoa-nuts, the solid flat of dead coral-rock, strewed
here and there with great loose fragments, and the line of furious
breakers, all rounding away towards either hand. The ocean
throwing its waters over the broad reef appears an invincible, all-
powerful enemy ; yet we see it resisted, and even conquered, by
moans which at first seem most weak and inefficient. It is not that
the ocean spares the rock of coral ; the great fragments scattered
over the reef, and heaped on the beach, whence the tall cocoa-nut
springs, plainly bespeak the unrelenting power of the waves. Nor
are any periods of repose granted. The long swell caused by the
gentle but steady action of the trade-wind, always blowing in one
direction over a wide area, causes breakers, almost equalling in force
those during a gale of wind in the temperate regions, and which
never cease to rage. It is impossible to behold these waves without
feeling a conviction that an island, though built of the hardest rock,
let it be porphyry, granite, or quartz, would ultimately yield and
be demolished by such an irresistible power. Yet these low, insig-

442 KEELING ISLAND. [CHAP. xx.

nificant coral-islets stand and are victorious : for here another
power, as an antagonist, takes part in the contest. The organic
forces separate the atoms of carbonate of lime, one by one, from the
foaming breakers, and unite them into a symmetrical structure.
Let the hurricane tear up its thousand huge fragments ; yet what
will that tell against the accumulated labour of myriads of archi-
tects at work night and day, month after month ? Thus do we see
the soft and gelatinous body of a polypus, through the agency of
the vital laws, conquering the great mechanical power of the waves
of an ocean which neither the art of man nor the inanimate works
of nature could successfully resist.

We did not return on board till late in the evening, for we stayed
a long time in the lagoon, examining the fields of coral and the
gigantic shells of the chama, into which, if a man were to put his
hand, he would not, as long as the animal lived, be able to with-
draw it. Near the head of the lagoon, I was much surprised to
find a wide area, considerably more than a mile square, covered
with a forest of delicately branching corals, which, though standing
upright, were all dead and rotten. At first I was quite at a loss to
understand the cause ; afterwards it occurred to me that it was
owing to the following rather curious combination of circumstances.
It should, however, first be stated, that corals are not able to
survive even a short exposure in the air to the sun's rays, so that
their upward limit of growth is determined by that of lowest water
at spring tides. It appears, from some old charts, that the long
island to windward was formerly separated by wide channels into
several islets; this fact is likewise indicated by the trees being
younger on these portions. Under the former condition of the reef,
a strong breeze, by throwing more water over the barrier, would
tend to raise the level of the lagoon. Now it acts in a directly con-
trary manner; for the water within the lagoon not only is not
increased by currents from the outside, but is itself blown outwards
by the force of the wind. Hence it is observed, that the tide near
the head of the lagoon does not rise so high during a strong breeze
as it does when it is calm. This difference of level, although no
doubt very small, has, I believe, caused the deatli of those coral-
groves, which under the former and more open condition of the
outer reef had attained the utmost possible limit of upward growth.
A few miles north of Keeling there is another small atoll, the
lagoon of which is nearly filled up with coral-mud. Captain Ross

1836.] STONES TRANSPORTED BY TREES. 443

found embedded in the conglomerate on the outer coast, a well-
rounded fragment of greenstone, rather larger than a man's head :
he and the men with him were so much surprised at this, that
they brought it away and preserved it as a curiosity. The oc-
currence of this one stone, where every other particle of matter is
calcareous, certainly is very puzzling. The island has scarcely
ever been visited, nor is it probable that a ship had: been wrecked
there. From the absence of any better explanation, I came to the
conclusion that it must have come entangled in the roots of some
large tree : when, however, I considered the great distance from the
nearest land, the combination of chances against a stone thus
being entangled, the tree washed into the sea, floated so far, then
landed safely, and the stone finally so embedded as to allow of its
discovery, I was almost afraid of imagining a means of transport
apparently so improbable. It was therefore with great interest that
I found Chamisso, the justly distinguished naturalist who accom-
panied Kotzebue, stating that the inhabitants of the Eadack
archipelago, a group of lagoon-islands in the midst of the Pacific,
obtained stones for sharpening their instruments by searching the
roots of trees which are cast upon the beach. It will be evident
that this must have happened several times, since laws have been
established that such stones belong to the chief, and a punishment
is inflicted on any one who attempts to steal them. When the
isolated position of these small islands in the midst of a vast
ocean — their great distance from any land excepting that of coral
formation, attested by the value which the inhabitants, who are
such bold navigators, attach to a stone of any kind,* — and the
slowness of the currents of the open sea, are all considered, the
occurrence of pebbles thus transported does appear wonderful.
Stones may often be thus carried ; and if the island on which they
are stranded is constructed of any other substance besides coral,
they would scarcely attract attention, and their origin at least
would never be guessed. Moreover, this agency may long escape
discovery from the probability of trees, especially those loaded with
stones, floating beneath the surface. In the channels of Tierra del
Fuego large quantities of drift timber are cast upon the beach, yet
it is extremely rare to meet a tree swimming on the water. These
facts may possibly throw light on single stones, whether angular

* Some natives carried by Kotzebue to Kamtschatk.i collected stones to
take back to their country.

KEELING ISLAND. [CHAP. xx.

or rounded, occasionally found embedded in fine sedimentary
masses.

During another day I visited West Islet, on which the vegetation
was perhaps more luxuriant than on any other. The cocoa-nut
trees generally grow separate, but here the young ones flourished
beneath their tall parents, and formed with their long and curved
fronds the most shady arbours. Those alone who have tried it,
know how delicious it is to be seated in such shade, and drink the
cool pleasant fluid of the cocoa-nut. In this island there is a large
bay-like space, composed of the finest white sand : it is quite level
and is only covered by the tide at high water; from this large
bay smaller creeks penetrate the surrounding woods. To see a
field of glittering white sand, representing water, with the cocoa-
nut trees extending their tall and waving trunks round the margin,
formed a singular and very pretty view.

I have before alluded to a crab which lives on the cocoa-nuts :
it is very common on all parts of the dry land, and grows to a
monstrous size : it is closely allied or identical with the Birgos
latro. The front pair of legs terminate in very strong and heavy
pincers, and the last pair are fitted with others weaker and much
narrower. It would at first be thought quite impossible for a crab
to open a strong cocoa-nut covered with the busk; but Mr. Liesk
assures me that he has repeatedly seen this effected. The crab
begins by tearing the husk, fibre by fibre, and always from that
end iinder which the three eye-holes are situated; when this is
completed, the crab commences hammering with its heavy claws
on one of the eye-holes till an opening is made. Then turning
round its body, by the aid of its posterior and narrow pair of
pincers, it extracts the white albuminous substance. I think this
is as curious a case of instinct as ever I heard, of, and likewise of
adaptation in structure between two objects apparently so remote
from each other in the scheme of nature, as a crab and a cocoa-nut
tree. The Birgos is diurnal in its habits; but every night it is
said to pay a visit to the sea, no doubt for the purpose of moistening
its branchise. The young are likewise hatched, and live for some
time, on the coast. These crabs inhabit deep burrows, which
they hollow out beneath the roots of trees; and where they
accumulate surprising quantities of the picked fibres of the cocoa-
nut husk, on which they rest as on a bed. The Malays sometimes
take advantage of this, and collect the fibrous mass to use as junk.

1836.] STINGING CORALS.

These crabs are very good to eat; moreover, under the tail of the
larger ones there is a great mass of fat, which, when melted, some-
times yields as much as a quart bottle full of limpid oil. It has
been stated by some authors that the Birgos crawls up the cocoa-
nut trees for the purpose of stealing the nuts : I very much doubt
the possibility of this ; but with the Pandanus * the task would be
very much easier. I was told by Mr. Liesk that on these islands
the Birgos lives only on the nuts which have fallen to the ground.

Captain Moresby informs me that this crab inhabits the Chagos
and Seychelle groups, but not the neighbouring Maldiva archipelago.
It formerly abounded at Mauritius, but only a few small ones arc
now found there. In the Pacific, this species, or one with closely
allied habits, is saidt to inhabit a single coral island, north of the
Society group. To show the wonderful strength of the front pair
of pincers, I may mention, that Captain Moresby confined one in a
strong tin-box, which had held biscuits, the lid being secured with
wire; but the crab turned down the edges and escaped. In turn-
ing down the edges, it actually punched many small holes quite
through the tin !

I was a good deal surprised by finding two species of coral of the
genus Millepora (M. complanata and alcicornis), possessed of the
power of stinging. The stony branches or plates, when take a
fresh from the water, have a harsh feel and are not slimy, although
possessing a strong and disagreeable smell. The stinging property
seems to vary in different specimens : when a piece was pressed or
rubbed on the tender skin of the face or arm, a pricking sensation
was usually caused, which came on after the interval of a second,
and lasted only for a few minutes. One day, however, by merely
touching my face with one of the branches, pain was instan-
taneously caused ; it increased as usual after a few seconds, and
remaining sharp for some minutes, was perceptible for half an hour
afterwards. The sensation was as bad as that from a nettle, but
more like that caused by the Physalia or Portuguese man-of-war.
Little red spots were produced on the tender skin of the arm,
which appeared as if they would have formed watery pustules, but
did not. M. Quoy mentions this case of the Millepora ; and I have
heard of stinging corals in the West Indies. Many marine animals
seem to have this power of stinging : besides the Portuguese man-

* Sec Proceedings of Zoological Society, 1832, p. 17.
t Tyerman and Bennett. Voyage, etc., vol. ii., p. 33.

446 KEELING ISLAND. [« HAP. xx.

of-wjir, many jelly-fish, and the Aplysia or sea-slug of the Capo cle
Vcrd Islands, it is stated in the voyage of the Astrolabe, that an
Actinia or sea-anemone, as well as a flexible coralline allied to
Sertularia, both possess this means of offence or defence. In the
East Indian sea, a stinging sea-weed is said to be found.

Two species of fish, of the genus Scarus, which are common
here, exclusively feed on coral : both are coloured of a splendid
bluish-green, one living invariably in the lagoon, and the other
amongst the outer breakers. Mr. Liesk assured us, that he had
repeatedly seen whole shoals grazing with their strong bony jaws
on the tops of the coral branches: I opened the intestines of
several, and found them distended with yellowish calcareous
sandy mud. The slimy disgusting Holuthuria (allied to our
star-fish), which the Chinese gourmands are so fond of, also feed
largely, as I am informed by Dr. Allan, on corals ; and the bony
apparatus within their bodies seems well adapted for this end.
These Holuthuriic, the fish, the numerous burrowing shells, and
nereidous worms, which perforate every block of dead coral, must
be very efficient agents in producing the fine white mud which lies
at the bottom and on the shores of the lagoon. A portion, how-
ever, of this mud, which when wet strikingly resembled pounded
chalk, was found by Professor Ehrenberg to be partly composed
of siliceous-shielded infusoria.

April 12£/i. — In the morning we stood out of the lagoon on our
passage to the Isle of France. I am glad we have visited these
islands : such formations surely rank high amongst the wonderful
objects of this world. Captain Fitz Koy found no bottom with a
line 7200 feet in length, at the distance of only 2200 yards from
the shore; hence this island forms a lofty submarine mountain,
with sides steeper even than those of the most abrupt volcanic
cone. The saucer-shaped summit is nearly ten miles across; and
every single atom,* from the least particle to the largest fragment
of rock, in this great pile, which however is small compared with
very many other lagoon-islands, bears the stamp of having been
subjected to organic arrangement. We feel surprise when travel-
lers tell us of the vast dimensions of the Pyramids and other great

* I exclude, of course, some soil which lias been imported here in
vessels from Malacca and Java, and likewise some small fragments of
pumice, drifted here by the waves, The one block of greenstone, more-
over, on the northern island must be excepted.

1836.] LAGOON-ISLANDS, OR ATOLLS. 447

ruins, but how utterly insignificant arc the greatest of these, when
compared to these mountains of stone accumulated by the agency
of various minute and tender animals ! This is a wonder which
does not at first strike the eye of the body, but, after reflection, the
eye of reason.

I will now give a very brief account of the three great classes of
coral-reefs; namely, Atolls, Barrier, and Fringing-reefs, and will
explain my views * on their formation. Almost every voyager who
has crossed the Pacific has expressed his unbounded astonishment
at the lagoon-islands, or as I shall for the future call them by their
Indian name of atolls, and has attempted some explanation. Even
as long ago as the year 1605, Pyrard de Laval well exclaimed,
" C'est une meruille de voir chacun de ces atollons, enuironne d'un
grand bane de pierre tout autour, n'y ayant point d'artifico
humain." The accompanying sketch of Whitsunday Island in the
Pacific, copied from Capt. Beechey's admirable Voyage, gives but
a faint idea of the singular aspect of an atoll : it is one of the
smallest size, and has its narrow islets united together in a ring.

The immensity of the ocean, the fury of the breakers, contrasted
with the lowness of the land and the smoothness of the bright
green water within the lagoon, can hardly be imagined without
having been seen.

The earlier voyagers fancied that the coral-building animals
instinctively built up their great circles to afford themselves pro-
tection in the inner parts ; but so far is this from the truth, that

* These were first read before the Geological Society in May, 1837,
and have since been developed in a separate volume on the ' Structure aud
Distribution of Coral Reefs.'

448 LAGOON-ISLANDS. [CHAP. xx.

those massive kinds, to whose growth on the exposed outer shores
the very existence of the reef depends, cannot live within the
lagoon, where other delicately-branching kinds flourish. More-
over, on this view, many species of distinct genera and families
are supposed to combine for one end ; and of such a combination,
not a single instance can be found in the whole of nature. The
theory that has been most generally received is, that atolls are
based on submarine craters ; but when we consider the form and
size of some, the number, proximity, and relative positions of
others, this idea loses its plausible character: thus, Suadiva atoll
is 44 geographical miles in diameter in one line, by 34 miles in
another line; Kimsky is 54 by 20 miles across, and it has a
strangely sinuous margin ; Bow atoll is 30 miles long, and on an
average only 6 in width; Menchicoff atoll consists of three atolls
united or tied together. This theory, moreover, is totally inappli-
cable to the northern Haldiva atolls in the Indian Ocean (one of
which is 88 miles in length, and between 10 and 20 in breadth",
for they are not bounded like ordinary atolls by narrow reefs, but
by a vast number of separate little atolls ; other little atolls rising
out of the great central lagoon-like spaces. A third and better
theory was advanced by Chamisso, who thought that from the
corals growing more vigorously where exposed to the open sea, as
undoubtedly is the case, the outer edges would grow up from the
general foundation before any other part, and that this would
account for the ring or cup-shaped structure. But we shall
immediately see, that in this, as well as in the crater-theory, a
most important consideration has been overlooked, namely, on
what have the reef-building corals, which cannot live at a great
depth, based their massive structures ?

