48 MALDONADO. [cuap, 111. 
central Chile and the provinces of La Plata, where the rain- 
bringing winds have not to pass over lofty mountains, and where 
the land. is neither a desert nor covered by forests. But even 
the rule, if confined to South America, of trees flourishing only 
in a climate rendered humid by rain-bearing winds, has a 
strongly marked exception in the case of the Falkland Islands. 
These islands, situated in the same latitude with Tierra del 
Fuego and only’ between two and three hundred miles distant 
from it, having a nearly similar climate, with a geological 
formation almost identical, with favourable situations and the 
same kind of peaty soil, yet can boast of few plants deserving 
even the title of bushes; whilst in Tierra del Fuego it is impos- 
sible to find an acre of land not covered by the densest forest. 
In this case, both the direction of the heavy gales of wind and 
of the currents of the sea are favourable to the- transport of 
seeds from Tierra del Fuego, as is shown by the canoes and 
trunks of trees drifted from that country, and frequently thrown 
on the shores of the Western Falkland. Hence perhaps it is, 
that there are many plants in common to the two countries: but 
with respect to the trees of Tierra del Fuego, even attempts made 
to trausplant them have failed. 
During our stay at Maldonado I collected several quadru- 
peds, eighty kinds of birds, and many reptiles, including nine 
species of snakes. Of the indigenous mammalia, the only one 
now left of any size, which is common, is the Cervus campestris. 
This deer is exceedingly abundant, often in small herds, through- 
out the countries bordering the Plata and in Northern Pata- 
gonia. Ifa person crawling close along the ground, slowly 
advances towards a herd, the deer frequently, out of curiosity, 
approach to reconnoitre him. I have by this means killed, from 
one spot, three out of the same herd. Although so tame and 
inquisitive, yet when approached on horseback, they are exceed- 
ingly wary. In this country nobody goes on foot, and the deer 
knows man as its enemy only when he is mounted and armed 
with the bolas. At Bahia Blanca, a recent establishment in 
Northern Patagonia, I was surprised to find how little the deer 
cared for the noise of a gun: one day I fired ten times from 
within eighty yards at one animal; and it was much more 
startled at the ball cutting up the ground than at the report of 
