APRIL 13, 1834. -- The Beagle anchored within the mouth of theSanta Cruz. This river is situated about sixty miles south ofPort St. Julian. During the last voyage Captain Stokes proceededthirty miles up it, but then, from the want of provisions, wasobliged to return. Excepting what was discovered at that time,scarcely anything was known about this large river. Captain FitzRoy now determined to follow its course as far as time wouldallow. On the 18th three whale-boats started, carrying threeweeks' provisions; and the party consisted of twenty-fivesouls -- a force which would have been sufficient to havedefied a host of Indians. With a strong flood-tide and a fineday we made a good run, soon drank some of the fresh water,and were at night nearly above the tidal influence.

The river here assumed a size and appearance which, even atthe highest point we ultimately reached, was scarcelydiminished. It was generally from three to four hundred yardsbroad, and in the middle about seventeen feet deep. Therapidity of the current, which in its whole course runs atthe rate of from four to six knots an hour, is perhaps itsmost remarkable feature. The water is of a fine blue colour,but with a slight milky tinge, and not so transparent as atfirst sight would have been expected. It flows over a bed ofpebbles, like those which compose the beach and the surroundingplains. It runs in a winding course through avalley, which extends in a direct line westward. This valleyvaries from five to ten miles in breadth; it is bounded bystep-formed terraces, which rise in most parts, one above theother, to the height of five hundred feet, and have on theopposite sides a remarkable correspondence.

April 19th. -- Against so strong a current it was, ofcourse, quite impossible to row or sail: consequently thethree boats were fastened together head and stern, two handsleft in each, and the rest came on shore to track. As thegeneral arrangements made by Captain Fitz Roy were verygood for facilitating the work of all, and as all had a sharein it, I will describe the system. The party including everyone, was divided into two spells, each of which hauled at thetracking line alternately for an hour and a half. The officersof each boat lived with, ate the same food, and sleptin the same tent with their crew, so that each boat wasquite independent of the others. After sunset the first levelspot where any bushes were growing, was chosen for ournight's lodging. Each of the crew took it in turns to becook. Immediately the boat was hauled up, the cook madehis fire; two others pitched the tent; the coxswain handedthe things out of the boat; the rest carried them up to thetents and collected firewood. By this order, in half an houreverything was ready for the night. A watch of two menand an officer was always kept, whose duty it was to lookafter the boats, keep up the fire, and guard against Indians.Each in the party had his one hour every night.

During this day we tracked but a short distance, for therewere many islets, covered by thorny bushes, and the channelsbetween them were shallow.

April 20th. -- We passed the islands and set to work. Ourregular day's march, although it was hard enough, carriedus on an average only ten miles in a straight line, and perhapsfifteen or twenty altogether. Beyond the place wherewe slept last night, the country is completely _terra incognita_,for it was there that Captain Stokes turned back. We sawin the distance a great smoke, and found the skeleton of ahorse, so we knew that Indians were in the neighbourhood.On the next morning (21st) tracks of a party of horse,and marks left by the trailing of the chuzos, or long spears,were observed on the ground. It was generally thoughtthat the Indians had reconnoitred us during the night.Shortly afterwards we came to a spot where, from the freshfootsteps of men, children, and horses, it was evident thatthe party had crossed the river.

April 22nd. -- The country remained the same, and wasextremely uninteresting. The complete similarity of theproductions throughout Patagonia is one of its most strikingcharacters. The level plains of arid shingle supportthe same stunted and dwarf plants; and in the valleys thesame thorn-bearing bushes grow. Everywhere we see thesame birds and insects. Even the very banks of the riverand of the clear streamlets which entered it, were scarcelyenlivened by a brighter tint of green. The curse of sterilityis on the land, and the water flowing over a bed of pebblespartakes of the same curse. Hence the number of waterfowlis very scanty; for there is nothing to support life inthe stream of this barren river.

Patagonia, poor as she is in some respects, can howeverboast of a greater stock of small rodents

April 24th. -- Like the navigators of old when approachingan unknown land, we examined and watched for the mosttrivial sign of a change. The drifted trunk of a tree, or aboulder of primitive rock, was hailed with joy, as if we hadseen a forest growing on the flanks of the Cordillera. Thetop, however, of a heavy bank of clouds, which remainedalmost constantly in one position, was the most promisingsign, and eventually turned out a true harbinger. At first theclouds were mistaken for the mountains themselves, insteadof the masses of vapour condensed by their icy summits.

April 26th. -- We this day met with a marked change inthe geological structure of the plains. From the first startingI had carefully examined the gravel in the river, andfor the two last days had noticed the presence of a few smallpebbles of a very cellular basalt. These gradually increasedin number and in size, but none were as large as a man'shead. This morning, however, pebbles of the same rock,but more compact, suddenly became abundant, and in thecourse of half an hour we saw, at the distance of five orsix miles, the angular edge of a great basaltic platform.When we arrived at its base we found the stream bubblingamong the fallen blocks. For the next twenty-eight milesthe river-course was encumbered with these basaltic masses.Above that limit immense fragments of primitive rocks,derived from its surrounding boulder-formation, wereequally numerous. None of the fragments of any considerablesize had been washed more than three or four milesdown the river below their parent-source: considering thesingular rapidity of the great body of water in the SantaCruz, and that no still reaches occur in any part, this exampleis a most striking one, of the inefficiency of rivers intransporting even moderately-sized fragments.