Numerous soundings were carefully taken by Captain Fitz Eoy
on the steep outside of Keeling atoll, and it was found that within
ten fathoms, the prepared tallow at the bottom of the lead, invari-
ably came up marked with the impressions of living corals, but as
perfectly clean as if it had been dropped on a carpet of turf; as
the depth increased, the impressions became less numerous, but the
adhering particles of sand more and more numerous, until at last
it was evident that the bottom consisted of a smooth sandy layer :
to carry on the analogy of the turf, the blades of grass grew
thinner and thinner, till at last the soil was so sterile, that nothing
sprang from it. From those observations, confirmed by many

1836.] OR ATOLLS. 449

others, it may be safely inferred that the utmost depth at which
corals can construct reefs is between 20 and 30 fathoms. Now
there are enormous areas in the Pacific and Indian Oceans, in
which every single island is of coral formation, and is raised only
to that height to which the waves can throw up fragments, and
the winds pile up sand. Thus the Eadack group of atolls is an
irregular square, 520 miles long and 240 broad ; the Low Archi-
pelago is elliptic-formed, 840 miles Jn its longer, and 420 in its
shorter axis : there are other small groups and single low islands
between these two archipelagoes, making a linear space of ocean
actually more than 4000 miles in length, in which not one single
island rises above the specified height. Again, in the Indian Ocean
there is a space of ocean 1500 miles in length, including three
archipelagoes, in which every island is low and of coral formation.
From the fact of the reef-building corals not living at great depths,
it is absolutely certain that throughout these vast areas, wherever
there is now an atoll, a foundation must have originally existed
within a depth of from 20 to 30 fathoms from, the surface. It is
improbable in the highest degree that broad, lofty, isolated, steep-
sided banks of sediment, arranged in groups and lines hundreds of
leagues in length, could have been deposited in the central and
profoundest parts of the Pacific and Indian Oceans, at an immense
distance from any continent, and where the water is perfectly
limpid. It is equally improbable that the elevatory forces should
have uplifted throughout the above vast areas, innumerable great
rocky banks within 20 to 30 fathoms, or 120 to 180 feet, of the
surface of the sea, and not one single point above that level ; for
where on the whole face of the globe can we find a single chain of
mountains, even a few hundred miles in length, with their many
summits rising within a few feet of a given level, and not one
pinnacle above it? If then the foundations, whence the atoll-
building corals sprang, were not formed of sediment, and if they
were not lifted up to the required level, they must of necessity
have subsided into it; and this at once solves the difficulty. For
as mountain after mountain, and island after island, slowly sank
beneath the water, fresh bases would be successively afforded for
the growth of the corals. It is impossible here to enter into all
the necessary details, but I venture to defy * any one to explain in

* It is remarkable that Mr. Lyell, even in the first edition of liis
" Principles of Geology," inferred that the amount of subsidence in the

2 G

450 AREAS OF StJi^IDENCE. tcnAr. xx.

any oilier manner how it is possible that numerous islands should
be distributed throughout vast areas — all the islands being low —
all being built of corals, absolutely requiring a foundation within
a limited depth from the surface.

Before explaining how atoll-formed reefs acquire their peculiar
structure, we must turn to the second great class, namely, Barrier-
reefs. These either extend in straight lines in front of the shores
of a continent or of a large island, or they encircle smaller islands ;
in both cases, being separated from the land by a broad and rather
deep channel of water, analogous to the lagoon within an atoll. It
is remarkable how little attention has been paid to encircling
barrier-reefs; yet they are truly wonderful structures. The
following sketch represents part of the barrier encircling the
island of Bolabola in the Pacific, as seen from one of the central
peaks. In this instance the whole line of reef has been converted

into laud ; but usually a snow-white line of great breakers, with
only here and there a single low islet crowned with cocoa-nut
trees, divides the dark heaving waters of the ocean from the light-
green expanse of the lagoon-channel. And the quiet waters of this
channel generally bathe a fringe of low alluvial soil, loaded with
the most beautiful productions of the tropics, and lying at the foot
of the wild, abrupt, central mountains.

Encircling barrier-reefs are of all sizes, from three miles to no
less than forty-four miles in diameter; and that which fronts one
side, and encircles both ends, of New Caledonia, is 400 miles long.

Pacific must have exceeded that of elevation, from the area of laud bein«

l"crc tCDdins lo fo™ "•

1836.] BARRIER-REEFS. 451

Each reef includes one, two, or several rocky islands of various
heights; and in one instance, even as many as twelve separate
islands. The reef runs at a greater or less distance from the
included land; in the Society archipelago generally from one to
three or four miles; but at Hogoleu the reef is 20 miles on the
southern side, and 14 miles on the opposite or northern side, from
the included islands. The depth within the lagoon-channel also
varies much ; from 10 to 30 fathoms may be taken as an average ;
but at Yanikoro there are spaces no less than 56 fathoms or 363
feet deep. Internally the reef either slopes gently into the lagoon-
channel, or ends in a perpendicular wall sometimes between two
and three hundred feet under water in height : externally the reef
rises, like an atoll, with extreme abruptness out of the profound
depths of the ocean. What can be more singular than these
structures ? We see an island, which may be compared to a castle
situated on the summit of a lofty submarine mountain, protected
by a great wall of coral-rock, always steep externally and some-
times internally, with a broad level summit, here and there
breached by narrow gateways, through which the largest ships
can enter the wide and deep encircling moat.

As far as the actual reef of coral is concerned, there is not the
smallest difference, in general size, outline, grouping, and even in
quite trifling details of structure, between a barrier and an atoll.
The geographer Balbi has well remarked, that an encircled island
is an atoll with high land rising out of its lagoon ; remove the land
from within, and a perfect atoll is left.

But what has caused these reefs to spring up at such great
distances from the shores of the included islands ? It cannot be
that the corals will not grow close to the land; for the shores
within the lagoon-channel, when not surrounded by alluvial soil,
are often fringed by living reefs ; and we shall presently see that
there is a whole class, which I have called Fringing Reefs from
their close attachment to the shores both of continents and of
islands. Again, on what have the reef-building corals, which
cannot live at great depths, based their encircling structures?
This is a great apparent difficulty, analogous to that in the case
of atolls, which has generally been overlooked. It will be per-
ceived more clearly by inspecting the following sections, which
arc real ones, token in north and south lines, through the islands
with their barrier-reefs, of Vanikoro, Gambier, and Maurua ; and

452

BARRIER-REEFS.

[CHAP. xx.

they are laid down, both vertically and horizontally, on the same
scale of a quarter of an inch to a mile.

It should be observed that the sections might have been taken
in any direction through these islands, or through many other
encircled islands, and the general features would have been the
same. Now, bearing in mind that reef-building coral cannot live
at a greater depth than from 20 to 30 fathoms, and that the scale
is so Ismail that the plummets on the right hand show a depth of

1. Vanikoro. 2. Gambler Islands. 3. Maurua.

The horizontal shading shows the barrier-reefs and lagoon-channels. The inclined
shading above the level of the sea (A A), shows the actual form of the land ; the inclined
shading below this line, shows its probable prolongation under water.

200 fathoms, on what are these barrier-reefs based? Are we to
suppose that each island is surrounded by a collar-like submarine
ledge of rock, or by a great bank of sediment, ending abruptly
where the reef ends ? If the sea had formerly eaten deeply into
the islands, before they were protected by the reefs, thus having
left a shallow ledge round them under water, the present shores
would have been invariably bounded by great precipices ; but this
is most rarely the case. Moreover, on this notion, it is not possible
to explain why the corals should have sprung up, like a wall, from
the extreme outer margin of the ledge, often leaving a broad space
of water within, too deep for the growth of corals. The accumu-
lation of a wide bank of sediment all round these islands, and
generally widest where the included islands are smallest, is highly
improbable, considering their exposed positions in the central and
deepest parts of the ocean. In the case of the barrier-reef of New
Caledonia, which extends for 150 miles beyond the northern point

1836.] FIUNGING-BEEFS. 453

of the island, in the same straight line with which it fronts the
west coast, it is hardly possible to believe that a bank of sediment
could thus have been straightly deposited in front of a lofty island,
and so far beyond its termination in the open sea. Finally, if we
look to other oceanic islands of about the same height and of
similar geological constitution, but not encircled by coral-reefs,
we may in vain search for so trifling a circumambient depth as
80 fathoms, except quite near to their shores; for usually land
that rises abruptly out of water, as do most of the encircled and
non-encircled oceanic islands, plunges abruptly tinder it. On
what then, I repeat, are these barrier-reefs based? Why, with
their wide and deep moat-like channels, do they stand so far from
the included land ? We shall soon see how easily these difficulties
disappear.

We come now to our third class of Fringing-reefs, which will
require a very short notice. Where the land slopes abruptly under
water, these reefs are only a few yards in width, forming a mere
ribbon or fringe round the shores : where the land slopes gently
under the water the reef extends further, sometimes even as much
as a mile from the land ; but in such cases the soundings outside
the reef always show that the submarine prolongation of the land
is gently inclined. In fact, the reefs extend only to that distance
from the shore, at which a foundation within the requisite depth
from 20 to 30 fathoms is found. As far as the actual reef is
concerned, there is no essential difference between it and that
forming a barrier or an atoll: it is, however, generally of less
width, and consequently few islets have been formed on it. From
the corals growing more vigorously on the outside, and from the
noxious effect of the sediment washed inwards, the outer edge
of the reef is the highest part, and between it and the land there
is generally a shallow sandy channel a few feet in depth. Where
banks of sediments have accumulated near to the surface, as in
parts of the West Indies, they sometimes become fringed with
corals, and hence in some degree resemble lagoon-islands or atolls,
in the same manner as fringing-reefs, surrounding gently sloping
islands, in some degree resemble barrier-reefs.

No theory on the formation of coral-reefs can be considered
satisfactory which does not include the three great classes. We
have seen that we are driven to believe in the subsidence of those

454

THEORY OF CORAL-REEFS.

[CHAP. xx.

vast areas, interspersed with low islands, of which not one rises
above the height to which the wind and waves can throw up
matter and yet are constructed by animals requiring a foundation,
and that foundation to lie at no great depth. Let us then take an
island surrounded by fringing-reefs, which offer no difficulty in
their structure; and let this island with its reef, represented by
the unbroken lines in the woodcut, slowly subside. Now, as the
island sinks down, either a few feet at a time or quite insensibly,
we may safely infer, from what is known of the conditions favour-

'

AA. Outer edges of the fringing- reef, at the level of the sea. BB. The shores of the
fringed island.

A'A'. Outer edges of the reef, after its upward growth during a period of subsidence,
now converted into a barrier, with islets on it. B'B'. The shores of the now encircled
island. CO. Lagoon-channel.

N.B. In this and the following woodcut, the subsidence of the land could be repre-
sented only by an apparent rise in the level of the sea.

able to the growth of coral, that the living masses, bathed by the
surf on the margin of the reef, will soon regain the surface. The
water, however, will encroach little by little on the shore, the
island becoming lower and smaller, and the space between
the inner edge of the reef and the beach proportionally broader.
A section of the reef and island in this state, after a subsidence
of several hundred feet, is given by the dotted lines. Coral islets
are supposed to have been formed on the reef; and a ship is
anchored in the lagoon-channel. This channel will be more or
less deep, according to the rate of subsidence, to the amount of
sediment accumulated in it, and to the growth of the delicately
branched corals which can live there. The section in this state
resembles in every respect one drawn through an encircled island :
in fact, it is a real section (on the scale of '517 of an inch to a
mile) through Bolabola in the Pacific. We can now at once see
why encircling barrier-reefs stand so far from the shores which
they front. "We can also perceive, that a line drawn perpendicu-
larly down from the outer edge of the new reef, to the foundation
of solid rock beneath the old fringing-reef, will exceed by as many

1836.] THEORY OP CORAL-REEFS, 455

feet as there have been feet of subsidence, that small limit of deptli
at which the effective corals can live : — the little architects having
built tip their great wall-liko mags, as the whole sank down, upon
a basis formed of other corals and their consolidated fragments,
Thus the difficulty on this head, which appeared so great, disap-
pears.

If, instead of an island, we had taken the shore of a continent
fringed with reefs, and had imagined it to have subsided, a great
straight barrier, like that of Australia or New Caledonia, separated
from the laud by a wide and deep channel, would evidently have
been the result.

Let us take our new encircling barrier-reef, of which the section
is now represented by unbroken lines, and which, as I have said,
is a real section through Bolabola, and let it go on subsiding. As
the barrier-reef slowly sinks down, the corals will go on vigorously
growing upwards; but as the island sinks, the water will gain

A"

«•

A' A'. Outer edges of the barrier-reef at the level of the sea, with Islets on it. B'B'. The
shores of the included island. CC. The lagoon-channel.

A"A." Outer edges of the reef, now converted into an atoll. C. The lagoon of the
new atoll.

N.B. According to the true scale, the depths of the lagoon-channel and lagoon are much
exaggerated.

inch by inch on the shore — the separate mountains first forming
separate islands within one great reef — and finally, the last and
highest pinnacle disappearing. The instant this takes place, a
perfect atoll is formed : I have said, remove the high land from
within an encircling barrier-reef, and an atoll is left, and the land
has been removed. We can now perceive how it comes that atolls,
having sprung from encircling barrier-reefs, resemble them in
general size, form, in the manner in which they are grouped
together, and in their arrangement in single or double lines ; for
they may be called rude outline charts of the sunken islands over

1,"(5 SUBSIDENCE OF OORAL.REEFS. [..-HAP. xx.

which they stand. We can further see how it arises that the
atolls in the Pacific and Indian Oceans extend in lines parallel to
the generally prevailing strike of the high islands and great coast-
lines of those oceans. I venture, therefore, to affirm, that on the
theory of the upward growth of the corals during the sinking of
the land,* all the leading features in those wonderful structures,
the lagoon-islands or atolls, which have so long excited the atten-
tion of voyagers, as well as in the no less wonderful barrier- reefs,
whether encircling small islands or stretching for hundreds of
miles along the shores of a continent, are simply explained.

It may be asked, whether I can offer any direct evidence of the
subsidence of barrier-reefs or atolls ; but it must be borne in mind
how difficult it must ever be to detect a movement, the tendency of
which is to hide under water the part affected. Nevertheless, at
Keeling atoll I observed on all sides of the lagoon old cocoa-nut
trees undermined and falling; and in one place the foundation-
posts of a shed, which the inhabitants asserted had stood seven
years before just above high- water mark, but now was daily washed
by every tide : on inquiry I found that three earthquakes, one of
them severe, had been felt here during the last ten years. At
Yanikoro, the lagoon-channel is remarkably deep, scarcely any
alluvial soil has accumulated at the foot of the lofty included
mountains, and remarkably few islets have been formed by the
heaping of fragments and sand on the wall-like barrier reef; these
facts, and some analogous ones, led me to believe that this island
must lately have subsided and the reef grown upwards : here again
earthquakes are frequent and very severe. In the Society archi-
pelago, on the other hand, where the lagoon-channels are almost
choked up, where much low alluvial land has accumulated, and
where in some cases long islets have been formed on the barrier-
reefs — facts all showing that the islands have not very lately sub-
sided— only feeble shocks are most rarely felt. In these coral
formations, where the land and water seem struggling for mastery,

* It has been highly satisfactory to me to find the following passage in
a pamphlet by Mr. Couthouy, one of the naturalists in the great Antarctic
Expedition of the United States : — " Having personally examined a large
number of coral-islands, and resided eight months among the volcanic
class having shore and partially encircling reefs, I may be permitted
to state that my own observations have impressed a conviction of the
correctness of the theory of Mr. Darwin." — The naturalists, however, of
this expedition differ with me on some points respecting coral formations

1836.] CHANGES IN CORAL-BEEFS. 457

it must be ever difficult to decide between the effects of a change
in the set of the tides and of a slight subsidence : that many of
these reefs and atolls are subject to changes of some kind is
certain ; on some atolls the islets appear to have increased greatly
within a late period ; on others they have been partially or wholly
washed away. The inhabitants of parts of the Maldiva archipelago
know the date of the first formation of some islets ; in other parts,
the corals are now flourishing on water-washed reefs, where holes
made for graves attest the former existence of inhabited land. It
is difficult to believe in frequent changes in the tidal currents of an
open ocean ; whereas, we have in the earthquakes recorded by the
natives on some atolls, and in the great fissures observed on other
atolls, plain evidence of changes and disturbances in progress in
the subterranean regions.

It is evident, on our theory, that coasts merely fringed by reefs
cannot have subsided to any perceptible amount; and therefore
they must, since the growth of their corals, either have remained
stationary or have been upheaved. Now, it is remarkable how
generally it can be shown, by the presence of upraised organic
remains, that the fringed islands have been elevated : and so far,
this is indirect evidence in favour of our theory. I was particularly
struck with this fact, when I found, to my surprise, that the descrip-
tions given by MM. Quoy and Gaimard were applicable, not to reefs
in general as implied by them, but only to those of the fringing
class ; my surprise, however, ceased when I afterwards found that,
by a strange chance, all the several islands visited by these eminent
naturalists, could be shown by their own statements to have been
elevated within a recent geological era.

