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CHARLES DARWIN 



scattered ones which I had seen, gnawed or broken, as if 

 dragged together by beasts of prey. The animals in most 

 cases must have crawled, before dying, beneath and amongst 

 the bushes. Mr. Bynoe informs me that during a former 

 voyage he observed the same circumstance on the banks of 

 the Rio Gallegos. I do not at all understand the reason of 

 this, but I may observe, that the wounded guanacos at the 

 St. Cruz invariably walked towards the river. At St. Jago 

 in the Cape de Verd Islands, I remember having seen in a 

 ravine a retired corner covered with bones of the goat; we 

 at the time exclaimed that it was the burial ground of all the 

 goats in the island. I mention these trifling circumstances, 

 because in certain cases they might explain the occurrence 

 of a number of uninjured bones in a cave, or buried under 

 alluvial accumulations; and likewise the cause why certain 

 animals are more commonly embedded than others in sedi- 

 mentary deposits. 



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 water- 

 ing-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 com- 

 pelled us to wait several hours ; and in the interval I walked 

 sOme miles into the interior. The 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 gulleys. 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. All was stillness and desolation. Yet in passing 

 over these scenes, without one bright object near, an ill- 

 defined but strong sense of pleasure is vividly excited. One 

 asked how many ages the plain had thus lasted, and how 

 many more it was doomed thus to continue. 



" None can reply — all seems eternal now. 

 The wilderness has a mysterious tongue, 

 Which teaches awful doubt." u 



11 Shelley, Lines on Mt. Blanc. 



