198 



PATAGONIA. 



Dec. 1833. 



flood of the St. Cruz^ would wash down many bones of the 

 guanaco^ but probably not a single one of the puma, ostrich, 

 or fox. I may also observe, that almost every kind of 

 waterfowl when wounded takes to the shore to die ; so that 

 the remains of birds, from this cause alone and independ- 

 ently of other reasons, would but rarely be preserved in a 

 fossil state. 



One day the yawl was sent under the command of Mr. 

 Chaffers with three days' provisions to survey the upper part 

 of the harbour. In the morning we searched for some 

 watering-places, mentioned in an old Spanish chart. We 

 found one creek, at the head of which there was a trickling 

 rill (the first we had seen) of brackish water. Here the 

 tide compelled us to wait several hours ; and in the interval 

 I walked some miles into the interior, ^he plain as usual, 

 consisted of gravel, mingled with soil resembling chalk in 

 appearance, but very different from it in nature. From the 

 softness of these materials it was worn into many gullies. 

 There was not a tree, and excepting the guanaco, which 

 stood on the hill-top a watchful sentinel over its herd, 

 scarcely an animal or a bird. AU was stillness and deso- 

 lation. One reflected how many ages the plain had thus 

 lasted, and how many more it was doomed thus to continue. 

 Yet in passing over these scenes, without one bright object 

 near, an ill-defined but strong sense of pleasure is vividly 

 excited. 



In the evening we sailed a few miles further up, and then 

 pitched the tents for the night. By the middle of the next 

 day, the yawl was aground, and from the shoalness of the 

 water could not proceed any higher. The water being found 

 partly fresh Mr. Chaffers took the dingey, and went up 

 two or three miles further, where she also grounded, but in 

 a fresh-water river. The water was muddy, and though the 

 stream was most insignificant in size, it would be difficult to 

 account for its source, except from the melting snow on the 

 the Cordillera. At the spot where we bivouacked, we were 

 surrounded by bold cliffs and steep pinnacles of porphyry. 

 I do not think I ever saw a spot, which appeared more 