Not only the grand features in the structure of barrier-reefs and
of atolls, and of their likeness to each other in form, size, and other
characters, are explained on the theory of subsidence— which theory
we are independently forced to admit in the very areas in question,
from the necessity of finding bases for the corals within the
requisite depth— but many details in structure and exceptional
cases can thus also be simply explained. I will give only a few
instances. In barrier-reefs it has long been remarked with sur-
prise, that the passages through the reef exactly face valleys in the
included land, even in cases where the reef is separated from the
land by a lagoon-channel so wide and so much deeper than the actual
passage itself, that it seems hardly possible that the very small

458 BKEACHES IN BARRIEE-BEEFS. [CHAP. xs.

quantity of water or sediment brought down could injure the
corals on the reef. Now, every reef of the fringing class is
breached by a narrow gateway in front of the smallest rivulet,
even if dry during the greater part of the year, for the mud, sand,
or gravel, occasionally washed down kills the corals on which it is
deposited. Consequently, when an island thus fringed subsides,
though most of the narrow gateways will probably become closed
by the outward and upward growth of the corals, yet any that arc
not closed (and some must always be kept open by the sediment
and impure water flowing out of the lagoon-channel) will still con-
tinue to front exactly the upper parts of those valleys, at the mouths
of which the original basal fringing-reef was breached.

We can easily see how an island fronted only on one side, or on
one side with one end or both ends encircled by barrier-reefs, might
after long- continued subsidence be converted either into a single
wall-like reef, or into an atoll with a great straight spur projecting
from it, or into two or three atolls tied together by straight reefs — •
all of which exceptional cases actually occur. As the reef -building-
corals require food, are preyed upon by other animals, are killed
by sediment, cannot adhere to a loose bottom, and may be easily
carried down to a depth whence they cannot spring up again, we
need feel no surprise at the reefs both of atolls and barriers becom-
ing in parts imperfect. The great barrier of New Caledonia is thus
imperfect and broken in many parts; hence, after long subsidence,
this great reef would not produce one great atoll 400 miles in length,
but a chain or archipelago of atolls, of very nearly the same dimen-
sions with those in the Maldiva archipelago. Moreover, in an atoll
once breached on opposite sides, from the likelihood of the oceanic
and tidal currents passing straight through the breaches, it is
extremely improbable that the corals, especially during contimtecl
subsidence, would ever be able again to unite the rim ; if they did
not, as the whole sank downwards, one atoll would be divided into
two or more. In the Maldiva archipelago there are distinct atolls
so related to each other in position, and separated by channels
either unfathomable or very deep (the channel between Boss and
Ari atolls is 150 fathoms, and that between the north and south
Nillaudoo atolls is 200 fathoms in depth), that it is impossible to
look at a map of them without believing that they were once more
intimately related. And in this same archipelago, Mahlos-Mahdoo
atoll is divided by a bifurcating channel from 100 to 132 fathoms

1836.] MALDIVA ATOLLS. 459

in depth, in such a manner, that it is scarcely possible to say
whether it ought strictly to be called three separate atolls, or one
great atoll not yet finally divided.

I will not enter on many more details ; but I must remark that
the curious structure of the northern Maldiva atolls receives (taking
into consideration the free entrance of the sea through their broken
margins) a simple explanation in the upward and outward growth
of the corals, originally based both on small detached reefs in their
lagoons, such as occur in common atolls, and on broken portions of
the linear marginal reef, such as bounds every atoll of the ordinary
form. I cannot refrain from once again remarking on the singu-
larity of these complex structures — a great sandy and generally
concave disk rises abruptly from the unfathomable ocean, with its
central expanse studded, and its edge symmetrically bordered with
oval basins of coral-rock just lipping the surface of the sea, some-
times clothed with vegetation, and each containing a lake of clear
water !

One more point in detail : as in two neighbouring archipelagoes
corals nourish in one and not in the other, and as so many con-
ditions before enumerated must affect their existence, it would be
an inexplicable fact if, during the changes to which earth, air, and
water are subjected, the reef-building corals were to keep alive for
perpetuity on any one spot or area. And as by our theory the
areas including atolls and barrier-reefs are subsiding, we ought
occasionally to find reefs both dead and submerged. In all reefs,
owing to the sediment being washed out of the lagoon-channel to
leeward, that side is least favourable to the long-continued vigorous
growth of the corals ; hence dead portions of reef not unfrequently
occur on the leeward side ; and these, though still retaining their
proper wall-like form, are now in several instances sunk several
fathoms beneath the surface. The Chagos group appears from
some cause, possibly from the subsidence having been too rapid, at
present to be much less favourably circumstanced for the growth of
reefs than formerly : one atoll has a portion of its marginal reef,
nine miles in length, dead and submerged ; a second has only a
few quite small living points which rise to the surface ; a third
and fourth are entirely dead and submerged ; a fifth is a mere
wreck, with its structure almost obliterated. It is remarkable that
in all these cases, the dead reefs and portions of reef lie at nearly
the same depth, namely, from six to eight fathoms beneath the

DEAD AND .SUNKEN REEFS. [CHAP. xx.

surface, as if they had been carried down by one uniform move-
ment. One of these "half-drowned atolls," so called by Capt.
Moresby (to whom I am indebted for much invaluable informa-
tion), is of vast size, namely, ninety nautical miles across in one
direction, and seventy miles in another line; and is in many
respects eminently curious. As by our theory it follows that new
atolls will generally be formed in each new area of subsidence, two
weighty objections might have been raised, namely, that atolls
must be increasing indefinitely in number ; and secondly, that in
old areas of subsidence each separate atoll must be increasing
indefinitely in thickness, if proofs of their occasional destruction
could not have been adduced. Thus have we traced the history
of these great rings of coral-rock, from their first origin through
their normal changes, and through the occasional accidents of
their existence, to their death and final obliteration.

In my volume on " Coral Formations " I have published a map,
in which I have coloured all the atolls dark-blue, the barrier-reefs
pale-blue, and the fringing-reefs red. These latter reefs have been
formed whilst the land has been stationary, or, as appears from the
frequent presence of upraised organic remains, whilst it has been
slowly rising: atolls and barrier-reefs, on the other hand, have
grown up during the directly opposite movement of subsidence,
which movement must have been very gradual, and in the case of
atolls so vast in amount as to have buried every mountain-summit
over wide ocean-spaces. Now in this map we see that the reefs
tinted pale and dark-blue, which have been produced by the same
order of movement, as a general rule manifestly stand near each
other. Again we see, that the areas with the two blue tints are of
wide extent; and that they lie separate from extensive lines of
coast coloured red, both of which circumstances might natural ly
have been inferred, on the theory of the nature of the reefs having
been governed by the nature of the earth's movement. It deserves
notice, that in more than one instance where single red and blue
circles approach near each other, I can show that there have been
oscillations of level; for in such cases the red or fringed circles
consist of atolls, originally by our theory formed during subsidence,
but subsequently upheaved ; and on the other hand, some of the
pale-blue or encircled islands are composed of coral-rock, which
must have been uplifted to its present height before that sub-

1836.] AREAS OF SUBSIDENCE AND ELEVATION. 461

sidence took place, during which the existing barrier-reefs grew
upwards.

Authors have noticed with surprise, that although atolls are the
commonest coral-structures throughout some enormous oceanic
tracts, they are entirely absent in other seas, as in the West Indies :
we can now at once perceive the cause, for where there has not
been subsidence, atolls cannot have been formed ; and in the case
of the West Indies and parts of the East Indies, these tracts are
known to have been rising within the recent period. The larger
areas, coloitred red and blue, are all elongated ; and between the
two colours there is a degree of rude alternation, as if the rising of
one had balanced the sinking of the other. Taking into considera-
tion the proofs of recent elevation both on the fringed coasts and
on some others (for instance, in South America) where there are no
reefs, we are led to conclude that the great continents are for the
most part rising areas : and from the nature of the coral-reefs, that
the central parts of the great oceans are sinking areas. The East
Indian archipelago, the most broken land in the world, is in most
parts an area of elevation, but surrounded and penetrated, probably
in more lines than one, by narrow areas of subsidence.

I have marked with vermilion spots all the many known active
volcanos within the limits of this same map. Their entire absence
from every one of the great subsiding areas, coloured either pale or
dark blue, is most striking ; and not less so is the coincidence of
the chief volcanic chains with the parts coloured red, which we arc
led to conclude have either long remained stationary, or more
generally have been recently upraised. Although a few of the
vermilion spots occur within no great distance of single circles
tinted blue, yet not one single active volcano is situated within
several hundred miles of an archipelago, or even small group of
atolls. It is, therefore, a striking fact that in the Friendly archi-
pelago, which consists of a group of atolls upheaved and since
partially worn down, two volcanos, and perhaps more, are histori-
cally known to have been in action. On the other hand, although
most of the islands in the Pacific which are encircled by barrier-
reefs, are of volcanic origin, often with the remnants of craters still
distinguishable, not one of them is known to have ever been in
eruption. Hence in these cases it would appear, that volcanos
burst forth into action and become extinguished on the same spots,
accordingly as elevatory or subsiding movements prevail there.

462 VAST AMOUNT OF SUBSIDENCE. [CHAP. xx.

Numberless facts could be adduced to prove that upraised organic
remains arc common wherever there are active volcanos ; but until
it could be shown that in areas of subsidence, volcanos were either
absent or inactive, the inference, however probable in itself, that
their distribution depended on the rising or falling of the earth's
surface, would have been hazardous. But now, I think, we may
freely admit this important deduction.

Taking a final view of the map, and bearing in mind the state-
ments made with respect to the upraised organic remains, we must
feel astonished at the vastness of the areas, Avhich have suffered
changes in level either downwards or upwards, within a period not
geologically remote. It would appear, also, that the elevatory and
subsiding movements follow nearly the same laws. Throughout
the spaces interspersed with atolls, where not a single peak of high
laud has been left above the level of the sea, the sinking must have
been immense in amount. The sinking, moreover, whether
continuotis, or recurrent with intervals sufficiently long for the
corals again to bring up their living edifices to the surface, must
necessarily have been extremely slow. This conclusion is probably
the most important one which can be deduced from the study of
coral formations ; — and it is one which it is difficult to imagine how
otherwise could ever have been arrived at. Nor can I quite pass
over the probability of the former existence of large archipelagoes
of lofty islands, where now only rings of coral-rock scarcely break
the open expanse of the sea, throwing some light on the distribution
of the inhabitants of the other high islands, now left standing so
immensely remote from each other in the midst of the great oceans.
The reef-constructing corals have indeed reared and preserved
wonderful memorials of the subterranean oscillations of level ; we
see in each barrier-reef a proof that the land has there subsided,
and in each atoll a monument over an island now lost. We may
thus, like unto a geologist who had lived his ten thousand years
and kept a record of the passing changes, gain some insight into the
great system by which the surface of this globe has been broken up,
and land and water interchanged.

1836.] APPEARANCE OP MAURITIUS. 463

CHAPTER XXI.

MAURITIUS TO ENGLAND.

Mauritius, beautiful appearance of— Great crateriform ring of Mountains —
Hindoos — St. Helena — History of the changes in the Vegetation — Cause
of the extinction of Land-shells — Ascension — Variation in the imported
Eats — Volcanic Bombs — Beds of Infusoria— Bahia — Brazil — Splendour
of Tropical Scenery — Pernambuco — Singular Reef — Slavery — Return to
England — Retrospect on our Voyage.

April 29</i. — In the morning we passed round the northern end of
Mauritius, or the Isle of France. From this point of view the
aspect of the island equalled the expectations raised by the many
well-known descriptions of its beautiful scenery. The sloping
plain of the Painpleruousses, interspersed with houses, and coloured
by the large fields of sugar-cane of a bright green, composed the
foreground. The brilliancy of the green was the more remarkable,
because it is a colour which generally is conspicuous only from a
very short distance. Towards the centre of the island groups of
wooded mountains rose out of this highly cultivated plain ; their
summits, as so commonly happens with ancient volcanic rocks,
being jagged into the sharpest points. Masses of white clouds were
collected around these pinnacles, as if for the sake of pleasing the
stranger's eye. The whole island, with its sloping border and
central mountains, was adorned with an air of perfect elegance :
the scenery, if I may use such an expression, appeared to the sight
harmonious.

I spent the greater part of the next day in walking about the
town and visiting different people. The town is of considerable
size, and is said to contain 20,000 inhabitants; the streets are very
clean and regular. Although the island has been so many years
under the English Government, the general character of the place
is quite French : Englishmen speak to their servants in French,

464 MAUBITIUS. [CHA*. xxi.

arid the shops are all French ; indeed, I should think that Calais or
Boulogne was much more Anglified. There is a very pretty little
theatre, in which operas are excellently performed. We were also
surprised at seeing large booksellers' shops, with well-stored shelves ;
—music and reading bespeak our approach to the old world of
civilization; for in truth both Australia and America are new
worlds.

The various races of men walking in the streets afford the most
interesting spectacle in Port Louis. Convicts from India are
banished here for life ; at present there are about 800, and they are
employed in various public works. Before seeing these people, I
had no idea that the inhabitants of India were such noble-looking
figures. Their skin is extremely dark, and many of the older men
had large mustaches and beards of a snow-white colour; this,
together with the fire of their expression, gave them quite an im-
posing aspect. The greater number had been banished for murder
and the worst crimes ; others for causes which can scarcely bo
considered as moral faults, such as for not obeying, from super-
stitious motives, the English laws. These men are generally quiet
and well conducted ; from their outward conduct, their cleanliness,
and faithful observance of their strange religious rites, it was im-
possible to look at them with the same eyes as on our wretched
convicts in New South Wales.

May 1st. — Sunday. I took a quiet walk along the sea-coast to
the north of the town. The plain in this partis quite uncultivated ;
it consists of a field of black lava, smoothed over with coarse grass
and bushes, the latter being chiefly Mimosas. The scenery may be
described as intermediate in character between that of the Galapagos
and of Tahiti; but this will convey a definite idea to very few
persons. It is a very pleasant country, but it has not the charms
of Tahiti, or the grandeur of Brazil. The next day I ascended La
Pouce, a mountain so called from a thumb-like projection, which
rises close behind the town to a height of 2600 feet. The centre of
the island consists of a great platform, surrounded by old broken
basaltic mountains, with their strata dipping seawards. The
central platform, formed of comparatively recent streams of lava,
is of an oval shape, thirteen geographical miles across, in the line
of its shorter axis. The exterior bounding mountains come into
that class of structures called Craters of Elevation, which are sup-
posed to have been formed not like ordinary craters, but by a great

1836.] MAURITIUS. 465

and sudden upheaval. There appears to me to bo insuperable ob-
jections to this view : on the other hand, I can hardly believe, iu
this and in some other cases, that these marginal crateriform
mountains are merely the basal remnants of immense volcanoes, of
which the summits cither have been blown off, or swallowed up in
subterranean abysses.

From our elevated position we enjoyed an excellent view over the
island. The country on this side appears pretty well cultivated,
being divided into fields and studded with farm-houses. I was
however assured that of the whole land, not more than half is yet
in a productive state ; if such be the case, considering the present
large export of sugar, this island, at some future period when
thickly peopled will be of great value. Since England has taken
possession of it, a period of only twenty-five years, the export of
sugar is said to have increased seventy-five fold. One great cause
of its prosperity is the excellent state of the roads. In the neigh-
bouring Isle of Bourbon, which remains under the French govern-
ment, the roads are still in the same miserable state as they were
here only a few years ago. Although the French residents must
have largely profited by the increased prosperity of their island,
yet the English government is far from popular.

3rd. — In the evening Captain Lloyd, the Surveyor-general,
so well known from his examination of the Isthmus of Panama,
invited Mr. Stokes and myself to his country-house, which is
situated on the edge of Wilheim Plains, and about six miles from
the Port. We stayed at this delightful place two days ; standing
nearly 800 feet above the sea, the air was cool and fresh, and on
every side there were delightful walks. Close by, a grand ravine
has been worn to a depth of about 500 feet through the slightly
inclined streams of lava, which have flowed from the central
platform.