The basalt is only lava, which has flowed beneath the sea;but the eruptions must have been on the grandest scale. Atthe point where we first met this formation it was 120 feetin thickness; following up the river course, the surfaceimperceptibly rose and the mass became thicker, so that atforty miles above the first station it was 320 feet thick.What the thickness may be close to the Cordillera, I haveno means of knowing, but the platform there attains a heightof about three thousand feet above the level of the sea:we must therefore look to the mountains of that great chainfor its source; and worthy of such a source are streams thathave flowed over the gently inclined bed of the sea to adistance of one hundred miles. At the first glance of thebasaltic cliffs on the opposite sides of the valley, it wasevident that the strata once were united. What power, then,has removed along a whole line of country, a solid mass ofvery hard rock, which had an average thickness of nearlythree hundred feet, and a breadth varying from rather lessthan two miles to four miles? The river, though it has solittle power in transporting even inconsiderable fragments,yet in the lapse of ages might produce by its gradual erosionan effect of which it is difficult to judge the amount. Butin this case, independently of the insignificance of such anagency, good reasons can be assigned for believing that thisvalley was formerly occupied by an arm of the sea. It isneedless in this work to detail the arguments leading to thisconclusion, derived from the form and the nature of thestep-formed terraces on both sides of the valley, from themanner in which the bottom of the valley near the Andesexpands into a great estuary-like plain with sand-hillockson it, and from the occurrence of a few sea-shells lying inthe bed of the river. If I had space I could prove thatSouth America was formerly here cut off by a strait, joiningthe Atlantic and Pacific oceans, like that of Magellan.But it may yet be asked, how has the solid basalt beenmoved? Geologists formerly would have brought into play,the violent action of some overwhelming debacle; but in thiscase such a supposition would have been quite inadmissible;because, the same step-like plains with existing sea-shellslying on their surface, which front the long line of thePatagonian coast, sweep up on each side of the valley of SantaCruz. No possible action of any flood could thus havemodelled the land, either within the valley or along the opencoast; and by the formation of such step-like plains or terracesthe valley itself had been hollowed out. Although weknow that there are tides, which run within the Narrowsof the Strait of Magellan at the rate of eight knots an hour,yet we must confess that it makes the head almost giddy toreflect on the number of years, century after century, whichthe tides, unaided by a heavy surf, must have required tohave corroded so vast an area and thickness of solid basalticlava. Nevertheless, we must believe that the strata underminedby the waters of this ancient strait, were broken upinto huge fragments, and these lying scattered on the beach,were reduced first to smaller blocks, then to pebbles andlastly to the most impalpable mud, which the tides driftedfar into the Eastern or Western Ocean.

With the change in the geological structure of the plainsthe character of the landscape likewise altered. While ramblingup some of the narrow and rocky defiles, I could almosthave fancied myself transported back again to the barrenvalleys of the island of St. Jago. Among the basaltic cliffs,I found some plants which I had seen nowhere else, butothers I recognised as being wanderers from Tierra delFuego. These porous rocks serve as a reservoir for thescanty rain-water; and consequently on the line where theigneous and sedimentary formations unite, some smallsprings (most rare occurrences in Patagonia) burst forth;and they could be distinguished at a distance by thecircumscribed patches of bright green herbage.

April 27th. -- The bed of the river became rather narrower,and hence the stream more rapid. It here ran at the rateof six knots an hour. From this cause, and from the manygreat angular fragments, tracking the boats became bothdangerous and laborious.

This day I shot a condor. It measured from tip to tipof the wings, eight and a half feet, and from beak to tail,four feet. This bird is known to have a wide geographicalrange, being found on the west coast of South America,from the Strait of Magellan along the Cordillera as far aseight degrees north of the equator. The steep cliff near themouth of the Rio Negro is its northern limit on the Patagoniancoast; and they have there wandered about fourhundred miles from the great central line of their habitationin the Andes. Further south, among the bold precipicesat the head of Port Desire, the condor is not uncommon;yet only a few stragglers occasionally visit the seacoast.A line of cliff near the mouth of the Santa Cruz isfrequented by these birds, and about eighty miles up theriver, where the sides of the valley are formed by steepbasaltic precipices, the condor reappears. From these facts,it seems that the condors require perpendicular cliffs. InChile, they haunt, during the greater part of the year, thelower country near the shores of the Pacific, and at nightseveral roost together in one tree; but in the early part ofsummer, they retire to the most inaccessible parts of theinner Cordillera, there to breed in peace.

With respect to their propagation, I was told by thecountry people in Chile, that the condor makes no sort ofnest, but in the months of November and December laystwo large white eggs on a shelf of bare rock. It is said thatthe young condors cannot fly for an entire year; and longafter they are able, they continue to roost by night, andhunt by day with their parents. The old birds generally livein pairs; but among the inland basaltic cliffs of the SantaCruz, I found a spot, where scores must usually haunt. Oncoming suddenly to the brow of the precipice, it was a grandspectacle to see between twenty and thirty of these greatbirds start heavily from their resting-place, and wheel awayin majestic circles. From the quantity of dung on the rocks,they must long have frequented this cliff for roosting andbreeding. Having gorged themselves with carrion on theplains below, they retire to these favourite ledges to digesttheir food. From these facts, the condor, like the gallinazo,must to a certain degree be considered as a gregarious bird.In this part of the country they live altogether on the guanacoswhich have died a natural death, or as more commonlyhappens, have been killed by the pumas. I believe, fromwhat I saw in Patagonia, that they do not on ordinary occasionsextend their daily excursions to any great distancefrom their regular sleeping-places.

