1832.] ESTUAI'Y OF THE PLx\TA. 39 



CHAPTER III. 



Monte Video — Maldonado — Excursion to R. Polanco — Lazo and Bolas — 

 Partridges — Absence of Trees — Deer — Capybara, or River Hog — Tucu- 

 tuco — Molothrus, cucioo-like habits — Tyrant-tiycatcher — Mocking-bird 

 — Carrion Hawks — Tubes formed by Lightning — House struck. 



MALDONADO. 



July 6th^ 1832. — In the morning we got under way, and 

 stood out of the splendid liarbour of Rio de Janeiro. In our 

 passage to the Plata, we saw nothing particular, excepting on 

 one day a great shoal of porpoises, many hundreds in number. 

 The whole sea was in places furrowed by them ; and a most 

 extraordinary spectacle was presented, as hundreds, proceeding 

 together by jumps, in which their whole bodies were exposed, 

 thus cut the water. When the ship was running nine knots an 

 hour, these animals could cross and recross the bows with the 

 greatest ease, and then dasli away right ahead. As soon as we 

 entered the estuary of the Plata, the weather was very unsettled. 

 One dark night we were surrounded by numerous seals and 

 penguins, which made such strange noises, that the officer on 

 watch reported he could hear the cattle bellowing on shore. 

 On a second night we witnessed a splendid scene of natural fire- 

 works ; the mast-head and yard-arm-ends shone with St. Elmo's 

 light; and the form of the vane could almost be traced, as if it 

 had been rubbed with phosphorus. The sea was so highly lumi- 

 nous, that the tracks of the penguins were marked by a fiery 

 wake, and the darkness of the sky was momentarily illuminated 

 by tiie most vivid lightning. 



When within the mouth of the river, I was interested by ob- 

 serving how slowly the waters of the sea and river mixed. The 

 latter, muddy and discoloured, from its less specific gravity, 

 floated on the surface of the salt water. This was curiously 

 exhibited in the wake of the vessel, where a line of blue water 

 was seen mingling in little eddies, with the adjoining fluid. 