5th. — Captain Lloyd took us to the Kiviere Noire, which is
several miles to the southward, that I might examine some rocks
of elevated coral. We passed through pleasant gardens, and fine
fields of sugar-cane growing amidst huge blocks of lava. The
roads were bordered by hedges of Mimosa, and near many of the
houses there were avenues of the mango. Some of the views,
where the peaked hills and the cultivated farms were seen together,
were exceedingly picturesque ; and we were constantly tempted to
exclaim, " How pleasant it would be to pass one's life in such quiet

2 H

4(36 ST. HELENA. [CHAP. xxi.

abodes!" Ciiptaiu Lloyd possessed an elephant, and he sent it
half way with us, that we might enjoy a ride in true Indian fashion.
The circumstance which surprised me most was its quite noiseless
step. This elephant is the only one at present on the island ; but
it is said others will be sent for.

May 9th.— We sailed from Port Louis, and, calling at the Cape of
Good Hope, on the 8th of July we arrived off St. Helena. This
island, the forbidding aspect of which has been so often described,
rises abruptly like a huge black castle from the ocean. Near the
town, as if to complete nature's defence, small forts and guns fill
up every gap in the rugged rocks. The town runs up a flat and
narrow valley; the houses look respectable, and are interspersed
with a very few green trees. When approaching the anchorage
there was one striking view : an irregular castle perched on the
summit of a lofty hill, and surrounded by a few scattered fir-trees,
boldly projected against the sky.

The next day I obtained lodgings within a stone's throw of
Napoleon's tomb;* it was a capital central situation, whence I
could make excursions in every direction. During the four days I
stayed here, I wandered over the island from morning to night,
and examined its geological history. My lodgings were situated at
a height of about 2000 feet; here the weather was cold and
boisterous, with constant showers of rain ; and every now and then
the whole scene was veiled in thick clouds.

Near the coast the rough lava is quite bare : in the central and
higher parts, feldspathic rocks by their decomposition have pro-
duced a clayey soil, which, where not covered by vegetation, is
stained in broad bands of many bright colours. At this season,
the land moistened by constant showers, produces a singularly
bright green pasture, which lower and lower down, gradually fades
away and at last disappears. In latitude 16°, and at the trifling
elevation of 1500 feet, it is .surprising to behold a vegetation pos-
sessing a character decidedly British. The hills are crowned with
irregular plantations of Scotch firs; and the sloping banks are
thickly scattered over with thickets of gorse, covered with its

'After the volumes of eloquence which have poured forth on this
subject, it is dangerous even to mention the tomb. A modern traveller,
in twelve lines, burdens the poor little island with the following titles,—
it is a grave, tomb, pyramid, cemeterv, sepulchre, catacomb, sarcophagus,
minaret, and mausoleum !

1836.] ITS APPEARANCE. 467

bright yellow flowers. Weeping-willows are common on the banks
of the rivulets, and the hedges are made of the blackberry, pro-
ducing its well-known fruit. When we consider that the number
of plants now found on the island is 746, and that out of these
fifty-two alone are indigenous species, the rest having been imported,
and most of them from England, we see the reason of the
British character of the vegetation. Many of these English plants
appear to flourish better than in their native country ; some also
from the opposite quarter of Australia succeed remarkably well.
The many imported species must have destroyed some of the native
kinds ; and it is only on the highest and steepest ridges, that the
indigenous Flora is now predominant.

The English, or rather Welsh character of the scenery, is kept
up by the numerous cottages and small white houses ; some buried
at the bottom of the deepest valleys, and others mounted on the
crests of the lofty hills. Some of the views are striking, for instance
that from near Sir W. Doveton's house, where the bold peak called
Lot is seen over a dark wood of firs, the whole being backed by
the red water-worn mountains of the southern coast. On viewing
the island from an eminence, the first circumstance which strikes
one, is the number of the roads and forts : the labour bestowed on
the public works, if one forgets its character as a prison, seems out
of all proportion to its extent or value. There is so little level or
useful laud, that it seems surprising how so many people, about
5000, can subsist here. The lower orders, or the emancipated
slaves, are I believe extremely poor : they complain of the want of
work. From the reduction in the number of public servants,
owing to the island having been given up by the East India Com-
pany, and the consequent emigration of many of the richer people,
the poverty probably will increase. The chief food of the working
class is rice with a little salt meat ; as neither of these articles are
the products of the island, but must be purchased with money,
the low wages tell heavily on the poor people. Now that the
people are blessed with freedom, a right which I believe they value
fully, it seems probable that their numbers will quickly increase :
if so, what is to become of the little state of St. Helena V

My guide was an elderly man, who had been a goatherd when
a boy, and knew every step amongst the rocks. He was of a race
many times crossed, and although with a dusky skin, he had not
the disagreeable expression of a mulatto. He was a very civil,

468 ST. HELENA. [CHAP. xxi.

quiet old man, and such appears tho character of the greater
number of the lower classes. It was strange to my ears to hear a
man, nearly white and respectably dressed, talking with indiffer-
ence of the times when he was a slave. With niy companion, who
carried our dinners and a horn of water, which is quite necessary,
as all the water in the lower valleys is saline, I every day took
long walks.

Beneath the upper and central green circle, the wild valleys arc
quite desolate and untenanted. Here, to the geologist, there were
scenes of high interest, showing successive changes and com-
plicated disturbances. According to my views, St. Helena has
existed as an island from a very remote epoch: some obscure
proofs, however, of the elevation of the land are still extant. I
believe that the central and highest peaks form parts of the rim
of a great crater, the southern half of which has been entirely
removed by the waves of the sea : there is, moreover, an external
wall of black basaltic rocks, like the coast-mountains of Mauritius,
which are older than the central volcanic streams. On the higher
parts of the island, considerable numbers of a shell, long thought a
marine species, occur embedded in the soil. It proves to be a
Cochlogena, or land-shell of a very peculiar form ; * with it I found
six other kinds; and in another spot an eighth species. It is
remarkable that none of them are now found living. Their extinc-
tion has probably been caused by the entire destruction of the
woods, and the consequent loss of food and shelter, which occurred
during the early part of the last century.

The history of the changes, which the elevated plains of Long-
wood and Deadwood have undergone, as given in General Beatson's
account of the island, is extremely curious. Both plains, it is said,
in former times were covered with wood, and were therefore called
the Great Wood. So late as the year 1716 there were many trees,
but in 1724 the old trees had mostly fallen ; and as goats and hogs
had been suffered to range about, all the young trees had been
killed. It appears also from the official records, that the trees
were unexpectedly, some years afterwards, succeeded by a wire
grass, which spread over the whole surface.! General Beatson

* It deserves notice, that all the many specimens of this shell found by
me in one spot, differ as a marked variety, from another set of specimens
procured from a different spot.

t Beatson's St. Helena. Introductory chapter, p. 4.

1836.] CHANGES IX THE VEGETATION.

adds that now this plain "is covered with fine sward, and is be-
come the finest piece of pasture on the island." The extent of
surface, probably covered by wood at a former period, is estimated
at no less than two thousand acres ; at the present day scarcely a
single tree can be found there. It is also said that in 1709 there
were quantities of dead trees in Sandy Bay ; this place is now so
utterly desert, that nothing but so well attested an account could
have made me believe that they could ever have grown there.
The fact, that the goats and hogs destroyed all the young trees as
they sprang up, and that in the course of time the old ones, which
were safe from their attacks, perished from age, seems clearly
made out. Goats were introduced in the year 1502; eigh,ty~six
years afterwards, in the time of Cavendish, it is known that they
were exceedingly numerous. More than a century afterwards, in
1731, when the evil was complete and irretrievable, an order was
issued that all stray animals should be destroyed. It is very
interesting thus to find, that the arrival of animals at St. Helena
in 1501, did not change the whole aspect of the island, until a
period of two hundred and twenty years had elapsed : for the
goats were introduced in 1502, and in 1724 it is said " the old
trees had mostly fallen." There can be little doubt that this
great change in the vegetation affected not only the land-shells,
causing eight species to become extinct, but likewise a multitude
of insects.

St. Helena, situated so remote from any continent, in the midst
of a great ocean, and possessing a iinique Flora, excites our
curiosity. The eight land-shells, though now extinct, and one
living Succinea, are peculiar species found nowhere else. Mr.
C uming, however, informs me that an English Helix is common
here, its eggs no doubt having been imported in some of the many
introduced plants. Mr. Cuming collected on the coast sixteen
species of sea-shells, of which seven, as far as he knows, are confined
to this island. Birds and insects,* as might have been expected,

* Among these few insects, I was surprised to fiud a small Aphodius
(HOC. spec.) and au Oryctes, both extremely numerous under dung. When
the island was discovered it certainly possessed no quadruped, excepting
perhaps a mouse : it becomes, therefore, a difficult point to ascertain,
whether these stercovorous insects have since been imported by accident,
or it' aborigines, on what food they formerly subsisted. On the banks of
the Plata, where, from the vast number of cattle and horses, the fine
plains of turf arc richly manured, it is vain to seek the many kinds of
dung-feeding beetles, which occur so abundantly in Europe. I observed

470 ST. HELEXA. [CHAP. xxt.

are very few in number; indeed I believe all the birds have been
introduced within late years. Partridges and pheasants are
tolerably abundant: the island is much too English not to be
subject to strict game-laws. I was told of a more iinjust sacrifice
to such ordinances than I ever heard of even in England. The
poor people formerly used to burn a plant, which grows on the
coast- rocks, and export the soda from its ashes ; but a peremptory
order came out prohibiting this practice, and giving as a reason
that the partridges woiild have nowhere to biiild !

In my walks I passed more than once over the grassy plain
bounded by deep valleys, on which Longwood stands. Viewed
from a short distance, it appears like a respectable gentleman's
country-seat. In front there are a few cultivated fields, and beyond
them the smooth hill of coloured rocks called the Flagstaff, and
the rugged square black mass of the Barn. On the whole the view
was rather bleak and uninteresting. The only inconvenience 1
suffered during my walks was from the impetuous winds. One day
I noticed a curious circumstance ; standing on the edge of a plain,
terminated by a great cliff of about a thousand feet in depth, I saw
at the distance of a few yards right to windward, some tern, strug-
gling against a very strong breeze, whilst, where I stood, the air

only au Oryctes (the insects of this genus in Europe generally feed on
decayed vegetable matter) and two species of Phausous, common in such
situations. On the opposite side of the Cordillera in Chiloe, another
species of Phanseus is exceedingly abundant, and it buries the dung of the
cattle in large earthen balls beneath the ground. There is reason to believe
that the genus Phanseus, before the introduction of cattle, acted as
scavengers to man. In Europe, beetles, which find support in the matter
which has already contributed towards the life of other and larger
animals, are so numerous, tliat there must be considerably more than one
hundred different species. Considering this, and observing what a
quantity of food of this kiud is lost on the plains of La Plata, I imagined
I saw an instance where man had disturbed that chain, by which so many
animals are linked together in their native country. In Van Diemeu'a
Land, however, I found four species of Onthophagus, two of Aphodius, and
one of a third genus, very abundant under the dung of cows; yet these
latter animals had been then introduced only thirty-three years. Previously
to that time, the Kangaroo and some other small animals were the only
quadrupeds; and their dung is of a very different quality from that of
their successors introduced by man. In England the greater number of
stercovorous beetles are confined in their appetites ; that is, they do not
depend indifferently on any quadruped for the means of subsistence. The
change, therefore, in habits, which must have taken place in Van Diemeu's
Laud, is highly remarkable. I am indebted to the Itcv. F. W. Hope, who,
I hope, will permit me to call him my master in Entomology, for giving
me the names of the foregoing insects.

1836.] ASCENSION.

was qnito calm. Approaching close to the brink, where the current
seemed to be deflected upwards from the face of the cliff, I stretched
out my arm, and immediately felt the full force of the wind : an
invisible barrier, two yards in width, separated perfectly calm, air
from a strong blast.

I so much enjoyed my rambles among the rocks and mountains
of St. Helena, that I felt almost sorry on the morning of the 14th
to descend to the town. Before noon I was on board, and the
Beagle made sail.

On the 19th of July we reached Ascension. Those who have
beheld a volcanic island, situated under an arid climate, will at
once be able to picture to themselves the appearance of Ascension.
They will imagine smooth conical hills of a bright red colour, with
their summits generally truncated, rising separately out of a level
surface of black rugged lava. A principal mound in the centre of
the island, seems the father of the lesser cones. It is called Green
Hill : its name being taken from the faintest tinge of that colour,
which at this time of the year is barely perceptible from the
anchorage. To complete the desolate scene, the black rocks on the
coast are lashed by a wild and turbulent sea.

The settlement is near the beach ; it consists of several houses
and barracks placed irregularly, but well built of white freestone.
The only inhabitants are marines, and some negroes liberated from
slave-ships, who are paid and victualled by government. There is
not a private person on the island. Many of the marines appeared
well contented with their situation ; they think it better to servo
their one-and-twenty years on shore, let it be what it may, than in
a ship : in this choice, if I were a marine, I should most heartily
agree.

The next morning I ascended Green Hill, 2810 feet high, and
thence walked across the island to the windward point. A good
cart-road leads from the coast-settlement to the houses, gardens,
and fields, placed near the summit of the central mountain. On
the roadside there are milestones, and likewise cisterns, where each
thirsty passer-by can drink some good water. Similar care is dis-
played in each part of the establishment, and especially in the
management of the springs, so that a single drop of water may not
be lost : indeed the whole island may be compared to a huge ship
kept in first-rate order. I could not help, when admiring the

472 ASCENSION. L./iiAf. xxi.

active industry, which had created such effects out of such means,
at the same time regretting that it had been wasted ou so poor and
trifling an end. M. Lesson has remarked with justice, that the
English nation alone would have thought of making the island of
Ascension a productive spot ; any other people would have held it
as a mere fortress in the ocean.

Near this coast nothing grows; further inland, an occasional
green castor-oil plant, and a few grasshoppers, true friends of the
desert, may be met with. Some grass is scattered over the surface
of the central elevated region, and the whole much resembles the
worse parts of the Welsh mountains. But scanty as the pasture
appears, about six hundred sheep, many goats, a few cows and
horses, all thrive well on it. Of native animals, land-crabs and rats
swarm in numbers. Whether the rat is really indigenous, may
well be doubted; there are two varieties as described by Mr.
Waterhouse ; one is of a black colour, with fine glossy fur, and
lives on the grassy summit; the other is brown- coloured and less
glossy, with longer hairs, and lives near the settlement on the
coast. Both these varieties are one-third smaller than the common
black rat (M. rattus) ; and they differ from it both in the colour
and character of their fur, but in no other essential respect. I can
hardly doubt that these rats (like the common mouse, which has
also run wild) have been imported, and, as at the Galapagos, have
varied from the effect of the new conditions to which they have
been exposed : hence the variety on the summit of the island differs
from that on the coast. Of native birds there are none ; but the
guinea-fowl, imported from the Cape de Verd Islands, is abundant,
and the common fowl has likewise run wild. Some cats, which
were originally turned ont to destroy the rats and mice, have
increased, so as to become a great plague. The island is entirely
without trees, in which, and in every other respect, it is very far
inferior to St. Helena.

One of my excursions took me towards the S.W. extremity of the
island. The day was clear and hot, and I saw the island, not
smiling with beauty, but staring with naked hideousness. The
lava streams are covered with hummocks, and are rugged to a
degree which, geologically speaking, is not of easy explanation.
The intervening spaces are concealed with layers of pumice, ashes,
and volcanic tuff. Whilst passing this end of the island at sea, I
could not imagine what the white patches were with which the

1836.J VOLCANIC BOMBS. 473

whole plain was mottled; I now found that they were seafowl,
sleeping in such full confidence, that even in midday a man could
walk up and seize hold of them. These birds were the only
living creatures I saw during the whole day. On the beach a
great surf, although the breeze was light, came tumbling over the
broken lava rocks.

