Search Results - The Complete Work of Charles Darwin Online

13%

F20 Book: Darwin, C. R. 1860. Journal of researches into the natural history and geology of the countries visited during the voyage of H.M.S. Beagle round the world, under the command of Capt. Fitz Roy R.N. London: John Murray. Tenth thousand. Final text. Text Image PDF

Africa. I will now give an account of the habits of some of the more interesting birds which are common on the wild plains of Northern Patagonia; and first for the largest, or South American ostrich. The ordinary habits of the ostrich are familiar to every one. They live on vegetable matter, such as roots and grass; but at Bahia Blanca I have repeatedly seen three or four come down at low water to the extensive mud-banks which are then dry, for the sake, as the Gauchos say, of feeding on small

13%

F20 Book: Darwin, C. R. 1860. Journal of researches into the natural history and geology of the countries visited during the voyage of H.M.S. Beagle round the world, under the command of Capt. Fitz Roy R.N. London: John Murray. Tenth thousand. Final text. Text Image PDF

any low bank of firm sandy soil by the side of a road or stream. Here (at Bahia Blanca) the walls round the houses are built of hardened mud; and I noticed that one, which enclosed a courtyard where I lodged, was bored through by round holes in a score of places. On asking the owner the cause of this, he bitterly complained of the little casarita, several of which I afterwards observed at work. It is rather curious to find how incapable these birds must be of acquiring any notion of thickness

13%

F20 Book: Darwin, C. R. 1860. Journal of researches into the natural history and geology of the countries visited during the voyage of H.M.S. Beagle round the world, under the command of Capt. Fitz Roy R.N. London: John Murray. Tenth thousand. Final text. Text Image PDF

the Dasypus minutus or pichy, the D. villosus or peludo, and the apar. The first extends ten degrees further south than any other kind: a fourth species, the Mulita, does not come as far south as Bahia Blanca. The four species have nearly similar habits; the peludo, however, is nocturnal, while the others wander by day over the open plains, feeding on beetles, larv , roots, and even small snakes. The apar, commonly called mataco, is remarkable by having only three moveable bands; the rest of

13%

F20 Book: Darwin, C. R. 1860. Journal of researches into the natural history and geology of the countries visited during the voyage of H.M.S. Beagle round the world, under the command of Capt. Fitz Roy R.N. London: John Murray. Tenth thousand. Final text. Text Image PDF

, as other toads are, and living in damp obscure recesses, it crawls during the heat of the day about the dry sand-hillocks and arid plains, where not a single drop of water can be found. It must necessarily depend on the dew for its moisture; and this probably is absorbed by the skin, for it is known, that these reptiles possess great powers of cutaneous absorption. At Maldonado, I found one in a situation nearly as dry as at Bahia Blanca, and thinking to give it a great treat, carried it to a

13%

F20 Book: Darwin, C. R. 1860. Journal of researches into the natural history and geology of the countries visited during the voyage of H.M.S. Beagle round the world, under the command of Capt. Fitz Roy R.N. London: John Murray. Tenth thousand. Final text. Text Image PDF

surface. When frightened, it attempts to avoid discovery by feigning death, with outstretched legs, depressed body, and closed eyes: if further molested, it buries itself with great quickness in the loose sand. This lizard, from its flattened body and short legs, cannot run quickly. I will here add a few remarks on the hybernation of animals in this part of South America. When we first arrived at Bahia Blanca, September 7th, 1832, we thought nature had granted scarcely a living creature to

13%

F20 Book: Darwin, C. R. 1860. Journal of researches into the natural history and geology of the countries visited during the voyage of H.M.S. Beagle round the world, under the command of Capt. Fitz Roy R.N. London: John Murray. Tenth thousand. Final text. Text Image PDF

saved his life by betraying the intended plan of warfare, and the point of union in the Andes. It was believed that there were already six or seven hundred Indians together, and that in summer their numbers would be doubled. Ambassadors were to have been sent to the Indians at the small Salinas, near Bahia Blanca, whom I have mentioned that this same cacique had betrayed. The communication, therefore, between the Indians, extends from the Cordillera to the coast of the Atlantic. General Rosas's

