BY

(harle

lARWIM

LIBRARY OF
WELLESLEY COLLEGE

GIFT OF

Horsford Fund

A NATURALIST'S VOYAGE
ROUND THE WORLD

JOURNAL OF RESEARCHES

INTO THE

NATURAL HISTORY AND GEOLOGY

OF THE

COUNTRIES VISITED DURING THE VOYAGE ROUND
THE WORLD OF H. M. S. 'BEAGLE'

UNDER THE COMMAND OF CAPTAIN FITZ ROY, R.N.

By CHARLES DARWIN, M. A., F. R. S.

AUTHOR OF 'origin OF SPECIES,' ETC.

A NEW EDITION

WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY R. T. PRITCHETT OF PLACES VISITED AND
OBJECTS DESCRIBED

NEW YORK

D. APPLETON AND COMPANY

1890

TO

CHARLES LYELL, Esq., F.R.S.,

THIS SECOND EDITION IS DEDICATED WITH GRATEFUL PLEASURE, AS AN
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

QH

II

D2

PREFATORY NOTICE TO THE
ILLUSTRATED EDITION

This work was described, on its first appearance, by a writer
in the Quarterly Reviezv as " One of the most interesting
narratives of voyaging that it has fallen to our lot to take up,
and one which must always occupy a distinguished place in
the history of scientific navigation."

This prophecy has been amply verified by experience ; the
extraordinary minuteness and accuracy of Mr. Darwin's obser-
vations, combined with the charm and simplicity of his
descriptions, have ensured the popularity of this book with all
classes of readers — and that popularity has even increased in
recent years. No attempt, however, has hitherto been made
to produce an illustrated edition of this valuable work :
numberless places and objects are mentioned and described,
but the difficulty of obtaining authentic and original representa-
tions of them drawn for the purpose has never been overcome
until now.

Most of the views given in this work are from sketches
made on the spot by Mr. Pritchett, with Mr. Darwin's book by
his side. Some few of the others are taken from engravings
which Mr. Darwin had himself selected for their interest as
illustrating his voyage, and which have been kindly lent by
his son.

Mr. Pritchett's name is well known in connection with the
voyages of the Sunbeam and Wanderer, and it is believed that
the illustrations, which have been chosen and verified with the
utmost care and pains, will greatly add to the value and
interest of the " Voyage of a Naturalist."

JOHN MURRAY.
Dec. i88q.

AUTHOR'S PREFACE

I HAVE stated in the preface to the first Edition of this work,
and in the Zoology of the Voyage of the Beagle, that it was in
consequence of a wish expressed by Captain Fitz Roy, of
having some scientific person on board, accompanied by an
offer from him of giving up part of his own accommodations,
that I volunteered my services, which received, through the
kindness of the hydrographer. Captain Beaufort, the sanction of
the Lords of the Admiralty. As I feel that the opportunities
which I enjoyed of studying the Natural History of the different
countries we visited have been wholly due to Captain Fitz
Roy, I hope I may here be permitted to repeat my expression
of gratitude to him ; and to add that, during the five years we
were together, I received from him the most cordial friendship and
steady assistance. Both to Captain Fitz Roy and to all the Officers
of the Beagle ^ 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 tlie
Beagle includes an account of the Fossil Mammalia, by
Professor Owen ; of the Living Mammalia, by Mr. Waterhouse ;
of the Birds, by Mr. Gould ; of the Fish, by the Rev. L.

surgeon

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

PREFACE vii

Jenyns ; and of the Reptiles, by Mr. Bell. I have appended
to the descriptions of each species an account of its habits and
range. These works, which I owe to the high talents and
disinterested zeal of the above distinguished authors, could not
have been undertaken had it not been for the liberality of the
Lords Commissioners of Her Majesty's Treasury, who, through
the representation of the Right Honourable the Chancellor of
the Exchequer, have been pleased to grant a sum of one
thousand pounds towards defraying part of the expenses of
publication.

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

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

Down, Bromley, Kent,
June 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 colonists of Islands — Fernando Noronha — Bahia — Burnished
Rocks — Habits of a Diodon — Pelagic Confervse and Infusoria — Causes of dis-
coloured Sea . . . , . . . Pages 1-18

CHAPTER n

Rio de Janeiro — Excursion north of Cape Frio — Great Evaporation — Slavery — :
Botofogo Bay — Terrestrial Planarise — Clouds on the Corcovado — Heavy rain
— Musical frogs — Phosphorescent insects — Ela-ter, springing powers of — Blue
Haze — Noise made by a Butterfly — Entomology — Ants — Wasp killing a Spider
— Parasitical Spider — Artifices of an Epeira — Gregarious Spider — Spider with
an unsymmetrical web ...... '9-39

CHAPTER HI

Monte Video — Maldonado — Excursion to R. Polanco — Lazoand Bolas — Partridges —
Absence of trees — Deer — Capybara, or River Hog — Tucutuco— Molothrus,
cuckoo - like habits — Tyrant - flycatcher — Mocking - bird — Carrion Hawks —
Tubes formed by lightning — House struck . . . 40-64

CHAPTER IV

Rio Negro — Estancias attacked by the Indians — Salt Lakes — Flamingoes — R.
Negro to R. Colorado — Sacred Tree — Patagonian Hare — Indian Families —
General Rosas — Proceed to Bahia Blanca — Sand Dunes — Negro Lieutenant —
Bahia Blanca — Saline incrustations — Punta Alta — Zorillo . 65-84

CONTENTS

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 — Hybernation of Animals —
Habits of Sea -Pen — Indian Wars and Massacres — Arrowhead — Antiquarian
Relic . ... . . . . Pages 85-110

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 . , . . . . . I11-128

CHAPTER Vn

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, and Scissor-tail — Revolution — Buenos
Ayres — State of Government ..... 129-150

CHAPTER VHI

Excursion to Colonia del Sacramiento — Value of an Estancia — Cattle, how counted
■ — Singular breed of Oxen — Perforated pebbles — Shepherd - dogs — Horses
broken-in, Gauchos riding — Character of Inhabitants — Rio Plata — Flocks of
Butterflies — Aeronaut Spiders — Phosphorescence of the Sea — Port Desire —
Guanaco — Port St. Julian — Geology of Patagonia — Fossil gigantic Animal —
Types of Organisation constant — Change in the Zoology of America — Causes of
extinction ....... 151-186

CHAPTER 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 relics — 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 violence— Penguin — Geese — Eggs of Doris — Compound animals

187-214

CONTENTS

CHAPTER X

Tierra del Fuego, first arrival — Good Success Bay — An account of the Fuegians on
board — Interview with the savages — Scenery of the forests — Cape Horn — Wig-
wam Cove — Miserable condition of the savages — Famines — 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 Settlement —
Equality of condition amongst the natives . . Pages 215-243

CHAPTER XI

Strait of Magellan — Port Famine — Ascent of Mount Tarn — Forests — Edible fungus
— Zoology — Great Seaweed — 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 car-
casses— Recapitulation ...... 244-267

CHAPTER XH

Valparaiso — Excursion to the foot of the Andes — Structure of the land — Ascend
the Bell of Quillota — Shattered masses of greenstone — Immense valleys — Mines
— State of miners — Santiago — Hot-baths of Cauquenes — Gold-mines — Grind -
ing-mills — Perforated stones — Habits of the Puma — El Turco and Tapacolo —
Humming-birds ....... 268-290

CHAPTER Xni

Chiloe — General aspect — Boat excursion — Native Indians — Castro — Tame fox —
Ascend San Pedro — Chonos Archipelago — Peninsula of Tres Montes — Granitic
range — Boat -wrecked sailors — Low's Harbour — Wild potato — Formation of
peat — Myopotamus, otter and mice — Cheucau and Barking -bird — Opetio-
rhynchus — Singular character of ornithology — Petrels . . 291-310

CHAPTER XIV

San Carlos, Chiloe — Osorno in eruption, contemporaneously with Aconcagua and
Coseguina — Ride to Cucao — Impenetrable forests^ Valdivia— Indians — Earth-
quake—Concepcion — Great earthquake — Rocks fissured — Appearance of the
former towns — The sea black and boiling — Direction 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 . . 311-333

CONTENTS

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 — Geological structure of the two main ranges, their distinct origin and
upheaval — -Great subsidence — Red snow — Winds — Pinnacles of snow — Dry and
clear atmosphere — Electricity — 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 — Casuchas — Valparaiso .... Pages 334-359

CHAPTER XVI

Coast-road to Coquimbo — Great loads carried by the miners — Coquimbo — Earthquake
— Step-formed terraces — Absence of recent deposits — Contemporaneousness 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 — Noises 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 decom-
position— Plain with embedded shells and fragments of potteiy — Antiquity of
the Indian Race .... . . 360-396

CHAPTER XVn

Galapagos Archipelago — The whole group volcanic — Number 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 seaweed — Terrestrial lizard, burrowing habits,
herbivorous — Importance of reptiles in the Archipelago — Fish, shells, insects —
Botany — American type of organisation — Differences in the species or races on
different islands — Tameness of the birds — Fear of man an acquired instinct

397-427

CHAPTER XVHI

Pass through the Low Archipelago — Tahiti — Aspect — Vegetation on the mountains
— View of Eimeo — Excursion into the interior — Profound ravines — Succession
of waterfalls — Number of wild useful plants — Temperance of the inhabitants —
Their moral state — Parliament convened — New Zealand — Bay of islands —
Hippahs — Excursion to Waimate — Missionary establishment — English weeds
now run wild — Waiomio — Funeral of a New Zealand woman — Sail for
Australia ....... 428-458

CONTENTS

CHAPTER XIX

Sydney — 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 forma-
tion— Bathurst, general civility of the lower orders — State of Society — Van
Diemen's Land — Hobart Town — Aborigines all banished — Mount Wellington
— King George's Sound — Cheerless aspect of the country — Bald Head,
calcareous casts of branches of trees — Party of natives — Leave Australia

Pages 459-480

CHAPTER XX

Keeling Island — Singular appearance — Scanty Flora — Transport of seeds — Birds and
insects — 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 — Subsidence of their founda-
tions— Barrier-reefs — Fringing-reefs — Conversion of fringing-reefs into barrier-
reefs, and into atolls — Evidence of changes in level — Breaches in barrier-reefs —
Maldiva atolls ; their peculiar structure — Dead and submerged reefs — Areas
of subsidence and elevation —Distribution of volcanoes— Subsidence slow and
vast in amount . . . . . . .481-512

• CHAPTER XXI

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 rats — Volcanic bombs — Beds
of infusoria — Bahia, Brazil — Splendour of tropical scenery^Pernambuco —
Singular reefs — Slavery — Return to England — Retrospect on our voyage

513-538

INDEX 539.551

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

H.M.S Beagle in Straits of Magellan, Mt. Sarmiento

IN the distance
Fernando Noronha
Incrustation of Shelly Sand
Diodon MACULATUS (Distended and Contracted)
Pelagic Conferva
Catamaran (Bahia)
Botofogo Bay, Rio Janeiro
Vampire Bat (Desmodus D'Orbignyi)
Virgin Forest ....
Cabbage Palm ....
Mandioca or Cassava .
Rio Janeiro ....
Darwin's Papilio feronia, 1833, now called Ageronia

feronia, 1889
Hydroch^rus capybara or Water-Hog
Recado or Surcingle of Gaucho
Halt at a Pulperia on the Pampas .
El Carmen, or Patagones, Rio Negro
Brazilian Whips, Hobbles, and Spurs
Bringing in a Prisoner
Irregular Troops
Skinning Uji or Water Serpents

Frontispiece

I

.

9

.

13

15

.

18

.

19

23

To face

25

26

27

To face

32

LLED Ageronia

39

40

46

64

.

65

.

75

.

84

.

85

•

103

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

Rhea Darwinii (Avestruz Petise)

Landing at Buenos Ayres

Mati^ Pots and Bambillio

Giant Thistle of Pampas

Cynara cardunculus or Cardoon

Evening Camp, Buenos Ayres .

Rozario ....

Parana River

ToxODON Platensis. (Found at Saladillo)

Fossil Tooth of Horse (from Bahia Blanca)

Mylodon ....

Head of Scissor-Beak .

Rhynchops nigra, or Scissor-Beak

Buenos Ayres Bullock-Waggons

Fuegians and Wigwams

Opuntia Darwinii

Raised Beaches, Patagonia

Ladies' Combs, Banda Oriental

Condor (Sarcorhamphus gryphus)

Basaltic Glen, Santa Cruz

Berkeley Sound, Falkland Islands

York Minster (Bearing s. 66° e.)

Cape Horn

Cape Horn (Another View)

Bad Weather, Magellan Straits

Fuegian Basket and Bone Weapons

False Horn, Cape Horn

Wollaston Island, Tierra del Fuego

Patagonians from Cape Gregory

Port Famine, Magellan

PAGE

TO

To face

To face

28
29
2)1)
34
:38
[40

'45

[45

50

51

75

87
To face 192

214

• 215
222

. 223

229

.. 230

. 243

• 244
. 245

246

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

Patagonian Bolas

Patagonian Spurs and Pipe

Cyttaria Darwinii

Eyre Sound

Glacier in Gulf of Penas

Flora of Magellan

Macrocystis pyrifera, or Magellan Kelp

Trochilus forficatus .

Hacienda, Condor, Cactus, etc.

Chilian Miner .

Cactus (Cereus Peruviana)

Cordilleras from Santiago de Chile

Chilian Spurs, Stirrup, etc. .

Old Church, Castro, Chiloe .

Inside Chonos Archipelago

Gunnera scabra, Chiloe

Antuco Volcano, near Talcahuano

Panoramic View of Coast, Chiloe

Inside Island of Chiloe. San Carlos

Hide Bridge, Santiago de Chile

Chilenos.

South American Bit

Bridge of the Incas, Uspallata Pass

Lima and San Lorenzo

CoQuiMBO, Chile

HuACAS, Peruvian Pottery

Testudo Abingdonii, Galapagos Islands

Galapagos Archipelago

Finches from Galapagos Archipelago

Amblyrhynchus cristatus

PAGE
248

249

251

To face 260
261
265.
267
268
271
277
278

To face 282
290
291
300
310

311

312

3^3

334

337

338

357

360

366

396

397

398

405

411

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

Opuntia Galapageia ....

AVA OR Kava (Macropiper methysticum), Tahiti

EiMEO AND Barrier-reef

Fatahua Fall, Tahiti

Tahitian .

Hippah, New Zealand .

Sydney, 1835

HoBART Town and Mount Wellington

Australian Group of Weapons and Throwing Sticks

Inside an Atoll, Keeling Island

Whitsunday Island .....

Barrier-Reef, Bolabola ....

Sections of Barrier-Reefs ....

Section of Coral-Reef . . . .

Section of Coral-Reef .....

Bolabola Island .....

Corals .......

BiRGOS Latro, Keeling Island

St. Louis, Mauritius .....

St. Helena ......

Cellular Formation of Volcanic Bomb

Cicada homoptera .....

Homeward Bound .

Ascension. Terns and Noddies

Map of South America

Map of the World, showing the Track of H.M.S.
Beagle

PAGE
. 428

To face 432

» ,> 436

. 438

. 458

• 459

• 475
. 480
. 481

. 495

. 498

500

502

• 503
To face 504

• 507
. 512

• 513

• 517

• 524
. 529

• 531
. 538

At end.

FERNANDO NORONHA.

JOURNAL

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 Colonists of Islands — Fernando Noronha — Bahia — Burnished
Rocks — Habits of a Diodon — Pelagic Confervse and Infusoria — Causes of dis-
coloured Sea.

ST. JAGO CAPE DE VERB ISLANDS

After having been twice driven back by heavy south-western
gales, Her Majesty's ship Beagle, a ten-gun brig, under the
command of Captain Fitz Roy, R.N., sailed from Devonport
on the 27th of December 1831. The object of the expedi-
tion was to complete the survey of Patagonia and Tierra del
Fuego, commenced under Captain King in 1826 to 1830 — to
survey the shores of Chile, Peru, and of some islands in the
Pacific — and to carry a chain of chronometrical measurements
round the World. On the 6th of January we reached Teneriffe,
but were prevented landing, by fears of our bringing the cholera:
the next morning we saw the sun rise behind the rugged outline
of the Grand Canary Island, and suddenly illumine the Peak of

ST. JAGO—CAPE DE VERD ISLANDS

Teneriffe, whilst the low^er parts were veiled in fleecy clouds.
This was the first of many delightful days never to be forgotten.
On the 1 6th of January 1832 we anchored at Porto Praya, in
St. J ago, the chief island of the Cape de Verd archipelago.

The neighbourhood of Porto Praya, viewed from the sea,
wears a desolate aspect. The volcanic fires of a past age, and
the scorching heat of a tropical sun, have in most places
rendered the soil unfit for vegetation. The country rises in
successive steps of table-land, interspersed with some truncate
conical hills, and the horizon is bounded by an irregular chain
of more lofty mountains. The scene, as beheld through the
hazy atmosphere of this climate, is one of great interest ; if,
indeed, a person, fresh from sea, and who 'has just walked, for
the first time, in a grove of cocoa-nut trees, can be a judge of
anything but his own happiness. The island would generally
be considered as very uninteresting ; but to 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 neigh-
bourhood of Porto 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 {qw 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 lagoensis), which
tamely sits on the branches of the castor-oil plant, and thence
darts on grasshoppers and lizards. It is brightly coloured, but
not so beautiful as the European species : in its flight, manners,
and place of habitation, which is generally in the driest valley,
there is also a wide difference.

1 I state this on the authority of Dr. E. Dieffenbach, in his Clerman translation
of the first edition of this Journah

PORTO PRAYA

One day, two of the officers and myself rode to Ribeira
Grande, a village a few miles eastward of Porto Praya. Until
we reached the valley of St. Martin, the country presented its
usual dull brown appearance ; but here, a very small rill of
water produces a most refreshing margin of luxuriant vegeta-
tion. In the course of an hour we arrived at Ribeira Grande,
and were surprised at the sight of a large ruined fort and
cathedral. This little town, before its harbour was filled up,
was the principal place in the island : it now presents a melan-
choly, but very picturesque appearance. Having procured a
black Padre for a guide, and a Spaniard who had served in the
Peninsular war as an interpreter, we visited a collection of
buildings, of which an ancient church formed the principal part.
It is here the governors and captain-generals of the islands
have been buried. Some of the tombstones recorded dates
of the sixteenth century.^ The heraldic ornaments were the
only things in this retired place that reminded us of Europe.
The church or chapel formed one side of a quadrangle, in the
middle of which a large clump of bananas were growing. On
another side was a hospital, containing about a dozen miserable-
looking inmates.

We returned to the Venda to eat our dinners. A con-
siderable number of men, women, and children, all as black as
jet, collected to watch us. Our companions were extremely
merry ; and everything we said or did was followed by their
hearty laughter. Before leaving the town we visited the
cathedral. It does not appear so rich as the smaller church,
but boasts of a little organ, which sent forth singularly in-
harmonious 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.
W^e 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 ansfles to their trunks. The direc-

1 The Cape de Verd Islands were discovered in 1449. There was a tombstone
of a bishop with the date of 157 1 ; and a crest of a hand and dagger, dated 1497.

ST. /AGO— CAPE DE VERB ISLANDS

tion of the branches was exactly N.E. by N., and S.W. by S.,
and these natural vanes must indicate the prevailing direction
of the force of the trade-wind. The travelling had made so
little impression on the barren soil, that we here missed our
track, and took that to Fuentes. This we did not find out till
we arrived there ; and we were afterwards glad of our mistake.
Fuentes is a pretty village, with a small stream ; and every-
thing 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 — prob-
ably fifty or sixty in number. They were extremely wary, and
could not be approached. They avoided us, like partridges on
a rainy day in September, running with their heads cocked up ;
and if pursued, they readily took to the wing.

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

One morning the view was singularly clear ; the distant
mountains being projected with the sharpest outline, on a
heavy bank of dark blue clouds. Judging from the appearance,
and from similar cases in England, I supposed that the air was
saturated with moisture. The fact, however, turned out quite
the contrary. The hygrometer gave a difference of 29.6 de-
grees, between the temperature of the air, and the point at
which dew was precipitated. This difference was nearly double

ATMOSPHERIC DUST

that which I had observed on the previous mornings. This
unusual degree of atmospheric dryness was accompanied by
continual flashes of lightning. Is it not an uncommon case, thus
to find a remarkable degree of aerial transparency with such a
state of weather ?

Generally the atmosphere is hazy ; and this is caused by
the falling of impalpably fine dust, which was found to have
slightly injured the astronomical instruments. The morning
before we anchored at Porto Praya, I collected a little packet
of this brown-coloured fine dust, which appeared to have been
filtered from the wind by the gauze of the vane at the 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 ^ 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 ascer-
tained no less than sixty-seven different organic forms ! The
infusoria, with the exception of two marine species, are all
inhabitants of fresh water. I have found no less than fifteen
different accounts of dust having fallen on vessels when far out
in the Atlantic. From the direction of the wind whenever it
has fallen, and from its having always fallen during those
months when the harmattan is known to raise clouds of dust
high into the atmosphere, we may feel sure that it all comes
from Africa. It is, however, a very singular fact, that, although
Professor Ehrenberg knows many species of infusoria peculiar
to Africa, he finds none of these in the dust which I sent him :
on the other hand, he finds in it two species which hitherto he
knows as living only in South America. The dust falls in such-
quantities as to dirty everything on board, and to hurt people's
eyes ; vessels even have run on shore owing to the obscurity of
the atmosphere. It has often fallen on ships when several
hundred, and even more than a thousand miles from the coast
of Africa, and at points sixteen hundred miles distant in a north
and south direction. In some dust which was. collected on a
vessel three hundred miles from the land, I was much surprised
to find particles of stone above the thousandth of an inch square,

1 I must take this opportunity of acknowledginn; the great kintlness with which
this illustrious naturalist has examined many of my specimens. I have sent (June
1845) ^ '^'•'^1 account of the falling of this dust to the Geological Society.

ST. J AGO— CAPE DE VERB ISLANDS

mixed with finer matter. After this fact one need not be sur-
prised at the diffusion of the far Hghter 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 neigh-
bouring coast. It rests on ancient volcanic rocks, and has been
covered by a stream of basalt, which must have entered the sea
when the white shelly bed was lying at the bottom. It is
interesting to trace the changes, produced by the heat of the
overlying lava, on the friable mass, which in parts has been
converted into a crystalline limestone, and in other parts into a
compact spotted stone. Where the lime has been caught up
by the scoriaceous fragments of the lower surface of the stream^
it is converted into groups of beautifully radiated fibres resem-
bling 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 mani-
fested in any part of St. J ago. Even the form of a crater can
but rarely be discovered on the summits of the many red cindery
hills ; yet the more recent streams can be distinguished on the
coast, forming lines of cliffs of less height, but stretching out in
advance of those belonging to an older series : the height of
the cliffs thus affording a rude measure of the age of the
streams.

During our stay, I observed the habits of some marine
animals. A large Aplysia is very common. This sea-slug is
about five inches long ; and is of a dirty yellowish colour, veined
with purple. On each side of the lower surface, or foot, there
is a broad membrane, which appears sometimes to act as a
ventilator, in causing a current of water to flow over the dorsal
branchiae or lungs. It feeds on the delicate seaweeds 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-

SEA-SLUG AND CUTTLE-FISH

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 dis-
colouring 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 gray, with numerous
minute spots of bright yellow : the former of these varied in
intensity ; the latter entirely disappeared and appeared again
by turns. These changes were effected in such a manner that
clouds, varying in tint between a hyacinth red and a chestnut
brown,^ were continually passing over the body. Any part,
being subjected to«a slight shock of galvanism, became almost
black : a similar effect, but in a less degree, was produced by
scratching the skin witH a needle. These clouds, or blushes, as
they may be called, are said to be produced by the alternate
expansion and contraction of minute vesicles containing variously
coloured fluids."

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

1 So named according to Patrick Symes's nomenclature.
^ See Encyclop. of Anat. and Physiol, article "Cephalopoda.''

57: PAULS ROCKS

gained a deeper part, it darted away, leaving a dusky train of
ink to hide the hole into which it had crawled.

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

St. Paul's Rocks. — In crossing the Atlantic we hove- to,
during the morning of February i 6th, close to the island of St.
Paul's. This cluster of rocks is situated in o° 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
Noronha. The highest point is only fifty feet above the le\-el
of the sea, and the entire circumference is under three-quarters
of a mile. This small point rises abruptly out of the depths of
the ocean. Its mineralogical constitution is not simple ; in
some parts the rock is of a cherty, in others of a felspathic
nature, including thin veins of serpentine, it is a remarkable
fact that all the many small islands, lying far from any con-
tinent, in the Pacific, Indian, and Atlantic Oceans, with the
exception of the Seychelles and this little point of rock, are, I
believe, composed either of coral or of erupted matter. The
volcanic nature of these oceanic islands is evidently an extension
of that law, and the effect of those same causes, whether
chemical or mechanical, from which it results that a vast
majority of the volcanoes now in action stand either near sea-
coasts or as islands in the midst of the sea.

The rocks of St. Paul appear from a distance of a brilliantly
white colour. This is partly owing to the dung of a vast
multitude of seafowl, and partly to a coating of a hard glossy
substance with a pearly lustre, which is intimately united to the
surface of the rocks. This, when examined with a lens, is

SING ULAR I NCR US TA TIONS

found to consist of numerous exceedingly thin layers, its total
thickness being about the tenth of an inch. It contains much
animal matter, and its origin, no doubt, is due to the action of
the rain or spray on the birds' dung. Below some small
masses of guano at Ascension, and on the Abrolhos Islets, I
found certain stalactitic branching bodies, formed apparently in
the same manner as the thin white coating on these rocks.
The branching bodies so closely resembled in general appearance
certain nulliporae (a family of hard calcareous sea-plants), that in
lately looking hastily over my collection I did not perceive the
difference. The
globular extremities
of the branches are
of a pearly texture,
like the enamel of
teeth, but so hard as
just to scratch plate-
glass. I may here
mention, that on a
part of the coast of
Ascension, where
there is a vast accu-
mulation of shelly sand, an incrustation is deposited on the tidal
rocks, by the water of the sea, resembling, as represented in the
woodcut, certain cryptogamic plants (Marchantia;) 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 gray.
I have shown specimens of this incrustation to several geologists,
and they all thought that they were of volcanic or igneous origin !
In its hardness and translucency — in its polish, equal to that of
tlie 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

ST. PAUL'S ROCKS

fact ^ to find substances harder than the enamel of teeth, and
coloured surfaces as well polished as those of a fresh shell, re-
formed through inorganic means from dead organic matter —
mocking, also, in shape some of the lower vegetable productions.

We found on St. Paul's only two kinds of birds — the booby
and the noddy. The former is a species of gannet, and the
latter a tern. Both are of a tame and stupid disposition, and
are so unaccustomed to visitors, that I could have killed any
number of them with my geological hammer. The booby lays
her eggs on the bare rock ; but the tern makes a very simple
nest with seaweed. By the side of many of these nests a small
flying-fish was placed ; which, I suppose, had been brought by
the male bird for its partner. It was amusing to watch how
quickly a large and active crab (Graspus), which inhabits the
crevices of the rock, stole the fish from the side of the nest, as
soon as we had disturbed the parent birds. Sir W. Symonds,
one of the few persons who have landed here, informs me that
he saw the crabs dragging even the young birds out of their
nests, and devouring them. Not a single plant, not even a
lichen, grows on this islet ; yet it is inhabited by several insects
and spiders. The following list completes, I believe, the ter-
restrial fauna : a fly (Olfersia) living on the booby, and a tick
which must have come here as a parasite on the birds ; a small
brown moth, belonging to a genus that feeds on feathers ; a
beetle (Quedius) and a woodlouse from beneath the dung ; and
lastly, numerous spiders, which I suppose prey on these small
attendants and scavengers of the waterfowl. 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 quite 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 founda-

1 Mr. Horner and Sir David Brewster have described {^PhilosopMcal Transacdovs,
1836, p. 65) a singular "artificial substance resembling shell." It is deposited in
fine, transparent, highly polished, brown-coloured laminse, 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.

FERNANDO NORONHA

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

Fernando Noronha, Feb. 2ot/i.—As far as I was enabled
to observe, during the few hours we stayed at this place, the
constitution of the island is volcanic, but probably not of a recent
date. The most remarkable feature is a conical hill, about one
thousand feet high, the upper part of which is exceedingly
steep, and on one side overhangs its base. The rock is
phonolite, and is divided into irregular columns. On viewing
one of these isolated masses, at first one is inclined to believe
that it has been suddenly pushed up in a semi-fluid state. At St.
Helena, however, I ascertained that some pinnacles, of a nearly
similar figure and constitution, had been formed by the injection
of melted rock into yielding strata, which thus had formed the
moulds for these gigantic obelisks. The whole island is covered
with wood ; but from the dryness of the climate there is no
appearance of luxuriance. Half-way up the mountain some
great masses of the columnar rock, shaded by laurel-like trees,
and ornamented by others covered with fine pink flowers but
without a single leaf, gave a pleasing effect to the nearer parts
of the scenery.

Bahia, or San Salvador. Brazil, /V-^^. 29///. — The day
has past 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

12 BAHIA— BRAZIL

history, such a day as this brings with it a deeper pleasure than
he can ever hope to experience again. After wandering about
for some hours, I returned to the landing-place ; but, before
reaching it, I was overtaken by a tropical storm. I tried to
find shelter under a tree, which was so thick that it would never
have been penetrated by common English rain ; but here, in a
couple of minutes, a little torrent flowed down the trunk. It is
to this violence of the rain that we must attribute the verdure
at the bottom of the thickest woods : if the showers were like
those of a colder clime, 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 cir-
cumstance of this enormous area being constituted of materials
which most geologists believe to have been crystallised when
heated under pressure, gives rise to many curious reflections.
Was this effect produced beneath the depths of a profound
ocean ? or did a covering of strata formerly extend over it,
which has since been removed ? Can we believe that any
power, acting for a time short of infinity, could have denuded
the granite over so many thousand square leagues ?

On a point not far from the city, where a rivulet entered the
sea, I observed a fact connected with a subject discussed by
Humboldt. ^ At the cataracts of the great rivers Orinoco, Nile,
and Congo, the syenitic rocks are coated by a black substance,
appearing as if they had been polished with plumbago. The
layer is of extreme thinness ; and on analysis by Berzelius it
was found to consist of the oxides of manganese and iron. In
the Orinoco it occurs on the rocks periodically washed by the
floods, and in those parts alone where the stream is rapid ; or,
as the Indians say, " the rocks are black where the waters are
white." Here the coating is of a rich brown instead of a black
colour, and seems to be composed of ferruginous matter alone.
Hand specimens fail to give a just idea of these brown burnished
stones which glitter in the sun's rays. They occur only within

^ Pers. A'ari-. vol. v. pt. i. p. l8.

HABITS OF A D 10 DON

13

the limits of the tidal waves ; and as the rivulet slowly trickles
down, the surf must supply the polishing power of the cataracts
in the great rivers. In like manner, the rise and fall of the tide
probably answer to the periodical inundations ; and thus the
same effects are produced under apparently different but really
similar circumstances. The origin, however, of these coatings
of metallic oxides, which seem as if cemented to the rocks, is not
understood ; and no reason, I believe, can be assigned for their
thickness remainingr the same.

DIODON MACULATUS (DISTENDED AND CONTRACTED).

One day I was amused by watching the habits of the Diodon
antennatus, which was caught swimming near the shore. This
fish, with its flabby skin, is well known to possess the singular
power of distending itself into a nearly spherical form. After
having been taken out of water for a short time, and then
again immersed in it, a considerable quantity both of water and
air is absorbed by the mouth, and perhaps likewise by the
branchial orifices. This process is effected by two methods : the
air is swallowed, and is then forced into the cavity of the body, its

14 BAHIA— BRAZIL

return being prevented by a muscular contraction which is
externally visible : but the water enters in a gentle stream
through the mouth, which is kept wide open and motionless ; this
latter action must, therefore, depend on suction. The skin
about the abdomen is much looser than that on the back ; hence
during the inflation, the lower surface becomes far more
distended than the upper ; and the fish, in consequence, floats
with its back downwards. Cuvier doubts whether the Diodon
in this position is able to swim ; but not only can it thus move
forward in a straight line, but it can turn round to either side.
This latter movement is effected solely by the aid of the
pectoral fins ; the tail being collapsed and not used. From
the body being buoyed up with so much air, the branchial
openings are out of water, but a stream drawn in by the mouth
constantly flows through them.

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

March i 8///. — We sailed from Bahia. A few days after-
wards, when not far distant from the Abrolhos Islets, my atten-

1 PELAGIC CONFERVA 15

tion 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 b}' chopped bits of hay, with their ends
jagged. These are minute cylindrical confervae, in bundles or
rafts of from twenty to sixty in each. Mr. Berkeley informs me
that they are the same species (Trichodesmium erythraium^ with
that found over large 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 confervae.
They appear especially common in the sea near Australia ;
and off Cape Leeuwin I found an allied, but smaller and
apparently different species. Captain Cook, in his third
voyage, remarks that the sailors gave to this appearance the
name of sea-sawdust.

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

^ M. Montagne, in Cotnptcs Rendtis, etc., Juillet 1S44; and Ainial. des Scienc.
Nat. December 1S44.

DISCOLOURED SEA

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

DISCOLOURED SEA 17

fined. The weather for some days previously had been calm, and
the ocean abounded, to an unusual degree, with living creatures.^
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 1 do not know ; but terns,
cormorants, and immense herds of great unwieldy seals derive,
on some parts of the coast, their chief sustenance from these
swimming crabs. Seamen invariably attribute the discolor-
ation of the water to spawn ; but I found this to be the case
only on one occasion. At the distance of several leagues from
the Archipelago of the Galapagos, the ship sailed through three
strips of a dark yellowish, or 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 embedded : 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 direction of the bands indicates 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 putrefy-
ing 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 dis-
persed throughout the water, for they are not sufficiently
abundant to create any change of colour.

^ IM. Lesson ( Voyage de la Coijiiille, torn. i. p. 255) mentions red water ofT
Lima, apparently produced by the same cause. Peron, tlie distinguished nauirah'st,
in the Voyage aiix Ter>rs AustraUs^ gives no less than twelve references to voyagers
who have alluded to the discoloured waters of the sea (vol. ii. p. 239). To the
references given by Peron may be added, Humboldt's Pe^s. Narr. vol. vi. p. S04 ;
P'hnders's Voyage, vol. i. p. 92; Labillardiere, vol. i. p. 287; Ulloa's Voyage;
Voyage of the Astrolabe and of the Coqiiille ; Captain King's Stu-vey of Australia,
etc.

3

DISCOLOURED SEA

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

CATAMAKA.X (bAHIA).

CHAPTER

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

RIO DE JANEIRO

April 4th to July z^th, 1832. — A few daj's 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 8 til. — Our party amounted to seven. The first stage
was very interesting. The day was powerfully hot, and as we
passed through the woods, everj-thing was motionless, excepting
the large and brilliant butterflies, which lazily fluttered about.
The view seen when crossing the hills behind Praia Grande was
most beautiful ; the colours were intense, and the prevailing tint
a dark blue ; the sky and the calm waters of the bay vied with
each other in splendour. After passing through some cul-
tivated countr}-, we entered a foi^est v.'hich in the grandeur of
all its parts could not be exceeded. We arrived by midday at

RIO DE JANEIRO

Ithacaia ; this small village is situated on a plain, and round
the central house are the huts of the negroes. These, from
their regular form and position, reminded me of the drawings
of the Hottentot habitations in Southern Africa. As the moon
rose early, we determined to start the same evening for our
sleeping-place at the Lagoa Marica. As it was growing dark
we passed under one of the massive, bare, and steep hills of
granite which are so common in this country. This spot is
notorious from having been, for a long time, the residence of some
runaway slaves, who, by cultivating a little ground near the top,
contrived to eke out a subsistence. At length they were dis-
covered, and a party of soldiers being sent, the whole were
seized with the exception of one old woman, who, sooner than
again be led into slavery, dashed herself to pieces from the
summit of the mountain. In a Roman matron this would have
been called the noble love of freedom : in a poor negress it is
mere brutal obstinacy. We continued riding for some hours.
For the few last miles the road was intricate, and it passed
through a desert waste of marshes and lagoons. The scene by
the dimmed light of the moon was most desolate. A few fireflies
flitted by us ; and the solitary snipe, as it rose, uttered its
plaintive cry. The distant and sullen roar of the sea scarcely
broke the stillness of the night.

April gth. — We left our miserable sleeping-place before sun-
rise. The road passed through a narrow sandy plain, lying between
the sea and the interior salt lagoons. The number of beautiful
fishing birds, such as egrets and cranes, and the succulent plants
assuming most fantastical forms, gave to the scene an interest
which it would not otherwise have possessed. The few stunted
trees were loaded with parasitical plants, among which the
beauty and delicious fragrance of some of the orchideas were
most to be admired. As the sun rose, the day became ex-
tremely hot, and the reflection of the light and heat from
the white sand was very distressing. We dined at Mandetiba ;
the thermometer in the shade being 84"". The beautiful view of
the distant wooded hills, reflected in the perfectly calm water of
an extensive lagoon, quite refreshed us. xA.s the venda^ here
was a very good one, and I have the pleasant, but rare re-
membrance of an excellent dinner, I will be grateful and

' Venda, the Portuguese name for an inn.

LIVING AT A VENDA

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 bedrooms join
on each side, and here the passenger may sleep as comfortably
as he can, on a wooden platform covered by a thin straw mat.
The venda stands in a courtyard, where the horses are fed.
On first arriving, it was our custom to unsaddle the horses and
give them their Indian corn ; then, with a low bow, to ask the
senhor to do us the favour to give us something to eat. " Any-
thing you choose, sir," was his usual answer. For the few first
times, vainly I thanked Providence for having guided us to so
good a man. The conversation proceeding, the case universally
became deplorable. " Any fish can you do us the favour of
giving?" — "Oh no, sir." — "Any soup?" — "No, sir." — "Any
bread ? " — " Oh no, sir." — " Any dried meat ? "- — " Oh no, sir."
If we were lucky, by waiting a couple of hours, we obtained
fowls, rice, and farinha. It not unfrequently happened that we
were obliged to kill, with stones, the poultry for our own supper.
When, thoroughly exhausted by fatigue and hunger, we timorously
hinted that we should be glad of our meal, the pompous, and
(though true) most unsatisfactory answer was, "It will be ready
when it is ready." If we had dared to remonstrate any further,
we should have been told to proceed on our journey, as being
too impertinent. The hosts are most ungracious and disagree-
able in their manners ; their houses and their persons are often
filthily dirty ; the want of the accommodation of forks, knives,
and spoons is common ; and I am sure no cottage or hovel in
England could be found in a state so utterly destitute of every
comfort. At Campos Novos, however, we fared sumptuously ;
having rice and fowls, biscuit, wine, and spirits, for dinner ;
coffee in the evening, and fish with coffee for breakfast. All
this, with good food for the horses, only cost 2s. 6d. per head.
Yet the host of this venda, being asked if he knew anything of
a whip which one of the party had lost, gruffly answered, " How
should I know ? why did you not take care of it ? — I suppose
the dogs have eaten it."

Leaving Mandetiba, we continued to pass through an in-

RIO DE JANEIRO

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

Leaving the coast for a time, we again entered the forest.
The trees were very lofty, and remarkable, compared with those
of Europe, from the whiteness of their trunks. I see by my
notebook, " wonderful and beautiful flowering parasites," invari-
ably struck me as the most novel object in these grand scenes.
Travelling onwards we passed through tracts of pasturage, much
injured by the enormous conical ants' nests, which were nearly
twelve feet high. They gave to the plain exactly the appear-
ance of the mud volcanoes 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 in-
jury much sooner than those of our English breed. The Vam-
pire bat is often the cause of much trouble, by biting the horses
on their withers. The injury is generally not so much owing to
the loss of blood, as to the inflammation which the pressure of the
saddle afterwards produces. The whole circumstance has lately
been doubted in England ; I was therefore fortunate in being
present when one (Desmodus d'orbignyi, Wat.) was actually
caught on a horse's back. We were bivouacking late one
evening near Coquimbo, in Chile, when my servant, noticing
that one of the horses was very restive, went to see what was
the matter, and fancying he could distinguish something^

^ Annales des Sciences Natiirelles for 1833.

ARRIVAL AT SOCEGO

23

suddenly put his hand on the beast's withers, and secured the
vampire. In the morning the spot where the bite had been
inflicted was easily distinguished from being slightly swollen
and bloody. The third day afterwards we rode the horse, with-
out any ill effects.

April I'^th. — -After three days' travelling we arrived at
Socego, the estate of Senhor ]\Ianuel 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

VAMPIRE BAT (DESMODfS d'oRBIGXYI). CAUGHT ON BACK OF DARWIx's HORSE
NEAR COQUIMBO. HEAD, FULL SIZE.

whitewashed walls, thatched roof, and windows without glass.
The .house, together with the granaries, the stables, and work-
shops for the blacks, who had been taught various trades, formed
a rude kind of quadrangle ; in the centre of which a large pile
of coffee was drying. These buildings stand on a little hill,
overlooking the cultivated ground, and surrounded on every
side by a wall of dark green luxuriant forest. The chief produce
of this part of the country is coffee. Each tree is supposed to
yield annually, on an average, two pounds ; but some give as
much as eight. IMandioca or cassava is likewise cultivated in

24 RIO DE JANEIRO chap.

great quantity. Every part of this plant is useful : the leaves
and stalks are eaten by the horses, and the roots are ground into
a pulp, which, when pressed dry and baked, forms the farinha,
the principal article of sustenance in the Brazils. It is a curious,
though well-known fact, that the juice of this most nutritious
plant is highly poisonous. A few years ago a cow died at this
Fazenda, in consequence of having drunk some of it. Senhor
Figuireda told me that he had planted, the year before, one bag
of feijao or beans, and three of rice ; the former of which pro-
duced eighty, and the latter three hundred and twenty fold.
The pasturage supports a fine stock of cattle, and the woods are
so full of game that a deer had been killed on each of the three
previous days. This profusion of food showed itself at dinner,
where, if the tables did not groan, the guests surely did : for
each person is expected to eat of every dish. One day, having,
as I thought, nicely calculated so that nothing should go away
untasted, to my utter dismay a roast turkey and a pig appeared
in all their substantial reality. During the meals, it was the
employment of a man to drive out of the room sundry old
hounds, and dozens of little black children, which crawled in
together, at every opportunity. As long as the idea of slavery
could be banished, there was something exceedingly fascinating
in this simple and patriarchal style of living : it was such a
perfect retirement and independence from the rest of the world.
As soon as any stranger is seen arriving, a large bell is set
tolling, and generally some small cannon are fired. The event
is thus announced to the rocks and woods, but to nothing else.
One morning I walked out an hour before daylight to admire
the solemn stillness of the scene ; at last, the silence was broken
by the morning hymn, raised on high by the whole body of the
blacks ; and in this manner their daily work is generally begun.
On such fazendas as these, I have no doubt the slaves pass
happy and contented lives. On Saturday and Sunday they
work for themselves, and in this fertile climate the labour of
two days is suflicient to support a man and his family for the
whole week.

April 14///. — Leaving Socego, wc rode to another estate on
the Rio Macae, which was the last patch of cultivated ground
in that direction. The estate was two and a half miles long, and
the owner had forgotten how many broad. Only a very small

VIR(;iN FOREST

to face p. 25.

n APPEARANCE OF THE FORESTS 25

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

While staying at this estate, I was very nearly being an eye-
witness to one of those atrocious acts which can only take place
in a slave country. Owing to a quarrel and a lawsuit, the
owner was on the point of taking all the women and children
from the male slaves, and selling them separately at the public
auction at Rio. Interest, and not any feeling of compassion,
prevented this act. Indeed, I do not believe the inhumanity of
separating thirty families, who had lived together for many years,
even occurred to the owner. Yet I will pledge m^^self, 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 ma\^ mention one \-ery trifling anec-
dote, which at the time struck me more forcibly than any story
of cruelty. I was crossing a ferry with a negro who was un-
commonly stupid. In endeavouring to make him understand, I
talked loud, and made signs, in doing which I passed my hand
near his face. He, I suppose, thought I was in a passion,
and was going to strike him ; for instantly, with a frightened
look and half-shut eyes, he dropped his hands. I shall never

26

RIO DE JANEIRO

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 I %tJi.- — 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 circum-
ference. 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 i i O 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 mimosas. The latter, in some parts,

covered the surface with a brushwood only a few inches high.

In walking across these thick beds of mimosa,^, a broad track

was marked by the change of shade, produced by the drooping

CABBAGE PALM.

DEPARTURE FROM SOCEGO

27

of their sensitive petioles. It is easy to specify the indiv
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 i()th. — Leaving Socego, during the two
first days we retraced our steps. It was very
wearisome work, as the road generally ran across
a glaring hot sandy plain, not far from the coast.
I noticed that each time the horse put its foot on
the fine siliceous sand, a gentle chirping noise
was produced. On the third day we took
a different line, and passed through the gay
little village of Madre de Deos. This is
one of the principal lines of road in Brazil ;
yet it was in so bad a state that no wheel
vehicle, excepting the clumsy bullock-
waggon, could pass along. In our whole
journey we did not cross a single bridge
built of stone ; and those made of logs of
wood were frequently so much out of
repair that it was necessary to go on
one side to avoid them. All dis-
tances 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
23 rd we arrived
at Rio, having
finished our
pleasant little
excursion.

dual

MANDIOCA OR CASSAVA.

During the
remainder of my

stay at Rio, I resided in a cottage at Botofogo Bay. It was
impossible to wish for anything more delightful than thus to

28 RIO DE JANEIRO

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 nar-
rower in proportion, and several of the species are beautifully
coloured with longitudinal stripes. Their structure is very
simple : near the middle of the under or crawling surface there
are two small transverse slits, from the anterior one of which a
funnel-shaped and highly irritable mouth can be protruded.
For some time after the rest of the animal was completely dead
from the effects of salt water or any other cause, this organ still
retained its vitality.

I found no less than twelve different species of terrestrial
Planarise in different parts of the southern hemisphere.^ Some
specimens which I obtained at Van Diemen'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 con-
tained both the inferior orifices, ancj 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 par-
enchymatous mass, in which a rudimentary cup-shaped mouth
could clearly be distinguished ; on the under surface, however,
no corresponding slit was yet open. If the increased heat of the

' T have described and named these sjiecies in the Auiials of Nat. Hist. vol. xiv.
p. 241.

PLANARI^

29

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 ex-
periment, it was interesting to watch the gradual production of
every essential organ, out of the simple extremity of another
animal. It is extremely difficult to preserve these Planariae ; as
soon as the cessation of life allows the ordinary laws of change
to act, their entire bodies become soft and fluid, with a rapidity
which I have never seen equalled.

I first visited the forest in which these Planariae were found,
in company with an old Portuguese priest who took me out to
hunt with him. The sport consisted in turning into the cover
a few dogs, and then patiently waiting to fire at any animal
which might appear. We were accompanied by the son of a
neighbouring farmer — a good specimen of a wild Brazilian youth.
He was dressed in a tattered old shirt and trousers, and had his
head uncovered : he carried an old-fashioned gun and a large
knife. The habit of carrying the knife is universal ; and in
traversing a thick wood it is almost necessary, on account of
the creeping plants. The frequent occurrence of murder may be
partly attributed to this habit. The Brazilians are so dexterous
with the knife that they can throw it to some distance with pre-
cision, 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 pro-
mised well for more earnest attempts. My companion, the day
before, had shot two large bearded monkeys. These animals
have prehensile tails, the extremity of which, even after death,
can support the whole weight of the body. One of them thus
remained fast to a branch, and it was necessary to cut down a
large tree to procure it. This was soon effected, and down
came tree and monkey with an awful crash. Our day's sport,
besides the monkey, was confined to sundry small green parrots
and a iQ.\v 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 Boto-
fogo. 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

30 RIO DE JANEIRO

the formation which Humboldt designates as gneiss -granite.
Nothing can be more striking than the effect of these huge
rounded masses of naked rock rising out of the most luxuriant
vegetation.

I was often interested by watching the clouds, which, rolling
in from seaward, formed a bank just beneath the highest point
of the Corcovado. This mountain, like most others, when thus
partly veiled, appeared to rise to a far prouder elevation than
its real height of 2300 feet. Mr. Daniell has observed, in his
meteorological essays, that a cloud sometimes appears fixed on
a mountain summit, while the wind continues to blow over it.
The same phenomenon here presented a slightly different appear-
ance. 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 redissolved.

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 Corco-
vado, the sound produced by the drops pattering on the countless
multitude of leaves was very remarkable ; it could be heard at
the distance of a quarter of a mile, and was like the rushing of
a great body of water. After the hotter days, it was delicious
to sit quietly in the garden and watch the evening pass into
night. Nature, in these climes, chooses her vocalists from more
humble performers than in Europe. A small frog, of the genus
Hyla, sits on a blade of grass about an inch above the surface
of the water, and sends forth a pleasing chirp : when several
are together they sing in harmony on different notes. I had
some difficulty in catching a specimen of this frog. The genus
Hyla has its toes terminated by small suckers ; and I found
this animal could crawl up a pane of glass, when placed abso-

II PHOSPHORESCENT INSECTS 31

lutely perpendicular. Various cicadae 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, nereidai, 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 num-
ber of specimens were of Lampyris occidentalis.^ I found that
this insect .emitted the most brilliant flashes when irritated :
in the intervals, the abdominal rings were obscured. The
flash was almost coinstantaneous 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 prob-
able, 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 larvje of this lampyris in great
numbers : they resembled in general form the female of the
English glowworm. These larvae possessed but feeble luminous
powers ; very differently from their parents, on the slightest
touch they feigned death, and ceased to shine ; nor did irrita-
tion 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,

1 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.

32 RIO DE JANEIRO chap.

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
luminosus, Illig.) seemed the most common luminous insect.
The light in this case was also rendered more brilliant by
irritation. I amused myself one day by observing the spring-
ing 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 con-
tinued, 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 pro-
jecting points of the thorax, and the sheath of the spine, served
to steady the whole body during the spring. In the descriptions
which I have read, sufficient stress does not appear to have been
laid on the elasticity of the spine : so sudden a spring could not
be the result of simple muscular contraction, without the aid of
some mechanical contrivance.

On several occasions I enjoyed some short but most plea-
sant 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 land-
scape in the neighbourhood of Bahia almost takes its character

^ Kirby's Entomology, vol. ii. p. 317.

BOTANIC CARD EX

ZZ

from the two latter trees. Before seeing them, I had no idea
that any trees could cast so black a shade on the ground.
Both of them bear to the evergreen vegetation of these climates
the same kind of relation which laurels and hollies in England

o

do to the lighter green of the deciduous trees. It may be
observed that the houses within the tropics are surrounded by
the most beautiful forms of vegetation, because many of them
are at the same time most useful to man. Who can doubt
that these qualities are united in the banana, the cocoa-nut, the
many kinds of palm, the orange, and the bread-fruit tree ?

During this day I was particularly struck with a remark of
Humboldt's, who often alludes to " the thin vapour which, with-
out changing the transparency of the air, renders its tints more
harmonious, and softens its effects." This is an appearance
which I have never observed in the temperate zones. The
atmosphere, seen through a short space of half or three-quarters
of a mile, was perfectly lucid, but at a greater distance all
colours were blended into a most beautiful haze, of a pale
French gray, mingled with a little blue. The condition of the
atmosphere between the morning and about noon, when the
effect was most evident, had undergone little change, excepting
in its dryness. In the interval, the difference between the dew
point and temperature had increased from 7^.5 to 17°.

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

Following a pathway I entered a noble forest, and from a
height of five or six hundred feet, one of those splendid views
was presented, which are so common on every side of Rio. At
this elevation the landscape attains its most brilliant tint ; and
every form, every shade, so completely surpasses in magnificence
all that the European has ever beheld in his own country, that

34 RIO DE JANEIRO

he knows not how to express his feehngs. The general effect
frequently recalled to my mind the gayest scenery of the .Opera-
house or the great theatres. I never returned from these excur-
sions empty handed. This day I found a specimen of a curious
fungus, called Hymenophallus. Most people know the English
Phallus, which in autumn taints the air with its odious smell :
this, however, as the entomologist is aware, is to some of our
beetles a delightful fragrance. So was it here ; for a Strongylus,
attracted by the odour, alighted on the fungus as I carried it in
my hand. We here see in two distant countries a similar relation
between plants and insects of the same families, though the species
of both are different. When man is the agent in introducing
into a country a new species this relation is often broken: as one
instance of this I may mention that the leaves of the cabbages
and lettuces, which in England afford food to such a multitude
of slugs and caterpillars, in the gardens near Rio are untouched.
During our stay at Brazil I made a large collection of in-
sects. A few general observations on the comparative import-
ance of the different orders may be interesting to the English
entomologist. The large and brilliantly-coloured Lepidoptera
bespeak the zone they inhabit, far more plainly than any other
race of animals. I allude only to the butterflies ; for the moths,
contrary to what might have been expected from the rankness
of the vegetation, certainly appeared in much fewer numbers
than in our own temperate regions. I was much surprised at
the habits of Papilio feronia.^ This butterfly is not uncommon,
and generally frequents the orange-groves. Although a high
flier, yet it very frequently alights on the trunks of trees. On
these occasions its head is invariably placed downwards ; and
its wings are expanded in a horizontal plane, instead of being
folded vertically, as is commonly the case. This is the only
butterfly which I have ever seen that uses its legs for running.
Not being aware of this fact, the insect, more than once, as I
cautiously approached with my forceps, shuffled on one side
just as the instrument Vvas on the point of closing, and thus
escaped. But a far more singular fact is the power which this
species possesses of making a noise.^ Several times when a pair,

1 See page 39.

^ Mr. Douhleday has lately described (before the Entomological Society, March
3rd, 1845 ) a peculiar structure in the wings of this butterfly, which seems to be the

n COLEOPTERA 35

probably male and female, were chasing each other in an irregular
course, they passed within a few yards of me ; and I distinctly
heard a clicking noise, similar to that produced by a toothed
wheel passing under a spring catch. The noise was continued
at short intervals, and could be distinguished at about
twenty }'ards' 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 exceed-
ingly great. ^ The cabinets of Europe can, as yet, boast only of
the larger species from tropical climates. It is sufficient to
disturb the composure of an entomologist's mind, to look for-
ward to the future dimensions of a complete catalogue. The
carnivorous beetles, or Carabida^, appear in extremely few
numbers within the tropics : this is the more remarkable when
compared to the case of the carnivorous quadrupeds, which are
so abundant in hot countries. I was struck with this observa-
tion both on entering Brazil, and when I saw the many elegant
and active forms of the Harpalidai reappearing on the temper-
ate plains of La Plata. Do the very numerous spiders and
rapacious Hymenoptera supply the place of the carnivorous
beetles? The carrion -feeders and Brachelytra are very un-
common ; on the other hand, the Rhyncophora and Chryso-
melidas, 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 char-
acter in the entomology of different countries depends. The
orders Orthoptera and Hemiptera are particularly numerous ; as
likewise is the stinging division of the Hymenoptera ; the bees,
perhaps, being excepted. A person, on first entering a tropical

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 nervine and the subcostal. These
two nervures, moreover, have a peculiar screw-like diaphragm or vessel in the interior."
I find in Langsdorffs travels (in the years 1803-7, p. 74) it is said, that in the island
of St. Catherine's on the coast of Brazil, a butterfly called Februa Hoffmanseggi
makes a noLse, when flying away, like a rattle.

