shore of the Parana is bounded by perpendicular cliffs,
which extend in a long line to below San Nicolas; hence it
more resembles a sea-coast than that of a fresh-water river.
It is a great drawback to the scenery of the Parana, that,
from the soft nature of its banks, the water is very muddy.
The Uruguay, flowing through a granitic country, is much
clearer; and where the two channels unite at the head of
the Plata, the waters may for a long distance be distinguished
by their black and red colours. In the evening, the
wind being not quite fair, as usual we immediately moored,
and the next day, as it blew rather freshly, though with a
favouring current, the master was much too indolent to think
of starting. At Bajada, he was described to me as "hombre
muy aflicto" -- a man always miserable to get on; but certainly
he bore all delays with admirable resignation. He
was an old Spaniard, and had been many years in this
country. He professed a great liking to the English, but
stoutly maintained that the battle of Trafalgar was merely
won by the Spanish captains having been all bought over;
and that the only really gallant action on either side was
performed by the Spanish admiral. It struck me as rather
characteristic, that this man should prefer his countrymen
being thought the worst of traitors, rather than unskilful or
cowardly.
18th and 19th. -- We continued slowly to sail down the
noble stream: the current helped us but little. We met,
during our descent, very few vessels. One of the best gifts
of nature, in so grand a channel of communication, seems
here wilfully thrown away -- a river in which ships might
navigate from a temperate country, as surprisingly abundant
in certain productions as destitute of others, to another
possessing a tropical climate, and a soil which, according to
the best of judges, M. Bonpland, is perhaps unequalled in
fertility in any part of the world. How different would
have been the aspect of this river if English colonists had
by good fortune first sailed up the Plata! What noble towns
would now have occupied its shores! Till the death of
Francia, the Dictator of Paraguay, these two countries must
remain distinct, as if placed on opposite sides of the globe.
And when the old bloody-minded tyrant is gone to his long
account, Paraguay will be torn by revolutions, violent in
proportion to the previous unnatural calm. That country
will have to learn, like every other South American state,
that a republic cannot succeed till it contains a certain body
of men imbued with the principles of justice and honour.
October 20th. -- Being arrived at the mouth of the Parana,
and as I was very anxious to reach Buenos Ayres, I went
on shore at Las Conchas, with the intention of riding there.
Upon landing, I found to my great surprise that I was to
a certain degree a prisoner. A violent revolution having
broken out, all the ports were laid under an embargo. I
could not return to my vessel, and as for going by land to
the city, it was out of the question. After a long conversation
with the commandant, I obtained permission to go the
next day to General Rolor, who commanded a division of
the rebels on this side the capital. In the morning I rode
to the encampment. The general, officers, and soldiers, all
appeared, and I believe really were, great villains. Thegeneral, the very evening before he left the city, voluntarily
went to the Governor, and with his hand to his heart, pledged
his word of honour that he at least would remain faithful
to the last. The general told me that the city was in a state
of close blockade, and that all he could do was to give me
a passport to the commander-in-chief of the rebels at Quilmes.
We had therefore to take a great sweep round the
city, and it was with much difficulty that we procured horses.
My reception at the encampment was quite civil, but I was
told it was impossible that I could be allowed to enter the
city. I was very anxious about this, as I anticipated the
Beagle's departure from the Rio Plata earlier than it took
place. Having mentioned, however, General Rosas's obliging
kindness to me when at the Colorado, magic itself could
not have altered circumstances quicker than did this
conversation. I was instantly told that though they could not
give me a passport, if I chose to leave my guide and horses,
I might pass their sentinels. I was too glad to accept of
this, and an officer was sent with me to give directions that
I should not be stopped at the bridge. The road for the
space of a league was quite deserted. I met one party of
soldiers, who were satisfied by gravely looking at an old
passport: and at length I was not a little pleased to find
myself within the city.
This revolution was supported by scarcely any pretext of
grievances: but in a state which, in the course of nine months
(from February to October, 1820), underwent fifteen
changes in its government -- each governor, according to the
constitution, being elected for three years -- it would be veryunreasonable to ask for pretexts. In this case, a party of
men -- who, being attached to Rosas, were disgusted with
the governor Balcarce -- to the number of seventy left the
city, and with the cry of Rosas the whole country took arms.
The city was then blockaded, no provisions, cattle or horses,
were allowed to enter; besides this, there was only a little
skirmishing, and a few men daily killed. The outside party
well knew that by stopping the supply of meat they would
certainly be victorious. General Rosas could not have known
of this rising; but it appears to be quite consonant with the
plans of his party. A year ago he was elected governor, but
he refused it, unless the Sala would also confer on him
extraordinary powers. This was refused, and since then
his party have shown that no other governor can keep his
place. The warfare on both sides was avowedly protracted
till it was possible to hear from Rosas. A note arrived a
few days after I left Buenos Ayres, which stated that the
General disapproved of peace having been broken, but that
he thought the outside party had justice on their side. On
the bare reception of this, the Governor, ministers, and part
of the military, to the number of some hundreds, fled from
the city. The rebels entered, elected a new governor, and
were paid for their services to the number of 5500 men.
From these proceedings, it was clear that Rosas ultimately
would become the dictator: to the term king, the people in
this, as in other republics, have a particular dislike. Since
leaving South America, we have heard that Rosas has
been elected, with powers and for a time altogether opposed
to the constitutional principles of the republic.[1] The bizcacha (Lagostomus trichodactylus) somewhat resembles
a large rabbit, but with bigger gnawing teeth and a long tail;
it has, however, only three toes behind, like the agouti. During
the last three or four years the skins of these animals have
been sent to England for the sake of the fur.
[2] Journal of Asiatic Soc., vol. v. p. 363.
[3] I need hardly state here that there is good evidence
against any horse living in America at the time of Columbus.
[4] Cuvier. Ossemens Fossils, tom. i. p. 158.
[5] This is the geographical division followed by Lichtenstein,
Swainson, Erichson, and Richardson. The section from Vera Cruz
to Acapulco, given by Humboldt in the Polit. Essay on Kingdom
of N. Spain will show how immense a barrier the Mexican
table-land forms. Dr. Richardson, in his admirable Report on
the Zoology of N. America read before the Brit. Assoc. 1836
(p. 157), talking of the identification of a Mexican animal
with the Synetheres prehensilis, says, "We do not know with
what propriety, but if correct, it is, if not a solitary
instance, at least very nearly so, of a rodent animal being
common to North and South America."
[6] See Dr. Richardson's Report, p. 157; also L'Institut,
1837, p. 253. Cuvier says the kinkajou is found in the larger
Antilles, but this is doubtful. M. Gervais states that the
Didelphis crancrivora is found there. It is certain that the
West Indies possess some mammifers peculiar to themselves. Atooth of a mastadon has been brought from Bahama; Edin. New
Phil. Journ., 1826, p. 395.
[7] See the admirable Appendix by Dr. Buckland to Beechey's
Voyage; also the writings of Chamisso in Kotzebue's Voyage.
[8] In Captain Owen's Surveying Voyage (vol. ii. p. 274)
there is a curious account of the effects of a drought on the
elephants, at Benguela (west coast of Africa). "A number of
these animals had some time since entered the town, in a body,
to possess themselves of the wells, not being able to procure
any water in the country. The inhabitants mustered, when a
desperate conflict ensued, which terminated in the ultimate
discomfiture of the invaders, but not until they had killed
one man, and wounded several others." The town is said to
have a population of nearly three thousand! Dr. Malcolmson
informs me that, during a great drought in India, the wild
animals entered the tents of some troops at Ellore, and that
a hare drank out of a vessel held by the adjutant of the
regiment.
[9] Travels, vol. i. p. 374.
[10] These droughts to a certain degree seem to be almost
periodical; I was told the dates of several others, and the
intervals were about fifteen years.
CHAPTER VIII
BANDA ORIENTAL AND PATAGONIA
Excursion to Colonia del Sacramiento -- Value of an Estancia --
Cattle, how counted -- Singular Breed of Oxen -- Perforated
Pebbles -- Shepherd Dogs -- Horses broken-in, Gauchos
riding -- Character of Inhabitants -- Rio Plata -- Flocks of
Butterflies -- Aeronaut Spiders -- Phosphorescence of the
Sea -- Port Desire -- Guanaco -- Port St. Julian -- Geology
of Patagonia -- Fossil gigantic Animal -- Types of Organization
constant -- Change in the Zoology of America -- Causes of
Extinction.
HAVING been delayed for nearly a fortnight in the
city, I was glad to escape on board a packet bound
for Monte Video. A town in a state of blockade
must always be a disagreeable place of residence; in this case
moreover there were constant apprehensions from robbers
within. The sentinels were the worst of all; for, from
their office and from having arms in their hands, they robbed
with a degree of authority which other men could not
imitate.
Our passage was a very long and tedious one. The Plata
looks like a noble estuary on the map; but is in truth a poor
affair. A wide expanse of muddy water has neither grandeur
nor beauty. At one time of the day, the two shores,
both of which are extremely low, could just be distinguished
from the deck. On arriving at Monte Video I found thatthe Beagle would not sail for some time, so I prepared for a
short excursion in this part of Banda Oriental. Everything
which I have said about the country near Maldonado is applicable
to Monte Video; but the land, with the one exception
of the Green Mount 450 feet high, from which it takes
its name, is far more level. Very little of the undulating
grassy plain is enclosed; but near the town there are a few
hedge-banks, covered with agaves, cacti, and fennel.
November 14th. -- We left Monte Video in the afternoon.
I intended to proceed to Colonia del Sacramiento, situated
on the northern bank of the Plata and opposite to Buenos
Ayres, and thence, following up the Uruguay, to the village
of Mercedes on the Rio Negro (one of the many rivers of
this name in South America), and from this point to return
direct to Monte Video. We slept at the house of my guide
at Canelones. In the morning we rose early, in the hopes
of being able to ride a good distance; but it was a vain
attempt, for all the rivers were flooded. We passed in boats
the streams of Canelones, St. Lucia, and San Jose, and thus
lost much time. On a former excursion I crossed the Lucia
near its mouth, and I was surprised to observe how easily
our horses, although not used to swim, passed over a width
of at least six hundred yards. On mentioning this at Monte
Video, I was told that a vessel containing some mountebanks
and their horses, being wrecked in the Plata, one horse
swam seven miles to the shore. In the course of the day I
was amused by the dexterity with which a Gaucho forced
a restive horse to swim a river. He stripped off his clothes,
and jumping on its back, rode into the water till it was outof its depth; then slipping off over the crupper, he caught
hold of the tail, and as often as the horse turned round
the man frightened it back by splashing water in its face.
As soon as the horse touched the bottom on the other side,
the man pulled himself on, and was firmly seated, bridle
in hand, before the horse gained the bank. A naked man
on a naked horse is a fine spectacle; I had no idea how well
the two animals suited each other. The tail of a horse is a
very useful appendage; I have passed a river in a boat with
four people in it, which was ferried across in the same way
as the Gaucho. If a man and horse have to cross a broad
river, the best plan is for the man to catch hold of the pommel
or mane, and help himself with the other arm.
We slept and stayed the following day at the post of
Cufre. In the evening the postman or letter-carrier arrived.
He was a day after his time, owing to the Rio Rozario being
flooded. It would not, however, be of much consequence;
for, although he had passed through some of the principal
towns in Banda Oriental, his luggage consisted of two letters!
The view from the house was pleasing; an undulating
green surface, with distant glimpses of the Plata. I find
that I look at this province with very different eyes from
what I did upon my first arrival. I recollect I then thought
it singularly level; but now, after galloping over the Pampas,
my only surprise is, what could have induced me ever
to call it level. The country is a series of undulations, in
themselves perhaps not absolutely great, but, as compared
to the plains of St. Fe, real mountains. From these
inequalities there is an abundance of small rivulets, andthe turf is green and luxuriant.
November 17th. -- We crossed the Rozario, which was
deep and rapid, and passing the village of Colla, arrived
at midday at Colonia del Sacramiento. The distance is
twenty leagues, through a country covered with fine grass,
but poorly stocked with cattle or inhabitants. I was invited
to sleep at Colonia, and to accompany on the following
day a gentleman to his estancia, where there were some
limestone rocks. The town is built on a stony promontory
something in the same manner as at Monte Video. It is
strongly fortified, but both fortifications and town suffered
much in the Brazilian war. It is very ancient; and the
irregularity of the streets, and the surrounding groves of
old orange and peach trees, gave it a pretty appearance.
The church is a curious ruin; it was used as a powder-
magazine, and was struck by lightning in one of the ten
thousand thunderstorms of the Rio Plata. Two-thirds of
the building were blown away to the very foundation; and
the rest stands a shattered and curious monument of the
united powers of lightning and gunpowder. In the evening
I wandered about the half-demolished walls of the town. It
was the chief seat of the Brazilian war; -- a war most injurious
to this country, not so much in its immediate effects,
as in being the origin of a multitude of generals and all
other grades of officers. More generals are numbered (but
not paid) in the United Provinces of La Plata than in the
United Kingdom of Great Britain. These gentlemen have
learned to like power, and do not object to a little
skirmishing. Hence there are many always on the watch tocreate disturbance and to overturn a government which as yet
has never rested on any staple foundation. I noticed, however,
both here and in other places, a very general interest
in the ensuing election for the President; and this appears
a good sign for the prosperity of this little country. The
inhabitants do not require much education in their
representatives; I heard some men discussing the merits of those
for Colonia; and it was said that, "although they were not
men of business, they could all sign their names:" with this
they seemed to think every reasonable man ought to be
satisfied.
18th. -- Rode with my host to his estancia, at the Arroyo
de San Juan. In the evening we took a ride round the
estate: it contained two square leagues and a half, and was
situated in what is called a rincon; that is, one side was
fronted by the Plata, and the two others guarded by impassable
brooks. There was an excellent port for little vessels,
and an abundance of small wood, which is valuable
as supplying fuel to Buenos Ayres. I was curious to know
the value of so complete an estancia. Of cattle there were
3000, and it would well support three or four times that
number; of mares 800, together with 150 broken-in horses,
and 600 sheep. There was plenty of water and limestone,
a rough house, excellent corrals, and a peach orchard. For
all this he had been offered 2000 Pounds, and he only wanted
500 Pounds additional, and probably would sell it for less. The
chief trouble with an estancia is driving the cattle twice a
week to a central spot, in order to make them tame, and to count
them. This latter operation would be thought difficult,where there are ten or fifteen thousand head together. It
is managed on the principle that the cattle invariably divide
themselves into little troops of from forty to one hundred.
Each troop is recognized by a few peculiarly marked
animals, and its number is known: so that, one being lost
out of ten thousand, it is perceived by its absence from one
of the tropillas. During a stormy night the cattle all mingle
together; but the next morning the tropillas separate as
before; so that each animal must know its fellow out of ten
thousand others.
On two occasions I met with in this province some oxen
of a very curious breed, called nata or niata. They appear
externally to hold nearly the same relation to other cattle,
which bull or pug dogs do to other dogs. Their forehead
is very short and broad, with the nasal end turned up, and
the upper lip much drawn back; their lower jaws project
beyond the upper, and have a corresponding upward curve;
hence their teeth are always exposed. Their nostrils are
seated high up and are very open; their eyes project outwards.
When walking they carry their heads low, on a short
neck; and their hinder legs are rather longer compared
with the front legs than is usual. Their bare teeth, their
short heads, and upturned nostrils give them the most ludicrous
self-confident air of defiance imaginable.
Since my return, I have procured a skeleton head,
through the kindness of my friend Captain Sulivan, R. N.,
which is now deposited in the College of Surgeons. [1] Don
F. Muniz, of Luxan, has kindly collected for me all theinformation which he could respecting this breed. From his
account it seems that about eighty or ninety years ago, they
were rare and kept as curiosities at Buenos Ayres. The
breed is universally believed to have originated amongst
the Indians southward of the Plata; and that it was with
them the commonest kind. Even to this day, those reared
in the provinces near the Plata show their less civilized
origin, in being fiercer than common cattle, and in the cow
easily deserting her first calf, if visited too often or
molested. It is a singular fact that an almost similar structure
to the abnormal [2] one of the niata breed, characterizes, as I
am informed by Dr. Falconer, that great extinct ruminant
of India, the Sivatherium. The breed is very _true_; and a
niata bull and cow invariably produce niata calves. A niata
bull with a common cow, or the reverse cross, produces offspring
having an intermediate character, but with the niata
characters strongly displayed: according to Senor Muniz,
there is the clearest evidence, contrary to the common belief
of agriculturists in analogous cases, that the niata cow when
crossed with a common bull transmits her peculiarities more
strongly than the niata bull when crossed with a common
cow. When the pasture is tolerably long, the niata cattle
feed with the tongue and palate as well as common cattle;
but during the great droughts, when so many animals perish,
the niata breed is under a great disadvantage, and would
be exterminated if not attended to; for the common cattle,
like horses, are able just to keep alive, by browsing with
their lips on twigs of trees and reeds; this the niatas cannot
so well do, as their lips do not join, and hence they are found
to perish before the common cattle. This strikes me as agood illustration of how little we are able to judge from the
ordinary habits of life, on what circumstances, occurring
only at long intervals, the rarity or extinction of a species
may be determined.
November 19th. -- Passing the valley of Las Vacas, we
slept at a house of a North American, who worked a lime-
kiln on the Arroyo de las Vivoras. In the morning we rode
to a protecting headland on the banks of the river, called
Punta Gorda. On the way we tried to find a jaguar. There
were plenty of fresh tracks, and we visited the trees, on
which they are said to sharpen their claws; but we did not
succeed in disturbing one. From this point the Rio Uruguay
presented to our view a noble volume of water. From
the clearness and rapidity of the stream, its appearance was
far superior to that of its neighbour the Parana. On the
opposite coast, several branches from the latter river entered
the Uruguay. As the sun was shining, the two colours of
the waters could be seen quite distinct.
In the evening we proceeded on our road towards Mercedes
on the Rio Negro. At night we asked permission to
sleep at an estancia at which we happened to arrive. It was
a very large estate, being ten leagues square, and the owner
is one of the greatest landowners in the country. His nephew
had charge of it, and with him there was a captain in
the army, who the other day ran away from Buenos Ayres.
Considering their station, their conversation was rather
amusing. They expressed, as was usual, unbounded astonishment
at the globe being round, and could scarcely creditthat a hole would, if deep enough, come out on the other
side. They had, however, heard of a country where there
were six months of light and six of darkness, and where
the inhabitants were very tall and thin! They were curious
about the price and condition of horses and cattle in England.
Upon finding out we did not catch our animals with
the lazo, they cried out, "Ah, then, you use nothing but
the bolas:" the idea of an enclosed country was quite new
to them. The captain at last said, he had one question to
ask me, which he should be very much obliged if I would
answer with all truth. I trembled to think how deeply scientific
it would be: it was, "Whether the ladies of Buenos
Ayres were not the handsomest in the world." I replied, like
a renegade, "Charmingly so." He added, "I have one other
question: Do ladies in any other part of the world wear
such large combs?" I solemnly assured him that they did
not. They were absolutely delighted. The captain exclaimed,
"Look there! a man who has seen half the world
says it is the case; we always thought so, but now we know
it." My excellent judgment in combs and beauty procured
me a most hospitable reception; the captain forced me to
take his bed, and he would sleep on his recado.
21st. -- Started at sunrise, and rode slowly during the
whole day. The geological nature of this part of the province
was different from the rest, and closely resembled that
of the Pampas. In consequence, there were immense beds
of the thistle, as well as of the cardoon: the whole country,
indeed, may be called one great bed of these plants. The
two sorts grow separate, each plant in company with itsown kind. The cardoon is as high as a horse's back, but the
Pampas thistle is often higher than the crown of the rider's
head. To leave the road for a yard is out of the question;
and the road itself is partly, and in some cases entirely
closed. Pasture, of course there is none; if cattle or horses
once enter the bed, they are for the time completely lost.
Hence it is very hazardous to attempt to drive cattle at
this season of the year; for when jaded enough to face the
thistles, they rush among them, and are seen no more. In
these districts there are very few estancias, and these few
are situated in the neighbourhood of damp valleys, where
fortunately neither of these overwhelming plants can exist.
As night came on before we arrived at our journey's end,
we slept at a miserable little hovel inhabited by the poorest
people. The extreme though rather formal courtesy of our
host and hostess, considering their grade of life, was quite
delightful.
November 22nd. -- Arrived at an estancia on the Berquelo
belonging to a very hospitable Englishman, to whom I had
a letter of introduction from my friend Mr. Lumb. I stayed
here three days. One morning I rode with my host to the
Sierra del Pedro Flaco, about twenty miles up the Rio
Negro. Nearly the whole country was covered with good
though coarse grass, which was as high as a horse's belly;
yet there were square leagues without a single head of cattle.
The province of Banda Oriental, if well stocked, would support
an astonishing number of animals, at present the annual
export of hides from Monte Video amounts to three
hundred thousand; and the home consumption, from waste,is very considerable. An "estanciero" told me that he often
had to send large herds of cattle a long journey to a salting
establishment, and that the tired beasts were frequently
obliged to be killed and skinned; but that he could never
persuade the Gauchos to eat of them, and every evening
a fresh beast was slaughtered for their suppers! The view
of the Rio Negro from the Sierra was more picturesque than
any other which I saw in this province. The river, broad,
deep, and rapid, wound at the foot of a rocky precipitous
cliff: a belt of wood followed its course, and the horizon
terminated in the distant undulations of the turf-plain.
When in this neighbourhood, I several times heard of
the Sierra de las Cuentas: a hill distant many miles to the
northward. The name signifies hill of beads. I was assured
that vast numbers of little round stones, of various colours,
each with a small cylindrical hole, are found there. Formerly
the Indians used to collect them, for the purpose of
making necklaces and bracelets -- a taste, I may observe,
which is common to all savage nations, as well as to the most
polished. I did not know what to understand from this
story, but upon mentioning it at the Cape of Good Hope
to Dr. Andrew Smith, he told me that he recollected finding
on the south-eastern coast of Africa, about one hundred
miles to the eastward of St. John's river, some quartz crystals
with their edges blunted from attrition, and mixed with
gravel on the sea-beach. Each crystal was about five lines
in diameter, and from an inch to an inch and a half in
length. Many of them had a small canal extending from
one extremity to the other, perfectly cylindrical, and of asize that readily admitted a coarse thread or a piece of fine
catgut. Their colour was red or dull white. The natives
were acquainted with this structure in crystals. I have
mentioned these circumstances because, although no crystallized
body is at present known to assume this form, it may
lead some future traveller to investigate the real nature of
such stones.
While staying at this estancia, I was amused with what
I saw and heard of the shepherd-dogs of the country. [3] When
riding, it is a common thing to meet a large flock of sheep
guarded by one or two dogs, at the distance of some miles
from any house or man. I often wondered how so firm a
friendship had been established. The method of education
consists in separating the puppy, while very young, from
the bitch, and in accustoming it to its future companions.
An ewe is held three or four times a day for the little thing
to suck, and a nest of wool is made for it in the sheep-pen;
at no time is it allowed to associate with other dogs, or with
the children of the family. The puppy is, moreover, generally
castrated; so that, when grown up, it can scarcely
have any feelings in common with the rest of its kind. From
this education it has no wish to leave the flock, and just
as another dog will defend its master, man, so will these
the sheep. It is amusing to observe, when approaching a
flock, how the dog immediately advances barking, and the
sheep all close in his rear, as if round the oldest ram. These
dogs are also easily taught to bring home the flock, at a
certain hour in the evening. Their most troublesome fault,when young, is their desire of playing with the sheep; for
in their sport they sometimes gallop their poor subjects most
unmercifully.
The shepherd-dog comes to the house every day for some
meat, and as soon as it is given him, he skulks away as if
ashamed of himself. On these occasions the house-dogs are
very tyrannical, and the least of them will attack and pursue
the stranger. The minute, however, the latter has reached
the flock, he turns round and begins to bark, and then all
the house-dogs take very quickly to their heels. In a similar
manner a whole pack of the hungry wild dogs will scarcely
ever (and I was told by some never) venture to attack a
flock guarded by even one of these faithful shepherds. The
whole account appears to me a curious instance of the pliability
of the affections in the dog; and yet, whether wild or
however educated, he has a feeling of respect or fear for
those that are fulfilling their instinct of association. For
we can understand on no principle the wild dogs being
driven away by the single one with its flock, except that they
consider, from some confused notion, that the one thus
associated gains power, as if in company with its own kind.
F. Cuvier has observed that all animals that readily enter
into domestication, consider man as a member of their own
society, and thus fulfil their instinct of association. In
the above case the shepherd-dog ranks the sheep as its fellow-
brethren, and thus gains confidence; and the wild dogs,
though knowing that the individual sheep are not dogs, but
are good to eat, yet partly consent to this view when seeing
them in a flock with a shepherd-dog at their head.
One evening a "domidor" (a subduer of horses) came
for the purpose of breaking-in some colts. I will describe
the preparatory steps, for I believe they have not been
mentioned by other travellers. A troop of wild young horses
is driven into the corral, or large enclosure of stakes, and
the door is shut. We will suppose that one man alone has
to catch and mount a horse, which as yet had never felt
bridle or saddle. I conceive, except by a Gaucho, such a feat
would be utterly impracticable. The Gaucho picks out a
full-grown colt; and as the beast rushes round the circus
he throws his lazo so as to catch both the front legs. Instantly
the horse rolls over with a heavy shock, and whilst
struggling on the ground, the Gaucho, holding the lazo
tight, makes a circle, so as to catch one of the hind legs
just beneath the fetlock, and draws it close to the two front
legs: he then hitches the lazo, so that the three are bound
together. Then sitting on the horse's neck, he fixes a strong
bridle, without a bit, to the lower jaw: this he does by passing
a narrow thong through the eye-holes at the end of the
reins, and several times round both jaw and tongue. The
two front legs are now tied closely together with a strong
leathern thong, fastened by a slip-knot. The lazo, which
bound the three together, being then loosed, the horse rises
with difficulty. The Gaucho now holding fast the bridle
fixed to the lower jaw, leads the horse outside the corral. If
a second man is present (otherwise the trouble is much
greater) he holds the animal's head, whilst the first puts on
the horsecloths and saddle, and girths the whole together.
During this operation, the horse, from dread and astonishmentat thus being bound round the waist, throws himself
over and over again on the ground, and, till beaten, is
unwilling to rise. At last, when the saddling is finished, the
poor animal can hardly breathe from fear, and is white with
foam and sweat. The man now prepares to mount by pressing
heavily on the stirrup, so that the horse may not lose
its balance; and at the moment that he throws his leg over
the animal's back, he pulls the slip-knot binding the front
legs, and the beast is free. Some "domidors" pull the knot
while the animal is lying on the ground, and, standing over
the saddle, allow him to rise beneath them. The horse, wild
with dread, gives a few most violent bounds, and then starts
off at full gallop: when quite exhausted, the man, by patience,
brings him back to the corral, where, reeking hot and
scarcely alive, the poor beast is let free. Those animals
which will not gallop away, but obstinately throw themselves
on the ground, are by far the most troublesome. This process
is tremendously severe, but in two or three trials the horse
is tamed. It is not, however, for some weeks that the animal
is ridden with the iron bit and solid ring, for it must learn
to associate the will of its rider with the feel of the rein,
before the most powerful bridle can be of any service.
Animals are so abundant in these countries, that humanity
and self-interest are not closely united; therefore I
fear it is that the former is here scarcely known. One day,
riding in the Pampas with a very respectable "estanciero,"
my horse, being tired, lagged behind. The man often shouted
to me to spur him. When I remonstrated that it was a pity,
for the horse was quite exhausted, he cried out, "Why not?-- never mind -- spur him -- it is my horse." I had then some
difficulty in making him comprehend that it was for the
horse's sake, and not on his account, that I did not choose
to use my spurs. He exclaimed, with a look of great surprise,
"Ah, Don Carlos, que cosa!" It was clear that such
an idea had never before entered his head.
The Gauchos are well known to be perfect riders The
idea of being thrown, let the horse do what it likes; never
enters their head. Their criterion of a good rider is, a man
who can manage an untamed colt, or who, if his horse falls,
alights on his own feet, or can perform other such exploits.
I have heard of a man betting that he would throw his horse
down twenty times, and that nineteen times he would not
fall himself. I recollect seeing a Gaucho riding a very
stubborn horse, which three times successively reared so
high as to fall backwards with great violence. The man
judged with uncommon coolness the proper moment for
slipping off, not an instant before or after the right time;
and as soon as the horse got up, the man jumped on his back,
and at last they started at a gallop. The Gaucho never appears
to exert any muscular force. I was one day watching
a good rider, as we were galloping along at a rapid pace,
and thought to myself, "Surely if the horse starts, you
appear so careless on your seat, you must fall." At this moment,
a male ostrich sprang from its nest right beneath the
horse's nose: the young colt bounded on one side like a stag;
but as for the man, all that could be said was, that he started
and took fright with his horse.
In Chile and Peru more pains are taken with the mouth
of the horse than in La Plata, and this is evidently a
consequence of the more intricate nature of the country. In
Chile a horse is not considered perfectly broken, till he can
be brought up standing, in the midst of his full speed, on
any particular spot, -- for instance, on a cloak thrown on
the ground: or, again, he will charge a wall, and rearing,
scrape the surface with his hoofs. I have seen an animal
bounding with spirit, yet merely reined by a fore-finger and
thumb, taken at full gallop across a courtyard, and then
made to wheel round the post of a veranda with great speed,
but at so equal a distance, that the rider, with outstretched
arm, all the while kept one finger rubbing the post. Then
making a demi-volte in the air, with the other arm outstretched
in a like manner, he wheeled round, with astonishing
force, in an opposite direction.
Such a horse is well broken; and although this at first
may appear useless, it is far otherwise. It is only carrying
that which is daily necessary into perfection. When a bullock
is checked and caught by the lazo, it will sometimes
gallop round and round in a circle, and the horse being
alarmed at the great strain, if not well broken, will not
readily turn like the pivot of a wheel. In consequence many
men have been killed; for if the lazo once takes a twist
round a man's body, it will instantly, from the power of the
two opposed animals, almost cut him in twain. On the
same principle the races are managed; the course is only
two or three hundred yards long, the wish being to have
horses that can make a rapid dash. The race-horses aretrained not only to stand with their hoofs touching a line,
but to draw all four feet together, so as at the first spring
to bring into play the full action of the hind-quarters. In
Chile I was told an anecdote, which I believe was true; and
it offers a good illustration of the use of a well-broken
animal. A respectable man riding one day met two others, one
of whom was mounted on a horse, which he knew to have
been stolen from himself. He challenged them; they answered
him by drawing their sabres and giving chase. The
man, on his good and fleet beast, kept just ahead: as he
passed a thick bush he wheeled round it, and brought up
his horse to a dead check. The pursuers were obliged to
shoot on one side and ahead. Then instantly dashing on,
right behind them, he buried his knife in the back of one,
wounded the other, recovered his horse from the dying
robber, and rode home. For these feats of horsemanship
two things are necessary: a most severe bit, like the Mameluke,
the power of which, though seldom used, the horse
knows full well; and large blunt spurs, that can be applied
either as a mere touch, or as an instrument of extreme pain.
I conceive that with English spurs, the slightest touch of
which pricks the skin, it would be impossible to break in a
horse after the South American fashion.
At an estancia near Las Vacas large numbers of mares
are weekly slaughtered for the sake of their hides, although
worth only five paper dollars, or about half a crown apiece.
It seems at first strange that it can answer to kill mares
for such a trifle; but as it is thought ridiculous in this
country ever to break in or ride a mare, they are of no valueexcept for breeding. The only thing for which I ever saw
mares used, was to tread out wheat from the ear, for which
purpose they were driven round a circular enclosure, where
the wheat-sheaves were strewed. The man employed for
slaughtering the mares happened to be celebrated for his
dexterity with the lazo. Standing at the distance of twelve
yards from the mouth of the corral, he has laid a wager
that he would catch by the legs every animal, without missing
one, as it rushed past him. There was another man
who said he would enter the corral on foot, catch a mare,
fasten her front legs together, drive her out, throw her down,
kill, skin, and stake the hide for drying (which latter is a
tedious job); and he engaged that he would perform this
whole operation on twenty-two animals in one day. Or he
would kill and take the skin off fifty in the same time. This
would have been a prodigious task, for it is considered a
good day's work to skin and stake the hides of fifteen or
sixteen animals.
November 26th. -- I set out on my return in a direct line
for Monte Video. Having heard of some giant's bones at
a neighbouring farm-house on the Sarandis, a small stream
entering the Rio Negro, I rode there accompanied by my
host, and purchased for the value of eighteen pence the head
of the Toxodon. [4] When found it was quite perfect; but
the boys knocked out some of the teeth with stones, and then
set up the head as a mark to throw at. By a most fortunate
chance I found a perfect tooth, which exactly fitted one of
the sockets in this skull, embedded by itself on the banks
of the Rio Tercero, at the distance of about 180 miles fromthis place. I found remains of this extraordinary animal
at two other places, so that it must formerly have been common.
I found here, also, some large portions of the armour
of a gigantic armadillo-like animal, and part of the great
head of a Mylodon. The bones of this head are so fresh,
that they contain, according to the analysis by Mr. T. Reeks,
seven per cent of animal matter; and when placed in a
spirit-lamp, they burn with a small flame. The number
of the remains embedded in the grand estuary deposit which
forms the Pampas and covers the granitic rocks of Banda
Oriental, must be extraordinarily great. I believe a straight
line drawn in any direction through the Pampas would cut
through some skeleton or bones. Besides those which I
found during my short excursions, I heard of many others,
and the origin of such names as "the stream of the animal,"
"the hill of the giant," is obvious. At other times I heard
of the marvellous property of certain rivers, which had the
power of changing small bones into large; or, as some
maintained, the bones themselves grew. As far as I am aware,
not one of these animals perished, as was formerly supposed,
in the marshes or muddy river-beds of the present land, but
their bones have been exposed by the streams intersecting the
subaqueous deposit in which they were originally embedded.