13%

F20 Book: Darwin, C. R. 1860. Journal of researches into the natural history and geology of the countries visited during the voyage of H.M.S. Beagle round the world, under the command of Capt. Fitz Roy R.N. London: John Murray. Tenth thousand. Final text. Text Image PDF

CHAPTER VI. Set out for Buenos Ayres Rio Sauce Sierra Ventana Third Posta Driving Horses Bolas Partridges and Foxes Features of the Country Long-legged Plover Teru-tero Hail-storm Natural Enclosures in the Sierra Tapalguen Flesh of Puma Meat Diet Guardia del Monte Effects of Cattle on the Vegetation Cardoon Buenos Ayres Corral where Cattle are slaughtered. BAHIA BLANCA TO BUENOS AYRES SEPTEMBER 8th. I hired a Gaucho to accompany me on my ride to Buenos Ayres, though with some difficulty, as

13%

F20 Book: Darwin, C. R. 1860. Journal of researches into the natural history and geology of the countries visited during the voyage of H.M.S. Beagle round the world, under the command of Capt. Fitz Roy R.N. London: John Murray. Tenth thousand. Final text. Text Image PDF

differ in size on the outer and inner rows of cells, I have little doubt, that in their functions, they are related rather to the horny axis of the branches than to the polypi in the cells. The fleshy appendage at the lower extremity of the sea-pen (described at Bahia Blanca) also forms part of the zoophyte, as a whole, in the same manner as the roots of a tree form part of the whole tree, and not of the individual leaf or flower-buds. In another elegant little coralline (Crisia?), each cell was

13%

F20 Book: Darwin, C. R. 1860. Journal of researches into the natural history and geology of the countries visited during the voyage of H.M.S. Beagle round the world, under the command of Capt. Fitz Roy R.N. London: John Murray. Tenth thousand. Final text. Text Image PDF

ashes fell. But it may now be suspected that the lake was not a temporary one. Anyhow, we may feel sure, that at some former epoch, the climate and productions of Ascension were very different from what they now are. Where on the face of the earth can we find a spot, on which close investigation will not discover signs of that endless cycle of change, to which this earth has been, is, and will be subjected? On leaving Ascension we sailed for Bahia, on the coast of Brazil, in order to complete

13%

F20 Book: Darwin, C. R. 1860. Journal of researches into the natural history and geology of the countries visited during the voyage of H.M.S. Beagle round the world, under the command of Capt. Fitz Roy R.N. London: John Murray. Tenth thousand. Final text. Text Image PDF

carrion-hawks, 184 Australia, 431 Australian barrier, 474 Azara on spiders, 36, 38 on rain in La Plata, 47 Azara on range of carrion-hawks, 59 on habits of carrion-hawks, 57 on a thunder-storm, 61 on ostrich-eggs, 91 on bows and arrows, 105 on new plants springing up, 119 on great droughts, 133 on hydrophobia, 353 Bachman, Mr., on carrion-hawks, 185 Bahia Blanca, 76 to 105 Bahia, Brazil, 11 , scenery of, 495 Balbi on coral reefs, 470 Bald Head, Australia, 450 Ballenar, Chile, 349 Banda Oriental, 39

12%

F20 Book: Darwin, C. R. 1860. Journal of researches into the natural history and geology of the countries visited during the voyage of H.M.S. Beagle round the world, under the command of Capt. Fitz Roy R.N. London: John Murray. Tenth thousand. Final text. Text Image PDF

into South America. * Azara has even doubted whether the Pampas Indians ever used bows. [page] 106 BAHIA BLANCA. CHAP. VI

12%

F20 Book: Darwin, C. R. 1860. Journal of researches into the natural history and geology of the countries visited during the voyage of H.M.S. Beagle round the world, under the command of Capt. Fitz Roy R.N. London: John Murray. Tenth thousand. Final text. Text Image PDF

wholly composed of matter which has been organized: he detects in it some siliceous-shielded, fresh-water infusoria, and no less than twenty-five different kinds of the siliceous tissue of plants, chiefly of grasses. * Monats. der K nig. Akad. d. Wiss. zu Berlin. Vom April, 1845. [page] 495 BAHIA, BRAZIL. 1836