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

RIO DE JANEIRO

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 black-
ened by a small ant. The swarm having crossed the bare
space, divided itself, and descended an old wall. By this means
many insects were fairly enclosed ; and the efforts which the
poor little creatures made to extricate themselves from such a
death were wonderful. When the ants came to the road they
changed their course, and in narrow files reascended the wall.
Having placed a small stone so as to intercept one of the lines,
the whole body attacked it, and then immediately retired.
Shortly afterwards another body came to the charge, and again
having failed to make any impression, this line of march was
entirely given up. By going an inch round, the file might have
avoided the stone, and this doubtless would have happened, if
it had been originally there : but having been attacked, the
lion-hearted little warriors scorned the idea of yielding.

Certain wasp-like insects, which construct in the corners of
the verandahs clay cells for their larvae, are very numerous in
the neighbourhood of Rio. These cells they stuff full of half-
dead spiders and caterpillars, which they seem wonderfully to
know how to sting to that degree as to leave them paralysed
but alive, until their eggs are hatched ; and the larvae feed on
the horrid mass of powerless, half-killed victims^a sight which
has been described by an enthusiastic naturalist ^ as curious and
pleasing 1 I was much interested one day by watching a
deadly contest between a Pepsis and a large spider of the
genus Lycosa. The wasp made a sudden dash at its prey, and
then flew away : the spider was evidently wounded, for, trying
to escape, it rolled down a little slope, but had still strength

' In a MS. in the British Museum by Mr. Abbott, wlio made his observations in
Georgia ; see Mr. A. White's paper in tlie Annals of Nat. Hist. vol. vii. p. 472.
Lieut. Hutton has described a sphex with similar habits in India, in i\iQ Jo2trjtal of
the Asiatic Society, vol. i. p. 555.

II SPIDERS 2>1

sufficient to crawl into a thick tuft of grass. The wasp soon
returned, and seemed surprised at not immediately finding its
victim. It then commenced as regular a hunt as ever hound did
after fox; making short semicircular casts, and all the time rapidly
vibrating its wings and antennae. The spider, though well con-
cealed, was soon discovered ; and the wasp, evidently still afraid
of its adversary's jaws, after much manoeuvring, inflicted two
stings on the under side of its thorax. At last, carefully ex-
amining with its antenna; 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
characterised by many singular forms ; some species have
pointed coriaceous shells, others enlarged and spiny tibiae.
Every path in the forest is barricaded with the strong yellow
web of a species, belonging to the same division with the
Epeira clavipes of Fabricius, which was formerly said by Sloane
to make, in the West Indies, webs so strong as to catch birds.
A smiall and pretty kind of spider, with very long fore-legs, and
which appears to belong to an undescribed genus, lives as a
parasite on almost every one of these webs. I suppose it is
too insignificant to be noticed by the great Epeira, and is 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 adjoining
rays. When any large insect, as a grasshopper or wasp, is
caught, the spider, by a dexterous movement, makes it revolve

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

38 RIO DE JANEIRO

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 power-
less victim, and gives the fatal bite on the« hinder part of its
thorax ; then retreating, patiently waits till the poison has
taken effect. The virulence of this poison may be judged of
from the fact that in half a minute I opened the mesh, and
found a large wasp quite lifeless. This Epeira always stands
with its head downwards near the centre of the web. When
disturbed, it acts differently according to circumstances : if there
is a thicket below, it suddenly falls down ; and I have distinctly
seen the thread from the spinners lengthened by the animal
while yet stationary, as preparatory to its fall. If the ground
is clear beneath, the Epeira seldom falls, but moves quickly
through a central passage from one to the other side. When
still further disturbed, it practises a most curious manoeuvre :
standing in the middle, it violently jerks the web, which is
attached to elastic twigs, till at last the whole acquires such a
rapid vibratory movement, that even the outline of the spider's
body becomes indistinct.

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

I may here just mention that I found, near St. Fe Bajada^
many large black spiders, with rub}'-coloured marks on their
backs, having gregarious habits. The webs were placed verti-

11 SPIDERS 39

cally, 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
probabl}^ it is an Epeira, and perhaps even the same species with
mine. I cannot, however, recollect seeing a central nest as
large as a hat, in which, during autumn, when the spiders die,
Azara says the eggs are deposited. As all the spiders which I
saw were of the same size, the}' 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 oth?r, is a very singular fact.
In a lofty valle)- of the Cordillera, near Mendoza, I found
another spider with a singularl}-- 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.

Darwin's papilio fbronia. 1833, .now called agero.nia fero.nia, 18

HYDROCHy^RUS CAPYBARA OR WATER-HOG.

CHAPTER III

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

MALDONADO

July ^th, 1832. — In the morning we got under way, and
stood out of the splendid haibour of Rio de Janeiro. In our
passage to the Plata, we saw nothing particular, excepting on
one day a great shoal of porpoises, many hundreds in number.
The whole sea was in places furrowed by them ; and a most
extraordinary spectacle was presented, as hundreds, proceeding
together by jumps, in which their whole bodies were exposed,
thus cut the water. When the ship was running nine knots an
hour, these animals could cross and rccross the bows with the

CHAP. Ill ESTUARY OF THE PLATA 41

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 bellowing
on shore. On a second night we witnessed a splendid
scene of natural fireworks ; the mast-head and }-ard-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 phos-
phorus. The sea was so highly luminous, that the tracks
of the penguins w^ere marked by a fiery wake, and the dark-
ness of the sky was momentarily illuminated by the most vivid
lightning.

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

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

Maldonado is situated on the northern bank of the Plata,
and not very far from the mouth of the estuary. It is a most
quiet, forlorn, little town ; built, as is universally the case in
these countries, with the streets running at right angles to each
other, and having in the middle a large plaza or square, which,
from its size, renders the scantiness of the population more
evident. It possesses scarcely any trade ; the exports being
confined to a few hides and living cattle. The inhabitants are
chiefly landowners, together with a few shopkeepers and the
necessary tradesmen, such as blacksmiths and carpenters, who
do nearly all the business for a circuit of fift}- 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

42 MALDONADO

open slightly-undulating country, covered by one uniform layer
of fine green turf, on which countless herds of cattle, sheep, and
horses graze. There is very little land cultivated even close to
the town. A few hedges made of cacti and agave mark out
where some wheat or Indian corn has been planted. The
features of the country are very similar along the whole
northern bank of the Plata. The only difference is, that here
the granitic hills are a little bolder. The scenery is very
uninteresting ; there is scarcely a house, an enclosed piece of
ground, or even a tree, to give it an air of cheerfulness. Yet,
after being imprisoned for some time in a ship, there is a charm
in the unconfined feeling of walking over boundless plains of
turf Moreover, if your view is limited to a small space, many
objects possess beauty. Some of the smaller birds are brilliantly
coloured ; and the bright green sward, browsed short by the
cattle, is ornamented by dwarf flowers, among which a plant,
looking like the daisy, claimed the place of an old friend.
What would a florist say to whole tracts so thickly covered by
the Verbena melindres, as, even at a distance, to appear of the
most gaudy scarlet ?

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

On the first night we slept at a retired little country-house ;
and there I soon found out that I possessed two or three
articles, especially a pocket compass, which created unbounded
astonishment. In every house I was asked to show the compass,
and by its aid, together with a map, to point out the direction

Ill IGNORANCE OF THE PEOPLE 43

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, m^ine was greater, to find such ignorance
among people who possessed their thousands of cattle, and
"estancias" of great extent. It can only be accounted for by
the circumstance that this retired part of the country is seldom
visited by foreigners. I was asked whether the earth or sun
moved ; whether it was hotter or colder to the north ; where
Spain was, and many other such questions. The greater
number of the inhabitants had an indistinct idea that England,
London, and North America, were different names for the same
place ; but the better informed well knew that London and
North America were separate countries close together, and that
England was a large town in London ! I carried with me some
promethean matches, which I ignited by biting ; it was thought
so wonderful that a man should strike fire with his teeth, that
it was usual to collect the whole family to see it : I was once
offered a dollar for a single one. Washing my face in the
morning caused much speculation at the village of Las Minas ;
a superior tradesman closely cross -questioned me about so
singular a practice ; and likewise why on board we wore our
beards ; for he had heard from my guide that we did so. He
eyed me with much suspicion ; perhaps he had heard of
ablutions in the Mahomedan religion, and knowing me to be a
heretic, probably he came to the conclusion that all heretics
were Turks. It is the general custom in this countr)' to ask for
a night's lodging at the first convenient house. The astonish-
ment at the compass, and my other feats in jugglery, was to a
certain degree advantageous, as with that, and the long stories
my guides told of my breaking stones, knowing venomous
from harmless snakes, collecting insects, etc., I repaid them for
their hospitality. I am writing as if I had been among the
inhabitants of Central Africa ; Banda Oriental \\'ould not
be flattered by the comparison ; but such were my feelings at
the time.

The next day we rode to the village of Las Minas. The
country was rather more hilly, but otherwise continued the

44 MALDONADO

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

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

At night we came to the house of Don Juan Fuentes, a rich
landed proprietor, but not personally known to either of my
companions. On approaching the house of a stranger, it is
usual to follow several little points of etiquette : riding up
slowly to the door, the salutation of Ave Maria is given, and

Ill POINTS OF ETIQUETTE 45

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 boor is shown, by the former never ask-
ing 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 beef, the other of
boiled, with some pieces of pumpkin : besides this latter there
was no other vegetable, and not even a morsel of bread. F"or
drinking, a large earthenware jug of water served the whole
party. Yet this man was the owner of several square miles of
land, of which nearly every acre would produce corn, and, with
a little trouble, all the common vegetables. The evening was
spent in smoking, with a little impromptu singing, accompanied
by the guitar. The signoritas all sat together in one corner of
the room, and did not sup with the men.

So many works have been written about these countries,

46

MALDONADO

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 matie very large, generally having a
diameter of about eight feet. This he whirls round his head,
and by the dexterous movement of his wrist keeps the noose
open ; then, throwing it, he causes it to fall on any particular
spot he chooses. The lazo, when not used, is tied up in a
small coil to the after part of the recado. The bolas, or balls,

RECADO OK SURCINGLE OF GAUCHO.

are of two kinds : the simplest, which is chiefly used for catch-
ing ostriches, consists of two round stones, covered with leather,
and united by a thin plaited thong, about eight feet long.^ The
other kind differs only in having three balls united by the
thongs to a common centre. The Gaucho holds the smallest
of the three in his hand, and whirls the other two round and
round his head ; then, taking aim, sends them lilce 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 sometimes made of iron, and these can be hurled to

^ See page 248.

Ill THROWING THE BOLAS 47

the greatest distance. The main difficulty in using either lazo
or bolas is to ride so well as to be able at full speed, and while
suddenly turning about, to whirl them so steadily round the
head, as to take aim : on foot any person would soon learn, the
art. One day, as I was amusing myself by galloping and
whirling the balls round my head, by accident the free one
struck a bush ; and its revolving motion being thus destro)-ed,
it immediately fell to the ground, and like magic caught one
hind leg of my horse ; the other ball was then jerked out of
my hand, and the horse fairly secured. Luckily he was an old
practised animal, and knew what it meant ; otherwise he would
probably have kicked till he had thrown himself down. The
Gauchos roared with laughter ; they cried out that they had
seen every sort of animal caught, but had never before seen a
man caught by himself

During the two succeeding days, I reached the farthest
point which I was anxious to examine. The country wore the
same aspect, till at last the fine green turf became more weari-
some than a dusty turnpike road. We everywhere saw great
numbers of partridges (Nothura major). These birds do not
go in coveys, nor do they conceal themselves like the English
kind. It appears a very silly bird. A man on horseback by
riding round and round in a circle, or rather in a spire, so as to
approach closer each time, may knock on the head as many
as he pleases. The more common method is to catch them
with a running noose, or little lazo, made of the stem of an
ostrich's feather, fastened to the end of a long stick. A boy
on a quiet old horse will frequently thus catch thirty or fort}'
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 de Azucar, a landmark well known to
all those who have sailed up the Plata, I stayed a day at the
house of a most hospitable old Spaniard. Early in the morning
we ascended the Sierra de las Animas. By the aid of the
rising sun the scenery was almost picturesque. To the west-

' Ilearne'syiwr;?!?)', ]5. 3S3.

48 MALDONADO

ward the view extended over an immense level plain as far as
the Mount, at Monte Video, and to the eastward, over the
mammillated country of Maldonado. On the summit of the
mountain there were several small heaps of stones, which
evidently had lain there for many years. My companion
assured me that they were the work of the Indians in the old
time. The heaps were similar, but on a much smaller scale, to
those so commonly found on the mountains of Wales. The
desire to signalise any event, on the highest point of the
neighbouring land, seems a universal passion with mankind.
At the present day, not a single Indian, either civilised or wild,
exists in this part of the province ; nor am I aware that the
former inhabitants have left behind them any more permanent
records than these insignificant piles on the summit of the
Sierra de las Animas.

The general, and almost entire absence of trees in Banda
Oriental is remarkable. Some of the rocky hills are partly
covered by thickets, and on the banks of the larger streams,
especially to the north of Las Minas, willow-trees are not un-
common. 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 exceptions to the general scarcity of
wood. Among the introduced kinds may be enumerated
poplars, olives, peach, and other fruit trees : the peaches succeed
so well, that they afford the main supply of firewood to the city
of Buenos Ayres. Extremely level countries, such as the
Pampas, seldom appear favourable to the growth of trees. This
may possibly be attributed either to the force of the winds, or
the kind of drainage. In the nature of the land, however,
around Maldonado, no such reason is apparent ; the rocky
mountains afford protected situations, enjoying various kinds of
soil ; streamlets of water are common at the bottoms of nearly
every valley ; and the clayey nature of the earth seems adapted
to retain moisture. It has been inferred, with much probability,
that the presence of woodland is generally determined ^ by the
annual amount of moisture ; yet in this province abundant and
heavy rain falls during the winter ; and the summer, though

^ Maclaren, art. "America," Encydop. Brilann.

Ill CLIMATE AND VEGETATION

49

dry, is not so in any excessive degree. ^ 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
^ome other and unknown cause.

Confining- our view to South America, we should certainly
be tempted to believe that trees flourished only under a very
humid climate ; for the limit of the forest-land follows, in a
most remarkable manner, that of the damp winds. In the
southern part of the continent, where the western gales, charged
with moisture from the Pacific, prevail, every island on the
broken west coast, from lat. 38^ to the extreme point of Tierra
del Fuego, is densel}" covered by impenetrable forests. On the
eastern side of the Cordillera, over the same extent of latitude,
where a blue sky and a fine climate j^rove that the atmosphere
lias been deprived of its moisture by passing over the mountains,
the arid plains of Patagonia support a most scanty vegetation.
In the more northern parts of the continent, within the limits
of the constant south-eastern trade wind, the eastern side is
ornamented by magnificent forests ; whilst the western coast,
from lat. 4° S. to lat. 32° S., may be described as a desert : on
this western coast, northward of lat. 4^ S., where the trade wind
loses its regularity, and heavy torrents of rain fall periodically,
the shores of the Pacific, so utterly desert in Peru, assume near
Cape Klanco the character of luxuriance so celebrated at
Guayaquil 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 posi-
tions 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

^ Azara says, " Je crois que la quantite annuelle des pluies est, dans touces ces
•contrees, plus considerable qu'en Espagne." — Vol. i. p. 36.
5

50 MALDONADO

climate, with a geological formation almost identical, with
favourable situations and the same kind of peaty soil, yet can
boast of few plants deserving even the title of bushes ; whilst
in Tierra del Fuego it is impossible to find an acre of land not
covered by the densest forest. In this case, both the direction
of the heavy gales of wind and of the currents of the sea are
favourable to the transport of seeds from Tierra del Fuego, as
is shown b}' the canoes and trunks of trees drifted from that
country, and frequently thrown on the shores of the Western
Falkland. Hence perhaps it is, that there are many plants in
common to the two countries : but with respect to the trees-
of Tierra del Fuego, even attempts made to transplant them
have failed.

During our stay at Maldonado I collected several quadru-
peds, 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 establish-
ment 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
overpowcringly strong and offensive odour which proceeds from
the buck. It is quite indescribable : several times whilst skin-
ning the specimen which is now mounted at the Zoological
Museum, I was almost overcome by nausea. I tied up the

Ill THE CAP YEAR A OR WATER-HOG 51

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

The order Rodentia is here very numerous in species : of
mice alone I obtained no less than eight kinds.^ The
largest gnawing animal in the world, the Hydrocha^rus capybara
(the water-hog), is here also common. One which I shot at
Monte Video weighed ninety-eight pounds : its length, from
the end of the snout to the stump-like tail, was three feet two
inches ; and its girth three feet eight. These great Rodents
occasionally frequent the islands in the mouth of the Plata,
where the water is quite salt, but are far more abundant on the
borders of fresh -water lakes and rivers. Near Maldonado
three or four generally live together. In the daytime they
either lie among the aquatic plants, or openly feed on the turf
plain.- When viewed at a distance, from their manner of walk-
ing and colour they resemble pigs : but when seated on their
haunches, and attentively watching any object with one eye,

1 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.

2 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 fdire could be distinguished.
Mr. Owen informs me that a part of the oesophagus is so constructed that nothing
much larger than a crow-quill can be passed down. Certainly the broad teeth and
strong jaws of this animal are well fitted to grind into pulp the aquatic plants on
which it feeds.

52 MALDONADO

they reassume the appearance of their congeners, cavies and
rabbits. Both the front and side view of their head has quite
a kidicrous 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 tame-
ness may probably be accounted for, by the Jaguar having been
banished for some years, and by the Gaucho not thinking it
worth his while to hunt them. As I approached nearer and
nearer they frequently made their peculiar noise, which is a
low abrupt grunt, not having much actual sound, but rather
arising from the sudden expulsion of air : the only noise I know
at all like it, is the first hoarse bark of a large dog. Having
watched the four from almost within arm's length (and they me)
for several minutes, they rushed into the water at full gallop
with the greatest impetuosity, and emitted at the same time
their bark. After diving a short distance they came again to
the surface, but only just showed the upper part of their heads.
When the female is swimming in the water, and has young ones,
they are said to sit on her back. These animals are easily killed
in numbers ; but their skins are of trifling value, and the meat
is very indifferent. On the islands in the Rio Parana they are
exceedingly abundant, and afford the ordinary prey to the
Jaguar.

The Tucutuco (Ctenomys Brasiliensis) is a curious small
animal, which may be briefly described as a Gnawer, with the
habits of a mole. It is extremely numerous in some parts of
the country, but is difficult to be procured, and never, I believe,
comes out of the ground. It throws up at the mouth of its
burrows hillocks of earth like those of the mole, but smaller.
Considerable tracts of country are so completely undermined
by these animals that horses, in passing over, sink above their
fetlocks. The tucutucos appear, to a certain degree, to be
gregarious : the man who procured the specimens for me had
caught six together, and he said this was a common occurrence.
They are nocturnal in their habits ; and their principal food is the
roots of plants, which are the object of their extensive and
superficial burrows. This animal is universally known by a
very peculiar noise which it makes when beneath the ground.
A person, the first time he hears it, is much surprised ; for it is
not easy to tell whence it comes, nor is it possible to guess what

THE TUCUTUCO 53

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 imitation of the sound. Where this animal is abundant, it
may be heard at all times of the day, and sometimes directly
beneath one's feet. When kept in a room, the tucutucos move
both slowly and clumsily, which appears owing to the outward
action of their hind legs ; and they are quite incapable, from
the socket of the thigh-bone not having a certain ligament, of
jumping even the smallest vertical height. They are very
stupid in making any attempt to escape ; when angry or
frightened they 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.

The man who caught them asserted that very many are
invariably found blind. A specimen which I preserved in
spirits was in this state ; Mr. Reid considers it to be the effect
of inflammation in the nictitating membrane. When the animal
was alive I placed my finger within half an inch of its head,
and not the slightest notice was taken : it made its way, how-
ever, 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 gradual ly-^tr^/zmY/
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 rudimentary
state, and is covered by a tendinous membrane and skin. In
the common mole the eye is extraordinarily small but perfect,
though many anatomists doubt whether it is connected with the
true optic nerve ; its vision must certainly be imperfect, though

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

2 Philosoph. Zoolog. tom. i. p. 242.

54 MALDONADO

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 un-
dulating grassy plains around Maldonado. There are several
species of a family allied in structure and manners to our Star-
ling : one of these (Molothrus niger) is remarkable from itg
habits. Several may often be seen standing together on the
back of a cow or horse ; and while perched on a hedge, plum-
ing themselves in the sun, they sometimes attempt to sing, or
rather to hiss ; the noise being very peculiar, resembling that of
bubbles of air passing rapidly from a small orifice under water,
so as to produce an acute sound. According to Azara, this
bird, like the cuckoo, deposits its eggs in other birds' nests.
I was several times told by the country people that there cer-
tainly 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 fZonotrichia matutina), with one &^^ in
it larger than the others, and of a different colour and shape.
In North America there is another species of Molothrus (M.
pecoris), which has a similar cuckoo-like habit, and which is
most closely allied in every respect to the species from the
Plata, even in such trifling peculiarities as standing on the
backs of cattle ; it differs only in being a little smaller, and in
its plumage and eggs being of a slightly different shade of
colour. This close agreement in structure and habits, in repre-
sentative 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 cuckoos are the only birds which can be called truly para-
sitical ; 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

^ Jl/agaziiie of Zoology and Botany, vol. i. p. 217. \

Ill HABITS OF THE CUCKOO 55

cause theirs during the period of infancw" It is remarkable
that some of the species, but not all, both of the Cuckoo and
Alolothrus should agree in this one strange habit of their para-
sitical propagation, whilst opposed to each other in almost
every other habit : the molothrus, like our starling, is eminentl}'
sociable, and lives on the open plains without art or disguise :
the cuckoo, as every one knows, is a singularl\- shy bird ; it
frequents the most retired thickets, and feeds on fruit and
caterpillars. In structure also these two genera are widely
removed from each other. Many theories, even phrenological
theories, have been advanced to explain the origin of the
cuckoo laying its eggs in other birds' nests. IM. Prevost alone,
I think, has thrown light b)' his observations ^ 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 &'g^ or two eggs, as soon as
laid: but as the cuckoo sta}s 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 la}'ing her eggs
at intervals, the cause of her depositing her eggs in other birds'
nests, and leaving them to the care of foster-parents. I am
strongly inclined to believe that this view is correct, from
having been independently led (as we shall hereafter see) to an
analogous conclusion with regard to the South American ostrich,
the females of which are parasitical, if I may so express it, on
each other ; each female laying several eggs in the nests of several
other females, and the male ostrich undertaking all the cares of
incubation, like the strange foster-parents with the cuckoo.

I will mention only two other birds, which are very common,
and render themselves prominent from their habits. The
Saurophagus sulphuratus is typical of the great American tribe
of tyrant-flycatchers. In its structure it closely approaches the
true shrikes, but in its habits may be compared to many birds.
I have frequently observed it, hunting a field, hovering over.

1 Read before the Academy of .Sciences in Paris. Ulnstitut, 1834, p. 418.

56 MALDONADO

one spot like a hawk, and then proceeding on to another.
When seen thus suspended in the air, it might very readily at
a short distance be mistaken for one of the Rapacious order \
its stoop, however, is very inferior in force and rapidity to that
of a hawk. At other times the Saurophagus haunts the neigh-
bourhood of ^water, and there, like a kingfisher, remaining
stationary, it catches any small fish which may come near the
margin. These birds are not unfrequently kept either in cages
or in courtyards, with their wings cut. They soon become
tame, and are very amusing from their cunning odd manners^
which were described to me as being similar to those of the
common magpie. Their flight is undulatory, for the weight of
the head and bill appears too great for the body. In the even-
ing 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 com-
pared to that of the Sedge warbler, but is more powerful ; some
harsh notes and some very high ones being mingled with a
pleasant warbling. It is heard only during the spring. At
other times its cry is harsh and far from harmonious. Near
Maldonado these birds were tame and bold ; they constantly
attended the country houses in numbers, to pick the meat which
was hung up on the posts or walls : if any other small bird
joined the feast, the Calandria soon chased it away. On the
wide uninhabited plains of Patagonia another closely allied
species, O. Patagonica of d'Orbigny, which frequents the valleys
clothed with spiny bushes, is a wilder bird, and has a slightly
different tone of voice. It appears to me a curious circum-
stance, 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.

CARRION HA WKS 57

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 dis-
tributed 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 through-
out the sterile plains of Patagonia. In the desert between the
rivers Negro and Colorado, numbers constantly attend the line
of road to devour the carcasses of the exhausted animals which
chance to perish from fatigue and thirst. Although thus
common in these dry and open countries, and likewise on the
arid shores of the Pacific, it is nevertheless found inhabiting the
damp impervious forests of West Patagonia and Tierra del
Fuego. The Carranchas, together with the Chimango, con-
stantly attend in numbers the estancias and slaughtering-houses.
If an animal dies on the plain the Gallinazo commences the
feast, and then the two species of Polyborus pick the bones
clean. These birds, although thus commonly feeding together,
are far from being friends. When the Carrancha is quietly
seated on the branch of a tree or on the ground, the Chimansfo
often continues for a long time flying backwards and forwards,
up and down, in a semicircle, trying each time at the bottom
of the curve to strike its larger relative. The Carrancha takes
little notice, except by bobbing its head. Although the
Carranchas frequently assemble in numbers, they are not
gregarious ; for in desert places they may be seen solitary, or
more commonly by pairs.

The Carranchas are said to be very crafty, and to steal great

S8 MALDONADO

numbers of eggs. They attempt, also, together with the Chi-
mango, to pick off the scabs from the sore backs of horses and
mules. The poor animal, on the one hand, with its ears down
and its back arched ; and, on the other, the hovering bird,
eyeing at the distance of a yard the disgusting morsel, form a
picture, which has been described by Captain Head with his
own peculiar spirit and accuracy. These false eagles most
rarely kill any living bird or animal ; and their vulture-like,
necrophagous habits are very evident to any one who has fallen
asleep on the desolate plains of Patagonia, for when he wakes,
he will see, on each surrounding hillock, one of these birds
patiently watching him with an evil eye : it is a feature in
the landscape of these countries, which will be recognised by
every one who has wandered over them. If a party of men go
out hunting with dogs and horses, they will be accompanied,
during the day, by several of these attendants. After feedings
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 contradis-
tinction 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^'', followed by a
rough double r r ; when uttering this cry it elevates its head
higher and higher, till at last, with its beak wide open, the
crown almost touches the lower part of the back. This fact,
which has been doubted, is quite true ; I have seen them
several times with their heads backwards in a completely
inverted position. To these observations I may add, on the high
authority of Azara, that the Carrancha feeds on worms, shells,
slugs, grasshoppers, and frogs ; that it destroys young lambs by
tearing the umbilical cord ; and that it pursues the Gallinazo,
till that bird is compelled to vomit up the carrion it may have
recently gorged. Lastly, Azara states that several Carranchas,
five or six together, will unite in chase of large birds, even such
as herons. All these facts show that it is a bird of very
versatile habits and considerable ingenuity.

The Polyborus Chimango is considerably smaller than the

CARRION HA WKS 59

last species. It is truly omnivorous, and will eat even bread ;
and I was assured that it materially injures the potato-crops in
Chiloe, by stocking up the roots when first planted. Of all the
carrion-feeders it is generally the last which leaves the skeleton
of a dead animal ; and may often be seen within the ribs of a
cow or horse, like a bird in a cage. Another species is the
Polyborus Novae Zelandic^, which is exceedingly common in the
Falkland Islands. These birds in many respects resemble in
their habits the Carranchas. They live on the flesh of dead
animals and on marine productions ; and on the Ramirez rocks
their whole sustenance must depend on the sea. The}' are ex-
traordinarily 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 pro-
truded, 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 Falk-
lands only during the summer, but the officers of the Adventure,
who were there in the winter, mention many extraordinary
instances of the boldness and rapacity of these birds. They
actually pounced on a dog that was lying fast asleep close by
one of the party ; and the sportsmen had difficulty in preventing
the wounded geese from being seized before their eyes. It is
said that several together (in this respect resembling the
Carranchas) wait at the mouth of a rabbit-hole, and together
seize on the animal when it comes out. They were constantly
flying on board the vessel when in the harbour ; and it w^as
necessary to keep a good look-out to prevent the leather being
torn from the rigging, and the meat or game from the stern.
These birds are very mischievous and inquisitive ; they will
pick up almost anything from the ground ; a large black
glazed hat was carried nearly a mile, as was a pair of the heavy
balls used in catching cattle. Mr. Usborne experienced during
the survey a more severe loss, in their stealing a small Kater's
compass in a red morocco leather case, which was never
recovered. These birds are, moreover, quarrelsome and very
passionate ; tearing up the grass with their bills from rage.
They are not truly gregarious ; they do not soar, and their

6o MALDONADO

flight is heavy and clumsy ; on the ground they run extremely
fast, very much like pheasants. They are noisy, uttering several
harsh cries ; one of which is like that of the English rook ;
hence the sealers always call them rooks. It is a curious
circumstance that, when crying out, they throw their heads
upwards and backwards, after the same manner as the Car-
rancha. They build in the rocky cliffs of the sea-coast, but
only on the small adjoining islets, and not on the two main
islands : this is a singular precaution in so tame and fearless a
bird. The sealers say that the flesh of these birds, when
cooked, is quite white, and very good eating ; but bold must
the man be who attempts such a meal.

We have now only to mention the turkey-buzzard (Vultur
aura) and the Gallinazo. The former is found wherever the
country is moderately damp, from Cape Horn to North America.
Differently from the Polyborus Brasiliensis and Chimango, it
has found its way to the Falkland Islands. The turkey-buzzard
is a solitary bird, or at most goes in pairs. It may at once be
recognised from a long distance, by its lofty, soaring, and most
elegant flight. 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 the carcasses of dead seals. Wherever these animals
are congregated on the rocks, there the vultures may be seen.
The Gallinazo (Cathartes atratus) has a different range from
the last species, as it never occurs southward of lat. 4 1 °. Azara
states that there exists a tradition that these birds, at the time
of the conquest, were not found near Monte Video, but that
they subsequently followed the inhabitants from more northern
districts. At the present day they are numerous in the valley
of the Colorado, which is three hundred miles due south of
Monte Video. It seems probable that this additional migration
has happened since the time of Azara. The Gallinazo generally
prefers a humid climate, or rather the neighbourhood of fresh
water ; hence it is extremely abundant in Brazil and La Plata,
while it is never found on the desert and arid plains of Northern
Patagonia, excepting near some stream. These birds frequent
the whole Pampas to the foot of the Cordillera, but I never saw
or heard of one in Chile : in Peru they are preserved as scaven-
gers. These vultures certainly may be called gregarious, for

Ill TUBES FORMED BY LIGHTXIXG 6i

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 ma\' often be observed at a great height, each bird wheel-
ing 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 Laguna
del Potrero from the shores of the Plata, at the distance of a few
miles from Maldonado, I found a group of those vitrified, sili-
ceous tubes, which are formed by lightning entering loose sand.
These tubes resemble in every particular those from Drigg in
Cumberland, described in the Geological Transactions} The
sand-hillocks of Maldonado, not being protected by vegetation,
are constantly changing their position. From this cause the
tubes projected above the surface ; and numerous fragments
lying near, showed that they had formerly been buried to a
greater depth. Four sets entered the sand perpendicularly : by
working with my hands I traced one of them two feet deep ;
and some fragments which evidentl}' 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 thirt}' 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

1 Gcolog. 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.

MALDONADO

are of a black colour, and from their glossy surface possess a
metallic lustre. The thickness of the wall of the tube varies
from a thirtieth to a twentieth of an inch, and occasionally even
equals a tenth. On the outside the grains of sand are rounded,
and have a slightly glazed appearance : I could not distinguish
any signs of crystallisation. 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 sur-
rounding 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 galvanism through finely-powdered glass : when salt
was added, so as to increase its fusibility, the tubes were larger in
every dimension. They failed both with powdered felspar and
quartz. One tube, formed with pounded glass, w^as 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 light-
ning, 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 extraordinarih' 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 consi-
derable 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

^ Ainiahs dc Cliiniic et dr Physique, toni. xxxvii. p. 319.

Ill ELECTRIC PHENOMENA 65

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 be-
neath the surface, there were several other groups of fragments,
the original sites of which without doubt were near. All
occurred in a level area of shifting sand, sixty yards by twenty,
situated among some high sand-hillocks, and at the distance of
about half a mile from a chain of hills four or five hundred feet
in height. The most remarkable circumstance, as it appears to
me, in this case as well as in that of Drigg, and in one described
by M. Ribbentrop in Germany, is the number of tubes found
within such limited spaces. At Drigg, within an area of fifteen
yards, three were observed, and the same number occurred in
Germany. In the case which I have described, certainly more
than four existed within the space of the sixty by twenty yards.
As it does not appear probable that the tubes are produced by
successive distinct shocks, we must believe that the lightning,,
short!}' before entering the ground, divides itself into separate
branches.

The neighbourhood of the Rio Plata seems peculiarly sub-
ject to electric phenomena. In the year 1793,^ one of the
most destructive thunderstorms perhaps on record happened at
Buenos Ayres : thirty-seven places within the city were struck
by lightning, and nineteen people killed. From facts stated in
several books of travels, I am inclined to suspect that thunder-
storms are very common near the mouths of great rivers. Is it
not possible that the mixture of large bodies of fresh and salt
water ma}' 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 nearh' 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 furni-
ture, 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
^ Azara's Voyage, vol. i. p. 36.

64

MALDONADO

opposite side of the room. The frame of a looking-glass was
blackened, and the gilding must have been volatilised, for a
smelling-bottle, which stood on the chimneypiece, was coated
with bright metallic particles, which adhered as firmly as if they
had been enamelled.

HALT AT A PTLPERIA ON THE PAMPAS.

EL CARMEN, OR PATAGONES. RIO NEGRO.

CHAPTER IV

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

RIO NEGRO TO BAHIA BLANCA

July 2AftJi, 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
civilised man.
6

66 RIO NEGRO

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

The settlement is situated eighteen miles up the river.
The road follows the foot of the sloping cliff, which forms the
northern boundary of the great valley in which the Rio Negro
flows. On the way we passed the ruins of some fine " estancias,"
which a few years since had been destroyed by the Indians.
They withstood several attacks. A man present at one gave
me a very lively description of what took place. The inhabit-
ants 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 spcar-head. My
informer seemed to remember with the greatest horror the
quivering of these chuzos as they approached near. \\n'ien
close, the cacique Pincheira hailed the besieged to give up their
arms, or he would cut all their throats. As this would prob-
ably have been the result of their entrance under any circum-
stances, 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 the}' found the posts fastened

1 The corral is an enclosure made nf tall and struni^ stakes. Every estancia, or
farming estate, lias one attached to it.

INDIAN FAMILIES 67

together by iron nails instead of leather thongs, and, of course,
in vain attempted to cut them with their knives. This saved
the lives of the Christians : many of the wounded Indians were
carried away by their companions ; and at last, one of the
under caciques being wounded, the bugle sounded a retreat.
They retired to their horses, and seemed to hold a council
of war. This was an awful pause for the Spaniards, as all
their ammunition, with the exception of a few cartridges, was
expended. In an instant the Indians mounted their horses, and
galloped out of sight. Another attack was still more quickly
repulsed. A cool Frenchman managed the gun ; he stopped
till the Indians approached close, and then raked their line
with grape-shot : he thus laid thirty-nine of them on the
ground ; and, of course, such a blow immediately routed the
whole party.

The town is indifferently called El Carmen or Patagones.
It is built on the face of a cliff which fronts the river, and many
of the houses are excavated even in the sandstone. The river
is about two or three hundred yards wide, and is deep and
rapid. The many islands, with their willow-trees, and the flat
headlands, seen one behind the other on the northern boundary
of the broad green valley, form, by the aid of a bright sun, a
view almost picturesque. The number of inhabitants does not
exceed a few hundreds. These Spanish colonies do not, like
our British ones, carry within themselves the elements of growth.
Many Indians of pure blood reside here : the tribe of the
Cacique Lucanee constantly have their Toldos ^ on the out-
skirts 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 civilised ; but what
their character may have gained by a lesser degree of ferocity,
is almost counterbalanced by their entire immorality. Some
of the younger men are, however, improving ; they are willing
to labour, and a short time since a party went on a sealing-
voyage, and behaved very well. They were now enjoying the
fruits of their labour, by being dressed in very gay, clean clothes,
and by being very idle. The taste they showed in their dress
was admirable ; if you could have turned one of these young
^ The hovels of the Indians are thus called.

68 RIO NEGRO

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 con-
verted into a field of snow-white salt. The layer near the
margin is from four to five inches thick, but towards the centre
its thickness increases. This lake was two and a half miles
long, and one broad. Others occur in the neighbourhood many
times larger, and with a floor of salt, two and three feet in
thickness, even when under water during the winter. One of
these brilliantly white and level expanses, in the midst of the
brown and desolate plain, offers an extraordinary spectacle. A
large quantity of salt is annually drawn from the salina ; and
great piles, some hundred tons in weight, were lying ready for
exportation.

The season for working the salinas forms the harvest of
Patagones ; for on it the prosperity of the place depends.
Nearly the whole population encamps on the bank of the
river, and the people are employed in drawing out the salt
in bullock -waggons. This salt is crystallised in great cubes,
and is remarkably pure : Mr. Trenham Reeks has kindly
analysed some for me, and he finds in it only 0.26 of gypsum
and 0.22 of earthy matter. It is a singular fact that it does
not serve so well for preserving meat as sea-salt from the Cape
de Verd .Islands ; and a merchant at Buenos Ayres told me
that he considered it as fifty per cent less valuable. Hence
the Cape de Verd salt is constantly imported, and is mixed
with that from these salinas. The purity of the Patagonian
salt, or absence from it of those other saline bodies found in all
sea- water, is the only assignable cause for this inferiority : a
conclusion which no one, I think, would have suspected, but
which is supported by the fact lately ascertained,^ 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 sul-
phate of soda lie scattered about. The Gauchos call the former

^ Report of the Agiicult. Chem. Assoc, in the Agriciill. Gazette, 1845, p. 93.

IV FLAMINGOES 69

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 confervse : I
attempted to carry home some of this green matter, but from
an accident failed. Parts of the lake seen from a short distance
appeared of a reddish colour, and this perhaps was owing to
some infusorial animalcula. The mud in many places was
thrown up by numbers of some kind of worm, or annelidous
animal. How surprising it is that any creatures should be able
to exist in brine, and that they should be crawling among
crystals of sulphate of soda and lime ! And what becomes of
these worms when, during the long summer, the surface is
hardened into a solid layer of salt ?

Flamingoes in considerable numbers inhabit this lake,
and breed here ; throughout Patagonia, in Northern Chile,
and at the Galapagos Islands, I met with these birds
wherever there were lakes of brine. I saw them here wading
about in search of food — probably for the worms which
burrow in the mud ; and these latter probably feed on
infusoria or confervae. Thus we have a little living world
within itself, adapted to these inland lakes of brine. A
minute crustaceous animal (Cancer salinus) is said ^ to live in
countless numbers in the brine-pans at Lymington ; but only
in those in which the fluid has attained, from evaporation,
considerable strength — namely, about a quarter of a pound of
salt to a pint of water. Well may we affirm that every part
of the world is habitable ! Whether lakes of brine, or those
subterranean ones hidden beneath volcanic mountains — warm
mineral springs— the wide expanse and depths of the ocean —

^ Linucean Trans, vol. xi. p. 205. It is remarkable how all the circumstances
connected with the salt-lakes in Siberia and Patagonia are similar. Siberia, like
Patagonia, appears to have been recently elevated above the waters of the sea. In
both countries the salt-lakes occupy shallow depressions in the plains ; in both the
mud on the borders is black and fetid ; beneath the crust of common salt, sulphate
of soda or of magnesia occurs, imperfectly crystallised ; and in both, the muddy sand
is mixed with lentils of gypsum. The Siberian salt-lakes are inhabited by small
crustaceous animals; and flamingoes (Edin. Ntio Philos. Jotm Jan. 1830) likewise
frequent them. As these circumstances, apparently so trifling, occur in two distant
continents, we may feel sure that they are the necessary results of common causes. —
See Pallas' s Travels, 1793 to 1794, pp. 1 29-134.

70 A'. NEGRO TO R. COLORADO chap.

the upper regions of the atmosphere, and even the surface of
perpetual snow — all support organic beings.

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

August I it/i. — Mr. Harris, an Englishman residing at Pata-
gones,a guide, and five Gauchos, who were proceeding to the army
on business, were my companions on the journey. The Colo-
rado, as I have already said, is nearly eighty miles distant: and as
we travelled slowly, we were two days and a half on the road.
The whole line of country deserves scarcely a better name than
that of a desert. Water is found only in two small wells ; it
is called fresh ; but even at this time of the year, during the
rainy season, it was quite brackish. In the summer this must
be a distressing passage ; for now it was sufficiently desolate.

The valley of the Rio Negro, broad as it is, has merely
been excavated out of the sandstone plain ; for immedi-
ately above the bank on which the town stands, a level
country commences, which is interrupted only by a {e\v trifling
valleys and depressions. Everywhere the landscape wears
the same sterile aspect ; a dry gravelly soil supports tufts of

SACRED TREE 71

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 Wal-
leechu. 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 b\- itself without any neighbour, and was indeed the first
tree we saw ; afterwards we met with a few others of the same
kind, but they were far from common. Being winter the tree
had no leaves, but in their place numberless threads, by
which the various offerings, such as cigars, bread, meat, pieces
of cloth, etc., had been suspended. Poor Indians, not having
anything better, only pull a thread out of their ponchos, and
fasten it to the tree. Richer Indians are accustomed to pour
spirits and mate into a certain hole, and likewise to smoke
upwards, thinking thus to afford all possible gratification to
Walleechu. To complete the scene, the tree was surrounded
by the bleached bones of horses which had been slaughtered
as sacrifices. All Indians of every age and sex make their
offerings ; they then think that their horses will not tire, and
that they themselves shall be prosperous. The Gaucho who
told me this, said that in the time of peace he had witnessed
this scene, and that he and others used to wait till the Indians
had passed by, for the sake of stealing from Walleechu the
offerings.

The Gauchos think that the Indians consider the tree as
the god itself ; but it seems far more probable that they regard
it as the altar. The onl}- cause which I can imagine for this
choice, is its being a landmark in a dangerous passage. The
Sierra de la Ventana is visible at an immense distance ; and a
Gaucho told me that he was once riding with an Indian a few
miles to the north of the Rio Colorado, when the Indian com-
menced 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."

72 RIO COLORADO

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 deathlike stillness of the plain, the dogs
keeping watch, the gipsy-group of Gauchos making their beds
round the fire, have left in my mind a strongly-marked picture
of this first night, which will never be forgotten.

The next day the country continued similar to that above
described. It is inhabited by iow birds or animals of any
kind. Occasionally a deer, or a Guanaco (wild Llama) may be
seen ; but the Agouti (Cavia Patagonica) is the commonest
quadruped. This animal here represents our hares. It differs,
however, from that genus in many essential respects ; for
instance, it has only three toes behind. It is also nearly twice
the size, weighing from twenty to twenty-five pounds. The
Agouti is a true friend of the desert ; it is a common feature
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. '^J° 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, }et that Captain Wood,
in his voyage in 1 670, talks of them as being numerous
there. What cause can have altered, in a wide, uninhabited,
and rarely visited country, the range of an animal like this ?
It appears also from the number shot by Captain Wood in
one day at Port Desire, that they must have been considerably
more abundant there formerly than at present. Where the
Pizcacha lives and makes its burrows, the Agouti uses them ;

IV ENCAMPMENT OF GENERAL ROSAS 73

but where, as at Bahia Blanca, the Bizcacha is not found,
the Agouti burrows for itself The same thing occurs with
the httle 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 v^xy
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 cavalr\- ; and I
should think such a villainous, banditti-like army was never
before collected together. The greater number of men were
of a mixed breed, between Negro, Indian, and Spaniard.
I know not the reason, but men of such origin seldom have
a good expression of countenance. I called on the Secretary

74 RIO COLORADO

to show my passport. He began to cross-question me in the
most dignified and mysterious manner. By good kick 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 graciousness. We took
up our residence in the rancho, or hovel, of a curious old
Spaniard, who had served with Napoleon in the expedition
against Russia.

We stayed two days at the Colorado ; I had little to do,
for the surrounding country was a swamp, which in summer
(December), when the snow melts on the Cordillera, is over-
flowed by the river. My chief amusement was watching the
Indian families as they came to buy little articles at the rancho
where we stayed. It was supposed that General Rosas had about
six hundred Indian allies. The men were a tall, fine race, yet
it was afterwards easy to see in the Fuegian savage the same
countenance rendered hideous by cold, want of food, and less
civilisation.

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 interesting than some of the family
groups. A mother with one or two daughters would often
come to our rancho, mounted on the same horse. They ride
like men, but with their knees tucked up much higher. This
habit, perhaps, arises from their being accustomed, when
travelling, to ride the loaded horses. The duty of the women
is to load and unload the horses ; to make the tents for the
night ; in short to be, like the wives of all savages, useful
slaves. The men fight, hunt, take care of the horses, and

^ I am hound to express, in the slronjjest terms, my oI)Iii;.ition to tlie Government
of Buenos Ayres for the obliging manner in which passjiorts to .ill ]iavts of the
country were given me, as naturalist of the Beagle.

INDIAN WEAPONS

make the riding gear. One of their chief indoor occupations
is to knock two stones together till they become round, in
order to make the bolas. With this important weapon the
Indian catches his game, and also his
horse, which roams free over the plain.
In fighting, his first attempt is to throw
down the horse of his adversary with the
bolas, and when entangled by the fall to
kill him with the chuzo. If the balls only
catch the neck or body of an animal, they
are often carried away and lost. As the
making the stones round is the labour of
two days, the manufacture of the balls is a
very common employment. Several of the
men and women had their faces painted red,
but I never saw the horizontal bands which
\ y JJ are so common among the Fuegians. Their
chief pride consists in having everything
// '^'-M^ made of silver ; I have seen a cacique with

his spurs, stirrups, handle of his knife, and
bridle made of this metal : the head -stall
and reins being of wire, were not thicker
than whipcord ; and to see a fiery steed
wheeling about under the command of so
light a chain, gave to the horsemanship a
remarkable character of elegance

General Rosas intimated a wish to see
me ; a circumstance which I was afterwards
very glad of. He is a man of an extra-
ordinary character, and has a
most predominant influence
in the country, which it
seems probable he will use

BRAZILIAN WHIPS, HORBLES, AND SPURS.

76 RIO COLORADO

to its prosperity and advancement^ He is said to be the
owner of seventy- four square leagues of land, and to have
about three hundred thousand head of cattle. His estates are
admirably managed, and are far more" productive of corn than
those of others. He first gained his celebrity by his laws for
his own estancias, and by disciplining several hundred men, so
as to resist with success the attacks of the Indians. There are
many stories current about the rigid manner in which his laws
were enforced. One of these was, that no man, on penalty of
being put into the stocks, should carry his knife on a Sunday :
this being the principal day for gambling and drinking, many
quarrels arose, which from the general manner of fighting with
the knife often proved fatal.

One Sunday the Governor came in great form to pay the
estancia a visit, and General Rosas, in his hurry, walked out
to receive him with his knife, as usual, stuck in his belt. The
steward touched his arm, and reminded him of the law ; upon
which, turning to the Governor, he said he was extremely
sorry, but that he must go into the stocks, and that till let
out, he possessed no power even in his own house. After
a little time the steward was persuaded to open the stocks,
and to let him out, but no sooner was this done, than
he turned to the steward and said, "You now have broken
the laws, so you must take my place in the stocks." Such
actions as these delighted the Gauchos, who all possess high
notions of their own equality and dignity.

General Rosas is also a perfect horseman — an accomplish-
ment 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 who-
ever should drop from the bar on one of these wild animals,
as it rushed out, and should be able, without saddle or bridle,
not only to ride it, but also to bring it back to the door of
the corral, should be their general. The person who succeeded
was accordingly elected ; and doubtless made a fit general for
such an army. This extraordinary feat has also been performed
by Rosas.

By these means, and by conforming to the dress and habits

^ This prophecy has turned out entirely and miserably wrong. 1S45.

GENERAL ROSAS -jj

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

In conversation he is enthusiastic, sensible, and very grave.
His gravity is carried to a high pitch : I heard one of his mad
buffoons (for he keeps two, like the barons of old) relate the
following anecdote : " I wanted very much to hear a certain
piece of music, so I went to the general two or three times to
ask him ; he said to me, ' Go about your business, for I am
engaged.' I went a second time ; he said, ' If you come again
I will punish you.' A third time I asked, and he laughed.
I rushed out of the tent, but it was too late ; he ordered two
soldiers to catch and stake me. I begged by all the Saints in
heaven he would let me off; but it would not do ; — when the
general laughs he spares neither mad man nor sound." The
poor flighty gentleman looked quite dolorous at the very recol-
lection 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 govern-
ment post-horses, and this he gave me in the most obliging
and ready manner.

In the morning we started for Bahia Blanca, which we
reached in two days. Leaving the regular encampment, we
passed by the toldos of the Indians. These are round like
ovens, and covered with hides ; by the mouth of each, a
tapering chuzo was stuck in the ground. The toldos were
divided into separate groups, which 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.

78 SAND-DUNES

Turning northward from the river, we soon entered on
a country, differing from the plains south of the river. The
land still continued dry and sterile ; but it supported many
different kinds of plants, and the grass, though brown and
withered, was more abundant, as the thorny bushes were less
so. These latter in a short space entirely disappeared,
and the plains were left without a thicket to cover their
nakedness. This change in the vegetation marks the com-
mencement of the grand calcareo-argillaceous deposit, which
forms the wide extent of the Pampas, and covers the
granitic rocks of Banda Oriental. From the Strait of
Magellan to the Colorado, a distance of about eight hundred
miles, the face of the country is everywhere composed of
shingle : the pebbles are chiefly of porphyry, and probably
owe their origin to the rocks of the Cordillera. North of the
Colorado this bed thins out, and the pebbles become exceed-
ingly small, and here the characteristic vegetation of Patagonia
ceases.

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

The house was situated at the base of a ridge, between one
and two hundred feet high — a most remarkable feature in this
country. This posta was commanded by a negro lieutenant,

A FALSE ALARM 79

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

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

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

So BAHIA BLANC A

attacks of the Indians beyond the boundaries of the plain on
which the fortress stands.

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

We found the Beagle had not arrived, and consequently set
out on our return, but the horses soon tiring, we were obliged
to bivouac on the plain. In the morning we had caught an
armadillo, which, although a most excellent dish when roasted
in its shell, did not make a very substantial breakfast and
dinner for two hungry men. The ground at the place where
we stopped for the night was incrusted with a layer of sulphate
of soda, and hence, of course, was without water. Yet many
of the smaller rodents managed to exist even here, and the
tucutuco was making its odd little grunt beneath my head,
during half the night. Our horses were very poor ones, and in

SALITRALES 8i

the morning they were soon exhausted from not having
had anything to drink, so that we were obh'ged 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 circum-
stances, I cannot imagine : at the same time, I must confess
that my guide did not suffer at all, and was astonished that one
day's deprivation should be so troublesome to me.

I have several times alluded to the surface of the ground
being incrusted with salt. This phenomenon is quite different
from that of the salinas, and more extraordinary. In many
parts of South America, wherever the climate is moderately
dry, these incrustations occur ; but I have nowhere seen them
so abundant as near Bahia Blanca. The salt here, and in
other parts of Patagonia, consists chiefly of sulphate of soda
with some common salt. As long as the ground remains
moist in 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 crystallised at the
bottoms of the puddles of water.

The salitrales occur either on level tracts elevated only
a {&\\ feet above the level of the sea, or on alluvial land
bordering rivers. M. Parchappe ^ found that the saline in-
crustation 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

^ Vovage dans FAnterique Mcrid. par M. A. d'Orbigny. Part. Hist. torn. i. p.
664.

7

BAH I A BLANC A

common salt increased to 37 parts in a hundred. This
circumstance would tempt one to believe that the sulphate of
soda is generated in the soil, from the muriate left on the
surface during the slow and recent elevation of this dry country.
The whole phenomenon is well worthy the attention of
naturalists. Have the succulent, salt-loving plants, which are
well known to contain much soda, the power of decomposing
the muriate ? Does the black fetid mud, abounding with
organic matter, yield the sulphur and ultimately the sulphuric
acid ?

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

IV ZORILLOS 83

them to be the wife and sister-in-law of the major's son,
hunting for ostrich's eggs.

I have described this man's conduct, because he acted under
the full impression that they were Indians. As soon, however,
as the absurd mistake was found out, he gave me a hundred
reasons why they could not have been Indians ; but all
these were forgotten at the time. We then rode on in
peace and quietness to a low point called Punta Alta, whence
we could see nearly the whole of the great harbour of Bahia
Blanca.

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

84

BAHIA BLANCA

says the smell can be perceived at a league distant ; more than
once, when entering the harbour of Monte Video, the wind
being off shore, we have perceived the odour on board the
Beagle. Certain it is, that every animal most willingly makes
room for the Zorillo.

BRINGING IN A PRISONER.

IRREGULAR TROOPS.

CHAPTER V

Bahia Blanca — Geolo£;y — Numerous gii,'antic extinct Quadrupeds — Recent Extinction
— Longevity of Species — Large Animals do not require a luxuriant Vegetation —
Southern Africa — Siberian Fossils — I'wo Species of Ostrich — Habits of Oven-
bird — Armadilloes — Venomous Snake, Toad, Lizard — Hybernation of Animals —
Habits of Sea- Pen — Indian Wars and Massacres — Arrowhead, antiquarian
Relic,

BAHL\ BLANCA

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

The plain, at the distance of a few miles from the coast,

86 BAHIA BLANCA

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

First, parts of three heads and other bones of the Megathe-
rium, the huge dimensions of which are expressed by its name.
Secondly, the Megalonyx, a great allied animal. Thirdly, the
Scelidotherium, also an allied animal, of which I obtained a
nearly perfect skeleton. It must have been as large as a
rhinoceros : in the structure of its head it comes, according to
Mr. Owen, nearest to the Cape 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 Macrau-
chenia, a huge beast with a long neck like a camel, which I
shall also refer to again. Lastly, the Toxodon, perhaps one of
the strangest animals ever discovered : in size it equalled an
elephant or megatherium, but the structure of its teeth, as Mr.
Owen states, proves indisputably that it was intimately related
to the Gnawers, the order which, at the present day, includes
most of the smallest quadrupeds : in many details it is allied to
the Pachydermata : judging from the position of its eyes, ears,
and nostrils, it was probably aquatic, like the Dugong and
Manatee, to which it is also allied. * How wonderfully are the
different Orders, at the present time so well separated, blended
together in different points of the structure of the Toxodon !

