I. P. 36.

[4] In South America I collected altogether twenty-seven species of mice, and thirteen more are known from the works of Azara and other authors.

Those collected by myself have been named and described by Mr. Waterhouse at the meetings of the Zoological Society. I must be allowed to take this opportunity of returning my cordial thanks to Mr. Waterhouse, and to the other gentleman attached to that Society, for their kind and most liberal assistance on all occasions.

[5] In the stomach and duodenum of a capybara which I opened I found a very large quantity of a thin yellowish fluid, in which scarcely a fibre could be distinguished. Mr. Owen informs me that a part of the oesophagus is so constructed that nothing much larger than a crowquill can be passed down. Certainly the broad teeth and strong jaws of this animal are well fitted to grind into pulp the aquatic plants on which it feeds.

[6] At the R. Negro, in Northern Patagonia, there is an animal of the same habits, and probably a closely allied species, but which I never saw. Its noise is different from that of the Maldonado kind; it is repeated only twice instead of three or four times, and is more distinct and sonorous; when heard from a distance it so closely resembles the sound made in cutting down a small tree with an axe, that I have sometimes remained in doubt concerning it.

[7] Philosoph. Zoolog., tom. i. p. 242.

[8] Magazine of Zoology and Botany, vol. i. p. 217.

[9] Read before the Academy of Sciences in Paris. L'Institut, 1834, p. 418.

[10] Geolog. Transact. vol. ii. p. 528. In the Philosoph. Transact. (1790, p. 294) Dr. Priestly has described some imperfect siliceous tubes and a melted pebble of quartz, found in digging into the ground, under a tree, where a man had been killed by lightning.

[11] Annals de Chimie et de Physique, tom. xxxvii. p. 319.

[12] Azara's Voyage, vol. i. p. 36.

CHAPTER IV

RIO NEGRO TO BAHIA BLANCA

Rio Negro - Estancias attacked by the Indians - Salt-Lakes - Flamingoes - R. Negro to R. Colorado - Sacred Tree - Patagonian Hare - Indian Families - General Rosas - Proceed to Bahia Blanca - Sand Dunes - Negro Lieutenant - Bahia Blanca - Saline Incrustations - Punta Alta - Zorillo.

JULY 24th, 1833. - The Beagle sailed from Maldonado, and on August the 3rd she arrived off the mouth of the Rio Negro. This is the principal river on the whole line of coast between the Strait of Magellan and the Plata. It enters the sea about three hundred miles south of the estuary of the Plata. About fifty years ago, under the old Spanish government, a small colony was established here; and it is still the most southern position (lat. 41 degs.) on this eastern coast of America inhabited by civilized man.

The country near the mouth of the river is wretched in the extreme: on the south side a long line of perpendicular cliffs commences, which exposes a section of the geological nature of the country.

Enter page number Go  Previous Next
Page 50 of 402
Words from 25253 to 25762 of 208183