It Was Generally Thought
That The Indians Had Reconnoitred Us During The Night.
Shortly Afterwards We Came To A Spot Where, From The Fresh
Footsteps Of Men, Children, And Horses, It Was Evident That
The Party Had Crossed The River.
April 22nd.
- The country remained the same, and was
extremely uninteresting. The complete similarity of the
productions throughout Patagonia is one of its most striking
characters. The level plains of arid shingle support
the same stunted and dwarf plants; and in the valleys the
same thorn-bearing bushes grow. Everywhere we see the
same birds and insects. Even the very banks of the river
and of the clear streamlets which entered it, were scarcely
enlivened by a brighter tint of green. The curse of sterility
is on the land, and the water flowing over a bed of pebbles
partakes of the same curse. Hence the number of water-fowls
is very scanty; for there is nothing to support life in
the stream of this barren river.
Patagonia, poor as she is in some respects, can however
boast of a greater stock of small rodents [1] than perhaps any
other country in the world. Several species of mice are
externally characterized by large thin ears and a very fine
fur. These little animals swarm amongst the thickets in the
valleys, where they cannot for months together taste a drop
of water excepting the dew. They all seem to be cannibals
for no sooner was a mouse caught in one of my traps that
it was devoured by others. A small and delicately shaped
fox, which is likewise very abundant, probably derives its
entire support from these small animals. The guanaco is
also in his proper district, herds of fifty or a hundred were
common; and, as I have stated, we saw one which must
have contained at least five hundred. The puma, with the
condor and other carrion-hawks in its train, follows and
preys upon these animals. The footsteps of the puma were
to be seen almost everywhere on the banks of the river;
and the remains of several guanacos, with their necks
dislocated and bones broken, showed how they had met their
death.
April 24th. - Like the navigators of old when approaching
an unknown land, we examined and watched for the most
trivial sign of a change. The drifted trunk of a tree, or a
boulder of primitive rock, was hailed with joy, as if we had
seen a forest growing on the flanks of the Cordillera. The
top, however, of a heavy bank of clouds, which remained
almost constantly in one position, was the most promising
sign, and eventually turned out a true harbinger. At first the
clouds were mistaken for the mountains themselves, instead
of the masses of vapour condensed by their icy summits.
April 26th. - We this day met with a marked change in
the geological structure of the plains. From the first starting
I had carefully examined the gravel in the river, and
for the two last days had noticed the presence of a few small
pebbles of a very cellular basalt.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 143 of 402
Words from 73562 to 74078
of 208183
