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INTO THE
NATURAL HISTORY AND GEOLOGY
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OF THE
COUNTRIES VISITED DURING THE VOYAGE OF
H. M. S. BEAĠLE
ROUND THE WORLD,
UNDER THE COMMAND OF CAPT. FITZ ROY, R.N.
BY CHARLES DARWIN, M.A., F.R.S.
I N TWO VOL U M E S.
VOL. II.
NEW-YORK:
HARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS,
82 CLIFF STREET.
1846.
CONTENTS
OF THE SECOND VOLUME
CHAPTER I.
Chiloe - General Aspect - Boat Excursion -Native Indians-
Castro-Tame Fox-Ascend San Pedro-Chonos Archipelago
ninsula of Tres Montes-Granitic Range-Boat-wrecked
Sailors - Low's Harbour-Wild Potato-Formation of Peat
- Myopotamus, Otter, and Mice - Cheucau and Barking-
bird ---Opetiorhynchus-Singular character of Ornithology
Petrels . . . . . . . . . . . Page 7.
CHAPTER II.
San Carlos, Chiloe-Osorno in Eruption, contemporaneously with
Aconcagua and Coseguina-Ride to Cucao-Impenetrable For-
ests -Valdivia - Indians - Earthquake ----Concepcion-Great
Earthquake-Rocks fissured-Appearance of the former Towns
-The Sea black and boiling-Direction of the Vibrations-
Stones twisted round-Great WavePermanent Elevation of
the Land Area of Volcanic Phenomena -- The Connection
between the Elevatory and Eruptive Forces--Causes of Earth-
quakes-Slow Elevation of Mountain-chains . . . 31
CHAPTER III.
Valparaiso-Portillo Pass--Sagacity of Mules-Mountain Tor-
rents-Mines, how discovered-Proofs of the gradual Elevation
of the Cordillera-Effect of Snow on Rocks-Geological Struc-
ture of the two main Ranges, their distinct Origin and Upheav-
al - Great Subsidence- Red Snow - Winds - Pinnacles of
Snow-Dry and clear Atmosphere-Electricity-Pampas-Z0-
ology of the opposite Sides of the Andes- Locusts-Great Bugs
Mendoza- Uspallata Pass - Silicified Trees buried as they
grew-Incas' Bridge-Badness of the Passes exaggerated--
Cumbre-Casuchas-Valparaiso . . . . . 60
CHAPTER IV.
Coast-road to Coquimbo-Great Loads carried by the Miners-
Coquimbo--Earthquake Step-formed Terraces-Absence of
recent Deposits-Contemporaneousness of the Tertiary Forma-
CONTENTS.
tions–Excursion up the Valley—Road to Guasco-Deserts-
Valley of Copiapó-Rain and Earthqnakes - Hydrophobia-
The DespobladoIndian Ruins-Probable Change of Climate
--River-bed arched by an Earthquake,Cold Gales of Wind-
Noises from a Hill-Iquique-Salt. Alluvium-Nitrate of Soda
-Lima-Unhealthy Country-Ruins of Callao, overthrown by
an Earthquake--Recent Subsidence-Elevated Shells on San
Lorenzo, their Decomposition Plain with embedded Shells
and Fragments of Pottery-Antiquity of the Indian Race
Page 91
CHAPTER V.
The whole Group volcanic--Number of Craters—Leafless Bush-
es-Colony at Charles Island-James Island-Salt-lake in Cra-
ter - Natural History of the Group --Ornithology, curious
Finches-Reptiles-Great Tortoises, Habits of-Marine Liz-
ard, feeds on Sea-weed-Terrestrial Lizard, burrowing Habits,
Herbivorous-Importance of Reptiles in the Archipelago-Fish,
Shells, Insects-Botany-American Type of Organization-Dil-
ferences in the Species or Faces on different Islands Tame-
ness of the Birds--Fear of Man, an acquired Instinct 138
CHAPTER VI.
Pass through the Low Archipelago--Tahiti-Aspect–Vegetation
on the Mountains_View of Eimeo-Excursion into the Interi-
or-Profound Ravines--Succession of Waterfalls—Number of
wild useful Plants–Temperance of the Inhabitants--Their
Moral State Parliament Convened-New Zealand-Bay of
Islands Hippahs-Excursion to Waimate-Missionary Estab-
lishment-English Weeds now run wild--Waiomio-Funeral
of a New Zealand Woman-Sail for Australia . . . 176
CHAPTER VII.
Sydney–Excursion to Bathurst-Aspect of the Woods-Party of
Natives-Gradual Extinction of the Aborigines-Infection gen-
erated by associated Men in Health-Blue Mountains-View
of the grand gull-like Valleys-Their Origin and Formation-
Bathurst, general Civility of the lower Orders-State of Socie-
ty-Van Diemen's Land-Hobart Town-Aborigines all ban-
ished-Mount Wellington--King George's Sound--Cheerless
Aspect of the Country--Bald Head, calcareous Casts of Branch-
es of Trees-Party of Natives-Leave Australia . . 214
CHAPTER VIII.
Keeling Island-Singular Appearance-Scanty Flora--Transport
of Seeds-Birds and Insects-Ebbing and Flowing Springs
Fields of dead Coral-Stones transported in the Roots of Trees
CONTENTS.
-Great Crab-Stinging Corals—Coral-eating Fish-Coral For-
mations-Lagoon Islands or Atolls-Depth at which reef-build-
ing Corals can live-Vast Areas interspersed with low Coral
Islands--Subsidence of their Foundations-Barrier Reefs-
Fringing Reefs-Conversion of Fringing Reefs into Barrier
Reefs and into Atolls-Evidence of Changes in Level-Breach-
es in Barrier Reefs--Maldiva Atolls; their peculiar Structure-
Dead and submerged Reefs-Areas of Subsidence and Eleva-
tion--Distribution of Volcanoes-Subsidence Slow, and vast
in Amount
Page 242
CHAPTER IX.
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-As-
cension—Variation in the imported Rats-Volcanic Bombs-
Beds of Infusoria--Babia--Brazil-Splendour of tropical Scen-
land-Retrospect on our Voyage . . . . .
.281
.
INDEX
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
. 313
JOUR N A L.
CHAPTER 1.
Chiloe - General Aspect - Boat Excursion --- Native Indians-
Castro--Tame Fox--Ascend San Pedro-Chonos Archipelago
-Peninsula of Tres Montes-Granitic Range-Boat-wrecked
Sailors -- Low's Harbour-Wild Potato-Formation of Peat
Myopotamus, Otter, and Mice - Cheucau and Barking-
bird — Opetiorhynchus--Singular character of Ornithology-
Petrels.
CHILOE AND CHONOS ISLANDS.
November 10th. The Beagle sailed from Val-
paraiso to the south, for the purpose of surveying
the southern part of Chile, the island of Chiloe,
and the broken land called the Chonos Archipel-
ago, as far south as the peninsula of Tres Montes.
On the 21st we anchored in the bay of S. Carlos,
the capital of Chiloe.
This island is about ninety miles long, with a
breadth of rather less than thirty. The land is
hilly, but not mountainous, and is covered by one
great forest, except where a few green patches
have been cleared round the thatched cottages.
From a distance the view somewhat resembles
that of Tierra del Fuego; but the woods, when
seen nearer, are incomparably more beautiful.
Many kinds of fine evergreen trees, and plants
with a tropical character, here take the place of
the gloomy beech of the southern shores. In win-
ter the climate is detestable, and in summer it is
only a little better. I should think there are few
parts of the world, within the temperate regions,
where so much rain falls. The winds are very
CHILOE.
11
boisterous, and the sky almost always clouded: to
have a week of fine weather is something wonder-
ful. It is even difficult to get a single glimpse of
the Cordillera : during our first visit, once only the
volcano of Osorno stood out in bold relief, and that
was before sunrise ; it was curious to watch, as
the sun rose, the outline gradually fading away in
the glare of the eastern sky.
The inhabitants, from their complexion and low
stature, appear to have three fourths of Indian
blood in their veins. They are an humble, quiet,
industrious set of men. Although the fertile soil,
resulting from the decomposition of the volcanic
rocks, supports a rank vegetation, yet the climate
is not favourable to any production which requires
much sunshine to ripen it. There is very little
pasture for the larger quadrupeds; and in conse-
quence, the staple articles of food are pigs, pota-
toes, and fish. The people all dress in strong
woollen garments, which each family makes for
itself, and dyes with indigo of a dark blue colour.
The arts, however, are in the rudest state, as may
be seen in their strange fashion of ploughing, their
method of spinning, grinding corn, and in the con-
struction of their boats. The forests are so impen-
etrable, that the land is nowhere cultivated except
near the coast and on the adjoining islets. Even
where paths exist, they are scarcely passable from
the soft and swampy state of the soil. The in-
habitants, like those of Tierra del Fuego, move
about chiefly on the beach or in boats. Although
with plenty to eat, the people are very poor; there
is no demand for labour, and consequently the
lower orders cannot scrape together money suffi-
cient to purchase even the smallest luxuries.
There is also a great deficiency of a circulating
medium. I have seen a man bringing on his back
BOAT EXCURSION.
a bag of charcoal with which to buy some trife,
and another carrying a plank to exchange for a
bottle of wine. Hence every tradesman must also
be a merchant, and again sell the goods which he
takes in exchange.
November 24th.—The yawl and whale-boat were
sent under the command of Mr. (now Captain)
Sulivan, to survey the eastern or inland coast of
Chiloe, and with orders to meet the Beagle at the
southern extremity of the island, to which point
she would proceed by the outside, so as thus to
circumnavigate the whole. I accompanied this
expedition; but, instead of going in the boats the
first day, I hired horses to take me to Chacao, at
the northern extremity of the island. The road
followed the coast, every now and then crossing
promontories covered by fine forests. In these
shaded paths it is absolutely necessary that the
whole road should be made of logs of wood, which
are squared and placed by the side of each other.
From the rays of the sun never penetrating the
evergreen foliage, the ground is so damp and soft,
that, except by this means, neither man nor horse
would be able to pass along. I arrived at the vil-
lage of Chacao shortly after the tents belonging to
the boats were pitched for the night. .
The land in this neighbourhood has been exten-
sively cleared, and there were many quiet and most
picturesque nooks in the forest. Chacao was for-
merly the principal port in the island; but many
vessels having been lost, owing to the dangerous
currents and rocks in the straits, the Spanish gov-
ernment burned the church, and thus arbitrarily
compelled the greater number of inhabitants to
migrate to S. Carlos. We had not long bivouack-
ed before the barefooted son of the governor came
down to reconnoitre us. Seeing the English flag
10
CHILOE.
hoisted at the yawl's mast-head, he asked, with the
utmost indifference, whether it was always to fly at
Chacao. In several places, the inhabitants were
much astonished at the appearance of men-of-war's
boats, and hoped and believed it was the forerun-
ner of a Spanish fleet, coming to recover the island
from the patriot government of Chile. All the men
in power, however, had been informed of our in-
tended visit, and were exceedingly civil. While
we were eating our supper, the governor paid us a
visit. He had been a lieutenant-colonel in the
Spanish service, but now was miserably poor. He
gave us two sheep, and accepted in return two cot-
ton handkerchiefs, some brass trinkets, and a little
tobacco.
25th.-Torrents of rain: we managed, however,
to run down the coast as far as Huapi-lenou. The
whole of this eastern side of Chiloe has one aspect:
it is a plain, broken by valleys and divided into
little islands, and the whole thickly covered with
one impervious blackish-green forest. On the mar-
gins there are some cleared spaces, surrounding
the high-roofed cottages.
26th. The day rose splendidly clear. The vol-
cano of Osorno was spouting out volumes of smoke.
This most beautiful mountain, formed like a per-
fect cone, and white with snow, stands out in front
of the Cordillera. Another great volcano, with a
saddle-shaped summit, also emitted from its im-
mense crater little jets of steam. Subsequently
we saw the lofty-peaked Corcovadowell deserv-
ing the name of " el famoso Corcovado.” Thus
we beheld, from one point of view, three great
active volcanoes, each about seven thousand feet
high. In addition to this, far to the south, there
were other lofty cones covered with snow, which,
although not known to be active, must be in their
INHABITANTS.
11
origin volcanic. The line of the Andes is not, in
this neighbourhood, nearly so elevated as in Chile;
neither does it appear to form so perfect a barrier
between the regions of the earth. This great
range, although running in a straight north and south
line, owing to an optical deception, always appear-
ed more or less curved; for the lines drawn from
each peak to the beholder's eye necessarily con-
verged like the radii of a semicircle, and as it was
not possible (owing to the clearness of the atmo-
sphere and the absence of all'intermediate objects)
to judge how far distant the farthest peaks were
off, they appeared to stand in a flattish semicircle.
Landing at midday, we saw a family of pure In-
dian extraction. The father was singularly like
York Minster; and some of the younger boys, with
their ruddy complexions, might have been mistaken
for Pampas Indians. Everything I have seen con-
vinces me of the close connexion of the different
American tribes, who nevertheless speak distinct
languages. This party could muster but little
Spanish, and talked to each other in their own
tongue. . It is a pleasant thing to see the aborigines
advanced to the same degree of civilization, how-
ever low that may be, which their white conquer-
ors have attained. More to the south we saw many
pure Indians : indeed, all the inhabitants of some
of the islets retain their Indian surnames. In the
census of 1832, there were in Chiloe and its de-
pendencies forty-two thousand souls: the greater
number of these appear to be of mixed blood.
Eleven thousand retain their Indian surnames,
but it is probable that not nearly all of these are
of a pure breed. Their manner of life is the
same with that of the other poor inhabitants, and
they are all Christians; but it is said that they yet
retain some strange superstitious ceremonies, and
12
.
CHILOE.
that they pretend to hold communication with the
devil in certain caves. Formerly, every one con-
victed of this offence was sent to the Inquisition at
Lima. Many of the inhabitants who are not in-
cluded in the eleven thousand with Indian sur-
names cannot be distinguished by their appearance
from Indians. Gomez, the governor of Liemuy, is
descended from noblemen of Spain on both sides;
but by constant intermarriages with the natives the
present man is an Indian. On the other hand, the
governor of Quinchao boasts much of his purely-
kept Spanish blood.. .
We reached at night a beautiful little cove north
of the island of Caucahue. The people here com-
plained of want of land. This is partly owing to
their own negligence in not clearing the woods,
and partly to restrictions by the government, which
makes it necessary, before buying ever so small a
piece, to pay two shillings to the surveyor for
measuring each quadra (150 yards square), together
with whatever price he fixes for the value of the
land. After his valuation, the land must be put
up three times to auction, and if no one bids more,
the purchaser can have it at that rate. All these
exactions must be a serious check to clearing the
ground, where the inhabitants are so extremely
poor. In most countries, forests are removed with-
out much difficulty by the aid of fire; but in Chiloe,
from the damp nature of the climate and the sort
of trees, it is necessary first to cut them down.
This is a heavy drawback to the prosperity of
Chiloe. In the time of the Spaniards the Indians
could not hold land ; and a family, after having
cleared a piece of ground, might be driven away,
and the property seized by the government. The
Chilian authorities are now performing an act of
justice by making retribution to these poor Indians,
TENURE OF LAND.
13
giving to each man, according to his grade of life,
a certain portion of land. The value of uncleared
ground is very little. The government gave Mr.
Douglas (the present surveyor, who informed me
of these circumstances) eight and a half square
miles of forest near San Carlos in lieu of a debt;
and this he sold for 350 dollars, or about £70 ster-
ling:
The two succeeding days were fine, and at night
we reached the island of Quinchao. This neigh-
bourhood is the most cultivated part of the Archi-
pelago ;. for a broad strip of land on the coast of
the main island, as well as on many of the smaller.
adjoining ones, is almost completely cleared. Some
of the farm-houses seemed very comfortable. I
was curious to ascertain how rich any of these
people might be, but Mr. Douglas says that no one
can be considered as possessing a regular income,
One of the richest landowners might possibly ac-
cumulate, in a long industrious life, as much as
£1000 sterling ; but should this happen, it would
all be stowed away in some secret corner, for it is
- the custom of almost every family to have a jar or
treasure-chest buried in the ground.
November 30th.--Early on Sunday morning we
reached Castro, the ancient capital of Chiloe, but
now a most forlorn and deserted place. The usual
quadrangular arrangement of Spanish towns could
be traced, but the streets and plaza were coated
with fine green turf, on which sheep were browsing.
The church, which stands in the middle, is entirely
built of plank, and has a picturesque and venerable
appearance. The poverty of the place may be
conceived from the fact, that although containing
some hundreds of inhabitants, one of our party was
unable anywhere to purchase either a pound of
sugar or an ordinary knife. No individual pos--
II.-B
14
CHILOE.
sessed either a watch or a clock; and an old man, .
who was supposed to have a good idea of time,
was employed to strike the church bell by guess.
The arrival of our boats was a rare event in this
quiet, retired corner of the world, and nearly all
the inhabitants came down to the beach to see us
pitch our tents. They were very civil, and offered
us a house ; and one man even sent us a cask of
cider as a present. In the afternoon we paid our
respects to the governor a quiet old man, who, in
his appearance and manner of life, was scarcely
superior to an English cottager. At night heavy
rain set in, which was hardly sufficient to drive
away from our tents the large circle of lookers on.
An Indian family, who had come to trade in a
canoe from Caylen, bivouacked near us. They
had no shelter during the rain. In the morning I
asked a young Indian, who was wet to the skin,
how he had passed the night. He seemed per-
fectly content, and answered, “Muy bien, señor."
December 1st. We steered for the island of
Lemuy. I was anxious to examine a reported
coal-mine, which turned out to be lignite of little
value, in the sandstone (probably of an ancient
tertiary epoch) of which these islands are com-
posed. When we reached Lemuy we had much
difficulty in finding any place to pitch our tents, for
it was spring-tide, and the land was wooded down
to the water's edge.' In a short time we were
surrounded by a large group of the nearly pure
Indian inhabitants. They were much surprised at
our arrival, and said, one to the other, “ This is the
reason we have seen so many parrots lately; the
cheucau (an odd, red-breasted little bird, which in-
habits the thick forest, and utters very peculiar
noises) has not cried 'beware' for nothing. They
were soon anxious for barter. Money was scarcely
POVERTY OF THE INDIANS.
15
worth, anything, but their eagerness for tobacco
was something quite extraordinary. After tobac-
co, indigo came next in value; then capsicum, old
clothes, and gunpowder. The latter article was
required for a very innocent purpose : each parish
has a public musket, and the gunpowder was
wanted for making a noise on their saint or feast
days.
The people here live chiefly on shell-fish and
potatoes. At certain seasons they catch also, in
is corrales," or hedges under water, many fish which
are left on the mud-banks as the tide falls. They
occasionally possess fowls, sheep, goats, pigs, horses,
and cattle; the order in which they are here men-
tioned expressing their respective numbers. I
never saw anything more obliging and humble
than the manners of these people. They gener-
ally began with stating that they were poor natives
of the place, and not Spaniards, and that they were
in sad want of tobacco and other comforts. At
Caylen, the most southern island, the sailors bought
with a stick of tobacco, of the value of three half-
pence, two fowls, one of which, the Indian stated,
had skin between its toes, and turned out to be a
fine duck; and with some cotton handkerchiefs,
worth three shillings, three sheep and a large bunch
of onions were procured. The yawl at this place
was anchored some way from the shore, and we
had fears for her safety from robbers during the
night.' Our pilot, Mr. Douglas, accordingly told
the constable of the district that we always placed
sentinels with loaded årms; and not understanding
Spanish, if we saw any person in the dark, we
should assuredly shoot him. The constable, with
much humility, agreed to the perfect propriety of
this arrangement, and promised us that no one
should stir out of his house during that night.
16
CHILOE.
During the four succeeding days we continued
sailing southward. The general features of the
country remained the same, but it was much less
thickly inhabited. On the large island of Tanqui
there was scarcely one cleared spot, the trees on
every side extending their branches over the sea-
beach. I one day noticed, growing on the sand-
stone cliffs, some very fine plants of the panke
(Gunnera scabra), which somewhat resembles the
rhubarb on a gigantic scale. The inhabitants eat
the stalks, which are subacid, and tan leather with
the roots, and prepare a black dye from them.
The leaf is nearly circular, but deeply indented on
its margin. I measured one which was nearly
eight feet in diameter, and therefore no less than
twenty-four in circumference! The stalk is rather
more than a yard high, and each plant sends out
four or five of these enormous leaves, presenting
together a very noble appearance.
December 6th.-We reached Caylen, called “el
fin del Cristiandad.” In the morning we stopped
for a few minutes at a house on the northern end
of Laylec, which was the extreme point of South
American Christendom, and a miserable hovel it
was. The latitude is 430 10', which is two de-
grees farther south than the Rio Negro on the At-
lantic coast. These extreme Christians were very
poor, and, under the plea of their situation, begged
for some tobacco. As a proof of the poverty of
these Indians, I may mention, that shortly before
this we had met a man who had travelled three
days and a half on foot, and had as many to return,
for the sake of recovering the value of a small axe
and a few fish. How very difficult it must be to
buy the smallest article, when such trouble is taken
to recover so small a debt!
In the evening we reached the island of San
C
SAN PEDRO.
17
Pedro, where we found the Beagle at anchor. In
doubling the point, two of the officers landed to
take a round of angles with the theodolite. A fox
(Canis fulvipes), of a kind said to be peculiar to
the island, and very rare in it, and which is a new
species, was sitting on the rocks. He was so in-
tently absorbed in watching the work of the offi-
cers, that I was able, by quietly walking up behind,
to knock him on the head with my geological ham-
mer. This fox, more curious or more scientific,
but less wise, than the generality of his brethren,
is now mounted in the museum of the Zoological
Society.
We stayed three days in this harbour, on one
of which Captain Fitz Roy, with a party, attempted
to ascend to the summit of San Pedro. The woods
here had rather a different appearance from those
on the northern part of the island. The rock, also,
being micaceous slate, there was no beach, but the
steep sides dipped directly beneath the water. The
general aspect in consequence was more like that
of Tierra del Fuego than of Chiloe. In vain we
tried to gain the summit: the forest was so im-
penetrable, that no one who has not beheld it can
imagine so entangled a mass of dying and dead
trunks. I am sure that often, for more than ten
minutes together, our feet never touched the ground,
and we were frequently ten or fifteen feet above
it, so that the seamen, as a joke, called out the
soundings. At other times we crept.one after an-
other on our hands and knees under the rotten
trunks. In the lower part of the mountain, noble
trees of the Winter's Bark, and a laurel like the
sassafras, with fragrant leaves, and others, the names
of which I do not know, were matted together by
a trailing bamboo or cane. Here we were more
like fishes struggling in a neţ than any other ani.
II.
18
CHONOS ARCHIPELAGO.
mal. On the higher parts, brushwood takes the
place of larger trees, with here and there a red
cedar or an alerce pine. I was also pleased to see,
at an elevation of a little less than 1000 feet, ouř
old friend the southern beech. They were, how-
ever, poor stunted trees; and I should think that
this must be nearly their northern limit. We ulti-
mately gave up the attempt in despair.
December 10th.—The yawl and whale-boat, with
Mr. Sulivan, proceeded on their survey, but I re-
mained on board the Beagle, which the next day
left San Pedro for the southward. On the 13th
we ran into an opening in the southern part of
Guayatecas, or the Chonos Archipelago; and it was
fortunate we did so, for on the following day a
storm, worthy of Tierra del Fuego, raged with
great fury. White massive clouds were piled up
against a dark-blue sky, and across them black
ragged sheets of vapour were rapidly driven. The
successive mountain ranges appeared like dim shad-
ows, and the setting sun cast on the woodland a
yellow gleam, much like that produced by the flame
of spirits of wine. The water was white with the
flying spray, and the wind lulled and roared again
through the rigging: it was an ominous, sublime
scene. During a few minutes there was a bright
rainbow, and it was curious to observe the effect of
the spray, which, being carried along the surface
of the water, changed the ordinary semicircle into
à circle, a band of prismatic colours being contin-
ued, from both feet of the common arch across the
bay, close to the vessel's side, thus forming a dis-
torted but very nearly entire ring.
. We stayed here three days. The weather con-
tinued bad, but this did not much signify, for the
surface of the land in all these islands is all but im-
passable. The coast is so very rugged, that to at-
FEATURES OF THE COUNTRY.
19
tempt to walk in that direction requires continued
scrambling up and down over the sharp rocks of
mica-slate; and as for the woods, our faces, hands,
and shin-bones all bore witness to the maltreatment
we received in merely attempting to penetrate their
forbidden recesses.
December 18th.—We stood out to sea. On the
20th we bade farewell to the south, and, with a fair
wind, turned the ship's head northward. From
Cape Tres Montes we sailed pleasantly along the
lofty weather-beaten coast, which is remarkable for
the bold outline of its hills, and the thick covering
of forest even on the almost precipitous flanks. The
next day a harbour was discovered, which, on this
dangerous coast, might be of great service to a dis-
tressed vessel. It can easily be recognised by a hill,
1600 feet high, which is even more perfectly conical
than the famous sugar-loaf at Rio de Janeiro. The
next day, after anchoring, I succeeded in reaching
the summit of this hill. It was a laborious under-
taking, for the sides were so steep that in some
parts it was necessary to use the trees as ladders.
There were also several extensive brakes of the
Fuchsia, covered with its beautiful drooping flow-
ers, but very difficult to crawl through. In these
wild countries it gives much delight to gain the
summit of any mountain. There is an indefinite
expectation of seeing something very strange,
which, however often it may be balked, never fail-
ed with me to recur on each successive attempt.
Every one must know the feeling of triumph and
pride which a grand view from a height communi-
cates to the mind. In these little-frequented coun-
tries, there is also joined to it some vanity, that you,
perhaps, are the first man who ever stood on this
pinnacle or admired this view.
A strong desire is always felt to ascertain wheth-
20
CHONOS ARCHIPELAGO.
er any human being has previously visited an un-
frequented spot. A bit of wood, with a nail in it,
is picked up and studied as if it were covered with
hieroglyphics. Possessed with this feeling, I was
much interested by finding, on a wild part of the
coast, a bed, made of grass, beneath a ledge of rock.
Close by it there had been a fire, and the man
had used an axe. The fire, bed, and situation show-
ed the dexterity of an Indian, but he could scarcely
have been an Indian, for the race is in this part 'ex-
tinct, owing to the Catholic desire of making at one
blow Christians and slaves. I had at the time some
misgivings that the solitary man who had made his
bed on this wild spot must have been some poor
shipwrecked sailor, who, in trying to travel up the
coast, had here laid himself down for his dreary
night.
December 28th.-The weather continued very
bad, but it at last permitted us to proceed with the
survey. The time hung heavy on our hands, as it
always did when we were delayed from day to day
by successive gales of wind. In the evening an-
other harbour was discovered, where we anchored.
Directly afterwards a man was seen waving his
shirt, and a boat was sent which brought back two
seamen. A party of six had run away from an
American whaling vessel, and had landed a little to
the southward in a boat, which was shortly after-
wards knocked to pieces by the surf. They had
now been wandering up and down the coast for
fifteen months, without knowing which way to go,
or where they were. What a singular piece of
good fortune it was that this harbour was now dis-
covered! Had it not been for this one chance,
they might have wandered till they had grown old
men, and at last have perished on this wild coast.
Their sufferings had been very great, and one of
GRANITE STRUCTURES.
21
- their party had lost his life by falling from the cliffs.
They were sometimes.obliged to separate in search
of food, and this explained the bed of the solitary
man. Considering what they had undergone, I
think they had kept a very good reckoning of time,
for they had lost only four days.
December 30th. We anchored in a snug little
cove at the foot of some high hills, near the north-
ern extremity of Tres Montes. After breakfast the
next morning, a party ascended one of these mount-
ains, which was 2400 feet high. The scenery was
remarkable. The chief part of the range was com-
posed of grand, solid, abrupt masses of granite,
which appeared as if they had been coeval with
the beginning of the world. The granite was cap-
ped with mica-slate, and this, in the lapse of ages,
had been worn into strange. finger-shaped points.
These two formations, thus differing in their out-
lines, agree in being almost destitute of vegetation.
This barrenness had to our eyes, a strange appear-
ance, from having been so long accustomed to the
sight of an almost universal forest of dark-green
trees. I took much delight in examining the struc-
ture of these mountains. The complicated and lofty
ranges bore a noble aspect of durability-equally
profitless, however, to man and to all other animals.
Granite, to the geologist, is classic ground: from
its wide-spread limits, and its beautiful and compact
texture, few rocks have been more anciently recog-
nised. Granite has given rise, perhaps, to more
discussion concerning its origin than any other
formation. We generally see it constituting the
fundamental rock, and, however formed, we know
it is the deepest layer, in the crust of this globe, to
which man has penetrated. The limit of man's
knowledge, in any subject, possesses a high inter-
est, which is perhaps increased by its close neigh-
bourhood to the realms of imagination.
22
CHONOS ARCHIPELAGO.
January 1st, 1835. The new year is ushered in
with the ceremonies proper to it in these regions.
She lays out no false hopes : a heavy northwestern
gale, with steady rain, bespeaks the rising year. .
Thank God! we are not destined here to see the
end of it, but hope then to be in the Pacific Ocean,
where a blue sky tells one there is a heaven-a
something beyond the clouds above our heads.
The northwest winds prevailing for the next four
days, we only managed to cross a great bay, and
then anchored in another secure harbour. I accom-
panied the Captain in a boat to the head of a deep
creek. On the way, the number of seals which we
saw was quite astonishing: every bit of flat rock,
and parts of the beach, were covered with them.
They appeared to be of a loving disposition, and
lay huddled together, fast asleep, like so many pigs;
but even pigs would have been ashamed of their
dirt, and of the foul smell which came from them.
Each herd was watched by the patient but inau-
spicious eyes of the turkey-buzzard. This disgust-
ing bird, with its bald, scarlet head, formed to wal-
low in putridity, is very common on the west coast,
and their attendance on the seals shows on what
they rely for their food. We found the water (prob-
ably only that of the surface) nearly fresh: this was
caused by the number of torrents which, in the
form of cascades, came tumbling over the bold gran-
ite mountains into the sea. The fresh water at-
tracts the fish, and these bring many terns, gulls,
and two kinds of cormorant. We saw also a pair
of the beautiful black-necked swans, and several
small sea-otters, the fur of which is held in such high
estimation. In returning, we were again amused
by the impetuous manner in which the heap of seals,
old and young, tumbled into the water as the boat
passed. They did not remain long under water,
THE WILD POTATO.
23
but, rising, followed us with outstretched necks,
expressing great wonder and curiosity.
7th.-Having run up the coast, we anchored near
the northern end of the Chonos Archipelago, in
Low's Harbour, where we remained a week. The
islands were here, as in Chiloe, composed of a strat-
ified, soft, litteral deposit, and the vogetation, in
consequence, was beautifully luxuriant. The woods
came down to the sea-beach just in the manner of
an evergreen shrubbery over a gravel walk. We
also enjoyed from the anchorage a splendid view
of four great snowy cones of the Cordillera, in-
cluding “el famoso Corcovado :" the range itself
had in this latitude so little height, that few parts
of it appeared above the tops of the neighbouring
islets. We found here a party of five men from
Caylen, “el fin del Cristiandad," who had most ad-
venturously crossed, in their miserable boat-canoe,
for the purpose of fishing, the open space of sea
which separates Chonos from Chiloe. These isl-
ands will, in all probability, in a short time become
peopled like those adjoining the coast of Chiloe.
The wild potato grows on these islands in great
abundance, on the sandy, shelly soil near the sea-
beach. The tallest plant was four feet in height.
The tubers were generally small, but I found one,
of an oval shape, two inches in diameter: they re-
sembled in every respect, and had the same smell
as English potatoes; but when boiled they shrunk
much, and were watery and insipid, without any
bitter taste. They are undoubtedly here indige-
nous: they grow as far south, according to Mr.
Low, as lat. 500, and are called Aquinas by the
wild Indians of that part: the Chilotan Indians
have a different name for them. Professor Hens-
low, who has examined the dried specimens which
24
CHONOS ARCHIPELAGO.
I brought home, says that they are the same with
thosc described by Mr. Sabine* from Valparaiso,
but that they form a variety which by some bota-
nists has been considered as specifically distinct.
It is remarkable that the same plant should be
found on the sterile mountains of central Chile,
where a drop of rain does not fall for more than
six months, and within the damp forests of these
southern islands.
In the central parts of the Chonos Archipelago
(lat. 450) the forest has very much the same char-
àcter with that along the whole west coast for 600.
miles southward to Cape Horn. The arborescent
grass of Chiloe is not found here, while the beech
of Tierra del Fuego grows to a good size, and
forms a considerable proportion of the wood; not,
however, in the same exclusive manner as it does
farther southward. Cryptogamic plants here find
a most congenial climate. In the Strait of Magel-
lan, as I have before remarked, the country ap-
pears too cold and wet to allow of their arriving at
perfection; but in these islands, within the forest,
the number of species, and great abundance of
mosses, lichens, and small ferns, is quite extraordi-
nary.t In Tierra del Fuego trees grow only on
the hill-sides, every level piece of land being in-
variably covered by a thick bed of peat; but in
Chiloe flat land supports the most luxuriant forests.
* Horticultural Transact., vol. V., p. 249. Mr. Caldcleugh sent
home two tubers, which, being well manured, even the first sea-
son produced numerous, potatoes and an abundance of leaves.
See Humboldt's interesting discussion on this plant, which it ap-
pears was unknown in Mexico, in Polit. Essay on New Spain,
book iv., chap. ix.
† By sweeping with my insect-net, I procured from these situ-
ations a considerable number of minute insects, of the family of
Staphylinidæ, and others allied to Pselaphus, and minute Hy-
menoptera. But the most characteristic family in number, both
of individuals and species, throughout the more open parts of
Chiloe and Chonos, is that of the Telephoridæ.
FORMATION OF PEAT.
25
Here, within the Chonos Archipelago, the nature
of the climate more closely approaches that of Ti-
erra del Fuego than that of northern Chiloe; for
every patch of level ground is covered by two spe-
cies of plants (Astelia pumila and Donatia magel-
lanica), which by their joint decay compose a thick
bed of elastic peat.
In Tierra del Fuego, above the region of wood-
land, the former of these eminently sociable plants
is the chief agent in the production of peat. Fresh
leaves are always succeeding one to the other round
the central tap-root; the lower ones soon decay,
and in tracing a root downwards in the peat, the
leaves, yet holding their place, can be observed
passing through every stage of decomposition, till
the whole becomes blended in one confused mass.
The. Astelia is assisted by a few other plants--here.
and there a small creeping Myrtus (M. nummula-
ria), with a woody stem like our cranberry, and with
a sweet berry-an Empetrum (E. rubrum), like
our heath-a rush (Juncus grandiflorus), are near-
ly the only ones that grow on the swampy surface.
These plants, though possessing a very close gener-
al resemblance to the English species of the same
genera, are different. In the more level parts of
the country, the surface of the peat is broken up
into little pools of water, which stand at different
heights, and appear as if artificially excavated.
Small streams of water, flowing under ground, com-
plete the disorganization of the vegetable matter,
and consolidate the whole.
The climate of the southern part of America ap-
pears particularly favourable to the production of
peat. In the Falkland Islands almost every kind
of plant, even the coarse grass which covers the
whole surface of the land, becomes converted into
this substance: scarcely any situation checks its
II.-C
26
CHONOS ARCHIPELAGO.
growth; some of the beds are as much as twelve
feet thick, and the lower part becomes so solid,
when dry, that it will hardly burn. Although ev-
ery plant lends its aid, yet in most parts the Aste-
lia is the most efficient. It is rather a singular cir-
cumstance, as being so very different from what
occurs in Europe, that I nowhere saw moss form-
ing by its decay any portion of the peat in South
America. With respect to the northern limit at
which the climate allows of that peculiar kind of
slow decomposition which is necessary for its pro-
duction, I believe that in Chiloe (lat. 41° to 420),
although there is much swampy ground, no well-
characterized peat occurs; but in the Chonos Isl-
ands, three degrees farther southward, we have
seen that it is abundant. : On the eastern coast, in
La Plata (lat. 350); I was told by a Spanish resi-.
dent, who had visited Ireland, that he had often
sought for this substance, but had never been able
to find any. He showed me, as the nearest ap-
proach to it which he had discovered, a black, peaty
soil so penetrated with roots as to allow of an ex-
tremely slow and imperfect combustion.
The zoology of these broken islets of the Cho-
nos Archipelago is, as might have been expected,
very poor. Of quadrupeds two aquatic kinds are
common. The Myopotamus Coypus (like a bea-
ver, but with a round tail) is well known from its
fine fur, which is an object of trade throughout the
tributaries of La Plata. It here, however, exclu-
sively frequents salt water; which same circum-
stance has been mentioned as sometimes occurring
with the great rodent, the Capybara. A small sea-
otter is very numerous : this animal does not feed
exclusively on fish, but, like the seals, draws a large
supply from a small red crab, which swims in shoals
ORNITHOLOGY.
27
near the surface of the water. Mr. Bynoe saw one
Low's Harbour, another was killed in the act of
carrying to its hole a large volute shell. At one
brachiotis): it appeared common on several of the
islets, but the Chilotans at Low's Harbour said that
it was not found in all. What a succession of
chances,* or what changes of level must have been
brought into play, thus to spread these small ani-
mals throughout this broken archipelago!...
In all parts of Chiloe and Chonos, two very
strange birds occur, which are allied to, and re-
place, the Turco and Tapacolo of central Chile.
One is called by the inhabitants “ Cheucau” (Pte-
roptochos rubecula): it frequents the most gloomy
and retired spots within the damp forests: Some-
times, although its cry may be heard close at hand,
let a person watch ever so attentively, he will not
see the cheucaù; at other times, let him stand mo
tionless, and the red-breasted little bird will ap-
proach within a few feet in the most familiar man-
ner. It then busily hops about the entangléd mass
of rotting canes and branches, with its little tail
cocked upwards. The cheucau is held in super-
stitious fear by the Chilotans, on account of its
strange and varied cries. There are three very
distinct cries: one is called “chiduco," and is an
omen of good; another, “huitreu,” which is ex-
tremely unfavourable ; and a third, which I have
forgotten. These words are given in imitation of
the noises; and the natives are in some things ab-
solutely governed by them. The Chilotans assu-
* It is said that some rapacious birds bring their prey alive to
their nests. If so, in the course of centuries, every now and then,
one might escape from the young birds. Some such agency is
necessary to account for the distribution of the smaller gnawing
animals on islands not very near each other.
28
CHONOS ARCHIPELAGO.
redly have chosen a most comical little creature
for their prophèt. An allied species, but rather
larger, is called by the natives "Guid-guid” (Pte-
Toptochos Tarnii), and by the English the barking-
bird. This latter name is well given, for I defy
any one at first to feel certain that a small dog is
not yelping somewhere in the forest. Just as with
the cheucau, a person will sometimes hear the bark
close by, but in vain may endeavour by watching,
and with still less chance by beating the bushes,
to see the bird; yet at other times the guid-ġuid
fearlessly comes near. Its manner of feeding and
its general habits are very similar to those of the
cheucau.
On the coast,* a small, dusky-coloured bird (Ope-
tiorhynchus Patagonicus) is very common. It is
remarkable from its quiet habits : it lives entirely
on the sea-beach, like a sandpiper. Besides these
birds only few others inhabit this broken land. In
my rough notes I describe the strange noises, which,
although frequently heard within these gloomy for-
ests, yet scarcely disturb the general silence. The
yelping of the guid-guid and the sudden whew-
whew of the cheucau sometimes come from afar
off, and sometimes from close at hand; the little
black wren of Tierra del Fuego occasionally adds
its cry; the creeper (Oxyurus) follows the intruder
screaming and twittering; the humming-bird may
be seen every now and then darting from side to
side, and emitting, like an insect, its shrill chirp;
lastly, from the top of some lofty tree, the indistinct
but plaintive note of the white-tufted tyrant fly-
* I may mention, as a proof of how great a difference there is
between the seasons of the wooded and the open parts of this
coast, that on September 20th, in lat. 34°, these birds had young
ones in the nest, while among the Chonos Islands, three months
later in the summer, they were only laying; the difference in lat-
itude between these two places being about 700 miles.
29
catcher (Myiobius) may be noticed. From the
great preponderance in most countries of certain
common genera of birds, such as the finches, one
feels at first surprised at meeting with the peculiar
forms above enumerated, as the commonest birds
in any district. In central Chile, two of them,
namely, the Oxyurus and Scytalopus, occur, al-
though most rarely. When finding, as in this case,
animals which seem to play so insignificant a part
in the great scheme of nature, one is apt to wonder
why they were created. But it should always be
recollected, that in some other country, perhaps,
they are essential members of society, or at some
former period may have been so. If America,
south of 370, were sunk beneath the waters of the
ocean, these two birds might continue to exist in
central Chile for a long period, but it is very im-
probable that their numbers would increase. We
should then see a case which must inevitably have
happened with very many animals.
These southern seas are frequented by several
species of Petrels: the largest kind, Procellaria
gigantea, or nelly (quebrantahuesos, or break-bones
of the Spaniards), is a common bird, both in the
inland channels and on the open sea. In its habits
and manner of flight there is a very close resem-
blance with the albatross; and as with the alba-
tross, a person may watch it for hours together
without seeing on what it feeds. The “ break-
bones” is, however, a rapacious bird, for it was ob-
served by some of the officers at Port St. Antonio
chasing a diver, which tried to escape by diving
at lasť killed by a blow on its head. At Port St.
Julian these great petrels were seen killing and
devouring young gulls. A second species (Puffinus
cinereus), which is common to Europe, Cape Horn,
C2
30
CHONOS ARCHIPELAGO.
and the coast of Peru, is of a much smaller size
than the P. gigantea, but, like it, of a dirty black
colour. It generally frequents the inland sounds in
very large Hocks : I do not think I ever saw so
many birds of any other sort, together as I once
saw of these behind the island of Chiloe. Hun-
dreds of thousands flew in an irregular line for
several hours in one direction. When part of the
ened, and a noise proceeded from them as of hụ-
man beings talking in the distance.
There are several other species of petrels, but I
will only mention one other kind, the Pelacanoi-
des Berardi, which offers an example of those ex-
traordinary cases, of a bird evidently belonging to
one well-marked family, yet, both in its habits and
structure, allied to a very distinct tribe. This bird
never leaves the quiet inland sounds. When dis-
turbed it dives to a distance, and on coming to the
surface, with the same movement takes flight.
After flying by the rapid movement of its short
wings for a space in a straight line, it drops, as if
struck dead, and dives again. The form of its beak
and nostrils, length of foot, and even the colouring
of its plumage, show that this bird is a petrel :
on the other hand, its short wings and consequent
little power of flight, its form of body and shape of
tail, the absence of a hind toe to its foot, its habit
doubtful whether its relationship is not equally
close with the auks. It would undoubtedly be
mistaken for an auk when seen from a distance,
either on the wing, or when diving and quietly
swimming about the retired channels of Tierra del
Fuego.
Y
CHILOE.
CHAPTER II.
San Carlos, Chiloe-Osorno in Eruption, contemporaneously with
Aconcagua and Coseguina-Ride to Cucao-impenetrable For-
ests — Valdivia - Indians - Earthquake - Concepcion-Great
Earthquake-Rocks fissured-Appearance of the former Towns
- The Sea black and boiling-Direction of the Vibrations
Stones twisted round-Great Wave-Permanent Elevation of
the Land --Area of Volcanic Phenomena - The Connection
between the Elevatory and Eruptive Forces-Causes of Earth-
quakes-Slow Elevation of Mountain-chains.
CHILOE AND CONCEPCION : GREAT EARTHQUAKE.
On January the 15th we sailed from Low's Har-
bour, and three days afterwards anchored a second
time in the bay of S. Carlos in Chiloe. On the
night of the 19th the volcano of Osorno was in ac-
tion. At midnight the sentry observed something
like a large star, which gradually increased in size
till about three o'clock, when it presented a very
magnificent spectacle. By the aid of a glass, dark
objects, in constant succession, were seen, in the
midst of a great glare of red light, to be thrown up
and to fall down. The light was sufficient to cast
on the water a long, bright reflection. Large mass-
es of molten matter seem very commonly to be cast
out of the craters in this part of the Cordillera. I
was assured that when the Corcovado is in erup-
tion, great masses are projected upwards and are
seen to burst in the air, assuming many fantastical
forms, such as trees: their size must be immense,
for they can be distinguished from the high land
behind S. Carlos, which is no less than ninety-three
miles from the Corcovado. In the morning the
volcano became tranquil.
· I was surprised at hearing afterwards that Acon-
cagua in Chile 480 miles northwards, was in action
32
CHILOE.
on this same night; and still more surprised to hear
that the great eruption of Coseguina (2700 miles
north of Aconcagua), accompanied by an earth-
quake felt over 1000 miles, also occurred within
six hours of this same time. This coincidence is
the more remarkable, as Coseguina had been dor-
mant for twenty-six years : and Aconcagua most
rarely shows any signs of action. It is difficult
even to conjecture whether this coincidence was
accidental, or shows some subterranean connec-
tion. If Vesuvius, Etna, and Hecla in Iceland (all
three relatively nearer each other than the corre-
sponding points in South America) suddenly burst
forth in eruption on the same night, the coincidence
would be thought remarkable; but it is far more
remarkable in this case, where the three vents fall
on the same great mountain-chain, and where the
vast plains along the entire eastern coast, and the
upraised recent shells along more than 2000 miles,
on the western coast, shown in how equable and
connected: a manner the elevatory forces have
acted.
Captain Fitz Roy being anxious that some bear-
ings should be taken on the outer coast of Chiloe,
it was planned that Mr. King and myself should
ride to Castro, and thence across the island to the
Capella de Cucao, situated on the west coast.
Having hired horses and a guide, we set out on the
morning of the 22d. We had not proceeded far
before we were joined by a woman and two boys,
who were bent on the same journey. Every one
on this road acts on a “hail fellow well met fash-
ion;" and one may here enjoy the privilege, so
rare in South America, of travelling without fire-
arms. At first, the country consisted of a succes-
sion of hills and valleys: nearer to Castro it be-
came very level. The road itself is a curious affair:
CHILOE.
33
it consists in its whole length, with the exception
of very few parts, of great logs of wood, which are
either broad and laid longitudinally, or narrow and
placed transversely. In summer the road is not
very bad; but in winter, when the wood is ren-
dered slippery from rain, travelling is exceedingly
difficult. At that time of the year the ground on
each side becomes a morass, and is often over-
flowed: hence it is necessary that the longitudinal
logs should be fastened down by transverse poles,
which are pegged on each side into the earth.
These pegs render a fall from a horse dangerous,
as the chance of alighting on one of them is not
small. · It is remarkable, however, how active cus-
tom has made the Chilotan horses. In crossing
bad parts, where the logs had been displaced, they
skipped from one to the other almost with the
quickness and certainty of a dog. On both hands
the road is bordered by the lofty forest-trees, with
their bases matted together by canes. When oc-
casionally a long reach of this avenue could be be-
held, it presented a curious scene of uniformity :
the white line of logs, narrowing in perspective,
became hidden by the gloomy forest, or terminated
in a zigzag which ascended some steep hill.
Although the distance from S. Carlos to Castro
is only twelve leagues in a straight line, the form-
ation of the road must have been a great labour.
I was told that several people had formerly lost
their lives in attempting to cross the forest. The
first who succeeded was an Indian, who cut his
way through the canes in eight days, and reached
S. Carlos : he was rewarded by the Spanish gov-
ernment with a grant of land. During the summer,
many of the Indians wander about the forests (but
chiefly in the higher parts, where the woods are
not quite so thick), in search of the half-wild cattle,
Il
34
CHILOE.
.
which live on the leaves of the cane and certain
trees. It was one of these huntsmen who, by
chance, discovered, a few years since, an English
vessel, which had been wrecked on the outer coast.
The crew were beginning to fail in provisions, and
it is not probable that, without the aid of this man,
they would ever have extricated themselves from
these scarcely penetrable woods. As it was, one
seaman died on the march from fatigue. The
Indians, in these excursions, steer by the sun; so
that, if there is a continuance of cloudy weather,
they cannot travel.
The day was beautiful, and the number of trees
which were in full flower perfumed the air; yet
even this could hardly dissipate the effect of the
gloomy dampness of the forest. Moreover, the
many dead trunks, that stand like skeletons, never
fail to give to these primeval woods a character of
solemnity, absent in those of countries long civil-
ized. Shortly after sunset we bivouacked for the
night. Our female companion, who was rather
good looking, belonged to one of the most respect-
able families in Castro : she rode, however, astride,
and without shoes or stockings. I was surprised
at the total want of pride shown by her and her
brother. They brought food with them, but at all
our meals sat watching Mr. King and myself whilst
eating, till we were fairly shamed into feeding the
whole party. The night was cloudless, and, while
lying in our beds, we enjoyed the sight (and it is a
high enjoyment) of the multitude of stars which il-
lumined the darkness of the forest.
January 23d. We rose early in the morning,
and reached the pretty, quiet town of Castro by
two o'clock. The old governor had died since our
last visit, and a Chileno was acting in his place.
We had a letter of introduction to Don Pedro,
RIDE TO CUCAO.
35
whom we found exceedingly hospitable and kind,
and more disinterested than is usual on this side of
the continent. The next day Don Pedro procured
us fresh horses, and offered to accompany us him-
self. We proceeded to the south, generally follow-
ing the coast, and passing through several hamlets,
each with its large, barn-like chapel built of wood.
At Vilipilli, Don Pedro asked the commandant to
give us a guide to Cucao. The old gentleman of-
fered to come himself; but for a long time nothing
would persuade him that two Englishmen really
wished to go to such an out-of-the-way place as
Cucao. We were thus accompanied by the two
greatest aristocrats in the country, as was plainly to
be seen in the manner of all the poorer Indians
towards them. At Chonchi we struck across the
island, following intricate winding paths, sometimes
passing through magnificent forests, and sometimes
through pretty cleared spots, abounding with corn
and potato crops. This undulating woody country,
partially cultivated, reminded me of the wilder
parts of England, and therefore had to my eye a
most fascinating aspect. At Vilinco, which is sit-
uated on the borders of the lake of Cucao, only a
few fields were cleared; and all the inhabitants
appeared to be Indians. This lake is twelve miles
long, and runs in an east and west direction. From
local circumstances, the sea-breeze blows very
regularly during the day, and during the night it
falls calm: this has given rise to strange exagger-
ations, for the phenomenon, as described to us at
San Carlos, was quite a prodigy.
