1S32.J ESTUAIY OF THE PLATA. 39 



CHAPTER III. 



Monte Video — Maldonado — Excursion to E. Polanco — Lazo and Bolas — 

 Partridges — Absence of Trees — Deer — Capybara, or Eiver Hog — Tucu- 

 tuco — Molothrns, cuckoo-like habits — Tvrant-flvcatcher — Mocking-bird 

 — Carrion Hawks— Tubes formed by Lightning — House struck. 



MALDONADO. 



Jiihj c>ih, 1832. — In the morning- we got under way, and 

 siood out of the splendid harbour of Ivio de Janeiro. In our 

 passage to the Plata, we saw nothing particular, excepting on 

 one day a great slioal of porpoises, many hundreds in number. 

 The wliole sea was in places furrowed by them ; and a most 

 extraordinar}' spectacle was presented, as hundreds, proceeding 

 together by jumps, in whicli their whole bodies were exposed, 

 thus cut the water. When the ship was running nine knots an 

 liour, these animals could cross and recross the bows with the 

 greatest ease, and tiien dash away right ahead. As soon as we 

 entered the estuarv of tiie Plata, the weather was verv unsettled. 

 One dark niglit we were surrounded by numerous seals and 

 penguins, which made such strange noises, that the officer on 

 watch reported he could hear the cattle bellowing on shore. 

 On a second night we witnessed a splendid scene of natural fire- 

 works ; the mast-head and vard-arm-ends shone with St. Elmo's 

 light ; and the form of the vane could almost be traced, as if it 

 had been rubbed with phosphorus. The sea was so highly lumi- 

 nous, that the tracks of the penguins were marked by a fiery 

 wake, and the darkness of the sky was momentarily illuminated 

 by the most vivid lightning. 



AVhen within the mouth of the river, I wo^ interested by ob- 

 serving how slowly the waters of tlie sea and river mixed. The 

 latter, muddy and discoloured, from its less specific gravity, 

 floated on the surface cff the salt water. This was curiously 

 exhibited in the wake of the vessel, where a line of blue water 

 was seen niinfiling in little eddies, Mith the adjoinbg fluid. 

 3 



