202 NATUKAL HISTORY OF 



her. Not long after her departure, late in the afternoon, 

 I accompanied Captain Mayne on shore, as he proposed on 

 the ensuing day to walk to a hill some distance inland, to 

 obtain a round of angles from its summit. On the beach 

 we met two of the officers who had landed earlier in the 

 day, and were also to be of the party, learning from 

 them that they had wounded a guanaco, and seen some 

 ostriches at no great distance. I occupied the remainder 

 of the daylight in a short ramble along the edge of a patch 

 of fresh water visited by us some months previously, and 

 picked up one or two additional plants. I passed over some 

 large burnt patches of ground, on which I found the par- 

 tially calcined humerus of a Patagonian charger lying. Many 

 fresh footprints of ostriches were also to be seen. When I 

 returned to camp on this fine frosty evening it was nearly 

 dark, as the nights were now rapidly creeping in, and the 

 appearance presented by our tents, illuminated by the flicker- 

 ing light of the fire, was very picturesque. On this, in com- 

 mon with many other occasions, the men spent a good part 

 of the evening in singing ditties with tremendously vigorous 

 choruses, varied by occasional recitative pieces, which appeared, 

 judging from the amount of applause which they elicited, to 

 meet with special favour, while we enjoyed a comfortable 

 talk around the fire. 



Heavy rain fell during the night, and at dawn on the 

 morning of the 25th the appearance of the weather was so 

 threatening, that it was at first thought that it would be 

 necessary for us to defer our excursion until the following 

 day. While we were at breakfast, however, the sim shone 

 out brightly, dispelling the heavy clouds, and the horizon 

 by degrees cleared, so that we determined to set forth. 

 Accordingly, about half-past nine A.M., we started, our party 