We may conclude that the whole area of the Pampas is one
wide sepulchre of these extinct gigantic quadrupeds.
By the middle of the day, on the 28th, we arrived at
Monte Video, having been two days and a half on the road.
The country for the whole way was of a very uniform character,
some parts being rather more rocky and hilly thannear the Plata. Not far from Monte Video we passed
through the village of Las Pietras, so named from some
large rounded masses of syenite. Its appearance was rather
pretty. In this country a few fig-trees round a group of
houses, and a site elevated a hundred feet above the general
level, ought always to be called picturesque.
During the last six months I have had an opportunity of
seeing a little of the character of the inhabitants of these
provinces. The Gauchos, or countryrmen, are very superior
to those who reside in the towns. The Gaucho is invariably
most obliging, polite, and hospitable: I did not meet with
even one instance of rudeness or inhospitality. He is modest,
both respecting himself and country, but at the same
time a spirited, bold fellow. On the other hand, many robberies
are committed, and there is much bloodshed: the
habit of constantly wearing the knife is the chief cause
of the latter. It is lamentable to hear how many lives are
lost in trifling quarrels. In fighting, each party tries to
mark the face of his adversary by slashing his nose or eyes;
as is often attested by deep and horrid-looking scars. Robberies
are a natural consequence of universal gambling,
much drinking, and extreme indolence. At Mercedes I asked
two men why they did not work. One gravely said the days
were too long; the other that he was too poor. The number
of horses and the profusion of food are the destruction of
all industry. Moreover, there are so many feast-days; and
again, nothing can succeed without it be begun when the
moon is on the increase; so that half the month is lost fromthese two causes.
Police and justice are quite inefficient. If a man who is
poor commits murder and is taken, he will be imprisoned,
and perhaps even shot; but if he is rich and has friends,
he may rely on it no very severe consequence will ensue.
It is curious that the most respectable inhabitants of the
country invariably assist a murderer to escape: they seem
to think that the individual sins against the government,
and not against the people. A traveller has no protection
besides his fire-arms; and the constant habit of carrying
them is the main check to more frequent robberies.
The character of the higher and more educated classes
who reside in the towns, partakes, but perhaps in a lesser
degree, of the good parts of the Gaucho, but is, I fear, stained
by many vices of which he is free. Sensuality, mockery of
all religion, and the grossest corruption, are far from
uncommon. Nearly every public officer can be bribed. The
head man in the post-office sold forged government franks.
The governor and prime minister openly combined to plunder
the state. Justice, where gold came into play, was
hardly expected by any one. I knew an Englishman, who
went to the Chief Justice (he told me, that not then
understanding the ways of the place, he trembled as he entered
the room), and said, "Sir, I have come to offer you two hundred
(paper) dollars (value about five pounds sterling) if
you will arrest before a certain time a man who has cheated
me. I know it is against the law, but my lawyer (naming
him) recommended me to take this step." The Chief Justice
smiled acquiescence, thanked him, and the man beforenight was safe in prison. With this entire want of principle
in many of the leading men, with the country full of
ill-paid turbulent officers, the people yet hope that a
democratic form of government can succeed!
On first entering society in these countries, two or three
features strike one as particularly remarkable. The polite
and dignified manners pervading every rank of life, the
excellent taste displayed by the women in their dresses, and
the equality amongst all ranks. At the Rio Colorado some
men who kept the humblest shops used to dine with General
Rosas. A son of a major at Bahia Blanca gained his
livelihood by making paper cigars, and he wished to accompany
me, as guide or servant, to Buenos Ayres, but his
father objected on the score of the danger alone. Many
officers in the army can neither read nor write, yet all meet
in society as equals. In Entre Rios, the Sala consisted of
only six representatives. One of them kept a common shop,
and evidently was not degraded by the office. All this is
what would be expected in a new country; nevertheless the
absence of gentlemen by profession appears to an Englishman
something strange.
When speaking of these countries, the manner in which
they have been brought up by their unnatural parent, Spain,
should always be borne in mind. On the whole, perhaps,
more credit is due for what has been done, than blame for
that which may be deficient. It is impossible to doubt but
that the extreme liberalism of these countries must ultimately
lead to good results. The very general toleration offoreign religions, the regard paid to the means of education,
the freedom of the press, the facilities offered to all
foreigners, and especially, as I am bound to add, to every one
professing the humblest pretensions to science, should be
recollected with gratitude by those who have visited Spanish
South America.
December 6th. -- The Beagle sailed from the Rio Plata,
never again to enter its muddy stream. Our course was
directed to Port Desire, on the coast of Patagonia. Before
proceeding any further, I will here put together a few
observations made at sea.
Several times when the ship has been some miles off the
mouth of the Plata, and at other times when off the shores
of Northern Patagonia, we have been surrounded by insects.
One evening, when we were about ten miles from the Bay
of San Blas, vast numbers of butterflies, in bands or flocks
of countless myriads, extended as far as the eye could range.
Even by the aid of a telescope it was not possible to see a
space free from butterflies. The seamen cried out "it was
snowing butterflies," and such in fact was the appearance.
More species than one were present, but the main part belonged
to a kind very similar to, but not identical with, the
common English Colias edusa. Some moths and hymenoptera
accompanied the butterflies; and a fine beetle (Calosoma)
flew on board. Other instances are known of this
beetle having been caught far out at sea; and this is the
more remarkable, as the greater number of the Carabidae
seldom or never take wing. The day had been fine and calm,and the one previous to it equally so, with light and variable
airs. Hence we cannot suppose that the insects were blown
off the land, but we must conclude that they voluntarily took
flight. The great bands of the Colias seem at first to afford
an instance like those on record of the migrations of another
butterfly, Vanessa cardui; [5] but the presence of other insects
makes the case distinct, and even less intelligible. Before
sunset a strong breeze sprung up from the north, and this
must have caused tens of thousands of the butterflies and
other insects to have perished.
On another occasion, when seventeen miles off Cape Corrientes,
I had a net overboard to catch pelagic animals.
Upon drawing it up, to my surprise, I found a considerable
number of beetles in it, and although in the open sea, they
did not appear much injured by the salt water. I lost some
of the specimens, but those which I preserved belonged
to the genera Colymbetes, Hydroporus, Hydrobius (two species),
Notaphus, Cynucus, Adimonia, and Scarabaeus. At
first I thought that these insects had been blown from the
shore; but upon reflecting that out of the eight species four
were aquatic, and two others partly so in their habits, it
appeared to me most probable that they were floated into the
sea by a small stream which drains a lake near Cape Corrientes.
On any supposition it is an interesting circumstance
to find live insects swimming in the open ocean seventeen
miles from the nearest point of land. There are several
accounts of insects having been blown off the Patagonian
shore. Captain Cook observed it, as did more lately Captain
King of the Adventure. The cause probably is due to thewant of shelter, both of trees and hills, so that an insect on
the wing with an off-shore breeze, would be very apt to
be blown out to sea. The most remarkable instance I have
known of an insect being caught far from the land, was that
of a large grasshopper (Acrydium), which flew on board,
when the Beagle was to windward of the Cape de Verd
Islands, and when the nearest point of land, not directly
opposed to the trade-wind, was Cape Blanco on the coast of
Africa, 370 miles distant. [6]
On several occasions, when the Beagle has been within
the mouth of the Plata, the rigging has been coated with
the web of the Gossamer Spider. One day (November 1st,
1832) I paid particular attention to this subject. The weather
had been fine and clear, and in the morning the air was full
of patches of the flocculent web, as on an autumnal day in
England. The ship was sixty miles distant from the land, in
the direction of a steady though light breeze. Vast numbers
of a small spider, about one-tenth of an inch in length, and of
a dusky red colour, were attached to the webs. There must
have been, I should suppose, some thousands on the ship. The
little spider, when first coming in contact with the rigging,
was always seated on a single thread, and not on the flocculent
mass. This latter seems merely to be produced by the
entanglement of the single threads. The spiders were all of
one species, but of both sexes, together with young ones.
These latter were distinguished by their smaller size and
more dusky colour. I will not give the description of this
spider, but merely state that it does not appear to me to be
included in any of Latreille's genera. The little aeronaut assoon as it arrived on board was very active, running about,
sometimes letting itself fall, and then reascending the same
thread; sometimes employing itself in making a small and
very irregular mesh in the corners between the ropes. It
could run with facility on the surface of the water. When
disturbed it lifted up its front legs, in the attitude of
attention. On its first arrival it appeared very thirsty, and
with exserted maxillae drank eagerly of drops of water, this
same circumstance has been observed by Strack: may it not be in
consequence of the little insect having passed through a dry
and rarefied atmosphere? Its stock of web seemed inexhaustible.
While watching some that were suspended by a
single thread, I several times observed that the slightest
breath of air bore them away out of sight, in a horizontal
line.
On another occasion (25th) under similar circumstances,
I repeatedly observed the same kind of small spider,
either when placed or having crawled on some little eminence,
elevate its abdomen, send forth a thread, and then
sail away horizontally, but with a rapidity which was quite
unaccountable. I thought I could perceive that the spider,
before performing the above preparatory steps, connected
its legs together with the most delicate threads, but I am not
sure whether this observation was correct.
One day, at St. Fe, I had a better opportunity of observing
some similar facts. A spider which was about three-tenths
of an inch in length, and which in its general appearance
resembled a Citigrade (therefore quite different from thegossamer), while standing on the summit of a post, darted
forth four or five threads from its spinners. These, glittering
in the sunshine, might be compared to diverging rays of
light; they were not, however, straight, but in undulations
like films of silk blown by the wind. They were more than a
yard in length, and diverged in an ascending direction from
the orifices. The spider then suddenly let go its hold of the
post, and was quickly borne out of sight. The day was hot
and apparently calm; yet under such circumstances, the
atmosphere can never be so tranquil as not to affect a vane so
delicate as the thread of a spider's web. If during a warm
day we look either at the shadow of any object cast on a
bank, or over a level plain at a distant landmark, the effect
of an ascending current of heated air is almost always evident:
such upward currents, it has been remarked, are also
shown by the ascent of soap-bubbles, which will not rise in
an in-doors room. Hence I think there is not much difficulty
in understanding the ascent of the fine lines projected from
a spider's spinners, and afterwards of the spider itself; the
divergence of the lines has been attempted to be explained, I
believe by Mr. Murray, by their similar electrical condition.
The circumstance of spiders of the same species, but of
different sexes and ages, being found on several occasions at
the distance of many leagues from the land, attached in vast
numbers to the lines, renders it probable that the habit of
sailing through the air is as characteristic of this tribe, as
that of diving is of the Argyroneta. We may then reject
Latreille's supposition, that the gossamer owes its origin
indifferently to the young of several genera of spiders:
although, as we have seen, the young of other spiders dopossess the power of performing aerial voyages. [7]
During our different passages south of the Plata, I often
towed astern a net made of bunting, and thus caught many
curious animals. Of Crustacea there were many strange
and undescribed genera. One, which in some respects is
allied to the Notopods (or those crabs which have their
posterior legs placed almost on their backs, for the purpose
of adhering to the under side of rocks), is very remarkable
from the structure of its hind pair of legs. The penultimate
joint, instead of terminating in a simple claw, ends in three
bristle-like appendages of dissimilar lengths -- the longest
equalling that of the entire leg. These claws are very thin,
and are serrated with the finest teeth, directed backwards:
their curved extremities are flattened, and on this part five
most minute cups are placed which seem to act in the same
manner as the suckers on the arms of the cuttle-fish. As
the animal lives in the open sea, and probably wants a place
of rest, I suppose this beautiful and most anomalous structure
is adapted to take hold of floating marine animals.
In deep water, far from the land, the number of living
creatures is extremely small: south of the latitude 35 degs.,
I never succeeded in catching anything besides some beroe,
and a few species of minute entomostracous crustacea.
In shoaler water, at the distance of a few miles from the
coast, very many kinds of crustacea and some other animals
are numerous, but only during the night. Between latitudes
56 and 57 degs. south of Cape Horn, the net was put
astern several times; it never, however, brought up anythingbesides a few of two extremely minute species of Entomostraca.
Yet whales and seals, petrels and albatross, are exceedingly
abundant throughout this part of the ocean. It has always
been a mystery to me on what the albatross, which lives far
from the shore, can subsist; I presume that, like the condor,
it is able to fast long; and that one good feast on the carcass
of a putrid whale lasts for a long time. The central and
intertropical parts of the Atlantic swarm with Pteropoda,
Crustacea, and Radiata, and with their devourers the flying-
fish, and again with their devourers the bonitos and albicores;
I presume that the numerous lower pelagic animals
feed on the Infusoria, which are now known, from the
researches of Ehrenberg, to abound in the open ocean: but
on what, in the clear blue water, do these Infusoria subsist?
While sailing a little south of the Plata on one very dark
night, the sea presented a wonderful and most beautiful
spectacle. There was a fresh breeze, and every part of the
surface, which during the day is seen as foam, now glowed
with a pale light. The vessel drove before her bows two
billows of liquid phosphorus, and in her wake she was followed
by a milky train. As far as the eye reached, the crest
of every wave was bright, and the sky above the horizon,
from the reflected glare of these livid flames, was not so
utterly obscure as over the vault of the heavens.
As we proceed further southward the sea is seldom
phosphorescent; and off Cape Horn I do not recollect more than
once having seen it so, and then it was far from being
brilliant. This circumstance probably has a close connectionwith the scarcity of organic beings in that part of the ocean.
After the elaborate paper, [8] by Ehrenberg, on the
phosphorescence of the sea, it is almost superfluous on my part
to make any observations on the subject. I may however
add, that the same torn and irregular particles of gelatinous
matter, described by Ehrenberg, seem in the southern as
well as in the northern hemisphere, to be the common cause
of this phenomenon. The particles were so minute as easily
to pass through fine gauze; yet many were distinctly visible
by the naked eye. The water when placed in a tumbler and
agitated, gave out sparks, but a small portion in a watch-
glass scarcely ever was luminous. Ehrenberg states that
these particles all retain a certain degree of irritability. My
observations, some of which were made directly after taking
up the water, gave a different result. I may also mention,
that having used the net during one night, I allowed it to
become partially dry, and having occasion twelve hours
afterwards to employ it again, I found the whole surface
sparkled as brightly as when first taken out of the water.
It does not appear probable in this case, that the particles
could have remained so long alive. On one occasion having
kept a jelly-fish of the genus Dianaea till it was dead, the
water in which it was placed became luminous. When the
waves scintillate with bright green sparks, I believe it is
generally owing to minute crustacea. But there can be no
doubt that very many other pelagic animals, when alive, are
phosphorescent.
On two occasions I have observed the sea luminous at
considerable depths beneath the surface. Near the mouthof the Plata some circular and oval patches, from two to
four yards in diameter, and with defined outlines, shone with
a steady but pale light; while the surrounding water only
gave out a few sparks. The appearance resembled the reflection
of the moon, or some luminous body; for the edges were
sinuous from the undulations of the surface. The ship,
which drew thirteen feet of water, passed over, without
disturbing these patches. Therefore we must suppose that some
animals were congregated together at a greater depth than
the bottom of the vessel.
Near Fernando Noronha the sea gave out light in flashes.
The appearance was very similar to that which might be
expected from a large fish moving rapidly through a luminous
fluid. To this cause the sailors attributed it; at the
time, however, I entertained some doubts, on account of the
frequency and rapidity of the flashes. I have already
remarked that the phenomenon is very much more common
in warm than in cold countries; and I have sometimes imagined
that a disturbed electrical condition of the atmosphere
was most favourable to its production. Certainly I
think the sea is most luminous after a few days of more
calm weather than ordinary, during which time it has
swarmed with various animals. Observing that the water
charged with gelatinous particles is in an impure state, and
that the luminous appearance in all common cases is produced
by the agitation of the fluid in contact with the atmosphere,
I am inclined to consider that the phosphorescence is
the result of the decomposition of the organic particles, by
which process (one is tempted almost to call it a kind ofrespiration) the ocean becomes purified.
December 23rd. -- We arrived at Port Desire, situated in
lat. 47 degs., on the coast of Patagonia. The creek runs for
about twenty miles inland, with an irregular width. The
Beagle anchored a few miles within the entrance, in front of
the ruins of an old Spanish settlement.
The same evening I went on shore. The first landing in
any new country is very interesting, and especially when, as in
this case, the whole aspect bears the stamp of a marked and
individual character. At the height of between two and
three hundred feet above some masses of porphyry a wide
plain extends, which is truly characteristic of Patagonia.
The surface is quite level, and is composed of well-rounded
shingle mixed with a whitish earth. Here and there scattered
tufts of brown wiry grass are supported, and still more
rarely, some low thorny bushes. The weather is dry and
pleasant, and the fine blue sky is but seldom obscured. When
standing in the middle of one of these desert plains and
looking towards the interior, the view is generally bounded
by the escarpment of another plain, rather higher, but equally
level and desolate; and in every other direction the horizon
is indistinct from the trembling mirage which seems to rise
from the heated surface.
In such a country the fate of the Spanish settlement was
soon decided; the dryness of the climate during the greater
part of the year, and the occasional hostile attacks of the
wandering Indians, compelled the colonists to desert theirhalf-finished buildings. The style, however, in which they
were commenced shows the strong and liberal hand of Spain
in the old time. The result of all the attempts to colonize this
side of America south of 41 degs., has been miserable. Port
Famine expresses by its name the lingering and extreme
sufferings of several hundred wretched people, of whom one
alone survived to relate their misfortunes. At St. Joseph's
Bay, on the coast of Patagonia, a small settlement was made;
but during one Sunday the Indians made an attack and massacred
the whole party, excepting two men, who remained
captives during many years. At the Rio Negro I conversed
with one of these men, now in extreme old age.
The zoology of Patagonia is as limited as its flora. [9] On
the arid plains a few black beetles (Heteromera) might be
seen slowly crawling about, and occasionally a lizard darted
from side to side. Of birds we have three carrion hawks
and in the valleys a few finches and insect-feeders. An ibis
(Theristicus melanops -- a species said to be found in central
Africa) is not uncommon on the most desert parts: in
their stomachs I found grasshoppers, cicadae, small lizards,
and even scorpions. [10] At one time of the year these birds
go in flocks, at another in pairs, their cry is very loud and
singular, like the neighing of the guanaco.
The guanaco, or wild llama, is the characteristic quadruped
of the plains of Patagonia; it is the South American
representative of the camel of the East. It is an elegant
animal in a state of nature, with a long slender neck and
fine legs. It is very common over the whole of the temperateparts of the continent, as far south as the islands near Cape
Horn. It generally lives in small herds of from half a dozen
to thirty in each; but on the banks of the St. Cruz we saw
one herd which must have contained at least five hundred.
They are generally wild and extremely wary. Mr. Stokes
told me, that he one day saw through a glass a herd of these
animals which evidently had been frightened, and were running
away at full speed, although their distance was so great
that he could not distinguish them with his naked eye. The
sportsman frequently receives the first notice of their
presence, by hearing from a long distance their peculiar shrill
neighing note of alarm. If he then looks attentively, he will
probably see the herd standing in a line on the side of some
distant hill. On approaching nearer, a few more squeals are
given, and off they set at an apparently slow, but really quick
canter, along some narrow beaten track to a neighbouring
hill. If, however, by chance he abruptly meets a single animal,
or several together, they will generally stand motionless
and intently gaze at him; then perhaps move on a few yards,
turn round, and look again. What is the cause of this difference
in their shyness? Do they mistake a man in the distance
for their chief enemy the puma? Or does curiosity
overcome their timidity? That they are curious is certain;
for if a person lies on the ground, and plays strange antics,
such as throwing up his feet in the air, they will almost
always approach by degrees to reconnoitre him. It was an
artifice that was repeatedly practised by our sportsmen with
success, and it had moreover the advantage of allowing several
shots to be fired, which were all taken as parts of theparts of the continent, as far south as the islands near Cape
Horn. It generally lives in small herds of from half a dozen
to thirty in each; but on the banks of the St. Cruz we saw
one herd which must have contained at least five hundred.
They are generally wild and extremely wary. Mr. Stokes
told me, that he one day saw through a glass a herd of these
animals which evidently had been frightened, and were running
away at full speed, although their distance was so great
that he could not distinguish them with his naked eye. The
sportsman frequently receives the first notice of their
presence, by hearing from a long distance their peculiar shrill
neighing note of alarm. If he then looks attentively, he will
probably see the herd standing in a line on the side of some
distant hill. On approaching nearer, a few more squeals are
given, and off they set at an apparently slow, but really quick
canter, along some narrow beaten track to a neighbouring
hill. If, however, by chance he abruptly meets a single animal,
or several together, they will generally stand motionless
and intently gaze at him; then perhaps move on a few yards,
turn round, and look again. What is the cause of this difference
in their shyness? Do they mistake a man in the distance
for their chief enemy the puma? Or does curiosity
overcome their timidity? That they are curious is certain;
for if a person lies on the ground, and plays strange antics,
such as throwing up his feet in the air, they will almost
always approach by degrees to reconnoitre him. It was an
artifice that was repeatedly practised by our sportsmen with
success, and it had moreover the advantage of allowing several
shots to be fired, which were all taken as parts of theparts of the continent, as far south as the islands near Cape
Horn. It generally lives in small herds of from half a dozen
to thirty in each; but on the banks of the St. Cruz we saw
one herd which must have contained at least five hundred.
They are generally wild and extremely wary. Mr. Stokes
told me, that he one day saw through a glass a herd of these
animals which evidently had been frightened, and were running
away at full speed, although their distance was so great
that he could not distinguish them with his naked eye. The
sportsman frequently receives the first notice of their
presence, by hearing from a long distance their peculiar shrill
neighing note of alarm. If he then looks attentively, he will
probably see the herd standing in a line on the side of some
distant hill. On approaching nearer, a few more squeals are
given, and off they set at an apparently slow, but really quick
canter, along some narrow beaten track to a neighbouring
hill. If, however, by chance he abruptly meets a single animal,
or several together, they will generally stand motionless
and intently gaze at him; then perhaps move on a few yards,
turn round, and look again. What is the cause of this difference
in their shyness? Do they mistake a man in the distance
for their chief enemy the puma? Or does curiosity
overcome their timidity? That they are curious is certain;
for if a person lies on the ground, and plays strange antics,
such as throwing up his feet in the air, they will almost
always approach by degrees to reconnoitre him. It was an
artifice that was repeatedly practised by our sportsmen with
success, and it had moreover the advantage of allowing several
shots to be fired, which were all taken as parts of theperformance. On the mountains of Tierra del Fuego, I have
more than once seen a guanaco, on being approached, not
only neigh and squeal, but prance and leap about in the most
ridiculous manner, apparently in defiance as a challenge.
These animals are very easily domesticated, and I have seen
some thus kept in northern Patagonia near a house, though
not under any restraint. They are in this state very bold, and
readily attack a man by striking him from behind with both
knees. It is asserted that the motive for these attacks is
jealousy on account of their females. The wild guanacos,
however, have no idea of defence; even a single dog will
secure one of these large animals, till the huntsman can come
up. In many of their habits they are like sheep in a flock.
Thus when they see men approaching in several directions
on horseback, they soon become bewildered, and know not
which way to run. This greatly facilitates the Indian method
of hunting, for they are thus easily driven to a central point,
and are encompassed.
The guanacos readily take to the water: several times at
Port Valdes they were seen swimming from island to island.
Byron, in his voyage says he saw them drinking salt water.
Some of our officers likewise saw a herd apparently drinking
the briny fluid from a salina near Cape Blanco. I imagine
in several parts of the country, if they do not drink salt
water, they drink none at all. In the middle of the day they
frequently roll in the dust, in saucer-shaped hollows. The
males fight together; two one day passed quite close to me,
squealing and trying to bite each other; and several were
shot with their hides deeply scored. Herds sometimes appearto set out on exploring parties: at Bahia Blanca, where,
within thirty miles of the coast, these animals are extremely
unfrequent, I one day saw the tracks of thirty or forty, which
had come in a direct line to a muddy salt-water creek. They
then must have perceived that they were approaching the
sea, for they had wheeled with the regularity of cavalry, and
had returned back in as straight a line as they had advanced.
The guanacos have one singular habit, which is to me quite
inexplicable; namely, that on successive days they drop their
dung in the same defined heap. I saw one of these heaps
which was eight feet in diameter, and was composed of a
large quantity. This habit, according to M. A. d'Orbigny, is
common to all the species of the genus; it is very useful to
the Peruvian Indians, who use the dung for fuel, and are
thus saved the trouble of collecting it.
The guanacos appear to have favourite spots for lying
down to die. On the banks of the St. Cruz, in certain
circumscribed spaces, which were generally bushy and all near
the river, the ground was actually white with bones. On one
such spot I counted between ten and twenty heads. I particularly
examined the bones; they did not appear, as some
scattered ones which I had seen, gnawed or broken, as if
dragged together by beasts of prey. The animals in most
cases must have crawled, before dying, beneath and amongst
the bushes. Mr. Bynoe informs me that during a former
voyage he observed the same circumstance on the banks of
the Rio Gallegos. I do not at all understand the reason of
this, but I may observe, that the wounded guanacos at the
St. Cruz invariably walked towards the river. At St. Jagoin the Cape de Verd Islands, I remember having seen in a
ravine a retired corner covered with bones of the goat; we
at the time exclaimed that it was the burial ground of all the
goats in the island. I mention these trifling circumstances,
because in certain cases they might explain the occurrence
of a number of uninjured bones in a cave, or buried under
alluvial accumulations; and likewise the cause why certain
animals are more commonly embedded than others in sedimentary
deposits.
One day the yawl was sent under the command of Mr.
Chaffers with three days' provisions to survey the upper part
of the harbour. In the morning we searched for some
watering-places mentioned in an old Spanish chart. We found one
creek, at the head of which there was a trickling rill (the
first we had seen) of brackish water. Here the tide compelled
us to wait several hours; and in the interval I walked
some miles into the interior. The plain as usual consisted
of gravel, mingled with soil resembling chalk in appearance,
but very different from it in nature. From the softness of
these materials it was worn into many gulleys. There was
not a tree, and, excepting the guanaco, which stood on the
hill-top a watchful sentinel over its herd, scarcely an animal
or a bird. All was stillness and desolation. Yet in passing
over these scenes, without one bright object near, an
ill-defined but strong sense of pleasure is vividly excited.
One asked how many ages the plain had thus lasted, and how
many more it was doomed thus to continue.
"None can reply -- all seems eternal now.The wilderness has a mysterious tongue,
Which teaches awful doubt." [11]
In the evening we sailed a few miles further up, and then
pitched the tents for the night. By the middle of the next
day the yawl was aground, and from the shoalness of the
water could not proceed any higher. The water being found
partly fresh, Mr. Chaffers took the dingey and went up two
or three miles further, where she also grounded, but in a
fresh-water river. The water was muddy, and though the
stream was most insignificant in size, it would be difficult to
account for its origin, except from the melting snow on the
Cordillera. At the spot where we bivouacked, we were surrounded
by bold cliffs and steep pinnacles of porphyry. I do
not think I ever saw a spot which appeared more secluded
from the rest of the world, than this rocky crevice in the
wide plain.
The second day after our return to the anchorage, a party
of officers and myself went to ransack an old Indian grave,
which I had found on the summit of a neighbouring hill.
Two immense stones, each probably weighing at least a
couple of tons, had been placed in front of a ledge of rock
about six feet high. At the bottom of the grave on the hard
rock there was a layer of earth about a foot deep, which
must have been brought up from the plain below. Above it a
pavement of flat stones was placed, on which others were
piled, so as to fill up the space between the ledge and the two
great blocks. To complete the grave, the Indians had contrived
to detach from the ledge a huge fragment, and tothrow it over the pile so as to rest on the two blocks. We
undermined the grave on both sides, but could not find any
relics, or even bones. The latter probably had decayed long
since (in which case the grave must have been of extreme
antiquity), for I found in another place some smaller heaps
beneath which a very few crumbling fragments could yet be
distinguished as having belonged to a man. Falconer states,
that where an Indian dies he is buried, but that subsequently
his bones are carefully taken up and carried, let the distance
be ever so great, to be deposited near the sea-coast. This
custom, I think, may be accounted for by recollecting, that
before the introduction of horses, these Indians must have
led nearly the same life as the Fuegians now do, and therefore
generally have resided in the neighbourhood of the sea.
The common prejudice of lying where one's ancestors have
lain, would make the now roaming Indians bring the less
perishable part of their dead to their ancient burial-ground
on the coast.
January 9th, 1834. -- Before it was dark the Beagle anchored
in the fine spacious harbour of Port St. Julian, situated
about one hundred and ten miles to the south of Port Desire.
We remained here eight days. The country is nearly similar
to that of Port Desire, but perhaps rather more sterile. One
day a party accompanied Captain Fitz Roy on a long walk
round the head of the harbour. We were eleven hours without
tasting any water, and some of the party were quite
exhausted. From the summit of a hill (since well named
Thirsty Hill) a fine lake was spied, and two of the party
proceeded with concerted signals to show whether it was freshwater. What was our disappointment to find a snow-white
expanse of salt, crystallized in great cubes! We attributed
our extreme thirst to the dryness of the atmosphere; but
whatever the cause might be, we were exceedingly glad late
in the evening to get back to the boats. Although we could
nowhere find, during our whole visit, a single drop of fresh
water, yet some must exist; for by an odd chance I found on
the surface of the salt water, near the head of the bay, a
Colymbetes not quite dead, which must have lived in some
not far distant pool. Three other insects (a Cincindela, like
hybrida, a Cymindis, and a Harpalus, which all live on muddy
flats occasionally overflowed by the sea), and one other
found dead on the plain, complete the list of the beetles. A
good-sized fly (Tabanus) was extremely numerous, and tormented
us by its painful bite. The common horsefly, which
is so troublesome in the shady lanes of England, belongs to
this same genus. We here have the puzzle that so frequently
occurs in the case of musquitoes -- on the blood of what
animals do these insects commonly feed? The guanaco is
nearly the only warm-blooded quadruped, and it is found in
quite inconsiderable numbers compared with the multitude
of flies.
The geology of Patagonia is interesting. Differently from
Europe, where the tertiary formations appear to have accumulated
in bays, here along hundreds of miles of coast we
have one great deposit, including many tertiary shells, all
apparently extinct. The most common shell is a massive
gigantic oyster, sometimes even a foot in diameter. These
beds are covered by others of a peculiar soft white stone,including much gypsum, and resembling chalk, but really of
a pumiceous nature. It is highly remarkable, from being
composed, to at least one-tenth of its bulk, of Infusoria.
Professor Ehrenberg has already ascertained in it thirty
oceanic forms. This bed extends for 500 miles along the coast,
and probably for a considerably greater distance. At Port
St. Julian its thickness is more than 800 feet! These white
beds are everywhere capped by a mass of gravel, forming
probably one of the largest beds of shingle in the world: it
certainly extends from near the Rio Colorado to between 600
and 700 nautical miles southward, at Santa Cruz (a river a
little south of St. Julian), it reaches to the foot of the
Cordillera; half way up the river, its thickness is more than
200 feet; it probably everywhere extends to this great chain,
whence the well-rounded pebbles of porphyry have been
derived: we may consider its average breadth as 200 miles,
and its average thickness as about 50 feet. If this great bed
of pebbles, without including the mud necessarily derived
from their attrition, was piled into a mound, it would form a
great mountain chain! When we consider that all these
pebbles, countless as the grains of sand in the desert, have
been derived from the slow falling of masses of rock on the
old coast-lines and banks of rivers, and that these fragments
have been dashed into smaller pieces, and that each of them
has since been slowly rolled, rounded, and far transported
the mind is stupefied in thinking over the long, absolutely
necessary, lapse of years. Yet all this gravel has been
transported, and probably rounded, subsequently to the
deposition of the white beds, and long subsequently to the
underlying beds with the tertiary shells.
Everything in this southern continent has been effected
on a grand scale: the land, from the Rio Plata to Tierra del
Fuego, a distance of 1200 miles, has been raised in mass (and
in Patagonia to a height of between 300 and 400 feet), within
the period of the now existing sea-shells. The old and
weathered shells left on the surface of the upraised plain still
partially retain their colours. The uprising movement has
been interrupted by at least eight long periods of rest, during
which the sea ate, deeply back into the land, forming at
successive levels the long lines of cliffs, or escarpments,
which separate the different plains as they rise like steps one
behind the other. The elevatory movement, and the eating-back
power of the sea during the periods of rest, have been
equable over long lines of coast; for I was astonished to
find that the step-like plains stand at nearly corresponding
heights at far distant points. The lowest plain is 90 feet
high; and the highest, which I ascended near the coast, is
950 feet; and of this, only relics are left in the form of flat
gravel-capped hills. The upper plain of Santa Cruz slopes
up to a height of 3000 feet at the foot of the Cordillera. I
have said that within the period of existing sea-shells,
Patagonia has been upraised 300 to 400 feet: I may add, that
within the period when icebergs transported boulders over
the upper plain of Santa Cruz, the elevation has been at least
1500 feet. Nor has Patagonia been affected only by upward
movements: the extinct tertiary shells from Port St. Julian
and Santa Cruz cannot have lived, according to Professor E.
Forbes, in a greater depth of water than from 40 to 250 feet;
but they are now covered with sea-deposited strata from 800to 1000 feet in thickness: hence the bed of the sea, on which
these shells once lived, must have sunk downwards several
hundred feet, to allow of the accumulation of the superincumbent
strata. What a history of geological changes does the
simply-constructed coast of Patagonia reveal!