The condors may oftentimes be seen at a great height,soaring over a certain spot in the most graceful circles.On some occasions I am sure that they do this only forpleasure, but on others, the Chileno countryman tells youthat they are watching a dying animal, or the puma devouringits prey. If the condors glide down, and then suddenlyall rise together, the Chileno knows that it is the pumawhich, watching the carcass, has sprung out to drive awaythe robbers. Besides feeding on carrion, the condors frequentlyattack young goats and lambs; and the shepherd-dogsare trained, whenever they pass over, to run out, andlooking upwards to bark violently. The Chilenos destroyand catch numbers. Two methods are used; one is to placea carcass on a level piece of ground within an enclosure ofsticks with an opening, and when the condors are gorged,to gallop up on horseback to the entrance, and thus enclosethem: for when this bird has not space to run, it cannotgive its body sufficient momentum to rise from the ground.The second method is to mark the trees in which, frequentlyto the number of five or six together, they roost, and thenat night to climb up and noose them. They are such heavysleepers, as I have myself witnessed, that this is not adifficult task. At Valparaiso, I have seen a living condor soldfor sixpence, but the common price is eight or ten shillings.One which I saw brought in, had been tied with rope, andwas much injured; yet, the moment the line was cut bywhich its bill was secured, although surrounded by people,it began ravenously to tear a piece of carrion. In a gardenat the same place, between twenty and thirty were kept alive.They were fed only once a week, but they appeared in prettygood health.

When an animal is killed in the country, it is well knownthat the condors, like other carrion-vultures, soon gainintelligence of it, and congregate in an inexplicable manner.In most cases it must not be overlooked, that the birdshave discovered their prey, and have picked the skeletonclean, before the flesh is in the least degree tainted.Remembering the experiments of M. Audubon, on the littlesmelling powers of carrion-hawks, I tried in the above-mentioned garden the following experiment: the condorswere tied, each by a rope, in a long row at the bottom of awall; and having folded up a piece of meat in white paper, Iwalked backwards and forwards, carrying it in my hand atthe distance of about three yards from them, but no noticewhatever was taken. I then threw it on the ground, withinone yard of an old male bird; he looked at it for a momentwith attention, but then regarded it no more. With a stickI pushed it closer and closer, until at last he touched it withhis beak; the paper was then instantly torn off with fury,and at the same moment, every bird in the long row beganstruggling and flapping its wings. Under the same circumstances,it would have been quite impossible to have deceiveda dog. The evidence in favour of and against the acutesmelling powers of carrion-vultures is singularly balanced.Professor Owen has demonstrated that the olfactory nervesof the turkey-buzzard (Cathartes aura) are highly developed,and on the evening when Mr. Owen's paper was readat the Zoological Society, it was mentioned by a gentlemanthat he had seen the carrion-hawks in the West Indies ontwo occasions collect on the roof of a house, when a corpsehad become offensive from not having been buried, in thiscase, the intelligence could hardly have been acquired bysight. On the other hand, besides the experiments of Audubonand that one by myself, Mr. Bachman has tried in theUnited States many varied plans, showing that neither theturkey-buzzard (the species dissected by Professor Owen)nor the gallinazo find their food by smell. He covered portionsof highly-offensive offal with a thin canvas cloth, andstrewed pieces of meat on it: these the carrion-vultures ateup, and then remained quietly standing, with their beakswithin the eighth of an inch of the putrid mass, withoutdiscovering it. A small rent was made in the canvas, andthe offal was immediately discovered; the canvas was replacedby a fresh piece, and meat again put on it, and wasagain devoured by the vultures without their discoveringthe hidden mass on which they were trampling. These factsare attested by the signatures of six gentlemen, besides thatof Mr. Bachman.

Often when lying down to rest on the open plains, onlooking upwards, I have seen carrion-hawks sailing throughthe air at a great height. Where the country is level I donot believe a space of the heavens, of more than fifteen degreesabove the horizon, is commonly viewed with any attentionby a person either walking or on horseback. If suchbe the case, and the vulture is on the wing at a height ofbetween three and four thousand feet, before it could comewithin the range of vision, its distance in a straight linefrom the beholder's eye, would be rather more than twoBritish miles. Might it not thus readily be overlooked?When an animal is killed by the sportsman in a lonely valley,may he not all the while be watched from above by thesharp-sighted bird? And will not the manner of its descentproclaim throughout the district to the whole family ofcarrion-feeders, that their prey is at hand?

When the condors are wheeling in a flock round andround any spot, their flight is beautiful. Except when risingfrom the ground, I do not recollect ever having seen oneof these birds flap its wings. Near Lima, I watched severalfor nearly half an hour, without once taking off my eyes:they moved in large curves, sweeping in circles, descendingand ascending without giving a single flap. As they glidedclose over my head, I intently watched from an oblique position,the outlines of the separate and great terminal feathersof each wing; and these separate feathers, if there had beenthe least vibratory movement, would have appeared as ifblended together; but they were seen distinct against theblue sky. The head and neck were moved frequently, andapparently with force; and the extended wings seemed toform the fulcrum on which the movements of the neck, body,and tail acted. If the bird wished to descend, the wingswere for a moment collapsed; and when again expandedwith an altered inclination, the momentum gained by therapid descent seemed to urge the bird upwards with theeven and steady movement of a paper kite. In the case ofany bird soaring, its motion must be sufficiently rapid sothat the action of the inclined surface of its body on theatmosphere may counterbalance its gravity. The force tokeep up the momentum of a body moving in a horizontalplane in the air (in which there is so little friction) cannotbe great, and this force is all that is wanted. The movementof the neck and body of the condor, we must suppose,is sufficient for this. However this may be, it is trulywonderful and beautiful to see so great a bird, hour after hour,without any apparent exertion, wheeling and gliding overmountain and river.

