2 PATAGONIAN EXPEDITIONS : NARRATIVE. 



will be a standard work, remarkable for its completeness and accuracy, 

 considering the means at his command and the pioneer nature of the work. 



Not the least interesting of the discoveries made by Darwin on this 

 voyage were the remains of extinct fossil vertebrates which he found 

 imbedded in the rocks of the sea cliffs at various points along the eastern 

 coast, and more especially at Bahia Blanca, San Julian, and the port of 

 Gallegos.^ These were later studied and described by Professor Richard 

 Owen, and from his descriptions of the rather meagre remains brought 

 home by Darwin palaeontologists received the first intimation of that 

 entirely new world of animal life, which, though for the most part now 

 quite extinct, was in comparatively recent times, from the standpoint of 

 the geologist, extremely rich. The bones of these animals were buried 

 in the muds and sands that accumulated about the margins and over the 

 beds of prehistoric rivers, lakes and swamps. These sands and mud flats 

 were later solidified and now form the different strata of sandstones and 

 shales that constitute the cliffs of the sea and the bluffs of the streams 

 which have eroded their beds deep into the surface of the Patagonian 

 plains. In these rocks are still preserved numerous skulls and skeletons 

 of the animals that inhabited this region in those prehistoric times, and 

 their remains in varying states of preservation may now be seen lying in 

 great abundance at various localities upon the bare and freshly eroded 

 surfaces of the hills, or protruding from the face of the rocky escarpment 

 that extends almost continuously along the coast, and from the slopes 

 of the bluffs of all the more important water courses throughout the 

 interior. 



The novelty and wealth of this extinct fauna were fairly indicated by 

 the discoveries of Darwin and at the time aroused considerable interest, 

 but, strangely enough, this was allowed to subside, and a half century 

 passed before any but a casual interest was taken in exploring and 

 developing the marvelous wealth of this newly discovered treasure-house, 

 rich in the remains of prehistoric life, for as yet no Marsh or Cope had 

 arisen in South America to give the needed impetus to the work. It is 

 true that Burmeister and one or two others did something toward increas- 

 ing our knowledge of the geology and palaeontology of this region, but 

 their work had for the most part been done in an unsystematic and per- 



' Darwin himself did not visit Gallegos. Tlie discovery of vertebrate fossils at this port was 

 made a few years earlier by Captain Sullivan, but has been referred to by Darwin. 