The geology of this island is in many respects interesting. In
several places I noticed volcanic bombs, that is, masses of lava
which have been shot through the air whilst fluid, and have con-
sequently assumed a spherical or pear-shape. Not only their ex-
ternal form, but, in several cases, their internal structure shows in
a very curious manner that they have revolved in their aerial
course. The internal structure of one of these bombs, when broken,
is represented very accurately in the woodcut. The central part

is coarsely cellular, the cells decreasing in size towards the ex-
terior ; where there is a shell-like case about the third of an inch
in thickness, of compact stone, which again is overlaid by the
outside crust of finely cellular lava. I think there can be little
doubt, first, that the external crust cooled rapidly in the state in
which we now see it ; secondly, that the still fluid lava within, was
packed by the centrifugal force, generated by the revolving of the

47 i ASCENSION. [CHAP. xxi.

bomb, against the external cooled crust, and so produced the solid
shell of stone; and lastly, that the centrifugal force, by relieving
the pressure iu the more central parts of the bomb, allowed the
heated vapours to expand their cells, thus forming the coarsely
cellular mass of the centre.

A hill, formed of the older series of volcanic rocks, and which has
been incorrectly considered as the crater of a volcano, is remarkable
from its broad, slightly hollowed, and circular summit having been
filled up with many successive layers of ashes and fine scoria;.
These saucer-shaped layers crop out on the margin, forming perfect
rings of many different colours, giving to the summit a most
fantastic appearance ; one of these rings is white and broad, and
resembles a course round which horses have been exercised ;
hence the hill has been called the Devil's Eiding School. I brought
away specimens of one of the tufaceous layers of a pinkish colour ;
and it is a most extraordinary fact, that Professor Ehrenberg *
finds it almost wholly composed of matter which has been organized :
he detects in it some siliceous-shielded, fresh-water infusoria, and
no less than twenty-five different kinds of the siliceous tissue of
plants, chiefly of grasses. From the absence of all carbonaceous
matter, Professor Ehrenberg believes that these organic bodies
have passed through the volcanic fire, and have been erupted in
the state in which we now see them. The appearance of the layers
induced me to believe that they had been deposited under water,
though from the extreme dryness of the climate I was forced to
imagine, that torrents of rain had probably fallen during some
great eruption, and that thus a temporary lake had been formed
into which the ashes fell. But it may now be suspected that the
lake was not a temporary one. Anyhow, we may feel sure, that at
some former epoch, the climate and productions of Ascension were
very different from what they now are. Where on the face of the
earth can we find a spot, on which close investigation will not dis-
cover signs of that endless cycle of change, to which this earth has
been, is, and will be subjected ?

On leaving Ascension, we sailed for Bahia, on the coast of Brazil,
in order to complete the chronometrical measurement of the world.
We arrived there on August 1st, and stayed four days, during
which I took several long walks. I was glad to find my enjoyment
in tropical scenery had not decreased from the want of novelty,

* Monats. der Konig. Akad. d. Wiss. zu Berlin. Voin April, 1845.

1B36.] BAHIA, BRAZIL. 475

even in the slightest degree. The elements of the scenery are so
simple, that they are worth mentioning, as a proof on -what trifling
circumstances exquisite natural beauty depends.

The country may be described as a level plain of about threa
hundred feet in elevation, which in all parts has been worn into
flat-bottomed valleys. This structure is remarkable in a granitic
land, but is nearly universal in all those softer formations of which
plains are usually composed. The whole surface is covered by
various kinds of stately trees, interspersed with patches of culti-
vated ground, out of which houses, convents, and chapels arise.
It must be remembered that within the tropics, the wild luxuriance
of nature is not lost even in the vicinity of large cities: for the
natural vegetation of the hedges and hill-sides overpowers in
picturesque effect the artificial labour of man. Hence, there arc
only a few spots where the bright red soil affords a strong contrast
with the universal clothing of green. From the edges of the plain
there are distant views either of the ocean, or of the great Bay with
its low-wooded shores, and on which numerous boats and canoes
show their white sails. Excepting from these points, the scene is
extremely limited ; following the level pathways, on each hand,
only glimpses into the wooded valleys below can be obtained.
The houses I may add, and especially the sacred edifices, are
built in a peculiar and rather fantastic style of architecture. They
are all whitewashed ; so that when illumined by the brilliant sun
of midday, and as seen against the pale blue sky of the horizon,
they stand out more like shadows than real buildings.

Such are the elements of the scenery, but it is a hopeless attempt
to paint the general effect. Learned naturalists describe these
scenes of the tropics by naming a multitude of objects, and men-
tioning some characteristic feature of each. To a learned traveller
this possibly may communicate some definite ideas : but who else
from seeing a plant in an herbarium can imagine its appearance
when growing in its native soil ? Who from seeing choice plants
in a hothouse, can magnify some into the dimensions of forest
trees, and crowd others into an entangled jungle? Who when
examining in the cabinet of the entomologist the gay exotic butter-
flics, and singular cicadas, will associate with these lifeless objects,
the ceaseless harsh music of the latter, and the lazy flight of the
former, — the sure accompaniments of the still, glowing noonday of
the tropics ? It is when the sun has attained its greatest height,

476 JJAHIA, BRAZIL. [c-iur. xxi.

that such scenes should be viewed : then the dense splendid foliage
of the mango hides the ground with its darkest shade, whilst the
upper branches are rendered from the profusion of light of the
most brilliant green. In the temperate zones the case is different
—the vegetation there is not so dark or so rich, and hence the rays
of the declining sun, tinged of a red, purple, or bright yellow
colour, add most to the beauties of those climes.

When quietly walking along the shady pathways, and admiring
each successive view, I wished to find language to express my
ideas. Epithet after epithet was found too weak to convey to
those who have not visited the intertropical regions, the sensation
of delight which the mind experiences. I have said that the
plants in a hothouse fail to communicate a just idea of the vege-
tation, yet I must recur to it. The land is one great wild, untidy,
luxuriant hothouse, made by Nature for herself, but taken posses-
sion of by man, who has studded it with gay houses and formal
gardens. How great would be the desire in every admirer of
nature to behold, if such were possible, the scenery of another
planet ! yet to every person in Europe, it may be truly said, that
at the distance of only a few degrees from his native soil, the
glories of another world are opened to him. In my last walk I
stopped again and again to gaze on these beauties, and endeavoured
to fix in my mind for ever, an impression which at the time I knew
sooner or later must fail. The form of the orange-tree, the cocoa-
nut, the palm, the mango, the tree-fern, the banana, will remain
clear and separate ; but the thousand beauties which unite these
into one perfect scene must fade away ; yet they will leave, like a
talc heard in childhood, a picture full of indistinct, but most
beautiful figures.

Ai.igvM Gth. — In the afternoon we stood out to sea, with the
intention of making a direct course to the Cape de Yerd Islands.
Unfavourable winds, however, delayed us, and on the 12th we ran
into Pcrnambuco,— a large city on the coast of Brazil, in latitude
8° south. We anchored outside the reef; but in a short time a
pilot came on board and took us into the inner harbour, where we
lay close to the town.

Pernambuco is built on some narrow and low sand-banks, which
are separated from each other by shoal channels of salt water. The
three parts of the town are connected together by two long bridges
built on wooden piles. The town is in all parts disgusting, the

1836.] TROPICAL SCEXKRY. 477

streets being' narrow, ill-paved, and filthy; the houses, tall and
gloomy. The season of heavy rains had hardly come to an end,
and hence the surrounding country, which is scarcely raised above
the level of the sea, was flooded with water ; and I failed in all my
attempts to take long walks.

The flat swampy land on which Pernambuco stands is sur-
rounded, at the distance of a few miles, by a semicircle of low
hills, or rather by the edge of a country elevated perhaps two
hundred feet above the sea. The old city of Olinda stands on one
extremity of this range. One day I took a canoe, and proceeded
up one of the channels to visit it ; I found the old town from its
situation both sweeter and cleaner than that of Pernambuco. I
must here commemorate what happened for the first time during
our nearly five years' wandering, namely, having met with a want of
politeness : I was refused in a sullen manner at two different houses,
and obtained with difficulty from a third, permission to pass
through their gardens to an uncultivated hill, for the purpose of
viewing the country. I feel glad that this happened in the land
of the Brazilians, for I bear them no good will — a land also of
slavery, and therefore of moral debasement. A Spaniard would
have felt ashamed at the very thought of refusing such a request,
or of behaving to a stranger with rudeness. The channel by which
we went to and returned from Olinda, was bordered on each side
by mangroves, which sprang like a miniature forest out of the
greasy mud-banks. The bright green colour of these bushes
always reminded me of the rank grass in a churchyard : both are
nourished by putrid exhalations ; the one speaks of death past, and
the other too often of death to come.

The most curious object which I saw in this neighbourhood, was
the reef that forms the harbour. I doubt whether in the whole
world any other natural structure has so artificial an appearance.*
It runs for a length of several miles in an absolutely straight line,
parallel to, and not far distant from, the shore. It varies in width
from thirty to sixty yards, and its surface is level and smooth ; it
is composed of obscurely-stratified hard sandstone. At high water
the waves break over it ; at low water its summit is left dry, and it
might then be mistaken for a breakwater erected by Cyclopean
workmen. On this coast the currents of the sea tend to throw up

* 1 have described this Bar in detail, in the Lond. and Edin. Phil. Ma?.,
vol. six. (1841), p. 257.

478 PERNAMUUCO, BRAZIL. [• HAI-. xxi.

in front of the land, long spits and bars of loose sand, and on one
of these, part of the town of Pernambuco stands. In former times
a long spit of this nature seems to have become consolidated by the
percolation of calcareous matter, and afterwards to have been
gradually upheaved ; the outer and loose parts during this process
having been worn away by the action of the sea, and the solid
nucleus left as we now see it. Although night and day the waves
of the open Atlantic, turbid with sediment, are driven against the
steep outside edges of this wall of stone, yet the oldest pilots know
of no tradition of any change in its appearance. This durability is
much the most curious fact in its history : it is due to a tough
layer, a few inches thick, of calcareous matter, wholly formed by
the successive growth and death of the small shells of Serpute,
together with some few barnacles and nulliporre. These nulli-
pora, -which are hard, very simply-organized sea-plants, play an
analogous and important part in protecting the upper surfaces of
coral-reefs, behind and within the breakers, where the true corals,
during the outward growth of the mass, become killed by exposure
to the sun and air. These insignificant organic beings, especial ly
the Serpulee, have done good service to the people of Pernambuco ;
for without their protective aid the bar of sandstone would inevitably
have been long ago worn away, and without the bar, there would
have been no harbour.

On the 19th of August we finally left the shores of Brazil. I
thank God, I shall never again visit a slave-country. To this clay,
if I hear a distant scream, it recalls with painful vividness my
feelings, when passing a house near Pernambuco, I heard the most
pitiable moans, and could not but suspect that some poor slave was
being tortured, yet knew that I was as powerless as a child even to
remonstrate. I suspected that these moans were from a tortured
slave, for I was told that this was the case in another instance.
Near Rio de Janeiro I lived opposite to an old lady, who kept
screws to crush the fingers of her female slaves. I have stayed in a
house where a young household mulatto, daily and hourly, was
reviled, beaten, and persecuted enough to break the spirit of the
lowest animal. I have seen a little boy, sis or seven years old,
struck thrice with a horse-whip (before I could interfere) on his
naked head, for having handed me a glass of water not qniie clean ;
I saw his father tremble at a mere glance from his master's eye.
These latter cruelties were witnessed by me in, a Spanish colony, in

1836.] SLAVERY. 479

which it 1ms always been said, that slaves arc better treated than
by the Portuguese, English, or other European nations. I have
seen at Eio Janeiro a powerful negro afraid to ward off a blow
directed, as he thought, at his face. I was present when a kind-
hearted man was on the point of separating for ever the men,
women, and little children of a large number of families who had
long lived together. I will not even allude to the many heart-
sickening atrocities which I authentically heard of; — nor would I
have mentioned the above revolting details, had I not met with
several people, so blinded by the constitutional gaiety of the negro,
as to speak of slavery as a tolerable evil. Such people have
generally visited at the houses of the upper classes, where the
domestic slaves are usually well treated ; and they have not, like
myself, lived amongst the lower classes. Such inquirers will ask
slaves about their condition ; they forget that the slave must indeed
be dull, who does not calculate on the chance of his answer
reaching his master's ears.

It is argued that self-interest will prevent excessive cruelty ; as if
self-interest protected our domestic animals, which are far less
likely than degraded slaves, to stir up the rage of their savage
masters. It is an argument long since protested against with noble
feeling, and strikingly exemplified, by the ever-illustrious Hum-
boldt. It is often attempted to palliate slavery by comparing the
state of slaves with our poorer countrymen : if the misery of our
poor be caused not by the laws of nature, but by our institutions,
great is our sin ; but how this bears on slavery, I cannot see ; as
well might the use of the thumb-screw be defended in one land, by
showing that men in another land suffered from some dreadful
disease. Those who look tenderly at the slave-owner, and with a
cold heart at the slave, never seem to put themselves into the
position of the latter ; what a cheerless prospect, with not even a
hope of change ! picture to yourself the chance, ever hanging over
you, of your wife and your little children — those objects which
nature urges even the slave to call his own — being torn from you
and sold like beasts to the first bidder ! And these deeds are done
and palliated by men, who profess to love their neighbours as
themselves, who believe in God, and pray that his Will be done on
earth ! It makes one's blood boil, yet heart tremble, to think that
we Englishmen and our American descendants, with their boastful
cry of liberty, have been and are so guilty : but it is a consolation

480 RETROSPECT. [••IIAI>. XXT.

to reflect, that we at least have made a greater sacrifice, than ever
made by any nation, to expiate our sin.

On the last day of August we anchored for the second time at
Porto Praya in the Cape de Verd archipelago ; thence we proceeded
to the Azores, where we stayed six days. On the 2nd of October
we made the shores of England; and at Falmouth I left the
Beagle, having lived on board the good little vessel nearly five
years.

Our Voyage having come to an end, I will take a short retro-
spect of the advantages and disadvantages, the pains and pleasures,
of our circumnavigation of the world. If a person asked my
advice, before undertaking a long voyage, my answer would depend
upon his possessing a decided taste for some branch of knowledge,
which could by this means be advanced. No doubt it is a high
satisfaction to behold various countries and the many races of
mankind, but the pleasures gained at the time do not counter-
balance the evils. It is necessary to look forward to a harvest,
however distant that may be, when some fruit will be reaped,
some good effected.

Many of the losses which must be experienced are obvious ; such
as that of the society of every old friend, and of the sight of those
places with which every dearest remembrance is so intimately
connected. These losses, however, are at the time partly relieved
by the exhaustless delight of anticipating the long wished-for
day of return. If, as poets say, life is a dream, I am sure in a
voyage these are the visions which best serve to pass away the
long night. Other losses, although not at first felt, tell heavily
after a period : these are the want of room, of seclusion, of rest ;
the jading feeling of constant hurry ; the privation of small luxu-
ries, the loss of domestic society, and even of music and the other
pleasures of imagination. When such trifles are mentioned, it is
evident that the real grievances, excepting from accidents, of a
sea-life are at an end. The short space of sixty years has made
an astonishing difference in the facility of distant navigation.
Even in the time of Cook, a man who left his fireside for such
expeditions underwent severe privations. A yacht now, with
every luxury of life, can circumnavigate the globe. Besides the
vast improvements in ships and naval resources, the whole western

ls:JG.| EETBOrirECT. 481

shores of America arc thrown open, and Australia has become tho
capital of a rising continent. How different are the circumstances
to a man shipwrecked at the present day in the Pacific, to what
they were in the time of Cook ! Since his voyage a hemisphere
has been added to the civilized world.

