//-^J JOURNAL OF RESEARCHES 3 INTO THE NATURAL HISTORY AND GEOLOGY OF THE COUNTRIES VISITED DURING THE VOYAGE OF H.M.S BEAGLE ROUND THE WORLD, V UNDER THE Cammantf at Cajjjt Jf^iti ^a^y ^S* By CHARLES DARWIN, M.A., r.R.S., 4UTH0B OF 'ORIGIN OF SPECIES,' ETC. -jv^> ^ NEW EDITION, NEW YORK: D. APPLETON AND COMPANY, 54 9 & 55 1 BROADWAY. 1878, TO CHARLES LYELL, Esq., F.R.S., THIS SECOND EDITION IS DEDICATED WITH GRATEFUL PLEASURE, A6 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. \^^ ^ ^ ^ PREFACE. I HA.VE 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 oflfer from him of giving up part of his own accommodation.s, that I volun- teered 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 en- joyed of studying the Natural History of the different countries we visited, have been wholly due to Captain Fitz Roy, I hope 1 may here be permitted to repeat my expression of gratitude to him ; and to add that, during the five years we were togetlier, 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 wdiich I was treated during our long voyage. This volume contains, in the form of a Journal, a history of our voyage, and a sketch of those observations in Natural History and Geology, which I think will possess some interest for the general reader. I have in this edition largely condensed and corrected some parts, and have added a little to others, in order to render the volume more fitted for popular reading ; but I trust that naturalists will remember, that they must refer for details to the larger publications, which comprise the scientific results of the Expedition. The Zoology of the Voyage of the Beagle includes an account of the Fossil Mammalia, by Professor Owen ; of the Living Mammalia, by Mr. Waterr house; of the Birds, by Mr. Gould; of the Fish, by the Rev. L. Jenyns ; and of the Reptiles, by Mr. Bell. I have appended to the descriptions of each species an account of its liabits and range. These works, which I owe to the hiuh * I must take this opportunity of returning my sincere thanks to Mr. Byiioo, ihe surgeon of the Beagle, for his very kind attention to me when I was ill It Valparaiso. vi PilEFACn.. talents and disinterested zeal of the above distinguished authors, could not have been undertaken, had it not been for the libe- rality 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 expeusea 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, "VValkTer, Newman, and White, have published several able papers on the Insects which were collected, and I trust that many others will hereafter follow. The plants from the southern parts of America will be given by Dr. J. Hooker, in his great work on the Botany of the Southern Hemisphere. The Flora of the Galapagos Archipelago is the subject of a separate memoir by him, in the ' Linnean Transactions.' The Reverend Professor Henslow has published a list of the plants collected by me at the Keeling Islands ; and the Reverend J. M. Berkeley has de- scribed my cryptogamic plants. I shall have the pleasure of acknowledging the great assist- ance 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 under-graduate at Cambridge, w^as 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 assist- ance which the kindest friend could offer. Dotvn, Bromley, Kent. June, 1845. PREFACE. vil POSTSCKIPT. 1 TAKE the opportunity of a new edition of my Journal to correct a few errors. At page 83 I have stated that the majority of the shells which were embedded with the extinct mammals at Punta Alta, in Bahia Blancaj were still living species. These shells have since been examined (see * Geological Observations in South America,' p. 83) by M. Alcide d'Orbigny, and he pronounces them all to be recent. M. Aug. Bravard has lately described, in a Spanish work (' Observaciones Geologieas/ 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 forma- tion, like sand-dunes : this seems to me to be an untenable doctrine. At page 378 I give a list of the birds inhabiting the Galapagos Archipelago. The progress of research has shown that some of these birds, which were then thought to be confined to the islands, occur on the American continent. The eminent ornithologist, Mr. Sclater, informs me that this is the case with the Strix puncta- lissima and Pyrocephalus nanus ; and probably with the Otus galapagoensis and Zenaida galapagoensis : so that the number of endemic birds is reduced to twenty-three, or probably to twenty- one. Mr. Sclater thinks that one or two of these endemic forms should be ranked rather as varieties than species, which always seemed to me probable. The snake mentioned at page 381, as being, on the authority of M. Bibron, the same with a Chilian species, is stated by Dr. Giinter (Zoolog. Soc, Jan. 24th, 1859) to be a peculiar species, not known to inhabit any other country, Feb. let, 18G0. CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. Ptorto Praya — Ribeira Grande — Atmospheric Dnst with Infusoria — Habits of a Sea-slug and Cuttle-fish — St. Paul's Rocks, non volcanic — Singular incrustations — Insects the first Colo- nists of Islands — Fernando Noronha — Bahia — Burnished Rocks— Habits of a Diodon — Pelagic Conferva} and Infusoria — Causes of discoloured Sea Page 1 CHAPTER II. Rio de Janeiro — Excursion north of Cape Frio — Great Evaporation — Slavery — Botofogo Kay — Terrestrial Planarias — Clouds on the Corcovado — Heavy Rain — Musical Frogs — Phosphorescent Insects — Elater, springing powers of— Blue Haze— Noise made by a Butterfly — Entomology — Ants— Wasp kill- ing a Spider — Parasitical Spider — Artifices of an Epeira — Gregarious Spider — Spider with an umiy mmetrical Web .• 19 CHAPTER III. Monte Video— Maldonado — Excursion to R. Polanco— Lazo and Bolas — Partridges — Ab- sence of Trees — Deer — Capybara, or River Hog — Tucutuco — Molotlirus, cuckoo-like habits — Tyrant Flycatcher— Mocking-bird — Carrion Hawks— Tubes formed by Lightning — House struck 39 CHAPTER IV. Rio Negro— Estancias attacked by the Indians — Salt Lakes — Flamingoes — R. Ne;;ro to R. Colorado — Sacred Tree— Patagonian Hare — Indian Families — General Rosas — Proceed to Bahia Blanca— Sand Dunes — Negro Lieute- nant — Bahia Blanca — Saline Incrustations — Punta Alta— Zorillo 63 CHAPTER V. i>ahia Blanca — Geology — Numerous gigantic extinct Quadrupeds - Recent Extinction — Longevity of Species — Larire Animals do not require a luxiuiant Vegetation — Southern Africa — Siberian Fossils — Two Species of Ostrich — Habits of Oven-bird — Arraadilloes — Venomous Snake, Toad, Lizard — Hyberna- tion of Animals — Habits of Sea-Pen — Indian Wars and Massacres — ALrrow-head — Antiqua- rian Relic 81 CHAPTER V>I. Set out for Buenos Ayres — Rio Sauce — Sierra Ventana — lliird Posta — Driving Horses — Bolas — Partridges and Foxes— Features of th»' C-ountry — Long-legged Plover — Teru- tero — Hailstorm — Natural Enclosures in the Sierra Tapalguen — Flesh of Puma— Meat Diet — Guardia del Monte — Eilects of Cattle on the Vegetation — Cardoon — Buenos Ayres — Cor- ibI where Cattle are slaughtered 1 1>6 CHAFFER VIL Excursion to St. Fe— Thistle-Beds— Habits of the Bizcacha— Little Owl— Saline Streams- Level Plains— Mastodon — St. Fe— Change in Landscape — Geology— Tootli of extinct Horse — Relation of the Fossil and recentQuadrupeds of North and South America — Effects of a great Drought — Parana — Habits of the Jaguar — Scisior-beak — King-fisher, Parrot, and Scissor-ta 1 — Revolution — Buenos A>Tes — State of Government 123 CHAPTER Vm. Excursion to Colonia del Sacramiento — Value of an Estancia— Cattle, how counted — Sin- gular Breed of Oxen — Perforated Pebbles- Shepherd- Dogs— Horses broken-in, Gauchos Riding— Character of Inhabitants— Rio Plata —Flocks of Butterfl es — Aeronaut Spiders- Phosphorescence of the Sea— Port Desire— Guanaco — Port St. Julian— Geology of Pata- gonia — Fossil gigantic Animal — Types of Organization constant — Change in the Zoo- logy of America— Causes of Extinction . 142 CHAPTER IX. Santa Cruz — Expedition up the River— Indians — Immense Streams of Basaltic I^va— Frag- ments not transported by tiie River — Exca- vation of the Valley— Condor, habits of— Cordillera — Erratic Boulders of great size— Indian Relics— Return to the Ship— Falk- land Islands— Wild Horses, Cattle, Rabbits— Wolf-like Fox — Fire made of Bones — Man- ner of hunting Wild Cattle — Geology — Streams of Stones — Scenes of Violence- Penguin — Geese— Eggs of Doris —Compound Animals 1*77 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 — Wigwam Cove — Miserable Condition of tlie Savages— Famines — Cannibals — Matricide— Religious Feeli ngs — Great Gale — Beagle Cliannel — Ponsonby Sound — Build Wigvvams and settle the Fue- gians — Bifunation of the Beagle Cliannel — Glaciers — Return to the Ship — Second Visit in tlie Ship to the Settlement— Equality of Condition amongst the Natives 204 CHAPTER XI. Strait of Magellan — Port Famine — Ascent of Mount Tarn — Forests — Rlible Fungus- Zoology — Great Sea- weed— Leave Tierra del Fuego— Climate — Fruit Trees and Produc- tions of the Southern Coasts — Height of Snow-line on the CordiUera — Descent ol Glaciers to tlie Sea — Icebergs formed— Trans- portal of Boulders — Climate and Produc- tions of the Antarctic Islands — Preservation of Frozen Carcasses— Recapitulation ... 231 CONTENTS. CHAPTER Xir. Valparaiso^Excursion to the Foot of the Andes — Structure of the Lar.«l— Ascend the Bell of Quillota — Shattered Masses of Greenstone — Immense Valleys — Mines — State cf Miners — Santiago — Hot-baths of Cauquenes — Gold- mines — Grinding-mills — Perforated Stones — Habits of the Puma — El Turco and Tapa- «olo— Humming-birds 252 CHAPTER XHI. Chiloe — General Aspect — Boat Excursion — Native Indians— Castro— Tame Fox— Ascend San Pedro — Chonos Arcliipelago— Peninsula of Tres Montes — Granit.c Range — Boat- \NTecked Sailors— Low's Harbour— Wild Po- tato — Formation of Peat — Myopotamus, Otter and Mice — Cheucau and Barking-bird — Opetiorhynchus — Singular Cliaracter of Or- nithology—Petrels 273 CHAPTER XIV. San Carlos, Cliiloe — Osorno in eruption, con- temporaneously with Aconcagua and Cose- guina — Ride to Cucao — Impenetrable forests — Valdi\ia— Indians— Earthquake — Concep- cion — Great eartliquake — Rocks fissured — Appearance of the former towns — The sea black and boiling — Direction of the vibra- tions — Stones twisted round— Great Wave — Permanent elevation of the land — Area of volcanic phenomena — 'Hie connexion be- tween the elevatory and eruptive forces — Cause of earthquakes — Slow elevation of Mountain-chains 291 CHAFfER XV, Valparaiso— Portillo pass— Sagacity of mules— Alountain torrents — Mines, how discovered — Proofs of the gradual elevation of the Cor- dillera — ElTect of snow on rocks -Geological structure of the two main ranges — Their dis- tinct origin and upheaval — Great subsidence — Red snow — Winds — Pinnacles of snow — Dry and clear atmosphere — Eiectricitv — Pampas— Zoolo^'v of the opposite sides of the Andes — Locusts — Great bugs — Mendoza — Uspallata Pass— Silicified trees buried as thev grew — Incas Bridge — Badness of the • pisses exaggerated — Cumbre — Casuchas— Valparaiso 3;;^ CHAPTER XVI. Doast-road to Coquimbo — Great loads carried by the miners — Coquimbo — Earthquake— Step-formed terraces — Absence of recent de- posits—Contemporaneousness of the Tertiary formations — Excursion up tlie valley — Roail to Guasco — Deserts — Valiey of Copiap6 — Rain and earthquakes — Hydrophobia— Tlie Despoblado — Indian Ruins— l*robable change of climate — River-bed arched by an earth- quake — Cold gales of wind — Noises from a hill — Iquique — Salt alluvium — Nitrate of scxla — Lima— Unhealthy country — Ruins of Callao, overthrown by an earthquake — Recent subsidence— Elevated sliells on San Lorenzo, their decomposition -Plain with embedded ahells and fragments of pottery— Antiquity cf tlio Indian Rac« ;^V7 CHAPTER XVII. Galapagos Archipelago — The whole group vol* canic — Number of craters — Leafless buahes— Colony at Charles Island— James Island— Salt-lake in crater— Natural History of the group — Ornithology, curious finches— Rep- tiles— Great tortoises, habits of— Marine li- zard, feeds on sea-weed — Terrestrial lizard, burrowing habits, herbivorous— Importance of reptiles in the Archipelago — Fish, shells, insects — Botany — American type of organi- zation — Differences in the species or races on different islands — Tameness of the birds- Fear of man, an acquired instinct 372 CHAPTER XVIII. Pass through the Low Archipelago— Tahiti- Aspect— Ve;^etation on the Mountains — View of Eimeo — Excursion into the Interior — Pro- found Ravines — Succession of Waterfalls — Number of wild useful Plants — Temperance of the Inhabitants— Their moral state— Par- liament 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. ... 402 CHAPTER XIX. Sydney — Excursion to Bathurst — Aspect of the Woods— Party of Natives — Gradual extinc- tion of the Aborigines — Infection generated by associated men in health — Blue Moun- tains — View of the grand gulf-like Valleys — Tlieir origin and formation— Bathurst, gene- ral civility of the lower orders— State of So- ciety—Van Diemen's Land— Hobart Town — Aborigines all banished — Mount Welling- ton — King George's Sound — Cheerless aspect of the Country — Bald Head, calcareous casts of branches of trees — Party of Natives— Leave Australia ' 431 CHAPTER XX. Keoling Island — Singular appearance— Scanty Flora — Transport of Seeds— Birds and Insects — El)bing and flowing Wells — Fields of dead Coral — Stones transported in the roots of trees — Great Crab — Stinging Corals — Coral-eating Fish— Coral Formations — I^- uoon Islands, or Atolls — Depth at which reef- building Corals can live— Vast Areas inter- spersed with low Coral Islands — Subsidence of their foundations — Barrier Reefs— Fring ing Iteefs- Conversion ofFringing Reefs into Biirrier Reefs, and into Atolls— Evidence 0/ changes in Level — Breaches in Barrier Reefs — Maldiva Atolls; their peculiar structure — Dead and submer,'ed Reefs — Areas of siibsi denceand elevation — Distribution of Volcano — Subsidence slow, and vast in amount.. 452 CHAPTER XXI. Mauritius, beautiful appearance of — Great cra- teriform ring of Mountains— Hindoos — St Helena— History of the changes in the ve e- tation — Cause of the extinction of land-shells — Ascension — Variation in the imported rat* — Volcanic Bombs — Beds of infusoria — Baliia — Brazil — Splendour of tropical scenery— Per nambuco — Singular Reef — Slavery— Return to England — Retrospect on our voyage.. 4s3 Index 507 JOURNAL. CHAPTER I. Porte Praya — Ribeira Grande — Atmospheric Dust with Infusoria — Habits of a Sea-slug and Cuttle-fish — St. Pauls 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 discoloured Sea. ST. JAGO — CAPE DE VERD ISLANDS. After having been twice driven back by heavy south-western gales, Her Majesty's ship Beagle, a ten-gun brig, under the com- mand of Captain Fitz Roy, R.N., sailed from Devonport on the 27th of December, 1831. The object of the expedition was to complete the survey of Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego, com- menced 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 Teneriffe, whilst the lower parts were veiled in fleecy clouds. This was the first of many delightful days never to be forgotten. On the 16th of January, 1832, we anchored at Porto Praya, in St. Jago, the chief island of the Cape de Verd archipelago. The lieighbourhood of Porto Praya, viewed from the sea, wears a desolate aspect. The volcanic fires of a past age, and ihe scorching heat of a tropical sun, have in most places rendered the soil unfit for vegetation. The country rises in successive 2 ST. JAGO— CAPE DE VERB ISLANDS. [chap. i. steps of table-land, interspersed with some truncate conical hills, and the horizon is bounded by an irregular chain of more lofty monntains. The scene, as beheld through* the hazy atmosphere of this climate, is one of great interest ; if, indeed, a person, *tesh from sea, and who has just walked, for the first time, in a ^rove of cocoa-nut trees, can be a judge of anything but hip 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 veiy seldom, but during a short portion of the year heavy torrents fall, and immediately afterwards a light vegeta- tion springs out of every crevice. This soon withers ; and upon such naturally formed hay the animals live. It had not now rained for an entire year. When the island was discovered, the immediate neighbourhood of Porto Praya was clothed with trees,* the reckless destruction of which has caused here, as at St. Helena, and at some of the Canary islands, almost entire sterility. The broad, flat-bottomed valleys, many of which serve during a few days only in the season as watercourses, are clothed with thickets of leafless bushes. Few living creatures inhabit these valleys. The commonest bird is a kingfisher (Dacelo 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, man- ners, and place of habitation, which is generally in tlie di-iest valley, there is also a wide difference. One day, two of the officers and myself rode to Ei!)eira 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 pro- duces a most refreshing margin of luxuriant vegetation. In the course of an hour we arrived at Ribeira Grande, and were sur- prised at the sight of a large ruined fort and cathedral. This little town, before its harbour was filled up, was the principal * I state this on the authority of Dr. E. Di<^ffeubach, in his German translation of the first edition of this Journal. I832.J RIBEIRA GRANDE— ST. DOMINGO. 3 place in the island : it. now presents a melancholy, but very pic- turesque 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 churcli formed the principal part. It is here the gover- nors 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 tliat 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 anotlier side was a hospital, containing about a dozen miserable-looking inmates. We returned to the Venda to eat our dinners. A considerable number of men, women, and children, all as black as jet, col- lected to watch us. Our companions were extremely merry ; and everything we said or did was followed by their hearty laugfhter. Before leaving- the town we visited the cathedral. It does not appear so rich as the smaller church, but boasts of a little organ, which sent forth singularly inharmonious cries. We presented the black priest with a few shillings, and the Spaniard, patting him on the head, said, with much candour, he thought his colour made no great difference. We then returned, as fast as the ponies would go, to Porto Pray a. 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 steadj^ trade-wind, in a singular manner — some of them even at right angles to their trunks. The direction of the branches was exactly N.E. by N., and S.W. by S., and these natural vanes must indicate the prevailing direction of the force of the trade-wind. The travelling had made so little impression on the barren soil, that we here missed our track, and took that to Fuentes. This we did not find out till we arrived there ; and we were afterwards glad of our- mistake. Fuentes is a pretty village, with a small stream ; and everything appeared to prosper well, excepting, indeed, that which ought to do so most — iis * The Cape de Vera Islands were discovered in 1449. There was a tombstone of a bishop with the date of 1571 ; and a crest of a hand ajid dagger, dated 1497. 4 ST. JAGO— CAPE DE VKKD ISLANDS. [chap. i. inhabitants. The black (ihildren, completely naked, and. looking very wretched, were carrying bundles of firewood half as big as their own bodies. Near Fuentes we saw a large flock of guinea-fowl — probably fifty or sixty in number. They were extremely wary, and could not be approached. They avoided us, like partridges on a rainy day in September, running with their heads cocked up ; and if pursued, they readily took to the wing. The scenery of St. Domingo possesses a beauty totally unex- pected, from the prevalent gloomy character of the rest of the island. The village is situated at the bottom of a valley, bounded by lofty and jagged walls of stratified lava. The black rocks afford a most striking contrast with the bright green vegetation, which follows the banks of a little stream of clear water. It happened to be a grand feast-day, and the village was full of people. On our return we overtook a party of about twenty young black girls, dressed in excellent taste ; their black skins and snow-white linen being set off by coloured turbans and large f shawls. As soon as we approached near, they suddenly all J 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 vintt?ms, which were, received with screams of laughter, and we left them redoubling the noise of their song. One morning tlie view was singularly clear; the distant moun- tains being projected with the sharpest outline, on a heavy bank of dark blue clouds. Judging from the appearance, and from similar cases in England, I supposed that the air was saturated with moisture. The fact, however, turned out quite the con- trary. The hygrometer gave a difference of 29*6 degrees, between the temperature of the air, and the point at whicii dew was precipitated. This difference was nearly double that which I had observed on the previous mornings. This unusual degree of atmospheric dryness was accompanied by continual flashes of lightning. Is it not an uncommon case, thus to find a re- markable degree of aerial transparency with such a state of weather ? Generally the atmospliere is hazy; and this is caused by the falling of inipalpably fine dust, which was found to have slightly 1832.] ATMOSPHERIC DUST WITH INFUSORIA. 5 injured the astronomical instruments. Tlie morning before we ancliored at Porto Pray a, I collected a little packet of tliis 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 ascertained no less than sixty-seven different organic forms ! The infusoria, with the exception of two marine species, are all inhabitants of fresh- water. I have found no less than fifteen different accounts of dust Iiaving fallen on vessels when far out in the Atlantic. Frorii 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 tliese in the dust which I sent him : on the other hand, he finds ill it two species which hitherto he knows as living only in South America. JThe dust falls in such quantities as to dirty every- thing 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 tliousand 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 tlie land, I was much surprised to find particles of stone above the thousandth of an inch square, mixed with finer matter. After this fact one need not be surprised at the diffusion of the far lighter and smaller sporules of cryptogamic plants. The geology of this island is the most interesting part of its natural history. On entering the harbour, a perfectly horizontal white band in the face of the sea cliff", may be seen running for * I must take this opportunity of acknowledging the great kindness with which this illustrious naturalist has examined many of my specimens. I have sent (June, 1845) a full account of the falling of this dust to the Geolo gical Society. 3 ST. JAGO— CaPE DE VERD ISLx\NDS. [chap. i. some miles along- tlie coast, and at the height of about forty-five feet above tlie water. Upon examination, this white stratum is found to consist of calcareous matter, with numerous shells em- bedded, most or all of which now exist on the neighbouring coast. It rests on ancient volcanic rocks, and has been covered by a stream of basalt, which must have entered the sea when the white shelly bed was lying at the bottom. It is interesting to trace the changes, produced by the heat of the overlying lava, on the friable mass, which in parts has been converted into a crys- talline limestone, and in other parts into a compact spotted stone. "Where the lime has been caught up by the scoriaceous fragments of the lower surface of the stream, it is converted into groups of beautifully radiated fibres resembling arragonite. The beds of lava rise in successive gently-sloping plains, towards the interior, whence the deluges of melted stone have originally proceeded. Within historical times, no signs of volcanic activity have, I be- lieve, been manifested in any part of St. Jago. Even the form of a crater can but rarely be discovered on the summits of the many red cindery hills ; yet the more recent streams can be dis- tinguished on the coast, forming lines of cliffs of less height, but stretchinof out in advance of those belonfrinu;' 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 xery 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 causins: a current of water to flow over the dorsal branchise or lungs. It feeds on the delicate sea-weeds Nvhich grow among tlie stones in muddy and shallow water ; and I found in its sto- mach several small pebbles, as in the gizzard of a bird. This slug, when disturbed, emits a very fine purplish-red fluid, which stains the water for the space of a foot around. Besides this means of defence, an acrid secretion, w^hich is spread over its body, causes a sharp, stinging sensation, similar to that produced by the Phj'salia, 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 tlie 1832.1 HABITS OF A CUTTLE-FISH. 7 pools of water left by the retiring tide, these animals were no' easily caught. By means of their long arms and suckers, they could drag their bodies into very narrow crevices ; and when thus fixed, it required great force to remove them. At other times they darted tail first, with the rapidity of an arrow, from one side of the pool to the other, at the same instant discolouring the water with a dark chestnut-brown ink. These animals also escape detection by a very extraordinary, chameleon-like power of changing their colour. They appear to vary their tints accord- ing to the nature of tlie 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 care- fully, was a French grey, with numerous minute spots of bright yellow : the former of these varied in intensity ; the latter entirely disappeared and appeared again by turns. These changes were effected in such a manner, that clouds, varying in tint between a hyacinth red and a chestnut brown,* 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.f This cuttle-fish displayed its chameleon-like power both during the act of swimming and whilst remaining stationary at the bot- tom. 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 ; some- times changing its colour : it thus proceeded, till having gained a deeper part, it darted away, leaving a dusky train of ink to hide the hole into which it had crawled. While looking for marine animals, with my head about two feet above the rocky shore, I was more than once saluted by a Jet of water, accompanied by a slight grating noise. At first I could not think what it was*, but afterwards I found out that it was * So named according to Patrick Symes's nomenclature. f See Encyclop. of Anat. and Physiol., article Cephalopoda. 3 ST. PAUL'S ROCKS. [chap, i 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 cer- tainly 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 hoveto, during the morning of February 16th, close to the island of St. Paul's. This cluster of rocks is situated in 0° 58' north latitude, and 29° 15' wTst longitude. It is 540 miles distant from the coast of America, and 350 from the island of Fernando Noronlia. The highest point is only fifty feet above the level of the sea, and the entire circumference is under three-quarters of a mile. Tin's small point rises abruptly out of the depths of the ocean. Its mineralogical constitution is not simple ; in some parts the rock is of a cherty, in others of a felspathic nature, including thin veins of serpentine. It is a remarkable fact, that all the many small islands, lying far from any continent, in the Pacific, Indian, and Atlantic Oceans, with the exception of the Seychelles and this little point of rock, are, I believe, composed either of coral or of erupted matter. The volcanic nature of these oceanic islands is evidently an extension of that law, and the effect of those same causes, whether chemical or mechanical, from which it results that a vast majority of the volcanoes now in action stand either near sea-coasts or as islands in the midst of the sea. The rocks of St. Paul appear from a distance of a brilliantly white colour. This is partly owing to the dung of a vast multi- tude of seafowl, and partly to a coating of a hard glossy sub- stance with a pearly lustre, which is intimately united to the sur- face of the rocks. This, when examined with a lens, is found to consist of numerous exceedingly thin layers, its total thickness being about the tenth of an inch. It contains much animal matter, and its origin, no doubt, is due to the action of the rain or spray on the birds' dung. Below Some small masses of guano at Ascension, and on the Abrolhos Islets, I found certain stalac- titic branching bodic""., formed apparently in the same manner as 1832.] SINGULAR INCliUSTATIOKS. 9 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 glo- bular extremities of the branches are of a pearly texture, like the enamel of teeth, but so hard as just to scratch plate -glass. 