VIII 
STATE OF SOCIETY 
167 
On first entering society in these countries, two or three 
features strike one as particularly remarkable. The polite and 
dignified manners pervading every rank of life, the excellent 
taste displayed by the women in their dresses, and the equality 
amongst all ranks. At the Rio Colorado some men who kept 
the humblest shops used to dine with General Rosas. A son 
of a major at Bahia Blanca gained his livelihood by making- 
paper cigars, and he wished to accompany me, as guide or 
servant, to Buenos Ayres, but his father objected on the score 
of the danger alone. Many officers in the army can neither 
read nor write, yet all meet in society as equals. In Entre 
Rios, the Sala consisted of only six representatives. One of 
them kept a common shop, and evidently was not degraded by 
the office. All this is what would be expected in a new country ; 
nevertheless the absence of gentlemen by profession appears to 
an Englishman something strange. 
When speaking of these countries, the manner in which 
they have been brought up by their unnatural parent, Spain, 
should always be borne in mind. On the whole, perhaps, more 
credit is due for what has been done, than blame for that which 
may be deficient. It is impossible to doubt but that the 
extreme liberalism of these countries must ultimately lead 
to good results. The very general toleration of foreign 
religions, the regard paid to the means of education, the 
freedom of the press, the facilities offered to all foreigners, and 
especially, as I am bound to add, to every one professing the 
humblest pretensions to science, should be recollected with 
gratitude by those who have visited Spanish South America. 
December 6 th. — The Beagle sailed from the Rio Plata, 
never again to enter its muddy stream. Our course was 
directed to Port Desire, on the coast of Patagonia. Before 
proceeding any farther, I will here put together a few 
observations made at sea. 
Several times when the ship has been some miles off the 
mouth of the Plata, and at other times when off the shores of 
Northern Patagonia, we have been surrounded by insects. One 
evening, when we were about ten miles from the Bay of San 
Bias, vast numbers of butterflies, in bands or flocks of countless 
myriads, extended as far as the eye could range. Even by the 