If a person suffer much from sea-sickness, let him weigh it
heavily in the balance. I speak from experience : it is no trifling
evil, cured in a week. I-f, on the other hand, he take pleasure in
naval tactics, he will assuredly have full scope for his taste. But
it must be borne in mind, how large a proportion of the time,
during a long voyage, is spent on the water, as compared with tho
days in harbour. And what are the boasted glories of the illimit-
able ocean ? A tedious waste, a desert of water, as the Arabian
calls it. No doubt there are some delightful scenes. A moonlight
night, with the clear heavens and the dark glittering sea, and the
white sails filled by the soft air of a gently blowing trade-wind,
a dead calm, with the heaving surface polished like a mirror, and
all still except the occasional flapping of the canvas. It is well
once to behold a squall with its rising arch and coming fury, or
the heavy gale of wind and mountainous waves. I confess, how-
ever, my imagination had painted something more grand, more
terrific in the full-grown storm. It is an incomparably finer
spectacle when beheld on shore, where the waving trees, the wild
flight of the birds, tho dark shadows and bright lights, the rushing
of the torrents, all proclaim the strife of the unloosed elements.
At sea the albatross and little petrel fly as if the storm were their
proper sphere, the water rises and sinks as if fulfilling its usual
task, the ship alone and its inhabitants seem the objects of wrath.
On a forlorn and weather-beaten coast, the scene is indeed different,
but the feelings partake more of horror than of wild delight.

Let us now look at the brighter side of the past time. The
pleasure derived from beholding the scenery and the general
aspect of the varioiis countries we have visited, has decidedly been
the most constant and highest source of enjoyment. It is probable
that the picturesque beauty of many parts of Europe exceeds
anything which we beheld. But there is a growing pleasure in
comparing the character of the scenery in different countries,
which to a certain degree is distinct from merely admiring its
beauty. It depends chiefly on an acquaintance with the individual
parts of each view: I am strongly induced to believe that as in

2 i

482 RETROSPECT, b HAI-. xxi.

music, the person who understands every note will, if he also
possesses a proper taste, more thoroughly enjoy the whole, so he
who examines each part of a fine view, may also thoroughly com-
prehend the full and combined effect. Hence, a traveller should
be a botanist, for in all views plants form the chief embellishment.
Group masses of naked rock even in the wildest forms, and they
may for a time afford a sublime spectacle, but they will soon grow
monotonous. Paint them with bright and varied colours, as in
Northern Chile, they will become fantastic; clothe them with
vegetation, they must form a decent, if not a beautiful picture.

When I say that the scenery of parts of Europe is probably supe-
rior to anything which we beheld, I except, as a class by itself, that
of the intertropical zones. The two classes cannot be compared
together; but I have already often enlarged on the grandeur of
those regions. As the force of impressions generally depends on
preconceived ideas, I may add, that mine were taken from the
vivid descriptions in the Personal Narrative of Humboldt, which
far exceed in merit anything else which I have read. Yet with
these high-wrought ideas, my feelings were far from partaking of
a tinge of disappointment on my first and final landing on the
shores of Brazil.

Among the scenes which are deeply impressed on my mind, none
exceed in sublimity the primeval forests uiidefaced by the hand of
man ; whether those of Brazil, where the powers of Life are pre-
dominant, or those of Tierra del Fuego, where Death and Decay
prevail. Both are temples filled with the varied productions of the
God of Nature :— no one can stand in these solitudes unmoved, and
not feel that there is more in man than the mere breath of his body.
In calling up images of the past, I find that the plains of Patagonia
frequently cross before my eyes ; yet these plains are pronounced
by all wretched and useless. They can be described only by
negative characters ; without habitations, without water, without
trees, without mountains, they support merely a few dwarf plants.
Why then, and the case is not peculiar to myself, have these arid
wastes taken so firm a hold on my memory ? Why have not the
still more level, the greener and more fertile Pampas, which arc
serviceable to mankind, produced an equal impression? I can
scarcely analyze these feelings : but it must be partly owing to the
free scope given to the imagination. The plains of Patagonia are
boundless, for they are scarcely passable, and hence unknown :

1836.] RETROSPECT. 483

they bear the stamp of having lasted, as they are now, for ages, and
there appears uo limit to their duration through future time. If,
as the ancients supposed, the flat earth was surrounded by an
impassable breadth of water, or by deserts heated to an intolerable
excess, who would not look at these last boundaries to man's
knowledge with deep but ill-defined sensations ?

Lastly, of natural scenery, the views from lofty mountains,
though certainly in one sense not beautiful, are very memorable.
When looking down from the highest crest of the Cordillera, the
mind, undisturbed by minute details, was filled with the stupendous
dimensions of the surrounding masses.

Of individual objects, perhaps nothing is more certain to create
astonishment than the first sight in his native haunt of a barbarian
• — of man in his lowest and most savage state. One's mind hurries
back over past centuries, and then asks, could our progenitors have
been men like these ? — men, whose very signs and expressions are
less intelligible to us than those of the domesticated animals ; men,
who do not possess the instinct of those animals, nor yet appear to
boast of human reason, or at least of arts consequent on that reason.
I do not believe it is possible to describe or paint the difference
between savage and civilized man. It is the difference between a
wild and tame animal: and part of the interest in beholding a
savage, is the same which would lead every one to desire to see the
lion in his desert, the tiger tearing his prey in the jungle, or the
rhinoceros wandering over the wild plains of Africa.

Among the other most remarkable spectacles which we have
beheld, may be ranked, the Southern Cross, the cloud of Magellan,
and the other constellations of the southern hemisphere— the
water-spout — the glacier leading its blue stream of ice, over-hang-
ing the sea in a bold precipice — a lagoon-island raised by the reef-
building corals — an active volcano — and the overwhelming effects
of a violent earthquake. These latter phenomena, perhaps, possess
for me a peculiar interest, from their intimate connexion with the
geological structure of the world. The earthquake, however, must
be to every one a most impressive event : the earth, considered from
our earliest childhood as the type of solidity, has oscillated like a
thin crust beneath our feet ; and in seeing the laboured works of
man in a moment overthrown, we feel the insignificance of his
boasted power.

It has been said, that the love of the chase is an inherent delight

484 RETROSPECT. [CHAP. xxi.

in uiau— a relic of an iiistinctivc passion. If so, I am sure the
pleasure of living in the open air, with the sky for a roof and the
ground for a table, is part of the same feeling; it is the savage
returning to his wild and native habits. I always look back to our
boat cruises, and my land journeys, when through unfrequented
countries, with an extreme delight, which no scenes of civilization
could have created. I do not doubt that every traveller must
remember the glowing sense of happiness which he experienced,
when he first breathed in a foreign clime, where the civilized man
had seldom or never trod.

There are several other sources of enjoyment in a long voyage,
which arc of a more reasonable nature. The map of the work I
ceases to be a blank ; it becomes a picture full of the most varied
and animated figures. Each part assumes its proper dimensions :
continents are not looked at in the light of islands, or islands con-
sidered as mere specks, which are, in truth, larger than many
kingdoms of Europe. Africa, or North and South America, are
well-sounding names, and easily pronounced; but it is not until
having sailed for weeks along small portions of their shores, that
one is thoroughly convinced what vast spaces on our immense world
these names imply.

From seeing the present state, it is impossible not to look forward
with high expectations to the future progress of nearly an entire
hemisphere. The march of improvement, consequent on the in-
troduction of Christianity throughout the South Sea, probably
stands by itself in the records of history. It is the more striking
when we remember that only sixty years since, Cook, whose excel-
lent judgment none will dispute, could foresee no prospect of a
change. Yet these changes have now been effected by the philan-
thropic spirit of the British nation.

In the same quarter of the globe Australia is rising, or indeed
may be said to have risen, into a grand centre of civilization, which,
at some not very remote period, will rule as empress over the
southern hemisphere. It is impossible for an Englishman to behold
these distant colonies, without a high pride and satisfaction. To
hoist the British flag, seems to draw with it as a certain consequence,
wealth, prosperity, and civilization.

In conclusion, it appears to me that nothing can be more im-
proving to a young naturalist, than a journey in distant countries.
It both sharpens, and partly allays that want and craving, which,

l*t«.| RETROSPECT. 485

as Sir J. Herschel remarks, a man experiences although every
corporeal sense be fully satisfied. The excitement from the novelty
of objects, and the chance of success, stimulate him to increased
activity. Moreover, as a number of isolated facts soon become un-
interesting, the habit of comparison leads to generalization. On
the other hand, as the traveller stays but a short time in each place,
his descriptions must generally consist of mere sketches, instead of
detailed observations. Hence arises, as I have found to my cost, a
constant tendency to fill up the wide gaps of knowledge, by in-
accurate and superficial hypotheses.

But I have too deeply enjoyed the voyage, not to recommend any
naturalist, although he must not expect to be so fortunate in his
companions as I have been, to take all chances, and to start, on
travels by land if possible, if otherwise on a long voyage. He may
feel assured, he will meet with no difficulties or dangers, excepting
in rare cases, nearly so bad as he beforehand anticipates. In a
moral point of view, the effect ought to be, to teach him good-
humoured patience, freedom from selfishness, the habit of acting
for himself, and of making the best of every occurrence. In short,
he ought to partake of the characteristic qualities of most sailors.
Travelling ought also to teach him distrust ; but at the same time
he will discover, how many truly kind-hearted people there are,
with whom he never before had, or ever again will have any further
communication, who yet arc ready to offer him the most disinterested
assistance.

INDEX.

Abbott, Mr., oil spiders, 33

Aborigines banished from Van Die-
men's Land, 429

of Australia, 410 to 432

Abrolhos, 13

Absence of trees in Pampas, 44

Aconcagua, volcano of, 241, 279

Actinia, stinging species, 445

Africa, Southern part desert, yet
supports large animals, 80

Agouti, habits of, 65

Ague common in Peru, 350

Albemarle Island, 3G1

Allan, Dr., on Diodon, 13

on Holuthuria), 44G

Alluvium, saliferous, in Peru, 348

, stratified, in Andes, 302

Amblyrhynchus, 370, 379

Anas, species of, 189

Animalcule, see Infusoria

Antartic islands, 23G

Antipodes, 400

Ants at Keeling Island, 438

- in Brazil, 32

Apires, or miners, 32fi

Aplysia, G

Apple-trees, 285

Aptenodytes demersa, 189

Areas of alternate movements in the
Pacific and Indian oceans, 4G1

Armadilloes, habits of, 90

, fossil animals allied to,

123, 147

Arrow-heads, ancient, 98, 342

Ascension, 471

Aspalax, blindness of, 49

Athene, G6, 118

Atolls, 447

Attagis, 88

At water, Mr., on the prairies, 112

Audubon, M., on smelling-powcr of

carrion-hawks, 175
Australia, 414
Australian barrier, 455
Azara on spiders, 34, 3G

• on rain in La Plata, 45

on range of carrion-hawks, 55

on habits of carrion-hawks, 51

on a thunder-storm, 57

on ostrich-eggs, 85

on bows and arrows, 98

— on new plants springing up,

112

on great droughts, 125
on hydrophobia, 339

Bachrnan, Mr., on carrion-hawks, 176
Bahia Blanca, 71 to 99
Bahia, Brazil, 11

, scenery of, 475

Balbi on coral reefs, 451

Bald Head, Australia, 432

Ballenar, Chile, 334

Banda Oriental, 1 35

Banks's Hill, 200

Barking-bird, 27G

Basaltic platform of Santa Cruz, 171

Bathurst, Australia, 424

Bats, vampiro, 21

Bay of Islands, New Zealand, 400

Beads', hill of, 142

Beagle Channel, Tierra del Fuego,

207

Beech-trees, 224, 268
Beetles alive in sea, 151
, dung-feeders, 469

488

Beetles at St. Julian, 1G1

. . in brackish water, 21

on a fungus, 31

Bfhring's Straits, fossils of, 125
Bell of Quillota, 243
B. nchuca, 316
Berkeley Sound, 179

_, Rev. J., on Confervas, lc

, on Cyttaria, 225

Bibron, M., 366, 370

Bien-te-veo, 51

Birds of the Galapagos Archipelago,

363, 379

. , tameness of, 382

Birgos latro, 444

Bizcacha, habits of, 66, 117

Blackwall, Mv., on spiders, 153

Blindness of tucotuco, 49

Body, frozen, 83, 237

Bohlbola, 450, 454

Bolas, manner of using, 42, 105

Bombs, volcanic, 473

Bones of the guanaco collected in

certain spots, 159

fire made of, 184

, fossil, 76, 120, 123, 147, 1G4

, recent in Pampas, 126

Bory St. Vincent on frogs, 366

Boulders, 177, 236

Bramador, El, 346

Brazil, great area of granite, 11

Breaches in coral reefs, 457

Breakwater of sea- weed, 228

Brewster, Sir D., on a calcareous

deposit, 9
Bridge of hide, 251

. of Incas, 320, 341

Buckland, Dr., on fossils, 125
Buenos Ay res, 114
Buffon on Americau animals, 165
Bug of Pampas, 316
Buildings, Indian, 341 to 344, 353
Bulimus on desert places, 333
Burchell, Mr., on food of quadru-
peds, 82

, on ostrich-eggs, 85

, on perforated stones,

255

Butterflies, flocks of, 150
Butterfly producing clicking sound,

31

Button, Jemmy, 197
Byron's account of fox of Falkland*,

184

INDEX,

Byron on an Indian killing his child,
205

Cacti, 157, 249, 359

Cactoruis, 364, 379

Calasoma on wing out at sea, 150

Calcareous casts of branches and

roots of trees at King George's

Sound, 432
incrustations on rocks of

Ascension, 9
Callao, 349
Colodera, 118
Calomys bizcacha, 117
Carnarhynchus, 364, 379
Camelida?, fossil animal allied to,

164
Cauis antarcticus, 184

— fulvipes, 268
Capybara, or carpincho, 47, 275

, fossil allied to, 77

Cape Horn, 201

- of Good Hope, 80
Caracara, or Carrancha, 52
Cardoon, beds of, 112, 141
Carmichael, Capt., 3S4
Carrion-hawks, 52, 113, 175
Casarita, 89

Castro, Chiloe, 265, 282
Casts of trees, 432
Casuchas, 321
Cathartes, 55, 175, 272
Cats run wild, 113, 472

good to eat, 110

• scratch trees, 128

, cruelty to mice, 189

Cattle, effects of their grazing on
the vegetation, 112

— killed by great droughts,
126, 139

know each other, 138

, curious breed of, 138

, waste of, 141

wild at the Falkland Islands,

181, 182

Cauquenes, hot springs of, 251
Causes of extinction of species

among mammalia, 164

of discoloured sea, 1 3

Cavia Patagonica, 65
Cervus campestris, 46
Ceryle Americana, 130
Cliacao, Chiloe, 262
Chagns atolls, If.!)

INDEX.

489

Chalk-like mud, -11(3

Chamisso oil drifted seeds arid trees,
436, 443

• on coral reefs, 448

Changes in vegetation of Pampas,
113

of St. Helena,

469

Charles Island, Galapagos Archi-
pelago, 360

Cheese, salt required for, 62

Cheucau, 265, 275

Chile, 241, 323

• , features of country, 243

Chiloc, 261

, forests of, and climate, 232

-, roads of, 262, 280

— , inhabitants of, 261, 264

Chionis, 89

Chonos Archipelago, 269

, climate of, 232

— , ornithology of,
275

Chupat, Eio, 101

Cladonia, 348

Clearness of atmosphere within An-
des, in Chile, 245

Climate of Tierra del Fuego and
Falkland Islands, 231

— Antarctic Islands, 236
Galapagos, 358, 362

, change of, in Chile, 342

Clouds of vapour after rain, 23

on Corcovado, 27

hanging low, 351

at sea, 386

Coleoptera in Tropics, 32

— out at sea, 151

of St. Julian, 162

( 'olias edusa, flocks of, 150
Colnett, Capt., on spawn in sea, 1(5

, on a marine lizard,

370

Colonia del Sacrarniento, 137
( 'olorado, Eio, 66
Compound animals, 191
Coucepcion, Chile, 290
Condor, habits of, 173, 176, 2.">7
Confervas, pelagic, 14
Conglomerate on the Vent ana, 103
— in Cordilleni, 306, 307
( 'rtiiums. 111!

