Aspects of the Valley. 57 
his gun and fired, and we heard the shot rattle loudly 
on the stiff quills of the broad motionless wings. 
There is no doubt that some of the shot entered its 
flesh, as it quickly swept down over the edge of the 
cliff and disappeared from our sight. We got off 
our horses, and crawling to the edge of the dreadful 
cliff looked down, but could see nothing of the bird. 
Remounting we rode on for a little over a mile, until 
coming to the end of the cliff we went down under 
it and galloped back over the narrow strip of beach 
which appears at low tide. Arrived at the spot 
where the bird had been lost we caught sight of it 
once more, perched at the mouth of a small cavity 
in the face of the rocky wall near the summit, and 
looking at that height no bigger than a buzzard. 
He was far beyond the reach of shot, and safe, and 
if not fatally wounded, may soar above that desolate 
coast, and fight with vultures and grey eagles over 
the carcases of stranded fishes and seals for half a 
century to come. 
Close to the mouth of the river there is a low flat 
island, about half a mile in length, covered in most 
part by a dense growth of coarse grass and rushes. 
It is inhabited by a herd of swine; and although 
these animals do not increase, they have been able 
to maintain their existence for along period without 
diminishing in number, in spite of the occasional 
great tides that flood the whole island, and of multi- 
tudes of hungry eagles and caranchos always on the 
look out for stray sucklings. Many years ago, 
while some gauchos were driving a troop of half wild 
cows near the shore on the neighbouring mainland, 