10%

F20 Book: Darwin, C. R. 1860. Journal of researches into the natural history and geology of the countries visited during the voyage of H.M.S. Beagle round the world, under the command of Capt. Fitz Roy R.N. London: John Murray. Tenth thousand. Final text. Text Image PDF

POSTSCRIPT. I TAKE the opportunity of a new edition of my Journal to correct a few errors. At page 83 I have stated that the majority of the shells which were embedded with the extinct mammals at Punta Alta, in Bahia Blanca, were still living species. These shells have since been examined (see 'Geological Observations in South America,' p. 83) by M. Alcide d'Orbigny, and he pronounces them all to be recent. M. Aug. Bravard has lately described, in a Spanish work ('Observaciones Geologicas

10%

F20 Book: Darwin, C. R. 1860. Journal of researches into the natural history and geology of the countries visited during the voyage of H.M.S. Beagle round the world, under the command of Capt. Fitz Roy R.N. London: John Murray. Tenth thousand. Final text. Text Image PDF

JOURNAL. CHAPTER I. Porto Praya Ribeira Grande Atmospheric Dust with Infusoria Habits of a Sea-slug and Cuttle-fish St. Paul's Rocks, non-volcanic Singular Incrustations Insects the first Colonists of Islands Fernando Noronha Bahia Burnished Rocks Habits of a Diodon Pelagic Conferv and Infusoria Causes of discoloured Sea. ST. JAGO CAPE DE VERD ISLANDS. AFTER having been twice driven back by heavy south-western gales, Her Majesty's ship Beagle, a ten-gun brig, under the command of Captain Fitz

10%

F20 Book: Darwin, C. R. 1860. Journal of researches into the natural history and geology of the countries visited during the voyage of H.M.S. Beagle round the world, under the command of Capt. Fitz Roy R.N. London: John Murray. Tenth thousand. Final text. Text Image PDF

CHAPTER XXI. MAURITIUS TO ENGLAND. Mauritius, beautiful appearance of Great crateriform ring of Mountains Hindoos St. Helena History of the changes in the vegetation Cause of the extinction of land-shells Ascension Variation in the imported rats Volcanic Bombs Beds of infusoria Bahia Brazil Splendour of tropical scenery Pernambuco Singular Reef Slavery Return to England Retrospect on our voyage. April 29th. IN the morning we passed round the northern end of Mauritius, or the Isle of France

9%

F20 Book: Darwin, C. R. 1860. Journal of researches into the natural history and geology of the countries visited during the voyage of H.M.S. Beagle round the world, under the command of Capt. Fitz Roy R.N. London: John Murray. Tenth thousand. Final text. Text Image PDF

turn round to either side. This latter movement is effected solely by the aid of the pectoral fins; the tail being collapsed, and not used. From the body being buoyed up with so much air, the branchial openings are out of water, but a stream drawn in by the mouth constantly flows through them. The fish, having remained in this distended state for a short [page] 14 BAHIA BRAZIL. [CHAP. I

9%

F20 Book: Darwin, C. R. 1860. Journal of researches into the natural history and geology of the countries visited during the voyage of H.M.S. Beagle round the world, under the command of Capt. Fitz Roy R.N. London: John Murray. Tenth thousand. Final text. Text Image PDF

, floating alive and distended, in the stomach of the shark; and that on several occasions he has known it eat its way, not only through the coats of the stomach, but through the sides of the monster, which has thus been killed. Who would ever have imagined that a little soft fish could have destroyed the great and savage shark ? March 18th. We sailed from Bahia. A few days afterwards, when not far distant from the Abrolhos Islets, my attention was called to a reddish-brown appearance in the sea. The

9%

F20 Book: Darwin, C. R. 1860. Journal of researches into the natural history and geology of the countries visited during the voyage of H.M.S. Beagle round the world, under the command of Capt. Fitz Roy R.N. London: John Murray. Tenth thousand. Final text. Text Image PDF

and others returning, burdened with pieces of green leaf, often larger than their own bodies. A small dark-coloured ant sometimes migrates in countless numbers. One day, at Bahia, my attention was drawn by observing many spiders, cockroaches, and other insects, and some lizards, rushing in the greatest agitation across a bare piece of ground. A little way behind, every stalk and leaf was blackened by a small ant. The swarm having crossed the bare space, divided itself, and descended an old