V EXTINCT QUADRUPEDS 87

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 circum-
stance 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 P. Alta, in a cliff of red earth, I found several
fragments of bones, some of large size. Among them were the
teeth of a gnawer, equalling in size and closely resembling
those of the Capybara, whose habits have been described ; and
therefore, probably, an aquatic animal. There was also part of
the head of a Ctenomys ; the species being different from the
Tucutuco, but with a close general resemblance. The red
earth, like that of the Pampas, in which these remains were
embedded, contains, according to Professor Ehrenberg, eight
fresh-water and one salt-water infusorial animalcule ; therefore,
probably, it was an estuary deposit.

The remains at Punta Alta were embedded in stratified
gravel and reddish mud, just such as the sea might now wash
up on a shallow bank. They were associated with twenty-
three species of shells, of which thirteen are recent and four
others very closely related to recent forms.^ From the bones
of the Scelidotherium, including even the kneecap, being
entombed in their proper relative positions,- and from the
osseous armour of the great armadillo-like animal being so well
preserved, together with the bones of one of its legs, we may
feel assured that these remains were fresh and united by their
ligaments, when deposited in the gravel together with the shells.
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

' Since this was written, M. Alcide d"Orbigny has examined these sliells, and
pronounces them all to be recent.

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

BAHIA BLANCA

the mammalia is upon the whole inferior to that of the
testacea." ^

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

The beds including the above fossil remains stand only trom
fifteen to twenty feet above the level of high water ; and hence

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

^ This theory was first developed in the Zoohi^' of tlic Voyage of the Beagle, and
subsequently in Professor Owen's Mevtoir on Mylodon robiistus.

V FOOD OF LARGE QUADRUPEDS 89

the elevation of the land has been small (without there has
been an intercalated period of subsidence, of which we have no
evidence) since the great quadrupeds wandered over the sur-
rounding 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 ba}', I was at first inclined to think that the
former vegetation was probably similar to the existing one ; but
this would have been an erroneous inference, for some of these
same shells live on the luxuriant coast of Brazil ; and generally,
the characters of the inhabitants of the sea are useless as guides
to judge of those on the land. Nev'ertheless, from the following
considerations, I do not believe that the simple fact of many
gigantic quadrupeds having lived on the plains round Bahia
Blanca, is any sure guide that they formerly were clothed with
a luxuriant vegetation : I have no doubt that the sterile country
a little southward, near the Rio Negro, with its scattered thorny
trees, would support many and large quadrupeds.

That large animals require a luxuriant vegetation, has been
a general assumption which has passed from one work to
another ; but I do not hesitate to say that it is completely false,
and that it has vitiated the reasoning of geologists on some
points of great interest in the ancient history of the world.
The prejudice has probably been derived from India, and the
Indian islands, where troops of elephants, noble forests, and im-
penetrable 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 countr\-, or to the
numbers of large animals inhabiting it. The same thing is
rendered e\-ident by the man\' engravings which have been
published of various parts of the interior. When the Beagle
was at Cape Town, I made an excursion of some days' length
into the country, which at least was sufficient to render that
which I had read more fully intelligible.

Dr. Andrew Smith, who, at the head of his adventurous
party, has lately succeeded in passing the Tropic of Capricorn,

90 BAHIA BLANC A chap.

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 occasion-
ally half an hour's delay in cutting down bushes, gives, perhaps, a
more definite notion of the scantiness of the vegetation. Now,
if we look to the animals inhabiting these wide plains, we shall
find their numbers extraordinarily great, and their bulk immense.
We must enumerate the elephant, three species of rhinoceros, and
probably, according to Dr. Smith, two others, the hippopotamus,
the giraffe, the bos caffer — as large as a full-grown bull, and the
elan — but little less, two zebras, and the quaccha, two gnus, and
several antelopes even larger than these latter animals. It may
be supposed that although the species are numerous, the indivi-
duals of each kind are few. By the kindness of Dr. Smith, I
am enabled to show that the case is very different. He informs
me, that in lat. 24°, in one day's march with the bullock-
waggons, he saw, without wandering to any great distance on
either side, between one hundred and one hundred and fifty
rhinoceroses, which belonged to three species : the same day he
saw several herds of giraffes, amounting together to nearly a
hundred ; and that, although no elephant was observed, yet
they are found in this district. At the distance of a little more
than one hour's march from their place of encampment on the
previous night, his party actually killed at one spot eight
hippopotamuses, and saw many more. In this same river there
were likewise crocodiles. Of course it was a case quite
extraordinary, to see so many great animals crowded together,
but it evidently proves that they must exist in great numbers. Dr.
Smith describes the country passed through that day, as " being

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

V FOOD OF LARGE QUADRUPEDS 91

think' covered with grass, and bushes about foui; feet high, and
still more thinly with mimosa-trees." The waggons were not
prevented tra\-elling 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 wath the flocks of
migratory birds. The numbers indeed of the lion, panther, and
hyaena, and the multitude of birds of prey, plainly speak of the
abundance of the smaller quadrupeds : one evening seven lions
were counted at the same time prowling round Dr. Smith's
encampment. As this able naturalist remarked to me, the
carnage each day in Southern Africa must indeed be terrific !
I confess it is truly surprising how such a number of animals
can find support in a country producing so little food. The
larger quadrupeds no doubt roam over wide tracts in search of
it ; and their food chiefly consists of underwood, which probably
contains much nutriment in a small bulk. Dr. Smith also
informs me that the vegetation has a rapid growth ; no sooner
is a part consumed, than its place is supplied by a fresh stock.
There can be no doubt, however, that our ideas respecting the
apparent amount of food necessary for the support of large
quadrupeds are much exaggerated : it should have been
remembered that the camel, an animal of no mean bulk, has
always been considered as the emblem of the desert.

The belief that where large quadrupeds exist, the vegetation
must necessarily be luxuriant, is the more remarkable, because
the converse is far from true. Mr. Burchell observed to me
that when entering Brazil, nothing struck him more forcibly
than the splendour of the South American vegetation contrasted
with that of South Africa, together with the absence of all
large quadrupeds. In his Travels} 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," hippopotamus, giraffe, bos caffer,

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

2 The elephant which was killed at Exeter Change was estimated (being partly-
weighed) at five tons and a half. The elephant actress, as I was informed, weighed
one ton less ; so that we may take five as the average of a full-grown elephant. I
was told at the 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

92 BAHIA BLANC A

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 bulk of
the species and the quantity of the vegetation in the countries
which they inhabit.

With regard to the number of large quadrupeds, there cer-
tainly exists no quarter of the globe which will bear comparison
with Southern Africa. After the different statements which
have been given, the extremely desert character of that region
will not be disputed. In the European division of the world,
we must look back to the tertiary epochs, to find a condition
of things among the mammalia, resembling that now existing at
the Cape of Good Hope. Those tertiary epochs, which we are
apt to consider as abounding to an astonishing degree with
large animals, because we find the remains of many ages accu-
mulated 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 vegetation,
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,

these premises we may give three tons and a half to each of the five rhinoceroses ;
perhaps a ton to the giraffe, and lialf to the bos caffer as well as to the elan (a large
ox weighs from 1 200 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 I, 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 carcass so gigantic being supported
on the minute Crustacea and mollusca living in the frozen seas of the e.xtrcme
North .?

- See Zooh^ical Remarks to Capt. Back's Ex fc Jit ion, by Dr. Richardson. Me
says, "The subsoil north of latitude 56" is perpetually frozen, the thaw on the coast

FOOD OF LARGF QUADRUPFDS 93

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 ^ (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 perfect!}'
preserved. With these facts we must grant, as far as quantity
alone of vegetation is concerned, that the great quadrupeds of
the later tertiary epochs might, in most parts of Northern Europe
and Asia, have lived on the spots where their remains are now
found. I do not here speak of the kind of vegetation necessary
for their support ; because, as there is evidence of ph\-sical
changes, and as the animals have become extinct, so may we
suppose that the species of plants have likewise been changed.
These remarks, I may be permitted to add, directly bear on
the case of the Siberian animals preserved in ice. The firm
conviction of the necessity of a vegetation possessing a
character of tropical luxuriance, to support such large animals,
and the impossibility of reconciling this with the proximity of
perpetual congelation, was one chief cause of the several
theories of sudden revolutions of climate, and of overwhelming
catastrophes, which were invented to account for their entomb-
ment. I am far from supposing that the climate has not
changed since the period when those animals lived, which now
lie buried in the ice. At present I only wish to show, that as
far as quantity of food alone is concerned, the ancient
rhinoceroses might have roamed over the steppes of central
Siberia (the northern parts probably being under water) even in
their present condition, as well as the living rhinoceroses and
elephants over the Karros of Southern Africa.

I will now give an account of the habits of some of the
more interesting birds which are common on the wild plains of
Northern Patagonia ; and first for the largest, or South

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 flourish on the surface, at a distance from the coast."

^ See Humboldt, Fragnuns Asiaiiqties, p. 386 ; Barton's Geography of Plants ;
and Make 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 "jo" .

94 BAHIA BLANCA

American ostrich. The ordinary habits of the ostrich are
famihar 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 Santa Cruz river,
where its course was about four hundred yards wide, and
the stream rapid. Captain Sturt,^ when descending the
Murrumbidgee, in Australia, saw two emus in the act of
swimming.

The inhabitants of the country readily distinguish, even at
a distance, the cock bird from the hen. The former is larger
and darker coloured,' and has a bigger head. The ostrich, I
believe the cock, emits a singular, deep-toned, hissing note :
when first I heard it, standing in the midst of some sand-
hillocks, I thought it was made by some wild beast, for it is a
sound that one cannot tell whence it comes,or from how far distant.
When we were at Bahia Blanca in the months of September and
October, the eggs, in extraordinary numbers, were found all

' Sturt's Travels, vol. ii. p. 74.

^ A Gauclio assured mc that he had once seen a snow-white or Albino variety,
and that it was a most beautiful bird.

V HABITS OF THE OSTRICH 95

over the country. They he 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 ex-
cavation, which forms the nest. Out of the four nests which I
saw, three contained twenty-two eggs each, and the fourth
twenty-seven. In one day's hunting on horseback sixty-four
eggs were found ; forty-four of these were in two nests, and
the remaining twenty, scattered huachos. The Gauchos
unanimously affirm, and there is no reason to doubt their
statement, that the male bird alone hatches the eggs, and for
some time afterwards accompanies the young. The cock when
on tl>e 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 under-
stand 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.^
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, sometimes to seventy or eighty.
Now although it is most probable, from the number of eggs
found in one district being so extraordinarily great in proportion
to the parent birds, and likewise from the state of the ovarium
of the hen, that she may in the course of the season lay a large
number, yet the time required must be very long. Azara
states," that a female in a state of domestication laid seventeen

^ Burchell's Trai'ds, vol. i. p. 280.
- Azara, \'A. iv. p. 173.

96 BAHIA BLANCA

eggs, each at the interval of three days one from another. If the
hen was obhged 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.^ 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, are generally whole.

When at the Rio Negro in Northern Patagonia, I repeatedly
heard the Gauchos talking of a very rare bird which they called
Avestruz Petise. Theydescribed it as being lessthanthe common
ostrich (which is there abundant), but with a very close general
resemblance. They said its colour was dark and mottled, and
that its legs were shorter, and feathered lower down than those
of the common ostrich. It is more easily caught by the
bolas than the other species. The few inhabitants who had
seen both kinds, affirmed they could distinguish them apart
from a long distance. The eggs of the small species appeared,
however, more generally known ; and it was remarked, with

1 Lichtenstein, however, asserts {Travels, vol. ii. p. 25) that the hens begin
sitting when they have laid ten or twelve eggs ; and that they continue laying, I
presume in another nest. This appears to me very improbable. Me asserts thai
four or live hens associate for incubation witli one C(;ck, who sits only at night.

THE AVESTRUZ. PETISE 97

surprise, that they were very little less than those of the Rhea
but of a slightly different form, and with a tinge of pale blue.
This species occurs most rarely on the plains bordering the
Rio Negro ; but about a degree and a half farther 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 Petises, and thought it was a not full-grown
bird of the common sort. It was cooked and eaten before my
memory returned. Fortunately the head, neck, legs, wings,
many of the larger feathers, and a large part of the skin, had
been preserved ; and from these a very nearly perfect specimen
has been put together, and is now exhibited in the museum of
the Zoological Society. Mr. Gould, in describing this new
species, has done me the honour of calling it after my name.

Among the Patagonian Indians in the Strait of Magellan,
we found a half Indian, who had lived some years with the
tribe, but had been born in the northern provinces. I asked
him if he had ever heard of the Avestruz Petise. He answered
by saying, " Why, there are none others in these southern
countries." He informed me that the nimiber of eggs in the
nest of the petise is considerably less than in that of the other
kind, namel)', not more than fifteen on an average ; but he
asserted that more than one female deposited them. At Santa
Cruz we saw several of these birds. They were excessively
wary : I think they could see a person approaching when too
far off to be distinguished themselves. In ascending the river
few were seen ; but in our quiet and rapid descent many, in
pairs and by fours or fives, were observed. It was remarked
that this bird did not expand its wings, when first starting at full
speed, after the manner of the northern kind. In conclusion I
may observe that the Struthio rhea inhabits the country of La
Plata as far as a little south of the Rio Negro in lat. 41°, and
that the Struthio Darwinii takes its place in Southern Patagonia ;
the part about the Rio Negro being neutral territory. M. A.
d'Orbigny,^ when at the Rio Negro, made great exertions to

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

BAHIA BLANC A

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 different 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 distinguished from the ground. When feeding they walk
rather slowly, with their legs wide apart. They dust themselves
in roads and sandy places, and frequent particular spots, where
they may be found day after day : like partridges, they take
wing in a flock. In all these respects, in the muscular gizzard
adapted for vegetable food, in the arched beak and fleshy
nostrils, short legs and form of foot, the Tinochorus has a close
affinity with quails. But as soon as the bird is seen flying, its
whole appearance changes ; the long pointed wings, so different
from those in the gallinaceous order, the irregular manner of
flight, and plaintive cry uttered at the moment of rising, recall
the idea of a snipe. The sportsmen of the Beagle unanimously
called it the short-billed snipe. To this genus, or rather to the
family of the Waders, its skeleton shows that it is really
related.

The Tinochorus is closely related to some other South
American birds. Two species of the genus Attagis are in
almost every respect ptarmigans in their habits ; one lives in
Tierra del Fuego, above the limits of the forest land ; and the
other just beneath the snow-line on the Cordillera of Central
Chile. A bird of another closely allied genus, Chionis alba, i.=:

1 Account of the Abiponcs, K.V). 1749, vol. i. (English translation), p. 314.

THE OVEN-BIRD 99

an inhabitant of the antarctic regions ; it feeds on seaweed and
shells on the tidal rocks. Although not web-footed, from some
unaccountable habit it is frequently met with far out at sea.
This small family of birds is one of those which, from its varied
relations to other families, although at present offering only
difficulties to the systematic naturalist, ultimately may assist in
revealing the grand scheme, common to the present and past
ages, on which organised beings have been created.

The genus Furnarius contains several species, all small
birds, living on the ground, and inhabiting open dry countries.
In structure they cannot be compared to any European form.
Ornithologists have generally included them among the creepers,
although opposed to that family in ever>' habit. The best
known species is the common oven-bird of La Plata, the Casara
or housemaker of the Spaniards. The nest, whence it takes its
name, is placed in the most exposed situations, as on the top
of a post, a bare rock, or on a cactus. It is composed of mud
and bits of straw, and has strong thick walls : in shape it pre-
cisely 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 cr\% 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. Sev^eral of the countr}' people
told me, that when bo}'s, they had attempted to dig out the
nest, but had scarcely ever succeeded in gietting to the end of
the passage. The bird chooses any low bank of firm sandy
soil by the side of a road or stream. Here (at Bahia Blanca)
the walls round the houses are built of hardened mud ; and I
noticed that one, which enclosed a courtyard where I lodged,
was bored through by round holes in a score of places. On
asking the owner the cause of this, he bitterly complained of
the little casarita, several of which I afterwards observed at
work. It is rather curious to find how incapable these birds

BAHIA BLANC A

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 mamimalia common
in this country. Of armadilloes three species occur, namel}-,
the Dasypus minutus or picJiy, the D. villosus or peludo, and
the apar. The first extends ten degrees farther south than any
other kind : a fourth species, the Miilita, 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
inataco, is remarkable by having only three movable 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 wood louse. 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 inataco offers a better defence
than the sharp spines of the hedgehog. The picJiy 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 Trigono-
cephalus, or Cophias, subsequently called by M. Bibron T.
crepitans), 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

CURIOUS SNAKE

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

Amongst the Batrachian reptiles, I found only one little
toad (Phryniscus nigricans), which was most singular from its
colour. If we imagine, first, that it had been steeped in the
blackest ink, and then, when dry, allowed to crawl over a board,
freshly painted with the brightest vermilion, so as to colour
the soles of its feet and parts of its stomach, a good idea of its
appearance will be gained. If it had been an unnamed species,
surely it ought to have been called Diabolicus, for it is a fit
toad to preach in the ear of Eve. Instead of being nocturnal
in its habits, as other toads are, and living in damp obscure
recesses, it crawls during the heat of the day about the dry
sand-hillocks and arid plains, where not a single drop of water
can be found. It must necessarily depend on the dew for its
moisture ; and this probably is absorbed by the skin, for it is
known that these reptiles possess great powers of cutaneous
absorption. At Maldonado, I found one in a situation nearly
as dry as at Bahia Blanca, and thinking to give it a great treat,

BAHIA BLANCA

carried it to a pool of water ; not only was the little animal
unable to swim, but I think without help it would soon have
been drowned.

Of lizards there were many kinds, but only one (Proctotretus
multimaculatus) remarkable from its habits. It lives on the
bare sand near the sea-coast, and from its mottled colour, the
brownish scales being speckled with white, yellowish red, and
dirty blue, can hardly be distinguished from the surrounding
surface. When frightened, it attempts to avoid discovery by
feigning death, with outstretched legs, depressed body, and
closed eyes : if further molested, it buries itself with great
quickness in the loose sand. This lizard, from its flattened
body and short legs, cannot run quickly.

I will here add a few remarks on the hybernation of animals
in this part of South America. When we first arrived at Bahia
Blanca, September 7th, 1832, we thought nature had granted
scarcely a living creature to this sandy and dry country. By
digging, however, in the ground, several insects, large spiders,
and lizards were found in a half torpid state. On the i 5th a
few animals began to appear, and by the 1 8th (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, oenotherae, and geraniums ; and
the birds began to lay their eggs. Numerous Lamellicorn and
Heteromerous insects, the latter remarkable for their deeply
sculptured bodies, were slowly crawling* about ; while the lizard
tribe, the constant inhabitants of a sandy soil, darted about in
every direction. During the first eleven days, whilst nature
was dormant, the mean temperature taken from observations
made every two hours on board the Beagle, was 51°; 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 sixty and seventy. 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 5 8°. 4; the mean hottest day being 65°. 5, and

CLIMATE AND HYBERNATION

103

the coldest 46°. The lowest point to which the thermometer
fell was 41°. 5, and occasionally 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, which is four degrees south-
ward, and therefore with a climate only a very little colder,

SKINNING UJI OR WATER SERPENTS.

this same temperature, with a rather less extreme heat, was
sufficient to awake all orders of animated beings. This shows
how nicely the stimulus required to arouse hybcrnating 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 properh^ aestivation, of animals is deter-
mined not by the temperature, but by the times of drought.
Near Rio de Janeiro, I was at first surprised to observe that,
a few days after some little depressions had been filled with
water, they were peopled by numerous full-grown shells and
beetles, which must have been lying dormant. Humboldt has
related the strange accident of a hovel having been erected
over a spot where a young crocodile lay buried in the hardened

I04 BAHIA BLANC A

mud. He adds, " The Indians often find enormous boas,
which they call Uji, or water serpents, in the same lethargic
state. To reanimate them, they must be irritated or wetted
with water."

I will only mention one other animal, a zoophyte (I believe
Virgularia Patagonica), a kind of sea-pen. It consists of a
thin, straight, fleshy stem, with alternate rows of polypi on
each side, and surrounding an elastic stony axis, varying in
length from eight inches to two feet. The stem at one ex-
tremity is truncate, but at the other is terminated by a vermi-
form 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 'i&\<j inches above the surface of the
muddy sand. When touched or pulled they suddenly drew
themselves in with force, so as nearly or quite to disappear..
By this action, the highly elastic axis must be bent at the
lower extremity, where it is naturally slightly curved ; and I
imagine it is by this elasticity alone that the zoophyte is
enabled to rise again through the mud. Each polypus, though
closely united to its brethren, has a distinct mouth, body, and
tentacula. Of these polypi, in a large specimen, there must be
many thousands ; yet we see that they act b\' 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.^ Well may one be
allowed to ask, What is an individual ? It is always interest-
ing to discover the foundation of the strange tales of the
old voyagers ; and I have no doubt but that the habits of

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

V EXPEDITION AGAINST THE INDIANS 105

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 Com-
mandant Miranda. A large portion of these men were Indians
{inansos, or tame), belonging to the tribe of the Cacique
Bernantio. They passed the night here ; and it was im-
possible to conceive anything more wild and savage than
the scene of their bivouac. Some drank till they were intoxi-
cated ; others swallowed the steaming blood of the cattle
slaughtered for their suppers, and then, being sick from
drunkenness, they cast it up again, and were besmeared with
filth and gore.

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

In the morning they started for the scene of the murder,
with orders to follow the " rastro," or track, even if it led them

^ Kerr's Collection of Voyages, vol. viii. p 119,

io6 ■ BAHIA BLANC A

to Chile. We subsequently heard that the wild Indians had
escaped into the great Pampas, and from some cause the track
had been missed. One glance at the rastro tells these people
a whole history. Supposing they examine the track of a
thousand horses, they will soon guess the number of mounted
ones by seeing how many have cantered ; by the depth of the
other impressions, whether any horses were loaded with cargoes ;
by the irregularity of the footsteps, how far tired ; by the
manner in which the food has been cooked, whether the
pursued travelled in haste ; by the general appearance, how
long it has been since they passed. They consider a rastro of
ten days or a fortnight quite recent enough to be hunted out.
We also heard that Miranda struck from the west end of
the Sierra Ventana, in a direct line to the island of Cholechel,
situated seventy leagues up the Rio Negro. This is a distance
of between two and three hundred miles, through a country
completely unknown. What other troops in the world
are so independent ? With the sun for their guide, mares'
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 {^v^ 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 expedi-
tion was a very intelligent man. He gave me an account of
the last engagement at which he was present. Some Indians,
who had been taken prisoners, gave information of a tribe
living north of the Colorado. Two hundred soldiers were sent ;
and they first discovered the Indians by a cloud of dust from
their horses' feet as they chanced to be travelling. The
country was mountainous and wild, and it must have been far
in the interior, for the Cordillera were in sight. The Indians,
men, women, and children were about one hundred and ten in
number, and they were nearly all taken or killed, for the soldiers
sabre every man. The Indians are now so terrified that they
offer no resistance in a body, but each flies, neglecting even his
wife and children ; but when overtaken, like wild animals, they
fight against any number to the last moment. One dying
Indian seized with his teeth the thumb of his adversary,

CAPTIVE INDIANS 107

and allowed his own e}-e to be forced out sooner than relinquish
his hold. Another, who was wounded, feigned death, keeping a
knife ready to strike one more fatal blow. My informer said,
when he was pursuing an Indian, the man cried out for mercy,
at the same time that he was covertly loosing the bolas from
his waist, meaning to whirl it round his head and so strike his
pursuer. " I however struck him with my sabre to the ground,
and then got off my horse, and cut his throat with my knife."
This is a dark picture ; but how much more shocking is the
unquestionable fact, that all the women who appear above twenty
years old are massacred in cold blood ? When I exclaimed
that this appeared rather inhuman, he answered, "Why, what
can be done ? they breed so ! "

Every one here is fully convinced that this is the most just
war, because it is against barbarians. Who would believe in
this age that such atrocities could be committed in a Christian
civilised 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 com-
plain of

In the battle four men ran away together. They were
pursued, one was killed, and the other three were taken alive.
They turned out to be messengers or ambassadors from a large
body of Indians, united in the common cause of defence, near
the Cordillera.- The tribe to which they had been sent was on
the point of holding a grand council ; the feast of mare's flesh
was ready, and the dance prepared : in the morning the ambas-
sadors 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 pos-
sessed very valuable information ; and to extort this they were
placed in a line. The two first being questioned, answered,
" No se " (I do not know), and were one after the other shot.
The third also said, " No se ; " adding, " Fire, I am a man, and
can die ! " Not one syllable would they breathe to injure the
united cause of their country ! The conduct of the above-
mentioned cacique was very different ; he saved his life by
betraying the intended plan of warfare, and the point of union
in the Andes. It was believed that there were already six or

io8 BAH I A BLANC A

seven hundred Indians together, and that in summer their
numbers would be doubled. Ambassadors were to have been
sent to the Indians at the small Salinas, near Bahia Blanca,
whom I have mentioned that this same cacique had betrayed.
The communication, therefore, between the Indians, extends
from the Cordillera to the coast of the Atlantic.

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

Among the captive girls taken in the same engagement,
there were two very pretty Spanish ones, who had been carried
away by the Indians when young, and could now only speak
the Indian tongue. From their account they must have come
from Salta, a distance in a straight line of nearly one thousand
miles. This gives one a grand idea of the immense territory
over which the Indians roam : yet, great as it is, I think there
will not, in another half-century, be a wild Indian northward of
the Rio Negro. The warfare is too bloody to last ; the
Christians killing every Indian, and the Indians doing the same
by the Christians. It is melancholy to trace how the Indians
have given way before the Spanish invaders. Schirdel says that
in 1535, when Buenos Ayres was founded, there were villages

^ Purchas's Collection of Voyage's. I believe the date was really 1537.

V ESCAPE OF INDIANS 109

containing two and three thousand inhabitants. Even in
Falconer's time (1750) the Indians made inroads as far as
Luxan, Areco, and Arrecife, but now they are driven beyond
the Salado. Not only have whole tribes been exterminated,
but the remaining' Indians have become more barbarous :
instead of living in large villages, and being employed in
the arts of fishing, as well as of the chase, they now wander
about the open plains, without home or fixed occupation.

I heard also some account of an engagement which took
place, a few weeks previously to the one mentioned, at Cholechel.
This is a vciy 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

BAHIA BLANCA

they are widely separated from the Pampas Indians, and
border close on those tribes that inhabit the forest, and
live on foot. It appears, therefore, that these arrow-heads are
antiquarian ^ relics of the Indians, before the great change
in habits consequent on the introduction of the horse into South
America.

^ Azara has even doubted whether the Pampas Indians ever used bows.

[Several similar agate arrow-heads have since been dug up at Chupat, and two
were given to me, on the occasion of my visit there, by the Governor. — R. T.
Pritchett, iSSo.]

RHEA DARWINU (AVESTRUZ PETISE).

LANDING AT LUENOS AYRES.

CHAPTER VI

Set out for Buenos A}'res — Rio Sauce- — Sierra Ventana — Third Posta — Driving
Horses — Bolas — Partridges and Poxes — Features of the Country — Long-
legged Plover — Teru-tero — Hail -storm — Natural Enclosures in the Sierra
Tapalguen — Flesh of Puma — Afeat Diet — Guardia del Monte — Effects of
Cattle on the Vegetation — Cardoon — Buenos Ayres — Corral wliere Cattle are
slaughtered.

BAHIA BLANCA TO BUENOS AYRES

September ZtJi — I hired a Gaucho to accompan}' 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 wa\' 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

BAHIA BLANCA TO BUENOS AYRES

crumbling argillaceo-calcareous rock, which, from the dry nature
of the cHmate, supports only scattered tufts of withered grass,
without a single bush or tree to break the monotonous uniformity.
The weather was fine, but the atmosphere remarkably hazy ; I
thought the appearance foreboded a gale, but the Gauchos said
it was owing to the plain, at some great distance in the interior,
being on fire. After a long gallop, having changed horses
twice, we reached the Rio Sauce : it is a deep, rapid, little stream,
not above twenty-five feet wide. The second posta on the
road to Buenos Ayres stands on its banks ; a little above there
is a ford for horses, where the w^ater does not reach to the
horses' belly ; but from that point, in its course to the sea, it is
quite impassable, and hence makes a most useful barrier against
the Indians.

Insignificant as this stream is, the Jesuit Falconer, whose
information is generally so very correct, figures it as a 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 extremely improbable that a stream so small as
the Sauce then was should traverse the entire width of the
continent ; and indeed, if it were the residue of a large river,
its waters, as in other ascertained cases, would be saline.
During the winter we must look to the springs round the Sierra
Ventana as the source of its pure and limpid stream. I suspect
the plains of Patagonia, like those of Australia, are traversed
by many watercourses, 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 Captain Fitz Roy calculates its
height to be 3340 feet^an altitude very remarkable on this
eastern side of the continent. I am not aware that any

SIERRA VENTANA

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

The dew, which in the early part of the night wetted the
saddle-cloths under which we slept, was in the morning frozen.
The plain, though appearing horizontal, had insensibly sloped

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

9

114 BAHIA BLANC A TO BUENOS AYRES chap.

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 traversely in two, and separated me from
the four points. This valley is very narrow, but flat-bottomed,
and it forms a fine horse-pass for the Indians, as it connects
the plains on the northern and southern sides of the range.
Having descended, and while crossing it, I saw two horses
grazing : I immediately hid myself in the long grass, and
began to reconnoitre ; but as I could see no signs of Indians I
proceeded cautiously on my second ascent. It was late in the
day, and this part of the mountain, like the other, was steep
and rugged. I was on the top of the second peak by two
o'clock, but got there with extreme difficulty ; every twenty
yards I had the cramp in the upper part of both thighs, so
that I was afraid I should not have been able to have got
down again. It was also necessary to return by another road,
as it was out of the question to pass over the saddle-back. I
was therefore obliged to give up the two higher peaks. Their
altitude was but little greater, and every purpose of geology
had been answered ; so that the attempt was not worth the
hazard of any further exertion. I presume the cause of the
cramp was the great change in the kind of muscular action,
from that of hard riding to that of still harder climbing. It is
a lesson worth remembering, as in some cases it might cause
much difficulty.

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

SIERRA VENTANA 115

that the jagged and battered forms of the hard quartz yet show
the effects of the waves of an open ocean,

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

September i oth. — 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 gulleys, of which one
was about twenty feet wide, and at least thirty deep ; we were
obliged in consequence to make a considerable circuit before we
could find a pass. We stayed the night at the posta, the con-
versation, 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 i i ///. — Proceeded to the third posta in company
with the lieutenant who commanded it. The distance is called
fifteen leagues ; but it is only guess-work, and is generally
overstated. The road was uninteresting, over a dry grassy
plain ; and on our left hand at a greater or less distance there
were some low hills ; a continuation of which we crossed close
to the posta. Before our arrival we met a large herd of cattle
and horses, guarded by fifteen soldiers ; but we were told many
had been lost. It is very difficult to drive animals across the
plains ; for if in the night a puma, or even a fox, approaches,

ii6 BAHIA BLANC A TO BUENOS AYRES chap,

nothing can prevent the horses dispersing in every direction ,
and a storm will have the same effect. A short time since, an
officer left Buenos Ayres with five hundred horses, and when he
arrived at the army he had under twenty.

Soon afterwards we perceived by the cloud of dust, that a
party of horsemen were coming towards us ; when far distant
my companions knew them to be Indians, by their long hair
streaming behind their backs. The Indians generally have a
fillet round their heads, but never any covering ; and their
black hair blowing across their swarthy faces, heightens to an
uncommon degree the wildness of their appearance. They
turned out to be a party of Bernantio's friendly tribe, going to
a salina for salt. The Indians eat much salt, their children
sucking it like sugar. This habit is very different from that of
the Spanish Gauchos, who, leading the same kind of life, eat
scarcely any : according to Mungo Park,^ 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 i 2th and i 3///. — I stayed at this posta two days,
waiting for a troop of soldiers, which General Rosas had the
kindness to send to inform me would shortly travel to Buenos
Ayres ; and he advised me to take the opportunity of the
escort. In the morning we rode to some neighbouring hills to
view the country, and to examine the geology. After dinner
the soldiers divided themselves into two parties for a trial of
skill with the bolas. Two spears were stuck in the ground
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,

1 Travels in Africa, p. 233.

VI THROWING THE BO LAS 117

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 flog-cred
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 expressions, I never saw before.
At night, when they were sitting round the fire, and playing at
cards, I retired to view such a Salvator Rosa scene. They
were seated under a low cliff, so that I could look down upon
them ; around the party were lying dogs, arms, remnants of
deer and ostriches ; and their long spears were stuck in the
turf Farther in the dark background their horses were tied
up, ready for any sudden danger. If the stillness of the
desolate plain was broken by one of the dogs barking,
a soldier, leaving the fire, would place his head close to
the ground, and thus slowly scan the horizon. Even if the
noisy teru-tero uttered its scream, there would be a pause
in the conversation, and every head, for a moment, a little
inclined.

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

The little hovel, built of thistle-stalks, in which they slept,

Ji8

BAHIA BLANC A TO BUENOS AY RES
1

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

mat£ pots and bambillio.

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 ! yi'hen the Indians come we
shall have a feast."

In the morning we all sallied forth to hunt, and although
we had not much success, there were some animated chases.
Soon after starting the party separated, and so arranged their
plans, that at a certain time of the day (in guessing which they
show much skill) they should all meet from different points of
the compass on a plain piece of ground, and thus drive together
the wild animals. One day I went out hunting at Bahia Blanca,
but the men there merely rode in a crescent, each being about

VI HOSPITALITY 119

a quarter of a mile apart from the other. A fine male ostrich
being turned by the headmost riders, tried to escape on one
side. The Gauchos pursued at a reckless pace, twisting their
horses about with the most admirable command, and each man
whirling the balls round his head. At length the foremost
threw them, revolving through the air : in an instant the
ostrich rolled over and over, its legs fairly lashed together by
the thong.

The plains abound with three kinds of partridge,^ two of
which are as large as hen pheasants. Their destroyer, a small
and pretty fox, was also singularly numerous ; in the course of
the day we could not have seen less than forty or fifty. They
were generally near their earths, but the dogs killed one. When
we returned to the posta, we found two of the party returned
who had been hunting by themselves. They had killed a puma,
and had found an ostrich's nest with twenty-seven eggs in it.
Each of these is said to equal in weight eleven hens' eggs ; so
that we obtained from this one nest as much food as 297 hens'
eggs would have given.

Septej}iber \A^tJi. — 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 acknow-
ledge 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

1 Two species of Tinamus, and Etidromia ekgans of A. d'Oibigny, which can
only be called a partridge with regard to its habits.

BAHIA BLANC A TO BUENOS AY RES

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 i 5///. — 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.
Wlien riding through the country, it is a common practice to
set fire to the plain ; and hence at night, as on this occasion, the
horizon was illuminated in several places by brilliant conflagra-
tions. This is done partly for the sake of puzzling any stray
Indians, but chiefly for improving the pasture. In grassy plains
unoccupied by the larger ruminating quadrupeds, it seems neces-
sary to remove the superfluous vegetation by fire, so as to render
the new year's growth serviceable.

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

The kind of plover which appears as if mounted on stilts
(Himantopus nigricollis) is here common in flocks of con-
siderable 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, 1 have more than
once been for a moment startled at the distant sound. The
teru-tero (Vanellus cayanus) is another bird which often dis-
turbs the stillness of the night. In appearance and habits it
resembles in many respects our peewits ; its wings, however, are
armed with sharp spurs, like those on the legs of the common
cock. As our peewit takes its name from the sound of its voice,

A VIOLENT HAIL-STORM

so does the teru-tero. While riding over the grassy plains, one
is constantly pursued by these birds, which appear to hate man-
kind, and I am sure deserve to be hated for their never-ceasing,
unvaried, harsh screams. To the sportsman they are most
annoying, by telling every other bird and animal of his approach :
to the traveller in the country they may possibly, as Molina
says, do good, by warning him of the midnight robber. During
the breeding season, they attempt, like our peewits, by feigning
to be wounded, to draw away from their nests dogs and
other enemies. The eggs of this bird are esteemed a great
delicacy.

September 1 6th. — 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 remark-
abl\- neat, the posts and rafters being made of about a dozen dry
thistle-stalks bound together with thongs of hide ; and by the
support of these Ionic-like columns, the roof and sides were
thatched with reeds. We were here told a fact, which I would
not have credited, if I had not had partly ocular proof of it ;
namel}-, 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) l}'ing dead,
and I saw X\\it\x 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
ostriches (part of one of which we had for dinner) ; and they
said that several were running about evidently blind in one eye.
Numbers of smaller birds, as ducks, hawks, and partridges, w^ere
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 in-
former, 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 : w^e certainly saw from our last
night's bivouac a dense cloud and lightning in this direction. It
is marvellous how such strong animals as deer could thus have
been killed ; but I have no doubt, from the evidence I have

BAHIA BLANC A TO BUENOS AY RES

given, that the story is not in the least exaggerated. I am glad,
however, to have its credibility supported by the Jesuit Dobriz-
hoffer,^ who, speaking of a country much to the northward,
says, hail fell of an enormous size and killed vast numbers of
cattle : the Indians hence called the place Lalegj-aicavalca,
meaning " the little white things." Dr. Malcolmson, also,
informs me that he witnessed in i 83 i 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 circum-
ference, 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 ; farther eastward I understand it is
granitic. The hills are of a remarkable form ; they consist of
flat patches of table-land, surrounded by low perpendicular cliffs,
like the outliers of a sedimentary deposit. The hill which I
ascended was very small, not above a couple of hundred yards
in diameter ; but I saw others larger. One which goes by the
name of the " Corral," is said to be two or three miles in dia-
meter, and encompassed by perpendicular cliffs between thirty
and forty feet high, excepting at one spot, where the entrance,
lies. Falconer^ gives a curious account of the Indians driving
troops of wild horses into it, and then by guarding the entrance
keeping them secure. I have never heard of any other instance
of table-land in a formation of quartz, and which, in the hill I
examined, had neither cleavage nor stratification. I was told
that the rock of the " Corral " was white, and would strike
fire.

We did not reach the posta on the Rio Tapalguen till after
it was dark. At supper, from something which was said, I was
suddenly struck with horror at thinking that I was eating one
of the favourite dishes of the country, namely, a half formed calf,
long before its proper time of birth. It turned out to be Puma ;
the meat is very white, and remarkably like veal in taste. Dr.
Shaw was lautrhed at for statinsf that " the flesh of the lion is

1 History of the Alnpoiirs, vol. ii. ]i. 6.
- Falconer's Patagonia, p. 70.

MEAT DIET 123

in great esteem, having no small affinity with veal, both in
colour, taste, and flavour." Such certainly is the case with the
Puma. The Gauchos diiTer in their opinion whether the
Jaguar is good eating, but are unanimous in saying that cat is
excellent.

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

We were here able to buy some biscuit. I had now been
several days without tasting anything besides meat : I did not
at all dislike this new regimen ; but I felt as if it would only
have agreed with me with hard exercise. I have heard that
patients in England, when desired to confine themselves exclu-
sively to an animal diet, even with the- hope of life before their
eyes, have hardly been able to endure it. Yet the Gaucho in
the Pampas, for months together, touches nothing but beef.
But they eat, I observe, a very large proportion of fat, which is
of a less animalised nature ; and they particularly dislike dry
meat, such as that of the Agouti. Dr. Richardson,^ 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 phy-
siological 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.

^ Fazma Boreali-Aincriiana^ vol. i. p. 35.

124 BAHIA BLANC A TO BUENOS AY RES chap.

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 i Zth. — 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 con-
trived to keep tolerably dry. It was nearly dark when we
arrived at the Salado ; the stream was deep, and about forty
yards wide ; in summer, however, its bed becomes almost dry,
and the little remaining water nearly as salt as that of the sea.
We slept at one of the great estancias of General Rosas. It was
fortified, and of such an extent, that arriving in the dark I
thought it was a town and fortress. In the morning we saw
immense herds of cattle, the general here having seventy-four
square leagues of land. Formerly nearly three hundred men
were employed about this estate, and they defied all the attacks
of the Indians.

September i <^th. — Passed the Guardia del Monte. This is a
nice scattered little town, with many gardens, full of peach and
quince trees. The plain here looked like that around Buenos
Ayres ; the turf being short and bright green, with beds of
clover and thistles, and with bizcacha holes. I was very much
struck with the marked change in the aspect of the country after
having crossed the Salado. From a coarse herbage we passed
on to a carpet of fine green verdure. I at first attributed this
to some change in the nature of the soil, but the inhabitants
assured me that here, as well as in Banda Oriental, where there
is as great a difference between the country around Monte Video
and the thinly-inhabited savannahs of Colonia, the whole was to
be attributed to the manuring and grazing of the cattle.
Exactly the same fact has been observed in the prairies^ of

^ See Mr. Atwater's "Account of the Prairies," in Sillimati's N'. A./onnial, vol. i.
p. 117.

nis\ ) ^ 1 ^^'^ n

GIANT THISTLE OF PAMPAS.

CYNARA CARDUNCULUS, OR CARDOON.

toftue p. 125.

THE CARDOON 125

North America, where coarse grass, between five and six feet
high, when grazed by cattle, changes into common pasture land.
I am not botanist enough to say whether the change here is
owing to the introduction of new species, to the altered growth
of the same, or to a difference in their proportional numbers.
Azara has also observed with astonishment this change : he is
likewise much perplexed by the immediate appearance of plants
not occurring in the neighbourhood, on the borders of any track
that leads to a newly-constructed hovel. In another part he
says,^ " Ces chevaux (sauvages) ont la manie de preferer les
chemins, et le bord des routes pour deposer leurs excremens,
dont on trouve des monceaux dans ces endroits." Does this
not partly explain the circumstance ? We thus have lines of
richly-manured land serving as channels of communication across
wide districts.

Near the Guardia we find the southern limit of two European
plants, now become extraordinarily common. The fennel in
great profusion covers the ditch -banks in the neighbourhood
of Buenos Ayres, Monte Video, and other towns. But the
cardoon (Cynara cardunculus)'" has a far wider range : it occurs
in these latitudes on both sides of the Cordillera, across the con-
tinent. I saw it in unfrequented spots in Chile, Entre Rios, and
Banda Oriental. In the latter country alone, ver}' many (prob-
ably 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

^ Azara's Voyage, vol. i p. 373.

2 JM. 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 which I
have mentioned a few lines lower down under the title of giant thistle. Whether
it is a true thistle, I do not know ; but it is quite different from the cardoon ; and
more like a thistle properly so called.

126 BAH I A BLANC A TO BUENOS AYRES chap.

probable that in proportion as that country becomes inhabited,
the cardoon will extend its limits. The case is different with
the giant thistle (with variegated leaves) of the Pampas, for I
met with it in the valley of the Sauce. According to the prin-
ciples so well laid down by Mr. Lyell, few countries have under-
gone more remarkable changes, since the year 1535, when the
first colonist of La Plata landed with seventy-two horses. The
countless herds of horses, cattle, and sheep, not only have altered
the whole aspect of the vegetation, but they have almost banished
the guanaco, deer, and ostrich. Numberless other changes must
likewise have taken place ; the wild pig in some parts probably
replaces the peccari ; packs of wild dogs may be heard howling
on the wooded banks of the less frequented streams ; and the
common cat, altered into a large and fierce animal, inhabits
rocky hills. As M. d'Orbigny has remarked, the increase in
numbers of the carrion-vulture, since the introduction of the
domestic animals, must have been infinitely great ; and we
have given reasons for believing that they have extended their
southern range. No doubt many plants, besides the cardoon
and fennel, are naturalised ; 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 ques-
tioned us much about the army, — I never saw anything like
the enthusiasm for Rosas, and for the success of the " most just
of all wars, because against barbarians." This expression, it
must be confessed, is very natural, for till lately, neither man,
woman, nor horse was safe from the attacks of the Indians.
We had a long day's ride over the same rich green plain, abound-
ing with various flocks, and with here and there a solitary
estancia, and its one ojiibu tree. In the evening it rained heavily :
on arriving at a post-house we were told by the owner that if we
had not a regular passport we must pass on, for there were so
many robbers he would trust no one. When he read, however,
my passport, which began with " El Naturalista Don Carlos,"
his respect and civility were as unbounded as his suspicions had
been before. What a naturalist might be, neither he nor his
countrymen, I suspect, had any idea ; but probably my title lost
nothincf of its value from that cause.

M THE GREAT CORRAL 127

Septeviber 20///. — We arrived by the middle of the day at
Buenos Ayres. The outskirts of the city looked quite pretty,
with the agave hedges, and groves of olive, peach, and willow
trees, all just throwing out their fresh green leaves. I rode to
the house of Mr. Lumb, an English merchant, to whose kind-
ness 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
equidistant, the houses are collected into solid squares of
equal dimensions, which are called quadras. On the other
hand, the houses themselves are hollow squares ; all the rooms
opening into a neat little courtyard. They are generally only
one story high, with flat roofs, which are fitted with seats, and
are much frequented by the inhabitants in summer. In the
centre of the town is the Plaza, where the public offices, fortress,
cathedral, etc., stand. Here also, the old viceroys, before the
revolution, had their palaces. The genera! assemblage of
buildings possesses considerable architectural beauty, although
none individually can boast of any.

The great corral, where the animals are kept for slaughter
to Supply food to this beef-eating population, is one of the
spectacles best worth seeing. The strength of the horse as
compared to that of the bullock is quite astonishing : a
man on horseback having thrown his lazo round the horns of
a beast, can drag it anywhere he chooses. The animal,
ploughing up the ground with outstretched legs, in vain efforts
to resist the force, generally dashes at full speed to one side ;
but the horse, immediately turning to receive the shock, stands
so firmly that the bullock is almost thrown down, and it is
surprising that their necks are not broken. The struggle is
not, however, one of fair strength ; the horse's girth being
matched against the bullock's extended neck. In a similar
manner a man can hold the wildest horse, if caught with the
lazo, just behind the ears. When the bullock has been dragged
to the spot where it is to be slaughtered, the matador with
great caution cuts the hamstrings. Then is given the death

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

128

BUENOS AYRES

bellow ; a noise more expressive of fierce agony than any I
know : I have often distinguished it from a long distance, and
have always known that the struggle was then drawing to a
close. The whole sight is horrible and revolting : the ground
is almost made of bones ; and the horses and riders are
drenched with o-ore.

5f

EVENING CAMP, Bl'ENOS AYRES.

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, and Scissor-tail — Revolution — Buenos
Ayres — State of Government.

BUENOS AYRES TO ST. f£

September 2'jtJi. — In the evening I set out on an excursion to
St. Fe, which is situated nearly three hundred EngHsh miles
from Buenos Ayres, on the banks of the Parana. The roads
in the neighbourhood of the city, after the rainy weather, were
extraordinarily bad. I should never have thought it possible
for a bullock -waggon to have crawled along: as it was, they
scarcely went at the rate of a mile an hour, and a man was
kept ahead, to survey the best line for making the attempt.
The bullocks were terribly jaded : it is a great mistake to
suppose that with improved roads, and an accelerated rate of
travelling, the sufferings of the animals increase in the same
lo

I30 PAMPAS CHAP.

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 28M. — -We passed the small town of Luxan,.
where there is a wooden bridge over the river — a most unusual
convenience in this country. We passed also Areco. The
plains appeared level, but were not so in fact ; for in various
places the horizon was distant. The estancias are here wide
apart ; for there is little good pasture, owing to the land being
covered by beds either of an acrid clover, or of the great
thistle. The latter, well known from the animated description
given by Sir F. Head, were at this time of the year two-thirds
grown ; in some parts they were as high as the horse's back,
but in others they had not yet sprung up, and the ground was
bare and dusty as on a turnpike -road. The clumps were of
the most brilliant green, and they made a pleasing miniature-
likeness of broken forest land. When the thistles are full
grown, the great beds are impenetrable, except by a few tracks,,
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

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

THE BIZCACHA 131

Rio 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 vegetation. Near Mendoza, at the foot
of the Cordillera, it occurs in close neighbourhood with the
allied alpine species. It is a very curious circumstance in its
geographical distribution, that it has never been seen, fortunately
for the inhabitants of Banda Oriental, to the eastward of the
river Uruguay : yet in this province there are plains which
appear admirably adapted to its habits. The Uruguay has
formed an insuperable obstacle to its migration ; although the
broader barrier of the Parana has been passed, and the bizcacha
is common in Entre Rios, the province between these two
great rivers. Near Buenos Ayres these animals are exceedingly
common. Their most favourite resort appears to be those
parts of the plain which during one half of the year are
covered with giant thistles, to the exclusion of other plants.
The Gauchos affirm that it lives on roots ; which, from the great
strength of its gnawing teeth, and the kind of places frequented
by it, seems probable. In the evening the bizcachas come
out in numbers, and quietly sit at the mouths of their burrows
on their haunches. At such times they are very tame, and a
man on horseback passing by seems only to present an object
for their grave contemplation. They run very awkwardly,
and when running, out of danger, from their elevated tails
and short front legs, much resemble great rats. Their flesh,
when cooked, is very white and good, but it is seldom used.

The bizcacha has one very singular habit ; namely, dragging
every hard object to the mouth of its burrow : around each
group of holes many bones of cattle, stones, thistle-stalks, hard
lumps of earth, dry dung, etc., are collected into an irregular
heap, which frequently amounts to as much as a wheelbarrow
would contain. I was credibly informed that a gentleman,
when riding on a dark night, dropped his watch ; he returned
in the morning, and by searching the neighbourhood of every
bizcacha hole on the line of road, as he expected, he soon
found it. This habit of picking up whatever may be lying on
the ground anywhere near its habitation must cost much
trouble. For what purpose it is done, I am quite unable to
form even the most remote conjecture : it cannot be for

132 PA A/FAS CHAP.

defence, because the rubbish is chiefly placed above the mouth
of the burrow, which enters the ground at a very small inclina-
tion. 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 extra-
ordinary Australian bird, the Calodera maculata, which makes
an elegant vaulted passage of twigs for playing in, and which
collects near the spot land and sea shells, bones, and the
feathers of birds, especially brightly coloured ones. Mr. Gould,
who has described these facts, informs me, that the natives,
when they lose any hard object, search the playing passages,
and he has known a tobacco-pipe thus recovered.

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

In the evening we crossed the Rio Arrecife on a simple
raft made of barrels lashed together, and slept at the post-
house on the other side. I this day paid horse-hire for thirty-
one leagues ; and although the sun was glaring hot I was but
little fatigued. When Captain Head talks of riding fifty
leagues a day, I do not imagine the distance is equal to 150
English miles. At all events, the thirty-one leagues was only
y6 miles in a straight line, and in an open country I should think
four additional miles for turnings would be a sufficient allowance.

1 Journal of Asiatic Soc. vol. v. j). 363.

ROZARIO

133

29/// and 30///. — We continued to ride over plains of the
same character. At San Nicolas I first saw the noble river
of the Parana. At the foot of the cliff on which the town
stands, some large vessels were at anchor. Before arriving at
Rozario, we crossed the Saladillo, a stream of fine clear running
water, but too saline to drink. Rozario is a large town built
on a dead level plain, which forms a cliff about sixty feet high
over the Parana. The river here is very broad, with many
islands, which are low and wooded, as is also the opposite
shore. The view would resemble that of a great lake, if it
were not for the linear-shaped islets, which alone give the idea

PARANA RIVER.

of running water. The cliffs are the most picturesque part ;
sometimes they are absolutely perpendicular, and of a red
colour ; at other times in large broken masses, covered with
cacti and mimosa- trees. The real grandeur, however, of an
immense river like this is derived from reflecting how
important a means of communication and commerce it forms
between one nation and another ; to what a distance it travels ;
and from how vast a territory it drains the great body of fresh
water which flows past your feet.

For many leagues north and south of San Nicolas and
Rozario, the country is really level. Scarcely anything which
travellers have written about its extreme flatness can be con-

134

RIO TERCERO

sidcred 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 \st. — We started by moonlight and arrived at the

TOXODON PLATENSIS. FOUND AT SALAUILLO.

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 da\', searching for fossil bones.
Besides a perfect tooth of the Toxodon, and many scattered
bones, I found two immense skeletons near each other, project-
ing in bold relief from the perpendicular cliff of the Parana.
They were, however, so completely decayed, that I could only
bring away small fragments of one of the great molar teeth ;
but these are sufficient to show that the remains belonged to
a Mastodon, probably to the same species with that which
formerly must have inhabited the Cordillera in Upper Peru in
such great numbers. The men who took me in the canoe said

VII ST. F& 135

they had long known of these skeletons, and had often wondered
how they had got there : the necessity of a theory being felt,
they came to the conclusion that, like the bizcacha, the mastodon
was formerly a burrowing animal ! In the evening we rode
another stage, and crossed the Monge, another brackish stream,
bearing the dregs of the washings of the Pampas.

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

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

October ^rd and A^tJi. — I was confined for these two days to
my bed by a headache. A good-natured old woman, who
attended me, wished me to try many odd remedies. A common
practice is, to bind an orange-leaf or a bit of black plaster to
each temple : and a still more general plan is, to split a bean
into halves, moisten them, and place one on each temple, where
they will easily adhere. It is not thought proper ever to
remove the beans or plaster, but to allow them to drop off;
and sometimes, if a man, with patches on his head, is asked
what is the matter? he will answer, " I had a headache the day
before yesterday." Many of the remedies used by the people

136 ST. Ft: CHAP.

■ * "

of the country are ludicrously strange, but too disgusting to be
mentioned. One of the least nasty is to kill and cut open
two puppies and bind them on each side of a broken limb.
Little hairless dogs are in great request to sleep at the feet of
invalids.