The road to Cucao was so very bad that we de-
termined to embark in a periagua. The command-
ant, in the most authoritative manner, ordered six
Indians to get ready to pull us over, without deign-
ing to tell them whether they would be paid. The
36
CHILOE.
periagua is a strange, rough boat, but the crew
were still stranger: I doubt if six uglier little men
ever got into a boat together. They pulled, how-
ever, very well and cheerfully. The stroke-oars-
man gabbled Indian, and uttered strange, cries,
much after the fashion of a pig-driver driving his
pigs. We started with a light breeze against us,
but yet reached the Capella de Cucao before it
was late. The country on each side of the lake
was one unbroken forest. In the same periagua
with us a cow was embarked. To get so large an
animal into a small boat appears at first a difficulty,
but the Indians managed it in a minute. They
brought the cow alongside the boat, which was
heeled towards her; then placing two. oars under
her belly, with their ends resting on the gunwale,
by the aid of these levers they fairly tumbled the
poor beast, heels over head, into the bottom of the
boat, and then lashed her down with ropes. At
Cucao we found an uninhabited hovel (which is
the residence of the padre when he pays this Ca-
pella a visit), where, lighting a fire, we cooked
our supper, and were very comfortable.
The district of Cucao is the only inhabited part
on the whole west coast of Chiloe. It contains
about thirty or forty Indian families, who are scat-
tered along four or five miles of the shore. They
are very much secluded from the rest of Chiloe,
and have scarcely any sort of commerce, except
sometimes in a little oil, which they get from seal-
blubber. They are tolerably dressed in clothes of
their own manufacture, and they have plenty to
eat. They seemed, however, discontented, yet
humble to a degree which it was quite painful to
witness. These feelings are, I think, chiefly to be
attributed to the harsh and authoritative manner in
which they are treated by their rulers. Our com
PUNTA HUANTAMÓ.
37
panions, although so very civil to us, behaved to
the poor Indians as if they had been slaves rather
than free men. They ordered provisions and the
use of their horses without ever condescending to
say how much, or indeed whether the owners
should be paid at all. In the morning, being left
alone with these poor people, we soon ingratiated
ourselves by presents of cigars and maté. A lump
of white sugar was divided between all present,
and tasted with the greatest curiosity. The In-
dians ended all their complaints by saying, “And
it is only because we are poor Indians, and know
nothing; but it was not so when we had a king."
The next day, after breakfast, we rode a few
miles northward to Punta Huantamó. The road
lay along a very broad beach, on which, even after
so many fine days, a terrible surf was breaking.
I was assured that, after a heavy gale, the roar can
be heard at night even at Castro, a distance of no
less than twenty-one sea-miles, across a hilly and
wooded country. We had some difficulty in reach-
ing the point, owing to the intolerably bad paths;
for everywhere in the shade the ground soon be-
comes a perfect quagmire. The point itself is a
bold rocky hill. It is covered by a plant allied, I
believe, to Bromelia, and called by the inhabitants
Chepones. In scrambling through the beds, our
hands were very much scratched. I was amused
by observing the precaution our Indian guide took,
in turning up his trousers, thinking that they were
more delicate than his own hard skin. This plant
bears a fruit, in shape like an artichoke, in which
a number of seed-vessels are packed: these con-
tain a pleasant, sweet pulp, here much esteemed.
I saw, at Low's Harbour, the Chilotans making
chichi, or cider, with this fruit: so true is it, as
Humboldt remarks, that almost everywhere man
II.-D
38
CIIILOE.
finds means of preparing some kind of beverage
from the vegetable kingdom. The savages, how-
ever, of Tierra del Fuego, and I believe of Aus-
tralia, have not advanced thus far in the arts.
The coast to the north of Punta Huantamó is
exceedingly rugged and broken, and is fronted by
many breakers, on which the sea is eternally roar-
ing. Mr. King and myself were anxious to return,
if it had been possible, on foot along this coast;
but even the Indians said it was quite impractica-
ble. We were told that men have crossed by
striking directly through the woods from Cucao to
S. Carlos, but never by the coast. On these expe-
ditions, the Indians carry with them only roasted
corn, and of this they eat sparingly twice a day.
26th.— Re-embarking in the periagua, we re-
turned across the lake, and then inounted our hor-
ses. . The whole of Chiloe took advantage of this
week of unusually fine weather to clear the ground
by burning. In every direction volumes of smoke
were curling upwards. Although the inhabitants
were so assiduous in setting fire to every part of the
wood, yet I did not see a single fire which they
had succeeded in making extensive. We dined
with our friend the commandant, and did not reach
Castro till after dark. The next morning we
started very early. After having ridden for some
time, we obtained from the brow of a steep hill an
extensive view (and it is a rare thing on this road)
of the great forest. Over the horizon of trees, the
volcano of Corcovado, and the great flat-topped one
to the north, stood out in proud pre-eminence :
scarcely another peak in the long range showed
its snowy summit. I hope it will be long before I
forget this farewell view of the magnificent Cor-
dillera fronting Chiloe. At night we bivouacked
under a cloudless sky, and the next morning reach-
39
ed S. Carlos. We arrived on the right day, for be-
fore evening heavy rain commenced.
February 4th.-Sailed from Chiloe. During the
last week I made several short excursions. One
was to examine a great bed of now-existing shells,
elevated 350 feet above the level of the sea : from
among these shells large forest-trees were growing.
Another ride was to P. Huechucucuy. I had with
me a guide who knew the country far too well;
for he would pertinaciously tell me endless Indian
names for every little point, rivulet, and creek. In
the same manner as in Tierra del Fuego, the In-
dian language appears singularly well adapted for
land. I believe every one was glad to say farewell
to Chiloe; yet if we could forget the gloom and
ceaseless rain of winter, Chiloe might pass for a
charming island. There is also something very at-
tractive in the simplicity and humble politeness of
the poor inhabitants.
We steered northward along shore, but, owing
to thick weather, did not reach Valdivia till the
night of the 8th. The next morning the boat pro-.
ceeded to the town, which is distant about ten
miles. We followed the course of the river, occa-
sionally passing a few hovels, and patches of ground
cleared out of the otherwise unbroken forest; and
sometimes meeting a canoe with an Indian family.
The town is situated on the low banks of the
stream, and is so completely buried in a wood of
apple-trees that the streets are merely paths in an
orchard. I have never seen any country where
apple-trees appeared to thrive so well as in this
damp part of South America : on the borders of the
roads there were many young trees evidently self-
sown. In Chiloe the inhabitants possess a marvel-
lously short method of making an orchard. At the
40
VALDIVIA. :
lower part of almost every branch, small, conical,
brown, wrinkled points project : these are always
ready to change into roots, as may sometimes be
seen, where any mud has been accidentally splashed
against the tree. A branch as thick as a man's
thigh is chosen in the early spring, and is cut off
just beneath a group of these points ; all the small-
er branches are lopped off, and it is then placed
about two feet deep in the ground. During the
ensuing summer the stump throws out long shoots,
and sometimes even bears fruit: I was shown one
which had produced as many as twenty-three ap-
ples, but this was thought very unusual. In the
third season, the stump is changed (as I have
myself seen) into a well-wooded tree, loaded with
fruit. An old man near Valdivia illustrated his
motto, “ Necesidad es la madre del invencion," by
giving an account of the several useful things he
manufactured from his apples. After making ci-
der, and likewise wine, he extracted from the re-
fuse a white and finely-flavoured spirit; by anoth-
er process he procured a sweet treacle, or, as he
called it, honey. His children and pigs seemed
almost to live, during this season of the year, in
his orchard.
February 11th.—I set out with a guide on a short
ride, in which, however, I managed to see singu-
larly little, either of the geology of the country or
of its inhabitants. There is not much cleared land
near Valdivia : after crossing a river at the distance
of a few miles, we entered the forest, and then
passed only one miserable hovel before reaching
our sleeping-place for the night. The short differ-
ence in latitude, of 150 miles, has given a new as-
pect to the forest, compared with that of Chiloe.
This is owing to a slightly different proportion in
the kinds of trees. The evergreens do not appear
VIEW OF THE LLANOS.
41
to be quite so numerous; and the forest, in conse-
quence, has a brighter tint. As in Chiloe, the low-
er parts are matted together by canes : here, also,
another kind (resembling the bamboo of Brazil,
and about twenty feet in height) grows in clusters,
and ornaments the banks of some of the streams in
a very pretty manner. It is with this plant that the
Indians make their chuzos, or long tapering spears.
Our resting-place was so dirty that I preferred
sleeping outside : on these journeys the first night
is generally very uncomfortable, because one is not
accustomed to the tickling and biting of the fileas. I
am sure, in the morning, there was not a space on
my legs of the size of a shilling which had not its
little red mark where the flea had feasted.
12th.---We continued to ride through the un-
cleared forest, only occasionally meeting an In-
dian on horseback, or a troop of fine mules bringing
alerce-planks and corn from the southern plains.
In the afternoon one of the horses knocked up: we
were then on the brow of a hill which commanded
a fine view of the Llanos. The view of these open
plains was very refreshing, after being hemmed in
and buried in the wilderness of trees. The uni-
formity of a forest soon becomes very wearisome.
This west coast makes me remember with pleasure
the free, unbounded plains of Patagonia; yet, with
the true spirit of contradiction, I cannot forget how.
sublime is the silence of the forest. The Llanos
are the most fertile and thickly-peopled parts of
the country, as they possess the immense advan-
tage of being nearly free from trees. Before leav-
ing the forest we crossed some flat little lawns,
around which single trees stood, as in an English
park: I have often noticed with surprise, in wood-
ed, undulatory districts, that the quite level parts
have been destitute of trees. On account of the
* D :
42
VALDIVIA. . !
tired horse, I determined to stop at the Mission of
Cudico, to the friar of which I had a letter of in-
troduction. Cudico is an intermediate, district be-
tween the forest and the Llanos. There are a
good many cottages, with patches of corn and po-
tatoes, nearly all belonging to Indians. The tribes
dependent on Valdivia are “ reducidos y Cristia-
nos." The Indians farther northward, about Arau-
co and Imperial, are still very wild, and not con-
verted; but they have all much intercourse with
the Spaniards. The padre said that the Christian
Indians did not much like coming to mass, but that
otherwise they showed respect for religion. The
greatest difficulty is in making them observe the
ceremonies of marriage. The wild Indians take
as many wives as they can support, and a cacique
will sometimes have more than ten : on entering
his house, the number may be told by that of the
separate fires. - Each wife lives a week in- turn
with the cacique; but all are employed in weaving
ponchos, &c., for his profit. To be the wife of a
cacique is an honour much sought after by the
Indian women.
The men of all these tribes wear a coarse wool-
len poncho: those south of Valdivia wear short
trousers, and those north of it a petticoat, like the
chilipa of the Gauchos. All have their long hair
bound by a scarlet fillet, but with no other covering
on their heads. These Indians are good-sized men;
their cheek-bones are prominent, and in general
appearance they resemble the great American fam-
ily to which they belong; but their physiognomy
seemed to me to be slightly different from that of
any other tribe which Ì had before seen. Their
expression is generally grave, and even austere,
and possesses much character: this may pass either
for honest bluntness or fierce determination. The
ARAUCARIAN INDIANS.
43
long black hair, the grave and much-lined features,
and the dark complexion, called to my mind old
portraits of James I. On the road we met with
none of that humble politeness so universal in Chi-
loe. Some gave their mari-mari” (good morn-
ing) with promptness, but the greater number did
not seem inclined to offer any salute. This inde-
pendence of manners is probably a consequence of
their long wars, and the repeated victories which
they alone, of all the tribes in America, have gained
over the Spaniards.
- I spent the evening very pleasantly, talking with
the padre. He was exceedingly kind and hospi-
table, and, coming from Santiago, had contrived to
surround himself with some few comforts. Being
a man of some little education, he bitterly com-
plained of the total want of society. With no par
ticular zeal for religion, no business or pursuit, how
completely must this man's life be wasted! The
next day, on our return, we met seven very wild-
looking Indians, of whom some were caciques, that
had just received from the Chilian government
their yearly small stipend for having long remain-
ed faithful. They were fine-looking men, and
they rode one after the other with most gloomy
faces. An old cacique, who headed them, had
been, I suppose, more excessively drunk than the
rest, for he seemed both; extremely grave and very
crabbed. Shortly before this two Indians joined
us, who were travelling from a distant mission to
Valdivia concerning some lawsuit. One was a
good-humoured old man, but, from his wrinkled,
beardless face, looked more like an old woman than
ä man. I frequently presented both of them with
cigars, and, though ready to receive them, and I
dare say grateful, they would hardly condescend
to thank me. A Chilotan Indian would have taken
44
VALDIVIA.
off his hát, and given his “Dios le page!” The
travelling was very tedious, both from the badness
of the roads, and from the number of great fallen
trees, which it was necessary either to leap over,
or to avoid by making long circuits. We slept on
the road, and next morning reached Valdivia,
výhence I proceeded on board.
A few days afterwards I crossed the bay with a
party, of officers, and landed near the fort called
Niebla. The buildings were in a most ruinous
state, and the gun-carriages. quite rotten. Mr.
Wickham remarked to the commanding officer
that with one discharge they would certainly all
fall to pieces. The poor man, trying to put a good
face upon it, gravely replied, “ No, I am sure, sir,
they would stand two!" The Spaniards must
have intended to have made this place impregna-
ble. There is now lying in the middle of the
courtyard a little mountain of mortar, which' rivals
in hardness the rock on which it is placed. It was
brought from Chile, and cost 7000 dollars. The
revolution having broken out, prevented its being
applied to any purpose, and now it remains a
monument of the fallen greatness of Spain. :
I wanted to go to a house about a mile and a
half distant, but my guide said it was quite impos-
sible to penetrate the wood in a straight line. He
offered, however, to lead me, by following obscure
cattle-tracks, the shortest way: the walk, neverthe-
less, took no less than three hours! This man is
employed in hunting strayed cattle ; yet, well as
he must know the woods, he was, not long since,
lost for two whole days, and had nothing to eat.
These facts convey a good idea of the impractica-
bility of the forests of these countries. A question
often occurred to me, How long does any vestige
of a fallen tree remain? This man showed me
GREAT EARTHQUAKE.
45
one which a party of fugitive royalists had cụt
down fourteen years ago; and, taking this as a cri-
terion, I should think a boll a foot and a half in
diameter would in thirty years be changed into a
heap of mould.
Rebruary 20th.—This day has been memorable
in the annals of Valdivia for the most severe earth-
quake experienced by the oldest inhabitant. I
happened to be on shore, and was lying down in
the wood to rest myself. It came on suddenly,
and lasted two minutes, but the time appeared
much longer. The rocking of the ground was
very sensible. The undulations appeared to my
companion and myself to come from due east,
whilst others thought they proceeded from south-
west: this shows how difficult it sometimes is to
perceive the direction of the vibrations. “There
was no difficulty in standing upright, but the mo-
tion made me almost giddy : it was something like
the movement of a vessel in a little cross-ripple, or
still more like that felt by a person skating over
thin ice, which bends under the weight of his body.
A bad earthquake at once destroys our oldest
associations: the earth, the very emblem of solid-
ity, has moved beneath our feet like a thin crust
over a fluid; one second of time has created in the
mind a strange idea of insecurity, which hours of
reflection would not have produced. In the forest,
as a breeze moved the trees, I felt only the earth
tremble, but saw no other effect. Captain Fitz
Roy and some officers were at the town during
the shock, and there the scene was more striking;
for although the houses, from being built of wood,
did not fall, they were violently shaken, and the
boards creaked and rattled together. The people
rushed out of doors in the greatest alarm. It is
these accompaniments that create that perfect hor-
46
CONCEPCION.
ror of earthquakes, experienced by all who have
thus seen as well as felt their effects. Within the
forest it was a deeply interesting, but by no means
an awe-exciting phenomenon. The tides were
very curiously affected. The great shock took
place at the time of low water; and an old woman
who was on the beach told me that the water flow-
ed very quickly, but not in great waves, to high-
water mark, and then as quickly returned to its
proper level; this was also evident by the line of
wet sand. This same kind of quick but quiet
movement in the tide happened a few years since
at Chiloe, during a slight earthquake, and created
much causeless alarm. In the course of the even-
ing there were many weaker shocks, which seem-
ed to produce in the harbour the most complicated
currents, and some of great strength.
.
· March 4th.--We entered the harbour of Con-
cepcion. While the ship was beating up to the
anchorage I landed on the island of Quiriquina.
The mayor-domo of the estate quickly rode down
to tell me the terrible news of the great earthquake
of the 20th : " That not a house in Concepcion or
Talcahuano (the port) was standing; that seventy
villages were destroyed; and that a great wave
had almost washed away the ruins of Talcahuano."
Of this latter statement I soon saw abundant
proofs, the whole coast being strewed over with
timber and furniture as if a thousand ships had been
wrecked. Besides chairs, tables, book-shelves,
&c., in great numbers, there were several roofs
of cottages, which had been transported almost
whole. The storehouses at Talcahuano had been
burst open, and great bags of cotton, yerba, and
other valuable merchandise were scattered on the
shore. During my walk round the island, I ob-
EFFECTS OF THE EARTHQUAKE.
47
served that numerous fragments of rock, which,
· from the marine productions adhering to them,
must recently have been lying in deep water, had
been cast up high on the beach; one of these was
six feet long, three broad, and two thick.
The island itself as plainly showed the over-
whelming power of the earthquake as the beach
did that of the consequent great wave. The
ground, in many parts, was fissured in north and
south lines, perhaps caused by the yielding of the
parallel and steep sides of this narrow island.
Some of the fissures near the cliffs were a yard
wide. Many enormous masses had already fallen
on the beach, and the inhabitants thought that
when the rains commenced far greater slips would
happen. The effect of the vibration on the hard,
primary slate which composes the foundation of
the island was still more curious: the superficial
parts of some narrow ridges were as completely
shivered as if they had been blasted by gunpow-
der. This effect, which was rendered conspicuous.
by the fresh fractures and displaced soil, must be
confined to near the surface, for otherwise there
would not exist a block of solid rock throughout
Chile; nor is this improbable, as it is known that.
the surface of a vibrating body is affected differ-
ently from the central part. It is, perhaps, owing
to this same reason that earthquakes do not cause
quite such terrific havoc within deep mines as
would be expected. I believe this convulsion has
been more effectual in lessening the size of the
island of Quiriquina than the ordinary wear-and-
tear of the sea and weather during the course of a
whole century.
The next day I landed at Talcahuano, and after-
wards rode to Concepcion. Both towns presented
the most awful yet interesting spectacle I ever be-
48
CONCEPCION.
held. To a person who had formerly known them,
it possibly might have been still more impressive;
for the ruins were so mingled together, and the
whole scene possessed so little the air of a habita-
ble place, that it was scarcely possible to imagine
its former condition. The earthquake commenced
at half past eleven o'clock in the forenoon. If it
had happened in the middle of the night, the greater
number of the inhabitants (which in this one prov-
ince amount to many thousands) must have per-
ished, instead of less than a hundred : as it was,
the invariable practice of running out of doors at
the first trembling of the ground alone saved them.
In Concepcion, each house, or row of houses, stood
by itself, a heap or line of ruins ; but in Talca-
huano, owing to the great wave, little more than
one layer of bricks, tiles, and timber, with here
and there part of a wall left standing, could be
distinguished. From this circumstance, Concep-
cion, although not so completely desolated, was a
more terrible, and, if I may so call it, picturesque
sight. The first shock was very sudden. The
mayor-domo at Quiriquina told me, that the first
notice he received of it was finding both the horse
he rode and himself rolling together on the ground.
Rising up, he was again throwi down. He also
told me that some cows which were standing on
the steep side of the island were rolled into the
sea. The great wave caused the destruction of
many cattle ; on one low island, near the head of
the bay, seventy animals were washed off and
drowned. It is generally thought that this has
been the worst earthquake ever recorded in Chile;
but as the very severe ones occur only after long
intervals, this cannot easily be known; nor, indeed,
would a much worse shock have made any great
difference, for the ruin was now complete. Innu-
EFFECTS OF THE EARTHQUAKE.
49
merable small tremblings followed the great earth-
quake, and within the first twelve days no less
than three hundred were counted.
After viewing Concepcion, I cannot understand
how the greater number of inhabitants, escaped
unhurt. The houses in many parts fell outwards,
thus forming in the middle of the streets little
hillocks of brickwork and rubbish. Mr. Rouse,
the English consul, told us that he was at break-
fast when the first movement warned him to run.
out. He had scarcely reached the middle of the
courtyard, when one side of his house.came thun-
dering down. He retained presence of mind to
remember, that if he once got on the top of that
part which had already fallen, he would be safe.
Not being able, from the motion of the ground, to
stand, he crawled up on his hands and knees; and
no sooner had he ascended this little eminence,
than the other side of the house fell in, the great
beams sweeping close in front of his head. With
his eyes blinded, and his mouth choked with the
cloud of dust which darkened the sky, at last he
gained the street. As shock succeeded shock at
the interval of a few minutes, no one dared ap-
proach the shattered ruins; and no one knew
whether his dearest friends and relations were not
perishing from the want of help. Those who had
saved any property were obliged to keep a con-
stant watch, for thieves prowled about, and at each
little trembling of the ground, with one hand they
beat their breasts and cried « misericordia !” and
then with the other filched what they could from
the ruins. The thatched roofs fell over the fires,
and flames burst forth in all parts. Hundreds
know themselves ruined, and few had the means
of providing food for the day. . .
Earthquakes alone are sufficient to destroy the
II.
50
CONCEPCION.
-
prosperity of any country. If beneath England the
now inert subterranean forces should exert those
powers, which most assuredly in former geological
ages they have exerted, how completely would the
entire condition of the country be changed! What
would become of the lofty houses, thickly packed
cities, great manufactories, the beautiful public and
private edifices ? If the new period of disturbance
were first to commence by some great earthquake
in the dead of the night, how terrific would be the
carnage! England would at once be bankrupt;
all papers, records, and accounts would from that
moment be lost. Government being unable to col-
lect the taxes, and failing to maintain its authority,
the hand of violence and rapine would remain un-
controlled. In every large town famine would go
forth, pestilence and death following in its train.
Shortly after the shock, a great wave was seen
from the distance of three or four miles, approach-
ing in the middle of the bay with a smooth outline;
but along the shore it tore up cottages and trees,
as it swept onwards with irresistible force. At the
head of the bay it broke in a fearful line of white
breakers, which rushed up to a height of 23 verti-
cal feet above the highest spring-tides. Their force
must have been prodigious; for at the fort a can-
non with its carriage, estimated at four tons in
weight, was moved 15 feet inwards. A schooner
was left in the midst of the ruins, 200 yards from
the beach. The first wave was followed by two
others, which in their retreat carried away a vast
wreck of floating objects. In one part of the bay
a ship was pitched high and dry on shore, was car-
ried off, again driven on shore, and again carried
off. In another part, two large vessels anchored
near together were whirled about, and their cables
were thrice wound round each other: though an-
GREAT WAVE.
51
chored at a depth of 36 feet, they were for some
minutes aground. The great wave must have
travelled slowly, for the inhabitants of Talcahuano
had time to run up the hills behind the town; and
some sailors pulled out seaward, trusting success-
fully to their boat riding securely over the swell,
if they could reach it before it broke. One old
woman with a little boy, four or five years old, ran
into a boat, but there was nobody to row it out:
the boat was consequently dashed against an an-
chor and cut in twain; the old woman was drown-
ed, but the child was picked up some hours after-
wards clinging to the wreck. Pools of salt water
were still standing amidst the ruins of the houses,
and children, making boats with old tables and
chairs, appeared as happy as their parents were
miserable. It was, however, exceedingly interest-
ing to observe how much more active and cheerful
all appeared than could have been expected. It
was remarked with much truth, that from the de-
struction being universal, no one individual was
humbled more than another, or could suspect his
friends of coldness that most grievous result of
the loss of wealth. Mr. Rouse, and a large party
which he kindly took under his protection, lived
for the first week in a garden beneath some apple-
trees. At first they were as merry as if it had been
a picnic; but soon afterwards heavy rain caused
much discomfort, for they were absolutely without
shelter.
In Captain Fitz Roy's excellent account of the
earthquake, it is said that two explosions, one like
a column of smoke and another like the blowing of
a great whale, were seen in the bay. The water
also appeared everywhere to be boiling; and it
“became black, and exhaled a most disagreeable
sulphureous smell.” These latter circumstances
52
CONCEPCION.
were observed in the Bay of Valparaiso during the
earthquake of 1822 ; they may, I think, be account-
ed for by the disturbance of the mud at the bottom
of the sea containing organic matter in decay. In
the Bay of Callao, during a calm day, I noticed,
that as the ship dragged her cable over the bottom,
its course was marked by a line of bubbles. The
lower orders in Talcahuano thought that the earth-
quake was caused by some old Indian women, who,
two years ago, being offended, stopped the volcano
of Antuco. This silly belief is curious, because it
shows that experience has taught them to observe
that there exists a relation between the suppressed
action of the volcanoes and the trembling of the
ground. It was necessary to apply the witchcraft
to the point where their perception of cause and
effect failed, and this was the closing of the vol-
canic vent. This belief is the more singular in this
particular instance, because, according to Captain
Fitz Roy, there is reason to believe that Antuco
was noways affected.
The town of Concepcion was built in the usual
Spanish fashion, with all the streets running at
right angles to each other; one set ranging S.W.
by W., and the other set N.W. by N. The walls
in the former direction certainly stood better than
those in the latter: the greater number of the masses
of brickwork were thrown down towards the N.E.
Both these circumstances perfectly agree with the
general idea of the undulations having come from
the S.W., in which quarter subterranean noises
were also heard ; for it is evident that the walls
running S.W. and N.E., which presented their ends
to the point whence the undulations came, would
be much less likely to fall than those walls which,
running N.W. and S.E., must in their whole lengths
have been at the same instant thrown out of the
LINES OF VIBRATION.
53
perpendicular; for the undulations, coming from
the S.W.; must have extended in N.W. and S.E.
waves, as they passed under the foundations. This
may be illustiated by placing books edgeways on
a carpet, and then, after the manner suggested by
Michell, imitating the undulations of an earthquake:
it will be found that they fall with more or less
readiness, according as their direction more or less
nearly conincides with the line of the waves. The
fissures in the ground generally, though not uni-
formly, extended in a S.E. and N.W. direction,
and therefore corresponded to the lines of undula-
tion, or of principal flexure. Bearing in mind all
these circumstances, which so clearly point to the
S.W. as the chief focus of disturbance, it is a very
interesting fact that the island of S. Maria, situated
in that quarter, was, during the general uplifting
of the land, raised to nearly three times the height
of any other part of the coast.
· The different resistance offered by the walls, ac-
cording to their direction, was well exemplified in
the case of the Cathedral. The side which fronted
the N.E. presented a grand pile of ruins, in the
midst of which door-cases and masses of timber
stood up, as if floating in a stream. Some of the
angular blocks of brickwork were of great dimen-
sions, and they were rolled to a distance on the
level plaza, like fragments of rock at the base of
soine high mountain. The side walls (running
S.W. and N.E.), though exceedingly fractured, yet
remained standing; but the vast buttresses (at right.
angles to them, and therefore parallel to the walls
that fell) were in many cases cut clean off, as if by
a chisel, and hurled to the ground. Some square
ornaments, on the coping of these same walls, were
moved by the earthquake into a diagonal position.
A similar circumstance was observed after an earth-
E 2
54
CONCEPCION....
.
quake at Valparaiso, Calabria, and other places,
including some of the ancient Greek temples.*
This twisting displacement at first appears to indi-
cate a vorticose movement beneath each point thus.
affected; but this is highly improbable. May it
not be caused by a tendency in each stone to ar-
range itself in some particular position, with respect
to the lines of vibration, in a manner somewhat
similar to pins on a sheet of paper when shaken?
Generally speaking, arched doorways or windows
stood much better than any other part of the build-
ings. Nevertheless, a poor lame old man, who had
been in the habit, during trifling shocks, of crawl-
ing to a certain doorway, was this time crushed to
pieces. :. :
. I have not attempted to give any detailed de-
scription of the appearance of Concepcion, for I
feel that it is quite impossible to convey the min-
gled feelings which I experienced. Several of the
officers visited it before me, but their strongest lan-
guage failed to give a just idea of the scene of
desolation. It is a bitter and humiliating thing
to see works which have cost man so much time
and labour overthrown in one minute; yet com-
passion for the inhabitants was almost instantly
banished by the surprise in seeing a state of things
produced in a moment of time which one was ac-
customed to attribute to a succession of ages. In
my opinion, we have scarcely, beheld, since leaving
England, any sight so deeply interesting.
In almost every severe earthquake, the neigh-
bouring waters of the sea are said to have been
greatly agitated. The disturbance seems generally,
as in the case of Concepcion, to have been of two
A
* M. Arago in L'Institut, 1839, p. 337. See also Miers's Chile,
vol. i., p. 392; also Lyell's Principles of Geology, chap. xv.,
book ii.
CAUSE OF GREAT WAVE. 55
kinds: first, at the instant of the shock, the water
swells high up on the beach with a gentle motion,
and then as quietly retreats; secondly, some time
afterwards, the whole body of the sea retires from
the coast, and then returns in waves of overwhelm-
ing force. The first movement seems to be an
immediate consequence of the earthquake affecting
differently a fluid and a solid, so that their respect-
ive levels are slightly deranged: but the second
case is a far more important phenomenon. During
most earthquakes, and especially during those on
the west coast of America, it is certain that the first
great movement of the waters has been a retire-
ment. Some authors have attempted to explain
this by supposing that the water retains its level,
whilst the land oscillates upwards ; but surely the
water close to the land, even on a rather steep
coast, would partake of the motion of the bottom :
moreover, as urged by Mr. Lyell, similar move.
ments of the sea have occurred at islands far distant
from the chief line of disturbance, as was the case
with Juan Fernandez during this earthquake, and
with Madeira during the famous Lisbon shock. I
suspect (but the subject is a very obscure one) that
a wave, however produced, first draws the water
from the shore on which it is advancing to break:
I have observed that this happens with the little
waves from the paddles of a steamboat. It is re-
markable, that whilst Talcahuano and Callao (near
Lima), both situated at the head of large, shallow
bays, have suffered during every severe earthquake
from great waves, Valparaiso, seated close to the
edge of profoundly deep water, has never been
overwhelmed, though so often shaken by the seve-
rest shocks. From the great wave not immediately
following the earthquake, but sometimes after the
interval of even half an hour, and from distant isl-
56
CONNECTION OF THE ELEVATORY
ands being affected similarly with the coasts near
the focus of the disturbance, it appears that the
wave first rises in the offing; and as this is of gen-
eral occurrence, the cause must be general : I sus-
pect we must look to the line where the less dis-
turbed waters of the deep ocean join the water
nearer the coast, which has partaken of the move-
ments of the land, as the place where the great
wave is first generated; it would also appear that
the wave is larger or smaller according to the ex-
tent of shoal water which has been agitated, together
with the bottom on which it rested.
The most remarkable effect of this earthquake
was the permanent elevation of the land; it would
probably be far more correct to speak of it as the
cause. There can be no doubt that the land round
the Bay of Concepcion was upraised two or three
feet; but it deserves notice, that owing to the
wave having obliterated the old lines of tidal' action
on the sloping sandy shores, I could discover no
evidence of this fact, except in the united testimony
of the inhabitants, that one little rocky shoal, now
exposed, was formerly covered with water. At
the island of S. Maria (about thirty miles distant)
the elevation was. greater; on one part, Captain
Fitz Roy found beds of putrid muscle-shells still
adhering to the rocks, ten feet above high-water
mark : the inhabitants had formerly dived at low-
water spring-tides for these shells. The elevation
of this province is particularly interesting, from its
having been the theatre of several other violent
earthquakes, and from the vast numbers of sea-
shells scattered over the land, up to a height of
certainly 600, and, I believe, of 1000 feet. At Val-
paraiso, as I have remarked, similar shells are found
at the height of 1300 feet: it is hardly possible to
AND ERUPTIVE FORCES.
57
doubt that this great elevation has been effected by
successive small uprisings, such as that which ac-
companied or caused the earthquake of this year,
and likewise by an insensibly slow rise, which is
certainly in progress on some parts of this coast.
The island of Juan Fernandez, 360 miles to the
N.E., was, at the time of the great shock of the
20th, violently shaken, so that the trees beat against
each other, and a volcano burst forth under water
close to the shore : these facts are remarkable, be-
cause this island, during the earthquake of 1751,
was then also affected more violently than other
places at an equal distance from Concepcion, and
this seems to show some subterranean connection
between these two points. Chiloe, about 340 miles
southward of Concepcion, appears to have been
shaken more strongly than the intermediate district
of Valdivia, where the volcano of Villarica was
noways affected, whilst in the Cordillera in front
of Chiloe, two of the volcanoes burst forth at the
same instant in violent action. These two volca-
noes, and some neighbouring ones, continued for a
long time in eruption, and ten months afterwards
were again influenced by an earthquake at Concep-
cion. Some men, cutting wood near the base of
one of these volcanoes, did not perceive the shock
of the 20th, although the whole surrounding prov-
ince was then trembling; here we have an erup-
tion relieving and taking the place of an earth-
quake, as would have happened at Concepcion,
according to the belief of the lower orders, if the
volcano of Antuco had not been closed by witch-
craft. Two years and three quarters afterwards,
Valdivia and Chiloe were again shaken, more vio-
lently than on the 20th, and an island in the Chonos
Archipelago was permanently elevated more than
eight feet. It will give a better idea of the scale
58
CONCEPCION.
of these phenomena, if (as in the case of the gla-
ciers). we suppose them to have taken place at
corresponding distances in Europe : then would
the land from the North Sea to the Mediterranean
have been violently shaken, and at the same instant
of time a large tract of the eastern coast of Eng-
land would have been permanently elevated, to-
gether with some outlying islands; a train of volca-
noes on the coast of Holland would have burst
forth in action, and an eruption taken place at the
bottom of the sea, near the northern extremity of
Ireland; and, lastly, the ancient vents of Auvergne,
Cantal, and Mont d'Or would each have sent up
to the sky a dark column of smoke, and have long
remained in fierce action. Two years and three
quarters afterwards, France, from its centre to the
English Channel, would have been again desolated
by an earthquake, and an island permanently up-
raised in the Mediterranean.
The space from under which volcanic matter on
the 20th was actually erupted, is 720 miles in one
line, and 400 miles in another line at right angles
to the first : hence, in all probability, a subterra-
nean lake of lava is here stretched out, of nearly
double the area of the Black Sea. From the inti-
mate and complicated manner in which the eleva-
tory and eruptive forces were shown to be con-
nected during this train of phenomena, we may
confidently come to the conclusion that the forces
which slowly and by little starts uplift continents,
and those which at successive periods pour forth
volcanic matter from open orifices, are identical.
From many reasons, I believe that the frequent
quakings of the earth on this line of coast are
caused by the rending of the strata necessarily
consequent on the tension of the land when up-
raised and their injection by fluidified rock. This
CONCEPCION.
59
rending and injection would, if repeated often
enough (and we know that earthquakes repeatedly
affect the same areas in the same manner), form a
chain of hills; and the linear island of St. Mary,
which was upraised thrice the height of the neigh-
bouring country, seems to be undergoing this pro-
cess. I believe that the solid axis of a mountain
differs in its manner of formation from a volcanic
hill only in the molten stone having been repeat-
edly injected instead of having been repeatedly
ejected. Moreover, I believe that it is impossible
to explain the structure of great mountain-chains,
such as that of the Cordillera, where the strata,
capping the injected axis of Plutonic rock, have
been thrown on their edges along several parallel
and neighbouring lines of elevation, except on this
view of the rock of the axis having been repeatedly
injected, after intervals sufficiently long to allow
the upper parts or wedges to cool and become
solid; for if the strata had been thrown into their
present highly-inclined, vertical, and even inverted
positions by a single blow, the very bowels of the
earth would have gushed out; and instead of be-
holding abrupt mountain-axes of rock solidified
under great pressure, deluges of lava would have
flowed out at innumerable points on every line of
elevation.*
* For a full account of the volcanic phenomena which accom-
panied the earthquake of the 20th, and for the conclusions dedu-
cible from them, I must refer to volume v. of the Geological
Transactions.
60
PASSAGE OF THE CORDILLERA.
CHAPTER III.
Valparaiso-Portillo Pass-Sagacity of Mules-Mountain Tor-
rents--Mines, how discovered-Proofs of the gradual Elevation
of the Cordillera-Effect of Snow on Rocks-Geological Struc-
ture of the two main Ranges, their distinct Origin and Upheav-
al-Great Subsidence -- Red Snow - Winds - Pinnacles of
Snow-Dry and clear Atmosphere-Electricity-Pampas--Zo-
ology of the opposite sides of the Andes-Locusts-Great Bugs
-Mendoza-Uspallata Pass - Silicified Trees buried as they
grew--Incas' Bridge - Badness of the Passes exaggerated-
Cumbre-Casuchas-Valparaiso.
PASSAGE OF THE CORDILLERA...
March 7th, 1835.—We stayed three days at
Concepcion, and then sailed for Valparaiso. The
wind being northerly, we only reached the inouth
of the harbour of Concepcion before it was dark.
Being very near the land, and a fog coming on,
the anchor was dropped. Presently a large Ameri-
can whaler appeared close alongside of us, and
we heard the Yankee swearing at his men to keep
quiet whilst he listened for the breakers. Captain
Fitz Roy hailed him, in a loud, clear voice, to
anchor where he then was. The poor man must
have thought the voice came from the shore : such
a Babel of cries issued at once from the ship, every
one hallooing out,“ Let go the anchor! veer cable !
shorten sail!” It was the most laughable thing I
ever heard. If the ship's crew had been all cap
tains and no men, there could not have been a
greater uproar of orders. We afterwards found
that the mate stuttered : I suppose all hands were
assisting him in giving his orders.
On the 11th we anchored at Valparaiso, and two
days afterwards I set out to cross the Cordillera.
I proceeded to Santiago, where Mr. Caldcleugh
inost kindly assisted me in every possible way in
PORTILLO PASS.
61
making the little preparations which were neces-
sary. In this part of Chile there are two passes
across the Andes to Mendoza : the one most com-
monly used-namely, that of Aconcagua or Uspal-
lata--is situated some way to the north; the other,
called the Portillo, is to the south, and nearer, but
more lofty and dangerous.
March 18th.We set out for the Portillo pass.
Leaving Santiago, we crossed the wide burnt-up
plain on which that city stands, and in the after-
noon arrived at the Maypu, one of the principal
rivers in Chile. The valley, at the point where it
enters the first Cordillera, is bounded on each side
by lofty barren mountains; and although not broad,
it is very fertile. Numerous cottages were sur-
rounded by vines, and by orchards of apple, necta-
rine, and peach trees—their boughs breaking with
the weight of the beautiful ripe fruit. In the even-
ing we passed the custom-house, where our luggage
was examined. The frontier of Chile is better
guarded by the Cordillera than by the waters of
the sea. There are very few valleys which lead
to the central ranges, and the mountains are quite
impassable in other parts by beasts of burden.
The custom-house officers were very civil, which
was, perhaps, partly owing to the passport which
the President of the Republic had given me; but
I must express my admiration at the natural polite-
ness of almost every Chileno. In this instance,
the contrast with the same class of men in most
other countries was strongly marked. I may men-
tion an anecdote, with which I was, at the time,
much pleased : We met near Mendoza a little and
very fât negress, riding astride on a mule. She
had a goître so enormous that it was scarcely pos-
sible to avoid gazing at her for a moment; but my
two companions almost instantly, by way of apology,
II,
62
PORTILLO PASS.
made the common salute of the country by taking
off their hats. Where would one of the lower or
higher classes in Europe have shown such feeling
politeness to a poor and miserable object of a de-
graded race?
At night we slept at a cottage. Our manner of
travelling was delightfully independent. In the
inhabited parts we bought a little firewood, hired
pasture for the animals, and bivouacked in the cor-
ner of the same field with them. Carrying an iron
pot, we cooked and ate our supper under a cloud-
less sky, and knew no trouble. My companions
were Mariano Gonzales, who had formerly accom-
panied me in Chile, and an “arriero," with his ten
mules and a “madrina.” The madrina (or god-
mother) is a most important personage: she is an
old steady mare, with a little bell round her neck;
and wherever she goes, the mules, like good chil-
dren, follow her. The affection of these animals
for their madrinas saves infinite trouble. If several
large troops are turned into one field to graze, in
the morning the muleteers have only to lead the
madrinas a little apart, and tinkle their bells; and
although there may be two or three hundred to-
gether, each mule immediately knows the bell of
its own madrina, and comes to her. It is nearly
impossible to lose an old mule ; for if detained for
several hours by force, she will, by the power of
smell, like a dog, track out her companions, or
rather the madrina, for, according to the muleteer,
she is the chief object of affection. The feeling,
however, is not of an individual nature, for I be-
lieve I am right in saying that any animal with a
bell will serve as a madrina. In a troop, each ani-
mal carries, on a level road, a cargo weighing 416
pounds (more than 29 stone), but in a mountainous
country 100 pounds less; yet with what delicato
TERRACES OF SHINGLE.
63
slim limbs, without any proportional bulk of mus.
cle, these animals support so great a burden! The
mule always appears to me a most surprising ani-
mal. That .a hybrid should possess more reason,
memory, obstinacy, social affection, powers of mus-
cular endurance, and length of life, than either of
its parents, seems to indicate that art has here out-
done nature. Of our ten animals, six were in-
tended for riding, and four for carrying cargoes,
each taking turn about. We carried a good deal
of food, in case. we should be snowed up, as the
season was rather late for passing the Portillo.
March 19th. -We rode during this day to the
last, and, therefore, most elevated house in the val-
ley. The number of inhabitants became scanty ;
but wherever water could be brought on the land,
it was very fertile. All the main valleys in the
Cordillera are characterized by having, on both
sides, a fringe or terrace of shingle and sand, rudely
stratified, and generally of considerable thickness.
These fringes evidently once extended across the
valleys, and were united ; and the bottoms of the
valleys in northern Chile, where there are no
streams, are thus smoothly filled up. On these
fringes the roads are generally carried, for their
surfaces are even, and they rise with a very gentle
slope up the valleys : hence, also, they are easily
cultivated by irrigation. They may be traced up
to a height of between 7000 and 9000 feet, where
they become hidden by the irregular piles of de-
bris. At the lower end or mouths of the valleys,
they are continuously united to those land-locked
plains (also formed of shingle) at the foot of the
main Cordillera, which I have described in a for-
mer chapter as characteristic of the scenery of
Chile, and which were undoubtedly deposited
when the sea penetrated Chile, as it now does the
64
PORTILLO PASS.
more southern coasts. No one fact in the geology
of South America interested me more than these
terraces of rudely-stratified shingle. They pre-
cisely resemble in composition the matter which
the torrents in each valley would deposit if they
were checked in their course by any cause, such
as entering a lake or arm of the sea; but the tor-
rents, iristead of depositing matter, are now steadily
at work wearing away both the solid rock and
these alluvial deposits along the whole line of
every main valley and side valley. It is impossi-
ble here to give the reasons, but I am convinced
that the shingle terraces were accumulated, during
the gradual elevation of the Cordillera, by the tor-
rents delivering, at successive levels, their detri-
tus on the beach-heads of long, narrow arms of the
sea, first high up the valleys, then lower and lower
down, as the land slowly rose. If this be so, and I
cannot doubt it, the grand and broken chain of the
Cordillera, instead of having been suddenly thrown
up, as was till lately the universal, and still is the
common opinion of geologists, has been slowly up-
heaved in mass, in the same gradual manner as
the coasts of the Atlantic and Pacific have risen
within the recent period. A multitude of facts in
the structure of the Cordillera, on this view receive
a simple explanation.
The rivers which flow in these valleys ought
rather to be called mountain-torrents. Their in-
clination is very great, and their water the colour
of mud. The roar which the Maypu made, as it
rushed over the great rounded fragments, was like
that of the sea. Amidst the din of rushing waters,
the noise from the stones, as they rattled one over
another, was most distinctly audible even from a
distance. This rattling noise, night and day, may
be heard along the whole course of the torrent.
TORRENTS OF THE CORDILLERA.
65
The sound spoke eloquently to the geologist; the
thousands and thousands of stones, which, striking
against each other, made the one dull, uniform
sound, were all hurrying in one direction. It was
like thinking on time, where the minute that now
glides past is irrecoverable. So was it with these
stones ; the ocean is their eternity, and each note
of that wild music told of one more step towards
their destiny.
It is not possible for the mind to comprehend,
except by a slow process, any effect which is pro-
duced by a cause repeated so often, that the mul-
tiplier itself conveys an idea not more definite
than the savage implies when he points to the
hairs of his head. As often as I have seen beds
of mud, sand, and shingle accumulated to the
thickness of many thousand feet, I have felt in-
clined to exclaim that causes, such as the present
rivers and the present beaches, could never have
ground down and produced such masses. · But, on
the other hand, when listening to the rattling noise
of these torrents, and calling to mind that whole
races of animals have passed away fiom the face.
of the earth, and that during this whole period,
night and day, these stones have gone rattling on-
wards in their course, I have thought to myself,
can any mountains, any continent, withstand such
waste ?
In this part of the valley the mountains on each
side were from 3000 to 6000 or 8000 feet high,
with rounded outlines and steep bare flanks. The
general colour of the rock was dullish purple, and
the stratification very distinct. If the scenery was
not beautiful, it was remarkable and grand. We
met during the day several herds of cattle, which
men were driving down from the higher valleys in
the Cordillera. This sign of the approaching win-
IT.
66
PORTILLO PASS.
ter hurried our steps more than was convenient
for geologizing. The house where we slept was
situated at the foot of a mountain, on the summit
of which are the mines of S. Pedro de Nolasko.
Sir F: Head marvels how mines have been dis-
covered in such extraordinary situations as the
bleak summit of the mountain of S. Pedro de No-
lasko. In the first place, metallic veins in this
country are generally harder than the surrounding
strata : hence, during the gradual wear of the hills,
they project above the surface of the ground.
Secondly, almost every labourer, especially in the
northern parts of Chile, understands something
about the appearance of ores. In the great mining
provinces of Coquimbo and Copiapó, firewood is
very scarce, and men search for it over every hill
and dale; and by this means nearly all the richest
inines have there been discovered. Chanuncillo,
from which silver to the value of many hundred
thousand pounds has been raised in the course of
a few years, was discovered by a man who threw
a stone at his loaded donkey, and thinking that it
was very heavy, he picked it up, and found it full
of pure silver : the vein occurred at no great dis-
tance, standing up like a wedge of metal. The
miners, also, taking a crowbar with them, often
wander on Sundays over the mountains. In this
south part of Chile, the men who drive cattle into
the Cordillera, and who frequent every ravine
where there is a little pasture, are the usual dis-
coverers.
20th. As we ascended the valley, the vegeta-
tion, with the exception of a few pretty alpine
flowers, became exceedingly scanty; and of quad-
rupeds, birds, or insects, scarcely one could be
seen. The lofty mountains, their summits marked
with a few patches of snow, stood well separated
SCENERY OF TIIE ANDES.
67
.
from each other, the valleys being filled up with
an immense thickness of stratified alluvium. The
features in the scenery of the Andes which struck
me most, as contrasted with the other mountain
chains with which I am acquainted, were, the flat
fringes sometimes expanding into narrow plains
on each side of the valleys; the bright colours,
chiefly red and purple, of the utterly bare and
precipitous hills of porphyry; the grand and con-
tinuous wall-like dikes; the plainly-divided strata,
which, where nearly vertical, formed the pictu-
resque and wild central pinnacles, but where less
inclined, composed the great massive mountains on
the outskirts of the range; and, lastly, the smooth
conical piles of fine and brightly-coloured detritus,
which sloped up at a high angle from the base of
the mountains, sometimes to a height of more than
2000 feet.
I frequently observed, both in Tierra del Fuego
and within the Andes, that where the rock was
covered during the greater part of the year with
snow, it was shivered in a very extraordinary man-
ner into small angular fragments. Scoresby* has
observed the same fact in Spitzbergen. The case.
appears to me rather obscure; for that part of the
mountain which is protected by a mantle of snow
must be less subject to repeated and great chan-
ges of temperature than any other part. I have
sometimes thought that the earth and fragments of
stone on the surface were perhaps less effectually
removed by slowly peroolating snow-watert than
* Scoresby's Arctic Regions, vol. i., p. 122.
t I have heard it remarked in Shropshire, that the water, when
the Severn is flooded from long-continued rain, is much more tur-
bid than when it proceeds froin the snow melting on the Welsh
mountains. D'Orbigny (tom. i., p. 184.), in explaining the cause
of the various colours of the rivers in South America, remarks
that those with blue or clear water have their source in the Cor-
dillera, where the snow melts.
68
PORTILLO PASS.
by rain, and therefore that the appearance of a
quicker disintegration of the solid rock under the
snow was deceptive. Whatever the cause may
be, the quantity of crumbling stone on the Cordil-
Jera is very great. Occasionally in the spring
great masses of this detritus slide down the mount-
ains, and cover the snow-drifts in the valleys, thus
forming natural ice-houses. We rode over one,
the height of which was far below the limit of
perpetual snow.
As the evening drew to a close, we reached a
singular basin-like plain, called the Valle del Yeso.
It was covered by a little dry pasture, and we had
the pleasant sight of a herd of cattle amidst the sur-
rounding rocky deserts. The valley takes its name
of Yeso from a great bed, I should think at least 2000
feet thick, of white, and, in some parts, quite pure
gypsum. We slept with a party of men who were
employed in loading mules with this substance,
which is used in the manufacture of wine. We set
out early in the morning (21st), and continued to
follow the course of the river, which had become
very small, till we arrived at the foot of the ridge
that separates the waters flowing into the Pacific
and Atlantic Oceans. The road, which as yet had
been good, with a steady but very gradual ascent,
now changed into a steep zigzag track up the great
range, dividing the republics of Chile and Men-
doza.