9%

F20 Book: Darwin, C. R. 1860. Journal of researches into the natural history and geology of the countries visited during the voyage of H.M.S. Beagle round the world, under the command of Capt. Fitz Roy R.N. London: John Murray. Tenth thousand. Final text. Text Image PDF

, and the deer knows man as its enemy only when he is mounted and armed with the bolas. At Bahia Blanca, a recent establishment in Northern Patagonia, I was surprised to find how little the deer cared for the noise of a gun: one day I fired ten times from within eighty yards at one animal; and it was much more startled at the ball cutting up the ground than at the report of [page] 49 THE CAPYBARA OR WATER-HOG. 1832 3

9%

F20 Book: Darwin, C. R. 1860. Journal of researches into the natural history and geology of the countries visited during the voyage of H.M.S. Beagle round the world, under the command of Capt. Fitz Roy R.N. London: John Murray. Tenth thousand. Final text. Text Image PDF

hidden beneath volcanic mountains warm mineral springs the wide expanse and depths of the ocean the upper regions of the atmosphere, and even the surface of perpetual snow all support organic beings. To the northward of the Rio Negro, between it and the inhabited country near Buenos Ayres, the Spaniards have only one small settlement, recently established at Bahia Blanca. The distance in a straight line to Buenos Ayres is very nearly five hundred British miles. The wandering tribes of horse

9%

F20 Book: Darwin, C. R. 1860. Journal of researches into the natural history and geology of the countries visited during the voyage of H.M.S. Beagle round the world, under the command of Capt. Fitz Roy R.N. London: John Murray. Tenth thousand. Final text. Text Image PDF

the capital. As the Beagle intended to call at Bahia Blanca, I determined to proceed there by land; and ultimately I extended my plan to travel the whole way by the postas to Buenos Ayres. August 11th. Mr. Harris, an Englishman residing at Patagones, a guide, and five Gauchos, who were proceeding to the army on business, were my companions on the journey. The Colorado, as I have already said, is nearly eighty miles distant: and as we travelled slowly, we were two days and a half on the road

9%

F20 Book: Darwin, C. R. 1860. Journal of researches into the natural history and geology of the countries visited during the voyage of H.M.S. Beagle round the world, under the command of Capt. Fitz Roy R.N. London: John Murray. Tenth thousand. Final text. Text Image PDF

considerably more abundant there formerly than at present. Where the Bizcacha lives and makes its burrows, the Agouti uses them; but where, as at Bahia Blanca, the Bizcacha is not found, the Agouti burrows for itself. The same thing occurs with the little owl of the Pampas (Athene cunicularia), which has so often been described as standing like a sentinel at the mouth of the burrows; for in Banda Oriental, owing to the absence of the Bizcacha, it is obliged to hollow out its own habitation. The

9%

F20 Book: Darwin, C. R. 1860. Journal of researches into the natural history and geology of the countries visited during the voyage of H.M.S. Beagle round the world, under the command of Capt. Fitz Roy R.N. London: John Murray. Tenth thousand. Final text. Text Image PDF

interview passed away without a smile, and I obtained a passport and order for the government post-horses, and this he gave me in the most obliging and ready manner. In the morning we started for Bahia Blanca, which we reached in two days. Leaving the regular encampment, we passed by the toldos of the Indians. These are round like ovens, and covered with hides; by the mouth of each, a tapering chuzo was stuck in the ground. The toldos were divided into separate groups, which belonged to the different

9%

F20 Book: Darwin, C. R. 1860. Journal of researches into the natural history and geology of the countries visited during the voyage of H.M.S. Beagle round the world, under the command of Capt. Fitz Roy R.N. London: John Murray. Tenth thousand. Final text. Text Image PDF

-houses; and, as the fresh horses were grazing at a distance, we determined to pass the night there. The house was situated at the base of a ridge, between one and two hundred feet high a most remarkable feature in this country. This posta was commanded by a negro lieutenant, born in Africa: to his credit be it said, there was not a rancho [page] 76 BAHIA BLANCA. [CHAP. I

