VIEW OF THE PAMPAS. 79 



absolutely the same as, or most closely allied to, 

 those of Patagonia. We here have the agouti, biz- 

 cacha, three species of" armadillo, the ostrich, cer- 

 tain kinds of partridges, and other birds, none of 

 which are ever seen in Chile, but are the charac- 

 teristic animals of the desert plains of Patagonia. 

 We have likewise many of the same (to the eyes 

 of a person who is not a botanist) thorny, stunted 

 bushes, withered grass, and dwarf plants. Even 

 the black, slowly-crawling beetles are closely sim- 

 ilar, and some, I believe, on rigorous examination, 

 absolutely identical. It had always been to me a 

 subject of regret that we were unavoidably com- 

 pelled to give up the ascent of the Santa Cruz river 

 before reaching the mountains : I always had a la- 

 tent hope of meeting with some great change in the 

 features of the country, but I now feel sure that it 

 would only have been following the plains of Pat- 

 agonia up a mountainous ascent. 



March 2ith. — Early in the morning I climbed up 

 a mountain on one side of the valley, and enjoyed 

 a far extended view over the Pampas. This was 

 a spectacle to which I had always looked forward 

 with interest, but I was disappointed : at the first 

 glance it much resembled a distant view of the 

 ocean, but in the northern parts many in-egulari- 

 ties were soon distinguishable. The most striking- 

 feature consisted in the rivers, which, facing the 

 rising sun, glittered like silver thi-eads till lost in 

 the immensity of the distance. At midday we de- 

 scended the valley and reached a hovel, where an 

 officer and three soldiers were posted to examine 

 passports. One of these men was a thorough-bred 

 Pampas Indian : he was kept much for the same 

 purpose as a bloodhound, to track out any person 

 who might pass by secretly, either on foot or horse- 

 back. Some years ago a passenger endeavoured 