1 may here mention, that on a part of the coast of Ascension, where there is a vast accumulation of shelly sand, an incrustation is deposited on the tidal rocks, by the water of the sea, resembling, as represented in the woodcut, certain cryptogamic plants (Mar- chantiae) often seen on damp walls. The surface of the fronds is beautifully glossy ; and t-hose parts formed where fully exposed to the light, are of a jet black colour, but those shaded under ledges are only grey. I have shown specimens of this incrusta- tion to several geologists, and they all thought that they were of volcanic or igneous origin ! In its hardness and translucency — in its polish, equal to that of the finest oliva-shell — in the bad smell given out, and loss of colour under the blowpipe — it shows a close similarity with living sea-shells. Moreover in sea-shells, it is known that the parts habitually covered and shaded by the mantle of the animal, are of a paler colour than those fully ex- posed 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 comoosition of the hard parts, such as bones and iO ST. PAUL'S KOCKS. [chap shells, of all living animals, it is an interesting physiological fact * to find substances harder than the enamel of teeth, and coloured surfaces as well polished as those of a fresh shell, 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 veiy simple nest M'ith 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 (Oliersia) 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 tliat 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- * Mr. Horner and Sir David Brewster have described (Philosophical Transactions, 1836. p. 65) a singular " artificial substance resembling shell.'' It is deposited in fine, transparent, highly polished, brown-coloured laminae, possessing peculiar optical properties, on the inside of a vessel, in which cioth, first prepared Avith 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 tlie strong tendency which carbonate of lime and animal matter evince to form a solid substance allied to shell. 1832.] FERNANDO NORONHA. 11 feeding and parasitic insects and spiders should be the first in- habitants of newly formed oceanic land. The smallest rock in the tropical seas, by giving a foundation for the growth of innumerable kinds of seaweed and compound animals, supports likewise a large number of fish. The sharks and the seamen in the boats maintained a constant struggle which should secure the greater share of the prey caught by the fishino*-lines. I have heard that a rock near the Bermudas, lying many miles out at sea, and at a considerable depth, was first discovered by the circumstance of fish having been observed in the neighbourhood. Fernando Noronha, Feb. 20th. — As far as I was enabled to observe, during the few hours we stayed at this place, the con- stitution 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 iso- lated masses, at first one is inclined to believe that it has been suddenly pushed up in a semi-fluid state. At St. Helena, how- ever, 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 co- vered with wood ; but from the dryness of the climate there is no appearance of luxuriance. Half-way up the mountain, some great masses of the columnar rock, shaded by laurel-like trees, and ornamented by others covered with fine pink flowers but without a single leaf, gave a pleasing effect to the nearer parts of the scenery. Bahia, or San Salvador. Brazil, Feb. 29th. — The day has 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 ge- neral luxuriance of the vegetation, filled me with admiration. A most paradoxical mixture of sound and silence pervades the 12 BAHIA— BRAZIL. [chap. i. 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 historj^, 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, 1 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 crj^stallized 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 Mashed by the floods, and in those parts alone where the stream is rapid ; or, as the * Pers. Narr., vol. v. pt. i. p. 18. 1832.J HABITS OF A DIODON. IS 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 si>ecimens fail to give a just idea of these brown burnished stones which glitter in the sun's rays. They occur only within the limits of the tidal waves ; and as the rivulet slowly trickles down, the surf must supply the polishing power of the cataracts in the great rivers. In like manner, the rise and fall of the tide probably answer to the periodical inundations ; and thus the same effects are produced under apparently different but really similar circumstances. The origin, however, of these coatings of metallic oxides, which seem as if cemented to the rocks, is not understood ; and no reason, I believe, can be assigned for their thickness remaining the same. One day I was amused by watching the habits of the Diodon antennatus, which was caught swimming near the shore. This fish, with its flabby skin, is well known to possess the singular power of distending itself into a nearly spherical form. After having been taken out of water for a short time, and then again immersed in it, a considerable quantity both of water and air is absorbed by the mouth, and perhaps likewise by the branchial orifices. This process is effected by two methods : the air is swallowed, and is then forced into the cavity of the body, its return being prevented by a muscular contraction wliich is exter- nally visible : but the water enters in a gentle stream through the mouth, which is kept wide open and motionless ; this latter action must, therefore, depend on suction. The skin about the abdomen is much looser than that on the back ; hence, during the inflation, the lower surface becomes far more distended than 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 14 BAHI A— BRAZIL. [chap. i. 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 car- mine-red fibrous matter, which stains ivory and paper in so permanent a manner, that the tint is retained with all its bright- ness 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 dis- tended, in the stomach of the shark ; and that on several occa- sions 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 18/A. — We sailed from Bahia. A few days afterwards, when not far distant from the Abrolhos Islets, my attention was called to a reddish-brown appearance in the sea. The whole surface of the water, as it appeared under a weak lens, seemed as if covered by chopped bits of hay, with their ends jagged. These are minute cylindrical conferv£e, in bundles or rafts of from twenty to sixty in each. Mr. Berkeley informs me that they are the same species (Trichodesmium ery thraeum) with that found over large spaces in the Red Sea, and whence its name of Red Sea is de- rived.* Their numbers must be infinite : the ship passed through several bands of them, one of which was about ten yards wide, and, judging from the mud-like colour of the water, at least two and a half miles long. In almost every long voyage some account is given of these confervas. They appear especially com- mon in the sea near Australia ; and off Cape Leeuwin I found an * M. Montagne, in Comptes Eendus, &c., Juillet, 1844; and Annal. des Scienc. Nat., Dec. 1844. 1S32.J PELAGIC CONFERViE AND INFUSORIA. 15 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. Kear Keeling Atoll, in the Indian Ocean, I observed many little masses of confervse a few inches square, consisting of long cylindrical threads of excessive thinness, so as to be barely visible to the naked eye, mingled with other rather larger bodies, finely conical at both ends. Two of these are shown in the Avoodcut united together. They vary in length from "^^^^^uffim^^ •04 to -06, and even lo '08 of an inch in length ; and in diameter from -006 to -008 of a 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 deli- cate, colourless sac, composed of a pulpy substance, which lines the exterior case, but does not extend within the extreme conical points. In some specimens, small but perfect spheres of brownish granular matter supplied the places of the septa ; and I observed the curious process by which they were produced. The pulpy matter of the internal coating suddenly grouped itself into lines, some of which assumed a form radiating: from a common centre ; it then continued, with an irregular and rapid movement, to contract itself, so that in the course of a second the whole was united into a perfect little sphere, which occupied the position of the septum at one end of the now quite hollow case. The for- mation 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 few leagues north of Concepcion, the Beagle one day passed through great bands of muddy water, exactly like that of a swollen river ; and again, a degree south of A^alparaiso, 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 tften explod- 2 16 DISCOLOURED SEA. [chap, i ing. Their shape is oval, and contracted in the midJle by a ring of vibrating curved ciliae. It \vas, 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 minutes after any number M^ere isolated in a drop of water, they thus perished. The animals move with the narrow apex forwards, by the aid of their vibratory ciliae, and generally by rapid starts. They are exceedingly minute, and quite invisible to the naked eye, only covering a space equal to the square of the thousandth of an inch. Their numbers were infinite ; for the smallest drop of water which I could re- move contained very many. In one day we passed through two spaces of water thus stained, one of which alone must have extended over several square miles. What incalculable numbers of these microscopical animals ! The colour of the water, as seen at some distance, was like that of a river which has flowed through a red clay district ; but under the shade of the vessel's side it was quite as dark as chocolate. The line where the red and blue water joined was distinctly defined. The M'eather for some days previously had been calm, and the ocean abounded, to an unusual degree, with living creatures.* In the sea around Tierra del Fuesco, and at no srreat 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 forni large prawns. The sealers call them whale-food. Whether whales feed on them I do not know ; but terns, cormo- * M. Lesson (Voyage de la Coquille, torn, i., p. 255) mentions red water off Lima, apparently produced by the same cause. Peron, the distinguished naturalist, in the Voyage aux Terres Australes, gives no less than twelve references to voyagers who have alluded to the discoloured waters of the sea (vol. ii. p. 239). To the references given by Peron may be added, Hum- boldt's Pers. Narr., vol. vi. p. 804; Flinders' Voyage, vol. i. p. 92 ; Labil- lardiere, vol. i. p. 2S7 ; Ulloa's Voyage; Voyage of the Astrolabe and of thf Coquille; Captain King's Survey of Australia. &c. \S?/2.] DISCOLOURED SEA. 17 rants, and immense herds of great unwieldy seals derive, on some parts of the coast, their chief sustenance from these swimminf^ crabs. Seamen invariably attribute the discoloration of the water to spawn ; but I found this to be the case only on one occasion. At the distance of several leagues from the Archipe- lago of the Galapagos, the ship sailed through three strips of r, dark yellowish, or mud-like water ; these strips w^ere some miles long, but only a few yards wide, and they were separated fror'v the surroundinor 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. 1 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 direc- tion of the bands indicates liiat 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 tlie water which displays iridescent colours I saw a considerable tract of the ocean thus covered on the coast of Brazil ; the sea- men attributed it to the putrefying carcass of some whale, which probably was floating ai no great distance. I do not here men- tion the minute gelatinous particles, hereafter to be referred to, which are frequently dispersed throughout the water, for they are not sufficiently abundant to create any change of colour. There are two circumstances in tlie aoove accounts which appear remarkable : first, how do the various bodies which form the bands with defined edges keep together ? In the case of the prawn-like crabs, their movements were as coinstantaneous as in a regiment of soldiers ; but this cannot happen from any thing like voluntary action with the ovules, or the confervee, nor is it probable among the infusoria. Secondly, what causes the length and narrowness of the bands ? The appearance so much re- sembles 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 efi^'ect to a similar action either of the cur- rents of the air or sea. Under this supposition we must believe that the various organized bodies are produced in certain favour- 18 DISCOLOURED SEA. [cuai-. i. able places, and are thence removed by the set of either v iud 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 confervas : 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 linear grouping. I may add that Scoresby remarks, that green Mater abounding with pelagic animals is invariably found in a cerluin part of ilie Arc- tic Sea. 1832.] KIO DE JANEIRO. 19 CHAPTER 11. Rio de Janeiro — Excursion north of Cape Frio — Great Evaporation — Slavery — Botofogo Bay — Terrestrial Planaria; — Clouds on the Corcovado — Heavy llain — Musical Frogs — Phosphorescent Insects — Elater, springing powers of — Blue Haze — Noise made by a Butterfly — Entomology — Airts — Wasp killing a Spider — Parasitical Spider — Artifices of an Epeira — Gregarious Spider — Spider with an unsymmetrical Web. RIO DE JANEIRO. April 4th to Juhj bth^ 1832. — A few days after our arriv;il 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 Sth. — Our party amounted to seven. The first stage was very interesting. The day was powerfully hot, and as we passed through the woods, every 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 tlie bay vied with each other in splendour. After passing through some cultivated country, we entered a forest, which in the grandeur of all its parts could not be exceeded. We arrived by midday at Itlia- caia ; 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, con 20 RIO DE JANEIRO. [chap, il trived to eke out a subsistence. At length they were discovered, and a party of soldiers being sent, the whole were seized with the exception of one old woman, who, sooner than again be led into slavery, dashed herse.f to pieces from tlie summit of the moun- ,ain. In a Roman matron this would have been called the noble love of freedom : in a poor negress it is mere brutal obstinacy. We continued riding;- for some hours. For the few last miles the road was intricate, and it passed through a desert waste of marshes and lagoons. The scene by the dimmed light of the moon was most desolate. A few fireflies flitted by us ; and the solitary snipe, as it rose, uttered its plaintive cry. The distant and sullen roar of the sea scarcely broke the stillness of the night. April 9th. — We left our miserable sleeping-place before 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 succu- lent plants assuming most fantastical forms, gave to the scene an interest which it would not otherwise have possessed. The few stunted trees were loaded with parasitical plants, among which the beauty and delicious fragrance of some of the orchideae were most to be admired. As the sun rose, the day became extremely hot, and the reflection of the light and heat from the white sand was very distressing. We dined at Mandetiba ; the thermometer in the shade being 84°. The beautiful view of the distant wooded hills, reflected in the perfectly calm water of an extensive lagoon, quite refreshed us. As the venda* here was a very good one, and I have the pleasant, but rare remembrance, of an excellent din- ner, I will be grateful and presently describe it, as the type of its class. These houses are often large, and are built of thick upright posts, with boughs interwoven, and afterwards plastered. They seldom have floors, and never glazed windows ; but are generally pretty well roofed. Universally the front part is open, forming a kind of verandah, in which tables and benches are placed. The bed-rooms join on each side, and here the passenger may sleep as comfortably as tie 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 * Venda, the Portuguese name for an inn. IS32.J LIVING AT A VEXDA. 21 to unsaddle the horses and give them their Indian corn ; tlien, with a low bow, to ask the j^enhur to do us the favour to give ufi 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 pro- ceeding, the case universally became deplorable. " Any fish can you do us the favour of giving?" — " Oh ! no, sir." — " Any soup ?"— " No, sir."—" Any bread ?"— " Oh ! 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 unsatis- factory 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 disaofreeable in their manners ; their houses and their persons are often filthily dirty ; tlie want of the accommodation of forks, knives, and spoons is common; and I am sure no cottag-e or hovel in Enofland 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 any thing of a whip which one of the party had lost, grufiBy answered, " How should I know ? why did you not take care of it ? — I suppose the dogs have eaten it." Leaving Mandetiba, we continued to pass through an intricate wilderness of lakes; in some of which were fresh, in others salt water shells. Of the former kind, I found a LimncEa 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. Gav* has stated that he found in the neiofhbourhood of Rio, * Annales des Sciences Naturelles for 1823. 22 RIO DE JANEIRf). [chap. ii. sliells of the marine genera solen and mytilus, and fresh water ampullariae, living together in brackish water. I also frequently observed in the lagoon near the Botanic Garden, where the water is only a little less salt than in the sea, a species of hydro- philus, very similar to a water-beetle common in the ditches of England : in the same lake the only shell belonged to a genus generally found in estuaries. Leaving the coast for a time, we again entered the forest. The trees were very lofty, and remarkable, compared with those of Europe, from the whiteness of their trunks. I see by my note- book, " wonderful and beautiful, flowering parasites," invariably struck me as the most novel object in these grand scenes. Travel- ling onwards we passed through tracts of pasturage, much in- jured by the enormous conical ants' nests, Mhich were nearly twelve feet high. They gave to the plain exactly the appear- ance of the mud volcanos at Jorullo, as figured by Humboldt. "We arrived at Engenhodo after it was dark, having been ten hours on horseback. I never ceased, during the whole journey, to be surprised at the amount of labour which the horses were capable of enduring ; they appeared also to recover from any injury much sooner than those of our English breed. The 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. AVe were bivouacking late one even- ing near Coquimbo, in Chile, when my servant, noticing that one of the horses was very restive, went to see what was the matter, and fancying he could distinguish something, suddenly put his hand on the beast's withers, and secured the vampire. In the morning the spot where the bite had been inflicted was easily distinguished from being slightly swollen and bloody. The third day afterwards we rode the horse, without any ill pfFects. April 13M. — After three days' travelling we arrived at Socego, the estate of Senhur Manuel Figuireda, a relation of one of our uarty. The house was sim-ple, and, though like a barn in form, 1S32.] ARRIVAL AT SOCEGO. 23 was well suited to the climate. In the sitting-room gilded chairs and sofas were oddly contrasted with the whitewashed walls, thatched roof, and windows without glass. The house, together with the granaries, the stables, and workshops for the blacks, who had been taught various trades, formed a rude kind of quad- rangle ; in the centre of which a large pile of coffee was drying. These buildings stand on a little hill, overlooking the cultivated ground, and surrounded on every side by a wall of dark green luxuriant forest. The chief produce of this part of the country is coffee. Each tree is supposed to yield annually, on an average, two pounds ; but some give as much as eight, Mandioca or cassada is likewise cultivated in great quantity. Every part of this plant is useful : the leaves and stalks are eaten by the horses, and the roots are ground into a pulp, which, when pressed dry and baked, forms the farinha, the principal article of sustenance in the Brazils. It is a curious, though well-known fact, that the juice of this most nutritious plant is highly poisonous. A few years ago a cow died at this Fazenda, in consequence of having drunk some of it. Senlior Figuireda told me that he had planted, the year before, one bag of feijao or beans, and three of rice ; the former of which produced eighty, and the latter three hun- dred 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. Dur- ing the meals, it was the employment of a man to drive out of the room sundry old hounds, and dozens of little black cliildren, which crawled in together, at every opportunity. As long as tlie idea of slavery could be banished^ there was something exceed- ingly 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 day- 24 KIO DE JANEIRO. [chap. ii. light to admire the solemn stillness of the scene ; at last, the silence was broken by the morning hymn, raised on high by the whole body of the blacks ; and in this manner their daily work is generally begun. On such fazendas as these, I have no doubt the slaves pass happy and contented lives. On Saturday and Sunday they work for themselves, and in this fertile climate the labour of two days is sufficient to support a man and his family for the whole week. April lifh. — Leaving Socego, we rode to another estate on the Rio Macae, which was the last patch of cultivated ground in that direction. The estate was two and a half miles long, and the owner had forgotten how many broad. Only a very small piece had been cleared, yet almost every acre was capable of yielding all the various rich productions of a tropical land. Considering the enormous area of Brazil, the proportion of cul- tivated ground can scarcely be considered as any thing, compared to that which is left in the state of nature : at some future ago, 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 extraordi- nary 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 tlie 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 law-suit, 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. 1S32.] APPEARANCE OF THE FORESTS. 25 prevented this act. Indeed, I do not believe the inhumanity of separating- thirty families, uho had lived together for many years, even occurred to the owner. Yet I will pledge myself, that in humanity and good feeling he was superior to the confmon run of men. It may be said there exists no limit to the blindness of interest and selfish habit. I may mention one Aery 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. lie, I suppose, thought I was in a passion, and was going to strike him ; for instantly, with a frightened look and half-shut eyes, he dropped his hands. I shall never forget my feelings of surprise, disgust, and shame, at seeing a great powerful man afraid even to ward off a blow, directed, as he thought, at his face. This man had been trained to a degrada- tion lower than the slavery of the most helpless animal. April 1 d>ih. — In returning we spent two days at Socego, and I employed them in collecting insects in the forest. The greater number of trees, although so lofty, are not more than three or four feet in circumference. There are, of course, a few of much greater dimension. Senhor Manuel was then making a canoe 70 feet in length from a solid trunk, which had originally been 110 feet long, and of great thickness. The contrast of palm trees, groAving 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 beau- tiful 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 raimosee. The latter, in some parts, covered the surface with a brushwood only a few inches high. In walking across these thick beds of mimoges, a broad track 86 llIO DE JANEIRO. [chap. ii. was marked by the change of shade, produced by the drooping of theii sensitive petioles. It is easy to specify the individual objects of admiration in these grand scenes ; but it is not possible to give an adequate idea of the higher feelings of wonder, astonishment, and devotion, which fill and elevate the mind. April I9th. — Leaving Socego, during the two first days, we retraced our steps. It was very wearisome Avork, as the road generally ran across a glaring hot sandy plain, not far from tlie 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 w as 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 distances are inaccurately known. The road is often marked by crosses, in the place of milestones, to signify where human blood has been spilled. On tlie evening of the 2ord we arrived at liio, having finished our pleasant little ex- cursion. During the remainder of my stay at Rio, I resided in a cottage at Botofogo Bay. It was impossible to wish for anything more delightful than thus to spend some weeks in so magnificent a country. In England any person fond of natural history enjoys in his walks a great advantage, by always having something to attract his attention ; but in these fertile climates, teeming with life, the attractions are so numerous, that he is scarcely able to walk at all. The few observations which I Mas 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, IS32.J PLANAULE. 27 beneath logs of rotten wood, on wliich 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 higlily irritable mouth can be protruded. Fur some time after the rest of the animal was completely dead from the effects of salt water or any other cause, this organ still re- tained its vitality. I found no less than twelve different species of terrestrial Pla- nariae in diffierent 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, and the other, in consequence, none. In the course of twenty-five days from the operation, the more perfect half could not have been distinguished from any other specimen. The other had increased much in size ; and to- wards its posterior end, a clear space was formed in the pa- renchymatous 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 lieat of tJje weather, as we approached the equator, had not destroyed all the individuals, there can be no doubt that this last step woula 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 Planarise ; 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 mIio took me out to hunt with him. The sport consisted in turning into the cover * I have described and named these species in the ' Annals of Nat. Hist., vol. xiv. p. 241. 18 RIO DE JANKIKO. [cHvr. ii. 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 larare 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 dex- terous with the knife, that thev can throw it to some distance, with precision, and with sufficient force to cause a fatal wound. I have seen a number of little boys practising this art as a game of play, and from their skill in hitting an upright stick, they promised well for more earnest attempts. My companion, the day before, had shot two large bearded monkej^s. These ani- mals have prehensile tails, the extremity of which, even after death, can support the whole weight of the body. One of them thus remained fist 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 iew toucans. I profited, nowever, 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 the formation which Humboldt designates as gneiss-granite. Kothing can be more striking: than the effect of these huae rounded masses of naked rock rising out of the most luxuriant vegetation. O 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 tlian its real height of 2300 feet. Mr. Daniell has observed, in his me- teorological essays, that a cloud sometimes appears fixed on a mountain sunnnit, wliile the wind continues to blow over it. 1832.J PHOSPHORESCENT INSECTS. 90 The same phenomenon here presented a slightly different appear- niice. 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 redis- solved. The climate, during the months of May and June, or the be- ginning of winter, was delightful. The mean temperature, from observations taken at nine o'clock, both morning and evening, was only 72"'. It often rained heavily, but the drying southerly winds soon again rendered the walks pleasant. One morning, in the course of six hours, 1.6 inches of rain fell. As this storm passed over the forests which surround the Corcovado, the sound produced by the drops pattering on the countless mul- titude 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 w^ater. 