April 29th. -- From some high land we hailed with joythe white summits of the Cordillera, as they were seenoccasionally peeping through their dusky envelope of clouds.During the few succeeding days we continued to get onslowly, for we found the river-course very tortuous, andstrewed with immense fragments of various ancient slatyrocks, and of granite. The plain bordering the valley hadhere attained an elevation of about 1100 feet above the river,and its character was much altered. The well-rounded pebblesof porphyry were mingled with many immense angularfragments of basalt and of primary rocks. The first of theseerratic boulders which I noticed, was sixty-seven miles distantfrom the nearest mountain; another which I measuredwas five yards square, and projected five feet above thegravel. Its edges were so angular, and its size so great, thatI at first mistook it for a rock _in situ_, and took out mycompass to observe the direction of its cleavage. The plain herewas not quite so level as that nearer the coast, but yet itbetrayed no signs of any great violence. Under thesecircumstances it is, I believe, quite impossible to explain thetransportal of these gigantic masses of rock so many milesfrom their parent-source, on any theory except by that offloating icebergs.

During the two last days we met with signs of horses, andwith several small articles which had belonged to the Indians-- such as parts of a mantle and a bunch of ostrich feathers -- but theyappeared to have been lying long on the ground.Between the place where the Indians had so lately crossedthe river and this neighbourhood, though so many milesapart, the country appears to be quite unfrequented. At first,considering the abundance of the guanacos, I was surprisedat this; but it is explained by the stony nature of the plains,which would soon disable an unshod horse from taking partin the chase. Nevertheless, in two places in this very centralregion, I found small heaps of stones, which I do not thinkcould have been accidentally thrown together. They wereplaced on points, projecting over the edge of the highest lavacliff, and they resembled, but on a small scale, those nearPort Desire.

May 4th. -- Captain Fitz Roy determined to take the boatsno higher. The river had a winding course, and was veryrapid; and the appearance of the country offered no temptationto proceed any further. Everywhere we met with thesame productions, and the same dreary landscape. We werenow one hundred and forty miles distant from the Atlantic,and about sixty from the nearest arm of the Pacific. Thevalley in this upper part expanded into a wide basin, boundedon the north and south by the basaltic platforms, and frontedby the long range of the snow-clad Cordillera. But weviewed these grand mountains with regret, for we wereobliged to imagine their nature and productions, instead ofstanding, as we had hoped, on their summits. Besides theuseless loss of time which an attempt to ascend the river anyhigher would have cost us, we had already been for somedays on half allowance of bread. This, although reallyenough for reasonable men, was, after a hard day's march,rather scanty food: a light stomach and an easy digestionare good things to talk about, but very unpleasant in practice.

5th. -- Before sunrise we commenced our descent. Weshot down the stream with great rapidity, generally at therate of ten knots an hour. In this one day we effected whathad 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 bedissatisfied; but to me the ascent afforded a most interestingsection of the great tertiary formation of Patagonia.

On March 1st, 1833, and again on March 16th, 1834, theBeagle anchored in Berkeley Sound, in East Falkland Island.This archipelago is situated in nearly the same latitude withthe mouth of the Strait of Magellan; it covers a space ofone hundred and twenty by sixty geographical miles, and is alittle more than half the size of Ireland. After the possessionof these miserable islands had been contested by France,Spain, and England, they were left uninhabited. The governmentof Buenos Ayres then sold them to a private individual,but likewise used them, as old Spain had done before,for a penal settlement. England claimed her right andseized them. The Englishman who was left in charge ofthe flag was consequently murdered. A British officer wasnext sent, unsupported by any power: and when we arrived,we found him in charge of a population, of which rathermore than half were runaway rebels and murderers.

The theatre is worthy of the scenes acted on it. An undulatingland, with a desolate and wretched aspect, is everywherecovered by a peaty soil and wiry grass, of one monotonousbrown colour. Here and there a peak or ridgeof grey quartz rock breaks through the smooth surface.Every one has heard of the climate of these regions; itmay be compared to that which is experienced at the heightof between one and two thousand feet, on the mountains ofNorth Wales; having however less sunshine and less frost,but more wind and rain.

16th. -- I will now describe a short excursion which Imade round a part of this island. In the morning I startedwith six horses and two Gauchos: the latter were capitalmen for the purpose, and well accustomed to living on theirown resources. The weather was very boisterous and cold,with heavy hail-storms. We got on, however, pretty well,but, except the geology, nothing could be less interestingthan our day's ride. The country is uniformly the sameundulating moorland; the surface being covered by lightbrown withered grass and a few very small shrubs, allspringing out of an elastic peaty soil. In the valleys hereand there might be seen a small flock of wild geese, andeverywhere the ground was so soft that the snipe were ableto feed. Besides these two birds there were few others.There is one main range of hills, nearly two thousand feetin height, and composed of quartz rock, the rugged and barrencrests of which gave us some trouble to cross. On thesouth side we came to the best country for wild cattle; wemet, however, no great number, for they had been latelymuch harassed.

