170 PORT ST. JULIAiS\ [chap. vin. 



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 &ie 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 i\^y a 

 party accompanied Captain Fitz Poy on a long walk round the 

 head of the harbour. We were eleven hours witiiout tastin": 

 any water, and some of the party were quite exhausted. From 

 the summit of a hill (since well named Thirsty Flill) a fine lake 

 was spied, and two of the party proceeded with concerted signals to 

 show whether it was fresh water. What was our disappointment 

 to find a snow-white expanse of salt, crystallized in great cubes ! 

 We attributed our extreme thirst to the dryness of the atmos- 

 phere ; but whatever the cause might be, we were exceedingly 

 glad late in the evening to get back to the boats. Although 

 we could nowhere find, during our whole visit, a single drop of 

 fresh water, yet some must exist ; for by an odd chance I found 

 on the surface of the salt water, near the head of the bay, a Co- 

 lymbetes not quite dead, which must have lived in some not far 

 distant pool. Three other insects (a Cincindela, like Jiyhrida, 

 a Cymindis, and a Harpalus, which all live on muddy flats occa- 

 sionally overflowed by the sea), and one other found dead on the 

 plain, complete the list of the beetles. A good-sized fly (Ta- 

 banus) was extremely numerous, and tormented us by its painful 

 bite. The common horsefly, which is so troublesome in the 

 shady lanes of England, belongs to this same genus. We here 

 have the puzzle that so frequently occurs in the case of mus- 

 quitoes — on the blood of what animals do these insects commonly 

 feed ? The guanaco is nearly the only warm-blooded quadruped, 

 and it is found in quite inconsiderable numbers compared with 

 the multitude of flies. 



The geology of Patagonia is interesting. Differently from 

 Europe, where the tertiary formations appear to have accu- 

 mulated in bays, here along hundreds of miles of coast we have 

 one great deposit, including many tertiary shells, all apparently 

 extinct The most common shell is a massive gigantic oyster^ 