I will here give a very brief sketch of the geol-
ogy of the several parallel lines forming the Cor-
dillera. Of these lines there are two considerably
higher than the others, namely, on the Chilian
side, the Peuquenes ridge, which, where the road
crosses it, is 13,210 feet above the sea; and the Por-
tillo ridge, on the Mendoza side, which is 14,305
feet. The lower beds of the Peuquenes ridge, and
GEOLOGY OF THE CORDILLERA. :
69
of the several great lines to the westward of it, are
composed of a vast pile, many thousand feet in
thickness, of porphyries which have flowed as sub-
marine lavas, alternating with angular and rounded
fragments of the same rocks, thrown out of the sub-
marine craters. These alternating masses are cov-
ered in the central parts by a great thickness of red
sandstone, conglomerate, and calcareous clay-slate,
associated with, and passing into, prodigious beds
of gypsum. In these upper beds shells are tolera-
bly frequent, and they belong to about the period
of the lower chalk of Europe. It is an old story,
but not the less wonderful, to hear of shells which
were once crawling on the bottom of the sea now
standing nearly 14,000 feet above its level. The
lower beds in this great pile of strata have been
dislocated, baked, crystallized, and almost blended
together, through the agency of mountain masses
of a peculiar white soda-granitic rock. .
The other main line, namely, that of the Portil-
lo, is of a totally different formation: it consists.
chiefly of grand, bare pinnacles of red potash-gran-
ite, which low down .on the western flank are cov-
ered by a sandstone, converted by the former heat
into a quartz rock. On the quartz there rest beds
of a conglomerate several thousand feet in thick-
ness, which have been upheaved by the red gran-
ite, and dip at an angle of 450 towards the Peu-
quenes line. I was astonished to find that this con-
glomerate was partly composed of pebbles, derived
from the rocks, with their fossil shells, of the Peu-
quenes range, and partly of red potash-granite,
like that of the Portillo. Hence we must con-
clude that both the Peuquenes and Portillo ranges
were partially upheaved and exposed to wear and
tear when the conglomerate was forming; but as
the beds of the conglomerate have been thrown
70
GEOLOGY OF THE CORDILLERA.
off at an angle of 450 by the red Portillo granite
(with the underlying sandstone baked by it), we
may feel sure that the greater part of the injection
and upheaval of the already partially-formed Por-
tillo line took place after the accumulation of the
conglomerate, and long after the elevation of the
Peuquenes ridge; so that the Portillo, the loftiest
line in this part of the Cordillera, is not so old as
the less lofty line of the Peuquenes. Evidence
derived from an inclined stream of lava at the east-
ern base of the Portillo might be adduced to show
that it owes part of its great height to elevations of
a still later date. Looking to its earliest origin,
the red granite seems to have been injected on an
ancient pre-existing line of white granite and mica-
slate. In most parts, perhaps in all parts of the
Cordillera, it may be concluded that each line has
been formed by repeated upheavals and injections,
and that the several parallel lines are of different
ages. Only thus can we gain time at all sufficient
to explain the truly astonishing amount of denu-
dation which these great, though, comparatively,
with most other ranges, recent mountains have suf-
fered.
Finally, the shells in the Peuquenes or oldest
ridge prove, as before remarked, that it has been
upraised 14,000 feet since a Secondary period,
which in Europe we are accustomed to consider as
far from ancient; but since these shells lived in a
moderately deep sea, it can be shown that the area
now occupied by the Cordillera must have subsi-
ded several thousand feet-in northern Chile as
much as 6000 feet-so as to have allowed that
amount of submarine strata to have been heaped
on the bed on which the shells lived. The proof
is the same with that by which it was shown, that
at a much later period since the tertiary shells of
GEOLOGY OF THE CORDILLERA.
71
Patagonia lived, there must have been there a sub-
sidence of several hundred feet, as well as an en-
suing elevation. Daily it is forced home on the
mind of the geologist, that nothing, not even the
wind that blows, is so unstable as the level of the
crust of this earth.
I will make only one other geological remark:
although the Portillo chain is here higher than the
Peuquenes, the waters, draining the intermediate
valleys, have burst through it. The same fact, on
a grander scale, has been remarked in the eastern
and loftiest line of the Bolivian Cordillera, through
which the rivers pass: analogous facts have also
been observed in other quarters of the world. On
the supposition of the subsequent and gradual ele-
vation of the Portillo line, this can be understood;
for a chain of islets would at first appear, and, as
these were lifted up, the tides would be always
wearing deeper and broader channels between
them. At the present day, even in the most re-
tired sounds on the coast of Tierra del Fuego, the
currents in the transverse breaks which connect
the longitudinal channels are very strong, so that
in one transverse channel even a small vessel un-
der sail was whirled round and round.
About noon we began the tedious ascent of the
Peuquenes ridge, and then for the first time experi-
enced some little difficulty in our respiration. The
mules would halt every fifty yards, and after resting
for a few seconds the poor willing animals started
of their own accord again. The short breathing
from the rarefied atmosphere is called by the Chi-
lenos “puna ;” and they have most ridiculous no-
tions concerning its origin. Some say, "all the
waters here have puna;'' others, that " where there
is snow. there is puna ;” and this, no doubt, is true.
72
PORTILLO PASS.
The only sensation I experienced was a slight tight-
ness across the head and chest, like that felt on
leaving a warm room and running quickly in frosty
weather. There was some imagination even in
this; for upon finding fossil shells on the highest
ridge, I entirely forgot the puna in my delight,
Certainly the exertion of walking was extremely
great, and the respiration became deep and labo-
rious: I am told that in Potosi (about 13,000 feet
above the sea) strangers do not become thoroughly
accustomed to the atmosphere for an entire year.
The inhabitants all recommend onions for the puna;
as this vegetable has sometimes been given in Eu-
rope for pectoral complaints, it may possibly be of
real service : for my part, I found nothing so good
as the fossil shells !
When about half way up we met a large party
with seventy loaded mules. It was interesting to
hear the wild cries of the muleteers, and to watch
the long descending string of the animals; they
appeared so diminutive, there being nothing but
the bleak mountains with which they could be com-
pared. When near the summit, the wind, as gen-
erally happens, was impetuous and extremely cold.
On each side of the ridge we had to pass over broad
bands of perpetual snow, which were now soon to
be covered by a fresh layer. When we reached
the crest and looked backwards, a glorious view
was presented. The atmosphere resplendently.
clear; the sky an intense blue; the profound val-
leys; the wild, broken forms; the heaps of ruins,
piled up during the lapse of ages; the bright-col-
oured rocks, contrasted with the quiet mountains
of snow-all these together produced a scene no
one could have imagined. Neither plant nor bird,
excepting a few condors wheeling around the high-
er pinnacles, distracted my attention from the in-
RED SNOW.
animate mass. I felt glad that I was alone : it
was like watching a thunder-storm, or hearing in
full orchestra a chorus of the Messiah.
On several patches of the snow I found the Pro-
tococcus nivalis, or red snow, so well known from
the accounts of Arctic navigators. My attention
was called to it by observing the footsteps of the
mules stained a pale red, as if their hoofs had been
slightly bloody." I at first thought that it was ow-
ing to dust blown from the surrounding mountains
of red porphyry; for, from the magnifying power
of the crystals of snow, the groups of these mi-
croscopical plants appeared like coarse particles.
The snow was coloured only where it had thaw-
ed very rapidly, or had been accidentally crushed.
A little rubbed on paper gave it a faint rose tinge
mingled with a little brick-red. I afterwards
scraped some off the paper, and found that it con-
sisted of groups of little spheres in colourless cases,
each the thousandth part of an inch in diameter.
The wind on the crest of the Peuquenes, as just
remarked, is generally impetuous and very cold :
it is said* to blow steadily from the westward or
Pacific side. As the observations have been chief-
ly made in summer, this wind must be an upper
and return current. The Peak of Teneriffe, with
a less elevation, and situated in lat. 28°, in like
manner falls within an upper return stream. At
first it appears rather surprising that the trade-
wind along the northern parts of Chile and on the
coast of Peru should blow in so very southerly a
direction as it does; but when we reflect that the
Cordillera, running in a north and south line, inter-
cepts, like a great wall, the entire depth of the
lower atmospheric current, we can easily see that
* Dr. Gillies, in Journ. of Nat. and Geograph. Science, Aug,
1830. This author gives the heights of the Passes.
II.-G
74
PORTILLO PASS.
the trade-wind must be drawn northward, follow-
ing the line of mountains, towards the equatorial
regions, and thus lose part of that easterly move-
ment which it otherwise would have gained from
the earth's rotation. At Mendoza, on the eastern
foot of the Andes, the climate is said to be subject
to long calms, and to frequent though false appear-
ances of gathering rain-storms : we may imagine
that the wind, which, coming from the eastward, is
thus banked up by the line of mountains, would
become stagnant and irregular in its movements.
Having crossed the Peuquenes, we descended
into a mountainous country, intermediate between
the two main ranges, and then took up our quar-
ters for the night. We were now in the republic
of Mendoza. The elevation was probably not un-
der 11,000 feet, and the vegetation, in consequence,
exceedingly scanty. The root of a small scrubby
plant served as fuel, but it made a miserable fire,
and the wind was piercingly cold. Being quite
tired with my day's work, I made up my bed as
quickly as I could, and went to sleep. * About mid-
night I observed the sky became suddenly clouded:
I awakened the arriero to know if there was any
danger of bad weather ; but he said that without
thunder and lightning there was no risk of a heavy
snow-storm. The peril is imminent, and the diffi-
culty of subsequent escape great, to any one over-
taken by bad weather between the two ranges. A
certain cave offers the only place of refuge : Mr.
Caldcleugh, who crossed on this same day of the
month, was detained there for some time by a heavy
fall of snow. Casuchas, or houses of refuge, have
not been built in this pass as in that of Uspallata,
and therefore, during the autumn, the Portillo is
little frequented. I may here remark, that within
the main Cordillera rain never falls, for during the
NO POTATOES FOR BREAKFAST.
75
summer the sky is cloudless, and in winter snow-
storms alone occur..
. At the place where we slept water necessarily
boiled, from the diminished pressure of the atmo-
sphere, at a lower temperature than it does in a
less lofty country; the case being the converse of
that of a Papin's digester. Hence the potatoes,
after remaining for some hours in the boiling water,
were nearly as hard as ever. The pot was left on
the fire all night, and next morning it was boiled
again, but yet the potatoes were not cooked. I
found out this by overhearing my two companions
discussing the cause: they had come to the simple
conclusion “that the cursed pot (which was a new
one) did not choose to boil potatoes.”
· March 22d.-After eating our potato-less break-
fast, we travelled across the intermediate tract to
the foot of the Portillo range. In the middle of
summer cattle are brought up here to graze; but
they had now all been removed: even the greater
number of the guanacos had decamped, knowing
well that if overtaken here by a snow-storm they
would be caught in a trap. We had a fine view
of a mass of mountains called Tupungato, the whole
clothed with unbroken snow, in the midst of which
there was a blue patch, no doubt a glacier—a cir-
cumstance of rare occurrence in these mountains.
Now commenced a heavy and long climb, similar
to that up the Peuquenes. Bold, conical hills of
red granite rose on each hand; in the valleys there
were several broad fields of perpetual snow. These
frozen masses, during the process of thawing, had
in some parts been converted into pinnacles or col-
umns,* which, as they were high and close together,
* This structure in frozen snow was long since observed by
Scoresby, in the icebergs near Spitzbergen, and lately, with more
care, by Colonel Jackson (Journ. of Geograph. Soc., vol. v., p.
12) on the Neva. Mr. Lyell (Principles, vol. iv., p. 360) has com
76
PORTILLO PASS.
made it difficult for the cargo mules to pass. On
one of these columns of ice a frozen horse was
sticking as on a pedestal, but with its hind legs
straight up in the air. The animal, I suppose, must
have fallen with its head downward into a hole
when the snow was continuous, and afterwards the
surrounding parts must have been removed by the
thaw.
When nearly on the crest of the Portillo, we
were enveloped in a falling cloud of minute frozen
spicula. This was very unfortunate, as it contin-
ued the whole day, and quite intercepted our view.
The pass takes its name of Portillo from a narrow
cleft or doorway on the highest ridge, through
which the road passes. From this point, on a clear
day, those vast plains, which uninterruptedly ex-
tend to the Atlantic Ocean, can be seen. We
descended to the upper limit of vegetation, and
found good quarters for the night under the shelter
of some large fragments of rock. We met here
some passengers, who made anxious inquiries about
the state of the road. Shortly after it was dark
the clouds suddenly cleared away, and the effect
was quite magical. The great mountains, bright
with the full moon, seemed impending over us on
all sides, as over a deep crevice : one morning,
very early, I witnessed the same striking effect.
As soon as the clouds were dispersed it froze se-
verely; but as there was no wind, we slept very
comfortably.
The increased brilliancy of the moon and stars
at this elevation, owing to the perfect transparency
pared the fissures, by which the columnar structures seems to be
determined, to the joints that traverse nearly all rocks, but which
are best seen in the non-stratified masses. I may observe, that
in the case of the frozen snow the columnar structure must be
owing to a “metamorphic action, and not to a procoss during
deposition.
DRY AND CLEAR ATMOSPHERE.
*77
of the atmosphere, was very remarkable. Trav-
ellers having observed the difficulty of judging
heights and distances amidst lofty mountains, have
generally attributed it to the absence of objects of
comparison. It appears to me that-it is fully as
much owing to the transparency of the air con-
founding objects at different distances, and like-
wise partly to the novelty of an unusual degree of
fatigue arising from a little exertion, habit being
thus opposed to the evidence of the senses. I am
sure that this extreme clearness of the air gives a
peculiar character to the landscape, all objects ap-
pearing to be brought nearly into one plane, as in
a drawing or panorama. The transparency is, I
presume, owing to the equable and high state of
atmospheric dryness. This dryness was shown by
the manner in which woodwork shrank (as I soon
found by the trouble my geological hammer gave
me); by articles of food, such as bread and sugar,
becoming extremely hard ; and by the preservation
of the skin and parts of the flesh of the beasts
which had perished on the road. To the same
cause we must attribute the singular facility with
which electricity is excited. My flannel waistcoat,
when rubbed in the dark, appeared as if it had
been washed with phosphorus ; every hair on a
dog's back crackled; even the linen sheets, and
leathern straps of the saddle, when handled, emit-
ted sparks.
March 23d.—The descent on the eastern side
of the Cordillera is much shorter or steeper than
on the Pacific side; in other words, the mountains
rise more abruptly from the plains than from the
alpine country of Chile. A level and brilliantly
white sea of clouds was stretched out beneath our
feet, shutting out the view of the equally level Pam-
pas. We soon entered the band of clouds, and did
G2
178
not again emerge from it that day. About noon,
finding pasture for the animals and bushes for fire-
wood at Los Arenales, we stopped for the night.
This was near the uppermost limit of bushes, and
eight thousand feet.
I was much struck with the marked difference
between the vegetation of these eastern valleys and
those on the Chilian side; yet the climate, as well
as the kind of soil, is nearly the same, and the dif-
ference of longitude very trifling. The same re-
mark holds good with the quadrupeds, and, in a
lesser degree, with the birds and insects. I may
instance the mice, of which I obtained thirteen
species on the shores of the Atlantic, and five on
the Pacific, and not one of them is identical. We
must except all those species which habitually or
occasionally frequent elevated mountains, and cer-
tain birds which range as far south as the Strait of
Magellan. This fact is in perfect accordance with.
the geological history of the Andes; for these
mountains have existed as a great barrier since
the present races of animals have appeared, and
therefore, unless we suppose the same species to
have been created in two different places, we ought
not to expect any closer similarity between the or-
ganic beings on the opposite sides of the Andes
than on the opposite shores of the ocean. In both
which have been able to cross the barrier, whether
of solid rock or salt water.*
A great number of the plants and animals were
* This is merely an illustration of the admirable laws, first laid
down by My. Lyell, on the geographical distribution of animals,
as influenced by geological changes. The whole reasoning, of
course, is founded on the assumption of the immutability of spe-
cies; otherwise the difference in the species in the two regions
might be considered as superinduced during a length of time.
VIEW OF THE PAMPAS.
79
absolutely the same as, or most closely allied to,
those of Patagonia. We here have the agouti, biz-
cacha, three species of armadillo, the ostrich, cer-
tain kinds of partridges, and other birds, none of
which are ever seen in Chile, but are the charac-
teristic animals of the desert plains of Patagonia.
We have likewise many of the same (to the eyes
of a person who is not a botanist) thorny, stunted
bushes, withered grass, and dwarf plants. Even
the black, slowly-crawling beetles are closely sim-
ilar, and some, I believe, on rigorous examination,
absolutely identical. It had always been to me a
subject of regret that we were unavoidably com-
pelled to give up the ascent of the Santa Cruz river
before reaching the mountains : I always had a la-
tent hope of meeting with some great change in the
features of the country, but I now feel sure that it
would only have been following the plains of Pat-
agonia up a mountainous ascent.
March 24th. -Early in the morning I climbed up
a mountain on one side of the valley, and enjoyed
a far extended view over the Pampas. -.. This was
a spectacle to which I had always looked forward
with interest, but I was disappointed : at the first
glance it much resembled a distant view of the
ocean, but in the northern parts many irregulari-
ties were soon distinguishable. The most striking
feature consisted in the rivers, which, facing the
rising sun, glittered like silver threads till lost in
the immensity of the distance. At midday we de-
scended the valley and reached a hovel, where an
officer and three soldiers were posted to examine
passports. One of these men was a thorough-bred
Pampas Indian: he was kept much for the same
purpose as a bloodhound, to track out any person
who might pass by, secretly, either on foot or horse-
back. Some years ago a passenger endeavoured
80
· PORTILLO PASS.
to escape detection by making a long circuit over
a neighbouring mountain; but this Indian, having
by chance crossed his track, followed it for the
whole day, over dry and very stony hills, till at last
he came on his prey hidden in a gully. We here
heard that the silvery clouds which we had ad-
mired from the bright region above had poured
down torrents of rain. The valley from this point
gradually opened, and the hills became mere water-
worn hillocks compared to the giants behind : it
then expanded into a gently-sloping plain of shin-
gle, covered with low trees and bushes. This talus,
although appearing narrow,must be nearly ten miles
wide before it blends into the apparently dead-level
Pampas. We passed the only house in this neigh-
bourhood, the Èstancia of Chaquaio, and at sunset
pulled up in the first snug corner, and there bivou-
acked.
March 25th. I was reminded of the Pampas of
Buenos Ayres by seeing the disk of the rising sun
intersected by a horizon level as that of the ocean.
During the night a heavy dew fell, à circumstance
which we did not experience within the Cordil-
lera. The road proceeded for some distance due
east across a low swamp; then meeting the dry plain,
it turned to the north towards Mendoza. The dis-
tance is two very long days' journey. Our first day's
journey was called fourteen leagues to Estacado,
and the second seventeen to Luxan, near Mendoza.
The whole distance is over a level desert plain,
with not more than two or three houses. The sun
was exceedingly powerful, and the ride devoid of
all interest. There is very little water in this “tra-
versia,” and in our second day's journey we found
only one little pool. Little water flows from the
mountains, and it soon becomes absorbed by the dry
and porous soil; so that, although we travelled at
SWARM OF LQÇUSTS.
.8.1
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 in-
crusted with a saline efflorescence; hence we had
the same salt-loving plants which are common near
Bahia Blanca. The landscape has a uniform char-
acter from the Strait of Magellan along the whole
eastern coast of Patagonia to the Rio Colorado ;
and it appears that the same kind of country ex-
tends inland from this river in a sweeping line as
far as San Luis, and perhaps even further north.
To the eastward of this curved line lies the basin
of the comparatively damp and green plains of
Buenos Ayres. The sterile plains of Mendoza and
Patagonia consist of a bed of shingle, worn smooth
and accumulated by the waves of the sea, while
the Pampas, covered by thistles, clover, and grass,
have been formed hy the ancient estuary mud of
the Plata.
After our two day's tedious journey, it was re-
freshing to see in the distance rows of poplars and
willows growing round the village and river of Lux-
an. Shortly before arriving at this place we obsery-
ed to the south a ragged cloud of a dark, reddish-
brown colour. At first we thought that it was
smoke from some great fire on the plains; but we
soon found that it was a swarm of locusts. They
were flying northward; and, with the aid of a light
breeze, they overtook us at the rate. of ten or fifteen
miles an hour. The main body filled the air from
a height of twenty feet, to that, as it appeared, of
two or three thousand above the ground; " and the
sound of their wings was as the sound of chariots of
many horses running to battle :" or rather, I should
say, like a strong breeze.passing through the rig-
ging of a ship. The sky, seen through the advanced
guard, appeared like a mezzotinto engraving, but
11.
82
MENDOZA.
the main body was impervious to sight; they were
not, however, so thick together but that they could
escape a stick waved backwards and forwards.
When they alighted, they were more numerous
than the leaves in the field, and the surface became
reddish instead of being green: the swarm having
once alighted, the individuals flew from side to side
in all directions. Locusts are not an uncommon
pest in this country : already, during this season,
several smaller swarms had come up from the
south, where, as apparently in all other parts of the
world, they are bred in the deserts. The poor cot-
tagers in vain attempted, by lighting fires, by shouts,
and by waving branches, to avert the attack. This
species of locust closely resembles, and perhaps is
identical with, the famous Gryllus migratorius of
the East.
We crossed the Luxan, which is a river of con-
siderable size, though its course towards the sea-
coast is very imperfectly known: it is even doubt-
ful whether, in passing over the plains, it is not
evaporated and lost. We slept in the village of
Luxan, which is a small place surrounded by gar-
dens, and forms the most southern cultivated dis-
trict in the Province of Mendoza : it is five leagues
south of the capital. At night I experienced an
attack (for it deserves no less a name) of the Ben-
chuca, a species of Reduvius, the great black bug
of the Pampas. It is most disgusting to feel soft,
wingless insects, about an inch long, crawling over
one's body. Before sucking, they are quite thin,
but afterwards they become round and bloated
with blood, and in this state are easily crushed.
One which I caught at Iquique (for they are found
in Chile and Peru) was very empty. When placed
on a table, and though surrounded by people, if a
finger was presented, the bold insect would imme-
MENDOZA
83
diately protrude its sucker, make a charge, and, if
allowed, draw blood. No pain was caused by the
wound. It was curious to watch its body during
the act of sucking, as in less than ten minutes it
changed from being as flat as a wafer to a globular
form. This one feast, for which the benchuca was
indebted to one of the officers, kept it fat during
four whole months ; but, after the first fortnight, it
was quite ready to have another suck.
March 27th. -We rode on to Mendoza. The
country was beautifully cultivated, and resembled
Chile. This neighbourhood is celebrated for its
fruit; and certainly, nothing could appear more
flourishing than the vineyards and the orchards of
.figs, peaches, and olives. We bought water-mel-
ons nearly twice as large as a man's head, most
deliciously cool and well-flavoured, for a halfpenny
apiece; and for the value of three pence half a
wheelbarrowful of peaches. The cultivated and
enclosed part of this province is very small; there
is little more than that which we passed through
between Luxan and the capital. The land, as in
Chile, owes its fertility entirely to artificial irriga-
tion; and it is really wonderful to observe how ex
traordinarily productive a barren traversia is thus
rendered.
We stayed the ensuing day in Mendoza. The
prosperity of the place has much declined of late
years. The inhabitants say, “it is good to live in,
but very bad to grow rich in.” The lower orders
have the lounging, reckless manners of the Gauchos
of the Pampas; and their dress, riding-gear, and
habits of life are nearly the same. To my mind,
the town had a stupid, forlorn aspect. Neither the
boasted alameda, nor the scenery, is at all compara-
ble with that of Santiago; but to those who, coming
from Buenos Ayres, have just crossed the unyaried
: 84
USPALLATA PASS.
Pampas, the gardens and orchards must appear de-
lightful. Sir F. Head, speaking of the inhabitants,
says, “ They eat their dinners, and it is so very hot,
they go to sleep-and could they do better?" I
quite agree with Sir F. Head : the happy doom of
the Mendozinos is to eat, sleep, and be idle.
March 29th. We set out on our return to
Chile by the Uspallata pass, situated north of Men-
doza. We had to cross a long and most sterile
traversia of fifteen leagues. The soil in parts was
absolutely bare, in others covered by numberless
dwarf cacti, armed with formidable spines, and
called by the inhabitants - little lions.” There
were also a few low bushes. Although the plain
is nearly three thousand feet above the sea, the sun
was very powerful; and the heat, as well as the
clouds of impalpable dust, rendered the travelling
extremely irksome. Our course during the day lay
nearly parallel to the Cordillera, but gradually ap-
proaching them. Before sunset we entered one of
the wide valleys, or rather bays, which open on the
plain : this soon narrowed into a ravine, where, a
little higher up, the house of Villa Vicencio is situ-
ated. As we had ridden all day without a drop of
water, both our mules and selves were very thirsty,
and we looked out anxiously for the stream which
flows down this valley. It was curious to observe
how gradually the water made its appearance: on
the plain the course was quite dry; by degrees it
became a little damper; then puddles of water ap-
peared; these soon became connected; and at Villa
Vicencio there was a nice little rivulet.
30th. The solitary hovel which bears the im-
posing name of Villa Vicencio has been mentioned
by every traveller who has crossed the Andes. I
stayed here and at some neighbouring mines during
SILICIFIED TRE ÉS.
85
the two succeeding days. The geology of the sur-
rounding country is very curious. The Uspallata
range is separated from the main Cordillera by a
long, narrow plain or basin, like those so often
mentioned in Chile, but higher, being six thousand
feet above the sea. This range has nearly the same
geographical position with respect to the Cordillera
which the gigantic Portillo line has, but it is of a
totally different origin : it consists of various kinds
of submarine lava, alternating with volcanic sand-
stones and other remarkable sedimentary deposits,
the whole having a very close resemblance to some
of the tertiary beds on the shores of the Pacific.
From this resemblance, I expected to find silicified
wood, which is generally characteristic of those for-
mations. I was gratified in a very extraordinary
manner. In the central part of the range, at an
elevation of about seven thousand feet, I observed
on a bare slope some snow-white projecting col-
umns. These were petrified trees, eleven being
silicified, and from thirty to forty converted into
coarsely-crystallized white calcareous spar. They
were abruptly broken off, the upright stumps pro-
jecting a few feet above the ground. The trunks
measured from three to five feet each in circumfer-
ence. They stood a little way apart from each
other, but the whole formed one group. Mr. Rob-
ert Brown has been kind enough to examine the
wood : he says it belongs to the fir tribe, partaking
of the character of the Araucarian family, but with
some curious points of affinity with the yew. . The
volcanic sandstone in which the trees were embed-
ded, and from the lower part of which they must
have sprung, had accumulated in successive thin
layers around their trunks; and the stone yet re-
tained the impression of the bark..
. It required little geological practice to interpret
II.-H
86
USPALLATA PASE.
the marvellous story which this scene at once un-
folded; though, I.confess, I was at first so much as-
tonished that I could scarcely believe the plainest
evidence: I saw the spot where a cluster of fine
trees once waved their branches on the shores of
the Atlantic, when that ocean (now driven back
700 miles) came to the foot of the Andes. I saw
that they had sprung from a volcanic soil which
had been raised above the level of the sea, and that
subsequently this dry land, with its upright trees,
had been let down into the depths of the ocean.
In these depths the formerly dry land was cover-
ed by sedimentary beds, and these again by enor-
mous streams of submarine lava--one such mass
attaining the thickness of a thousand feet; and
these deluges of molten stone and aqueous deposits
five times alternately had been spread out. The
ocean which received such thick masses must have
been profoundly deep; but again the subterranean
forces exerted themselves, and I now beheld the
bed of that ocean forming a chain of mountains
more than seven thousand feet in height. Nor had
those antagonist forces been dormant which are.
always at work wearing down the surface of the
land: the great piles of strata had been intersected
by many wide valleys, and the trees, now changed
into silex, were exposed projecting from the vol-
canic soil, now changed into rock, whence former-
ly, in a green and budding state, they had raised
their lofty heads. Now all is utterly irreclaimable
and desert; even the lichen cannot adhere to the
stony casts of former trees. Vast and scarcely
comprehensible as such changes must ever appear,
yet they have all occurred within a period recent
when compared with the history of the Cordillera;
and the Cordillera itself is absolutely modern as
compared with many of the fossiliferous strata of
Europe and America.
VIEW OF THE COUNTRY.
87
April 1st. We crossed the Uspallata range, and
at night slept at the custom-house, the only inhabited
spot on the plain. Shortly before leaving the mount-
ains, there was a very extraordinary view : red,
purple, green, and quite white sedimentary rocks,
alternating with black lavas, were broken up and
thrown into all kinds of disorder by masses of por-
phyry of every shade of colour, from dark brown
to the brightest lilac. It was the first view I ever
saw which really resembled those pretty sections
which geologists make of the inside of the earth.
The next day we crossed the plain, and follow-
ed the course of the same great mountain stream
which flows by Luxan. Here it was a furious tor-
rent, quite impassable, and appeared larger than in
the low country, as was the case with the rivulet
of Villa Vicencio. On the evening of the succeed-
ing day we reached the Rio de las Vacas, which
is considered the worst stream in the Cordillera to
cross. “As all these rivers have a rapid and short
course, and are formed by the melting of the snow,
the hour of the day makes a considerable differ-
ence in their volume. In the evening the stream
is muddy and full, but about daybreak it becomes
clearer and much less impetuous. This we found
to be the case with the Rio Vacas, and in the morn-
ing we crossed it with little difficulty.
The scenery thus far was very uninteresting
compared with that of the Portillo pass. Little
can be seen beyond the bare walls of the one grand,
flat-bottomed valley, which the road follows up to
the highest crest. The valley and the huge rocky
mountains are extremely barren : during the two
previous nights the poor mules had absolutely no.
thing to eat; for, excepting a few low, resinous
bushes, scarcely a plant can be seen. In the course
of this day we crossed some of the worst passes in
88
- USPALLATA PASS.
the Cordillera, but their danger has been much ex-
aggerated. I was told that if I attempted to pass
on foot my head would turn giddy, and that there
was no room to dismount; but I did not see a place
where any one might not have walked over back-
wards, or got off his mule on either side. One of
the bad passes, called las Animas (the Souls), I
had crossed, and did not find out till a day after-
wards that it was one of the awful dangers. No
doubt there are many parts in which, if the mule
should stumble, the rider would be hurled down a
great precipice; but of this there is little chance.
I dare say, in the spring, the “laderas,” or roads,
which each year are formed anew across the piles
of fallen detritus, are very bad ; but from what I
saw, I suspect the real danger is nothing. With
cargo-mules the case is rather different, for the loads
project so far that the animals, occasionally running
against each other, or against a point of rock, lose
their balance, and are thrown down the precipices.
In crossing the rivers I can well believe that the
difficulty may be very great: at this season there
was little trouble, but in the summer they must be
very hazardous. I can quite imagine, as Sir F.
Head describes, the different expressions of those
who have passed the gulf, and those who are pass-
ing. I never heard of any man being drowned,
but with loaded mules it frequently happens. The
arriero tells you to show your mule the best line,
and then allow her to cross as she likes : the cargo-
mule takes a bad line, and is often lost. .
" April 4th.- From the Rio de las Vacas to the
Puente del Incas, half a day's journey. As there
was pasture for the mules, and geology for me, we
bivouacked here for the night. When one hears
of a natural bridge, one pictures to one's self some
deep and narrow ravine, across which a bold mass
· INCAS' BRIDGE.
89
of rock has fallen, or a great arch höllowed out like
the vault of a cavern. Instead of this, the Incas'
Bridge consists of a crust of stratified shingle, ce-
mented together by the deposits of the neighbour-
ing hot springs. It appears as if the stream had
scooped out a channel on one side, leaving an over-
hanging ledge, which was met by earth and stones
falling down from the opposite cliff. Certainly an
oblique junction, as would happen in such a case,
was very distinct on one side. The Bridge of the
Incas is by no means worthy of the great monarchs
whose name it bears.
5th. We had a long day's ride across the cen-
tral ridge, from the Incas' Bridge to the Ojos del
Agua, which are situated near the lowest casucha
on the Chilian side. These casuchas are round
little towers, with steps outside to reach the floor,
which is raised some feet above the ground on ac-
count of the snow-drifts. They are eight in numn-
ber, and, under the Spanish government, were kept
during the winter well stored with food and char-
coal, and each courier had a master-key. Now
they only answer the purpose of caves, or, rather,
dungeons. Seated on some little eminence, they
are not, however, ill suited to the surrounding scene
of desolation. The zigzag ascent of the Cumbre,
or the partition of the waters, was very steep and
tedious; its height, according to Mr. Pentland, is
12,454 feet. The road did not pass over any per-
petual snow, although there were patches of it on
both hands. The wind on the summit was exceed-
ingly cold, but it was impossible not to stop for a
few minutes to admire, again and again, the colour
of the heavens and the brilliant transparency of the
atmosphere. The scenery was grand : to the west-
ward there was a fine chaos of mountains, divided
by profound ravines. Some snow generally falls
H 2
90
USPALLATA PASS.
hefore this period of the season, and it has even
happened that the Cordillera have been finally
closed by this time. But we were most fortunate.
The sky, by night and by day, was cloudless, ex-
cepting a few round little masses of vapour that
floated over the highest pinnacles. I have often
seen these islets in the sky, marking the position
of the Cordillera, when the far-distant mountains
have been hidden beneath the horizon.
had stolen one of our mules and the bell of the
madrina. We therefore rode only two or three
miles down the valley, and stayed there the ensuing
day in hopes of recovering the mule, which the ar-
riero thought had been hidden in some ravine. The
scenery in this part had assumed a Chilian charac-
ter: the lower sides of the mountains, dotted over
with the pale, ever-green Quillay-tree, and with the
great chandelier-like cactus, are certainly more to
be admired than the bare eastern valleys; but I
cannot quite agree with the admiration expressed
by some travellers. The extreme pleasure, I sus-
pect, is chiefly owing to the prospect of a good fire
and of a good supper, after escaping from the cold
regions above; and I am sure I most heartily par-
ticipated in these feelings.
Sth. We left the valley of the Aconcagua, by
which we had descended, and reached in the even-
ing a cottage near the Villa de St. Rosa. The
fertility of the plain was delightful : the autumn
being advanced, the leaves of many of the fruit-
trees were falling; and of the labourers, some were
cottages, while others were gathering the grapes
from the vineyards. It was a pretty scene; but I
missed that pensive stillness which makes the au-
tumn in England indeed the evening of the year.
COAST-ROAD TO COQUIMBO.
91
On the 10th we reached Santiago, where I received
a very kind and hospitable reception from Mr.
Caldcleugh. My excursion only cost me twenty-
four days, and never did I more deeply enjoy an
equal space of time. A few days afterwards I re-
turned to Mr. Corfield's house at Valparaiso.
CHAPTER IV.
Coast-road to Coquimbo-Great Loads carried by the Miners
Coquimbo-Earthquake-Step-formed Terraces-Absence of
recent Deposits-Contemporaneousness of the Tertiary Forma-
tions–Excursion up the Valley Road to GuascoDeserts-
Valley of Copiapó-Rain and Earthquakes-- Hydrophobia-
The Despoblado-Indian Ruins-Probable Change of Climate
-River-bed arched by an Earthquake-Cold Gales of Wind
Noises from a Hill-Iquique-Salt Alluvium-Nitrate of Soda
--Lima-Unhealthy Country–Ruins of Callao, overthrown by
an Earthquake Recent Subsidence-Elevated Shells on San
Lorenzo, their Decomposition Plain with embedded Shells
and Fragments of Pottery-Antiquity of the Indian Race.
NORTHERN CIIILE AND PERU.
April 27th.-I SET out on a journey to Coquim-
bo, and thence through Guasco to Copiapó, where
Captain Fitz Roy kindly offered to pick me up in
the Beagle. The distance in a straight line along
the shore northward is only 420 miles; but my
mode of travelling made it a very long journey. I
bought four horses and two mules, the latter car-
rying the luggage on alternate days. The six ani-
mals together only cost the value of twenty-five
pounds sterling, and at Copiapó I sold them again
for twenty-three. We travelled in the same inde-
pendent manner as before, cooking our own meals,
and sleeping in the open air. As we rode towards
the Viño del Mar, I took a farewell view of Val-
paraiso, and admired its picturesque appearance.
For geological purposes I made a detour from the
92
NORTHERN CHILE.
high road to the foot of the Bell of Quillota. We
passed through an alluvial district rich in gold, to
the neighbourhood of Limache, where we slept.
Washing for gold supports the inhabitants of nu-
merous hovels, scattered along the side of each
little rivulet; but, like all those whose gains are
uncertain, they are unthrifty in their habits, and
consequently poor.
28th.-In the afternoon we arrived at a cottage
at the foot of the -Bell Mountain. The inhabitants
were freeholders, which is not very usual in Chile.
They supported themselves on the produce of a
garden and a little field, but were very poor. Cap-
ital is here so deficient, that the people are obliged
to sell their green corn while standing in the field,
in order to buy necessaries for the ensuing year.
Wheat, in consequence, was dearer in the very dis-
trict of its production than at Valparaiso, where
the contractors live. The next day we joined the
main road to Coquimbo. At night there was a very
light shower of rain: this was the first drop that
had fallen since the heavy rain of September 11th
and 12th, which detained me a prisoner at the
Baths of Cauquenes. The interval was seven and
a half months ; but the rain this year in Chile was
rather later than usual. The distant Andes were
now covered by a thick mass of snow, and were a
glorious sight. '
May 2d.— The road continued to follow the
coast, at no great distance from the sea. The few
trees and bushes which are common in central
Chile decreased rapidly in numbers, and were re-
placed by a tall plant, something like a yucca in
appearance. The surface of the country, on a
small scale, was singularly broken and irregular,
abrupt little peaks of rock rising out of small plains
or basins. . The indented coast and the bottom of
DIFFERENT EFFECTS OF RAIN.
93
the neighbouring sea, studded with breakers, would,
if converted into dry land, present similar forms ;
and such a conversion, without doubt, has taken
place in the part over which we rode.
3d.-Quilimari to Conchalee. The country be-
came more and more barren. In the valleys there
was scarcely sufficient water for any irrigation;
and the intermediate land was quite bare, not sup-
porting even goats. In the spring, after the winter
showers, a thin pasture rapidly springs up, and
cattle are then driven down from the Cordillera to
graze for a short time. It is curious to observe
how the seeds of the grass and other plants seem
to accommodate themselves, as if by an acquired
habit, to the quantity of rain which falls on differ-
ent parts of this coast. One shower far northward
at Copiapó produces as great an effect on the ve-
getation as two at Guasco, and as three or four in
this district. At Valparaiso, a winter so dry as
greatly to injure the pasture, would at Guasco pro-
duce the most unusual abundance. Proceeding
northward, the quantity of rain does not appear to
decrease in strict proportion to the latitude. At
Conchalee, which is only 67 miles north of Valpa-
raiso, rain is not expected till the end of May,
whereas at Valparaiso some generally falls early
in April: the annual quantity is likewise small in
proportion to the lateness of the season at which it
commences.
4th.--Finding the coast-road devoid of interest
of any kind, we turned inland towards the mining
district and valley of Illapel. This valley, like ev-
ery other in Chile, is level, brnad, and very fertile:
it is bordered on each side either by cliffs of strati-
fied shingle or by bare rocky mountains. Above
the straight line of the uppermost irrigating ditch
all is brown as on a high road, while all below is
.94
NORTHERN CHILE.
of as bright a green as verdigris, from the beds of
alfarfa, a kind of clover. We proceeded to Los
Hornos, another mining district, where the princi-
pal hill was drilled with holes, like a great ants’-
nest. The Chilian miners are a peculiar race of
men in their habits. Living for weeks together in
the most desolate spots, when they descend to the
villages on feast-days there is no excess or extray-
agance into which they do not run. They some-
times gain a considerable sum, and then, like sail-
ors with prize-money, they try how soon they can
contrive to squander it. They drink excessively,
buy quantities of clothes, and in a few days return
penniless to their miserable abodes, there to work
harder than beasts of burden. This thoughtless-
ness, as with sailors, is evidently the result of a
similar manner of life. Their daily food is found
them, and they acquire no habits. of carefulness;
moreover, temptation and the means of yielding to
it are placed in their power at the same time. On
the other hand, in Cornwall, and some other parts
of England, where the system of selling part of the
vein is followed, the miners, from being obliged to
act and think for themselves, are a singularly intel-
ligent and well-conducted set of men. .
The dress of the Chilian miner is peculiar and
rather picturesque. He wears a very long shirt of
some dark-coloured baize, with a leathern apron,
the whole being fastened round his. waist by a
bright-coloured sash. His trousers are very broad,
and his small cap of scarlet cloth is made to fit the
head closely. We met a party of these miners in
full costume, carrying the body of one of their
companions to be buried. They marched at a very
quick trot, four men supporting the corpse. One
set, having run as hard as they could for about two
hundred yards, were relieved by four others, who
MINES,
95
had previously dashed on ahead on horseback.
Thus they proceeded, encouraging each other by
wild cries : altogether, the scene formed a most
strange funeral.
We continued travelling northward, in a zigzag
line, sometimes stopping a day to geologize. The
country was so thinly inhabited, and the track so
obscure, that we often had difficulty in finding our
way. On the 12th I stayed' at some mines. The
ore in this case was not considered particularly
good, but, from being abundant, it was supposed
the mine would sell for about thirty or forty thou-
sand dollars (that is, 6000 or 8000 pounds sterling);
yet it had been bought by one of the English asso-
ciations for an ounce of gold (£3 Ss.). The ore is
yellow pyrites, which, as I have already remarked,
before the arrival of the English was not supposed
to contain a particle of copper. On a scale of
profits nearly as great as in the above instance,
piles of cinders, abounding with minute globules
of metallic copper, were purchased; yet with these
advantages, the mining associations, as is well
known, contrived to lose immense sums of money.
The folly of the greater number of the commission-
ers and shareholders amounted to infatuation : a
thousand pounds per annum given in some cases
to entertain the Chilian authorities ; libraries of
well-bound geological books; miners brought out
for particular metals, as tin, which are not found
in Chile; contracts to supply the miners with milk,
in parts where there are no cows; machinery where
it could not possibly be used; and a hundred sim-
ilar arrangements, bore witness to our absurdity,
and to this day afford amusement to the natives.
Yet there can be no doubt that the same capital,
well employed in these mines, would have yielded
an immense return; a confidential man of business,
96
NORTHERN CHILE.
a practical miner and assayer, would have been
all that was required.
Captain Head has described the wonderful load
which the “ Apires,” truly beasts of burden, carry
up from the deepest mines. I confess I thought
the account exaggerated ; so that I was glad to
take an opportunity of weighing one of the loads,
which I picked out by hazard. It required con-
siderable exertion on my part, when standing di-
rectly over it, to lift it from the ground. The load
was considered under weight when found to be
197 pounds. The apire had carried this up eighty
perpendicular yards—part of the way by a steep
passage, but the greater part up notched poles,
placed in a zigzag line up the shaft. According
to the general regulation, the apire is not allowed
to halt for breath except the mine is six hundred
feet deep. The average load is considered as rath-
er more than 200 pounds; and I have been as-
sured that one of 300 pounds (twenty-two stone
and a half), by way of a trial, has been brought up
from the deepest mine! At this time the apires
were bringing up the usual load twelve times in
the day, that is, 2400 pounds from eighty yards
deep; and they were employed in the intervals in
breaking and picking ore.
These men, excepting from accidents, are
healthy, and appear cheerful. Their bodies are
not very muscular. They rarely eat meat once a
week, and never oftener, and then only the hard,
dry charqui. Although with a knowledge that the
labour was voluntary, it was nevertheless quite re-
volting to see the state in which they reached the
mouth of the mine : their bodies bent forward,
leaning with their arms on the steps, their legs
bowed, their muscles quivering, the perspiration
streaming from their faces over their breasts, their
ANTIPATHY TO FOREIGNERS.
97
nostrils distended, the corners of their mouth for.
cibly drawn back, and the expulsion of their breath
most laborious. Each time they draw their breath
they utter an articulate cry of " ay-ay,” which ends
in a sound rising from deep in the chest, but shrill
like the note of a fife. After staggering to the
pile of ore, they emptied the “carpacho;' in two
or three seconds, recovering their breath, they
wiped the sweat from their brows, and, apparently
quite fresh, descended the mine again at a quick
pace. This appears to me a wonderful instance
of the amount of labour which habit, for it can be
nothing else, will enable a man to endure. .
In the evening, talking with the mayor-domo of
these mines about the number of foreigners now
scattered over the whole country, he told me that,
though quite a young man, he remembers when he
was a boy at school at Coquimbo, a holyday being
given to see the captain of an English ship, who
was brought to the city to speak to the governor.
He believes that nothing would have induced any
boy in the school, himself included, to have gone
close to the Englishman, so deeply had they been
impressed with an idea of the heresy, contamina-
tion, and evil to be derived from contact with such
a person. To this day they relate the atrocious
actions of the bucaniers; and especially of one
man, who took away the figure of the Virgin Mary,
and returned the year after for that of St. Joseph,
saying it was a pity the lady should not have a hus-
band. I heard also of an old lady who, at a dinner
in Coquimbo, remarked how wonderfully strange
it was that she should have lived to dine in the
same room with an Englishman; for she remem-
bered as a girl, that twice, at the mere cry of “ Los
Ingleses,” every soul, carrying what valuables they
could, had taken to the mountains.
II.
98
NORTHERN CHILE.
14th.--We reached Coquimbo, where we stayed
a few days. The town is remarkable for nothing
but its extreme quietness. It is said to contain
from 6000 to 8000 inhabitants. On the morning
of the 17th it rained lightly, the first time this year,
for about five hours. The farmers, who plant corn
near the sea-coast, where the atmosphere is more
humid, taking advantage of this shower, would
break up the ground; after a second they would
put the seed in; and if a third shower should fåll,
they would reap a good harvest in the spring. It
was interesting to watch the effect of this trifling
amount of moisture. Twelve hours afterwards the
ground appeared as dry as ever; yet, after an in-
terval of ten days, all the hills were faintly tinged
with green patches, the grass being sparingly
scattered in hair-like fibres a full inch in length.
Before this shower every part of the surface was
bare as on a high road.
In the evening, Captain Fitz Roy and myself
were dining with Mr. Edwards, an English resi-
dent, well known for his hospitality by all who
have visited Coquimbo, when a sharp earthquake
happened. I heard the forecoming rumble; but,
from the screams of the ladies, the running of the
servants, and the rush of several of the gentlemen
to the doorway, I could not distinguish the motion.
Some of the women afterwards were crying with
terror, and one gentleman said he should not be
able to sleep all night, or if he did, it would only
be to dream of falling houses. The father of this
person had lately lost all his property at Talcahu-
ano, and he himself had only just escaped a falling
roof at Valparaiso in 1822. He mentioned a cu-
rious coincidence which then happened: he was
playing at cards, when a German, one of the party,
got up, and said he would never sit in a room in
SHINGLE-TERRACES OF COQUIMBO.
99
these countries with the door shut, as, owing to
his having done so, he had nearly lost his life at
Copiapó. Accordingly, he opened the door; and
no sooner. had he done this, than he cried out,
“Here it comes again!” and the famous shock
commenced. The whole party escaped. The
danger in an earthquake is not from the time lost
in opening a door, but from the chance of its be-
coming jammed by the movement of the walls.
It is impossible to be much surprised at the fear
which natives and old residents, though some of
them known to be men of great command of mind,
so generally experience during earthquakes. I
think, however, this excess of panic may be partly
attributed to a want of habit in governing their fear,
as it is not a feeling they are ashamed of. Indeed,
the natives do not like to see a person indifferent.
I heard of two Englishmen who, sleeping in the
open air during a smart shock, knowing that there
was no danger, did not rise. The natives cried
out indignantly, “Look at those heretics, they will
not even get out of their beds !".
I spent some days in examining the step-formed
terraces of shingle, first noticed by Captain B. Hall,
and believed by Mr. Lyell to have been formed
by the sea during the gradual rising of the land.
This certainly is the true explanation, for I found
numerous shells of existing species on these ter-
races. Five narrow, gently sloping, fringe-like
terraces rise one behind the other, and where best
developed are formed of shingle: they front the
bay, and sweep up both sides of the valley. At
Guasco, north of Coquimbo, the phenomenon is
displayed on a much grander scale, so as to strike
with surprise even some of the inhabitants. The
terraces are there much broader, and may be called
100
NORTHERN OHILE.
plains; in some parts there are six of them, but
generally only five; they run up the valley for thir-
ty-seven miles from the coast. These step-formed
terraces or fringes closely resemble those in the
valley of S. Cruz, and, except in being on a small-
er scale, those great ones along the whole coast-
line of Patagonia. They have undoubtedly been
formed by the denuding power of the sea during
long periods of rest in the gradual elevation of the
continent.
Shells of many existing species not only lie on
the surface of the terraces at Coquimbo (to a height
of 250 feet), but are embedded in a friable calcare-
ous rock, which in some places is as much as be-
tween twenty and thirty feet in thickness, but is of
little extent. These modern beds rest on an an-
cient tertiary formation containing shells, apparent-
ly all extinct. Although I examined so many
hundred miles of coast on the Pacific, as well as
Atlantic side of the continent, I found no regular
strata containing sea-shells of recent species, ex-
cepting at this place, and at a few points northward
on the road to Guasco. This fact appears to me
highly remarkable; for the explanation generally
given by geologists, of the absence in any district
of stratified fossiliferous deposits of a given period,
namely, that the surface then existed as dry land, is
not here applicable; for we know from the shells
strewed on the surface, and embedded in loose sand
or mould, that the land for thousands of miles along
both coasts has lately been submerged. The ex-
planation, no doubt, must be sought in the fact, that
the whole southern part of the continent has been
for a long time slowly rising, and therefore, that
all matter deposited along shore in shallow water
must have been soon brought up, and slowly ex-
posed to the wearing action of the sea-beach; and
or THE TERTIARY FORMATIONS
101
it is only in comparatively shallow water that the
greater number of marine organic beings can flour-
ish, and in such water it is obviously impossible
that strata of any great thickness can accumulate.
To show the vast power of the wearing action of
sea-beaches, we need only appeal to the great cliffs
along the present coast of Patagonia, and to the
escarpments or ancient sea-cliffs at different levels,
one above another, on that same line of coast.
The old underlying tertiary formation at Coquim-
bo appears to be of about the same' age with sev-
eral deposits on the coast of Chile (of which that
of Navedad is the principal one), and with the great
formation of Patagonia. Both at Navedad and in
Patagonia there is evidence that, since the shells
(a list of which has been seen by Professor E.