St. Fe is a quiet little town, and is kept clean and in good
order. The governor, Lopez, was a common soldier at the
time of the revolution ; but has now been seventeen years in
power. This stability of government is owing to his t}-rannical
habits ; for tyranny seems as yet better adapted to these
countries than republicanism. The governor's favourite occu-
pation 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 "^th. — We crossed the Parana to St. Fe Bajada, a
town on the opposite shore. The passage took some hours, as
the river here consisted of a labyrinth of small streams, separated
by low wooded islands. I had a letter of introduction to an
old Catalonian Spaniard, who treated me with the most
uncommon hospitality. The Bajada is the capital of Entre Rios.
\x\ 1825 the town contained 6000 inhabitants, and the province
30,000 ; yet, few as the inhabitants are, no province has suffered
more from bloody and desperate revolutions. They boast here
of representatives, ministers, a standing army, and governors :
so it is no wonder that they have their revolutions. At some
future day tliis must be one of the richest countries of La Plata.
The soil is varied and productive ; and its almost insular form
gives it two grand lines of communication by the rivers Parana
and Uruguay.

I was delayed here five daj's, 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, pa.ssing
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 estuar\-, into
which floating carcasses were swept. At Punta Gorda, in Banda

VII GEOLOGY OF THE PAMPAS 137

Oriental, I found an alternation of the Pampaean estuary deposit,
with a limestone containing some of the same extinct sea-shells;
and this shows either a change in the former currents, or more
probably an oscillation of level in the bottom of the ancient
estuary. Until lately, my reasons for considering the Pampaean
formation to be an estuary deposit were, its general appearance,
its position at the mouth of the existing great river the Plata,
and the presence of so many bones of terrestrial quadrupeds :
but now Professor Ehrenberg has had the kindness to examine
for me a little of the red earth, taken from low down in the
deposit, close to the skeletons of the mastodon, and he finds in
it many infusoria, partly salt-water and partly fresh-water forms,
with the latter rather preponderating ; and therefore, as he
remarks, the water must have been brackish. M. A. d'Orbigny
found on the banks of the Parana, at the height of a hundred
feet, great beds of an estuary shell, now living a hundred miles
lower down nearer the sea ; and I found similar shells at a less
height on the banks of the Uruguay : this shows that just
before the Pampas was slowly elevated into dry land, the water
covering it was brackish. Below Buenos Ayres there are
upraised beds of sea-shells of existing species, which also proves
that the period of elevation of the Pampas was within the
recent period.

In the Pampaean deposit at the Bajada I found the osseous
armour of a gigantic armadillo-like animal, the inside of which,
when the earth was removed, was like a great cauldron ; I
found also teeth of the Toxodon and Mastodon, and one tooth
of a Horse, in the same stained and decayed state. This latter
tooth greatly interested me,^ and I took scrupulous care in
ascertaining that it had been embedded contemporaneously with
the other remains ; for I was not then aware that amongst the
fossils from Bahia Blanca there was a horse's tooth hidden in
the matrix : nor was it then known with certainty that the
remains of horses 'are common in North America. Mr. Lyell
has lately brought from the United States a tooth of a horse ;
and it is an interesting fact, that Professor Owen could find in
no species, either fossil or recent, a slight but peculiar curvature
characterising it, until he thought of comparing it with my

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

138

ST. f£

specimen found here : he has named this American horse Equus
curvidens. Certainly it is a marvellous fact in the history of
the Mammalia, that in South America a native horse should
have lived and disappeared, to be succeeded in after ages by
the countless herds descended from the few introduced with the
Spanish colonists !

The existence in South America of a fossil horse, of the
mastodon, possibly of an elephant,^ 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 geo-
graphical distribution of animals. At the present time, if we

FOSSIL TOOTH OF HORSE, FROM BAH1.\ BLANCA.

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, 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

^ Cuvier, Ossetnefis Fossiles, torn. i. p. 158.

■^ This is the geographical division followed by Lichtenstein, Swainson, Eiichson,
and Richardson. The section from Vera Cruz to Acapulco, given by Humboldt in
the Polit. Essav on Kingdom of N. Spain will sliow 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 identifica-
tion of a Mexican animal with the Synetheres preliensi/is, says, "We do not know
with what propriety, but if correct, it is, if not a solitary instance, at least very
nearly so, of a rodent animal being common to North and South America."

VII ZOOLOGY OF NORTH AND SOUTH AMERICA 139

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 characterised by possessing
many pecuHar gnawers, a family of monkeys, the llama, peccari,
tapir, opossums, and, especially* several genera of Edentata, the
order which includes the sloths, ant-eaters, and armadilloes.
North America, on the other hand, is characterised (putting on
one side a few wandering species) by numerous peculiar gnawers,
and by four genera (the ox, sheep, goat, and antelope) of hollow-
horned ruminants, of which great division South America is
not known to possess a single species. Formerly, but within
the period when most of the now existing shells were living.
North America possessed, besides hollow-horned ruminants, the
elephant, mastodon, horse, and three genera of Edentata, namely,
the Megatherium, Megalonyx, and Mylodon. Within nearly
this same period (as proved by the shells at Bahia Blanca)
South xA.merica possessed, as we have just seen, a mastodon,
horse, hollow-horned ruminant, and the same three genet a (as
well as several others) of the Edentata. Hence it is evident
that North and South America, in having within a late geo-
logical 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-characterised zoological provinces.
The geologist, who is fully impressed with the vast oscillations
of level which have affected the earth's crust within late periods,
will not fear to speculate on the recent elevation of the Mexican
platform, or, more probably, on the recent submergence of land
in the West Indian Archipelago, as the cause of the present
zoological separation of North and South America. The South
American character of the West Indian mammals ^ seems to
indicate that this archipelago was formerly united to the southern
continent, and that it has subsequently been an area of subsidence.

1 See Dr. Richardson's Report, p. 157; 2^%o U Instittii, 1837, p. 253. Cuvier
says the kinkajou is found in the larger Antilles, but this is doubtful. M. Gervais
states that the Didelphis crancrivora is found there. It is certain that the West
Indies possess some mammifers peculiar lo themselves. A tooth of a mastodon has
been brought from Bahama : Ediii. Xcw Phil. Joiirn. 1826, p. 395-

I40

ST. FR

When America, and especially North America, possessed
its elephants, mastodons, horse, and hollow-horned ruminants,
it was much more closely related in its zoological characters to
the temperate parts of Europe and Asia than it now is. As
the remains of these genera are found on both sides of Behring's

MYLODON. Height, 7 ft. 6 in. ; girth round chest, 6 ft. 6 in. ; maximum breadth of pelvis, 3 ft. 7 in.

Straits ^ and on the plains of Siberia, wc arc led to look to the
north-western side of North America as the former point of
communication between the Old and so-called New World.
And as so many species, both living and extinct, of these same

^ .See the admirable Appendix by Dr. Buckland to Beecliey's ]'oyage\ also the
writings of Chamisso in Kotzebue's Voyage.

VII THE GREAT DROUGHT 141

genera inhabit and have inhabited the Old World, it seems
most probable that the North American elephants, mastodons,
horse, and hollow -horned ruminants migrated, on land since
submerged near Behring's Straits, from Siberia into North
America, and thence, on land since submerged in the West
Indies, into South America, where for a time they mingled with
the forms characteristic of that southern continent, and have
since become extinct.

While travelling through the country, I received several
vivid descriptions of the effects of a late great drought ; and
the account of this may throw some light on the cases where
vast numbers of animals of all kinds have been embedded
together. The period included between the years 1827 and
1830 is called the "gran seco," or the great drought. During
this time so little rain fell, that the vegetation, even to the
thistles, failed ; the brooks were dried up, and the whole
country assumed the appearance of a dusty high-road. This
was especially the case in the northern part of the province of
Buenos Ayres and the southern part of St. Fe. Very great
numbers of birds, wild animals, cattle, and horses perished
from the want of food and water. A man told me that the
deer ^ used to come into his courtyard to the well, which he
had been obliged to dig to suppl}' 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 w-ith animals ; yet, during the latter part of the
" gran seco," live cattle were brought in vessels for the consump-

^ In Capt. Owen's Surveying Voyage (vol. ii. p. 274) there is a curious account
of the eft'ects 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 ulti-
mate discomfiture of the invaders, but not until they had killed one man, and
wounded several others." The town is said to have a population of nearly three
thousand ! Dr. Malcolmson informs me, that during a great drought in India the
wild animals entered the tents of some troops at Ellore, and that a hare drank out of
a vessel held by the adjutant of the regiment.

142

ST. FE

tion of the inhabitants. The animals roamed from their
estancias, and, wandering far southward, were mingled together
in such multitudes, that a government commission was sent
from Buenos Ayres to settle the disputes of the owners. Sir
Woodbine Parish informed me of another and very curious
source of dispute ; the ground being so long dry, such quantities
of dust were blown about, that in this open country the 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 animal 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 crushed by those which followed. He
adds that more than once he has seen the carcasses of upwards
of a thousand wild horses thus destroyed. I noticed that the
smaller streams in the Pampas were paved with a breccia of
bones, but this probably is the effect of a gradual increase, rather
than of the destruction at any one period. Subsequently to
the drought of 1827 to '32, 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 ? ^

^ Travels, vol. i. p. 374-

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

VII HABITS OF THE JAGUAR 143

October 1 2th. — I had intended to push my excursion
farther, but not being quite well, I was compelled to return by
a balandra, or one- masted vessel of about a hundred tons'
burden, which was bound to Buenos Ayres. As the weather
was not fair, we moored early in the day to a branch of a tree
on one of the islands. The Parana is full of islands, which
undergo a constant round of decay and renovation. In the
memory of the master several large ones had disappeared, and
others again had been formed and protected by vegetation.
They are composed of muddy sand, without even the smallest
pebble, and were then about four feet above the level of the
river ; but during the periodical floods they are inundated.
They all present one character ; numerous willows and a {&\\
other trees are bound together by a great variet}- of creeping
plants, thus forming a thick jungle. These thickets afford a
retreat for capybaras and jaguars. The fear of the latter
animal quite destroyed all pleasure in scrambling through the
woods. This evening I had not proceeded a hundred yards,
before, finding indubitable signs of the recent presence of the
tiger, I was obliged to come back. On every island there were
tracks ; and as on the former excursion " el rastro de los
Indios " had been the subject of conversation, so in this was
" el rastro del tigre."

The wooded banks of the great rivers appear to be the
favourite haunts of the jaguar ; but south of the Plata, I was
told that they frequented the reeds bordering lakes : wherever
they are, they seem to require water. Their common prey is
the capybara, so that it is generally said, where capybaras are
numerous there is little danger from the jaguar. Falconer
states that near the southern side of the mouth of the Plata
there are many jaguars, and that they chiefly live on fish ; this
account I have heard repeated. On the Parana they have
killed many wood -cutters, and have even entered vessels at
night. There is a man now living in the Bajada, who, coming
up from below when it was dark, was seized on the deck ; he
escaped, however, with the loss of the use of one arm. When
the floods drive these animals from the islands, they are most
dangerous. I was told that a {q.\\ years since a very large one
found its way into a church at St. Yq : two padres entering one
after the other were killed, and a third, who came to see what

144 RIO PARANA

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
s^w 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 anirnal could
have made them. The object of this practice is, I believe, to
tear off the ragged points of their claws, and not, as the Gauchos
think, to sharpen them. The jaguar is killed, without much
difficulty, by the aid of dogs baying and driving him up a tree,
where he is despatched with bullets.

Owing to bad weather we remained two days at our moor-
ings. Our only amusement was catching fish for our dinner :
there were several kinds, and all good eating. A fish called
the " armado " (a Silurus) is remarkable from a harsh grating
noise which it makes when caught by hook and line, and
which can be distinctly heard when the fish is beneath the
water. This same fish has the power of firmly catching hold

THE SCISSOR-BEAK

145

of any object, such as the blade of an oar or the fishing-Hne,
with the strong spine both of its pectoral and dorsal fin. In
the evening the weather was quite tropical, the 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 fift)', all busy
sucking.

October i 5///. — We got under way and passed Punta Gorda,

HEAD OF SCISSOR-BEAK.

RHYNCHOPS NIGRA, OR SCISSOR-BEAK.

where there is a colon\- of tame Indians from the province of
Missiones. We sailed rapidly down the current, but before
sunset, from a sill\' 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 b}' trees
intwined with creepers, gave to the canal a singularly gloomy
appearance. I here saw a very extraordinary bird, called the
Scissor-beak (Rhynchops nigra). It has short legs, web feet,
extremely long-pointed wings, and is of about the size of a tern.
II

146 RIO PARANA

The beak is flattened lateral!}', 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 uhich the water had been
nearly drained, and which, in consequence, swarmed with small
fry, I saw several of these birds, generally in small flocks, flying
rapidly backwards and forwards close to the surface of the lake.
They kept their bills wide open, and the lower mandible half
buried in the water. Thus skimming the surface, they ploughed
it in their course : the water was quite smooth, and it formed
a most curious spectacle to behold a flock, each bird leaving its
narrow wake on the mirror-like surface. In their flight they
frequently twist about with extreme quickness, and dexterously
manage with their projecting lower mandible to plough up
small fish, which are secured by the upper and shorter half of
their scissor-like bills. This fact I repeatedly saw, as, like
swallows, they continued to fly backwards and forwards close
before me. Occasionally when leaving the surface of the water
their flight was wild, irregular, and rapid ; they then uttered
loud harsh cries. When these birds are fishing, the advantage
of the long primary feathers of their wings, in keeping them
dry, is very evident. When thus employed, their forms resemble
the .symbol by which many artists represent marine birds.
Their tails are much used in steering their irregular course.

These birds are common far inland along the course of the
Rio Parana ; it is said that they remain here during the whole
year, and breed in the marshes. During the day they rest in
flocks on the grassy plains, at some distance from the water.
Being at anchor, as I have said, in one of the deep creeks
between the islands of the Parana, as the evening drew to a
close, one of these scissor-beaks suddenly appeared. The water
was quite still, and many little fish were rising. The bird
continued for a long time to skim the surface, fl}'ing 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

RIO PARANA 147

these facts I suspect that the Rhynchops generally fishes b\'
night, at which time many of the lower animals come most
abundantly to the surface. M. Lesson states that he has seen
these birds opening the shells of the mactrae buried in the sand-
banks on the coast of Chile : from their weak bills, with the
lower mandible so much projecting, their short legs and long
wings, it is very improbable that this can be a general habit.

In our course down the Parana, I observed only three other
birds, whose habits are worth mentioning. One is a smiall
kingfisher (Ceryle Americana) ; it has a longer tail than the
European species, and hence does not sit in so stiff and upright
a position. Its flight also, insteaci 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 gray breast, appears to prefer the tall trees on
the islands to any other situation for its building- place. A
number of nests are placed so close together as to form one
great mass of sticks. These parrots always live in flocks, and
commit great ravages on the corn-fields. I was told that near
Colonia 2500 were killed in the course of one year. A bird
with a forked tail, terminated by two long feathers (Tyrannus
savana), and named by the Spaniards scissor-tail, is very
common near Buenos Ayres : it commonly sits on a branch of
the oinbu 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 some-
times in a vertical direction, just like a pair of scissors.

October i Gtli. — Some leagues below Rozario, the western
shore of the Parana is bounded by perpendicular cliffs, which
extend in a long line to below San Nicolas ; hence it more
resembles a sea-coast than that of a fresh-water river. It is a
great drawback to the scenery of the Parana, that, from the soft
nature of .its banks, the water is very muddy. The Uruguay,
flowing through a granitic country, is much clearer ; and where
the two channels unite at the head of the Plata, the waters may
for a long distance be distinguished by their black and red

148 REVOLUTION AT BUENOS AY RES chap.

colours. In the evening, the wind being not quite fair, as usual
we immediately moored, and the next day, as it blew rather
freshly, though with a favouring current, the master was much
too indolent to think of starting. At Bajada, he was described
to me as " hombre muy aflicto " — a man always miserable to get
on ; but certainly he bore all delays with admirable resignation.
He was an old Spaniard, and had been many years in this
country. He professed a great liking to the English, but
stoutly maintained that the battle of Trafalgar was merely won
by the Spanish captains having been all bought over ; and that
the only really gallant action on either side was performed by
the Spanish admiral. It struck me as rather characteristic, that
this man should prefer his countrymen being thought the worst
of traitors, rather than unskilful or cowardly.

I %tJi and I gtJi. — 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 occu-
pied its shores ! Till the death of Francia, the Dictator of
Paraguay, these two countries must remain distinct, as if placed
on opposite sides of the globe. And when the old bloody-
minded tyrant is gone to his long account, Paraguay will be
torn by revolutions, violent in proportion to the previous
unnatural calm. That country will have to learn, like every other
South American state, that a republic cannot succeed till it
contains a certain body of men imbued with the principles of
justice and honour.

October 20th. — Being arrived at the mouth of the Parana,
and as I was very anxious to reach Buenos 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 revoluiion having broken out, all

VII REVOLUTION AT BUENOS AYRES 149

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

This revolution was supported by scarcely any pretext of
grievances : but in a state which, in the course of nine months
(from February to October 1820), underwent fifteen changes in
its government — each governor, according to the constitution,
being elected for three years — it would be very unreasonable to
ask for pretexts. In this case, a party of men — who, being
attached to Rosas, were disgusted with the governor Balcarce — to
the number of seventy left the city, and with the cry of Rosas
the whole country took arms. The city was then blockaded, no
provisions, cattle or hor.ses, were allowed to enter ; besides this,

*5o

REVOLUTION AT BUENOS AY RES

CHAP. VII

there was only a little skirmishing, and a few men daily killed.
The outside party well knew that by stopping the supply of
meat they would certainly be victorious. General Rosas could
not have known of this rising ; but it appears to be quite con-
sonant with the plans of his party. A year ago he was elected
governor, but he refused it, unless the Sala would also confer
on him extraordinary powers. This was refused, and since
then his party have shown that no other governor can keep his
place. The warfare on both sides was avowedly protracted till
it was possible to hear from Rosas. A note arrived a {&\n days
after I left Buenos Ayres, which stated that the General disap-
proved of peace having been broken, but that he thought the
outside party had justice on their side. On the bare reception
of this, the Governor, ministers, and part of the military, to
the number of some hundreds, fled from the city. The
rebels entered, elected a new governor, and were paid for their
services to the number of 5500 men. From these proceedings,
it was clear that Rosas ultimately would become the dictator :
to the term king, the people in this, as in other republics, have a
particular dislike. Since leaving South America, we have heard
that Rosas has been elected, with powers and for a time alto-
gether opposed to the constitutional principles of the republic.

BUENOS AVKES lU'LLOCK-WAGGONS.

i'^^ri^'s''

' - - l'*f^yfjT'' '^ ''^ ' <•' .-:■<' '^V- ""-r-"

FL'EGIANS AND WIGWAMS.

CHAPTER VIII

Excursion to Colonia del Sacramiento — Value of an Estancia — Cattle, how counted
— Singular Breed of Oxen — ^Perforated Pebbles — Shepherd - dogs — Horses
Broken-in, Gauchos Riding — Character of Inhabitants — Rio Plata — P'locks of
Butterflies — Aeronaut Spiders — Phosphorescence of the Sea — Port Desire —
Guanaco — Port St. Julian — Geology of Patagonia — Fossil gigantic Animal —
Types of Organisation 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 appi'e-
hensions 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.

1^2 BAND A ORIENTAL

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 mudd\^ water has neither grandeur
nor beauty. At one time of the da}', 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 excur-
sion in this part of Banda Oriental. Everything which I have
said about the country near Maldonado is applicable to M.
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
asfaves, cacti, and fennel.

Novcviber 14th. — We left Monte Video in the afternoon.
I intended to proceed to Colonia del Sacramiento, situated on
the northern bank of the Plata and opposite to Buenos Ayres,
and thence, following up the Uruguay, to the village of Mer-
cedes on the Rio Negro (one of the m.any 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 sur-
prised to observe how easily our horses, although not used to
swim, passed over a width of at least six hundred yards. On
mentioning this at Monte Video, I was told that a vessel con-
taining some mountebanks and their horses, being wrecked in
the Plata, one horse swam seven miles to the shore. In the
course of the day 1 was amused by the dexterity with which a
Gaucho forced a restive horse to swim a river. He stripped off
his clothes, and jjamping on its back, rode into the water till it
was out of its depth ; then slipping off over the crupper, he
caught hold of the tail, and as often as the horse turned round,
the man frightened it back by splashing water in its face. As
soon as the horse touched the bottom on the other side, the
man pulled himself on, and was firmly seated, bridle in hand,
before the horse gained the bank. A naked man on a naked

BAND A ORIENTAL 153

horse is a fine spectacle ; I had no idea how well the two
animals suited each other. The tail of a horse is a very useful
appendage ; I have passed a river in a boat with four people in
it, which was ferried across in the same way as the Gaucho. If
a man and horse have to cross a broad river, the best plan is
for the man to catch hold of the pommel or mane, and help
himself with the other arm.

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

November i jtJi. — We crossed the Rozario, which was deep
and rapid, and passing the village of Colla, arrived at mid-day
at Colonia del Sacramiento. The distance is twenty leagues,
through a country covered with fine grass, but poorly- stocked
with cattle or inhabitants. I was invited to sleep at Colonia,.
and to accompany on the following day a gentleman to his
estancia, where there were some limestone rocks. The town
is built on a stony promontory something in the same manner
as at Monte Video. It is strongly fortified, but both fortifica-
tions 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
powder-magazine, and was struck by lightning in one of the
ten thousand thunderstorms 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

154 BAN DA ORIENTAL

united powers of lightning and gunpowder. In the evening I
wandered about the half-demoHshed 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 over-
turn a government which as yet has never rested on any stable
foundation. I noticed, however, both here and in other places,
a very general interest in the ensuing election for the President ;
and this appears a good sign for the prosperity of this little
country. The inhabitants do not require much education in their
representatives ; I heard some men discussing the merits of those
for Colonia ; and it was said that " although they were not men
of business, they could all sign their names : " with this they
seemed to think every reasonable man ought to be satisfied.

I %t}i. — Rode with my host to his estancia, at the Arro}'o
de San Juan. In the evening we took a ride round the estate :
it contained two square leagues and a half, and was situated in
what is called a rincon ; that is, one side was fronted by the
Plata, and the two others guarded by impassable brooks.
There was an excellent port for little vessels, and an abundance
of small wood, which is valuable as supplying fuel to Buenos
Ayres. - I was curious to know the value of so complete an
estancia. Of cattle there were 3000, and it would well support
three or four times that number ; of mares 800, together with
150 broken-in horses, and 600 sheep. There was plenty of
water and limestone, a rough house, excellent corrals, and a
peach orchard. For all this he had been offered ^2000, 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 recognised by a few peculiarly

VIII CURIOUS BREED OF OXEN 155

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
cxternall)' 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 be}-ond
the upper, and have a corresponding upward curve ; hence their
teeth are always exposed. Their nostrils are seated high up and
are very open ; their eyes project outwards. When walking
they carry their heads low, on a short neck ; and their hinder
legs are rather longer compared with the front legs than is usual.
Their bare teeth, their short heads, and upturned nostrils give
them the most ludicrous self-confident air of defiance imaginable.

Since my return, I have procured a skeleton head, through
the kindness of my friend Captain Sulivan, R.N., which is now
deposited in the College of Surgeons.^ Don F. Muniz, of
Luxan, has kindly collected for me all the information which
he could respecting this breed. From his account it seems
that about eighty or ninety years ago, they were rare and kept
as curiosities at Buenos Ayres. The breed is universally
believed to have originated amongst the Indians southward of
the Plata ; and that it was with them the commonest kind.
Even to this day, those reared in the provinces near the Plata
show their less civilised 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,
characterises, as I am informed by Dr. P^alconer. that great
extinct ruminant of India, the Sivatherium. The breed is very
true ; and a niata bull and cow invariabl}' produce niata calves.

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

- 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 : Histoire
des Anomalies, par M. Isid. Geoffroy St. Hilaire, torn. i. p. 244.

156 BAND A ORIENTAL chap.

A niata bull with a common cow, or the reverse cross, produces
offspring having an intermediate character, but with the niata
characters strongly displayed : according to Senor Muniz, there
is the clearest evidence, contrary to the common belief of
agriculturists in analogous cases, that the niata cow when
crossed with a common bull transmits her peculiarities more
strongly than the niata bull when crossed with a common
cow. When the pasture is tolerably long, the niata cattle feed
with the tongue and palate as well as common cattle ; but
during the great droughts, when so many animals perish, the
niata breed is under a great disadvantage, and would be
exterminated if not attended to ; for the common cattle, like
horses, are able just to keep alive, by browsing with their lips
on twigs of trees and reeds ; this the niatas cannot so well do,
as their lips do not join, and hence they are found to perish
before the common cattle. This strikes me as a good illustra-
tion 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 i gth. — 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 we visited the trees on which they
are said to sharpen their claws ; but we did not succeed in
disturbing one. From this point the Rio Uruguay presented
to our view a noble volume of water. From the clearness and
rapidity of the stream, its appearance was far superior to that
of its neighbour the Parana. On the opposite coast, several
branches from the latter river entered the Uruguay. As the
sun was shining, the two colours of the waters could be seen
quite distinct.

In the evening we proceeded on our road towards Mercedes
on the Rio Negro. At night we asked permission to sleep at
an estancia at which we happened to arrive. It was a very
large estate, been ten leagues square, and the owner is one of
the greatest landowners in the countr}'. 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

VIII CONVERSATION OF THE INHABITANTS 157

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

2\st. — Started at sunrise, and rode slowl}' during the
whole day. The geological nature of this part of the province
was different from the rest, and closely resembled that of the
Pampas. In consequence, there were immense beds of the
thistle, as well as of the cardoon : the whole country, indeed,
may be called one great bed of these plants. The two sorts
grow separate, each plant in compan\- 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 }'ard 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 )-ear ; for when
jaded enough to face the thistles, they rush among them, and
are seen no more. In these districts there are very few

158 BAND A ORIENTAL

estancias, and these few are situated in the neighbourhood of
damp valleys, where fortunately neither of these overwhelming
plants can exist. As night came on before we arrived at our
journey's end, we slept at a miserable little hovel inhabited
by the poorest people. The extreme though rather formal
courtesy of our host ana hostess, considering their grade of
life, was quite delightful.

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

When in this neighbourhood, I several times heard of the
Sierra de las Cuentas : a hill distant many miles to the north-
ward. 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 neck-
laces 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-

SHEPHERD-DOGS 159

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 crystallised body is at present known to
assume this form, it may lead some future traveller to investi-
gate 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 companions. An
ewe is held three or four times a day for the little thing to
suck, and a nest of wool is made for it in the sheep-pen ; at
no time is it allowed to associate with other dogs, or with the
children of the family. The puppy is, moreover, generally
castrated ; so that, when grown up, it can scarcely have any
feelings in common with the rest of its kind. From this
education it has no wish to leave the flock, and just as another
dog will defend its master, man, so will these the sheep. It
is amusing to observe, when approaching a flock, how the dog
immediately advances barking, and the sheep all close in his
rear, as if round the oldest ram. These dogs are also easily
taught to bring home the flock at a certain hour in the evening.
Their most troublesome fault, when young, is their desire of
playing with the sheep ; for in their sport they sometimes
gallop their poor subjects most unmercifully.

The shepherd-dog comes to the house every day for some

' M. A. d'Orljigny has given nearly a similar account of these dogs, toni. i.
p. 175.

i6o BANDA ORIENTAL

meat, and as soon as it is giv^en him, he skulks away as if
ashamed of himself. On these occasions the house-dogs are
very tyrannical, and the least of them will attack and pursue
the stranger. The minute, however, the latter has reached the
flock, he turns round and begins to bark, and then all the
house-dogs take very quickly to their heels. In a similar
manner a whole pack of the hungry wild dogs will scarcely
ever (and I was told by some never) venture to attack a flock
guarded by even one of these faithful shepherds. The whole
account appears to me a curious instance of the pliability of
the affections in the dog ; and yet, whether wild or however
educated, he has a feeling of respect or fear for those that are
fulfilling their instinct of association. For we can understand
on no principle the wild dogs being driven away by the single
one with its flock, except that they consider, from some con-
fused 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 utterK^
impracticable. The Gaucho picks out a full-grown colt ; and
as the beast rushes round the circus, he throws his lazo so as
to catch both the front legs. Instantly the horse rolls over
with a heavy shock, and whilst struggling on the ground, the
Gaucho, holding the lazo tight, makes a circle, so as to catch
one of the hind legs, just beneath the fetlock, and draws it close
to the two front legs : he then hitches the lazo, so that the

VIII BREAKING-IN WILD HORSES i6i

three are bound together. Then sitting on the horse's neck, he
fixes a strong bridle, without a bit, to the lower jaw : this he
does by passing a narrow thong through the eye-holes at the
end of the reins, and several times round both jaw and tongue.
The two front legs are now tied closely together with a strong
leathern thong, fastened by a slip-knot. The lazo, which bound
the three together, being then loosed, the horse rises with
difficulty. The Gaucho, now holding fast the bridle fixed to the
lower jaw, leads the horse outside the corral. If a second man
is present (otherwise the trouble is much greater) he holds the
animal's head, whilst the first puts on the horsecloths and saddle,
and girths the whole together. During this operation, the
horse, from dread and astonishment at thus being bound round
the waist, throws himself over and over again on the ground,
and, till beaten, is unwilling to rise. At last, when the saddling
is finished, the poor animal can hardly breathe from fear, and
is white with foam and sweat. The man now prepares to
mount by pressing heavily on the stirrup, so that the horse may
not lose its balance ; and at the moment that he throws his leg
over the animal's back, he pulls the slip-knot binding the front
legs, and the beast is free. Some " domidors " pull the knot
while the animal is lying on the ground, and, standing over the
saddle, allow him to rise beneath them. The horse, wild with
dread, gives a {&\w 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, how-
ever, for some weeks that the animal is ridden with the iron
bit and solid ring, for it must learn to associate the will of its
rider with the feel of the rein, before the most powerful bridle
can be of any service.

Animals are so abundant in these countries, that humanity
and self-interest are not closely united ; therefore I fear it is
that the former is here scarcely known. One day, riding in the
Pampas with a very respectable " Estanciero," my horse, being
tired, lagged behind. The man often shouted to me to spur
him. When I remonstrated that it was a pity, for the horse

1 62 BAND A ORIENTAL

was quite exhausted, he cried out, " Why not ? — nev^er mind —
spur him — it is viy horse." I had then some difficulty in
making him comprehend that it was for the horse's sake, and
not on his account, that I did not choose to use my spurs.
He exclaimed, with a look of great surprise, " Ah, Don Carlos,
que cosa ! " It was clear that such an idea had never before
entered his head.

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

In Chile and Peru more pains are taken with the mouth of
the horse than in La Plata, and this is evidently a consequence
of the more intricate nature of the country. In Chile a horse
is not considered perfectly broken till he can be brought up
standing, in the midst of his full speed, on any particular spot,
— ^for instance, on a cloak thrown on the ground : or, again, he
will charge a wall, and rearing, scrape the surface with his hoofs.
I have seen an animal bounding with spirit, yet merely reined
by a forefinger and thumb, taken at full gallop across a court-
yard, and then made to wheel round the post of a verandah with
great speed, but at so equal a distance, that the rider, with out-
stretched arm, all the while kept one finger rubbing the post.

VIII HORSEMANSHIP IN CHILE 163

. «

Then making a demi-volte in the air, with the other arm out-
stretched in a Hke manner, he wheeled round, with astonishing;
force, in an opposite direction.

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

At an estancia near Las Vacas large numbers of mares are
weekly slaughtered for the sake of their hides, although worth
only five paper dollars, or about half-a-crown apiece. It seems

1 64 BAN DA ORIENTAL

at first strange that it can answer to kill mares for such a trifle ;
but as it is thought ridiculous in this country ever to break in
or ride a mare, they are of no value except for breeding. The
only thing for which I ever saw mares used, was to tread out
wheat from the ear ; for which purpose they were driven round
a circular enclosure, where the wheat -sheaves were strewed.
The man employed for slaughtering the mares happened to be
celebrated for his dexterity with the lazo. Standing at the
distance of twelve yards from the mouth of the corral, he has
laid a wager that he would catch by the legs every animal, with-
out missing one, as it rushed past him. There was another
man who said he would enter the corral on foot, catch a mare,
fasten her front legs together, drive her out, throw her down,
kill, skin, and stake the hide for drying (which latter is a tedious
job) ; and he engaged that he would perform this whole operation
on twenty-two animals in one day. Or he would kill and take
the skin off fifty in the same time. This would have been a
prodigious task, for it is considered a good day's work to skin
and stake the hides of fifteen or sixteen animals.

November 26th. — I set out on my return in a direct line
for Monte Video. Having heard of some giant's bones at
a neighbouring farmhouse on the Sarandis, a small stream-
entering the Rio Negro, I rode there accompanied by my host,
and purchased for the value of eighteenpence 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 Rio Tercero,
at the distance of about 1 80 miles from this place. I found
remains of this extraordinary animal at two other places, so
that it must formerly have been common. I found here, also,
some large portions of the armour of a gigantic armadillo-like
animal, and part of the great head of a Mylodon. The bones
of this head are so fresh, that they contain, according to the
analysis by Mr. T. Reeks, seven per cent of animal matter ;
and when placed in a spirit-lamp, they burn with a small flame.

^ I must express my obligation to Mr. Keane, at whose 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.

viii CHARACTER OF THE GAUCHO 165

The number of the remains embedded in the grand estuary
deposit which forms the Pampas and covers the granitic rocks
of Banda Oriental, must be extraordinarily great. I believe a
straight line drawn in any direction through the Pampas would
cut through some skeleton or bones. Besides those which I
found during my short excursions, I heard of many others, and
the origin of such names as " the stream of the animal," " the
hill of the giant," is obvious. At other times I heard of the
marvellous property of certain rivers, which had the power of
changing small bones into large ; or, as some maintained,
the bones themselves grew. As far as I am aware, not one
of these animals perished, as was formerly supposed, in the
marshes or muddy river-beds of the present land, but their
bones have been exposed by the streams intersecting the
subaqueous deposit in which they were originally embedded.
We may conclude that the whole area of the Pampas is one
wide sepulchre of these extinct gigantic quadrupeds.

By the middle of the day, on the 28th, we arrived at
Monte Video, having been two da}\s and a half on the
road. The country for the \\hole 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 \'illage 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 opportunit}- 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 countr}', 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

1 66 BAND A ORIENTAL

his nose or eyes ; as is often attested by deep and horrid-look-
ing scars. Robberies are a natural consequence of universal
gambling, much drinking, and extreme indolence. At Mercedes
I asked two men why they did not work. One gravely said
the days were too long ; the other that he was too poor. The
number of horses and the profusion of food are the destruction
of all industry. Moreover, there are so many feast-days ; and
asrain, nothino- can succeed without it be bes[-un when the moon
is on the increase ; so that half the month is lost from these
two causes.

Police and justice are quite inefficient. If a man who is
poor commits murder and is taken, he will be imprisoned, and
perhaps even shot ; but if he is rich and has friends, he may
rely on it no very severe consequence will ensue. It is curious
that the most respectable inhabitants of the country invariably
assist a murderer to escape : they seem to think that the
individual sins against the government, and not against the
people. A traveller has no protection besides his firearms ;
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. Sensualit}', mocker\' 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 openl\' combined to plunder the State. Justice, where
gold came into play, was hardly expected by any one. I knew
an Englishman who went to the Chief Justice (he told me that,
not then understanding the ways of the place, he trembled as
he entered the room) and said, "Sir, I have come to offer you
two hundred (paper) dollars (value about five pounds sterling)
if you will arrest before a certain time a man who has cheated
me. I know it is against the law, but m}- 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 !

VIII STATE OF SOCIETY 167

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

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

December 6th. — -The Beagle sailed from the Rio Plata,
never again to enter its muddy stream. Our course was
directed to Port Desire, on the coast of Patagonia. Before
proceeding any farther, I will here put together a few
observ'ations 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 e}e could range. Even by the

1 68 RIO PLATA

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

On another occasion, when seventeen miles off Cape
Corrientes, I had a net overboard to catch pelagic animals.
Upon drawing it up, to my surprise I found a considerable
number of beetles in it, and although in the open sea, they did
not appear much injured by the salt water. I lost some of the
specimens, but those which I preserved belonged to the genera
Colymbetes, Hydroporus, Hydrobius (two species), Notaphus,
Cynucus, Adimonia, and Scarabaeus. At first I thought that
these insects had been blown from the shore ; but upon reflecting
that out of the eight species four were aquatic, and two others
partly so in their habits, it appeared to me most probable that
they were floated into the sea by a small stream which drains a
lake near Cape Corrientes. On any supposition it is an
interesting circumstance to find live insects swimming in the
open ocean seventeen miles from the nearest point of land.
There are several accounts of insects having been blown off
the Patagonian shore. Captain Cook observed it, as did more
lately Captain King in the Adventure. The cause probably is
due to the want of shelter, both of trees and hills, so that an

^ Lyell's Principles of Gcolog}', vol. iii. p. 63.

viii AERONAUT SPIDERS 169

insect on the wing, with an offshore breeze, would be very apt
to be blown out to sea. The most remarkable nistance 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.^

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 ist, 1832) I paid
particular attention to this subject. The weather had been fine
and clear, and in the morning the air was full of patches of the
flocculent web, as on an autumnal day in England. The ship
was sixty miles distant from the land, in the direction of a
steady though light breeze. Vast numbers of a small spider,
about one-tenth of an inch in length, and of a dusky red colour,
were attached to the webs. There must have been, I should
suppose, some thousands on the ship. The little spider, when
first coming in contact with the rigging, was always seated on a
single thread, and not on the flocculent mass. This latter
seems merely to be produced by the entanglement of the single
threads. The spiders were all of one species, but of both sexes,
together with young ones. These latter were distinguished by
their smaller size and more dusky colour. I will not give the
description of this spider, but merely state that it does not
appear to me to be included in any of Latreille's genera. The
little aeronaut as soon as it arrived on board was very active,
running about, sometimes letting itself fall, and then reascending
the same thread ; sometimes employing itself in making a small
and ver}' 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 maxillae
drank eagerly of drops of water ; this same circumstance has
been observed by Strack : may it not be in consequence of the
little insect having passed through a dry and rarefied atmo-
sphere? Its stock of web seemed inexhaustible. While

^ The flies wliicli frequently acci^mpany a ship for some days on its passage
from harbour to harbour, wandering Irum the vessel, are soon lost, and all
disappear.

^^o RIO PLATA

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

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

CRUSTACEA 171

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 thin, and are serrated
A\ith 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 float-
ing marine animals.

In deep water, far from the land, the number of living
creatures is extremely small: south of the latitude 35°, I never
succeeded in catching anything besides some beroe, and a few
species of minute entomostracous Crustacea. In shoaler water,
at the distance of a few miles from the coast, very many kinds
of Crustacea and some other animals are numerous, but only
during the night. Between latitudes 56" and 57° south of
Cape Horn, the net was put astern several times ; it never,
however, brought up anything besides a few of two extremely
minute species of Entomostraca. Yet whales and seals, petrels
and albatross, are exceedingly abundant throughout this part
of the ocean. It has always been a mystery to me on what
the albatross, which lives far from the shore, can subsist ; I
presume that, like the condor, it is able to fast long ; and that
one good feast on the carcass of a putrid whale lasts for a long

^ Mr. Blackwall, in his Researches in Zooloi^y, lias many excellent observations
on the habits of spiders.

172 ATLANTIC OCEAN chap.

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 spec-
tacle. 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 farther southward the sea is seldom phos-
phorescent ; and off Cape Horn I do not recollect more than
once having seen it so, and then it was far from being brilliant.
This circumstance probably has a close connection with the
scarcity of organic beings in that part of the ocean. After the
elaborate paper ^ by Ehrenberg, on the phosphorescence of the
sea, it is almost superfluous on my part to make any observa-
tions 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

^ An abstract is given in No. IV. of the Magazine of Zoology and Botany.

viii PHOSPHORESCENCE OF THE SEA 173

the whole surface sparkled as brightly as when first taken out
of the water. It does not appear probable in this case that
the particles could have remained so long alive. On one
occasion having kept a jelly-fish of the genus Dianaea till it
was dead, the water in which it was placed became luminous.
When the waves scintillate with bright green sparks, I believe
it is generally owing to minute Crustacea. But there can be
no doubt that very many other pelagic animals, when alive, are
phosphorescent.

On two occasions I have observed the sea lum.inous at
considerable depths beneath the surface. Near the mouth of
the Plata some circular and oval patches, from two to four
yards in diameter, and with defined outlines, shone with a
steady but pale light ; while the surrounding water onl)- 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 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 ahead}' 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. Certainl)- I think the sea is most luminous
after a few days of more calm weather than ordinary, during
which time it has swarmed with various animals. Observing
that the water charged with gelatinous particles is in an impure
state, and that the luminous appearance in all common cases
is produced by the agitation of the fluid in contact with the
atmosphere, I am inclined to consider that the phosphorescence
is the result of the decomposition of the organic particles, by
which process (one is tempted almost to call it a kind of
respiration) the ocean becomes purified.

174 PORT DESIRE

December 23;^/. — 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
thorn}' 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, compelled the colonists to desert their half-
finished buildings. The style, however, in which they were com-
menced shows the strong and liberal hand of Spain in the old
time. The result of all the attempts to colonise this side of
America south of 41° has 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 I'lora.^ On

1 I found here a species of cactus, described by Professor Henslow, under the
name of Opiinlia Darwinii [Alagazi/ie of Zoology and Botany, vol. i. p. 466), which

THE GUANA CO

175

the arid plains a few black beetles (Heteromera) might be seen
slowly crawling about, and occasionally a lizard darted from
side to side. Of birds we have three carrion hawks, and in the
valleys a few finches and insect-feeders. j\n 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, cicadae, small lizards, and even scorpions.^ 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 represent-

01 UNTIA DARWINII

ative 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 con-
tinent, as far south as the islands near Cape Horn. It generall}^
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 ha\'e
contained at least five hundred.

They are generally wild and extremely wary. Mr. Stokes

was remarkable by the irritability of the stamens, when I inserted either a piece of
stick or the end of my finger 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 {Lervi's and Cla^-ke's Travels,
p. 221), in the same high latitude as here, namely, in both cases, in 47°.

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

176 PORT DESIRE

told me that he 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 stand-
ing 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 neighbouring 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 hunts-
man 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 encompassed.

HABITS OF THE GUANACO 177

The guanacos readily take to the water : several times at
Port Valdes they were seen swimming from island to island.
Byron, in his 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 day 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 unfrequent, I one day saw the
tracks of thirt}' 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 dung 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
d}'ing, 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 guana-
cos at the St. Cruz invariably walked towards 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

178 PATAGONIA

at the time exclaimed that it was the burial-ground of all the
goats in the island. I mention these trifling circumstances,
because in certain cases they might explain the 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 interval I walked some miles into
the interior. The plain as usual consisted of gravel, mingled
with soil resembling chalk in appearance, 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 hilltop 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 farther up, and then
pitched 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
farther, where she also grounded, but in a fresh-water river.
The water was muddy, and though the stream was most insigni-
ficant in size, it would be difficult to account for its origin,
except from the melting snow on the Cordillera. 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.

' ShcUe)', Lines on I\/. Blanc.

INDIAN GRAVE 179

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
stones, each probabl}^ 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 ledge and the two great blocks. To complete the grave,
the Indians had contrived to detach from the ledge a huge frag-
ment, 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
antiquit}'), for I found in another place some smaller heaps,
beneath which a very few crumbling 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 b)" recollecting that, before the
introduction of horses, these Indians must have led nearly the
same life as the Fuegians now do, and therefore generally 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 gth, i 834. — 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
part}' accompanied Captain Fitz Roy 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 disappoint-
ment to find a snow-white expanse of salt, crystallised in great

i8o PORT ST. JULIAN

cubes ! We attributed our extreme thirst to the dryness of the
atmosphere ; but whatever the cause might be, we were exceed-
ingly 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 ; 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 Cincindela, like hybrida,
a Cymindis, and a Harpalus, which all live on muddy flats occa-
sionally overflowed by the sea), and one other found dead on
the plain, complete the list of the beetles. A good-sized fly (Ta-
banus) 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 mus-
quitoes — on the blood of what animals do these insects com-
monly 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 accu-
mulated 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 : Professor 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. Julian its thickness is more than 800 feet !
These w^hite 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 Rio 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,

VIII GEOLOGY OF PATAGONIA i8i

whence the well-rounded pebbles of porphyry have been
derived : we may consider its average breadth 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, 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
stupefied in thinking over the long, absolutely necessary, lapse
of }'ears. Yet all this gravel has been transported, and prob-
ably rounded, subsequently to the deposition of the white beds,
and long subsequently to the underlying beds with the tertiary
shells.

Ever}'thing 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, have 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 I 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 S. Cruz slopes up to a height of 30CO 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 i 500 feet. Nor has Patagonia been

GEOLOGY OF PATAGONIA

affected only by upward movements : the extinct tertiary shells
from Port St. Julian and Santa Cruz cannot ha\e livedo
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 i 000 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 accumula-
tion of the superincumbent strata. What a history of geo-
logical changes does the simply-constructed coast of Patagonia
reveal !

At Port St. Julian,^ in some red mud capping the gravel
on the 90-feet plain, I found half the skeleton of the Macrau-
chenia Patachonica, a remarkable quadruped, full as large as a
camel. It belongs to the same division of the Pachydermata
with the rhinoceros, tapir, and paLxotherium ; 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. P^rom 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 quadruped 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 armadilloes, now so eminently
characteristic of South American zoology, — and the still closer
relationship between the fossil and living species of Ctenomys
and Hydrochaerus, are most interesting facts. This relation-
ship is shown wonderfully — as wonderfully as between the
fossil and extinct Marsupial animals of Australia — b\- the

' I have lately heard that Capt. .Sulivan, R.N., has 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, anil appear to have belonged to
an armadillo. Tiiis is a most interesting and important discovery.

k

I .

't'i !»i»i I ,<i

^

VIII CAUSES OF EXTINCTION 183

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 ca^'es occur ; and the extinct species are much more
numerous than those now living : there are fossil ant-eaters,
armadilloes, 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.

It is impossible to reflect on 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, we must shake the
entire framework of the globe. An examination, 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 coextensive 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 en

1 84 CAUSES OF EXTINCTION chap.

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 Macrau-
chenia, 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 unwieldy Mega-
therium and the other Edentata ? We must at least look to
some other cause for the destruction 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 l^ehring's Straits. What
shall we say of the extinction of the horse ? Did those plains
fail of pasture, which have since been overrun b}' thousands
and hundreds of thousands of the descendants of the stock
introduced by the Spaniards ? Have the subsequently intro-
duced 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 prev^enting the too
rapid increase of every organised being left in a state of nature.
The supply of food, on an average, remains constant ; }'ct 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 j^irat increase in numbers is obxiously
impossible, and must be checked b}' some means. We are,
nevertheless, seldom able with certainty to tell in any given

vin CAUSES OF EXTINCTION i«5

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
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 district — wh}' should we feel
such great astonishment at the rarity being carried a step
farther to extinction ? An action going on, on every side of
us, and yet barely appreciable, might surely be carried a little
farther 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
monke\'s was few in number compared with one of the now

' See the excellent remarks on this subject by Mr. Ljell, in his Principles of
Geology.

1 86

CAUSES OF EXTINCTION

CHAl'. VIII

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 com-
parative 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.

LADIES COMBS, BANUA ORIENTAL.

CONDOR (SARCOKHAMPHUS GRYPHUs).

CHAPTER 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 relics — 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 violence — Penguin — Geese — Eggs of Doris — Compound animals.

SANTA CRUZ, PATAGONIA, AND THE FALKLAND ISLANDS

April \ ^th, 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 pro-
ceeded thirty miles up it, but then, from the want of provisions,

1 88 S. CRUZ, PATAGONIA chap.

was obliged to return. Excepting what was discovered at that
time, scarcely anything was known about this large river. Cap-
tain Fitz Roy now determined to follow its course as far as time
would allow. On the i 8th three whale-boats started, carrying
three weeks' provisions ; 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 dimin-
ished. 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 transparent as at first sight would have been expected.
It flows over a bed of pebbles, like those which compose the
beach and the 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 oppo-
site sides a remarkable correspondence.

April igth. — 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 arrange-
ments made by Captain Fitz Roy 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 e\-ery 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

IX ZOOLOGY 189

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 ^\'ere shallow.

April 20th. — 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 (2 i st)
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 afterwards 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 22nd. — The country remained the same, and was
extremely uninteresting. The complete similarity of the produc-
tions throughout 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. Everywhere 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

^ The deserts of Syria are characterised, according to Volney (torn. i. p. 351). by
woody bushes, numerous rats, gazelles, and hares. In the landscape of Patagonia,
the guanaco replaces the gazelle, and the agouti the hare.

I90 S. CRUZ, PATAGONIA chap.

characterised 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 abund-
ant, 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 river ; and the remains
of several guanacos, with their necks dislocated and bones broken,
showed how they had met their death.

April 2AftJi. — 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
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 one
position, was the most promising sign, and eventually turned out
a true harbinger. At first the clouds were mistaken for the moun-
tains themselves, instead of the masses of vapour condensed by
their icy summits.

April 26th. — 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 iew 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 we saw, at the dis-
tance 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

IX EXCAVATION OF THE VALLEY 191

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
thickness ; following up the river-course, the surface impercep-
tibly rose and the mass became thicker, so that at forty miles
above the first station it was 320 feet thick. What the thick-
ness 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 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-hillocks on it, and from the occurrence of a few
sea-shells lying in 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 be asked, how has the solid basalt been removed ?
Geologists formerly would have brought into play the violent
action of some overwhelmin^j debacle : but in this case such a

192 i^. CRUZ, PATAGONIA chap.

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 valle}^ 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 has 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 and 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 character of the landscape likewise altered. While ram-
bling up some of the narrow and rocky defiles, I could 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 2yth. — 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

THE CONDOR 193

feet. This bird is known to have a wide geogiaphical range,
being found on the west coast of South America, from the
Strait of Magellan along the Cordillera as far as eight degrees
N. of the equator. The steep cliff near the mouth of the Rio
Negro is its northern limit on the Patagonian coast ; and they
have there wandered about four hundied miles from the great
central line of their habitation in the Andes. Farther south,
among the bold precipices at the head of Port Desire, the
condor is not uncommon ; yet onh' a {qw stragglers occasionally
visit the sea-coast. A line of cliff near the mouth 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 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 b}- 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 u^as 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 gregarious
bird. In this part of the country they live altogether on the
guanacos which have died a natural death, or, as more commonly
happens, have been killed by the pumas. I believe, from what
I saw in Patagonia, that they do not on ordinar)- occasions
14

194 -S". CRUZ, PATAGONIA chap.

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 frequently 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 Chilcnos
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
metliod 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 is eight or ten shillings. One which I saw brought in,
had been tied with rope, and was much injured ; )et, the
moment the line 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 country-
men 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-vuliures, soon gain intelligence

1 I noticed that several hours l)efore any one of the condors died, all the lice,
with wliich it was infested, crawled to the outside feathers. I was assured that
this always happened.

IX «* CARRION-VULTURES 195

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. Remembering the experiments
of M. Audubon, on the little smelling powers of carrion-hawks,
I tried in the above-mentioned garden the following ex-
periment : 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 cir-
cumstances 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 mentioned 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 this case, the intelli-
gence could hardly have been acquired by sight. On the other
hand, besides the experiments of Audubon 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

196 ^. CRUZ, PATAGONIA * chap.

hidden mass on which they were trampHng. 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, 1 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, oi 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 move-
ment, would have appeared as if blended together ; but they
were seen 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-
movements 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
^ Loudon's Magazine of Nat. Hist. vol. vii.

IX TRACES OF INDIANS 197

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
mov'Cment 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.

April 29//;.— From some high land we hailed with joy the
white summits of the Cordillera, as they .were seen occasionally
peeping through their dusky envelope of clouds. During the
{&\\' succeeding 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
iiere was not quite so level as that nearer the coast, but yet it
betrayed no signs of any great violence. Under these circum-
stances it is, I believe, quite impossible to explain the trans-
portal 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 \\ hich had belonged to the Indians —
such as parts of a mantle and a bunch of ostrich feathers — but
they appeared to have been lying long on the ground.
Between the place where the Indians had so lately crossed the
river and this neighbourhood, though so many miles apart, the
country appears to be quite unfrequented. At first, considering

198 S. CRUZ, FA TAG ON/A

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. Never-
theless, in two places in this very central region, I found small
heaps of stones, which I do not think could have been accident-
ally 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.

May ^tJi. — Captain Fitz Roy 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 farther. 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 Aalle}'
in this upper part expanded into a wide basin, bounded on the
north and south by the basaltic platforms, and fronted by the
long range of the snow-clad Cordillera. But we viewed these
grand mountains with regret, for w^e were obliged to imagine
their nature and productions, instead of standing, 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, \\as, 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.

5///. — 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 8th
we reached the Beagle after our twenty-one days' expedition.
Every one, excepting myself, had cause to be di.ssatisfied ; but
to me the a.scent afforded a most interesting section of the great
tertiary formation of Patagonia.

On March \st, 1833, and again on March \6th, 1834, the

IX ARRIVAL AT FALKLAND ISLANDS 199

Beagle anchored in Berkeley Sound, in East Falkland Island.
This archipelago 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 like-
wise 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, unsupported 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 worth)' of the scenes acted on it. An undulat-
ing land, with a desolate and wretched aspect, is everywhere
covered by a peaty soil and wir}' grass, of one monotonous brown
colour. Here and there a peak or ridge of gray 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.^

\6th. — 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-storms.
We got on, however, pretty well, but, except the geolog}', 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

' From accounts published since our voyage, and more especially from several
interesting letters from Capt. Sulivan, R. 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.

FALKLAND ISI^ANDS

here and there might be seen a small flock of wild geese, and
everywhere the ground was so soft that the snipe \\'ere able 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 acro.ss a small herd. One of my
companions, St. J ago 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, while 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. J ago 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 lean-
ing on one side. This horse, however, was a young one, and
would not stand still, but gave in to the cow as she struggled.
It was admirable 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 \\ithout 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

WILD BULLS 20I

worthy alderman had supped 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 stormy, ^\■ith much hail and snow. We rode across the
island to the neck of land which joins the Rincon 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 sa\'age. I never saw-
such magnificent beasts ; 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 bogg}^
stream, and took his stand on the opposite side to us ; we in
vain tried to drive him away, and failing, were obliged to make
a large circuit. The Gauchos in revenge determined to emascu-
late him and render him for the future harmless. It was ver}^
interesting to see how art completely mastered force. One lazo
was thrown over his horns as he rushed at the horse, and
another round his hind legs : in a minute the monster was
stretched powerless on the ground. 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 himself By the aid, however, of a second person throw-
ing his lazo so as to catch both hind legs, it is quickh- 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
mometit 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

FALKLAND ISLANDS

French in 1764, 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 pre-
vent 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 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 com-
pelling the mares 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 account, 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. I'^om 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 -gray. 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 bef(M"e remarked, to have increased in size ; and the\'
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 Engli.sh cattle. In
colour they differ much ; and it is a remarkable circumstance,

WILD RABBITS 203

that in different parts of this one small island, different colours
predominate. Round Mount Usborne, at a height of from lOOO
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 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 undis-
turbed for the next several centuries.

