Here the tide compelled
us to wait several hours; and in the interval I walked
some miles into the interior. The plain as usual consisted
of gravel, mingled with soil resembling chalk in appearance,
but very different from it in nature. From the softness of
these materials it was worn into many gulleys. There was
not a tree, and, excepting the guanaco, which stood on the
hill-top a watchful sentinel over its herd, scarcely an animal
or a bird. All was stillness and desolation. Yet in passing
over these scenes, without one bright object near, an
ill-defined but strong sense of pleasure is vividly excited.
One asked how many ages the plain had thus lasted, and how
many more it was doomed thus to continue.
"None can reply - all seems eternal now.
The wilderness has a mysterious tongue,
Which teaches awful doubt." [11]
In the evening we sailed a few miles further up, and then
pitched the tents for the night. By the middle of the next
day the yawl was aground, and from the shoalness of the
water could not proceed any higher. The water being found
partly fresh, Mr. Chaffers took the dingey and went up two
or three miles further, where she also grounded, but in a
fresh-water river.
