102 MR. HAlimS ARGENTINA. Scpt, 



of US (Zuraita Island) could be just distinguished ; and ahead 

 in the north-west quarter, no land could be made out, except 

 the distant Ventana mountain, which we saw for the first time 

 on that day. 



In consequence of this extent of water being intersected by 

 banks, and having so few marks, it is very difficult of access ; 

 and no place can offer less that is agreeable to the eye, espe- 

 cially when the tide is out, and much of the banks shows above 

 water. A more disagreeable place to survey, or one that 

 would occupy more time, we were not likely to find, I thought, 

 as I looked around from the mast-head ; but upon questioning 

 Mr. Harris, I learned that a succession of similar inlets indented 

 a half-drowned coast, extending hence almost to the Negro ; 

 and that, although the dangers were numerous, tides strong, 

 banks muddy, and the shores every where low, the intervening 

 ports were so safe, and so likely to be useful, that it was abso- 

 lutely necessary to examine them. 



Sept. 7. Messrs. Darwin, Kowlett, and Harris set out with 

 me to visit the Buenos Ayrean settlement, called Argentina. 

 Mr. Harris undertook to be our guide, but after two hours'* 

 sailing and pulling we found ourselves near the head of a 

 creek, between two soft mud banks, where we could neither 

 row nor turn the boat. We could not land because the mud 

 was too soft to bear our weight, so there we staid till the tide 

 flowed. About two hours after this stoppage there was water 

 enough for us to cross a large bank, and gain the right channel, 

 from which we had deviated, and then, with a flowing tide, we 

 made rapid progress, until the ' Guardia' was announced to us. 

 This was a small hut near the water side, but to reach it we 

 had to wind along a tortuous canal, between banks of soft mud : 

 and when we arrived at the landing-place seven hours had been 

 passed among rushy mud banks, surrounded by which we were 

 often prevented from seeing any solid land. The water was 

 every where salt, the tide running strongly, and the boat often 

 aground. 



Waiting to meet us was an assemblage of grotesque figures, 

 which I shall not easily forget — a painter would have been 



