CHAPTER III 

 MALDONADO 



Monte Video Maldonado Excursion to R. Polanco Lazo and Bolas 

 Partridges Absence of Trees Deer Capybara, or River Hog 

 Tucutuco Molothrus, cuckoo-like habits Tyrant-flycatcher 

 Mocking-bird Carrion Hawks Tubes formed by Lightning 

 House struck. 



yULY ^th, 1832. In the morning we got under way, and 

 stood out of the splendid harbour of Rio de Janeiro. 

 In our passage to the Plata, we saw nothing particular, 

 excepting on one day a great shoal of porpoises, many hun- 

 dreds 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 

 dash 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 luminous, that the tracks of the penguins were 

 marked by a fiery wake, and the darkness of the sky was 

 momentarily illuminated by the most vivid lightning. 



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

 observing 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 



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