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 to- gether they sing in harmony on diff'erent notes. I had some difficiilty in catching a specimen of this frog. The genus Hyla has its toes terminated by small suckers ; and I found this animal could crawl up a pane of glass, when placed absolutely perpen- dicular. A^arious cicadse and crickets, at the same time, keep up a ceaseless shrill cry, but which, softened by the distance, h not unpleasant. Every evening after dark this great conceit commenced ; and often have I sat listening to it, until my atten- tion 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 so EIO DE JANEIRO. [chap. ii. (such as the Crustacea, medusee, nereidge, a coralline of the genus Clytia, and Pyrosoma), which I have observed, the light liat^ been of a well-marked green colour. All the fireflies, which I caught here, belonged to the Lampyridae (in which family the English glowworm is included), and the greater number of spe- cimens were of Lampyns occidentaiis.* I found that this insect emitted the most brilliant flashes when irritated : in the intervals, the abdominal rings were obscured. The flash was almost co- instantaneous in the two rings, but it was just perceptible first in the anterior one. The shining matter was fluid and very ad- hesive : little spots, where the skin had been torn, continued bright with a slight scintillation, M'hilst the uninjured parts were obscured. When the insect was decapitated tlie rings remained uninterruptedly bright, but not so brilliant as before : local irri- tation with a needle always increased the A'ividness of the light. The rings in one instance retained their luminous property nearly twenty-four hours after the death of the insect. From these facts it would appear probable, that the animal has only the power of concealing or extinguishing the light for short inter- vals, and that at other times the display is involuntary. On the muddy and wet gravel -walks I found the larvae of this lampyris in great numbers : they resembled in general form the female of the English glowworm. These larvae possessed but feeble luminous powers; very differently from their parents, on the slia^htest touch thev feigned death, and ceased to shine : nor did irritation excite any fresh display. I kept several of them alive for some time : their tails are very singular organs, for they act, by a well-fitted contrivance, as suckers or organs of attachment, and likewise as reservoirs for saliva, or some such fluid. I re- peatedly fed them on raw meat ; and I invariably observed, that every now and then the extremity of the tail was applied to the mouth, and a drop of fluid exuded on the meat, which was then in the act of being consumed. The tail, notwithstanding m u;uch practice, does not seem to be able to find its way to the moutli ; at least the neck was always touched first, and appa- rently as a guide. * I am greatly indebted to Mr. Waterhouse for his kindness in naming for me this and many other insects, and in giving me much vahiable assist^ once. I8.'52.] BOTANIC GARDEN. 81 When we were at Baliia, an elater or beetle (Pyropliorus lu- minosus, Illig".) seemed the most common luminous insect. The light in this case was also rendered more brilliant by irritation. I amused myself one day by observing the springing powers of this insect, which have not, as it appears to me, been properly described.* The elater, when placed on its back and preparing to spring, moved its head and thorax backwards, so that the pectoral spine was drawn out, and rested on the ech^e of its sheath. The same backward movement being continued, the spine, by the full action of the muscles, was bent like a spring ; and the insect at this moment rested on the extremity of its head and wing-cases. The effort being suddenly relaxed, the head and thorax tlew up, and in consequence, the base of the wing- cases struck the supporting surface with such force, that the iiisect by the reaction was jerked upwards to the height of one or two inches. The projecting points of the thorax, and the sheath of the spine, served to steady the whole body during the spring. In the descriptions M'hich I have read, sufficient stress does not appear to have been laid on the elasticity of the spine : so sudden a spring could not be the result of simple muscular contraction, without the aid of some mechanical contrivance. On several occasions I enjoyed some short but most pleasant excursions in the neighbouring country. One day I went to the Botanic Garden, where many plants, well known for their great utility, might be seen growing. The leases of the cam- phor, pepper, cinnamon, and clove trees were delightfully aro- matic ; and the bread-fruit, the jaca, and the mango, vied witli each other in the magnificence of their foliage. The landscape in the neighbourhood of Bahia almost takes its character fiom the two latter trees. Before seeing them, I had no idea that any trees could cast so black a shade on the ground. Both of them bear to the evergreen vegetation of these climates the same kind of relation which laurels and hollies in England do to the lighter green of the deciduous trees. It may be observed, that the houses M'ithin the tropics are surrounded by the most beau- tiful forms of vegetation, because many of them are at the same * Kirby's Entomology, vol. ii., p. 317. S2 RIO UE JANEIRO. [cuap. il 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 oi 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." Tliis is an appearance which I have never observed in the temperate zones. The at- mosphere, seen through a short space of half or three quarter.-' of a mile, was perfectly lucid, but at a greater distance a!] colours were blended into a most beautiful haze, of a pale Frencli grey, mingled with a little blue. The condition of the atmos- phere 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 temoerature 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 fra- grant ; 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 v.'atch the various insects and birds as they flew past. The luimming-bird seems particularly fond of such shady retired spots. AVhenever I saw these little creatures buzzing round a flower, with their wings vibrating so rapidly as to be scarcely visible, I was reminded of the sphinx moths : their movements and habits are indeed in many respects very similar. Following a pathway I entered a noble forest, and from a height of five or six hundred feet, one of those splendid views was presented, which are so common on every side of Rio. At this elevation the landscape attains its most brilliant tint ; and every form, every shade, so completely surpasses in magnificence all that the European has ever beheld in his own country, that he knows not how to express his feelings. The general effect frequently recalled to my mind the gayest scenery of the Opera- house or the great theatres. I never returned from these excur- pions 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 832. ; BUTTEFtFLIEa 33 this, liowever, as the entomologist is aware, is to some of our beetles a delightful fragrance. So was it here ; for a Strongylur.. attracted by the odour, alighted on the fungus as I carried it in my hand. We here see in two distant countries a similar rela- tion between plants and insects of the same families, though the species of both are different. When man is the agent in intro- ducing into a country a new species, this relation is often broken : as one instance of this I may mention, that the leaves of the cabbages and lettuces, which in England afford food to such a multitude of slugs and caterpillars, in the gardens near Rio are untouched. During our stay at Brazil I made a large collection of insects. A few general observations on the comparative importance of the different orders may be interesting to the English entomolo- gist. 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, con- trary 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 tliese occasions its head is invariably placed downwards ; and its wings are expanded in a horizontal plane, instead of being folded verti- cally, as is commonly the case. This is the only butterfly which I have ever seen, that uses its lesrs for runninof. Not beina aware of this fact, the insect, more than once, as I cautiously approached with my forceps, shufl^ed on one side just as the in- strument was on the point of closing, and thus escaped. But a far more singular fact is the power which this species possesses of making a noise.* Several times when a pair, probably male * Mr. Doubleday lias lately described (before tlie Entomological Society, March 3rd, 1845) a peculiar structure in the -wings of this buttertiy, which seems to be the means of its making its noise. He says, " It is remarkable for having a sort of drum at the base of the fore wings, between the costal nervure and the subcostal. These two nervures, moreover, have a peculiar screw-like diaphragm or vessel in the interior." I find in Langsdorff 's travels (in the years 1803-7, p. 74) it is said, that in the island of St. Cathe- rine's on the coast of Brazil, a butterfly called Februa Iloftmanseggi, makes a noise, when flying away, like a rattle. S4 EIO DE JANEIRO, t^-'nAr. ir. 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 wlieel passing under a spring catch. The noise was conti- nued at short intervals, and could be distinguished at about twenty yards' distance : I am certain there is no error in the observation. I was disappointed in the general aspect of the Coleoptera. The number of minute and obscurely-coloured beetles is exceed- ingly great.* The cabinets of Europe can, as vet, boast only of the larger species from tropical climates. It is sufficient to disturb the composure of an entomologist's mind, to look forward to the future dimensions of a complete catalogue. The carnivorous beetles, or Carabidae, appear in extremely few numbers within the tropics : this is the more remarkable when compared to the case of the carnivorous quadrupeds, which are so abundant in hot countries. I was struck with this observation both on entering Brazil, and when I saw the many elegant and active forms of the Harpalidae re-appearing on the temperate plains of La Plata. Do the very numerous spiders and rapacious Hymenoptera sup- ply the place of the carnivorous beetles ? The carrion-feeders and Brachelytera are very uncommon ; on the other hand, the Rhyncophora and Chrysomelidee, all of which depend on the vegetable world for subsistence, are present in astonishing num- bers. I do not here refer to the number of different species, but to that of the individual insects ; for on this it is that the most striking character in the entomology of different countries de- pends. The orders Orthoptera and Hemiptera are particularly numerous ; as likewise is the stinging division of the Hymeno- ptera; the bees, perhaps, being excepted. A person, on first entering a tropical forest, is astonished at the labours of the ants : well-beaten paths branch off in every direction, on which an army of never-failing foragers may be seen, some going forth, * I may mention, as a common instance of one day's (June 23rd) collect- ing, when I was not attending particularly to the Coleoptera, that I caught Bixty-eight species of that order. Among these, there were only two of the Carabiiia?, four Brachelytra, fifteen Rhyncophora, and fourteen of the Chry- gomelida?. Thirty-seven species of Arachnidse, which I brought home, will De sufficient to prove that I was not paying overmuch attention to the gene- rally favoured order o*^ Coleoptera, 1832.] SWARM OF ANTS. C5 and others returning, burdened with pieces of green leaf, often larger than their own bodies. A small dark-coloured ant sometimes migrates in countless numbers. One day, at Bahia, my attention was drawn by ob- serving many spiders, cockroaches, and other insects, and some lizards, rushing in the greatest agitation across a bare piece of ground. A little way behind, every stalk and leaf was blackened by a small ant. The swarm having crossed the bare space, divided itself, and descended an old wall. By this means many insects were fairly enclosed ; and the efforts which the poor little creatures made to extricate themselves from such a death were wonderful. AVhen the ants came to the road they changed their course, and in narrow files reascended the Mall. 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 ! 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 Hew away : the spider was evidently wounded, for, trying to escape, it rolled down a little slope, but had still strength sufficient to crawl into a thick tuft of grass. The wasp soon returned, and seemed sur- * In a MS. in the British Museum by Mr. Abbott, who made his observ- ations m Georgia; see Mr. A. While's paper in the ' Annals of Nat. Hist.,' vol. vu_. p. 472. Lieut. Hutton has described a sphex with similar habits iu India, m the ' Journal of the Asiatic Society,' \ol. i , p. 555. S.'5 RIO DE JANEIRO. [chap. n. prised at not immediately finding its victim. It then commenced as reg-ular a hunt as ever hound did after fox ; making short semicircular casts, and all the time rapidly vibrating its wings and antennae. The spider, though well concealed, was soon dis- covered ; and the wasp, evidently still afraid of its adversary's jaws, after much manoeuvring, inflicted two stings on the under side of its thorax. At last, carefully examining with its antennae the now motionless spider, it proceeded to drag away the body. But I stopped both tyrant and prey.* The number of spiders, in proportion to other insects, is here compared with England very much larger ; perhaps more so than v/ith any other division of the articulate animals. The variety of species among the jumping spiders appears almost infinite. The genus, or rather family of Kpeira, is here charac- terized by many singular forms ; some species have pointed coria- ceous 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 Ea- bricius, which was formerly said by Sloane to make, in the West Indies, webs so strong as to catch birds. A small and pretty kind of spider, with very long fore-legs, and which appears to belong to an undescribed genus, lives as a parasite on almost every one of these webs. I suppose it is too insignificant to be noticed by the great Epeira, and is therefore allowed to prey on the minute insects, which, adliering to the lines, would, otherwise be wasted. When frightened, this little spider either fei^^ns death by extending its front legs, or suddenly drops from the web. A large Epeira of the same division with Epeira tubercu- lata and conica is extremely common, especially in dry situations. Its web, which is generally placed among the great leaves of the common agave, is sometimes strengthened near the centre by a pair or even four zigzag ribbons, which connect two adjoining rays. When any large insect, as a grasshopper or wasp, is caught, the spider, by a dexterous movement, makes it revolve very rapidly, and at the same time emitting a band of threads * Don Felix Azara (vol. i., p. 175), mentioning a hyTnenopteroiis insect, pr .hably of the same genus, says, he saw it dragging a'dead spider through tall grass, in a straight line to its nest, which was one hundred and sixty- three paces distant. He adds that the wasp, in order to find the road, every now and then made " demi-tours d'environ trois palmes." 1832.] SPIDERS. hi from its spinners, soon envelops its prey in a case like the cocoon of a silkworm. The spider now examines the powerless victim, and gives the fatal bite on the hinder part of its thorax ; then retreating, patiently waits till the poison has taken effect. The virulence of this poison may be judged of from the fact that in half a minute I opened the mesh, and found a large wasp quite lifeless. This Epeira always stands with its head downwards near the centre of the web. When disturbed, it acts differently according to circumstances : if there is a thicket below, ft suddenly flills 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 laro-e insect is caught in their webs, endeavour to cut the lines and liberate their prey, to save their nets from being entirely spoiled. I once, however, saw in a hot-house in Shropshire a large female wasp caught in the irregular web of a quite small spider ; and this spider, instead of cutting the web, most perseveringly con- tinued to entangle the body, and especially the wings, of its prey. The wasp at first aimed in vain repeated thrusts with its sting at its little antagonist. Pitying the wasp, after allow- ing 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 ja-vs 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, whicli was many times larger than itself. I may here just mention, that I found, near St. Fe Bajada, many large black spiders, with ruby coloured marks on their ba(!ks, having gregarious habits. The webs were placed verti- SB RIO DE JANEIRO. [chap lu 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 gregarioi;s spider in Paraguay, which Walckenaer thinks must be a Theridion, but probably it is an Epeira, and perhaps even the same species with mine. I cannot, however, recollect seeing a central nest as large as a hat, in which, during autumn, when the spiders die, Azara says the eggs are deposited. As all the spiders which I saw were of the same size, they must have been nearly of the same age. This gre- garious habit, in so typical a genus as Epeira, among insects, which are so bloodthirsty and solitary that even the two sexes at- tack each other, is a very singular fact. In a lofty valley of the Cordillera, near Mendoza, I found another spider with a singularly-formed web. Strong lines radiated in a vertical plane from a common centre, where the insect had its station ; but only two of the rays were connected by a symmetrical mesh- work ; so that the net, instead of being, as is generally the case, circular, consisted of a wedge-shaped seg- ment. All the webs were similarly constructed. * Azara's Voyage, vol. i., p. 213. 832.J ESTUAI Y OF THE PLATA. 89 CHAPTER III. Monte Video — Maldonado — Excursion to R. Polanco — Lazo and Bolas — Partridges — Absence of Trees — Deer — Capybara, or River Hog — Tucu- tuco — Molothrus, cuckoo-like habits — Tyrant-flycatcher — Mocking-bird — Carrion Hawks — Tubes formed by Lightning — House struck. MALDOXADO. July 5th, 1832. — In the morning- we got under way, and stood out of the splendid harbour of Rio de Janeiro. In our passage to the Plata, we saw notliing particular, excepting on one day a great shoal of porpoises, many hundreds in number. The whole sea was in places furrowed by them ; and a most extraordinary spectacle was presented, as hundreds, proceeding together by jumps, in which their whole bodies were exposed, thus cut the water. When the ship was running nine knots an hour, these animals could cross and recross the bows with the greatest 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 fire- works ; the mast-head and yard-arm -ends shone with St. Elmo's light ; and the form of the vane could almost be traced, as if it had been rubbed with phosphorus. The sea was so highly lumi- nous, that the tracks of the penguins were marked by a fiery wake, and the darkness of the sky was momentarily illuminated by the most vivid lightning. When within the mouth of the river, I m as interested by ob- serving 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 curio.usly exhibited in the wake of the vessel, where a line of blue water was seen mingling in little eddies, with the adjoining fluid. 3 40 ItlALDONADO. [chap ul July 2Qth. — We anchored at Monte Video. The Beagle was employed in surveying the extreme southern and eastern coasts of America, south of the Plata, during the two succeeding years. To prevent useless repetitions, I will extract those parts of my journal which refer to the same districts, without always attend- ing 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 tlie population more evi- dent. It possesses scarcely any trade ; the exports being con- fined to a few hides and living cattle. The inhabitants are chiefly landowners, together with a few shopkeepers and the neces- sary tradesmen, such as blacksmiths and carpenters, who do nearly all the business for a circuit of fifty miles round. The town is separated from the river by a band of sand-hillocks, about a mile broad : it is surrounded, on all other sides, by an open slightly- undulating country, covered by one uniform layer of fine green turf, on wliich 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. Tlie features of the country are very similar along the whole northern bank of the Plata. Tlie only diflference 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 staid ten weeks at Maldonado, in which time a nearly perfect 1832.] IGNORaN'CE OF THE PEOPLE. 41 collection of the animals, birds, and reptiles, was procured. Before making any oliservations 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 ridi'ig- horses. My companions were well armed with pistols and 8abres ; a precaution which I thouglit rather unnecessary ; but the first piece of news we heard was, that, the day before, a tra- veller from Monte Video had been found dead on the road, with his throat cut. This happened close lo a cross, the record of a former murder. On the first night we slept at a retired little country-house ; nd there I soon found out that I possessed two or three articles, especially a pocket compass, which created unbounded astonish- ment. In every house I was asked to show the compass, and by its aid, together with a map, to point out the direction of various places. It excited the liveliest admiration that I, a perfect stranger, should know the road (for direction and road are syno- nymous in this open country) to places where I had never been. 7Vt one house a young woman, who was ill in bed, sent to entreat me to come and show her the compass. If their surprise was great, mine was greater, to find such ignorance among people wiio 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 ; wliether 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 ■•lose 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 42 MALDONADO. [chap. in. 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 lie had heard of ablutions in the Mahomedan religion, and knowing me to be a heretick, probably he came to the conclusion that all hereticks were Turks. It is the general custom in this country to ask for a night's lodging Ut 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, &c., I repaid them for their hospitality. I am writing as if I had been among the inhabit- ants of central Africa : Banda Oriental would not be flattered by the comparison ; but such were my feelings at the time. The next day we rode to the village of Las Minas. The country was rather more hilly, but otherwise continued the same ; an inhabitant of the Pampas no doubt would have considered it as truly Alpine. The country is so thinly inliabited, that during the whole day we scarcely met a single person. Las Minas is much smaller even than Maldonado. It is seated on a little plain, and is surrounded by low rocky mountains. It is of the usual symmetrical form ; and with its whitewashed church standing in the centre, had rather a pretty appearance. The outskirting houses rose out of the plain like isolated beings, without the accompaniment of gardens or courtyards. This is generally the case in the country, and all the houses have, in consequence, an uncomfortable aspect. At night we stopped at a pulprria, or drinking-shop. During the evening a great num- ber of Gauchos came in tQ drink spirits and smoke cigars : their appearance is very striking ; they are generally tall and hand- some, but with a proud and dissolute expression of countenance. They frequently wear their moustaches, and long black hair curling down their backs. AVith their brightly-coloured gar- ments, great spurs clanking about their heels, and knives stuck as daggers (and often so used) at their waists, they look a very ditlerent race of men from what might be expected from their name of Gauchos, or simple countrymen. Their politeness is ^xces^ive; they never drink their spirits without expecting you .632.] POINTS OF ETIQUETTE. 43 to tasle it ; but -w hilst making their exceedingly graceful bow, thej seem quite as ready, if occasion offered, to cut your throat. On the third day we pursued rather an irregular course, as 1 was employed in examining some beds of marble. On the fine plains of turf we saw many ostriches (Struthio rhea). Some of the flocks contained as many as twenty or thirty birds. These, when standing on any little eminence, and seen against the clear sky, presented a very noble appearance. I never met with such tame ostriches in any other part of the country : it was easy to gallop up within a short distance of them ; but then, expanding their wings, they made all sail right before the wind, and soon left the horse astern. At night we came to the house of Don Juan Fuentes, a rich landed proprietor, but not personally known to either of my companions. On approaching the house of a stranger, it is usual to follow several little points of etiquette : riding up slowly to the door, the salutation of Ave Maria is given, and until somebody comes out and asks you to alight, it is not customary even to get off your horse : the formal answer of the owner is, *' sin peca,do 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 tliere. 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 tlie Pampas) he makes his bed. It is curious how similar circum- stances 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 asking his guest a single question beyond the strictest rule of politeness, whilst the honest Dutchman demands where he has been, where he is going, what is his business, and even how many brothers, sisters, or children he may happen to have. Shortly after our arrival at Don Juan's, one of the large herds of cattle was driven in towards the house, and three beasts were picked out to be slaughtered for the supply of the establishment. Tht!se half-wild cattle are very active ; and knowing full well 44 MALDONADO. [chap. m. the fatal lazo, they xcd 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 vege- table, and not even a morsel of bread. For drinking, a large earthenware jug of water served the whole party. Yet this man was the owner of several square miles of land, of which nearly every acre would produce corn, and, with a little trouble, all the common vegetables. The evening was spent in smoking, with a little impromptu singitig, accompanied by the guitar. The sig- noritas all sat together in one corner of the room, and did not sup with the men. So many works have been written about tliese countries, that it is almost superfluous to describe either the lazo or the bolas. The lazo consists of a werj strong, but thin, well-plaited rope, made of raw hide. One end is attached to the broad surcingle, which fastens together the complicated gear of the recado, or saddle used in the Pampas ; the other is terminated by a small ring of iron or brass, by which a noose can be formed. The Gaucho, when he is going to use the lazo, keeps a small coil in his bridle-hand, and in the other holds the running noose, which is made very large, generally having a diameter of about eight feet. This he whirls round his head, and by the dexterous move- ment of his wrist keeps the noose open ; then, throwing it, he causes it to fall on any particular spot he chooses. The lazo, when not used, is tied up in a small coil to the after part of the recado. The bolas, or balls, are of two kinds : the simplest, which is chiefly used for catching ostriches, consists of two round stones, covered with leather, and united by a thin plaited thong, about eight feet long. The other kind differs only in having three balls united by the thongs to a common centre. The Gaucho holds the smallest of the three in his hand, and whirls the other two round and round his head ; then, taking aim, sends them like chain shot revolving through the air. The [832.] THROWING THE BOLAS. 4S balls no sooner strike any object, than, winding round it, they cross each other, and become firmly hitched. The size and wei'>^ht of the balls varies, according to the purpose for wliici) they are made : when of stone, although not larger than an apple, they are sent with such force as sometimes to break tl;f ieir even of a horse. I have seen the balls made of wood, and a^ large as a turnip, for the sake of catching these animals without injuring them. The balls are sometimes made of iron, and these can be hurled to the greatest distance. The main difficulty in usin2-r..] CARRION HAWKS. 57 ing 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 tlie carrion it may have recently gorged. Lastly, Azara states that several Carranchas, five or six together, will unite in chace of large birds, even such as herons. All these facts sliow that it is a bird of very versatile habits and considerable ingenuity. The Polyborus Chimango is considerably smaller than the last species. It is truly omnivorous, and will eat even bread ; and I was assured that it materially injures the potato-crops in Chiloe, by stocking up the roots when first planted. Of all the carrion-feeders it is generally the last which leaves tlie skeleton of a dead animal ; and may often be seen within the ribs of a cow or horse, like a bird in a cage. Another species is the Polyborus Novae Zelandiae, which is exceedingly common in the Falkland Islands. These birds in many respects resemble in their habits the Carranchas. They live on the flesh of dead animals and on marine productions; and on the Ramirez rocks their whole sustenance must depend on the sea. They are extra- ordinarily tame and fearless, and haunt the neighbourhood of liouses for oflfal. 