208 



PATAGONIA. 



Jan. 1834. 



interrupted at long intervals by periods of repose. But we 

 must now return to Port St. Julian. On the south side of 

 the harbour^ a cliff of about ninety feet in height intersects 

 a plain constituted of the formations above described ; and 

 its surface is strewed over with recent marine shells. The 

 gravely however, differently from that in every other locality, 

 is covered by a very irregular and thin bed of a reddish loam, 

 containing a few small calcareous concretions. The matter 

 somewhat resembles that of the Pampas, and probably owes 

 its origin either to a small stream having formerly entered 

 the sea at that spot, or to a mud-bank similar to those now 

 existing at the head of the harbour. In one spot this 

 earthy matter filled up a hollow, or gully, worn quite through 

 the gravel, and in this mass a group of large bones was 

 embedded. The animal to which they belonged, must 

 have lived, as in the case at Bahia Blanca, at a period long 

 subsequent to the existence of the shells now inhabiting the 

 coast. We may feel sure of this, because the formation of 

 the lower terrace or plain, must necessarily have been 

 posterior to those above it, and on the surface of the two 

 higher ones, sea-shells of recent species are scattered. From 

 the small physical change, which the last one hundred feet ele- 

 vation of the continent could have produced, the climate, as 

 well as the general condition of Patagonia, probably was nearly 

 the same, at the time when the animal was embedded, as it now 

 is. This conclusion is moreover supported by the identity of 

 the shells belonging to the tAvo ages. Then immediately 

 occurred the difficulty, how could any large quadruped have 

 subsisted on these wretched deserts in lat. 49° 15'? I had 

 no idea at the time, to what kind of animal these remains 

 belonged. The puzzle, however, was soon solved when 

 Mr, Owen examined them; for he considers that they 

 formed part of an animal allied to the guanaco or llama, but 

 fully as large as the true camel. As all the existing members 

 of the family of Camelidee are inhabitants of the most sterile 

 countries, so may we suppose was this extinct kind. The 

 structure of the cervical vertebrae, the transverse processes 