Forbes) there intombed were living, there has been
a subsidence of several hundred feet, as well as an
ensuing elevation. It may naturally be asked how
it comes that, although no extensive fossiliferous
deposits of the recent period, nor of any period in-
termediate between it and the ancient tertiary
epoch, have been preserved on either side of the
continent, yet that at this ancient tertiary epoch
sedimentary matter containing fossil remains should
have been deposited and preserved at different
points in north and south lines, ovếr a space of 1100
miles on the shores of the Pacific, and of at least
1350 miles on the shores of the Atlantic, and in an
east and west line of 700 miles across the widest
part of the continent. I believe the explanation is
not difficult, and that it is, perhaps, applicable to
nearly analogous facts observed in other quarters
of the world. Considering the enormous power of
denudation which the sea possesses, as shown by
numberless facts, it is not probable that a sedi-
mentary deposit, when being upraised, could pass
1
I ?
102
NORTHERN CHILE.
through the ordeal of the beach, so as to be pre-
served in sufficient masses to last to a distant peri-
od, without, it were originally of wide extent, and
of considerable thickness : now it is impossible, on
a moderately shallow bottom, which alone is favour-
able to most living creatures, that a thick and wide-
ly extended covering of sediment could be spread
out, without the bottom sank down to receive the
successive layers. This seems to have actually
taken place at about the same period in southern
Patagonia and Chile, though these places are a
thousand miles apart. Hence, if prolonged move-
ments of approximately contemporaneous subsi-
dence are generally widely extensive, as I am
strongly inclined to believe from my examination of
the Coral Reefs of the great oceans-or if, confining
our view to South America, the subsiding move-
ments have been coextensive with those of eleva-
tion, by which, within the same period of existing
shells, the shores of Peru, Chile, Tierra del Fuego,
Patagonia, and La Plata have been upraised then
we can see that at the same time, at far distant
points, circumstances would have been favourable
to the formation of fossiliferous deposits, of wide
extent and of considerable thickness; and such de-
posits, consequently, would have a good chance of
resisting the wear and tear of successive beach-
lines, and of lasting to a future epoch.
May 21st. I set out in company with Don Jose
Edwards to the silver-mine of Arqueros, and thence
up the valley of Coquimbo. Passing through a
mountainous country, we reached by nightfall the
mines belonging to Mr. Edwards. I enjoyed my
night's rest here from a reason which will not be
fully appreciated in England, namely, the absence
of fleas! The rooms in Coquimbo swarm with
CHILIAN MINERS SKILFUL ROBBERS.
103
them, but they will not live here at the height of
only three or four thousand feet: it can scarcely
be the trifling diminution of temperature, but some
other cause, which destroys these troublesome in-
sects at this place. - The mines are now in a bad
state, though they formerly yielded about 2000
pounds in weight of silver a year. It has been said
that “a person with a copper-mine will gain ; with
silver, he may gain; but with gold, he is sure to
lose.” This is not true: all the large Chilian for-
tunes have been made by mines of the more pre-
cious metals. A short time since, an English phy-
sician returned to England from Copiapó, taking
with him the profits of one share in a silver-mine,
which amounted to about 24,000 pounds sterling.
No doubt a copper-mine, with care, is a sure game,
whereas the other is gambling, or, rather, taking a
ticket in a lottery. The owners lose great quanti-
ties of rich ores, for no precautions can prevent rob-
beries. I heard of a gentleman laying a bet with
another that one of his men should rob him before
his face. The ore, when brought out of the mine,
is broken into pieces, and the useless stone thrown
on one side. A couple of the miners who were
thus employed pitched, as if by accident, two frag-
ments away at the same moment, and then cried
out, for a joke, “ Let us see which rolls furthest.”
The owner, who was standing by, bet a cigar.with
his friend on the race. The miner, by this means,
watched the very point amongst the rubbish where
the stone lay. In the evening he picked it up and
carried it to his master, showing him a rich mass
of silver ore, and saying, “ This was the stone on
which you won a cigar by its rolling so far."
May 232.-We descended into the fertile val-
ley of Coquimbo, and followed it till we reached
a Hacienda belonging to a relation of Don Jose;
104
NORTHERN CHILE.
where we stayed the next day. I then rode one
day's journey further, to see what were declared
to be some petrified shells and beans, which latter
turned out to be small quartz pebbles. We pass-
ed through several small villages; and the valley
was beautifully cultivated, and the whole scenery
very grand. We were here near the main Cordil.
lera, and the surrounding hills were lofty. In all
parts of northern Chile, fruit-trees produce much
more abundantly at a considerable height near the
Andes than in the lower country. The figs and
grapes of this district are famous for their excel-
lence, and are cultivated to a great extent. This
valley is, perhaps, the most productive one north of
Quillota: I believe it contains, including Coquim-
bo, 25,000 inhabitants. The next day I returned
to the Hacienda, and thence, together with Don
Jose, to Coquimbo. .
June 2d. We set out for the valley of Guasco,
following the coast-road, which was considered
rather less desert than the other. Our first day's
ride was to a solitary house, called Yerba Buena,
where there was pasture for our horses. The
shower mentioned as having fallen a fortnight ago
only reached about half way to Guasco; we had,
therefore, in the first part of our journey a most
faint tinge of green, which soon faded quite away.
Even where brightest, it was scarcely sufficient to
remind one of the fresh turf and budding flowers
of the spring of other countries. While travelling
through these deserts one feels like a prisoner shut
up in a gloomy court, who longs to see something
green and to smell a moist atmosphere.
June 3d.-Yerba Buena to Carizal. During the
first part of the day we crossed a mountainous,
rocky desert, and afterwards a long, deep, sandy
plain, strewed with broken șea-shells. There was
DESERT COUNTRY.
105
very little water, and that little saline : the whole
country, from the coast to the Cordillera, is an un-
inhabited desert. I saw traces only of one living
animal in abundance, namely, the shells of a Buli-
mus, which were collected together in extraordi-
nary numbers on the driest spots. In the spring
one humble little plant sends out a few leaves, and
on these the snails feed. As they are seen only
very early in the morning, when the ground is
slightly damp with dew, the Guasos believe that
they are bred from it. I have observed in other
places that extremely dry and sterile districts,
where the soil is calcareous, are extraordinarily
favourable to land-shells. At Carizal there were
a few cottages, some brackish water, and a trace
of cultivation, but it was with difficulty that we
purchased a little corn and straw for our horses.
4th.–Carizal to Sauce. We continued to ride
over desert plains tenanted by large herds of gua-
naco. We crossed also the valley of Chañeral;
which, although the most fertile one between Guas-
co and Coquimbo, is very narrow, and produces
so little pasture, that we could not purchase any
for our horses. At Sauce we found a very civil
old gentleman, superintending a copper smelting-
furnace. As an especial favour, he allowed me to
purchase at a high price an armful of dirty straw,
which was all the poor horses had for supper after
their long day's journey. Few smelting-furnaces
are now at work in any part of Chile; it is found
more profitable, on account of the extreme scarcity
of firewood, and from the Chilian method of re-
duction being so unskilful, to ship the ore for
Swansea. The next day we crossed some mount-
ains to Freyrina, in the valley of Guasco. During
each day's ride further northward the vegetation
became more and more scanty ; even the great
106
NORTHERN CHILE.
chandelier-like cactus was here replaced by a dif-
ferent and much smaller species. During the win-
ter months, both in northern Chile and in Peru, a
uniform bank of clouds hangs, at no great height,
over the Pacific. From the mountains we had a
very striking view of this white and brilliant aërial
field, which sent arms up the valleys, leaving isl-
ands and promontories in the same manner as the
sea does in the Chonos Archipelago and in Tierra
del Fuego.
We stayed two days at Freyrina. In the valley
of Guasco there are four small towns. At the
mouth there is the port, a spot entirely desert, and
without any water in the immediate neighbour-
long, straggling village, with decent, whitewashed
houses. Again, ten leagues further up, Ballenar
is situated ; and above this, Guasco Alto, a horti-
cultural village, famous for its dried fruit. On a
clear day the view up the valley is very fine; the
straight opening terminates in the far-distant snowy
Cordillera; on each side an infinity of crossing
lines are blended together in a beautiful haze.
The foreground is singular, from the number of
parallel and step-formed terraces; and the included
strip of green valley, with its willow bushes, is con-
trasted on both hands with the naked hills. That
the surrounding country was most barren will be
readily believed, when it is known that a shower
of rain had not fallen during the last thirteen
envy of the rain at Coquimbo; from the appear-
ance of the sky they had hopes of equally good
fortune, which, a fortnight afterwards, were real-
ized. I was at Copiapó at the time; and there
dant rain at Guasco. After two or three very dry
VALLEY OF GUASCO.
107
years, perhaps with not more than one shower du-
ring the whole time, a rainy year generally follows,
and this does more harm than even the drought.
The rivers swell, and cover with gravel and sand
the narrow strips of ground which alone are fit for
cultivation. The floods also injure the irrigating
ditches. Great devastation had thus been caused
three years ago.
June 8th. We rode on to Ballenar, which takes
its name from Ballenagh in Ireland, the birthplace
of the family of O'Higgins, who, under the Span-
ish government, were presidents and generals in
Chile. As the rocky mountains on each hand were
concealed by clouds, the terrace-like plains gave
to the valley an appearance like that of Santa Cruz
in Patagonia. After spending one day at Ballenar,
I set out, on the 10th, for the upper part of the
valley of Copiapó. We rode all day over an un-
interesting country. I am tired of repeating the
epithets barren and sterile. These words, how-
ever, as commonly used, are comparative; I have
always applied them to the plains of Patagonia,
which can boast of spiny bushes and some tufts of
grass; and this is absolute fertility as compared
with northern Chile. Here, again, there are not
many spaces of two hundred yards square where
some little bush, cactus, or lichen may not be dis-
covered by careful examination; and in the soil
seeds lie dormant, ready to spring up during the
first rainy winter. In Peru, real deserts occur
over wide tracts of country. In the evening we
arrived at a valley, in which the bed of the stream-
let was damp : following it up, we came to toler-
ably good water. During the night, the stream,
from not being evaporated and absorbed so quick-
ly, flows a league lower down than during the day.
Sticks were plentiful for firewood, so that it was a
108
NORTHERN CHILE.
good place of bivouac for us, but for the poor ani-
mals there was not a mouthful to eat.
June 11th. — We rode without stopping for
twelve hours, till we reached an old smelting-fur-
nace, where there was water and firewood; but
our horses again had nothing to eat, being shut up
in an old courtyard. The line of road was hilly,
and the distant views interesting from the varied
colours of the bare mountains. It was almost a
pity to see the sun shining constantly over so use-
less a country; such splendid weather ought to
have brightened fields and pretty gardens. The
next day we reached the valley of Copiapó. . I was
heartily glad of it, for the whole journey was a
continued source of anxiety; it was most disagree-
able to hear, whilst eating our own suppers, our
horses gnawing the posts to which they were tied,
and to have no means of relieving their hunger.
To all appearance, however, the animals were
quite fresh, and no one could have told that they
had eaten nothing for the last fifty-five hours.'
I had a letter of introduction to Mr. Bingley,
who received me very kindly at the Hacienda of
Potrero Seco. This estate is between twenty and
thirty miles long, but very narrow, being generally
only two fields wide, one on each side the river.
In some parts the estate is of no width, that is to
say, the land cannot be irrigated, and therefore is
valueless, like the surrounding rocky desert. The
small quantity of cultivated land in the whole line
of valley. does not so much depend on inequalities
of level, and consequent unfitness for irrigation, as
on the small supply of water. The river this year
was remarkably full: here, high up the valley, it
reached to the horse's belly, and was about fifteen
yards wide, and rapid; lower down it becomes
smaller and smaller, and is generally quite lost,
VALLEY OF COPIAPÓ.
109
as happened during one period of thirty years, so
that not a drop entered the sea. The inhabitants
watch a storm over the Cordillera with great inter-
est, as one good fall of snow provides them with
water for the ensuing year. This is of infinitely
more consequence than rain in the lower country.
Rain, as often as it falls, which is about once in
every two or three years, is a great advantage, be-
cause the cattle and mules can for some time after-
wards find a little pasture on the mountains. But
without snow on the Andes, desolation extends
throughout the valley. It is on record that three
times nearly all the inhabitants have been obliged
to emigrate to the south. This year there was
plenty of water, and every man irrigated his
ground as much as he chose; but it has frequently
been necessary to post soldiers at the sluices, to
see that each estate took only its proper allowance
during so many hours in the week. The valley is
said to contain 12,000 souls, but its produce is suf-
. ficient only for three months in the year, the rest
of the supply being drawn from Valparaiso and
the south. Before the discovery of the famous
silver-mines of Chanuncillo, Copiapó was in a rap-
id state of decay; but now it is in a very thriving
condition, and the town, which was completely
overthrown by an earthquake, has been rebuilt.
The valley of Copiapó, forming a mere riband
of green in a desert, runs in a very southerly direc-
tion, so that it is of considerable length to its source
in the Cordillera. The valleys of Guasco and
Copiapó may both be considered as long, narrow
islands, separated from the rest of Chile by deserts
of rock instead of by salt. water. Northward of
these there is one other very miserable valley,
called Paposo, which contains about two hundred
souls ; and then there extends the real desert of
II.-K
110
NORTHERN CHILE.
Atacama, a barrier far worse than the most tur-
bulent ocean. After staying a few days at Potre-
ro Seco, I proceeded up the valley to the house of
Don Benito Cruz, to whom I had a letter of intro-
duction.' I found him most hospitable; indeed, it
is impossible to bear too strong testimony to the
kindness with which travellers are received in al-
most every part of South America. The next day
I hired some mules to take me by the ravine of
Jolquera into the central Cordillera. On the sec-
ond night the weather seemed to foretel a storm of
snow or rain, and whilst lying in our beds we felt
a trifling shock of an earthquake.
The connection between earthquakes and the
weather has been often disputed: it appears to me
to be a point of great interest, which is little under-
stood. Humboldt has remarked, in one part of the
Personal Narrative,* that it would be difficult for
any person who had long resided in New Andalu-
sia, or in Lower Peru, to deny that there exists
some connection between these phenomena : in an-
other part, however, he seems to think the connec-
tion fanciful. At Guayaquil, it is said that a heavy
shower in the dry season is invariably followed by
an earthquake. In Northern Chile, from the ex-
treme infrequency of rain, or even of weather fore-
boding rain, the probability of accidental coinci-
dences becomes very small; yet the inhabitants
are here most firmly convinced of some connection
between the state of the atmosphere and of the
trembling of the ground. I was much struck by
* Vol. iv., p. 11, and vol. ii., p. 217. For the remarks on Gua-
yaquil, see Silliman's Journ., vol. xxiv., p. 384. For those on Tac-
na, by Mr. Hamilton, see Trans. of British Association, 1840. For
those on Coseguina, see Mr. Caldcleugh, in Phil. Trans., 1835.
In the former edition, I collected several references on the coinci-
dences between sudden falls in the barometer and earthquakes,
and between earthquakes and meteors.
RAIN AND EARTHQUAKES.
111
this when mentioning to some people at Copiapó
that there had been a sharp shock at Coquimbo:
they immediately cried out, “How fortunate! there
will be plenty of pasture there this year." To
their minds an earthquake foretold rain as surely
as rain foretold abundant pasture. Certainly it did
so happen, that on the very day of the earthquake,
that shower of rain fell which I have described as
in ten days' time producing a thin sprinkling of
grass. At other times rain has followed earth-
quakes at a period of the year when it is a far
greater prodigy than the earthquake itself: this hap-
pened after the shock of November, 1822, and again
in 1829, at Valparaiso; also after that of Septem-
ber, 1833, at Tacną. A person must be somewhat
habituated to the climate of these countries to per-
ceive the extreme improbability of rain falling at
such seasons, except as a consequence of some
law quite unconnected with the ordinary course of
the weather. In the cases of great volcanic erup-
tions, as that of Coseguina, where torrents of rain
fell at a time of the year most unusual for it, and
“almost unprecedented in Central America,” it is
not difficult to understand that the volumes of va-
pour and clouds of ashes might have disturbed the
atmospheric equilibrium. Humboldt extends this
view to the case of earthquakes unaccompanied by
eruptions; but I can hardly conceive it possible that
the small quantity of aëriform fluids which then es-
cape from the fissured ground can produce such
remarkable effects. There appears much proba-
bility in the view first proposed by Mr. P. Scrope,
that when the barometer is low, and when rain
might naturally be expected to fall, the diminished
pressure of the atmosphere over a wide extent of
country might well determine the precise day on
which the earth, already stretched to the utmost by
112
NORTHERN CHILE.
the subterranean forces, should yield, crack, and
consequently tremble. It is, however, doubtful
how far this idea will explain the circumstance of
torrents of rain falling in the dry season during ser-
eral days after an earthquake unaccompanied by
an eruption ; such cases seem to bespeak some
more intimate connection between the atmospheric
and subterranean regions.
Finding little of interest in this part of the ravine,
we retraced our steps to the house of Don Benito,
where I stayed two days collecting fossil shells and
wood. Great prostrate silicified trunks of trees,
embedded in a conglomerate, were extraordinarily
numerous. I measured one which was fifteen feet
in circumference: how surprising it is that every
atom of the woody matter in this great cylinder
should have been removed and replaced by silex
so perfectly that each vessel and pore is preserved!
These trees flourished at about the period of our
lower chalk; they all belonged to the fir tribe. It
was amusing to hear the inhabitants discussing the
nature of the fossil shells which I collected, almost
in the same terms as were used a century ago in
Europe, namely, whether or not they had been thus
"born by nature.” My geological examination of
the country generally created a good deal of sur-
prise amongst the Chilenos: it was long before they
could be convinced that I was not hunting for mines.
This was sometimes troublesome. I found the most
ready way of explaining my employment was to
ask them how it was that they themselves were not
curious concerning earthquakes and volcanoes ?
why some springs were hot and others cold ? why
there were mountains in Chile, and not a hill in
La Plata ? These bare questions at once satisfied
and silenced the greater number; some, however
(like a few in England, who are a century behind-
HYDROPHOBIA.
113
hand), thought that all such inquiries were useless
and impious, and that it was quite sufficient that
God had thus made the mountains. . .
An order had recently been issued that all stray
dogs should be killed, and we saw many lying dead
on the road. A great number had lately gone
mad, and several men had been bitten and had
died in consequence. On several occasions hydro-
phobia has prevailed in this valley. It is remark-
able thus to find so strange and dreadful a disease
appearing time after time in the same isolated spot.
It has been remarked that certain villages in Eng-
land are in like manner much more subject to this
visitation than others. Dr. Unanje states that hy-
drophobia was first known in South America in
1803: this statement is corroborated by Azará and
Ulloa having never heard of it in their time. Dr.
Unanue says that it broke out in Central America,
and slowly travelled southward. It reached Are-
quipa in 1807; and it is said that some men there,
who had not been bitten, were affected, as were
some negroes, who had eaten a bullock which had
died of hydrophobia. At Ica forty-two people thus
miserably perished. The disease came on betweeu
twelve and ninety days after the bite; and in those
cases where it did come on, death ensued invaria-
bly within five days. After 1808, a long interval
ensued without any cases. On inquiry, I did not
hear of hydrophobia in Van Diemen's land, or in
Australia; and Burchell says, that during the five
years he was at the Cape of Good Hope, he never
heard of an instance of it. Webster asserts that at
the Azores hydrophobia has never occurred, and
the same assertion has been made with respect to
Mauritius and St. Helena.* In so strange a dis-
* Observa. sobre el clima de Lima, p. 67. Azara's Travels, vol.
i., p. 381. Ulloa's Voyage, vol. ii., p. 28. Burchell's Travels, vol.
II.
114
NORTHERN CHILE.
ease, some information might possibly be gained
by considering the circumstances under which it
originates in distant climates; for it is improbable
that a dog already bitten should have been brought
to these distant countries.
At night a stranger arrived at the house of Don
Benito, and asked permission to sleep there. He
said he had been wandering about the mountains
for seventeen days, having lost his way. He start-
ed from Guasco, and, being accustomed to travel-
ling in the Cordillera, did not expect any difficulty
in following the track to Copiapó; but he soon be-
came involved in a labyrinth of mountains, whence
he could not escape. Some of his mules had fallen
over precipices, and he had been in great distress.
His ehief difficulty arose from not knowing where
to find water in the lower country, so that he was
obliged to keep bordering the central ranges.
We returned down the valley, and on the 22d
reached the town of Copiapó. The lower part of
the valley is broad, forming a fine plain like that
of Quillota. The town covers a considerable space
of ground, each house possessing a garden: but it
is an uncomfortable place, and the dwellings are
poorly furnished. Every one seems bent on the
one object of making money, and then migrating as
quickly as possible. All the inhabitants are more
or less directly concerned with mines; and mines
and ores are the sole subjects of conversation. Ne-
cessaries of all sorts are extremely dear, as the dis-
tance from the town to the port is eighteen leagues,
and the land carriage very expensive. A fowl
costs five or six shillings; meat is nearly as dear
as in England; firewood, or rather sticks, are
ii., p. 524. Webster's Description of the Azores, p. 124. Voyage
à l'Isle de France, par un Officier du Roi, tome i., p. 248. De-
scription of St. Helena, p. 123.
SEA-WORN VALLEYS.
115
brought on donkeys from a distance of two or three
days' journey within the Cordillera ; and pasturage
for animals is a shilling a day: all this, for South
America, is wonderfully exorbitant.
June 26th.--I hired a guide and eight mules to
take me into the Cordillera by a different line from
my last excursion. As the country was utterly des-
ert, we took a cargo and a half of barley mixed
with chopped straw. About two leagues above
the town, a broad valley, called the “ Despoblado,"
or uninhabited, branches off from that one by which
we had arrived. · Although a valley of the grandest
dimensions, and leading to a pass across the Cordil.
lera, yet it is completely dry, excepting, perhaps,
for a few days during some very rainy winter. The
sides of the crumbling mountains were furrowed
by scarcely any ravines, and the bottom of the
main valley, filled with shingle, was smooth and
nearly level. No considerable torrent could ever
have flowed down this bed of shingle; for if it had,
a great cliff-bounded channel, as in all the southern
valleys, would assuredly have been formed. I feel
little doubt that this valley, as well as those men-
tioned by travellers in Peru, were left in the state
we now see them by the waves of the sea, as the
land slowly rose. I observed in one place, where
the Despoblado was joined by a ravine (which in
almost any other chain would have been called a
grand valley), that its bed, though composed mere-
ly of sand and gravel, was higher than that of its trib-
utary. A mere rivulet of water, in the course of
an hour, would have cut a channel for itself; but
it was evident that ages had passed away, and no
such rivulet had drained this great tributary. It
was curious to behold the machinery, if such a term
may be used, for the drainage, all, with the last
116
.NORTHERN CHILE.
trifling exception, perfect, yet without any signs of
action. Every one must have remarked how mud-
banks, left by the retiring tide, imitate in minia-
ture a country with hill and dale; and here we
have the original model in rock, formed as the con-
tinent rose during the secular retirement of the
ocean, instead of during the ebbing and flowing of
the tides. If a shower of rain falls on the mud-
bank, when left dry, it deepens the already-form-
ed shallow lines of excavation; and so is it with the
rain of successive centuries on the bank of rock
and soil which we call a continent.
We rode on after it was dark till we reached a
side ravine with a small well, called " Agua amar-
ga.". The water deserved its name, for, besides
being saline, it was most offensively putrid and bit-
ter, so that we could not force ourselves to drink
either tea or maté. I suppose the distance from
the river of Copiapó to this spot was at least twen-
ty-five or thirty English miles; in the whole space
there was not a single drop of water, the country
deserving the name of desert in the strictest sense.
Yet about half way we passed some old Indian ru-
ins near Punta Gorda: I noticed also in front of
some of the valleys, which branch off from the Des-
poblado, two piles of stones placed a little way
apart, and directed so as to point up the mouths of
thèse small valleys. My companions knew nothing
about them, and only answered my queries by their
imperturbable " quien sabe ?"
I observed Indian ruins in several parts of the
Cordillera : the most perfect which I saw were
the Ruinas de Tambillos, in the Uspallata Pass.
Small square rooms were there huddled together
in separate groups: some of the doorways were
yet standing; they were formed by a cross slab of
stone only about three feet high. Ulloa has remark-
ANCIENT INDIAN HOUSES.
117
ed on the lowness of the doors in the ancient Pe-
ruvian dwellings. These houses, when perfect,
must have been capable of containing a considera-
ble number of persons. Tradition says that they
were used as halting-places for the Incas when they
crossed the mountains. Traces of Indian habita-
tions have been discovered in many other parts,
where it does not appear probable that they were
used as mere resting-places, but yet where the land
is as utterly unfit for any kind of cultivation as it
is near the Tambillos or at the Incas' Bridge, or in
the Portillo Pass, at all which places I saw ruins.
In the ravine of Jajuel, near Aconcagua, where
there is no pass, I heard of remains of houses sit-
uated at a great height, where it is extremely cold
and sterile. At first I imagined that these build-
ings had been places of refuge, built by the In-
dians on the first arrival of the Spaniards; but I
have since been inclined to speculate on the proba-
bility of a small change of climate.
In this northern part of Chile, within the Cor-
dillera, old Indian houses are said to be especially
numerous : by digging amongst the ruins, bits of
woollen articles, instruments of precious metals,
and heads of Indian corn are not unfrequently dis-
covered : an arrow-head made of agate, and of pre-
cisely the same form with those now used in Tier-
ra del Fuego, was given me. I am aware that the
Peruvian Indians now frequently inhabit most lofty
and bleak situations; but at Copiapó I was assu-
red by men who had spent their lives in travelling
through the Andes, that there were very many (mu-
chisimas) buildings at heights so great as almost to
border on the perpetual snow, and in parts where
there exist no passes, and where the land produces
absolutely nothing, and, what is still more extraor-
dinary, where there is no water. Nevertheless, it
118
NORTHERN CHILE.
is the opinion of the people of the country (althougn
they are much puzzled by the circumstance) that,
from the appearance of the houses, the Indians
must have used them as places of residence. In
this valley, at Punta Gorda, the remains consisted
of seven or eight square little rooms, which were
of a similar form with those at Tambillos, but built
chiefly of mud, which the present inhabitants can-
not, either here, or, according to Ulloa, in Peru, im-
itate in durability. They were situated in the most
conspicuous and defenceless position, at the bottom
of the flat, broad valley. There was no water near-
er than three or four leagues, and that only in very
small quantity, and bad : the soil was absolutely
sterile; I looked in vain even for a lichen adhering
to the rocks. At the present day, with the advan-
tage of beasts of burden, a mine, unless it were
very rich, could scarcely be worked here with
profit. Yet the Indians formerly chose it as a place
of residence! If at the present time two or three
showers of rain were to fall annually, instead of
one, as now is the case, during as many years, a
small rill of water would probably be formed in
this great valley; and then, by irrigation (which
was formerly so well understood by the Indians),
the soil would easily be rendered sufficiently pro-
ductive to support a few families..
I have convincing proofs that this part of the con-
tinent of South America has been elevated near
the coast at least from 400 to 500, and in some
parts from 1000 to 1300 feet, since the epoch of ex-
isting shells; and further inland the rise possibly
may have been greater. As the peculiarly arid
character of the climate is evidently a consequence
of the height of the Cordillera, we may feel almost
sure that before the later elevations the atmosphere
could not have been so completely drained of its
ELEVATION ON THE COAST. 119
moisture as it now is; and as the rise has been
gradual, so would have been the change in climate.
On this notion of a change of climate since the
buildings were inhabited, the ruins must be of ex-
treme antiquity, but I do not think their preserva-
tion under the Chilian climate any great difficulty.
We must also admit, on this notion (and this, per-
haps, is a greater difficulty), that man has inhabited
South America for an immensely long period, in-
asmuch as any change of climate effected by the
elevation of the land must have been extremely
gradual. At Valparaiso, within the last 220 years,
the rise has been somewhat less than 19 feet: at
Lima a sea-beach has certainly been upheaved from
80 to 90 feet within the Indio-human period; but
such small elevations could have had little power
in deflecting the moisture-bringing atmospheric
currents. Dr. Lund, however, found human skel-
etons in the caves of Brazil, the appearance of
which induced him to believe that the Indian race
has existed during a vast lapse of time in South
America.
When at Lima, I conversed on these subjects*
with Mr. Gill, a civil engineer, who had seen much
of the interior country. He told me that a conjec-
ture of a change of climate had sometimes cross-
ed his mind, but that he thought that the greater
portion of land, now incapable of cultivation, but
covered with Indian ruins, had been reduced to this
state by the water-conduits, which the Indians for-
merly constructed on so wonderful a scale, having
* Temple, in his travels through Upper Peru, or Bolivia, in
going from Potosi to Oruro, says, “I saw many Indian villages or
dwellings in ruins, up even to the very tops of the mountains, at-
testing a former population where now all is desolate." He makes
similar remarks in another place; but I cannot tell whether this
desolation has been caused by a want of population or by an al.
tered condition of the land.
120
NORTHERN CHILE.
been injured by neglect and by subterranean move-
ments. I may here mention that the Peruvians ac-
tually carried their irrigating streams in tunnels
through hills of solid rock. Mr. Gill told me he
had been employed professionally to examine one;
he found the passage low, narrow, crooked, and not
of uniform breadth, but of very considerable length.
Is it not most wonderful that men should have at-
tempted such operations without the use of iron or
gunpowder? Mr. Gill also mentioned to me a most
interesting, and, as far as I am aware, quite unpar-
alleled case, of a subterranean disturbance having
changed the drainage of a country. Travelling
from Casma to Huaraz (not very far distant from
Lima), he found a plain covered with ruins and
marks of ancient cultivation, but now quite barren.
Near it was the dry course of a considerable riv-
er, whence the water for irrigation had formerly
been conducted. There was nothing in the ap-
pearance of the water-course to indicate that the
river had not flowed there a few years previously;
in some parts, beds of sand and gravel were spread
out; in others, the solid rock had been worn into
a broad channel, which in one spot was about 40
yards in breadth and 8 feet deep. It is self-evident
that a person following up the course of a stream
will always ascend at a greater or less inclination:
Mr. Gill, therefore, was much astonished, when
walking up the bed of this ancient river, to find
himself suddenly going down hill. He imagined
that the downward slope had a fall of about 40 or
50 feet perpendicular. We here have unequiv-
ocal evidence that a ridge bad been uplifted right
across the old bed of a stream. From the moment
the river-course was thus arched, the water must
necessarily have been thrown back, and a new
channel formed. From that moment, also, the
VALLEY OF PAYPOTE.
121
neighbouring plain must have lost its fertilizing
stream, and become a desert.
June 27th.We set out early in the morning,
and by midday reached the ravine of Paypote,
where there is a tiny rill of water, with a little vege-
tation, and even a few algarroba trees, a kind of
mimosa. From having firewood, à smelting-fur-
nace had formerly been built here : we found a
solitary man in charge of it, whose sole employ-
ment was hunting guanacos. At night it froze
sharply ;. but, having plenty of wood for our fire,
we kept ourselves warm.
28th.We continued gradually ascending, and
the valley now changed into a ravine. During the
day we saw several guanacos, and the track of the
closely-allied species, the Vicuña : this latter ani-
mal is pre-eminently alpine in its habits; it seldom
descends much below the limit of perpetual snow,
and therefore haunts even a more lofty and sterile
situation than the guanaco. The only other ani-
mal which we saw in any number was a small fox:
I suppose this animal preys on the mice and other
small rodents, which, as long as there is the least
vegetation, subsist in considerable numbers in very
desert places. In Patagonia, even on the borders
of the salinas, where a drop of fresh water can
never be found, excepting dew, these little ani-
mals swarm. Next to lizards, mice appear to be
able to support existence on the smallest and driest
portions of the earth, even on islets in the midst of
great oceans.
The scene on all sides showed desolation, bright-
ened and made palpable by a clear, unclouded sky.
For a time such scenery is sublime, but this feeling
cannot last, and then it becomes uninteresting.
We bivouacked at the foot of the - primera linea,"
II.-L
122
NORTHERN CHILE.
or the first line of the partition of the waters. The
streams, however, on the east side do not flow to
the Atlantic, but into an elevated district, in the
middle of which there is a large salina, or salt lake;
thus forming a little Caspian Sea at the height,
perhaps, of ten thousand feet. Where we slept
there were some considerable patches of snow, but
they do not remain throughout the year. The
winds in these lofty regions obey very regular
laws: every day a fresh breeze blows up the val-
ley, and at night, an hour or two after sunset, the
air from the cold regions above descends as through
a funnel. This night it blew a gale of wind, and
the temperature must have been considerably be-
low the freezing-point, for water in a vessel soon
became a block of ice. No clothes seemed to op-
pose any obstacle to the air ; I suffered very much
from the cold, so that I could not sleep, and in the
morning rose with my body quite dull and be-
numbed.
In the Cordillera further southward people lose
their lives from snow-storms; here it sometimes
happens from another cause. My guide, when a
boy of fourteen years old, was passing the Cordil-
lera with a party in the month of May, and while
in the central parts, a furious gale of wind arose,
so that the men could hardly cling on their mules,
and stones were flying along the ground. The
day was cloudless, and not a speck of snow fell,
but the temperature was low. It is probable that
the thermometer would not have stood very many
degrees below the freezing-point, but the effect on
their bodies, ill protected by clothing, must have
been in proportion to the rapidity of the current
of cold air. The gale lasted for more than a day;
the men began to lose their strength, and the mules
would not move onwards. My guide's brother
EL BRAMADOR.
123
tried to return, but he perished, and his body was
found two years afterwards, lying by the side of
his mule near the road, with the bridle still in his
hand. Two other men in the party lost their fin-
gers and toes; and, out of two hundred mules and
thirty cows, only fourteen mules escaped alive.
Many years ago the whole of a large party are
supposed to have perished from a similar cause,
but their bodies, to this day, have never been dis-
covered. The union of a cloudless sky, low tem-
perature, and a furious gale of wind, must be, I
should think, in all parts of the world, an unusual
occurrence.
June 29th.—We gladly travelled down the val-
ley to our former night's lodging, and thence to
near the Agua amarga. On July 1st we reached
the valley of Copiapó. The smell of the fresh
clover was quite delightful, after the scentless air
of the dry, sterile Despoblado. Whilst staying in
the town, I heard an account from several of the
inhabitants of a hill in the neighbourhood which
they called “ El Bramador," the roarer or bel-
lower. I did not at the time pay sufficient atten-
tion to the account; but, as far as I understood,
the hill was covered by sand, and the noise was
produced only when people, by ascending it, put
the sand in motion. The same circumstances are
described in detail on the authority of Seetzen and
Ehrenberg, * as the cause of the sounds which have
been heard by many travellers on Mount Sinai near
the Red Sea. One person with whom I conversed
had himself heard the noise ; he described it as
very surprising; and he distinctly stated that, al-
* Edinburgh Phil. Journ., Jan., 1830, p. 74; and April, 1830, p.
258. Also, Ďaubeny on Volcanoes, p. 438; and Bengal Journ.,
voi. vii., p. 324.
124
PERU.
though he could not understand how it was caused,
yet it was necessary to set the sand rolling down
the acclivity. A horse walking over dry and coarse
sand causes a peculiar chirping noise from the
friction of the particles, a circumstance which I
several times noticed on the coast of Brazil.
Three days afterwards I heard of the Beagle's
arrival at the Port, distant eighteen leagues from
the town. There is very little land cultivated
down the valley; its wide expanse supports a
wretched wiry grass, which even the donkeys can
hardly eat. This poorness of the vegetation is
owing to the quantity of saline matter with which
the soil is impregnated. The Port consists of an
assemblage of miserable little hovels, situated at
the foot of a sterile plain. At present, as the river
contains water enough to reach the sea, the inhab-
itants enjoy the advantage of having fresh water
within a mile and a half. On the beach there
were large piles of merchandise, and the little
place had an air of activity. In the evening I
gave my adios, with a hearty good-will, to my com-
panion Mariano Gonzales, with whom I had ridden
so many leagues in Chile. The next morning the
Beagle sailed for Iquique.
1
July 12th. We anchored in the port of Iquique,
in lat. 200 12', on the coast of Peru. The town
contains about a thousand inhabitants, and stands
on a little plain of sand at the foot of a great wall
of rock, 2000 feet in height, here forming the coast.
The whole is utterly desert. A light shower of
rain falls only once in very many years; and the
ravines consequently are filled with detritus, and
the mountain-sides covered by piles of fine white
sand, even to a height of a thousand feet. During
this season of the year a heavy bank of clouds,
IQUIQUE.
125
stretched over the ocean, seldom rises above the
wall of rocks on the coast. The aspect of the
place was most gloomy; the little port, with its
few vessels, and small group of wretched houses,
seemed overwhelmed, and out of all proportion
with the rest of the scene.
The inhabitants live like persons on board a
ship: every necessary comes from a distance:
water is brought in boats from Pisagua, about
forty miles northward, and is sold at the rate of
nine reals (45. 6d.) an eighteen-gallon cask: I
bought a wine-bottleful for threepence. In like
manner, fire-wood, and, of course, every article of
food, is imported. Very few animals can be main-
tained in such a place : on the ensuing morning I
hired with difficulty, at the price of four pounds
sterling, two mules and a guide to take me to the
nitrate of soda works. These are at present the
support of Iquique. This salt was first exported
in 1830: in one year an amount in value of: one
hundred thousand pounds sterling was sent to
France and England. It is principally used as a
manure and in the manufacture of nitric acid :
owing to its deliquescent property, it will not serve
for gunpowder. Formerly there were two exceed-
ingly rich silver-mines in this neighbourhood, but
their produce is now very small.
Our arrival in the offing caused some little ap-
prehension. Peru was in a state of anarchy; and
each party having demanded a contribution, the
poor town of Iquique was in tribulation, thinking
the evil hour was come. The people had also their
domestic troubles; a short time before, three
French carpenters had broken open, during the
same night, the two churches, and stolen all the
plate: one of the robbers, however, subsequently
: confessed, and the plate was recovered. The con-
L ?
126
PERU.
victs were sent to Arequipa, which, though the
capital of this province, is two hundred leagues dis-
tant; the government there thought it a pity to
punish such useful workmen, who could make all
sorts of furniture, and accordingly liberated them.
Things being in this state, the churches were again
broken open, but this time the plate was not re-
covered. The inhabitants became dreadfully en-
raged, and, declaring that none but heretics would
thus "eat God Almighty," proceeded to torture
some Englishmen, with the intention of afterwards
shooting them. At last the authorities interfered,
13th. In the morning I started for the saltpetre-
works, a distance of fourteen leagues. Having as-
cended the steep coast-mountains by a zigzag sandy
track, we soon came in view of the mines of Guan-
tajaya and St. Rosa. These two small villages are
placed at the very mouths of the mines; and, being
perched up on hills, they had a still more unnatural
and desolate appearance than the town of Iquique.
We did not reach the saltpetre-works till after sun-
set, having ridden all day across an undulating
country, a complete and utter desert. The road
was strewed with the bones and dried skins of the
many beasts of burden which had perished on it
from fatigue. Excepting the Vultur aura, which
preys on the carcasses, I saw neither bird, quadru-
ped, reptile, nor insect. On the coast-mountains,
at the height of about 2000 feet, where during this
season the clouds generally hang, a very few cacti
were growing in the clefts of rock; and the loose
sand was strewed over with a lichen, which lies on
the surface quite unattached. This plant belongs
to the genus Cladonia, and somewhat resembles
the reindeer lichen. In some parts it was in suf-
SALTPETRE-WORKS.
127
distance, of a pale yellowish colour. Further in-
land, during the whole ride of fourteen leagues, I
saw only one other vegetable production, and that
was a most minute yellow lichen, growing on the
bones of the dead mules. This was the first true
desert which I had seen: the effect on me was not
impressive; but I believe this was owing to my
having become gradually accustomed to such scenes,
as I rode northward from Valparaiso, through Co-
quimbo, to Copiapó. The appearance of the coun-
try was remarkable, from being covered by a thick
crust of common salt, and of a stratified saliferous
alluvium, which seems to have been deposited as
the land slowly rose above the level of the sea.
The salt is white, very hard, and compact: it oc-
curs in water-worn nodules projecting from the ag-
glutinated sand, and is associated with much gyp-
sum. The appearance of this superficial mass very
closely resembled that of a country after snow, be-
fore the last dirty patches are thawed. The exist-
ence of this crust of a soluble substance over the
whole face of the country shows how extraordi-
narily dry the climate must have been for a long
period.
At night I slept at the house of the owner of
one of the saltpetre-mines. The country is here as
unproductive as near the coast; but water, having
rather a bitter and brackish taste, can be procured
by digging wells. The well at this house was thir-
ty-six yards deep: as scarcely any rain falls, it is
evident the water is not thus derived ; indeed, if it
were, it could not fail to be as salt as brine, for the
whole surrounding country is incrusted with vari-
ous saline substances. We must therefore conclude
that it percolates under ground from the Cordillera,
though distant many leagues. In that direction
there are a few small villages, where the inhabi-
128
PERU.
tants, having more water, are enabled to irrigate a
little land, and raise hay, on which the mules and
asses employed in carrying the saltpetre are fed.
The nitrate of soda was now selling at the ship's
side at fourteen shillings per hundred pounds: the
chief expense is its transport to the sea-coast. . The
mine consists of a hard stratum, between two and
three feet thick, of the nitrate, mingled with a little
of the sulphate of soda, and a good deal of common
salt.! It lies close beneath the surface, and follows
for a length of one hundred and fifty miles the
margin of a grand basin or plain; this, from its out-
line, manifestly must once have been a lake, or,
more probably, an inland arm of the sea, as may be
inferred from the presence of iodic salts in the sa-
line stratum. The surface of the plain is 3300 feet
above the Pacific.
19th. We anchored in the Bay of Callao, the
seaport of Lima, the capital of Peru. We stayed
here six weeks, but, from the troubled state of pub-
lic affairs, I saw very little of the country. During
our whole visit the climate was far from being so
delightful as it is generally represented. A dull,
heavy bank of clouds constantly hung over the land,
so that during the first sixteen days I had only one
view of the Cordillera behind Lima. These mount-
ains, seen in stages, one above the other, through
openings in the clouds, had a very grand appear-
ance. It is almost become a proverb, that rain
never falls in the lower part of Peru. Yet this
can hardly be considered correct; for during al-
most every day of our visit there was a thick driz-
zling mist, which was sufficient to make the streets
muddy and one's clothes damp: this the people
are pleased to call Peruvian dew. That much rain
does not fall is very certain, for the houses are
CONTAGION.
129
covered only with flat roofs made of hardened mud;
and on the mole shiploads of wheat were piled up,
being thus left for weeks together without any
shelter.
I cannot say I liked the very little I saw of
Peru: in summer, however, it is said that the cli-
mate is much pleasanter. In all seasons, both in-
habitants and foreigners suffer from severe attacks
of ague. This disease is common on the whole
coast of Peru, but is unknown in the interior. The
attacks of illness which arise from miasma never
fail to appear most mysterious. So difficult is it to
judge from the aspect of a country whether or not
it is healthy, that if a person had been told to choose
within the tropics a situation appearing favourable
for health, very probably he would have named this
coast. The plain round the outskirts of Callao is
sparingly covered with a coarse grass, and in some
parts there are a few stagnant, though very small,
pools of water. The miasma, in all probability,
arises from these ; for the town of Arica is similar-
ly circumstanced, and its healthiness was much im-
proved by the drainage of some little pools. Mi-
asma is not always produced by a luxuriant vege-
tation with an ardent climate ; for many parts of
Brazil, even where there are marshes and a rank
vegetation, are much more healthy than this sterile
coast of Peru. The densest forests in a temperate
climate, as in Chiloe, do not seem in the slight-
est degree to affect the healthy condition of the at-
mosphere.
The island of St. Jago, at the Cape de Verds,
offers another strongly-marked instance of a coun-
try which any one would have expected to find
most healthy, being very much the contrary. I
have described the bare and open plains as sup-
porting, during a few weeks after the rainy season,
II.
130
PERU.
a thin vegetation, which directly withers away and
dries up: at this period the air appears to become
quite poisonous, both natives and foreigners often
being affected with violent fevers. On the other
hand, the Galapagos Archipelago, in the Pacific,
with a similar soil, and periodically subject to the
same process of vegetation, is perfectly healthy.
Humboldt has observed, that, “under the torrid
zone, the smallest marshes are the most dangerous,
being surrounded, as at Vera Cruz and Carthage-
na, with an arid and sandy soil, which raises the
temperature of the ambient air.'* On the coast of
Peru, however, the temperature is not hot to any
excessive degree, and perhaps, in consequence, the
intermittent fevers are not of the most malignant
order. In all unhealthy countries, the greatest risk
is run by sleeping on shore. Is this owing to the
state of the body during sleep, or to a greater
abundance of miasına at such times? It appears
certain that those who stay on board a vessel,
though anchored at only a short distance from the
coast, generally suffer less than those actually on
shore. On the other hand, I have heard of one re-
markable case where a fever broke out among the
crew of a man-of-war some hundred miles off the
coast of Africa, and at the very same time that one
of those fearful periodst of death commenced at
Sierra Leone.
No state in South America, since the declaration
of independence, has suffered more from anarchy
than Peru. At the time of our visit, there were
four chiefs in arms contending for supremacy in the
* Political Essay on the Kingdom of New Spain, vol. iv., p. 199.
t A similar interesting case is recorded in the Madras Medical
Quart. Journ., 1839, p. 340. Dr. Ferguson, in his admirable Paper
(see 9th vol. of Edinburgh Royal Trans.), shows clearly that the
poison is generated in the drying process, and hence that dry, hot
countries are often the most unhealthy,
CALLAO.-LIMA.
131
government: if one succeeded in becoming for a
time very powerful, the others coalesced against
him; but no sooner were they victorious, than they
were again hostile to each other. The other day,
at the Anniversary of the Independence, high mass
was performed, the President partaking of the sac-
rament: during the Te Deum laudamus, instead
of each regiment displaying the Peruvian flag, a
black one with death's head was unfurled. Ima-
gine a government under which such a scene could
be ordered, on such an occasion, to be typical of
their determination of fighting to death! This
state of affairs happened at a time very unfortu-
nately for me, as I was precluded from taking any
excursions much beyond the limits of the town.
The barren island of S. Lorenzo, which forms the
harbour, was nearly the only place where one
could walk securely. The upper part, which is
upwards of 1000 feet in height, during this season
of the year (winter) comes within the lower limit
of the clouds; and in consequence, an abundant
cryptogamic vegetation, and a few flowers, cover
the summit. On the hills near Lima, at a height
but little greater, the ground is carpeted with moss,
and beds of beautiful yellow lilies called Amancaes.
This indicates a very much greater degree of hu-
midity than at a corresponding height at Iquique.
Proceeding northward of Lima, the climate be-
comes damper, till on the banks of the Guyaquil,
nearly under the equator, we find the most luxuri-
ant forests. The change, however, from the sterile
coast of Peru to that fertile land is described as
taking place rather abruptly in the latitude of Cape
Blanco, two degrees south of Guyaquil.
Callao is a filthy, ill-built, small seaport. The
inhabitants, both here and at Lima, present every
imaginable shade of mixture between European,
132
PERU.
Negro, and Indian blood. They appear a de-
praved, drunken set of people. The atmosphere
is loaded with foul smells, and that peculiar one,
which may be perceived in almost every town within
the tropics, was here very strong. The fortress,
which withstood Lord Cochrane's long siege, has
an imposing appearance. But the President, du-
ring our stay, sold the brass guns, and proceeded
to dismantle parts of it. The reason assigned was,
that he had not an officer to whom he could trust
so important a charge. He himself had good rea-
sons for thinking so, as he had obtained the presi-
dentship by rebelling while in charge of this same
fortress. After we left South America, he paid
the penalty in the usual manner, by being con-
quered, taken prisoner, and shot.
Lima stands on a plain in a valley, formed during
the gradual retreat of the sea. It is seven miles
from Callao, and is elevated 500 feet above it; but
from the slope being very gradual, the road appears
absolutely level, so that when at Lima it is diffi-
cult to believe one has ascended even one hundred
feet : Humboldt has remarked on this singularly
deceptive case. Steep, barren hills rise like isl-
ands from the plain, which is divided by straight
mud-walls into large green fields. In these scarce-
ly a tree grows excepting a few willows, and an
occasional clump of bananas and of oranges. The
city of Lima is now in a wretched state of decay:
the streets are nearly unpaved; and heaps of filth
are piled up in all directions, where the black gal-
linazos, tame as poultry, pick up bits of carrion.
The houses have generally an upper story, built,
on account of the earthquakes, of plastered wood-
work; but some of the old ones, which are now
used by several families, are immensely large, and
would rival in suites of apartments the most mag-
RUINS.
133
.
nificent in any place. Lima, the City of the Kings,
must formerly have been a splendid town. The
extraordinary number of churches gives it, even at
the present day, a peculiar and striking character,
especially when viewed from a short distance.
One day I went out with some merchants to
hunt in the immediate vicinity of the city. Our
sport was very poor; but I had an opportunity of
seeing the ruins of one of the ancient Indian vil-
lages, with its mound like a natural hill in the
centre. The remains of houses, enclosures, irri-
gating streams, and burial mounds, scattered over
this plain, cannot fail to give one a high idea of the
condition and number of the ancient population.
When their earthenware, woollen clothes, utensils
of elegant forms cut out of the hardest rocks, tools
of copper, ornaments of precious stones, palaces,
and hydraulic works, are considered, it is impossi-
ble not to respect the considerable advance made
by them in the arts of civilization. The burial
mounds, called Huacas, are really stupendous, al-
though in some places they appear to be natural
hills incased and modelled.
There is also another and very different class of
ruins, which possesses some interest, namely, those
of old Callao, overwhelmed by the great earthquake
of 1746, and its accompanying wave. The de-
struction must have been more complete even than
at Talcahuano. Quantities of shingle, almost con-
ceal the foundations of the walls, and vast masses.
of brickwork appear to have been whirled about
like .pebbles by the retiring waves. It has been
stated that the land subsided during this memora-
ble shock: I could not discover any proof of this;
yet it seems far from improbable, for the form of
the coast must certainly have undergone some.
change since the foundation of the old town, as.
II.-M
134
PERU.
no people in their senses. would willingly have
chosen for their building-place the narrow spit of
shingle on which the ruins now stand. Since our
voyage, M. Tschudi has come to the conclusion,
by the comparison of old and modern maps, that
the coast both north and south of Lima has cer-
tainly subsided.
On the island of San Lorenzo, there are very
satisfactory proofs of elevation within the recent
period; this, of course, is not opposed to the belief
of a small sinking of the ground having subse-
quently taken place. The side of this island front-
ing the Bay of Callao is worn into three obscure
terraces, the lower one of which is covered by a
bed a mile in length, almost wholly composed of
shells of eighteen species, now living in the adjoin-
ing sea. The height of this bed is eighty-five feet.