At Port St. Julian, [12] in some red mud capping the gravel
on the 90-feet plain, I found half the skeleton of the
Macrauchenia Patachonica, a remarkable quadruped, full as large
as a camel. It belongs to the same division of the Pachydermata
with the rhinoceros, tapir, and palaeotherium; but
in the structure of the bones of its long neck it shows a clear
relation to the camel, or rather to the guanaco and llama.
From recent sea-shells being found on two of the higher
step-formed plains, which must have been modelled and
upraised before the mud was deposited in which the Macrauchenia
was entombed, it is certain that this curious quadruped
lived long after the sea was inhabited by its present
shells. I was at first much surprised how a large quadruped
could so lately have subsisted, in lat. 49 degs. 15', on these
wretched gravel plains, with their stunted vegetation; but
the relationship of the Macrauchenia to the Guanaco, now
an inhabitant of the most sterile parts, partly explains this
difficulty.
The relationship, though distant, between the Macrauchenia
and the Guanaco, between the Toxodon and the
Capybara, -- the closer relationship between the many extinct
Edentata and the living sloths, ant-eaters, and armadillos,
now so eminently characteristic of South American zoology,-- and the still closer relationship between the fossil and
living species of Ctenomys and Hydrochaerus, are most
interesting facts. This relationship is shown wonderfully -- as
wonderfully as between the fossil and extinct Marsupial
animals of Australia -- by the great collection lately brought
to Europe from the caves of Brazil by MM. Lund and Clausen.
In this collection there are extinct species of all the
thirty-two genera, excepting four, of the terrestrial quadrupeds
now inhabiting the provinces in which the caves occur;
and the extinct species are much more numerous than those
now living: there are fossil ant-eaters, armadillos, tapirs,
peccaries, guanacos, opossums, and numerous South American
gnawers and monkeys, and other animals. This wonderful
relationship in the same continent between the dead and
the living, will, I do not doubt, hereafter throw more light
on the appearance of organic beings on our earth, and their
disappearance from it, than any other class of facts.
It is impossible to reflect on the changed state of the
American continent without the deepest astonishment. Formerly
it must have swarmed with great monsters: now we
find mere pigmies, compared with the antecedent, allied
races. If Buffon had known of the gigantic sloth and
armadillo-like animals, and of the lost Pachydermata, he might
have said with a greater semblance of truth that the creative
force in America had lost its power, rather than that it had
never possessed great vigour. The greater number, if not all,
of these extinct quadrupeds lived at a late period, and were
the contemporaries of most of the existing sea-shells. Since
they lived, no very great change in the form of the land canhave taken place. What, then, has exterminated so many
species and whole genera? The mind at first is irresistibly
hurried into the belief of some great catastrophe; but thus
to destroy animals, both large and small, in Southern Patagonia,
in Brazil, on the Cordillera of Peru, in North America
up to Behring's Straits, we must shake the entire framework
of the globe. An examination, moreover, of the geology of
La Plata and Patagonia, leads to the belief that all the
features of the land result from slow and gradual changes. It
appears from the character of the fossils in Europe, Asia,
Australia, and in North and South America, that those conditions
which favour the life of the _larger_ quadrupeds were
lately co-extensive with the world: what those conditions
were, no one has yet even conjectured. It could hardly have
been a change of temperature, which at about the same time
destroyed the inhabitants of tropical, temperate, and arctic
latitudes on both sides of the globe. In North America we
positively know from Mr. Lyell, that the large quadrupeds
lived subsequently to that period, when boulders were
brought into latitudes at which icebergs now never arrive:
from conclusive but indirect reasons we may feel sure, that
in the southern hemisphere the Macrauchenia, also, lived
long subsequently to the ice-transporting boulder-period. Did
man, after his first inroad into South America, destroy, as
has been suggested, the unwieldy Megatherium and the
other Edentata? We must at least look to some other cause
for the destruction of the little tucutuco at Bahia Blanca, and
of the many fossil mice and other small quadrupeds in
Brazil. No one will imagine that a drought, even far severer
than those which cause such losses in the provinces of LaPlata, could destroy every individual of every species from
Southern Patagonia to Behring's Straits. What shall we say
of the extinction of the horse? Did those plains fail of
pasture, which have since been overrun by thousands and hundreds
of thousands of the descendants of the stock introduced
by the Spaniards? Have the subsequently introduced
species consumed the food of the great antecedent races?
Can we believe that the Capybara has taken the food of the
Toxodon, the Guanaco of the Macrauchenia, the existing
small Edentata of their numerous gigantic prototypes? Certainly,
no fact in the long history of the world is so startling
as the wide and repeated exterminations of its inhabitants.
Nevertheless, if we consider the subject under another
point of view, it will appear less perplexing. We do not
steadily bear in mind, how profoundly ignorant we are of the
conditions of existence of every animal; nor do we always
remember, that some check is constantly preventing the too
rapid increase of every organized being left in a state of
nature. The supply of food, on an average, remains constant, yet
the tendency in every animal to increase by propagation is
geometrical; and its surprising effects have nowhere been
more astonishingly shown, than in the case of the European
animals run wild during the last few centuries in America.
Every animal in a state of nature regularly breeds; yet in a
species long established, any _great_ increase in numbers is
obviously impossible, and must be checked by some means.
We are, nevertheless, seldom able with certainty to tell in
any given species, at what period of life, or at what period
of the year, or whether only at long intervals, the checkfalls; or, again, what is the precise nature of the check.
Hence probably it is, that we feel so little surprise at one, of
two species closely allied in habits, being rare and the other
abundant in the same district; or, again, that one should be
abundant in one district, and another, filling the same place
in the economy of nature, should be abundant in a neighbouring
district, differing very little in its conditions. If asked
how this is, one immediately replies that it is determined by
some slight difference, in climate, food, or the number of
enemies: yet how rarely, if ever, we can point out the precise
cause and manner of action of the check! We are
therefore, driven to the conclusion, that causes generally
quite inappreciable by us, determine whether a given species
shall be abundant or scanty in numbers.
In the cases where we can trace the extinction of a
species through man, either wholly or in one limited district,
we know that it becomes rarer and rarer, and is then lost:
it would be difficult to point out any just distinction [13]
between a species destroyed by man or by the increase of its
natural enemies. The evidence of rarity preceding extinction,
is more striking in the successive tertiary strata, as remarked
by several able observers; it has often been found that a shell
very common in a tertiary stratum is now most rare, and has
even long been thought extinct. If then, as appears probable,
species first become rare and then extinct -- if the too rapid
increase of every species, even the most favoured, is steadily
checked, as we must admit, though how and when it is hard to
say -- and if we see, without the smallest surprise, though
unable to assign the precise reason, one species abundantand another closely allied species rare in the same district --
why should we feel such great astonishment at the rarity being
carried one step further to extinction? An action going on,
on every side of us, and yet barely appreciable, might surely
be carried a little further, without exciting our observation.
Who would feel any great surprise at hearing that the Magalonyx
was formerly rare compared with the Megatherium, or that one of
the fossil monkeys was few in number compared with one of the
now living monkeys? and yet in this comparative rarity, we
should have the plainest evidence of less favourable conditions
for their existence. To admit that species generally become
rare before they become extinct -- to feel no surprise at the
comparative rarity of one species with another, and yet to
call in some extraordinary agent and to marvel greatly when
a species ceases to exist, appears to me much the same as
to admit that sickness in the individual is the prelude to
death -- to feel no surprise at sickness -- but when the
sick man dies to wonder, and to believe that he died through
violence.
[1] Mr. Waterhouse has drawn up a detailed description of this
head, which I hope he will publish in some Journal.
[2] A nearly similar abnormal, but I do not know whether
hereditary, structure has been observed in the carp, and
likewise in the crocodile of the Ganges: Histoire des Anomalies,
par M. Isid. Geoffroy St. Hilaire, tom. i. p. 244.
[3] M. A. d'Orbigny has given nearly a similar account of these
dogs, tom. i. p. 175.
[4] I must express my obligations to Mr. Keane, at whose house
I was staying on the Berquelo, and to Mr. Lumb at Buenos Ayres,
for without their assistance these valuable remains would never
have reached England.
[5] Lyell's Principles of Geology, vol. iii. p. 63.
[6] The flies which frequently accompany a ship for some days
on its passage from harbour to harbour, wandering from the
vessel, are soon lost, and all disappear.
[7] Mr. Blackwall, in his Researches in Zoology, has many
excellent observations on the habits of spiders.
[8] An abstract is given in No. IV. of the Magazine of Zoology
and Botany.
[9] I found here a species of cactus, described by Professor
Henslow, under the name of Opuntia Darwinii (Magazine of
Zoology and Botany, vol. i. p. 466), which was remarkable
for the irritability of the stamens, when I inserted either a
piece of stick or the end of my finger in the flower. The
segments of the perianth also closed on the pistil, but more
slowly than the stamens. Plants of this family, generally
considered as tropical, occur in North America (Lewis and
Clarke's Travels, p. 221), in the same high latitude as here,
namely, in both cases, in 47 degs.
[10] These insects were not uncommon beneath stones. I foundone cannibal scorpion quietly devouring another.
[11] Shelley, Lines on Mt. Blanc.
[12] I have lately heard that Capt. Sulivan, R.N., has found
numerous fossil bones, embedded in regular strata, on the banks
of the R. Gallegos, in lat. 51 degs. 4'. Some of the bones
are large; others are small, and appear to have belonged to
an armadillo. This is a most interesting and important
discovery.
[13] See the excellent remarks on this subject by Mr. Lyell,
in his Principles of Geology.
CHAPTER IX
SANTA CRUZ, PATAGONIA, AND THE FALKLAND ISLANDS
Santa Cruz -- Expedition up the River -- Indians -- Immense
Streams of Basaltic Lava -- Fragments not transported by the
River -- Excavations of the Valley -- Condor, Habits of --
Cordillera -- Erratic Boulders of great size -- Indian Relics --
Return to the Ship -- Falkland Islands -- Wild Horses, Cattle,
Rabbits -- Wolf-like Fox -- Fire made of Bones -- Manner of
Hunting Wild Cattle -- Geology -- Streams of Stones -- Scenes
of Violence -- Penguins -- Geese -- Eggs of Doris -- Compound
Animals.
APRIL 13, 1834. -- The Beagle anchored within the mouth of the
Santa Cruz. This river is situated about sixty miles south of
Port St. Julian. During the last voyage Captain Stokes proceeded
thirty miles up it, but then, from the want of provisions, was
obliged to return. Excepting what was discovered at that time,
scarcely anything was known about this large river. Captain Fitz
Roy now determined to follow its course as far as time would
allow. On the 18th three whale-boats started, carrying three
weeks' provisions; and the party consisted of twenty-five
souls -- a force which would have been sufficient to have
defied a host of Indians. With a strong flood-tide and a fine
day we made a good run, soon drank some of the fresh water,
and were at night nearly above the tidal influence.
The river here assumed a size and appearance which, even at
the highest point we ultimately reached, was scarcely
diminished. It was generally from three to four hundred yards
broad, and in the middle about seventeen feet deep. The
rapidity of the current, which in its whole course runs at
the rate of from four to six knots an hour, is perhaps its
most remarkable feature. The water is of a fine blue colour,
but with a slight milky tinge, and not so transparent as at
first sight would have been expected. It flows over a bed of
pebbles, like those which compose the beach and the surrounding
plains. It runs in a winding course through a
valley, which extends in a direct line westward. This valley
varies from five to ten miles in breadth; it is bounded by
step-formed terraces, which rise in most parts, one above the
other, to the height of five hundred feet, and have on theopposite sides a remarkable correspondence.
April 19th. -- Against so strong a current it was, of
course, quite impossible to row or sail: consequently the
three boats were fastened together head and stern, two hands
left in each, and the rest came on shore to track. As the
general arrangements made by Captain Fitz Roy were very
good for facilitating the work of all, and as all had a share
in it, I will describe the system. The party including every
one, was divided into two spells, each of which hauled at the
tracking line alternately for an hour and a half. The officers
of each boat lived with, ate the same food, and slept
in the same tent with their crew, so that each boat was
quite independent of the others. After sunset the first level
spot where any bushes were growing, was chosen for our
night's lodging. Each of the crew took it in turns to be
cook. Immediately the boat was hauled up, the cook made
his fire; two others pitched the tent; the coxswain handed
the things out of the boat; the rest carried them up to the
tents and collected firewood. By this order, in half an hour
everything was ready for the night. A watch of two men
and an officer was always kept, whose duty it was to look
after the boats, keep up the fire, and guard against Indians.
Each in the party had his one hour every night.
During this day we tracked but a short distance, for there
were many islets, covered by thorny bushes, and the channels
between them were shallow.
April 20th. -- We passed the islands and set to work. Ourregular day's march, although it was hard enough, carried
us on an average only ten miles in a straight line, and perhaps
fifteen or twenty altogether. Beyond the place where
we slept last night, the country is completely _terra incognita_,
for it was there that Captain Stokes turned back. We saw
in the distance a great smoke, and found the skeleton of a
horse, so we knew that Indians were in the neighbourhood.
On the next morning (21st) tracks of a party of horse
and marks left by the trailing of the chuzos, or long spears,
were observed on the ground. It was generally thought
that the Indians had reconnoitred us during the night.
Shortly afterwards we came to a spot where, from the fresh
footsteps of men, children, and horses, it was evident that
the party had crossed the river.
April 22nd. -- The country remained the same, and was
extremely uninteresting. The complete similarity of the
productions throughout Patagonia is one of its most striking
characters. The level plains of arid shingle support
the same stunted and dwarf plants; and in the valleys the
same thorn-bearing bushes grow. Everywhere we see the
same birds and insects. Even the very banks of the river
and of the clear streamlets which entered it, were scarcely
enlivened by a brighter tint of green. The curse of sterility
is on the land, and the water flowing over a bed of pebbles
partakes of the same curse. Hence the number of water-fowls
is very scanty; for there is nothing to support life in
the stream of this barren river.
Patagonia, poor as she is in some respects, can howeverboast of a greater stock of small rodents [1] than perhaps any
other country in the world. Several species of mice are
externally characterized by large thin ears and a very fine
fur. These little animals swarm amongst the thickets in the
valleys, where they cannot for months together taste a drop
of water excepting the dew. They all seem to be cannibals
for no sooner was a mouse caught in one of my traps that
it was devoured by others. A small and delicately shaped
fox, which is likewise very abundant, probably derives its
entire support from these small animals. The guanaco is
also in his proper district, herds of fifty or a hundred were
common; and, as I have stated, we saw one which must
have contained at least five hundred. The puma, with the
condor and other carrion-hawks in its train, follows and
preys upon these animals. The footsteps of the puma were
to be seen almost everywhere on the banks of the river;
and the remains of several guanacos, with their necks
dislocated and bones broken, showed how they had met their
death.
April 24th. -- Like the navigators of old when approaching
an unknown land, we examined and watched for the most
trivial sign of a change. The drifted trunk of a tree, or a
boulder of primitive rock, was hailed with joy, as if we had
seen a forest growing on the flanks of the Cordillera. The
top, however, of a heavy bank of clouds, which remained
almost constantly in one position, was the most promising
sign, and eventually turned out a true harbinger. At first the
clouds were mistaken for the mountains themselves, instead
of the masses of vapour condensed by their icy summits.
April 26th. -- We this day met with a marked change in
the geological structure of the plains. From the first starting
I had carefully examined the gravel in the river, and
for the two last days had noticed the presence of a few small
pebbles of a very cellular basalt. These gradually increased
in number and in size, but none were as large as a man's
head. This morning, however, pebbles of the same rock,
but more compact, suddenly became abundant, and in the
course of half an hour we saw, at the distance of five of
six miles, the angular edge of a great basaltic platform.
When we arrived at its base we found the stream bubbling
among the fallen blocks. For the next twenty-eight miles
the river-course was encumbered with these basaltic masses.
Above that limit immense fragments of primitive rocks,
derived from its surrounding boulder-formation, were
equally numerous. None of the fragments of any considerable
size had been washed more than three or four miles
down the river below their parent-source: considering the
singular rapidity of the great body of water in the Santa
Cruz, and that no still reaches occur in any part, this example
is a most striking one, of the inefficiency of rivers in
transporting even moderately-sized fragments.
The basalt is only lava, which has flowed beneath the sea;
but the eruptions must have been on the grandest scale. At
the point where we first met this formation it was 120 feet
in thickness; following up the river course, the surface
imperceptibly rose and the mass became thicker, so that at
forty miles above the first station it was 320 feet thick.What the thickness may be close to the Cordillera, I have
no means of knowing, but the platform there attains a height
of about three thousand feet above the level of the sea;
we must therefore look to the mountains of that great chain
for its source; and worthy of such a source are streams that
have flowed over the gently inclined bed of the sea to a
distance of one hundred miles. At the first glance of the
basaltic cliffs on the opposite sides of the valley, it was
evident that the strata once were united. What power, then,
has removed along a whole line of country, a solid mass of
very hard rock, which had an average thickness of nearly
three hundred feet, and a breadth varying from rather less
than two miles to four miles? The river, though it has so
little power in transporting even inconsiderable fragments,
yet in the lapse of ages might produce by its gradual erosion
an effect of which it is difficult to judge the amount. But
in this case, independently of the insignificance of such an
agency, good reasons can be assigned for believing that this
valley was formerly occupied by an arm of the sea. It is
needless in this work to detail the arguments leading to this
conclusion, derived from the form and the nature of the
step-formed terraces on both sides of the valley, from the
manner in which the bottom of the valley near the Andes
expands into a great estuary-like plain with sand-hillocks
on it, and from the occurrence of a few sea-shells lying in
the bed of the river. If I had space I could prove that
South America was formerly here cut off by a strait, joining
the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, like that of Magellan.
But it may yet be asked, how has the solid basalt beenmoved? Geologists formerly would have brought into playthe violent action of some overwhelming debacle; but in this
case such a supposition would have been quite inadmissible,
because, the same step-like plains with existing sea-shells
lying on their surface, which front the long line of the
Patagonian coast, sweep up on each side of the valley of Santa
Cruz. No possible action of any flood could thus have
modelled the land, either within the valley or along the open
coast; and by the formation of such step-like plains or terraces
the valley itself had been hollowed out. Although we
know that there are tides, which run within the Narrows
of the Strait of Magellan at the rate of eight knots an hour,
yet we must confess that it makes the head almost giddy to
reflect on the number of years, century after century, which
the tides, unaided by a heavy surf, must have required to
have corroded so vast an area and thickness of solid basaltic
lava. Nevertheless, we must believe that the strata undermined
by the waters of this ancient strait, were broken up
into huge fragments, and these lying scattered on the beach
were reduced first to smaller blocks, then to pebbles and
lastly to the most impalpable mud, which the tides drifted
far into the Eastern or Western Ocean.
With the change in the geological structure of the plains
the character of the landscape likewise altered. While rambling
up some of the narrow and rocky defiles, I could almost
have fancied myself transported back again to the barren
valleys of the island of St. Jago. Among the basaltic cliffs
I found some plants which I had seen nowhere else, but
others I recognised as being wanderers from Tierra del
Fuego. These porous rocks serve as a reservoir for thescanty rain-water; and consequently on the line where the
igneous and sedimentary formations unite, some small
springs (most rare occurrences in Patagonia) burst forth;
and they could be distinguished at a distance by the
circumscribed patches of bright green herbage.
April 27th. -- The bed of the river became rather narrower
and hence the stream more rapid. It here ran at the rate
of six knots an hour. From this cause, and from the many
great angular fragments, tracking the boats became both
dangerous and laborious.
This day I shot a condor. It measured from tip to tip
of the wings, eight and a half feet, and from beak to tail,
four feet. This bird is known to have a wide geographical
range, being found on the west coast of South America,
from the Strait of Magellan along the Cordillera as far as
eight degrees north of the equator. The steep cliff near the
mouth of the Rio Negro is its northern limit on the Patagonian
coast; and they have there wandered about four
hundred miles from the great central line of their habitations
in the Andes. Further south, among the bold precipices
at the head of Port Desire, the condor is not uncommon;
yet only a few stragglers occasionally visit the sea-coast.
A line of cliff near the mouth of the Santa Cruz is
frequented by these birds, and about eighty miles up the
river, where the sides of the valley are formed by steep
basaltic precipices, the condor reappears. From these facts
it seems that the condors require perpendicular cliffs. InChile, they haunt, during the greater part of the year, the
lower country near the shores of the Pacific, and at night
several roost together in one tree; but in the early part of
summer, they retire to the most inaccessible parts of the
inner Cordillera, there to breed in peace.
With respect to their propagation, I was told by the
country people in Chile, that the condor makes no sort of
nest, but in the months of November and December lays
two large white eggs on a shelf of bare rock. It is said that
the young condors cannot fly for an entire year; and long
after they are able, they continue to roost by night, and
hunt by day with their parents. The old birds generally live
in pairs; but among the inland basaltic cliffs of the Santa
Cruz, I found a spot, where scores must usually haunt. On
coming suddenly to the brow of the precipice, it was a grand
spectacle to see between twenty and thirty of these great
birds start heavily from their resting-place, and wheel away
in majestic circles. From the quantity of dung on the rocks
they must long have frequented this cliff for roosting and
breeding. Having gorged themselves with carrion on the
plains below, they retire to these favourite ledges to digest
their food. From these facts, the condor, like the gallinazo,
must to a certain degree be considered as a gregarious bird.
In this part of the country they live altogether on the guanacos
which have died a natural death, or as more commonly
happens, have been killed by the pumas. I believe, from
what I saw in Patagonia, that they do not on ordinary occasions
extend their daily excursions to any great distance
from their regular sleeping-places.The condors may oftentimes be seen at a great height,
soaring over a certain spot in the most graceful circles.
On some occasions I am sure that they do this only for
pleasure, but on others, the Chileno countryman tells you
that they are watching a dying animal, or the puma devouring
its prey. If the condors glide down, and then suddenly
all rise together, the Chileno knows that it is the puma
which, watching the carcass, has sprung out to drive away
the robbers. Besides feeding on carrion, the condors frequently
attack young goats and lambs; and the shepherd-dogs
are trained, whenever they pass over, to run out, and
looking upwards to bark violently. The Chilenos destroy
and catch numbers. Two methods are used; one is to place
a carcass on a level piece of ground within an enclosure of
sticks with an opening, and when the condors are gorged
to gallop up on horseback to the entrance, and thus enclose
them: for when this bird has not space to run, it cannot
give its body sufficient momentum to rise from the ground.
The second method is to mark the trees in which, frequently
to the number of five or six together, they roost, and they
at night to climb up and noose them. They are such heave
sleepers, as I have myself witnessed, that this is not a
difficult task. At Valparaiso, I have seen a living condor sold
for sixpence, but the common price is eight or ten shillings.
One which I saw brought in, had been tied with rope, and
was much injured; yet, the moment the line was cut by
which its bill was secured, although surrounded by people,
it began ravenously to tear a piece of carrion. In a garden
at the same place, between twenty and thirty were kept alive.They were fed only once a week, but they appeared in pretty
good health. [2] The Chileno countrymen assert that the condor
will live, and retain its vigour, between five and six weeks
without eating: I cannot answer for the truth of this, but
it is a cruel experiment, which very likely has been tried.
When an animal is killed in the country, it is well known
that the condors, like other carrion-vultures, soon gain
intelligence of it, and congregate in an inexplicable manner.
In most cases it must not be overlooked, that the birds
have discovered their prey, and have picked the skeleton
clean, before the flesh is in the least degree tainted.
Remembering the experiments of M. Audubon, on the little
smelling powers of carrion-hawks, I tried in the above
mentioned garden the following experiment: the condors
were tied, each by a rope, in a long row at the bottom of a
wall; and having folded up a piece of meat in white paper, I
walked backwards and forwards, carrying it in my hand at
the distance of about three yards from them, but no notice
whatever was taken. I then threw it on the ground, within
one yard of an old male bird; he looked at it for a moment
with attention, but then regarded it no more. With a stick
I pushed it closer and closer, until at last he touched it with
his beak; the paper was then instantly torn off with fury,
and at the same moment, every bird in the long row began
struggling and flapping its wings. Under the same circumstances,
it would have been quite impossible to have deceived
a dog. The evidence in favour of and against the acute
smelling powers of carrion-vultures is singularly balanced.
Professor Owen has demonstrated that the olfactory nervesof the turkey-buzzard (Cathartes aura) are highly developed,
and on the evening when Mr. Owen's paper was read
at the Zoological Society, it was mentioned by a gentleman
that he had seen the carrion-hawks in the West Indies on
two occasions collect on the roof of a house, when a corpse
had become offensive from not having been buried, in this
case, the intelligence could hardly have been acquired be
sight. On the other hand, besides the experiments of Audubon
and that one by myself, Mr. Bachman has tried in the
United States many varied plans, showing that neither the
turkey-buzzard (the species dissected by Professor Owen)
nor the gallinazo find their food by smell. He covered portions
of highly-offensive offal with a thin canvas cloth, and
strewed pieces of meat on it: these the carrion-vultures ate
up, and then remained quietly standing, with their beaks
within the eighth of an inch of the putrid mass, without
discovering it. A small rent was made in the canvas, and
the offal was immediately discovered; the canvas was replaced
by a fresh piece, and meat again put on it, and was
again devoured by the vultures without their discovering
the hidden mass on which they were trampling. These facts
are attested by the signatures of six gentlemen, besides that
of Mr. Bachman. [3]
Often when lying down to rest on the open plains, on
looking upwards, I have seen carrion-hawks sailing through
the air at a great height. Where the country is level I do
not believe a space of the heavens, of more than fifteen degrees
above the horizon, is commonly viewed with any attention
by a person either walking or on horseback. If suchbe the case, and the vulture is on the wing at a height of
between three and four thousand feet, before it could come
within the range of vision, its distance in a straight line
from the beholder's eye, would be rather more than two
British miles. Might it not thus readily be overlooked?
When an animal is killed by the sportsman in a lonely valley,
may he not all the while be watched from above by the
sharp-sighted bird? And will not the manner of its descend
proclaim throughout the district to the whole family of
carrion-feeders, that their prey is at hand?
When the condors are wheeling in a flock round and
round any spot, their flight is beautiful. Except when rising
from the ground, I do not recollect ever having seen one
of these birds flap its wings. Near Lima, I watched several
for nearly half an hour, without once taking off my eyes,
they moved in large curves, sweeping in circles, descending
and ascending without giving a single flap. As they glided
close over my head, I intently watched from an oblique position,
the outlines of the separate and great terminal feathers
of each wing; and these separate feathers, if there had been
the least vibratory movement, would have appeared as if
blended together; but they were seen distinct against the
blue sky. The head and neck were moved frequently, and
apparently with force; and the extended wings seemed to
form the fulcrum on which the movements of the neck, body,
and tail acted. If the bird wished to descend, the wings
were for a moment collapsed; and when again expanded
with an altered inclination, the momentum gained by the
rapid descent seemed to urge the bird upwards with theeven and steady movement of a paper kite. In the case of
any bird soaring, its motion must be sufficiently rapid so
that the action of the inclined surface of its body on the
atmosphere may counterbalance its gravity. The force to
keep up the momentum of a body moving in a horizontal
plane in the air (in which there is so little friction) cannot
be great, and this force is all that is wanted. The movements
of the neck and body of the condor, we must suppose,
is sufficient for this. However this may be, it is truly
wonderful and beautiful to see so great a bird, hour after hour,
without any apparent exertion, wheeling and gliding over
mountain and river.
April 29th. -- From some high land we hailed with joy
the white summits of the Cordillera, as they were seen
occasionally peeping through their dusky envelope of clouds.
During the few succeeding days we continued to get on
slowly, for we found the river-course very tortuous, and
strewed with immense fragments of various ancient slate
rocks, and of granite. The plain bordering the valley has
here attained an elevation of about 1100 feet above the river,
and its character was much altered. The well-rounded pebbles
of porphyry were mingled with many immense angular
fragments of basalt and of primary rocks. The first of these
erratic boulders which I noticed, was sixty-seven miles distant
from the nearest mountain; another which I measured
was five yards square, and projected five feet above the
gravel. Its edges were so angular, and its size so great, that
I at first mistook it for a rock _in situ_, and took out my
compass to observe the direction of its cleavage. The plain herewas not quite so level as that nearer the coast, but yet in
betrayed no signs of any great violence. Under these
circumstances it is, I believe, quite impossible to explain the
transportal of these gigantic masses of rock so many miles
from their parent-source, on any theory except by that of
floating icebergs.
During the two last days we met with signs of horses, and
with several small articles which had belonged to the Indians
-- such as parts of a mantle and a bunch of ostrich feathers --,
but they appeared to have been lying long on the ground.
Between the place where the Indians had so lately crossed
the river and this neighbourhood, though so many miles
apart, the country appears to be quite unfrequented. At first,
considering the abundance of the guanacos, I was surprised
at this; but it is explained by the stony nature of the plains,
which would soon disable an unshod horse from taking part
in the chase. Nevertheless, in two places in this very central
region, I found small heaps of stones, which I do not think
could have been accidentally thrown together. They were
placed on points, projecting over the edge of the highest lava
cliff, and they resembled, but on a small scale, those near
Port Desire.
May 4th. -- Captain Fitz Roy determined to take the boats
no higher. The river had a winding course, and was very
rapid; and the appearance of the country offered no temptation
to proceed any further. Everywhere we met with the
same productions, and the same dreary landscape. We were
now one hundred and forty miles distant from the Atlanticand about sixty from the nearest arm of the Pacific. The
valley in this upper part expanded into a wide basin, bounded
on the north and south by the basaltic platforms, and fronted
by the long range of the snow-clad Cordillera. But we
viewed these grand mountains with regret, for we were
obliged to imagine their nature and productions, instead of
standing, as we had hoped, on their summits. Besides the
useless loss of time which an attempt to ascend the river and
higher would have cost us, we had already been for some
days on half allowance of bread. This, although really
enough for reasonable men, was, after a hard day's march,
rather scanty food: a light stomach and an easy digestion
are good things to talk about, but very unpleasant in practice.
5th. -- Before sunrise we commenced our descent. We
shot down the stream with great rapidity, generally at the
rate of ten knots an hour. In this one day we effected what
had cost us five-and-a-half hard days' labour in ascending.
On the 8th, we reached the Beagle after our twenty-one days'
expedition. Every one, excepting myself, had cause to be
dissatisfied; but to me the ascent afforded a most interesting
section of the great tertiary formation of Patagonia.
On March 1st, 1833, and again on March 16th, 1834, the
Beagle anchored in Berkeley Sound, in East Falkland Island.
This archipelago is situated in nearly the same latitude with
the mouth of the Strait of Magellan; it covers a space of
one hundred and twenty by sixty geographical miles, and is
little more than half the size of Ireland. After the possession
of these miserable islands had been contested by France,Spain, and England, they were left uninhabited. The government
of Buenos Ayres then sold them to a private individual,
but likewise used them, as old Spain had done before,
for a penal settlement. England claimed her right and
seized them. The Englishman who was left in charge of
the flag was consequently murdered. A British officer was
next sent, unsupported by any power: and when we arrived,
we found him in charge of a population, of which rather
more than half were runaway rebels and murderers.
The theatre is worthy of the scenes acted on it. An undulating
land, with a desolate and wretched aspect, is everywhere
covered by a peaty soil and wiry grass, of one monotonous
brown colour. Here and there a peak or ridge
of grey quartz rock breaks through the smooth surface
Every one has heard of the climate of these regions; it
may be compared to that which is experienced at the height
of between one and two thousand feet, on the mountains of
North Wales; having however less sunshine and less frost
but more wind and rain. [4]
16th. -- I will now describe a short excursion which
made round a part of this island. In the morning I started
with six horses and two Gauchos: the latter were capital
men for the purpose, and well accustomed to living on their
own resources. The weather was very boisterous and cold
with heavy hail-storms. We got on, however, pretty well
but, except the geology, nothing could be less interesting
than our day's ride. The country is uniformly the same
undulating moorland; the surface being covered by lightbrown withered grass and a few very small shrubs, all
springing out of an elastic peaty soil. In the valleys here
and there might be seen a small flock of wild geese, and
everywhere the ground was so soft that the snipe were able
to feed. Besides these two birds there were few others.
There is one main range of hills, nearly two thousand feet
in height, and composed of quartz rock, the rugged and barren
crests of which gave us some trouble to cross. On the
south side we came to the best country for wild cattle; we
met, however, no great number, for they had been lately
much harassed.
In the evening we came across a small herd. One of my
companions, St. Jago by name, soon separated a fat cow:
he threw the bolas, and it struck her legs, but failed in
becoming entangled. Then dropping his hat to mark the spot
where the balls were left, while at full gallop, he uncoiled
his lazo, and after a most severe chase, again came up to
the cow, and caught her round the horns. The other Gaucho
had gone on ahead with the spare horses, so that St. Jago
had some difficulty in killing the furious beast. He managed
to get her on a level piece of ground, by taking advantage
of her as often as she rushed at him; and when she
would not move, my horse, from having been trained, would
canter up, and with his chest give her a violent push. But
when on level ground it does not appear an easy job for
one man to kill a beast mad with terror. Nor would it be
so, if the horse, when left to itself without its rider, did
not soon learn, for its own safety, to keep the lazo tight,
so that, if the cow or ox moves forward, the horse movesjust as quickly forward; otherwise, it stands motionless
leaning on one side. This horse, however, was a young
one, and would not stand still, but gave in to the cow as she
struggled. It was admirable to see with what dexterity St.
