1834. 



TIDES PUMAS AIGLE ROCK. 



357 



ing a ton or two of fresh water, the yawl and cutter were dis- 

 patched to get it and bring on board the shooting party. Dur- 

 ing my absence satisfactory observations on the tides had been 

 made, which showed that the neap tides rise about eighteen 

 feet, and the springs from thirty-eight to forty-two feet. One 

 day when walking through a woody ravine, not far from the 

 anchorage, Mr. Stewart saw a puma lying under a bush, glar- 

 ing at him : taking a steady aim, he fired, and laid the animal 

 dead. It was a very large one ; and the skin is now in the British 

 Museum. The moment of thus looking a lion in the face, while 

 taking aim, at only a few yards distance, must be somewhat 

 trying to the nerves, I should imagine. A beautiful wild cat 

 was also added to our collections^ besides condors and foxes. 



9th. The boats, and shooting party, arrived with water and 

 two guanacoes. As the sportsmen were returning with their 

 burthens on the preceding evening, darkness overtook them 

 while yet distant from their tent ; and they were soon made 

 uncomfortably* conscious that an enemy was at hand, for the 

 strong and peculiar smell of a lion warned them that one was 

 near. They trudged on with their cargoes, talking to one 

 another ; but the scent was still strong until they approached 

 the fire, which had been kept up by their companion, when it 

 ceased entirely. Such a weight as a lion's, added suddenly to 

 that of a guanaco, would have been rather distressing. 



We were detained for a day or two by an overcast sky, which 

 prevented my obtaining equal altitudes; but on the 12th the 

 Beagle left the Santa Cruz, and stood towards the alleged place 

 of the shoal, or rock, called ' Aigle,' not far from the western- 

 most of the Falkland Islands. No such danger, nor any sign of 

 shallow water being found, but, on the contrary, no bottom with 

 one hundred fathoms of line, we steered towards Magalhaens 

 Strait, and on the 18th anchored off Cape Virgins. Next morn- 

 ing I landed on the Cape, taking Mr. Darwin and Mr. Stokes 

 with me, and remained till after the noon observation, when, 

 returning on board, the Beagle weighed and sailed to another 

 station. From this time (till the 25th) we were busily em- 



* Being only two in number. 