Many of the shells are deeply corroded, and have
a much older and more decayed appearance than
those at the height of 500 or 600 feet on the coast
of Chile. These shells are associated with much
common salt, a little sulphate of lime (both proba-
bly left by the evaporation of the spray, as the
land slowly rose), together with sulphate of soda
and muriate of lime. They rest on fragments of
the underlying sandstone, and are covered by a
few inches thick of detritus. The shells, higher
up on this terrace, could be traced scaling off in
flakes, and falling into an impalpable powder; and
on an upper terrace, at the height of 170 feet, and
likewise at some considerably higher points, I
found a layer of saline powder of exactly similar
appearance, and lying in the same relative posi-
tion. I have no doubt that this upper layer origi-
nally existed as a bed of shells, like that on the
eighty-five-feet ledge; but it does not now contain
even a trace of organic structure. The powder
DECOMPOSING SHELLS.
135
has been analyzed for me by Mr. T. Reeks : it
consists of sulphates and muriates both of lime and
soda, with very little carbonate of lime. It is
known that common salt and carbonate of lime, left
in a mass for some time together, partly decom-
pose each other; though this does not happen
with small quantities in solution. As the half-de-
composed shells in the lower parts are associated
with much common salt, together with some of the
saline substances composing the upper saline layer,
and as these shells are corroded and decayed in a
remarkable manner, I strongly suspect that this
double decomposition has here taken place. The
resultant salts, however, ought to be carbonate of
soda and muriate of lime; the latter is present, but
not the carbonate of soda. Hence I am led to
imagine that by some unexplained means the car-
bonate of soda becomes changed into the sulphate.
It is obvious that the saline layer could not have
been preserved in any country in which abundant
rain occasionally fell : on the other hand, this very
circumstance, which at first sight appears so highly
favourable to the long preservation of exposed
shells, has probably been the indirect means,
through the common salt not having been washed
away, of their decomposition and early decay.
I was much interested by finding on the terrace,
at the height of eighty-five feet, embedded amidst
the shells and much sea-drifted rubbish, some bits
of cotton thread, plaited rush, and the head of a
stalk of Indian corn. I compared these relics with
similar ones taken out of the Huacas, or old Peru-
vian tombs, and found them identical in appear-
ance. On the mainland in front of San Lorenzo,
near Bellavista, there is an extensive and level
plain about a hundred feet high, of which the low-
er part is formed of alternating layers of sand and
136
PERU.
impure clay, together with some gravel, and the
surface, to the depth of from three to six feet, of a
reddish loam, containing a few scattered sea-shells
and numerous small fragments of coarse red earth-
enware, more abundant at certain spots than at
others. At first I was inclined to believe that this
superficial bed, from its wide extent and smooth-
ness, must have been deposited beneath the sea;
but I afterwards found in one spot that it lay on an
artificial floor of round stones. It seems, there-
fore, most probable, that at a period when the land
stood at a lower level, there was a plain very sim-
ilar to that now surrounding Callao, which, being
protected by a shingle beach, is raised but very
little above the level of the sea. On this plain,
with its underlying red-clay beds, I imagine that
the Indians manufactured their earthen vessels, and
that during some violent earthquake the sea broke
over the beach, and converted the plain into a tem-
porary lake, as happened round Callao in 1713
and 1746. The water would then have deposited
mud, containing fragments of pottery from the
kilns, more abundant at some spots than at others,
and shells from the sea. This bed with fossil
earthenware stands at about the same height with
the shells on the lower terrace of San Lorenzo, in
which the cotton thread and other relics were em-
bedded. Hence we may safely conclude that
within the Indo-human period there has been an
elevation, as before alluded to, of more than eighty-
five feet; for some little elevation must have been
lost by the coast having subsided since the old maps
were engraved. At Valparaiso, although in the
220 years before our visit the elevation cannot
have exceeded nineteen feet, yet subsequently to
1817 there has been a rise, partly insensible and
partly by a start.during the shock of 1822, of ten
FOSSIL HUMAN RELICS.
137
or eleven feet. The antiquity of the Indo-human
race here, judging by the eighty-five feet rise of
the land since the relics were embedded, is the
more remarkable, as on the coast of Patagonia,
when the land stood about the same number of
feet lower, the 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 ele-
vation 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 ex-
ist. But the rising of that part of the coast of Pat-
agonia is perhaps noways connected with the Cor-
dillera, but rather with a line of old volcanic rocks
in Banda Oriental, so that it may have been infi-
nitely slower than on the shores of Peru. All
these speculations, however, must be vague; for
who will pretend to say that there may not have
been several periods of subsidence intercalated
between the movements of elevation ? for we know
that along the whole coast of Patagonia there have
certainly been many and long pauses in the up-
ward action of the elevatory forces.
M2
138
GALAPAGOS ARCHIPELAGO.
CHAPTER V.
The whole Group volcanic-Number of Craters-Leafless Bush-
es-Colony at Charles Island--James Island-Salt-lake in Cra-
ter - Natural History of the Group – Ornithology, curious
Finches-Reptiles-Great Tortoises, Habits of-M rine Liz.
ard, feeds on Sea-weed-Terrestrial Lizard, burrowing Habits,
Herbivorous-Importance of Reptiles in the Archipelago-Fish,
Shells, Insects--Botany American Type of Organization-Dif-
ferences in the Species or Faces on different Islands—Tame.
ness of the Birds--Fear of Man, an acquired Instinct.
GALAPAGOS ARCHIPELAGO.
September 15th.—This archipelago consists of
ten principal islands, of which five exceed the oth-
ers in size. They are situated under the equator,
Culpepper I.
60 Miles.
Wenman I.
Abingdon I.
Tower I.
Bindloes I.

S
CA
James I.
I.
Indefatigable I.
Narborough 1.
Albemarl I.
MUS
A
17
Chatham
-
Barrington I.
ht
Charles I.
Hoou s I.
NUMBER OF CRATERS.
139
and between five and six hundred miles westward
of the coast of America. They are all formed of
volcanic rocks; a few fragments of granite, curi-
ously glazed and altered by the heat, can hardly
be considered as an exception. Some of the cra-
ters surmounting the larger islands are of immense
size, and they rise to a height of between three
and four thousand feet. Their flanks are studded
by innumerable smaller orifices. I scarcely hesi-
tate to affirm that there must be in the whole ar-
chipelago at least two thousand craters. These
consist either of lava and scoriæ, or of finely-strati-
fied, sandstone-like tuff. Most of the latter are
beautifully symmetrical; they owe their origin to
eruptions of volcanic mud without any lava : it is
a remarkable circumstance that every one of the
twenty-eight tuff-craters which were examined had
their southern sides either much lower than the
other sides, or quite broken down and removed.
As all these craters apparently have been formed
when standing in the sea, and as the waves from
the trade-wind and the swell from the open Pacific
here unite their forces on the southern coasts of all
the islands, this singular uniformity in the broken
state of the craters, composed of the soft and yield-
ing tuff, is easily explained.
Considering that these islands are placed direct-
ly under the equator, the climate is far from being
excessively hot. This seems chiefly caused by the
singularly low temperature of the surrounding wa-
ter, brought here by the great southern Polar cur-
rent. Excepting during one short season very lit-
tle rain falls, and even then it is irregular; but the
clouds generally hang low. Hence, whilst the low-
er parts of the islands are very sterile, the upper
parts, at a height of a thousand feet and upwards,
possess a damp climate and a tolerably luxuriant
140
GALAPAGOS ARCHIPELAGO.
vegetation. This is especially the case on the
windward sides of the islands, which first receive
and condense the moisture from the atmosphere.
In the morning (17th) we landed on Chathain
Island, which, like the others, rises with a tame
and rounded outline, broken here and there by
scattered hillocks, the remains of former craters.
Nothing could be less inviting than the first ap-
pearance. A broken field of black basaltic lava,
thrown into the most rugged waves, and crossed
by great fissures, is everywhere covered by stunt-
ed sun-burned brushwood, which shows little signs
of life. · The dry and parched surface, being heat-
ed by the noonday sun, gave to the air a close and
sultry feeling, like that from a stove: we fancied
even that the bushes smelt unpleasantly. Although
I diligently tried to collect as many plants as pos-
sible, I succeeded in getting very few; and such
wretched-looking little weeds would have better
become an arctic than an equatorial Flora. The
brushwood appears, from a short distance, as leaf-
less as our trees during winter; and it was some
time before I discovered that not only almost ev-
ery plant was now in full leaf, but that the greater
number were in flower. The commonest bush is
one of the Euphorbiaceæ : an acacia, and a great,
odd-looking cactus, are the only trees which afford
any shade. After the season of heavy rains the
islands are said to appear for a short time partial-
ly green.' The volcanic island of Fernando No-
ronha, placed in many respects under nearly sim-
ilar conditions, is the only other country where I
have seen a vegetation at all like this of the Gala-
pagos islands.
: The Beagle sailed round Chatham Island, and
anchored in several bays. One night I slept on
shore on a part of the island where black truncated
: LARGE TORTOISES.
141
cones were extraordinarily numerous: from one
small eminence I counted sixty of them, all sur-
mounted by craters more or less perfect. The
greater number consisted merely of a ring of red
scoriæ or slags, cemented together, and their
height above the plain of lava was not more than
from fifty to a hundred feet: none had been very
lately active. The entire surface of this part of
the island seems to have been permeated, like a
sieve, by the subterranean vapours : here and there
the lava, whilst soft, has been blown into great
bubbles, and in other parts, the tops of caverns
similarly formed. have fallen in, leaving circular
pits with steep sides. From the regular form of
the many craters, they gave to the country an arti-
ficial appearance, which vividly reminded me of
those parts of Staffordshire where the great iron-
foundries are most numerous. The day was glow-
ing hot, and the scrambling over the rough surface
and through the intricate thickets was very fatigu-
ing, but I was well repaid by the strange Cyclo-
pean scene. As I was walking along I met two
Targe tortoises, each of which must have weighed
at least two hundred pounds : one was eating a
piece of cactus, and, as I approached, it stared at
me and slowly stalked away; the other gave a
deep hiss and drew in its head. These huge rep-
tiles, surrounded by the black lava, the leafless
shrubs, and large cacti, seemed to my fancy like
some antediluvian animals. The few dull-colour-
ed birds cared no more for me than they did for
the great tortoises.
23d.--The Beagle proceeded to Charles Island.
This archipelago has long been frequented, first by
the Bucaniers, and latterly by whalers, but it is
only within the last six years that a small colony
has been established here. The inhabitants are
142
GALAPAGOS ARCHIPELAGO.
between two and three hundred in number: they
are nearly all people of colour, who have been
banished for political crimes from the Republic of
the Equador, of which Quito is the capital. The
settlement is placed about four and a half miles in-
land, and at a height, probably, of a thousand feet.
In the first part of the road we passed through
leafless thickets, as in Chatham Island. Higher
up the woods gradually became greener, and as
soon as we crossed the ridge of the island we were
cooled by a fine southerly breeze, and our sight re-
freshed by a green and thriving vegetation. In this
upper region coarse grasses and ferns abound, but
there are no tree-ferns : I saw nowhere any mem-
ber of the Palm family, which is the more singular,
as, 360 miles northward, Cocos Island takes its
name from the number of cocoa-nuts. The houses
are irregularly scattered over a flat space of ground,
which is cultivated with sweet potatoes and bana-
nas. It will not easily be imagined how pleasant
the sight of black mud was to us, after having been
so long accustomed to the parched soil of Peru and
northern Chile. The inhabitants, although com-
plaining of poverty, obtain, without much trouble,
the means of subsistence. In the woods there are
many wild pigs and goats, but the staple article
of animal food is supplied by the tortoises. Their
numbers have of course been greatly reduced in
this island, but the people yet count on two days'
hunting giving them food for the rest of the week.
It is said that formerly single vessels have taken
away as many as seven hundred, and that the ship's
company of a frigate some years since brought
down in one day two hundred tortoises to the
beach.
September 29th.– We doubled the south-west
extremity of Albemarle Island, and the next day.
. ALBEMARLE ISLAND.
143
were nearly becalmed between it and Narborough
Island. Both are covered with immense deluges
of black, naked lava, which have flowed either over
the rims of the great caldrons, like pitch over the
rim of a pot in which it has been boiled, or have
burst forth from smaller orifices on the flanks; in
their descent they have spread over miles of the
sea-coast. On both of these islands eruptions are
known to have taken place; and in Albemarle we
saw a small jet of smoke curling from the sum-
mit of one of the great craters. In the evening we
anchored in Bank's Cove, in Albemarle Island.
The next morning I went out walking. To the
south of the broken tuff-crater in which the Beagle
was anchored, there was another beautifully sym-
metrical one of an elliptic form ; its longer axis was
a little less than a mile, and its depth about 500
feet. At its bottom there was a shallow lake, in
the middle of which a tiny crater formed an islet.
The day was overpoweringly hot, and the lake
looked clear and blue. I hurried down the cindery
slope, and, choked with dust, eagerly tasted the
water, but, to my sorrow, I found it salt as brine.
The rocks on the coast abounded with great
black lizards between three and four feet long, and
on the hills an ugly yellowish-brown species was
equally common. We saw many of this latter kind,
some clumsily running out of our way, and others
shuffling into their burrows. I shall presently de-
scribe in more detail the habits of both these rep-
tiles. The whole of this northern part of Albe-
marle Island is miserably sterile.
October 8th. We arrived at James Island: this
island, as well as Charles Island, was long since
thus named after our kings of the Stuart line. Mr.
Bynoe, myself, and our servants were left here
for a week, with provisions and a tent, whilst the
144
GALAPAGOS ARCHIPELAGO.
Beagle went for water. We found here a party
of Spaniards, who had been sent from Charles Isl-
and to dry fish and to salt tortoise-meat. About
six miles inland, and at the height of nearly 2000
feet, a hovel had been built, in which two men
lived, who were employed in catching tortoises
whilst the others were fishing on the coast. I paid
this party two visits, and slept there one night. As
in the other islands, the lower region was covered
by nearly leafless bushes, but the trees were here
of a larger growth than elsewhere, several being
two feet, and some even two feet nine inches in di-
ameter. The upper region, being kept damp by
the clouds, supports a green and flourishing vege-
tation. So damp was the ground that there were
large beds of a coarse cyperus, in which great
numbers of a very small water-rail lived and bred.
While staying in this upper region we lived entire-
ly upon tortoise-meat: the breast-plate roasted (as
the Gauchos do carne con cuero), with the flesh on
it, is very good, and the young tortoises make ex-
cellent soup; but otherwise the meat to my taste
is indifferent.
One day we accompanied a party of the Span-
iards in their whale-boat to a salina, or lake from
which salt is procured. After landing, we had a
very rough walk over a rugged field of recent lava,
which has almost surrounded a tuff-crater, at the
bottom of which the salt-lake lies. The water is
only three or four inches deep, and rests on a lay-
er of beautifully crystallized white salt. The lake
is quite circular, and is fringed with a border of
bright green succulent plants; the almost precipi-
tous walls of the crater are clothed with wood, so
that the scene was altogether both picturesque and
curious. A few years since, the sailors belonging
to a sealing-vessel murdered their captain in this
NATURAL HISTORY.
145
quiet spot, and we saw his skull lying among the
bushes.
During the greater part of our stay of a week
the sky was cloudless, and if the trade-wind failed
for an hour the heat became very oppressive. On
two days the thermometer within the tent stood
for some hours at 93°, but in the open air, in the
wind and sun, at only 85º. The sand was extreme-
·ly hot; the thermometer, placed in some of a brown
colour, immediately rose to 1370, and how much
above that it would have risen I do not know, for
it was not graduated any higher. The black sand
felt much hotter, so that even in thick boots it was
quite disagreeable to walk over it.
The natural history of these islands is eminently
curious, and well deserves attention. Most of the
organic productions are aboriginal creations, found
nowhere else; there is even a difference between
the inhabitants of the different islands; yet all show
a marked relationship with those of America, though
separated from that continent by an open space of
ocean between 500 and 600 miles in width. The
archipelago is a little world within itself, or, rather,
a satellite attached to America, whence it has de-
rived a few stray colonists, and has received the
general character of its indigenous productions.
Considering the small size of these islands, we feel
the more astonished at the number of their abori-
ginal beings, and at their confined range. Seeing
every height crowned with its crater, and the bound-
aries of most of the lava-streams still distinct, we
are led to believe that within a period geologically
recent the unbroken ocean was here spread out.
Hence, both in space and time, we seem to be
brought somewhat near to that great fact--that
II.-N
10
146
GALAPAGOS ARCHIPELAGO.
mystery of mysteries—the first appearance of new
beings on this earth.
Of terrestrial mammals, there is only one which
must be considered as indigenous, namely, a mouse
(Mus Galapagoensis), and this is confined, as far
as I could ascertain, to Chatham Island, the most
easterly island of the group. It belongs, as I.am
informed by Mr. Waterhouse, to a division of the
family of mice characteristic of America. At
James Island there is a rat sufficiently distinct from
the common kind to have been named and descri-
bed by Mr. Waterhouse ; but as it belongs to the
old-world division of the family, and as this island
has been frequented by ships for the last hundred
and fifty years, I can hardly doubt that this rat is
merely a variety, produced by the new and pecu-
liar climate, food, and soil to which it has been
subjected. Although no one has a right to specu-
late without distinct facts, yet even with respect to
the Chatham Island mouse, it should be borne in
mind that it may possibly be an American species
imported here ; for I have seen in a most unfre-
quented part of the Pampas a native mouse living
in the roof of a newly-built hovel, and therefore its
transportation in a vessel is not improbable : anal-
ogous facts have been observed by Dr. Richardson
in North America.
Of land-birds I obtained twenty-six kinds, all
peculiar to the group and found nowhere else, with
the exception of one lark-like finch from North
America (Dolichonyx oryzivorus), which ranges on
that continent as far north as 54°, and generally
frequents marshes. The other twenty-five birds
consist, firstly, of a hawk, curiously intermediate in
structure between a buzzard and the American
group of carrion-feeding Polybori; and with these
látter birds it agrees most closely in every habit
BIRDS.
147
and even tone of voice. Secondly, there are two
owls, representing the short-eared and white barn-
owls of Europe. Thirdly, a wren, three tyrant fly-
catchers (two of them species of Pyrocephalus, one
or both of which would be ranked by some orni-
thologists as only varieties), and a dove-all anal-
ogous to, but distinct from, American species.
Fourthly, a swallow, which, though differing from
the Progne purpurea of both Americas, only in be-
ing rather duller coloured, smaller, and slenderer,
is considered by Mr. Gould as specifically distinct.
Fifthly, there are three species of mocking-thrush
a form highly characteristic of America. The re.
maining land-birds form a most singular group of
finches, related to each other in the structure of
their beaks, short tails, form of body, and plumage:
there are thirteen species, which Mr. Gould has
divided into four sub-groups. All these species
are peculiar to this archipelago; and so is the whole
group, with the exception of one species of the sub-
group Caçtornis, lately brought from Bow Island,
in the Low Archipelago. Of Cactornis, the two
species may be often seen climbing about the flow-
ers of the great cactus-trees; but all the other spe-
cies of this group of finches, mingled together in
flocks, feed on the dry and sterile ground of the
lower districts. The males of all, or certainly of
the greater number, are jet black, and the females
(with perhaps one or two exceptions) are brown.
The most curious fact is the perfect gradation in
the size of the beaks in the different species of
Geospiza, from one as large as that of a hawfinch
to that of a chaffinch, and (if Mr. Gould is right in
including his sub-group, Certhidea, in the main
group), even to that of a warbler. The largest
beak in the genus Geospiza is shown in Fig. 1,
and the smallest in Fig. 3; but, instead of there
148
GALAPAGOS ARCHIPELAGO.
2

1. Geospiza magnirostris. 2. Geospiza fortis.
3. Geospizaparvula.
4 Certhidea olivacea.
being only one intermediate species, with a beak
of the size shown in Fig. 2, there are no less than
six species with insensibly graduated beaks. The
beak of the sub-group Certhidea is shown in Fig.
4. The beak of Cactornis is somewhat like that
of a starling; and that of the fourth sub-group,
Camarhynchus, is slightly parrot-shaped. Seeing
this gradation and diversity of structure in one
small, intimately-related group of birds, one might
really fancy that, from an original paucity of birds
in this archipelago, one species had been taken and
modified for different ends. In a like manner, it
might be fancied that a bird originally a buzzard
had been induced here to undertake the office of
the carrion-feeding Polybori of the American con-
tinent.
Of waders and water-birds I was able to get only
eleven kinds, and of these only three (including a
rail confined to the damp summits of the islands)
are new species. Considering the wandering hab-
its of the gulls, I was surprised to find that the spe-


BIRDS.
149
cies inhabiting these islands is peculiar, but allied
to one from the southern parts of South America.
The far greater peculiarity of the land-birds, name-
ly, twenty-five out of twenty-six being new species,
or at least new races, compared with the waders
and web-footed birds, is in accordance with the
greater range which these latter orders have in all
parts of the world. We shall hereafter see this
law of aquatic forms, whether marine or fresh-
water, being less peculiar at any given point of the
earth's surface than the terrestrial forms of the
same classes, strikingly illustrated in the shells,
and in a lesser degree in the insects of this archi-
pelago.
Two of the waders are rather smaller than the
same species brought from other places : the swal-
low is also smaller, though it is doubtful whether
or not it is distinct from its analogue. The two
owls, the two tyrant flycatchers (Pyrocephalus), and
the dove, are also smaller than the analogous but
distinct species to which they are most nearly re-
lated; on the other hand, the gull is rather larger.
The two owls, the swallow, all three species of
mocking-thrush, the dove in its separate colours,
though not in its whole plumage, the Totanus, and
the gull, are likewise duskier coloured than their
analogous species; and in the case of the mock-
ing-thrush and Totanus, than any other species of
the two genera.. With the exception of a wren with
a fine yellow breast, and of a tyrant flycatcher with
a scarlet tuft and breast, none of the birds are
brilliantly coloured, as might have been expected
in an equatorial district. Hence it would appear
probable that the same causes which here make
the immigrants of some species smaller, make most
of the peculiar Galapageian species also smaller, as
well as very generally more dusky coloured. All
N 2
150
GALAPAGOS ARCHIPELAGO.
the plants have a wretched, weedy appearance,
and I did not see one beautiful flower. The in-
sects, again, are small sized and dull coloured, and,
as Mr. Waterhouse informs me, there is nothing
in their general appearance which would have led
him to imagine that they had come from under the
equator. The birds, plants, and insects have a des-
ert character, and are not more brilliantly coloured
than those from southern Patagonia; we may,
therefore, conclude that the usual gaudy colouring
of the intertropical productions is not related either
to the heat or light of those zones, but to some
other cause, perhaps to the conditions of existence
being generally favourable to life.
We will now turn to the order of reptiles, which
gives the most striking character to the zoology
of these islands. The species are not numerous,
but the numbers of individuals of each species are
extraordinarily great. There is one small lizard
belonging to a South American genus, and two spe-
cies (and probably more) of the Amblyrhynchus-
a genus confined to the Galapagos Islands. There
is one snake which is numerous; it is identical, as
I am informed by M. Bibron, with the Psammophis
Temminckii from Chile. Of sea-turtle I believe
there is more than one species; and of tortoises
there are, as we shall presently show, two or three
species or races. Of toads and frogs there are
none: I was surprised at this, considering how well
suited for them the temperate and damp upper
woods appeared to be. It recalled to my mind the
remark made by Bory St. Vincent,* namely, that
* Voyage aux Quatre lles d'Afrique. With respect to the
Sandwich Islands, see Tyerman and Bennett's Journal, vol. i., p.
434. For Mauritius, see Voyage par un Officier, &c., part i., p.
170. There are no frogs in the Canary Islands (Webb et Berthe-
lot, Hist. Nat. des Iles Canaries). I saw none at St. Jago in the
Cape de Verds. There are none at St. Helena.
REPTILES.
151
none of this family are found on any of the volcanic
islands in the great oceans. As far as I can ascertain
from various works, this seems to hold good through-
out the Pacific, and even in the large islands of the
Sandwich Archipelago. Mauritius offers an appa-
rent exception, where I saw the Rana Mascariensis
in abundance: this frog is said now to inhabit the
Seychelles, Madagascar, and Bourbon; but, on the
other hand, Du Bois, in his voyage in 1669, states
that there were no reptiles in Bourbon except tor-
toises; and the Officier du Roi asserts that before
1768 it had been attempted, without success, to in-
troduce frogs into Mauritius—I presume, for the
purpose of eating: hence it may be well doubted
whether this frog is an aboriginal of these islands.
The absence of the frog family in the oceanic isl-
ands is the more remarkable when contrasted with
the case of lizards, which swarm on most of the
smallest islands. May this difference not be caused
by the greater facility with which the eggs of liz-
ards, protected by calcareous shells, might be trans-
ported through salt water, than could the slimy
spawn of frogs? .
I will first describe the habits of the tortoise
(Testudo nigra, formerly called Indica), which has
been so frequently alluded to. These animals are
found, I believe, on all the islands of the Archipel-
ago; certainly on the greater number. They fre-
quent in preference the high, damp parts, but they
likewise live in the lower and arid districts. I
have already shown, from the numbers which have
been caught in a single day, how very numerous
they must be. Some grow to an immense size :
Mr. Lawson, an Englishman, and vice-governor of
the colony, told us that he had seen several so large
that it required six or eight men to lift them from
the ground, and that some had afforded as much
1
152
GALAPAGOS ARCHIPELAGO..
as two hundred pounds of meat. The old males
are the largest, the females rarely growing to so
great a size: the male can readily be distinguished
from the female by the greater length of its tail.
The tortoises which live on those islands where
there is no water, or in the lower and arid parts
of the others, feed chiefly on the succulent cactus.
Those which frequent the higher and damp re-
gions eat the leaves of various trees, a kind of
berry (called guayavita) which is acid and austere,
and likewise a pale-green filamentous lichen (US-
nera plicata), that hangs in tresses from the boughs
of the trees.
The tortoise is very fond of water, drinking
large quantities, and wallowing in the mud. The
larger islands alone possess springs, and these are
always situated towards the central parts, and at
a considerable height. The tortoises, therefore,
which frequent the lower districts, when thirsty,
are obliged to travel from a long distance. Hence
broad and well-beaten paths branch off in every
direction from the wells down to the sea-coast; and
the Spaniards, by following them up, first discover-
ed the watering-places. When I landed at Chat-
ham Island, I could not imagine what animal
travelled so methodically along well-chosen tracks.
Near the springs it was a curious spectacle to be-
hold many of these huge creatures, one set eagerly
travelling onwards with outstretched necks, and
another set returning, after having drunk their fill.
When the tortoise arrives at the spring, quite re-
gardless of any spectator, he buries his head in
the water above his eyes, and greedily swallows
great mouthfuls, at the rate of about ten in a min-
ute. The inhabitants say each animal stays three
or four days in the neighbourhood of the water,
and then returns to the lower country; but they
GREAT TORTOISE.
153
differed respecting the frequency of these visits.
The animal probably regulates them according to
the nature of the food on which it has lived. It is,
however, certain, that tortoises can subsist even on
those islands where there is no other water than
what falls during a few rainy days in the year.
I believe it is well ascertained that the bladder
of the frog acts as a reservoir for the moisture ne-
cessary to its existence: such seems to be the case
with the tortoise. For some time after a visit to
the springs, their urinary bladders are distended
with fluid, which is said gradually to decrease in
volume, and to become less pure. The inhabitants,
when walking in the lower district, and overcome
with thirst, often take advantage of this circum-
stance, and drink the contents of the bladder if
full : in one I saw killed the fluid was quite limpid,
and had only a very slightly bitter taste. The in-
habitants, however, always first drink the water in
the pericardium, which is described as being best.
The tortoises, when purposely moving towards
any point, travel by night and day, and arrive at
their journey's end much sooner than would be
expected. The inhabitants, from observing marked
individuals, consider that they travel a distance of
about eight miles in two or three days. One large
tortoise, which I watched, walked at the rate of
sixty yards in ten minutes, that is 360 yards in the
hour, or four miles a day, allowing a little time for
it to eat on the road. During the breeding season,
when the male and female are together, the male
utters a hoarse roar or bellowing, which, it is said,
can be heard at the distance of more than a hun-
dred yards. The female never uses her voice, and
the male only at these times ; so that when the
people hear this noise, they know that the two are
together. Thev were at this time (October) laying
154
GALAPAGOS ARCHIPELAGO.
their eggs. The female, where the soil is sandy,
deposits them together, and covers them up with
sand; but where the ground is rocky, she drops
them indiscriminately in any hole: Mr. Bynoe found
seven placed in a fissure. The egg is white and
spherical; one which I measured was seven inches
and three eighths in circumference, and therefore
larger than a hen's egg. The young tortoises, as
soon as they are hatched, fall a prey in great num-
bers to the carrion-feeding buzzard. The old ones
seem generally to die from accidents, as from fall-
ing down precipices ; at least several of the inhab-
itants told me that they had never found one dead
without some evident cause.
The inhabitants believe that these animals are
absolutely deaf; certainly they do not overhear a
person walking close behind them. I was always
amused, when overtaking one of these great mon-
sters as it was quietly pacing along, to see how
suddenly, the instant I passed, it would draw in its
head and legs, and, uttering a deep hiss, fall to the
ground with a heavy sound, as if struck dead. I
frequently got on their backs, and then giving a
few raps on the hinder part of their shells, they
would rise up and walk away; but I found it very
difficult to keep my balance. The flesh of this
animal is largely employed, both fresh and salted,
and a beautifully clear oil is prepared from the fat.
When a tortoise is caught, the man makes a slit in
the skin near its tail, so as to see inside its body,
whether the fat under the dorsal plate is thick. If
it is not, the animal is liberated, and it is said to
recover soon from this strange operation. In order
to secure the tortoises, it is not sufficient to turn
them like turtle, for they are often able to get on
their legs, again.
There can be little doubt that this tortoise is an
MARINE AMBLYRHYNCHUS.
155
aboriginal inhabitant of the Galapagos; for it is
found on all, or nearly all the islands, even on
some of the smaller ones where there is no water.
Had it been an imported species, this would hard-
ly have been the case in a group which has been
so little frequented. Moreover, the old Bucaniers
found this tortoise in greater numbers even than at
present: Wood and Rogers, also, in 1708, say
that it is the opinion of the Spaniards that it is
found nowhere else in this quarter of the world.
It is now widely distributed, but it may be ques-
tioned whether it is in any other place an abori-
ginal. The bones of a tortoise at Mauritius, asso-
ciated with those of the extinct Dodo, have gen-
erally been considered as belonging to this tor-
toise. If this had been so, undoubtedly it must
have been there indigenous; but M. Bibron in-
forms me that he believes that it was distinct, as
the species now living there certainly is.
The Amblyrhynchus, a remarkable genus of liz-
ards, is confined to this archipelago : there are two
species, resembling each other in general form, one
being terrestrial and the other aquatic. This latter
species (A. cristatus) was first characterized by Mr.
Bell, who well foresaw, from its short, broad head,
and strong claws of equal length, that its habits of
life would turn out very peculiar, and different from
those of its nearest ally, the Iguana. It is extreme-
ly common on all the islands throughout the group,
and lives exclusively on the rocky sea-beaches,
being never found, at least I never saw one, even
ten yards. in-shore. It is a hideous-looking crea-
ture, of a dirty black colour, stupid, and sluggish
in its movements. The usual length of a full-grown
one is about a yard, but there are some even four
feet long; a large one weighed twenty pounds: on
the island of Albemarle they seem to grow to a
156
GALAPAGOS ARCHIPELAGO.

Amblyrhynchus cristatus. a, Tooth of natural size, and likewise magnified.
greater size than elsewhere. Their tails are flat-
tened sideways, and all four feet partially webbed.
They are occasionally seen some hundred yards
from the shore, swimming about; and Captain Coll-'
nett, in his Voyage, says, " They go to sea in herds
a-fishing, and sun themselves on the rocks, and
may be called alligators in miniature.” It must
not, however, be supposed that they live on fish.
When in the water this lizard swims with perfect
ease and quickness, by a serpentine movement of
its body and flattened tail—the legs being motion-
less and closely collapsed on its sides. A seaman
on board sank one, with a heavy weight attached
to it, thinking thus to kill it directly; but when, an
hour afterwards, he drew up the line, it was quite
active. Their limbs and strong claws are admira-
bly adapted for crawling over the rugged and fis-
sured masses of lava which everywhere form the
coast. In such situations, a group of six or seven
of these hideous reptiles may oftentimes be seen
on the black rocks, a few feet above the surf, bask-
ing in the sun with outstretched legs.
I opened the stomachs of several, and found them
largely distended with minced sea-weed (Ulvæ),
which grows in thin foliaceous expansions of a
MARINE AMBLYRHYNCHUS.
157
bright green or a dull red colour. I do not recollect
having observed this sea-weed in any quantity on
the tidal rocks; and I have reason to believe it
grows at the bottom of the sea, at some little dis-
tance from the coast. If such be the case, the ob-
ject of these animals occasionally going out to sea
is explained. The stomach contained nothing but
the sea-weed. Mr. Bynoe, however, found a piece
of a crab in one; but this might have got in acci-
dentally, in the same manner as I have seen a cat-
erpillar, in the midst of some lichen, in the paunch
of a tortoise. The intestines were large, as in oth-
er herbivorous animals. The nature of this liz-
ard's food, as well as the structure of its tail and
feet, and the fact of its having been seen volunta-
rily swimming out at sea, absolutely prove its
aquatic habits; yet there is in this respect one
strange anomaly, namely, that when frightened it
will not enter the water. Hence it is easy to drive
these lizards down to any little point overhanging
the sea, where they will sooner allow a person to
catch hold of their tails than jump into the water.
They do not seem to have any notion of biting;
but when much frightened they squirt a drop of
fluid from each nostril. I threw one several times
as far as I could into a deep pool left by the reti-
ring tide, but it invariably returned in a direct line
to the spot where I stood. It swam near the bot-
tom, with a very graceful and rapid movement, and
occasionally aided itself over the uneven ground
with its feet. As soon as it arrived near the edge,
but still being under water, it tried to conceal itself
in the tufts of sea-weed, or it entered some crevice.
As soon as it thought the danger was past, it crawl-
ed out on the dry rocks, and shuffled away as quick-
ly as it could. I several times caught this same liz-
ard by driving it down to a point; and though pos.
II.-
158
GALAPAGOS ARCHIPELAGO.
sessed of such perfect powers of diving and swim-
ming, nothing would induce it to enter the water,
and as often as I threw it in it returned in the man-
ner above described. Perhaps this singular piece
of apparent stupidity may be accounted for by the
circumstance that this reptile has no enemy what-
ever on shore, whereas at sea it must often fall a
prey to the numerous sharks. Hence, probably,
urged by a fixed and hereditary instinct that the
shore is its place of safety, whatever the emergen-
cy may be, it there takes refuge.
During our visit (in October) I saw extremely
few small individuals of this species, and none, I
should think, under a year old. From this circum-
stance, it seems probable that the breeding season
had not then commenced. I asked several of the
inhabitants if they knew where it laid its eggs :
they said that they knew nothing of its propaga-
tion, although well acquainted with the eggs of the
land kind-a fact, considering how very common
this lizard is, not a little extraordinary.
We will now turn to the terrestrial species (A.
Demarlii), with a round tail, and toes without webs.
This lizard, instead of being found like the other
on all the islands, is confined to the central part of
the archipelago, namely, to Albemarle, James, Bar-
rington, and Indefatigable islands. To the south-
ward, in Charles, Hood, and Chatham islands, and
to the northward, in Towers, Bindloes, and Abing-
don, I neither saw nor heard of any. It would ap-
pear as if it had been created in the centre of the
archipelago, and thence had been dispersed only
to a certain distance. Some of these lizards in-
habit the high and damp parts of the islands, but
they are much more numerous in the lower and
sterile districts near the coast. I cannot give a more
forcible proof of their numbers than by stating
TERRESTRIAL AMBLYRHYNCHUS.
that, when we were left at James Islànd, we could
not for some time find a spot free from their bur-
rows on which to pitch our single tent. Like their
brothers the sea-kind, they are ugly animals, of a
yellowish orange beneath, and of a brownish red
colour above: from their low, facial angle, they have
a singularly stupid appearance. They are, per-
haps, of a rather less size than the marine species;
but several of them weighed between ten and fif-
teen pounds. In their movements they are lazy
and half torpid. When not frightened, they slow-
ly crawl along with their tails and bellies dragging
on the ground. They often stop, and doze for å
minute or two, with closed eyes and hind legs
spread out on the parched soil.
They inhabit burrows, which they sometimes
make between fragments of lava, but more gener-
ally on level patches of the soft sandstone-like tuff.
The holes do not appear to be very deep, and they
enter the ground at a small angle; so that, when
walking over these lizard-warrens, the soil is con-
stantly giving way, much to the annoyance of the
tired walker. This animal, when making its bur-
row, works alternately the opposite sides of its
body. One front leg for a short time scratches up
the soil, and throws it towards the hind foot, which
is well placed so as to heave it beyond the mouth
of the hole. That side of the body being tired, the
other takes up the task, and so on alternately. I
watched one for a long time, till half its body was
buried; I then walked up and pulled it by the tail;
at this it was greatly astonished, and soon shuffled
up to see what was the matter; and then stared
me in the face, as much as to say, “What made
you pull my tail ?"
They feed by day, and do not wander far from
their burrows; if frightened, they rush to them with
160
GALAPAGOS ARCHIPELAGO.
a most awkward gait. Except when running down
hill, they cannot move very fast, apparently from
the lateral position of their legs. They are not at
all timorous: when attentively watching any one,
they curl their tails, and, raising themselves on their
front legs, nod their heads vertically, with a quick
movement, and try to look very fierce; but, in re-
ality, they are not at all so; if one just stamps on
the ground, down go their tails, and off they shuffle
as quickly as they can. I have frequently observ-
ed small fy-eating lizards, when watching anything,
nod their heads in precisely the same manner, but
I do not at all know for what purpose. If this Am-
blyrhynchus is held and plagued with a stick, it
will bite it very severely; but I caught many by the
tail, and they never tried to bite me. If two are
placed on the ground and held together, they will
fight and bite each other till blood is drawn.
The individuals, and they are the greater num-
ber, which inhabit the lower country, can scarcely
taste a drop of water throughout the year; but they
consume much of the succulent cactus, the branches
of which are occasionally broken off by the wind.
I several times threw a piece to two or three of
them when together, and it was amusing enough
to see them trying to seize and carry it away in
their mouths, like so many hungry dogs with a bone.
They eat very deliberately, but do not chew their
food. The little birds are aware how harmless
these creatures are: I have seen one of the thick-
billed finches picking at one end of a piece of cac-
tus (which is much relished by all the animals of
the lower region), whilst a lizard was eating at the
other end; and afterwards the little bird, with the
utmost indifference, hopped on the back of the rep-
tile.
I opened the stomachs of several, and found
TERRESTRIAL AMBLYRHYNCHUS.
161
them full of vegetable fibres and leaves of differ-
ent trees, especially of an acacia. In the upper
region they live chiefly on the acid and astringent
berries of the guayavita, under which trees I have
seen these lizards and the huge tortoises feeding
together. To obtain the acacia-leaves they crawl
up the low, stunted trees, and it is not uncommon
to see a pair quietly browsing whilst seated on a
branch several feet above the ground. These liz-
ards, when cooked, yield a white meat, which is
liked by those whose stomachs soar above all prej-
udices. Humboldt has remarked, that in intertrop-
ical South America, all lizards which inhabit dry
regions are esteemed delicacies for the table. The
inhabitants state that those which inhabit the upper
damp parts drink water, but that the others do not,
like the tortoises, travel up for it from the lower
sterile country. At the time of our visit the fe-
males had within their bodies numerous large,
elongated eggs, which they lay in their burrows :
the inhabitants seek them for food.
These two species of Amblyrhynchus agree, as I
have already stated, in their general structure, and
in many of their habits. Neither have that rapid
movement so characteristic of the genera Lacerta
and Iguana. They are both herbivorous, although
the kind of vegetation on which they feed is so very
different. Mr. Bell has given the name to the ge-
nus from the shortness of the snout; indeed, the
form of the mouth may almost be compared to that
of the tortoise : one is led to suppose that this is an
adaptation to their herbivorous appetites. It is very
interesting thus to find a well-characterized genus,
having its marine and terrestrial species belonging
to so confined a portion of the worīd. The aquatic
species is by far the most remarkable, because it is
the only existing lizard which lives on marine vege-
II.
11
162
GALAPAGOS ARCHIPELAGO.
table productions. As I at first observed, these
islands are not so remarkable for the number of
the species of reptiles as for that of the individu-
als; when we remember the well-beaten paths
made by the thousands of huge tortoises the many
turtles-the great warrens of the terrestrial Am-
blyrhynchus—and the groups of the marine species
basking on the coast-rocks of every island, we
must admit that there is no other quarter of the
world where this Order replaces the herbivorous
mammalia in so extraordinary a manner. The ge-
ologist, on hearing this, will probably refer back in
his mind to the Secondary epochs, when lizards,
some herbivorous, some carnivorous, and of di-
mensions comparable only with our existing whales,
swarmed on the land and in the sea. It is, there-
fore, worthy of his observation, that this archipela-
go, instead of possessing a humid climate and rank
vegetation, cannot be considered otherwise than ex-
tremely arid, and, for an equatorial region, remark-
ably temperate.
To finish with the zoology : the fifteen kinds of
sea-fish which I procured here are all new species;
they belong to twelve genera, all widely distribu-
ted, with the exception of Prionotus, of which the
four previously-known species live on the eastern
side of America. Of land-shells I collected sixteen
kinds (and two marked varieties), of which, with
the exception of one Helix found at Tahiti, all are
peculiar to this archipelago : a single fresh-water
shell (Paludina) is common to Tahiti and Van Die-
men's Land. Mr. Cuming, before our voyage,
procured here ninety species of sea-shells, and this
does not include several species not yet specifical-
ly examined, of Trochus, Turbo, Monodonta, and
Nassa. He has been kind enough to give me the
following interesting results : of the ninety shells,
DISTRIBUTION OF SHELLS.
163
no less than forty-seven are unknown elsewhere : a
wonderful fact, considering how widely distributed
sea-shells generally are. Of the forty-three shells
found in other parts of the world, twenty-five in-
habit the western coast of America, and of these
eight are distinguishable as varieties; the remain-
ing eighteen (including one variety) were found by
Mr. Cuming in the Low Archipelago, and some of
them also at the Philippines." This fact of shells
from islands in the central parts of the Pacific oc-
curring here deserves notice, for not one single
sea-shell is known to be common to the islands of
that ocean and to the west coast of America. The
space' of open sea running north and south off the
west coast separates two quite distinct conchologi-
cal provinces; but at the Galapagos Archipelago
we have a halting-place, where many new forms
have been created, and whither these two great
conchological provinces have each sent several col-
onists. The American province has also sent here
representative species, for there is a Galapageian
species of Monoceros, a genus only found on the
west coast of America; and there are Galapageian
species of Fissurella and Cancellaria, genera com-
mon on the west coast, but not found (as I am in-
formed by Mr. Cuming) in the central islands of
the Pacific. On the other hand, there are Galapa-
geian species of Oniscia and Stylifer, genera com-
mon to the West Indies and to the Chinese and
Indian seas, but not found either on the west coast
of America or in the central Pacific. I may here
add, that after the comparison by Messrs. Cuming
and Hinds of about 2000 shells from the eastern
and western coasts of America, only one single
shell was found in common, namely, the Purpura
patula, which inhabits the West Indies, the coast
of Panama, and the Galapagos. We have, there-
164
GALAPAGOS ARCHIPELAGO.
fore, in this quarter of the world, three great con-
chological séa-provinces, quite distinct, though sur-
prisingly near each other, being separated by long
north and south spaces either of land or of open
sea.
· I took great pains in collecting the insects, but,
excepting Tierra del Fuego, I never saw in this
respect so poor a country. Even in the upper and
damp region I procured very few, excepting some
minute Diptera and Hymenoptera, mostly of com-
mon mundane forms. As before remarked, the in-
sects, for a tropical region, are of very small size
and dull colours. Of beetles I collected twenty-
five species (excluding a Dermestes and Corynetes
imported, wherever a ship touches); of these, two
belong to the Harpalidæ, two to the Hydrophilidæ,
nine to three families of the Heteromera, and the
remaining twelve to as many different families.
This circumstance of insects (and I may add plants),
where few in number, belonging to many different
families, is, I believe, very general. Mr. Water-
house, who has published* an account of the insects
of this archipelago, and to whom I am indebted
for the above details, informs me that there are
several new genera ; and that of the genera not
new, one or two are American, and the rest of
mundane distribution. With the exception of a
wood-feeding Apate, and of one or probably two
water-beetles from the American continent, all the
species appear to be new.
The botany of this group is fully as interesting
as the zoology. Dr. J. Hooker will soon publish
in the “ Linnean Transactions” a full account of
the Flora, and I am much indebted to him for the
following details. Of flowering plants there are,
as far as at present is known, 185 species, and 40
* Ann. and Mag. of Nat. Hist., vol. xvi., p. 19.
BOTANY.
165
cryptogamic species, making together 225; of this
number I was fortunate enough to bring home 193.
Of the flowering plants, 100 are new species, and
are probably confined to this archipelago. Dr.
Hooker conceives that, of the plants not so con-
fined, at least 10 species found near the cultivated
ground at Charles Island have been imported. It
is, I think, surprising that more American spe-
cies have not been introduced naturally, consider-
ing that the distance is only between 500 and 600
miles from the continent; and that (according to
Collnett, p. 58) drift-wood, bamboos, canes, and
the nuts of a palm, are often washed on the south-
eastern shores. The proportion of 100 flowering
plants out of 185 (or 175 excluding the imported
weeds) being new, is sufficient, I conceive, to make
the Galapagos Archipelago a distinct botanical
province; but this Flora is not nearly so peculiar
as that of St. Helena, nor, as I am informed by Dr.
Hooker, of Juan Fernandez. The peculiarity of
the Galapageian Flora is best shown in certain
families : thus, there are 21 species of Compositæ,
of which 20 are peculiar to this archipelago; these
belong to twelve genera, and of these genera no
less than ten are confined to the archipelago! Dr.
Hooker informs me that the Flora has an undoubt-
ecl Western American character, nor can he detect
in it any affinity with that of the Pacific. If, there-
fore, we except the eighteen marine, the one fresh-
water, and one land-shell, which have apparently
come here as colonists from the central islands of
the Pacific, and likewise the one distinct Pacific
species of the Galapageian group of finches, we see
that this archipelago, though standing in the Pacific
Ocean, is zoologically part of America.
If this character were owing merely to immi-
grants from America, there would be little remark-
166
GALAPAGOS ARCHIPELAGO.
able in it; but we see that a vast majority of all
the land animals, and that more than half of the
flowering plants, are aboriginal productions. It was
most striking to be surrounded by new birds, new
reptiles, new shells, new insects, new plants, and
yet, by innumerable trifling details of structure, and
even by the tones of voice and plumage of the birds,
to have the temperate plains of Patagonia, or the
hot, dry deserts of Northern Chile, vividly brought
before my eyes. Why, on these small points of
land, which, within a late geological period, must
have been covered by the ocean, which are formed
of basaltic lava, and therefore differ in geological
character from the American continent, and which
are placed under a peculiar climate-why were
their aboriginal inhabitants associated, I may add,
in different proportions, both in kind and number,
from those on the continent, and therefore acting
on each other in a different manner-why were
they created on different types of organization ?
It is probable that the islands of the Cape de Verd
group resemble, in all their physical conditions, far
more closely the Galapagos Islands than these lat-
ter physically resemble the coast of America; yet
the aboriginal inhabitants of the two groups are
totally unlike, those of the Cape de Verd Islands
bearing the impress of Africa, as the inhabitants of
the Galapagos Archipelago are stamped with that
of America.
I have not as yet noticed by far the most remark-
able feature in the natural history of this archipel-
ago; it is, that the different islands, to a considera-
ble extent, are inhabited by a different set of be-
ings. My attention was first called to this fact by
the vice-governor, Mr. Lawson, declaring that the
tortoises differed from the different islands, and
DISTRIBUTION OF ORGANIC BEINGS.
167
that he could with certainty tell from which island
any oné. was brought. I did not for some time pay
sufficient attention to this statement, and I had al-
ready partially mingled together the collections
from two of the islands. I never dreamed that
islands about fifty or sixty miles apart, and most
of them in sight of each other, formed of precisely
the same rocks, placed under a quite similar cli-
mate, rising to a nearly equal height, would have
been differently tenanted; but we shall soon see
that this is the case. It is the fate of most. voya-
gers, no sooner to discover what is most interest-
ing in any locality, than they are hurried from it;
but I ought, perhaps, to be thankful that I obtained
sufficient materials to establish this most remark-
able fact in the distribution of organic beings.
The inhabitants, as I have said, state that they
can distinguish the tortoises from the different isl-
ands, and that they differ not only in size, but in
other characters. Captain Porter has described*
those from Charles and from the nearest island to
it, namely, Hood Island, as having their shells in
front thick and turned up like a Spanish saddle,
whilst the tortoises from James Island are rounder,
blacker, and have a better taste when cooked. M.
Bibron, moreover, informs me that he has seen
what he considers two distinct species of tortoise
from the Galapagos, but he does not know from
which islands. The specimens that I brought
from three islands were young ones, and probably
owing to this cause neither Mr. Gray nor myself
could find in them any specific differences. I have
remarked that the marine Amblyrhynchus was
larger at Albemarle Island than elsewhere; and
M. Bibron informs me that he has seen two distinct
aquatic species of this genus; so that the different
* Voyage in the U. S. ship Essex, vol. i., p. 215.
168
GALAPAGOS ARCHIPELAGO.
islands probably have their representative species
or races of the Amblyrhynchus, as well as of the
tortoise. My attention was first thoroughly aroused
by comparing together the numerous specimens,
shot by myself and several other parties on board,
of the mocking-thrushes, when, to my astonishment,
I discovered that all those from Charles Island
belonged to one species (Mimus trifasciatus); all
from Albemarle Island to M. parvulus; and all
from James and Chatham Islands (between which
two other islands are situated as connecting links)
belonged to M. melanotis. These two latter spe-
cies are closely allied, and would, by some orni-
thologists, be considered as only well-marked races
or varieties; but the Mimus trifasciatus is very
distinct. Unfortunately, most of the specimens of
the finch tribe were mingled together; but I have
strong reasons to suspect that some of the species
of the sub-group Geospiza are confined to separ-
ate islands. If the different islands have their rep-
resentatives of Geospiza, it may help to explain
the singularly large number of the species of this
sub-group in this one small archipelago, and as a
probable consequence of their numbers, the per-
fectly graduated series in the size of their. beaks.