9%

F20 Book: Darwin, C. R. 1860. Journal of researches into the natural history and geology of the countries visited during the voyage of H.M.S. Beagle round the world, under the command of Capt. Fitz Roy R.N. London: John Murray. Tenth thousand. Final text. Text Image PDF

, and hence, of course, was without water. Yet many of the smaller rodents managed to exist even here, and the tucutuco was making its odd little grunt beneath my head, during half the night. Our horses were very poor ones, and in the morning they were soon exhausted from not having had any thing to drink, so that we were obliged to walk. About noon the dogs [page] 78 BAHIA BLANCA. [CHAP. IV

9%

F20 Book: Darwin, C. R. 1860. Journal of researches into the natural history and geology of the countries visited during the voyage of H.M.S. Beagle round the world, under the command of Capt. Fitz Roy R.N. London: John Murray. Tenth thousand. Final text. Text Image PDF

at all, and was astonished that one day's deprivation should be so troublesome to me. I have several times alluded to the surface of the ground being incrusted with salt. This phenomenon is quite different from that of the salinas, and more extraordinary. In many parts of South America, wherever the climate is moderately dry, these incrustations occur; but I have nowhere seen them so abundant as near Bahia Blanca. The salt here, and in other parts of Patagonia, consists chiefly of sulphate of

9%

F20 Book: Darwin, C. R. 1860. Journal of researches into the natural history and geology of the countries visited during the voyage of H.M.S. Beagle round the world, under the command of Capt. Fitz Roy R.N. London: John Murray. Tenth thousand. Final text. Text Image PDF

last, bursting out in laughter, exclaimed, Mugeres! (women !) He knew them to be the wife and sister-in-law of the major's son, hunting for ostrich's eggs. 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 [page] 80 BAHIA BLANCA. [CHAP. IV

9%

F20 Book: Darwin, C. R. 1860. Journal of researches into the natural history and geology of the countries visited during the voyage of H.M.S. Beagle round the world, under the command of Capt. Fitz Roy R.N. London: John Murray. Tenth thousand. Final text. Text Image PDF

sloths, to which they are intimately related, they subsisted by climbing back downwards on trees, and feeding on the leaves. It was a bold, * Principles of Geology, vol. iv. p. 40. This theory was first developed in the Zoology of the Voyage of the Beagle, and subsequently in Professor Owen's Memoir on Mylodon robustus. G 2 [page] 84 BAHIA BLANCA. [CHAP. V

9%

F20 Book: Darwin, C. R. 1860. Journal of researches into the natural history and geology of the countries visited during the voyage of H.M.S. Beagle round the world, under the command of Capt. Fitz Roy R.N. London: John Murray. Tenth thousand. Final text. Text Image PDF

existing one; but this would have been an erroneous inference, for some of these same shells live on the luxuriant coast of Brazil; and generally, the character of the inhabitants of the sea are useless as guides to judge of those on the land. Nevertheless, from the following considerations, I do not believe that the simple fact of many gigantic quadrupeds having lived on the plains round Bahia Blanca, is [page] 85 FOOD OF LARGE QUADRUPEDS. 1833

9%

F20 Book: Darwin, C. R. 1860. Journal of researches into the natural history and geology of the countries visited during the voyage of H.M.S. Beagle round the world, under the command of Capt. Fitz Roy R.N. London: John Murray. Tenth thousand. Final text. Text Image PDF

fact that bullock-waggons can travel in any direction, excepting near the coast, without more than occasionally half an hour's delay in cutting down bushes, gives, perhaps, a more definite * I mean by this to exclude the total amount, which may have been successively produced and consumed during a given period. [page] 86 BAHIA BLANCA. [CHAP. V

9%

F20 Book: Darwin, C. R. 1860. Journal of researches into the natural history and geology of the countries visited during the voyage of H.M.S. Beagle round the world, under the command of Capt. Fitz Roy R.N. London: John Murray. Tenth thousand. Final text. Text Image PDF

swimming. The inhabitants of the country readily distinguish, even at a distance, the cock bird from the hen. The former is larger and darker-coloured, and has a bigger head. The ostrich, I believe the cock, emits a singular, deep-toned, hissing note: when first I heard it, standing in the midst of some sand-hillocks, I thought it was made by some wild beast, for it is a sound that one cannot tell whence it comes, or from how far distant. When we were at Bahia Blanca in the months of September and

