286 ENGLISH BANK — SAN BLAS BANKS. July 



rain ; and if ragged, or streaky, of wind also. Light foggy 

 clouds, rising early, often called the ' pride of the morning,' 

 are certain forerunners of a fine day. 



On the 8th of July the Beagle sailed from Maldonado, and 

 anchored off Monte Video for a few days, waiting for the 

 arrival of a packet from England. Directly the letters were 

 received she returned to Maldonado. 



On the 18th, my survey work being finished, and our help 

 no longer required at Gorriti, we sailed to sound eastward in 

 the latitude of the English Bank, and then returned to make 

 a few arrangements with Lieutenant Wickham, and obtain ob- 

 servations for the chronometers, previous to making an excur- 

 sion towards the south. 



On the 24th we sailed to Cape San Antonio, and thence 

 along the coast, close by Cape Corrientes, and skirting the 

 San Bias banks, till we anchored off the river Negro. There 

 we found the Paz and Liebre just returned from their exami- 

 nation of those intricacies which surround the ports between 

 Blanco Bay and San Bias. The Liebre came out to meet us 

 with a satisfactory report of pi'ogress, as well as health ; and, 

 at her return, Mr. Darwin took the opportunity of going into 

 the river, with the view of crossing overland to Buenos Ayres, 

 by way of Argentina : after which, he proposed to make a 

 long excursion from Buenos Ayres into the interior, while the 

 Beagle would be employed in surveying operations along sea- 

 coasts uninteresting to him. We then got under sail and began 

 our next employment, which was sounding about the outer 

 banks off San Bias and Union Bays, and examining those parts 

 of Ports San Antonio and San Jose which the Paz and Liebre 

 had been prevented doing by wind and sea ; besides which, I 

 wished to see them myself, for many reasons, more closely 

 than hitherto. The accumulation of banks about San Bias, 

 and near, though southward of the river Colorado, is an object 

 of interest when viewed in connection with the present position 

 of the mouth of that long, though not large, river, which tra- 

 verses the continent from near Mendoza, and which may have 

 contributed to their formation ; at least, so think geologists. 