Two species of the sub-group Cactornis, and two
of Camarhynchus, were procured in the archipel-
ago; and of the numerous specimens of these two
sub-groups shot by four collectors at James Island,
all were found to belong to one species of each;
whereas the numerous specimens shot either on
Chatham or Charles Island (for the two sets were
mingled together) all belonged to the two other
species : hence we may feel almost sure that these
islands possess their representative species of these
two sub-groups. In land-shells this law of distri-
bution does not appear to hold good. In my very
DISTRIBUTION OF PLANTS.
169
small collection of insects, Mr. Waterhouse re-
marks that of those which were ticketed with their
locality, not one was common to any two of the
islands.
If we now turn to the Flora, we shall find the
aboriginal plants of the different islands wonder-
fully different. I give all the following results on
the high authority of my friend Dr. J. Hooker. I
may premise that I indiscriminately collected ev-
erything in flower on the different islands, and for-
tunately kept my collections separate. Too much
confidence, however, must not be placed in the
proportional results, as the small collections brought
home by some other naturalists, though in some
respects confirming the results, plainly show that
much remains to be done in the botany of this
group: the Leguminosæ, moreover, have as yet
been only approximately worked out:

No of Spec No. of 1 No. No. of Species con-
Total cies found Species con- confined fined to the Galapa-
Name of Island. No. of in other fined to the to the gos Archipelago,
Species. parts of the Galapagos one but found on more
world. Archipelago. island. than the one island.
James Island 71
38
30
Albemarle Island | 46 18
26
Chatham Island 32 16
Charles Island 68
29
8 .
33
A 00
16
12
39+
1
* Or 29, if the probably imported plants be subtracted.
Hence we have the truly wonderful fact, that
in James Island, of the thirty-eight Galapageian
plants, or those found in no other part of the world,
thirty are exclusively confined to this one island;
and in Albemarle Island, of the twenty-six abori-
ginal Galapageian plants, twenty-two are confined
to this one island, that is, only four are at present
known to grow in the other islands of the archipel-
ago; and so on, as shown in the above table, with
the plants from Chatham and Charles Islands. This
fact will, perhaps, be rendered even more striking,
by giving a few illustrations : thus, Scalesia, a re-
II. -P
170
GALAPAGOS ARCHIPELAGO.
markably arborescent genus of the Compositæ, is
confined to the archipelago. It has six species :
one from Chatham, one from Albemarle, one from
Charles Island, two from James Island, and the
sixth from one of the three latter islands, but it is
110t known from which: not one of these six spe-
cies grows on any two islands. Again, Euphor-
bia, a mundane or widely-distributed genus, has
here eight species, of which seven are confined to
the archipelago, and not one found on any two isl-
ands; Acalypha and Borreria, both mundane gen-
era, have respectively six and seven species, none
of which have the same species on two islands,
with the exception of one Borreria, which does oc-
cur on two islands. The species of the Composi-
tæ are particularly local, and Dr. Hooker has fur-
nished me with several other most striking illus-
trations of the difference of the species on the Mf-
ferent islands. He remarks that this law of distri-
bution holds good both with those genera confined
to the archipelago and those distributed in other
quarters of the world : in like manner, we have
seen that the different islands have their proper
species of the mundane genus of tortoise, and of
the widely - distributed American genus of the
mocking-thrush, as well as of two of the Galapa-
geian sub-groups of finches, and almost certainly
of the Galapageian genus Amblyrhynchus.
The distribution of the tenants of this archipelago
would not be nearly so wonderful, if, for instance,
one island had a mocking-thrush, and a second
island some other quite distinct genus ; if one isl-
and had its genus of lizard, and a second island
another distinct genus, or none whatever; or if the
different islands were inhabited, not by representa-
tive species of the same genera of plants, but by
totally different genera, as does to a certain extent
DISTRIBUTION OF ORGANIC BEINGS.
171
hold good ; for, to give one instance, a large berry-
bearing tree at James Island has no representative
species in Charles Island. But it is the circum-
stance that several of the islands possess their own
species of the tortoise, mocking-thrush, finches,
and numerous plants, these species having the same
general habits, occupying analogous situations, and
obviously filling the same place in the natural econ-
omy of this archipelago, that strikes me with won-
der. It may be suspected that some of these rep-
resentative species, at least in the case of the tor-
toise and of some of the birds, may hereafter prove
to be only well-marked races ; but this would be
ralist. I have said that most of the islands are in
sight of each other : I may specify that Charles
Island is fifty miles from the nearest part of Chat-
ham Island, and thirty-three miles from the nearest
part of Albemarle Island. Chatham Island is sixty
miles from the nearest part of James Island, but
there are two intermediate islands between them
which were not visited by me. Jạmes Island is
only ten miles from the nearest part of Albemarle
Island, but the two points where the collections
were made are thirty-two miles apart. I must
repeat, that neither the nature of the soil, nor
height of the land, nor the climate, nor the general
character of the associated beings, and therefore
their action one on another, can differ much in the
different islands. If there be any sensible differ-
ence in their climates, it must be between the
windward group (namely, Charles and Chatham
Islands) and that to leeward; but there seems to
be no corresponding difference in the productions
of these two halves of the archipelago.
The only light which I can throw on this re-
markable difference in the inhabitants of the differ-
172
GALAPAGOS ARCHIPELAGO.
ent islands is, that very strong currents of the sea,
running in a westerly and W.N.W. direction, must
separate, as far as transportal by the sea is con-
cerned, the southern islands from the northern
ones; and between these northern islands a strong
N.W.current was observed, which must effectually
separate James and Albemarle Islands. As the
archipelago is free to a most remarkable degree
from gales of wind, neither the birds, insects, nor
lighter seeds would be blown from island to isl-
and. And lastly, the profound depth of the ocean
between the islands, and their apparently recent
(in a geological sense) volcanic origin, render it
highly unlikely that they were ever united; and
this, probably, is a far more important considera-
tion than any other, with respect to the geographi-
cal distribution of their inhabitants. Reviewing
the facts here given, one is astonished at the
amount of creative force, if such an expression
may be used, displayed on these small, barren, and
rocky islands, and still more so at its diverse yet
analogous action on points so near each other. I
have said that the Galapagos Archipelago might
be called a satellite attached to America, but it
should rather be called a group of satellites, phys-
ically similar, organically distinct, yet intimately
related to each other, and all related in a marked,
though much lesser degree, to the great American
continent.
I wilt conclude my description of the natural
history of these islands by giving an account of
the extreme tameness of the birds.
This disposition is common to all the terrestrial
species; namely, to the mocking-thrushes, the
finches, wrens, tyrant flycatchers, the dove, and
carrion-buzzard. All of them often approached
TAMENESS OF THE BIRDS.
173
sufficiently near to be killed with a switch, and
sometimes, as I myself tried, with a cap or hat. A
gun is here almost superfluous; for with the muz-
zle I pushed a hawk off the branch of a tree. One
day, whilst lying down, a mocking-thrush alighted
on the edge of a pitcher, made of the shell of a
tortoise, which I held in my hand, and began very
quietly to sip the water; it allowed me to lift it
from the ground whilst seated on the vessel : I
often tried, and very nearly succeeded, in catching
these birds by their legs. Formerly the birds ap-
pear to have been even tamer than at present.
Cowley (in the year 1684) says, that the is turtle-
doves were so tame, that they would often alight
upon our hats and arms, so as that we could take
them alive : they not fearing man, until such time
as some of our company did fire at them, whereby
they were rendered more shy." Dampier also, in
the same year, says that a man in a morning's walk
might kill six or seven dozen of these doves. At
present, although certainly very tame, they do not
alight on people's arms, nor do they suffer them-
selves to be killed in such large numbers. It is
surprising that they have not become wilder; for
these islands during the last hundred and fifty years
have been frequently visited by bucaniers and wha-
lers; and the sailors, wandering through the woods
in search of tortoises, always take cruel delight in
knocking down the little birds.
These birds, although now still more persecuted,
do not readily become wild: in Charles Island,
which had then been colonized about six years, I
saw a boy sitting by a well with a switch in his
hand, with which he killed the doves and finches
as they came to drink. He had already procured
a little heap of them for his dinner; and he said
that he had constantly been in the habit of waiting
P 2
174
GALAPAGOS ARCHIPELAGO.
by this well for the same purpose. It would ap-
pear that the birds of this archipelago, not having
as yet learned that man is a more dangerous animal
than the tortoise or the Amblyrhynchus, disregard
him, in the same manner as in England shy birds,
such as magpies, disregard the cows and horses
grazing in our fields.
The Falkland Islands offer a second instance of
birds with a similar disposition. The extraordi-
nary tameness of the little Opetiorhynchus has been
remarked by Pernety, Lesson, and other voyagers.
It is not, however, peculiar to that bird : the Poly-
borus, snipe, upland and lowland goose, thrush,
bunting, and even some true hawks, are all morë
or less tame. As the birds are so tame there,
where foxes, hawks, and owls occur, we may infer
that the absence of all rapacious animals at the
Galapagos is not the cause of their tameness here.
The upland geese at the Falklands show, by the
precaution they take in building on the islets, that
they are aware of their danger from the foxes, but
they are not, by this, rendered wild towards man.
This tameness of the birds, especially of the water-
fowl, is strongly contrasted with the habits of the
same species in Tierra del Fuego, where for ages
past they have been persecuted by the wild inhab-
itants. In the Falklands, the sportsman may some-
times kill more of the upland geese in one day
than he can carry home, whereas in Tierra del
Fuego it is nearly as difficult to kill one as it is
in England to shoot the common wild goose.
In the time of Pernety (1763), all the birds there
appear to have been much tamer than at present;
he states that the Opetiorhynchus would almost
perch on his finger, and that with a wand he killed
ten in half an hour. At that period the birds must
have been about as tame as they now are at the
FEAR AN ACQUIRED INSTINCT.
175
Galapagos. They appear to have learned caution
more slowly at these latter islands than at the Falk-
lands, where they have had proportionate means
of experience; for, besides frequent visits from ves-
sels, those islands have been at intervals colonized
during the entire period. Even formerly, when
all the birds were so tame, it was impossible, by
Pernety's account, to kill the black-necked swan-
a bird of passage, which probably brought with it
the wisdom learned in foreign countries.
I may add that, according to Du Bois, all the
birds at Bourbon in 1571–72, with the exception
of the flamingoes and geese, were so extremely
tame, that they could be caught by the hand, or
killed in any number with a stick. Again, at Tris-
tan d'Acunha, in the Atlantic, Carmichael* states,
that the only two land-birds, a thrush and a bunt-
ing, were " so tame as to suffer themselves to be
caught with a hand-net." From these several facts,
we may, I think, conclude, first, that the wildness
of birds with regard to man is a particular instinct
directed against him, and not dependant on any
general degree of caution arising from other sources
of danger; secondly, that it is not acquired by in-
dividual birds in a short time, even when much
persecuted, but that in the course of successive
generations it becomes hereditary. With domes-
ticated animals we are accustomed to see new
* Linn. Trans., vol. xii., p. 496. The most anomalous fact on
this subject which I have met with is the wildness of the small
birds in the Arctic parts of North America (as described by Rich-
ardson, Fauna Bor., vol. ii., p. 332), where they are said never to
be persecuted. This case is the more strange, because it is as-
serted that some of the same species in their winter-quarters in
the United States are tame. There is much, as Dr. Richardson
well remarks, utterly inexplicable connected with the different
degrees of shyness and care with which birds conceal their nests.
How strange it is that the English wood-pigeon, generally so wild
a bird, should very frequently rear its young in shrubberies close
to houses!
176
TAHATI.
mental habits or instincts acquired and rendered
hereditary, but with animals in a state of nature
it must always be most difficult to discover in-
stances of acquired hereditary knowledge. In re-
gard to the wildness of birds towards man, there is
no way of accounting for it except as an inherited
year, have been injured by man in England, yet
almost all, even nestlings, are afraid of him; many
individuals, on the other hand, both at the Gala-
pagos and at the Falklands, have been pursued
and injured by man, but yet have not learned a
salutary dread of him. We may infer from these
facts what havoc the introduction of any new beast
of the indigenous inhabitants have become adapted
to the stranger's craft or power..
CHAPTÉR VI.
Pass through the Low Archipelago-Tahiti-Aspect Vegetation
on the Mountains, View of Eimeo-Excursion into the Interi-
or-Profound Ravines Succession of Waterfalls Number of
wild useful Plants-Temperance of the Inhabitants--Their
Moral State Parliament Convened New Zealand-Ba
Islands, Hippahs-Excursion to Waimate-Missionary Estab.
lishment-English Weeds now run wild-Waiomio-Funeral
of a New Zealand Woman-Sail for Australia.
TAHITI AND NEW ZEALAND,
October 20th.-The survey of the Galapagos
Archipelago being concluded, we steered towards
Tahiti and commenced our long passage of 3200
miles. In the course of a few days we sailed out
of the gloomy and clouded ocean-district which
extends during the winter far from the coast of
South America. We then enjoyed bright and
clear weather, while running pleasantly along at
TAHITI.
177
the rate of 150 or 160 miles a day before the steady
trade-wind. The temperature in this more central
part of the Pacific is higher than near the Ameri-
can shore. The thermometer in the poop cabin,
by night and by day, ranged between 800 and 83°,
which feels very pleasant; but with one degree or
two higher, the heat becomes oppressive. We
passed through the Low or Dangerous Archipela-
go, and saw several of those most curious rings of
coral land, just rising above the water's edge, which
have been called Lagoon Islands. A long and
brilliantly-white beach is capped by a margin of
green vegetation; and the strip, looking either
way, rapidly narrows away in the distance, and
sinks beneath the horizon. From the mast-head a
wide expanse of smooth water can be seen within
the ring. These low, hollow coral islands bear no
proportion to the vast ocean out of which they ab-
ruptly rise, and it seems wonderful that such weak
invaders are not overwhelmed by the all-powerful
and never-tiring waves of that great sea miscalled
the Pacific.
· November 15th. At daylight, Tahiti, an island
which must forever remain classical to the voyager
in the South Sea, was in view. At a distance the
appearance was not attractive. The luxuriant
vegetation of the lower part could not yet be seen,
and as the clouds rolled past, the wildest and most
precipitous peaks showed themselves towards the
centre of the island. As soon as we anchored in
Matavai Bay we were surrounded by canoes.
This was our Sunday, but the Monday of Tahiti :
if the case had been reversed, we should not have
received a single visit; for the injunction not to
launch a canoe on the Sabbath is rigidly obeyed.
After dinner we landed to enjoy all the delights
produced by the first impressions of a new country,
II.
12
178
TAHITI.
and that country the charming Tahiti. A crowd
of men, women, and children was collected on the
memorable Point Venus, ready to receive us with
laughing, merry faces. They marshalled us to-
wards the house of Mr. Wilson, the missionary of
the district, who met us on the road, and gave us
a very friendly reception. After sitting a short time
in his house, we separated to walk about, but re-
turned there in the evening.
The land capable of cultivation is scarcely in any
part more than a fringe of low, alluvial soil, accu-
mulated round the base of the mountains, and pro-
tected from the waves of the sea by a coral reef,
which encircles the entire line of coast. Within
the reef there is an expanse of smooth water, like
that of a lake, where the canoes of the natives can
ply with safety, and where ships anchor. The low
land which comes down to the beach of coral-sand
is covered by the most beautiful productions of the
intertropical regions. In the midst of bananas,
orange, cocoa-nut, and bread-fruit trees, spots are
cleared where yams, sweet potatoes, the sugar-
cane, and pine-apples are cultivated. Even the
brushwood is an imported fruit-tree, namely, the
guava, which, from its abundance, has become as
noxious as a weed. In Brazil I have often admired
the varied beauty of the bananas, palms, and
orange-trees contrasted together; and here we also
have the bread-fruit, conspicuous from its large,
glossy, and deeply-digitated leaf. It is admirable
to behold groves of a tree, sending forth its branch-
es with the vigour of an English oak, loaded with
large and most nutritious fruit. However seldom
the usefulness of an object can account for the
pleasure of beholding it, in the case of these beau-
tiful woods, the knowledge of their high productive-
ness no doubt enters largely into the feeling of
TAHITIANS.-DRESS.
179
admiration. The little winding paths, cool from
the surrounding shade, led to the scattered houses,
the owners of which everywhere gave us a cheer-
ful and most hospitable reception.
I was pleased with nothing so' much as with the
inhabitants. There is a mildness in the expression
of their countenances which at once banishes the
idea of a savage, and an intelligence which shows
that they are advancing in civilization. The com-
mon people, when working, keep the upper part
of their bodies quite naked; and it is then that the
Tahitians are seen to advantage. They are very
tall, broad shouldered, athletic, and well proportion-
ed. It has been remarked, that it requires little
habit to make a dark skin more pleasing and natu-
ral to the eye of a European than his own colour.
A white man bathing by the side of a Tahitian was
like a plant bleached by the gardener's art compa-
red with a fine, dark green one growing vigorously
in the open fields. Most of the men are tattooed,
and the ornaments follow the curvature of the body
so gracefully, that they have a very elegant effect.
One common pattern, varying in its details, is some-
what like the crown of a palm-tree. It springs
from the central line of the back, and gracefully
curls round both sides. The simile may be a fanci-
ful one, but I thought the body of a man thus or-
namented was like the trunk of a noble tree em-
braced by a delicate creeper.
Many of the elder people had their feet covered
with small figures, so placed as to resemble a sock.
This fashion, however, is partly gone by, and has
been succeeded by others. Here, although fashion
is far from immutable, every one must abide by
that prevailing in his youth. An old man has thus
his age forever stamped on his body, and he can-
not assume the airs of a young dandy. The women
180
TAHITI..
are tattooed in the same manner as the men, and
very commonly on their fingers. One unbecoming
fashion is now almost universal: namely, shaving
the hair from the upper part of the head, in a cir-
cular form, so as to leave only an outer ring. The
change this habit; but it is the fashion, and that is
a sufficient answer at Tahiti, as well as at Paris.
I was much disappointed in the personal appear-
ance of the women : they are far inferior in every
respect to the men. The custom of wearing a
white or scarlet flower in the back of the head, or
through a small hole in each ear, is pretty. A
crown of woven cocoa-nut leaves is also worn as a
shade for the eyes. The women appear to be in
greater want of some becoming costume even than
the men.
Nearly all the natives understand a little English
that is, they know the names of common things;
and by the aid of this, together with signs, a lame
sort of conversation could be carried on. In re-
turning in the evening to the boat, we stopped to
witness a very pretty scene. Numbers of children
were playing on the beach, and had lighted bon-
ing trees; others, in circles, were singing Tahitian
verses. We seated ourselves on the sand, and
joined their party. The songs were impromptu,
and I believe related to our arrival: one little girl
sang a line, which the rest took up in parts, form-
ing a very pretty chorus. The whole scene made
us unequivocally aware that we were seated on
the shores of an island in the far-famed South Sea.
17th.—This day is reckoned in the log-book as
Tuesday the 17th, instead of Monday the 16th,
owing to our, so far, successful chase of the sun.
Before breakfast the ship was hemmed in by a
· WEALTH OF THE CHIEFS.
181
flotilla of canoes; and when the natives were al-
lowed to come on board, I suppose there could not
have been less than two hundred. It was the
opinion of every one that it would have been diffi-
cult to have picked out an equal number from any
other nation who would have given so little trouble.
Everybody brought something for sale: shells were
the main article of trade. The Tahitians now fully
understand the value of money, and prefer it to old
clothes or other articles. The various coins, how-
ever, of English and Spanish denomination puzzle
them, and they never seemed to think the small
silver quite secure until changed into dollars. Some
of the chiefs have accumulated considerable sums
of money. One chief, not long since, offered 800
dollars (about £160 sterling) for a small vessel;
and frequently they purchase whale-boats and horses
at the rate of from 50 to 100 dollars.
After breakfast I went on shore, and ascended
the nearest slope to a height of between two and
three thousand feet. The outer mountains are
smooth and conical, but steep; and the old vol-
canic rocks, of which they are formed, have been
cut through by many profound ravines, diverging
from the central broken parts of the island to the
coast. Having crossed the narrow low girt of in-
habited and fertile land, I followed a smooth steep
ridge between two of the deep ravines. The vege-
tation was singular, consisting almost exclusively
of small dwarf ferns, mingled, higher up, with
coarse grass; it was not very dissimilar from that
on some of the Welsh hills, and this, so close above
the orchard of tropical plants on the coast, was very
surprising. At the highest point which I reached,
trees again appeared. Of the three zones of com-
parative luxuriance, the lower one owes its moist-
ure, and therefore fertility, to its flatness; for, be-
II.-Q
182
TAHITI.
ing scarcely raised above the level of the sea, the
water from the higher land drains away slowly.
The intermediate zone does not, like the upper
one, reach into a damp and cloudy atmosphere,
and therefore remains sterile. The woods in the
upper zone are very pretty, tree-ferns replacing
the cocoa-nuts on the coast. It must not, however,
be supposed that these woods at all equal in splen-
dour the forests of Brazil. The vast number of
productions which characterize a continent cannot
be expected to occur in an island.
From the highest point which I attained there
was a good view of the distant island of Eimeo,
dependant on the same sovereign with Tahiti. On
the lofty and broken pinnacles, white massive clouds
were piled up, which formed an island in the blue
sky, as Eimeo itself did in the blue ocean. The
island, with the exception of one small gateway, is
completely encircled by a reef. At this distance,
a narrow but well-defined brilliantly white line
was alone visible, where the waves first encoun-
tered the wall of coral. The mountains rose abrupt-
ly out of the glassy expanse of the lagoon included
within this narrow white line, outside which the
heaving waters of the ocean were dark coloured.
The view was striking : it may aptly be compared
to a framed engraving, where the frame represents
the breakers, the marginal paper the smooth lagoon,
and the drawing the island itself. When in the
evening I descended from the mountain, a man,
whom I had pleased with a trifling gift, met me,
bringing with him hot roasted bananas, a pine-
apple, and cocoa-nuts. After walking under a
burning sun, I do not know anything more deli-
cious than the milk of a young cocca-nut. Pine-
apples are here so abundant that the people eat
them in the same wasteful manner as we might
EXCURSION IN THE MOUNTAINS.
183
turnips. They are of an excellent flavour--per-
haps even better than those cultivated in England;
and this, I believe, is the highest compliment which
can be paid to any fruit. Before going on board,
Mr. Wilson interpreted for me to the Tahitian who
had paid me so adroit an attention, that I wanted
him and another man to accompany me on a short
excursion into the mountains.
18th.--In the morning I came on shore early,
bringing with me some provisions in a bag, and
two blankets for myself and servant. These were
lashed to each end of a long pole, which was alter-.
ternately carried by my Tahitian companions on
their shoulders. These men are accustomed thus
to carry, for a whole day, as much as fifty pounds
at each end of their poles. I told my guides to
provide themselves with food and clothing; but
they said that there was plenty of food in the
mountains, and for clothing, that their skins were
sufficient. Our line of march was the valley of
Tia-auru, down which a river flows into the sea
by Point Venus. This is one of the principa!
streams in the island, and its source lies at the
base of the loftiest central pinnacles, which rise to
a height of about 7000 feet. The whole island is
so mountainous that the only way to penetrate into
the interior is to follow up the valleys. Our road,
at first, lay through woods which bordered each
side of the river; and the glimpses of the lofty
central peaks, seen as through an avenue, with
here and there a waving cocoa-nut tree on one
side, were extremely picturesque. The valley
soon began to narrow, and the sides to grow lofty
and more precipitous. After having walked be-
tween three and four hours, we found the width
of the ravine scarcely exceeded that of the bed of
the stream. On each hand the walls were nearly
184
TAHITI.
vertical; yet, from the soft nature of the volcanic
strata, trees and a rank vegetation sprung from
every projecting ledge. These precipices must
have been some thousand feet high; and the whole
formed a mountain gorge far more magnificent
than anything which I had ever before beheld..
Until the midday sun stood vertically over the
ravine, the air felt cool and damp, but now it be-
came very sultry. Shaded by a ledge of rock,
beneath à façade of columnar laya, we ate our
dinner. My guides had already procured a dish
of small fish and fresh-water prawns. They cár-
ried with them a small net stretched on a hoop;
and where the water was deep and in eddies, they
dived, and, like otters, with their eyes open, follow-
ed the fish into holes and corners, and thus caught
them.
The Tahitians have the dexterity of amphibious
animals in the water. An anecdote mentioned by
Ellis shows how much they feel at home in this
element. When a horse was landing for Pomarre
in 1817, the slings broke, and it fell into the water:
immediately the natives jumped overboard, and by
their cries' and vain efforts at assistance almost
drowned it. As soon, however, as it reached the
shore, the whole population took to flight, and
tried to hide themselves from the man-carrying pig,
as they christened the horse.
A little higher up, the river divided itself into
three little streams. The two northern ones were
impracticable, owing to a succession of waterfalls
which descended from the jagged summit of the
highest mountain; the other, to all appearance, was
equally inaccessible, but we managed to ascend it
by a most extraordinary road. The sides of the
valley were here nearly precipitous ; but, as fre-
quently happens with stratified rocks, small ledges
EXCURSION IN THE MOUNTAINS.
185
projected, which were thickly covered by wild
bananas, liliaceous plants, and other luxuriant pro-
ductions of the tropics. The Tahitians, by climb-
ing amongst these ledges, searching for fruit, had
discovered a track by which the whole precipice
could be scaled. The first ascent from the valley
was very dangerous, for it was necessary to pass
a steeply-inclined face of naked rock by the aid
of ropes which we brought with us. How any
person discovered that this formidable spot was
the only point where the side of the mountain was
practicable, I cannot imagine. We then cautiously
walked along one of the ledges till we came to
one of the three streams. This ledge formed a
flat spot, above which a beautiful cascade, some
hundred feet in height, poured down its waters,
and beneath, another high cascade fell into the
main stream in the valley below. From this cool
and shady recess we made a circuit to avoid the
overhanging waterfall. As before, we followed
little projecting ledges, the danger being partly
concealed by the thickness of the vegetation. In
passing from one of the ledges to another, there
was a vertical wall of rock. One of the Tahitians,
a fine, active man, placed the trunk of a tree against
this, climbed up it, and then, by the aid of crevices,
reached the summit. He fixed the ropes to a pro-
jecting point, and lowered them for our dog and
luggage, and then we clambered up ourselves.
Beneath the ledge on which the dead tree was
placed, the precipice must have been five or six
hundred feet deep; and if the abyss had not been
partly concealed by the overhanging ferns and lilies,
my head would have turned giddy, and nothing
should have induced me to have attempted it.
We continued to ascend, sometimes along ledges,
and sometimes along knife-edged ridges, having
186
TAHITI.
on each hand profound ravines. In the Cordillera
I have seen mountains on a far grander scale, but
for abruptness nothing at all comparable with this.
In the evening we reached a flat little spot on the
banks of the same stream, which we had continued
to follow, and which descends in a chain of water-
falls: here we bivouacked for the night. On each
side of the ravine there were great beds of the
mountain-banana, covered with ripe fruit. Many
of these plants were from twenty to twenty-five
feet high, and from three to four in circumference.
By the aid of strips of bark for rope, the stems of
bamboos for rafters, and the large leaf of the ba-
naña for a thatch, the Tahitians in a few minutes
built us an excellent house, and with withered
leaves made a soft bed. .
They then proceeded to make a fire and cook
our evening meal. A light was procured by rub-
bing a blunt-pointed stick in a groove made in an-
other, as if with intention of deepening it, until by
the friction the dust became ignited. A peculiarly
white and very light wood (the Hibiscus tiliaceus)
is alone used for this purpose : it is the same which
serves for poles to carry any burden, and for the float-
ing outriggers to their canoes. The fire was pro-
duced in a few seconds : but to a person who does
not understand the art, it requires, as I found, the
greatest exertion; but at last, to my great pride, I
succeeded in igniting the dust. The Gaucho in
the Pampas uses a different method : taking an
elastic stick about eighteen inches long, he press-
es one end on his breast, and the other pointed end
into a hole in a piece of wood, and then rapidly
turns the curved part, like a carpenter's centre-bit.
The Tahitians, having made a small are of sticks,
placed a score of stones, of about the size of crick-
et-balls, on the burning wood. In about ten min-
RICH VEGETATION.
187
utes the sticks were consumed and the stones hot.
They had previously folded up in small parcels of
leaves pieces of beef, fish, ripe and unripe bananas,
and the tops of the wild arum. These green par-
cels were laid in a layer between two layers of the
hot stones, and the whole then covered up with
earth, so that no smoke. or steam could escape. In
about a quarter of an hour the whole was most de-
liciously cooked. The choice green parcels were
now laid on a cloth of banana leaves, and with a
cocoa-nut shell we drank the cool water of the run-
ning stream; and thus we enjoyed our rustic meal.
I could not look on the surrounding plants with-
out admiration. On every side were forests of
banana, the fruit of which, though serving for food
in various ways, lay in heaps decaying on the
ground. In front of us there was an extensive
brake of wild sugar-cane, and the stream was
shaded by the dark green knotted stem of the
Ava-so famous in former days for its powerful in-
toxicating effects. I chewed a piece, and found
that it had an acrid and unpleasant taste, which
would have induced any one at once to have pro-
nounced it poisonous. Thanks to the missionaries,
this plant now thrives only in these deep ravines,
innocuous to every one. Close by I saw the wild
arum, the roots of which, when well baked, are
good to eat, and the young leaves better than spin-
ach.. There was the wild yam, and a liliaceous
plant called Ti, which grows in abundance, and has
a soft brown root, in shape and size like a huge log
of wood : this served us for dessert, for it is as
sweet as treacle, and with a pleasant taste. There
were, moreover, several other wild fruits, and use-
ful vegetables. The little stream, besides its cool
water, produced eels and cray-fish. I did indeed
admire this scene, when I compared it with an un-
188
.
TAHITIYO
cultivated one in the temperate zones. I felt the
force of the remark; that man, at least savage man,
with his reasoning powers only partly developed, is
the child of the tropics.
As the evening drew to a close, I strolled beneath
the gloomy shade of the bananas up the course of
the stream. My walk was soon brought to a close,
by coming to a waterfall between two and three
hundred feet high; and, again, above this there was
another. I mention all these waterfalls in this one
brook, to give a general idea of the inclination of
the land. In the little recess where the water fell,
it did not appear that a breath of wind had ever
blown. The thin edges of the great leaves of the
banana, damp with spray, were unbroken, instead
of being, as is so generally the case, split into a
thousand shreds. From our position, almost sus-
pended on the mountain-side, there were glimpses
into the depths of the neighbouring valleys; and
the lofty points of the central mountains, towering
up within sixty degrees of the zenith, hid half the
evening sky. Thus seated, it was a sublime spec-
tacle to watch the shades of night gradually ob-
scuring the last and highest pinnacles.
Before we laid ourselves down to sleep, the elder
Tahitian fell on his knees, and with closed eyes re-
peated a long prayer in his native tongue. He
prayed as a Christian should do, with fitting rever-
ence, and without the fear of ridicule or any osten-
tation of piety. A tour meals, neither of the men
would taste food without saying beforehand a short
grace. Those travellers who think that a Tahitian
prays only when the eyes of the missionary are fix-
ed on him, should have slept with us that night on
the mountain-side. Before morning it rained very
heavily, but the good thatch of banana leaves kept
us dry.
TEMPERANCE OF THE NATIVES. 189
November 19th. At daylight my friends, after
their morning prayer, prepared an excellent break-
fast in the same manner as in the evening. They
themselves certainly partook of it largely; indeed,
I never saw any men eat near so much. I suppose
such enormously capacious stomachs must be the
effect of a large part of their diet consisting of fruit
and vegetables, which contain, in a given bulk, a
comparatively small portion of nutriment. Unwit-
tingly, I was the means of my companions break-
ing, as I afterwards learned, one of their own laws
and resolutions : I took with me a flask of spirits,
which they could not refuse to partake of; but, as
often as they drank a little, they put their fingers
before their mouths, and uttered the word “Mis-
sionary.” About two years ago, although the use
of the ava was prevented, drunkenness from the
introduction of spirits became very prevalent. The
missionaries prevailed on a few good men, who saw
that their country was rapidly going to ruin, to join
with them in a Temperance Society. From good
sense or shame, all the chiefs and the queen were
at last persuaded to join. Immediately a law was
passed that no spirits should be allowed to be in-
troduced into the island, and that he who sold and
he who bought the forbidden article should be
punished by a fine. With remarkable justice, a
certain period was allowed for stock in hand to be
sold before the law came into effect. But when it
did, a general search was made, in which even the
houses of the missionaries were not exempted, and
all the ava (as the natives call all ardent spirits)
was poured on the ground. When one reflects on
the effect of intemperance on the aborigines of the
two Americas, I think it will be acknowledged that
every well-wisher nf Tahiti owes no common debt
of gratitude to the missionaries. As long as the
190
TAHITI.
.
little island of St. Helena remained under the gov-
ernment of the East India Company, spirits, owing
to the great injury they had produced, were not al-
lowed to be imported; but wine was supplied from
the Cape of Good Hope. It is rather a striking,
and not very gratifying fact, that in the same year
that spirits were allowed to be sold in St. Helena,
their use was banished from Tahiti by the free will
of the people.
After breakfast we proceeded on our journey.
As my object was merely to see a little of the inte-
rior scenery, we returned by another track, which de-
scended into the main valley lower down. For some
distance we wound, by a most intricate path, along
the side of the mountain which formed the valley.
In the less precipitous parts we passed through
extensive groves of the wild banana. The Tahi-
tians, with their naked, tattooed bodies, their heads
ornamented with flowers, and seen in the dark
shade of these groves, would have formed a fine
picture of man inhabiting some primeval land. In
our descent we followed the line of ridges; these
were exceedingly narrow, and for considerable
lengths steep as a ladder, but all clothed with
vegetation. The extreme care necessary in pois-
ing each step rendered the walk fatiguing. I did
not cease to wonder at these ravines and preci-
pices: when viewing the country from one of the
knife-edged ridges, the point of support was so small,
that the effect was nearly the same as it must be
from a balloon. In this descent we had occasion
to use the ropes only once, at the point where we
entered the main valley. We slept under the same
ledge of rock where we had dined the day before:
the night was fine, but, from the depth and narrow-
ness of the gorge, profoundly dark.
Before actually seeing this country, I found it
CONDITION OF THE PEOPLE. 191
difficult to understand two facts mentioned by El-
lis, namely, that after the murderous battles of
former times, the survivers on the conquered side
retired into the mountains, where a handful of men
could resist a multitude. Certainly, half a dozen
men, at the spot where the Tahitian reared the old
tree, could easily have repulsed thousands. Sec-
ondly, that after the introduction of Christianity
there were wild men who lived in the mountains,
and whose retreats were unknown to the more
civilized inhabitants.
November 20th. In the morning we started ear-
ly, and reached Matavai at noon. On the road we
met a large party of noble, athletic men going for
wild bananas. I found that the ship, on account
of the difficulty in watering, had moved to the
harbour of Papawa, to which place I immediately
walked. This is a very pretty spot. The cove is
surrounded by reefs, and the water as smooth as
in a lake. The cultivated ground, with its beauti-
ful productions, interspersed with cottages, comes
close down to the water's edge.
From the varying accounts which I had read
before reaching these islands, I was very anxious
to form, from my own observation, a judgment of
their moral state, although such judgment would
necessarily be very imperfect. First impressions
at all times very much depend on one's previously-
acquired ideas. My notions were drawn from El-
lis's “Polynesian Researches," an admirable and
most interesting work, but naturally looking at
everything under a favourable point of view; from
Beechey's Voyage, and from that of Kotzebue,
which is strongly adverse to the whole missionary
system. He who compares these three accounts
will, I think, form a tolerably accurate conception
of the present state of Tahiti. One of my impres-
192
TAHITI.
sions, which I took from the two last authorities, was
decidedly incorrect, viz., that the Tahitians had be-
come a gloomy race, and lived in fear of the mis-
sionaries. Of the latter feeling I saw no trace,
unless, indeed, fear and respect be confounded
under one name. Instead of discontent being a
common feeling, it would be difficult in Europe to
pick out of a crowd half so many merry and happy
faces. The prohibition of the flute and dancing is
inveighed against as wrong and foolish; the more
than Presbyterian manner of keeping the Sabbath
is looked at in a similar light. On these points I
will not pretend to offer any opinion in opposition
to men who have resided as many years as I was
days on the island.
On the whole, it appears to me that the morality
and religion of the inhabitants are highly creditable.
There are many who attack, even more acrimoni-
ously than Kotzebue, both the missionaries, their
system, and the effects produced by it. Such rea-
soners never compare the present state with that
of the island only twenty years ago, nor even with
that of Europe at the present day; but they com-
pare it with the high standard of Gospel perfection.
They expect the missionaries to effect that which
the Apostles themselves failed to do. Inasmuch
as the condition of the people falls short of this high
standard, blame is attached to the missionary, in-
stead of credit for that which he has effected. They
forget, or will not remember, that human sacrifices
and the power of an idolatrous priesthood-a sys-
tem of profligacy unparalleled in any other part of
the world-infanticide, a consequence of that sys-
tem-bloody wars, where the conquerors spared
neither women nor children that all these have
been abolished, and that dishonesty, intemperance,
and licentiousness have been greatly reduced by
MORALITY OF THE NATIVES.
193
the introduction of Christianity. In a voyager to
forget these things is base ingratitude, for should
he chance to be at the point of shipwreck on some
unknown coast, he will most devoutly pray that
the lesson of the missionary may have extended
thus far.
In point of morality, the virtue of the women,
it has been often said, is most open to exception.
But, before they are blamed too severely, it will be
well distinctly to call to mind the scenes described
by Captain Cook and Mr. Banks, in which the
grandmothers and mothers of the present race
played a part. Those who are most severe should
consider how much of the morality of the women
in Europe is owing to the system early impressed
by mothers on their daughters, and how much in
each individual case to the precepts of religion.
But it is useless to argue against such reasoners ;
I believe that, disappointed in not finding the field
of licentiousness quite so open as formerly, they
will not give credit to a morality which they do not
wish to practise, or to a religion which they under-
value, if not despise.
Sunday, 22d.—The harbour of Papiéte, where
the queen resides, may be considered as the capi-
tal of the island : it is also the seat of government
and the chief resort of shipping. Captain Fitz
Roy took a party there this day to hear divine ser-
vice, first in the Tahitian language, and afterwards
in our own. Mr. Pritchard, the leading missiona-
ry in the island, performed the service. The chap-
el consisted of a large, airy framework of wood, and
it was filled to excess by tidy, clean people, of all
ages and both sexes. I was rather disappointed in
the apparent degree of attention, but I believe my
II.
13.
194
TAHITI.
try church in England. The singing of the hymns
was decidedly very pleasing ; but the language
from the pulpit, although fluently delivered, did not
sound well: a constant repetition of words, like
- tata ta, mata mai," rendered it monotonous. Af-
ter English service, a party returned on foot to
Matavai. It was a pleasant walk, sometimes along
the sea-beach, and sometimes under the shade of
the many beautiful trees.
About two years ago, a small vessel under Eng-
lish colours was plundered by some of the inhabi-
tants of the Low Islands, which were then under
the dominion of the Queen of Tahiti. It was be-
lieved that the perpetrators were instigated to this
act by some indiscreet laws issued by her majesty.
The British government demanded compensation,
which was acceded to, and a sum of nearly three
thousand dollars was agreed to be paid on the first
of last September. The Commodore at Lima or-
dered Captain Fitz Roy to inquire concerning this
debt, and to demand satisfaction if it were not paid.
Captain Fitz Roy accordingly requested an inter-
view with the Queen Pomaire, since famous from
the ill treatment she has received from the French,
and a parliament was held to consider the question,
at which all the principal chiefs of the island and
the queen were assembled. I will not attempt to
describe what took place, after the interesting ac-
count given by Captain Fitz Roy. The money, it
appeared, had not been paid; perhaps the alleged
reasons were rather equivocal; but otherwise, I
cannot sufficiently express our general surprise at
the extreme good sense, the reasoning powers,
moderation, candour, and prompt resolution, which
were displayed on all sides. I believe we all left
the meeting with a very different opinion of the Ta-
hitians from what we entertained when we entered.
ROYAL VISIT TO THE BEAGLE.
195
The chiefs and people resolved to subscribe and
complete the sum which was wanting : Captain
Fitz Roy urged that it was hard that their private
property should be sacrificed for the crimes of dis-
tant islanders. They replied that they were grate-
ful for his consideration, but that Pomarre was
their queen, and that they were determined to help
her in this her difficulty. This resolution and its
prompt execution, for a book was opened early ·
the next morning, made a perfect conclusion to
this very remarkable scene of loyalty and good
feeling.
After the main discussion was ended, several of
the chiefs took the opportunity of asking Captain
Fitz Roy many intelligent questions on internation-
al customs and laws relating to the treatment of
ships and foreigners. On some points, as soon as
the decision was made, the law was issued verbal-
ly on the spot. This Tahitian parliament lasted
for several hours, and when it was over Captain
Fitz Roy invited Queen Pomarre to pay the Bea-
gle a visit.
November 25th. -- In the evening four boats were
sent for her majesty; the ship was dressed with
flags, and the yards manned on her coming on
board. She was accompanied by most of the
.chiefs. The behaviour of all was very proper :
they begged for nothing, and seemed much pleas-
ed with Captain Fitz Roy's presents. The queen
is a large, awkward woman, without any beauty,
grace, or dignity. She has only one royal attribute,
a perfect immoveability of expression under all
circumstances, and that rather à sullen one. The
rockets were most admired; and a deep “ Oh !”
could be heard from the shore, all round the dark
bay, after each explosion. The sailors' songs were
also much admired, and the queen said she thought
196
NEW ZEALAND.
that one of the most boisterous ones certainly could
not be a hymn! The royal party did not return
on shoré till past midnight.
26th.-In the evening, with a gentle land-breeze,
a course was steered for New Zealand; and as
the sun set, we had a farewell view of the mount-
ains of Tahiti, the island to which every voyager
has offered up his tribute of admiration.
December 19th. In the evening we saw in the
distance New Zealand. We may now consider
that we have nearly crossed the Pacific. It is nė-
cessary to sail over this great ocean to comprehend
its immensity. Moving quickly onwards for weeks
together, we meet with nothing but the same blue,
profoundly deep ocean. Even within the archi..
pelagoes, the islands are mere specks, and far dis-
tant one from the other. Accustomed to look at
maps drawn on a small scale, where dots, shading,
and names are crowded together, we do not right-
ly judge how infinitely small the proportion of dry
land is to the water of this vast expanse. The me-
ridian of the Antipodes has likewise been passed;
and now every league, it made us happy to think,
was one league nearer to England. These Antip-
odes call to one's mind old recollections of child-
ish doubt and wonder. Only the other day I look-
ed forward to this airy barrier as a definite point
in our voyage homeward; but now I find that it
and all such resting-places for the imagination are
like shadows, which a man moving onward cannot
catch. A gale of wind, lasting for some days, has
lately given us full leisure to measure the future
stages in our long homeward voyage, and to wish
most earnestly for its termination.
December 21st.—Early in the morning we en-
tered the Bay of Islands, and being becalmed for
some hours near the mouth, we did not reach the
BAY or ISLANDS.
1997
anchorage till the middle of the day. The coun-
try is hilly, with a smooth outline, and is deeply
intersected by numerous arms of the sea extending
tance as if clothed with coarse pasture, but this, in
truth, is nothing but fern. On the more distant
hills, as well as in parts of the valleys, there is a
good deal of woodland. The general tint of the
landscape is not a bright green; and it resembles
the country a short distance to the south of Con-
cepcion in Chile. In several parts of the bay, lit-
tle villages of square, tidy-looking houses are scat-
tered close down to the water's edge. Three
whaling-ships were lying at anchor, and a canoe
every now and then crossed from shore to shore;
with these exceptions, an air of extreme quietness
reigned over the whole district. . Only a single ca-
noe came alongside. This, and the aspect of the
whole scene, afforded a remarkable, though not
very pleasing contrast with our joyful and boister-
ous welcome at Tahiti.
In the afternoon we went on shore to one of the
larger groups of houses, which yet hardly deserves
the title of a village. Its name is Pahia : it is the
residence of the missionaries; and there are no na-
tive residents except servants and labourers. In
Englishmen, including their families, amounts to
between two and three hundred. All the cottages,
many of which are white-washed and look very
neat, are the property of the English. The hov-
els of the natives are so diminutive and paltry that
they can scarcely be perceived from a distance. At
Pahia, it was quite pleasing to behold the English
flowers in the gardens before the houses; there
were roses of several kinds, honeysuckle, jasmine,
stocks, and whole hedges of sweetbrier,
R &
198.
NEW ZEALAND.
December 22d.-In the morning I went out walk-
ing, but I soon found that the country was very
impracticable. All the hills are thickly covered
with tall fern, together with a low bush which grows
like a cypress; and very little ground has been
cleared or cultivated. I then tried the sea-beach;
but, proceeding towards either hand, my walk was
soon stopped by salt-water creeks and deep brooks.
The communication between the inhabitants of the
different parts of the bay is (as in Chiloe) almost
entirely kept up by boats. I was surprised to find
that almost every hill which I ascended had been
at some former time more or less fortified. The
summits were cut into steps or successive terraces,
and frequently they had been protected by deep
trenches. I afterwards observed that the princi-
pal hills inland in like manner showed an artificial
outline. These are the Pas, so frequently mention-
ed by Captain Cook under the name of " hippah;”
the difference of sound being owing to the prefix-
ed article.
That the Pas had formerly been much used,
was evident from the piles of shells, and the pits
in which, as I was informed, sweet potatoes used
to be kept as a reserve. As there was no water
on these hills, the defenders could never have an-
ticipated a long siege, but only a hurried attack for
plunder, against which the successive terraces
would have afforded good protection. The gener-
al introduction of fire-arms has changed the whole
system of warfare; and an exposed situation on
the top of a hill is now worse than useless. The
Pas in consequence are, at the present day, always
built on a level piece of ground. They consist of
a double stockade of thick and tall posts, placed in
a zigzag line, so that every part can be flanked.
Within the stockade a mound of earth is thrown
WARLIKE SPIRIT.
199
.
up, behind which the defenders can rest in safety,
or use their fire-arms over it. On the level of the
ground little archways sometimes pass through this
breastwórk, by which means the defenders can
crawl out to the stockade to reconnoitre their ene-
mies. The Rev. W. Williams, who gave me this
account, added, that in one Pas he had noticed spurs
or buttresses projecting on the inner and protected
side of the mound of earth. On asking the chief
the use of them, he replied, that if two or three of
his men were shot, their neighbours would not see
the bodies, and so be discouraged.
These Pas are considered by the New Zealand-
ers as very perfect means of defence : for the at-
tacking force is never so well disciplined as to
rush in a body to the stockade, cut it down, and
effect their entry. When a tribe goes to war, the
chief cannot order one party to go here and anoth-
er there, but every man fights in a manner which
best pleases himself; and to each separate individ-
ual to approach a stockade defended by fire-arms
must appear.certain death. I should think a more
warlike race of inhabitants could not be found in
any part of the world than the New Zealanders.
Their conduct on first seeing a ship, as described
by Captain Cook, strongly illustrates this: the act
of throwing volleys of stones at so great and novel
an object, and their defiance of “Come on shore
and we will kill and eat you all,” shows uncom-
mon boldness. This warlike spirit is evident in
many of their customs, and even in their smallest
actions. If a New Zealander is struck, although
but in joke, the blow must be returned; and of
this I saw an instance with one of our officers.
At the present day, from the progress of civili-
zation, there is much less warfare, except among
some of the southern tribes. I heard a character-
200
NEW ZEALAND.
istic anecdote of what took place some time ago
in the south. A missionary found a chief and his
tribe in preparation for war-their muskets clean
and bright, and their ammunition ready. He rea-
soned long on the inutility of the war, and the lit-
tle provocation which had been given for it. The
chief was much shaken in his resolution, and seem-
ed in doubt; but at length it occurred to him that
a barrel of his gunpowder was in a bad state, and
that it would not keep much longer. This was
brought forward as an unanswerable argument for
the necessity of immediately declaring war : the
idea of allowing so much good gunpowder to spoi]
was not to be thought of, and this settled the
point. I was told by the missionaries that in the
life of Shongi, the chief who visited England, the
love of war was the one and lasting spring of ev-
ery action. The tribe in which he was a principal
chief had at one time been much oppressed by an-
other tribe from the Thames River. A solemn
oath was taken by the men, that when their boys
should grow up, and they should be powerful
enough, they would never forget or forgive these
injuries. To fulfil this oath appears to have been
Shongi's chief motive for going to England, and
when there it was his sole object. Presents were
valued only as they could be converted into arms;
of the arts, those alone interested him which were
connected with the manufacture of arms. When
at Sydney, Shongi, by a strange coincidence, met
the hostile chief of the Thames River at the house
of Mr. Marsden: their conduct was civil to each
other; but Shongi told him that, when again in
New Zealand, he would never cease to carry war
into his country. The challenge was accepted,
and Shongi, on his return, fulfilled the threat to the
utmost letter. The tribe on the Thames River
TATTOOING.
201
was utterly overthrown, and the chief to whom
the challenge had been given was himself killed.
Shongi, although harbouring such deep feelings of
hatred and revenge, is described as having been a
good-natured person. :
In the evening I went with Captain Fitz Roy
and Mr. Baker, one of the missionaries, to pay a
visit to Kororadika : we wandered about the vil-
lage, and saw and conversed with many of the
people, both men, women, and children. Looking
at the New Zealander, one naturally compares
him with the Tahitian, both belonging to the same
family of mankind. The comparison, however,
tells heavily against the New Zealander. He may,
perhaps, be superior in energy, but in every other
respect his character is of a much lower order.
conviction to the mind that one is a savage, the
other a civilized man. It would be vain to seek
in the whole of New Zealand a person with the
face and mien of the old Tahitian chief Utamme.
