282 NATUEAL HISTORY OF 



yellow CEnothera. We persevered on our way until we 

 had passed all the cliffs between our camp and Cape Fair- 

 weather, when we arrived at the conclusion that it would 

 be useless to prosecute our quest farther in that direction, 

 and accordingly proceeded to make tracks towards camp, 

 Captain Mayne returning by the base of the cliffs, while I 

 scrambled up to the summit to examine those portions which 

 were inaccessible from below. We alike failed, however, in 

 our object, though I obtained several other species of plants, 

 including some handsome Com;positce, a small Labiate, found 

 the previous year at Direction Hill, and the yellow-flowered 

 Amaryllid met with at Gregory Bay. 



On our return to camp about one P.M., we found that 

 the sportsmen had been more fortunate — one officer 

 having succeeded in shooting a guanaco, while another had 

 procured a fine Ehea, and a third soon after arrived with 

 a specimen of Cygnus coscoroba, and some live cygnets, 

 which he had caught at the edge of a small lake at some 

 distance. The latter were most ridiculous-looking gray, 

 downy, long-legged creatures, which stood with their eyes 

 half shut, and their heads reposing on their breasts in an 

 attitude of meditation, recalling accounts of the Phoenix, 

 but, unlike that bird, huffing at any one that disturbed their 

 slumbers. As we did not intend to dine till about three 

 hours later, I determined, though feeling rather tired and 

 footsore with the morning's exertions, to spend the interven- 

 ing time in botanising, and accordingly left our camp with a 

 folio of drying-paper under my arm, with the intention of 

 walking a short way along a flat tract of ground which 

 extended for some distance up the bank of the river to the 

 west. My plans were, however, altered, in consequence of 

 noticing at the top of one of the steep banks a very fine 