In the evening we came across a small herd. One of mycompanions, St. Jago by name, soon separated a fat cow;he threw the bolas, and it struck her legs, but failed inbecoming entangled. Then dropping his hat to mark the spotwhere the balls were left, while at full gallop, he uncoiledhis lazo, and after a most severe chase, again came up tothe cow, and caught her round the horns. The other Gauchohad gone on ahead with the spare horses, so that St. Jagohad some difficulty in killing the furious beast. He managedto get her on a level piece of ground, by taking advantageof her as often as she rushed at him; and when shewould not move, my horse, from having been trained, wouldcanter up, and with his chest give her a violent push. Butwhen on level ground it does not appear an easy job forone man to kill a beast mad with terror. Nor would it beso, if the horse, when left to itself without its rider, didnot soon learn, for its own safety, to keep the lazo tight;so that, if the cow or ox moves forward, the horse movesjust as quickly forward; otherwise, it stands motionlessleaning on one side. This horse, however, was a youngone, and would not stand still, but gave in to the cow as shestruggled. It was admirable to see with what dexterity St.Jago dodged behind the beast, till at last he contrived togive the fatal touch to the main tendon of the hind legafter which, without much difficulty, he drove his knifeinto the head of the spinal marrow, and the cow droppedas if struck by lightning. He cut off pieces of flesh withthe skin to it, but without any bones, sufficient for ourexpedition. We then rode on to our sleeping-place, andhad for supper "carne con cuero," or meat roasted with theskin on it. This is as superior to common beef as venisonis to mutton. A large circular piece taken from the backis roasted on the embers with the hide downwards and inthe form of a saucer, so that none of the gravy is lost.If any worthy alderman had supped with us that evening,"carne con cuero," without doubt, would soon have beencelebrated in London

During the night it rained, and the next day (17th) wasvery stormy, with much hail and snow. We rode across theisland to the neck of land which joins the Rincon del Toro(the great peninsula at the S. W. extremity) to the rest ofthe island. From the great number of cows which havebeen killed, there is a large proportion of bulls. These wanderabout single, or two and three together, and are verysavage. I never saw such magnificent beasts; they equalledin the size of their huge heads and necks the Grecian marblesculptures. Capt. Sulivan informs me that the hide of anaverage-sized bull weighs forty-seven pounds, whereas ahide of this weight, less thoroughly dried, is considered asa very heavy one at Monte Video. The young bulls generallyrun away, for a short distance; but the old ones do notstir a step, except to rush at man and horse; and manyhorses have been thus killed. An old bull crossed a boggystream, and took his stand on the opposite side to us; wein vain tried to drive him away, and failing, were obligedto make a large circuit. The Gauchos in revenge determinedto emasculate him and render him for the futureharmless. It was very interesting to see how art completelymastered force. One lazo was thrown over his horns as herushed at the horse, and another round his hind legs: in aminute the monster was stretched powerless on the ground.After the lazo has once been drawn tightly round the hornsof a furious animal, it does not at first appear an easy thingto disengage it again without killing the beast: nor, Iapprehend, would it be so if the man was by himself. By theaid, however, of a second person throwing his lazo so as tocatch both hind legs, it is quickly managed: for the animal,as long as its hind legs are kept outstretched, is quitehelpless, and the first man can with his hands loosen his lazofrom the horns, and then quietly mount his horse; but themoment the second man, by backing ever so little, relaxesthe strain, the lazo slips off the legs of the struggling beast,which then rises free, shakes himself, and vainly rushes athis antagonist.

During our whole ride we saw only one troop of wildhorses. These animals, as well as the cattle, were introducedby the French in 1764, since which time both have greatlyincreased. It is a curious fact, that the horses have neverleft the eastern end of the island, although there is no naturalboundary to prevent them from roaming, and that partof the island is not more tempting than the rest. The Gauchoswhom I asked, though asserting this to be the case,were unable to account for it, except from the strong attachmentwhich horses have to any locality to which they areaccustomed. Considering that the island does not appearfully stocked, and that there are no beasts of prey, I wasparticularly curious to know what has checked their originallyrapid increase. That in a limited island some checkwould sooner or later supervene, is inevitable; but why hasthe increase of the horse been checked sooner than that ofthe cattle? Capt. Sulivan has taken much pains for mein this inquiry. The Gauchos employed here attribute itchiefly to the stallions constantly roaming from place toplace, and compelling the mares to accompany them, whetheror not the young foals are able to follow. One Gaucho toldCapt. Sulivan that he had watched a stallion for a wholehour, violently kicking and biting a mare till he forcedher to leave her foal to its fate. Capt. Sulivan can so farcorroborate this curious account, that he has several timesfound young foals dead, whereas he has never found a deadcalf. Moreover, the dead bodies of full-grown horses aremore frequently found, as if more subject to disease oraccidents, than those of the cattle. From the softness ofthe ground their hoofs often grow irregularly to a greatlength, and this causes lameness. The predominant coloursare roan and iron-grey. All the horses bred here, both tameand wild, are rather small-sized, though generally in goodcondition; and they have lost so much strength, that theyare unfit to be used in taking wild cattle with the lazo: inconsequence, it is necessary to go to the great expense ofimporting fresh horses from the Plata. At some futureperiod the southern hemisphere probably will have its breedof Falkland ponies, as the northern has its Shetland breed.