Convicts of Mauritius, 464
, condition of, in New South

Wales, 428

Cook, Capt., on Kelp, 228
Copiapo, river aud valley of, 335

, town of, 339

Coquimbo, 328

Coral formations, 386, 434 to 462

, stinging species of, 445

, dead, 442, 459

Corallines, 191
Corcovado, clouds on, 27

, volcano, 279

Cordillera, appearance of. 246, 264,

305
, different productions on

east and west side, 313

, passage of, 301

-, structure of valleys, 302

— , geology of, 306, 318
-, rivers of, 303

, of Copiapo, 345

Cormorant catching fish, 189

Corral, where animals are slaugh-
tered at Buenos Ayres, 114

Coseguiua, eruption of, 279

Countries, unhealthy, 350

Couthouy, Mr., on coral-reefs, 450

Crabs, hermit species of, 439

at Keeling Island, 444

at St. Paul's, 10

Craters, number of, at the Galapagos
Archipelago, 358
— of Elevation, 464

Crisia, 192

Cruelty to animals, 144

Crustacea, pelagic, 153

Ctenomys Brasiliensis, 48

• , fossil species of, 77

Cucao, Chiloe, 282

Cuckoo-like habits of Molotlmis, 50

Cuentas, Sierra de, 141

Cumbre of Cordillera, 321

Cuming, Mr., on shells, 375, 469

Cuttle-fish, habits of, 6

Cuvier on Diodon, 13

Cynara, 112

Cyttaria Darwinii, 225

Daeelo lagonesis, 2
Dasypus, three species of, 90
Deer, 46, 125

Degradation of tertiary formations,
330

490

INDEX.

Dcinornis, 410

Deserts, 334, ::•!*

Desmodus, 21

Despoblado, valley of, 340

Deiffenbacli 011 Auckland Island,
233, 418

Diodon, habits of, 12

Discoloured sea, 13

Diseases from miasma, 350, 418

Distribution of mammalia in Ame-
rica, 123

of animals on opposite

sides of Cordillera, 313

of frogs, 366

of fauna of Galapagos,

Dobrizhoffer on ostriches, 88

on a hail-storm, 100

Docks, imported, 410

Dogs, shepherd, 142

D'Orbiguy, Travels in South Ame-
rica, 73, 87, 113, 122, 142,
159

Doris, eggs of, 190

Doubleclay, Mr., on a noise made
by a butterfly, 32

Drigg, lightning tubes at, 56

Droughts, great, in Pampas, 125

Dryness of St. Jago, 4

of winds in Tierra del Fit-
ego, 220
of air in Cordillera, 312

Du Bois, 367, 384
Dung-feeding beetles, 469
Dust, falling from atmosphere, 4

Earthenware fossil, 355
Earthquake, accompanied by an
elevation of the coast, 297

- accompanied by rain,

337

at Callao, 353
— at Concepcion, 290

nt Coquhnbo, 328

— at Keeling and Vani-
koro, and Society Islands, 456
at Yaldivia, 289

, causes of, 298

, effect of, on springs,

252

, on bottom

of sea, 294
— , effects of, on rocks,

245, 290

Earthquake, effects of, on sea, 289,

•291 to 293
, on a river-

bed, 343
294

— , line of vibration of,

on S.W. coast, 234

, tossing fragments from

the ground, 188

— , twisting movement of,

295

Eggs of Doris, 190
Ehrenberg, Prof., on Atlantic dust, 5
on infusoria in

Pampas, 77, 122
in

the open sea, 154
in

Patagonia, 163

in

Fuegian paint, 210

. in

coral mud, 446

. in

tuff at Ascension, 474

- on phosphorescence

of the sea, 155
on noises from a

hill, 346

Eimeo, view of, 390
Elater, springing powers of, 29
Electricity of atmosphere within

Andes, 312

Elephant, weight of, 82
Elevated shells, 79, 122, 162, 242,

285, 297, 330, 354
Elevation of coasts of Chile, 243,

285, 295, 297, 324, 330, 342
B. Blanca, 76

— Patagonia, 162, 356'

— Pampas, 122
mountain-chains, 299

— Cordillera, 303, 307,

318

fringing-reefs, 457

Pern, 854

within human period, 355

Entomology of the Galapagos Archi-
pelago. 366, 376, 378

Brazil, 32

Patagonia, 162, 313

Tierra del Fuego, 227

Keeling Island, 438

St. Helena, 470

INDEX.

491

Entrc Rios, geology of, 122

Epeira, habits of, 34, 30

Erratic blocks, how transported, 236

absent in intertropi-

cal countries, 236

on plains of Santa

Cruz, 177

of Tierra del Fuego,

236

Estancia, value of, 138
Extermination of species and races,

165, 166, 417, 423, 430
Extinction of shells at St. Helena,

468
of species, causes of, 165,

166
of man in New South

Wales, 417, 430
Eyes of tucutuco and inole, 40

Falconer, Dr., on the Sivatherium,
139

, Jesuit, on the Indians,

98

, on rivers in Pam-
pas, 100

, on natural enclo-

sures, 1 10
Falkland Islands, 179

. , birds tame at, 382

— , absence of trees
at, 45

, carrion-hawks of,

54

, wild cattle and

horses of, 180

, climate of, 231

, peat of, 274

Fat, quantity eaten, 111
Fear, an acquired instinct, 383
Februa, 32

Fennel, run wild, 112
Ferguson, Dr., on miasma, 350
Fern-trees, 233, 431
Fernando Norouha, 10, 359
Fields of dead coral, 442
Fire, art of making, 185, 393
Fish, eating coral, 446

of Galapagos, 375

emitting harsh sound, 129

Flamingoes, 62

Fleas, 331

Floods after droughts, 127

clear after snow, 305

Flora of the Galapagos, 359, 376,

379

of Keeling Island, 436

of St. Helena, 467

Flustracese, 191

Forests, absence of, in La Plata, 45

of Tierra del Fuego, 199,

231, 273

of Chiloe, 232, 268, 273,

281

of Valdivia, 286, 289

of New Zealand, 410

of Australia, 416

Fossil Mammalia, 76, 120, 123, 147,

164

earthenware, 355

Fox of the Falkland Islands, 184

of Chiloe, 268

Friendly Archipelago, 461
Frogs, noises of, 28

, bladders of, 368

— and toads, not found on

oceanic islands, 366
Frozen soil, 83, 236
Fruit-trees, southern limit of, 232
Fucus giganteus, 228
Fuegians, 194 to 223
Fulgurites, 56
Fungus, edible, 225
Furnarius, 89

Galapagos Archipelago, 357 ;
natural history of, 362

belongs to American

Zoology, 362, 377

Gale of wind, 206, 269

Gallegos River, fossil bones at, 164

Gallinazo, 52

Gauchos, 40, 145

, character of, 148

live on meat, 111

Gay, M., on floating islands. 253

— , on shells in brackish

water, 20

Geese at the Falkland Islands, 189

Geographical distribution of Ameri-
can animals, 124, 313

of frogs,

366

of fauna

of Galapagos, 377
Geology of Cordillera, 306, 318

of Patagonia, 162, 172

of St. Jago, 6

492

1XDEX,

Geology of St. Paul, 7

of 15. Blanca, 7G

of Pampas, 122

of Brazil, 11

Georgia, climate of, 237
Geospiza, 364, 379
Gill, Mr., on an upheaved river-
bed, 313

Gillies, Dr., on the Cordillera, 310
Glaciers in Tierra del Fuego, 213,

233

in Cordillera, 311

. iu lat. 46° 40', 235

Glow-worms, 29

Goats, destructive to vegetation at
St. Helena, 4G9

, bones of, 159

Goitre, 301

Gold-washing, 254

Good Success Bay, 194

Gossamer spider, 151

Gould, Mr., on the Calodera, US

, on birds of Galapagos,

363

Granite mountains, Tres Monies,
271

. of Cordillera, 307

Graspus, 10

Gravel, how far transported, 102

of Patagonia, 70, 162

Greenstone, fragments of, 245

Gryllus migratorius, 31G

Guanaco, habits of, 157

, fossil allied genus, 164

Guantajaya, mines of, 348

Guardia del Monte, 111

Guasco, 333

Guasos of Chile, 246

Guava, imported into Tahiti, 387

Guinea-fowl, 3, 473

Guimera seabra, 267

Gypsum, great beds of, 30G

in salt-lake, 62

in Patagonian tertiary-
beds, 162

• — at Iquique with salt, 349

at Lima with shells, 354

Haehettc, M., on lightning-tubes,

57

Hailstorm, 109
Hall, Capt. Basil, on terraces of

Coquimbo, i\M'.i
Haro, Varying, 4:?

Head, ('apt., on thistle-beds, 112,
117

Height of snow-line on Cordillera,

233

Hcnslow, Prof., on potatoes, 273
, on plants of Keeling

Island, 436
Hermit crabs, 439
Hill, emitting a noise, 34G
Hirnantopus, 108
Hogoleu barrier-reef, 451
Holes made by a bird, 89
Holman on drifted seeds, 4P>6
Holutlmriae feeding on coral, 44G
Hooker, Sir J., on the Cardoon, 112
— , Dr. J. D., on the Kelp, 227
, on Galapageian

plants, 377, 380
Horn, Cape, 201
Homer, Mr., on a calcareous deposit,

9

Horse, powers of swimming of, 136
wild at the Falkland

Islands, 181

fossil, 77, 123

Horse-fly, 162

Horsemanship of the Gauchos, 145,

185

Horses difficult to drive, 104
• drop excrement on paths,

112

killed by great droughts,

126

, multiplication of, 222

— broken in, 143

Hot springs of Cauqueues, 25 1

Huacas, 353, 355

Humboldt on burnished rocks, 12

on the atmosphere in

tropics, 30

on frozen soil, Si

— on hibernation, 92

— on potatoes, 273

on earthquakes and rain,

337

on miasma, 351, 418

Humming-birds of Kio de Janeiro,
30

of Chile, 259

Hybernatiou of animals, 1)2
Ilydrochrerus capybara, 17
Hydrophobia. :!I!s
Hyla, 28
Hymenophftllus, 31

INDEX.

493

Ibis mcliuiops, 157
Ice, prismatic structure of, 311
Icebergs, 177, 213, 234 to 240
Iiicas Bridge, 320, 341
Incrustations on coast rocks, 9, 11
Indian fossil remains, 3o5
Indians, attacks of, GO, 72

, Patagonia ns, 220

— , Araucarians, 287

of the Pampas, 9-4

of Valdivia, 287

— , perforated stones used by,
255

• powers of tracking, 314

-, grave of, 1G1, 178

, ruins of houses of, in Cor-
dillera, 341, 353

-, antiquities of, in La Plata,

43, 98

decrease in numbers, 98

Infection, 418

Infusoria in dust in the Atlantic, 5

• in the sea, 15, 154

— in Pampas, 77, 122

• in Patagonia, 162

in white paint, 210

• in coral mud, 446

— at Ascension, 474
Insects, first colonists of St. Paul's

rocks, 10

blown out to sea, 151

of Patagonia, 162, 313

of Tierra del Fuego, 227

of Galapagos, 366, 376, 378

of Keeling Island, 438

— of St. Helena, 470

Instincts of birds, 89, 382
Iodine with salt at Iquique, 349
Iquique, 347

Iron, oxide of, on rocks, 12
Islands, oceanic, volcanic, 8

, Antarctic, 236

, floating, 253

, low, 386, 448

Jackson, Col., on frozen snow, 311
Jaguar, habits of, 127
Jajuel, mines of, 248
James Island, Galapagos Archipe-
lago, 361

Juan Fernandez, volcano of, 297
, flora of. 377

Eater's Peak, 201

Kauri pine, 410
Keeling Island, 434

, birds of, 438

— , entomology of, 438

, flora of, 436

, subsidence of, 456

Kelp, or sea-weed, 227

Kendall, Lieut., on a frozen body,

237

Kingfishers, 2, 130
King George's Sound, 431

Labourers, condition of, in Chile,

255

Lagoon-islands, 386, 435, 446
Lagostomus, 117
Lake, brackish, near Kio, 20

with floating islands, 253

formed during earthquake,

355

Lamarck on acquired blindness, 49
Lampyris, 28

Lancaster, Capt., on a sea-tree, 94
Land-shells, 333, 468, 469
Lazo, 42, 146, 180
Leaves, fall of, 224
— , fossil, 430

Leeks in New Zealand, imported,

410

Lepus Magellanicus, 183
Lesson, M., on the scissor-bcak, 130
-, on rabbit of the Falk-

lands, 183

Lichen on loose sand, 348

Lichtenstein on ostriches, 86

Lightning storms, 58
tubes, 56

Lima, 349, 352

— , elevation of a river near, 343

Lime, changed by lava into crystal-
line rock, 5

Limnaea in brackish water, 2

Lion-ant, 424

Lizard, 91

— , marine species of, 370

Lizards, transport of, 367

Llama or Guanaco, habits of, 157

Locusts, 315

Longevity of species in Mollusca, 78

Lorenzo, San, island of, 353

Low archipelago, 386

Lund, M., on antiquity of man, 343

Lund and Clausen on fossils of
Brazil, 123, 164

INDEX.

Luxan, 315

Luxuriant vegetation not necessary

to support largo animals, 80
Lycosa, 34
Lyell, Mr., on terraces of Coquimbo,

329
, on longevity of Mollusca,

78
, on subsidence in the

Pacific, 449
, on change in vegetation,

, on fossil horses' teeth, 123

, on distribution of ani-
mals, 313

, on frozen snow, 311

, on extinct mammals and

ice-period, 163

-, on flocks of butterflies,

on stones twisted by

150

earthquakes, 295

MacCulloch on infection, 418
Macquarie river, 425
Macrauchenia, 77, 164
Macrocystis, 227
Madrina, or godmother of a troop of

mules, 302

Magdalen Channel, 229
Magellan, Strait of, 220
Malcolmson, Dr., on hail, 109
Malcliva atolls, 448, 457, 459
Maldouado, 37
Mammalia, fossil, 76, 120, 123, 147,

164, 356
Man, antiquity of, 343

, fossil remains of, 355

• , body frozen, 237

, fear of, an acquired instinct,

384

, extinction of races, 418, 430

Mares' flesh eaten by troops, 95

killed for their hides, 146

Mastodon, 120, 122

Matter, granular, movements in, 94

Mauritius, 403

Maypu river, 303

Mcgalouyx, 76, 124

Megatherium, 76, 78, 124

Mendo/a, climate of, 310

• ,316

Mexico, elevation of, 121
Miasmata, 350, 418

Mice inhabit sterile places, 345
— , number of, in America, 47

, how transported, 275, 36:>

different on opposite sides of

Andes, 313

• of the Galapagos, 363

of Ascension, 472

Millepora, 445

Mills for grinding ores, 254

Mimosas, 24

Mimus, 51, 379, 383

Miners, condition of, 249, 25;!, :i^.3,
332

Mines, 248, 326, 331

, how discovered, 304

Missionaries at New Zealand, 408

Mitchell, Sir T., on valleys of Aus-
tralia, 421

Mocking-bird, 51, 379, 383

Molina omits description of certain
birds, 259

Molothrus, habits of, 49

Monkeys with prehensile tails, 26

Monte Video, 38, 135

Moresby, Capt., on a great crab,
445

on coral-reefs, 460

Mount Sarmiento, 222, 230

Tarn, 223

Mountains, elevation of, 299

Movements in granular matter, 94

Mud, chalk-like, 446

disturbed by earthquake, 294

aiules, 302

Muniz, Sig., on niata cattle, 139

Murray, Mr., on spiders, 153

Mylodon, 77, 124, 147

Myopotamus Coypus, 275

Negress with goitre, 301
Negro, Kio, 59, 141

lieutenant, 71

New Caledonia, reef of, 450, 452,
458

Zealand, 400

Niata cattle, 138

Noises from a hill, 346

Noses, ceremony of pressing, 4U6

Nothura, 43

Notopod, crustacean, 153

Nulliporse, incrustations like, 9

protecting reefs, 177

Octopus, habits of, 7

INDEX.