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 Falklands only during the summer, but the officers of the Adventure, who were there in the winter, mention many extraordinary instances of the boldness and rapacity of these birds. They actually pounced on a dog that was lying fast asleep close by one of the party ; and the sportsmen had difficulty in preventing the wounded geese from being seized before their eyes. It is said tliat several bS MALDONADJ. /chap. hi. together (in this respect resembling the Carranchas) wait at the mouth of a rabbit-hole, and together seize on the animal when it comes out. They were constantly flying on board the vessel when in the harbour ; and it was necessary to keep a good look out to prevent the leather being torn from the rigging, and the meat or game from the stern. These birds are very mischievous and inquisitive ; they will pick up almost any thing 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, Avhich was never recovered. These birds are, moreover, quarrelsome and very passionate ; tearing up the grass with their bills from rage. They are not truly gregarious ; they do not soar, and their flight is heavy and clumsy ; on the ground they run extremely fast, very much like pheasants. They are noisy, uttering several harsh cries ; one of which is like that of the English rook ; hence the sealers always call them rooks. It is a curious circumstance that, when crying out, they throw their heads upwards and backwards, after the same manner as the Carrancha. They build in the rocky cliffs of the sea-coast, but only on the small adjoining islets, and not on the two main islands : this is a singular precaution in so tame and fearless a bird. The sealers say that the flesh of these birds, when cooked, is quite white, and very good eating ; but bold must the man be who attempts such a meal. We have now only to mention the turkey-buzzard (Vultur aura), and the Gallinazo. The former is found wherever the country is moderately damp, from Cape Horn to North America. Differently from the Polyborus Brasiliensis and Chimango, it has found its way to the Falkland Islands. The turkey-buzzard is a solitary bird, or at most goes in pairs. It may at once be recognised from a long distance, by its lofty, soaring, and most elegant flight. 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 ire congregated on the rocks, there the vultures may be seen. The Gallinazo (Cathartes atratus) has a different range from 1832-3.J TUBES FORMED BY LIGHTNING. 59 the last species, as it never occurs southward of lat. 41°. Azara states that there exists a tradition that tliese birds, at the time of the conquest, were not found near Monte Video, but that they subsequently followed the inhabitants from more northern dis- tricts. 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 Isorthern 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 they seem to have pleasure in society, and are not solely brought together by the attraction of a coliimon prey. On a fine day a flock may often be observed at a great heio^ht, 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 matri- monial alliances. I have now mentioned all the carrion-feeders, excepting the condor, an account of which Mill be more appropriately intro- duced when we visit a country more congenial to its habits tlian the plains of La Plata. In a broad band of sand-hillocks which separate the Lagima del Potrero from the shores of the Plata, at the distance of a few miles from Maldonado, I found a group of those vitrified, silice- ous tubes, which are formed by lightning entering loose sand. These tubes resemble in every particular those from Drigg in Cvunberland, described in the Geological Transactions.* The sand-hillocks of Maldonado, not being protected by vegetation, are constantly changing their position. From this cause the * Geolog. Transact., vol. ii. p. 528. In the Philosoph. Transact. (1790, p. 294) Dr. Priestley has described some imperfect siliceous tubes and a melted pebble of quartz, found in digging into the ground, under a tree, where a man had been killed by lightning. CO MALDONADO. [chap. iii. tubes projected above the surface ; and numerous fragments lying near, showed that they had formerly been buried to a greater depth. Four sets entered the sand perpendicularly : by working with my hands I traced one of them two feet deep ; and some fragments which evidently had belonged to the same tube, when added to the other part, measured five feet three inches. The diameter of the whole tube was nearly equal, and therefore we must suppose that originally it extended to a much greater deptli. These dimensions are however small, compared to those of tiie tubes from Drigg, one of which was traced to a depth of not less than thirty feet. The internal surface is completely vitrified, glossy, and smooth. A small fragment examined under the microscope appeared, from the number of minute entangled air or perhaps steam bubbles, like an assay fused before the blowpipe. The sand is entirely, or in greater part, siliceous ; but some points are of a black colour, and from their glossy surface possess a metallic lustre. The thickness of the wall of the tube varies from a thirtieth to a twentieth of an inch, and occasionally even equals a tenth. On the outside the grains of sand are rounded, and have a slightly glazed appearance : 1 could not distinguish any signs of crystallization. In a similar manner to that described in the Geological Transactions, the tubes are generally com- pressed, 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 surround- ing 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 mea- sure or bore of tiie 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 ♦ Aimales de Chimie et do Physique, tora. xxxvii., p. 319. 1832-3.] ELECTRIC PHENOMENA. 61 dimeMsion. 'i'liey failed botli with powdered felspar and quartz. One tube, formed with paunded glass, was very nearly an inch long, namely, *982, and had an internal diameter of '019 of an inch. When we hear that the strongest battery in Paris was used, and that its power on a substance of such easy fusi- bility as glass was to form tubes so diminutive, we must fee] greatly astonished at the force of a shock of lightning, which, striking the sand in several places, has formed cylinders, in one instance of at least thirty feet long, and having an internal bore, where not compressed, of full an inch and a half; and this in a material so extraordinarily refractory as quartz ! The tubes, as I have already remarked, enter the sand nearly in a vertical direction. One, however, which w^as less regular than the others, deviated from a right line, at the most con- siderable bend, to the amount of thirty-three degrees. From tins same tube, two small branches, about a foot apart, were sent off; one pointed downwards, and the other upwards. This latter case is remarkable, as the electric fluid must have turned back at the acute angle of 26°, to the line of its main course. Besides the four tubes Avhich I found vertical, and traced be- neath tlie surface, there were several other groups of frag- ments, 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 dis- tance of about half a mile from a chain of hills four or five hundred feet in height. The most remarkable circumstance, as it appears to me, in this case as well as in that of Drigg, and in one described by M. Ribbentrop in Germany, is the number of tubes found within such limited spaces. At Drigg, within an area of fifteen yards, three were observed, and the same number occurred in Germany. In the case which I have described, certainly more than four existed within the space of the sixty by twenty yards. As it does not appear probable that the tubes are produced by successive distinct shocks, we must believe that the lightning, shortly before entering the ground, divides itself into separate branches. The neighbourhood of the Rio Plata seems peculiarly subject to electric phenomena. In the year 1793,* one of the most * Azara's Voyage, vol. i. p. 36. 62 MALDONADO [chap, in destructive thunderstorms perhaps on record happened at Buenos Ayres : thirty-seven places within the city were struck by light- ning, and nineteen people killed. From facts stated in several books of travels, I am inclined to suspect that thunderstorms are very common near the mouths of great rivers. Is it not pos- sible that the mixture of large bodies of fresh and salt water may disturb the electrical equilibrium? Even during our occasional visits to this part of South America, we heard of a ship, two churches, and a house, having been struck. Both the church and the house I saw shortly afterwards : the house belonged to Mr. Hood, the consul-general at Monte Video. Some of the effects were curious : the paper, for nearly a foot on each side of the line wliere the bell-wires had run, was blackened. The metal had been fused, and although the room was about fifteen feet high, the globules, dropping on the chairs and furniture, had drilled in them a chain of minute holes. A part of the M all was shattered as if by gunpowder, and the fragments had been blown off with force sufficient to dent the wall on the ojiposite side of the room. The frame of a looking-glass was blackened, and the gilding n:ust have been volatilized, for a smelling-bottle, which stood on the chimney-piece, was coated with bright metallic particles, which adhered as firmly as if they had been enamelled. I833.J ARRIVE AT RIO NEGRO. 68 CHAPTER IV. Rb 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 Lieu- tenant— Bahia Blanca— Saline Incrustations— Pun ta Alta— Zorillo. RIO NEGRO TO BAHIA BLANCA. July 2Ath, 1833.— The Beagle sailed from Maldonado, and on August the 3rd she arrived ofF the mouth of the Rio Neo-ro. This is the principal river on tlie whole line of coast betweer the Strait of Magellan and the Plata. It enters the sea about three hundred miles south of the estuary of the Plata. About fifty years ago, under the old Spanish government, a small colony was established here ; and it is still the most southern position (lat. 41°) on this eastern coast of America, inhabited by civilized man. The country near the mouth of the river is wretched in tlie extreme : on the south side a long line of perpendicular cliffs commences, which exposes a section of the geological nature of the country. The strata are of sandstone, and one layer was re- markable from being composed of a firmly-cemented conglome- rate of pumice pebbles, which must have travelled more than four hundred miles, from the Andes. The surface is everj^- 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 strano^er not to euter 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 north- ern boundary of the great valley, in which the Rio Negro flows. On the way we passed the ruins of some fine " estancias," which a fe\^ years since had been destroyed by the Indians. They with- 4 W RIO NEGRO. [CHAv iv. stood several attacks. A man present at one gnve me a very lively description of what took place. The inhabitants had suffi- cient 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 dis- mounted, and taken off their fur mantles, they advanced naked to the charge. The only weapon of an Indian is a very long bam- boo or chuzo, ornamented with ostrich feathers, and pointed by a sharp spear-head. My informer seemed to remember with the greatest horror the quivering of these chuzos as they approached . near. When close, the cacique Pincheira hailed the besiej^cd to give up their arms, or he would cut all their throats. As this would probably have been the result of their entrance under any circumstances, the answ^er was given by a volley of musketry. The Indians, with great steadiness, came to the very fence of the corral : but to their surprise they found the posts fastened toge- ther 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 car- ried away by their companions ; and at last one of the under caciques being wounded, the bugle sounded a retreat. They re- tired to their horses, and seemed to hold a council of war. Tiiis was an awful pause for the Spaniards, as all their ammunition, with tlie exceptii^n of a few cartridges, was expended. In an instant the Indians mounted their horses, and galloped out of 3ight. Another attack was still more quickly repulsed. A cool Frenchman managed the gun ; he stopped till the Indians ap- proached 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 tiie face of a cliff which fronts the river, and many of the houses are excavated even in the sandstone. The river i:^ about two or three hundred yards wide, and is deep and rapid. The many islands, with their willow-trees, and the flat headlandr., * The corral is an enclosure made of tall and strong staket Every ej«tancia, or farming estate, has one attached to it. 1833.] SALT-LAKES OR SALINAS. dh seen one behind the otlier on the northern boundary of the broad green valley, forms, by the aid of a bright sun, a view almost picturesque. Tiie number of inhabitants does not exceed a few hundreds. These Spanisli colonies do not, liice our British ones, carry within themselves the elements of growth. Many Indian^ of pure blood reside here : the tribe of the Cacique Lucanee con- stantly have their Toldos* on the outskirts of the tov:!i.' The local government partly supplies them with provisions, by gi mg 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 cons^idered civilized ; but what their character may have gained by a lesser degree of ferocity, is almost counter- balanced 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 bein* dressed in very gay, clean clothes, and by being very idle. The taste they showed in their dress was admirable ; if you could have turned one of these young Indians into a statue of bronze, his drapery would have been perfectly graceful. One day I rode to a large salt-lake, or Salina, which is distant fifteen miles from the town. During the winter it consists of a shallow lake of brine, which in summer is converted into a field of snow-white salt. The layer near the margin is from four to five inches thick, but towards the centre i*s 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-wiiite and level ex- panses, 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 work- ing 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 iu drawing out the salt in bullock-waggons. This salt is crystal- * The hovels of the Indians are thus called. 36 EIO NEG aO. [chap, iv lized in great cubes, and is remarkably pure : Mr. Trenham Reeks has kindly analyzed some for me, and he finds in it only 0*26 of g-ypsum and 0*22 of earthy matter. It is a siiigular fact, that it does not serve so well for preserving meat as sea-salt from the ^tlape de Verd islands ; and a merchant at Buenos Ayres told me tlia;r he considered it as fifty per cent, less valuable. Hence the Cape de Yerd salt is constantly imported, and is mixed with tliat 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 pre- serving cheese which contain most of the deliquescent chlorides. The border of the lake is formed of mud : and in this nume- rous large crystals of gypsum, some of which are three inches long, lie embedded ; whilst on the surface others of sulphate of soda lie scattered about. The Gauchos call the former the " Padre del sal," and the latter the *'Madre;" they state that these progenitive salts always occur on the borders of the salinas, when the water begins to evaporate. The mud is black, and has a fetid odour. I could not at first imagine the cause of this, but I afterwards perceived that the froth which the wind drifted on shore was coloured green, as if by 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 ; through- out 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 nmd ; and these latter probably feed * Report of the Aynoult Chem. Assoc, in tlie Agrijult. Gazette, 184 J 1 . 93. I8.33.] R. NEGRO TO R. COLORADO. 6? on infusoria or confervse. TIius we have a little living world within itself, adapted to these inland lakes of brine. A minute crus'jiceous aninial (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 — the upper regions of the atmosphere, and even the surface of perpetual snow — all support organic beings. To the northward of the Rio Kegro, between it and the inha- bited country near Buenos Ayres, the Spaniards have only one small settlement, recently established at Bahia Blanca. The dis- tance in a straight line to Buenos Ayres is very nearly five hun- dred British miles. The wandering tribes of horse Indians, which have always occupied the greater part of this country, having of late mujch harassed the outlying estancias, the govern- ment 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 Co- lorado ; a river lying about eighty miles northward of the Rio Negro. AYhen 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 ntervals, a small party of soldiers with a troop of horses (^a postd)^ so as to be enabled to keep up a communication with * Linna^an Trans., vol. xi. p. 205. It is remarkable how all the circum- stances 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 depres- sions in the plains ; in both the mud on the borders is black and fetid ; be- neath the crust of common salt, sulphate of soda or of magnesia occurs, im- perfectly crystallized ; and in both, the muddy «and is mixed with lentils of gypsum. The Siberian salt-lakes are inhabited by small crustaceous ani- mals ; and flamingoes (Edin. New Philos. Jour., Jan. 1830) likewise frequent thein. As these circumstances, apparently so trifling, occur in two distant continents, we may feel sure that they are the necessary results of commof causes. — See Pallas's Travels, 1793 to 1794, pp. 129-134. 38 R. NEGRO TO R. COLORADO. [chap, tv the capital. As the Beagle intended to call at Bahia Blanca, I determined to proceed there by land ; and ultimately I ex- tended my plan to travel the whole way by the postas to Buenos Ayres. August Wth. — INIr. 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 Colorado, as I have already said, is nearly eighty miles distant : and as we travelled slowly, we were two days and a half on the road. The whole line of country deserves scarcely a better name than that of a desert. Water is found only in two small wells ; it is called fresh ; but even at this time of the year, during the rainy season, it was quite brackish. In the summer this must be a distressing passage ; for now it was sufficiently desolate. The valley of the Rio Negro, broad as it is, has merely been ex- cavated out of the sandstone plain ; for immediately alx)ve the bank on which the town stands, a level country conmiences, which is interrupted only by a few trifling valleys and depres- sions. Everywhere the landscape wears the same sterile aspect ; a dry gravelly soil supports tufts of brown withered grass, and low scattered bushes, armed with thorns. Shortly after passing the first spring we came in sight of a famous tree, which the Indians reverence as the altar of 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 by itself without any neighbour, and was indeed the first tree we saw ; afterwards we met with a few others of the same kind, but they were far from common. Being winter the tree had no leaves, but in their place numberless threads, by which the various offerings, such as cigars, bread, meat, pieces of cloth, &c. had been suspended. Poor Indians, not having anything better, only pull a thread out of their ponchos, and fasten it to the tree. Eicher 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 833.] SACRED TREE. n 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 \vill 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 AValleechu the offerings. The Gauchos tliink that the Indians consider the tree as the god itself; but it seems far more probable, that they regard it as the altar. The only cause which I can imagine for this choice, is its being a landmark in a dangerous passage. The Sierra de la Yentana is visible at an immense distance ; and a Gaucho told me that he was once riding with an Indian a few miles to the north of the Rio Colorado, when the Indian commenced making the same loud noise, which is usual at the first sight of the distant tree ; putting his hand to his head, and then pointing in the direction of the Sierra. Upon being asked the reason of this, the Indian said in broken Spanish, '• First see the Sierra." About two leagues beyond this curious tree we halted for the niglit : at this instant an unfortunate cow was spied by the lynx- eyed Gauchos, who set off in full chace, 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 fire- wood. 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 wliich I passed under the open sky, with tiie 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 w ill pass the night." The death-like stillness of the plain, the dogs keeping watch, the gipsy-group of Gauchos making their beds round the fire, have left in my mind a strongly-marked picture of this first night, which will never be forgotten. The next day the country continued similar to that above de- scribed. It is inhabited by few birds or animals of any kind. Occasionally a deer, or a Guanaco (wild Llama) may be seen ; but the Agouti (Cavia Patagonica) is the commonest quadruped. 'J'his anirjal here represents our hares. It differs, however, frora ;o EiO COLORADO. [chap, iv 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 tlie 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. 37° 30'), where the plain rather suddenly becomes greener and more humid ; and their southern limit is between Port Desire and St. Julian, where there is no change in the nature of the country. It is a singular fact, that although the Agouti is not now found as far south as Port St. Julian, yet that Captain Wood, in his voyage in 1670, talks of them as being numerous there. What cause can have altered, in a wide, uninhabited, and rarely- visited country, the range of an animal like this? It appears also from the number shot by Captain Wood in one day at Port Desire, that they must have been considerably more abundant there formerly than at present. Where the Bizcacha lives and makes its burrows, the Agouti uses them ; but where, as at Bahia Blanca, the Bizcacha is not found, the Agouti burrows for itself. The same thing occurs with the little owl of the Pampas (Athene cunicularia), v/hich has so often been described as stand in 2: like a sentinel at the mouth of the burrows ; for in Banda Oriental, owing to the absence of tne Bizcacha, it is obliged to hollow out its own habitation. The next morning, as we approached tlie Rio Colorado, the appearance of the country changed ; we soon came on a plain covered wdth turf, wiiicli, from its flowers, tall clover, and little owls, resembled the Pampas. AYe passed also a muddy swamp of considerable extent, which in summer dries, and becomes in- crusted with various salts; and hence is called a salitral. It was covered by low succulent plants, of the same kind with those growing on the sea-shore. The Colorado, at the pass where we crossed it, is only about sixty yards wide ; generally it must be nearly double that width. Its course is very tortuous, being marked by willow-trees and beds of reeds : in a direct line the distance to the mouth of the river is said to be nine leagues, but by water twenty-five. We were delayed crossing in the canoe by some immense troops of mares, which were swimming the 833.] ENCAMPMENT OF GENERAL ROSAS. 71 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 Mater 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 sur- prising : 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, &c. The soldiers were nearly all cavalry ; and I should think such a villanous, banditti-like army was never before collected together. The greater number of men were of a mixed breed, between Negro, Indian, and Spaniard. 1 know not the reason, but men of such origin seldom have a good expression of coun- tenance. I called on the Secretary to show my passport. He began to cross-question me in the most dignified and mysterious manner. By good luck I had a letter of recommendation from the government of Buenos Ayres * to the commandant of Pata- gones. This was taken to General Rosas, who sent me a very obliging message ; and the Secretary returned all smiles and gra- ciousness. We took up our residence in the ranclio^ or hovel, of a curious old Spaniard, who had served with Napoleon in the expedition against Russia. We stayed two days at the Colorado ; I had little to do, for the surrounding country was a swamp, which in summer (December), when the snow melts on the Cordillera, is overflowed by the river. My chief amusement was watching the Indian families as they 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 theFuegian savage the same countenance rendered hideous by cold, want of food, and less civilization. Some authors, in defining the primary races of mankind, have sepa- * I am bound to express, in the strongest terms, my obligation to tlie Government of Buenos Ayres for the obliging manner in which passportf to all parts of the country were given me, as naturalist of the Beagle. 12 PilU COLOliADO. [ciri. IV. rated these Indians into two classes ; but this is certainly incor- rect. 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 orna- mented 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. Thev 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 niglit ; in short to be, like the wives of all savages, useful slaves. The men fight, hunt, take care of the horses, and make the riding gear. One of their chief indoor occupations is to knock two stones together till they become round, in order to make the bolas. With this important weapon the Indian catches his game, and also his horse, which roams free over the plain. In fighting, his first attempt is to throw down the horse of his adversary with the bolas, and when entangled by the fall to kill him with the chuzo. If the balls only catch the neck or body of an animal, they are often carried away and lost. As the making the stones round is the labour of two days, the manufacture of the balls is a very common employment. Several of the men and women had their faces painted red, but I never saw the horizontal bands which are so common among the Fuegians. Their chief pride consists in having everything made of silver ; I have seen a cacique with his spurs, stirrups, handle of his knife, and bridle made of this metal : the head-stall and reins being of wire, were not thicker than whipcord ; and to see a fiery steed wheeling about under the command of so light a chain, gave to the horsemanship a remarkable character of elegance. General Eosas intimated a wish to see me; a circumstance which I was afterwar. 's 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 to its orosperity .83n.i GENERAL ROSAS. 73 and advancement.* He is said to be the owner of seventy-four square leagues of land, and to have about three hundred thou- sand 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 eslancias, and by disciplin- ing 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, shoidd 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 estan- cia 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 Mas extremely sorry, but that he must go into the stocks, and that till let out, he possessed no power even in his own house. After a little time the steward was persuaded to open the stocks, and to let him out, but no sooner was this done, than he turned to the steward and said, " You now have broken the laws, so you must take my place in the stocks." Such actions as these delighted the Gauchos, who all possess high notions of their own equality and dignity. General Rosas is also a perfect horseman — an accomplishment of no small consequence in a country where an assembled army elected its general by the following trial : A troop of unbroken horses being driven into a corral, were let out through a gateway, above which was a cross-bar : it was agreed whoever should drop fiom the bar on one of these wild animals, as it rushed out, and should be able, without saddle or bridle, not only to ride it, but also to bring it back to the door of the corral, should be their general. The person who succeeded was accordingly elected ; and doubtless made a fit general for such an army. This extraordinary feat has also been performed by Rosas. By these means, and by conforming to the dress and habits of * This prophecy has turned out entirely and miserably wrong. 1845 U KIO COLORADO. [chap, iv the Gauchos, he has obtained an unbounded popularity in the country, and in consequence a despotic power. I was assured by an English merchant, that a man who had murdered another, when arrested and questioned concerning his motive, answered, *' He spoke disrespectfully of General Rosas, so I killed him." At the end of a week the murderer was at liberty. This doubt- less was tlie act of the general's party, and not of the general iiimself. 