The cattle, instead of having degenerated like the horse,seem, as before remarked, to have increased in size; andthey are much more numerous than the horses Capt. Sulivaninforms me that they vary much less in the generalform of their bodies and in the shape of their horns thanEnglish cattle. In colour they differ much; and it is aremarkable circumstance, that in different parts of this onesmall island, different colours predominate. Round MountUsborne, at a height of from 1000 to 1500 feet above the sea,about half of some of the herds are mouse or lead-coloured,a tint which is not common in other parts of the island.Near Port Pleasant dark brown prevails, whereas south ofChoiseul Sound (which almost divides the island into twoparts), white beasts with black heads and feet are the mostcommon: in all parts black, and some spotted animals maybe observed. Capt. Sulivan remarks, that the difference inthe prevailing colours was so obvious, that in looking forthe herds near Port Pleasant, they appeared from a longdistance like black spots, whilst south of Choiseul Soundthey appeared like white spots on the hill-sides. Capt. Sulivanthinks that the herds do not mingle; and it is a singularfact, that the mouse-coloured cattle, though living on thehigh land, calve about a month earlier in the season thanthe other coloured beasts on the lower land. It is interestingthus to find the once domesticated cattle breakinginto three colours, of which some one colour would in allprobability ultimately prevail over the others, if the herdswere left undisturbed for the next several centuries.

The rabbit is another animal which has been introduced,and has succeeded very well; so that they abound over largeparts of the island. Yet, like the horses, they are confinedwithin certain limits; for they have not crossed the centralchain of hills, nor would they have extended even so far asits base, if, as the Gauchos informed me, small colonies hadnot been carried there. I should not have supposed thatthese animals, natives of northern Africa, could have existedin a climate so humid as this, and which enjoys so littlesunshine that even wheat ripens only occasionally. It isasserted that in Sweden, which any one would have thoughta more favourable climate, the rabbit cannot live out ofdoors. The first few pairs, moreover, had here to contendagainst pre-existing enemies, in the fox and some largehawks. The French naturalists have considered the black varietya distinct species, and called it Lepus Magellanicus.

The only quadruped native to the island

Molina, from a similarity in habits, thought that thiswas the same with his "culpeu;"

At night (17th) we slept on the neck of land at the headof Choiseul Sound, which forms the south-west peninsula.The valley was pretty well sheltered from the cold wind;but there was very little brushwood for fuel. The Gauchos,however, soon found what, to my great surprise, made nearlyas hot a fire as coals; this was the skeleton of a bullocklately killed, from which the flesh had been picked by thecarrion-hawks. They told me that in winter they often killed abeast, cleaned the flesh from the bones with their knives,and then with these same bones roasted the meat for theirsuppers.

18th. -- It rained during nearly the whole day. At nightwe managed, however, with our saddle-cloths to keep ourselvespretty well dry and warm; but the ground on whichwe slept was on each occasion nearly in the state of a bog,and there was not a dry spot to sit down on after our day'sride. I have in another part stated how singular it is thatthere should be absolutely no trees on these islands, althoughTierra del Fuego is covered by one large forest. Thelargest bush in the island (belonging to the family ofCompositae) is scarcely so tall as our gorse. The best fuel isafforded by a green little bush about the size of commonheath, which has the useful property of burning while freshand green. It was very surprising to see the Gauchos, inthe midst of rain and everything soaking wet, with nothingmore than a tinder-box and a piece of rag, immediately makea fire. They sought beneath the tufts of grass and bushesfor a few dry twigs, and these they rubbed into fibres; thensurrounding them with coarser twigs, something like a bird'snest, they put the rag with its spark of fire in the middleand covered it up. The nest being then held up to thewind, by degrees it smoked more and more, and at lastburst out in flames. I do not think any other method wouldhave had a chance of succeeding with such damp materials.

19th. -- Each morning, from not having ridden for sometime previously, I was very stiff. I was surprised to hearthe Gauchos, who have from infancy almost lived on horseback,say that, under similar circumstances, they alwayssuffer. St. Jago told me, that having been confined for threemonths by illness, he went out hunting wild cattle, and inconsequence, for the next two days, his thighs were so stiffthat he was obliged to lie in bed. This shows that the Gauchos,although they do not appear to do so, yet really mustexert much muscular effort in riding. The hunting wildcattle, in a country so difficult to pass as this is on accountof the swampy ground, must be very hard work. TheGauchos say they often pass at full speed over ground whichwould be impassable at a slower pace; in the same manneras a man is able to skate over thin ice. When hunting, theparty endeavours to get as close as possible to the herd with.out being discovered. Each man carries four or five pair ofthe bolas; these he throws one after the other at as manycattle, which, when once entangled, are left for some daystill they become a little exhausted by hunger and struggling.They are then let free and driven towards a small herd oftame animals, which have been brought to the spot on purpose.From their previous treatment, being too much terrifiedto leave the herd, they are easily driven, if theirstrength last out, to the settlement.

The weather continued so very bad that we determinedto make a push, and try to reach the vessel before night.From the quantity of rain which had fallen, the surfaceof the whole country was swampy. I suppose my horse fellat least a dozen times, and sometimes the whole six horseswere floundering in the mud together. All the little streamsare bordered by soft peat, which makes it very difficult forthe horses to leap them without falling. To complete ourdiscomforts we were obliged to cross the head of a creekof the sea, in which the water was as high as our horses'backs; and the little waves, owing to the violence of thewind, broke over us, and made us very wet and cold. Eventhe iron-framed Gauchos professed themselves glad whenthey reached the settlement, after our little excursion.