495

Oily coatiug cm sea, 16

Olfersia, 10

Opetiorhynchus, 270

Opimtia, 249

Darwiuii, 157

Galapageia, 359

Orange-trees self-sown, 113

Ores, gold, 254

Ornithology of Galapagos, 303, 379

Ornithorhynchus, 424

Osoi-no, volcano of, 201, 203, 279

Ostrich, habits of, 41, 84

Ostriches' eggs, 107

Otaheite, 387

Otter, 275

Ova in sea, 10

Oven-bird, 89

Owen, Capt., on a drought in
Africa, 125

1 , Professor, on the Capybara,

47

fossil quadru-
peds, 70 to 79, 123, 147

nostrils of the

Gallinazo, 176
Owl of Pampas, 66, 118
Oxyurus, 226, 276
Oysters, gigantic, 1 62

Paint, white, 210
1'ullas on Siberia, 62
Palm-trees in La Plata, 44

in Chile, 244

, south limit of, 232

Palms absent at Galapagos, 360
Pampas, number of embedded re-
mains in, 147

, S. limit of, 70

, changes in, 113

not quite level, 117, 120,

136

-, geology of, 122, 147
— , view of, from the Andes,

314

Papilio ferouia, 31
Parana, Rio, 119, 131, 140

, islands in, 127

Parish, Sir W., on the great drought,

126

Park, Muugo, on eating salt, 104
Parrots, 131, 231
Partridges, 43

Pas, fortresses of New Zealand, 40 1
Parses in Cordillera, 320

Pasture, altered from grazing of

cattle, 112
Patagones, GO

Patagonia, geology of, 162, 315
, zoology of, 157, 102,

170

Patagouian Indians, 220
Peuch-trees, self-sown, 113
Peat, formation of, 273
Pebbles perforated, 142, 255
transported in roots of trees,

443
Pelagic animals in southern ocean,

153

Penas, Gulf of, 235
Penguin, habits of, 189
Pepsis, habits of, 34
Peruambuco, reef of, 477
Pernety on hill of ruins, 180

on tame birds, 383

Peru, 347 to 350

, dry valleys of, 343, 347

Petrels, habits of, 277
Peuquenes, pass of, 300
Phonolite at F. Noronha, in
Phosphorescence of the sea, 154

of a coralline, 192

of land insects and

sea animals, 28
Phryniscus, 91
Pine of New Zealand, 410
Plains at foot of Andes in Chile,

250, 303
almost horizontal near St.

Fe, 120

Planarise, terrestrial species of, 25
Plants of the Galapagos, 359, 376,

380

of Keeling Island, 436

of St. Helena, 467

fossil in Australia, 430

Plata, Eio, 37

, thunderstorms of, 58

Plover, long-legged, 108
Polished rocks, Brazil, 12
Polyborus chimango, 54

Novae Zelandia3, 51

Brasiliensis, 52

Ponsonby Sound, 210
Porpoises, 37
Port Desire, 156

, river of, 10*, 101

St. Julian, 161

Famine, 222

INDEX.

Portillo pass, 306, :ill

Porto Praya, 1

Potato, wild, "2.1-1

Potrcro Seco, 335

Prairies, vegetation of, 112

Pre'vost, M., on cuckoos, f>0

Priestley, Dr., oil lightning-tubes.

56

Procellaria gigantea, habits of, 277
Proctotretus, 91
Proteus, blindness of, 49
Protococcus nivalis, 309
Pteroptochos, two species of, 258

, species of, 266, 275

1'uento del Inca, 320, 341
Puflinus cinercus, 277
1'uflinuria Berardii, 277
Puma, habits of, 128, 174, 257

, flesh of, 110

Puna, or short respiration, 308
Punta Alta, Bahia Blanca, 76

Gorda, 122, 341

Pyrophorus luminosus, 29

Quadrupeds, fossil, 7G, 120, 123, 147,

164
, large, do not require

luxuriant vegetation, 80

-, weight of, 81

Quartz of the Vcntana, 103

• of Tupalguen, 109

of Falkland Island, 18G

Quedius, 10

Quillota, valley of, 243

Quintero, 242

Quinquina Island, 290

Quoy and Gaimard on stinging

corals, 445
on coral reefs,

457

Rabbit, wild, at the Falkland Is-
lands, 183

Rain at Coquimbo, 324, 332, 334

at Rio, 27

and earthquakes, 336

in Peru, 349, 350

in Chile, formerly more abun-
dant, 342

, effects on vegetation,

^324

Rana Mascarieusis, 3G7
Rat, only aboriginal animal of New
Zealand, 410

Rats at Galapagos, '•>>'<•>

at Ascension, 472

at Keeling Island, 437

Rattle-snake, species with allied

habit, 91
Red snow, 309
Reduvius, 316
Reef at Peruaiubuco of sandstone,

477
Reefs of coral, 44G to 462

, Barrier, 450, 457

, Fringing, 453

Reeks, Mr., analysis of salt, 61

bones, 147

salt and

shells, 354

Remains, human elevated, 355
Remedies of the Gauchos, 121
Reugger on the horse, 222
Reptiles absent in Tierra del Fuego,

226

— at Galapagos, 86(5

Respiration difficult in Andes, 308
Retrospect, 47

Revolutions at Buenos Ayres, 132
Rhinoceroses live in desert coun-
tries, 81

— , frozen, 83, 238

Rhynchops nigra, 129
Richardson, Dr., on mice of North
America, 363

— , on polished rocks,

239

237

-, on frozen soil, 83,

•, on eating fat. 111
•, OH geographical

distribution, 12:

Rimsky atoll, 448

Rio de Janeiro, 18

Plata, 37

Negro, 59, 141

Colorado, 66

S. Cruz, 168

— Sauce, 100

Salado, 111

Rivers, power of, in wearing chan-
nels, 171, 308

River-bed, arched, 344

River-courses dry in America, 101

Rocks burnished with ferruginous
matter, 12

Rodents, number of in America. 47,
170

INDEX.

497

Rodents, fossil species of, 77
Kosas, General, 66, 07, 133
Kuins of Callao, 353
— — — of Indian buildings in Cordil-
lera, 341, 352

S. Cruz, 168

Salado, Kio, 111

Salinas at the Galapagos Archipe-
lago, 362

• in Patagonia, 61, 161

Saline efflorescences, 73

Salt with vegetable food, 104

• — • — , superficial crust of, ."in

, with elevated shells, 35 1

Salt-lakes, 61, 161, 362

Sand, hot from sun's rays, at Gala-
pagos Archipelago, 362

• , noise from friction of, 316

Sand-dunes, 70

Sandstone of New South Wales,
420

• , reef of, 477

Sandwich Archipelago, no frogs at,
367

Land, 236

San Pedro, forests of, 26S

Santa Cruz, river of, 168

Santiago, Chile, 250

Sanniento, Mount, 222, 230

Sauce, Ilio, 100

Saurophagus sulphureus, 51

Scarus eating corals, 446

Scelidotherium, 76

Scenery of Andes, 305

Scissor-tail, 131

Scissor-beak, habits of, 12!), 130

Scoresby, Mr., on effects of snow on
rocks, 305

Scorpions, cannibals, 157

Scrope, Mr., on earthquakes, 338

Scytalopus fuscus, 226, 276

Sea, open, inhabitants of, 154

• , phosphoresence of, 154

, distant noise of, 283

Sea-pen, habits of, 93, 192

Sea- weed, growth of, 228

Seals, number of, 272

Seeds transported by sea, 377, 436

Serpulte, protecting reef, 477

Shark killed by Diodou, 13

Shaw, Dr., on lion's flesh, 110

Sheep, infected, 418

Shelley, lines on Mont IManc, 160

Shells, land, in great numbers, 333

, at St. Helena, 468

fossil, of Cordillera, 307

— of Galapagos, 375

elevated, 78, 122, 162, 242,

330, 354
, tropical forms of, far south,

231
, decomposition of, with salt,

354

Shepherds' dogs, 142
Shingle-bed of Patagonia, 70, 162
Siberia compared with Patagonia,

G3
, zoology of, related to North

America, 125
Siberian animals, how preserved in

ice, 238
, food necessary

during their existence, 84
Silicified trees, 319, 338
Silurian formations at Falkland

Islands, 186
Silurus, habits of, 12U
Skunks, 75

Slavery, 19, 22, 23, 478
Smelling power of carrion-hawks,

175
Smith, Dr. Andrew, on the support

of large quadrupeds, 80
• , on perforated

pebbles, 142
Snake, venomous, 90
Snow, effects of on rocks, 305

, prismatic structure of, 311

, red, 309

Snow-line on Cordillera, 233, 309,

311
Society, state of in La Plata, 39, 149

in Australia, 426

— Archipelago, 386

. volcanic phe-
nomena at, 456, 462
Soda, nitrate of, 347

, siilphate of, 73

Soil, frozen, 83, 236
Spawn on surface of sea, 16
Species, distribution of, 123, 347

, extinction of, 166

Spiders, habits of, 33 to 36

, gossamer, 151

killed by and killing wasps,

33 to 35

on Keeling Island, 438

2 K

498

INDEX,

Spiders on St. Paul's, 10

Springs, hot, 252

Stevenson, Mr., on growth of sea-
weed, 227

Stinging animals, 445

St. Helena, 466

, introduction of spirits

into, 396

— IV, 121

— Jago, C. Verds, 1

. , unhealthiness of, 350

— Jago, Chile, 250

— Maria, elevated, 295, 297

- - Paul's rocks, 7
Stones perforated, 142, 255

transported in roots, 443

Storm, 20G, 269

in Cordillera, 3)0, 345

Streams of stones at Falkland

Islands, 187
Strongylus, 31
Strutbio Khea, 41, 87

Darwinii, 87

Strzelecki, Count, 430 '
Suadiva atoll, 448

Subsidence of coral reef, 448 to 462

— of Keeling Island, 456

• of Patagonia, 164

• of coast of Peru, 353

of Cordillera, 307, 319

of Coasts of Chile, 330

of Vanikoro, 456

of coral reefs great in

amount, 460

, cause of distinctness in

Tertiary epochs, 330
Sulphate of lime, 62, 162, 354
• of soda incrustingr

the

ground, 73

• of soda with common salt,

62, 354

Swainson, Mr., on cuckoos, 50
Sydney, 414

Tabanua, 162

Tahiti (Otaheite), 387

, three zones of fertility, 390

Talcahuano, 290
Tambillos, Kuinas de, 341
Tameness of birds, 382
Tapacolo and Turco, 258
Tapalguen, Sierra, flat hills of

quartz, 109
Tarn, Mount, 223

Tasmania, 428
Tattooing, 388, 409
Temperance of the Tahitians, 395
Temperature of Tierra del Fuego

and Falkland Islands, 231
of Galapagos, 358,

362
Tercero, Rio, fossils in banks of,

120
Terraces in valleys of Cordillera,

302

of Coquimbo, 329

of Patagonia, 163, 172

Tertiary formations of the Pampas,

76, 122, 147
of Patagonia,

in Chile, epochs

of, 330

Teru-tero, habits of, 108

Testudo, habits, of, 367, 378

Theory of lagoon-islands, 453

Theristicus, 157

Thistle beds, 112, 117, 141

Thunder-storms, 58

Tierra del Fuego, 194 to 240

-, climate and vege-

tation of, 231

— , zoology of, 225
— , entomology of,

227

Tinamus rufescens, 106
Tinochorus Eschscholtzii, 88
Toad, habits of, 91
not found in oceanic islands,

366

Torrents in Cordillera, 303, 308
Tortoise, habits of. 367, 378
Toxodon, 77, 120, 123, 147
Transparency of air in Andes, 312

in St. Jago, 4

Transport of seeds, 377, 436

of boulders, 177, 236

of stones in roots of trees,

443
of fragments of rock on

banks of the St. Cruz river, 171
Travertin with leaves of trees, Van

Diemen's Land, 430
Tree-ferns, southern limits of, 233

,431

Trees, absence of, in Pampas, 44

, floating, transport stones. 443

silicificd, vertical, 318

INDEX.

499

Trees, silicilied, size of, 338
, time required to rot, 288

Trcs Monies, 269

Trichodesmium, 13

Trigonocephalus, (JO

Tristan d'Acunha, 384, 438

Trochilus, 259

Tropical scenery, 475

Tacfmdi, M., on subsidence, 353

Tubes, siliceous, formed by light-
ning, 5G

Tucutuco, habits of, 48

, fossil species of, 77

Tuff, craters of, 358

, Infusoria in, 473

Tupungato, volcano of, 311

Turco, El, 258

Turkey buzzard, 55, 175, 272

Turtle, manner of catching, 441

Type of organization in Galapagos
Islands, American, 378

Types of organization in different
countries, constant, 164

Tyrannus, 131

Ulloa on hydrophobia, 339

• on Indian buildings, 342

Unaniie, Dr., on hydrophobia,

339
Uruguay, Eio, 131, 140

, not crossed by the

Bizcacha, 117
Uspallata range and pass, 317

Vacas, Rio, 319
Valdivia, 285

, forests of, 286, 289

Valley of St. Cruz, how excavated,

172

, dry, at Copiapo, 341

Valleys, excavation of, in Chile,

302, 340

of Tahiti, 392, 396

in Cordillera, 302

of New South Wales, 420

Valparaiso, 241, 300
Vampire bat, 21
Vapour from forests, 23
Van Diemen's Laud, 428
Vanellus Cayauus, 108
Vanessa, flocks of, 151
Vauikoro, 451, 452, 456
Vegetation of St. Helena, changes

of, 469

Vegetation on opposite sides of Cor-
dillera, 313

, luxuriant, not necessary

to support large animals, 80

Ventana, Sierra, 101

Verbena melindres, 38

Villa Vicencio, 317

Virgularia Patagonica, 93, 192

Volcanic bombs, 473

Islands, 8

phenomena, 298 ]

Volcanoes near Chiloe, 261, 263, 279,
297

, their presence determined

by elevation or subsidence, 461

Vultur aura, 55, 175, 272

Waders, first colonists of distant

islands, 365

Waimate, New Zealand, 404
Walckenaer on spiders, 36
Walleechu tree, 64
Wasps preying on spiders and killed

by, 33 to 35

Water, sold at Iquique, 347
, fresh, floating on salt, 37,

440

Water-hog, 47
Waterhouse, Mr., on Ilodents, 47,

363

, on the Niata ox,

139

-, on the insects of

Ticrra del Fuego, 227
of

Galapagos, 366, 376
Waves, caused by fall of ice, 213,

234

from earthquakes, 292, 296

Weather, connection with earth-
quakes, 336

Weather-board, N. S. Wales, 419
Weeds in New Zealand, imported,

377, 410

Weight of large quadrupeds, 82
Wellington, Mount, 431
Wells, ebbing and flowing, 439
— at Iquique, 349

West Indies, banks of, 422

, coral reefs of, 453, 401

— , zoology of, 125

Whales, oil from, 16

leaping out of water, 212

White, Mr., on spiders, •'>:!

500

INDEX.

"Wigwams of Fucgiaus, 201
"Williams, Kev., on infectious dis-
orders, 418

Winds, dry, in Tierra del Fuego,
220

at the Cape Verds, '.'<

— , cold, on Cordillera, :-J-lf>

— on Cordillera, 310
Winter's Bark, 221, 2G8
AVolf at the Falklands, 181
Wood, Capt., on the Agouti, 65
Woollya, 210

Yaquil. 2^:!

Yeso, Vullc del, iJOG
York Minster, 198

Zouotrichia, 49

Zoological provinces of N. and S.

America, 124
Zoology of Galapagos, 362

— of Keeling Island, 438
• of Tierra del Fuego, 225

of Chonos Islands, 274

of St. Helena, 470

Zoophytes, 93

- at Falkland Islands, 191
Zorillo, or skunk, 75

TIJK END.

LOXKOX: PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES ANI* SONS, UHtTKD,
STAMFORD STREET AKD CHARING CROSS.

AU6 2 5 1994

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QH365
.Al
Darwin . 1890

Journal of researches into the
natural history and geology of
the countries visited during
the voyage of H. M. S. 'Beagle1

QH365
.Al

.
Darwin .

Journal of researches into the
natural history and geology of the
countries visited during the voyage
of H. M. S. • Beagle • round the world
under the command of Capt. Fitz Roy,'

CALIFORNIA COLLEGE OF MEDICINE LIBRARY

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, IRVINE

IRVINE, CALIFORNIA 92664