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 busine?;i, for I am en- gaged.' I went a second time ; he said, ' If you come again 1 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 nci" 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 government post-horses, and this he gave me in the most obliging and ready manner. In the morning we started for Bahia Blanca, which we reached in two days. Leaving the regular encampment, we passed by the toldos of the Indians. These are round like ovens, and covered with hides ; by the mouth of each, a tapering chuzo was stuck in the ground. The toldos were divided into separate groups, which 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 welJ adapted to the growth of corn. Turning northward from the I83.-3.J SAND-DDNES. jn iver, 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 dis- appeared, 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, m hich forms the wide extent of the Pampas, and covers the granitic rocks of Banda Oriental. From the Strait of Magellan to the Colorado, a distance of about eight hundred miles, the face of the country is everywhere composed of shingle: the pebbles are chiefly of porphyry, and probably owe their origin to the rocks of the Cordillera. North of the Colorado this bed thins out, and the pebbles become exceedingly small, and here the charac- teristic vegetation of Patagonia ceases. Having ridden about twenty-five miles, v/e 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 advan- tage 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 bolt of sand-dunes IS about eight miles wide ; at some former period, it probably formed the mars^in of a grand estuarv, where the Colorado now flows. In this district, where absolute proofs of the recent elevation of the land occur, such speculations can hardly be neglected by any one, although merely considering the physical geography of the country. Having crossed the sandy tract, we arrived in the evening at one of the post-houses ; and, as tlie 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. Tiiis posta was commanded by a negro lieutenant, born in Africa: to his credit be it said, there was not a ranche ?5 BAHIA BLAXCA. L^il\p. iv between the Colorado and Buenos Ayros 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 hLs 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 niuht ; if they had been aware of tlie posta, our black friend and his ibur soldiers would assuredly have been slaughtered. I did not any where meet a more civil and obliging man than this negro ; it was therefore the more painful to sec that he would not sit down and eat nith us. In the morning we sent for the horses very early, and started for another exhilarating gallop. We passed the Cabeza del Buey, an old name given to the head of a large marsh, which extends from Bahia Blanca. Here w^e chano:ed horses, and [)assed through some leagues of swamps and saline marshes. Changing horses for the last time, we again began \\ading tlirough 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 X man, who told us that a great gun had been fired, which is a signal that Indians are near. "VYe 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 nothino-, for the Indians turn^^d 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 stand- ing (since 1828) ; and its growth has been one of trouble. The government of Buenos Ayres unjustly occupied it by force, in- stead of following the wise example of the Spanish Viceroys, who purchased the land near the older settlement of the Rio Negro, from the Indians. Hence the need of the fortifications ; hence the few houses and little cultivated land without the limits of the walls : even the cattle are not safe from the attacks 1833.] AN ATTACK BY THE INDIANS. 7? of the Indians beyond the boundaries of the plain, on which thf? fortress stands. The part of the harbour where the Beagle intended to anclior being distant twenty-five miles, I obtained from the Comman- dant a guide and horses, to take me to see whether she liad arrived. Leaving the plain of green turf, wliich 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 clotlied by low thickets, and others with those succu- lent 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 liis life : he w as 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 chace, 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 tlie saddle, he managed, by a most won- derful exertion, just to keep ahead of the long spears of his pur- suers, who followed him to within sight of the fort. From that time there w^as an order that no one should strav 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 obligei' to bivouac on the plain. In the morning we had caught an armadillo, wliich, altliough a most excellent dish when roasted in its shell, did not make a very substantial breakfast and dinner for two hungry men^ The ground at the place where we stopped for the night, was incrusted with a layer of sulphate of soda, and hence, of course, was without water. Yet many of the smaller rodents managed to exist even here, and the tucutuco was making its odd little grunt beneath my head, during half the night. Our horses were very poor ones, and in the morning thcjy were soon exhausted from not having had any thing to drink, so that we were obliged to walk. About noon the dogs n BAlllA BLANCA. [chap, iv killed a kid, which we roasted. I ate some of it, but it made me intolerably thirsty. This was tlie 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 tliree days under such circumstances, I cannot imag^ine : 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 trou- blesome 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), notliing 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 tiie 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 tlie moisture, round blades of dead grass, stumps of wood, and pieces of broken earth, instead of being crystallized at the bottoms of the puddles of water. The salitrales occur either on level tracts elevated only a few feet above the level of the sea. or on alluvial land borderino;- rivers. M. Par- chappe* found that the saline incrustation on the plain, at the distance of some miles from the sea, consisted chiefly of sulphate of soda, with only seven per cent, of common salt ; whilst nearer to the coast, the common salt increased to 37 parts in a hundred. This circumstance would tempt one to believe that the sulphate of soda is generated in the soil, from the muriate, left on the * Voyage dans rAmerique MCr'A. par M. A. d'Orbigny. Part. Hist torn, i. p 6(34. 835.1 AN ADVENTURE 79 surface during the slow and recent elevation of this dry country. The whole piienomenon is well worthy the attention of natural- ists. 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 witli organic matter, yield tlie sulphur and ultimately the sulphuric acid ? Two days afterwards I again rode to the harbour : when not far from our destination, my companion, the same man as before, spied three people hunting on horseback. He immediately dis- mounted, and watching them intently, said, " They don't ride like Christians, and nobody can leave the fort," The tliree Imnters 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 iiorses : load your pistol ;" and he looked to his own sword. I asked, " Are they Indians ? " — " Quien sabe ? (who knows ?) if there are no more than three, it does not signify." It then struck me, that the one man had gone over the hill to fetch the rest of his tribe. I suggested this ; but all the answer I could extort was, "Quien sabe?" His head and eye never for a minute ceased scanning slowly the iistant horizon. I thought his un- common 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." AVhen 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 tiie foot of a hill ; he gave me his horse to hold, made the dogs lie down, and then crawled on his hands and knees to reconnoitre. He remained in this position for some time, and at last, bursting out in laughter, exclaimed, " Mugeres !" (women !) He knew them to be the wife and sister-in-law of the major's son, hunting for ostrich's eggs. I have described this man's conduct, because he acted under the full impression that they were Indians. As soon, however, as the absurd mistake was found out, he gave mt) 50 BAHIA BLANCA. [chap. iv. a hundred reasons why they could not have been Indians ; but all these were for<^otten at the time. We then rode on in peace and quietness to a low point called Punta Alta, whence we could see nearly the wiiole of the great harbour of Bahia Blanca. The wide expanse of water is choked up by numerous great rnud-banks, which the inhabitants call Cangrejales, or crabberies, from the number of small crabs. The mud is so soft that it is impossible to walk over them, even for the shortest distance. Many of the banks have their surfaces covered A\ith long rushes, ,he tops of which alone are visible at high water. On one oc- casion, when in a boat, we were so entangled by these shallows that we could hardly find our way. Nothing was visible but the flat beds of mud ; the day was not very clear, and there was much refraction, or as the sailors expressed it, ^' things loomed liigh." The only object within our view which was not level was the horizon ; rushes looked like bushes unsupported in the air, and water like mud-banks, and mud-banks like water. We passed the night in Punta Alta, and I employed myself in searching for fossil bones ; this point being a perfect catacomb for monsters of extinct races. The evening was perfectly calm and clear ; the extreme monotony of the view gave it an interest even in the midst of mud-banks and gulls, sand-hillocks and solitary vultures. In riding back in the morning we came across a very fresh track of a Puma, but did not succeed in finding it. We saw also a couple of Zorillos, or skunks, — odious animals, which are far from uncommon. In general appearance the Zorillo resembles a polecat, but it is rather larger, and much thicker in proportion. Conscious of its power, it roams by day about the open plain, and fears neither dog nor man. If a dog is urged to the attack, its courage is instantly cliecked by a few droi)s of the fetid oil, w hich brings on violent sickness and run- ning at the nose. Wiiatever is once polluted b}"^ it, is for ever useless. Azara says the smell can be perceived at a league dis- tant ; more than once, when entering the harbour of Monte Video, the wind being off shore, we have perceived the odour an board the Beagle. Certain it is, that every animal most will- ingly makes room for the Zorillo, 1833.1 BAHIA BLANCA. 81 CHAPTER V. Bahia Blauca — Geology — Numerous gigantic extinct Quadrupeds — Recent Extinction — Longevity of Species — Large Animals do not require a luxu- riant 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 — Indians Wars and Massacres — Arrow-head, antiquarian Relic. BAHIA BX.ANCA. The Beagle arrived here on the 24th of August, and a week after- wards 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 en a previous occasion, when the Beagle was employed in sur- veying the harbour. The plain, at the distance of a few miles from^the coast, belongs to the great Pampean formation, which consists in part of a reddish clay, and in part of a highly calcareous marly rock. Nearer the coast there are some plains formed from the wreck of the upper plain, and from mud, gravel, and sand thrown up by the sea during the slow elevation of the land, of which eleva- tion 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 extra- ordinary character of the remains of gigantic land-animals em- bedded in it. These have been fully described by Professor Owen, in the Zoology of the voyage of the Beagle, and are depo- sited 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 nanje. Secondly, the JMegalonyx, a great allied animal. Thirdly, the Scelidotherium, also an allied animal, of which I obtaineiJ a 82 BAHIA BLANCA. [chap. r. nearly perfect skeleton. It must have been as large as a rhino- ceros : 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 tlie armadilloes. Fourthly, the Mylodon Darwinii, a closely related genus of little inferior size. Fifthly, another gi- gantic edental quadruped. Sixthly, a large animal, with an osseous coat in compartments, very like that of an armadillo. Seventhly, an extinct kind of horse, to which I shall have again to refer. Eighthly, a tooth of a Pachydermatous animal, probably the same with the Macrauchenia, a huge beast with a long neck like a camel, which I shall also refer to again. Lastly, the Toxodon, perhaps one of the strangest animals ever discovered : in size it equalled an elephant or megatherium, but the structure of its teeth, as Mr. Owen states, proves indisputably that it was intimately related to the Gnawers, the order which, at the present day, includes most of the smallest quadrupeds : in many details it is allied to the I'achydermata : 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 ! Tiie remains of these nine great quadrupeds, and many de- tached bones were found embedded on the beach, within the space of about 200 yards square. It is a remarkable circum- stance tliat so many different species sliould 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 frag- ments 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, ac- cording to Professor Ehrenberg, eight fresh-water and one salt- water infusorial animalcule ; therefore, probably, it was an estuary deposit. The remains at Pun'a Alia were embedded in stratified gravel 1S33.] EXTINCT QUADRUPEDS. 83 and reddish mud, just such as the sea might now vvasli 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 ; whether the remaining- ones are extinct or simply unknown, must be doubtful, as few collections of shells have been made on this coast. As, however, the recent species were embedded in nearly the same proportional numbers with those now living in the bay, I think there can be little doubt, that this accumulation belongs to a very late tertiary period. From the bones of the Scelidotherium, including even the knee-cap, being intombed in their proper relative positions, and from the osseous armour of the great armadillo-like animal being so well preserved, together with the bones of one of its legs, we may feel assured that these remains were fresh and united by their ligaments, when deposited in the gravel together with the shells. 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 quadru- peds of Europe, lived whilst the sea was peopled with most of its present inhabitants ; and we have confirmed that remarkable law so often insisted on by Mr. Lyell, namely, that the " longevity of the species in the mammalia is upon the whole inferior to that of the testacea."* The great size of the bones of the Megatheroid animals, includ- ing the Megatherium, Megalonyx, Scelidotherium, and Mylodon, is truly wonderful. The habits of life of these animals were a complete puzzle to naturalists, until Professor Owenf lately solved the problem with remarkable ingenuity. The teeth in- dicate, 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, * Principles of Geologj% vol. iv. p. 40. j- Tljis theory was first developed in the Zoology of the Voyage of the Deagle, and subsequently in Professor Owen'^ Memoir on Mylodon ro- Justus. 84 BAHIA BLANC A. [chap, v not. to say preposterous, idea to conceive even antediluvian trees, with branches strong enough to bear animals as large as ele- phants. 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 fad on the leaves. The colossal breadth and weight of their hinder quarters, which can hardly be imagined without having been seen, become, on this view, of obvious service, instead of being an incumbrance : their apparent clumsiness disappears. With their great tails and their huge heels firmly fixed like a tripod on the ground, they could freely exert the full force of their most powerful arms and great claws. Strongly rooted, indeed, must that tree have been, which could have resisted such force ! The Mylodon, moreover, was furnished with a long extensile tongue like that of the giraffe, which, by one of those beautiful provisions of nature, thus reaches with the aid of its long neck its leafy food. I may remark, that in Abyssinia the ele})hant, according to Bruce, when it cannot reach with its proboscis the branches, deeply scores with its tusks the trunk of the tree, up and down and all round, till it is sufficiently weakened to be broken down. The beds including the above fossil remains, stand only from fifteen to twenty feet above the level of high-water ; and hence the elevation of the land has been small (without there has been an intercalated period of subsidence, of which we have no evidence) since the great quadrupeds wandered over the sur- rounding plains ; and the external features of the country must then have been very nearly the same as now. What, it may natu- rally be asked, w'as 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 livinof in the bav, I was at first inclined to think that the former vesreta- tion was probably similar to the existing one ; but this would liave been an erroneous inference, for some of these same shells live on the luxuriant coast of Brazil ; and generally, the character of the inhabitants of the sea are useless as guides to judge of tliose on the land. Nevertheless, from the following considera- tions, I do not believe that the simple fact of manj' gigantic quadrupeds having lived on the plains round Bahia Blanca, is la3;i.j FOOD OF LARGE QUADRUPEDS. 85 anv sure guide that they formerly were clothed with a luxuriant veg-etation : 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 histoiy of the world. The prejudice has probably been derived from India, and the Indian islands, where troops of elephants, noble forests, and impenetrable jungles, are associated together in every one's mind. If, however, we refer to any work of travels through the soutliern parts of Africa, we shall find allusions in almost every page either to the desert cha- racter of the country, or to the numbers of large animals inha- Ijiting it. The same thing is rendered evident by the many engravings which have been published of various parts of the interior. When the Beagle was at Cape Town, I made an excursion of some days' length into the country, which at least was sufficient to render that which I had read more fully intel- ligible. Dr. Andrew Smith, who, at the head of his adventurous party, has lately succeeded in passing the Tropic of Capricorn, informs me that, taking into consideration the whole of the southern part of Africa, there can be no doubt of its being a sterile country. On the southern and south-eastern coasts there are some fine forests, but with these exceptions, the traveller may pass for days together through open plains, covered by a poor and scanty vegetation. It is difficult to convey any accurate idea of degrees of comparative fertility ; but it may be safely said tliat the amount of vegetation supported at any one time* by Great Britain, exceeds, perhaps even tenfold, the quantity on an equal area, in the interior parts of Southern Africa. The fact that bullock-waggons can travel in any direction, excepting near the coast, without more than occasionally half an hour's delay in cutting down bushes, gives, perhaps, a more definite * I mean by this to exclude the total amount, which may have been suc- 3ively 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 fre- quently by pairs on the hillock near their burrows. If disturbed they either enter the hole, or, nttering 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 sto- machs 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 stomaj[;li 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 \vas but little fatigued. When Captain Head talks of riding fifty leagues a day, I do not imagine the distance is equal to 150 English miles. At all events, the thirty-one leagues was only 76 miles in a straight line, and in an open country I should think four additional miles for turnings would be a sufficient allowance. 29tA and 30th. — We continued to ride over plains of the same character. At San Nicolas I first saw the noble river of the Parana. At the foot of the cliff on which the town stands, some large vessels were at anchor. Before arriving at Rozario, we crossed the Saladillo, a stream of fine clear running w^ater, but too saline to drink. Rozario is a large town built on a dead level plain, which forms a cliff about sixty feet high over the Parana. The river here is very broad, with many islands, which are low and wooded, as is also the opposite shore. The view would resemble that of a great lake, if it were not for the linear- shaped islets, which alone give the idea of running water. The cliffs are the most picturesque part ; sometimes they are abso- lutely perpendicular, and of a red colour ; at other times in large * Journal of Asiatic See, vol. v. p. 363. 18-1.3.1 KIO TERCERO. V>: broken masses, covered with cacti and mimosa-trees. The real grandeur, liowever, of an immense river like this, is derived from reflecting how important a means of communication and commerce it forms between one nation and anotiier ; to wliat a distance it travels ; and from how vast a territory it drains tlun ■great body of fresh water M'hich flows past your feet. For many leagues north and south of San Nicolas and Eoza- rio, the country is really level. Scarcely anything \\hich travel- lers have written about its extreme flatness, can be considered as exaggeration. Yet I could never find a spot where, by slowly turning round, objects were not seen at greater distances in some directions than in others ; and this manifestly proves inequality in the plain. At sea, a person's eye being six feet above the surface of the water, his horizon is two miles and four-fifths dis- tant. In like manner, the more level the plain, the more nearly does the horizon approach within these narrow limits ; and this, in my opinion, entirely destroys that grandeur which one would have imagined that a vast level plain would have possessed. October 1st. — We started by moonlight and arrived at the l\io Tercero by sunrise. This river is also called the Saladillo, and it deserves the name, for the water is brackish. I stayed here the greater part of the day, searching for fossil bones. Besides a perfect tooth of the Toxodon, and many scattered bones, 1 found two immense skeletons near each other, projecting in bold relief from the perpendicular cliff of the Parana. They were, however, so completely decayed, that 1 could only bring away small fragments of one of the great molar teeth ; but these are suflicient to show that the remains belonged to a Mastodon, probably to the same species with that, which formerly nnist have inhabited the Cordillera in Upper Peru in such great numbers. The men who took me in the canoe, said they had long known of these skeletons, and had often wondered how they had got there : the necessity of a theory being felt, they came to the conclusion that, like the bizcacha, the mastodon was formerly a burrowing animal ! In the evening we rode another stage, and crossed the Monge, another brackish stream, bearing the dregs of tlie washings of the Pampas. October 2nd. — We passed through Corunda, which, from the luxuriance of its gardens, uas one of the prettiest villages I saw. 128 ST. FE'. [chap. VII. From this point to St. Fe the road is not very safe. The western side of the Parana northward, ceases to be inhabited ; and hence the Indians sometimes come down thus far, and waylay travellers. The nature of the country also favours this, for instead of a grassy plain, there is an open woodland, composed of low prickly mimosas. We passed some houses that had been ransacked and since deserted ; we saw also a spectacle, which my guides viewed with high satisfaction ; it was the skeleton of an Indian with the dried skin hanging on the bones, suspended to the branch of a tree. In the morning we arrived at St. Fe. I was surprised to observe how great a change of climate a difference of only three degrees of latitude between this place and Buenos Ayres had caused. This was evident from the dress and complexion of the men — from the increased size of the ombu-trees — tlie 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 Srd and 4th. — I was confined for these two davs to my bed by a headach. 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 headach the day before yesterday." Many of the remedies used by the people of the country are ludicrously strange, but too disgusting to be mentioned. Gne 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 gooa order. The governor, Lopez, was a common soldier at the time of the revolution ; but has now been seventeen years in power. I833.J GEOLOGY OF THE PAMPAS. 129 This stability of government is owing to his tyrannical habits ; for tyranny seems as yet better adapted to these countries than republicanism. The governor's favourite occupation is Imnting Indians : a short time since he slaughtered forty-eiglit, and sold the chiklren at the rate of three or four pounds apiece. October 5th. — We crossed the Parana to St. Fe Bajada, a town on the opposite shore. The passage took some hours, as the river here consisted of a labyrinth of small streams, separated by low wooded islands. I had a letter of introduction to an oitl Catalonian Spaniard, who treated me with the most uncommon hospitality. The Bajada is the capital of Entre Rios. In 1825 the town contained 6000 inhabitants, and the province 30,000 ; yet, few as the inhabitants are, no province has suffered more from bloody and desperate revolutions. They boast here of repre- sentatives, ministers, a standing army, and governors : so it is no wonder that they have their revolutions. At some future day this must be one of the richest countries of La Plata. The soil is varied and productive ; and its almost insular form gives it two grand lines of communication by the rivers Parana and Uruguay. I was delayed here five days, and employed myself in ex- amining the geology of the surrounding country, which was very interesting. AVe here see at the bottom of the cliffs, beds contain- ing sharks' teeth and sea-shells of extinct species, passing above into an indurated marl, and from that into the red clayey earth of the Pampas, with its calccireous concretions and the bones of terrestrial quadrupeds. This vertical section clearly tells us of a large bay of pure salt-water, gradually encroached on, and at last converted into the bed of a muddy estuary, into which floating carcasses were swept. At Puuta Gorda, in Banda Oriental, I found an alternation of the Pampcean estuary deposit, with a Ihnestone containing some of the same extinct sea-shells ; and this shows either a change in the former currents, or more pro- bablv an oscillation of level in the bottom of the ancient estuarv. Until lately, my reasons for considering the Pampeean formation to be an estuary deposit were, its general appearance, its position at the mouth of the existing great river the Plata, and the prescnctj of so many bones of terrestrial quadrupeds : but now Profes:5(j3 130 ST. FE. I CHAP. vit. Ehrenberg has had the kindness to examine for me a little of the rod earth, taken from low down in the deposit, close to the skeletons of the mastodon, and he finds i;i it many infusoria, partly salt-water and partly fresh-water forms, with the latter rather preponderating ; and therefore, as he remarks, the water must liave been brackish. M. A. d'Orbigny found on the banks of tlie Parana, at the height of a hundred feef, great beds of an estuary shell, now living a hundred miles lower down nearer t!ie sea ; and I found similar shells at a less height on the banks of tlie Uruguay ; tliis shows that just before the Pampas was slow])' elevated into dry land, the water covering it was brackish. Below Buenos Ayres there are upraised beds of sea-shelks 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 scruDulous care in ascertaininof- tliat 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 tlien known with certainty that the remains of horses are common in North America. Mr. Lyell has lately brought from the United States a tooth of a horse; and it is an interesting fact, that Professor Owen could find in no species, either fossil or recent, a slight but peculiar curvature characterizing it, until he thought of com- paring it with my specimen found here : he has named thiy 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 Kved 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 * I ueed hardly state here that there is good evidence against jny horee living in America at the time of Columbus, •f Cuvier, Ossjmens Fossiles, torn. i. p. 158. 1833.J ZOOLOGY OF NORTH AND SOUTH AruEKICA. 