The geological structure of these islands is in mostrespects simple. The lower country consists of clay-slateand sandstone, containing fossils, very closely related to, butnot identical with, those found in the Silurian formationsof Europe; the hills are formed of white granular quartzrock. The strata of the latter are frequently arched withperfect symmetry, and the appearance of some of the massesis in consequence most singular. Pernety

In many parts of the island the bottoms of the valleys arecovered in an extraordinary manner by myriads of greatloose angular fragments of the quartz rock, forming "streamsof stones." These have been mentioned with surprise byevery voyager since the time of Pernety. The blocks arenot waterworn, their angles being only a little blunted; theyvary in size from one or two feet in diameter to ten, or evenmore than twenty times as much. They are not throwntogether into irregular piles, but are spread out into levelsheets or great streams. It is not possible to ascertain theirthickness, but the water of small streamlets can be heardtrickling through the stones many feet below the surface.The actual depth is probably great, because the crevicesbetween the lower fragments must long ago have been filledup with sand. The width of these sheets of stones variesfrom a few hundred feet to a mile; but the peaty soil dailyencroaches on the borders, and even forms islets wherevera few fragments happen to lie close together. In a valleysouth of Berkeley Sound, which some of our party calledthe "great valley of fragments," it was necessary to crossan uninterrupted band half a mile wide, by jumping fromone pointed stone to another. So large were the fragments,that being overtaken by a shower of rain, I readily foundshelter beneath one of them.

Their little inclination is the most remarkable circumstancein these "streams of stones." On the hill-sides I haveseen them sloping at an angle of ten degrees with the horizon;but in some of the level, broad-bottomed valleys, theinclination is only just sufficient to be clearly perceived.On so rugged a surface there was no means of measuring theangle, but to give a common illustration, I may say that theslope would not have checked the speed of an English mail-coach.In some places, a continuous stream of these fragmentsfollowed up the course of a valley, and evenextended to the very crest of the hill. On these crests hugemasses, exceeding in dimensions any small building, seemedto stand arrested in their headlong course: there, also, thecurved strata of the archways lay piled on each other, likethe ruins of some vast and ancient cathedral. In endeavouringto describe these scenes of violence one is tempted to passfrom one simile to another. We may imagine that streamsof white lava had flowed from many parts of the mountainsinto the lower country, and that when solidified they had beenrent by some enormous convulsion into myriads of fragments.The expression "streams of stones," which immediatelyoccurred to every one, conveys the same idea. Thesescenes are on the spot rendered more striking by the contrastof the low rounded forms of the neighbouring hills.

I was interested by finding on the highest peak of onerange (about 700 feet above the sea) a great arched fragment,lying on its convex side, or back downwards. Mustwe believe that it was fairly pitched up in the air, and thusturned? Or, with more probability, that there existed formerlya part of the same range more elevated than the pointon which this monument of a great convulsion of nature nowlies. As the fragments in the valleys are neither roundednor the crevices filled up with sand, we must infer that theperiod of violence was subsequent to the land having beenraised above the waters of the sea. In a transverse sectionwithin these valleys, the bottom is nearly level, or rises butvery little towards either side. Hence the fragments appearto have travelled from the head of the valley; but in realityit seems more probable that they have been hurled down fromthe nearest slopes; and that since, by a vibratory movementof overwhelming force,

I have little to remark on the zoology of these islands. Ihave before described the carrion-vulture of Polyborus.There are some other hawks, owls, and a few small land-birds.The water-fowl are particularly numerous, and theymust formerly, from the accounts of the old navigators,have been much more so. One day I observed a cormorantplaying with a fish which it had caught. Eight timessuccessively the bird let its prey go, then dived after it, andalthough in deep water, brought it each time to the surface.In the Zoological Gardens I have seen the otter treat a fishin the same manner, much as a cat does a mouse: I do notknow of any other instance where dame Nature appears sowilfully cruel. Another day, having placed myself betweena penguin (Aptenodytes demersa) and the water, I was muchamused by watching its habits. It was a brave bird; and tillreaching the sea, it regularly fought and drove me backwards.Nothing less than heavy blows would have stopped him; everyinch he gained he firmly kept, standing close before me erectand determined. When thus opposed he continually rolledhis head from side to side, in a very odd manner, as if thepower of distinct vision lay only in the anterior and basalpart of each eye. This bird is commonly called the jackasspenguin, from its habit, while on shore, of throwing its headbackwards, and making a loud strange noise, very like thebraying of an ass; but while at sea, and undisturbed, its noteis very deep and solemn, and is often heard in the night-time.In diving, its little wings are used as fins; but on the land,as front legs. When crawling, it may be said on four legs,through the tussocks or on the side of a grassy cliff, it movesso very quickly that it might easily be mistaken for aquadruped. When at sea and fishing, it comes to the surface forthe purpose of breathing with such a spring, and dives againso instantaneously, that I defy any one at first sight to besure that it was not a fish leaping for sport.

Two kinds of geese frequent the Falklands. The uplandspecies (Anas Magellanica) is common, in pairs and in smallflocks, throughout the island. They do not migrate, but buildon the small outlying islets. This is supposed to be fromfear of the foxes: and it is perhaps from the same causethat these birds, though very tame by day, are shy and wildin the dusk of the evening. They live entirely on vegetablematter.

The rock-goose, so called from living exclusively on thesea-beach (Anas antarctica), is common both here and onthe west coast of America, as far north as Chile. In the deepand retired channels of Tierra del Fuego, the snow-whitegander, invariably accompanied by his darker consort, andstanding close by each other on some distant rocky point, isa common feature in the landscape.