The rabbit is another animal which has been introduced, and
has succeeded very well ; so that the)- 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
hills, 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 pairs, 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.^

1 Lesson's Zoology of the J'orage 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 s])ecies is taken
from peculiarities in the fur, from the shape of the head, and from the shortness of
the ears. I may here observe that the difference between the Irish and English hare
rests upon nearly similar characters, only more strongly marked.

204 FALKLAND ISLANDS chap.

They imagined that Magellan, when talking of an animal under
the name of " conejos " in the Strait of Magellan, referred to this
species ; but he was alluding to a small cavy, which to this day
is thus called by the Spaniards. The Gauchos laughed at the
idea of the black kind being different from the gray, and they
said that at all events it had not extended its range any farther
than the gray kind ; that the two were never found separate ;
and that they readily bred together, and produced piebald off-
spring. Of the latter I now possess a specimen, and it is marked
about the head differently from the French specific description.
This circumstance 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 Falkland. 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 ;"^ but I have seen both, and they are 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, pos.sessing
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.

' I have reason, however, to suspect tli.at there is a field - mouse. The conimon
European rat and mouse have roamed far from the habitations of the settlers. The
common hog has also run wild on one islet : all are of a black colour : the boars are
very fierce, and have great tusks.

2 The "culpeu" is the Canis Magellanicus brought home by Captain King from
the Strait of MaLrellan. It is common in Chile.

IX ART IN MAKING A FIRE 205

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
the flesh had been picked by the 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.

I ^tJi. — 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 abso-
lutely 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 Compositae) 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, immedi-
ately 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
bird's 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, and at last burst out in flames.
I do not think any other method would have had a chance of
succeeding with such damp materials.

\gtJi. — Each morning, from not having ridden for some
time previously, I was very stiff I was surprised to hear the

2o6 FALKLAND ISI^ANDS chap.

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 out hunting wild cattle, and in consequence, 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 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 terri-
fied 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. I^^'om
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 them-
selves 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,

IX STREAMS OF STONES 207

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 appear-
ance of some of the masses is in consequence most singular.
Pernety ^ has devoted several pages to the description of a Hill
of Ruins, 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 sandstone, 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 crystallised.
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
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 water-
worn, 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 (Mie of them.

Their little inclination is the most remarkable circumstance
in these " streams of stones." On the hill-sides I have seen

^ Pernety, Voyage aux Isles Malotiities, p. 526.

2o8 FALKLAND ISLANDS

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 was 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 dimen-
sions 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," 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 but very little towards cither
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

^ "Nous n'avons pas etc moins saisis d'ctonnement a la vile de rinnonibiable
quantite de pierres de toutes grandeurs, bouleversees les unes sur les autres, et

IX HABITS OF SOME BIRDS 209

fragments have been levelled into one continuous sheet. If
during the earthquake^ which in 1835 overthrew Concepcion,
in Chile, it was thought wonderful that small bodies should
have 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 much thin crust, and the
strata thrown on their vertical edges ; but never did any scene,
like these " streams of stones," so forcibl\- convey to my mind
the idea of a convulsion, of which in historical records we might
in vain seek for any counterpart : 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 inex-
plicable transportal of the erratic boulders which are strewed
over the plains of Europe.

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
waterfowl 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 pla}'ing 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 (Aptenod}'tcs demersa) and
the water, I was much amused b\' watching its habits. It was
a brave 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

•cependant rangees, comme si elles avoient ete amoncelees negligemment pour
remplir des ravins. On ne se lassoit pas d'admirer les effets prodigieux de la
nature." — Pernety, p. 526.

^ An 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.
15

FALKLAND ISLANDS

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 Magellanica) 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), 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 accom-
panied 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, racehorses ; 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

ZOOPHYTES

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 Apteryx
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 sur-
prisingly heavN' 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, the}' 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 little general interest. I will mention onl}' one class of facts,
relating to certain zoophytes in the more highly organised divi-
sion of that class. Several genera (Flustra, Eschara, Cellaria,
Crisia, and others) agree in having singular movable 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 move-
ment,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

^ 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
two 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, 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. Xo fallacy is
more common with naturalists^ than thai the numbers of an individual species depend
on its powers of propagation.

FALKLAND ISLANDS

a triangular hood, with a beautifully-fitted trap-door, which evi-
dently 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 a 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 fur-
nished 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 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 append-
age 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
furnished 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 coinstantancously ; sometimes each
moved in rc<Tular order one after another. In these actions we

COMPOUND ANIMALS 213

apparently behold as perfect a transmission of will in the zoo-
phyte, 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
organised. 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 alwa\'s
very interesting to me. What can be more remarkable than to
see a plant-like bod}' producing an &^^, 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 organisations ? 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 easih' realised ; so that the union of separate
individuals in a common body is more striking in a coralline
than in a tree. Our conception of a compound 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 ma}' 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. Certain!}' 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 arc to their parents. It seems
now pretty well established that plants propagated by buds all

214

FALKLAND ISLANDS

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.

BERKELEY SOUND, FALKLAND ISLANDS.

YOKK MINSTER, BEARING S. 66" E.

CHAPTER X

Tierra del Fuego, first anrival — Good Success Bay — An account of the Fueglans on
board — Interview with the savages — Scenery of the forests — Cape Horn — Wig-
wam Cove — Miserable condition of the savages — P^amines — Cannibals —
Matricide — Religious feelings — Great gale — Beagle Channel — Ponsonby Sound
— Build wigwams and settle the Fuegians — Bifurcation of the Beagle Cliannel —
Glaciers — Return to the ship — Second visit in the Ship to the Settlement —
Equality of condition amongst the natives.

TIERRA DEL FUEGO

December lyth, 1832. — Having now finished with Patagonia
and the Falkland Islands, I ^\■ill 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. \\q kept
close to the Fuegian shore, but the outline of the rugged, inhos-
pitable Staten-land w^as visible amidst the clouds. In the after-
noon 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

2i6 TIERRA DEL EUEGO chap,

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
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 dif-
ference between savage and civilised man : it is greater than
between a wild and domesticated animal, inasmuch as in man
there is a greater power of improvement. 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 Patago-
nians 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 ear 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

X INTERVIEW WITH THE NATIVES 217

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 b}' the old man patting our breasts, and making a chuck-
ling kind of noise, as people do when feeding chickens. I
walked with 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 compared it to a man clearing
his 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, except-
ing 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 remem-
bered 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 recognised. How can
this faculty be explained? is it a consequence of the more prac-
tised habits of perception and keener senses, common to all men
in a savage state, as compared with those long civilised ?

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

2i8 r J ERR A DEL FUEGO chap.

accustomed to Europeans as they appeared to be, yet they knew
and dreaded our firearms ; 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 I 826 to 1830, Captain Fitz Roy 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 wliora 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 was one chief inducement to Cap-
tain Fitz Roy to undertake our present voyage ; and before the
Admiralty had resolved to send out this expedition. Captain
Fitz Roy had generously chartered a vessel, and would himself
have taken them back. The natives were accompanied by a mis-
sionary, 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 smallpox, 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, taci-
turn, morose, and when excited violently passionate ; his affec-
tions were very strong towards a few friends on board ; his intel-
lect 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 remark-
ably .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 tree.s,"
and he abused all the other tribes ; he stoutly declared that there

X FUEGIANS ON BOARD 219

was no Devil in his land. Jenimy was short, thick, and fat, but
vain of his personal appearance ; 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 look-
ing-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 j-et wonderful to me, when I think over
all his many good 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. Lasth',
Fuegia Basket was a nice, modest, reserved young girl, with a
rather pleasing but sometimes sullen expression, and very quick
in learning anything, especially languages. This she showed in
picking up some Portuguese and Spanish, when 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
marr}' 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
information from them concerning the habits of their country-
men : this was partly owing to their apparent difficulty in
understanding the simplest alternative. Every one accustomed
to very young 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, when he had any little quarrel

TIERRA DEL FUEGO

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 conversation 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 language, and was, moreover, thoroughly ashamed
of his countrymen. When York Minster afterwards came 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 liveliest surprise and
admiration at its whiteness, just in the same way in which I
have seen the ourang-outang do at the Zoological Gardens.
We thought that they mistook two or three of the officers, who
were rather shorter and fairer, though adorned with large
beards, for the ladies of our party. The tallest amongst the
Fuegians was evidently much pleased at his height being
noticed. W^hen 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 daresay 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 some 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 betw^een i ooo 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,

SCENERY OF THE MOUNTAINS

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 countr}' 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 every-
Avhere else, the surface is covered by a thick bed of swamp}-
peat. Even within the forest, the ground is concealed by a
mass 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 hardl}'
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 h'ing 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 — }-et there was a difference : for in these still
solitudes, Death, instead of Life, seemed the predominant spirit.
I followed the watercourse till I came to a spot where a grea,t
slip had cleared a straight space down the mountain side. By
this road I ascended to a considerable elexation, 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 inconsider-
able. This beech keeps its leaves throughout the }-ear ; 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 b\' tJie ra}'S
of the sun.

Dtxeinbcr 20th. — One side of the harbour is formed b)' a
hill about 1500 feet high, which Captain Fitz Roy 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 Januar}-, corresponding

TIERRA DEL FUEGO

to our Juiy, and in the latitude of Durham ! I was anxious to
reach the summit of this mountain to collect alpine plants ; for
flowers of any kind in the lower parts are {(t\\ 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

CAPE HORN,

treacherous surface. After a little more trouble we gained the

'peat, and then the bare 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 wc reached the hill we found it the
highest in the immediate neighbourhood, and the waters flowed
to the sea in opposite directions. We obtained a wide view
over the surrounding country : to the north a swampy moorland
extended, but to the south we had a scene of savage magni-

CAPE HORN

223

ficence, well becoming" Tierra del Fuego. There was a degree
of mysterious grandeur in mountain behind mountain, with the
deep intervening valleys, all co\-ered 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 anywhere else. In the Strait of Magellan, looking due
southward from Port Famine, the distant channels between the
mountains appeared from their gloominess to lead be\-ond the
confines of this world.

December 2 i st. — The Beagle got under way : and on the
succeeding da}-, favoured to an uncommon degree by a fine
easterly breeze, we closed in with the Barnevelts, and running"

CAPE HORN (another VlEw).

past Cape Deceit with its stony peaks, about three o'clock
doubled the weatherbeaten Cape Horn. The evening was
calm and bright, and we enjoyed a fine view of the surrounding"
isles. Cape Horn, however, 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-e\e, we anchored in

224 TIERRA DEL FUEGO chap.

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///. — Close by the cove, a pointed hill, called
Kater's Peak, rises to the height of i 700 feet. The surround-
ing 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 " Wigwam " from some of the
Fuegian habitations ; but every bay in the neighbourhood
might be so called with equal propriety. The inhabitants,
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 distinguished at a long distance by the bright green colour
■of certain 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
haycock. It merely consists of a icv^ broken branches stuck in
the ground, and very imperfectly thatched on one side with a
{q\v tufts of grass and rushes. The whole cannot be the work of
an hour, and it is only used for a few days. At Goeree Roads
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 past, 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°. F"rom 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

X WRETCHED STATE OF THE NATIVES 225

pulled alongside a canoe with six Fuegians. These were the
most abject and miserable creatures I anywhere beheld. On
the east 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 suffi-
cient 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 vio-
lent. Viewing such men, one can hardly make oneself 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 !
At 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 shellfish on the rocks, and they could not go out in
16

226 TIERRA DEL FUEGO chap.

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 whales -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
bo}^, 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 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 such 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 were told that they then often run a^vay into the moun-
tains, 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 belie\'e
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,

X RELIGION OF THE FUEGIANS izi

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 suc-
cessive heavy gales, which we encountered off Cape Horn, were
caused by our having the Fuegians on board. The nearest
approach to a religious feeling 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, he 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 alwa)^s appeared to me most mysterious ; from what
York said, when we fou'nd 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 territory : the cause of their warfare appears to be the
means of subsistence. 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

228 TIERRA DEL FUEGO chap.

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 imagination 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 respects 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 Fuegians decrease in number ; therefore we must
suppose that they enjoy a sufficient share of 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 Roy 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 i ith of January 1833, by carrying
a press of sail, we fetched within a {qv^ 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

THE BEAGLE CHANNEL

229

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 lookout to leeward." On the 1 3th
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

BAD WEATHER, MAGELLAN STRAITS.

glided with its expanded 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 obey
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 decided soon, and for ever.
We had now been twenty-four days trying in vain to get west-
ward ; 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 Cape Horn, and

230

TIERRA DEL FUEGO

dropped our anchor in forty -seven fathoms, fire
flashing from the windlass as the chain rushed
round it. How dehghtful was that still night, after
having been so long involved in the din of the
warring elements !

January i^tJi, I 83 3. — The Beagle anchored
in Goeree Roads. Captain Fitz Roy having
resolved to settle the Fuegians, according to their
wishes, in Ponsonby Sound, four boats were
equipped to carry them there through the Beagle
Channel. This channel, which was discovered by
Captain Fitz Roy during the last voyage, is a
most remarkable feature in the geography of this,
or indeed of any other country : it may be com-
pared to the valley of Loch Ness in Scotland,
with its chain of lakes and friths. It is about
one hundred and 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 Ikitton's tribe and family.

i^tJi. — Three whale-boats and the yawl, with a party of

FUEGIAN BASKET AND UONE WEAI'ONS.

X ASTONISHMENT OF NATIVES 231

twenty-eight, started under the command of Captain Fitz Roy.
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 in ahead 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 preserved in tin cases which I was eating, and feel-
ing 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 he 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 " yam-
merschooner." After yammerschooncring for any article very

232 TIERRA DEL FUEGO chap.

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 w^ere
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 firearms.
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 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 gun close to his
ear could never have entered his mind. He perhaps literally
did not for 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 Ticrra del Fuego, have seen
objects struck, and even small animals killed by the musket,

X SCENERY AROUND BEAGLE CHANNEL 233

without being in the least aware how deadly an instrument
it is.

22nd. — After having passed an unmolested night, in what
would appear to be neutral territory between Jemm\''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 line on the mountain side was, at which trees
ceased to grow : it precisely resembled the high-water mark of
driftweed on a sea-beach.

At night we slept close to the junction of Ponsonby Sound
with 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 farther off, were observed, to
our great surprise, to be streaming with perspiration at under-
going 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 earl)' in the

234 TIERRA DEL FUEGO chap.

morning (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
bedaubed 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 as 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 elsewhere) either 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

^ This substance, when dry, is tolerably compact, and of little specific gravity ;
Professor Ehrenberg has examined it : he states [Kotiig Akad. der Wissen : Berlin,
Feb. 1845) that it is composed of infusoria, including fourteen polygastrica anil four
phytolitharia. He says that they are all inhabitants of fresh water ; this is a beautiful
example of the results obtainable through Professor Ehrenberg's microscopic re-
searches ; for Jemmy Button told me that it is always collected at the bottoms of
mountain-brooks. It is, moreover, a striking fact in the geographical distribution of
the infusoria, 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 Fuego,
are old, known forms.

X SETTLEMENT AT WOOLLY A 235

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 companion. 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 had 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 astonishment 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 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

236 TIERRA DEL FUEGO chap.

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 farther 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 Roy, 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 (28th) we were delighted to find
all quiet, and the men employed in their canoes spearing fish.
Captain Fitz Roy 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
overpoweringly hot, so that our skins were scorched ; with this
beautiful weather, the view in the middle of the Beagle Channel
was very remarkable. Looking towards either hand, no object
intercepted the vanishing points of this long canal between the
mountains. 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, 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 h'ing

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

X GLACIERS ENTERING THE SEA 237

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 2gth. — 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
parts, 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
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 firearms. I had previously observed that some
large fragments of rock on the beach had been lately displaced ;

238 TIERRA DEL FUEGO chap.

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 deso-
late 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 seaweed 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 proceeded, 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 Roy 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 every-
thing 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 keep 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 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

X FUEGIANS 239

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 on 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 countr}men,
" All bad men, no sabe (know) nothing," and, though I never
heard him swear before, " damned fools." Our three Fuegians,
though the}' had been only three years with civilised 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
I I th 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 \ear (1834),
the Beagle anchored in a beautiful little cove at the eastern
entrance of the Beagle Channel. Captain Fitz Roy 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 tacking, and, instead of meeting us
at each tack, vainly strove to follow us in our zigzag course. I
was amused at finding what a difference the circumstance of
being quite superior in force made, in the interest of beholding
these savages. While in the boats I got tohate 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

240 TIERRA DEL FUEGO chap.

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 halloo from
an all-powerful voice, heard at a prodigious distance, would
reach our ears, and clearly could we distinguish — " yammer-
schooner." But now, the more Fuegians the merrier ; and very
merry w^ork 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, evidently 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 imme-
diately 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 our-
selves,— excited their admiration far more than any grand or
complicated object, such as our ship. Bougainville has well
remarked concerning these people, that they treat the " chef-
d'oeuvres de I'industrie humaine, comme ils traitent les loix de
la nature ct ses phenomenes."

On the 5th of March we anchored in the cove at Woollya,

X FAREWELL VISIT TO WOOLLY A 241

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 Httle 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 recognise 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 appearance. 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 he 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-looking 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 language ! But
it is a most singular fact, that he appears to have taught all his
tribe some English : an old man spontaneously announced
*' 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,
and remained on board till the ship got under weigh, which
frightened his wife, who continued crying violently till he got

1 Captain Sulivan, who, since his voyage in the Beagle, has been employed on
the survey of the Falkland Islands, heard from a sealer (in 1842?) that when in the
western part of the Strait of Magellan, he was astonished by a native woman coming
on board, who could talk some English. Without doubt this was Fuegia Basket.
She lived (I fear the term probably bears a double interpretation) some days on
board.

17

242 TIERRA DEL FUEGO chap.

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 ship-
wrecked sailor being protected by the descendants of Jemmy
Button and his tribe ! When Jemmy 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 civilisation.
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 civilised always have the most
artificial governments. For instance, the inhabitants ofOtaheite,.
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, ev^en 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 under-
stand how a chief can arise till there is property of some sort
by which he might manifest his superiority and increase his
powder.

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 civilised. 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

FUEGIANS AND AUSTRALIANS

243

tribes of Southern Africa, prowling about in search of roots, and
hving 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 superior in acquirements, it by no means
follows that he is likewise superior in mental capacity ;
indeed, from what I saw of the Fuegians when on board, and
from what I have read of the Australians, I should think the case
was exactly the reverse.

©. ■^

FA], si; hokx, cape horn.

WOLLASTON ISLAND, TIERRA DEL FUEGO,

CHAPTER XI

Strait of Magellan — Port Famine — Ascent of Mount Tarn — Forests — Edible fungus
— Zoology — Great Seaweed — 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 car-
casses— Recapitulation.

STRAIT OF MAGELLAN. CLIMATE OF THE SOUTHERN COASTS

In 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, which 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 F'aminc and

GIGANTIC PA TA GONIA NS

245

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,^ 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.

PATAGONIANS FROM CAPE GREGORY.

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 the}^ strikingly

^ 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 15th, at Port
St. Julian : in the morning light winds with much rain, followed by a very heavy
squall with rain, — settled into heavy gale with large cumuli, — cleared up, blowing
very strong from S.S. \V. Temperature 60°, dew-point 42°, — difference 18°.

246

TIERRA DEL FUEGO

resemble the more 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, help-

PORT FAMINE, MAGELLAN.

ing themselves with knives, forks, and spoons : nothing was so
much relished as sugar. This tribe has had so much com-
munication with sealers and whalers, that most of the men can
speak a little English and Spanish ; and they are half civilised,
and proportionally demoralised.

The next morning a large party went on shore, to barter for
skins and ostrich-feathers ; firearms 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

PORT FAMINE 247

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
important 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 Cor-
dillera ; 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 (i 580)
these Indians had bows and arrows, now long since disused ; they
then also possessed some horses. This is a very curious fact, show-
ing 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 I 5 80, 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 \st. — We anchored in the fine bay of Port Famine. It
Avas now the beginning of winter, and I never saw a more cheer-
less 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 notable 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.

1 Wtngger, Natui: der Saeiigethiere von Paraguay. S. 334.

248

TIERRA DEL FUEGO

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 daresay they
were worthless vagabonds, but I never saw more
miserable-looking ones. They had been living for
some days on mussel-shells and berries, 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 sno\y, and yet they were in
good health.

During our stay at Port Famine, the Fuegians
twice came and plagued us. As there were 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 {q.^ musket -shots wide of them. The
Fuegians hid them.selves 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 last, 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 trouble-
some, and to frighten them a rocket was fired at
night over their wigwams ; it answered effectually,,
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 morningf not asinele Fucsrian was in the nei£rhbourhood.

^-

PATAGONIAN
BOLAS.

ASCENT OF MOUNT TARN

249-

When the Beagle was here in the month of February, I
started one morning at four o'clock to ascend Mount Tarn,,
which is 2600 feet high, and is the most elevated point in this
immediate district. We went in a boat to the foot of the moun-
tain (but unluckily not to the best part), and then began our
ascent. The forest commences 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 deathlike scene of desolation exceeded all
description ; outside it was blowing a gale, but in these hollows-

PATAGONIAN SPURS AND PIPE.

not even a breath of wind stirred the leaves of the tallest trees.
So gloom}-, 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 bar-
ricaded 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 matter ready
to fall at the slightest touch. W^e 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

250 TIERRA DEL EUECO

of snow, deep yellowish-green valleys, and arms of the sea inter-
secting 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 species 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 }'oung it is elastic and turgid, with
a smooth surface ; but when mature, it shrinks, becomes tougher,
and has its entire surface deeply pitted or honeycombed, as
represented in the accompanying woodcut. This fungus
belongs to a new and curious genus ;- I found a second

' Captain Fitz Roy inft)rms 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 jnore elevated parts. I remember having read some observations, sliowing that
in England the leaves fall earlier in a warm and hne 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.

2 Described from my specimens and notes by the Rev. J. M. Berkeley, in the
IJnnean Transactions (vol. xix. p. 37), under the name of Cyttaria Darwinii : the
Chilian species is the C. Berteroii. This genus is allied to Bulgaria.

XI ZOOLOGY 251

species on another species of beech in Chile ; and Dr. Hooker

informs me that just lately a third species has been discovered

on a third species of beech in Van Diemen's Land. How

singular is this relationship between

parasitical fungi and the trees on which ^"V^^^

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. cyttaria daswinu.

With the exception of a few berries, chiefly of a dwarf arbutus,

the natives eat 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 ex-
pected 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 (Reithrodon chinchilloides), two true mice,
a ctenomys allied to or identical with the tucutuco, two foxes
(Canis Magellanicus and C. Azars), a sea-otter, the guanaco,
and a deer. Most of these animals inhabit only the drier
eastern parts of the countr}- ; and the deer has never been seen
south of the Strait of Magellan. Observing the general corre-
spondence of the cliffs of soft sandstone, mud, and shingle,
on the opposite sides of the Strait, and on some intervening
islands, one is strong!}- 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 correspond-
ence of the clifts is far from proving an}- junction ; because
such cliffs generally are formed by the intersection of sloping
deposits, which, before the elevation of the land, had been
accumulated near the then existing shores. It is, however, a
remarkable coincidence, that in the two large islands cut off
by the Beagle Channel from the rest of Tierra del Fuego, one
has cliffs composed of matter that may be called stratified
alluvium, which front similar ones on the opposite side of the

252 TIERRA DEL FUEGO chap.

channel, — -while the other is exclusively bordered by old crystal-
line 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 is
found.

The gloomy woods are inhabited by few birds : occasionally
the plaintive note of a white-tufted tyrant-flycatcher (Myiobius-
albiceps) may be heard, concealed near the summit of the most
lofty trees ; and more rarely the loud strange cry of a black
woodpecker, 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 impene-
trable 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 ever\' 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 of any species whatever in the whole class of
Reptiles is a marked feature in the zoology of this countr}-, 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
l^utton 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 of Magellan, where the country retains the char-
acter of Patagonia; but within the damp and cold limit of Tierra
del r\iego not one occurs. That the climate would not have

XI SCARCITY OF INSECTS 253

suited some of the orders, such as Hzards, 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
rflarpalidae and Heteromidae) living under stones. The vege-
table-feeding Chrysomelidae, so eminently characteristic of the
Tropics, are here almost entirely absent ;^ I saw ver)' few flies,
butterflies, or bees, and no crickets or Orthoptera. In the pools
of water I found but few aquatic beetles, and not any fresh-
water shells : Succinea at first appears an exception ; but here
it must be called a terrestrial shell, for it lives on the damp
herbage far from water. Land-shells could, be procured 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. I do not believe the}-
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 IMacrocystis p}-rifera.
This plant grows on every rock from low-water mark to a great
depth, both on the outer coast and within the channels.- I

^ I Ijelieve I must except one alpine Hnltica, and a single specimen of a Melasoma.
Mr. Waterhouse informs jne, that of the Harpalida; there are eight or nine species — •
the forms of the greater number being very peculiar ; of Heteromera, four or five
species ; of Rhyncophora six or seven ; and of the following families one species in
each : Staphylinidse, Elateridfe, Cebrionidce, Melolonthida;. The species in the
other 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 Coleoptera have been
carefully described by Mr. Waterhouse in the Annals of A^at. Hist.

2 Its geographical range is remarkably wide ; it is found from the extreme
southern islets near Cape Horn, as far north on the eastern coast (according to
information given me by Mr. Stokes) as lat. 43°, — but on the western coast, as Dr.
Hooker tells me, it extends to the R. San Francisco in California, and perhaps even
to Kamtschatka. We thus have an immense range in latitude ; and as Cook, who
must have been well acquainted \\ith the species, found it at Kerguelen Land, no
less than 140° in longitude.

254 TIERRA DEL FUEGO chap.

believe, during the 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 has 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 per-
pendicular 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 si.xty feet, as stated by Captain
Cook. Captain Fitz Roy, 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 the.se
beds of seaweed. Almost all the leaves, excepting those that
float on the surface, are so thickly incrusted with corallines as

1 Voyages of /he A Jvmture and Beagle, vol. i. p. 363. It appears that seaweed
grows extremely quick. Mr. Stephenson found (Wilson's Voyoge round Sco/hmd,
vol. ii. p. 228) that a rock uncovered only at sprintj-tides, which had been chiselled
smooth in November, on the following May, that is within six months afterwards,
was thickly covered with Fucus digitatus two feet, and F. esculentus six feet, in
length.

GREAT SEAWEED 255

to be of a white colour. We find exquisitely delicate structures,
some inhabited by simple hydra- like polypi, others by more
organised kinds, and beautiful compound Ascidise. On the
leaves, also, various patelliform shells, Trochi, uncovered mol-
luscs, 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, cuttlefish, crabs of
all orders, sea-eggs, starfish, beautiful Holothuriae, Planaria:;,
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 Flustrace^, and some compound Ascidiae ; the
latter, however, are of different species from those in Tierra del
Fuego ; we here see the fucus possessing a w^ider 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 intertropical regions. Yet if in any
country 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 cormorants
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 ?>tk. — 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 atmo-
sphere 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 we caught through the dusky mass were highly interest-
'J^g ; jigged points, cones of snow, blue glaciers, strong outlines,
marked on a lurid sky, were seen at different distances and

^256 TIERRA DEL FUEGO chap.

heights. In the midst of such scenery we anchored at Cape
Turn close to Mount Sarmiento, 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 gth. — In the morning we were delighted by seeing the
veil of mist gradually rise from Sarmiento, 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 admirabl}'
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 consequence obliged to stand off and on in this
narrow arm of the sea, during a pitch-dark night of fourteen
hours long.

Jime loth. — 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. Narborough called one part South Desolation, because it is
** so desolate a land to behold :" and well indeed might lie 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 ;

CLIMATE AND PRODUCTIONS 257

and a little farther northward there are so many breakers that
the sea is called the ]\Iilky Way. One sight of such a coast is
enough to make a landsman dream for a week about ship-
wrecks, peril, and death ; and with this sight we bade farewell
for ever to Tierra del P'uego.

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 Fiugo and of
the Sonth-zuest Coast. — The following table gives the mean
temperature of Tierra del Fuego. the Falkland Islands, and,
for comparison, that of Dublin : —

Latitude.

Tierra del Fuego . . 53° 38' S.

Falkland Islands . . 5 1 30 S.

Dublin . . . 53 21 X.

Hence we see that the central part of Tierra del Fuego is
colder in winter, and no less than g^ less hot in summer, than
Dublin. According to Von Buch the mean temperature of
July (not the hottest month in the year) at Salten fiord in
Norwa}-, is as high as 57°.8, and this place is actuall}' 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. 5 5° S. I have already remarked to what a
degree the sea swarms with living creatures ; and the shells

' With respect to Tierra del Fuego, the results are deduced fiom the observations
by Capt. King {Geograpliical Journal^ 1830), and those taken on board the Beagle.
For the Falkland Islands, I am indebted to Capt. Sulivan for the mean of the mean
temperature (reduced from careful observation at midnight, 8 A.M., noon, and
8 P.M.) of the three hottest months, viz. December, January, and February. The
temperature of Dublin is taken from Barton.
18

Summer
Temp.

50°
51

59 -54

Winter
Temp.

33°-o8

M

ean of Summer
and Winter.

4i°-54

39 -2

49 -lil

258 TIERRA DEL FUEGO AND WEST COAST

(such as the Patellae, Fissurellse, 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., 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 characterised 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 lat. 39°
on the coast of Portugal a bed containing numerous shells
belonging to three species of Oliva, to a Voluta, 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 P^uego
extends, with only a small increase of heat, for many degrees
along the west coast of the continent. The forests, for 600
miles northward of Cape Horn, have a very similar aspect. As
a proof of the equable climate, even for 300 or 400 miles still
farther 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 perfec-
tion. Even the crops of barley and wheat ^ are often brought
into the houses to be dried and ripened. At Valdivia (in the
same latitude of 40° \\\\\\ 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 Rio Negro, under nearly the same parallel
with Valdivia, 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 inter-
tropical regions. Stately trees of many kinds, with smooth
and highly coloured barks, arc loaded by parasitical monocoty-

^ Agiier6s, Descnp. Hist, dc la Prov. de Chiloe, 1791, ]"). 94.

XI HEIGHT OF SNOW-LINE 259

ledonous 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. },7° \ 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
compared with the land, seems to extend over the greater part
of the southern hemisphere ; and as a consequence, the vegeta-
tion 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 arbor-
escent fern was found by Forster in New Zealand in 46°, where
orchideous plants are parasitical 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 HeigJit of the Snozv-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 : —

Latitude , r? ,• Observer,

Height in feet
of Snow-linc.

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, hit. 41° to 43° S. . . 6000 Officers oi \.h.& Beagle^

and the Author.
Tierra del Fuego, 54° S. . . 3500 to 4000 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 3 5 00 or 4000 feet above the level
of the sea ; although in Norway, we must travel to between
lat. ^y" 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

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

26o DESCENT OF GLACIERS chap.

only 5600 to 7500 feet) and in central Chile ^ (a distance of only
9" of latitude) is truly wonderful. The land from the south-
ward of Chiloe to near Concepcion (lat. '':)7°^ 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
Concepcion, the sky is generally clear, rain does not fall for the
seven summer months, and southern European fruits succeed
admirably ; and even the sugar-cane has been cultivated.^
No 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
land 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 4000
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 " tremendous 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
co^ists. It is known that earthquakes frcqucntl)' cause masses
of earth to fall from sea-cliffs: how terrific, then, would be the

^ On the Cordillera of CL'ntral 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 23,000 feet. It is probable that much of the snow at these great heights
is evaporated, rather than thawed.

^ Miers's Chile, vol. i. p. 415. It is said that the sugar-cane grew at Ingenio,
lat. 32° to 33", but not in sufiicient (juantity to make the manufacture profitable. la
the valley of Quillota, south <.^{ Ingenio, I saw some large date-palm trees.

FLOATING ICEBERGS

261

effect of a severe shock (and such occur here ^) 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 inconsiderable size, of granite

46° 40'

50

47 00

GLACIER IN GULF OF PENAS

and other rocks, different from the clay-slate of the surrounding
mountains. The glacier farthest from the Pole, surveyed
during the voyages of the Adventure and Beagle, is in lat. 46°
50', in the Gulf of Pena.s. It is 15 miles long, and in one
part 7 broad, and descends to the sea-coast. But 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

1 Bulkeley's and Cummin's Faithful N^arrative of the Loss of the Wager.
earthquake happened August 25, 1 741.

2 Agiieros, Desc, Hist, de Chiloe, p. 227.

The

262 ERRATIC BOULDERS chap.

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. ^j" . Now this is more than 20° of latitude,
or I 230 miles, nearer the pole than the Laguna de San Rafael.
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 7^-° 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\° from arborescent
grasses, and (looking to the westward in the 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 formation 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 transportal of boulders
and the presence of ice in some form, is strikingly shown b}'
their geographical distribution over the earth. In South
America they are not found farther than 48° of latitude,
measured from the southern pole ; in North America it appears

' Geological Transactions, vol. vi. ]i. 415.

XI CLIMATE OF ANTARCTIC ISLANDS 263

that the hmit of their transportal extends to 5 3^° from the
northern pole ; but in Europe to not more than 40° of latitude,
measured from the same point. On the other hand, in the
intertropical 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 Proauctions of the A ntarctic Islands. —
Considering 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 }-ear, " covered many
fathoms thick with everlasting snow ; " and there seems to be
scarcely any vegetation. Georgia, an island 96 miles long
and 10 broad, in the latitude of Yorkshire, "in the very height
•of summer, is in a manner 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 land-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
congealed, 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) \\'e have the zone
of perpetuall)' frozen under-soil in a low latitude — namely, in
56° in North America at the depth of three feet,^ and in 62°

^ I have given details (the first, I 1)elieve, pul^lished) on this subject in the first
edition, and in the Appendix to it. I have there shown that tiie apparent exceptions
to the absence of erratic l)ouklers in certain hot countries are due to erroneous
observations ; several statements there given I have since found confirmed by various
authors.

2 CeograpJiical Journal, 1830, pp. 65, 66.

^ Richardson's Append, to Back's Exped. and Humboldt's Fragm. Asiat. torn,
ii. p. 3S6.

264 CLIMATE AND PRODUCTIONS OF chap.

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 con-
gelation under the equable climate of the southern hemisphere,
than under 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 6'^° S.),
in a rather lower latitude than that (lat. 64° N.), under which
Pallas found the frozen rhinoceros in Siberia, is very interesting.
x\lthough 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
under-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 man\' 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

Messrs. Dease and Simpson, in Gcograph. Jotirn. vol. viii. pp. 218 and 220.

THE AXTARCTIC ISLANDS

26:

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 3 2 \ as is the
case on the land \\ith the soil
at the depth of a few feet.
At still greater depths the
temperature of the mud and
water would probabl}- not be
low enough to preserve the
flesh ; and hence, carcasses
drifted be}^ond the shallow
parts near an arctic coast,
would have only their skele-
tons preserved : now in the
extreme northern parts of
Siberia bones are infinitely
numerous, so that even islets
are said to be almost com-
posed of them ;^ 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 pre-
vent the heat of the summer
water penetrating to it ; and
if, when the sea-bottom was
upraised into land, the cover-
ing was sufficiently thick to
prevent the heat of the
summer air and sun thawing and corrupting it.

' Cuvier {Ossemens Fossiles, torn. i. p. 151), from Billing's Voyage.

FLORA OF MAGELLAN.

266 RECAPITULATION

Recapitulation. — I will recapitulate the principal facts with
regard to the climate, ice-action, and organic productions of the
southern hemisphere, transposing the places in imagination to
Europe, with whicli we are so much better acquainted. Then,
near Lisbon, the commonest sea-shells, namely, three species
of Oliva, a Voluta, and Terebra, would have a tropical character.
In the southern provinces of France, magnificent forests, entwined
by arborescent grasses and with the trees loaded with parasitical
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 parasitical Orchideae 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 large 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 frequently
reverberate with the falls of the, and so often would great
waves rush along their coasts ; numerous icebergs, some as
tall as cathedrals, and occasionall)' loaded with " no inconsider-
able 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

RECAPITULA TION

267

attempting to penetrate a long arm of
the sea, would behold the not lofty sur-
rounding mountains, sending down their
many grand icy streams to the sea-coast,
and their 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 com-
monly received opinion ; and I cannot still
avoid the suspicion that it is applicable even to
such tases as that of the Jura. Dr. Richardson
has assured me that the icebergs off North
America push before them pebbles and sand,
and leave the submarine rocky fiats quite bare ;
it is hardly possible to doubt that such ledges
must be polished and scored in the direction of
the set of the prevailing currents. Since writing
that Appendix, I have seen in North Wales
{London Phil. Mag. vol. xxi. p. 180) the
adjoining action of glaciers and of floating
icebergs.

MACKOCVSTIS PVKIFERA, OK MAGELLAN KELP

TROCHILUS FORFICATUS.

CHAPTER XII

Valparaiso — Excursion to the foot of the Andes — Structure of the land — Ascend
the Bell of Quillota — Shattered masses of greenstone — Immense valleys — Mines
- — State of miners — Santiago — Hot-baths of Cauquenes — Gold-mines — Grind-
ing-mills — Perforated stones — Habits of the Puma — El Turco and Tapacolo —
Humming-birds.

CENTRAL CHILE

July 2yd. — 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 1 600 feet high, and rather steep.

BAY OF VALPARAISO 269

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 ver}' scanty vegetation,
are worn into numberless little gullies, which expose a singularly
bright red soil. From this cause, and from the low white-
washed houses with tile roofs, the view reminded me of St.
Cruz in Teneriffe. In a north-easterly direction there are
some fine glimpses of the Andes ; but these mountains appear
much grander when viewed from the neighbouring hills ; the
great distance at which they are situated can then more
readily be perceived. The volcano of Aconcagua is particularly
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 they are seen. When the sun was setting in
the Pacific, it was admirable to watch how clearly their rugged
outlines could be distinguished, yet how varied and how
delicate were the shades of their colour.

I had the good fortune to find living here Mr. Richard
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 Beagles 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
onh' 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 350 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

270 CENTRAL CHILE

scented. I did not cease from wonder at finding each suc-
ceeding day as fine as the foregoing. What a difference does
chmate make in the enjoyment of hfe ! 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 i^th. — I set out on a riding excursion, for the
purpose of geologising 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 arc
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
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.

i^th. — We returned towards the valley of Quillota. 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 Quillota was
immediately under our feet. The prospect was one of remark-
able 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,
iind this from the contrast renders the patchwork valley the
more pleasing. Whoever called " Valparaiso " the " Valley of

DESCRIPTION OF CHILE

271

Paradise," must have been thinking of Quillota. 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
land 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 outer lines and
the main Cordillera, a succession of level basins, generally
opening into each other by narrow passages, extend far to the

HACIENDA, CONDOR, CACTUS, ETC.

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 Quillota)
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 mu^t 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

272 CENTRAL CHILE

little coves and bays ; and here and there a solitary hillock
peeping up showed that it had formerly stood there as an
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 land 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 scant}-. 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.

\6th. — 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 guanaco 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 excessixch' lumierous
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

XII THE BELL OF QUILLOTA 273

hundred thousand. Every year in the early spring, in August,
very many are cut down, and when the trunk is l}'ing on the
ground, the crown of leaves is lopped off. The sap then
immediately begins to flow from the upper end, and continues
so doing for some months ; it is, however, necessar}' 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 distinguished 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 peaks of the Andes yet retained a ruby tint.
When it was dark, we 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.

August iJtJi. — In the morning we climbed up the rough
mass of greenstone which crowns the summit. This rock, as
19

274 CENTRAL CHILE

frequently happens, was much shattered and broken into huge
angular fragments. 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 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
ascending Mount Wellington, in Van Diemen's Land, 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 Ouillota
directly intersecting them. Who can avoid wondering at the
force which 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
sedimentary 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 mountains — 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 horizontal, 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.

XII GAUCHOS AND GUASOS 275

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 unexamined. I spent the evening as before,
talking round the fire with my two companions. The Guasos
of Chile, who correspond to the Gauchos of the Pampas, are,
however, a very different set of beings. Chile is the more
civilised of the two countries, and the inhabitants, in con-
sequence, have lost much individual character. Gradations in
rank are much more strongly 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 cat at
the same time with myself This feeling of inequality 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 payment, but yet is so kindly offered that no
scruples can be raised in accepting it. Almost every house
in Chile will receive }-ou 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 excepting when
on its 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 ; v.^hich 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

276 CENTRAL CHILE

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 1 8///. — 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 Ouillota,
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 deserts must be superb. We
passed likewise San Felipe, a pretty straggling town like
Ouillota. 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 Rex is dead, how many more of the family
of Rexes are yet alive ? " This Rex 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
Swansea, 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,
encourages 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 improve-

CHILIAN MINERS

277

ments 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 are recovered in

abundance. I have actually seen

mules carrying to the coast, for

transportation to England, a cargo

of such cinders. But 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 veins

for a {cwr 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 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 are allowed

^

CHILIAN MINER.

CENTRAL CHILE

a little chaiqui. But these men come down from their bleak
habitations only once in every fortnight or three weeks.

During my stay here 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

CACTUS ; CEREUS PERUVIANA.

barren mountains, dotted at intervals by bushes with a scanty
foliage. The cactuses, or rather opuntias, were here very
numerous. I measured one of a splierical figure, which, includ-
ing the spines, was si.K 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 me, during
the last two days, from making some interesting cxcur.-,...is.
I attempted to reach a lake which the inhabitants, from some

LEA VE JAJUEL 279

unaccountable 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 con-
sultation, 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 difficulty in returning. I thought we should
have lost our horses ; for there was no means of guessing how
deep the drifts were, and the 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 S. 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 quite 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 my part I do not think that Chile sees with
an\\"

August 2'jtJi. — 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
scenen^ 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,
t .ered in parts by woods of acacia, and with the city in the
distance, abutting horizontally against the base of the Andes.

28o CENTRAL CHILE

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
hospitality 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 so fine or so large as Buenos Ay res,
but is built after the 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 ^tJi. — By the middle of the day we arrived at
one of the suspension bridges made of hide, which crosses 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 seiloritas.
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.

6//^. — We proceeded due south, and slept at Rancagua.
The road passed over the level but narrow plain, bounded on

XII HOT SPRINGS OF CAUQUENES 281

one side by lofty hills, and on the other by the Cordillera.
The next day we turned up the valley of the Rio 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 disagreeable, 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 is then extremely great, as
might be plainly seen by the marks which they had left. W'e
reached the baths in the evening, and sta\'ed 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 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 on a line of
dislocation, crossing a mass of stratified rock, the whole of which
betra}'s the action of heat. A considerable quantity of gas is
continually escaping from the same orifices with the water.
Though the springs are only a {q.\\ 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 tem-
perature 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 1835 ; 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 disturbances 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 contradictor}-. The

1 Caldcleugh, in Philosoph. Transact, for 1836.

28a CENTRAL CHILE

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 acquainted with
the circumstance, — which, if true, certainly is very curious ; for,
we must suppose that the snow-water, being conducted through
porous 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 tliat point, the Cachapual divides into two deep
tremendous ravines, which penetrate directly into the great range.
[ scrambled up a peaked mountain, probably more than six
thousand feet high. Here, as indeed everywhere else, scenes of
the highest interest presented themselves. It was by one of
these ravines that Pincheira entered Chile and ravaged the
neighbouring country. This is the same man whose attack on
an estancia at the Rio 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 unattempted, 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 Rosas waged the war of
extermination.

September i 3///. — We left the baths of Cauquenes, and rejion-
ing the main road slept at the Rio Claro. From this place we
rode to the town of S. 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.
S. Fernando is forty leagues from Santiago ; and it was my

xH YAQUIL GOLD-MINES 283

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 we 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 wc arrived at the mine, I was struck by the pale
appearance of many of the men, and inquired from Mr. Nixon
respecting their condition. The mine is 450 feet deep, and
each man brings up about 200 pounds weight of stone. With
this load they have to climb 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 j'ears 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 and 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
Jajuel, 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

' Annales des Sciejtrcs Naturelles, March 1 833. M. Gay, a zealous and able
naturalist, was then occupied in studying every branch of natural histoiy throughout
the kingdom of Chile.

284 CENTRAL CHILE

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
impalpable 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 Qf chemical action then
commsnces, 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 process 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 dis-
covery 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 the minute particles of gold, being
scattered about and not corroding, 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
mill ; they washed the earth thus got together, and so pro-
cured thirty dollars worth of gold. This is an exact counter-
part of what takes place in nature. Mountains suffer degrada-
tion 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 {(t\v others arc nearly indestructible, and from
their weight, sinking to the bottom^ are left behind. After
whole mountains have passed through this grinding-mill, 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

INDIAN RELIC 285

gladly accepted of by them ; for the condition of the labouring
agriculturists 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 cultivating, and in return has his
services (or those of a proxy) for every day of his life, M-ithout
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 is 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.

One day, a German collector in natural history, of the
name of Renous, called, and nearly at the same time an old
Spanish lawyer. I was amused at being told the conversation
which took place between them. Renous speaks Spanish so
well that the old lawyer mistook him for a Chilian. Renous,
alluding to me, asked him what he thought of the King of Eng-
land 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, — Jiay
nn gato ciiccrrado 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 Eng-
land, do not you think the King of England would very soon
send us out of his country?" And this old gentleman, from
1 Burchell's Travels, vol. ii. p. 45,

286 CENTRAL CHILE

his profession, belongs to the better informed and more intelli-
gent classes ! Renous himself, two or three years before, left
in a house at S. 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 Renous returned, he was
arrested.

September \()t/L — We left Yaquil, and followed the flat
valley, formed like that of Ouillota, in which the Rio
Tinderidica flows. Even at these iew miles south of Santiago
the climate is much damper ; in consequence there were fine
tracts of pasturage, which were not irrigated. (20///) We
followed this valley till it expanded into a great plain, which
reaches from the sea to the mountains west of Rancagua. 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 surprised at
meeting with such scenery in Chile. The plains belong to
more than one series of difierent elevations, and they are
traversed 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 arc some large 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 22nd. — We continued to pass over green plains
without a tree. The next day we arrived at a house near
Navedad, on the sea-coast, where a rich Ilaciendero gave us
lodgings. I stayed here the two ensuing days, and although
very unwell, managed to collect from the tertiary formation
some marine shells.

24///. — 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

THE PUMA 287

time I was an inmate in Mr. Corfield'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. 1 he 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 Patagonia, as far south as the damp 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. 1 his 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 wheehng in the air, cried "A lion!"
I could never mj^self 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.
At Tandecl (south of the Plata) I was told that within three
months one 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

CENTRAL CHILE

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 oftens 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 Ptcroptochos (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 whisJi 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 Hfe 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. a,lbicollisj 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 hedgerows, and the bushes scattered over the
barren hills, where scarcely another bird can exist. In its
general manner of feeding, of quickly hopping out of the thickets

HUMMING BIRDS

and back again, in its desire of concealment, unwillingness to
take flight, and nidification, it bears a close resemblance to the
Turco ; butits appearance is not quite so ridiculous. TheTapacolo
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 expanded and shut like a fan, the

^ It is a remarkable fact, that Molina, though describing in detail all the birds
and animals 9f 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 tiiat 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.
20

290

CENTRAL CHILE

CHAP. XII

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.

CHILIAN SPURS, STIKKUP, ETC.

OLD CHUPCH, CASTRO, CHILOE.

CHAPTER XIII

Chiloe — General aspect — Boat excursion — Native Indians — Castro — Tame fox —
Ascend San Pedro — Chonos Archipelago — Peninsula of Tres Montes — Granitic
range — Boat-wrecked sailors — Low's Harbour — Wild potato — Formation of
peat — Myopotamus, otter and mice — Cheucau and Barking-bird — Opetio-
rhynchus — Singular character of ornithology — Petrels.

CHILOE AND CHONOS LSLANUS

November loth.- — 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 2 1st 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 {aw green
patches have been cleared round the thatched cottages. From

292 CHILOE CHAP.

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 detest-
able, 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 humble, quiet, industrious 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 production which requires much sunshine
to ripen it. There is very little pasture for the larger quadru-
peds ; and in consequence, the staple articles of food are pigs,
potatoes, and fish. The people all dress in strong woollen
garments, which each family makes for itself, and dyes with
indigo of a dark blue colour. The arts, however, 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 are
scarcely passable from the soft and swampy state of the soil.
The inhabitants, like those of Tierra del Fuego, move about
chiefly on the beach or in boats. Although with plenty to
eat, the people are very poor : there is no demand for labour,
and consequently the lower orders cannot scrape together
money sufficient to purchase 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 carrying a plank to exchange
for a bottle of wine. Hence every tradesman must also be

BOAT EXCURSION 293

a merchant, and again sell the goods which he takes in
exchange.

November 24///. — 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 proceed by the outside, so as thus to circum-
navigate 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 extremity 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
evergreen 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.

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.
We had not long bivouacked, before the barefooted son of the
governor came down to reconnoitre us. Seeing the English
flag hoisted at the yawl's masthead, 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. x-\ll 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.

294 CHILOE CHAP.

2'^th. — 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 impervious blackish-green forest. On the
margins there are some cleared spaces, surrounding the high-
roofed cottages.

26///. — The day rose splendidly clear. The volcano of
Osorno was spouting out volumes of smoke. This most
beautiful mountain, formed like a perfect cone, and white with
snow, stands out 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, althougii 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 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 me 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 civilisation, however
low that may be, which their white conquerors have attained.

TENURE OF LAND 295

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 same with that of
the other poor inhabitants, and they are all Christians ; but
it is said that they yet retain some strange superstitious
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
Ouinchao 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 govern-
ment, which makes it necessary, before buying ever so small
a piece, to pay two shillings 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
land 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 drawback to the prosperity of Chiloe. In the time
of the Spaniards the Indians could not hold land ; 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

296 CHILOE CHAP,

man, according to his grade of life, a certain portion of land.
The value of uncleared ground is very little. The government
gave Mr. Douglas (the present surveyor, who informed me of
these circumstances) eight and a half square miles of forest
near San Carlos, in lieu of a debt; and this he sold for 350
dollars, or about £jo sterling.

The two succeeding days were fine, and at night we reached
the island of Quinchao. This neighbourhood is the most culti-
vated 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 farm-
houses 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 considered as possessing a regular
income. One of the richest landowners might possibly accumu-
late, in a long industrious life, as much as i^iooo 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 TjOth. — Early on Sunday morning we reached
Castro, the ancient capital of Chiloe, but now a most forlorn
and deserted place. The usual quadrangular arrangement of
Spanish towns could be traced, but the streets and plaza
were coated with fine green turf, on which sheep were brows-
ing. The church, which stands in the middle, is entirely built
of plank, and has a picturesque and venerable appearance.
The poverty of the place may be conceived from the fact, that
although containing some hundreds of inhabitants, one of our
party was unable anywhere to purchase either a pound of
sugar or an ordinary knife. No individual possessed either
a watch 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

XIII POVERTY OF THE hXDIANS 297

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 he had passed the
night. He seemed perfectly content, and answered, " Muy
bien, sefior."

December \st. — 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 (probabl}- 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. ]\Ioney was scarcely worth an\-thing, 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. They occasionally possess fowls, sheep, goats,
pigs, horses, and 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 Ca\len,
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

298 CHILOE CHAP.

be a fine duck; and with 'some cotton handkerchiefs, worth
three shilHngs, 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 understanding Spanish, if we saw
any person in the dark, we should assuredly shoot him. The
constable, with much humility, 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 south-
ward. The general features of the country remained the same,
but it was much less thickly inhabited. On the large island of
Tanqui there 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. The leaf is nearly circular, but deeply
indented on its margin. I measured 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 Cristi-
andad." In the morning we 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 fiirther south
than the Rio Negro on the Atlantic coast. These extreme
Christians were very poor, and, under the pica of their situation,
begged for some tobacco. 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 a.xe and a ^c\x fish. How very difficult it must be to buy
the smallest article, when such trouble is taken to recover .so
small a debt !

SAN PEDRO 299

In the evening we reached the island of San Pedro, where
we found the Beagle at anchor. In doubHng the point, two of
the officers landed to take a round of angles with the theodolite.
A fox (Canis 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 Roy, with a part}', 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 sound-
ings. 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 b)' 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 alerce pine. I was
also pleased to see, at an elevation of a little less than looo
feet, our old friend the southern beech. They were, however,
poor stunted trees ; and I should think that this must be nearly
their northern limit. We ultimately gave up the attempt in
despair.

December \otJi. — The }'awl and whale-boat, with Mr. Sulivan,
proceeded on their survey, but I remained on board the Beagle,
which the next day left San Pedro for the southward. On the

300

CHONOS ARCHIPELAGO

I 3th 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.

INSIDE CHONOS ARCHIPELAGO.

sublime scene. During a few minutes there was a bright rain-
bow, 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 distorted, but \-cry
nearly entire ring.

We stayed here three days. The weather continued bad ;
but this did not much 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 require.s

XIII SUCCESSFUL ASCENT OF A HILL 301

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 \%tJi. — 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. The
ne.xt day a harbour was discovered, which on this dangerous
coast might be of great service to a distressed vessel. It can
easily be recognised by a hill 1 600 feet high, which is even
more perfectly conical than the famous sugar-loaf at Rio de
Janeiro. The next day, after anchoring, I succeeded in
reaching the summit of this hill. It was a laborious under-
taking, 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 on 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

302 C HON OS ARCHIPELAGO

that the soHtary 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.

Dtxeinber 28///. — 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,
witliout 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 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 10th. — 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 beginning 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

LARGE NUMBERS OF SEALS 303

structure of these mountains. The compHcated and lofty
ranges bore a noble aspect of durability — equall}' 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 roclv, and, how-
ever formed, we know it is the deepest la\-er in the crust of this
globe to which man has penetrated. The limit of man's know-
ledge in any subject possesses a high interest, which is perhaps
increased b}' its close neighbourhood to the realms of imagination.

January \st, 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 da\-s, we
only managed to cross a great bay, and then anchored in
another secure 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 quite 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 turke\--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 the\' rely for their food. We found the water (probably
only that of the surface) nearly fresh : this was caused b\- 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

304 CHONOS ARCHIPELAGO

were again amused by the impetuous 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.

jtJi. — 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 consequence 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 neighbouring 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 in great abundance,
on 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 water}'
and insipid, without 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

^ Horticultural Transact, vol. v. p. 249. Mr. Caldcleugh sent home two tuber.s,
which, being well nianured, even the first season produced numerous potatoes and an
abundance of leaves. See Humboldt's interesting discussion on this jilant, which
it appears was unknown in Mexico, — in Polit. Essay oti Ncio Spain, book iv.
chap. ix.

xiii FORMATION OF PEAT 305

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 Chonos 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
extraordinar}'.^ In Tierra del Fuego trees grow only on the
hill-sides ; 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 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 magellanica), which b}' their joint decay
compose 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 production of peat. Fresh leaves are alwa}-s 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 obser\-ed passing through every
stage of decomposition, till the whole becomes blended in one
confused mass. The Astelia is assisted by a few other plants,
- — here and there a small creeping ]\Iyrtus (M. nummularia),
with a woody stem like our cranberry and with a sweet berry,

^ By sweeping with my insect-net, I procured from these situations a considerable
■number of minute insects, of the family of Staphylinidse, and others allied to
Pselaphus, and minute Hymenoptera. But the most characteristic family in number,
both of individuals and species, throughout the more open parts of Chiloe and Chonos
is that of the Telephorida;.
21

3o6 CHONOS ARCHIPELAGO chap.