Jago dodged behind the beast, till at last he contrived to
give the fatal touch to the main tendon of the hind leg
after which, without much difficulty, he drove his knife
into the head of the spinal marrow, and the cow dropped
as if struck by lightning. He cut off pieces of flesh with
the skin to it, but without any bones, sufficient for our
expedition. We then rode on to our sleeping-place, and
had for supper "carne con cuero," or meat roasted with the
skin on it. This is as superior to common beef as venison
is to mutton. A large circular piece taken from the back
is roasted on the embers with the hide downwards and is
the form of a saucer, so that none of the gravy is lost.
If any worthy alderman had supped with us that evening,
"carne con cuero," without doubt, would soon have been
celebrated in London.
During the night it rained, and the next day (17th) was
very stormy, with much hail and snow. We rode across the
island to the neck of land which joins the Rincon del Toro
(the great peninsula at the S. W. extremity) to the rest of
the island. From the great number of cows which have
been killed, there is a large proportion of bulls. These wander
about single, or two and three together, and are very
savage. I never saw such magnificent beasts; they equalled
in the size of their huge heads and necks the Grecian marble
sculptures. Capt. Sulivan informs me that the hide of anaverage-sized bull weighs forty-seven pounds, whereas a
hide of this weight, less thoroughly dried, is considered as
a very heavy one at Monte Video. The young bulls generally
run away, for a short distance; but the old ones do not
stir a step, except to rush at man and horse; and many
horses have been thus killed. An old bull crossed a boggy
stream, and took his stand on the opposite side to us; we
in vain tried to drive him away, and failing, were obliged
to make a large circuit. The Gauchos in revenge determined
to emasculate him and render him for the future
harmless. It was very interesting to see how art completely
mastered force. One lazo was thrown over his horns as he
rushed at the horse, and another round his hind legs: in a
minute the monster was stretched powerless on the ground.
After the lazo has once been drawn tightly round the horns
of a furious animal, it does not at first appear an easy thing
to disengage it again without killing the beast: nor, I
apprehend, would it be so if the man was by himself. By the
aid, however, of a second person throwing his lazo so as to
catch both hind legs, it is quickly managed: for the animal,
as long as its hind legs are kept outstretched, is quite
helpless, and the first man can with his hands loosen his lazo
from the horns, and then quietly mount his horse; but the
moment the second man, by backing ever so little, relaxes
the strain, the lazo slips off the legs of the struggling beast,
which then rises free, shakes himself, and vainly rushes at
his antagonist.
During our whole ride we saw only one troop of wild
horses. These animals, as well as the cattle, were introducedby the French in 1764, since which time both have greatly
increased. It is a curious fact, that the horses have never
left the eastern end of the island, although there is no natural
boundary to prevent them from roaming, and that part
of the island is not more tempting than the rest. The Gauchos
whom I asked, though asserting this to be the case,
were unable to account for it, except from the strong attachment
which horses have to any locality to which they are
accustomed. Considering that the island does not appear
fully stocked, and that there are no beasts of prey, I was
particularly curious to know what has checked their originally
rapid increase. That in a limited island some check
would sooner or later supervene, is inevitable; but why had
the increase of the horse been checked sooner than that of
the cattle? Capt. Sulivan has taken much pains for me
in this inquiry. The Gauchos employed here attribute it
chiefly to the stallions constantly roaming from place to
place, and compelling the mares to accompany them, whether
or not the young foals are able to follow. One Gaucho told
Capt. Sulivan that he had watched a stallion for a whole
hour, violently kicking and biting a mare till he forced
her to leave her foal to its fate. Capt. Sulivan can so far
corroborate this curious account, that he has several times
found young foals dead, whereas he has never found a dead
calf. Moreover, the dead bodies of full-grown horses are
more frequently found, as if more subject to disease or
accidents, than those of the cattle. From the softness of
the ground their hoofs often grow irregularly to a great
length, and this causes lameness. The predominant colours
are roan and iron-grey. All the horses bred here, both tameand wild, are rather small-sized, though generally in good
condition; and they have lost so much strength, that they
are unfit to be used in taking wild cattle with the lazo: in
consequence, it is necessary to go to the great expense of
importing fresh horses from the Plata. At some future
period the southern hemisphere probably will have its breed
of Falkland ponies, as the northern has its Shetland breed.
The cattle, instead of having degenerated like the horses
seem, as before remarked, to have increased in size; and
they are much more numerous than the horses. Capt. Sulivan
informs me that they vary much less in the general
form of their bodies and in the shape of their horns than
English cattle. In colour they differ much; and it is a
remarkable circumstance, that in different parts of this one
small island, different colours predominate. Round Mount
Usborne, at a height of from 1000 to 1500 feet above the sea,
about half of some of the herds are mouse or lead-coloured,
a tint which is not common in other parts of the island.
Near Port Pleasant dark brown prevails, whereas south of
Choiseul Sound (which almost divides the island into two
parts), white beasts with black heads and feet are the most
common: in all parts black, and some spotted animals may
be observed. Capt. Sulivan remarks, that the difference in
the prevailing colours was so obvious, that in looking for
the herds near Port Pleasant, they appeared from a long
distance like black spots, whilst south of Choiseul Sound
they appeared like white spots on the hill-sides. Capt. Sulivan
thinks that the herds do not mingle; and it is a singular
fact, that the mouse-coloured cattle, though living on thehigh land, calve about a month earlier in the season that
the other coloured beasts on the lower land. It is interesting
thus to find the once domesticated cattle breaking
into three colours, of which some one colour would in all
probability ultimately prevail over the others, if the herds
were left undisturbed for the next several centuries.
The rabbit is another animal which has been introduced;
and has succeeded very well; so that they abound over large
parts of the island. Yet, like the horses, they are confined
within certain limits; for they have not crossed the central
chain of hills, nor would they have extended even so far as
its base, if, as the Gauchos informed me, small colonies has
not been carried there. I should not have supposed that
these animals, natives of northern Africa, could have existed
in a climate so humid as this, and which enjoys so little
sunshine that even wheat ripens only occasionally. It is
asserted that in Sweden, which any one would have thought
a more favourable climate, the rabbit cannot live out of
doors. The first few pairs, moreover, had here to content
against pre-existing enemies, in the fox and some large
hawks. The French naturalists have considered the black variety
a distinct species, and called it Lepus Magellanicus. [5]
They imagined that Magellan, when talking of an animal
under the name of "conejos" in the Strait of Magellan,
referred to this species; but he was alluding to a small cavy,
which to this day is thus called by the Spaniards. The
Gauchos laughed at the idea of the black kind being different
from the grey, and they said that at all events it had
not extended its range any further than the grey kind; thatthe two were never found separate; and that they readily
bred together, and produced piebald offspring. Of the latter
I now possess a specimen, and it is marked about the head
differently from the French specific description. This
circumstance shows how cautious naturalists should be in
making species; for even Cuvier, on looking at the skull
of one of these rabbits, thought it was probably distinct!
The only quadruped native to the island [6]; is a large wolf-
like fox (Canis antarcticus), which is common to both East
and West Falkland. I have no doubt it is a peculiar species,
and confined to this archipelago; because many sealers,
Gauchos, and Indians, who have visited these islands, all
maintain that no such animal is found in any part of South
America.
Molina, from a similarity in habits, thought that this
was the same with his "culpeu;" [7] but I have seen both,
and they are quite distinct. These wolves are well known
from Byron's account of their tameness and curiosity, which
the sailors, who ran into the water to avoid them, mistook
for fierceness. To this day their manners remain the same.
They have been observed to enter a tent, and actually pull
some meat from beneath the head of a sleeping seaman. The
Gauchos also have frequently in the evening killed them,
by holding out a piece of meat in one hand, and in the other
a knife ready to stick them. As far as I am aware, there
is no other instance in any part of the world, of so small
a mass of broken land, distant from a continent, possessing
so large an aboriginal quadruped peculiar to itself. Theirthe two were never found separate; and that they readily
bred together, and produced piebald offspring. Of the latter
I now possess a specimen, and it is marked about the head
differently from the French specific description. This
circumstance shows how cautious naturalists should be in
making species; for even Cuvier, on looking at the skull
of one of these rabbits, thought it was probably distinct!
The only quadruped native to the island [6]; is a large wolf-
like fox (Canis antarcticus), which is common to both East
and West Falkland. I have no doubt it is a peculiar species,
and confined to this archipelago; because many sealers,
Gauchos, and Indians, who have visited these islands, all
maintain that no such animal is found in any part of South
America.
Molina, from a similarity in habits, thought that this
was the same with his "culpeu;" [7] but I have seen both,
and they are quite distinct. These wolves are well known
from Byron's account of their tameness and curiosity, which
the sailors, who ran into the water to avoid them, mistook
for fierceness. To this day their manners remain the same.
They have been observed to enter a tent, and actually pull
some meat from beneath the head of a sleeping seaman. The
Gauchos also have frequently in the evening killed them,
by holding out a piece of meat in one hand, and in the other
a knife ready to stick them. As far as I am aware, there
is no other instance in any part of the world, of so small
a mass of broken land, distant from a continent, possessing
so large an aboriginal quadruped peculiar to itself. Theirnumbers have rapidly decreased; they are already banished
from that half of the island which lies to the eastward of
the neck of land between St. Salvador Bay and Berkeley
Sound. Within a very few years after these islands shall
have become regularly settled, in all probability this for
will be classed with the dodo, as an animal which has perished
from the face of the earth.
At night (17th) we slept on the neck of land at the head
of Choiseul Sound, which forms the south-west peninsula.
The valley was pretty well sheltered from the cold wind,
but there was very little brushwood for fuel. The Gauchos,
however, soon found what, to my great surprise, made nearly
as hot a fire as coals; this was the skeleton of a bullock
lately killed, from which the flesh had been picked by the
carrion-hawks. They told me that in winter they often killed a
beast, cleaned the flesh from the bones with their knives,
and then with these same bones roasted the meat for their
suppers.
18th. -- It rained during nearly the whole day. At night
we managed, however, with our saddle-cloths to keep ourselves
pretty well dry and warm; but the ground on which
we slept was on each occasion nearly in the state of a bog,
and there was not a dry spot to sit down on after our day's
ride. I have in another part stated how singular it is that
there should be absolutely no trees on these islands, although
Tierra del Fuego is covered by one large forest. The
largest bush in the island (belonging to the family of
Compositae) is scarcely so tall as our gorse. The best fuel isafforded by a green little bush about the size of common
heath, which has the useful property of burning while fresh
and green. It was very surprising to see the Gauchos, in
the midst of rain and everything soaking wet, with nothing
more than a tinder-box and a piece of rag, immediately make
a fire. They sought beneath the tufts of grass and bushel
for a few dry twigs, and these they rubbed into fibres; then
surrounding them with coarser twigs, something like a bird's
nest, they put the rag with its spark of fire in the middle
and covered it up. The nest being then held up to the
wind, by degrees it smoked more and more, and at last
burst out in flames. I do not think any other method would
have had a chance of succeeding with such damp materials.
19th. -- Each morning, from not having ridden for some
time previously, I was very stiff. I was surprised to hear
the Gauchos, who have from infancy almost lived on horseback,
say that, under similar circumstances, they always
suffer. St. Jago told me, that having been confined for three
months by illness, he went out hunting wild cattle, and in
consequence, for the next two days, his thighs were so stiff
that he was obliged to lie in bed. This shows that the Gauchos,
although they do not appear to do so, yet really must
exert much muscular effort in riding. The hunting will
cattle, in a country so difficult to pass as this is on account
of the swampy ground, must be very hard work. The
Gauchos say they often pass at full speed over ground which
would be impassable at a slower pace; in the same manner
as a man is able to skate over thin ice. When hunting, the
party endeavours to get as close as possible to the herd withoutbeing discovered. Each man carries four or five pair of
the bolas; these he throws one after the other at as many
cattle, which, when once entangled, are left for some days
till they become a little exhausted by hunger and struggling.
They are then let free and driven towards a small herd of
tame animals, which have been brought to the spot on purpose.
From their previous treatment, being too much terrified
to leave the herd, they are easily driven, if their
strength last out, to the settlement.
The weather continued so very bad that we determine
to make a push, and try to reach the vessel before night.
From the quantity of rain which had fallen, the surface
of the whole country was swampy. I suppose my horse fell
at least a dozen times, and sometimes the whole six horses
were floundering in the mud together. All the little streams
are bordered by soft peat, which makes it very difficult for
the horses to leap them without falling. To complete our
discomforts we were obliged to cross the head of a creek
of the sea, in which the water was as high as our horses'
backs; and the little waves, owing to the violence of the
wind, broke over us, and made us very wet and cold. Even
the iron-framed Gauchos professed themselves glad when
they reached the settlement, after our little excursion.
The geological structure of these islands is in most
respects simple. The lower country consists of clay-slate
and sandstone, containing fossils, very closely related to, but
not identical with, those found in the Silurian formations
of Europe; the hills are formed of white granular quartzrock. The strata of the latter are frequently arched with
perfect symmetry, and the appearance of some of the masses
is in consequence most singular. Pernety [8] has devoted
several pages to the description of a Hill of Ruins, the
successive strata of which he has justly compared to the
seats of an amphitheatre. The quartz rock must have been
quite pasty when it underwent such remarkable flexures
without being shattered into fragments. As the quartz
insensibly passes into the sandstone, it seems probable that
the former owes its origin to the sandstone having been
heated to such a degree that it became viscid, and upon cooling
crystallized. While in the soft state it must have been
pushed up through the overlying beds.
In many parts of the island the bottoms of the valleys are
covered in an extraordinary manner by myriads of great
loose angular fragments of the quartz rock, forming "streams
of stones." These have been mentioned with surprise be
every voyager since the time of Pernety. The blocks are
not water-worn, their angles being only a little blunted; they
vary in size from one or two feet in diameter to ten, or even
more than twenty times as much. They are not thrown
together into irregular piles, but are spread out into level
sheets or great streams. It is not possible to ascertain their
thickness, but the water of small streamlets can be heard
trickling through the stones many feet below the surface.
The actual depth is probably great, because the crevices
between the lower fragments must long ago have been filled
up with sand. The width of these sheets of stones varied
from a few hundred feet to a mile; but the peaty soil dailyencroaches on the borders, and even forms islets wherever
a few fragments happen to lie close together. In a valley
south of Berkeley Sound, which some of our party called
the "great valley of fragments," it was necessary to cross
an uninterrupted band half a mile wide, by jumping from
one pointed stone to another. So large were the fragments,
that being overtaken by a shower of rain, I readily found
shelter beneath one of them.
Their little inclination is the most remarkable circumstance
in these "streams of stones." On the hill-sides I have
seen them sloping at an angle of ten degrees with the horizon;
but in some of the level, broad-bottomed valleys, the
inclination is only just sufficient to be clearly perceived.
On so rugged a surface there was no means of measuring the
angle, but to give a common illustration, I may say that the
slope would not have checked the speed of an English mail-coach.
In some places, a continuous stream of these fragments
followed up the course of a valley, and even
extended to the very crest of the hill. On these crests huge
masses, exceeding in dimensions any small building, seemed
to stand arrested in their headlong course: there, also, the
curved strata of the archways lay piled on each other, like
the ruins of some vast and ancient cathedral. In endeavouring
to describe these scenes of violence one is tempted to pass
from one simile to another. We may imagine that streams
of white lava had flowed from many parts of the mountains
into the lower country, and that when solidified they had been
rent by some enormous convulsion into myriads of fragments.
The expression "streams of stones," which immediatelyoccurred to every one, conveys the same idea. These
scenes are on the spot rendered more striking by the contrast
of the low rounded forms of the neighbouring hills.
I was interested by finding on the highest peak of one
range (about 700 feet above the sea) a great arched fragment,
lying on its convex side, or back downwards. Must
we believe that it was fairly pitched up in the air, and thus
turned? Or, with more probability, that there existed formerly
a part of the same range more elevated than the point
on which this monument of a great convulsion of nature now
lies. As the fragments in the valleys are neither rounded
nor the crevices filled up with sand, we must infer that the
period of violence was subsequent to the land having been
raised above the waters of the sea. In a transverse section
within these valleys, the bottom is nearly level, or rises but
very little towards either side. Hence the fragments appear
to have travelled from the head of the valley; but in reality
it seems more probable that they have been hurled down from
the nearest slopes; and that since, by a vibratory movement
of overwhelming force, [9] the fragments have been levelled
into one continuous sheet. If during the earthquake [10] which
in 1835 overthrew Concepcion, in Chile, it was thought wonderful
that small bodies should have been pitched a few
inches from the ground, what must we say to a movement
which has caused fragments many tons in weight, to move
onwards like so much sand on a vibrating board, and find
their level? I have seen, in the Cordillera of the Andes, the
evident marks where stupendous mountains have been broken
into pieces like so much thin crust, and the strata thrown oftheir vertical edges; but never did any scene, like these
"streams of stones," so forcibly convey to my mind the idea
of a convulsion, of which in historical records we might in
vain seek for any counterpart: yet the progress of knowledge
will probably some day give a simple explanation of this
phenomenon, as it already has of the so long-thought
inexplicable transportal of the erratic boulders, which are
strewed over the plains of Europe.
I have little to remark on the zoology of these islands.
have before described the carrion-vulture of Polyborus.
There are some other hawks, owls, and a few small land-birds.
The water-fowl are particularly numerous, and they
must formerly, from the accounts of the old navigators,
have been much more so. One day I observed a cormorant
playing with a fish which it had caught. Eight times
successively the bird let its prey go, then dived after it, and
although in deep water, brought it each time to the surface.
In the Zoological Gardens I have seen the otter treat a fish
in the same manner, much as a cat does a mouse: I do not
know of any other instance where dame Nature appears so
wilfully cruel. Another day, having placed myself between
a penguin (Aptenodytes demersa) and the water, I was much
amused by watching its habits. It was a brave bird; and till
reaching the sea, it regularly fought and drove me backwards.
Nothing less than heavy blows would have stopped him; every
inch he gained he firmly kept, standing close before me erect
and determined. When thus opposed he continually rolled
his head from side to side, in a very odd manner, as if the
power of distinct vision lay only in the anterior and basalpart of each eye. This bird is commonly called the jackass
penguin, from its habit, while on shore, of throwing its head
backwards, and making a loud strange noise, very like the
braying of an ass; but while at sea, and undisturbed, its note
is very deep and solemn, and is often heard in the night-time.
In diving, its little wings are used as fins; but on the land,
as front legs. When crawling, it may be said on four legs,
through the tussocks or on the side of a grassy cliff, it moves
so very quickly that it might easily be mistaken for a
quadruped. When at sea and fishing, it comes to the surface for
the purpose of breathing with such a spring, and dives again
so instantaneously, that I defy any one at first sight to be
sure that it was not a fish leaping for sport.
Two kinds of geese frequent the Falklands. The upland
species (Anas Magellanica) is common, in pairs and in small
flocks, throughout the island. They do not migrate, but build
on the small outlying islets. This is supposed to be from
fear of the foxes: and it is perhaps from the same cause
that these birds, though very tame by day, are shy and will
in the dusk of the evening. They live entirely on vegetable
matter.
The rock-goose, so called from living exclusively on the
sea-beach (Anas antarctica), is common both here and on
the west coast of America, as far north as Chile. In the deep
and retired channels of Tierra del Fuego, the snow-white
gander, invariably accompanied by his darker consort, and
standing close by each other on some distant rocky point, is
a common feature in the landscape.
In these islands a great loggerheaded duck or goose (Anas
brachyptera), which sometimes weighs twenty-two pounds,
is very abundant. These birds were in former days called,
from their extraordinary manner of paddling and splashing
upon the water, race-horses; but now they are named, much
more appropriately, steamers. Their wings are too small and
weak to allow of flight, but by their aid, partly swimming and
partly flapping the surface of the water, they move very
quickly. The manner is something like that by which the
common house-duck escapes when pursued by a dog; but I
am nearly sure that the steamer moves its wings alternately,
instead of both together, as in other birds. These clumsy,
loggerheaded ducks make such a noise and splashing, that the
effect is exceedingly curious.
Thus we find in South America three birds which use their
wings for other purposes besides flight; the penguins as fins,
the steamer as paddles, and the ostrich as sails: and the
Apteryz of New Zealand, as well as its gigantic extinct
prototype the Deinornis, possess only rudimentary
representatives of wings. The steamer is able to dive only
to a very short distance. It feeds entirely on shell-fish
from the kelp and tidal rocks: hence the beak and head, for
the purpose of breaking them, are surprisingly heavy and
strong: the head is so strong that I have scarcely been able
to fracture it with my geological hammer; and all our sportsmen
soon discovered how tenacious these birds were of life. When in
the evening pluming themselves in a flock, they make the same
odd mixture of sounds which bull-frogs do within the tropics.
In Tierra del Fuego, as well as in the Falkland Islands,
made many observations on the lower marine animals, [11] but
they are of little general interest. I will mention only one
class of facts, relating to certain zoophytes in the more highly
organized division of that class. Several genera (Flustra,
Eschara, Cellaria, Crisia, and others) agree in having singular
moveable organs (like those of Flustra avicularia, found
in the European seas) attached to their cells. The organ, in
the greater number of cases, very closely resembles the head
of a vulture; but the lower mandible can be opened much
wider than in a real bird's beak. The head itself possessed
considerable powers of movement, by means of a short neck.
In one zoophyte the head itself was fixed, but the lower jaw
free: in another it was replaced by a triangular hood, with
beautifully-fitted trap-door, which evidently answered to the
lower mandible. In the greater number of species, each cell
was provided with one head, but in others each cell had two.
The young cells at the end of the branches of these corallines
contain quite immature polypi, yet the vulture-head
attached to them, though small, are in every respect perfect
When the polypus was removed by a needle from any of the
cells, these organs did not appear in the least affected. When
one of the vulture-like heads was cut off from the cell, the
lower mandible retained its power of opening and closing.
Perhaps the most singular part of their structure is, that
when there were more than two rows of cells on a branch,
the central cells were furnished with these appendages, of
only one-fourth the size of the outside ones. Their movementsvaried according to the species; but in some I never
saw the least motion; while others, with the lower mandible
generally wide open, oscillated backwards and forwards at
the rate of about five seconds each turn, others moved rapidly
and by starts. When touched with a needle, the beak
generally seized the point so firmly, that the whole branch
might be shaken.
These bodies have no relation whatever with the production
of the eggs or gemmules, as they are formed before the
young polypi appear in the cells at the end of the growing
branches; as they move independently of the polypi, and do
not appear to be in any way connected with them; and as
they differ in size on the outer and inner rows of cells, I have
little doubt, that in their functions, they are related rather
to the horny axis of the branches than to the polypi in the
cells. The fleshy appendage at the lower extremity of the
sea-pen (described at Bahia Blanca) also forms part of the
zoophyte, as a whole, in the same manner as the roots of a
tree form part of the whole tree, and not of the individual
leaf or flower-buds.
In another elegant little coralline (Crisia?), each cell was
furnished with a long-toothed bristle, which had the power
of moving quickly. Each of these bristles and each of the
vulture-like heads generally moved quite independently of
the others, but sometimes all on both sides of a branch,
sometimes only those on one side, moved together
coinstantaneously, sometimes each moved in regular order one
after another. In these actions we apparently behold as perfecta transmission of will in the zoophyte, though composed of
thousands of distinct polypi, as in any single animal. The
case, indeed, is not different from that of the sea-pens, which,
when touched, drew themselves into the sand on the coast of
Bahia Blanca. I will state one other instance of uniform
action, though of a very different nature, in a zoophyte
closely allied to Clytia, and therefore very simply organized.
Having kept a large tuft of it in a basin of salt-water, when
it was dark I found that as often as I rubbed any part of a
branch, the whole became strongly phosphorescent with a
green light: I do not think I ever saw any object more
beautifully so. But the remarkable circumstance was, that the
flashes of light always proceeded up the branches, from the
base towards the extremities.
The examination of these compound animals was always
very interesting to me. What can be more remarkable that
to see a plant-like body producing an egg, capable of swimming
about and of choosing a proper place to adhere to,
which then sprouts into branches, each crowded with innumerable
distinct animals, often of complicated organizations.
The branches, moreover, as we have just seen, sometimes
possess organs capable of movement and independent of the
polypi. Surprising as this union of separate individuals in
common stock must always appear, every tree displays the
same fact, for buds must be considered as individual plants.
It is, however, natural to consider a polypus, furnished with
a mouth, intestines, and other organs, as a distinct individual,
whereas the individuality of a leaf-bud is not easily realised,
so that the union of separate individuals in a common bodyis more striking in a coralline than in a tree. Our conception
of a compound animal, where in some respects the individuality
of each is not completed, may be aided, by reflecting
on the production of two distinct creatures by bisecting a
single one with a knife, or where Nature herself performs
the task of bisection. We may consider the polypi in a
zoophyte, or the buds in a tree, as cases where the division
of the individual has not been completely effected. Certainly
in the case of trees, and judging from analogy in that of
corallines, the individuals propagated by buds seem more
intimately related to each other, than eggs or seeds are to
their parents. It seems now pretty well established that
plants propagated by buds all partake of a common duration
of life; and it is familiar to every one, what singular and
numerous peculiarities are transmitted with certainty, by
buds, layers, and grafts, which by seminal propagation never
or only casually reappear.
[1] The desserts of Syria are characterized, according to
Volney (tom. i. p. 351), by woody bushes, numerous rats,
gazelles and hares. In the landscape of Patagonia, the guanaco
replaces the gazelle, and the agouti the hare.
[2] I noticed that several hours before any one of the condors
died, all the lice, with which it was infested, crawled to the
outside feathers. I was assured that this always happens.
[3] London's Magazine of Nat. Hist., vol. vii.
[4] From accounts published since our voyage, and moreespecially from several interesting letters from Capt. Sulivan,
R. N., employed on the survey, it appears that we took an
exaggerated view of the badness of the climate on these
islands. But when I reflect on the almost universal covering
of peat, and on the fact of wheat seldom ripening here, I can
hardly believe that the climate in summer is so fine and dry
as it has lately been represented.
[5] Lesson's Zoology of the Voyage of the Coquille, tom. i.
p. 168. All the early voyagers, and especially Bougainville,
distinctly state that the wolf-like fox was the only native
animal on the island. The distinction of the rabbit as a
species, is taken from peculiarities in the fur, from the
shape of the head, and from the shortness of the ears. I may
here observe that the difference between the Irish and English
hare rests upon nearly similar characters, only more strongly
marked.
[6] I have reason, however, to suspect that there is a field-
mouse. The common European rat and mouse have roamed far from
the habitations of the settlers. The common hog has also run
wild on one islet; all are of a black colour: the boars are
very fierce, and have great trunks.
[7] The "culpeu" is the Canis Magellanicus brought home by
Captain King from the Strait of Magellan. It is common in
Chile.
[8] Pernety, Voyage aux Isles Malouines, p. 526.
[9] "Nous n'avons pas ete moins saisis d'etonnement a la vue
de l'innombrable quantite de pierres de touts grandeurs,
bouleversees les unes sur les autres, et cependent rangees,
comme si elles avoient ete amoncelees negligemment pour remplir
des ravins. On ne se lassoit pas d'admirer les effets
prodigieux de la nature." -- Pernety, p. 526.
[10] An inhabitant of Mendoza, and hence well capable of
judging, assured me that, during the several years he had
resided on these islands, he had never felt the slightest
shock of an earthquake.
[11] I was surprised to find, on counting the eggs of a large
white Doris (this sea-slug was three and a half inches long),
how extraordinarily numerous they were. From two to five eggs
(each three-thousandths of an inch in diameter) were contained
in spherical little case. These were arranged two deep in
transverse rows forming a ribbon. The ribbon adhered by its
edge to the rock in an oval spire. One which I found, measured
nearly twenty inches in length and half in breadth. By counting
how many balls were contained in a tenth of an inch in the
row, and how many rows in an equal length of the ribbon, on
the most moderate computation there were six hundred thousand
eggs. Yet this Doris was certainly not very common; although
I was often searching under the stones, I saw only seven
individuals. No fallacy is more common with naturalists,
than that the numbers of an individual species depend on
its powers of propagation.
CHAPTER X
TIERRA DEL FUEGO
Tierra del Fuego, first arrival -- Good Success Bay -- An
Account of the Fuegians on board -- Interview With the
Savages -- Scenery of the Forests -- Cape Horn -- Wigwam
Cove -- Miserable Condition of the Savages -- Famines --
Cannibals -- Matricide -- Religious Feelings -- Great
Gale -- Beagle Channel -- Ponsonby Sound -- Build Wigwams
and settle the Fuegians -- Bifurcation of the Beagle
Channel -- Glaciers -- Return to the Ship -- Second Visit
in the Ship to the Settlement -- Equality of Condition
amongst the Natives.
DECEMBER 17th, 1832. -- Having now finished with
Patagonia and the Falkland Islands, I will describe
our first arrival in Tierra del Fuego. A little after
noon we doubled Cape St. Diego, and entered the famous
strait of Le Maire. We kept close to the Fuegian shore, but
the outline of the rugged, inhospitable Statenland was visible
amidst the clouds. In the afternoon we anchored in the Bay
of Good Success. While entering we were saluted in a manner
becoming the inhabitants of this savage land. A group
of Fuegians partly concealed by the entangled forest, were
perched on a wild point overhanging the sea; and as we
passed by, they sprang up and waving their tattered cloaks
sent forth a loud and sonorous shout. The savages followedthe ship, and just before dark we saw their fire, and again
heard their wild cry. The harbour consists of a fine piece
of water half surrounded by low rounded mountains of clay-
slate, which are covered to the water's edge by one dense
gloomy forest. A single glance at the landscape was sufficient
to show me how widely different it was from anything
I had ever beheld. At night it blew a gale of wind, and
heavy squalls from the mountains swept past us. It would
have been a bad time out at sea, and we, as well as others,
may call this Good Success Bay.
In the morning the Captain sent a party to communicate
with the Fuegians. When we came within hail, one of the
four natives who were present advanced to receive us, and
began to shout most vehemently, wishing to direct us where
to land. When we were on shore the party looked rather
alarmed, but continued talking and making gestures with
great rapidity. It was without exception the most curious
and interesting spectacle I ever beheld: I could not have
believed how wide was the difference between savage and
civilized man: it is greater than between a wild and
domesticated animal, inasmuch as in man there is a greater
power of improvement. The chief spokesman was old, and
appeared to be the head of the family; the three others were
powerful young men, about six feet high. The women and
children had been sent away. These Fuegians are a very
different race from the stunted, miserable wretches farther
westward; and they seem closely allied to the famous Patagonians
of the Strait of Magellan. Their only garment consists
of a mantle made of guanaco skin, with the wool outside:this they wear just thrown over their shoulders, leaving
their persons as often exposed as covered. Their skin is of
a dirty coppery-red colour.
The old man had a fillet of white feathers tied round his
head, which partly confined his black, coarse, and entangled
hair. His face was crossed by two broad transverse bars;
one, painted bright red, reached from ear to ear and included
the upper lip; the other, white like chalk, extended above
and parallel to the first, so that even his eyelids were thus
coloured. The other two men were ornamented by streaks
of black powder, made of charcoal. The party altogether
closely resembled the devils which come on the stage in plays
like Der Freischutz.
Their very attitudes were abject, and the expression of
their countenances distrustful, surprised, and startled. After
we had presented them with some scarlet cloth, which they
immediately tied round their necks, they became good friends.
This was shown by the old man patting our breasts,
and making a chuckling kind of noise, as people do when
feeding chickens. I walked with the old man, and this
demonstration of friendship was repeated several times; it was
concluded by three hard slaps, which were given me on the
breast and back at the same time. He then bared his bosom
for me to return the compliment, which being done, he
seemed highly pleased. The language of these people,
according to our notions, scarcely deserves to be called
articulate. Captain Cook has compared it to a man clearing his
throat, but certainly no European ever cleared his throatwith so many hoarse, guttural, and clicking sounds.
They are excellent mimics: as often as we coughed or
yawned, or made any odd motion, they immediately imitated
us. Some of our party began to squint and look awry; but
one of the young Fuegians (whose whole face was painted
black, excepting a white band across his eyes) succeeded in
making far more hideous grimaces. They could repeat with
perfect correctness each word in any sentence we addressed
them, and they remembered such words for some time. Yet
we Europeans all know how difficult it is to distinguish
apart the sounds in a foreign language. Which of us, for
instance, could follow an American Indian through a sentence
of more than three words? All savages appear to possess, to
an uncommon degree, this power of mimicry. I was told,
almost in the same words, of the same ludicrous habit among
the Caffres; the Australians, likewise, have long been notorious
for being able to imitate and describe the gait of any
man, so that he may be recognized. How can this faculty be
explained? is it a consequence of the more practised habits
of perception and keener senses, common to all men in a
savage state, as compared with those long civilized?
When a song was struck up by our party, I thought the
Fuegians would have fallen down with astonishment. With
equal surprise they viewed our dancing; but one of the
young men, when asked, had no objection to a little waltzing.
Little accustomed to Europeans as they appeared to be, yet
they knew and dreaded our fire-arms; nothing would tempt
them to take a gun in their hands. They begged for knives,calling them by the Spanish word "cuchilla." They explained
also what they wanted, by acting as if they had a
piece of blubber in their mouth, and then pretending to cut
instead of tear it.