131 ruminant, discovered by MM. Lund and Clausen in tlie caves of Brazil, are highly interesting* facts with respect to the geo- graphical distribution of animals. At the present time, if we divide America, not by the Isthmus of Panama, but by the soutliern 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 tlien have the two zoological provinces of North and South America strongly contrasted with each other. Some few species alone have passed the barrier, and may be considered as wander- ers from the south, such as the puma, opossum, kinkajou, and pec- cari. South America is characterized by possessing many peculiar gnawers, a family of monkeys, the llama, peccari, tapir, opossums, and, especially, several genera of Edentata, the order which in- cludes the sloths, ant-eaters, and armadillos. North America, on tlie other hand, is characterized (putting on one side a few wandering species) by immerous peculiar gnawers, and by four genera (tlie ox, sheep, goat, and antelope) of hollow-horned ruminants, of which ^reat 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 ele- phant, mastodon, horse, and three genera of Edentata, namely, the Megatherium, Megalonyx, and Mylodon. Within nearly this same periods (as proved by the sliells at Bahia Blanca) South America possessed, as we ha^e just seen, a mastodon, horse, hollow-horned ruminant, and the same three genera (as well as several others) of the Edentata. Hence it is evident that North and South America, in having within a late geological period these several genera in common, were much more closely related in the character of their terrestrial inhabitants than they now are. * This is the geograpliical division followed by Lichtenstcin, Swaiiison, Erichson. and Richardson. The section from Vera Cruz to Acapulco, given by Humboldt in the Polit. Essay on Kingdom of N. Spain, will show how immense a barrier the Mexican table-land forms. Dr. Richardson, in his admirable Report on the Zoology of N. America read before the Brit. Assoc. 1836 (p. 157), talking of the identification of a Mexican animal with the Siputheres pre/iensilis, 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 Noitli and South America.' 132 ST. FE. [CKAP. VII The more I reflect on this case, the more interesting it appears : I know of no other instance where we can ahiiost ma,rk the period and manner of the splitting- up of one great region into two well-characterized zoological provinces. The geologist, who is fully impressed with the vast oscillations of level wliich have affected the earth's crust within late periods, will not fear to speculate on the recent elevation of the Mexican platform, oi-, more probably, on the lecent submergence of land in the West Indian Archipelago, as the cause of the present zoological sepa- ration of IS'orth and South America. The South American character of the AVest 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. 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 Straitsf and on the plains of Siberia, we are led to look to the north-western side of North America as the former point of communication between the Old and so-called New World. And as so many species, both living and extinct, of these same genera inliabit and have inhabited the Old World, it seems most probable that the North American elephants, mastodons, horse, and hollow - horned ruminants migrated, on land since submerged near Beh- ring's Straits, from Siberia into North America, and thence, on land since submerged in the West Indies, into South America, wliere for a time they mingled with the forms characteristic of that southern continent, and have since become extinct. While travellino: throug;-h the countrv, 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 * See Dr. Richardson's Eeport, p. 157; also L'Institut, 1837, p. 253. Cuvier says the kinkajou is found in the larger Antilles, hut this is doubtful. M Gervais states that the Didelphis crancrivora is found there. It is certain thiit the West Indies possess some mammifers peculiar to themselves. A tooth of a mastodon has been brought from Bahama : Edin. New Phil. Journ, 132G, p. 395. t See the admirable Appendix by Dr. Buckland to Beechey's Voyage also the writings of Chamisso m Kotzebue's Voyag<}. 1S33.] THE GREAT DROaOHT. 133 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 wliole 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 w^ell, which he liad been obliged to dig to supply his ou n 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 pre- viously to these years 20,000 cattle ; at the end not one re-' mained. San Pedro is situated in the middle of the finest country ; and even now abounds again with animals ; yet, during the latter part of the " gran seco," live cattle were brought in vessels for the consumption of the inhabitants. The animals roamed from their estancias, and, wandering far southward, were mingled together in such multitudes, that a government com- mission 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 tiie landmarks became obliterated, and people could not tell the limits of their estates. I was informed by an eyewitness 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 * In Capt. 0^yen's Surveying Voyage (vol. ii. p. 274) there is a curious account of the effects of a drought on the elephants, at Benguela (west coast of Africa). " A number of these animals had some time since entered the town, in a body, to possess themselves of the wells, not being able to procure any water in the country. The inhabitants mustered, when a desperate con diet ensued, which terminated in the ultimate discomfiture of the in- vaders, 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. Mal- colmson informs me, that during a great drought in India the wild animals entered the tents of some troops at EUore. and that a hare drank out of a vessel held by the adjutant of the rej^^iment. 134 ST. FE. [CHAP. VII. drowned. The arm of the river which runs by San Pedro was so full of putrid carcasses, tliat 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: tlieir bodies vrhen 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 m one thick earthy mass? Would he not attribute it to a flood having swept over the surface of the land, rather than to the common order of things ?! October \2th. — I had intended to push my excursion further, but not being quite well, I was compelled to return by a balandra, or oiie-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 con- stant 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. Tliey are composed of muddy sand, without even the smallest pebble, and were then * Travels, vol. i. p. 374. t These droughts to a certain degree seem to be ahiiost periodica. ; I vas told the dates of several others, and the intervals were about fiiiseu years. 1833.1 HABITS OF THE JAGUAR. 135 about four feet above the level of the river ; but durins: the periodical floods they are inundated. They all present one cha- racter ; numerous willows and a few other trees are bound to- gether by a great variety of creeping plants, thus forming a thick, jimgle. These thickets afford a retreat for capybaras and jaguars. The fear of the latter animal quite destroyed all plea- sure in scrambling through the w^oods. This evening I had not proceeded a hundred yards, before finding indubitable signs of the recent presence of the tiger, I was obliged to come back. On every island there were tracks ; and as on the former excursion " el rastro de los Indios" had been the subject of conversation, so in this was " el rastro del tigre." The wooded banks of the great rivers appear to be the favourite haunts of the jaguar ; but south of the Plata, I was told that they frequented the reeds bordering lakes : wherever they are, they seem to require water. Their common prey is the capybara, so that it is generally said, where capybaras are numerous there is little danger from the jaguar. Falconer states that near the southern side of the mouth of the Plata there are many jaguars, and that they chiefly live on fish ; this account I have heard repeated. On the Parana they have killed many wood-cutters, and have even entered vessels at night. There is a man now living in the Bajada, who, coming up from below when it was dark, was seized on the deck ; he escaped, however, with the loss of the use of one arm. When the floods drive these animals from the islands, they are most dangerous. I was told that a few years since a very large one found its way into a church at St. Fe : two padres entering one after the other were killed, and a third, who came to see what was the matter, escaped with difficulty. The beast was destroyed by being shot from a corner of the building which was unroofed. They commit also at these times great ravages among cattle and horses. It is said that they kill their prey by breaking their necks. If driven from the carcass, they seldom return to it. The Gauchos say that the jaguar, when wandering about at night, is much tormented by the foxes yelping as they follow him. This is a curious coincidence with the fact which is generally affirmed of the jackals accompanying, in a similarly officious manner, the East Indian tiger. The jaguar is a noisj un'mal, roaring much by night, and especially before bad weather. 13G KIO PARANA. [chap. vii. One day, when hunting; on the banks of the Uruguay, I was shown certain trees, to which these animals constantly recur for the purpose, as it is said, of sharpening their claws. I saw three well-known trees ; in front, the bark was worn smooth, as if by the breast of the animal, and on each side there were deep scratches, or rather grooves, extending in an oblique line, nearly a yard in length. The scars were of different ages. A common method of ascertaining whether a jaguar is in the neighbourhood is to examine these trees. I imagine this habit of the jaguar is exactly similar to one which may any day be seen in the common cat, as with outstretched legs and exserted claws it scrapes the leg of a chair; and I have heard of young fruit-trees in an orchard in England having been thus much injured. Some such habit must also be common to the puma, for on the bare hard soil of Patagonia I have frequently seen scores so deep that no other animal could have made them. The object of this practice is, I believe, to tear off the ragged points of their claws, and not, as tlie 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 davs at our moorings. Our only amusement was catching fish for our dinner : there were several kinds, and all good eating. A fish called the " armado" (a Silurus) is remarkable from a harsh grating noise which it makes when caught by hook and line, and which can be distinctly heard when the fish is beneatli the water. This same fish has the power of firmly catching hold of any object, such as the blade of an oar or the fishing-line, w^ith 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 fifty, all busy sucking, October loth. — "We got under way and passed Punta Gorda, where there is a colony of tame Indians from the province of Missiones. We sailed rapidly down the current, but before runset, from a silly fear of bad weather, we brought-to in a nar- row arm of the river. I took tlie boat and rowed some distanep 1833.] TilE SCISSOR-BEAK. 137 up this creek. It was very narrow, winding, and deep ; on each side a wall thirty or forty feet high, formed by trees intwined with creepers, give to the canal a singularly gloomy appearance. I here saw a very extraordinary bird, called the Scissor-beak (Rhynchops nigra). It lias short legs, web feet, extremely long- pointed wings, and is of about the size of a tern. The beak is flattened laterally, that is, in a plane at right angles to that of a spoonbill or duck. It is as flat and elastic as an ivory paper- cutter, and the lower mandible, differently from every other bird, is an inch and a half longer than the upper. In a lake near Maldonado, from which the water had been nearly drained, and which, in consequence, swarmed with small fry, I saw several of these birds, generally in small flocks, flying rapidly backwards and forwards close to the surface of the lake. They kept tlielr 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 tlie mirror-like surface. In their flight they frequently t\vi ■. < ■■ > ■■■■ I - ^ - .. ft ■■■ ■ r. . _ .F ^ waste, is very considerable. An estanciero told nie that he often had to send large herds of cattle a long journey to a salting esta- blishment, and that the tired beasts were frequently obliged to be killed and skinned ; but that he could never persuade the Gauchos to eat of them, and every evening a fresh beast was slaughtered for their suppers ! The view of the Rio Negro from the Sierra was more picturesque than any other which I saw in this province. The river, broad, deep and rapid, wound at the foot of a rocky precipitous cliff: a belt of wood followed its course, and the horizon terminated in the distant undulations of the turf-plain. When in this neighbourhood, I several times heard of the Sierra de las Cuentas : a hill distant many miles to the north- ward. The name signifies hill of beads. I was assured that vast numbers of little round stones, of various colours, each M'ith 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, 1 may observe, which is common to all savage nations, as well as to the most polished. I did not know what to understand from this story, but upon mentioning it at the Cape of Good Hope to Dr. Andrew Smith, he told me that he recollected finding on the south-eastern coast of Africa, about one hundred miles to the eastward of St. John's river, some quartz crystals with their edges blunted from attrition, and mixed with gravel on the sea-beach. Each crystal was about five lines in diameter, and from an inch to an inch and a lialf in length. Many of them had a small canal extending from one extremity to the other, perfectly cylindrical, and ofasizetliat readily admitted a coarse thread or a piece of fine catgut. Their colour was red or dull white. The natives were acquaintetl with this structure in crystals. I have mentioned these circum- stances because, although no crystallized body is at present known to assume this form, it may lead some future traveller to investigate the real nature of such stones. While staying at this estancia, I wos amused with what I saw and heard of the shepherd-dogs of the country.* When riding, * M. A. d'Orbigny has given nearly a similar account of these dogs, torn. i. p. 1 TT). 150 BANDA ORIEx\TAL. [ctiap. viit. 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 accustom- ing it to its future companions. An ewe is held three or four times a day for the little thing to suck, and a nest of wool is made for it in the sheep-pen ; at no time is it allowed to associate with other dogs, or with the children of the family. The puppy is, moreover, generally castrated ; so that, when grown up, it can scarcely have any feelings in common with the rest of its kind. From this education it has no wish to leave the flock, and just as another dog will defend its master, man, so will these the sheep. It is amusing to observe, when approaching a flock, how the dog immediately advances barking, and the sheep all close in his rear, as if round the oldest ram. These dogs are also easily taught to bring home the flock, at a certain hour in the evening. Their most troublesome fault, when young, is their desire of playing with the sheep ; for in their sport they sometimes gallop their poor subjects most unmercifully. The shepherd -dog comes to the house every day for some meat," and as soon as if is given him, he skulks away as if ashamed of himself. On these occasions the house-dogs are very tyrannical, and the least of them will attack and pursue the strano-er. The minute, however, the latter has reached the flock, he turns round and begins to bark, and then all the house- dog's 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 ap- pears 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 in- stinct of association. For we can understand on no principle the wild dogs being driven away by the single one with its flock, except that they consider, from some confused notion, that the one thus associated gains power, as if in company with its own kind. F. Cuvier has observed, that all animals that readily enter into domestication, consider man as a menber of theil i833.j BREAKING-IN WILD HOKSES. 151 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 tlie purpose of brea-king-in some colts. I will describe the prepara- tory 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. AVe 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 G audio, such a feat would be utterly impracticable. The Gaucho picks out a full-grown colt; and as the beast rushes round the circu?, he throws his lazo so as to catch both the front legs. Instantly the horse rolls over with a heavy shock, and whilst struggling on the ground, the Gaucho, holding the lazo tight, makes a circle, so as to catch one of the hind legs, just beneath the fetlock, and draws it close to the two front legs : he then hitches the lazo, so that the three are bound together. Then sitting on the horse's neck, he fixes a strong bridle, with- out 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 clob-ely 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 tlie trouble is much greater) he holds the animal's head, whilst the first puts on the horsecloths and saddle, and girths the whole to- gether. During this operation, the horse, from dread and asto- nishment at thus being bound round the waist, throws himself over and over again on the ground, and, till beaten, is unwilling to rise. At last, when the saddling is finished, the poor animal can hardly breathe from fear, and is white with foam and sweat. The man now prepares to mount by pressing heavily on the stirrup, so that the horse may not lose its balance ; and at the 152 BAND A ORIEXTAL. lCHAp. viii. moment that he throws his leg over the aiiimars back, lie pulls the slip-knot binding- the front legs, and the beast is free. Some '• domidors" puU tiie knot while the animal is lying on the ground, and, standing over the saddle, allow him to rise beneath them. The horse, wild with dread, gives a few most violent bounds, and then starts off at full gallop: when quite exhausted, the man, by patience, brings him back to the corral, where, reeking hot and scarcely alive, the poor beast is let free. Thost; animals which will not gallop away, but obstinately throw them- selves on tlie ground, are by far the most troublesome. This process is tremendously severe, but in two or three trials tlie horse is tamed. It is not, however, for some weeks that the animal is ridden with the iron bit and solid ring, for it must learn to associate the will of its rider with the feel of the rein, before the most powerful bridle can be of any service. Animals are so abundant in these countries, that humanity and self-interest are not closely united ; therefore I fear it is that the former is here scarcely known. One day, riding in the Pampas with a very respectable " Estanciero," my horse, being tired, lagged behind. Tlie man often shouted to me to spur him. When I remonstrated that it was a pity, for the horse was quite exhausted, he cried out, "Why not? — never mind — spur him — it is my horse." I Iiad then some difficulty in making him comprehend that it was for the horse's sake, and not on his ac- count, that I did not choose to use my spurs. He exclaimed, with a look of great surprise, " Ah, Don Carlos, que cosa !" It was clear that such an idea had never before entered his head. The Gauchos are well known to be perfect riders. The idea of being thrown, let the horse do what it likes, never enters their head. Their criterion of a good rider is, a man who can manage an untamed colt, or who, if his horse falls, alights on his own feet, or can perform other such exploits. I have heard of a man betting that he would throw his horse down twenty times, and that nineteen times he would not fall himself. I recollect seeinq; a Gaucho riding a very stubborn horse, which three times suc- cessively reared so high as to fall backwards with great violence. The man judged with uncommon coolness the proper moment for slipping off, not an instant before or after the right time ; and as soon as the horse got up, the man jumped on his back, and 1333.] HORSEMANSHIP IN CHILE. 153 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 my- self, " surely if the horse starts, you appear so careless on your scat, you must fall." At this moment, a male ostrich sprang from its nest right beneath the horse's nose : the young coll 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 stand- ing, in the midst of his full speed, on any particular spot, — for instance, on a cloak thrown on the ground : or, again, he will charge a wall, and rearing, scrape the surface with his hoofs. I have seen an animal bounding with spirit, yet merely reined by a fore-finger and thumb, taken at full gallop across a court- yard, and then made to wheel round the post of a veranda 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. Then making a demi-volte in the air, with the other arm out- stretched in a like manner, he wheeled round, with astonishing force, in an opposite direction. Such a horse is well broken ; and although this at first may appear useless, it is far otherwise. It is only carrying that M'hich 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 in- stantly, from the power of the two opposed animals, almost cut him in twain. On the same principle the races are managed ; tlie course is only two or three hundred yards long, the wish being to have horses tliat can make a rapid dash. The race- horses are trained not only to stand with their hoofs touchmg a line, but to draw all four fett together, so as at the first spring to bring into plaj the full action of the hind-quarters. In Chile 154 BANDA ORIENTAL. [chap. viii. 1 was told an anecdote, which I believe was true ; and it offers .1 good illustration of the use of a well-broken animal. A re- i*pectable 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 chace. 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 pur- suers were oblifjed to shoot on one side and ahead. Then in- stantly 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 horseman hip t\vo 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 P^nglish spurs, the slightest touch of which pricks the skin, it would be impossible to break in a horse after the South Ame- rican fashion. At an estancia near Las Yacas large numbers of mares arc weekly slaughtered for the sake of their hides, although worth only five paper dollars, or about half-a-crown apiece. It seems at first strange that it can answer to kill mares for such a trifle; but as it is thought ridiculous in this country ever to break in or ride a mare, they are of no value except for breeding. The only thinof for which I ever saw mares used, was to tread out wheat from the ear ; for which purpose they were driven round a cir- cular enclosure, where the wheat-sheaves were strewed. The man employed for slaughtering the mares happened to bo cele- brated for his dexterity with the lazo. Standing at the distance of twelve vards from the mouth of the corral, he has laid a waijer that he would catch by the legs every animal, without missing one, as it rushed past him. There was another man who said he would enter the corral on foot, catch a mare, fasten her front legs together, drive her out, throw her down, kill, skin, and stake the iiide for drying (which latter is a tedious job) ; and he engaged that he would ])erform this whole operation on twenty-two ani- mals in one day. Or he Avould kill and take the skin off" fifty in the same time. This would hjive been a prodigious task, for it is 1853.] iJKMAilNS OF THE TOXODON. 155 considered a good day's work to skin and stake the hides of fifteen or sixteen animals. November 26f/{.—l set out on my return in a direct line for Monte Video. Having heard of some g-iant's bones at a n^igji- bouring farm-house on the Sarandis, a small stream entering thn Rio Negro, I rode there accompanied by my host, and purchaseu for the value of eighteen pence the head of the Toxodon.* When found it was quite perfect ; but the boys knocked out some of the teeth with stones, and then set up the head as a mark to throw at. By a most fortunate chance I found a perfect tooth, which exactly fitted one of the sockets in this skull, embedded by itself on the banks of the Rio Tercero, at the distance of about 180 mile? 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 JMylodon. The bones of this head are so fresh, that they contain, accord- ing to the analysis by Mr. T. Reeks, seven per cent, of animal matter; and when placed in a spirit-lamp, they burn with a small flame. The number of the remains embedded in the grand estuary deposit which forms the Pampas and covers the granitic rocks of Banda Oriental, must be extraordinarily great. I believe a straight line drawn in any direction through the Pampas would cut through some skeleton or bones. Besides those which I found during my siiort 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 thcnselves 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 tiieir bones have been exposed by the streams intersecting the subaqueous deposit in which they were originally embedded. AYe may conclude that the whole area of the Pampas is one v.ide sepulchre of these extinct gigantic quadrupeds. * I must express my obligation to Mr. Keano, at whose house I was staying on the Berquelo, and to Mr. Lunib at Buenos Ayres, for without their assistance these vahiable remains would never have reached England. i56 BANDA ORIEXTi^L. [chap. viii. By the middle of the day, on the 28th, we arrived at Monte Video, havins" been two davs and a half on the road. The country for the whole way was of a very uniform character, some parts being rather more rocky and hilly than near tiie Plata. Not far from Monte Video we passed througli tiie villaofe of Las Pietras. so named from some largre rounded masses of syenite. Its appearance was rather pretty. In this country a few fig-trees round a group of houses, and a site ele- vated a hundred feet above the general level, ought always to be called picturesque. During the last six months I have had an opportunity of seeing a little of the character of the inhabitants of these provinces. The Gauchos, or countrymen, are very superior to those who reside in tiie towns. The Gaucho is invariably most obliging, polite, and hospitable : I did not meet with even one instance of rudeness or inhospitality. He is modest, both respecting himself and country, but at the same time a spirited, bold fellow. On the other hana, many robberica are committed, and there is much bloodshed : the habit of constantly wearing the knife is the cliief cause of the latter. It is lamentable to hear how many lives are lost in trifling quarrels. In fighting, each party tries to mark the face of his adversary by slashing his nose or eyes ; as is often attested by deep and horrid-looking scars. Robberies are a natural consequence of universal gambling, much drinking, and extreme indolence. At Mercedes I asked two men why they did not work. One gravely said the days were too long ; tlie )ther that he was too poor. The number of horses and the pro- fusion of food are the destruction of all industry. Moreover, there are so many feast-diiys ; and again, nothing can succeed without it be begun when the moon is on the increase; so that half the month is lost from these two causes. Police and justice are quite inefficient. If a man who is poor commits murder and is taken, he will be imprisoned, and perhaps even shot ; but if he is rich and has friends, he may rely on it no very severe consequence will ensue. It is curious that the most respectable inliabitants of the country invariably assist a murderer to escape : they seem to think that the individual sins against the ;.n)vernment, and not against the people. A traveller has no pro- 1833.] STATE OF SOCIETY. 