- — an Empetrum (E. rubrum), 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, complete the
disorganisation 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
portion 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-characterised 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. 35°)
I was told by a Spanish 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

ORNITHOLOGY 307

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 cuttlefish ; 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 succession 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
superstitious fear by the Chilotans, on account of its strange and
varied cries. There are three very distinct cries : one is called
" chiduco," 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 " f Pteroptochos Tarnii), and by the
English the barking-bird. This latter name is well given ; for

^ 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 tlie smaller
gnawing animals on islands not very near each other.

3o8 CHONOS ARCHIPELAGO chap.

I 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 may
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
Patagonicus) 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 dis-
turb 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 first
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 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

^ 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 September 20th, in lat. 34°,
these birds had young ones in tlie nest, while among the Chonos Islands, three months
later in the summer, they were only laying, the difference in latitude between these
two places being about 700 miles.

ORNITHOLOGY 309

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 (que-
brantahuesos, 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 without seeing on what it feeds.
The " break -bones " is, however, a rapacious bird, for it was
observed by some of the officers at Port St. Antonio chasing a
diver, which tried to escape by diving and flying, but was con-
tinually 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 Chiloe. 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 move-
ment takes flight. After flying b}' 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 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
living, and its choice of situation, make it at first doubtful

CHONOS ARCHIPELAGO

CIIAP. XllI

whether its relationship 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
Fueeo.

GUNNERA SCABRA, CHILOE.

ANTLCO VOLCANO, NEAR TALCAHUANO.

CHAPTER XIV

San Carlos, Chiloe — Osorno in eruption contemporaneously with Aconcagua and
Coseguina — Ride to Cucao — Impenetrable forests — Valdivia — Indians — Earth-
quake— Concepcion — Great earthquake — Rocks fissured — Appearance of the
former towns — The sea black and boiling — Direction 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.

CHILOE AND CONCEPCION : GREAT EARTHOUAKE-

On January the 1 5th we sailed from Lou'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 obser\-ed
something like a large star, which gradually increased in size
till about three o'clock, when it presented a very magnificent

312 CHILD E CHAP.

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.

PANORAMIC VIEW OF COAST.

QUELLAYPO.

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 this same night ;
and still more surprised to hear, that the great eruption of
Coseguina (2700 miles north of Aconcagua), accompanied by
an earthquake felt over 1000 miles, also occurred within six
hours of this same time. This coincidence is the more remark-
able, as Coseguina had been dormant for twenty-six }'ears :
and Aconcagua most rarely shows any signs of action. It is
difficult even to conjecture whether, this coincidence was
accidental, or shows some subterranean connection. If Vesu-
vius, Etna, and Hecla in Iceland (all three relatively nearer
each other than the corresponding points in South America),

CHILOE

zn

suddenly burst forth in eruption on the same night, 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 2 000 miles on the western coast, show in how equable
and connected a manner the elevatory forces have acted.

Captain Fitz Roy 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

INSIDE ISLAND OF CHII.OE.

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 2 2 nd. We had not proceeded far, before we were
joined by a woman and two 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 firearms. At first
the country consisted of a succession of hills and valle\'s :
nearer to Castro it became ver}' 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 laid longitudinally, or narrow and placed transversel}-. In
summer the road is not very bad : but in winter, when the
wood is rendered slippery from rain, travelling is exceedingly

314 CHILD E CHAP.

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 b)' transverse
poles, which are pegged on each side into the earth. These
pegs render a fall from a horse dangerous ; 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 occasionally a long reach of this avenue could be beheld,
it presented a curious scene of uniformity : the white line of logs,
narrowing 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 man}- 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 penetrable 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 ; )'et even this could hardly dis-
sipate the effect of the gloomy dampness of the forest. More-
over, the many dead trunks that stand like skeletons, never fail
to give to these primeval woods a character of solemnity, absent

XIV CHILOE 315

in those of countries long civilised. 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 our 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 enjoyment) of the multi-
tude of stars which illumined the darkness of the forest.

January 2yd. — -We rose early in the morning, and reached
the pretty quiet town of Castro by two o'clock. The old
governor had 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
more disinterested 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 commandant 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 wind-
ing paths, sometimes passing through magnificent forests, and
sometimes through pretty cleared spots, abounding with corn
and potato crops. This undulating woody country, partially
cultivated, reminded me of the wilder parts of England, and
therefore had to my e\'e 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,

3i6 CHILOE CHAP.

for the phenomenon, as described to us at San Carlos, was quite
a prodigy.

The road to Cucao was so very bad that we determined to
embark in 2. periagua. The commandant, in the most authori-
tative manner, ordered six Indians to get ready to pull us
over, without deigning to tell them whether they would 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 difficult}-, but the
Indians managed it in a minute. They brought the cow along-
side 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 pa\-s 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 tolerabh' dressed
in clothes of their own manufacture, and they have plenty to eat.
They seemed, however, discontented, }'et 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 com-
panions, 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 con-
descending to say how much, or indeed whether the owners should

XIV RIDE TO PUNTA HUANTAMO 317

be paid at all. In the morning, being left alone with these poor
people, we soon ingratiated 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
breaking. 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 quagmire. 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 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 much esteemed. I saw at Low's Harbour the
Chilotans making chichi, or cider, with this fruit : so true is it,
as Humboldt remarks, that almost everywhere man finds means
of preparing some kind of beverage from the vegetable kingdom.
The savages, however, of Tierra del Fuego, and I believe of
Australia, have not advanced thus far in the arts.

The coast to the north of Punta Huantamo 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 cat 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

31 8 CHILOE . CHAP.

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 A^th. — Sailed from Chiloe. During the last week
I 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 gloom and ceaseless rain of winter, Chiloe
might pass for a charming island. There is also something
very attractive in the simplicity and humble politeness 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 ri\er,
occasionally passing a {q.\\ 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

VALDIVIA 319

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 sometimes 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 twent}'-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 invencion," by giving an account
of the several useful things he manufactured from his apples.
After making cider, and 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 i itJi- — 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 {&\\ 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

320 VALDIVIA CHAP.

is with this plant that the Indians make their chuzos, or long
tapering spears. Our resting-house was so dirty that I preferred
sleeping outside : on these journeys the first night is generally
very uncomfortable, 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.

\2tJi. — 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 vieu^ 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 ; )'et, 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 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 Valdi\ia 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 wi\-es as they
can support, and a cacique will sometimes ha\-e more than ten :
on entering his house, the number ma)- be told by that of the
separate fires. Each wife lives a week in tin^n with the cacicjue ;

■«*'■••

XIV ARAUCARIAN INDIANS 321

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 petticoat, 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 inde-
pendence 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 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,

with 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
22

322 VALIDIVIA

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 daresay grateful, they would hardly con-
descend 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 pro-
ceeded on board.

A i&w days afterwards I crossed the bay with a party of
officers, and landed 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 courtyard a little
mountain of mortar, which rivals in hardness the rock on
which it is placed. It was brought from Chile, and cost 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. He offered, however, to lead me, by
following obscure cattle -tracks, the shortest way : the walk,
nevertheless, took no less than three hours ! This man is
employed in 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 20th. — This day has been memorable in the
annals of Valdivia, for the most severe earthquake experienced

XIV GREAT EARTHQUAKE 323

by the oldest inhabitant. I happened to be on shore, and
was l\'ing 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 my companion and myself to come
from due east, whilst others thought they proceeded 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 Roy 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 elTects. Within the forest it
was a deeply interesting, but by no means an awe-e.xciting
phenomenon. 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 great waves, to high-water mark, and
then as quickly returned to its proper le\-el ; 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.

March A^tli. — We entered the harbour of Concepcion.

324 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 Talcahuano." 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, which
composes the foundation of the island, was still more curious :
the superficial parts of some narrow ridges were as completely
shivered as if they had been blasted by gunpowder. 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-
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

XIV EFFECTS OF THE EARTHQUAKE 325

Ouiriquina, 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
be 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-dorno 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. Rising 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 easil\^ 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 twelv'e days no less than three
hundred were counted.

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

326 CONCEPCION

streets little hillocks of brickwork and rubbish. Mr. Rouse,
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 courtyard, 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 ruined, and few had the means of providing 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
geological 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, the beautiful public and private edifices? If the
new period of disturbance 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.

Shortly after the shock, a great wave was seen from the

GREAT WAVE 327

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 i 5 feet inwards. 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 successfully
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 coldness — that most grievous result
of the loss of wealth. Mr. Rouse, 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 without shelter.

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

328 CONCEPCION chap.

another like the 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 i 822 ; 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 volcanoes 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

XIV LINES OF VIBRATION 329

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, extended in a S.E.
and N.W. direction, and therefore corresponded to the lines of
undulation or of principal 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 brick-
work 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 exceedingly 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 circum-
stance was observed after an earthquake at Valparaiso, Calabria,
and other places, including some of the ancient Greek temples.^
This twisting displacement at first appears to indicate a vorti-
cose movement beneath each point thus affected ; but this is
highly improbable. IMay it not be caused by a tendency in
each stone to arrange itself in some particular position 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

^ M. Arago in D Instititt, 1839, p. 337. See also Miers's Chile, vol. i. p. 392 ;
also Lyell's Principles of Geology, chap, xv, book ii.

330 CONCEPCION

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 and labour, overthrown in one minute ;
yet compassion for the inhabitants was almost instantly banished,
by the surprise in seeing 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 disturb-
ance 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
Madeira 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 ba}'s, have suffered
during every severe earthquake from great waves, Valparaiso,
seated close to the edge of profoundly deep water, has never

XIV PERMANENT ELEVATION OF THE LAND 331

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 occur-
rence, the cause 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 move-
ments 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
permanent 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 discover 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
Avas 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 have 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 accompanied or caused the earthquake of this
year, and likewise by an insensibly slow rise, which is certainly
in progress on some parts 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

332 CONCEPCION

that the trees beat against each other, and a volcano burst
forth under water close to the shore : these facts are remarkable
because this island, during the earthquake of 175 i, was then
also affected more violently than other places at an equal
distance from Concepcion, and this seems to show some
subterranean connexion between these two points. Chiloe,
about 340 miles southward of Concepcion, appears to have
been shaken more strongly than the intermediate district of
Valdivia, where the volcano of Villarica was noways affected,
whilst in the Cordillera in front of Chiloe two of the volcanoes
burst forth at the same instant in violent action. These two
volcanoes, 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 volcanoes, did not
perceive the shock of the 20th, although the w^hole 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 of 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 volcanoes 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 Auvcrgne, 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 afterwards, France, from its centre to the
English Channel, would have been again desolated by an
earthquake, and an island permanently upraised in the
Mediterranean.

XIV • AREA OF VOLCANIC ERUPTION 333

The space, from under which v^olcanic 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 proba-
bility, a subterranean lake of lava is here stretched out, of
nearly double the area of the Black Sea. From the intimate
and complicated manner in which the elevatory and eruptive
forces were shown to be connected during this train of phe-
nomena, 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 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 St. 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 neighbouring 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 beholding abrupt mountain-axes of rock solidified
under great pressure, deluges of lava would have flowed out at
innumerable points on every line of elevation.^

1 For a full account of the volcanic phenomena which accompanied the earth-
quake of the 20th, and for the conclusions deducible from them, I must refer to
Volume V. of the Geological Ti-ansaclions.

HIDE BRIDGE, SANTIAGO DE CHILE.

CHAPTER XV

Valparaiso — Poitillo Pass — Sagacity of mules — Mountain -torrents — Mines, how
discovered — Proofs of the gradual elevation of the Cordillera — Effect of snow
on rocks — Geological structure of the two main ranges, their distinct origin and
upheaval — Great subsidence — Red snow — Winds — Pinnacles of snow — Dry and
clear atmosphere — Electricity — 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 — Casuchas — Valparaiso.

PASSAGE OF THE CORDILLERA

.MarcJi yth, 1835. — We stayed three days at Concepcion, and
then sailed for Valparaiso. The wind being northerly, wc only
reached the mouth of the harbour of Concepcion before it was
dark. l^eing very near the land, and a fog coming on, the
anchor was dropped. Presently a large American whaler
appeared close alongside of us ; and we heard the Yankee
swearing at his men to keep quiet, whilst he listened for the

CHAP. XV PASSAGE OF THE CORDILLERA 335

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
so 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 I ith we anchored at Valparaiso, and two days
afterwards I set out to cross the Cordillera. I proceeded to
Santiago, where INIr. Caldcleugh most kindl}^ 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^ — is situated some
way to the north ; the other, called the Portillo, is to the south,
and nearer, but more lofty and dangerous.

MarrJi i 8///. — 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 IMaypu, one of the
principal rivers in Chile. The valle}', at the point where it
enters the iirst Cordillera, 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 impass-
able in other parts by beasts of burden. The custom-house
officers were very civil, which was perhaps partly owing to the
passport which the President of the Republic 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,

336 PORTILLO PASS chap.

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
are turned 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, according to the muleteer, she is the chief object
of affection. The feeling, 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 1 00 pounds less ; yet with
what delicate slim limbs, without any proportional bulk of
muscle, these animals support so great a burden ! The mule
always appears to me a most surprising animal. That a hybrid
should po.ssess more reason, memory, obstinacy, social affection,
powers of muscular endurance, and length of life, than either 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

TERRACES OF SHINGLE

zyi

deal of food, in case we should be snowed up, as the season was
rather late for passing the Portillo.

March 1 9///. — We rode during this day to the last, and
therefore most elevated house in the valley. 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 characterised by having,
on both sides, a fringe or
terrace of shingle and sand,
rudely stratified, and gener-
ally 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 gener-
ally carried, for their surfaces
are even, and they rise with
a very gentle slope up the
valleys ; hence, also, they
are easily cultivated by

„,, , CHILENOS.

irrigation. 1 hey 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 valle}-s, the}^ 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 characteristic of the
scenery of Chile, and which were undoubtedly deposited when
the sea penetrated Chile, as it now does the more southern
coasts. No one fact in the geology of South America inter-
ested 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
23

338

PORTILLO PASS

their course by any cause, such as entering a lake or arm of the
sea ; but the torrents, instead of depositing 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 accumulated, 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 slpwly rose. If this be so, and I

SOUTH AMERICAN BIT.

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 Ma}pu made,
as it rushed over the great rounded fragment.s, was like that of
the sea. Amidst the din of rushing waters, the noise from the

XV TORRENTS OF THE CORDILLERA 339

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 tlie 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 destin}^

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 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 m}'self, 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 geologising. 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 extraordinary 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

340 PORTILLO PASS

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 hill 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 mountains. 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.

20tJi. — As we ascended the valley, the vegetation, with the
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 which
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 dikes, — 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 base 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 extra-
ordinary manner into small angular fragments. Scoresby ^ has

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

XV GEOLOGY OF THE CORDILLERA 341

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 have
sometimes thought that the earth and fragments of stone on
the surface were perhaps less effectually removed by slowly
percolating snow-water ^ 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.

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 som.e parts quite pure,
gypsum. We slept w^ith a party of men who were employed
in loading mules with this substance, which is used in the
manufacture of w^ne. 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, w^hich 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

1 I liave heard it remaiked in Siiropshire, that the water, when the Severn is
flooded from lonL;-conlinued rain, is much more turbid than when it proceeds from
the snow melting on 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.

342 GEOLOGY OF THE CORDILLERA chap.

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,
crystallised 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 are covered by a sandstone, converted by the
former heat into a quartz-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 Peuquenes line. I was astonished to
find 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 \\ ere 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

XV GEOLOGY OF THE CORDILLERA 343

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 sufficient to explain
the truh' astonishing amount of denudation which these great,
though comparatively with most other ranges recent, mountains
have suffered.

Finally, the shells in the Peuquenes or oldest ridge prove,
as before remarked, that it has been upraised 1 4,000 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 Patagonia lived, there must have been there
a subsidence of several hundred feet, as well as an ensuing
elevation. Daily it is 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 Portillo 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 sub-
sequent 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 longi-
tudinal channels are very strong, so that in one transverse channel
even a small vessel under sail was whirled round and round.

344 FORTILLO PASS

About noon we began the tedious ascent of the Peuquenes
ridge, and then for the first time experienced some Httle
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 atmosphere 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 imagina-
tion 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
I 3,000 feet above the sea) strangers do not become thoroughly
accustomed to the atmosphere for an entire year. The inhabit-
ants all recommend onions for the puna ; as this vegetable has
sometimes been given in Europe for pectoral complaints, it
may possibly be of real service : — for my part I found nothing
so good as the fossil shells !

When 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 backwards, a glorious view was presented.
The atmosphere resplendently 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

RED SNOW 345

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 foot-
steps 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 surrounding 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 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, following 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 : we 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 moun-

* Dr. Gillies in y(;«;-«. of Nat. and Geograph. Science, Aug. 1830. This author
gives the heights of the Passes.

346 PORTILLO PASS

tainous coLintr}^ intermediate between the two main ranges,
and then took up our quarters for the night. We were now
in the repubhc of Mendoza. The elevation was probably not
under i i,ooo feet, and the vegetation in consequence exceed-
ingly 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 temper-
ature 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 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 overhearing my two com-
panions 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."

MarcJi 22nd. — After eating our potato-less 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

XV PINNACLES OF SNOW 347

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 mountains. Now
commenced a heavy and long climb, similar to that up the
Peuquenes. Bold conical hills of red granite rose on each
hand ; in the vallej-s 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 downward 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 un-
fortunate, 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 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 awa}% and the
effect was quite magical. The great mountains, bright with
the full moon, seemed impending over us on all sides, as over
a deep crevice : one morning, very earl\', I witnessed the same
striking effect. As soon as the clouds were dispersed it froze
severely ; but as there was no wind, we slept ver\' comfortably.

The increased brilliancy of the moon and stars at this .eleva-
tion, owing to the perfect transparency of the atmosphere, was

1 This structure in frozen snow was long since obser%'ed by Scoresby in the
icebergs near Spitzbergen, and lately, with more care, by Colonel Jackson (Journ. 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 " metamorphic " action, and not to a process during
deposition.

348 PORTILLO PASS

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 trans-
parency 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 transparency 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 23;-^/. — The descent on the eastern side of the Cor-
dillera 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, 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

XV V/EPV OF THE PAMPAS 349

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
w^hich 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 country ; but I
now feel sure that it would only have been following the plains
of Patagonia up a mountainous ascent.

March 2j^th. — Early in the morning I climbed up a moun-
tain 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 distinguish-

^ This is merely an illustration of the admirable laws, first laid down by Mr.
Lyell, on the geographical distribution of animals, as influenced by 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 con-
sidered as superinduced daring a length of time.

350 PORTILLO PASS

able. The most striking feature consisted in the rivers, which,
facing the rising sun, gUttered like silv^er threads, till lost in the
immensity of the distance. At mid-day 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 thorough-
bred 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 rain. 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 2 5 //a — 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 proceeded 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 exceedingly powerful, and the ride devoid of all
interest. There is very little water in this *' traversia," and
in our second day's journey we found only one little pool.
Little water flows from the mountains, 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

XV SWARM OF LOCUSTS 351

outer range of the Cordillera, we did not cross a single stream.
In many parts the ground was incrusted with a saline efflor-
escence ; 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 farther
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
I'lggi'ig o^ a ship. The sky, seen through the 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 for-
wards. 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
uncommon pest in this country : already during this season
several smaller swarms had come up from the south, where, as
apparently in all other parts of the world, they are bred in the
deserts. The poor cottagers in vain attempted, by lighting fires,
by shouts, and by waving branches, to avert the attack. This

352 MENDOZA

species of locust closely resembles, and perhaps is identical
with, the fanaous Gryllus migratorius of the East.

We crossed the Luxan, 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 Benclmca, a
species of Reduvius, 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,
but 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 in Chile and Peru) was very empty. When
placed on a table, and though surrounded 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 2'jth. — We rode on to Mendoza. The country was
beautifully cultivated, and resembled Chile. This neighbour-
hood 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 culti\'ated and enclosed part
of this province is very small ; there is little more than that
which we passed through between I.uxan and the Capital. The
land, as in Ciiile, owes its fertility entirely to artificial irriga-
tion ; and it is really wonderful to observe how extraordinarily
productive a barren traversia is thus rendered.

We stayed the ensuing day in Mendoza. The prosperity
of the place has much declined of late years. The inhabitants

xMENDOZA 353

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.

JMarcJi igth. — 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 we had ridden all day
without a drop of water, both our mules and selves were very
thirsty, and we looked out anxiousl)^ 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.

30///. — 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 geolog}- of the

surrounding country is very curious. The Uspallata range is

separated from the main Cordillera by a long narrow plain or
24

354 USPALLATA PASS

basin, like those so 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
o-enerally 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
converted into coarsely- crystallised 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,
Robert Brown has been kind enough to examine the wood : he
says it belongs to the fir tribe, partaking of the character of the
Araucarian 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 }et retained the impression of the bark.
It required little geological practice to interpret the marvel-
lous 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

XV SILICIFIED TREES 355

been spread out. The ocean which received such thick masses
must have been profoundly deep ; but again the subterranean
forces exerted themselves, and I now beheld the bed of that
ocean, forming a chain of mountains more than seven thousand
feet in height. Nor had those antagonist 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 \st. — 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, which 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 Rio Vacas, and in the
morning we crossed it with little difficulty.

356 USPALLATA PASS chap.

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 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 day 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 back-
wards, or got off his mule on either side. One of the bad
passes, called /as 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 daresay, 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 crossing 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 Jiave 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 \t1i.- — ^From the Rio 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 oneself 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,

INCAS BRIDGE

357

cemented tog-ether 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

UKIDGE OK THE INCAS — fSPALLATA PASS

an oblique junction, 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.

5^'//. — 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 casucJia on the Chilian side. These casuchas

358 USPALLATA PASS chap.

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
{q:\x 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 Ouillay
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 b}' some
travellers. The extreme pleasure, I suspect, is chiefly owing
to the prospect of a good fire and of a good supper, after
escaping from the cold regions above : and I am sure I most
heartily participated in these feelings.

8///.- — We left the valley of the Aconcagua, by which we

VALPARAISO 359

had descended, and reached in tlie evening a cottage near the
Villa de St. Rosa. 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 1 missed that pensive stillness which makes
the autumn in England indeed the evening of the year. On
the loth we reached Santiago, where I received a very kind
and hospitable reception from Mr. Caldcleugh. My excursion
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.

LIMA AND RAN LORENZO.

CHAPTER XVI

Coast-road to Coquimbo — Great loads carried by the miners — Coquimbo — Earthquake
— Step-formed terraces — Absence of recent deposits — Contemporaneousness 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 — Noises 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 decom-
position— Plain with embedded shells and fragments of pottery — Antiquity of
the Indian Race.

NORTHERN CHILE AND PERU

April 2'jth. — I set out on a journey to Coquimbo, and thence
through Guasco to Copiapo, where Captain Fitz Roy kindly
offered to pick me up in the Beagle. The distance in a straight
line along the shore northward is only 420 miles ; but my
mode of travelling made it a very long journey. I bought

CHAP. XVI COAST-ROAD TO COQUIMBO 361

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 picturesque appear-
ance. For geological purposes I made a detour from the high
road to the foot of the Bell of Ouillota. We passed through
an alluvial district rich in gold, to the neighbourhood of
Limache, where we slept. Washing for gold supports the
inhabitants 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.

28/"//. — In the afternoon we arrived at a cottage at the
foot of the Bell mountain. The inhabitants were freeholders,
which is not very usual in Chile. They supported themselves
on the produce of a garden 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 i ith and 12th, which
detained 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 follovV 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 irregular ; 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, present similar forms ; and

362 NORTHERN CHILE

such a conversion without doubt has taken place in the part
over which we rode.

yi'd. — QuiHmari 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 supportmg 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 northward 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 6"]
miles north of Valparaiso, rain is not expected till the end of
May ; whereas at Valparaiso some generally falls early in
April : the annual quantity is likewise small in proportion to
the lateness of the season at which it commences.

\th. — Finding the coast -road devoid of interest of any
kind, we 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 .sometimes
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

CHILIAN MINERS 363

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 ;
moreover, 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 pro-
ceeded, encouraging each other by wild cries : altogether the
scene formed a most strange funeral.

We continued travelling northward in a zigzag line ;
sometimes stopping a day to geologise. 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 (.^3 : 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

364 NORTHERN CHILE

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 perpendicular yards, — part of the way by a steep passage,
but the greater part up notched poles, placed in a zigzag line
up the shaft. According 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 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
voluntary, 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

PREJUDICE AGAINST ENGLISHMEN 365

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 nurqber 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 bucanicrs ; 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 wonder-
fully strange it was that she should have lived to dine in the
same room with an Englishman ; for she remembered as a girl
that twice, at the mere cry of " Los Ingleses," every soul, carrying
what valuables they could, had taken to the mountains.

1 4//-. — We reached Coquimbo, where we staj-ed 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 i 7th 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 more 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 wa5 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

366

NORTHERN CHILE

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

COQUIMBO, CHILE.

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 onl}' just escaped a
faUing roof at Valparaiso in 1822. He mentioned a curious
coincidence which then happened : he was playing at cards, when
a German, one of the part}^ got up, and said he would never sit
in a room in these countries with the door shut, as, owing to his
having done so, he had nearly lost his life at Copiapo. Accord-

XVI STEP-FORMED TERRACES 367

ingly 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 movement of the
walls.

It is imipossible to be much surprised at the fear which
natives and old residents, though some of them known to be
men of great 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 heretics, 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 \alley. 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 there 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 b\'
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-

368 NORTHERN CHILE chap.

as much as between twenty and thirty feet in thickness, but is
of Httle extent. These modern beds rest on an ancient tertiary
formation containing shells, apparently all extinct. Although
I examined so many hundred 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 applicable ; 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 explanation, 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 extensi\'e 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 tertiar}^ epoch,
sedimentary matter containing fossil remains should have been
deposited and preserved at different points in north and south

XVI CORRELATION OF TERTIARY BEDS 369

lines, ov^er a space of i 1 00 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-
numberless 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 favourable to most living
creatures, that a thick and widely extended covering of sedi-
ment 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
Reefs 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 e.xisting
shells, the shores of Peru, Chile, Tierra del Fuegq, 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 considerable 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 2\st. — 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, namel\', the absence of fleas !
The rooms in Coquimbo swarm with them ; but they will not
25

370 NORTHERN CHILE chap.

live here at the height of only three or four thousand feet : it
can scarcely be the trifling diminution of temperature, 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 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 farthest." 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 2T,rd. — 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 farther, to see what
were declared to be some petrified shells and beans, which
latter turned out to be small quartz pebbles. 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

XVI DESERT COUNTRY 371

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 Coquimbo, 25,000
inhabitants. The next day I returned to the Hacienda, and
thence, together with Don Jose, to Coquimbo.

June 2?id. — 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 brightest, 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 ^rd. — Yerba Buena to Carizal. During the first part of
the day we crossed a mountainous rocky desert, and afterwards
a long deep sandy plain, strewed with broken sea-shells. 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 extraor-
dinary 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 onh' very early in the morning, when the
ground is slightly damp with dew, the Guasos believe that
they are bred from it. I have observed in other places that
e.xtremely dr}- and sterile districts, where the soil is calcareous,
are extraordinarily favourable 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.

4///. — Carizal to Sauce. We continued to ride ov^er 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

372 NORTHERN CHILE chap.

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 Swansea. The next day we
crossed some mountains to Freyrina, in the valley of Guasco.
During each day's ride farther 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 sea 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 is a port, a
spot entirely desert, and without any water in the immediate
neighbourhood. Five leagues higher up stands Freyrina, a long
straggling village, with decent whitewashed houses. Again, ten
leagues farther 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 realised. 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

VALLEY OF GUASCO 373

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 St/i. — 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 loth, 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 during the first rainy
winter. In Peru real deserts occur over wide tracts of country.
In the evening wc arrived at a valley in which the bed of the
streamlet was damp : following it up, we came to tolerably
good water. During 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 I it/i. — We rode without stopping for twelve hours,
till we reached an old smelting-furnace, where there was water
and firewood ; 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 useless 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 ;

374 NORTHERN CHILE

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 ihey 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 consequent 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 countr}-.
Rain, 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 i 2,000 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.

XVI RAIN AND EARTHQUAKES 375

The valley of Copiapo, forming a mere ribbon of green in
a desert, runs in a very southerly direction ; so that it is of
considerable 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 be difficult
for any person who had long resided in New Andalusia, or in
Lower Peru, to deny that there exists some connexion between
these phenomena ; in another part, however, he seems to think
the connexion fanciful. At Guayaquil, it is said that a heavy
shower in the dry season is invariably followed by an earth-
quake. 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 connexion between
the state of the atmosphere and of the trembling 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

^ Vol. iv. p. II, and vol. ii. p. 217. For the remarks on Guayaquil see
Silliman's y(?«^«. vol. xxiv. p. 384. For those on Tacna by Mr. Hamilton, 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 barometer and earthquakes ; and between
earthquakes and meteors.

376 NORTHERN CHILE chap.

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 happened 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 countiies, 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 ft possible that the small quantity of
aeriform fluids which then escape from the fissured ground can
produce such remarkable effects. There appears much prob-
ability in the view first proposed by Mr. P. Scrope, that when
the barometer is low, and v/hen rain might naturally be
expected to fall, the diminished 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 da\'s, 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

HYDROPHOBIA 377

extraordinarily numerous. 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 flourished at about the
period of our lower chalk ; they all belonged 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 geological
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
sometimes 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
volcanoes ? — why some springs were hot and others cold ?- —
why there were mountains 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 use-
less and impious ; and that it was quite sufificient 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 prevailed in this valley. It is remarkable
thus to find so strange and dreadful a disease appearing time
after time in the same isolated spot. It has been remarked
that certain villages in England are in like manner much more
subject to this \isitation than others. Dr. Unanue states that
hydrophobia was first known in South America in 180.3 • t^^'s
statement is corroborated by Azara and Ulloa having never
heard of it in their time. Dr. Unanue says that it broke out
in Central America, and slowly travelled southward. It
reached Arequipa in 1 807 ; 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 hydro-
phobia. At lea forty-two people thus miserably perished.

378 NORTHERN CHILE

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 days. 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 occurred ;
and the same assertion has been made with respect to
Mauritius and St. Helena.^ In so strange a disease some
information 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 Benito,
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 mountains, 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 valle)' is broad,
forming a fine plain like that of Quillota. The town covers a
considerable space of ground, each house possessing a garden :
but it is an uncomfortable place, and the dwellings are poorly
furnished. Every one 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 with mines ;
and mines and ores are the sole 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

^ Observa. sohre el clima de Lima, \i. 67. — .Azara's Travels, vol. i. p. 381. —
Ulloa's Voyage, vol. ii. p. 28. — Burchell's Travels, vol. ii. p. 524. ■ — Webster's
Description of the Azores, p. 124. — Voyage IX F Isle de France par tin Officier dii Roi,
tome i. p. 248. — Desc7-iption of St. Heletta, p. 123.

XVI SEA -WORN VALLEYS 379

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
wonderfully exorbitant.

June 26th. — ^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 consider-
able 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 one must have 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-

38o NORTHERN CHILE chap.

bank, when left dry, it deepens the already-formed shallow
lines of excavation ; and so is it 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 we passed some old Indian
ruins near Punta Gorda : I noticed also in front of some of
the valleys, which branch off from the Despoblado, 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
imperturbable " quien sabe?"

I observed Indian ruins in several parts of the Cordillera :
the most perfect which I saw were the Ruinas 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 consider-
able 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 the Indians on the first arrival of the
Spaniards ; but I have since been inclined to speculate on the
probability of a small change of climate.

ANCIENT INDIAN HOUSES 381

In this northern part of Chile, within the Cordilleraj 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 unfrequently
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 {inuchisimas) 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
inhabitants 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
cho.se 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 iri:igation
(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 looo to 1300 feet, since
the epoch of existing shells ; and farther inland the rise possibly

382 NORTHERN CHILE chap.

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 Indio-
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 appearance 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 some-
times 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

^ Temple, in his travels thiough Upper Peru, or Bolivia, in going from Potosi to
Oruro, says, " I saw many Indian villages or dwellin<;s in ruins, up even to the very
tops of the mountains, attesting a former jiopulation where now all is desolate."
He makes similar remarks in another place ; but I cannot tell whether this desolation
has been caused by a want of population, or by an altered condition of the land.

XVI ELEVATION OF A RIVER-COURSE 383

have attempted such operations, without the use of iron or
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 watercourse 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 fertilising stream and become a desert.

June 2'jtJi. — We set out early in the morning, and by mid-
day 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 firewood, a smelting-furnace had
formerly 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///. — 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 Vicuiia :
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.

384 NORTHERN CHILE chap.

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 which, as long as there is the least vegetation, subsist
in considerable, 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
uninteresting. 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 farther southward people lose their lives
from snow-storms ; 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 maniy degrees below the
freezing-point, but the effect on their bodies, ill protected by
clothing, must have been in proportion to the rapidity of the
current of cold air. The gale lasted for more than a day ; the

EL BRAMADOR 385

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 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 supposed
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 2gth. — 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. Whilst staying in the town I

heard an account from several of the inhabitants, of a hill in

tlie 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 produced only when

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 Red Sea.

One person with whom I conversed had himself heard the

noi.se ; 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 walking 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 Beagles 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.
»

1 Edinburgh Phil. Journ. Jan. 1830, p. 74; and April 1830, p. 258. Also
Daubeny on Volcanoes, p. 438 ; and Bengal Journ. vol. vii. p. 324.
26

386 PERU CHAP.

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 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 1 2///.— We anchored in the port of Iquique, in lat.
20° 12', on the coast of Peru. The town contains about a
thousand inhabitants, 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 inliabitants live like persons on board a ship : every
necessary comes from a distance : water is brought in boats
from Pi.sagua, about forty miles northward, and is sold at the
rate of nine reals (4s. 6d.) an eighteen-gallon cask : I bought a
wine-bottleful 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

XVI lOUIQUE^SALTPETRE WORKS 387

it will not serve for gunpowder. Formerly there were two
exceedingly rich silver-mines in this neighbourhood, but their
produce is now very small.

Our arrival in the ofifing 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 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.

13///. — In the morning I started for the saltpetre works, a
distance of fourteen leagues. Having ascended the steep coast-
mountains by a zigzag sandy track, we soon came in view of
the mines of Guantajaya and St. Rosa. 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 Vultur 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 {q.\\ 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

388 PERU CHAP.

reindeer lichen. In some parts it was in sufficient quantity to
tinge the sand, as seen from a distance, of a pale yellowish
colour. Farther inland, during the whole 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 me 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 seems to have been deposited
as the land slowly rose above the level of the sea. The salt is
white, very hard, and compact : it occurs in w^ater-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 procured 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 four-
teen 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

BAY OF CALLAO 389

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 sti-atum.
The surface of the plain is 3300 feet above the Pacific.

igt/i. — We anchored in the Bay of Callao, the seaport erf
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 delightful 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 only one view of the
Cordillera behind Lima. These mountains, 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 pUed up, being thus left for weel>:5 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 situation 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

390 PERU CHAP.

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 temperate climate, as in
Chiloe, do not seem in the slightest degree to affect the healthy
condition of the atmosphere.

The island of St. J ago, at the Cape de Verds, 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 subject to the same process of
vegetation, is perfectly healthy. 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, however, 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 crew 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 ^ of death commenced at Sierra
Leone.

No State in South America, since the declaration of

1 Political Essay on the Kingdom of New Spain, vol. iv. p. 199.

2 A similar interesting case is recorded in the Madras Jlledical Quart. Journ.
1839, p. 340. Dr. Ferguson, in his admirable Paper (see 9th vol. o[ Edinburgh
Royal Trans.), shows clearly that the poison is generated in the drying process ; and
hence that dry hot countries are often the most unhealthy.

CALL A 0—LIMA 39 1

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 Deuni laiidaimis,
instead of each regiment displaying the Peruvian 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 unfortu-
nately for me, 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 looo feet in height, during this season of the
year (winter), comes within the lower limit of the clouds ;
and in consequence, an abundant cryptogauiic vegetation, and
a few flowers, cover the summit. On 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
Guayaquil, 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 the latitude of Cape Blanco, two degrees south of Guayaquil
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 blo9d. 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 imposing 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

392 PERU CHAP.

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 nCarly unpaved ; and heaps of filth are piled up in all
directions, where the black gallinazos, tame as poultr\', 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 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
immediate 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 impossible not to respect the considerable
advance made by them in the arts of civilisation. The burial

XVI DECOMPOSING SHELLS 393

mounds, called Hiiacas, are really stupendous ; although in
some places they appear to be natural hills encased 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 1 746, 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 w^hirled about like pebbles by
the retiring waves. It has been stated that the land subsided
during this memorable sliock : I could not discover any proof
of this ; )-et 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 low^er one of which is 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 deepl)' corroded, and have a
much older and more decayed appearance 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 scaHng 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

394 PERU CHAP.

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 analysed for me by Mr. T.
Reeks ; it consists of sulphates 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 com-
posing the upper saline layer, and as these shells are corroded
and decayed in a remarkable manner, I strongly suspect that
this double decomposition 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 decomposition and early decay.

^ I was much interested by finding on the terrace, at the
height of eighty-five feet, cvibedded amidst the shells and much
sea-drifted 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, contain-
ing 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

XVI FOSSIL HUMAN RELICS 395

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 i / 1 3 and 1 746. 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 relies 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 -fiv^e 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 18 17 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 remark-
able, 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 Patagonian coast is some way distant 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
extinct animals were living man did not exist. But the rising
of that part of the coast of Patagonia is perhaps noways
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 Peru. All these

396

PERU

CHAP. XVI

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.

n-

HUACAS. PERUVIAN rOTTERV.

TESTUDO ABINGDONII, GALAPAGOS ISLANDS.

CHAPTER XVII

GALAPAGOS ARCHIPELAGO

The M'hole group volcanic — Number 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 seaweed — Terrestrial lizard, burrowing habits, herbivorous —
Importance of reptiles in the Archipelago — Fish, shells, insects — Botany —
American type of organisation — Differences in the species or races on different
islands — Tameness of tiie birds — Fear of man an acquired instinct.

September i^tli. — This archipelago consi.sts of ten principal
islands, of which five exceed the others in size. They are
situated under the Equator, and between five and six hundred
miles westward of the coast of America. They are all formed
of volcanic rocks ; a ^qw fragments of granite curiously glazed
and altered by the heat can hardly be considered as an excep-

398

GALAPAGOS ARCHIPELAGO

tion. Some of the craters surmounting 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 thousand craters.
These consist either of lava and scoriae, or of finely-stratified,
sandstone -like tuff. Most of the latter are beautifully
symmetrical ; they owe their origin to eruptions of volcanic mud
without any lava : it is a remarkable circumstance that every

Culpepper I.

Wenman I.

60 Mies

Narborough

Albemarle I. :/•

Tower I.

Iiulefatlgahle I.

Chatham 1-

Barrington I.

Charles I.

GALAPAGOS ARCHIPELAGO.

one of the twenty-eight tuflf-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 uniformity 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

CHATHAM ISLAND 399

surrounding water, brought here by the great southern Polar
current. Excepting 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 the 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 appear-
ance. A broken field of black basaltic lava, thrown into the
most rugged waves, and crossed by great fissures, is everywhere
covered by stunted, sunburnt brushwood, which shows little
signs of life. The dry and parched surface, being heated by
the noonday sun, gave to the air a close and sultry feeling,
like that from a stove : we fancied even that the bushes smelt
unpleasantly. Although I diligently tried to collect as many
plants as possible, I succeeded in getting very few ; and such
wretched-looking little w^eeds 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, but that the greater number were in
flower. The commonest bush is one of the Euphorbiaceae : 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

400 GALAPAGOS ARCHIPELAGO

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, hke a sieve, b\' 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 reminded 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, each 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
stalked away ; the other gave a deep hiss, and drew in its
head. These huge reptiles, surrouncied by the black lava, the
leafless shrubs, and large cacti, seemed to my fancy like some
antediluvian animals. The few dull-coloured birds cared no
more for me than they did for the great tortoises.

2ird. — The Beagle proceeded to Charles Island. This
archipelago 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 Republic 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 abound ; but there are
no tree-ferns : I saw nowhere any member of the Palm family,
which is the more singular, as 360 miles northward, Cocos
Island takes its name from the number of cocoa-nuts. The
houses are irregularly scattered over a flat space of ground,

XVII SALT- LAKE LN CRATER -401

which is cultivated 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 numbers 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 2gth. — We doubled the south-west extremity of
Albemarle Island, and the next 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
we saw a small jet of smoke curling from the 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,
between 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
27

402- GALAPAGOS ARCHIPELAGO chap.

in more detail the habits of both these reptiles. The whole
of this northern part of Albemarle Island is miserably sterile.

October ^t/i. — 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
cucro), with the flesh on it, is very good ; and the 3'oung
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 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
crystallised 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 picturesque 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 h'ing 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

XVII NATURAL HISTORY 403

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 aboriginal 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 indigenous 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
considered as indigenous, namely a mouse (Mus 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

404 GALAPAGOS ARCHIPELAGO chap.

been subjected. Although no one has a right to speculate
without distinct facts, yet even with respect to the Chatham
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.
Thirdl}^ 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
slenderer, is considered by Mr. Gould as specifically distinct.
Fifthly, there are three species of mocking -thrush — a form
highly characteristic 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 group, with the
exception of one species of the sub-group Cactornis, 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) arc brown. The

BIRDS

405

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 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. i, 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

I. Geospiza magnirostris.
3. Geospiza parvula.

2. Geospiza fortis.
4. Certhidea olivacea.

FINCHES FROM GALAPAGOS ARCHIPELAGO.

Cactornis is somewhat like that of a starling ; and that of the
fourth sub-group, Camarh}'nchus, is slightly parrot -shaped.
Seeing this gradation 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 modified for different ends. In a
like manner it might be fancied that a bird original!}' a
buzzard had been induced here to undertake 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 onh' three (including a rail confined to the
damp summits of the islands) are new species. Considering

4o6 GALAPAGOS ARCHIPELAGO chap.

the wandering 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 archipelago.

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 Totanus, 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-flycatcher with
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. Waterhouse informs me, there is nothing in their
general appearance which would have led him to imagine that
they had come from under the equator.^ The birds, plants,

^ The progress of research has shown that some of these birds, whicli were then
thought to be confined to the islands, occur on the American continent. Tlie
eminent ornithologist, Mr. Sclater, informs me that this is the case with the Strix
punctatissima and Pyrocephalus nanus ; and probably with the Otus galapagoensis
and Zenaida galapagoensis : so that the number of endemic birds is reduced to

xvii REPTILES 407

and insects have a desert character, and are not more brilliantly
coloured than those from southern Patagonia ; we may, there-
fore, 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 Temminckii from Chile.^ Of sea- turtle I
believe there is 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,
considering how well suited for themJiiJSLtern^eraJt^^ 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 archipelago. Mauritius offers an
apparent exception, where I saw the Rana 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 Roi asserts that
before 1768 it had been attempted, without success, 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.

1 This is stated by Dr. Giinther [Zoolog. Sor. Jan. 24th, 1S59) to be a peculiar
species, not known to inhabit any other country.

2 Voyage mix Qnatre Iks d' Afriqiie. With respect to the Sandwich Islands, see
Tyerman and Bennett's Journal, vol. i. p. 434. For Mauritius, 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. J ago in the Cape de
Verds. There are none at St. Helena.

4o8 GALAPAGOS ARCHIPELAGO

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 Indica), 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 Englishman, and 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
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

GREAT TORTOISE 409

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 v
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 mucii
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 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

4IO GALAPAGOS ARCHIPELAGO chap.

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 o.^^ is white and spherical ; one which
I measured was seven inches and three-eighths in circumference,
and therefore larger than a hen's o.'g^. 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
without 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 see
how suddenly, the instant I passed, it would draw in its head
and legs, and uttering a deep hiss fall to the ground wnth 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 sufficient 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 Galapagos ; 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 may be questioned whether it is in

MARINE AMBLYRHYNCHUS

411

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 was distinct,
as the species now living there certainly is.

The Amblyrhynchus, 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 character-
ised 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

ELYRHYNCHUS CRISTATUS. a, TOOTH OF NATURAL SIZE, AND LIKEWISE MAGNIFIED.

throughout the group, and lives exclusively on the rock\- 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. 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 themselves 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

412 GALAPAGOS ARCHIPELAGO chap.

its body and flattened tail— the legs being motionless and
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 ie\w feet above the surf, basking
in the sun with outstretched legs.

I opened the stomachs of several, and found them largely
distended with minced seaweed (Ulvae), which grows in thin
foliaceous expansions of a bright green or a dull red colour.
I do not recollect having observed this seaweed 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 seaweed. Mr. Bynoe, 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 aquatic 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 ; but 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
seaweed, or it entered some crevice. As soon as it thought

XVII TERRESTRIAL AMBLYRHYNCHUS 413

the danger was past, it crawled out on the dry rocks, and
shuffled away as quickly as it could. I several times caught
this same lizard, by driving it down to a point, and though
possessed of 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 stupidit\^ 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, probabh', 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 i&\\ small
individuals of this species, and none I should think under a
year old. From this circumstance it seems probable that the
breeding season had not then commenced. I asked several of
the inhabitants if the}' 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'.

We 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, namel}', to Albemarle,
James, Barrington, and Indefatigable Islands. To the south-
w^ard, 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 the}- are 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, the}'
are ugly animals, of a yellowish orange beneath, and of a
brownish -red colour above : from their low facial angle the}'
have a singularly stupid appearance. They are, perhaps, of a
rather less size than the marine species ; but several of them

414 GALAPAGOS ARCHIPELAGO chap.

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.

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. I 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 watch-
ing any one, they curl their tails, and, raising themselves on
their front legs, nod their heads vertically, with a quick move-
ment, 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 purpose. If this Amblyrhynchus
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 countiy, can scarcely taste a drop of water

XVII TERRESTRIAL AMBLYRHYNCHUS 415

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. 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
vegetable 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 sup-
pose that this is an adaptation to their herbivorous appetites.
It is very interesting thus to find a well-characterised genus,

4i6 GALAPAGOS ARCHIPELAGO chap.

having its marine and terrestrial species, belonging to so con-
fined 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
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 carnivorous, 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 possessing 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 at 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 specifically 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 elsewhere — 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

DISTRIBUTION OF THE 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 eacl) sent several
colonists. The American province has also sent here representa-
tive 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. Cuming) 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 com-
parison by Messrs. Cuming 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 countr}-.
Even in the upper and damp region I procured ver}' 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 (excluding a Dermestes
and Corynetes imported wherever a ship touches) ; of these, two
belong to the Harpalidae, two to the Hydrophilidse, nine to three
families of the Heteromera, and the remaining twelve to as many
different families. This circumstance of insects fand I may add
plants), where icw in number, belonging to many different families,
is, I believe, very general. Mr. Waterhouse, who has published ^

' Ann. and Mag. of N'at. Hist. vol. xvi. p. 19.

4i8 GALAPAGOS ARCHIPELAGO chap.

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 acount of the Flora ; and I am much indebted to him for
the following details. Of flowering plants there arc, as far as
at present 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 so Collnett, 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
sufificient, 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 2 i
species of Compositae, of which 20 are peculiar to this
archipelago ; these belong to twelve genera, and of these 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.

XVII DISTRIBUTION OF THE ORGANIC BEINGS 419

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 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
organisation ? 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 ph}'sically
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

420 GALAPAGOS ARCHIPELAGO chap.

the case. It is the fate of most voyagers, no sooner to
discover what is most interesting in any locahty, 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 described ^ 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 considers 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
representative species or races of the Amblyrhynchus, as well
as of the tortoise. My attention was first thoroughly aroused
by comparing 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. Un-
fortunately 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 repre-
sentatives of Geospiza, it may help to explain the singularly
^ Voyage in the U.S. skip £ssex, vol. i. p. 215.

DISTRIBUTION OF THE ORGANIC BEINGS

421

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 of the different islands wonderfully different. I give all
the following 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 confidence, 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
Leguminosje, moreover, have as )'et been only approximately
worked out : —

Name

of
Island.

Total
No. of
Species.

No. of
Species
found in
other parts
of the
world.

No. of

Species

confined

to the

Galapagos

.\rchipelago.

No.

confined

to the

one

Island.

No. of Species j
confined to the
Galapagos
Archipelago,
but found on
n)ore than the
one Island.

James Island
Albemarle Island
Chatham Island .
Charles Island .

71
46

" 68

18
16

39

or 29, if the
probably im-
ported plants
be subtracted).

38
26
16
29

30
22
12
21

8
4
4
8

422 GALAPAGOS ARCHIPELAGO chap.

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 {e-w illustrations : — thus, Scalesia, a
remarkable arborescent genus of the Compositae, 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, 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 Compositae
are 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 Galapageian genus
Amblyrhynchus.

The distribution of the tenants of this archipelago would
not be nearly so wonderful, if, for instance, one island had
a mocking-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 were inhabited, not by representative
species of the same genera of plants, but by totally different

XVII DISTRIBUTION OF THE ORGANIC BEINGS 423

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 be suspected that some of these representative
species, at least in the case of the tortoise and of some of the
birds, may hereafter 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 which
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 must
repeat, that neither the nature of the soil, nor height of the
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 archipelago 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

424 GALAPAGOS ARCHIPELAGO chap.

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 consideration than any
other, with respect to the geographical distribution of their
inhabitants. Reviewing 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 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 da\', whilst lying down, a
mocking -thrush alighted on the edge of a pitcher, made of
the shell of a tortoise, which I held in my 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." Dampicr
also, in the same year, sa}'s 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

TAMENESS OF THE BIRDS 425

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
colonised 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 Ambl}'rhynchus, 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, \\here 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 up-
land 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 rendered wild towards
man. This tameness of the birds, especially of the waterfowl,
is strongly contrasted with the habits of the same species in
Tierra del Fuego, where for ages past they have been persecuted
by the wild inhabitants. In the Falklands, the sportsman may
sometimes kill more of the upland geese in one day than he 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 goose.

In the time of Pernety (1763) all the birds there appear
to have been much tamer than at present ; he states that the
Opetiorhynchus would almost perch on his finger ; and that

426 GALAPAGOS ARCHIPELAGO

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 colonised
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, conclude, 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 time, even when
much persecuted ; but that in the course of successive genera-
tions it becomes hereditary. With domesticated animals we
are accustomed to see new mental habits or instincts acquired
and 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
an inherited habit : comparatively few young birds, in any one
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

* Linn. Trans, vol. xii. p. 496. The most anom.ilous fact on this subject whicli
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 in their winter-quarters in the United Slates 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 in shrubberies close to houses !

FEAR AN ACQUIRED INSTINCT

427

been pursued and injured by man, but yet have not learned a
salutary dread of him. We may infer from these facts, what
liavoc 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.

•i-t^Xi

ti.*!*'-*^

JAMES ISLAHD

OPUNTIA GALAPAGEIA.

AVA OR KAVA (mACROPIPER METHYSTICUM), TAHITI.

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 ravines — Succession
of waterfalls — Number of wild useful plants — Temperance of the inhabitants —
Their moral state — Parliament convened — New Zealand — Bay of islands —
Hippahs — Excursion to Waimate — 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 the winter far from the coast of South America. We
then enjoyed bright and clear weather, while running pleasantly
along at the 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

CHAP, xviii ARRIVE AT TAHITI 429

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 Archipelago, 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 vv^ater can be seen
within the ring. These low hollow coral islands bear no
proportion to the vast ocean out of which they abruptly rise ;
and it seems wonderful that such weak invaders are not over-
whelmed by the all-powerful and never-tiring waves of that
great sea, miscalled the Pacific.

November i^th. — 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 injunction not to launch a canoe
on the Sabbath is rigidly obeyed. After dinner we 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
iiouse, we 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

430 TAHITI CHAP.

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
intertropical regions. In the midst of bananas, orange, cocoa-
nut, and bread-fruit trees, spots are 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 digitated 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 know-
ledge of their high productiveness 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 civilisation. 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-proportioned. 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 curvature 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

TAHITI ANS 431

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 in each ear, 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. We 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 us unequivocally aware that we were
seated on the shores of an island in the far-famed South Sea.

\JtJi. — This day is reckoned in the log-book as Tuesday
the 17th, instead of Monday the 1 6th, owing to our, so far,
successful chase of the sun. Before breakfast the ship was
hemmed in b\' a flotilla of canoes ; and when the natives were
allowed to come on board, I suppose there could not have

432 TAHITI CHAP.

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 sdle : shells were
the main article of trade. The Tahitians now fully under-
stand 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 £\^o 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 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 intermediate 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 characterise 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

XVIII EXCURSION IN THE MOUNTAINS 433

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 exception of one small gateway, is completely
encircled by a reef. At this distance, a narrow but well-
defined brilliantly white line 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 strik-
ing : it may aptly be compared to a framed engraving, 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 paid me so adroit an attention,
that I wanted him and another man to accompany me on a
short excursion into the mountains.

1 8//'. — 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 alternately 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
29

434 TAHITI chap,

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
precipitous. After having walked between three and four
hours, we 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
mid-day 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
much they feel at home in this element. When a horse was
landing for Pomarre in i 8 i 7, the slings broke, and it fell into
the water ; 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 equalh' 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

XVIII PROFOUND RAVINES 435

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 profound 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 circumference. By the aid of strips of bark
for rope, the stems of bamboos for rafters, and the large leaf of

436 TAHITI chap.

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 and 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 clastic 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 our rustic meal.

I could not look on the surrounding plants without
admiration. On every side were forests of bananas ; the fruit
of which, though serving for food in various ways, lay in heajjs
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

KATAHLA KAl.I.. TAHIII.

xviii SUCCESSION OF WATERFALLS 437

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 our meals neither of the men would
taste food, without sa\Mng 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 mountain-side. Before morning it rained

438

TAHITI

very heavily
us dry.

but the good thatch of banana-leaves kept

November \(^tJi. — At dayHght my friends, after their morn-
ing 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 portion of nutri-
ment. 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,
drunkenness from the
introduction of spirits
became very prevalent.
The missionaries pre-
vailed on a {<^\v 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 queen 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

TAHITIAN.