No doubt the extraordinary manner in which tat- .
tooing is here practised gives a disagreeable ex-
pression to their countenances. The complicated
but symmetrical figures covering the whole face
puzzle and mislead an unaccustomed eye: it is,
moreover, probable that the deep incisions, by de-
stroying the play of the superficial muscles, give
an air of rigid inflexibility; but, besides this, there
is a twinkling in the eye which cannot indicate any-
thing but cunning and ferocity. Their figures are
tall and bulky, but not comparable in elegance with
those of the working-classes in Tahiti.
Both their persons and houses are filthily dirty
and offensive: the idea of washing either their
bodies or their clothes never seems to enter their
heads. I saw a chief, who was wearing a shirt
202
NEW ZEALAND.
black and matted with filth, and when asked how
it came to be so dirty, he replied, with surprise,
“Do not you see it is an old one?”! Some of the
men have shirts; but the common dress is one or
two large blankets, generally black with dirt, which
are thrown over their shoulders in a very inconve-
nient and awkward fashion. A few of the princi-
pal chiefs have decent suits of English clothes, but
these are only wom on great occasions.
· December 23d. - At a place called Waimate,
about fifteen miles from the Bay of Islands, and
midway between the eastern and western coasts,
the missionaries have purchased some land for ag-
ricultural purposes. I had been introduced to the
Rev. W. Williams, who, upon my, expressing a wish,
invited me to pay him a visit there. Mr. Bushby,
the British resident, offered to take me in his boat
by a creek, where I should see a pretty waterfall,
and by which means my walk would be shortened.
He likewise procured for me a guide. Upon ask-
ing a neighbouring chief to recommend a man, the
chief himself offered to go; but his ignorance of
the value of money was so complete, that at first
he asked how many pounds I would give him, but
afterwards was well contented with two dollars.
When I showed the chief a very small bundle
which I wanted carried, it became absolutely ne-
cessary for him to take a slave. These feelings of
pride are beginning to wear away; but formerly a
leading man would sooner have died than under-
gone the indignity of carrying the smallest burden.
My companion was a light, active man, dressed in
a dirty blanket, and with his face completely tat-
tooed. He had formerly been a great warrior.
He appeared to be on very cordial terms with Mr.
Bushby, but at various times they had quarrelled
violently. Mr. Bushby remarked that a little quiet
NATIVE TRIAL.
203
irony would frequently silence any one of these na-
tives in their most blustering moments. This chief
has come and harangued Mr. Bushby in a hector-
ing manner, saying, " A great chief, a great man,
a friend of mine, has come to pay me a visit-you
must give him something good to eat, some fine
presents,” &c. Mr. Bushby has allowed him to
finish his discourse, and then has quietly replied by
some such answer as, “What else shall your slave
do for you ?” The man would then instantly, with
a very comical expression, cease his braggadocio.
Some time ago, Mr. Bushby suffered a far more
serious attack. A chief and a party of men tried
to break into his house in the middle of the night,
and not finding this so easy, commenced a brisk
firing with their muskets. Mr. Bushby was slight-
ly wounded, but the party was at length driven
away. Shortly afterwards it was discovered who
was the aggressor, and a general meeting of the
chiefs was convened to consider the case. It was
considered by the New Zealanders as very atro-
cious, inasmuch as it was a night attack, and that
Mrs. Bushby was lying ill in the house: this latter
ered in all cases as a protection. The chiefs agreed
to confiscate the land of the aggressor to the King
of England. The whole proceeding, however, in
thus trying and punishing a chief, was entirely with-
out precedent. The aggressor, moreover, lost caste
in the estimation of his equals; and this was con-
the confiscation of his land.
As the boat was shoving off, a second chief step-
ped into her, who only wanted the amusement of
the passage up and down the creek. I never saw
a more horrid and ferocious expression than this
man had. It immediately struck me I had some-
204
NEW ZEALAND.
where seen his likeness: it will be found in Retzch's
outlines to Schiller's ballad of Fridolin, where two
men are pushing Robert into the burning iron fur-
nace. It is the man who has his arm on Robert's
breast. Physiognomy here spoke the truth; this
chief had been a notorious murderer, and was an
arrant coward to boot. At the point where the
boat landed, Mr. Bushby accompanied me a few
hundred yards on the road: I could not help admi-
ring the cool impudence of the hoary old villain,
whom we left lying in the boat, when he shouted
to Mr. Bushby," Do not you stay long; I shall be
tired of waiting here."
We now commenced our walk. The road lay.
along a well-beaten path, bordered on each side
by the tall fern which covers the whole country:
After travelling some miles, we came to a little
country village, where a few hovels were collected
together and some patches of ground cultivated
with potatoes. The introduction of the potato has
been the most essential benefit to the island : it is
now much more used than any native vegetable.
New Zealand is favoured by one great natural
advantage, namely, that the inhabitants can never
perish from famine. The whole country abounds
with fern; and the roots of this plant, if not very
palatable, yet contain much nutriment. A native
can always subsist on these, and on the shell-fish,
which are abundant on all parts of the sea-coast.
The villages are chiefly conspicuous by the plat-
forms, which are raised on four posts ten or twelve
feet above the ground, and on which the produce
of the fields is kept secure from all accidents.
On coming near one of the huts, I was much
amused by seeing in due form the ceremony of
rubbing, or, as it ought to be called, pressing no-
ses. The women, on our first approach, began
CEREMONY OF RUBBING NOSES.
205
uttering something in a most dolorous voice; they.
then squatted themselves down and held up their
faces ; my companion standing over them, one
after another, placed the bridge of his nose at right
angles to theirs, and commenced pressing. This
lasted rather longer than a cordial shake of the
hand with us; and as we vary the force of the
grasp of the hand in shaking, so do they in press-
ing. During the process they uttered comfortable
little grunts, very much in the same manner as
two pigs do when rubbing against each other. I
noticed that the slave would press noses with any
one he met, indifferently éither before or after his
master the chief. Although among these savages
the chief bas absolute power of life and death over
his slave, yet there is an entire absence of cere-
mony between them. Mr. Burchell has remarked
the same thing in Southern Africa with the rude
Bachapins. Where civilization has arrived at a
certain point, complex formalities soon arise be-
tween the different grades of society: thus, at. Ta-
hiti, all were formally obliged to uncover them-
selves as low as the waist in presence of the king.
The ceremony of pressing noses having been
duly completed with all present, we seated our-
selves in a circle in front of one of the hovels,
and rested there half an hour. All the hovels have
nearly the same form and dimensions, and all
agree in being filthily dirty. They resemble a
COW-shed with one end open, but having a parti-
tion a little way within, with a square hole in it,
making a small, gloomy chamber. In this the in-
habitants keep all their property, and when the
weather is cold they sleep there. They eat, how-
ever, and pass their time in the open part in front.
My guides having finished their pipes, we con-
tinued our walk. The path led through the same
II. S
206
NEW ZEALAND.
undulating country, the whole uniformly clothed
as before with fern. On our right hand we had a
serpentine river, the banks of which were fringed
with trees, and here and there on the hill sides
there was a clump of wood. The whole scene; in
spite of its green colour, had rather a desolate as-
pect. The sight of so much fern impresses the
mind with an idea of sterility : this, however, is
not correct; for, wherever the fern grows thick
and breast-high, the land, by tillage, becomes pró-
ductive. Some of the residents think that all this
extensive open country originally was covered with
forests, and that it has been cleared by fire. It is
said that, by digging in the barest spots, lumps of
the kind of resin which flows from the kauri pine
are frequently found. The natives had an evident
motive in clearing the country; for the fern, for-
merly a staple article of food, flourishes only in
the open, cleared tracks. The almost entire ab-
sence of associated grasses, which forms so re-
markable a feature in the vegetation of this island,
may perhaps be accounted for by the land having
been aboriginally covered with forest-trees.
The soil is volcanic: in several parts we passed
over slaggy lavas, and craters could clearly be dis-
tinguished on several of the neighbouring hills.
Although the scenery is nowhere beautiful, and
only occasionally pretty, I enjoyed my walk. I
should have enjoyed it more if my companion the
chief had not possessed extraordinary conversa-
tional powers. I knew only three words, “ good,"
" bad,” and “yes,” and with these I answered all
his remarks, without, of course, having understood
one word he said. This, however, was quite suf-
ficient: I was a good listener, an agreeable per-
son, and he never ceased talking to me.
At length we reached Waimate. After having
WAIMATE.
207
passed over so many miles of an uninhabited, use-
Tess country, the sudden appearance of an English
farm-house, and its well-dressed fields, placed there
as if by an enchanter's wand, was exceedingly
pleasant. Mr. Williams not being at home, I re-
ceived in Mr. Davies's house a cordial welcome.
After drinking tea with his family party, we took a
stroll about the farm. At Waimate there are
three large houses, where the missionary gentle-
men, Messrs. Williams, Davies, and Clarke, reside,
and near them are the huts of the native labourers.
On an adjoining slope, fine crops of barley and
wheat were standing in full ear, and in another
part fields of potatoes and clover ; but I cannot
attempt to describe all I saw. There were large
gardens, with every fruit and vegetable which
England produces, and many belonging to a warm-
er clime. I may instance asparagus, kidney-beans,
cucumbers, rhubarb, apples, pears, figs, peaches,
apricots, grapes, olives, gooseberries, currants,
hops, gorse for fences, and English oaks ; also
many kinds of flowers. Around the farm - yard
there were stables, a threshing-barn with its win-
nowing machine, a blacksmith's forge, and on the
ground ploughshares and other tools. In the mid-
dle was that happy mixture of pigs and poultry,
lying comfortably together, as in every English
farm- yard. At the distance of a few hundred
yards, where the water of a little rill had been
dammed up into a pool, there was a large and sub-
stantial water-mill."
All this is very surprising, when it is considered
that five years ago nothing but the fern flourished
here. Moreover, native workmanship, taught by
the missionaries, has effected this change; the les-
son of the missionary is the enchanter's wand.
The house had been built, the windows framed,
208
NEW ZEALAND.
the fields ploughed, and even the trees grafted, by
the New Zealander. At the mill a New Zealand-
er was seen powdered white with flour, like his
brother "miller in England. When I looked at
this whole scene I thought it admirable. It was
not merely that England was brought vividly be-
fore my mind; yet, as the evening drew to a close,
the domestic sounds, the fields of corn, the distant
undulating country with its trees, might well have
been mistaken for our father-land. Nor was it
the triumphant feeling at seeing what Englishmen
could effect, but rather the high hopes thus in-
spired for the future progress of this fine island.
Several young men, redeemed by the mission-
aries from slavery, were employed on the farm.
They were dressed in a shirt, jacket, and trousers,
and had a respectable appearance. Judging from
one trifling anecdote, I should think they must be
honest. When walking in the fields, a young la-
bourer came up to Mr. Davies and gave him a
knife and gimlet, saying that he had found them
on the road, and did not know to whom they be-
longed! These young men and boys appeared
very merry and good-humoured. In the evening
I saw a party of them at cricket: when I thought
of the austerity of which the missionaries have
been accused, I was amused by observing one of
their own sons taking an active part in the game.
A more decided and pleasing change was mani-
fested in the young women, who acted as servants
within the houses. Their clean, tidy, and healthy
appearance, like that of dairy-maids in England,
forined a wonderful contrast with the women of
the filthy hovels in Kororadika. The wives of the
missionaries tried to persuade them not to be tat-
tooed ; but a famous operator having arrived from
the south, they said, " We really must just have a
WAIMATE.
209
few lines on our lips, else when we grow old our
lips will shrivel, and we shall be so very ugly."
There is not nearly so much tattooing as formerly;
but as it is a badge of distinction between the chief
and the slave, it will probably long be practised.
So soon does any train of ideas become habitual,
that the missionaries told me that even in their
eyes a plain face looked mean, and not like that
of a New Zealand gentleman.
Late in the evening I went to Mr. Williams's
house, where I passed the night. I found there a
large party of children, collected together for
Christmas-day, and all sitting round a table at tea.
I never saw a nicer or more merry group; and to
think that this was in the centre of the land of can-
nibalism, murder, and all atrocious crimes! The
cordiality and happiness so plainly pictured in the
faces of the little circle, appeared equally felt by
the older persons of the mission.
December 24th. In the morning prayers were
read in the native tongue to the whole family.
After breakfast I rambled about the gardens and
farm. This was a market-day, when the natives
of the surrounding hamlets bring their potatoes,
Indian corn, or pigs, to exchange for blankets, to-
bacco, and sometimes, through the persuasions of
the missionaries, for soap. "Mr. Davies's eldest
son, who manages a farm of his own, is the man
of business in the market. The children of the
missionaries, who came while young to the island,
understand the language better than their parents,
and can get anything more readily done by the
natives.
A little before noon, Messrs. Williams and Da-
vies walked with me to part of a neighbouring for-
est to show me the famous kauri pine. I meas-
ured one of these noble trees, and found it thirty-
11.
14
NEW TNTY
ZEALAND.
one feet in circumference above the roots. There
was another close by, which I did not see, thirty-
feet. These trees are remarkable for their smooth,
cylindrical bolls, which run up to a height of sixty,
and even ninety feet, with a nearly equal diame-
ter, and without a single branch. The crown of
branches at the summit is out of all proportion
small to the trunk, and the leaves are likewise
small compared with the branches. The forest was
here almost composed of the kauri; and the lar-
gest trees, from the parallelism of their sides, stood
up like gigantic columns of wood. The timber of
the kauri is the most valuable production of the isl-
and; moreover, a quantity of resin oozes from the
bark, which is sold at a penny a pound to the Amer-
icans, but its use was then unknown. Some of the
New Zealand forests must be impenetrable to an
extraordinary degree. Mr. Matthews informed me
that one forest, only thirty-four miles in width, and
separating two inhabited districts, had only lately,
for the first time, been crossed. He and another
missionary, each with a party of about fifty men,
undertook to open a road; but it cost them more
than a fortnight's labour! In the woods I saw very
few birds. With regard to animals, it is a most re-
markable fact, that so large an island, extending
over more than 700 miles in latitude, and in many
parts ninety broad, with varied stations, a fine cli-
mate, and land of all heights, from 14,000 feet down-
wards, with the exception of a small rat, did not
possess one indigenous animal. The several spe-
cies of that gigantic genus of birds, the Deinornis,
seem here to have replaced mammiferous quadru-
peds, in the same manner as the reptiles still do at
the Galapagos Archipelago. It is said that the com-
mon Norway rat, in the short space of two years,
CHRISTMAS DAY.
211
annihilated, in this northern end of the island, the
New Zealand species. In many places I noticed
several sorts of weeds, which, like the rats, I was
forced to own as countrymen. A leek has over-
run whole districts, and will prove very trouble-
some, but it was imported as a favour by a French
vessel. The common dock is also widely dissem-
inated, and will, I fear, forever remain a proof of
the rascality of an Englishman, who sold the seeds
for those of the tobacco plant. . . .
On returning from our pleasant walk to the house,
I dined with Mr. Williams, and then, a horse be-
ing lent me, I returned to the Bay of Islands. I
took leave of the missionaries with thankfulness for
their kind welcome, and with feelings of high re-
spect for their gentlemanlike, useful, and upright
characters. I think it would be difficult to find a
body of men better adapted for the high office
which they fulfil. •
Christmas Day.—In a few more days the fourth
year of our absence from England will be comple-
ted. Our first Christmas day was spent “at Ply-
mouth; the second at St. Martin's Cove, near Cape
Horn; the third at Port Desire, in Patagonia ; the
fourth at anchor in a wild harbour in the peninsula
of Tres Montes: the fifth here; and the next, I
trust in Providence, will be in England. We at-
tended divine worship in the chapel of Pahia, part
of the service being read in English and part in the
native language. Whilst at New Zealand we did
not hear of any recent acts of cannibalism, but Mr.
Stokes found burned human bones strewed round
a fire-place on a small island near the anchorage ;
but these remains of a comfortable banquet might
have been lying there for several years. It is prob-
able that the moral state of the people will rapidly
improve. Mr. Bushby mentioned one pleasing an-
212
NEW ZEALAND.
ecdote as a proof of the sincerity of some, at least,
of those who profess Christianity. One of his young
men left him who had been accustomed to read
prayers to the rest. of the servants. Some weeks
afterwards, happening to pass late in the evening
by an outhouse, he saw and heard one of his men
reading the Bible with difficulty, by the light of the
fire, to the others. After this, the party knelt and
prayed: in their prayers they mentioned Mr. Bush-
by and his family, and the missionaries, each sep-
arately in his respective district. :
December 26th.-Mr. Bushby offered to take Mr.
Sulivan and myself in his boat some miles up the
river to Cawa-Cawa, and proposed afterwards to
walk on to the village of Waiomio, where there are
some curious rocks. Following one of the arms
of the bay, we enjoyed a pleasant row, and passed
through pretty scenery until we came to a village,
beyond which the boat could not pass. From this
place a chief and a party of men volunteered to
walk with us to Waiomio, a distance of four miles.
The chief was at this time rather notorious from
having lately hung one of his wives and a slave for
adultery. When one of the missionaries remon-
strated with him, he seemed surprised, and said he
thought he was exactly following the English meth-
od. Old Shongi, who happened to be in England
during the Queen's trial, expressed great disap-
probation at the whole proceeding : he said he had
five wives, and he would rather cut off all their
heads than be so much troubled about one. Leav-
ing this village, we crossed over to another, seated
on a hill side at a little distance. The daughter of
a chief, who was still a heathen, had died there five
days before. The hovel in which she had expired
had been burned to the ground; her body, being en-
closed between two small canoes, was placed up-
FUNERAL CUSTOMS.
213
right on the ground, and protected by an enclosure
bearing wooden images of their gods, and the whole
was painted bright red, so as to be conspicuous
from afar. Her gown was fastened to the coffin,
and her hair being cut off, was cast at its foot. The
relatives of the family had torn the flesh of their
arms, bodies, and faces, so that they were covered
with clotted blood, and the old women looked most
filthy, disgusting objects. On the following day
some of the officers' visited this place, and found
the women still howling and cutting themselves.
We continued our walk, and soon reached Wai-
omio. Here there are some singular masses of
limestone, resembling ruined castles. These rocks
have long served for burial-places, and, in conse-
quence, are held too sacred to be approached. One
of the young men, however, cried out, " Let us all
be brave," and ran on ahead; but when within a
hundred yards, the whole party thought better of
it, and stopped short. With perfect indifference,
however, they allowed us to examine the whole
place. At this village we rested some hours, du-
ring which time there was a long discussion with
Mr. Bushby concerning the right of sale of certain
lands. One old man, who appeared a perfect ge-
nealogist, illustrated the successive possessors by
bits of stick driven into the ground. ^ Before leav-
ing the houses, a little basketful of roasted sweet
potatoes was given to each of our party, and we all,
according to the custom, carried them away to eat
on the road. I noticed that among the women em-
ployed in cooking there was a man slave: it must
be a humiliating thing for a man in this warlike
country to be employed in doing that which is con-
sidered as tīre lowest woman's work. Slaves are
not allowed to go to war; but this, perhaps, can
hardly be considered as a hardship. I heard of
214
NEW ZEALAND.
one poor wretch, who, during hostilities, ran away
to the opposite party ; being met by two men, he
was immediately seized, but as they could not agree
to whom he should belong, each stood over him with
a stone hatchet, and seemed determined that the
other, at least, should not take him away alive.
The poor man, almost dead with fright, was only
saved by the address of a chief's wife. We after-
wards enjoyed a pleasant walk back to the boat,
but did not reach the ship till late in the evening.
December 30th.--In the afternoon we stood out
of the Bay of Islands, on our course to Sydney. I
believe we were all glad to leave New Zealand.
It is not a pleasant place. Amongst the natives
there is absent that charming simplicity which is
found at Tahiti, and the greater part of the Eng-
lish are the very refuse of society. Neither is the
country itself attractive. I look back but to one
bright spot, and that is Waimate, with its Christian
inhabitants.
CHAPTER VII.
Sydney-Excursion to Bathurst-Aspect of the Woods-Party of
Natives-Gradual Extinction of the Aborigines-Infection gen-
erated by associated Men in Health-Blue Mountains-View
of the grand gulf-like Valleys--Their Origin and Formation-
Bathurst, general Civility of the lower Orders—State of Socie-
ty-Van Diemen's Land-Hobart Town-Aborigines all ban-
ished—Mount Wellington-King George's Sound-Cheerless
Aspect of the Country- Bald Head, calcareous Casts of Branch-
es of Trees Party of Natives--Leave Australia.
- AUSTRALIA.
January 12th, 1836.—Early in the morning a
light air carried us towards the entrance of Port
Jackson. Instead of beholding a verdant country,
interspersed with fine houses, a straight line of
SYDNEY.
215
yellowish cliff brought to our minds the coast of
Patagonia. A solitary lighthouse, built of white
stone, alone told us that we were néar a great and
populous city. Having entered the harbour, it ap-
pears fine and spacious, with cliff-formed shores of
horizontally stratified sandstone. The nearly level
country is covered with thin, scrubby trees, be-
speaking the curse of sterility. Proceeding further
inland, the country improves : beautiful villas and
nice cottages are here and there scattered along
the beach. In the distance, stone houses, two and
three stories high, and windmills standing on the
edge of a bank, pointed out to us the neighbour-
hood of the capital of Australia.
At last we anchored within Sydney Cove. We
found the little basin occupied by many large ships,
and surrounded by warehouses. In the evening I
walked through the town, and returned full of ad-
miration at the whole scene. It is a most magnifi-
cent testimony to the power of the British nation.
Here, in a less promising country, scores of years
have done many times more than an equal number
of centuries have effected in South America. My
first feeling was to congratulate myself that I was
born an Englishman. Upon seeing more of the
town afterwards, perhaps my admiration fell a lit-
tle; but yet it is a fine town. The streets are reg-
ular, broad, clean, and kept in excellent order; the
houses are of a good size, and the shops well fur-
nished. It may be faithfully compared to the large
suburbs which stretch out from London and a few
other great towns in England; but not even near
London or Birmingham is there an appearance of
such rapid growth. The number of large houses
and other buildings just finished was truly sur-
prising ; nevertheless, every one complained of
the high rents and difficulty in procuring a house.
216
NEW SOUTH WALES.
Coming from South America, where in the towns
every man of property is known, no one thing sur-
prised me more than not being able to ascertain at
once to whom this or that carriage belonged.
I hired a man and two horses to take me to Bath-
urst, a village about one hundred and twenty miles
in the interior, and the centre of a great pastoral
district. By this means I hoped to gain a general
idea of the appearance of the country. On the
morning of the 16th (January) I set out on my ex-
cursion. The first stage took us to Paramatta, a
small country town, next to Sydney in importance.
The roads were excellent, and made upon the Mac-
Adam principle, whinstone having been brought
for the purpose from the distance of several miles.
In all respects there was a close resemblance to
England : perhaps the alehouses here were more
numerous. The iron gangs, or parties of convicts
who have committed here some offence, appeared
the least like England: they were working in
chains, under the charge of sentries with loaded
arms. The power which the government possess-
es, by means of forced labour, of at once opening
good roads throughout the country, has been, I
believe, one main cause of the early prosperity of
this colony. I slept at night at a very comfortable
inn at Emu ferry, thirty-five miles from Sydney, and
near the ascent of the Blue Mountains. This line
of road is the most frequented, and has been the
longest inhabited of any in the colony. The whole
land is enclosed with high railings, for the farmers
have not succeeded in rearing hedges. There are
many substantial houses and good cottages scatter-
ed about; but, although considerable pieces of land
are under cultivation, the greater part yet remains
as when first discovered.
The extreme uniformity of the vegetation is the
, APPEARANCE OF THE FORESTS. 217
most remarkable feature in the landscape of the
greater part of New South Wales. Everywhere we
have an open woodland, the ground being partially
covered with a very thin pasture, with little appear-
ance of verdure. The trees nearly all belong to one
family, and mostly have their leaves placed in a ver-
tical, instead of, as in Europe, in a nearly horizontal
position: the foliage is scanty, and of a peculiar pale
green tint, without any gloss. Hence the woods ap-
pear light and shadowless: this, although a loss of
comfort to the traveller under the scorching rays of
summer, is of importance to the farmer, as it allows
grass to grow where it otherwise would not. The
leaves are not shed periodically : this character ap-
pears common to the entire southern hemisphere,
namely, South America, Australia, and the Cape
of Good Hope. The inhabitants of this hemisphere
and of the intertropical regions thus lose, perhaps,
one of the most glorious, though, to our eyes, com-
mon spectacles in the world—the first bursting
into full foliage of the leafless tree. They may,
however, say that we pay dearly for this by having
the land covered with mere naked skeletons for so
many months. This is too true; but our senses
thus acquire a keen relish for the exquisite green
of the spring, which the eyes of those living within
the tropics, sated during the long year with the
gorgeous productions of those glowing climates, can
never experience. The greater number of the
trees, with the exception of some of the Blue-gums,
do not attain a large size, but they grow tall and
tolerably straight, and stand well apart. The bark
of some of the Eucalypti falls annually, or hangs
dead in long shreds, which swing about with the
wind, and give to the woods a desolate and untidy
appearance. I cannot imagine a more complete
II.-T
218
NEW SOUTH WALES.
contrast in every respect than between the forests
of Valdivia or Chiloe and the woods of Australia.
At sunset, a party of a score of the black abori-
gines passed by, each carrying, in their accustom-
ed manner, a bundle of spears and other weapons.
By giving a leading young man a shilling they were
easily detained, and threw their spears for my
amusement. They were all partly clothed, and
several could speak a little English: their counte-
nances were good-humoured and pleasant, and
they appeared far from being such utterly degra-
ded beings as they have usually been represented.
In their own arts they are admirable. A cap be-
ing fixed at thirty yards' distance, they transfixed
it with a spear, delivered by the throwing-stick
with the rapidity of an arrow from the bow of a
practised archer. In tracking animals or men
they show most wonderful sagacity; and I heard
of several of their remarks which manifested con-
siderable acuteness. They will not, however, cul-
tivate the ground, or build houses and remain sta-
tionary, or even take the trouble of tending a flock
of sheep when given to them. On the whole, they
appear to me to stand some few degrees higher in
the scale of civilization than the Fuegians.
It is very curious thus to see, in the midst of a
civilized people, a set of harmless savages wander-
ing about without knowing where they shall sleep
at night, and gaining their livelihood by hunting in
the woods. As the white man has travelled on-
wards, he has spread over the country belonging
to several tribes. These, although thus enclosed
by one common people, keep up their ancient dis-
tinctions, and sometimes go to war with each other.
In an engagement which took place lately, the two
parties most singularly chose the centre of the vil-
lage of Bathurst for the field of battle. This was
DECREASE OF THE ABORIGINES. 219
of service to the defeated side, for the runaway
warriors took refuge in the barracks.
· The number of aborigines is rapidly decreasing.
In my whole ride, with the exception of some boys
brought up by Englishmen, I saw only one other
party. This decrease, no doubt, must be partly
owing to the introduction of spirits, to European
the measles,* prove very destructive), and to the
gradual extinction of the wild animals. It is said
that numbers of their children invariably perish in
very early infancy from the effects of their wander-
ing life; and as the difficulty of procuring food in-
creases, so must their wandering habits increase ;
and hence the population, without any apparent
deaths from famine, is repressed in a manner ex-
tremely sudden compared to what happens in civ-
ilized countries, where the father, though in adding
to his labour he may injure himself, does not de-
stroy his offspring.
Besides these several evident causes of destruc-
tion, there appears to be some more mysterious
agency generally at work. Wherever the Euro-
pean has trod, death seems to pursue the aborigi-
nal. We may look to the wide extent of the
Americas, Polynesia, the Cape of Good Hope, and
Australia, and we find the same result. Nor is it
the white man alone that thus acts the destroyer;
the Polynesian of Malay extraction has, in parts of
the East Indian Archipelago, thus driven before
him the dark-coloured native. The varieties of
* It is remarkable how the same disease is modified in different
scarlet fever is dreaded as a plague. In some countries, foreign-
ers and natives are as differently affected by certain contagious
disorders as if they had been different animals; of which fact
some instances have occurred in Chile, and, according to Hum-
boldt, in Mexico. (Polit. Essay, New Spain, vol. iv.)
220
NEW SOUTH WALES.
man seem to act on each other in the same way as
different species of animals—the stronger always
extirpating the weaker. It was melancholy at New
Zealand to hear the fine, energetic natives. saying
that they knew the land was doomed to pass from
their children. Every one has heard of the inex-
plicable reduction of the population in the beauti-
ful and healthy island of Tahiti since the date of
Captain Cook's voyages, although in that case we
might have expected that it would have been in-
creased ; for infanticide, which formerly prevailed
to so extraordinary a degree, has ceased, profligacy
has greatly diminished, and the murderous wars
become less frequent.
The Rev. J. Williams, in his interesting work,*
says, that the first intercourse between natives and
Europeans “is invariably attended with the intro-
duction of fever, dysentery, or some other disease,
which carries off numbers of the people.” Again
he affirms, “ It is certainly a fact, which cannot be
controverted, that most of the diseases which have
raged in the islands during my residence there
have been introduced by ships ;t and what renders
. * Narrative of Missionary Enterprise, p. 282.
t Captain Beechey (chap. iv., vol. i.) states that the inhabitants
of Pitcairn Island are firmly convinced that after the arrival of
every ship they suffer cutaneous and other disorders. Captain
Beechey attributes this to the change of diet during the time of the
visit. Dr. Maccolloch (Western Isles, vol. ii., p. 32) says, “It is
asserted, that on the arrival of a stranger (at St. Kilda) all'the in-
habitants, in the common phraseology, catch a cold." Dr. Mac-
culloch considers the whole case, although often previously
affirmed, as ludicrous. He adds, however, that “the question
was put by us to the inhabitants, who unanimously agreed in the
story." In Vancouver's Voyage, there is a somewhat similar
statement with respect to Otaheite. Dr. Dieffenbach, in a note
to his translation of this Journal, states that the same fact is uni-
versally believed by the inhabitants of the Chatham Islands, and
in parts of New Zealand. It is impossible that such a belief
should have become universal in the northern hemisphere, at the
Antipodes, and in the Pacific, without some good foundation.
Humboldt (Polit. Essay on King. of New Spain, vol. iv.) says,
DECREASE OF THE ABORIGINES.
221
pearance of disease among the crew of the ship
which conveyed this destructive importation. This
statement is not quite so extraordinary as it at first
appears; for several cases are on record of the
most malignant fevers having broken out, although
the parties themselves, who were the cause, were
not affected. In the early part of the reign of
George III., a prisoner who had been confined in
a dungeon was taken in a coach, with four consta-
bles, before a magistrate ;. and, although the man
himself was not ill, the four constables died from a
short putrid fever ; but the contagion extended to
no others. From these facts it would almost ap-
pear as if the effluvium of one set of men shut up
for some time together was poisonous when inhaled
by others, and possibly more so, if the men be of
different races. Mysterious as this circumstance
the body of one's fellow-creature, directly after
should often be of so deleterious a quality, that the
mere puncture from an instrument used in its dis-
section should prove fatal.
17th.--Early in the morning we passed the
Nepean in a ferry-boat. The river, although at
this spot both broad and deep, had a very small
body of running water. Having crossed a low
piece of land on the opposite side, we reached the
slope of the Blue Mountains. The ascent is not
steep, the road having been cut with much care on
that the great epidemics at Panama and Callao are "marked” by
the arrival of ships from Chile, because the people from that tem-
perate region first experience the fatal effects of the torrid zones.
I may add, that I have heard it stated in Shropshire, that sheep,
which have been imported from vessels, although themselves in a
healthy condition, if placed in the same fold with others, fre-
quently produce sickness in the flock.
T 2
222
NEW SOUTH WALES.
the side of a sandstone cliff. On the summit an
almost level plain extends, which, rising imper-
ceptibly to the westward, at last attains a height
of more than 3000 feet. From so grand a title as
Blue Mountains, and from their absolute altitude, I
expected to have seen a bold chain of mountains
crossing the country; but, instead of this, a sloping
plain presents merely an inconsiderable front to
the low land near the coast. From this first slope,
the view of the extensive woodland to the east
was striking, and the surrounding trees grew bold
and lofty. But when once on the sandstone plat-
form, the scenery becomes exceedingly monoto-
nous; each side of the road is bordered by scrubby
trees of the never-failing Eucalyptus family; and
with the exception of two or three small inns, there
are no houses or cultivated land : the road, more-
over, is solitary; the most frequent object being a
bullock-wagon, piled up with bales of wool.
In the middle of the day we baited our horses at
a little inn called the Weatherboard. The coun-
try here is elevated 2800 feet above the sea. About
a mile and a half from this place there is a view ex-
ceedingly well worth visiting. Following down a
little valley and its tiny rill of water, an immense
gulf unexpectedly opens through the trees which
border the pathway, at the depth of perhaps 1500
feet. Walking on a few yards, one stands on the
brink of a vast precipico, and below one sees a
grand bay or gulf, for I know not what other name
to give it, thickly covered with forest. The point
of view is situated as if at the head of a bay, the
line of cliff diverging on each side, and showing
headland behind headland, as on a bold sea-coast.
These cliffs are composed of horizontal strata of
whitish sandstone, and are so absolutely vertical,
that in many places a person standing on the edge
GREAT CLIFF-BOUNDED VALLEY.
223
and throwing down a stone can see it strike the
trees in the abyss below. So unbroken is the line
of cliff, that in order to reach the foot of the water-
fall, formed by this little stream, it is said to be
necessary to go sixteen miles round. About five
miles distant in front, another line of cliff extends,
which thus appears completely to encircle the val-
ley; and hence the name of bay is justified, 'as ap-
plied to this grand amphitheatrical depression. If
we imagine a winding harbour, with its deep water
surrounded by bold cliff-like shores, to be laid dry,
and a forest to spring up on its sandy bottom, we
should then have the appearance and structure
here exhibited. This kind of view was to me quite
novel and extremely magnificent.
In the evening we reached the Blackheath. The
sandstone plateau has here attained the height of
3400 feet, and is covered, as before, with the
same scrubby woods. From the road, there were
occasional glimpses into a profound valley, of the
same character as the one described ; but from the
steepness and depth of its sides, the bottom was
scarcely ever to be seen. The Blackheath is a
very comfortable inn, kept by an old soldier; and
it reminded me of the small inns in North Wales.
18th. Very early in the morning I walked
about three miles to see Govett's Leap: a view of
a similar character with that near the Weather-
board, but perhaps even more stupendous. So
early in the day the gulf was filled with a thin blue
haze, which, although destroying the general effect
of the view, added to the apparent depth at which
the forest was stretched out beneath our feet.
These valleys, which so long presented an in-
superable barrier to the attempts of the most en-
terprising of the colonists to reach the interior, are
most reinarkable. Great arm-like bays, expanding
224
NEW SOUTH WALES.
at their upper ends, often branch from the main
valleys and penetrate the sandstone platform; on
the other hand, the platform often sends promon-
tories into the valleys, and even leaves in them
great, almost insulated, masses. To descend into
some of these valleys, it is necessary to go round
twenty miles; and into others, the surveyors have
only lately penetrated, and the colonists have not
yet been able to drive in their cattle. But the
most remarkable feature in their structure is, that
although several miles wide at their heads, they
generally contract towards their mouths to such a
degree as to become impassable. The surveyor-
general, Sir T. Mitchell,* endeavoured in vain, first
walking, and then by crawling between the great,
fallen fragments of sandstone, to ascend through
the gorge by which the river Grose joins the Ne-
pean; yet the valley of the Grose in its upper part,
as I saw, forms a magnificent level basin some
miles in width, and is on all sides surrounded by
cliffs, the summits of which are believed to be no-
where less than 3000 feet above the level of the
sea. When cattle are driven into the valley of the
Wolgan by a path (which I descended), partly
natural and partly made by the owner of the land,
they cannot escape; for this valley is in every
other part surrounded by perpendicular cliffs, and
eight miles lower down it contracts from an aver-
age width of half a mile to a mere chasm, impassa-
ble to man or beast. Sir T. Mitchell states that the
great valley of the Cox river, with all its branches,
contracts, where it unites with the Nepean, into a
gorge twenty-two hundred yards in width, and
* Travels in Australia, vol. i., p. 154. I must express my ob-
ligation to Sir T. Mitchell for several interesting personal com-
inunications on the subject of these great valleys of New South
Wales.
GREAT VALLLYS.
225
about one thousand feet in depth. Other similar
cases might have been added.
The first impression on seeing the correspond-
ence of the horizontal strata on each side of these
valleys and great amphitheatrical depressions is,
that they have been hollowed out, like other val-
leys, by the action of water, but when one reflects
on the enormous amount of stone which, on this
view, must have been removed through mere gor-
ges or chasms, one is led to ask whether these
spaces may not have subsided ; but, considering
the form of the irregularly branching valleys, and
of the narrow promontories projecting into them
from the platforms, we are compelled to abandon
this notion. To attribute these hollows to the
present alluvial action would be preposterous; nor
does the drainage from the summit-level always
fall, as I remarked near the Weatherboard, into
the head of these valleys, but into one side of their
bay-like recesses. Some of the inhabitants re-
marked to me that they never viewed one of those
bay-like recesses, with the headlands receding on
both hands, without being struck with their resem-
blance to a bold sea-coast. This is certainly the
case ; moreover, on the present coast of New
South Wales, the numerous fine, widely-branching
harbours, which are generally connected with the
sea by a narrow mouth worn through the sand-
stone coast-cliffs, varying from one mile in width
to a quarter of a mile, present a likeness, though
on a miniature scale, to the great valleys of the in-
terior. But then immediately occurs the startling
difficulty, why has the sea worn out these great,
though circumscribed depressions on a wide plat-
form, and left mere gorges at the openings, through
which the whole vast amount of triturated matter
must have been carried away? The only light I
II.
15
226
NEW SOUTH WALES.
can throw upon this enigma is by remarking, that
banks of the most irregular forms appear to be
now forming in some seas, as in parts of the West
Indies and in the Red Sea, and that their sides are
exceedingly steep. Such banks, I have been led
to suppose, have been formed by sediment heaped
by strong currents on an irregular bottom. That
in some cases the sea, instead of spreading out sed-
iment in a unifirm sheet, heaps it round submarine
rocks and islands, it is hardly possible to doubt,
after examining the charts of the West Indies; and
that the waves have power to form high and pre-
cipitous cliffs, even in land-locked harbours, I have
noticed in many parts of South America. To ap-
ply these ideas to the sandstone platforms of New
South Wales, I imagine that the strata were heap-
ed by the action of strong currents, and of the un-
dulations of an open sea, on an irregular bottom;
and that the valley-like spaces thus left unfilled
had their steeply sloping flanks worn into cliffs du-
l'ing a slow elevation of the land ; the worn-down
sandstone being removed, either at the time when
the narrow gorges were cut by the retreating sea,
or subsequently by alluvial action.
Soon after leaving the Blackheath, we descend-
ed from the sandstone platform by the pass of
Mount Victoria. To effect this pass, an enormous
quantity of stone has been cut through; the design,
and its manner of execution, being worthy of any
line of road in England. We now entered upon a
country less elevated by nearly a thousand feet,
and consisting of granite. With the change of
rock the vegetation improved; the trees were both
finer and stood farther apart; and the pasture be-
tween them was a little greener and more plenti-
ful. At Hassan’s Walls I left the high road, and
EXTENSIVE FARMING ESTABLISHMENT. 227
made a short détour to a farm called Walerawang,
to the superintendent of which I had a letter of
introduction from the owner in Sydney. Mr.
Browne had the kindness to ask me to stay the
ensuing day, which I had much pleasure in doing.
This place offers an example of one of the large
farming, or, rather, sheep-grazing establishments
of the colony. Cattle and horses are, however, in
this case rather more numerous than usual, owing
to some of the valleys being swampy and produ-
cing a coarser pasture. Two or three flat pieces
of ground near the house, were cleared and culti-
vated with corn, which the harvest-men were now
reaping; but no more wheat is sown than suffi-
ciént for the annual support of the labourers em-
ployed on the establishment. The usual number
of assigned convict-servants here is about forty,
but at the present time there were rather more.
Although the farm was well stocked with every
necessary, there was an apparent absence of com-
fort, and not one single woman resided here. The
sunset of a fine day will generally cast an air of
happy contentment on any scene; but here, at this
retired farm-house, the brightest tints on the sur-
rounding woods could not make me forget that
forty hardened, profligate men were ceasing from
their daily labours, like the slaves from Africa, yet
without their holy claim for compassion.
Early on the next morning, Mr. Archer, the joint
superintendent, had the kindness to take me out
kangaroo-hunting. We continued riding the great-
er part of the day, but had very bad sport, not see-
ing a kangaroo, or even a wild dog. The grey-
hounds pursued a kangaroo rat into a hollow tree,
out of which we dragged it: it is an animal as
large as a rabbit, but with the figure of a kanga-
roo. A few years since this country abounded
228
NEW SOUTH WALES.
with wild animals; but now the emu is banished
to a long distance, and the kangaroo is become
scarce : to both the English greyhound has been
highly destructive. It may be long before these
doom is fixed. The aborigines are always anx-
ious to borrow the dogs from the farm-houses : the
use of them, the offal when an animal is killed, and
some milk from the cows, are the peace-offerings
of the settlers, who push farther and farther to-
wards the interior. The thoughtless aboriginal,
blinded by these trifling advantages, is delighted
at the approach of the white man, who seems pre-
destined to inherit the country of his children.
· Although having poor sport, we enjoyed a pleas-
ant ride. The woodland is generally so open that
a person on horseback can gallop through it. It
is traversed by a few flat-bottomed valleys, which
are green and free from trees: in such spots the
scenery was pretty, like that of a park. In the
whole country I scarcely saw a place without the
marks of a fire; whether these had been more or
less recent-whether the stumps were more or less
black-was the greatest change which varied the
uniformity, so wearisome to the traveller's eye.
In these woods there are not many birds; I saw,
however, some large flocks of the white cockatoo
feeding in a corn-field, and a few most beautiful
parrots ; crows like our jackdaws were not un-
common, and another bird something like the mag-
pie. In the dusk of the evening I took a stroll
represented the course of a river, and had the
good fortune to see several of the famous Orni-
thorhynchus paradoxus. They were diving and
playing about the surface of the water, but showed
so little of their bodies that they might easily have
BATHURST.
229:
been mistaken for water-rats. Mr. Browne shot
one: certainly it is a most extraordinary animal;
a stuffed specimen does not at all give a good idea
of the appearance of the head and beak when
fresh, the latter becoming hard and contracted.*
20th.---A long day's ride to Bathurst. Before
joining the high road we followed a mere path
through the forest, and the country, with the ex-:
ception of a few squatters' huts, was very solitary.
We experienced this day the sirocco-like wind of
Australia, which comes from the parched deserts
of the interior. Clouds of dust were travelling in
every direction, and the wind felt as if it had pass-
ed over a fire. I afterwards heard that the ther-
mometer out of doors had stood at 1190, and in a
closed room at 96º. In the afternoon we came in
view of the downs of Bathurst. These undulating
but nearly smooth plains are very remarkable in
this country, from being absolutely destitute of
trees. They support only a thin, brown pasture.
We rode some miles over this country, and then
reached the township of Bathurst, seated in the
middle of what may be called either a very broad
valley or narrow plain. I was told at Sydney not.
to form too bad an opinion of Australia by judging
of the country from the road-side, nor too good a
one from Bathurst; in this latter respect I did not
feel myself in the least danger of being prejudiced.
* I was interested by finding here the hollow, conical pitfall of
the lion-ant, or some other insect: first a fly fell down the treach-
erous slope and immediately disappeared ; then came a large but
unwary ant; its struggles to' escape being very violent, those cu-
rious little jets of sand, described by Kirby and Spence (Entomol.,
vol. i., p. 425) as being flirted by the insect's tail, were promptly
directed against the expected victim. But the ant enjoyed a bet-
ter fate than the fly, and escaped the fatal jaws which lay con-
cealed at ihe base of the conical hollow. This Australian pitfall
was only about half the size of that made by the European lion-
ant.
IT. TT
230
NEW SOUTH WALES.
The season, it must be owned, had been one of
great drought, and the country did not wear a fa-
vourable aspect, although I understand it was in-
comparably worse two or three months before.
The secret of the rapidly-growing prosperity of
Bathurst is, that the brown pasture, which appears
to the stranger's eye so wretched, is excellent for
sheep-grazing. The town stands, at the height of
2200 feet above the sea, on the banks of the Mac-
quarie : this is one of the rivers flowing into the
vast and scarcely-known interior. The line of wa-
ter-shed, which divides the inland streams from
those on the coast, has a height of about 3000 feet,
and runs in a north and south direction at the dis-
tance of from eighty to a hundred miles from the
sea-side. The Macquarie figures in the map as a
respectable river, and it is the largest of those
draining this part of the water-shed; yet, to my
surprise, I found it a mere chain of ponds, separa-
ted from each other by spaces almost dry. Gen-
erally a small stream is running, and sometimes
there are high and impetuous floods.. Scanty as
the supply of the water is throughout this district,
it becomes still scantier further inland.
22d.—I commenced my return, and followed a
new road called Lockyer's Line, along which the
country is rather more hilly and picturesque. This
was a long day's ride, and the house where I wish-
ed to sleep was some way off the road, and not
easily found. I met on this occasion, and indeed
on all others, a very general and ready civility
among the lower orders, which, when one consid-
ers what they are and what they have been, would
scarcely have been expected. The farm where I
passed the night was owned by two young men
who had only lately come out, and were beginning
a settler's life. The total want of almost every
STATE OF SOCIETY.
231
comfort was not very attractive; but future and
certain prosperity was before their eyes, and that
not far distant.
The next day we passed through large tracts of
country in flames, volumes of smoke sweeping
across the road. Before noon we joined our for-
mer road, and ascended Mount Victoria. : I slept
at the Weatherboard, and before dark took anoth-
er walk to the amphitheatre. On the road to Syd-
ney. I spent a very pleasant evening with Captain
King at Dunheved, and thus ended my little ex-
cursion in the colony of New South Wales.
Before arriving here, the three things which in-
terested me most were, the state of society amongst
the higher classes, the condition of the convicts, and
the degree of attraction sufficient to induce persons
to emigrate. Of course, after so very short a visit,
one's opinion is worth scarcely anything; but it is
as difficult not to form some opinion as it is to form
a correct judgment. On the whole, from what I
heard more than from what I saw, I was disap-
pointed in the state of society. The whole com-
munity is rancorously divided into parties on al-
most every subject. Amongst those who, from their
station in life, ought to be the best, many live in
such open profligacy that respectable people can-
not associate with them. There is much jealousy
between the children of the rich emancipist and
the free settlers, the former being pleased to con-
sider honest men as interlopers. The whole pop-
ulation, poor and rich, are bent on acquiring wealth:
amongst the higher orders, wool and sheep-grazing
form the constant subject of conversation. There
are many serious drawbacks to the comforts of a
family, the chief of which, perhaps, is being sur-
rounded by convict servants. How thoroughly
odious to every feeling to be waited on by a man
232
NEW SOUTH WALES,
who the day before, perhaps, was flogged, from
your representation, for some trifling misdemean-
our. The female servants are, of course, much
worse: hence children learn the vilest expressions,
and it is fortunate if not equally vile ideas.
On the other hand, the capital of a person, with-
out any trouble on his part, produces him treble
interest to what it would in England, and with
care he is sure to grow rich. The luxuries of life
are in abundance, and very little dearer than in
England, and most articles of food are cheaper.
The climate is splendid and perfectly healthy ; but,
to my mind, its charms are lost by the uninviting
aspect of the country. Settlers possess a great
advantage in finding their sons of service when very
young. At the age of from sixteen to twenty, they
frequently take charge of distant farming stations.
This, however, must happen at the expense of their
boys associating entirely with convict servants. I
am not aware that the tone of society has assumed
any peculiar character; but with such habits, and
without intellectual pursuits, it can hardly fail to
deteriorate. My opinion is such, that nothing but
rather sharp necessity should compel me to emi-
grate.
The rapid prosperity and future prospects of this
colony are to me, not understanding these subjects,
very puzzling. The two main exports are wool
and whale-oil, and to both of these productions
there is a limit. The country is totally unfit for
canals; therefore there is a not very distant point,
beyond which the land-carriage of wool wiſl not
repay the expense of shearing and tending sheep.
Pasture everywhere is so thin that settlers have al-
ready pushed far into the interior: moreover, the
country further inland becomes extremely poor.
Agriculture, on account of the droughts, can never
STATE OF TIIE CONVICTS.
.:
233
succeed on an extended scale; therefore, so far as
I can see, Australia must ultimately depend upon
being the centre of commerce for the southern
hemisphere, and perhaps on her future manufac-
tóries. Possessing coal, she always has the moving
power at hand. From the habitable country ex-
tending along the coast, and from her English ex-
traction, she is sure to be a maritime nation. I
formerly imagined that Australia would rise to be
as grand and powerful a country as North Ameri-
ca, but now it appears to me that such future gran-
deur is rather problematical.
With respect to the state of the convicts, I had
still fewer opportunities of judging than on the
other points. The first question is, whether their
condition is at all one of punishment: no one will
maintain that it is a very severe one. This, however,
I suppose, is of little consequence as long as it con-
tinues to be an object of dread to criminals at home.
The corporeal wants of the convicts are tolerably
well supplied : their prospect of future liberty and
comfort is not distant, and, after good conduct, cer-
tain. A "ticket of leave," which, as long as a man
keeps clear of suspicion as well as of crime, makes
him free within a certain district, is given upon good
conduct, after years proportional to the length of
the sentence; yet with all this, and overlooking
the previous imprisonment and wretched passage
out, I believe the years of assignment are passed
away with discontent and unhappiness. As an in-
telligent man remarked to me, the convicts know
no pleasure beyond sensuality, and in this they are
not gratified. The enormous bribe which govern-
ment possesses in offering free pardons, together
with the deep horror of the secluded penal settle-
ments, destroys confidence between the convicts,
and so prevents crime. As to a sense of shame,
TT 2
234
VAN DIEMEN'S LAND.
such a feeling does not appear to be known, and of
this I witnessed some very singular proofs. Though
it is a curious fact, I was universally told that the
character of the convict population is one of arrant
cowardice: not unfrequently some become despe-
rate, and quite indifferent as to life, yet a plan re-
quiring cool or continued courage is seldom put
into execution. The worst feature in the whole
case is, that although there exists what may be
called a legal reform, and comparatively little is
committed which the law can touch, yet that any
out of the question. I was assured by well-inform-
ed people that a man who should try to improve
could not, while living with other assigned servants;
his life would be one of intolerable misery and per-
secution. Nor must the contamination of the con-
vict-ships and prisons, both here and in England,
be forgotten. On the whole, as a place of punish-
ment, the object is scarcely gained; as a real sys-
other plan; but as a means of making men out-
wardly honest, of converting vagabonds, most use-
less in one hemisphere, into active citizens of an-
other, and thus giving birth to a new and splendid
country - a grand centre of civilizationit has
succeeded to a degree perhaps unparalleled in
history.
