[98 S. CRUZ, PATAGONIA chap. 



the abundance of the guanacos, I was surprised at this ; but it is 

 explained by the stony nature of the plains, which would soon 

 disable an unshod horse from taking part in the chase. Never- 

 theless, in two places in this very central region, I found small 

 heaps of stones, wdiich I do not think could have been accident- 

 ally 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 temptation 

 to proceed any farther. 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. 



^th. — Before sunrise we commenced our descent. We shot 

 down the stream with great 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. 



On March \st, 1833, and again on March 16 fh, 1834, the 



