88 LIFE OF 



upper regions of the atmosphere, and even the surface of 

 perpetual snow all support organic beings." Here he 

 found reason to believe that all the great plains which he 

 was surveying had been raised above the sea level in a 

 modern geological period. 



Our naturalist started by land for Bahia Blanca and 

 Buenos Ayres on August n, 1833, and we have the 

 record : " This was the first night which I had ever passed 

 under the open sky, with the gear of the recado for my 

 bed. There is high enjoyment in the independence of the 

 Gaucho's life, to be able at any moment to pull up your 

 horse, and say, ' Here we will pass the night.' The 

 deathlike stillness of the plain, the dogs keeping watch, 

 the gipsy group of Gauchos making their beds round the 

 fire, have left in my mind a strongly-marked picture of 

 this first night, which will not soon be forgotten." After 

 an interesting -rencontre with General Rosas, Bahia Blanca 

 was reached, and at Punta Alta were found many of the 

 fossil bones which Owen subsequently described, this 

 point being a perfect catacomb, as Darwin terms it, for 

 monsters of extinct races. The remains of nine great 

 kinds of quadrupeds chiefly allied to the sloths were 

 found embedded on the beach within a space of about 

 two hundred yards square; and these were associated 

 with shells of molluscs of still existing species. Here 

 was indeed a remarkable fact to germinate in the great 

 naturalist's mind. It bore full fruit at a later date. An 

 important theory then current, that large animals require 

 a luxuriant vegetation, was overthrown at the same time, 

 for there was every reason to believe that the sterility of 

 the surrounding country was no new thing. The South 