I have not as yet noticed the Fuegians whom we had on
board. During the former voyage of the Adventure and
Beagle in 1826 to 1830, Captain Fitz Roy seized on a party
of natives, as hostages for the loss of a boat, which had
been stolen, to the great jeopardy of a party employed on
the survey; and some of these natives, as well as a child
whom he bought for a pearl-button, he took with him to
England, determining to educate them and instruct them in
religion at his own expense. To settle these natives in their
own country, was one chief inducement to Captain Fitz Roy
to undertake our present voyage; and before the Admiralty
had resolved to send out this expedition, Captain Fitz Roy
had generously chartered a vessel, and would himself have
taken them back. The natives were accompanied by a missionary,
R. Matthews; of whom and of the natives, Captain
Fitz Roy has published a full and excellent account. Two
men, one of whom died in England of the small-pox, a boy
and a little girl, were originally taken; and we had now on
board, York Minster, Jemmy Button (whose name expresses
his purchase-money), and Fuegia Basket. York Minster
was a full-grown, short, thick, powerful man: his disposition
was reserved, taciturn, morose, and when excited violently
passionate; his affections were very strong towards a few
friends on board; his intellect good. Jemmy Button was a
universal favourite, but likewise passionate; the expressionof his face at once showed his nice disposition. He was
merry and often laughed, and was remarkably sympathetic
with any one in pain: when the water was rough, I was often
a little sea-sick, and he used to come to me and say in a
plaintive voice, "Poor, poor fellow!" but the notion, after
his aquatic life, of a man being sea-sick, was too ludicrous,
and he was generally obliged to turn on one side to hide a
smile or laugh, and then he would repeat his "Poor, poor
fellow!" He was of a patriotic disposition; and he liked to
praise his own tribe and country, in which he truly said there
were "plenty of trees," and he abused all the other tribes:
he stoutly declared that there was no Devil in his land.
Jemmy was short, thick, and fat, but vain of his personal
appearance; he used always to wear gloves, his hair was
neatly cut, and he was distressed if his well-polished shoes
were dirtied. He was fond of admiring himself in a looking
glass; and a merry-faced little Indian boy from the Rio
Negro, whom we had for some months on board, soon perceived
this, and used to mock him: Jemmy, who was always
rather jealous of the attention paid to this little boy, did not
at all like this, and used to say, with rather a contemptuous
twist of his head, "Too much skylark." It seems yet wonderful
to me, when I think over all his many good qualities
that he should have been of the same race, and doubtless
partaken of the same character, with the miserable, degraded
savages whom we first met here. Lastly, Fuegia Basket was
a nice, modest, reserved young girl, with a rather pleasing but
sometimes sullen expression, and very quick in learning anything,
especially languages. This she showed in picking upsome Portuguese and Spanish, when left on shore for onlya short time at Rio de Janeiro and Monte Video, and in her
knowledge of English. York Minster was very jealous of
any attention paid to her; for it was clear he determined to
marry her as soon as they were settled on shore.
Although all three could both speak and understand a
good deal of English, it was singularly difficult to obtain
much information from them, concerning the habits of their
countrymen; this was partly owing to their apparent difficulty
in understanding the simplest alternative. Every one
accustomed to very young children, knows how seldom one
can get an answer even to so simple a question as whether a
thing is black or white; the idea of black or white seems
alternately to fill their minds. So it was with these Fuegians,
and hence it was generally impossible to find out, by cross
questioning, whether one had rightly understood anything
which they had asserted. Their sight was remarkably acute;
it is well known that sailors, from long practice, can make
out a distant object much better than a landsman; but both
York and Jemmy were much superior to any sailor on board:
several times they have declared what some distant object
has been, and though doubted by every one, they have proved
right, when it has been examined through a telescope. They
were quite conscious of this power; and Jemmy, when he
had any little quarrel with the officer on watch, would say,
"Me see ship, me no tell."
It was interesting to watch the conduct of the savages,
when we landed, towards Jemmy Button: they immediately
perceived the difference between him and ourselves, and heldmuch conversation one with another on the subject. The
old man addressed a long harangue to Jemmy, which it
seems was to invite him to stay with them But Jemmy
understood very little of their language, and was, moreover,
thoroughly ashamed of his countrymen. When York Minster
afterwards came on shore, they noticed him in the
same way, and told him he ought to shave; yet he had not
twenty dwarf hairs on his face, whilst we all wore our
untrimmed beards. They examined the colour of his skin, and
compared it with ours. One of our arms being bared, they
expressed the liveliest surprise and admiration at its
whiteness, just in the same way in which I have seen the
ourangoutang do at the Zoological Gardens. We thought that they
mistook two or three of the officers, who were rather shorter
and fairer, though adorned with large beards, for the ladies
of our party. The tallest amongst the Fuegians was evidently
much pleased at his height being noticed. When placed
back to back with the tallest of the boat's crew, he
tried his best to edge on higher ground, and to stand on
tiptoe. He opened his mouth to show his teeth, and turned
his face for a side view; and all this was done with such
alacrity, that I dare say he thought himself the handsomest
man in Tierra del Fuego. After our first feeling of grave
astonishment was over, nothing could be more ludicrous
than the odd mixture of surprise and imitation which these
savages every moment exhibited.
The next day I attempted to penetrate some way into the
country. Tierra del Fuego may be described as a mountainousland, partly submerged in the sea, so that deep inlets
and bays occupy the place where valleys should exist. The
mountain sides, except on the exposed western coast, are
covered from the water's edge upwards by one great forest.
The trees reach to an elevation of between 1000 and 1500
feet, and are succeeded by a band of peat, with minute alpine
plants; and this again is succeeded by the line of perpetual
snow, which, according to Captain King, in the Strait of
Magellan descends to between 3000 and 4000 feet. To find
an acre of level land in any part of the country is most rare.
I recollect only one little flat piece near Port Famine, and
another of rather larger extent near Goeree Road. In both
places, and everywhere else, the surface is covered by a
thick bed of swampy peat. Even within the forest, the
ground is concealed by a mass of slowly putrefying vegetable
matter, which, from being soaked with water, yields to the
foot.
Finding it nearly hopeless to push my way through the
wood, I followed the course of a mountain torrent. At first,
from the waterfalls and number of dead trees, I could hardly
crawl along; but the bed of the stream soon became a little
more open, from the floods having swept the sides. I continued
slowly to advance for an hour along the broken and
rocky banks, and was amply repaid by the grandeur of the
scene. The gloomy depth of the ravine well accorded with
the universal signs of violence. On every side were lying
irregular masses of rock and torn-up trees; other trees,
though still erect, were decayed to the heart and ready to
fall. The entangled mass of the thriving and the fallenreminded me of the forests within the tropics -- yet there was
a difference: for in these still solitudes, Death, instead of
Life, seemed the predominant spirit. I followed the water-course
till I came to a spot where a great slip had cleared a
straight space down the mountain side. By this road I
ascended to a considerable elevation, and obtained a good
view of the surrounding woods. The trees all belong to
one kind, the Fagus betuloides; for the number of the other
species of Fagus and of the Winter's Bark, is quite
inconsiderable. This beech keeps its leaves throughout the year;
but its foliage is of a peculiar brownish-green colour, with
a tinge of yellow. As the whole landscape is thus coloured,
it has a sombre, dull appearance; nor is it often enlivened
by the rays of the sun.
December 20th. -- One side of the harbour is formed by a
hill about 1500 feet high, which Captain Fitz Roy has called
after Sir J. Banks, in commemoration of his disastrous
excursion, which proved fatal to two men of his party, and
nearly so to Dr. Solander. The snow-storm, which was the
cause of their misfortune, happened in the middle of January,
corresponding to our July, and in the latitude of Durham!
I was anxious to reach the summit of this mountain
to collect alpine plants; for flowers of any kind in the lower
parts are few in number. We followed the same water-course
as on the previous day, till it dwindled away, and we
were then compelled to crawl blindly among the trees.
These, from the effects of the elevation and of the impetuous
winds, were low, thick and crooked. At length we reached
that which from a distance appeared like a carpet of finegreen turf, but which, to our vexation, turned out to be a
compact mass of little beech-trees about four or five feet
high. They were as thick together as box in the border of
a garden, and we were obliged to struggle over the flat but
treacherous surface. After a little more trouble we gained
the peat, and then the bare slate rock.
A ridge connected this hill with another, distant some
miles, and more lofty, so that patches of snow were lying
on it. As the day was not far advanced, I determined to
walk there and collect plants along the road. It would have
been very hard work, had it not been for a well-beaten and
straight path made by the guanacos; for these animals, like
sheep, always follow the same line. When we reached the
hill we found it the highest in the immediate neighbourhood,
and the waters flowed to the sea in opposite directions. We
obtained a wide view over the surrounding country: to the
north a swampy moorland extended, but to the south we
had a scene of savage magnificence, well becoming Tierra
del Fuego. There was a degree of mysterious grandeur
in mountain behind mountain, with the deep intervening
valleys, all covered by one thick, dusky mass of forest. The
atmosphere, likewise, in this climate, where gale succeeds
gale, with rain, hail, and sleet, seems blacker than anywhere
else. In the Strait of Magellan looking due southward from
Port Famine, the distant channels between the mountains
appeared from their gloominess to lead beyond the confines
of this world.
December 21st. -- The Beagle got under way: and on thesucceeding day, favoured to an uncommon degree by a fine
easterly breeze, we closed in with the Barnevelts, and running
past Cape Deceit with its stony peaks, about three
o'clock doubled the weather-beaten Cape Horn. The evening
was calm and bright, and we enjoyed a fine view of the
surrounding isles. Cape Horn, however, demanded his tribute,
and before night sent us a gale of wind directly in our teeth.
We stood out to sea, and on the second day again made the
land, when we saw on our weather-bow this notorious promontory
in its proper form -- veiled in a mist, and its dim
outline surrounded by a storm of wind and water. Great
black clouds were rolling across the heavens, and squalls
of rain, with hail, swept by us with such extreme violence,
that the Captain determined to run into Wigwam Cove.
This is a snug little harbour, not far from Cape Horn; and
here, at Christmas-eve, we anchored in smooth water. The
only thing which reminded us of the gale outside, was every
now and then a puff from the mountains, which made the
ship surge at her anchors.
December 25th. -- Close by the Cove, a pointed hill, called
Kater's Peak, rises to the height of 1700 feet. The surrounding
islands all consist of conical masses of greenstone,
associated sometimes with less regular hills of baked and
altered clay-slate. This part of Tierra del Fuego may be
considered as the extremity of the submerged chain of
mountains already alluded to. The cove takes its name of
"Wigwam" from some of the Fuegian habitations; but every
bay in the neighbourhood might be so called with equal
propriety. The inhabitants, living chiefly upon shell-fish, areobliged constantly to change their place of residence; but
they return at intervals to the same spots, as is evident from
the piles of old shells, which must often amount to many
tons in freight. These heaps can be distinguished at a long
distance by the bright green colour of certain plants, which
invariably grow on them. Among these may be enumerated
the wild celery and scurvy grass, two very serviceable plants,
the use of which has not been discovered by the natives.
The Fuegian wigwam resembles, in size and dimensions,
a haycock. It merely consists of a few broken branches
stuck in the ground, and very imperfectly thatched on one
side with a few tufts of grass and rushes. The whole cannot
be the work of an hour, and it is only used for a few days.
At Goeree Roads I saw a place where one of these naked
men had slept, which absolutely offered no more cover than
the form of a hare. The man was evidently living by himself,
and York Minster said he was "very bad man," and
that probably he had stolen something. On the west coast,
however, the wigwams are rather better, for they are covered
with seal-skins. We were detained here several days by the
bad weather. The climate is certainly wretched: the summer
solstice was now passed, yet every day snow fell on the
hills, and in the valleys there was rain, accompanied by
sleet. The thermometer generally stood about 45 degs., but in
the night fell to 38 or 40 degs. From the damp and boisterous
state of the atmosphere, not cheered by a gleam of sunshine,
one fancied the climate even worse than it really was.
While going one day on shore near Wollaston Island, wepulled alongside a canoe with six Fuegians. These were the
most abject and miserable creatures I anywhere beheld. On
the east coast the natives, as we have seen, have guanaco
cloaks, and on the west they possess seal-skins. Amongst
these central tribes the men generally have an otter-skin, or
some small scrap about as large as a pocket-handkerchief,
which is barely sufficient to cover their backs as low down
as their loins. It is laced across the breast by strings, and
according as the wind blows, it is shifted from side to side.
But these Fuegians in the canoe were quite naked, and even
one full-grown woman was absolutely so. It was raining
heavily, and the fresh water, together with the spray, trickled
down her body. In another harbour not far distant, a
woman, who was suckling a recently-born child, came one
day alongside the vessel, and remained there out of mere
curiosity, whilst the sleet fell and thawed on her naked
bosom, and on the skin of her naked baby! These poor
wretches were stunted in their growth, their hideous faces
bedaubed with white paint, their skins filthy and greasy,
their hair entangled, their voices discordant, and their
gestures violent. Viewing such men, one can hardly make one's
self believe that they are fellow-creatures, and inhabitants
of the same world. It is a common subject of conjecture
what pleasure in life some of the lower animals can enjoy:
how much more reasonably the same question may be asked
with respect to these barbarians! At night, five or six
human beings, naked and scarcely protected from the wind
and rain of this tempestuous climate, sleep on the wet
ground coiled up like animals. Whenever it is low water,
winter or summer, night or day, they must rise to pick shell-fishfrom the rocks; and the women either dive to collect
sea-eggs, or sit patiently in their canoes, and with a baited
hair-line without any hook, jerk out little fish. If a seal is
killed, or the floating carcass of a putrid whale is discovered,
it is a feast; and such miserable food is assisted by a few
tasteless berries and fungi.
They often suffer from famine: I heard Mr. Low, a sealing-master
intimately acquainted with the natives of this
country, give a curious account of the state of a party of
one hundred and fifty natives on the west coast, who were
very thin and in great distress. A succession of gales prevented
the women from getting shell-fish on the rocks, and
they could not go out in their canoes to catch seal. A small
party of these men one morning set out, and the other
Indians explained to him, that they were going a four days'
journey for food: on their return, Low went to meet them,
and he found them excessively tired, each man carrying
a great square piece of putrid whale's-blubber with a hole
in the middle, through which they put their heads, like the
Gauchos do through their ponchos or cloaks. As soon as
the blubber was brought into a wigwam, an old man cut off
thin slices, and muttering over them, broiled them for a
minute, and distributed them to the famished party, who
during this time preserved a profound silence. Mr. Low
believes that whenever a whale is cast on shore, the natives
bury large pieces of it in the sand, as a resource in time of
famine; and a native boy, whom he had on board, once
found a stock thus buried. The different tribes when at
war are cannibals. From the concurrent, but quite independentevidence of the boy taken by Mr. Low, and of
Jemmy Button, it is certainly true, that when pressed in
winter by hunger, they kill and devour their old women
before they kill their dogs: the boy, being asked by Mr.
Low why they did this, answered, "Doggies catch otters,
old women no." This boy described the manner in which
they are killed by being held over smoke and thus choked;
he imitated their screams as a joke, and described the parts
of their bodies which are considered best to eat. Horrid
as such a death by the hands of their friends and relatives
must be, the fears of the old women, when hunger begins
to press, are more painful to think of; we are told that they
then often run away into the mountains, but that they are
pursued by the men and brought back to the slaughter-house
at their own firesides!
Captain Fitz Roy could never ascertain that the Fuegians
have any distinct belief in a future life. They sometimes
bury their dead in caves, and sometimes in the mountain
forests; we do not know what ceremonies they perform.
Jemmy Button would not eat land-birds, because "eat dead
men": they are unwilling even to mention their dead friends.
We have no reason to believe that they perform any sort of
religious worship; though perhaps the muttering of the old
man before he distributed the putrid blubber to his famished
party, may be of this nature. Each family or tribe has a
wizard or conjuring doctor, whose office we could never
clearly ascertain. Jemmy believed in dreams, though not, as
I have said, in the devil: I do not think that our Fuegians
were much more superstitious than some of the sailors; foran old quartermaster firmly believed that the successive
heavy gales, which we encountered off Cape Horn, were
caused by our having the Fuegians on board. The nearest
approach to a religious feeling which I heard of, was shown
by York Minster, who, when Mr. Bynoe shot some very
young ducklings as specimens, declared in the most solemn
manner, "Oh, Mr. Bynoe, much rain, snow, blow much."
This was evidently a retributive punishment for wasting
human food. In a wild and excited manner he also related,
that his brother, one day whilst returning to pick up some
dead birds which he had left on the coast, observed some
feathers blown by the wind. His brother said (York imitating
his manner), "What that?" and crawling onwards,
he peeped over the cliff, and saw "wild man" picking his
birds; he crawled a little nearer, and then hurled down a
great stone and killed him. York declared for a long time
afterwards storms raged, and much rain and snow fell.
As far as we could make out, he seemed to consider the
elements themselves as the avenging agents: it is evident in
this case, how naturally, in a race a little more advanced
in culture, the elements would become personified. What
the "bad wild men" were, has always appeared to me most
mysterious: from what York said, when we found the place
like the form of a hare, where a single man had slept the
night before, I should have thought that they were thieves
who had been driven from their tribes; but other obscure
speeches made me doubt this; I have sometimes imagined
that the most probable explanation was that they were
insane.The different tribes have no government or chief; yet
each is surrounded by other hostile tribes, speaking different
dialects, and separated from each other only by a deserted
border or neutral territory: the cause of their warfare appears
to be the means of subsistence. Their country is a
broken mass of wild rocks, lofty hills, and useless forests:
and these are viewed through mists and endless storms. The
habitable land is reduced to the stones on the beach; in
search of food they are compelled unceasingly to wander
from spot to spot, and so steep is the coast, that they can
only move about in their wretched canoes. They cannot
know the feeling of having a home, and still less that of
domestic affection; for the husband is to the wife a brutal
master to a laborious slave. Was a more horrid deed ever
perpetrated, than that witnessed on the west coast by Byron,
who saw a wretched mother pick up her bleeding dying
infant-boy, whom her husband had mercilessly dashed on the
stones for dropping a basket of sea-eggs! How little can
the higher powers of the mind be brought into play: what is
there for imagination to picture, for reason to compare, or
judgment to decide upon? to knock a limpet from the rock
does not require even cunning, that lowest power of the
mind. Their skill in some respects may be compared to the
instinct of animals; for it is not improved by experience:
the canoe, their most ingenious work, poor as it is, has
remained the same, as we know from Drake, for the last two
hundred and fifty years.
Whilst beholding these savages, one asks, whence have
they come? What could have tempted, or what change compelleda tribe of men, to leave the fine regions of the north,
to travel down the Cordillera or backbone of America, to
invent and build canoes, which are not used by the tribes
of Chile, Peru, and Brazil, and then to enter on one of the
most inhospitable countries within the limits of the globe?
Although such reflections must at first seize on the mind, yet
we may feel sure that they are partly erroneous. There is
no reason to believe that the Fuegians decrease in number;
therefore we must suppose that they enjoy a sufficient share
of happiness, of whatever kind it may be, to render life
worth having. Nature by making habit omnipotent, and its
effects hereditary, has fitted the Fuegian to the climate and
the productions of his miserable country.
After having been detained six days in Wigwam Cove by
very bad weather, we put to sea on the 30th of December.
Captain Fitz Roy wished to get westward to land York and
Fuegia in their own country. When at sea we had a constant
succession of gales, and the current was against us: we
drifted to 57 degs. 23' south. On the 11th of January, 1833,
by carrying a press of sail, we fetched within a few miles of
the great rugged mountain of York Minster (so called by
Captain Cook, and the origin of the name of the elder Fuegian),
when a violent squall compelled us to shorten sail
and stand out to sea. The surf was breaking fearfully on
the coast, and the spray was carried over a cliff estimated
to 200 feet in height. On the 12th the gale was very heavy,
and we did not know exactly where we were: it was a most
unpleasant sound to hear constantly repeated, "keep a goodlook-out to leeward." On the 13th the storm raged with its
full fury: our horizon was narrowly limited by the sheets
of spray borne by the wind. The sea looked ominous, like
a dreary waving plain with patches of drifted snow: whilst
the ship laboured heavily, the albatross glided with its
expanded wings right up the wind. At noon a great sea broke
over us, and filled one of the whale boats, which was
obliged to be instantly cut away. The poor Beagle trembled
at the shock, and for a few minutes would not obey her helm;
but soon, like a good ship that she was, she righted and came
up to the wind again. Had another sea followed the first,
our fate would have been decided soon, and for ever. We
had now been twenty-four days trying in vain to get westward;
the men were worn out with fatigue, and they had not
had for many nights or days a dry thing to put on. Captain
Fitz Roy gave up the attempt to get westward by the outside
coast. In the evening we ran in behind False Cape Horn,
and dropped our anchor in forty-seven fathoms, fire flashing
from the windlass as the chain rushed round it. How delightful
was that still night, after having been so long involved
in the din of the warring elements!
January 15th, 1833. -- The Beagle anchored in Goeree
Roads. Captain Fitz Roy having resolved to settle the Fuegians,
according to their wishes, in Ponsonby Sound, four
boats were equipped to carry them there through the Beagle
Channel. This channel, which was discovered by Captain
Fitz Roy during the last voyage, is a most remarkable feature
in the geography of this, or indeed of any other country: it
may be compared to the valley of Lochness in Scotland, withits chain of lakes and friths. It is about one hundred and
twenty miles long, with an average breadth, not subject to
any very great variation, of about two miles; and is throughout
the greater part so perfectly straight, that the view,
bounded on each side by a line of mountains, gradually becomes
indistinct in the long distance. It crosses the southern
part of Tierra del Fuego in an east and west line, and
in the middle is joined at right angles on the south side by
an irregular channel, which has been called Ponsonby Sound.
This is the residence of Jemmy Button's tribe and family.
19th. -- Three whale-boats and the yawl, with a party of
twenty-eight, started under the command of Captain Fitz
Roy. In the afternoon we entered the eastern mouth of the
channel, and shortly afterwards found a snug little cove
concealed by some surrounding islets. Here we pitched our
tents and lighted our fires. Nothing could look more comfortable
than this scene. The glassy water of the little harbour,
with the branches of the trees hanging over the rocky
beach, the boats at anchor, the tents supported by the crossed
oars, and the smoke curling up the wooded valley, formed a
picture of quiet retirement. The next day (20th) we smoothly
glided onwards in our little fleet, and came to a more inhabited
district. Few if any of these natives could ever
have seen a white man; certainly nothing could exceed their
astonishment at the apparition of the four boats. Fires were
lighted on every point (hence the name of Tierra del Fuego,
or the land of fire), both to attract our attention and to
spread far and wide the news. Some of the men ran for
miles along the shore. I shall never forget how wild andsavage one group appeared: suddenly four or five men came
to the edge of an overhanging cliff; they were absolutely
naked, and their long hair streamed about their faces; they
held rugged staffs in their hands, and, springing from the
ground, they waved their arms round their heads, and sent
forth the most hideous yells.
At dinner-time we landed among a party of Fuegians.
At first they were not inclined to be friendly; for until the
Captain pulled in ahead of the other boats, they kept their
slings in their hands. We soon, however, delighted them by
trifling presents, such as tying red tape round their heads.
They liked our biscuit: but one of the savages touched with
his finger some of the meat preserved in tin cases which I
was eating, and feeling it soft and cold, showed as much disgust
at it, as I should have done at putrid blubber. Jemmy
was thoroughly ashamed of his countrymen, and declared his
own tribe were quite different, in which he was wofully
mistaken. It was as easy to please as it was difficult to
satisfy these savages. Young and old, men and children, never
ceased repeating the word "yammerschooner," which means
"give me." After pointing to almost every object, one after
the other, even to the buttons on our coats, and saying their
favourite word in as many intonations as possible, they would
then use it in a neuter sense, and vacantly repeat
"yammerschooner." After yammerschoonering for any article very
eagerly, they would by a simple artifice point to their young
women or little children, as much as to say, "If you will
not give it me, surely you will to such as these."
At night we endeavoured in vain to find an uninhabited
cove; and at last were obliged to bivouac not far from a
party of natives. They were very inoffensive as long as they
were few in numbers, but in the morning (21st) being joined
by others they showed symptoms of hostility, and we thought
that we should have come to a skirmish. An European
labours under great disadvantages when treating with savages
like these, who have not the least idea of the power of
fire-arms. In the very act of levelling his musket he appears
to the savage far inferior to a man armed with a bow and
arrow, a spear, or even a sling. Nor is it easy to teach them
our superiority except by striking a fatal blow. Like wild
beasts, they do not appear to compare numbers; for each
individual, if attacked, instead of retiring, will endeavour to
dash your brains out with a stone, as certainly as a tiger
under similar circumstances would tear you. Captain Fitz
Roy on one occasion being very anxious, from good reasons,
to frighten away a small party, first flourished a cutlass near
them, at which they only laughed; he then twice fired his
pistol close to a native. The man both times looked astounded,
and carefully but quickly rubbed his head; he then
stared awhile, and gabbled to his companions, but he never
seemed to think of running away. We can hardly put ourselves
in the position of these savages, and understand their
actions. In the case of this Fuegian, the possibility of such
a sound as the report of a gun close to his ear could never
have entered his mind. He perhaps literally did not for a
second know whether it was a sound or a blow, and therefore
very naturally rubbed his head. In a similar manner,
when a savage sees a mark struck by a bullet, it may be sometime before he is able at all to understand how it is effected;
for the fact of a body being invisible from its velocity would
perhaps be to him an idea totally inconceivable. Moreover,
the extreme force of a bullet, that penetrates a hard substance
without tearing it, may convince the savage that it
has no force at all. Certainly I believe that many savages
of the lowest grade, such as these of Tierra del Fuego, have
seen objects struck, and even small animals killed by the
musket, without being in the least aware how deadly an
instrument it is.
22nd. -- After having passed an unmolested night, in what
would appear to be neutral territory between Jemmy's tribe
and the people whom we saw yesterday, we sailed pleasantly
along. I do not know anything which shows more clearly
the hostile state of the different tribes, than these wide
border or neutral tracts. Although Jemmy Button well knew the
force of our party, he was, at first, unwilling to land amidst
the hostile tribe nearest to his own. He often told us how
the savage Oens men "when the leaf red," crossed the mountains
from the eastern coast of Tierra del Fuego, and made
inroads on the natives of this part of the country. It was
most curious to watch him when thus talking, and see his
eyes gleaming and his whole face assume a new and wild
expression. As we proceeded along the Beagle Channel, the
scenery assumed a peculiar and very magnificent character;
but the effect was much lessened from the lowness of the
point of view in a boat, and from looking along the valley,
and thus losing all the beauty of a succession of ridges. The
mountains were here about three thousand feet high, andterminated in sharp and jagged points. They rose in one
unbroken sweep from the water's edge, and were covered to
the height of fourteen or fifteen hundred feet by the dusky-
coloured forest. It was most curious to observe, as far as
the eye could range, how level and truly horizontal the line
on the mountain side was, at which trees ceased to grow: it
precisely resembled the high-water mark of drift-weed on a
sea-beach.
At night we slept close to the junction of Ponsonby Sound
with the Beagle Channel. A small family of Fuegians, who
were living in the cove, were quiet and inoffensive, and soon
joined our party round a blazing fire. We were well clothed,
and though sitting close to the fire were far from too warm;
yet these naked savages, though further off, were observed,
to our great surprise, to be streaming with perspiration at
undergoing such a roasting. They seemed, however, very
well pleased, and all joined in the chorus of the seamen's
songs: but the manner in which they were invariably a little
behindhand was quite ludicrous.
During the night the news had spread, and early in the
morning (23rd) a fresh party arrived, belonging to the Tekenika,
or Jemmy's tribe. Several of them had run so fast that
their noses were bleeding, and their mouths frothed from
the rapidity with which they talked; and with their naked
bodies all bedaubed with black, white, [1] and red, they looked
like so many demoniacs who had been fighting. We then
proceeded (accompanied by twelve canoes, each holding four
or five people) down Ponsonby Sound to the spot where poorJemmy expected to find his mother and relatives. He had
already heard that his father was dead; but as he had had
a "dream in his head" to that effect, he did not seem to
care much about it, and repeatedly comforted himself with
the very natural reflection -- "Me no help it." He was not
able to learn any particulars regarding his father's death, as
his relations would not speak about it.
Jemmy was now in a district well known to him, and
guided the boats to a quiet pretty cove named Woollya,
surrounded by islets, every one of which and every point had
its proper native name. We found here a family of Jemmy's
tribe, but not his relations: we made friends with them;
and in the evening they sent a canoe to inform Jemmy's
mother and brothers. The cove was bordered by some acres
of good sloping land, not covered (as elsewhere) either by
peat or by forest-trees. Captain Fitz Roy originally intended,
as before stated, to have taken York Minster and
Fuegia to their own tribe on the west coast; but as they
expressed a wish to remain here, and as the spot was singularly
favourable, Captain Fitz Roy determined to settle here the
whole party, including Matthews, the missionary. Five days
were spent in building for them three large wigwams, in
landing their goods, in digging two gardens, and sowing
seeds.
The next morning after our arrival (the 24th) the Fuegians
began to pour in, and Jemmy's mother and brothers
arrived. Jemmy recognised the stentorian voice of one of
his brothers at a prodigious distance. The meeting was lessinteresting than that between a horse, turned out into a field,
when he joins an old companion. There was no demonstration
of affection; they simply stared for a short time at
each other; and the mother immediately went to look after
her canoe. We heard, however, through York that the
mother has been inconsolable for the loss of Jemmy and had
searched everywhere for him, thinking that he might have
been left after having been taken in the boat. The women
took much notice of and were very kind to Fuegia. We had
already perceived that Jemmy had almost forgotten his own
language. I should think there was scarcely another human
being with so small a stock of language, for his English was
very imperfect. It was laughable, but almost pitiable, to
hear him speak to his wild brother in English, and then ask
him in Spanish ("no sabe?") whether he did not understand
him.
Everything went on peaceably during the three next days
whilst the gardens were digging and wigwams building. We
estimated the number of natives at about one hundred and
twenty. The women worked hard, whilst the men lounged
about all day long, watching us. They asked for everything
they saw, and stole what they could. They were delighted
at our dancing and singing, and were particularly interested
at seeing us wash in a neighbouring brook; they did not pay
much attention to anything else, not even to our boats. Of
all the things which York saw, during his absence from his
country, nothing seems more to have astonished him than
an ostrich, near Maldonado: breathless with astonishment
he came running to Mr. Bynoe, with whom he was out walking-- "Oh, Mr. Bynoe, oh, bird all same horse!" Much as
our white skins surprised the natives, by Mr. Low's account
a negro-cook to a sealing vessel, did so more effectually, and
the poor fellow was so mobbed and shouted at that he would
never go on shore again. Everything went on so quietly
that some of the officers and myself took long walks in the
surrounding hills and woods. Suddenly, however, on the
27th, every woman and child disappeared. We were all uneasy
at this, as neither York nor Jemmy could make out
the cause. It was thought by some that they had been frightened
by our cleaning and firing off our muskets on the previous
evening; by others, that it was owing to offence taken
by an old savage, who, when told to keep further off, had
coolly spit in the sentry's face, and had then, by gestures
acted over a sleeping Fuegian, plainly showed, as it was said,
that he should like to cut up and eat our man. Captain
Fitz Roy, to avoid the chance of an encounter, which would
have been fatal to so many of the Fuegians, thought it advisable
for us to sleep at a cove a few miles distant. Matthews,
with his usual quiet fortitude (remarkable in a man
apparently possessing little energy of character), determined
to stay with the Fuegians, who evinced no alarm for themselves;
and so we left them to pass their first awful night.
On our return in the morning (28th) we were delighted
to find all quiet, and the men employed in their canoes
spearing fish. Captain Fitz Roy determined to send the
yawl and one whale-boat back to the ship; and to proceed
with the two other boats, one under his own command (in
which he most kindly allowed me to accompany him), andone under Mr. Hammond, to survey the western parts of
the Beagle Channel, and afterwards to return and visit the
settlement. The day to our astonishment was overpoweringly
hot, so that our skins were scorched: with this beautiful
weather, the view in the middle of the Beagle Channel
was very remarkable. Looking towards either hand, no object
intercepted the vanishing points of this long canal between
the mountains. The circumstance of its being an arm
of the sea was rendered very evident by several huge whales [2]
spouting in different directions. On one occasion I saw two
of these monsters, probably male and female, slowly swimming
one after the other, within less than a stone's throw
of the shore, over which the beech-tree extended its branches.
We sailed on till it was dark, and then pitched our tents
in a quiet creek. The greatest luxury was to find for our
beds a beach of pebbles, for they were dry and yielded to
the body. Peaty soil is damp; rock is uneven and hard;
sand gets into one's meat, when cooked and eaten boat-fashion;
but when lying in our blanket-bags, on a good bed of
smooth pebbles, we passed most comfortable nights.
It was my watch till one o'clock. There is something
very solemn in these scenes. At no time does the consciousness
in what a remote corner of the world you are then
standing, come so strongly before the mind. Everything
tends to this effect; the stillness of the night is interrupted
only by the heavy breathing of the seamen beneath the tents,
and sometimes by the cry of a night-bird. The occasional
barking of a dog, heard in the distance, reminds one that it
is the land of the savage.
January 20th. -- Early in the morning we arrived at the
point where the Beagle Channel divides into two arms; and
we entered the northern one. The scenery here becomes
even grander than before. The lofty mountains on the north
side compose the granitic axis, or backbone of the country
and boldly rise to a height of between three and four thousand
feet, with one peak above six thousand feet. They are
covered by a wide mantle of perpetual snow, and numerous
cascades pour their waters, through the woods, into the narrow
channel below. In many parts, magnificent glaciers extend
from the mountain side to the water's edge. It is
scarcely possible to imagine anything more beautiful than
the beryl-like blue of these glaciers, and especially as
contrasted with the dead white of the upper expanse of snow.