157 tection besides his fire-arms ; and the constant habit of carrying them is the main check to more frequent robberies. The character of the his/her and more educated classes wlio reside in the towns, partakes, but perhaps in a lesser degree, of the g-Qod parts of the G audio, but is, I fear, stained by many vices of which he is free. Sensuality, mockery of all religion, and the grossest corruption, are far from uncommon. Nearly every public officer can be bribed. The head man in the post-office sold forged government franks. The governor and prime minister openly combined to plunder the state. Justice, where gold came into play, was hardly expected by any one. I knew an English- man, 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 wlio has cheated me. I know it is against the law, but my lawyer (naming him) recommended me to take this step." The Chief Justice smiled acquiescence, thanked him, and the man before night was safe in prison. With this entire want of principle in many of the leading men, with the country full of ill-paid turbulent officers, the people yet hope that a de- mocratic form of government can succeed ! On first entering society in these countries, two or three features strike one as particularly remarkable. The polite and dignified manners pervading every rank of life, the excellent taste displayed by the women in their dresses, and the equality amongst all ranks. At the Rio Colorado some men who kept the humblest shops used to dine with General Rosas. A son of a major at Lahia Blanca gained his livelihood by making paper cigars, and he wished to accompany me, as guide or servant, to Buenos Ayres, but his father objected on the score of the danger alone. Many officers in the army can neither read nor write, yet all meet in society as equals. In Entre Rios, the Sala consisted of only six representatives. One of them kept a common shop, and evidently was not degraded by the office. All this is what would be expected in a new country ; nevertheless the absence of gentlemen by profession appears to an Englishman something strange. When speaking of these countries, the manner in which they 153 mo PLATA. [CHAP. VI 11. have been brought up by their unnatural parent, Spain, should always be borne in mind. On the whole, perhaps, more credit is due for what has been done, than blame for tliat which may be deficient. It is impossible to doubt but that the extreme liberalism of tliese countries must ultimately lead to good results. The very g-eneral toleration of foreign religio'iis, 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. Decemher Gth. — 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 proceedino- any further, I will here put together a few observations made at sea. Several times when the ship has been some miles off the mouth of the Plata, and at other times when off the shores of Northern Patagonia, we have been surrounded by insects. One evening, when we were about ten miles from the Bay of San Bias, vast numbers of butterflies, in bands or flocks of countless myriads, extended as far as the eye could range. Even by the aid of a telescope it was not possible to see a space free from butterflies. The seamen cried out " it was snowing butterflies," and such in fact was the ap{>earance. More species than one were present, but the main part belonged to a kind very similar to, but not identical with, the common Eno:lish 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 Carabidge 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 ;* * Lyell's Principles of Geology, vol. iii. p. 63. 1833.] FLOCKS OF BUTTERFLIES. 159 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 in- jured by the salt water. I lost some of the specimens, but those wliich I preserved belonged to the genera Colymbetes, Hydropo- rus, Hydrobius (two species), Notaphus, Cynucus, Adimonia, and Scarabteus. 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 ap- peared 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 insect on the wing, with an off-shore breeze, would be very apt to be blown out to sea. The most remarkable instance I have known of an insect being caught far from the land, was that of a large grasshoj)per (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 1st, 1832) I paid particular attention to this subject. The weather had been fine and clear, and in the morning the air was full of patches of tlie flocculent web, as on an autumnal day in England. The ship * The flies which frequently accompany a ship for some days on ita passage from harbour to harbour, wandering from the vessel, are soon lost, and all disappear. 8 160 RIO PLATA [chap, viil was sixty miles distant from the land, in the direction of a steady though light breeze. Vast numbers of a small spider, about one- tentli of an inch in length, and of a dusky red colour, were attached to the webs. There must have been, I should suppose, some thousands on the ship. The little spider, when first coming in contact with the rigging, was always seated on a single thread, and not on the flocculent mass. This latter seems merely to be produced by the entanglement of the single threads. The spiders were all of one species, but of both sexes, together with young ones. These latter were distinguished by their smaller size and more dusky colour. I will not give the description of this spider, but merely state that it does not appear to me to be included in any of Latreille's genera. The little aeronaut as soon as it arrived on board was very active, running about, sometimes letting itself fall, and then reascending the same thread ; sometimes employing itself in making a small and very irregular mesh in the corners between the ropes. It could run with facility on the surface of water. When disturbed it lifted up its front legs, in the attitude of attention. On its first arrival it appeared very thirsty, and with exserted maxillae drank eagerly of drops of water; this same circumstance has been observed by Strack : may it not be in con- sequence of the little insect having passed through a dry and rare- fied atmosphere? Its stock of web seemed inexhaustible. While watching some that were suspended by a single thread, I several times observed that the slightest breath of air bore them away out of sight, in a horizontal line. On another occasion (25th) under similar circumstances, I repeatedly observed the same kind of small spider, either when placed or having crawled on some little eminence, elevate its abdomen, send forth a thread, and then sail away horizontally, but with a rapidity which was quite un- accountable. I thought I could perceive that the spider, before performing the above preparatory steps, connected its legs toge- ther with the most delicate threads, but I am not sure whether this observation m as 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 183:i.J AERONAUT SPIDERS. Kil 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 ascend- ing 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 circum- stances, 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 th« shadow of any object cast on a bank, or over a level plain at a distant landmark, the effect of an ascending current of heated air is almost always evident : such upward currents, it has been remarked, are also shown by the ascent of soap-bubbles, which will not rise in an in-doors room. Hence I think there is not much difficulty in understanding the ascent of the fine lines projected from a spider's spinners, and afterwards of the spider itself; the divergence of the lines has been attempted to be explained, I believe by Mr. Murray, by their similar electrical condition. The circumstance of spiders of the same species, but of different sexes and ages, being found on several occasions at the distance of many leagues from the land, attached in vast numbers to the lines, renders it probable that the habit of sailino: throu2:h the air is as characteristic of this tribe, as that of diving is of the Argyroneta. We may then reject Latreille's supposition, that the gossamer owes its origin indifferently to the young of several genera of spiders : althoiigli, 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 ani- mals. 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 — * Mr. Blackball, in his Researches in Zoology, ha.s many excellent ob- servations on the habits of spiders. 1&2 ATLANTIC OCEAN. [chap. viii. the longest equalling that of the entire leg. These claws are very thin, and are serrated with the finest teeth, directed back- wards : their curved extremities are flattened, and on this part five most minute cups are placed which seem to act in the same manner as the suckers on the arms of the cuttle-fish. As the animal lives in the open sea, and probably wants a place of rest, I suppose this beautiful and most anomalous structure is adapted to take hold of floating marine animals. In deep water, far from the land, the number of living crea- tures is extremely small : south of the latitude 35°, I never suc- ceeded 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 Crus- tacea 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 Ento- mostraca. Yet whales and seals, petrels and albatross, are ex- ceedingly abundant throughout this part of the ocean. It has always been a mystery to me on what the albatross, which lives far from the shore, can subsist ; I presume that, like the condor, it is able to fast long ; and that one good feast on the carcass of a putrid whale lasts for a long time. The central and inter- tropical 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 sur- face, which during the day is seen as foam, now glowed with a j)ale 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 iiorizon, from the re- flected glare of these livid flames, was not so utterly obscun.' as over the A'ault of the heavens. IRr.n.] PHOSPHORESCENCE OF THE SEA. 163 As we proceed further southward the sea is seldom phospho- rescent ; and off Cape Horn I do not recollect more than once having seen it so, and then it was far from being brilliant. This circumstance probably has a close connexion with the scarcity of organic beings in that part of the ocean. After the elaborate paper * by Ehrenberg, on the phosphorescence of the sea, it is almost superfluous on my part to make any observations on the subject. I may however add, that the same torn and irregular particles of gelatinous matter, described by Ehrenberg, seem in the southern as well as in the northern hemisphere, to be the common cause of this phenomenon. The particles were so minute as easily to pass tlirough fine gauze ; yet many were dis- tinctly visible by the naked eye. The water when placed in a tumbler and agitated, gave out sparks, but a small portion in a watch -glass scarcely ever was luminous. Ehrenberg states that these particles all retain a certain degree of irritability. My observations, some of which were made directly after taking up the water, gave a different result. I may also mention, that having used the net during one night, I allowed it to become partially dry, and having occasion twelve hours afterwards to employ it again, I found the whole surface sparkled as brightly as when first taken out of the water. It does not appear pro- bable in this case, that the particles could have remained so long alive. On one occasion having kept a jelly-fish of the genus Dianaea till it was dead, the water in which it was placed became luminous. When the waves scintillate with bright green sparks, I believe it is generally owing to minute Crustacea. But there can be no doubt that very many other pelagic animals, when alive, are phosphorescent. On two occasions I have observed the sea luminous at con- siderable depths beneath the surface. Near the mouth of the Plata some circular and oval patches, from two to four yards in diameter, and with defined outlines, shone with a steady but pale light ; while the surrounding water only gave out a few sparks. The appearance resembled the reflection of the moon, or some luminous body ; for the edges were sinuous from the undulations of the surface. The ship, which drew thirteen feet water, passed * An abst'.act is given in No IV. of the Magazine of Zoology and Ifotany. 164 PORT DESIRE. [chap. vm. over, without disturbing these patches. Therefore we must sup- pose 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 rapid- ity of the flashes. I have already remarked that the phenome- non is very much more common in warm than in cold countries ; and I have sometimes imagined that a disturbed electrical con- dition of the atmosphere was most favourable to its production. Certainly I think the sea is most luminous after a few days of more calm weather than ordinary, during which time it has swarmed with various animals. Observing that the water charged with gelatinous particles is in an impure state, and that the luminous appearance in all common cases is produced by the agitation of the fluid in contact with the atmosphere, I am in- clined to consider that the phosphorescence is the result of the decomposition of the organic particles, by which process (one is tempted almost to call it a kind of respiration) the ocean becomes purified. December 23rd. — We arrived at Port Desire, situated in lar. 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 wliitisli earth. Here and there scattered tufts of brown wiry grass are supported, and, still more rarely, some low thorny bushes. The weather is dry and pleasant, and the fine blue sky is but seldom obscured. When standing in the middle of one of those desert Ibys.J SPANISH SETTLEMENT. 165 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 hori- zon is indistinct from the trembling mirage which seems to rise from the heated surface. In such a country the fute of the Spanish settlement was soon decided ; tiie dryness of the climate during the greater part of the year, and the occasional hostile attacks of the Avandering Indians, compelled the colonists to desert their half-finished buildings. The style, however, in which they were commenced shows the strong and liberal hand of Spain in the old time. The result of all the attempts to colonize this side of America south of 41°, have been miserable. Port Famine expresses by its name the lingering and extreme sufferings of several hundred wretched people, of whom one alone survived to relate their mis- fortunes. 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 P'lora.* On 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 val- leys a few finches and insect-feetlers. An ibis (Theristicus me- lanops— a species said to be found in central Africa) is not uncommon on the most desert parts : in their stomachs I found grasshoppers, cicadas, small lizards, and even scorpions- '\ At one time of the year these birds go in flocks, at another ii pairs ; their cry is very loud and sinoular, like the neighing of the g;;anaco * I found here a species of cactus, described by Professor Henslow, under the name of Opuntia Dartiinii (Magazine of Zoology and Botany, vol. i. p. 466), -which was remarkable by the irritability of the stamens, -when I inserted either a piece of stick or the end of my finger in the flower. The sogTnents of the perianth also closed on the pistil, but more slowly than the stamens. Plants of this family, generallj' considered as tropical, occur in North America (Lewis and Clarke's Travels, p. 221), in the same high latitude as here, namely, in both cases, in 47°. t These insects were not uncommon beneath stones. I found one cannihal v.orpiou quietly devouring another. J66 PORT DESir.E. Tchap. titi. The guanaco, or wild llama, is the characteristic quadrupeJ of the plains of Patagonia ; it is the South American represent- ative of the camel of the Eas 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 generally lives in small herds of from half a dozen to thirty in each ; but on the banks of the St. Cruz we saw one herd which must have contained at least five hundred. They are generally wild and extremely wary. Mr. Stokes told 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 longdistance 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 ap- parently 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 moun- tains of Tierra del Fuego, I have more than once seen a guanaco, Dn 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 1833.J HABITS OF THE GUANACO. 1G7 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, how- ever, have no idea of defence ; even a single dog will secure one of these large animals, till the huntsman can come up. In many of their habits they are like sheep in a flock. Thus when they see men approaching in several directions on horseback, they soon become bewildered, and know not which way to run. This greatly facilitates the Indian method of hunting, for they are thus easily driven to a central point, and are encompassed. The guanacos readily take to the water : several times at Port Valdes tliey 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 thirty or forty, which had come in a direct line to a muddy salt- water creek. They then must have perceived that they were approaching the sea, for they had wheeled w ith the regularity of cavalry, and had returned back in as straight a line as they liad advanced. The guanacos have one singular habit, which is to me quite inexpliL'able ; namely, that on successive days they drop their dung in the same defined heap. I saw one of these lieaps w hich 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 168 PATAGONIA. [chap. viii. counted between ten and twenty heads. I particularly examined the bones ; they did not appear, as some scattered ones which 1 had seen, gnawed or broken, as if dragged together by beasts of prey. The animals in most cases nmst iiave crawled, before dying, beneath and amongst the bushes. Mr. Bynoe informs me that during a former voyage he observed the same circumstance on the banks of the Rio Gallegos. I do not at all understand the reason of this, but I may observe, that the wounded 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 at the time exclaimed that it was the burial-ground of all the goats in the island. I mention these trifling circumstances, be- cause 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 har- bour. In the morning we searched for some watering-places mentioned in an old Spanish chart." AVe found one creek, at the head of which there was a trickling rill (the first we had seen) of brackish >yater. 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 resem- bling chalk in appearance, but verj'^ different from it in nature. From the softness of these materials it was worn into many gulleys. There was not a tree, and, excepting the guanaco, which stood on the hill-top a watchful sentinel over its herd, scarcely an animal or a bird. All was stillness and desolation. Yet in passing over these scenes, without one bright object near, an ill- defined but strong sense of pleasure is vividly excited. One asked how many ages the plain had thus lasted, and how many more it was doomed thus to continue. None can reply — all seems eternal now. The wilderness has a mysterious tongue, Which teaches awful doubt.* * Shelley, Lines on M. Blauc, 1834.] INDIAN GRAVE. 169 In the evening we sailed a few miles further 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 tlie dingey and went up two or three miles further, where she also grounded, but in a fresh-water river The water was muddy, and though the stream was most 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. 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 probably weighing at least a couple of tons, had been placed in front of a ledge of rock about six feet high. At the bottom of the grave on the hard rock there was a layer of earth about a foot deep, which must have been brought up from the plain below. Above it a pavement of flat stones was placed, on which others were piled, so as to fill up the space between the ledge and the two great blocks. To complete the grave, the Indians had contrived to detach from the ledge a huge fragment, and to throw it over the pile so as to rest on the two blocks. We undermined the grave on both sides, but could not find any relics, or even bones. The latter probably had decayed long since (in which case the grave must have been of extreme antiquity), for I found in another place some smaller heaps, beneath which a very few crumbling fragments could yet bf; distinguished as having belonged to a man. Falconer states, that wliere an Indian dies he is buried, but that subsequently his bones are carefully taken up and carried, let the distance be ever so great, to be deposited near the sea-coast. This custom, I think, may be accounted for by recollecting, that before the in- troduction 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 170 PORT ST. JULIAN. [chap. viii. roaming Indians bring the less perishable part of their dead to their ancient burial-ground on the coast. January ^th^ 1834. — Before it was dark the Beagle anchored in the fine spacious harbour of Port St. Julian, situated about one hundred and ten miles to the south of Port Desire. We remained here eight days. The country is nearly similar to that of Port Desire, but perhaps rather more sterile. One da}'^ a party 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 disappointment to find a snow-white expanse of salt, crystallized in great cubes ! We attributed our extreme thirst to the dryness of the atmos- phere ; but whatever the cause might be, we were exceedingly glad late in the evening to get back to the boats. Although we could nowhere find, during our whole visit, a single drop of fresh water, yet some must exist ; for by an odd chance I found on the surface of the salt water, near the head of the bay, a Co- lymbetes not quite dead, which must have lived in some not far distant pool. Three other insects (a Cincindela, like hyhrida, 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 commonly feed ? The guanaco is nearly the only warm-blooded quadruped, and it is found in quite inconsiderable numbers compared with the multitude of flies. The geology of Patagonia is interesting. Differently from Europe, where the tertiary formations appear to have 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. 1834.1 GEOLOGY OF PATAGONIA. 17j Bometinies 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 ha*; already ascertained in it tliirty oceanic forms. This bed extends for 500 miles along the coast, and probably for a considerably srreater distance. At Port St. Julian its thickness is more than 800 feet ! These white beds are everywhere capped by a mass of gravel, forming probably one of the largest beds of shingle in the world : it certainly extends from near the Eio Colorado to be- tween 600 and 700 nautical miles southward ; at Santa Cruz (a river a little south of St. Julian), it reaches to the foot of the Cordillera ; half way up the river, its thickness is more than 200 feet ; it probably everywhere extends to this great chain, whence the well-rounded pebbles of porphyry have been derived : we may consider its average breadth as 200 miles, and its average thickness as about 50 feet. If this great bed of pebbles, with- out 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 tlie old coast-linee and banks of rivers ; and that these fragments have been dashed into smaller pieces, and that each of them has since been slowly rolled, rounded, and far transported, the mind is stupified in thinking over the long, absolutely necessary, lapse of years. Yet all this gravel has been transported, and probably rounded, subsequently to the deposition of the white betls, and long subsequently to the under- lying beds with the tertiary shells. Everything in this southern continent has been effected on a grand scale : the land, from the Rio Plata to Tierra del Fuego, a distance of 1200 miles, has been raised in mass (and in Pata- gonia to a height of between 300 and 400 feet), within the period of the now existins;' 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,forn\ing at successive levels the long lines of IT2 GEOLOGY OP PATAGONIA. [chap, viil 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, whiiph 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 3000 feet at the foot of the Cordillera. I have said that within the period of existing sea-shells Patagonia has been up- raised 300 to 400 feet : I may add, that within the period when icebergs transported boulders over the upper plain of Santa Cruz, the elevation has been at least 1500 feet. Nor has Patagonia been affected only by upward movements : the extinct tertiary shells from Port St. Julian and Santa Cruz cannot have lived, according to Professor E. Forbes, in a greater depth of water than from 40 to 250 feet ; but they are now covered with sea-deposited strata from 800 to 1000 feet in thickness : hence the bed of the sea, on which these shells once lived, must luive sunk downwards several hundred feet, to allow of the accu- nuilation of the superincumbent strata. AVhat 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 tlie 90-feet plain, I found half the skeleton of the Macrau- «;henia Patachonica, a remarkable quadruped, full as large as a camel. It belongs to tlie same division of the Pachydermata with the rhinoceros, tapir, and palseotherium; but in the structure of the bones of its long neck it shows a clear relation to the camel, or rat her to the guanaco and llama. From recent sea-shells being found on two of the higher step-formed plains, which must have been modelled and upraised before the mud was deposited in which the Macrauchenia was intombed, it is certain that this curious quadruped lived long after the sea was inhabited by its * I have lately heartl that Capt, Sulivan, E.N., has found numerous fossil bones, embedded iu regular strata, on the banks of the R. Gallegos, in lat. 51° 4'. Some of the bones are large ; others are small, and appear to have belonged to an armadillo. This is a most interesting and important dis- covery. 1834.] TYPES OF ORGANIZATION CONSTANT. 17? present shells. I was at first much surprised how a large quad- ruped 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 inha- bitant of the most sterile parts, partly explains this difficulty. The relationship, though distant, between the Macrauchenia and the Guanaco, between the Toxodon and the Capybaj-a, — the closer relationship between the many extinct Edentata and the living sloths, ant-eaters, and armadillos, now so eminently characteristic of South American zoology, — and the still closer relationship between the fossil and living species of Ctenomys and Hydrocheerus, are most interesting facts. This relationship is shown wonderfully — as wonderfully as between the fossil and extinct Marsupial animals of Australia — by the great collection lately brought to Europe from the caves of Brazil by MM. Lund and Clausen. In this collection there are extinct species of all the thirty-two genera, excepting four, of the terrestrial quadru- peds now inhabiting the provinces in which the caves occur ; and the extinct species are much more numerous than those now living : there are fossil ant-eaters, armadillos, tapirs, peccaries, guanacos, opossums, and numerous South American gnawers and monkeys, and other animals. This wonderful relationship in the same continent between the dead and the living, will, I do not doubt, hereafter throw more light on the appearance of organic beings on our earth, and their disappearance from it, tlian any other class of facts. It is impossible to reflect on the changed state of the American continent without the deepest astonishment. Formerly it mu.st 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 po.ssessed great vigour. The greater number, if not all, of these extinct quadrupeds lived at a late period, and were tlie contemporaries of most of the exist- ing sea-shells. Since they lived, no ver}^ 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 irre- 174 CAUSES OF EXTINCTION. [chap. viii. sistibly hurried into the belief of some great catastrophe ; but thus to destroy animals, both large and small, in Southern Pata- gonia, 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 Patatronia, leads to the belief that all the features of tlie land result from slow and gradual changes. It appears from the character of the fossils in Europe, Asia, Australia, and in North and South America, that those conditions which favour the life of the larger quadrupeds were lately co-extensive with the world : what those conditions were, no one has yet even conjectured. It could hardly have been a change of tempera- ture, which at about the same time destroyed the inhabitants of tropical, temperate, and arctic latitudes on both sides of the globe. In North America we positively know from Mr. Lyell, that the large quadrupeds lived subsequently to that period, when boulders were brought into latitudes at which icebergs now never arrive : from conclusive but indirect reasons we may feel sure, that in the southern hemisphere the Macrauchenia, also, lived long subsequently to the ice-transporting boulder-period. Did man, after his first inroad into South America, destroy, as has been suggested, the unwieldy Megatherium and the other Eden- tata ? We must at least look to some other cause for the destruc- tion of the little tucutuco at Bahia Blanca, and of the many fossil mice and other small quadrupeds in Brazil. No one will imagine that a drought, even far severer than those which cause such losses in the provinces of La Plata, could destroy every individual of every species from Southern Patagonia to Behring's Straits. What shall we say of the extinction of the horse ? Did those plains fail of pasture, which have since been overrun by thousands and hundreds of thousands of the descend- ants of the stock introduced by the Spaniards ? Have the subse- quently introduced species consumed the food of tlie great ante- cedent races ? Can we believe that the Capybara has taken the food of the Toxodon, the Guanaco of the Macrauchenia, the ex- isting small Edentata of their numerous gigantic prototypes? Jl.^ertainly, 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 cA 1834.] CAUSES OF EXTINCTION. 175 view, it will appear less perplexing. AYe do not steadily bear in mind, how profoundly ignorant we are of die conditions of exi.