VIII STATE OF SOCIETY 167 



On first entering society in these countries, two or three 

 features strike one as particularly remarkable. The polite and 

 dignified manners pervading every rank of life, the excellent 

 taste displayed by the women in their dresses, and the equality 

 amongst all ranks. At the Rio Colorado some men who kept 

 the humblest shops used to dine with General Rosas. A son 

 of a major at Bahia Blanca gained his livelihood by making 

 paper cigars, and he wished to accompany me, as guide or 

 servant, to Buenos Ay res, but his father objected on the score 

 of the danger alone. Many officers in the army can neither 

 read nor write, yet all meet in society as equals. In Entre 

 Rios, the Sala consisted of only six representatives. One of 

 them kept a common shop, and evidently was not degraded by 

 the office. All this is what would be expected in a new country ; 

 nevertheless the absence of gentlemen by profession appears to 

 an Englishman something strange. 



When speaking of these countries, the manner in which 

 they have been brought up by their unnatural parent, Spain, 

 should always be borne in mind. On the whole, perhaps, more 

 credit is due for what has been done, than blame for that which 

 may be deficient. It is impossible to doubt but that the 

 extreme liberalism of these countries must ultimately lead 

 to good results. The very general toleration of foreign 

 religions, the regard paid to the means of education, the 

 freedom of the press, the facilities offered to all foreigners, and 

 especially, as I am bound to add, to every one professing the 

 humblest pretensions to science, should be recollected with 

 gratitude by those who have visited Spanish South America. 



December 6th. — The Beagle sailed from the Rio Plata, 

 never again to enter its muddy stream. Our course was 

 directed to Port Desire, on the coast of Patagonia. Before 

 proceeding any farther, I will here put together a few 

 observations made at sea. 



Several times when the ship has been some miles off the 

 mouth of the Plata, and at other times when off the shores of 

 Northern Patagonia, we have been surrounded by insects. One 

 evening, when we were about ten miles from the Bay of San 

 Bias, vast numbers of butterflies, in bands or flocks of countless 

 myriads, extended as far as the eye could range. Even by the 