The fragments which had fallen from the glacier into the
water were floating away, and the channel with its icebergs
presented, for the space of a mile, a miniature likeness of
the Polar Sea. The boats being hauled on shore at our
dinner-hour, we were admiring from the distance of half a
mile a perpendicular cliff of ice, and were wishing that some
more fragments would fall. At last, down came a mass with
a roaring noise, and immediately we saw the smooth outline
of a wave travelling towards us. The men ran down as
quickly as they could to the boats; for the chance of their
being dashed to pieces was evident. One of the seamen just
caught hold of the bows, as the curling breaker reached it:
he was knocked over and over, but not hurt, and the boats
though thrice lifted on high and let fall again, received no
damage. This was most fortunate for us, for we were ahundred miles distant from the ship, and we should have
been left without provisions or fire-arms. I had previously
observed that some large fragments of rock on the beach had
been lately displaced; but until seeing this wave, I did not
understand the cause. One side of the creek was formed
by a spur of mica-slate; the head by a cliff of ice about
forty feet high; and the other side by a promontory fifty
feet high, built up of huge rounded fragments of granite
and mica-slate, out of which old trees were growing. This
promontory was evidently a moraine, heaped up at a period
when the glacier had greater dimensions.
When we reached the western mouth of this northern
branch of the Beagle Channel, we sailed amongst many unknown
desolate islands, and the weather was wretchedly bad.
We met with no natives. The coast was almost everywhere
so steep, that we had several times to pull many miles before
we could find space enough to pitch our two tents: one night
we slept on large round boulders, with putrefying sea-weed
between them; and when the tide rose, we had to get up and
move our blanket-bags. The farthest point westward which
we reached was Stewart Island, a distance of about one hundred
and fifty miles from our ship. We returned into the
Beagle Channel by the southern arm, and thence proceeded,
with no adventure, back to Ponsonby Sound.
February 6th. -- We arrived at Woollya. Matthews gave
so bad an account of the conduct of the Fuegians, that Captain
Fitz Roy determined to take him back to the Beagle;
and ultimately he was left at New Zealand, where his brotherwas a missionary. From the time of our leaving, a regular
system of plunder commenced; fresh parties of the natives
kept arriving: York and Jemmy lost many things, and Matthews
almost everything which had not been concealed underground.
Every article seemed to have been torn up and
divided by the natives. Matthews described the watch he
was obliged always to keep as most harassing; night and
day he was surrounded by the natives, who tried to tire him
out by making an incessant noise close to his head. One day
an old man, whom Matthews asked to leave his wigwam,
immediately returned with a large stone in his hand: another
day a whole party came armed with stones and stakes, and
some of the younger men and Jemmy's brother were crying:
Matthews met them with presents. Another party showed
by signs that they wished to strip him naked and pluck all
the hairs out of his face and body. I think we arrived just
in time to save his life. Jemmy's relatives had been so vain
and foolish, that they had showed to strangers their plunder,
and their manner of obtaining it. It was quite melancholy
leaving the three Fuegians with their savage countrymen;
but it was a great comfort that they had no personal
fears. York, being a powerful resolute man, was pretty sure
to get on well, together with his wife Fuegia. Poor Jemmy
looked rather disconsolate, and would then, I have little
doubt, have been glad to have returned with us. His own
brother had stolen many things from him; and as he remarked,
"What fashion call that:" he abused his countrymen,
"all bad men, no sabe (know) nothing" and, though
I never heard him swear before, "damned fools." Our three
Fuegians, though they had been only three years with civilizedmen, would, I am sure, have been glad to have retained
their new habits; but this was obviously impossible. I fear
it is more than doubtful, whether their visit will have been
of any use to them.
In the evening, with Matthews on board, we made sail
back to the ship, not by the Beagle Channel, but by the
southern coast. The boats were heavily laden and the sea
rough, and we had a dangerous passage. By the evening
of the 7th we were on board the Beagle after an absence of
twenty days, during which time we had gone three hundred
miles in the open boats. On the 11th, Captain Fitz Roy
paid a visit by himself to the Fuegians and found them going
on well; and that they had lost very few more things.
On the last day of February in the succeeding year (1834)
the Beagle anchored in a beautiful little cove at the eastern
entrance of the Beagle Channel. Captain Fitz Roy determined
on the bold, and as it proved successful, attempt to
beat against the westerly winds by the same route, which
we had followed in the boats to the settlement at Woollya.
We did not see many natives until we were near Ponsonby
Sound, where we were followed by ten or twelve canoes. The
natives did not at all understand the reason of our tacking,
and, instead of meeting us at each tack, vainly strove to
follow us in our zigzag course. I was amused at finding
what a difference the circumstance of being quite superior
in force made, in the interest of beholding these savages.
While in the boats I got to hate the very sound of theirvoices, so much trouble did they give us. The first and last
word was "yammerschooner." When, entering some quiet
little cove, we have looked round and thought to pass a quiet
night, the odious word "yammerschooner" has shrilly sounded
from some gloomy nook, and then the little signal-smoke
has curled up to spread the news far and wide. On leaving
some place we have said to each other, "Thank heaven, we
have at last fairly left these wretches!" when one more faint
hallo from an all-powerful voice, heard at a prodigious
distance, would reach our ears, and clearly could we distinguish
-- "yammerschooner." But now, the more Fuegians the merrier;
and very merry work it was. Both parties laughing,
wondering, gaping at each other; we pitying them, for giving
us good fish and crabs for rags, etc.; they grasping at the
chance of finding people so foolish as to exchange such splendid
ornaments for a good supper. It was most amusing to
see the undisguised smile of satisfaction with which one
young woman with her face painted black, tied several bits
of scarlet cloth round her head with rushes. Her husband,
who enjoyed the very universal privilege in this country of
possessing two wives, evidently became jealous of all the
attention paid to his young wife; and, after a consultation
with his naked beauties, was paddled away by them.
Some of the Fuegians plainly showed that they had a fair
notion of barter. I gave one man a large nail (a most valuable
present) without making any signs for a return; but he
immediately picked out two fish, and handed them up on the
point of his spear. If any present was designed for one
canoe, and it fell near another, it was invariably given to theright owner. The Fuegian boy, whom Mr. Low had on
board showed, by going into the most violent passion, that
he quite understood the reproach of being called a liar, which
in truth he was. We were this time, as on all former occasions,
much surprised at the little notice, or rather none
whatever, which was taken of many things, the use of which
must have been evident to the natives. Simple circumstances
-- such as the beauty of scarlet cloth or blue beads,
the absence of women, our care in washing ourselves, -- excited
their admiration far more than any grand or complicated
object, such as our ship. Bougainville has well remarked
concerning these people, that they treat the "chefs
d'oeuvre de l'industrie humaine, comme ils traitent les loix
de la nature et ses phenomenes."
On the 5th of March, we anchored in a cove at Woollya,
but we saw not a soul there. We were alarmed at this, for
the natives in Ponsonby Sound showed by gestures, that there
had been fighting; and we afterwards heard that the dreaded
Oens men had made a descent. Soon a canoe, with a little
flag flying, was seen approaching, with one of the men in it
washing the paint off his face. This man was poor Jemmy,
-- now a thin, haggard savage, with long disordered hair, and
naked, except a bit of blanket round his waist. We did not
recognize him till he was close to us, for he was ashamed
of himself, and turned his back to the ship. We had left him
plump, fat, clean, and well-dressed; -- I never saw so complete
and grievous a change. As soon, however, as he was clothed,
and the first flurry was over, things wore a good appearance.
He dined with Captain Fitz Roy, and ate his dinneras tidily as formerly. He told us that he had "too much"
(meaning enough) to eat, that he was not cold, that his
relations were very good people, and that he did not wish to go
back to England: in the evening we found out the cause of
this great change in Jemmy's feelings, in the arrival of his
young and nice-looking wife. With his usual good feeling
he brought two beautiful otter-skins for two of his best
friends, and some spear-heads and arrows made with his own
hands for the Captain. He said he had built a canoe for himself,
and he boasted that he could talk a little of his own
language! But it is a most singular fact, that he appears to
have taught all his tribe some English: an old man spontaneously
announced "Jemmy Button's wife." Jemmy had lost
all his property. He told us that York Minster had built
a large canoe, and with his wife Fuegia, [3] had several months
since gone to his own country, and had taken farewell by an
act of consummate villainy; he persuaded Jemmy and his
mother to come with him, and then on the way deserted them
by night, stealing every article of their property.
Jemmy went to sleep on shore, and in the morning returned,
and remained on board till the ship got under way,
which frightened his wife, who continued crying violently
till he got into his canoe. He returned loaded with valuable
property. Every soul on board was heartily sorry to shake
hands with him for the last time. I do not now doubt that
he will be as happy as, perhaps happier than, if he had never
left his own country. Every one must sincerely hope that
Captain Fitz Roy's noble hope may be fulfilled, of being
rewarded for the many generous sacrifices which he made forthese Fuegians, by some shipwrecked sailor being protected
by the descendants of Jemmy Button and his tribe! When
Jemmy reached the shore, he lighted a signal fire, and the
smoke curled up, bidding us a last and long farewell, as the
ship stood on her course into the open sea.
The perfect equality among the individuals composing the
Fuegian tribes must for a long time retard their civilization.
As we see those animals, whose instinct compels them to live
in society and obey a chief, are most capable of improvement,
so is it with the races of mankind. Whether we look
at it as a cause or a consequence, the more civilized always
have the most artificial governments. For instance, the
inhabitants of Otaheite, who, when first discovered, were
governed by hereditary kings, had arrived at a far higher grade
than another branch of the same people, the New Zealanders,
-- who, although benefited by being compelled to turn their
attention to agriculture, were republicans in the most absolute
sense. In Tierra del Fuego, until some chief shall arise
with power sufficient to secure any acquired advantage, such
as the domesticated animals, it seems scarcely possible that
the political state of the country can be improved. At present,
even a piece of cloth given to one is torn into shreds
and distributed; and no one individual becomes richer than
another. On the other hand, it is difficult to understand how
a chief can arise till there is property of some sort by which
he might manifest his superiority and increase his power.
I believe, in this extreme part of South America, man
exists in a lower state of improvement than in any other partof the world. The South Sea Islanders, of the two races
inhabiting the Pacific, are comparatively civilized. The
Esquimau in his subterranean hut, enjoys some of the comforts
of life, and in his canoe, when fully equipped, manifests
much skill. Some of the tribes of Southern Africa
prowling about in search of roots, and living concealed on
the wild and arid plains, are sufficiently wretched. The
Australian, in the simplicity of the arts of life, comes
nearest the Fuegian: he can, however, boast of his boomerang,
his spear and throwing-stick, his method of climbing trees, of
tracking animals, and of hunting. Although the Australian may be
superior in acquirements, it by no means follows that he is
likewise superior in mental capacity: indeed, from what I
saw of the Fuegians when on board and from what I have
read of the Australians, I should think the case was exactly
the reverse.
[1] This substance, when dry, is tolerably compact, and of
little specific gravity: Professor Ehrenberg has examined
it: he states (Konig Akad. der Wissen: Berlin, Feb. 1845)
that it is composed of infusoria, including fourteen
polygastrica, and four phytolitharia. He says that they are
all inhabitants of fresh-water; this is a beautiful example
of the results obtainable through Professor Ehrenberg's
microscopic researches; for Jemmy Button told me that it is
always collected at the bottoms of mountain-brooks. It is,
moreover, a striking fact that in the geographical distribution
of the infusoria, which are well known to have very wide
ranges, that all the species in this substance, although
brought from the extreme southern point of Tierra del Fuego,are old, known forms.
[2] One day, off the East coast of Tierra del Fuego, we saw
a grand sight in several spermaceti whales jumping upright
quite out of the water, with the exception of their tail-fins.
As they fell down sideways, they splashed the water high up,
and the sound reverberated like a distant broadside.
[3] Captain Sulivan, who, since his voyage in the Beagle, has
been employed on the survey of the Falkland Islands, heard
from a sealer in (1842?), that when in the western part of
the Strait of Magellan, he was astonished by a native woman
coming on board, who could talk some English. Without doubt
this was Fuega Basket. She lived (I fear the term probably
bears a double interpretation) some days on board.
CHAPTER XI
STRAIT OF MAGELLAN. -- CLIMATE OF THE SOUTHERN COASTS
Strait of Magellan -- Port Famine -- Ascent of Mount Tarn --
Forests -- Edible Fungus -- Zoology -- Great Sea-weed -- Leave
Tierra del Fuego -- Climate -- Fruit-trees and Productions
of the Southern Coasts -- Height of Snow-line on the
Cordillera -- Descent of Glaciers to the Sea -- Icebergs
formed -- Transportal of Boulders -- Climate and Productions
of the Antarctic Islands -- Preservation of Frozen Carcasses --
Recapitulation.
IN THE end of May, 1834, we entered for a second time
the eastern mouth of the Strait of Magellan. The country
on both sides of this part of the Strait consists of
nearly level plains, like those of Patagonia. Cape Negro, a
little within the second Narrows, may be considered as the
point where the land begins to assume the marked features
of Tierra del Fuego. On the east coast, south of the Strait,
broken park-like scenery in a like manner connects these two
countries, which are opposed to each other in almost every
feature. It is truly surprising to find in a space of twenty
miles such a change in the landscape. If we take a rather
greater distance, as between Port Famine and Gregory Bay,
that is about sixty miles, the difference is still more
wonderful. At the former place, we have rounded mountains
concealed by impervious forests, which are drenched with the
rain, brought by an endless succession of gales; while at
Cape Gregory, there is a clear and bright blue sky over the
dry and sterile plains. The atmospheric currents, [1] although
rapid, turbulent, and unconfined by any apparent limits, yet
seem to follow, like a river in its bed, a regularly determined
course.
During our previous visit (in January), we had an interview
at Cape Gregory with the famous so-called gigantic
Patagonians, who gave us a cordial reception. Their height
appears greater than it really is, from their large guanaco
mantles, their long flowing hair, and general figure: on an
average, their height is about six feet, with some men tallerand only a few shorter; and the women are also tall; altogether
they are certainly the tallest race which we anywhere
saw. In features they strikingly resemble the more northern
Indians whom I saw with Rosas, but they have a wilder and
more formidable appearance: their faces were much painted
with red and black, and one man was ringed and dotted with
white like a Fuegian. Captain Fitz Roy offered to take any
three of them on board, and all seemed determined to be of
the three. It was long before we could clear the boat; at
last we got on board with our three giants, who dined with
the Captain, and behaved quite like gentlemen, helping
themselves with knives, forks, and spoons: nothing was so much
relished as sugar. This tribe has had so much communication
with sealers and whalers that most of the men can speak a
little English and Spanish; and they are half civilized, and
proportionally demoralized.
The next morning a large party went on shore, to barter
for skins and ostrich-feathers; fire-arms being refused,
tobacco was in greatest request, far more so than axes or
tools. The whole population of the toldos, men, women, and
children, were arranged on a bank. It was an amusing
scene, and it was impossible not to like the so-called giants,
they were so thoroughly good-humoured and unsuspecting:
they asked us to come again. They seem to like to have
Europeans to live with them; and old Maria, an important
woman in the tribe, once begged Mr. Low to leave any one
of his sailors with them. They spend the greater part of the
year here; but in summer they hunt along the foot of the
Cordillera: sometimes they travel as far as the Rio Negro750 miles to the north. They are well stocked with horses,
each man having, according to Mr. Low, six or seven, and
all the women, and even children, their one own horse. In
the time of Sarmiento (1580), these Indians had bows and
arrows, now long since disused; they then also possessed
some horses. This is a very curious fact, showing the
extraordinarily rapid multiplication of horses in South America.
The horse was first landed at Buenos Ayres in 1537, and the
colony being then for a time deserted, the horse ran wild; [2]
in 1580, only forty-three years afterwards, we hear of them at
the Strait of Magellan! Mr. Low informs me, that a neighbouring
tribe of foot-Indians is now changing into horse-Indians:
the tribe at Gregory Bay giving them their worn-out horses,
and sending in winter a few of their best skilled men to hunt
for them.
June 1st. -- We anchored in the fine bay of Port Famine.
It was now the beginning of winter, and I never saw a more
cheerless prospect; the dusky woods, piebald with snow,
could be only seen indistinctly, through a drizzling hazy
atmosphere. We were, however, lucky in getting two fine
days. On one of these, Mount Sarmiento, a distant mountain
6800 feet high, presented a very noble spectacle. I was
frequently surprised in the scenery of Tierra del Fuego, at the
little apparent elevation of mountains really lofty. I suspect
it is owing to a cause which would not at first be imagined,
namely, that the whole mass, from the summit to the water's
edge, is generally in full view. I remember having seen a
mountain, first from the Beagle Channel, where the whole
sweep from the summit to the base was full in view, and thenfrom Ponsonby Sound across several successive ridges; and
it was curious to observe in the latter case, as each fresh
ridge afforded fresh means of judging of the distance, how
the mountain rose in height.
Before reaching Port Famine, two men were seen running
along the shore and hailing the ship. A boat was sent for
them. They turned out to be two sailors who had run away
from a sealing-vessel, and had joined the Patagonians. These
Indians had treated them with their usual disinterested
hospitality. They had parted company through accident, and
were then proceeding to Port Famine in hopes of finding
some ship. I dare say they were worthless vagabonds, but I
never saw more miserable-looking ones. They had been living
for some days on mussel-shells and berries, and their
tattered clothes had been burnt by sleeping so near their fires.
They had been exposed night and day, without any shelter,
to the late incessant gales, with rain, sleet, and snow, and yet
they were in good health.
During our stay at Port Famine, the Fuegians twice came
and plagued us. As there were many instruments, clothes,
and men on shore, it was thought necessary to frighten them
away. The first time a few great guns were fired, when they
were far distant. It was most ludicrous to watch through a
glass the Indians, as often as the shot struck the water, take
up stones, and, as a bold defiance, throw them towards the
ship, though about a mile and a half distant! A boat was
sent with orders to fire a few musket-shots wide of them.
The Fuegians hid themselves behind the trees, and for everydischarge of the muskets they fired their arrows; all, however,
fell short of the boat, and the officer as he pointed at
them laughed. This made the Fuegians frantic with passion,
and they shook their mantles in vain rage. At last, seeing
the balls cut and strike the trees, they ran away, and we were
left in peace and quietness. During the former voyage the
Fuegians were here very troublesome, and to frighten them a
rocket was fired at night over their wigwams; it answered
effectually, and one of the officers told me that the clamour
first raised, and the barking of the dogs, was quite ludicrous
in contrast with the profound silence which in a minute or
two afterwards prevailed. The next morning not a single
Fuegian was in the neighbourhood.
When the Beagle was here in the month of February, I
started one morning at four o'clock to ascend Mount Tarn,
which is 2600 feet high, and is the most elevated point in this
immediate district. We went in a boat to the foot of the
mountain (but unluckily not to the best part), and then
began our ascent. The forest commences at the line of high-
water mark, and during the first two hours I gave over all
hopes of reaching the summit. So thick was the wood, that
it was necessary to have constant recourse to the compass;
for every landmark, though in a mountainous country, was
completely shut out. In the deep ravines, the death-like
scene of desolation exceeded all description; outside it was
blowing a gale, but in these hollows, not even a breath of
wind stirred the leaves of the tallest trees. So gloomy, cold,
and wet was every part, that not even the fungi, mosses, or
ferns could flourish. In the valleys it was scarcely possibleto crawl along, they were so completely barricaded by great
mouldering trunks, which had fallen down in every direction.
When passing over these natural bridges, one's course was
often arrested by sinking knee deep into the rotten wood; at
other times, when attempting to lean against a firm tree, one
was startled by finding a mass of decayed matter ready to
fall at the slightest touch. We at last found ourselves among
the stunted trees, and then soon reached the bare ridge, which
conducted us to the summit. Here was a view characteristic
of Tierra del Fuego; irregular chains of hills, mottled with
patches of snow, deep yellowish-green valleys, and arms of
the sea intersecting the land in many directions. The strong
wind was piercingly cold, and the atmosphere rather hazy, so
that we did not stay long on the top of the mountain. Our
descent was not quite so laborious as our ascent, for the
weight of the body forced a passage, and all the slips and
falls were in the right direction.
I have already mentioned the sombre and dull character of
the evergreen forests, [3] in which two or three species of
trees grow, to the exclusion of all others. Above the forest
land, there are many dwarf alpine plants, which all spring
from the mass of peat, and help to compose it: these plants
are very remarkable from their close alliance with the species
growing on the mountains of Europe, though so many thousand
miles distant. The central part of Tierra del Fuego, where the
clay-slate formation occurs, is most favourable to the growth
of trees; on the outer coast the poorer granitic soil, and a
situation more exposed to the violent winds, do not allow of
their attaining any great size. Near Port Famine I have seenmore large trees than anywhere else: I measured a Winter's
Bark which was four feet six inches in girth, and several of
the beech were as much as thirteen feet. Captain King also
mentions a beech which was seven feet in diameter, seventeen
feet above the roots.
There is one vegetable production deserving notice from
its importance as an article of food to the Fuegians. It is a
globular, bright-yellow fungus, which grows in vast numbers
on the beech-trees. When young it is elastic and turgid, with
[picture]
a smooth surface; but when mature it shrinks, becomes tougher,
and has its entire surface deeply pitted or honey-combed,
as represented in the accompanying woodcut. This fungus
belongs to a new and curious genus, [4] I found a second
species on another species of beech in Chile: and Dr. Hooker
informs me, that just lately a third species has been discovered
on a third species of beech in Van Diernan's Land. How singular
is this relationship between parasitical fungi and the trees
on which they grow, in distant parts of the world! In Tierra
del Fuego the fungus in its tough and mature state is collected
in large quantities by the women and children, and is eaten
un-cooked. It has a mucilaginous, slightly sweet taste, with
a faint smell like that of a mushroom. With the exception of
a few berries, chiefly of a dwarf arbutus, the natives eat
no vegetable food besides this fungus. In New Zealand,
before the introduction of the potato, the roots of the fern
were largely consumed; at the present time, I believe, Tierradel Fuego is the only country in the world where a cryptogamic
plant affords a staple article of food.
The zoology of Tierra del Fuego, as might have been
expected from the nature of its climate and vegetation, is
very poor. Of mammalia, besides whales and seals, there is
one bat, a kind of mouse (Reithrodon chinchilloides), two
true mice, a ctenomys allied to or identical with the tucutuco,
two foxes (Canis Magellanicus and C. Azarae), a sea-otter,
the guanaco, and a deer. Most of these animals inhabit only
the drier eastern parts of the country; and the deer has never
been seen south of the Strait of Magellan. Observing the
general correspondence of the cliffs of soft sandstone, mud,
and shingle, on the opposite sides of the Strait, and on some
intervening islands, one is strongly tempted to believe that the
land was once joined, and thus allowed animals so delicate
and helpless as the tucutuco and Reithrodon to pass over.
The correspondence of the cliffs is far from proving any
junction; because such cliffs generally are formed by the
intersection of sloping deposits, which, before the elevation
of the land, had been accumulated near the then existing
shores. It is, however, a remarkable coincidence, that in the
two large islands cut off by the Beagle Channel from the
rest of Tierra del Fuego, one has cliffs composed of matter
that may be called stratified alluvium, which front similar
ones on the opposite side of the channel, -- while the other is
exclusively bordered by old crystalline rocks: in the former,
called Navarin Island, both foxes and guanacos occur; but in
the latter, Hoste Island, although similar in every respect,
and only separated by a channel a little more than half a milewide, I have the word of Jemmy Button for saying that
neither of these animals are found.
The gloomy woods are inhabited by few birds: occasionally
the plaintive note of a white-tufted tyrant-flycatcher
(Myiobius albiceps) may be heard, concealed near the summit
of the most lofty trees; and more rarely the loud strange
cry of a black wood-pecker, with a fine scarlet crest on its
head. A little, dusky-coloured wren (Scytalopus Magellanicus)
hops in a skulking manner among the entangled mass
of the fallen and decaying trunks. But the creeper (Oxyurus
tupinieri) is the commonest bird in the country. Throughout
the beech forests, high up and low down, in the most
gloomy, wet, and impenetrable ravines, it may be met with.
This little bird no doubt appears more numerous than it
really is, from its habit of following with seeming curiosity
any person who enters these silent woods: continually uttering
a harsh twitter, it flutters from tree to tree, within a few
feet of the intruder's face. It is far from wishing for the
modest concealment of the true creeper (Certhia familiaris);
nor does it, like that bird, run up the trunks of trees, but
industriously, after the manner of a willow-wren, hops about,
and searches for insects on every twig and branch. In the
more open parts, three or four species of finches, a thrush,
a starling (or Icterus), two Opetiorhynchi, and several hawks
and owls occur.
The absence of any species whatever in the whole class of
Reptiles, is a marked feature in the zoology of this country,
as well as in that of the Falkland Islands. I do not groundthis statement merely on my own observation, but I heard it
from the Spanish inhabitants of the latter place, and from
Jemmy Button with regard to Tierra del Fuego. On the
banks of the Santa Cruz, in 50 degs. south, I saw a frog; and
it is not improbable that these animals, as well as lizards, may
be found as far south as the Strait of Magellan, where the
country retains the character of Patagonia; but within the
damp and cold limit of Tierra del Fuego not one occurs.
That the climate would not have suited some of the orders,
such as lizards, might have been foreseen; but with respect
to frogs, this was not so obvious.
Beetles occur in very small numbers: it was long before I
could believe that a country as large as Scotland, covered
with vegetable productions and with a variety of stations,
could be so unproductive. The few which I found were
alpine species (Harpalidae and Heteromidae) living under
stones. The vegetable-feeding Chrysomelidae, so eminently
characteristic of the Tropics, are here almost entirely
absent; [5] I saw very few flies, butterflies, or bees, and no
crickets or Orthoptera. In the pools of water I found but a few
aquatic beetles, and not any fresh-water shells: Succinea at
first appears an exception; but here it must be called a
terrestrial shell, for it lives on the damp herbage far from the
water. Land-shells could be procured only in the same alpine
situations with the beetles. I have already contrasted the
climate as well as the general appearance of Tierra del
Fuego with that of Patagonia; and the difference is strongly
exemplified in the entomology. I do not believe they have
one species in common; certainly the general character of theinsects is widely different.
If we turn from the land to the sea, we shall find the latter
as abundantly stocked with living creatures as the former is
poorly so. In all parts of the world a rocky and partially
protected shore perhaps supports, in a given space, a greater
number of individual animals than any other station. There
is one marine production which, from its importance, is
worthy of a particular history. It is the kelp, or Macrocystis
pyrifera. This plant grows on every rock from low-water
mark to a great depth, both on the outer coast and within the
channels. [6] I believe, during the voyages of the Adventure
and Beagle, not one rock near the surface was discovered
which was not buoyed by this floating weed. The good service
it thus affords to vessels navigating near this stormy
land is evident; and it certainly has saved many a one from
being wrecked. I know few things more surprising than to
see this plant growing and flourishing amidst those great
breakers of the western ocean, which no mass of rock, let it
be ever so hard, can long resist. The stem is round, slimy,
and smooth, and seldom has a diameter of so much as an
inch. A few taken together are sufficiently strong to support
the weight of the large loose stones, to which in the inland
channels they grow attached; and yet some of these stones
were so heavy that when drawn to the surface, they could
scarcely be lifted into a boat by one person. Captain Cook,
in his second voyage, says, that this plant at Kerguelen Land
rises from a greater depth than twenty-four fathoms; "and
as it does not grow in a perpendicular direction, but makes a
very acute angle with the bottom, and much of it afterwardsspreads many fathoms on the surface of the sea, I am well
warranted to say that some of it grows to the length of sixty
fathoms and upwards." I do not suppose the stem of any
other plant attains so great a length as three hundred and
sixty feet, as stated by Captain Cook. Captain Fitz Roy,
moreover, found it growing [7] up from the greater depth of
forty-five fathoms. The beds of this sea-weed, even when
of not great breadth, make excellent natural floating
breakwaters. It is quite curious to see, in an exposed harbour,
how soon the waves from the open sea, as they travel through
the straggling stems, sink in height, and pass into smooth
water.
The number of living creatures of all Orders, whose existence
intimately depends on the kelp, is wonderful. A great
volume might be written, describing the inhabitants of one
of these beds of sea-weed. Almost all the leaves, excepting
those that float on the surface, are so thickly incrusted with
corallines as to be of a white colour. We find exquisitely
delicate structures, some inhabited by simple hydra-like
polypi, others by more organized kinds, and beautiful compound
Ascidiae. On the leaves, also, various patelliform shells,
Trochi, uncovered molluscs, and some bivalves are attached.
Innumerable crustacea frequent every part of the plant. On
shaking the great entangled roots, a pile of small fish, shells,
cuttle-fish, crabs of all orders, sea-eggs, star-fish, beautiful
Holuthuriae, Planariae, and crawling nereidous animals of a
multitude of forms, all fall out together. Often as I recurred
to a branch of the kelp, I never failed to discover animals
of new and curious structures. In Chiloe, where the kelpdoes not thrive very well, the numerous shells, corallines, and
crustacea are absent; but there yet remain a few of the
Flustraceae, and some compound Ascidiae; the latter, however,
are of different species from those in Tierra del Fuego:
we see here the fucus possessing a wider range than the animals
which use it as an abode. I can only compare these
great aquatic forests of the southern hemisphere with the
terrestrial ones in the intertropical regions. Yet if in any
country a forest was destroyed, I do not believe nearly so
many species of animals would perish as would here, from
the destruction of the kelp. Amidst the leaves of this plant
numerous species of fish live, which nowhere else could find
food or shelter; with their destruction the many cormorants
and other fishing birds, the otters, seals, and porpoises, would
soon perish also; and lastly, the Fuegian savage, the miserable
lord of this miserable land, would redouble his cannibal
feast, decrease in numbers, and perhaps cease to exist.
June 8th. -- We weighed anchor early in the morning and
left Port Famine. Captain Fitz Roy determined to leave the
Strait of Magellan by the Magdalen Channel, which had not
long been discovered. Our course lay due south, down that
gloomy passage which I have before alluded to as appearing
to lead to another and worse world. The wind was fair, but
the atmosphere was very thick; so that we missed much
curious scenery. The dark ragged clouds were rapidly driven
over the mountains, from their summits nearly down to their
bases. The glimpses which we caught through the dusky
mass were highly interesting; jagged points, cones of snow,
blue glaciers, strong outlines, marked on a lurid sky, wereseen at different distances and heights. In the midst of such
scenery we anchored at Cape Turn, close to Mount Sarmiento,
which was then hidden in the clouds. At the base of
the lofty and almost perpendicular sides of our little cove
there was one deserted wigwam, and it alone reminded us
that man sometimes wandered into these desolate regions.
But it would be difficult to imagine a scene where he seemed
to have fewer claims or less authority. The inanimate works
of nature -- rock, ice, snow, wind, and water -- all warring
with each other, yet combined against man -- here reigned in
absolute sovereignty.
June 9th. -- In the morning we were delighted by seeing
the veil of mist gradually rise from Sarmiento, and display it
to our view. This mountain, which is one of the highest in
Tierra del Fuego, has an altitude of 6800 feet. Its base, for
about an eighth of its total height, is clothed by dusky woods,
and above this a field of snow extends to the summit. These
vast piles of snow, which never melt, and seem destined to
last as long as the world holds together, present a noble and
even sublime spectacle. The outline of the mountain was
admirably clear and defined. Owing to the abundance of
light reflected from the white and glittering surface, no
shadows were cast on any part; and those lines which intersected
the sky could alone be distinguished: hence the mass
stood out in the boldest relief. Several glaciers descended in
a winding course from the upper great expanse of snow to
the sea-coast: they may be likened to great frozen Niagaras;
and perhaps these cataracts of blue ice are full as beautiful
as the moving ones of water. By night we reached the westernpart of the channel; but the water was so deep that no
anchorage could be found. We were in consequence obliged
to stand off and on in this narrow arm of the sea, during a
pitch-dark night of fourteen hours long.
June 10th. -- In the morning we made the best of our way
into the open Pacific. The western coast generally consists
of low, rounded, quite barren hills of granite and greenstone.
Sir J. Narborough called one part South Desolation, because
it is "so desolate a land to behold:" and well indeed might
he say so. Outside the main islands, there are numberless
scattered rocks on which the long swell of the open ocean
incessantly rages. We passed out between the East and West
Furies; and a little farther northward there are so many
breakers that the sea is called the Milky Way. One sight of
such a coast is enough to make a landsman dream for a week
about shipwrecks, peril, and death; and with this sight we
bade farewell for ever to Tierra del Fuego.
The following discussion on the climate of the southern
parts of the continent with relation to its productions, on
the snow-line, on the extraordinarily low descent of the
glaciers, and on the zone of perpetual congelation in
the antarctic islands, may be passed over by any one
not interested in these curious subjects, or the final
recapitulation alone may be read. I shall, however, here
give only an abstract, and must refer for details to the
Thirteenth Chapter and the Appendix of the former edition
of this work.
On the Climate and Productions of Tierra del Fuego and
of the South-west Coast. -- The following table gives the
mean temperature of Tierra del Fuego, the Falkland Islands,
and, for comparison, that of Dublin: --
Summer Winter Mean of Summer
Latitude Temp. Temp. and Winter
---------------------------------------------------------------
Tierra del Fuego 53 38' S. 50 33.08 41.54
Falkland Islands 51 38' S. 51 -- --
Dublin 53 21' N. 59.54 39.2 49.37
Hence we see that the central part of Tierra del Fuego is
colder in winter, and no less than 9.5 degs. less hot in
summer, than Dublin. According to von Buch, the mean
temperature of July (not the hottest month in the year)
at Saltenfiord in Norway, is as high as 57.8 degs.,
and this place is actually 13 degs. nearer the pole
than Port Famine! [8] Inhospitable as this climate appears
to our feelings evergreen trees flourish luxuriantly under
it. Humming-birds may be seen sucking the flowers, and
parrots feeding on the seeds of the Winter's Bark, in lat.