^t- ence of every animal ; nor do we always remember, that some check is constantly preventing the too rapid increase of every organized being left in a state of nature. The supply of food, on an average, remains constant ; yet the tendency in every animal to increase by propagation is geometrical ; and its surprising effects have nowhere been more astonishingly shown, than in the cai^e of the European animals run wild during the last few centuries in America. Every animal in a state of nature regularly breeds ; yet in a species long established, any great increase in numbers is obviously impossible, and must be checked by some means. "VVe are, nevertheless, seldom able with certainty to tell in any given species, at what period of life, or at what period of the year, or whether only at long intervals, the check falls ; or, again, what is the precise nature of the check. Hence probably it is, that we feel so little surprise at one, of two species closely allied in habits, being rare and the other abundant in the same district ; or, asain, 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 throuf'^h 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 observe} s ; 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 * See the excellent remarks on this subject by Mr. Lyell, in his Vv'wi- ciples of (jleology. 176 CAUSES OF EXTINCTION. [chat. viii. extinct. If then, as appears probable, species first become rare and then extinct — if the too rapid increase of every species, even the most favoured, is steadily checked, as we must admit, though how and when it is hard to say — and if we see, without the smallest surprise, though unable to assign the precise reason, one species abundant and another closely-allied species rare in the same dis- trict — why should we feel such great astonishment at the rarity being carried a step further to extinction ? An action going on, on every side of us, and yet barely appreciable, might surely be carried a little further, without exciting our observation. Who would feel any great surprise at hearing that the Megalonyx was formerly rare compared with the Megatherium, or that one of the fossil monkeys was few in number compared with one of the now living monkeys ? and yet in this comparative rarity, we should have the plainest evidence of less favourable conditions for their existence. To admit that species generally become rare before they become extinct — to feel no surprise at the 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 sur- prise at sickness — but when the sick man dies to wonder, and to believe that he died through violence. 183-t.l KXPLOKING THE SAATA CliUZ. 177 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 ISth, 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, was obliged to return. Excepting what was discovered at that time, scarcely anything was known about this large river. Gap- tain Fitz Eoy now determined to follow its course as far as time would allow. On the 18th tliree whale-boats started, carrvins: 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 /light nearly above the tidal influence. The river here assumed a size and appearance which, even at the highest point we ultimately reached, was scarcely diminished. It was generally from three to four hundred yards broad, and in ihe middle about seventeen feet deep. The rapidity of the cur- rent, 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 173 S. CRUZ. PATAGONIA. [chap, ix 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 I9th. — Against so strong a current it was, of course, ijuite 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 verj^ good for facilitating the work of all, and as all had a share in it, I will describe the sjstem. The party, including every one, was divided into two spells, each of which hauled at the tracking line alternately for an hour and a half. The officers of each boat lived with, ate the same food, and slept in the same tent with their crew, so that each boat was quite independent of the others. After sunset the first level spot where any bushes were growing, was chosen for our night's lodging. Each of the crew took it in turns to be cook. Immediately the boat was hauled up, the cook made his fire ; two others pitched the tent ; the coxswain handed the things out of the boat ; the rest carried them up to the tents and collected firewood. By this order, in half an hour everything was ready for the night. A watch of two men and an officer was always kept, whose duty it was to look after the boats, keep up the fire, and guard against Indians. Each in the party had his one hour every night. During this day we tracked but a short distance, for there were many islets, covered by thorny bushes, and the channels between them were shallow. April 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 i?icog??.ifa, for it was there that Captain Stokes turned back. We saw in the distance a gi'reat smoke, and found the skeleton of a horse, so we knew that Indians were in the neighbourhood. On the next morning (21st) tracks of a party of horse, and marks left by the trailing of the fJnizos, or long spears, were observed on the ground. It was generally thought that the Indians had reconnoitred us during ■834. J ZOOLOGY. 179 the night. Shortly afterwards we came to a dpot where, from the fresh footsteps of men, children, and horses, it was evident that the party had crossed the river. April 22d. — The country remained the same, and was ex- tremely 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, w^ere scarcely enlivened by a brighter tint of green. The curse of sterility is on the land, and the water flowing over a bed of pebbles partakes of the same curse. Hence the number of waterfowl is very scanty ; for there is nothing to support life in the stream of this barren river. Patagonia, poor as she is in some respects, can however boast of a greater stock of small rodents * than perhaps any other country in the world. Several species of mice are externally characterized by large thin ears and a very fine fur. These little animals swarm amongst the thickets in the valleys, where they cannot for months together taste a drop of water excepting the dew. They all seem to be cannibals ; for no sooner was a mouse caught in one of my traps than it was devoured by others. A small and delicately-shaped fox, which is likewise very abun- dant, 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 24th. — Like the navigators of old when approaching an unknown land, we examined and watched for the most trivial * The deserts of Syria are characterized, according to Voluey (torn, i., p. 35 1 ), by woody bushes, numerous rats, gazelles, and hares. In ihe land- scape of Patagonia, the guanaco replaces the gazelle, and the agouti the iiare ISO S. CRUZ, PATAGONIA. [chap. ix. 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 liieir 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 liad noticed the presence of a few small pebbles of a very cellular basalt. I'hese 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 more than three or four miles down the river below their parent- source : considering the singular rapidity of the great body of water in the Santa Cruz, and that no still reaches occur in any part, this example is a most striking one, of the inefficiency of rivers in transporting even moderately-sized fragments. The basalt is only lava, which has flowed beneath the sea ; but the eruptions must have been on the grandest scale. At the point where we first met this formation it was 120 feet in thick- ness ; following up the river course, the surface imperceptibly rose and the mass became thicker, so that at forty miles above tlie first station it was 320 feet thick. What the tiiickness may be close to the Cordillera, I have no means of knowing, but the platform there attains a height of about three tliousand feet above the level of the sea : we must therefore look to the moun- tains of that great chain for its source ; and worthy of such a source Are streams, that have flovred over the gently inclined bed of the 1834.] EXCAVATION OF THE VALLEY. I SI 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 evi- dent 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 hun- dred feet, and a breadth varying from rather less than two miles to four miles ? The river, though it has so little power in trans- porting 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 argu- ments 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 Ame- rica 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 overwhelming debacle ; but in this case such a supposition would have been quite inadmis.«^ible ; because, the same step-like plains with existing sea-shells lying on their surface, which front the long line of the Patagonian coast, sweep up on each side of the valley of Santa Cruz. Ko 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 Narrov\ s 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 cor- roded so vast an area and thickness of solid basaltic lava. Ke- vertlieless, we must believe that the strata undermined by the waters of this ancient strait, were broken up into huge frag- Ib2 S. CRUZ, PATAGONIA. [chap, xx ments, and these lying scattered on the beach, were reduced first to smaller blocks, then to pebbles, and lastly to the most impal- pable mud, which the tides drifted far into the Eastern or Western Ocean. With the change in the geological structure of the plains tlie character of the landscape likewise altered. Wliile rambling up some of the narrow and rocky defiles, I could almost have fancied myself transported back again to the barren valleys ot 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 cir- cumscribed patches of bright green herbage. April 21th. — 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 fmgments, tracking the boats became both dangerous and laborious. This day I shot a condor. It measured from tip to tip of the winjrs, eiijht and a half feet, and from beak to tail, four feet. This bird is known to have a wide geographical range, being found on the west coast of South America, from the Strait of Magellan along the Cordillera as far as eight degrees 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 hundred miles from the great central line of their habitation in the Andes. Further south, among the bold precipices at the head of Port Desire, the condor is not uncommon ; y^et only a few stragglers occasionally visit the sea- coast. A line of cliff near the mouth of the Santa Cruz is fre- quented by these birds, and about eighty miles up the river, where the sides of the valley are formed by steep basaltic pre- cipices, 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 .831.] THE COXDOK 183 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 in- accessible 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 montlis 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 by night, and hunt by day with their parents. The old birds generally live in pairs ; but among the inland ba- saltic cliffs of the Santa Cruz, I found a spot, where scores must usually haunt. On coming suddenly to the brow of the preci- pice, it was a grand spectacle to see between twenty and thirty of these great birds start heavily from their resting-place, and wheel away in majestic circles. From the quantity of dung on the rocks, they must long have frequented this cliff for roosting and breeding. Having gorged themselves with carrion on the plains below, they retire to these favourite ledges to digest their food. From these facts, the condor, like the gallinazo, must to a certain degree be considered as a 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 ordinary occasions extend their daily excur- sions 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 occa- sions 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 con- dors frequently attack young goats and lambs ; and the shep- herd dogs are trained, whenever th§y pass over, to run out, and looking upwards to bark violently, The Chilenos destroy and catch numbers. Two methods are used ; one is to place a car- cass on a level piece of ground within an enclosui"e of sticks with an opening, and when the condors are gorged, to gallop up on 9 184 S. CRUZ, PATAGONIA. [chap, ix. horseback to the entrance, and thus enclose them : for when this bird has not space to run, it cannot give its body sufficient mo- mentum to rise from the ground. The second method is to mark the trees in which, frequently to the number of five or six toge- ther, 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 ; yet, 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 countrymen assert that the condor will live, and retain its vigour, between five and six weeks without eating : I cannot answer for the truth of this, but it is a cruel ex- periment, which very likely has been tried. When an animal is killed in the country, it is well known that the condors, like other carrion-vultures, soon gain intelligence of it, and congregate in an inexplicable manner. In most cases it must not be o\erlooked, that the birds have discovered their prey, and have picked the skeleton clean, before the flesh is in the least degree tainted. Eemembering the experiments of M. Audubon, on the little smelling powers of carrion-hawks, I tried in the above-mentioned garden the following experiment : the condors were tied, each by a rope, in a long row at the bottom of a wall ; and having folded up a piece of meat in white paper, I walked backwards and forw^ards, 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, witliin one yard of an old male bird ; lie 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 Lmg row began struggling and flapping its * I noticed that several hours before any one of the condors died, all the lice, "with which it was infested, crawled to the outside leathers. I was assured thit this alwavs happened. 1834.] CARRION-VULTURES. 185 wings. Under the same circumstances, it would have been quite impossible to have deceived a dog. The evidence in favour of and against the acute smelling powers of carrion- vultures is singu- larly balanced. Professor Owen has demonstrated that the olfac- tory nerves of the turkey -buzzaid (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 occa- sions 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 my- self, Mr. Bachman has tried in the United States many varied plans, showing that neither the turkey -buzzard (the species dis- sected by Professor Owen) nor the gallinazo find their food by smell. He covered portions of highly offensive offal with a thin canvass 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 dis- covering it. A small rent was made in the canvass, and the offal was immediately discovered ; the canvass was replaced by a fresli piece, and meat again put on it, and was again devoured by the vultures without their discovering the hidden mass on which they were trampling. These facts are attested by the signatures of six gentlemen, besides that of Mr. Bachman.* Often when lying down to rest on the open plains, on looking upwards, I have seen carrion-hawks sailing through the air at a great height. Where the country is level I do not believe a space of the heavens, of more than fifteen degrees above the ho- rizon, 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 over- looked ? 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 * Loudon's Magazine of Nat. Hist., vol. vii. 186 S. CRUZ, PATAGONIA. [chap, ix, ^M^M^^i^M^"^—^™i*^^M^»^"^»^^^^^— M^i^^^"^— ^^1— I — ^^M^—^i^»^.M ■■ I ^ ■■■■■■■ II I I ■■■ H I I M l. I ■ 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 birdg 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 in- tently watched from an oblique position, the outlines of the sepa- rate and great terminal feathers of each wing ; and these separate feathers, if there had been the least vibratory movement, would have appeared as if blended together ; but they were seen dis- tinct against the blue sky. The head and neck were moved fre- quently, and apparently with force ; and the extended wing-s peemed 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 soar- ing^ its motion must be sufficiently rapid, so that the action of the inclined surface of its body on the atmosphere may counter- balance its gravity. The force to keep up tiie 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 movement of the neck and body of the condor, we nmst 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 29th. — From some high land we hailed with joy the whi^e summits of the Cordillera, as they were seen occasionally peeping through their dusky envelope of clouds. During the few succeeding days we continued to get on slowly, for we found the river-course very tortuous, and strewed with immense frag- ments of various ancient slaty rocks, and of granite. The plain bordering the valley had here attained an elevation of about iSnv.] TRACES OF INDIANS. 187 1100 feet above the river, and its character ^vas 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 i7i situ, and took out my compass to observe the direction of its cleavage. The plain here was not quite so level as that nearer the coast, but yet it betrayed no signs of any great violence. Under these circumstances it is, I believe, quite impossible to explain the transportal of these gigantic masses of rock so many miles from their parent-source, on any theory except by that of floating icebergs. During the two last days we met wdth signs of horses, and with several small articles which had belonged to the Indians — such as parts of a mantle and a bunch of ostrich feathers — but they ap- peared to have been lying long on the ground. Between the place where the Indians had so latelv crossed the river and this neig^h- bourhood, though so many miles apart, the country appears to be quite unfrequented. At first, considering the abundance of the guanacos, I was surprised at this ; but it is explained by the stony nature of the plains, which would soon disable an unshod horse from taking part in the chace. Nevertheless, in two places in this very central region, I found small heaps of stones, which I do not think could have been accidentally thrown together. They were placed on points, projecting over the e^^e of the highest lava cliff, and they resembled, but on a small scale, those near Port Desire. 3Iay 4/A. — Captain Fitz Eoy determined to take the boats no higher* The river had a winding course, and was very rapid ; and the appearance of the country offered no temptation to pro- ceed any further. Everywhere we met with the same produc- tions, and tlie same dreary landscape. AYe were now one hun- dred and forty miles distant from the Atlantic, and about sixty from the nearest arm of the Pacific. The valley in this upper part expanded into a 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 188 FALKLAND ISLANDS. [chap, ix with regret, for we w^ere obliged to imagine their nature and pro- ductions, 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, althou«-h reallv enough for reasonable men, was, after a hard day's march, rather scanty food : a light stomach and an easy digestion are good things to talk about, but very unpleasant in practice. oth. — Before sunrise we commenced our descent. We shot down the stream with great rapidity, generally at the rate often knots an hour. In this one day we effected what had cost us five-and-a-lialf 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 dissatisfied ; but to me the ascent afforded a most interesting section of the g^reat tertiarv formation of Pata^-onia. On March 1st, 1833, and again on 3Iarch I6th, 1834, the Beagle anchored in Berkeley Sound, in East Falkland Island. Tliis archi- pelago is situated in nearly the same latitude with the mouth of the Strait of Magellan ; it covers a space of one hundred and twenty by sixty geographical miles, and is a little more than half the size of Ireland. After the possession of tliese miserable islands had been contested by France, Spain, and England, they were left uninhabited. The government of Buenos Ayres then sold them to a private individual, but likewise used them, as old Spain had done before, for a penal settlement. England claimed her right and seized them. The Englishman who was left in charge of the flag Avas consequently murdered. A British officer was next sent, unsupported by any power : and when we ar- rived, we found him in charge of a population, of which rather more than half were runaway rebels and murderers. The theatre is worthy of the scenes acted on it. An undulat- ing land, with a desolate and wretched aspect, is everjnvhere covered by a peaty soil and wiry grass, of one monotonous brown colour. Here and there a peak or ridge of grey quartz rook breaks through the smooth surface. Every one lias heard of the climate of these regions ; it may be compared to that whicli is CHAi'. IX.] HUNTING WILD CATTLE. 189 experienced at the height of between one and two thousand feet, on the mountains of North Wales; having however less sunsliiuf' and less frost, but more wind and rain.* IGth. — 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 verj^ boisterous and cold, with heavy hail-storms. AVe got on, however, pretty well, but, except the geology, nothing could be less interesting than our day's ride. The country is uniformly the same undulating moorland ; the surface being co- vered by light brown withered grass and a few very small shrubs, all springing out of an elastic peaty soil. In the valleys here and there might be seen a small flock of wild geese, and every- .vhere the ground was so soft that the snipe were able to feed. Besides these two birds there were few otliers. There is one main range of hills, nearly two thousand feet in height, and com- posed 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, foi they had been lately much harassed. In the evening we came across a small herd. One of my com- panions, St. Jago by name, soon separated a fat cow ; he threw the bolas, and it struck her legs, but failed in becoming entan- gled. Then dropping his hat to mark the spot where tlie balls were left, while at full gallop, he uncoiled his lazo, and after a most severe chace, again came up to the cow, and caught her round the horns. The other Gaucho had gone on ahead with the spare horses, so that St. Jago had some difficulty in killing the furious beast. He managed to get her on a level piece of ground, by taking advantage of her as often as she rushed at him ; and when she would not move, my horse, from having been trained, would canter up, and with his chest give her a violent push. But * 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 en 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 repre- sented. l£0 FALKLAND ISLANDS. [chap. 12. when on level ground it does not appear an easy job for one man to kill a beast mad with terror. jS^or 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 ; other- wise, it stands motionless leaning on one side. This horse, how- ever, 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 con- trived 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 lio-htning. He cut off pieces of flesh with the skin to it, but without any bones, sufficient for our expedition. 'W^'e 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 com- mon beef as venison is to mutton. A large circular piece taken from the back is roasted on the embers with the hide downwards and in the form of a saucer, so that none of the gravy is lost. If any worthy alderman had 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, with much hail and snow. AYe rode across the island to the neck of land which joins the Rincon del Toro (the great peninsula at the S.AV. extremity) to the rest of the Island. From the great number of cows which have been killed, there is a large proportion of bulls. These wander about single, or two and three together, and are very savage. I never saw such mag- nificent beasts ; they equalled in the size of their huge heads and necks the Grecian marble sculptures. Capt. Sulivan informs me tliat the hide of an average-sized bull weighs forty-seven Dounds, 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 viorses have been thus killed. An old bull crossed a boggy stream, and took his stand on the opposite side to us ; we in vain tried to drive him away, and failing, were obliged to make a large circuit. The Gauclios in revenge determined to emasculate CHAP. IX.] WILD HORSES. 191 him and render him for the future harmless. It was very inter- estino- 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 tio-htly round the horns of a furious animal, it does not at first appear an easy thing to disengage it again without killing the beast ; nor, I apprehend, would it be so if the man was by him- self. By the aid, however, of a second person throwing his lazo so as to catch both hind legs, it is quickly managed : for the animal, as long as its hind legs are kept outstretched, is quite helpless, and the first man can with his hands loosen his lazo from the horns, and then quietly mount his horse ; but the moment the second man, by backing ever so little, relaxes the strain, the lazo slips off the legs of the struggling beast, which then rises free, shakes himself, and vainly rushes at his antagonist. During our whole ride we saw only one troop of wild horses. These animals, as well as the cattle, were introduced by the French in 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, ex- cept from the strong attachment which horses have to any loca- lity 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 ©f 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 tlie 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 watclied a stallion for a whole hour, violently kicking and bitinjr a mare till he forced her to leave her foal to its fate. Capt. Sulivan can so far corroborate this curious account, that 192 FALKLAND ISLANDS. [chap, ijr, ne has several times found young foals dead, whereas he lias never found a dead calf. Moreover, the dead bodies of full- grown horses are more frequently found, as if more subject to disease or accidents, than those of the cattle. From the softness oi the ground their hoofs often grow irregularly to a great length, and this causes lameness. The predominant colours are roan and iron-grey. All the horses bred here, both tame and wild, are rather small-sized, though generally in good condition ; and they have lost so much strength, that they are unfit to be used in taking wild cattle with the lazo : in consequence, it is necessarj' to go to the great expense of importing fresh horses from the Plata. At some future period the southern hemisphere probably will have its breed of Falkland ponies, as the northern has its Shetland breed. The cattle, instead of having degenerated like the horses, seem, as before remarked, to have increased in size ; and they are much more numerous than the horses. Capt. Sulivan in- forms me that they vary much less in the general form of their bodies and in the shape of their horns than English cattle. In colour they differ much ; and it is a remarkable circumstance, that in different parts of this one small island, different colours predominate. Round Mount Usborne, at a height of from 1000 to 1 500 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 ill probability ultimately prevail over the others, if the herds were left undisturbed for the next several centuries. roAP. IX.] WILD RABBITS. 19:! The rabbit is another animal which has been introduced, and has succeeded very well ; so that they abound over large parts of the island. Yet, like the horses, they are confined within certain limits ; for they have not crossed the central chain of 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 thouirht a more favourable climate, the rabbit cannot live out of doors. The first few pair, moreover, had here tc contend against pre-existing enemies, in the fox and some large hawks. The French naturalists have considered the black va- riety a distinct species, and called it Lepus Magellanicus.* 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 grey, and they said that at all events it had not extended its range any further than the grey kind ; that the two were never found separate ; and that they readily bred together, and produced piebald off- ppring. Of the latter I now possess a specimen, and it is marked about the head differently from the French specific description. This circumstance sliows how cautious naturalists should be in making species ; for even Cuvier, on looking at the skull of one of these rabbits, thouy,ht it was probably distinct ! The only quadruped native to the island f is a large wolf-like fox (Canis antarcticus), whicli is common to both East and * Lesson's Zoology of the Voyage of the Coquille, torn. i. p. 168. All the early voyagers, and especially Bougainville, distinctly state that the wolf-like fox was the only native animal on the island. The distinction ot the rabbit as a species, is taken from peculiarities in the fur, from the shupe of the head, and from the shortness of the ears. I may here observe that the difference between the L'ish and English hare rests upon nearly simiJar characters, only more strongly marked. t I have reason, however, to suspect that there is a field-mouse. The common European rat and mouse have roamed far from the habitations of the 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. 194 KALKj.AND islands. [chap. is. West Falkland. I have no doubt it is a peculiar sp-^cies, and confined to this archipelago ; because many sealers, Gauchos,- and Indians, >v]io have visited these islands, all maintain that no Buch 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 lameness 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 tlie evening killed them, by holding out a piece of meat in one han