9%

F20 Book: Darwin, C. R. 1860. Journal of researches into the natural history and geology of the countries visited during the voyage of H.M.S. Beagle round the world, under the command of Capt. Fitz Roy R.N. London: John Murray. Tenth thousand. Final text. Text Image PDF

believe, not greater on an average than the number laid by one female in the season, then there must be as many nests as females, and each cock bird will have its fair share of the labour of incubation; and that during a period when the * Burchell's Travels, vol. i. p. 280. Azara, vol. iv. p. 173. [page] 92 BAHIA BLANCA. [CHAP. V

9%

F20 Book: Darwin, C. R. 1860. Journal of researches into the natural history and geology of the countries visited during the voyage of H.M.S. Beagle round the world, under the command of Capt. Fitz Roy R.N. London: John Murray. Tenth thousand. Final text. Text Image PDF

distinct mouth, body, and tentacula. Of these polypi, in a large specimen, there must be many thousands; yet we see that they act by one movement: they have also one central axis connected with a system of obscure circulation, and the ova are produced in an organ distinct from the separate individuals.* Well may one be * The cavities leading from the fleshy compartments of the extremity, H 2 [page] 100 BAHIA BLANCA. [CHAP. V

9%

F20 Book: Darwin, C. R. 1860. Journal of researches into the natural history and geology of the countries visited during the voyage of H.M.S. Beagle round the world, under the command of Capt. Fitz Roy R.N. London: John Murray. Tenth thousand. Final text. Text Image PDF

cacique. The Spaniard who brought the orders for this expedition was a very intelligent man. He gave me an account of the last engagement at which he was present. Some Indians, who had been taken prisoners, gave information of a tribe living north of the [page] 102 BAHIA BLANCA. [CHAP V

9%

F20 Book: Darwin, C. R. 1860. Journal of researches into the natural history and geology of the countries visited during the voyage of H.M.S. Beagle round the world, under the command of Capt. Fitz Roy R.N. London: John Murray. Tenth thousand. Final text. Text Image PDF

the shores of Bahia Blanca, and near the settlement, there were some of quartz, which certainly must have come from this source: the distance is forty-five miles. The dew, which in the early part of the night wetted the saddle-cloths under which we slept, was in the morning frozen. The plain, though appearing horizontal, had insensibly sloped up to a height of between 800 and 900 feet above the sea. In the morning (9th of September) the guide told me to ascend the nearest ridge, which he

9%

F20 Book: Darwin, C. R. 1860. Journal of researches into the natural history and geology of the countries visited during the voyage of H.M.S. Beagle round the world, under the command of Capt. Fitz Roy R.N. London: John Murray. Tenth thousand. Final text. Text Image PDF

much mat, and smoking several cigaritos, soon made up my bed for the night. The wind was very strong and cold, but I never slept more comfortably. September 10th. In the morning, having fairly scudded before the gale, we arrived by the middle of the day at the Sauce posta. On the road we saw great numbers of deer, and near the [page] 110 BAHIA BLANCA TO BUENOS AYRES. [CHAP. VI

9%

F20 Book: Darwin, C. R. 1860. Journal of researches into the natural history and geology of the countries visited during the voyage of H.M.S. Beagle round the world, under the command of Capt. Fitz Roy R.N. London: John Murray. Tenth thousand. Final text. Text Image PDF

soldiers. The latter were strange beings; the first a fine young negro; the second half Indian and negro; and the two others nondescripts; namely, an old Chilian miner, the colour of mahogany, and another partly a mulatto; but two such mongrels, with such detestable expressions, I never saw before. At night, when they were sitting round the fire, and playing at cards, I retired to [page] 112 BAHIA BLANCA TO BUENOS AYRES. [CHAP. VI

9%

F20 Book: Darwin, C. R. 1860. Journal of researches into the natural history and geology of the countries visited during the voyage of H.M.S. Beagle round the world, under the command of Capt. Fitz Roy R.N. London: John Murray. Tenth thousand. Final text. Text Image PDF

party separated, and so arranged their plans, that at a certain time of the day (in guessing which they show much skill) they should all meet from different points of the compass on a plain piece of ground, and thus drive together the wild animals. One day I went out hunting at Bahia Blanca, [page] 133 HOSPITALITY. 1833