55 degs. S. I have already remarked to what a degree the
sea swarms with living creatures; and the shells (such as
the Patellae, Fissurellae, Chitons, and Barnacles),
according to Mr. G. B. Sowerby, are of a much larger size
and of a more vigorous growth, than the analogous species in
the northern hemisphere. A large Voluta is abundant in
southern Tierra del Fuego and the Falkland Islands. AtBahia Blanca, in lat. 39 degs. S., the most abundant shells were
three species of Oliva (one of large size), one or two Volutas,
and a Terebra. Now, these are amongst the best characterized
tropical forms. It is doubtful whether even one
small species of Oliva exists on the southern shores of
Europe, and there are no species of the two other genera.
If a geologist were to find in lat 39 degs. on the coast of
Portugal a bed containing numerous shells belonging to three
species of Oliva, to a Voluta and Terebra, he would probably
assert that the climate at the period of their existence must
have been tropical; but judging from South America, such an
inference might be erroneous.
The equable, humid, and windy climate of Tierra del
Fuego extends, with only a small increase of heat, for many
degrees along the west coast of the continent. The forests
for 600 miles northward of Cape Horn, have a very similar
aspect. As a proof of the equable climate, even for 300 or
400 miles still further northward, I may mention that in
Chiloe (corresponding in latitude with the northern parts
of Spain) the peach seldom produces fruit, whilst strawberries
and apples thrive to perfection. Even the crops of
barley and wheat [9] are often brought into the houses to be
dried and ripened. At Valdivia (in the same latitude of
40 degs., with Madrid) grapes and figs ripen, but are not
common; olives seldom ripen even partially, and oranges not at
all. These fruits, in corresponding latitudes in Europe, are
well known to succeed to perfection; and even in this continent,
at the Rio Negro, under nearly the same parallel
with Valdivia, sweet potatoes (convolvulus) are cultivated;and grapes, figs, olives, oranges, water and musk melons,
produce abundant fruit. Although the humid and equable
climate of Chiloe, and of the coast northward and southward
of it, is so unfavourable to our fruits, yet the native
forests, from lat. 45 to 38 degs., almost rival in luxuriance
those of the glowing intertropical regions. Stately trees of
many kinds, with smooth and highly coloured barks, are loaded
by parasitical monocotyledonous plants; large and elegant
ferns are numerous, and arborescent grasses entwine the
trees into one entangled mass to the height of thirty or forty
feet above the ground. Palm-trees grow in lat 37 degs.; an
arborescent grass, very like a bamboo, in 40 degs.; and
another closely allied kind, of great length, but not erect,
flourishes even as far south as 45 degs. S.
An equable climate, evidently due to the large area of sea
compared with the land, seems to extend over the greater
part of the southern hemisphere; and, as a consequence, the
vegetation partakes of a semi-tropical character. Tree-ferns
thrive luxuriantly in Van Diemen's Land (lat. 45 degs.), and I
measured one trunk no less than six feet in circumference.
An arborescent fern was found by Forster in New Zealand
in 46 degs., where orchideous plants are parasitical on the
trees. In the Auckland Islands, ferns, according to Dr.
Dieffenbach [10] have trunks so thick and high that they may
be almost called tree-ferns; and in these islands, and even
as far south as lat. 55 degs. in the Macquarrie Islands,
parrots abound.
On the Height of the Snow-line, and on the Descent ofthe Glaciers in South America. -- For the detailed authorities
for the following table, I must refer to the former edition: --
Height in feet
Latitude of Snow-line Observer
----------------------------------------------------------------
Equatorial region; mean result 15,748 Humboldt.
Bolivia, lat. 16 to 18 degs. S. 17,000 Pentland.
Central Chile, lat. 33 degs. S. 14,500 - 15,000 Gillies, and
the Author.
Chiloe, lat. 41 to 43 degs. S. 6,000 Officers of the
Beagle and the
Author.
Tierra del Fuego, 54 degs. S. 3,500 - 4,000 King.
As the height of the plane of perpetual snow seems chiefly to
be determined by the extreme heat of the summer, rather than
by the mean temperature of the year, we ought not to be
surprised at its descent in the Strait of Magellan, where the
summer is so cool, to only 3500 or 4000 feet above the level of
the sea; although in Norway, we must travel to between lat. 67
and 70 degs. N., that is, about 14 degs. nearer the pole, to meet
with perpetual snow at this low level. The difference in height,
namely, about 9000 feet, between the snow-line on the Cordillera
behind Chiloe (with its highest points ranging from
only 5600 to 7500 feet) and in central Chile [11] (a distance of
only 9 degs. of latitude), is truly wonderful. The land from the
southward of Chiloe to near Concepcion (lat. 37 degs.) is hidden
by one dense forest dripping with moisture. The sky iscloudy, and we have seen how badly the fruits of southern
Europe succeed. In central Chile, on the other hand, a little
northward of Concepcion, the sky is generally clear, rain does
not fall for the seven summer months, and southern European
fruits succeed admirably; and even the sugar-cane has
been cultivated. [12] No doubt the plane of perpetual snow
undergoes the above remarkable flexure of 9000 feet,
unparalleled in other parts of the world, not far from the
latitude of Concepcion, where the land ceases to be covered
with forest-trees; for trees in South America indicate a rainy
climate, and rain a clouded sky and little heat in summer.
The descent of glaciers to the sea must, I conceive, mainly
depend (subject, of course, to a proper supply of snow in the
upper region) on the lowness of the line of perpetual snow
on steep mountains near the coast. As the snow-line is so
low in Tierra del Fuego, we might have expected that many
of the glaciers would have reached the sea. Nevertheless,
I was astonished when I first saw a range, only from 3000 to
4000 feet in height, in the latitude of Cumberland, with every
valley filled with streams of ice descending to the sea-coast.
Almost every arm of the sea, which penetrates to the interior
higher chain, not only in Tierra del Fuego, but on the coast
for 650 miles northwards, is terminated by "tremendous and
astonishing glaciers," as described by one of the officers on
the survey. Great masses of ice frequently fall from these
icy cliffs, and the crash reverberates like the broadside of a
man-of-war through the lonely channels. These falls, as
noticed in the last chapter, produce great waves which break
on the adjoining coasts. It is known that earthquakes frequentlycause masses of earth to fall from sea-cliffs: how
terrific, then, would be the effect of a severe shock (and such
occur here [13]) on a body like a glacier, already in motion, and
traversed by fissures! I can readily believe that the water
would be fairly beaten back out of the deepest channel, and
then, returning with an overwhelming force, would whirl
about huge masses of rock like so much chaff. In Eyre's
Sound, in the latitude of Paris, there are immense glaciers,
and yet the loftiest neighbouring mountain is only 6200 feet
high. In this Sound, about fifty icebergs were seen at one
time floating outwards, and one of them must have been at
least 168 feet in total height. Some of the icebergs were
loaded with blocks of no inconsiderable size, of granite and
other rocks, different from the clay-slate of the surrounding
mountains. The glacier furthest from the pole, surveyed
during the voyages of the Adventure and Beagle, is in lat.
46 degs. 50', in the Gulf of Penas. It is 15 miles long, and in
one part 7 broad and descends to the sea-coast. But even a
few miles northward of this glacier, in Laguna de San
[picture]
Rafael, some Spanish missionaries [14] encountered "many
icebergs, some great, some small, and others middle-sized," in
a narrow arm of the sea, on the 22nd of the month corresponding
with our June, and in a latitude corresponding with
that of the Lake of Geneva!
In Europe, the most southern glacier which comes down
to the sea is met with, according to Von Buch, on the coastof Norway, in lat. 67 degs. Now, this is more than 20 degs. of
latitude, or 1230 miles, nearer the pole than the Laguna de San
Rafael. The position of the glaciers at this place and in the
Gulf of Penas may be put even in a more striking point of
view, for they descend to the sea-coast within 7.5 degs. of
latitude, or 450 miles, of a harbour, where three species of
Oliva, a Voluta, and a Terebra, are the commonest shells,
within less than 9 degs. from where palms grow, within 4.5 degs.
of a region where the jaguar and puma range over the
plains, less than 2.5 degs. from arborescent grasses, and
(looking to the westward in the same hemisphere) less than
2 degs. from orchideous parasites, and within a single degree
of tree-ferns!
These facts are of high geological interest with respect to
the climate of the northern hemisphere at the period when
boulders were transported. I will not here detail how simply
the theory of icebergs being charged with fragments of rock,
explain the origin and position of the gigantic boulders of
eastern Tierra del Fuego, on the high plain of Santa Cruz,
and on the island of Chiloe. In Tierra del Fuego, the greater
number of boulders lie on the lines of old sea-channels, now
converted into dry valleys by the elevation of the land. They
are associated with a great unstratified formation of mud
and sand, containing rounded and angular fragments of all
sizes, which has originated [15] in the repeated ploughing up of
the sea-bottom by the stranding of icebergs, and by the matter
transported on them. Few geologists now doubt that
those erratic boulders which lie near lofty mountains have
been pushed forward by the glaciers themselves, and thatthose distant from mountains, and embedded in subaqueous
deposits, have been conveyed thither either on icebergs or
frozen in coast-ice. The connection between the transportal
of boulders and the presence of ice in some form, is strikingly
shown by their geographical distribution over the earth.
In South America they are not found further than 48 degs. of
latitude, measured from the southern pole; in North America
it appears that the limit of their transportal extends to
53.5 degs. from the northern pole; but in Europe to not more
than 40 degs. of latitude, measured from the same point. On the
other hand, in the intertropical parts of America, Asia, and
Africa, they have never been observed; nor at the Cape of Good
Hope, nor in Australia. [16]
On the Climate and Productions of the Antarctic Islands.
-- Considering the rankness of the vegetation in Tierra del
Fuego, and on the coast northward of it, the condition of the
islands south and south-west of America is truly surprising.
Sandwich Land, in the latitude of the north part of Scotland,
was found by Cook, during the hottest month of the
year, "covered many fathoms thick with everlasting snow;"
and there seems to be scarcely any vegetation. Georgia, an
island 96 miles long and 10 broad, in the latitude of Yorkshire,
"in the very height of summer, is in a manner wholly
covered with frozen snow." It can boast only of moss, some
tufts of grass, and wild burnet; it has only one land-bird
(Anthus correndera), yet Iceland, which is 10 degs. nearer the
pole, has, according to Mackenzie, fifteen land-birds. The
South Shetland Islands, in the same latitude as the southern
half of Norway, possess only some lichens, moss, and a littlegrass; and Lieut. Kendall [17] found the bay, in which he was
at anchor, beginning to freeze at a period corresponding with
our 8th of September. The soil here consists of ice and
volcanic ashes interstratified; and at a little depth beneath
the surface it must remain perpetually congealed, for Lieut.
Kendall found the body of a foreign sailor which had long
been buried, with the flesh and all the features perfectly
preserved. It is a singular fact, that on the two great
continents in the northern hemisphere (but not in the broken
land of Europe between them ), we have the zone of perpetually
frozen under-soil in a low latitude -- namely, in 56 degs. in
North America at the depth of three feet, [18] and in 62 degs.
in Siberia at the depth of twelve to fifteen feet -- as the
result of a directly opposite condition of things to those
of the southern hemisphere. On the northern continents, the
winter is rendered excessively cold by the radiation from a
large area of land into a clear sky, nor is it moderated by
the warmth-bringing currents of the sea; the short summer,
on the other hand, is hot. In the Southern Ocean the winter
is not so excessively cold, but the summer is far less hot,
for the clouded sky seldom allows the sun to warm the ocean,
itself a bad absorbent of heat: and hence the mean temperature
of the year, which regulates the zone of perpetually congealed
under-soil, is low. It is evident that a rank vegetation,
which does not so much require heat as it does protection
from intense cold, would approach much nearer to this zone
of perpetual congelation under the equable climate of the
southern hemisphere, than under the extreme climate of the
northern continents.The case of the sailor's body perfectly preserved in the icy
soil of the South Shetland Islands (lat. 62 to 63 degs. S.), in a
rather lower latitude than that (lat. 64 degs. N.) under which
Pallas found the frozen rhinoceros in Siberia, is very
interesting. Although it is a fallacy, as I have endeavoured to
show in a former chapter, to suppose that the larger quadrupeds
require a luxuriant vegetation for their support, nevertheless
it is important to find in the South Shetland Islands
a frozen under-soil within 360 miles of the forest-clad islands
near Cape Horn, where, as far as the _bulk_ of vegetation is
concerned, any number of great quadrupeds might be supported.
The perfect preservation of the carcasses of the
Siberian elephants and rhinoceroses is certainly one of the
most wonderful facts in geology; but independently of the
imagined difficulty of supplying them with food from the
adjoining countries, the whole case is not, I think, so
perplexing as it has generally been considered. The plains of
Siberia, like those of the Pampas, appear to have been formed
under the sea, into which rivers brought down the bodies
of many animals; of the greater number of these, only the
skeletons have been preserved, but of others the perfect
carcass. Now, it is known that in the shallow sea on the Arctic
coast of America the bottom freezes, [19] and does not thaw in
spring so soon as the surface of the land, moreover at
greater depths, where the bottom of the sea does not freeze
the mud a few feet beneath the top layer might remain even
in summer below 32 degs., as in the case on the land with the
soil at the depth of a few feet. At still greater depths, the
temperature of the mud and water would probably not be low
enough to preserve the flesh; and hence, carcasses driftedbeyond the shallow parts near an Arctic coast, would have
only their skeletons preserved: now in the extreme northern
parts of Siberia bones are infinitely numerous, so that even
islets are said to be almost composed of them; [20] and those
islets lie no less than ten degrees of latitude north of the
place where Pallas found the frozen rhinoceros. On the other
hand, a carcass washed by a flood into a shallow part of the
Arctic Sea, would be preserved for an indefinite period, if it
were soon afterwards covered with mud sufficiently thick to
prevent the heat of the summer-water penetrating to it; and
if, when the sea-bottom was upraised into land, the covering
was sufficiently thick to prevent the heat of the summer air
and sun thawing and corrupting it.
Recapitulation. -- I will recapitulate the principal facts with
regard to the climate, ice-action, and organic productions of
the southern hemisphere, transposing the places in imagination
to Europe, with which we are so much better acquainted.
Then, near Lisbon, the commonest sea-shells, namely, three
species of Oliva, a Voluta, and a Terebra, would have a
tropical character. In the southern provinces of France,
magnificent forests, intwined by arborescent grasses and with
the trees loaded with parasitical plants, would hide the face
of the land. The puma and the jaguar would haunt the
Pyrenees. In the latitude of Mont Blanc, but on an island as
far westward as Central North America, tree-ferns and
parasitical Orchideae would thrive amidst the thick woods.
Even as far north as central Denmark, humming-birds would be
seen fluttering about delicate flowers, and parrots feeding
amidst the evergreen woods; and in the sea there, we shouldhave a Voluta, and all the shells of large size and vigorous
growth. Nevertheless, on some islands only 360 miles northward
of our new Cape Horn in Denmark, a carcass buried
in the soil (or if washed into a shallow sea, and covered up
with mud) would be preserved perpetually frozen. If some
bold navigator attempted to penetrate northward of these
islands, he would run a thousand dangers amidst gigantic
icebergs, on some of which he would see great blocks of rock
borne far away from their original site. Another island of
large size in the latitude of southern Scotland, but twice as
far to the west, would be "almost wholly covered with
everlasting snow," and would have each bay terminated by
ice-cliffs, whence great masses would be yearly detached: this
island would boast only of a little moss, grass, and burnet,
and a titlark would be its only land inhabitant. From our
new Cape Horn in Denmark, a chain of mountains, scarcely
half the height of the Alps, would run in a straight line due
southward; and on its western flank every deep creek of the
sea, or fiord, would end in "bold and astonishing glaciers."
These lonely channels would frequently reverberate with the
falls of ice, and so often would great waves rush along their
coasts; numerous icebergs, some as tall as cathedrals, and
occasionally loaded with "no inconsiderable blocks of rock,"
would be stranded on the outlying islets; at intervals violent
earthquakes would shoot prodigious masses of ice into the
waters below. Lastly, some missionaries attempting to penetrate
a long arm of the sea, would behold the not lofty surrounding
mountains, sending down their many grand icy streams
to the sea-coast, and their progress in the boats would
be checked by the innumerable floating icebergs, some smalland some great; and this would have occurred on our twenty-
second of June, and where the Lake of Geneva is now spread
out! [21]
[1] The south-westerly breezes are generally very dry.
January 29th, being at anchor under Cape Gregory: a very
hard gale from W. by S., clear sky with few cumuli;
temperature 57 degs., dew-point 36 degs., -- difference
21 degs. On January 15th, at Port St. Julian: in the
morning, light winds with much rain, followed by a very
heavy squall with rain, -- settled into heavy gale with
large cumuli, -- cleared up, blowing very strong from S.S.W.
Temperature 60 degs., dew-point 42 degs., -- difference
18 degs.
[2] Rengger, Natur. der Saeugethiere von Paraguay. S. 334.
[3] Captain Fitz Roy informs me that in April (our October),
the leaves of those trees which grow near the base of the
mountains change colour, but not those on the more elevated
parts. I remember having read some observations, showing
that in England the leaves fall earlier in a warm and fine
autumn than in a late and cold one, The change in the colour
being here retarded in the more elevated, and therefore colder
situations, must he owing to the same general law of vegetation.
The trees of Tierra del Fuego during no part of the year
entirely shed their leaves.
[4] Described from my specimens and notes by the Rev. J. M.
Berkeley, in the Linnean Transactions (vol. xix. p. 37), underthe name of Cyttaria Darwinii; the Chilean species is the
C. Berteroii. This genus is allied to Bulgaria.
[5] I believe I must except one alpine Haltica, and a single
specimen of a Melasoma. Mr. Waterhouse informs me, that of
the Harpalidae there are eight or nine species -- the forms
of the greater number being very peculiar; of Heteromera,
four or five species; of Rhyncophora, six or seven; and of
the following families one species in each: Staphylinidae,
Elateridae, Cebrionidae, Melolonthidae. The species in the
other orders are even fewer. In all the orders, the scarcity
of the individuals is even more remarkable than that of the
species. Most of the Coleoptera have been carefully described
by Mr. Waterhouse in the Annals of Nat. Hist.
[6] Its geographical range is remarkably wide; it is found
from the extreme southern islets near Cape Horn, as far
north on the eastern coast (according to information given
me by Mr. Stokes) as lat. 43 degs., -- but on the western
coast, as Dr. Hooker tells me, it extends to the R. San
Francisco in California, and perhaps even to Kamtschatka.
We thus have an immense range in latitude; and as Cook,
who must have been well acquainted with the species, found
it at Kerguelen Land, no less than 140 degs. in longitude.
[7] Voyages of the Adventure and Beagle, vol. i. p. 363. -- It
appears that sea-weed grows extremely quick. -- Mr. Stephenson
found (Wilson's Voyage round Scotland, vol. ii. p. 228) that
a rock uncovered only at spring-tides, which had been chiselled
smooth in November, on the following May, that is, withinsix months afterwards, was thickly covered with Fucus digitatus
two feet, and F. esculentus six feet, in length.
[8] With regard to Tierra del Fuego, the results are deduced
from the observations of Capt. King (Geographical Journal,
1830), and those taken on board the Beagle. For the Falkland
Islands, I am indebted to Capt. Sulivan for the mean of the
mean temperature (reduced from careful observations at
midnight, 8 A.M., noon, and 8 P.M.) of the three hottest
months, viz., December, January, and February. The temperature
of Dublin is taken from Barton.
[9] Agueros, Descrip. Hist. de la Prov. de Chiloe, 1791, p. 94.
[10] See the German Translation of this Journal; and for the
other facts, Mr. Brown's Appendix to Flinders's Voyage.
[11] On the Cordillera of central Chile, I believe the
snow-line varies exceedingly in height in different summers.
I was assured that during one very dry and long summer, all
the snow disappeared from Aconcagua, although it attains the
prodigious height of 23,000 feet. It is probable that much
of the snow at these great heights is evaporated rather than
thawed.
[12] Miers's Chile, vol. i. p. 415. It is said that the
sugar-cane grew at Ingenio, lat. 32 to 33 degs., but not in
sufficient quantity to make the manufacture profitable. In
the valley of Quillota, south of Ingenio, I saw some largedate palm trees.
[13] Bulkeley's and Cummin's Faithful Narrative of the Loss
of the Wager. The earthquake happened August 25, 1741.
[14] Agueros, Desc. Hist. de Chiloe, p. 227.
[15] Geological Transactions, vol. vi. p. 415.
[16] I have given details (the first, I believe, published) on
this subject in the first edition, and in the Appendix to it.
I have there shown that the apparent exceptions to the absence
of erratic boulders in certain countries, are due to erroneous
observations; several statements there given I have since
found confirmed by various authors.
[17] Geographical Journal, 1830, pp. 65, 66.
[18] Richardson's Append. to Back's Exped., and Humboldt's
Fragm. Asiat., tom. ii. p. 386.
[19] Messrs. Dease and Simpson, in Geograph. Journ., vol.
viii. pp. 218 and 220.
[20] Cuvier (Ossemens Fossiles, tom. i. p. 151), from Billing's
Voyage.
[21] In the former edition and Appendix, I have given some
facts on the transportal of erratic boulders and icebergs
in the Atlantic Ocean. This subject has lately been treatedexcellently by Mr. Hayes, in the Boston Journal (vol. iv.
p. 426). The author does not appear aware of a case published
by me (Geographical Journal, vol. ix. p. 528) of a gigantic
boulder embedded in an iceberg in the Antarctic Ocean, almost
certainly one hundred miles distant from any land, and
perhaps much more distant. In the Appendix I have discussed
at length the probability (at that time hardly thought of)
of icebergs, when stranded, grooving and polishing rocks,
like glaciers. This is now a very commonly received opinion;
and I cannot still avoid the suspicion that it is applicable
even to such cases as that of the Jura. Dr. Richardson has
assured me that the icebergs off North America push before
them pebbles and sand, and leave the submarine rocky flats
quite bare; it is hardly possible to doubt that such ledges
must be polished and scored in the direction of the set of
the prevailing currents. Since writing that Appendix, I have
seen in North Wales (London Phil. Mag., vol. xxi. p. 180)
the adjoining action of glaciers and floating icebergs.
CHAPTER XII
CENTRAL CHILE
Valparaiso -- Excursion to the Foot of the Andes -- Structure
of the Land -- Ascend the Bell of Quillota -- Shattered
Masses of Greenstone -- Immense Valleys -- Mines -- State of
Miners -- Santiago -- Hot-baths of Cauquenes -- Gold-mines --
Grinding-mills -- Perforated Stones -- Habits of the Puma -- ElTurco and Tapacolo -- Humming-birds.
JULY 23rd. -- The Beagle anchored late at night in the
bay of Valparaiso, the chief seaport of Chile. When
morning came, everything appeared delightful. After
Tierra del Fuego, the climate felt quite delicious -- the
atmosphere so dry, and the heavens so clear and blue with the
sun shining brightly, that all nature seemed sparkling with
life. The view from the anchorage is very pretty. The town is
built at the very foot of a range of hills, about 1600 feet
high, and rather steep. From its position, it consists of one
long, straggling street, which runs parallel to the beach,
and wherever a ravine comes down, the houses are piled up on
each side of it. The rounded hills, being only partially
protected by a very scanty vegetation, are worn into numberless
little gullies, which expose a singularly bright red soil. From
this cause, and from the low whitewashed houses with tile roofs,
the view reminded me of St. Cruz in Teneriffe. In a north-
westerly direction there are some fine glimpses of the Andes:
but these mountains appear much grander when viewed from
the neighbouring hills: the great distance at which they are
situated can then more readily be perceived. The volcano of
Aconcagua is particularly magnificent. This huge and irregularly
conical mass has an elevation greater than that of
Chimborazo; for, from measurements made by the officers in
the Beagle, its height is no less than 23,000 feet. The
Cordillera, however, viewed from this point, owe the greater
part of their beauty to the atmosphere through which they are
seen. When the sun was setting in the Pacific, it wasadmirable to watch how clearly their rugged outlines could
be distinguished, yet how varied and how delicate were the
shades of their colour.
I had the good fortune to find living here Mr. Richard
Corfield, an old schoolfellow and friend, to whose hospitality
and kindness I was greatly indebted, in having afforded me
a most pleasant residence during the Beagle's stay in Chile.
The immediate neighbourhood of Valparaiso is not very productive
to the naturalist. During the long summer the wind
blows steadily from the southward, and a little off shore, so
that rain never falls; during the three winter months, however,
it is sufficiently abundant. The vegetation in consequence
is very scanty: except in some deep valleys, there are
no trees, and only a little grass and a few low bushes are
scattered over the less steep parts of the hills. When we
reflect, that at the distance of 350 miles to the south, this
side of the Andes is completely hidden by one impenetrable
forest, the contrast is very remarkable. I took several long
walks while collecting objects of natural history. The country
is pleasant for exercise. There are many very beautiful flowers;
and, as in most other dry climates, the plants and shrubs
possess strong and peculiar odours -- even one's clothes by
brushing through them became scented. I did not cease from
wonder at finding each succeeding day as fine as the foregoing.
What a difference does climate make in the enjoyment
of life! How opposite are the sensations when viewing
black mountains half enveloped in clouds, and seeing
another range through the light blue haze of a fine day! The
one for a time may be very sublime; the other is all gaietyand happy life.
August 14th. -- I set out on a riding excursion, for the
purpose of geologizing the basal parts of the Andes, which
alone at this time of the year are not shut up by the winter
snow. Our first day's ride was northward along the sea-coast.
After dark we reached the Hacienda of Quintero,
the estate which formerly belonged to Lord Cochrane. My
object in coming here was to see the great beds of shells,
which stand some yards above the level of the sea, and are
burnt for lime. The proofs of the elevation of this whole
line of coast are unequivocal: at the height of a few hundred
feet old-looking shells are numerous, and I found some
at 1300 feet. These shells either lie loose on the surface, or
are embedded in a reddish-black vegetable mould. I was
much surprised to find under the microscope that this vegetable
mould is really marine mud, full of minute particles of
organic bodies.
15th. -- We returned towards the valley of Quillota. The
country was exceedingly pleasant; just such as poets would
call pastoral: green open lawns, separated by small valleys
with rivulets, and the cottages, we may suppose of the shepherds
scattered on the hill-sides. We were obliged to cross
the ridge of the Chilicauquen. At its base there were many
fine evergreen forest-trees, but these flourished only in the
ravines, where there was running water. Any person who
had seen only the country near Valparaiso, would never have
imagined that there had been such picturesque spots in Chile.
As soon as we reached the brow of the Sierra, the valley ofQuillota was immediately under our feet. The prospect was
one of remarkable artificial luxuriance. The valley is very
broad and quite flat, and is thus easily irrigated in all parts.
The little square gardens are crowded with orange and olive
trees, and every sort of vegetable. On each side huge bare
mountains rise, and this from the contrast renders the patchwork
valley the more pleasing. Whoever called "Valparaiso"
the "Valley of Paradise," must have been thinking
of Quillota. We crossed over to the Hacienda de San Isidro,
situated at the very foot of the Bell Mountain.
Chile, as may be seen in the maps, is a narrow strip of
land between the Cordillera and the Pacific; and this strip
is itself traversed by several mountain-lines, which in this
part run parallel to the great range. Between these outer
lines and the main Cordillera, a succession of level basins,
generally opening into each other by narrow passages, extend
far to the southward: in these, the principal towns are
situated, as San Felipe, Santiago, San Fernando. These basins
or plains, together with the transverse flat valleys (like that
of Quillota) which connect them with the coast, I have no
doubt are the bottoms of ancient inlets and deep bays, such
as at the present day intersect every part of Tierra del Fuego
and the western coast. Chile must formerly have resembled
the latter country in the configuration of its land and water.
The resemblance was occasionally shown strikingly when a
level fog-bank covered, as with a mantle, all the lower parts
of the country: the white vapour curling into the ravines,
beautifully represented little coves and bays; and here and
there a solitary hillock peeping up, showed that it had formerlystood there as an islet. The contrast of these flat
valleys and basins with the irregular mountains, gave the
scenery a character which to me was new and very interesting.
From the natural slope to seaward of these plains, they
are very easily irrigated, and in consequence singularly
fertile. Without this process the land would produce scarcely
anything, for during the whole summer the sky is cloudless.
The mountains and hills are dotted over with bushes and
low trees, and excepting these the vegetation is very scanty.
Each landowner in the valley possesses a certain portion of
hill-country, where his half-wild cattle, in considerable
numbers, manage to find sufficient pasture. Once every year
there is a grand "rodeo," when all the cattle are driven down,
counted, and marked, and a certain number separated to be
fattened in the irrigated fields. Wheat is extensively
cultivated, and a good deal of Indian corn: a kind of bean is,
however, the staple article of food for the common labourers.
The orchards produce an overflowing abundance of peaches
figs, and grapes. With all these advantages, the inhabitants
of the country ought to be much more prosperous than they
are.
16th. -- The mayor-domo of the Hacienda was good enough
to give me a guide and fresh horses; and in the morning we
set out to ascend the Campana, or Bell Mountain, which is
6400 feet high. The paths were very bad, but both the
geology and scenery amply repaid the trouble. We reached
by the evening, a spring called the Agua del Guanaco, which
is situated at a great height. This must be an old name,for it is very many years since a guanaco drank its waters.
During the ascent I noticed that nothing but bushes grew
on the northern slope, whilst on the southern slope there was
a bamboo about fifteen feet high. In a few places there were
palms, and I was surprised to see one at an elevation of at
least 4500 feet. These palms are, for their family, ugly trees.
Their stem is very large, and of a curious form, being thicker
in the middle than at the base or top. They are excessively
numerous in some parts of Chile, and valuable on account of
a sort of treacle made from the sap. On one estate near
Petorca they tried to count them, but failed, after having
numbered several hundred thousand. Every year in the early
spring, in August, very many are cut down, and when the
trunk is lying on the ground, the crown of leaves is lopped
off. The sap then immediately begins to flow from the upper
end, and continues so doing for some months: it is, however,
necessary that a thin slice should be shaved off from
that end every morning, so as to expose a fresh surface. A
good tree will give ninety gallons, and all this must have
been contained in the vessels of the apparently dry trunk.
It is said that the sap flows much more quickly on those
days when the sun is powerful; and likewise, that it is
absolutely necessary to take care, in cutting down the tree,
that it should fall with its head upwards on the side of the
hill; for if it falls down the slope, scarcely any sap will
flow; although in that case one would have thought that the
action would have been aided, instead of checked, by the force
of gravity. The sap is concentrated by boiling, and is then
called treacle, which it very much resembles in taste.We unsaddled our horses near the spring, and prepared to
pass the night. The evening was fine, and the atmosphere so
clear, that the masts of the vessels at anchor in the bay of
Valparaiso, although no less than twenty-six geographical
miles distant, could be distinguished clearly as little black
streaks. A ship doubling the point under sail, appeared as
a bright white speck. Anson expresses much surprise, in his
voyage, at the distance at which his vessels were discovered
from the coast; but he did not sufficiently allow for the height
of the land, and the great transparency of the air.
The setting of the sun was glorious; the valleys being
black whilst the snowy peaks of the Andes yet retained a
ruby tint. When it was dark, we made a fire beneath a little
arbour of bamboos, fried our charqui (or dried slips of beef),
took our mate, and were quite comfortable. There is an
inexpressible charm in thus living in the open air. The evening
was calm and still; -- the shrill noise of the mountain
bizcacha, and the faint cry of a goatsucker, were occasionally
to be heard. Besides these, few birds, or even
insects, frequent these dry, parched mountains.
August 17th. -- In the morning we climbed up the rough
mass of greenstone which crowns the summit. This rock, as
frequently happens, was much shattered and broken into
huge angular fragments. I observed, however, one remarkable
circumstance, namely, that many of the surfaces presented
every degree of freshness some appearing as if
broken the day before, whilst on others lichens had either
just become, or had long grown, attached. I so fully believedthat this was owing to the frequent earthquakes, that I felt
inclined to hurry from below each loose pile. As one might
very easily be deceived in a fact of this kind, I doubted its
accuracy, until ascending Mount Wellington, in Van Diemen's
Land, where earthquakes do not occur; and there I saw
the summit of the mountain similarly composed and similarly
shattered, but all the blocks appeared as if they had been
hurled into their present position thousands of years ago.
We spent the day on the summit, and I never enjoyed one
more thoroughly. Chile, bounded by the Andes and the
Pacific, was seen as in a map. The pleasure from the scenery,
in itself beautiful, was heightened by the many reflections
which arose from the mere view of the Campana range with
its lesser parallel ones, and of the broad valley of Quillota
directly intersecting them. Who can avoid wondering at the
force which has upheaved these mountains, and even more
so at the countless ages which it must have required to have
broken through, removed, and levelled whole masses of them?
It is well in this case to call to mind the vast shingle and
sedimentary beds of Patagonia, which, if heaped on the
Cordillera, would increase its height by so many thousand feet.
When in that country, I wondered how any mountain-chain
could have supplied such masses, and not have been utterly
obliterated. We must not now reverse the wonder, and doubt
whether all-powerful time can grind down mountains -- even
the gigantic Cordillera -- into-gravel and mud.
The appearance of the Andes was different from that
which I had expected. The lower line of the snow was ofcourse horizontal, and to this line the even summits of the
range seemed quite parallel. Only at long intervals, a group
of points or a single cone showed where a volcano had
existed, or does now exist. Hence the range resembled a
great solid wall, surmounted here and there by a tower, and
making a most perfect barrier to the country.
