i834 J BACK TO THE BEAGLE. 191 



and with several small articles which had belonged to the 

 Indians — such as parts of a mantle and a bunch of ostrich 

 feathers — but they appeared to have been lying long on the 

 ground. Between the place where the Indians had so lately 

 crossed the river and this neighbourhood, though so many 

 miles apart, the country appears to be quite unfrequented. 

 At first, considering the abundance of the guanacos, I was 

 suprised at this ; but it is explained by the stony nature of 

 the plains, which would soon disable an unshod horse from 

 taking her part in the chase. Nevertheless, in two places 

 in this very central region, I found small heaps of stones, 

 which I do not think could have been accidentally thrown 

 together. They were placed on points, projecting over the 

 edge of the highest lava cliff, and they resembled, but on a 

 small scale, those near Port Desire. 



May ^th. — Captain Fitz Roy determined to take the boats 

 no higher. The river had a winding course, and was very 

 rapid ; and the appearance of the country offered no tempta- 

 tion to proceed any further. Everywhere we met with the 

 same productions and the same dreary landscape. We 

 were now one hundred and forty miles distant from the 

 Atlantic, and about sixty from the nearest arm of the Pacific. 

 The valley in this upper part expanded into a wide basin, 

 bounded on the north and south by the basaltic platforms, 

 and fronted by the long range of the snow-clad Cordillera. 

 But we viewed these grand mountains with regret, for we 

 were obliged to imagine their nature and productions, 

 instead of standing, as we had hoped, on their summits. 

 Besides the useless loss of time which an attempt to ascend 

 the river any higher would have cost us, we had already been 

 for some days on half allowance of bread. This, although 

 really enough for reasonable men, was, after a hard day's 

 march, rather scanty food : a light stomach and an easy 

 digestion are good things to talk about, but very unpleasant 

 in practice. 



May ^th. — Before sunrise we commenced our descent. 

 We shot down the stream with gf-eat rapidity, generally at 

 the rate of ten knots an hour. In this one day we effected 

 what had cost us five and a half hard days' labour in 

 ascending. On the 8th we reached the Beagle after our 

 twenty-one days' expedition. Every one, excepting myself, 

 had cause to be dissatisfied ; but to me the ascent afforded 

 a most interesting section of the great tertiary formation 

 of Patagonia. 



