I have described this man's conduct, because
he acted under the full impression that they were Indians.
As soon, however, as the absurd mistake was found out, he
gave me a hundred reasons why they could not have been
Indians; but all these were forgotten at the time. We then
rode on in peace and quietness to a low point called Punta
Alta, whence we could see nearly the whole of the great harbour
of Bahia Blanca.
The wide expanse of water is choked up by numerous
great mud-banks, which the inhabitants call Cangrejales, or
_crabberies_, from the number of small crabs. The mud is so
soft that it is impossible to walk over them, even for the
shortest distance. Many of the banks have their surfaces
covered with long rushes, the tops of which alone are visible
at high water. On one occasion, when in a boat, we were
so entangled by these shallows that we could hardly find
our way. Nothing was visible but the flat beds of mud; the
day was not very clear, and there was much refraction, or
as the sailors expressed it, "things loomed high." The only
object within our view which was not level was the horizon;
rushes looked like bushes unsupported in the air, and water
like mud-banks, and mud-banks like water.
We passed the night in Punta Alta, and I employed myself
in searching for fossil bones; this point being a perfect
catacomb for monsters of extinct races. The evening was
perfectly calm and clear; the extreme monotony of the view
gave it an interest even in the midst of mud-banks and gulls
sand-hillocks and solitary vultures. In riding back in the
morning we came across a very fresh track of a Puma, but
did not succeed in finding it. We saw also a couple of
Zorillos, or skunks, - odious animals, which are far from
uncommon. In general appearance, the Zorillo resembles a
polecat, but it is rather larger, and much thicker in proportion.
Conscious of its power, it roams by day about the open
plain, and fears neither dog nor man. If a dog is urged to
the attack, its courage is instantly checked by a few drops
of the fetid oil, which brings on violent sickness and running
at the nose. Whatever is once polluted by it, is for
ever useless. Azara says the smell can be perceived at a
league distant; more than once, when entering the harbour
of Monte Video, the wind being off shore, we have perceived
the odour on board the Beagle. Certain it is, that
every animal most willingly makes room for the Zorillo.
[1] The corral is an enclosure made of tall and strong
stakes. Every estancia, or farming estate, has one attached
to it.
[2] The hovels of the Indians are thus called.
[3] Report of the Agricult. Chem. Assoc. in the Agricult.
Gazette, 1845, p. 93.
[4] Linnaean Trans., vol. xi. p. 205. It is remarkable how
all the circumstances connected with the salt-lakes in Siberia
and Patagonia are similar. Siberia, like Patagonia, appears
to have been recently elevated above the waters of the sea.
In both countries the salt-lakes occupy shallow depressions
in the plains; in both the mud on the borders is black and
fetid; beneath the crust of common salt, sulphate of soda or
of magnesium occurs, imperfectly crystallized; and in both,
the muddy sand is mixed with lentils of gypsum. The Siberian
salt-lakes are inhabited by small crustaceous animals; and
flamingoes (Edin. New Philos. Jour., Jan 1830) likewise
frequent them. As these circumstances, apparently so trifling,
occur in two distant continents, we may feel sure that they
are the necessary results of a common cause - See Pallas's
Travels, 1793 to 1794, pp. 129 - 134.
[5] I am bound to express in the strongest terms, my obligation
to the government of Buenos Ayres for the obliging manner in
which passports to all parts of the country were given me, as
naturalist of the Beagle.
[6] This prophecy has turned out entirely and miserably wrong.
1845.
[7] Voyage dans l'Amerique Merid. par M. A. d'Orbigny. Part.
Hist. tom. i. p. 664.
CHAPTER V
BAHIA BLANCA
Bahia Blanca - Geology - Numerous gigantic Quadrupeds -
Recent Extinction - Longevity of species - Large Animals
do not require a luxuriant vegetation - Southern Africa -
Siberian Fossils - Two Species of Ostrich - Habits of
Oven-bird - Armadilloes - Venomous Snake, Toad, Lizard -
Hybernation of Animal - Habits of Sea-Pen - Indian Wars and
Massacres - Arrow-head, antiquarian Relic.
The Beagle arrived here on the 24th of August, and a
week afterwards sailed for the Plata. With Captain
Fitz Roy's consent I was left behind, to travel by land
to Buenos Ayres. I will here add some observations, which
were made during this visit and on a previous occasion, when
the Beagle was employed in surveying the harbour.
The plain, at the distance of a few miles from the coast,
belongs to the great Pampean formation, which consists in
part of a reddish clay, and in part of a highly calcareous
marly rock. Nearer the coast there are some plains formed
from the wreck of the upper plain, and from mud, gravel,
and sand thrown up by the sea during the slow elevation of
the land, of which elevation we have evidence in upraised
beds of recent shells, and in rounded pebbles of pumice
scattered over the country. At Punta Alta we have a section of
one of these later-formed little plains, which is highly
interesting from the number and extraordinary character of the
remains of gigantic land-animals embedded in it. These have
been fully described by Professor Owen, in the Zoology of the
voyage of the Beagle, and are deposited in the College of
Surgeons.