Almost every part of the hill had been drilled by attempts
to open gold-mines: the rage for mining has left scarcely
a spot in Chile unexamined. I spent the evening as before,
talking round the fire with my two companions. The Guasos
of Chile, who correspond to the Gauchos of the Pampas, are,
however, a very different set of beings. Chile is the more
civilized of the two countries, and the inhabitants, in
consequence, have lost much individual character. Gradations
in rank are much more strongly marked: the Guaso does not
by any means consider every man his equal; and I was quite
surprised to find that my companions did not like to eat at
the same time with myself. This feeling of inequality is a
necessary consequence of the existence of an aristocracy of
wealth. It is said that some few of the greater landowners
possess from five to ten thousand pounds sterling per annum:
an inequality of riches which I believe is not met with in
any of the cattle-breeding countries eastward of the Andes.
A traveller does not here meet that unbounded hospitality
which refuses all payment, but yet is so kindly offered that
no scruples can be raised in accepting it. Almost every house
in Chile will receive you for the night, but a trifle is
expected to be given in the morning; even a rich man will
accept two or three shillings. The Gaucho, although he may bea cutthroat, is a gentleman; the Guaso is in few respects
better, but at the same time a vulgar, ordinary fellow. The
two men, although employed much in the same manner, are
different in their habits and attire; and the peculiarities
of each are universal in their respective countries. The Gaucho
seems part of his horse, and scorns to exert himself except when
on his back: the Guaso may be hired to work as a labourer in
the fields. The former lives entirely on animal food; the latter
almost wholly on vegetable. We do not here see the white
boots, the broad drawers and scarlet chilipa; the picturesque
costume of the Pampas. Here, common trousers are protected
by black and green worsted leggings. The poncho,
however, is common to both. The chief pride of the Guaso
lies in his spurs, which are absurdly large. I measured one
which was six inches in the _diameter_ of the rowel, and the
rowel itself contained upwards of thirty points. The stirrups
are on the same scale, each consisting of a square, carved
block of wood, hollowed out, yet weighing three or four
pounds. The Guaso is perhaps more expert with the lazo
than the Gaucho; but, from the nature of the country, he
does not know the use of the bolas.
August 18th. -- We descended the mountain, and passed
some beautiful little spots, with rivulets and fine trees.
Having slept at the same hacienda as before, we rode during the
two succeeding days up the valley, and passed through Quillota,
which is more like a collection of nursery-gardens than
a town. The orchards were beautiful, presenting one mass
of peach-blossoms. I saw, also, in one or two places the
date-palm; it is a most stately tree; and I should think agroup of them in their native Asiatic or African deserts must
be superb. We passed likewise San Felipe, a pretty straggling
town like Quillota. The valley in this part expands into
one of those great bays or plains, reaching to the foot of the
Cordillera, which have been mentioned as forming so curious
a part of the scenery of Chile. In the evening we reached
the mines of Jajuel, situated in a ravine at the flank of the
great chain. I stayed here five days. My host the superintendent
of the mine, was a shrewd but rather ignorant Cornish
miner. He had married a Spanish woman, and did not
mean to return home; but his admiration for the mines of
Cornwall remained unbounded. Amongst many other questions,
he asked me, "Now that George Rex is dead, how
many more of the family of Rexes are yet alive?" This Rex
certainly must be a relation of the great author Finis, who
wrote all books!
These mines are of copper, and the ore is all shipped to
Swansea, to be smelted. Hence the mines have an aspect
singularly quiet, as compared to those in England: here no
smoke, furnaces, or great steam-engines, disturb the solitude
of the surrounding mountains.
The Chilian government, or rather the old Spanish law,
encourages by every method the searching for mines. The
discoverer may work a mine on any ground, by paying five
shillings; and before paying this he may try, even in the
garden of another man, for twenty days.
It is now well known that the Chilian method of miningis the cheapest. My host says that the two principal
improvements introduced by foreigners have been, first,
reducing by previous roasting the copper pyrites -- which,
being the common ore in Cornwall, the English miners were
astounded on their arrival to find thrown away as useless:
secondly, stamping and washing the scoriae from the old
furnaces -- by which process particles of metal are recovered
in abundance. I have actually seen mules carrying to the
coast, for transportation to England, a cargo of such cinders.
But the first case is much the most curious. The Chilian
miners were so convinced that copper pyrites contained not
a particle of copper, that they laughed at the Englishmen
for their ignorance, who laughed in turn, and bought their
richest veins for a few dollars. It is very odd that, in a
country where mining had been extensively carried on for many
years, so simple a process as gently roasting the ore to expel
the sulphur previous to smelting it, had never been discovered.
A few improvements have likewise been introduced in some of the
simple machinery; but even to the present day, water is
removed from some mines by men carrying it up the shaft in
leathern bags!
The labouring men work very hard. They have little time
allowed for their meals, and during summer and winter they
begin when it is light, and leave off at dark. They are paid
one pound sterling a month, and their food is given them:
this for breakfast consists of sixteen figs and two small loaves
of bread; for dinner, boiled beans; for supper, broken roasted
wheat grain. They scarcely ever taste meat; as, with the
twelve pounds per annum, they have to clothe themselves, andsupport their families. The miners who work in the mine
itself have twenty-five shillings per month, and are allowed
a little charqui. But these men come down from their bleak
habitations only once in every fortnight or three weeks.
During my stay here I thoroughly enjoyed scrambling
about these huge mountains. The geology, as might have
been expected, was very interesting. The shattered and
baked rocks, traversed by innumerable dykes of greenstone,
showed what commotions had formerly taken place. The
scenery was much the same as that near the Bell of Quillota
-- dry barren mountains, dotted at intervals by bushes
with a scanty foliage. The cactuses, or rather opuntias
were here very numerous. I measured one of a spherical
figure, which, including the spines, was six feet and four
inches in circumference. The height of the common cylindrical,
branching kind, is from twelve to fifteen feet, and
the girth (with spines) of the branches between three and
four feet.
A heavy fall of snow on the mountains prevented me
during the last two days, from making some interesting
excursions. I attempted to reach a lake which the inhabitants,
from some unaccountable reason, believe to be an arm
of the sea. During a very dry season, it was proposed to
attempt cutting a channel from it for the sake of the water,
but the padre, after a consultation, declared it was too
dangerous, as all Chile would be inundated, if, as generally
supposed, the lake was connected with the Pacific. We
ascended to a great height, but becoming involved in thesnow-drifts failed in reaching this wonderful lake, and had
some difficulty in returning. I thought we should have lost
our horses; for there was no means of guessing how deep
the drifts were, and the animals, when led, could only move
by jumping. The black sky showed that a fresh snow-storm
was gathering, and we therefore were not a little glad
when we escaped. By the time we reached the base the
storm commenced, and it was lucky for us that this did not
happen three hours earlier in the day.
August 26th. -- We left Jajuel and again crossed the basin
of San Felipe. The day was truly Chilian: glaringly bright,
and the atmosphere quite clear. The thick and uniform
covering of newly fallen snow rendered the view of the volcano
of Aconcagua and the main chain quite glorious. We
were now on the road to Santiago, the capital of Chile. We
crossed the Cerro del Talguen, and slept at a little rancho.
The host, talking about the state of Chile as compared to
other countries, was very humble: "Some see with two eyes,
and some with one, but for my part I do not think that Chile
sees with any."
August 27th. -- After crossing many low hills we descended
into the small land-locked plain of Guitron. In the basins,
such as this one, which are elevated from one thousand to
two thousand feet above the sea, two species of acacia, which
are stunted in their forms, and stand wide apart from each
other, grow in large numbers. These trees are never found
near the sea-coast; and this gives another characteristic
feature to the scenery of these basins. We crossed a lowridge which separates Guitron from the great plain on which
Santiago stands. The view was here pre-eminently striking:
the dead level surface, covered in parts by woods of acacia,
and with the city in the distance, abutting horizontally
against the base of the Andes, whose snowy peaks were
bright with the evening sun. At the first glance of this
view, it was quite evident that the plain represented the
extent of a former inland sea. As soon as we gained the
level road we pushed our horses into a gallop, and reached
the city before it was dark.
I stayed a week in Santiago, and enjoyed myself very
much. In the morning I rode to various places on the plain,
and in the evening dined with several of the English merchants,
whose hospitality at this place is well known. A
never-failing source of pleasure was to ascend the little
hillock of rock (St. Lucia) which projects in the middle of
the city. The scenery certainly is most striking, and, as I
have said, very peculiar. I am informed that this same
character is common to the cities on the great Mexican
platform. Of the town I have nothing to say in detail: it is
not so fine or so large as Buenos Ayres, but is built after the
same model. I arrived here by a circuit to the north; so I
resolved to return to Valparaiso by a rather longer excursion
to the south of the direct road.
September 5th. -- By the middle of the day we arrived at
one of the suspension bridges, made of hide, which cross the
Maypu, a large turbulent river a few leagues southward of
Santiago. These bridges are very poor affairs. The road,following the curvature of the suspending ropes, is made of
bundles of sticks placed close together. It was full of holes,
and oscillated rather fearfully, even with the weight of a
man leading his horse. In the evening we reached a comfortable
farm-house, where there were several very pretty
senoritas. They were much horrified at my having entered
one of their churches out of mere curiosity. They asked
me, "Why do you not become a Christian -- for our religion
is certain?" I assured them I was a sort of Christian; but
they would not hear of it -- appealing to my own words, "Do
not your padres, your very bishops, marry?" The absurdity
of a bishop having a wife particularly struck them: they
scarcely knew whether to be most amused or horror-struck
at such an enormity.
6th. -- We proceeded due south, and slept at Rancagua.
The road passed over the level but narrow plain, bounded on
one side by lofty hills, and on the other by the Cordillera.
The next day we turned up the valley of the Rio Cachapual,
in which the hot-baths of Cauquenes, long celebrated for
their medicinal properties, are situated. The suspension
bridges, in the less frequented parts, are generally taken down
during the winter when the rivers are low. Such was the
case in this valley, and we were therefore obliged to cross
the stream on horseback. This is rather disagreeable, for
the foaming water, though not deep, rushes so quickly over
the bed of large rounded stones, that one's head becomes
quite confused, and it is difficult even to perceive whether
the horse is moving onward or standing still. In summer,
when the snow melts, the torrents are quite impassable; theirstrength and fury are then extremely great, as might be
plainly seen by the marks which they had left. We reached
the baths in the evening, and stayed there five days, being
confined the two last by heavy rain. The buildings consist
of a square of miserable little hovels, each with a single table
and bench. They are situated in a narrow deep valley just
without the central Cordillera. It is a quiet, solitary spot,
with a good deal of wild beauty.
The mineral springs of Cauquenes burst forth on a line of
dislocation, crossing a mass of stratified rock, the whole
of which betrays the action of heat. A considerable quantity
of gas is continually escaping from the same orifices with
the water. Though the springs are only a few yards apart,
they have very different temperature; and this appears to be
the result of an unequal mixture of cold water: for those
with the lowest temperature have scarcely any mineral taste.
After the great earthquake of 1822 the springs ceased, and
the water did not return for nearly a year. They were also
much affected by the earthquake of 1835; the temperature
being suddenly changed from 118 to 92 degs. [1] It seems probable
that mineral waters rising deep from the bowels of the earth,
would always be more deranged by subterranean disturbances
than those nearer the surface. The man who had charge of
the baths assured me that in summer the water is hotter and
more plentiful than in winter. The former circumstance I
should have expected, from the less mixture, during the dry
season, of cold water; but the latter statement appears very
strange and contradictory. The periodical increase during
the summer, when rain never falls, can, I think, only beaccounted for by the melting of the snow: yet the mountains
which are covered by snow during that season, are three or
four leagues distant from the springs. I have no reason to
doubt the accuracy of my informer, who, having lived on
the spot for several years, ought to be well acquainted with
the circumstance, -- which, if true, certainly is very curious:
for we must suppose that the snow-water, being conducted
through porous strata to the regions of heat, is again thrown
up to the surface by the line of dislocated and injected rocks
at Cauquenes; and the regularity of the phenomenon would
seem to indicate that in this district heated rock occurred at
a depth not very great.
One day I rode up the valley to the farthest inhabited
spot. Shortly above that point, the Cachapual divides into
two deep tremendous ravines, which penetrate directly into
the great range. I scrambled up a peaked mountain, probably
more than six thousand feet high. Here, as indeed
everywhere else, scenes of the highest interest presented
themselves. It was by one of these ravines, that Pincheira
entered Chile and ravaged the neighbouring country. This
is the same man whose attack on an estancia at the Rio Negro
I have described. He was a renegade half-caste Spaniard,
who collected a great body of Indians together and established
himself by a stream in the Pampas, which place none
of the forces sent after him could ever discover. From this
point he used to sally forth, and crossing the Cordillera by
passes hitherto unattempted, he ravaged the farm-houses
and drove the cattle to his secret rendezvous. Pincheira was
a capital horseman, and he made all around him equallygood, for he invariably shot any one who hesitated to follow
him. It was against this man, and other wandering Indian
tribes, that Rosas waged the war of extermination.
September 13th. -- We left the baths of Cauquenes, and,
rejoining the main road, slept at the Rio Clara. From this
place we rode to the town of San Fernando. Before arriving
there, the last land-locked basin had expanded into a great
plain, which extended so far to the south, that the snowy
summits of the more distant Andes were seen as if above the
horizon of the sea. San Fernando is forty leagues from Santiago;
and it was my farthest point southward; for we here
turned at right angles towards the coast. We slept at the
gold-mines of Yaquil, which are worked by Mr. Nixon, an
American gentleman, to whose kindness I was much indebted
during the four days I stayed at his house. The next
morning we rode to the mines, which are situated at the
distance of some leagues, near the summit of a lofty hill. On
the way we had a glimpse of the lake Tagua-tagua, celebrated
for its floating islands, which have been described by
M. Gay. [2] They are composed of the stalks of various dead
plants intertwined together, and on the surface of which
other living ones take root. Their form is generally circular,
and their thickness from four to six feet, of which the
greater part is immersed in the water. As the wind blows,
they pass from one side of the lake to the other, and often
carry cattle and horses as passengers.
When we arrived at the mine, I was struck by the pale
appearance of many of the men, and inquired from Mr.good, for he invariably shot any one who hesitated to follow
him. It was against this man, and other wandering Indian
tribes, that Rosas waged the war of extermination.
September 13th. -- We left the baths of Cauquenes, and,
rejoining the main road, slept at the Rio Clara. From this
place we rode to the town of San Fernando. Before arriving
there, the last land-locked basin had expanded into a great
plain, which extended so far to the south, that the snowy
summits of the more distant Andes were seen as if above the
horizon of the sea. San Fernando is forty leagues from Santiago;
and it was my farthest point southward; for we here
turned at right angles towards the coast. We slept at the
gold-mines of Yaquil, which are worked by Mr. Nixon, an
American gentleman, to whose kindness I was much indebted
during the four days I stayed at his house. The next
morning we rode to the mines, which are situated at the
distance of some leagues, near the summit of a lofty hill. On
the way we had a glimpse of the lake Tagua-tagua, celebrated
for its floating islands, which have been described by
M. Gay. [2] They are composed of the stalks of various dead
plants intertwined together, and on the surface of which
other living ones take root. Their form is generally circular,
and their thickness from four to six feet, of which the
greater part is immersed in the water. As the wind blows,
they pass from one side of the lake to the other, and often
carry cattle and horses as passengers.
When we arrived at the mine, I was struck by the pale
appearance of many of the men, and inquired from Mr.Nixon respecting their condition. The mine is 450 feet deep,
and each man brings up about 200 pounds weight of stone.
With this load they have to climb up the alternate notches cut
in the trunks of trees, placed in a zigzag line up the shaft.
Even beardless young men, eighteen and twenty years old,
with little muscular development of their bodies (they are
quite naked excepting drawers) ascend with this great load
from nearly the same depth. A strong man, who is not
accustomed to this labour, perspires most profusely, with
merely carrying up his own body. With this very severe
labour, they live entirely on boiled beans and bread. They
would prefer having bread alone; but their masters, finding
that they cannot work so hard upon this, treat them like
horses, and make them eat the beans. Their pay is here
rather more than at the mines of Jajuel, being from 24 to 28
shillings per month. They leave the mine only once in three
weeks; when they stay with their families for two days. One
of the rules of this mine sounds very harsh, but answers
pretty well for the master. The only method of stealing gold
is to secrete pieces of the ore, and take them out as occasion
may offer. Whenever the major-domo finds a lump thus
hidden, its full value is stopped out of the wages of all the
men; who thus, without they all combine, are obliged to keep
watch over each other.
When the ore is brought to the mill, it is ground into an
impalpable powder; the process of washing removes all the
lighter particles, and amalgamation finally secures the
gold-dust. The washing, when described, sounds a very simple
process; but it is beautiful to see how the exact adaptation ofthe current of water to the specific gravity of the gold, so
easily separates the powdered matrix from the metal. The
mud which passes from the mills is collected into pools, where
it subsides, and every now and then is cleared out, and thrown
into a common heap. A great deal of chemical action then
commences, salts of various kinds effloresce on the surface,
and the mass becomes hard. After having been left for a year
or two, and then rewashed, it yields gold; and this process
may be repeated even six or seven times; but the gold each
time becomes less in quantity, and the intervals required (as
the inhabitants say, to generate the metal) are longer. There
can be no doubt that the chemical action, already mentioned,
each time liberates fresh gold from some combination. The
discovery of a method to effect this before the first grinding
would without doubt raise the value of gold-ores many fold.
It is curious to find how the minute particles of gold, being
scattered about and not corroding, at last accumulate in
some quantity. A short time since a few miners, being out of
work, obtained permission to scrape the ground round the
house and mills; they washed the earth thus got together, and
so procured thirty dollars' worth of gold. This is an exact
counterpart of what takes place in nature. Mountains suffer
degradation and wear away, and with them the metallic veins
which they contain. The hardest rock is worn into impalpable
mud, the ordinary metals oxidate, and both are removed;
but gold, platina, and a few others are nearly indestructible,
and from their weight, sinking to the bottom, are left behind.
After whole mountains have passed through this grinding
mill, and have been washed by the hand of nature, the residuebecomes metalliferous, and man finds it worth his while to
complete the task of separation.
Bad as the above treatment of the miners appears, it is
gladly accepted of by them; for the condition of the labouring
agriculturists is much worse. Their wages are lower, and
they live almost exclusively on beans. This poverty must be
chiefly owing to the feudal-like system on which the land is
tilled: the landowner gives a small plot of ground to the
labourer for building on and cultivating, and in return has
his services (or those of a proxy) for every day of his life,
without any wages. Until a father has a grown-up son, who
can by his labour pay the rent, there is no one, except on
occasional days, to take care of his own patch of ground.
Hence extreme poverty is very common among the labouring
classes in this country.
There are some old Indian ruins in this neighbourhood,
and I was shown one of the perforated stones, which Molina
mentions as being found in many places in considerable
numbers. They are of a circular flattened form, from five to
six inches in diameter, with a hole passing quite through the
centre. It has generally been supposed that they were used
as heads to clubs, although their form does not appear at all
well adapted for that purpose. Burchell [3] states that some
of the tribes in Southern Africa dig up roots by the aid of a
stick pointed at one end, the force and weight of which are
increased by a round stone with a hole in it, into which the
other end is firmly wedged. It appears probable that the
Indians of Chile formerly used some such rude agriculturalinstrument.
One day, a German collector in natural history, of the
name of Renous, called, and nearly at the same time an old
Spanish lawyer. I was amused at being told the conversation
which took place between them. Renous speaks Spanish so
well, that the old lawyer mistook him for a Chilian. Renous
alluding to me, asked him what he thought of the King of
England sending out a collector to their country, to pick up
lizards and beetles, and to break stones? The old gentleman
thought seriously for some time, and then said, "It is not
well, -- _hay un gato encerrado aqui_ (there is a cat shut up
here). No man is so rich as to send out people to pick up
such rubbish. I do not like it: if one of us were to go and
do such things in England, do not you think the King of
England would very soon send us out of his country?" And
this old gentleman, from his profession, belongs to the better
informed and more intelligent classes! Renous himself, two
or three years before, left in a house at San Fernando some
caterpillars, under charge of a girl to feed, that they might
turn into butterflies. This was rumoured through the town,
and at last the padres and governor consulted together, and
agreed it must be some heresy. Accordingly, when Renous
returned, he was arrested.
September 19th. -- We left Yaquil, and followed the flat
valley, formed like that of Quillota, in which the Rio
Tinderidica flows. Even at these few miles south of Santiago
the climate is much damper; in consequence there are fine
tracts of pasturage, which are not irrigated. (20th.) We lfollowed this valley till it expanded into a great plain, which
reaches from the sea to the mountains west of Rancagua.
We shortly lost all trees and even bushes; so that the
inhabitants are nearly as badly off for firewood as those in
the Pampas. Never having heard of these plains, I was much
surprised at meeting with such scenery in Chile. The plains
belong to more than one series of different elevations, and
they are traversed by broad flat-bottomed valleys; both of
which circumstances, as in Patagonia, bespeak the action of
the sea on gently rising land. In the steep cliffs bordering
these valleys, there are some large caves, which no doubt
were originally formed by the waves: one of these is celebrated
under the name of Cueva del Obispo; having formerly
been consecrated. During the day I felt very unwell, and
from that time till the end of October did not recover.
September 22nd. -- We continued to pass over green plains
without a tree. The next day we arrived at a house near
Navedad, on the sea-coast, where a rich Haciendero gave us
lodgings. I stayed here the two ensuing days, and although
very unwell, managed to collect from the tertiary formation
some marine shells.
24th. -- Our course was now directed towards Valparaiso,
which with great difficulty I reached on the 27th, and was there
confined to my bed till the end of October. During this time
I was an inmate in Mr. Corfield's house, whose kindness to
me I do not know how to express.
I will here add a few observations on some of the animals
and birds of Chile. The Puma, or South American Lion, is
not uncommon. This animal has a wide geographical range;
being found from the equatorial forests, throughout the
deserts of Patagonia as far south as the damp and cold
latitudes (53 to 54 degs.) of Tierra del Fuego. I have seen its
footsteps in the Cordillera of central Chile, at an elevation of
at least 10,000 feet. In La Plata the puma preys chiefly on
deer, ostriches, bizcacha, and other small quadrupeds; it there
seldom attacks cattle or horses, and most rarely man. In
Chile, however, it destroys many young horses and cattle,
owing probably to the scarcity of other quadrupeds: I heard,
likewise, of two men and a woman who had been thus killed.
It is asserted that the puma always kills its prey by springing
on the shoulders, and then drawing back the head with one
of its paws, until the vertebrae break: I have seen in Patagonia
the skeletons of guanacos, with their necks thus
dislocated.
The puma, after eating its fill, covers the carcass with
many large bushes, and lies down to watch it. This habit is
often the cause of its being discovered; for the condors
wheeling in the air every now and then descend to partake
of the feast, and being angrily driven away, rise all together
on the wing. The Chileno Guaso then knows there is a lion
watching his prey -- the word is given -- and men and dogs
hurry to the chase. Sir F. Head says that a Gaucho in the
pampas, upon merely seeing some condors wheeling in the
air, cried "A lion!" I could never myself meet with any one
who pretended to such powers of discrimination. It is assertedthat, if a puma has once been betrayed by thus watching
the carcass, and has then been hunted, it never resumes
this habit; but that, having gorged itself, it wanders far away.
The puma is easily killed. In an open country, it is first
entangled with the bolas, then lazoed, and dragged along the
ground till rendered insensible. At Tandeel (south of the
plata), I was told that within three months one hundred
were thus destroyed. In Chile they are generally driven up
bushes or trees, and are then either shot, or baited to death
by dogs. The dogs employed in this chase belong to a particular
breed, called Leoneros: they are weak, slight animals,
like long-legged terriers, but are born with a particular
instinct for this sport. The puma is described as being very
crafty: when pursued, it often returns on its former track,
and then suddenly making a spring on one side, waits there
till the dogs have passed by. It is a very silent animal,
uttering no cry even when wounded, and only rarely during
the breeding season.
Of birds, two species of the genus Pteroptochos (megapodius
and albicollis of Kittlitz) are perhaps the most conspicuous.
The former, called by the Chilenos "el Turco,"
is as large as a fieldfare, to which bird it has some alliance;
but its legs are much longer, tail shorter, and beak stronger:
its colour is a reddish brown. The Turco is not uncommon.
It lives on the ground, sheltered among the thickets which are
scattered over the dry and sterile hills. With its tail erect,
and stilt-like legs, it may be seen every now and then popping
from one bush to another with uncommon quickness.
It really requires little imagination to believe that the birdis ashamed of itself, and is aware of its most ridiculous
figure. On first seeing it, one is tempted to exclaim, "A
vilely stuffed specimen has escaped from some museum, and has
come to life again!" It cannot be made to take flight without
the greatest trouble, nor does it run, but only hops. The
various loud cries which it utters when concealed amongst the
bushes, are as strange as its appearance. It is said to build
its nest in a deep hole beneath the ground. I dissected several
specimens: the gizzard, which was very muscular, contained
beetles, vegetable fibres, and pebbles. From this character,
from the length of its legs, scratching feet, membranous
covering to the nostrils, short and arched wings, this bird
seems in a certain degree to connect the thrushes with the
gallinaceous order.
The second species (or P. albicollis) is allied to the first
in its general form. It is called Tapacolo, or "cover your
posterior;" and well does the shameless little bird deserve its
name; for it carries its tail more than erect, that is, inclined
backwards towards its head. It is very common, and frequents
the bottoms of hedge-rows, and the bushes scattered
over the barren hills, where scarcely another bird can exist.
In its general manner of feeding, of quickly hopping out of
the thickets and back again, in its desire of concealment,
unwillingness to take flight, and nidification, it bears a close
resemblance to the Turco; but its appearance is not quite so
ridiculous. The Tapacolo is very crafty: when frightened by
any person, it will remain motionless at the bottom of a bush,
and will then, after a little while, try with much address to
crawl away on the opposite side. It is also an active bird, andcontinually making a noise: these noises are various and
strangely odd; some are like the cooing of doves, others like
the bubbling of water, and many defy all similes. The country
people say it changes its cry five times in the year --
according to some change of season, I suppose. [4]
Two species of humming-birds are common; Trochilus
forficatus is found over a space of 2500 miles on the west
coast, from the hot dry country of Lima, to the forests of
Tierra del Fuego -- where it may be seen flitting about in
snow-storms. In the wooded island of Chiloe, which has an
extremely humid climate, this little bird, skipping from side
to side amidst the dripping foliage, is perhaps more abundant
than almost any other kind. I opened the stomachs of several
specimens, shot in different parts of the continent, and in all,
remains of insects were as numerous as in the stomach of a
creeper. When this species migrates in the summer southward,
it is replaced by the arrival of another species coming
from the north. This second kind (Trochilus gigas) is a
very large bird for the delicate family to which it belongs:
when on the wing its appearance is singular. Like others
of the genus, it moves from place to place with a rapidity
which may be compared to that of Syrphus amongst flies,
and Sphinx among moths; but whilst hovering over a flower,
it flaps its wings with a very slow and powerful movement,
totally different from that vibratory one common to most of
the species, which produces the humming noise. I never saw
any other bird where the force of its wings appeared (as in a
butterfly) so powerful in proportion to the weight of its body.
When hovering by a flower, its tail is constantly expandedand shut like a fan, the body being kept in a nearly vertical
position. This action appears to steady and support the bird,
between the slow movements of its wings. Although flying
from flower to flower in search of food, its stomach generally
contained abundant remains of insects, which I suspect are
much more the object of its search than honey. The note of
this species, like that of nearly the whole family, is
extremely shrill.
[1] Caldeleugh, in Philosoph. Transact. for 1836.
[2] Annales des Sciences Naturelles, March, 1833. M. Gay, a
zealous and able naturalist, was then occupied in studying
every branch of natural history throughout the kingdom of
Chile.
[3] Burchess's Travels, vol. ii. p. 45.
[4] It is a remarkable fact, that Molina, though describing
in detail all the birds and animals of Chile, never once
mentions this genus, the species of which are so common, and
so remarkable in their habits. Was he at a loss how to
classify them, and did he consequently think that silence
was the more prudent course? It is one more instance of the
frequency of omissions by authors, on those very subjects
where it might have been least expected.
CHAPTER XIII
CHILOE AND CHONOS ISLANDS
Chiloe -- General Aspect -- Boat Excursion -- Native
Indians -- Castro -- Tame Fox -- Ascend San Pedro -- Chonos
Archipelago -- Peninsula of Tres Montes -- Granitic
Range -- Boat-wrecked Sailors -- Low's Harbour -- Wild
Potato -- Formation of Peat -- Myopotamus, Otter and Mice --
Cheucau and Barking-bird -- Opetiorhynchus -- Singular
Character of Ornithology -- Petrels.
NOVEMBER 10th. -- The Beagle sailed from Valparaiso
to the south, for the purpose of surveying the southern
part of Chile, the island of Chiloe, and the broken
land called the Chonos Archipelago, as far south as the
Peninsula of Tres Montes. On the 21st we anchored in the
bay of S. Carlos, the capital of Chiloe.
This island is about ninety miles long, with a breadth of
rather less than thirty. The land is hilly, but not mountainous,
and is covered by one great forest, except where a few
green patches have been cleared round the thatched cottages.
From a distance the view somewhat resembles that of Tierra
del Fuego; but the woods, when seen nearer, are incomparably
more beautiful. Many kinds of fine evergreen trees, and
plants with a tropical character, here take the place of the
gloomy beech of the southern shores. In winter the climate
is detestable, and in summer it is only a little better. I
should think there are few parts of the world, within thetemperate regions, where so much rain falls. The winds are
very boisterous, and the sky almost always clouded: to have a
week of fine weather is something wonderful. It is even
difficult to get a single glimpse of the Cordillera: during
our first visit, once only the volcano of Osorno stood out in
bold relief, and that was before sunrise; it was curious to
watch, as the sun rose, the outline gradually fading away in
the glare of the eastern sky.
The inhabitants, from their complexion and low stature;
appear to have three-fourths of Indian blood in their veins.
They are an humble, quiet, industrious set of men. Although
the fertile soil, resulting from the decomposition of the
volcanic rocks, supports a rank vegetation, yet the climate is
not favourable to any production which requires much sunshine
to ripen it. There is very little pasture for the larger
quadrupeds; and in consequence, the staple articles of food are
pigs, potatoes, and fish. The people all dress in strong
woollen garments, which each family makes for itself, and
dyes with indigo of a dark blue colour. The arts, however,
are in the rudest state; -- as may be seen in their strange
fashion of ploughing, their method of spinning, grinding
corn, and in the construction of their boats. The forests are
so impenetrable, that the land is nowhere cultivated except
near the coast and on the adjoining islets. Even where paths
exist, they are scarcely passable from the soft and swampy
state of the soil. The inhabitants, like those of Tierra del
Fuego, move about chiefly on the beach or in boats. Although
with plenty to eat, the people are very poor: there is no
demand for labour, and consequently the lower orders cannotscrape together money sufficient to purchase even the smallest
luxuries. There is also a great deficiency of a circulating
medium. I have seen a man bringing on his back a bag of
charcoal, with which to buy some trifle, and another carrying
a plank to exchange for a bottle of wine. Hence every tradesman
must also be a merchant, and again sell the goods which
he takes in exchange.
November 24th. -- The yawl and whale-boat were sent under
the command of Mr. (now Captain) Sulivan, to survey the
eastern or inland coast of Chiloe; and with orders to meet
the Beagle at the southern extremity of the island; to which
point she would proceed by the outside, so as thus to
circumnavigate the whole. I accompanied this expedition, but
instead of going in the boats the first day, I hired horses to
take me to Chacao, at the northern extremity of the island.
The road followed the coast; every now and then crossing
promontories covered by fine forests. In these shaded paths
it is absolutely necessary that the whole road should be made
of logs of wood, which are squared and placed by the side of
each other. From the rays of the sun never penetrating the
evergreen foliage, the ground is so damp and soft, that except
by this means neither man nor horse would be able to pass
along. I arrived at the village of Chacao shortly after the
tents belonging to the boats were pitched for the night.
The land in this neighbourhood has been extensively
cleared, and there were many quiet and most picturesque
nooks in the forest. Chacao was formerly the principal port
in the island; but many vessels having been lost, owing to thedangerous currents and rocks in the straits, the Spanish
government burnt the church, and thus arbitrarily compelled the
greater number of inhabitants to migrate to S. Carlos. We
had not long bivouacked, before the barefooted son of the
governor came down to reconnoitre us. Seeing the English
flag hoisted at the yawl's mast-head, he asked with the utmost
indifference, whether it was always to fly at Chacao. In several
places the inhabitants were much astonished at the
appearance of men-of-war's boats, and hoped and believed
it was the forerunner of a Spanish fleet, coming to recover
the island from the patriot government of Chile. All the
men in power, however, had been informed of our intended
visit, and were exceedingly civil. While we were eating our
supper, the governor paid us a visit. He had been a lieutenant-
colonel in the Spanish service, but now was miserably
poor. He gave us two sheep, and accepted in return two cotton
handkerchiefs, some brass trinkets, and a little tobacco.
25th. -- Torrents of rain: we managed, however, to run
down the coast as far as Huapi-lenou. The whole of this
eastern side of Chiloe has one aspect; it is a plain, broken by
valleys and divided into little islands, and the whole thickly
covered with one impervious blackish-green forest. On the
margins there are some cleared spaces, surrounding the high-
roofed cottages.
26th -- The day rose splendidly clear. The volcano of
Orsono was spouting out volumes of smoke. This most
beautiful mountain, formed like a perfect cone, and white
with snow, stands out in front of the Cordillera. Another
to be continue on next part............
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