In these islands a great loggerheaded duck or goose (Anasbrachyptera), which sometimes weighs twenty-two pounds,is very abundant. These birds were in former days called,from their extraordinary manner of paddling and splashingupon the water, race-horses; but now they are named, muchmore appropriately, steamers. Their wings are too small andweak to allow of flight, but by their aid, partly swimming andpartly flapping the surface of the water, they move veryquickly. The manner is something like that by which thecommon house-duck escapes when pursued by a dog; but Iam nearly sure that the steamer moves its wings alternately,instead of both together, as in other birds. These clumsy,loggerheaded ducks make such a noise and splashing, that theeffect is exceedingly curious.

Thus we find in South America three birds which use theirwings for other purposes besides flight; the penguins as fins,the steamer as paddles, and the ostrich as sails: and theApteryz of New Zealand, as well as its gigantic extinctprototype the Deinornis, possess only rudimentaryrepresentatives of wings. The steamer is able to dive onlyto a very short distance. It feeds entirely on shell-fishfrom the kelp and tidal rocks: hence the beak and head, forthe purpose of breaking them, are surprisingly heavy andstrong: the head is so strong that I have scarcely been ableto fracture it with my geological hammer; and all our sportsmensoon discovered how tenacious these birds were of life. When inthe evening pluming themselves in a flock, they make the sameodd mixture of sounds which bull-frogs do within the tropics.

In Tierra del Fuego, as well as in the Falkland Islands, Imade many observations on the lower marine animals,

The young cells at the end of the branches of these corallinescontain quite immature polypi, yet the vulture-headsattached to them, though small, are in every respect perfect.When the polypus was removed by a needle from any of thecells, these organs did not appear in the least affected. Whenone of the vulture-like heads was cut off from the cell, thelower mandible retained its power of opening and closing.Perhaps the most singular part of their structure is, thatwhen there were more than two rows of cells on a branch,the central cells were furnished with these appendages, ofonly one-fourth the size of the outside ones. Their movementsvaried according to the species; but in some I neversaw the least motion; while others, with the lower mandiblegenerally wide open, oscillated backwards and forwards atthe rate of about five seconds each turn, others moved rapidlyand by starts. When touched with a needle, the beakgenerally seized the point so firmly, that the whole branchmight be shaken.

These bodies have no relation whatever with the productionof the eggs or gemmules, as they are formed before theyoung polypi appear in the cells at the end of the growingbranches; as they move independently of the polypi, and donot appear to be in any way connected with them; and asthey differ in size on the outer and inner rows of cells, I havelittle doubt, that in their functions, they are related ratherto the horny axis of the branches than to the polypi in thecells. The fleshy appendage at the lower extremity of thesea-pen (described at Bahia Blanca) also forms part of thezoophyte, as a whole, in the same manner as the roots of atree form part of the whole tree, and not of the individualleaf or flower-buds.

In another elegant little coralline (Crisia?), each cell wasfurnished with a long-toothed bristle, which had the powerof moving quickly. Each of these bristles and each of thevulture-like heads generally moved quite independently ofthe others, but sometimes all on both sides of a branch,sometimes only those on one side, moved togethercoinstantaneously, sometimes each moved in regular order oneafter another. In these actions we apparently behold as perfecta transmission of will in the zoophyte, though composed ofthousands of distinct polypi, as in any single animal. Thecase, indeed, is not different from that of the sea-pens, which,when touched, drew themselves into the sand on the coast ofBahia Blanca. I will state one other instance of uniformaction, though of a very different nature, in a zoophyteclosely allied to Clytia, and therefore very simply organized.Having kept a large tuft of it in a basin of salt-water, whenit was dark I found that as often as I rubbed any part of abranch, the whole became strongly phosphorescent with agreen light: I do not think I ever saw any object morebeautifully so. But the remarkable circumstance was, that theflashes of light always proceeded up the branches, from thebase towards the extremities.

The examination of these compound animals was alwaysvery interesting to me. What can be more remarkable thanto see a plant-like body producing an egg, capable of swimmingabout and of choosing a proper place to adhere to,which then sprouts into branches, each crowded with innumerabledistinct animals, often of complicated organizations?The branches, moreover, as we have just seen, sometimespossess organs capable of movement and independent of thepolypi. Surprising as this union of separate individuals in acommon stock must always appear, every tree displays thesame fact, for buds must be considered as individual plants.It is, however, natural to consider a polypus, furnished witha mouth, intestines, and other organs, as a distinct individual,whereas the individuality of a leaf-bud is not easily realised;so that the union of separate individuals in a common bodyis more striking in a coralline than in a tree. Our conceptionof a compound animal, where in some respects the individualityof each is not completed, may be aided, by reflectingon the production of two distinct creatures by bisecting asingle one with a knife, or where Nature herself performsthe task of bisection. We may consider the polypi in azoophyte, or the buds in a tree, as cases where the divisionof the individual has not been completely effected. Certainlyin the case of trees, and judging from analogy in that ofcorallines, the individuals propagated by buds seem moreintimately related to each other, than eggs or seeds are totheir parents. It seems now pretty well established thatplants propagated by buds all partake of a common durationof life; and it is familiar to every one, what singular andnumerous peculiarities are transmitted with certainty, bybuds, layers, and grafts, which by seminal propagation neveror only casually reappear.