9%

F20 Book: Darwin, C. R. 1860. Journal of researches into the natural history and geology of the countries visited during the voyage of H.M.S. Beagle round the world, under the command of Capt. Fitz Roy R.N. London: John Murray. Tenth thousand. Final text. Text Image PDF

leagues, we came to a low swampy country, which extends for nearly eighty miles northward, as far as the Sierra Tapalguen. In some parts there were fine damp plains, covered with grass, while others had a soft, black, and peaty soil. There * Two species of Tinamus, and Eudromia elegans of A. d'Orbigny, which can only be called a partridge with regard to its habits. I [page] 114 BAHIA BLANCA TO BUENOS AYRES. [CHAP. VI

9%

F20 Book: Darwin, C. R. 1860. Journal of researches into the natural history and geology of the countries visited during the voyage of H.M.S. Beagle round the world, under the command of Capt. Fitz Roy R.N. London: John Murray. Tenth thousand. Final text. Text Image PDF

was told that at Tandeel, some troops voluntarily pursued a party of Indians for three days, without eating or drinking. We saw in the shops many articles, such as horsecloths, belts, * Fauna Boreali-Americana, vol. i. p. 35. [page] 118 BAHIA BLANCA TO BUENOS AYRES. [CHAP. V

9%

F20 Book: Darwin, C. R. 1860. Journal of researches into the natural history and geology of the countries visited during the voyage of H.M.S. Beagle round the world, under the command of Capt. Fitz Roy R.N. London: John Murray. Tenth thousand. Final text. Text Image PDF

was removed, was like a great cauldron; I found also teeth of the Toxodon and Mastodon, and one tooth of a Horse, in the same stained and decayed state. This latter tooth greatly interested me,* and I took scrupulous care in ascertaining that it had been embedded contemporaneously with the other remains; for I was not then aware that amongst the fossils from Bahia Blanca there was a horse's tooth hidden in the matrix: nor was it then known with certainty that the remains of horses are common in

9%

F20 Book: Darwin, C. R. 1860. Journal of researches into the natural history and geology of the countries visited during the voyage of H.M.S. Beagle round the world, under the command of Capt. Fitz Roy R.N. London: John Murray. Tenth thousand. Final text. Text Image PDF

Megatherium, Megalonyx, and Mylodon. Within nearly this same periods (as proved by the shells at Bahia Blanca) South America possessed, as we have just seen, a mastodon, horse, hollow-horned ruminant, and the same three genera (as well as several others) of the Edentata. Hence it is evident that North and South America, in having within a late geological period these several genera in common, were much more closely related in the character of their terrestrial inhabitants than they now are. * This is

9%

F20 Book: Darwin, C. R. 1860. Journal of researches into the natural history and geology of the countries visited during the voyage of H.M.S. Beagle round the world, under the command of Capt. Fitz Roy R.N. London: John Murray. Tenth thousand. Final text. Text Image PDF

manners pervading every rank of life, the excellent taste displayed by the women in their dresses, and the equality amongst all ranks. At the Rio Colorado some men who kept the humblest shops used to dine with General Rosas. A son of a major at Bahia Blanca gained his livelihood by making paper cigars, and he wished to accompany me, as guide or servant, to Buenos Ayres, but his father objected on the score of the danger alone. Many officers in the army can neither read nor write, yet all meet in

9%

F20 Book: Darwin, C. R. 1860. Journal of researches into the natural history and geology of the countries visited during the voyage of H.M.S. Beagle round the world, under the command of Capt. Fitz Roy R.N. London: John Murray. Tenth thousand. Final text. Text Image PDF

none at all. In the middle of the day they frequently roll in the dust, in saucer-shaped hollows. The males fight together; two one day passed quite close to me, squealing and trying to bite each other; and several were shot with their hides deeply scored. Herds sometimes appear to set out on exploring parties: at Bahia Blanca, where, within thirty miles of the coast, these animals are extremely unfrequent, I one day saw the tracks of thirty or forty, which had come in a direct line to a muddy

