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The Voyage of the Beagle

by Charles Darwin · English · Gutenberg #944 · 1,207,884 chars · public domain (US)

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Title: The Voyage of the Beagle

Author: Charles Darwin


        
Release date: June 1, 1997 [eBook #944]
                Most recently updated: April 28, 2025

Language: English

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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE VOYAGE OF THE BEAGLE ***




  THE VOYAGE OF THE BEAGLE BY
  CHARLES DARWIN





About the online edition.

The degree symbol is represented as "degs." Italics are represented as
_italics_. Footnotes are collected at the end of each chapter.





THE VOYAGE OF THE BEAGLE




PREFACE


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

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

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

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

DOWN, BROMLEY, KENT, June 9, 1845

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



THE VOYAGE OF THE BEAGLE



CHAPTER I

ST. JAGO--CAPE DE VERD ISLANDS

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


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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



CHAPTER II

RIO DE JANEIRO

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


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[2] Annales des Sciences Naturelles for 1833.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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



CHAPTER III

MALDONADO

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


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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



CHAPTER IV

RIO NEGRO TO BAHIA BLANCA

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


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

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

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

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

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

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


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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



CHAPTER V

BAHIA BLANCA

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


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

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

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

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

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

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

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


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

Dr. Andrew Smith, who, at the head of his adven

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