TEMPERANCE OF THE NATIVES 439

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
e(Tect 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 im-
ported ; 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 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 ex-
tensive 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 sup-
port 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 valle}'.
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 ; nameh', that after

440 TAHITI CHAP.

the murderous 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 wild men who lived in the moun-
tains, and whose retreats were unknown to the more civilised
inhabitants.

November 20///. — In the morning we 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,
comes close down to the water's edge.

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 on one's previously-
acquired ideas. My notions were drawn from Ellis's Polynesian
ResearcJies — 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

XVIII CONDITION OF THE PEOPLE 441

these points I will not pretend to offer 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 missionaries, 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-
asmuch 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 introduction of Christianity. In a voyager to
forget these things is base ingratitude ; for should he chance
to be at the point of shipwreck on some 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. But before they are
blamed too severely, it will be well distinctly to call to mind
the scenes described by Captain Cook and Mr. Banks, in which
the grandmothers and mothers of the present race played a
part. Those who 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.

442 TAHITI CHAP.

Sunday 22nd. — 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 Roy 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 m}^ expectations were raised
too high. At all events the appearance was quite equal to that
in a country church in England. 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, inata mat" 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 many 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 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 Roy to inquire concerning this debt, and
to demand satisfaction if it were not paid. Captain Fitz Roy
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

xviii VISIT OF THE QUEEN TO THE 'BEAGLE' 443

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 Roy 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
execution, 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 Roy many
intelligent questions on international customs and laws, relating
to the treatment 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 Roy invited Queen Pomarre
to pay the Beagle a visit.

November 25///. — 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 Roy's presents. The Queen is a large awkward woman,
without any beauty, grace, or dignity. She has only one royal
attribute : a perfect immovability of expression under 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.

26///. — 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.

444 NEW ZEALAND

December \gtk. — 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 great
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 proportion 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 home-
wards ; 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 measure the future stages
in our long homeward voyage, and to wish most earnestly for its
termination.

December 2\st. — 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 surface 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. The general tint of the landscape is
not a bright green : and it resembles the country a short
distance to the south of Concepcion in Chile. In several parts
of the bay little villages of square tidy-looking houses are
scattered close down 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,

BA V OF ISLANDS 445

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 mission-
aries ; and there are no native residents except servants and
labourers. In the vicinity of the Bay of Islands the number
of Englishmen, including their families, amounts to between
two and three hundred. All the cottages, many of which are
whitewashed 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 22nd. — 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 frequently 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 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

446 NEW ZEALAND

afforded good protection. The general introduction 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 stockade 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 firearms over it. On the level of
the ground little archways sometimes pass through this breast-
work, by which means the defenders can crawl out to the
stockade to reconnoitre their enemies. The Rev. W. Williams,
who gave me this account, added, that in one Pas he had
noticed spurs or buttresses projecting on the inner and pro-
tected 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 disciplined 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 firearms 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 in joke, the blow must be returned ; and of this I saw an
instance with one of our officers.

At tlie present day, from the progress of civilisation, there
is much less warfare, except among some of the southern tribes.
I heard a characteristic anecdote of what took place some time
ago in the south. A missionary found a chief and his tribe in

XVIII NEW ZEALAND 447

preparation for war ; — their muskets clean 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 argu-
ment 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 principal chief had
at one time been much oppressed by another tribe, from the
Thames River. A solemn oath was taken by the men that
when their boys should grow up, and they should be powerful
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.
Presents were valued only as they could be converted into
arms ; of the arts, those alone interested him which were con-
nected with the manufacture of arms. When at Sydney,
Shongi, by a strange coincidence, met the hostile chief of the
Thames River 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 utmost letter. The tribe on
the Thames River was utterly overthrown, 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 Roy 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 in energy, but in

448 NEW ZEALAND

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 civilised 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. No
doubt the extraordinary manner in which tattooing is here
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 2'^rd. — 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 procured for me a guide.
Upon asking a neighbouring chief to recommend a man, the
chief himself offered to go ; but his ignorance 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

xviii EXCURSION TO IVAIMATE 449

with two dollars. When I showed the chief a very small
bundle which I wanted carried, it became absolutely necessary
for him to take a slave. These feelings of pride are beginning
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 something 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 proceeding,
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 the
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
30

450 NEW ZEALAND

expression than this man had. It immediately struck me I
had somewhere seen his hkeness : it will be found in Retzch'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 a 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 we left lying in the boat, when he
shouted to Mr. Bushby, " Do 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 introduction 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

XVIII EXCURSION TO WAIMATE 451

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 Bachapins. Where civilisation has arrived at a
certain point, complex formalities soon arise between the 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,
however, 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 onl)^ 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.

452 NEIV ZEALAND

The soil is volcanic ; in several parts we passed over
slaggy lavas, and craters could clearly be distinguished on several
of the neighbouring 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 "}'es;" 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.

At length we reached Waimate. After having passed over
so many miles of an uninhabited useless country, the sudden
appearance of an English farmhouse, and its well-dressed
fields, placed there as if by an enchanter's wand, was ex-
ceedingly 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 farmyard there were stables, a
thrashing -barn with its winnowing 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 farmyard. 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
substantial water-mill.

All this is very surprising when it is considered that five
years ago nothing but the fern flourished here. Moreover,
native workmanship, taught by the missionaries, has effected

WAIMATE 453

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 New Zealander 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 fatherland ; 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, 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 the evening I
saw a party 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
wiv^es 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
be 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.

454 NEW ZEALAND

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 2\t}i. — In the morning prayers were read in the
native tongue to the whole family. After breakfast I rambled
about the 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 persuasions 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 island, under-
stand 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 these 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 proportion 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 quantit}' 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 forests must be impenetrable to an extra-
ordinary degree. Mr. Matthews informed me that one forest
only thirty-four miles in width, and separating two inhabited

WATMATE 45:

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 fort-
night'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 1 4,000 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 Dein-
ornis, seem here to have replaced mammiferous quadrupeds, in
the same manner as the reptiles still do at the Galapagos
Archipelago. 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 sorts 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. The 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.

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 the}' 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

456 NEW ZEALAND

Mr. Stokes found burnt human bones strewed round a fireplace
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 26th. — Mr. Bushby offered to take Mr. SuHvan
and myself in his boat some miles up the 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 Waiomio, 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 remonstrated with him he seemed
surprised, and said he thought he 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

WAIOMIO 457

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, disgust-
ing 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," and ran on ahead ; but when within 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. Bushb\%
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-
51ave : it must be a humiliating thing for a man in this warlike
country to be employed in doing that which 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 imme-
diately seized ; but as they could not agree 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 wife. We afterwards enjo\-ed a
pleasant walk back to the boat, but did not reach the ship till
late in the evening.

December 30///. — 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.

458

NEW ZEALAND

CHAP. XVIII

Amongst the natives there is absent that charming simpHcity
which is found at Tahiti ; and the greater part of the Enghsh
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.

HIFPAH, NEW ZEALAND.

..JL:I

-^-

SYDNEY, 1835.

CHAPTER XIX

AUSTRALIA

Sydney — 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 forma-
tion— Bathurst, general civility of the lower orders — State of society — Van
Diemen's Land — Hobart Town — Aborigines all banished — Mount Wellington
— King George's Sound — Cheerless aspect of the country — Bald Head,
calcareous casts of branches of trees — Party of natives — Leave Australia.

/auuarj' 12///, I 836. — Early in the morning a light air carried
us towards the entrance of Port Jackson. Instead of beholding
a verdant country, interspersed with fine 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 cit}'. 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 farther inland, the country improves :
beautiful villas and nice cottages are here and there scattered

46o NEW SOUTH WALES

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 feeling was to con-
gratulate myself that I was born an Englishman. 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 com-
plained 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.

1 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 i6th (January) I set out on my
excursion. The first stage took us to Paramatta, a small
country town, next to Sydney in importance. The roads were
excellent, and made upon the MacAdam principle, whinstone
having been brought for the purpose from the distance of
several miles. In all respects there was a close resemblance
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

XIX APPEARANCE OF THE FORESTS 461

arms. The power which the Government possesses, by means
of forced labour, of at once opening good roads throughout the
country, has been, I beHeve, one main cause of the early
prosperity of this colony. I slept at night at a very comfort-
able 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 uniformity of the vegetation is the most
remarkable feature in the landscape of the greater part of
New South Wales. Ever}'where we 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 green 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 hemi-
sphere, 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 glowing 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 the Eucalypti falls annually, or

462 NEW SOUTH WALES chap.

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 Valdivia 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 young 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 admirable. 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 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 civilisation than
the Fuegians.

It is very curious thus to see in the midst of a civilised
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

XIX DECREASE OF THE ABORIGINES 463

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 difficulty 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 what
happens in civilised 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. W'e may look to the wide extent of the Americas,
Polynesia, the Cape 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 Rev. J. Williams, in his interesting work," says that
the first intercourse between natives and Europeans " is
invariably attended with the introduction of fever, dysentery,

' 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 {Folit.
Essay, Nrw Spain, vol. iv.)

2 A^arralive of Missionary Eiitei-prise, p. 282.

464 NEIV SOUTH WALES chap.

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 ; ^ and what renders this fact 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 up 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.

lyth. — Early in the morning we passed the Nepean in a

1 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. Maccuiloch [IVesieru 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. Maccuiloch considers the whole case,
although often previously affirmed, as ludicrous. He adds, however, that "the
question was 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 Ne-v 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.

XIX GREAT CLIFF-BOUNDED VALLEY 465

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 Mountains. 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
sandstone platform, the scenery becomes exceedingly mono-
tonous ; 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 houses or cultivated
land ; the road, moreover, is solitary ; the most frequent object
being a bullock-waggon, piled up 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 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 perhaps 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 abjss 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 extends, which thus appears completely to encircle
31

466 NEIV SOUTH WALES chap.

the valley ; and hence the name of bay is justified, as applied
to this grand amphitheatrical 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 Blackheath is a very comfortable inn, kept by an old
soldier ; and it reminded me of the small inns in North Wales.

I ^th. — -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
armlike bays, expanding at 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 surveyors 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

^ Travels in Atistrah'a, vol. i. p. 154. I must express my obligation to Sir T.
Mitchell for several interesting personal communications on the suliject of these
great valleys of New South Wales.

GREAT VALLEYS 467

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
beheved to be nowhere less than 3000 feet above the level of
the sea. When cattle are driven into the valley of the Wolgan
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 lOOO 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 depressions, 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 irregularl)^ branching valleys,
and of the narrow promontories projecting 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 summit -level
always fall, as I remarked near the Weatherboard, into the
head of these valle}-s, but into one side of their baylike re-
cesses. Some of the inhabitants remarked to me that they
never viewed one of those baylike 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

468 NEW SOUTH WALES chap.

great though circumscribed depressions on a wide platform,
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 remarking
that banks of the most irregular forms appear to be now form-
ing 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
sandstone 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 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 superintendent 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 are, however,

XIX KANGAROO-HUNTING 469

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 farmhouse, the brightest tints on the surrounding 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 superin-
tendent, 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
farmhouses : 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 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

470 NEW SOUTH WALES

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 {&\n most beautiful parrots ; crows like our
jackdaws were not uncommon, 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 not at all give
a good idea of the appearance of the head and beak when
fresh ; the latter becoming hard and contracted.^

20t]i. — 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 i 1 9°,
and in a closed room at 96°. In the afternoon we came in
view of the downs of Bathurst. These undulating but nearly
smooth plains are 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

^ I was interested by finding here 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 {EutoinoL
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 tlian the fly, and escaped
the fatal jaws which lay concealed at the base of the conical hollow. This Australian
pitfall was only about half the size of that made by the European lion-ant.

BATHURST 471

Australia by judging of the country from the roadside, 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 favourable aspect ; although I
understand it was incomparably worse two or three months
before. The secret of the rapidly growing prosperity 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 seaside. The Macquarie figures in the map
as a respectable river, and it is the largest of those draining
this part of the watershed ; 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 farther 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 day'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
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

472 NEW SOUTH WALES chap.

walk to the amphitheatre. On the road to Sydney I spent
a very pleasant evening with Captain King at Dunheved ; 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 disappointed in the state of society. The
whole community is rancorously 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 England ; 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 uninviting 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

XIX STATE OF THE CONVICTS 473

convict servants. I am not aware that the tone of society has
assumed any pecuHar 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
productions 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 ah-eady pushed far into the interior ; moreover, the
country farther 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
opportunities 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 in-
telligent man remarked to me, the convicts know no pleasure

474 VAA' DIEM EN'S LAND chap.

bsyond 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 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
com nitted which the law can touch, yet that any moral reform
should take place appears to be 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 civilisation — it has
succeeded to a degree perhaps unparalleled in history.

30///. — The Beagle sailed for Hobart Town in Van
Diemen's Land. 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 extensive basaltic
platforms ; but higher up the land becomes mountainous, 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, appeared very
luxuriant. Late in the evening we anchored in the snug cove,

HO BART TOWN

475

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 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 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 ver>' contemptible. Comparing the town
with Sydney, I was chiefly struck w^th the comparative fewness

HOBART TOWN AND MOUNT WELLINGTON.

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

476 VAN DIE MEN'S LAND chap.

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
impressed them with the idea of our overwhelming power, until
the whole island, in 1830, was put under martial law, and by
proclamation 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 themselves 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
Englishmen closed their eyes for less than a minute, he would
squat down, and then they were never able to distinguish him
from the surrounding 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
^ Physical Description of New South Wales and Van Diemen's Laud, p. 354.

XIX ASCENT OF MOUNT WELLINGTON 477

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 neighbour-
hood. 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 lime-
stone or travertin, which contains numerous impressions of
leaves of trees, together wnth 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
hence the land is more fertile. Agriculture flourishes ; the cul- '
tivated fields look well, and the gardens abound with thriving
vegetables and fruit-trees. Some of the farmhouses, situated
in retired spots, had a very attractive appearance. The general
aspect of the vegetation 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 steam-
boat, two of which are constantly plying backwards and forwards.
The machinery of one of these vessels was entirely manufactured
in this colony, which, 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 vegetation was very
luxuriant ; and where the labour of the ascent, from the
number of rotten trunks, was almost as great as on a mountain
in Tierra del Fucgo or in Chiloe. It cost us five and a half
hours of hard climbing before we reached the summit. In
many parts the Eucahpti grew to a great size, and composed
a noble forest. In some of the dampest ravines tree-ferns

478 KING GEORGE'S SOUND chap.

flourished in an extraordinary 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 ////.-^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 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 brushwood 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.

XIX CORROBERY OR NATIVE DANCE 479

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,
happened 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 commenced their toilet, which consisted
in painting themselves white in spots and lines. As soon as
aU 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 accom-
panied 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 ;
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,

48o

KING GEORGE'S SOUND

CHAP. XIX

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 we 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.

AUSTRALIAN GROUP OF WEAPONS AND THROWING STICKS.

INSIDE AN ATOLL, KEELING ISLAND.

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
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 — Subsidence of their founda-
tions— Barrier reefs — Fringing reefs — Conversion of fringing reefs into barrier
reefs, and into atolls — Evidence of changes in level — Breaches in barrier reefs —
Maldiva atolls ; their peculiar structure — Dead and submerged reefs — Areas
of subsidence and elevation — Distribution 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
32

482 KEELING ISLAND

years ago, Mr. Hare, a worthless 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 Ross's party. Mr. Hare upon this was
ultimately obliged to leave the place.

The Malays are now nominally in a state of freedom, and
certainly are so as far as regards their personal treatment ; but
in most other points they are considered as slaves. From their
discontented state, from the repeated removals from islet to
islet, and perhaps also from a little mismanagement, things are
not very prosperous. 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
land-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
depended 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.

NATURAL HISTORY 483

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 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-tr,ees, 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 me that of the twenty species nineteen belong to different
genera, and these again to no less than sixteen families ! ^
^ These plants are described in the Annals of Nat. Hist. vol. i. 1838, p. 337.

484 KEELING ISLAND

In Holman's ^ 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 entwining 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
supposed 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 the.se 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 line. 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 Radack 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

•* Holman's Travels, vol. iv. p. 378.
'■^ Kotzebue's First Voyage, vol. iii. p. 155.

XX BIRDS— REPTILES 485

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, 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 considered by Mr. Waterhouse 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 Philippensis),
though 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 mountain, 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. Chamisso has

' The thirteen species belong to the following orders : — In the Colcoptcra, a
minute Elater ; Orthoptera, a Gryllus and a Blatta ; Honiptera, one species ;
Homoptera, two ; Netiroptera, a Chrysopa ; Hymenoptera, two ants : I.epidoptera
twcturna, a Diopsea, and a Pterophorus (?) ; Diptera, two species.

486 KEELING ISLAND

described ^ 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, including 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 footing, the denizens of the water think their
claim at least equally 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-rooker}'. 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. But 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 scanning, 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 y^d. — 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

' Kotzebue's First Voyage, vol. iii. p. 222.

2 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 on the molluscous animal. I was assured, and as far as my
observation went I found iL so, that certain species of the hermit-crabs always use
certain species of sliclls.

THE SETTLEMENT 487

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, but 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. The}^ 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 sus-
tenance.

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 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

KEELING ISLAND

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
interesting, 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 Roy to an island
at the head of the lagoon : the channel was exceedingly
intricate, winding through fields of delicately branched corals.
We saw several turtle, 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 upwards ; 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

LAGOON ISLANDS 489

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 means 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, alwa)'s
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,
insignificant 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 architects at work night and da}-, 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

490 KEELING ISLAND

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 withdraw 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
contrary 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 death 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 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 occurrence 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, how-

XX STONES TRANSPORTED BV TREES 491

ever, 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
accompanied Kotzebue, stating that the inhabitants of the
Radack Archipelago, a group of lagoon islands in the midst of
the Pacific, obtained stones fpr 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 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

^ Some natives carried l^y Kotzebue to Kamtschatka collected stones to take
back to their country.

492 KEELING ISLAND

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 husk ; 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 under 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 itq 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 branchiae. 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. 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, sometimes yields as
much as a quart-bottleful 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

STINGING CORALS 493

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 are now found there. In the Pacific this
species, or one with closely allied habits, is said ^ 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 turning
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
taken 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 instantaneously 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-of-war, many jelly-fish, and the Aplysia or
sea-slug of the Cape dc Verd Islands, it is stated in the Voyage

^ StQ Proceedings of Zoo/ogical Society, 1832, p. 17.
^ Tyermaii and Jjennett, Voyage, etc., vol. ii. p. 33.

494 KEELING ISLAND

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 Holothuriae (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 holothuriae, 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, however, of this mud, which when wet
strikingly resembled pounded chalk, was found by Professor
Ehienberg to be partly composed of siliceous-shielded infusoria.

April 12///.— 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 Roy 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 travellers tell us of the

vast dimensions of the Pyramids and other great ruins, but how

utterly insignificant are the greatest of these, when compared

^ I exclude, of course, some soil which has 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, moreover, on the northern island must be
excepted.

XX

LAGOON ISLANDS OR ATOLLS

495

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, " Cast une meruille
de voir chacun de ces atollons, enuironne d'un grand banc de

WHITSUNDAY ISLAND.

pierre tout autour, n'y ayant point d'artifice 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
protection in the inner parts ; but so far is this from the truth,

^ These were first read before the Geological -Society in May 1837, and have
since been developed in a separate volume on the Structure and Distribution of Coral
Reefs.

496 KEELING ISLAND

that those massive kinds, to whose growth on the exposed
outer shores the very existence of the reef depends, cannot Hve
within the lagoon, where other dehcately branching kinds flourish.
Moreover, on this view, many species of distinct genera and
famihes 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 ; Rimsky 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 inapplicable to the northern Maldiva
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
Roy on the steep outside of Keeling atoll, and it was found
that within ten fathoms the prepared tallow at the bottom of
the lead invariably 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

XX AREAS OF SUBSIDENCE 497

last the soil was so sterile that nothing sprang from it. From
these observations, confirmed by many 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 Radack group of atolls is an irregular
square, 520 miles long and 240 broad ; the Low Archipelago
is elliptic -formed, 840 miles in 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 actualh' 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 pro-
foundest 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, innu-
merable 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
33

498 BARRIER-REEFS

of the corals. It is impossible here to enter into all the
necessary details, but I venture to defy ^ any one to explain in
any other 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,
analoTOus to the lagoon within an atoll. It is remarkable how

^sg

BARRIER-REEF, BOLABOLA.

little attention has been paid to encircling barrier-reefs ; yet
they are truly wonderful structures. The accompanying 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 land ;
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.

1 It is remarkable that Mr. Lyell, even in the first Edition of his Principles of
Geology, inferred that the amount of subsidence in the Pacific must have exceeded
that of elevation, from the area of land being very small relatively to the agents
there tending to form it, namely, the growth of coral and volcanic action.

BARRIER-REEFS 499

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. 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 Vanikoro
there are spaces no less than 56 fathoms or 336 feet deep.
Internally the reef either slopes gently into the lagoon -channel,
or ends in a perpendicular wall sometimes between two afid
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 sometimes 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-

500

BARRIER-REEFS

building corals, which cannot h've at great depths, based their
encirchng structures ? This is a great apparent difficulty,
analogous to that in the case of atolls, which has generally been
overlooked. It will be perceived more clearly by inspecting
the following sections, which are real ones, taken in north and
south lines, through the islands with their barrier -reefs, of
Vanikoro, Gambler, and Maurua ; and 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

I Vanikoro. 2. Gambier Islands. 3. Maurua.

The horizontal shading shows the barrier-reefs and lagoon-channels. The inclined shading above
the level of the sea (AA) shows the actual form of the land ; the inclined shading below this line
shows its probable prolongation under water.

SECTIONS OF BARRIER-REEFS.

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 small that the plummets on the right hand
show a depth of 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

FRINGING- REEFS 501

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
accumulation 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 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 30 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 under 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. W^here 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 farther,
sometimes even as much as a mile from the land ; but in such
cases the soundings outside the reef alwa}-s 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

502 THEORY OF CORAL-REEFS chap.

there is generally a shallow sandy channel a few feet in depth.
Where banks of sediment 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 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

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 con-
verted into a barrier, with islets on it. B'B', The shores of the now encircled island. CC, Lagoon-
channel.

N.B. — In this and the following woodcut, the subsidence of the land could be represented only by
an apparent rise in the level of the sea.

SECTION OF CORAL-REEF.

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 favourable 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 tTie 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-

THEORY OF CORAL-REEFS

503

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 .5 17 of an inch to a mile) through
Bolabola in the Pacific. We can now at once see wh}- encircling
barrier-reefs stand so far from the shores which the}- front.
\\'e can also perceive that a line drawn perpendicularly 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 feet
as there have been feet of subsidence, that small limit of depth

A"

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.

X.B. — According to the true scale, the depths of the lagoon-channel and lagoon are much
exaggerated.

SECTION OF CORAL-REEF.

at which the effective corals can live : — the little architects
having built up their great wall-like mass, 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, disappears.

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 land 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

504 SUBSIDENCE OF CORAL-REEFS

will go on vigorously growing upwards ; but as the island
sinks, the water will gain inch by inch on the shore — the
separate mountains first forming separate islands within one
great reef — and finally, the last and highest pinnacle disappear-
ing. 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 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 v/onderful
structures, the lagoon -islands or atolls, which have so long
excited the attention 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 move-
ment, 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 Vanikoro

^ 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.

■m.

(If > -' f f -' I '

XX CHANGES IN CORAL-REEFS 505

the lagoon-channel is remarkably deep, scarcely any alluvial
soil has accumulated at the foot of the lofty included moun-
tains, 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 Archipelago, 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 subsided — only feeble shocks
are most rarely felt. In these coral formations, where the land
and water seem struggling for mastery, 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 descriptions 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,

5o6 BREACHES IN BARRIER-REEFS chap.

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 surprise 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 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 are not closed (and some
must always be kept open by the sediment and impure water
flowing out of the lagoon-channel) will still continue 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

MALDIVA ARCHIPELAGO

507

surprise at the reefs both of atolls and barriers becoming in
parts imperfect. The great barrier of e:^^_
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
dimensions with those in the
Archipelago. Moreover, in an atoll once
breached on opposite sides, from the likeli-
hood of the oceanic and tidal currents
passing straight through the breaches, it
is extremely improbable that the corals,
especially during continued subsidence,
would ever be able again to unite the rim ;
if they did not, as the whole sank down-
wards, one atoll would be divided into two
or more. In the IMaldiva Archipelago there
are distinct atolls so related to each other
in position, and separated by channels
either unfathomable or very deep (the
channel between Ross and Ari atolls is
150 fathoms, and that between the north
and south Nillandoo atolls is 200 fathoms
in depth), that it is impossible to look at K^t;
a map of them without believing that they "V-:
were once more intimately related. And
in this same archipelago, Mahlos-Mahdoo
atoll is divided by a bifurcating channel
from 1 00 to 132 fathoms in depth,
in such a manner, that it is

scarcely possible to say whether it ought strictly to be

5o8 DEAD AND SUNKEN REEFS

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 singularity 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, sometimes
clothed with vegetation, and each containing a lake of clear
water !

One more point in detail : as in two neighbouring archi-
pelagoes corals, flourish in one and not in the other, and as so
many conditions 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 or 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 remark-
able that in all these cases the dead reefs and portions of reef

XX DISTRIBUTION OF CORAL-REEFS 509

lie at nearly the same depth, namely, from six to eight fathoms
beneath the surface, as if they had been carried down by one
uniform movement. One of these " half-drowned atolls," so
called by Capt. Moresby (to whom I am indebted for much
invaluable information), 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 Foniiatioiis 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 naturally 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

5IO DISTRIBUTION OF CORAL-REEFS chap.

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 subsidence 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, coloured red and blue, are
all elongated ; and between the two colours there is a degree
of rude alternation, as if the rising of one ha5 balanced the
sinking of the other. Taking into consideration 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 volcanoes within the limits of this same map. Tlieir
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 are 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 Archipelago,
which consists of a group of atolls upheaved and since partially
worn down, two volcanoes, and perhaps more, are historically

XX THEIR RELATION TO VOLCANOES 511

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 volcanoes burst forth into action and become
extinguished on the same spots, accordingly as elevatory or
subsiding movements prevail there. Numberless facts could
be adduced to prove that upraised organic remains are common
wherever there are active volcanoes ; but until it could be
shown that in areas of subsidence volcanoes 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
statements made with respect to the upraised organic remains,
we must feel astonished at the vastness of the areas which
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 land has been
left above the level of the sea, the sinking must have been
immense in amount. The sinking, moreover, whether con-
tinuous, 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

512

VAST AMOUNT OF SUBSIDENCE

CHAP. XX

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.

BIRGOS LATRO, KEELING ISLAND.

ST. LOUIS, MAURITIUS.

CHAPTER XXI

MAURITIUS TO ENGLAND

Mauritius, beautiful appearance of — Great ciaterifonn 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 rats — Volcanic bombs — Beds
of infusoria — Bahia, Brazil — Splendour of tropical scenery — Pernanibuco —
Singular reef — Slavery — Return to England — Retrospect on our voyage.

April 2gt/i. — In the morning we passed round the northern
end of Mauritius, or the Isle of France. From this ponit 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 Pamplemousses, 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
34

5 1 4 MA URITl US chap.

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 con-
siderable 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, and 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 read-
ing bespeak our approach to the old world of civilisation ; 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 ex-
pression, gave them quite an imposing aspect. The greater
number had been banished for murder and the worst crimes ;
others for causes which can scarcely, be considered as moral
faults, such as for not obeying, from superstitious motives, the
English laws. These men are generally quiet and well con-
ducted ; from their outward conduct, their cleanliness, and
faithful observance of their strange religious rites, it was
impossible 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 part is quite
uncultivated ; it consists of a field of black lava, smoothed over
with coarse grass and bushes, the latter being chiefly Mimosas.

MAURITIUS 515

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 supposed to have been formed not like ordinary
craters, but by a great and sudden upheaval. There appear
to me to be insuperable objections to this view : on the other
hand, I can hardly believe, in this and in some other cases,
that these marginal crateriform mountains are merely the basal
remnants of immense volcanoes, of which the summits either
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 neighbouring Isle
of Bourbon, which ■ remains under the French government, the
roads are still in the same miserable state as they were here
only a i&w years ago. /\lthough the French residents must
have largely profited b}' the increased prosperity of their island,
yet the English government is far from popular.

yd. — In the evening Captain Llo}'d, 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

5i6 ST. HELENA

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.

5///, — Captain Lloyd took us to the Riviere 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, wdiere 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 abodes ! " Captain
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.

Mar gt/i. — 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

^ 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, cemetery,
sepulchre, catacomb, sarcophagus, minaret, and mausoleum !

ITS APPEARANCE

5^7

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
produced a clayey soil, which, where not covered by vegetation,
is stained in broad bands of many bright colours. At this

.ST. HELENA.

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 possessing 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 bright yellow flowers. Weeping-
willows are common on the banks of the rivulets, and the
hedges are made of the blackberry, producing 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

5i8 ST. HELENA

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 land 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 Company, 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 ?

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, quiet old man, and such appears the character of
the greater number of the lower classes. It was strange to

XXI CHAXGES IN THE VEGETATION 519

my ears to hear a man, nearly white and respectably dressed,
talking with indifference of the times when he was a slave.
With my 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
are quite desolate and untenanted. Here, to the geologist,
there were scenes of high interest, showing successive changes
and complicated 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, ^hich are older than the central
volcanic streams. On the higher parts of the island con-
siderable 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 extinction 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
Longwood 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
1 7 16 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 adds that now this

^ 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.

^ Beatson's St. Helena. Introductory chapter, p. 4.

520 ST. HELENA

plain " is covered with fine sward, and is become the finest
piece of pasture on the island." The extent of surface, prob-
ably covered by \\ ood 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; eighty - 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 unique Flora, excites
our curiosity. The eight land -shells, though now extinct, and
one living Succinea, are peculiar species found nowhere else.
Mr. Cuming, 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

1 Among these few insects I was surprised to find a small Aphodius {nov. spec.)
and an 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 if 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 are richly manured, it is vain to seek the many kinds

ST. HELENA 521

might have been expected, 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 unjust 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 would have nowhere to build !

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 Flag-
staff, and the rugged square black mass of the Barn. On the
whole the view was rather bleak and uninteresting. The only
inconvenience I suffered during my walks was from the impe-
tuous 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 {e:w
yards right to windward some tern, struggling against a very
strong breeze, whilst, where I stood, the air was quite calm.

of dung-feeding beetles which occur so abundantly in Europe. I observed only an
Oryctes (the insects of this genus in Europe generally feed on decayed vegetable
matter) and two species of Phanreus, common in such situations. On the opposite
side of the Cordillera rn Chiloe another species of Phanaeus 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 Phanieus, 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
that there must be considerably more than one hundred different species. Con-
sidering this, and observing what a quantity of food of this kind 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,Diemen's
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 the.se 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 contined in their appetites ; that is, they
do not depend indifferently on any quadruped for tlie means of subsistence. The
change, therefore, in habits, which must have taken place in Van Diemen's Land, is
highly remarkable. I am indebted to the Rev. 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.

522 ASCENSION

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 serve their one-and-tvventy
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, 2840 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 displayed in each part of the establish-
ment, and especially in the management of the springs, so that
a single drop of water may not be lost : indeed the whole island

XXI VARIATION IN THE IMPORTED RATS 523

may be compared to a huge ship kept in first-rate order. I
could not help, when admiring the active industry which had
created such effects out of such means, at the same time
regretting that it had been wasted on 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 ; farther 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 out 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

524 ASCENSION

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 whole plain was mottled ; I now found
that they were sea -fowl, sleeping in such full confidence, that
even in mid -day 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.

G3^

^iii^k^

CELLULAR FORMATION OF VOLCANIC BOMB.

In several places I noticed volcanic bombs, that is, masses of
lava which have been shot through the air whilst fluid, and have
consequently assumed a spherical or pear -shape. Not only
their external 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 accompanying
woodcut. The central part is coarsely cellular, the cells
decreasing in size towards the exterior ; 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 ;

XXI BEDS OF INFUSORIA 525

secondly, that the still fluid lava within was packed by the
centrifugal force, generated by the revolving of the bomb, against
the external cooled crust, and so produced the solid shell of
stone ; and lastly, that the centrifugal force, by relieving the
pressure in 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 scori?e. 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 Riding 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 organised ; 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 discover 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

^ Mortals, der Konig. Akad. d. IVhs. zu Berlin. Vom April 1845.

526 BAHIA, BRAZIL

Brazil, in order to complete the chronometrical measurement of
the world. We arrived there on August ist, 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, 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.

l"he country may be described as a level plain of about
three 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 cultivated 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 are 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 white-
washed ; so that when illumined by the brilliant sun of mid-day,
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 the.se scenes of the tropics by naming a multitude of
objects, and mentioning 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

XXI TROPICAL SCENERY 527

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 butterflies, 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 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 pro-
fusion 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 pathwaj's, 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 vegetation, yet I must recur to it. , The land is one
great wild, untidy, luxuriant hothouse, made b}- Nature for
herself, but taken possession of by man, who has studded it
with gay houses and formal gardens. How great w ould 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
tale heard in childhood, a picture full of indistinct, but most
beautiful figures.

Aiigust 6th. — In the afternoon we stood out to sea, with
the intention of making a direct course to the Cape de Verd

528 PEKNAMBUCO, BRAZIL chap.

Islands. Unfavourable winds, however, delayed us, and on the
I 2th we ran into Pernambuco,^ — 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 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
surrounded, 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.

SINGULAR REEF 529

The most curious object which I saw in this neighbour-
hood 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 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 con-

CICADA HOMOPTERA.

solidated by the percolation of calcareous matter, and after-
wards 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 Serpulae,
together with some few barnacles and nulliporae. These
nulliporae, which are hard, very simply- organised sea-plants,
play an analogous and important part in protecting the upper
surfaces of coral-reefs, behind and within the breakers, where

^ I have described this Bar in detail in the Land, ami Edin. Phil. ^dag. vol,
xix. (1841), p. 257.

35

530 SLAVERY chap.

the true corals, during the outward growth of the mass, become
killed by exposure to the sun and air. These insignificant
organic beings, especially the Serpulae, 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 day, 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, six 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
quite 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 which it has always been said that
slaves are better treated than by the Portuguese, English, or
other European nations. I have seen at Rio Janeiro a power-
ful 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

SLA VER V

531

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 Humboldt. It is often attempted to palliate
slavery by comparing the state of slaves with our poorer

HOMEWARD BOUND.

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 tender!}' 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 !

532 RETROSPECT

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 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
retrospect 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 counterbalance 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 luxuries, 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,

XXI RETROSPECT 533

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 under-
went severe privations. A yacht now, with every luxury of
life, can circumnavigate the globe. Besides the vast improve-
ments in ships and naval resources, the whole western shores
of America are thrown open, and Australia has become the
capital of a rising continent. How different are the circum-
stances 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 civilised 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. If, 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 pro-
portion of the time, during a long voyage, is spent on the
water, as compared with the days in harbour. And what are
the boasted glories of the illimitable 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, however,
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, the 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

534 RETROSPECT

pleasure derived from beholding the scenery and the general
aspect of the various 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 growii|g
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 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 comprehend 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
superior 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 undefaced
by the hand of man ; whether those of Brazil, where the
powers of Life are predominant, 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

RETROSPECT 535

frequently cross before my eyes ; yet these plains are pro-
nounced 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 my-
self, have these arid wastes taken so firm a hold on m)^ memory?
WJiy have not the still more level, the greener and more fertile
Pampas, which are serviceable to mankind, produced an equal
impression ? I can scarcely analyse 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 ; they bear the stamp of having
lasted, as the}- are now, for ages, and there appears no 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 know-
ledge 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 civilised 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

536 RETROSPECT chap.

have beheld, may be ranked the Southern Cross, the cloud of
Magellan, and the other constellations of the southern hemisphere
— the waterspout — the glacier leading its blue stream of ice,
overhanging 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 in man — a relic of an instinctive 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 civilisation 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 civilised man had seldom or never
trod.

There are several other sources of enjoyment in a long
voyage which are of a more reasonable nature. The map of
the world 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 considered 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

RETROSPECT 537

on the introduction 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 excellent judgment none will dispute, could
foresee no prospect of a change. Yet these changes have
now been effected by the philanthropic 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
civilisation, 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
civilisation.

In conclusion it appears to me that nothing can be more
improving to a }'oung naturalist than a journey in distant
countries. It both sharpens and partly allays that want and
craving which, as Sir J. Herschel remarks, a man experiences
although every corporeal sense be fully satisfied. The excite-
ment from the novelty of objects, and the chance of success,
stimulate him to increased activity. Moreover, as a number of
isolated facts soon become uninteresting, the habit of com-
parison leads to generalisation. 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 ot knowledge by
inaccurate and superficial hypotheses.

But I have too deeply enjoyed the voyage not to recom-
mend 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, nearl}' 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 saildrs. Travelling ought

53«

RETROSPECT

CHAP. XXI

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 are ready to offer him the most
disinterested assistance.

1 "^ •- V >-

:X.$.>:.^--t>.v

^s-r.'-;

W'..

^

AiCENSION. TEKNS AND NODDIES.

^_<

bO Lon^tude 50 West from 40 Greetmicli 30

"KEW^TORK- D.-APPLETO'S & i

INDEX

Abbott, Mr., on spiders, 36
Aborigines banished from Van Diemen's
Land, 475

of Australia, 430 to 458
Abrolhos Islands, 9, 14
Absence of trees in Pampas, 48
Aconcagua, volcano of, 269, 294, 312
Actinia, stinging species, 494
Africa, Southern part desert, yet sup-
ports large animals, 89
Ageronia feronia, 39
Agouti, habits of, 72
Ague common in Peru, 389
Albemarle Island, 401, 420
Allan, Dr., on Diodon, 14

on Holothuriae, 494
Alluvium, saliferous, in Peru, 367

stratified, in Andes, 333
Amblyrhynchus, 401, 41 1
Anas, species of, 210
Animalculae. See Infusoria
Antarctic islands, 263
Antipodes, 444
Ants at Keeling Island, 485

in Brazil, 36
Antuco volcano, 311
Apires, or miners, 364
Aplysia, 6, 493
Apple-trees, 318
Aptenodytes demersa, 209
Araucanian Indians, 66
Areas of alternate movements in the

Pacific and Indian oceans, 480
Armadilloes, habits of, 100

fossil animals allied to, 137, 164
Arqueros mines, 369
Arrow-heads, ancient, 109, 381
Ascension, 522, 538
Aspalax, blindness of, 53
Athene cunicularia, 73, 132

Atolls, 490, 495

Attagis, 98

Atwater, Mr., on the prairies, 124

Audubon, M., on smelling -power of

carrion-hawks, 195
Australia, 459
Australian barrier, 499

group of weapons, 480
Ava (Macropiper methysticum), 428,

436
Azara on spiders, 39

on rain in La Plata, 49

on habits of carrion-hawks, 58

on range of carrion-hawks, 60

on a thunder-storm, 65

on ostrich -eggs, 95

on bows and arrows, 1 10

on new plants springing up, 125

on great droughts, 142

on hydrophobia, 378

Bachman, Mr., on carrion-hawks, 195
Bahia Blanca, 50, 70, 77 to no

fossil tooth of horse from, 138
Bahia, Brazil, II

scenery of, 526
Bajada, 136

Balbi on coral reefs, 499
Bald Head, Australia, 479
Ballenar, Chile, 373
Banda Oriental, 48, 152, 158, 186
Banks's Hill, 221
Barking-bird, 307
Barrier-reef, Bolabola, 498

reefs, sections of, 500
Basaltic platform of Santa Cruz, 182
Bathurst, Australia, 470
Batrachian reptiles, lOi
Bats, vampire, 22, 23
Bay of Islands, New Zealand, 444

540

INDEX

Beads, hill of, 158

Beagle Channel, Tierra del Fuego, 230

Beech-trees, 251, 292

Beetles in brackish water, 22

on a fungus, 32

alive in sea, 168

at St. Julian, 180

dung-feeders, 520, 521
Behring's Straits, fossils of, 140
Bell of Quillota, 270
Benchuca, 352
Berkeley Sound, 199, 214

•Rev. J., on Confervse, 15
on Cyttaria, 250
Berquelo river, 158
Bibron, M., 407, 41 1
Bien te veo, 56
Birds of the Galapagos Archipelago,

405

tameness of, 424
Birgos latro, 492, 512
Bizcacha, habits of, 73, 130, 273
Blackheath, Australia, 466
Blackwall, Mr., on spiders, 17 1
Blindness of tucutuco, 53
Blue Mountains, 465
Hody, frozen, 93, 263
IJolabola, barrier-reef, 498, 504
Bolas, manner of using, 46, 117
Bombs, volcanic, 524
Bones of the guanaco collected in certain
spots, 177

fire made of, 205

recent in Pampas, 142

fossil, 86, 134, 137, 164, 182
Bory St. Vincent on frogs, 407
Boulders, 197, 262
Bramador, El, 385
Brazil, great area of granite, 12
Brazilian whips, etc., 75
Breaches in coral reefs, 502
Breakwater of seaweed, 253
Brewster, Sir D., on a calcareous de-
posit, 10
Bridge of hide, 334

of Incas, 357, 380, 394
Buckland, Dr., on fossils, 140
Buenos Ayres, 127

trading at, ill

evening camp, 128

bullock-waggons, 150
Buffon on American Animals, 183
Bug of Pampas, 352
Buildings, Indian, 381 to 383, 394
Bulimus on desert places, 371
Burchell, Mr., on food of quadrupeds,
91

Burchell, Mr., on ostrich-eggs, 95

on perforated stones, 285
Butterflies, flocks of, 167
Butterfly producing clicking sound, 34
Button, Jemmy, 218, 233
Byron's account of fox of Falklands,
204

on an Indian killing his child, 228

Cabbage palm, 26
Cacti, 174, 278, 399
Cactornis, 405, 424 ,

Cactus, Cereus Peruviana, 278
Calasoma on wing out at sea, 168
Calcareous casts of branches and roots of
trees at King George's Sound, 479

incrustations on rocks of Ascension, 9
Callao, 389, 391
Calodera, 132
Calomys bizcacha, 130
Camarhynchus, 405, 424
Camelidse, fossil animal allied to, 182
Cancer salinus, 69
Canis antarcticus, 204

fulvipes, 287
Cape Horn, 222, 223

False Horn, 229, 243

of Good Hope, 91
Capybara, or carpincho, 40, 51, 1S2,

307

fossil allied to, 87
Caracara, or Carrancha, 57
Cardoon, beds of, 125, 157
Carizal, 371
Carmichael, Capt., 426
Carrion-hawks, 59, 126, 195
Casarita, 99
Cassava, 23
Castro, Chiloe, 296, 315

old church at, 291
Casuchas, 358
Catamaran, 18
Cathartes, 60, 195
Cats run wild, 123, 523

good to eat, 123

scratch trees, 144

cruelty to mice, 209
Cattle, effects of their grazing on the
vegetation, 124

killed by great droughts, 142, 156

know each other, 155

curious breed of, 155

waste of, 158

wild at the Falkland Islands, 200,
203
Caucahue, 295
Cauquenes, hot springs of. 281

IXDEX

541

Causes of extinction of species among
mammalia, 1S2

of discoloured sea, 15
Cavia Patagonica, 72
Cawa-Cawa, New Zealand, 456
Caylen, 298
Cervus campestris, 50
Ceryle Americana, 147
Chacao. Chiloe, 293
Chagos atolls, 508
Chalk-like mud, 494
Chamisso on drifted seeds and trees,
484, 491

on coral reefs, 496
Changes in vegetation of Pampas,
126

in vegetation of St. Helena, 519
Charles Island, 400, 420
Chatham Island, 399, 420
Cheese, salt required for, 68
Cheucau, 297, 307
Chile, 268, 271, 274

features of country, 270
Chilenos, 194, 337
Chilian miner, 277

spurs, stirrup, etc., 290

vegetation, 359
Chiloe, 291

old church at Castro, 291

forests of, and climate, 292

inhabitants of, 292, 294

roads of, 293, 313, 314

Gunnera scabra, 310
Chionis alba, 98
Cholechel, conflict at, 109
Chonos Archipelago, 300, 304

climate of, 292

zoology of, 306

ornithology of, 307
Chupat, Rio, i lo
Chuzo, 66

Cicada homoptera, 529
Cladonia, 387
Clearness of atmosphere within Andes,

in Chile, 271
Climate of Tierra del Fuego and Falk-
land Islands, 257

Antarctic Islands, 263

change of, in Chile, 382

Galapagos, 397
Clouds of vapour after rain, 25

on Corcovado, 30

hanging low, 389

at sea, 429
Coleoptera in Tropics, 35

out at sea, 168

of St. Julian, 180

Colias edusa, flocks of, 168
Colnett, Capt., on spawn in sea, 17

on a marine lizard, 411

on transport of seeds, 4 1 8
Colonia del Sacramiento, 153
Colorado, Rio, 73
Compound animals, 211
Concepcion, Chile, 325
Conchalee, 362
Condor, habits of, 193, 196, 287

(Sarcorhamphus giyphus), 1S7
Confervas, pelagic, 15
Conglomerate on the Ventana, 1 1 3

in Cordillera, 342
Conurus, 147
Convicts of Mauritius, 514

condition, in New South Wales, 473
Cook, Capt., on kelp, 253
Copiapo, river and valley of, 366, 370,

375> 385

town of, 374, 378
Coquimbo, 22, 365
Coral formations, 429, 502 to 509

stinging species of, 493

reefs, sections of, 502, 508

dead, 508
Corallines, 207
Corals, 507
Corcovado, clouds on, 30

volcano, 304
Cordillera, appearance of, 269, 292, 337

different productions on east and west
side, 345

passage of, 334

structure of valleys, 335

rivers of, 338

geology of, 339, 354, 355

valley of Copiapo, 385

mountains, 435
Cormorant catching fish, 209
Corral, where animals are slaughtered at

Buenos Ayres, 127
Corrientes, Cape, 168
Corrobery, or native Australian dance,

479
Corunda, 135

Coseguina, eruption of, 312, 376
Countries, unhealthy, 389
Couthouy, Mr., on coral-reefs, 504
Crabberies, 83
Crabs, hermit species of, 486

at St. Paul's, 10

at Keeling Island, 492
Craters, number of, at the Galapagos
Archipelago, 398

of Elevation, 515
Crisia, 21 1

542

INDEX

Cruelty to animals, 162
Crustacea, pelagic, 171
Ctenomys Brasiliensis, 52

fossil species of, 86
Cucao, Chiloe, 3 1 5
Cuckoo-like habits of Molothrus, 55
Cudico, mission at, 320
Cuentas, Sierra de, 158
Cufre, 153

Cumbre of Cordillera, 358
Cuming, Mr., on shells, 416, 520
Cuttlefish, habits of, 7
Cuvier on Diodon, 14
Cynara cardunculus, 125
Cyttaria Darwinii, 250, 251

Dacelo Iagoensis, 2

Dasypus, three species of, 100

Deer, 50, 139

Degradation of tertiary formations,

. 368
Deinornis, 455
Deserts, 371, 384
Desmodus, 22
Despoblado, valley of, 379
Dieffenbach, Dr. E., 2

on Auckland Island, 259, 464
Diodon, habits of, 13
Discoloured sea, 15
Diseases from miasma, 389, 464
Distribution of mammalia in America,

138

of animals on opposite sides of Cor-
dillera, 348

of frogs, 407

of Fauna of Galapagos, 419
Dobrizhoffer on ostriches, 98

on a hail-storm, 122
Docks, imported, 455
Dogs, shepherd, 159
Dolichonyx oryzivorus, 404
D'Orbigny, Travels in South America,

81, 97, 125, 137, 159, 177
Doris, eggs of, 211
Dormidor, or horse-tamer, 160
Doubleday, Mr., on a noise made by a

butterfly, 34
Drigg, lightning tubes at, 61
Droughts, great, in Pampas, 141
Drynaess of St. Jago, 4

of winds in Tierra del Fuego, 245

of air in Cordillera, 348
Du Bois, 407, 426
Dung-feeding beetles, 520, 521
Dust, falling from atmosphere, 5

Earthenware, fossil, 394

Earthquake, accompanied by an elevation
of the coast, 331
accompanied by rain, 375
at Callao, 393
at Concepcion, 325
at Coquimbo, 366
at Keeling and Vanikoro, and Society

Islands, 504
at Valdivia, 322
causes of, 330
effect of, on springs, 281
on bottom of sea, 327
effects of, on rocks, 274, 324
effects of, on sea, 323, 324, 325
effects of, on a river-bed, 381
line of vibration of, 328
on S.W. coast, 260
tossing fragments from the ground, 208
twisting movement of, 328
Eggs of Doris, 211
Ehrenberg, Prof., on Atlantic dust, 5
on infusoria in Pampas, 87, 137
in the open sea, 172
in Patagonia, 180
in Fuegian paint, 234
in coral mud, 494
in tuff at Ascension, 525
on phosphorescence of the sea, 172
on noises from a hill, 385
Eimeo, island of, 432 ; barrier-reef, 433
Elater, springing powers of, 32
Electricity of atmosphere within Andes,

348
Elephant, weight of, 91
Elevated shells, 89, 136, 180, 266, 313,

331, 367, 393
Elevation of coasts of Chile, 266, 313,

323. 331. 355. 367, 381

Bahia Blanca, 87

Pampas, 137

Patagonia, 180, 395

mountain-chains, 333

Cordillera, 338, 343, 354

Peru, 393

within human period, 395

fringing-reefs, 508
Entomology of the Galapagos Archi-
pelago, 407, 418, 420

Brazil, 34

Patagonia, 180, 349

Tierra del Fuego, 253

Keeling Island, 485

St. Helena, 520
Entre Rios, geology of, 132
Epeira, habits of, 37 to 39
Erratic blocks, how transported, 262

absent in intertropical countries, 263

INDEX

543

Erratic blocks on plains of Santa Cruz, 196

of Tierra del Fuego, 262
Estancia, value of, 154
Extermination of species and races, 183,

462, 469, 476
Extinction of shells at St. Helena, 520

of species, causes of, 1 83

of man in New South Wales, 462, 476
Eyes of tucutuco and mole, 53
Eyre Sound, 260

t
Falconer, Dr., on the Sivatherium, 155

on the Indians, 109

on rivers in Pampas, 112

on natural enclosures, 122
Falkland Islands, 199

absence of trees at, 48

carrion -hawks of, 57

wild cattle and horses of, 200

fox of, 204

climate of, 257

peat of, 305

tame birds at, 424
Fat, quantity eaten, 123
Fatahua fall, 436
Fear an acquired instinct, 426
Februa Hoffmanseggi, butterfly, 35
Fennel run wild, 125
Ferguson, Dr., on miasma, 390
Fernando Noronha, 2, II, 173, 399
Ferns, tree, 259, 477
Fields of dead coral, 488
Fire, art of making, 205. 436
Fireflies, 31
Fish emitting harsh sound, 144

of Galapagos, 416

eating coral, 494
Flamingoes, 69
Fleas, 369
Floods after droughts, 142

clear after snow, 341
Flora of the Galapagos, 399, 418, 421

of Keeling Island, 483

of St. Helena, 523
Flustracese, 211
Forests, absence of, in La Plata, 47

of Tierra del Fuego, 220, 250, 305

of Chiloe, 250, 299, 305, 314

of Valdivia, 319, 322

of New Zealand, 436

of Australia, 445
Fossil -Mammalia, 86, 134, 137, 164, 182

earthenware, 394
Fox of the Falkland Islands, 204

of Chiloe, 299
Freyrina, 372
Friendly Archipelago, 505

Fringing reefs, 501
Frogs, noises of, 30

bladders of, 409

and toads, not found on oceanic
islands, 407
Frozen soil, 93, 257
Fruit-trees, southern limit of, 250
Fucus giganteus, 254
Fuegians, 151, 218 to 243

wigwams, 151, 224

basket and bone weapons, 230
Fulgurites, 62
Fungus, edible, 250
Furnarius, 99

Galapagos Archipelago, 398
natural history of, 403

marked relationship with America,

403

zoology of, 403, 419

finches from, 405
Gale of wind, 228, 300
Gallegos river, fossil bones at, 182
Gallinazo, 60
Gauchos, 46, 160

character of, 161

live on meat, 123

surcingle of, 46
Gavia mountain, 33
Gay, M., on floating islands, 283

on shells in brackish water, 22
Geese at the Falkland Islands, 210
Geographical distribution of American
animals, 138, 349

of frogs, 407

of fauna of Galapagos, 419
Geology of Cordillera, 341, 355

of St. Jago, 6

of St. Paul, 8

of Brazil, 1 2

of Bahia Blanca, 86

of Pampas, 1 36

of Patagonia, 180, 190
Georgia, climate of, 263
Geospiza, 405, 420

Gill, Mr., on an upheaved river-bed, 382
Gillies, Dr. on the Cordillera, ^45
Glaciers in Tierra del Fuego, 237, 260,
261

in lat. 46° 40', 260

in Cordillera, 346
Glow-worms, 31

Goats destructive to vegetation at St.
Helena, 520

bones of, 177
Goeree Roads, 2 30
Goitre, 336

544

INDEX

Gold-washing, 284

Good Success Bay, 214

Gossamer spider, 169

Gould, Mr., on the Calodera, 132

on birds of Galapagos, 404
Granite mountains, Tres Monies, 301

of Cordillera, 342
Graspus, 10
Gravel, how far transported, 113

of Patagonia, 78, 180
Graves of Indians, 179
Greenstone, fragments of, 274
Gregory, Cape, 245
Gryllus migratorius, 352
Guanaco, habits of, 175, 197

fossil allied genus, 182
Guantajaya, mines of, 387
Guardia del Monte, 124
Guasco, 367, 371, 375
Guasos of Chile, 275
Guava imported into Tahiti, 430
Guinea-fowl, 5, 523
Guitron, 279
Gunnera scabra, 298
Gypsum, great beds of, 342

in salt-lake, 68

in Patagonian tertiary beds, 180

at Iquiq'ue with salt, 388

at Lima with shells, 392

Hachette, M., on lightning-tubes, 62
Hacienda, condor, and cactus, 271
Hail-storm, 121
Hall, Capt. Basil, on terraces of

Coquimbo, 367
Hare, Varying, 47

Head, Capt., on thistle-beds, 125, 130
Height of snow-line on Cordillera, 259
Henslow, Prof, on potatoes, 304

on plants of Keeling Island, 483
Hermit crabs, 486
Hide Bridge, 334
Hill emitting a noise, 385
Himantopus, 120
Hippah, New Zealand, 458
Hobart Town and Mount Wellington,

475

Hogoleu barrier-reef, 499

Holes made by a bird, 99

Holman on drifted seeds, 484

Holothuria; feeding on coral, 494

Homeward bound, 531

Hooker, Sir J., on the Cardoon, 125
Dr. J. D., on the kelp, 253
on Galapageian plants, 418, 421

