HYDROCH/EEUS CAPYBARA OR WATER-HOG. 
CHAPTER III 
Monte Video—Maldonado—Excursion to R. Polanco—Lazo and Bolas—Partridges— 
Absence of Trees—Deer—Capybara, or River Hog—Tucutuco—Molothrus, 
cuckoo-like habits — Tyrant - flycatcher — Mocking-bird — Carrion Hawks — : 
Tubes formed by Lightning—House struck. 
MALDONADO 
July $tJi, 1832.—In the morning we got under way, and 
stood out of the splendid harbour of Rio de Janeiro. In our 
passage to the Plata, we saw nothing particular, excepting on 
one day a great shoal of porpoises, many hundreds in number. 
The whole sea was in places furrowed by them ; and a most 
extraordinary spectacle was presented, as hundreds, proceeding 
together by jumps, in which their whole bodies were exposed, 
thus cut the water. When the ship was running nine knots an 
hour, these animals could cross and recross the bows with the 