9%

F20 Book: Darwin, C. R. 1860. Journal of researches into the natural history and geology of the countries visited during the voyage of H.M.S. Beagle round the world, under the command of Capt. Fitz Roy R.N. London: John Murray. Tenth thousand. Final text. Text Image PDF

boulders were brought into latitudes at which icebergs now never arrive: from conclusive but indirect reasons we may feel sure, that in the southern hemisphere the Macrauchenia, also, lived long subsequently to the ice-transporting boulder-period. Did man, after his first inroad into South America, destroy, as has been suggested, the unwieldy Megatherium and the other Edentata? We must at least look to some other cause for the destruction of the little tucutuco at Bahia Blanca, and of the many

9%

F20 Book: Darwin, C. R. 1860. Journal of researches into the natural history and geology of the countries visited during the voyage of H.M.S. Beagle round the world, under the command of Capt. Fitz Roy R.N. London: John Murray. Tenth thousand. Final text. Text Image PDF

analogous species in the northern hemisphere. A large Voluta is abundant in southern Tierra del Fuego and the Falkland Islands. At Bahia Blanca, in lat 39 S., the most abundant shells were three species of Oliva (one of large size), one or two Volutas, and a Terebra. Now these are amongst the best characterised tropical forms. It is doubtful whether even one small species of Oliva exists on the southern shores of Europe, and there are no species of the two other genera. If a geologist were to

9%

F20 Book: Darwin, C. R. 1860. Journal of researches into the natural history and geology of the countries visited during the voyage of H.M.S. Beagle round the world, under the command of Capt. Fitz Roy R.N. London: John Murray. Tenth thousand. Final text. Text Image PDF

flows from the mountains, and it soon becomes absorbed by the dry and porous soil; so that, although we travelled at the distance of only ten or fifteen miles from the outer range of the Cordillera, we did not cross a single stream. In many parts the ground was incrusted with a saline efflorescence; hence we had the same salt-loving plants, which are common near Bahia Blanca. The landscape has a uniform [page] 329 SWARM OF LOCUSTS. 1835

9%

F20 Book: Darwin, C. R. 1860. Journal of researches into the natural history and geology of the countries visited during the voyage of H.M.S. Beagle round the world, under the command of Capt. Fitz Roy R.N. London: John Murray. Tenth thousand. Final text. Text Image PDF

Macrauchenia was a living beast; but as the Patagonian coast is some way distant from the Cordillera, the rising there may have been slower than here. At Bahia Blanca, the elevation has been only a few feet since the numerous gigantic quadrupeds were there entombed; and, according to the generally received opinion, when these extinct animals were living, man did not exist. But the rising of that part of the coast of Patagonia, is perhaps noways connected with the Cordillera, but rather with a line of old

9%

F20 Book: Darwin, C. R. 1860. Journal of researches into the natural history and geology of the countries visited during the voyage of H.M.S. Beagle round the world, under the command of Capt. Fitz Roy R.N. London: John Murray. Tenth thousand. Final text. Text Image PDF

of, 117 Puna, or short respiration, 322 Punta Alta, Bahia Blanca, 81 Gorda, 129, 356 Pyrophorus luminosus, 31 Quadrupeds, fossil, 81, 127, 130, 155, 173 , large, do not require luxuriant vegetation, 85 , weight of, 87 Quartz of the Ventana, 109 of Tapalguen, 116 of Falkland Island, 196 Quedius, 10 Quillota, valley of, 254 Quintero, 254 Quiriquina Island, 302 2 L 2 [page] 516 INDEX

7%

F20 Book: Darwin, C. R. 1860. Journal of researches into the natural history and geology of the countries visited during the voyage of H.M.S. Beagle round the world, under the command of Capt. Fitz Roy R.N. London: John Murray. Tenth thousand. Final text. Text Image PDF

two tapirs together, 550 for the guanaco and vicuna, 500 for three deer, 300 for the capybara, peccari, and a monkey, we shall have an average of 250 pounds, which I believe is over-stating the result. The ratio will therefore be as 6048 to 250, or 24 to 1, for the ten largest animals from the two continents. [page] 88 BAHIA BLANCA. [CHAP. V