198 
S. CRUZ , PATAGONIA 
CHAP. 
the abundance of the guanacos, I was surprised at this ; but it is 
explained by the stony nature of the plains, which would soon 
disable an unshod horse from taking part in the chase. Never¬ 
theless, in two places in this very central region, I found small 
heaps of stones, which I do not think could have been accident¬ 
ally thrown together. They were placed on points projecting 
over the edge of the highest lava cliff, and they resembled, but 
on a small scale, those near Port Desire. 
May 4th .—Captain Fitz Roy determined to take the boats 
no higher. The river had a winding course, and was very 
rapid ; and the appearance of the country offered no temptation 
to proceed any farther. Everywhere we met with the same 
productions, and the same dreary landscape. We were now 
one hundred and forty miles distant from the Atlantic, and 
about sixty from the nearest arm of the Pacific. The valley 
in this upper part expanded into a wide basin, bounded on the 
north and south by the basaltic platforms, and fronted by the 
long range of the snow-clad Cordillera. But we viewed these 
grand mountains with regret, for we were obliged to imagine 
their nature and productions, instead of standing, as we had 
hoped, on their summits. Besides the useless loss of time which 
an attempt to ascend the river any higher would have cost us, 
we had already been for some days on half allowance of bread. 
This, although really enough for reasonable men, was, after a 
hard day’s march, rather scanty food : a light stomach and an 
easy digestion are good things to talk about, but very unpleasant 
in practice. 
5 th .—Before sunrise we commenced our descent. We shot 
down the stream with great rapidity, generally at the rate of 
ten knots an hour. In this one day we effected what had cost 
us five and a half hard days’ labour in ascending. On the 8th 
we reached the Beagle after our twenty-one days’ expedition. 
Every one, excepting myself, had cause to be dissatisfied ; but 
to me the ascent afforded a most interesting section of the great 
tertiary formation of Patagonia. 
On March 1 sf, 1833, and again on March 16th, 1834, the 
