104 NATURAL HISTORY OF 



after the fashion of our British Plusia Gamma, but did not 

 succeed in taking it. 



We remained on the top of the hill till about seven p.m., 

 and then began slowly to retrace our steps to camp. It was 

 one of the most perfectly beautiful evenings that I have seen ; 

 and as the sun gradually declined, the vast undulating grassy 

 plains were displayed in golden light and delicate shadow, 

 while later in the evening the sunset clouds were gorgeous 

 beyond description, exhibiting the richest shades of orange, 

 purple, and rose-colour. In the course of our descent I 

 found specimens of a little Labiate plant, smelling strongly of 

 peppermint, and our attention was arrested by a number of 

 openings in the ground, wide enough to admit the forefinger, 

 and lined from the entrance to about two inches downwards 

 with a grayish silky substance. The bottom of this excava- 

 tion, which I afterwards found was the work of a spider, 

 proved, on digging, to be more than a foot below the 

 surface of the ground. Arrived at the tents, in the neighbour- 

 hood of which many whitened bones of guanacos and feathers 

 of ostriches were lying scattered about, we had our dinner, 

 after which we spent some time lying luxuriously stretched 

 out on a robe, enjoying our old friend Martin Chuzzlewit, 

 and other works of a like nature. The evening was finally 

 brought to a close by a long talk by our camp fire, which, fed 

 by barberry bushes, made a glorious blaze, revealing our 

 position to our friends on board ; and, after discussing how 

 our friends in England were likely to be engaged on this the 

 last night of 1866, we retired to rest about eleven o'clock. 



The morning of New Year's Day, 1867, was celebrated by 

 getting up at half-past four o'clock, and after a refreshing 

 bathe and breakfast, we started on a long walk over the 

 low ground in the direction of the first Narrows. Leaving 