Horn, Cape, 223

Horner, Mr., on a calcareous deposit, 10

Horse, swimming powers of, 152
Horse, wild at the Falkland Islands, 202

fossil of extinct species of, 86, 138
Horse-fly, 180

Horsemanship of the Gauchos, 162, 206
Horses difficult to drive, 1 15

drop excrement on paths, 125

killed by great droughts, 1 41

multiplication of, 247

broken in, 160
Hot springs of Cauquenes, 281
Huacas, 394, 396
Humboldt on burnished rocks, I2

on the atmosphere in tropics, 33

on frozen soil, 93

on hybernation, 102

on potatoes, 304

on earthquakes and rain, 375

on miasma, 390, 463
Humming-birds of Rio de Janeiro, 33

of Chiloe, 289
Hurtado, 1 13

Hybernation of animals, 102
Hydrochterus capybara, 40, 51
Hydrophobia, 377
Hyla, 30
Hymenophallus, 34

Ibis melanops, 175
Ice, prismatic structure of, 347
Iceberg.s, 197, 237, 260 to 267
Incas' bridge, 357, 380, 394
Incrustations on coast rocks, 9, 12
Indian fossil remains, 395
Indians, attacks of, 66, 80, 136

antiquarian relics of, 48, 109

Araucanian, 66, 321

of the Pampas, 105

decrease in numbers of, 108

grave of, 179, 198

Patagonian, 245

perforated stones used by, 285

Valdivian, 321

powers of tracking, 350

ruins of houses of, 380, 384, 392
Infection, 463
Infusoria in dust in the Atlantic, 5

in the sea, 16, 168

in the Pampas, 87, 137

in Patagonia, 180

in white paint, 234

in coral mud, 494

at Ascension, 525
Insects first colonists of St. PauFs rocks,
10

blown out to sea, 168

of Patagonia, 180, 349

INDEX

545

Insects of Tierra del Fuego, 253

of Galapagos, 403, 417, 419

of Keeling Island, 485

of St. Helena, 520
Instincts of birds, 96, 423
Iodine with salt at Iquique, 38S
Iquique, 386

Iron, oxide of, on rocks, 12
Irregular troops, 85
Islands, oceanic, volcanic, 8

Antarctic, 263

floating, 283

low, 429, 497

Jackson, Col., on frozen snow, 347
Jaguar, habits of, 143
Jajuel, mines of, 276
James Island, 402, 420
Jemmy Button, 218, 233
Juan Fernandez, volcano of, 332
flora of, 418

Kangaroo-hunting, 469
Kater's Peak, 224
Kauri pine, 454
Keeling Island, 481

inside an atoll, 481

flora of, 483

birds of, 485, 486

entomology of, 486

subsidence of, 504

Birgos latro, 512
Kelp, or seaweed, 253, 254
Kendall, Lieut., on a frozen body, 263
Kingfishers, 2, 147
King George's Sound, 478
Kororadika, 447, 453

Labourers, condition of, in Chile, 285
Lagoon-islands, 429, 482, 489, 495
Lagostomus, 130
Lake, brackish, near Rio, 22

with floating islands, 2S3

formed during earthquake, 395
Lamarck on acquired blindness, 53
Lampyris, 31

Lancaster, Capt., on a sea-tree, 105
Land-shells, 371, 519, 520
Las Minas, 43
Laze, 46, 160, 201
Leaves, 250

fossil, 477
Leeks in New Zealand, imported, 455
Lemuy Island, 295, 297
Lepus Magellanicus, 203
Lesson, M., on the scissor-beak, 147

on rabbit of the Falklands, 203
36

Lichen on loose sand, 387
Lichtenstem on ostriches, 96
Lightning storms, 63

tubes, 61
Lima, 389, 392

and San Lorenzo, 360

elevation of a river near, 383
Lime, changed by lava into crystalline

rock, 6
Limna:a in brackish water, 2
Lion-ant, 470
Lizard, 102

marine species of, 407
Lizards, transport of, 404
Llama or guanaco, habits of, 175
Locusts, 351

Longevity of species in Mollusca, 87
Lorenzo, San, island of, 393
Low Archipelago, 429, 497
Luciano, story of, 1 1 7
Lumb, Mr., 158, 164
Lund, M., on antiquity ofman, 382
Lund and Clausen on fossils of Brazil,

138, 183
Luxan, 130, 351
Luxuriant vegetation not necessaiy to

support large animals, 89
Lycosa, 36
Lyell, Mr., on terraces of Coquimbo,

367
on longevity of Mollusca, 87
on change in vegetation, 126
on fossil horses' teeth, 137
on flocks of butterflies, 168
on extinct mammals and ice-period,

184
on stones twisted by earthquakes, 329
on frozen snow, 347
on distribution of animals, 349
on subsidence in the Pacific, 498

MacCullocii on infection, 464

Macquarie river, 471

Macrauchenia, 86, 182

Macrocystis, 253

Madrina, or godmother of a tvoop of

mules, 336
Magdalen channel, 255
Magellan, flora of, 265

H.M.S. Beagle in Straits of, Fron/is-
piece

Straits of, 229, 244

Port Famine, 246

kelp of, 267
Malays, 482

Malcolmson, Dr., on hail, 122
Maldiva atolls, 496, 505, 507

546

INDEX

Maldonado, 41, 47, 61, 65, 145
Mammalia, fossil, 86, 134, 137, 164,

182, 183, 395
Man, antiquity of, 382

body frozen, 264

fossil remains of, 395

fear of, an acquired instinct, 427

extinction of races, 463, 476
Mandetiba, 20
Mandioca or cassava, 23, 27
Mare's flesh eaten by troops, 107
Mares killed for their hides, 163
Mastodon, 134, 137
Mate pots and Bambillio, 1 18
Matter, granular, movements in, 104
Mauritius, 513
Maypu river, 338
Megalonyx, 86, 139
Megatherium, 86, 88, 139
Mendoza, 352

climate of, 345
Mercedes on the Rio Negro, 156
Mexico, elevation of, 139
Miasmata, 389, 463
Mice inhabit sterile places, 384

number of, in America, 51

how transported, 307, 404

different on opposite sides of Ande>,
348

of the Galapagos, 403

of Ascension, 523
Millepora, 493
Mills for grinding ores, 284
Mimosse, 26
Mimus, 56, 420, 424
Miners, condition of, 277, 283, 362, 370
Mines, 277, 365, 369

how discovered, 340
Miranda, Commandant, 105
Missionaries at New Zealand, 446
Mitchell, Sir T. , on valleys of Australia,

466
Mocking -bird, 56, 420, 424
Molina omits description of certain

birds, 289
Molothrus, habits of, 54
Monkeys with prehensile tails, 29
Monte Video, 41, 151, 152
Moresby, Capt., on a great crab, 493

on coral-reefs, 509
Moimt Sarmiento, 247, 256
Tarn, 249
Victoria, 47
Mountains, elevation of, 333
Movements in granular matter, 104
Mud, chalk-like, 494

disturbed by earthquake, 328

Mules, 336

Muniz, Sig. , on niata cattle, 155
Murray, Mr., on spiders, 170
Mylodon, 86, 140, 164
Myopotamus Coypus, 306

Narborough Island, 401
Negress with goitre, 336
Negro, Rio, 65, 192

lieutenant, 78
Nepean river, 444

New Caledonia, reef of, 499, 501, 507
New Zealand, 444
Niata cattle, 155
Noises from a hill, 385
Noses, ceremony of pressing, 451
Nothura, 47

Notopod, crustacean, 171
NuUiporse, incrustations like, 9

protecting reefs, 529

Octopus, habits of, 7

Oily coating on sea, 17

Olfersia, 10

Opetiorhynchus, 425

Opuntia, 278
Darwinii, 175
Galapageia, 427

Orange-trees self-sown, 126

Ores, gold, 284

Ornithology of Galapagos, 404, 420

Ornithorhynchus, 470

Osorno, volcano of, 292, 294, 312

Ostrich, habits of, 44, 94

Ostrich's eggs, 1 19

Otaheite, 429

Otter, 307

Ova in sea, I 7

Oven-bird, 99

Owen, Capt., on a drought in Africa,
141
Professor, on the Capybara, 5 1
fossil quadrupeds, 86-89, 137
nostrils of the Gallinazo, 195

Owl of Pampas, 73, 132
of Galapagos Islands, 406

Oxyurus,252, 308

Oysters, gigantic, 180

Paint, white, 234
Pallas on Siberia, 69
Palm-trees in La Plata, 48

south limit of, 260

in Chile, 272
Palms absent at Galapagos, 400
Pampas, halt at a pulperia on the, 64

number of embedded remains in, 165

INDEX

547

Pampas, S. limit of, 80

changes in, 130

giant thistle of, 125

not quite level, 134, 137, 153

geology of, 1^6, 165

view of, from the Andes, 348
Pan de Azucar, 47
Papilio feronia, 34, 39
Parana, Rio, 136, 148, 156

River, 133

islands in, 143
Parish, Sir W., on the gieat drought,

142
Park, Mungo, on eating salt, 1 16
Parrots, 147, 259
Partridges, 47

Pas, fortresses of New Zealand, 445
Passes in Cordillera, 356
Pasture altered from grazing of cattle,

124
Patagones, 65
Patagonia, geology of, 190, 349

birds of, 93

zoology of, 174, 180, 189

raised beaches, 182
Patagonian bolas, etc., 248, 249
Patagonians, Cape Gregory, 245
Paypote ravine, 383
Peach-trees self-sown, 126
Peat, formation of, 305
Pebbles perforated, 158, 285

transported m roots of trees, 491
Pelagic animals in southern ocean, 1 72
Penas, glacier in Gulf of, 261
Penguin, habits of, 209
Pepsis, habits of, 36
Pernambuco, reef of, 529
Pernety on hill of ruins, 208

on tame birds, 425
Peru, 386, 396

dry valleys of, 382, 386
Peruvian pottery, 396
Petrels, habits of, 309
Peuquenes, pass of, 341
Phonolite at Fernando Noronha, i \
Phosphorescence of the sea, 172

of land insects and sea animals, 31

of a coralline, 213
Phryniscus, loi
Pine of New Zealand, 454
Plains at foot of Andes in Chile, 282,

337

almost horizontal near St. Fe, 135
Planariis, terrestrial species of, 28
Plants of the Galapagos, 402, 418, 421

of Keeling island, 483

of St. Helena, 517

Plants, fossil, in Australia, 477
Plata, R., 40

thunderstorms of, 65
Plover, long-legged, 120
Polished rocks, Brazil, 1 2
Polyborus chimango, 58, 209

Brazilien-sis, 57

Nov£e Zelandise, 59
Ponsonby Sound, 229, 233, 239, 241
Porpoises, 40
Port Desire, 97, 174

river of, 1 12, 178

St. Julian, 180

Famine, 246, 247

Jackson, 459
Portillo Pass, 335 to 352
Porto Praya, 2
Potato, wild, 304
Potrero Seco, 375
Prairies, vegetation of, i 24
Prevost, M. , on cuckoos, 55
Priestley, Dr., on lightning-tubes, 61
Prisoner, bringing in a, 84
Procellaria gigantea, habits of, 309
Proctotretus, 102
Proteus, blindness of, 53
Protococcus nivalis, 345
Pteroptochos, two species of, 2 88

species of, 297, 307
Puente del Inca, 356, 380
Puffinuria Berardii, 309
Pufifinus cinereus, 309
Puma, habits of, 144, 193, 287

flesh of, 122
Puna, or short respiration, 344
Punta Alta, Bahia Blanca, 83

Gorda, 136, 3S0

Huantamo, 317
Pyrophorus luminosus, 32

Quadrupeds, fossil, 83, 136, 141, 164,
182

large, do not require luxuriant vegeta-
tion, 89

weight of, 91
Quaitz of the \'entana, 122 <

of Tapalgnen. 122

of Falkland Island, 207
Quedius, 10
Quellaypo volcano, 3 1 2
Quiliniari, 362
Quillota, valley of, 270
Quinchao Island, 296
Quintero, 270
Quiriquina Island, 324
Quoy and Gaimard on stinging corals,
493

548

INDEX

Quoy and Gaimard on coral-reefs, 505

Rabbit, wild, at the Falkland Islands,

203
Rain at Coquimbo, 361, 371, 372

at Rio, 30

effects on vegetation, 361

and earthquakes, 375

in Chile, formerly more abundant, 381

in Peru, 389, 390
Rana Mascariensis, 407
Rat, only aboriginal animal of New

Zealand, 455
Rats at Galapagos, 403

at Keeling Island, 485

at Ascension, 523
Rattlesnake, species with allied habit,

100
Red snow, 345
Redux ius, 352

Reef at Pernambuco of sandstone, 529
Reefs of coral, 495 to 512

barrier, 498, 504

fringing, 501
Reeks, Mr., analysis of salt, 68

bones, 164

salt and shells, 394
Remains, human, elevated, 394
Remedies of the Gauchos, 135
Rengger on the horse, 247
Reptiles absent in Tierra del Fuego,
252

at Galapagos, 407
Respiration difficult in Andes, 344
Retrospect, 51

Revolutions at Buenos Ayres, 149
Rhea Darwinii (Avestruz Petise), 1 10
Rhinoceroses live in desert countries, 92

frozen, 93, 264
Rhynchops nigra, 145, 146
Richardson, Dr., on mice of North
America, 404

on frozen soil, 92, 263

on eating fat, 123

on geographical distribution, 139

on polished rocks, 267
Rimsky atoll, 496
Rio de Janeiro, 19 to 39

Botofogo Bay, 19

Plata, 40

Negro, 65, 192

Colorado,_73

Sauce, 112

Salado, 124

S. Cruz, 187
River-bed, arched, 383
River-courses dry in America, 1 1 3

Rivers, power of, in wearing channels,

I9i> 339
Rocks burnished with ferruginous matter,

12
Rodents, number of, in America, 51, 189

fossil species of, 87
Rolor, General, 149
Rosas, General, 73, 116, 149
Rozario, 129, 133, 147, 153
Ruins of Callao, 391

of Indian buildings in Cordillera, 380,
3S2

Salado, Rio, 124
Saladillo river, 134
Salinas at the Galapagos Archipelago, 402

in Patagonia, 66, 177
Saline efflorescences, 81
Salt with vegetable food, 1 16

superficial crust of, 388

with elevated shells, 393
Salt-lakes, 68, 177, 402
San Carlos, 313

Nicolas, 133, 147

Felipe, 276

Pedro, 299

Pedro, forests of, 299

Lorenzo Island, 393
Sand-dunes, 78

Sand, hot from sun's rays, at Galapagos
Archipelago, 403

noise from friction of, 3S5
Sandstone of New South Wales, 465

reef of, 529
Sandwich Archipelago, no frogs at, 407

Land, 263
Santa Cruz, river of, 187
Santiago, Chile, 282
Sarmiento, Mount, 247, 256
Sauce, Rio, 112, 371
Saurophagus sulphureus, 55
Scarus eating corals, 494
Scelidotherium, 86
Scenery of Andes, 335 to 341
Scissor-beak, habits of, 145, 146
Scissor-tail, 147
Scoresby, Mr., on effects of snow on

rocks, 340
Scorpions, cannibals, 165
Scrope, Mr., on earthquakes, 376
Scytalopus, 252, 308
Sea, open, inhabitants of, 172

phosphorescence of, 1 72

explosions in, 327
Sea-pen, habits of, 104, 212
Seals, number of, 303
Seaweed, growth of, 253

INDEX

549

Seeds transported by sea, 418, 484

Serpula;, 529

Sertularia, protecting reef, 494

Shark killed by Diodon, 14

Shaw, Dr., on lion's flesh, 122

Sheep, infected, 464

Shelley, lines on JMont Blanc, 178

Shells, land, in great numbers, 368

elevated, 86, 137, 180, 343, 367, 395

tropical forms of, far south, 258

fossil, of Cordillera, 343

decomposition of, with salt, 393

of Galapagos, 416

at St. Helena, 519
Shepherd's dogs, 159
Shingle-bed of Patagonia, 78, 189
Shongi, New Zealand chief, 447
Siberia compared with Patagonia, 69

zoology of, related to North America,
140
Siberian animals, how preserved in ice,
264

food necessary during their existence,

93. 96
Sierra de la Ventana, 112

Tapalguen, 119
Silicified trees, 354, 376
Silurian formations at Falkland Islands,

207
Silurus, habits of, 144
Sivatherium, 155
Skunks, 83
Slavery, 20, 25, 530
Smelling power of carrion-hawks, 195
Smith, Dr. Andrew, on the support of
large quadrupeds, 88

on perforated pebbles, 1 58
Snake, venomous, 100
Snow, effects of, on rocks, 340

prismatic structure of, 347

red, 345
Snow-line on Cordillera, 259, 358, 347
Socego, 23
Society, state of, in La Plata, 42, 165

state of, in Australia, 471, 474

Archipelago, 440

volcanic phenomena at, 505, 510
Soda, nitrate of, 388

sulphate of, 81
Soil, frozen, 92, 263
South American bit, 338
Spawn on surface of sea, 1 7
Species, distribution of, 136, 391

extinction of, 182
Spiders, habits of, 37 to 39

gossamer, 169

killed by and killing wasps, 37 to 39

Spiders on Keeling Island, 485

on St. Paul's, 10
Spurs of Guaso, 275
Springs, hot, 281
Stevenson, Mr., on growth of seaweed,

253
St. Helena, 517

Jago, C. Verds, i

unhealthiness of, 390

Paul's rocks, 8

Fe, 135

Maria, elevated, 333, 338

introduction of spirits into, 439

Louis, Mauritius, 513
Stinging animals, 493
Stones perforated, 158, 285

transported in roots, 490
Storm, 223, 300

in Cordillera, 338, 374
Streams of stones at Falkland Islands,

207
Strongylus, 34
Struthio rhea, 44, 94

Darwinii, 97
Strzelecki, Count, 476
Suadiva atoll, 496
Subsidence of coral-reefs, 495 to 5 i 2

of Patagonia, 180

of Cordillera, 343, 355

of Coasts of Chile, 354

cause of distinctness in Tertiary
epochs, 367

of coast of Peru, 379-

of Keeling Island, 496, 504

of Vanikoro, 504

of coral-reefs great in amount, 509
Sulphate of lime, 69, 180, 386

soda with common salt, 69, 81, 386

soda incrusting the ground, 81
Swainson, Mr., on cuckoos, 54
Sydney, 459

Tabanus, 180
Tahiti (Otaheite), 429

three zones of fertility, 432

Fatahua fall, 436

Christianity in, 437, 441
Tahitian, 438
Talcahuano, 311, 324
Tambillos, Ruinas de, 380
Tameness of birds, 425
Tandeel, pumas at, 287
Tapacolo and Turco, 288
Tapalguen, Sierra, flat hills of quartz,

122
Tarn, Mount, 249
Tasmania, 474

550

INDEX

Tattooing, 430, 439
Temperance of the Tahilians, 438
Tempemture of Tieira del Fuego and
Falkland Islands, 244

of Galapagos, 399, 403
Tercero, Rio, fossils in banks of, 134
Terraces in valleys of Cordillera, 337

of Patagonia, 181, 190

of Coquimbo, 367
Tertiary formations of the Pampas, 86,
136, 165

of Patagonia, i 80, 349

ill Chile, epochs of, 368
Teru-tero, habits of, 120
Testudo, two species of, 420

Abingdonii, 397

Nigra, habits of, 408
Theory of lagoon-islands, 499
Theristicus melanops, 175
Thistle beds, 125, 130, 157
Thunder-storms, 63
Ti, liliaceous plant, 437
Tierra del Fuego, 215 to 257

climate and vegetation of, 250, 257

zoology of, 251

entomology of, 253
Tinamus rufescens, 119
Tinochorus rumicivorus, 98
Toad, habits of, loi

not found in oceanic islands, 407
Torrents in Cordillera, 338, 343
Tortoise, habits of, 408, 420
Toxodon, 86, 134, 137, 164
Transparency of air in Andes, 358

in St. Jago, 4
Transport of boulders, 190, 262

of fragments of rock on banks of the
St. Cruz river, 190

of seeds, 418, 484

of stones in roots of trees, 491
Travertin with leaves of trees. Van

Diemen's Land, 479
Tree-ferns, 478

southern limits of, 258
Trees, absence of, in Pampas, 48

time required to rot, 322

silicified, vertical, 376

size of, 377

floating, transport stones, 490
Tres Montes, 30 1
Trichodesmium, 15
Trigonocephalus, 100
Tristan d'Acunha, 426, 485
Trochilus forficatus, 268
Tropical scenery, 526
Tschudi, M. , on subsidence, 393
Tubes, siliceous, formed by lightning, 6 1

Tucutuco, habits of, 52

fossil species of, 87
Tuff, craters of, 398

infusoria in, 525
Tupungato, volcano of, 347
Turco, El, 288
Turkey buzzard, 60, 192, 303
Turtle, manner of catching, 488
Type of organisation in Galapagos

Islands, American, 423
Types of organisation in different

countries, constant, 182
Tyrannus savana, 147

Ulloa on hydrophobia, 377

on Indian buildings, 380
Unaniie, Dr., on hydrophobia, 377
Uruguay, Rio, 147, 152

not crossed by the Bizcacha, 1 31
Uspallata range and pass, 353

Vac AS, Rio, 355
Valdivia, 318

forests of, 319, 322
Valley of St. Cruz, how excavated, 190

dry, at Copiapo, 380
Valleys, excavation of, in Chile, 343, 383

of New South Wales, 46

in Cordillera. 343

of Tahiti, 437, 439
Valparaiso, 268, 335
Vampire bat, 22, 23
Van Diemen's Land, 474
Vanellus cayanus, 120
Vanessa, flocks of, 168
Vanikoro, 500, 504
Vapour from forests, 25
Vegetation of St. Helena, changes of,

519

luxuriant, not necessary to support
large animals, 89

on opposite sides of Cordillera, 349
Ventana, Sierra, 71, 112
Verbena melindres, 42
Vilipilli, 315
Villa Vicencio, 353
Villarica volcano, 332
Virgin forest, 25
Virgularia Patagonica, 104
Volcanic bombs, ^24

cellular formation of, 524

islands, 8

phenomena, 331
Volcanoes near Chiloe, 294, 300, 312,

332
their presence determined by elevation
or subsidence, 496

INDEX

551

Vultur aura, 60, 192, 303

Waders, first colonists of distant islands,

405
Waimate, New Zealand, 452
Waiomio, 456
Walckenaer on spiders, 39
Walleechu tree, 71
Wasps preying on spiders and killed by,

37 to 39
Water-hog (Hydrochserus capybara), 51
Water-serpents, 103
Water sold at Iquique, 386
Water, fresh, floating on salt, 41, 487
Waterhouse, Mr., on Rodents, 51, 485

on the niata ox, 156

on the insects of Tierra del Fuego,

253

of Galapagos, 406, 417
on the terrestrial mammals of Gala-
pagos, 403
Waves caused by fall of ice, 237, 260

from earthquakes, 326, 330
Weather, connection with earthquakes,

375
Weatherboard, N.S. Wales, 465
Weeds in New Zealand, imported, 455
Weight of large quadrupeds, 88
Wellington, Mount, 477
Wells, ebbing and flowing, 4S7

at Iquique, 388
West Indies, banks of sediment, 46S

zoolog)' of, 143

coral-reefs of, 502, 510

Whales, oil from, 17

leaping out of water, 236
White, Mr., on spiders, 36
Whitsunday Island, 495, 497
Wigwam cove, 223, 228
Wigwams of Fuegians, 151, 224
Williams, Rev. Mr., 448

on infectious disorders, 452, 463
Winds, dry, in Tierra del Fuego, 245

at the Cape Verds, 3

on Cordillera, 345

cold, on Cordillera, 384
Winter's Bark, 250, 299
Wolf at the Falklands, 204
Wollaston Island, 224, 244
Wood, Captain, on the Agouti, 72
Woolly a, 239

Vaql'IL gold mines, 283

Yeso, Valle del, 341

York Minster, 215, 227, 241, 294

ZoNOTRiCHiA, 54

Zoological provinces of N. and

America, 140
Zoology of Galapagos, 403

of Tierra del Fuego, 251

of Chonos Islands, 306

of Keeling Island, 485

of St. Helena, 520
Zoophytes, 104, 211

at Falkland Islands, 210
Zorillo, or skunk, %Tf

THE END.

CHARLES DARWIN'S COMPLETE WORKS.

Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of
Favored Races in the Struggle for Life. From sixth and last London edition.
2 vols., 12mo. Cloth, §4.00.

" Personally and practically exercised in zoology, in minute anatomy, in seology, a student of
eeograpbical distribution, not in maps and in museums, but by long voyages and laborious collec-
tion; having largely advanced each of these branches of science, and haviuL' spent many years in
gathering and sifting materials for his present work, the store of accurately-registered facts upon
which tiie author of the "Origin of Species" is able to draw at will, is prodigious."— PTO/e«S07-
T. H. Huxley.

"His first point is to show ihat species are in many cases not well defined, and that the whole
order of natural liistory seems to be in a state of mutation, by reason of consiat.t variations.
Thus, even under domestication, important changes may be introduced by intercrossing, by selec-
tion of the best individuals for propagation, by crossing pa'-ents marked by however slight but
favorable peculiarities.

"His second point is what he terms the universal and necess.arv struggle for existence. This
follows from the high geometrical ratio of increase common to all beings. If there were no catas-
trophes, any one of the existing species would be sufficiently numerous in a few thousand years
to cover the whole earth, to the exclusion of everything else.

•' His third point is to prove that this strusele is directed by the law of natural selection. Even
the races of domestic animals may be constantly improved and modified by classing the best i indi-
viduals for propagation. Nature brinas the same discipline to bear upon the whole domain of
animal and vegetable life. She seizes at once upon any slight variation that is favomble. and per-
petuates it ; in the universal pressure, any variation tha't is injurious is immediately extinguished."

Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex. With many Illustra-
tions. 12mo. Cloth, S3. 00.

" In these volumes Mr. Darwin has brought forward all the facts and arguments which science
has to offer in favor of the doctrine that man has arisen by gradual development from the lowest
point of animal life. He had orisjinally intended this work as a posthumous publication, but the
extensive acceptance of the views unfolded in his book on the • Origin of Species ' induced him to
believe that the public were ripe for the most advanced deductions from his theory of 'Natural
Selection.' Aside from the lo^rical purpose which Mr. Darwin had in view, his work is an original
and fascinating contribution to the most interesting portion of natural history."'

Emotional Expressions of Man and the Lo"wer Animals. 12mo. Cloth,

S3 50.

" Whatever one thinks of Mr Darwin's theory, it must he admitted that his great powers of
observation are as conspicuous as ever in this inquiry. During a space of more than thirty years,
be has. with exemniary patience, been accumulating "information from all available sources. The
result of all this is undoubtedly the collection of a mass of minute and trustworthy information
which must possess the highest value, whatever may be the conclusions ultimately deduced from
it.'— London Times.

Journal of Researches into the Natural History and Geology of the

Countries visited during the Voyage of H. M. S. Beagle round the

World. 12mo. Cloth, -$2.00.

"Darwin was nearly five years on board the Beasle. A keen observer and a genuine philoso-
pher, he has brought hack to us a precious freight of facts and truths. The work has been for
some time before the public, and has won a high place among readers of every class. It is not so
scientific as to be above the comprehension of intelliirent readers who are not scientific. Some
facts and species, new even to ths scientific, are brouL'ht to light. Darwin's transparent, eloquent
style riihly illuminates his oiiservations. The weightier matters to which he alludes are inter-
spersed among more familiar observations, such as would naturally be made by a traveler passing
through new atid wonderful scenes." — Northwestern Christian Advocate. <

Variation of Animals and Plants under Domestication. With Illustra-
tions. Revised edition. 2 vols., 12mo. Cloth, §5.00.

"The object of this work is not to describe all the many races of animals which have been
domesticated by roan, and ol the plants which have been cultivated by him. It is mv intension to
give under the head of each species only such facts as I liave been able to collect or observe, show-
ing the amount and nature of the chances which animals and plants have undert^'one whili' under
man's dominion, or which bear upon the sretieral principles of variation. I shall treat, as fully as
my materials permit, the whole subject of variation under domestication. We may thus hope to
obtain some lis-bt on the causes of variability— on the laws which sovem it. such as the direct
action of climate and food, the effects of use and disuse, and r.f correlation of irrowth— and on the
amount of chanare to which domesticated organisms are liable. We shall learn something of the
laws of inheritance, of the effects of crossing different breeds, and on that sterility which often
supervenes when orsanic beings are removed from their natural conditions of life, and likesvise
when they are too closely interbred.' — From the Introduction.

CHARLES DARWIN'S COMPLETE WORKS.— {Continued':)

Insectivorous Plants. 12nio. Cloth, $2.00.

"In tliis work Mr. I'arwii:"s patient and painstaking methods of investigation appear to the
best posj'ihle advantaj;e. It is impossible to read it without eiithusiastic admiration for the inge-
nuity which he displays in devising tests to determine the characteristics of the plants, the pecul-
iarities of wliic'.i he is ptudying, and, as is always the case with him. he presents the conclusions
arrived at in lanauage so lucid that he who reads simply for inlormation is sure to be attracted and
charmed quite as much as the professional student."— A^ Y. Times.

Movements and Habits of Climbing Plants. With Illustrations. 12mo.

Cloth, $1.25.

"The most interesting point in the natural history of climbing plants is the various kinds of
movements whicti i hey display in manilest relation to their wants. The most diflerent organs —
stems, branches, flower peduncles, petioles, midrib- of the leaf and leaflets, and apparently aerial
,-oots— all possess this power. It has often been vaguely asserted that plants are distinguished
from animals by not having the power of moveme t. It should rather be said that plants acquire
and display this power only when it is of some advantage to them; this being of comparatively
rare occurrence, as they are aflSxed to the ground, and food is brought to them by the air and rain."
— The Autho}'.

Various Contrivances by which Orchids are Fertilized by Insects.

With Illustrations. Revised edition. 12mo. Cloth, $1.75.

" The object of the wo.-k is to show thnt the contrivances by which orchids arc fertilized are aa
varied and almost as perfect as any of the most beautiful adaptations in the animal kingdom ; and,
secondly, to show that these contrivances have for their main object the fertilization of the flowers
with pollen brought by insects trom a distinct plant."— /'Vowi the Introduction.

Effects of Cross- and Self-Fertilization in the Vegetable Kingdom.

12mo. Cloth, $2.00.

"As plants are adapted by such diversified and effective means for cross-fertilization, it might
have been inferred from this fact alone that they derived some great advantage from the process;
and it is the object of the present work to show the nature and importance of the benefits thus
derived."

Different Forms of Flowers on Plants of the Same Specios. Illustrated.

12mo. Cloth, 11.50.

"The differently formed flowers normally produced by certain kinds of plants, either on the
same stock or on distinct stock, form the subject of the present volume. As far as the sexual rela-
tions of flowers are concerned, Linnaus long ago divided them into hermaphrodite, monoecious,
dioecious, and polygamous species. This fundamental distinction, with the aid of several subdi-
visions in each of the four classes, will serve my purpose; but the classitication is artificial, and
the groups often pass into one another." — From the Introduction.

Formation of Vegetable Mould through the Action of "Worms, with

Observations on their Habits. With Illustrations. 12mo. Cloth, $1.50.

"All lovers of nature will unite in thanking Mr. Darwin for the new and interesting light he
has thrown upon a subject so long overlooked, yet so full of interest and instruction, as the struct-
ure and the labors of the eaxiix-wovm.''^— Saturday Review.

The Power of Movement in Plants. By Charles Darwin, LL. D., F. R. S.,

assisted by Francis Darwin. Illustrated. 12mo. Cloth, $2.00.

" Mr. Darwin's latest study of plant-life shows no abatement of his power of work or his habits
of fresh and original observation. We have learned to expect from him at intervals, never much
prolonged, the results of special research in some by-path or other subordinated to the main course
of the biological system associated with his name; and it has been an unfailinij source of interest
to see the central ideas of the evolution and the continuity of life developed in detail through a
series of special treatises, each well-nigh exhaustive of the materials available for its subject."—
Saturday Review.

Life and Letters of Charles Darwin. Including an Autobiographic Chapter.
Edited by his Son, Francis Darwin. With Portraits, etc. Two vols. 12mo.
Cloth, $4.50.

New York: D. APPLETON & CO., Publishers, 1, 3, & 5 Bond Street.

COMPLETE WORKS OF JOHN TYNDALL, F.R.S.

Contributions to Molecular Physics in the Domain of Badiant Heat.

A Series of Memoirs published in the " Philosophical Transactions " and " Philo-
sophical Magazine." With Additions. 12mo. ^5.00.

Heat as a Mode of Motion. New edition. 12mo. Cloth, |2.50.

Lessons in Electricity, at the Royal Institution, 1875-'76. 12mo.

Cloth, $1.00.

Light and Electricity: Notes of Two Courses of Lectures before the Royal Insti-
tution of Great Britain. 12mo. Cloth, $1.25.
" In thus clearly and sharply stating the fundamental principles of Electrical and Optical Sci-
ence, Professor Tyndall has earned ihe cordial thanks of all interested iu education." — From
American Editor's Preface.

Six Lectures on Light. Delivered in America in 1S72-18Y3. 12mo. Cloth, $1.50.

"I propose to take a einiile department of natural philosophy, and illustrate, by means of it,
the growth of scientific knowledge under the guidance of experience. I wish to make you ac-
quainted wirli certain elementary phenomena ; then to point out to you liow those theoretic prin-
ciples by which phenomena are explained, take root and flcnri.^h in the human mind, and after-
ward to apply these principles to the whole body of knowledge covered by the lectures. My
de^ire is to show you, with as little breach of contiiniiiy as possible, something of the pant growth
and present aspect of a department of science in which have labored some of the greatest ii.fellects
the world has ever seen."'— 2'/<e Author.

Sound. Revised and enlarged edition. Illustiated. 12ino. Cloth, $2.00.

"In the following pages I have tried to render the science of Acoustics interesting to all intelli-
eenr persons, including those wbo do not possess any special scientific culture. The subject is
treated expeiimentally throughout, and I have endeavored so to place each experiment belore the
reader, that he should realize it as an actual operation. My desire, indeed, has been to give dis-
tinct images of the various phenomena of acoustics, and to cause them to be seen mentally in their
true relations."— i^rom the Preface.

The Forms of Water, in Clouds and Rivers, Ice and Glaciers. With ;i5
Illustrations. 12mo. Cloth, $1.50.

"In this volume Professor Tyndall has presented a noble illustration of the acnteness and
subtlety of his intellectual powers, the scope and insight of bis scientific vision, his singular com-
mand of the appropriate language of expositinn, and the peculiar vivacity and grace with which he
unfolds the results of intricate scientific research." — Xew York Tribune.

The publication of the present volume was tlie first step in carrying out a systematic enterprise
to furnish the public with popular scientific books of a superior character, ami initiated a series of
Buch works on a wide range of scientific subjects, prepared by the leading thinkers of different
countries, and now widely known as the " International Scientific Series."

Hours of Exercise in the Alps. With Illustrations. 1 2mo. Cloth, $2.00.

Faraday as a Discoverer. A Memoir. 12ino. Cloth, $1.00.

Fragments of Science for Unscientific People. A Series of Detached Essays,

Lectures, and Reviews Revised and enlarged edition. 12mo. Cloth, $2.50.

"My motive in writing these papers was a desire to extend sympathy for science beyond the
limits of the scientific public. . . . From America the impulse came which induced me to gather
these ' Fragments,' and to my friends in the United States I dedicate them."— i^Vom Author's
Preface. >

Address delivered before the British Association assembled at Belfast.

Revised, with Additions, by the Author, since the Delivery. 12mo. Paper, 50
cents.

Essays on the Floating Matter of the Air, in Relation to Putrefaction

and Infection. With Illustrations. 12mo. Cloth, $1.50.

CONTENTS.— 1. On Dust and Disease; II. Optical Deportment of the Atmosphere in Rela-
tion to Putrefaction and Infection; III. Further Researches on the Deportment and Vitality of
Putrefaction Organisms; IV. Fermentation, and its Bearings on Surgery and Medicine; V. Spon-
taneous Generation ; Appendix.

New York: D. APPLETON & CO., Publishers, 1, 3, & 5 Bond Street.

HERBERT SPENCER'S WORKS.

SYNTHETIC PHILOSOPHY.

CONTAINING :

1. First Principles. 12ino. Cloth, $2.00.

Part I. The Unknowable. Part II. Laws of the Knowable.

2. Principles of Biology. 2 vols., 12mo. Cloth, $4.00.

Vol. I. Vol. II.

Part I. The Data of Biology. Part IV. Morphological Development.
II. The Inductions of Biology. V. Physiological Development.

III. The Evolution of Life. VI. Laws of Multiplication.

3. Principles of Psychology. 2 vols., 12mo. Cloth, $4.00.

Vol. L Vol. II.

Part I. Data of Psychology. Part VI. Special Analysis.
II. Inductions of Psychology. VII. General Analysis.

IIL General Synthesis. VIII. Corollaries.

IV. Special Synthesis.
V. Physical Synthesis.

4„ Principles of Sociology. 12mo.

Vol. I. $2 00. Part V. Political Institutions. $1.50.

Part I. The Data of Sociology. I!'*''*^,!^ fLncl V jn 1 vol. Cloth. r^.OO.

II. The Inductions of Sociology. . Part VI. Ecclesiastical Institutions. $1.2o.

m. The Domestic Relations. Parts VII and VIII. Professional and Industrial

Institutions. (In preparation.)
Vol. n.
Part IV. Ceremoniallnstitutions. $1.25. Vol. IIL {In preparation.)

5. Principles of Morality. 12ino.

Yq1_ 1 Part II. (In preparation.)

Part L The Data of Ethics. $1.25. Vol. II.

Cheap edition, paper, 50 cents. (In preparation.)

MISCELLANEOUS \A/'ORKS.

Education: Intellectual, Moral, and Physical. 12mo. Cloth, $1.25; cheap edition.
Paper, 50 cents.

The Study of Sociology. l2mo. Cloth, $1.50.

Social Statics : or, the Conditions essential to Human Happiness Specified, and the
First of them Developed. With a Notice of the Author. 12mo. Cloth, $2.00.

Illustrations of Universal Progress. 12rao. Cloth, $2.00.

Essays, Moral, Political, and .Esthetic. 12mo. Cloth, $2.00.

Recent Discussions in Science, Philosophy, and Morals. 12mo. Cloth,

$2.00.

The Factors of Organic Evolution. Reprinted, with Additions, from " The Nine-
teenth Century" and "The Popular Science Monthly." 12mo. Cloth, 75 cents.

Philosophy of Style. 12mo. Flexible cloth, 50 cents.

Herbert Spencer on the Americans, and the Americans on Herbert
Spencer. Being a full report of the "Interview," and the Proceedings at the
Farewell Banquet of November 9, 1882. 12mo. Paper, 10 cents.

The Man versus the State. Containing "The New Toryism," "The Coming
Slavery," " The Sins of Legislators," and " The Great Political Superstition." Re-
printed from "The Popular Science Monthly," with a Postscript. Small 8vo. Paper
'60 cents.

New York: D. APPLETON & CO., Publishers, 1, 3, & 5 Bond Street.

MAUDSLEY'S WORKS.

Body and Mind : An Inquiry into their Connection and Mutual Influence especially in
Reference to Mental Disorders. 12mo. Cloth, $1.50.

"Dr. Maud8ley has hud the courage to undertake, and the skill to execute, what is, at least in
English, an orisrlnal enterprise. This book is a manual of mental science in all its parts, em-
bracing all that' is known in the existing state of physiology. . . . Many and valuable books liave
been written by English physicians on insanity, idiocy, and all the forms of mental aberration.
But derange nent had always been treated as a distinct subject, and therefore empirically. Thai
the phenomena of sound aud unsound minds are not matters of distinct investigation, but insepa-
rable parts of one and the same inquiry, seems a truism as soon as stated. But, strange to say,
they had always been pursued separately, and been in the hands of two distinct classes of investi-
gators. The logicians and metaphysicians occasionally borrowed a stray fact from the abundant
cases compiled by the medical authorities ; but tiie physician, on the other hand, had no theoretical
clew to his observations beyond a smattering of dogmatic p^ychology learned at college. To effect
a reconciliation between the Psychology and the Patholoiry of the mind, or rather to construct a
basis for both in a common science, "is the aim of Dr. Maudeley's book.''''— London Saturday
Review.

Pathology of the Mind. Being the third edition of the Second Part of "The
Physiology and Pathology of Mind." Recast, enlarged, and rewritten. Cloth,
$•2.00.

COiVT'E^.VT'.S'.— Chapter I. Sleep and Dreaminir; II. Hypnotism, Somnambulism, and Allied
States: III. The Causation and Prevention of Insanity : (A) Etiological ; iV. The same continued;
V. The Causation and Prevention of Insanity : (B) Pathological; VI. The Insanity of Early Life;
VII. The Symptomatology of Insanity ; VlII. The same continued; IX. Clinical Groups of Mental
Disease; X. The Morbid Anatomy of Mental Derangement; XI. The Treatment of Mental Dis-
orders.

The new material includes chapters on "Dreaming," "Somnambulism and its Allied States,"
and large additions in the chapters on the " Causation and Prevention of Insanity."

Physiology of the Mind. Third edition. 12ino. Cloth, $2.00.

aONTEyTS.—C\-i\>te\: I. On the Method of the Study of the Mind ; II The Mind and the
Nervous System; III. The Spinal Cord, or Tertiary Nervous Centers; or. Nervous Centers of
Reflex Action; IV. Secondary Nervous Centers, or Sensory Oiinglia; Sensorium Commune; V.
Hemispherical Ganglia; Cortical Cells of the Cerebral Hemispheres; Ideational Nervous Centers;
Prim-iry Nervous Centers; Intellectorium Commune; VI. The Emotions; VII. Volition; VIII.
Motor Nervous Centers, or Motorium Commune and Actuation or Effection ; IX. Memory and
Imagination.

Responsibility in Mental Disease. 12mo. Cloth, $1.50.

•'This book is a compact presentation of those facts and principles which require to be taken
into account in estimating human responsibility— not legal responsibility merely, but responsibility
for conduct in the family, the school, and all phases of social relation in which obligation enters as
an element."— 27ie Popular Science Monthly.

Body and Will : Being an Essay concerning Will in its Metaphysical, Physiological,
and Pathological Aspects. 8vo. Cloth, $2.50.

The Brain and its Functions. By J. Lcys, Physician to the Hospice de la Sal-
pStrifere. With Illustrations. 12rao. Cloth, $1.50.

"No living physiologist is better entitled to speak with authority upon the structure and func-
tions of the brain than Dr. Luys. His studies on the anatomy of the nervous system are acknowl-
edged to be the fullest and most systematic ever undertaken."— S'C. James's Gazette.

"Dr. Luys, at the head of the great French Insane Asylum, is one of the most eminent and
successful investigators of cerebral science now living." — Popular Snence Monthly.

New York: D. APPLETON" & CO., Publishers, 1, 3, & 5 Bond Street

WORKS OF T. H. HUXLEY, F.R.S.

On the Origin of Species; or, the Causes of the Phenomena of Organic Nature.
12mo. Cloth, fl.OO.
"The publication of Mr. Darwin's work on 'Tlie Origin of Species' must be looked upon as
marking an era in the progress of sciecce. but, while it called forth a due share of candid dis-
cussion and intelligent criticism, it has been vehemently and persistently assailed by many who
understood nothing of its real character ; and the subject lias hence been so overloadea with preju-
dice and perversion that unscientific people hardly know what to think or believe about ii. In
these circimistanc'is, those who disencumber the subject of its difficulties, simplily its statements,
relieve it of technicalities, and bring it so distinctly within the horizon of ordinary apprehen^ion
that persons of common sense mav judge for themselves, perform an invaluable service. Such
is the character ot the present voluine."— i^^ow the Preface tu the American Edition,.

A Manual of the Anatomy of Vertebrated Animals. With Illustrations.
12mo. Cloth, $2.50.
" The present work is Intende.i to provide students of comparative anatomy with a condensed
statement of the most important facts relating to the struclure of vertebrated animals which have
hitherto been ascertained."— 7%« Author.

More Criticisms on Darwin, and Administrative Nihilism. 12mo. limp
cloth, 50 cents.

A Manual of the Anatomy of Invertebrated Animals. Illustrated. 12mo.
Cloth, $2.50.
'"My object in writing the book has been to make it useful to those who wish to become ac-
quainted with the broad outlines of what is at present known of the morplioloyy of f.ic Inrerte-
brata ; though 1 hnve not avoided the incidental mention of facts connected with their physiology
and their distribution."— i^rowi the Preface.

An Introduction to the Study of Zoology. The Crayfish. With 82 Illus-
trations. 12mo. Cloth, $1.75.
" Whoever will follow its pages, crayfish in hand, and will try to verify for himself the state-
ments which it contains, will find himself brought face to face with all the great zoological ques-
tions which excite so lively an interest at the present day."

Science and Culture, and other Essays. 12mo. Cloth, $1.50.

Of the essays that have been collected by Professor P^uxley in this volume, the first four deal
with some aspect of education. Most of the remair.der are expositions of the results of biological
research, and, at the same time, illustrations of the history ot scientific ideas.

Evidence as to Man's Place in Nature. Illustrated. 12ino. Cloth, $1.25.

Physiography : An Introduction to the Study of Nature. With Illustrations and
Colored Plates. 12mo. Cloth, $2.50.

"The book will be invaluable in producing in young people an interest in the phenomena of
nature. The subjects are treated simply, and it is needless to add, accurately, and all technical
terms are explained when they are first used. The work will also be useful to teachers as a model
of the method of instruction."'— Zomc^om Spectator.

Introductory Primer. (Scientific Primers.) ]8mo. Flexible cloth, 45 cents.

Critiques and Addresses. 12itio. Cloth, $1.50.

CONTENTS.— \. Administrative Nihilism ; II. The School Boards— What they Can do. and
what they May do; III. Medical Education; IV. Yeast; V. The Formation of Coal ; VI Coral
and Coral Reefs; VII. The Methods and Results of Ethnolocy: VIII. British Ethnology; IX.
False mtology and the Doctrine of Evolution ; X. Mr. Darwin's Critics; XI. The Genealogy of Ani-
mals; XII. Bishop Berkeley on the Metaphysics of Sensation.

Lay Sermons, Addresses, and Reviews. 12mo. Cloth, $1.75.

CO!VTENTS.—l. On the Advisableness of Improving Natural Knowledge; II. Emancipation
—Black and White; III. A Liberal Education, and Where to Find it; IV. Prientific Education ;
V. The Edunational Value of the Natnral History Pciences ; VI. The Stndv o( ZoOlogy ; Vlt. The
Physical Basis of Life; VTII. Scientific Aspects <'f Positivism; IX. On a Piece of Chalk; X. Geo-
logical Contemnoraneitv and Persistent Types of Life; XI. Geological Reform; XII The Origin
of Species: XIII. Criticisms on the Origin of Species; XIV. On Descartes; XV. Spontaneous
Generation.

American Addresses; with a Lecture on the Study of Biology. 12mo.
Cloth, $1.25.

New York: D. APPLETON & CO., Publishers, 1, 3, & 5 Bond Street.

WORKS OF ALEXANDER BAIN, LLD.

The Senses and the Intellect. Third edition. 8vo. Cloth, $5.00.

CONTENTS.— ItiTROTtucTioK: Chapter I. Definition and Divisions of Miud ; TI. The Nervous
System. — Movement, Sense, and Instinct : Chapter I. Spoutaueous Activity and the Feelings
of Movement ; II. Of Sensation; III. Of the Appetites ; IV. Ol the Instiucts.— Intellect : Chap-
ter I. Retentiveuess — Law of Continuity; II. A;^reeraent— Law oi' Similarity: III. Compound
Association; IV. Constructive Association. — Appendix: Isycliolo^y of Aristotle.

"The object of this treatise is to give a full and systematic account of two principal divisions
of the science of mind— the senses and the intellect. The value oi the third edition of the work
is greatly enhanced by an account of the psychology of Aristotle, which has been contributed by
Mr. drote." —From the Preface.

The Emotions and the Will. Third edition. 8vo. Cloth, $3.00.

CONTENTS.— Tub Emotions: Chapter I. Of Feeling in general ; IL Evolution as applied to
Mind; III. Emotions and their Classification; IV. Emotions of Relativity; V. Ideal Emotion;
VI. Sympathy; VII. Tender Emotion; VIII. Emotions of Fear; IX. Emotions of Anger; X.
Emotion of Power: XI. bmotions of Self ; XII. Emotions of Intellect ; XIII. Emotions of Action
—Pursuit; XIV. Esthetic Emotions; XV. Ethical Emotions, or the Moral Sense.— The Will:
Chapter I. Primitive Elements of Volition : II and III. Urowth of Voluntary Power; IV. Control
of heelings and Thouirhts ; V. Motives or Ends; VI. Conflict of Motives; VII. Deliberation,
Resolution, Effort ; Vill. Desire; IX. Moral Habiis; X. Prudence, Duty, Moral Inabihty; XL Lib-
erty and Necessity.

"The present publication is a sequel to ray former one on ' The Senses and the Intellect,' and
completes a systematic exposition of the human mind."— /'Vom the Pre/ace.

Mental Science. A Compendium of Psychology and the History of Philosophy. De-
signed as a Test-Book for High Schools and Colleges. r2mo. (Jloth, leather back,

$1.50.

" The present volume is an abstract of two voluminous works, ' The Senses and tlie Intellect '
and 'The Emotions and the Will,' and presents in a compres.^ed and lucid form the views which
are there more extensively elaborated. It is not only the best but it is the only manual of mental
philosophy yet produced which combines a clear exposition of the laws of feeling and thought,
with a lull statement of their physiological connections, so far as known, together witli a succinct
historical review of the prouress of opinion upon controverted questions in the domain of mind."
—From the Introductory Notice to the American Edition.

Moral Science. A Compendium of Ethics. l2mo. Cloth, leather back, $1.50.

"The present dissertation falls under two divisions. The first division, entitled The Theory nf
Ethics, give? an account i;f the questions or points brought into discussion, and handles at length
the two of greatest prominence, the Ethical Standard and the Moral Faculty. The second division
— on the Ethical Systems— is a full detail of all the systems, ancient and modern. With few ex-
ceptions, an abstract is made of each author's expositum of Ids own tlieory ; while for better com-
paring and remembering the several theories they are summarized at the end, on a uniform plan.''
— From the Preface.

Mind and Body. Theories of their Relations. 12mo. Cloth, $1.59.

"A forcible statement of the connection between mind and body, studying their subtile in tcr-
workings by the light of the most recent physiological investigations." — Christian Register.

Logic, Deductive and Inductive. Revised edition. 12mo. Cloth, leather back,

$2.00.

Education as a Science. 12mo. Cloth, $1 75.

" This work must be pronounced the most remarkable discussion of educational problems which
has been published in our day. It shotUd be in the hands of every school-teacher and friend of edu-
cation throughout the land." — New York Sun.

English Composition and Rhetoric. Enlarged edition. Part I. Intellectual
Elements of Style. 12mo. Cloth, leather back, $1.50.

On Teaching English. With Detailed Examples and an Inquiry into the Definition
of Poetry. 12mo. Cloth, $1.25.

Practical Essays, 12mo. Cloth, $1.60.

New York: D. APPLETON" & CO., Publishers, 1, 3, & 5 Bond Street.

D. APPLETON & CO.'S PUBLICATIONS.

DARWINISM STATED BY DARWIN HIMSELF: CHAKACTERISTl
PASSxVGES FROM THE WRITINGS OF CHARLES DARWIN. Se-
lected and arranged by Professor Nathan Sheppaed. 12nio, cloth, 360
pages, $1.50.
" A compact and clear statement of the doctrines collectively known as Darwinism.
By consulting this single volume it is now possible to know exactly what Darwin taught
without sifting the contents of a dozen books. Mr. Nathan Sheppard has edited the
work with good judgment." — New York Journal of Coramerct.

" Mr. Sheppard must be credited with exemplifying the spirit of impartial truth-seek-
ing which inspired Darwin himself. From these condensed results of the hard labor of
selection, excision, and arrangement applied to more than a dozen volumes, it is impossi-
ble to draw any inference respecting the philosophical opinions of the compiler. With
the exception of a brief preface there is not a word of comment, nor is there the faintest
indication of an attempt to infuse into Darwin's text a moaning not patent there, by un-
warranted sub-titles or head-lines, by shrewd omission, unfair emphasis, or artful colloca-
tion. Mr. Sheppard has nowhere swerved from his purpose of showing in a clear, con-
nected, and very compendious form, not what Darwin may have meant or has been
charged with meaning, but what he actually said." — The Sun.

MENTAL EVOLUTION IN ANIMALS. By Geoege J. Romanes, author
of "Animal Intelligence.'" With a Posthumous Essay on Instinct, by
Charles Darwin. 12mo, cloth, $2.00.

" Mr. Romanes has followed up his careful enumeration of the facts of ' Animal Intel-
ligence,' contributed to the ' International Scientific Series,' with a work dealing with the
successive stages at which the various mental phenomena appear in the scale of life. The
present installment displays the same evidence of industry in collecting facts and caution
in co-ordinating them by theory as the former." — 77ic Allienceum.

" The author confines himself to the psychology of the subject. Xot only arc his own
views Darwinian, but he has incorporated in his work considerable citations from Darwin's
unpublished manuscripts, and he has appended a posthumous essay on Instinct by Mr.
Darwin." — Boston Journal.

" A curious but richly suggestive volume." — New York Herald.

PRACTICAL ESSAYS. By Alexander Bain, I;L. D., author of " Mind and
Body," "Education as a Science," etc. 12ino, cloth, $1.50.

" The present volume is in part a reprint of articles contributed to reviews. The
principal bond of union among them is their practical character. . . . That there is a
certain amount of novelty in the various suggestions here embodied, will be admitted on
the most cursory perusal." — From the Preface.

THE ESSENTIALS OF ANATOMY, PHYSIOLOGY, AND HYGIENE.

By Roger S. Tracy. M. D., Health Inspector of the New York Board of
Health ; author of " Hand-Book of Sanitary Information for Householders,"
etc. (Forming a volume of Appletons' Science Text-Books.) 12mo, cloth,
$1.25.

"Dr. Tracy states in his preface that his aim has been 'to compress within the nar-
rowest space such a clear and intelligible account of the structures, activities, and care of
the human system as is essential for the i)urposes of general education.' And he has so
far succeeded as to make his manual one of the most popularly interesting and useful
text-books of its kind. . . . The book is excellently arranged, the illustrations are ad-
mirable."— Boston Daily Advertiser.

New York : D. APPLETON & CO., 1, 3, & 5 Bond Street.

f

CLAPP

3 5002 00250 0580

Darwin, Charles

Journal of researches into the natural h

DATE DUE

■^AC7STVFF

APR 1/ i9ty

iJtC .4 I9S7

a

pa:^

i^

QH

11

D2

37141