1832.; ESTUAKY OF THE PLATA. 39 
CHAPTER III. 
Monte Video—Maldonado—Excursion to R. Polanco—Lazo and Bolas— 
Partridges—Absence of Trees—Deer—Capybara, or River Hog—Tucu- 
tuco—Molothrus, cuckoo-like habits—Tyrant-flycatcher—Mocking-bird 
—Carrion Hawks—Tubes formed by Lightning—House struck. 
MALDONADO. 
July 5th, 1832.—In the morning we got under way, and 
stood out of the splendid harbour of Rio de Janeiro. In our 
passage to the Plata, we saw nothing particular, excepting on 
one day a great shoal of porpoises, many hundreds in number. 
The whole sea was in places furrowed by them; and a most 
extraordinary spectacle was presented, as hundreds, proceeding 
together by jumps, in which their whole bodies were exposed, 
thus cut the water. When the ship was running nine knots an 
hour, these animals could cross and recross the bows with the 
greatest ease, and then dash away right ahead. As soon as we 
entered the estuary of the Plata, the weather was very unsettled. 
One dark night we were surrounded by numerous seals and 
penguins, which made such strange noises, that the officer on 
watch reported he could hear the cattle bellowing on shore. 
On a second night we witnessed a splendid scene of natural fire- 
works; the mast-head and yard-arm-ends shone with St. Elmo’s 
light ; and the form of the vane could almost be traced, as if it 
had been rubbed with phosphorus. The sea was so highly lumi- 
nous, that the tracks of the penguins were marked by a fiery 
wake, and the dafkness of the sky was momentarily illuminated 
by the most vivid lightning. 
When within the mouth of the river, I was interested by ob- 
serving how slowly the waters of the sea and river mixed. The 
latter, muddy and discoloured, from its less specifie gravity, 
floated on the surface of the salt water. ‘his was curiously 
exhibited in the wake of the vessel, where a line of blue water 
was seen mingling in litt}e eddies, with the adjoining fluid. 
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