30th.-The Beagle sailed for Hobart Town in
Van Diemen's Land. On the 5th of February,
after a six days' passage, of which the first part
was fine, and the latter very cold and squally, we
entered the mouth of Storm Bay: the weather jus-
tified this awful name. The bay should rather be
called an estuary, for it receives at its head the
waters of the Derwent. Near the mouth there are
TASMANIA.-ABORIGINES.
235
some extensive basaltic platforms, but higher up
the land becomes mountainous, and is covered by
a light wood. The lower parts of the hills which
skirt the bay are cleared, and the bright yellow
fields of corn, and dark green ones of potatoes, ap-
peared very luxuriant. Late in the evening we
anchored in the snug cove, on the shores of which
stands the capital of Tasmania. The first aspect
of the place was very inferior to that of Sydney;
the latter might be called a city, this only a town.
It stands at the base of Mount Wellington, a mount-
ain 3100 feet high, but of little picturesque beauty:
from this source, however, it receives a good sup-
ply of water. Round the cove there are some fine
warehouses, and on one side a small fort. Coming
from the Spanish settlements, where such magnifi-
cent care has generally been paid to the fortifica-
tions, the means of defence in these colonies ap-
peared very contemptible. Comparing the town
with Sydney, I was chiefly struck with the com-
parative fewness of the large houses, either built
or building. Hobart Town, from the census of
1835, contained 13,826 inhabitants, and the whole
of Tasmania 36,505.
All the aborigines have been removed to an isl-
and in Bass's Straits, so that Van Diemen's Land
enjoys the great advantage of being free from a
native population. This most cruel step seems to
have been quite unavoidable, as the only means of
stopping a fearful succession of robberies, burn-
ings, and murders committed by the blacks, and
which sooner or later would have ended in their
utter destruction. I fear there is no doubt that
this train of evil and its consequences originated
in the infamous conduct of some of our country-
men. Thirty years is a short period in which to
have banished the last aboriginal from his native
236
VAN DIEMEN'S LAND.
island, and that island nearly as large as Ireland.
The correspondence on this subject, which took
place between the government at home and that
of Van Diemen's Land, is very interesting. Al-
though numbers of natives were shot and taken
prisoners in the skirmishing, which was going on
at intervals for several years, nothing seems fully
to have impressed them with the idea of our over-
whelming power, until the whole island, in 1830,
was put under martial law, and by proclamation
the whole population commanded to assist in one
great attempt to secure the entire race. The plan
adopted was nearly similar to that of the great
hunting-matches in India: a line was formed reach-
ing across the island, with the intention of driving
the natives into a cul-de-sac on Tasman's peninsula.
The attempt failed; the natives, having tied up
their dogs, stole during one night through the lines.
This is far from surprising when their practised
senses and usual manner of crawling after wild
animals is considered. I have been assured that
they can conceal themselves on almost bare ground,
in a manner which, until witnessed, is scarcely credi-
ble, their dusky bodies being easily mistaken for
the blackened stumps which are scattered all over
the country. I was told of a trial between a party
of Englishmen and a native, who'was to stand in
full view on the side of a bare hill; if the English-
men closed their eyes for less than a minute, he
would squat down, and then they were never able
to distinguish him from the surrounding stumps.
But to return to the hunting-match : the natives,
understanding this kind of warfare, were terribly
alarmed, for they at once perceived the power and
numbers of the whites. Shortly afterwards a party
conscious of their unprotected condition, delivered
GEOLOGICAL POINTS OF INTEREST.
237
themselves up in despair. Subsequently, by the
intrepid exertions of Mr. Robinson, an active and
benevolent man, who fearlessly visited by himself
the most hostile of the natives, the whole were in-
duced to act in a similar manner. They were
then removed to an island, where food and clothes
were provided them. Count Strzelecki states, *
that, " at the epoch of their deportation in 1835,
the number of natives amounted to 210. In 1842,
that is, after the interval of seven years, they mus-
tered only fifty-four individuals; and, while each
family of the interior of New South Wales, un-
contaminated by contact with the whites, swarms
with children, those of Flinders’ Island had, during
eight years, an accession of only fourteen in num-
ber!"
The Beagle stayed here ten days, and in this
time I made several pleasant little excursions,
chiefly with the object of examining the geological
structure of the immediate neighbourhood. The
main points of interest consist, first, in some highly
fossiliferous strata, belonging to the Devonian or
Carboniferous period; secondly, in proofs of a late
small rise of the land ; and lastly, in a solitary and
superficial patch of yellowish limestone or travertin,
which contains numerous impressions of leaves of
trees, together with land-shells, not now existing.
It is not improbable that this one small quarry in-
cludes the only remaining record of the vegetation
of Van Diemen's Land during one former epoch.
The climate here is damper than in New South
Wales, and hence the land is more fertile. Agri-
culture flourishes : the cultivated fields look well,
and the gardens abound with thriving vegetables
and fruit-trees. Some of the farm-houses, situated
* Physical Description of New South Wales and Van Diemen's
Land, p. 354.
238
VAN DIEMEN'S LANI).
in retired spots, had a very attractive appearance.
The general aspect of the vegetation is similar to
that of Australia; perhaps it is a little more green
and cheerful, and the pasture between the trees
rather more abundant. One day I took a long walk
on the side of the bay opposite to the town; I
crossed in a steamboat; two of which are constantly
plying backwards and forwards. The machinery
of one of these vessels was entirely manufactured
in this colony, which, from its very foundation,
then numbered only three-and-thirty years ! An-
other day I ascended Mount Wellington ; I took
with me a guide, for I failed in a first attempt,
from the thickness of the wood. Our guide, how-
ever, was a stupid fellow, and conducted us to the
southern and damp side of the mountain, where
the vegetation was very luxuriant, and where the
labour of the ascent, from the number of rotten
trunks, was almost as great as on a mountain in
Tierra del Fuego or in Chiloe. It cost us five
and a half hours of hard climbing before we reach-
ed the summit. In many parts the Eucalypti grew
to a great size, and composed a noble forest. In
some of the dampest ravines tree-ferns flourished
in an extraordinary manner; I saw one which must
have been at least twenty feet high to the base of
the fronds, and was in girth exactly six feet. The
fronds, forming the most elegant parasols, produced
a gloomy shade, like that of the first hour of night.
The summit of the mountain is broad and flat, and
is composed of huge angular masses of naked green-
stone. Its elevation is 3100 feet above the level
of the sea. The day was splendidly clear, and we
enjoyed a most extensive view; to the north, the
country appeared a mass of wooded mountains, of
about the same height with that on which we wero
standing, and with an equally tame outline; to the
KING GEORGE'S SOUND.
239
southi, the broken land and water, forming many
intricate bays, was mapped with clearness before
us. After staying some hours on the summit, we
found a better way to descend, but did not reach
the Beagle till eight o'clock, after a severe day's
work.
· February 7th.—The Beagle sailed from Tasma-
nia, and, on the 6th of the ensuing month, reached
King George's Sound, situated close to the S.W.
corner of Australia. We stayed there eight days,
and we did not, during our voyage, pass a more dull
and uninteresting time. The country, viewed from
an eminence, appears a woody plain, with here and
there rounded and partly bare hills of granite pro-
truding. One day I went out with a party, in hopes
of seeing a kangaroo-hunt, and walked over a good
many miles of country. Everywhere we found
the soil sandy and very poor: it supported either
a coarse vegetation of thin, low brushwood and
wiry grass, or a forest of stunted trees. The scen-
ery resembled that of the high sandstone platform
of the Blue Mountains; the Casuarina (a tree some-
what resembling a Scotch fir) is, however, here in
greater number, and the Eucalyptus in rather less.
In the open parts there were many grass-trees-
a plant which, in appearance, has some affinity with
the palm ; but, instead of being surmounted by a
crown of noble fronds, it can boast merely of a tuft
of very coarse grass-like leaves. The general bright
green colour of the brushwood and other plants,
viewed from a distance, seemed to promise fertili-
ty. A single walk, however, was enough to dispel
such an illusion; and he who thinks with me will
never wish to walk again in so uninviting a country.
One day I accompanied Captain Fitz Roy to Bald
Head, the place mentioned by so many navigators,
where some imagined that they saw corals, and
240
KING GEORGE'S SOUND.
others that they saw petrified trees, standing in the
position in which they had grown. According to
our view, the beds have been formed by the wind
having heaped up fine sand, composed of minute
rounded particles of shells and corals, during which
process branches and roots of trees, together with
many land-shells, became enclosed. The whole
then became consolidated by the percolation of cal-
careous matter; and the cylindrical cavities left by
the decaying of the wood were thus also filled up
with a hard pseudo-stalactitical stone. The weath-
er is now wearing away the softer parts, and, in con-
sequence, the hard casts of the roots and branches
of the trees project above the surface, and in a sin-
gularly deceptive manner resemble the stumps of
a dead thicket..
A large tribe of natives, called the White Cock-
atoo men, happened to pay the settlement a visit
while we were there. · These men, as well as those
of the tribe belonging to King George's Sound,
being tempted by the offer of some tubs of rice and
sugar, were persuaded to hold a "corrobery," or
great dancing party. As soon as it grew dark,
small fires were lighted, and the men commenced
their toilet, which consisted in painting themselves
white in spots and lines. As soon as all was ready,
large fires were kept blazing, round which the wom-
en and children were collected as spectators; the
Cockatoo and King George's men formed two dis-
tinct parties, and generally danced in answer to
each other. The dancing consisted in their running
either sideways or in Indian file into an open space,
and stamping the ground with great force as they
marched together. Their heavy footsteps were ac-
companied by a kind of grunt, by beating their clubs
and spears together, and by various other gesticu-
lations, such as extending their arms and wriggling
CORROBERY, OR NATIVE DANCE
241
their bodies. It vras a most rude, barbarous scene,
and, to our ideas, without any sort of meaning; but
we observed that the black women and children
watched it with the greatest pleasure. Perhaps
these dances originally represented actions, such
as wars and victories; there was one called the
Emu dance, in which each man extended his arm
in a bent manner, like the neck of that bird. In
another dance, one man imitated the movements
of a kangaroo grazing in the woods, whilst a 'sec-
ond crawled up and pretended to spear him. When
both tribes mingled in the dance, the ground trem-
bled with the heaviness of their steps, and the air
resounded with their wild cries. Every one ap-
peared in high spirits, and the group of nearly na-
ked figures, viewed by the light of the blazing fires,
all moving in hideous harmony, formed a perfect
display of a festival amongst the lowest barbarians.
In Tierra del Fuego, we have beheld many curi-
ous scenes in savage life, but never, I think, one
where the natives were in such high spirits, and so
perfectly at their ease. After the dancing was over,
the whole party formed a great circle on the ground,
and the boiled rice and sugar was distributed, to
the delight of all.
After several tedious delays from clouded weath-
er, on the 14th of March we gladly stood out of
King George's Sound on our course to Keeling
Island. Farewell, Australia! you are a rising child,
and doubtless some day will reign a great princess
in the South ; but you are too great and ambitious
for affection, yet not great enough for respect. I
leave your shores without sorrow or regret.
16
II.
242
KEELING ISLAND.
CHAPTER VIII.
Keeling Island-Singular Appearance-Scanty Flora-Transport
of Seeds-Birds and Insects-Ebbing and Flowing Springs
Fields of dead Coral-Stones transported in the Roots of Trees
-Great Crab-Stinging Corals---Coral-eating Fish—Çoral For-
mations-Lagoon Islands or Atolls-Depth at which reef-build-
mg Corals can live - Vast Areas interspersed with low Coral
Islands-Subsidence of their Foundations-Barrier Reeſs-
Fringing Reefs-Conversion of Fringing Reefs into Barrier
Reels and into Atolls-Evidence of Changes in Level-Breach-
es in Barrier Reefs-Maldiva Atolls; their peculiar Structure
Dead and submerged Reefs-Areas of Subsidence and Eleva-
tion-Distribution of Volcanoes-Subsidence Slow, and vast
in Amount.
KEELING ISLAND-CORAL FORMATIONS.
April 1st.-We arrived in view of the Keeling
or Cocos Islands, situated in the Indian Ocean, and
about six hundred miles distant from the coast of
Sumatra. This is one of the lagoon-islands (or
atolls) of coral formation, similar to those in the
Low Archipelago which we passed near. When
the ship was in the channel at the entrance, Mr.
Liesk, an English resident, came off in his boat.
The history of the inhabitants of this place, in as
few words as possible, is as follows. About nine
years ago, Mr. Hare, a worthless character, brought
from the East Indian Archipelago a number of Ma-
lay slaves, which now, including children, amount
to more than a hundred. Shortly afterwards, Cap-
tain Ross, who had before visited these islands in
his merchant-ship, arrived from England, bringing
with him his family and goods for settlement: along
with him came Mr. Liesk, who had been a mate in
his vessel. The Malay slaves soon ran away from
the islet on which Mr. Hare was settled, and join-
THE COCOA-NUT.--SINGULAR APPEARANCE. 243
A
ed Captain Ross's party. Mr. Hare, upon this, was
ultimately obliged to leave the place.
The Malays are now nominally in a state of
freedom, and certainly are so, as far as regards
their personal treatment; but in most other points
they are considered as slaves. From their discon-
tented state, from the repeated removals from islet
to islet, and perhaps also from a little mismanage-
ment, things are not very prosperous. The island
has no domestic quadruped excepting the pig, and
the main vegetable production is the cocoa-nut.
The whole prosperity of the place depends on this
tree: the only exports being oil from the nut, and
the nuts themselves, which are taken to Singapore
and Mauritius, where they are chiefly used, when .
grated, in making curries. On the cocoa-nut, also,
the pigs, which are loaded with fat, almost entire-
ly subsist, as do the ducks and poultry. Even a
huge land-crab is furnished by nature with the
means to open and feed on this most useful pro-
duction.
· The ring-formed reef of the lagoon-island is sur-
mounted in the greater part of its length by linear
islets. On the northern or leeward side there is
an opening through which vessels can pass to the
anchorage within. On entering, the scene was very
curious and rather pretty ; its beauty, however, en-
tirely depended on the brilliancy of the surround-
ing colours. The shallow, clear, and still water
of the lagoon, resting in its greater part on white
sand, is, when illumined by a vertical sun, of the
most vivid green. This brilliant expanse, several
miles in width, is on all sides divided, either by a
line of snow-white breakers from the dark heaving
waters of the ocean, or from the blue vault of heav-
en by the strips of land, crowned by the level tops
of the cocoa-nut trees. As a white cloud here and
244
KEELING ISLAND.
there affords a pleasing contrast with the azure
sky, so in the lagoon, bands of living coral darken
the emerald green water.
The next morning, after anchoring, I went on
shore on Direction Island. The strip of dry land
is only a few hundred yards in width; on the la-
goon side there is a white calcareous beach, the
radiation from which under this sultry climate was
very oppressive ; and on the outer coast, a solid,
broad fat of coral-rock served to break the vio-
lence of the open sea. Excepting near the lagoon,
where there is some sand, the land is entirely com-
posed of rounded fragments of coral. In such a
loose, dry, stony soil, the climate of the intertropi-
cal regions alone could produce a vigorous vegeta-
tion. On some of the smaller islets, nothing could
be more elegant than the manner in which the young
and full-grown cocoa-nut trees, without destroying
each other's symmetry, were mingled into one
wood. A beach of glittering white sand formed
a border to these fairy spots.
· I will now give a sketch of the natural history
of these islands, which, from its very paucity, pos-
sesses à peculiar interest. The cocoa-nut tree, at
the first glance, seems to compose the whole wood;
there are, however, five or six other trees. One of
these grows to a very large size, but, from the ex-
treme softness of its wood, is useless; another sort
affords excellent timber for ship-building. Be-
sides the trees, the number of plants is exceeding-
ly limited, and consists of insignificant weeds. In
my collection, which includes, I believe, nearly the
perfect Flora, there are twenty species, without
leckoning a moss, lichen, and fungus. To this
number two trees must be added, one of which
was not in flower, and the other I only heard of.
The latter is a solitary tree of its kind, and grows
SEEDS TRANSPORTED BY THE SEA.
215
near the beach, where, without doubt, the one seed
was thrown up by the waves. A Guilandina also
grows on only one of the islets. I do not include
in the above list the sugar-cane, banana, some other
vegetables, fruit-trees, and imported grasses. As
the islands consist entirely of coral, and at one time
must have existed as mere water-washed reefs, all
their terrestrial productions must have been trans-
ported here by the waves of the sea. In accord-
ance with this, the Florula has quite the character
of a refuge for the destitute: Professor Henslow
informs me, that of the twenty species, nineteen be-
long to different genera, and these, again, to no less
than sixteen families !*
In Holman'st Travels an account is given, on
the authority of Mr. A. S. Keating, who resided
twelve months on these islands, of the various seeds
and other bodies which have been known to have
been washed on shore. “Seeds and plants from
Sumatra and Java have been driven up by the surf
on the windward side of the islands. Among them
have been found the Kimiri, native of Sumatra and
the peninsula of Malacca; the cocoa-nut of Balci,
known by its shape and size; the Dadass, which
is planted by the Malays with the pepper-vine, the
latter intwining round its trunk, and supporting it-
self by the prickles on its stem; the soap-tree; the
castor-oil plant; trunks of the sago palm; and va-
rious kinds of seeds unknown to the Malays settled
on the islands. These are all supposed to have
been driven by the N.W. monsoon to the coast of
New Holland, and thence to these islands by the
S.E. trade-wind. Large masses of Java teak and
Yellow wood have also been found, besides im-
* These plants are described in the Annals of Nat. Hist., vol.
i., 1838, p. 337.
+ Holman's Travels, vol. iv., p. 378.
X 2
246
KEELING ISLAND.
mense trees, of red and white cedar, and the blue
gum-wood of New Holland, in a perfectly sound
condition. All the hardy seeds, such as creepers,
retain their germinating power, but the softer kinds,
among which is the mangostin, are destroyed in
the passage. Fishing-canoes, apparently from
Java, have at times been washed on shore.” It is
interesting thus to discover how numerous the seeds
are, which, coming from several countries, are drift-
ed over the wide ocean. Professor Henslow tells
me, he believes that nearly all the plants which I
brought from these islands are common littoral
species in the East Indian Archipelago. From the
direction, however, of the winds and currents, it
seems scarcely possible that they could have come
here in a direct line. If, as suggested with much
probability by Mr. Keating, they were first carried
towards the coast of New Holland, and thence
drifted back together with the productions of that
country, the seeds, before germinating, must have
travelled between 1800 and 2400 miles.
Chamisso, * when describing the Radack Archi-
pelago, situated in the western part of the Pacific,
states that “the sea brings to these islands the seeds
and fruits of many trees, most of which have yet
not grown here. The greater part of these seeds ap-
pear to have not yet lost the capability of growing.”
It is also said that palms and bamboos from some-
where in the torrid zone, and trunks of northern
firs, are washed on shore: these firs must have
come from an immense distance. These facts are
highly interesting. It cannot be doubted that if
there were land-birds to pick up the seeds when
first cast on shore, and a soil better adapted for their
growth than the loose blocks of coral, that the most
isolated of the lagoon-islands would in time possess
a far more abundant Flora than they now have.
* Kotzebue's First Voyage, vol. iii., d. 155.
ANIMALS AND REPTILES.
247
The list of land animals is even poorer than that
of the plants. Some of the islets are inhabited by
rats, which were brought in a ship from the Mau-
ritius, wrecked here. These rats are considered
by Mr. Waterhouse as identical with the English
kind, but they are smaller, and more brightly col-
oured. There are no true land-birds; for a snipe
and a rail (Rallus Phillippensis), though living en-
tirely in the dry herbage, belong to the order of
Waders. Birds of this order are said to occur on
several of the small low islands in the Pacific. At
Ascension, where there is no land-bird, a rail (Por-
phyrio simplex) was shot near the summit of the
mountain, and it was evidently a solitary straggler.
At Tristan d'Acunha, where, according to Carmi-
chael, there are only two land-birds, there is a coot.
the innumerable web-footed species, are generally
the first colonists of small isolated islands. I may
add, that whenever I noticed birds, not of oceanic
species, very far out at sea, they always belonged
to this order, and hence they would naturally be-
come the earliest colonists of any remote point of
land.
Of reptiles I saw only one small lizard. Of in-
sects I took pains to collect every kind. Exclusive
of spiders, which were numerous, there were thir-
teen species.* Of these, one only was a beetle.
A small ant swarmed by thousands under the loose
dry blocks of coral, and was the only true insect
which was abundant. Although the productions of
the land are thus scanty, if we look to the waters of
the surrounding sea, the number of organic beings
* The thirteen species belong to the following orders: In the
Coleoptera, a minute Elater; Orthoptera, a Gryllus and a Blatta ;
Hemiptera, one species ; Homoptera, two; Neuroptera, a Chrysopa;
Hymenoptera, two ants; Lepidoptera nocturna, a Diopæa and a
248
KEELING ISLAND.
is indeed infinite. Chamisso has described* the
natural history of a lagoon-island in the Radack
Archipelago, and it is remarkable how closely its
inhabitants, in number and kind, resemble those of
Keeling Island. There is one lizard and two wa-
ders, namely, a snipe and curlew. Of plants there
are nineteen species, including a fern; and some
of these are the same with those growing here,
though on a spot so immensely remote, and in a
different ocean.
The long strips of land, forming the linear isl-
ets, have been raised only to that height to which
the surf can throw fragments of coral, and the wind
heap up calcareous sand. The solid flat of coral
rock on the outside, by its breadth, breaks the first
violence of the waves, which otherwise, in a day,
would sweep away these islets and all their pro-
ductions. The ocean and the land seem here strug-
gling for mastery: although terra firma has obtain-
ed a footing, the denizens of the water think their
claim at least equally good. In every part one
meets hermit-crabs of more than one species, t car-
rying on their backs the shells which they have sto-
len from the neighbouring beach. Overhead, nu-
merous gannets, frigate-birds, and terns, rest on the
trees; and the wood, from the many nests and
from the smell of the atmosphere, might be called
a sea-rookery. The gannets, sitting on their rude
nests, gaze at one with a stupid yet angry air.
The noddies, as their name expresses, are silly lit-
tle creatures. But there is one charming bird : it
* Kotzebue's First Voyage, vol. iii., p. 222.
† The large claws or pincers of some of these crabs are most
beautifully adapted, when drawn back, to form an operculum to
the shell, nearly as perſect as the proper one originally belonging
to the molluscous animal. I was assured, and, as far as my ob-
servation went, I found it so, that certain species of the hermit-
crabs always use certain species of shells.
THE SETTLEMENT.
249
is a small snow-white tern, which smoothly hovers
at the distance of a few feet above one's head, its
large black eye scanning, with quiet curiosity, your
expression. Little imagination is required to fan-
cy that so light and delicate a body must be ten-
anted by some wandering fairy spirit.
Sunday, April 3d.--After service I accompanied
Captain Fitz Roy to the settlement, situated at the
distance of some miles, on the point of an islet
thickly covered with tall cocoa-nut trees. Captain
Ross and Mr. Liesk live in a large barn-like house,
open at both ends, and lined with mats made of
woven bark. The houses of the Malays are ar-
ranged along the shore of the lagoon. The whole
place had rather a desolate aspect, for there were
no gardens to show the signs of care and cultiva-
tion. The natives belong to different islands in the
East Indian Archipelago, but all speak the same
language : we saw the inhabitants of Borneo, Cel-
ebes, Java, and Sumatra. In colour they resemble
the Tahitians, from whom they do not widely dif-
fer in features. Some of the women, however,
show a good deal of the Chinese character. I
liked both their general expressions and the sound
of their voices. They appeared poor, and their
houses were destitute of furniture; but it was ey-
ident, from the plumpness of the little children, that
cocoa-nuts and turtle afford no bad sustenance.
On this island the wells are situated from which
ships obtain water. At first sight it appears not a
little remarkable that the fresh water should regu-
larly ebb and flow with the tides; and it has even
been imagined that sand has the power of filtering
the salt from the sea-water. These ebbing wells
are common on some of the low islands in the
West Indies. The compressed sand, or porous
coral rock, is permeated like a sponge with the
250
KEELING ISLAND.
salt water; but the rain which falls on the surface
must sink to the level of the surrounding sea, and
must accumulate there, displacing an equal bulk
of the salt water. As the water in the lower part
of the great sponge-like coral mass rises and falls
with the tides, so will the water near the surface ;
and this will keep fresh, if the mass be sufficiently
compact to prevent much mechanical admixture;
but where the land consists of great loose blocks
of coral with open interstices, if a well be dug, the
water, as I have seen, is brackish.
After dinner we stayed to see a curious half-
superstitious scene acted by the Malay women. A
large wooden spoon dressed in garments, and which
had been carried to the grave of a dead man, they
pretend becomes inspired at the full of the moon,
and will dance and jump about. After the proper
preparations, the spoon, held by two women, be-
came convulsed, and danced in good time to the
song of the surrounding children and women. It
was a most foolish spectacle ; but Mr. Liesk main-
tained that many of the Malays believed in its
spiritual movements. The dance did not com-
mence 'till the moon had risen, and it was well
worth remaining to behold her bright orb so quietly
shining through the long arms of the cocoa-nut
trees as they waved in the evening breeze. These
scenes of the tropics are in themselves so delicious,
that they almost equal those dearer ones at home,
to which we are bound by each best feeling of the
mind.
The next day I employed myself in examining
the very interesting, yet simple structure and ori- :
gin of these islands. The water being unusually
smooth, I waded over the outer flat of dead rock
as far as the living mounds of coral, on which the
swell of the open sea breaks. In some of the gul-
: 251
leys and hollows there were beautiful green and
other coloured fishes, and the forms and tints of
many of the zoophytes were admirable. It is
excusable to grow enthusiastic over the infinite
numbers of organic beings with which the sea of
the tropics, so prodigal of life, teems; yet I must
confess I think those naturalists who have de-
scribed, in well-known words, the submarine
grottoes decked with a thousand beauties, have
indulged in rather exuberant language.
April 6th.-I accompanied Captain Fitz Roy to
an island at the head of the lagoon: the channel
was exceedingly intricate, winding through fields
of delicately-branched corals. We saw several
turtle, and two boats were then employed in catch-
ing them. The water was so clear and shallow,
that although at first a turtle quickly dives out of
sight, yet in a canoe or boat under sail, the pur-
suers, after no very long chase, come up to it. A
man, standing ready in the bow, at this moment
dashes through the water upon the turtle's back;
then clinging with both hands by the shell of its
neck, he is carried away till the animal becomes
exhausted and is secured. It was quite an inter-
esting chase to see the two boats thus doubling
about, and the men dashing head foremost into the
water trying to seize their prey. Captain Moresby
informs me that in the Chagos Archipelago, in this
same ocean, the natives, by a horrible process, take
the shell from the back of the living turtle. “It is
covered with burning charcoal, which causes the
outer shell to curl upwards; it is then forced off
with a knife, and, before it becomes cold, flattened
between boards. After this barbarous process the
animal is suffered to regain its native element,
where, after a certain time, a new shell is form-
ed; it is, however, too thin to be of any service,
252
KEELING ISLAND.
and the animal always appears languishing and
sickly."
When we arrived at the head of the lagoon, we
crossed a narrow islet, and found a great surf
breaking on the windward coast. I can hardly ex-
plain the reason, but there is, to my mind, much
grandeur in the view of the outer shores of these
lagoon-islands. There is a simplicity in the bar-
rier-like beach, the margin of green bushes and
tall cocoa-nuts, the solid flat of dead coral-rock,
strewed here and there with great loose fragments,
and the line of furious breakers, all rounding away
towards either hand. The ocean, throwing its
waters over the broad reef, appears an invincible,
all-powerful enemy; yet we see it resisted, and
even conquered, by means which at first seem most
weak and inefficient. It is not that the ocean spares
the rock of coral; the great fragments scattered
over the reef, and heaped on the beach, whence
the tall cocoa-nut springs, plainly bespeak the un-
relenting power of the waves. Nor are any peri-
ods of repose granted. The long swell caused by
the gentle but steady action of the trade-wind, al-
ways blowing in one direction over a wide area,
causes breakers, almost equalling in force those
during a gale of wind in the temperate regions,
and which never cease to rage. It is impossible
to behold these waves without feeling a conviction
that an island, though built of the hardest rock, let
it be porphyry, granite, or quartz, would ultimate-
ly yield, and be demolished by such an irresistible
power. Yet these low, insignificant coral islets
stand and are victorious ; for here another power,
as an antagonist, takes part in the contest. The
organic forces separate the atoms of carbonate of
lime, one by one, from the foaming breakers, and
unite them into a symmetrical structure. Let the
LARGE FIELDS OF CORAL.
253
hurricane tear up its thousand huge fragments;
yet what will that tell against the accumulated la-
bour of myriads of architects at work night and
day, month after month? Thus do we see the soft
and gelatinous body of a polypus, through the
agency of the vital laws, conquering the great me-
chanical power of the waves of an ocean which
neither the art of man nor the inanimate works of
nature could successfully resist.
We did not return on board till late in the even-
ing, for we stayed a long time in the lagoon, ex-
amining the fields of coral and the gigantic shells
of the chama, into which, if a man were to put his
hand, he would not, as long as the animal lived, be
able to withdraw it. Near the head of the lagoon,
I was much surprised to find a wide area, consid-
erably more than a mile square, covered with a
forest of delicately branching corals, which, though
standing upright, were all dead and rotten. At
first I was quite at a loss to understand the cause ;
afterwards. it occurred to me that it was owing to
the following rather curious combination of circum-
stances. It should, however, first be stated, that
corals are not able to survive even a short exposure
in the air to the sun's rays, so that their upward
limit of growth is determined by that of lowest
water at spring tides. It appears, from some old
charts, that the long island to windward was for-
merly separated by wide channels into several
islets ; this fact is likewise indicated by the trees
being younger on these portions. Under the for-
mer condition of the reef, a strong breeze, by
throwing more water over the barrier, would tend
to raise the level of the lagoon. Now it acts in a
directly contrary manner; for the water within the
lagoon not only is not increased by currents from
the outside, but is itself blown outwards by the
II.-Y
254
KLELING ISLAND.
force of the wind. Hence it is observed that the
tide near the head of the lagoon does not rise so
high during a strong breeze as it does when it is
calm. This difference of level, although no doubt
very small, has, I believe, caused the death of those
coral groves which, under the former and more
open condition of the outer reef, had attained the
utmost possible limit of upward growth.
A few miles north of Keeling there is another
small atoll, the lagoon of which is nearly filled up
with coral mud. Captain Ross found embedded
in the conglomerate on the outer coast a well-
rounded fragment of greenstone, rather larger than
a man's head: he, and the men with him, were so
much surprised at this, that they brought it away
and preserved it as a curiosity. The occurrence
of this one stone, where every other particle of
matter is calcareous, certainly is very puzzling.
The island has scarcely ever been visited, nor is it
probable that a ship had been wrecked there.
From the absence of any better explanation, I came
to the conclusion that it must have come entangled
in the roots of some large tree; when, however, I
considered the great distance from the nearest
land, the combination of chances against a stone
thus being entangled, the tree washed into the sea,
floated so far, then landed safely, and the stone,
finally, so embedded as to allow of its discovery, I
was almost afraid of imagining a means of transport
apparently so improbable. It was therefore with
great interest that I found Chamisso, the justly dis-
tinguished naturalist who accompanied Kotzebue,
stating that the inhabitants of the Radack Archi-
pelago, a group of Jagoon-islands in the midst of
the Pacific, obtained stones for sharpening their in-
struments by searching the roots of trees which are
cast upon the beach. It will be evident that this
STONES TRANSPORTED BY TREES.
255
must have happened several times, since laws have
been established that such stones belong to the
chief, and a punishment is inflicted on any one
who attempts to steal them. When the isolated
position of these small islands in the midst of a
vast ocean—their great distance from any land ex-
cepting that of coral formation, attested by the value
which the inhabitants, who are such bold naviga-
tors, attach to a stone of any kind, * and the slow-
ness of the currents of the open sea, are all con-
sidered, the occurrence of pebbles thus transported
does appear wonderful. Stones may often be thus
carried; and if the island on which they are strand-
ed is constructed of any other substance besides
coral, they would scarcely attract attention, and
their origin, at least, would never be guessed.
Moreover, this agency may long escape discovery,
from the probability of trees, especially those load-
ed with stones, floating beneath the surface. In
the channels of Tierra del Fuego large quantities
of drift timber are cast upon the beach, yet it is
extremely rare to meet a tree swimming on the
water. These facts may possibly throw light on
single stones, whether angular or rounded, oc-
casionally found embedded in fine sedimentary
masses.
During another day I visited West Islet, on
which the vegetation was perhaps more luxuriant
than on any other. The cocoa-nut trees generally
grow separate, but here the young ones flourished
beneath their tall parents, and formed, with their
long and curved fronds, the most shady arbours.
Those alone who have tried it know how delicious
it is to be seated in such shade, and drink the cool,
pleasant fluid of the cocoa-nut. In this island there
* Some natives carried by Kotzebue to Kamtschatka collected
stones to take back to their country.
256
KEELING ISLAND.
is a large bay-like space, composed of the finest
white sand: it is quite level, and is only covered
by the tide at high water ; from this large bay
smaller creeks penetrate the surrounding woods.
To see a field of glittering white sand, representing
water, with the cocoa-nut trees extending their tall
and waving trunks round the margin, formed a
singular and very pretty view.
I have before alluded to a crab which lives on
the cocoa-nuts: it is very common on all parts of
the dry land, and grows to a monstrous size : it is
closely allied or identical with the Birgos latro.
The front pair of legs terminate in very strong and
heavy pincers, and the last pair are fitted with
others weaker and much narrower. It would, at
first, be thought quite impossible for a crab to open
a strong cocoa-nut covered with the husk; but Mr.
Liesk assures me that he has repeatedly seen this
effected. The crab begins by tearing the husk,
fibre by fibre, and always from that end under
which the three eye-holes are situated; when this
is completed, the crab commences hammering
with its heavy claws on one of the eye-holes till an.
opening is made. Then turning round its body;
by the aid of its posterior and narrow pair of pin-
cers it extracts the white albuminous substance.
I think this is as curious a case of instinct as ever
I heard of, and likewise of adaptation in structure
between two objects apparently so remote from
each other in the scheme of nature as a crab and
a cocoa-nut tree. The Birgos is diurnal in its
habits; but every night it is said to pay a visit to
the sea, no doubt for the purpose of moistening its
branchiæ. The young are likewise hatched, and
live for some time, on the coast. These crabs in-
habit deep burrows, which they hollow out beneath
the roots of trees, and where they accumulate sur-
GREAT CRAB.
257
prising quantities of the picked fibres of the cocoa-
nut husk, on which they rest as on a bed. The
Malays sometimes take advantage of this, and col-
lect the fibrous mass to use as junk. These crabs
are very good to eat; moreover, under the tail of
the larger ones there is a great mass of fat, which,
when melted, sometimes yields as much as a quart
bottle full of limpid oil. It has been stated by
some authors that the Birgos crawls up the cocoa-
nut trees for the purpose of stealing the nuts : I
very much doubt the possibility of this; but with
the Pandanus* the task would be very much easier.
I was told by Mr. Liesk that on these islands the
Birgos lives only on the nuts which have fallen to
the ground.
Captain Moresby informs me that this crab in-
habits the Chagos and Seychelle groups, but not
the neighbouring Maldiva Archipelago. It former-
ly abounded at Mauritius, but only a few small
ones are now found there. In the Pacific, this
species, or one with closely-allied habits, is saidt
to inhabit a single coral island north of the Society
group. To show the wonderful strength of the
front pair of pincers, I may mention that Captain
Moresby confined one in a strong tin box, which
had held biscuits, the lid being secured with wire ;
but the crab turned down the edges and escaped.
In turning down the edges, it actually punched
many small holes quite through the tin!
I was a good deal surprised by finding two spe-
cies of coral, of the genus Millepora (M. compla-
nata and alcicornis), possessed of the power of
stinging. The stony branches or plates, when ta-
ken fresh from the water, have a harsh feel and
are not slimy, although possessing a strong and
* See Proceedings of Zoological Society, 1832, p. 17.
† Tyerman and Bennett. Voyage, &c., vol. ü., p. 33.
II.
17
258
KEELING ISLAND.
disagreeable smell. The stinging property seems
to vary in different specimens. When a piece was
pressed or rubbed on the tender skin of the face
or arm, a pricking sensation was usually caused,
which came on after the interval of a second, and
lasted only for a few minutes. One day, however,
by merely touching my face with one of the branch-
es, pain was instantaneously caused; it increased,
as usual, after a few seconds, and remaining sharp
for some ininutes, was perceptible for half an hour
afterwards. The sensation was as bad as that from
a nettle, but more like that caused by the Physalia,
or Portuguese man-of-war. Little red spots were
produced on the tender skin of the arm, which ap-
peared as if they would have formed watery pus-
tules, but did not. M. Quoy mentions this case of
the Millepora, and I have heard of stinging corals
in the West Indies. Many marine animals seem
to have this power of stinging: besides the Portu-
guese man-of-war, many jelly-fish, and the Aplysia,
or sea-slug of the Cape de Verd Islands, it is sta-
ted in the voyage of the Astrolabe that an Actinia,
or sea-anemone, as well as a flexible coralline al-
lied to Sertularia, both possess this means of of-
fence or defence. In the East Indian sea a sting-
ing sea-weed is said to be found.
Two species of fish, of the genus Scarus, which
are common here, exclusively feed on coral: both
are coloured of a splendid bluish-green, one living
invariably in the lagoon, and the other amongst the
outer breakers. Mr. Liesk assured us that he had
repeatedly seen whole shoals grazing with their
strong bony jaws on the tops of the coral branch-
es. I opened the intestines of severa), and found
them distended with yellowish, calcareous, sandy
mud. The slimy, disgusting Holuthuriæ (allied to
our star-fish), which the Chinese gourmands are so
CORAL FORMATIONS.
259
fond of, also feed largely, as I am informed by Dr.
Allan, on corals; and the bony apparatus within
their bodies seems well adapted for this end.
These holuthuriæ, the fish, the numerous burrow-
ing shells and nereidous worms which perforate
every block of dead coral, must be very efficient
· agents in producing the fine white mud which lies
at the bottom and on the shores of the lagoon. A
portion, however, of this mud, which, when wet,
strikingly resembled pounded chalk, was found by
Professor Ehrenberg to be partly composed of si-
liceous-shielded infusoria.
April 12th. In the morning we stood out of the
lagoon on our passage to the Isle of France. I am
glad we have visited these islands : such forma-
tions surely rank high amongst the wonderful ob-
jects of this world. Captain Fitz Roy found no
bottom with a line 7200 feet in length, at the dis-
tance of only 2200 yards from the shore; hence
this island forms a lofty sub-marine mountain, with
sides steeper even than those of the most abrupt
volcanic cone. The saucer-shaped summit is near-
ly ten miles across; and every single atom,* from
the least particle to the largest fragment of rock,
in this great pile, which, however, is small com-
pared with very many other lagoon-islands, bears
the stamp of having been subjected to organic ar-
rangement. We feel surprise when travellers tell
us of the vast dimensions of the Pyramids and oth-
er great ruins, but how utterly insignificant are the
greatest of these when compared to these mount-
ains of stone, accumulated by the agency of various
minute and tender animals ! This is a wonder
* I exclude, of course, somo' soil which has been imported
here in vessels from Malacca and Java, and likewise some small
fragments of pumice, drifted here by the waves. The one block
of greenstone, moreover, on the northern island, must be ex
cepted.
260
LAGOON-ISLANDS, OR ATOLLS.
· which does not at first strike the eye of the body,
but, after reflection, the eye of reason.
I will now give a very brief account of the three
great classes of coral-reefs, namely, Atolls, Bar-
rier, and Fringing reefs, and will explain my
views* on their formation. Almost every voyager
who has crossed the Pacific has expressed his un-
bounded astonishment at the lagoon-islands, or
atolls, as I shall for the future call them by their
Indian name, and has attempted some explana-
tion. Even as long ago as the year 1605, Pyrard
de Laval well exclaimed, “ C'est une meruille de
voir chacun de ces atollons, enuironné d'un grand
banc de pierre tout autour, n'y ayant point d'arti-
fice humain.” The accompanying sketch of Whit-
sunday Island in the Pacific, copied from Captain
Beechey's admirable Voyage, gives but a faint idea
of the singular aspect of an atoll : it is one of the

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smallest size, and has its narrow islets united to-
gether in a ring. The immensity of the ocean, the
fury of the breakers, contrasted with the lowness
* These were first read before the Geological Society in May,
1837, and have since been developed in a separate volume on the
“Structure and Distribution of Coral Reefs."
LAGOON-ISLANDS, OR ATOLLS.
261
.
of the land and the smoothness of the bright green
water within the lagoon, can hardly be imagined
without having been seen.
The earlier voyagers fancied that the coral-
building animals instinctively built up their great
circles to afford themselves protection in the inner
parts ; but so far is this from the truth, that those
massive kinds, to whose growth on the exposed
outer shores the very existence of the reef depends,
cannot live within the lagoon, where other deli-
cately-branching kinds flourish. Moreover, on this
view, many species of distinct genera and families
are supposed to combine for one end, and of such
a combination not a single instance can be found
in the whole of nature. The theory that has been
most generally received is, that atolls are based on
submarine craters; but when we consider the form
and size of some, the number, proximity, and rel-
ative positions of others, this idea loses its plausi-
ble character: thus, Suadiva atoll is 44 geograph-
ical miles in diameter in one line, by 34 miles in
another line; Rimsky is 54 by 20 miles across,
and it has a strangely sinuous margin; Bow atoll
is 30 miles long, and, on an average, only six in.
width; Menchicoff atoll consists of three atolls
united or tied together. This theory, moreover, is
totally inapplicable to the northern Maldiva atolls
in the Indian Ocean (one of which is 88 miles in
length, and between 10 and 20 in breadth), for
they are not bounded, like ordinary atolls, by nar-
row reefs, but by a vast number of separate little
atolls; other little atolls rising out of the great
central lagoon-like spaces. A third and better
theory was advanced by Chamisso, who thought
that, from the corals growing more vigorously
where exposed to the open sea, as undoubtedly is
the case, the outer edges would grow up from the
262
LAGOON-ISLANDS, OR ATOLLS.
general foundation before any other part, and that
this would account for the ring or cup-shaped
structure ; but we shall immediately see that in
this, as well as in the crater-theory, a most impor-
tant consideration has been overlooked, namely, on
what have the reef-building corals, which cannot
live at a great depth, based their massive struc-
tures ?
Numerous soundings were carefully taken by
Captain Fitz Roy on the steep outside of Keeling
atoll, and it was found that within ten fathoms the
prepared tallow at the bottom of the lead invaria-
bly came up marked with the impressions of living
corals, but as perfectly clean as if it had been drop-
ped on a carpet of turf; as the depth increased,
the impressions became less numerous, but the ad-
hering particles of sand more and more numerous,
until, at last, it was evident that the bottom con-
sisted of a smooth sandy layer: to carry on the
analogy of the turf, the blades of grass grew thin-
ner and thinner, till at last the soil was so sterile
that nothing sprang from it. From these observa-
tions, confirmed by many others, it may be safely
inferred that the utmost depth at which corals can
construct reefs is between 20 and 30' fathoms.
Now there are enormous areas in the Pacific and
Indian Oceans, in which every single island is of
coral formation, and is raised ouly to that height to
which the waves can throw up fragments and the
winds pile up sand. Thus the Radack group of
atolls is an irregular square, 520 miles long and
240 broad; the Low Archipelago is elliptic-formed,
840 miles in its longer, and 420 in its shorter axis :
there are other small groups and single low islands
between these two archipelagoes, making a linear
space of ocean actually more than 4000 miles in
length, in which not one single island rises above
AREAS OF SUBSIDENCE.
263
the specified height. Again, in the Indian Ocean,
there is a space of ocean 1500 miles in length, in-
cluding three archipelagoes, in which every island
is low and of coral formation. From the fact of
the reef-building corals not living at great depths,
it is absolutely certain that throughout these vast
areas, wherever there is now an atoll, a foundation
must have originally existed within a depth of from
20 to 30 fathoms from the surface. It is improba-
ble in the highest degree that broad, lofty, isolated,
steep-sided banks of sediment, arranged in groups
and lines hundreds of leagues in length, could have
been deposited in the central and profoundest parts
of the Pacific and Indian Oceans, at an immense
distance from any continent, and where the water
is perfectly limpid. It is equally improbable that
the elevatory forces should have uplifted, through-
out the above vast areas, innumerable great rocky
banks within 20 to 30 fathoms, or 120 to 180 feet,
of the surface of the sea, and not one single point
above that level; for where, on the whole face of
the globe, can we find a single chain of mountains,
even a few hundred miles in length, with their
many summits rising within a few feet of a given
level, and not one pinnacle above it? If, then, the
foundations, whence the atoll-building corals sprang,
were not formed of sediment, and if they were not
lifted up to the required level, they must, of neces-
sity, have subsided into it, and this at once solves
the difficulty ; for as mountain after mountain,
and island after island, slowly sank beneath the
water, fresh bases would be successively afforded
for the growth of the corals. It is impossible here:
to enter into all the necessary details, but I ven :
ture to defy* any one to explain in any other man.
* It is remarkable that Mr. Lyell, even in the first edition of his
A Principles of Geology," inferred that the amount of subsidence
264
BARRIER-REETS.
ner how it is possible that numerous islands should
be distributed throughout vast areas-all the isl-
ands being low-all being built of corals, absolutely
requiring a foundation within a limited depth from
the surface.
Before explaining how atoll-formed reefs ac-
quire their peculiar structure, we must turn to the
second great class, namely, Barrier-reefs. These
either extend in straight lines in front of the shores
of a continent or of a large island, or they encircle
smaller islands; in both cases being separated
from the land by a broad and rather deep channel
of water, analogous to the lagoon within an atoll.
It is remarkable how little attention has been paid
to encircling barrier-reefs, yet they are truly won-
derful structures. The following sketch represents
part of the barrier encircling the island of Bolabola
in the Pacific, as seen from one of the central peaks.

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In this instance the whole line of reef has been
converted into land; but usually a snow-white line
of great breakers, with only here and there a single
low islet, crowned with cocoa-nut trees, divides the
in the Pacific must have exceeded that of elevation, from the area
of land being very small relatively to the agents there tending to
form it, namely, the growth of coral and volcanic action:
BARRIER-REEFS.
265
dark, heaving waters of the ocean from the light-
green expanse of the lagoon-channel. And the
quiet waters of this channel generally bathe a fringe
of low alluvial soil, loaded with the most beautiful
productions of the tropics, and lying at the foot of
the wild, abrupt, central mountains.
Encircling barrier-reefs are of all sizes, from
three miles to no less than forty-four miles in di-
ameter; and that which fronts one side, and encir.
cles both ends of New Caledonia, is 400 miles long.
Each reef includes one, two, or several rocky isl-
ands of various heights; and, in one instance, even as
many as twelve separate islands. The reef runs at
a greater or less distance from the included land;
in the Society Archipelago, generally from one to
three or four miles; but at Hogoleu the reef is
20 miles on the southern side, and 14 miles on
the opposite or northern side, from the included
islands. The depth within the lagoon-channel also
varies much; from 10 to 30 fathoms may be taken
as an average; but at Vanikoro there are spaces
no less than 56 fathoms, or 336 feet deep. Inter-
nally the reef either slopes gently into the lagoon-
channel, or ends in a perpendicular wall sometimes
between two and three hundred feet under water
in height: externally, the reef rises, like an atoll,
with extreme abruptness out of the profound depths
of the ocean. What can be more singular than
these structures? We see an island, which may
be compared to a castle situated on the summit of
a lofty submarine mountain, protected by a great
wall of coral-rock, always steep externally and
sometimes internally, with a broad level summit,
here and there breached by narrow gateways,
through which the largest ships can enter the wide
and deep encircling moat.
As far as the actual reef of coral is concerned,
II.-Z
266
BARRIER-REEFS.
there is not the smallest difference in general size,
outline, grouping, and even in quite trifling details
of structure between a barrier and an atoll. The
geographer Balbi has well remarked, that an en-
circled island is an atoll with high land rising out
of its lagoon; remove the land from within, and
a perfect atoll is left.
But what has caused these reefs to spring up at
such great distances from the shores of the inclu-
ded islands? It cannot be that the corals will not
grow close to the land, for the shores within the
lagoon-channel, when not surrounded by alluvial
soil, are often fringed by living reefs; and we shall
presently see that there is a whole class, which I
have called Fringing Reefs, from their close attach-
ment to the shores both of continents and of islands.
Again, on what have the reef-building corals, which
cannot live at great depths, based their encircling
structures ? This is a great apparent difficulty,
analogous to that in the case of atolls, which has
generally been overlooked. It will be perceived
more clearly by inspecting the following sections,
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1. Vanikoro. 2. Gambier Islands. 3. Maurua.
The horizontal shading shows the barrier-reefs and lagoon-channels.
The inclined shading above the level of the sea (A A) shows the actual
form of the land ; the inclined shading below this line shows its probable
prolongation under water.
BARRIER-REEFS.
267
which are real ones, taken in north and south lines
through the islands, with their barrier-reefs, of
Vanikoro, Gambier, and Maurua; and they are
laid down, both vertically and horizontally, on the
scale of three sixteenths of an inch to a mile.
It should be observed that the sections might
have been taken in any direction through these
islands, or through many other encircled islands,
and the general features would have been the
same. Now, bearing in mind that reef-building
coral cannot live at a greater depth than from 20
to 30 fathoms, and that the scale is so small that
the plummets on the right hand show a depth of
200 fathoms, on what are these barrier-reefs based ?
Are we to suppose that each island is surrounded
by a collar-like submarine ledge of rock, or by a
great bank of sediment, ending abruptly where the
reef ends? If the sea had formerly eaten deeply
into the islands, before they were protected by the
reefs, thus having left a shallow ledge round them
under water, the present shores would have been
invariably bounded by great precipices; but this
is most rarely-the case. Moreover, on this notion,
it is not possible to explain why the corals should
have sprung up, like a wall, from the extreme
outer margin of the ledge, often leaving a broad
space of water within too deep for the growth of
corals. The accumulation of a wide bank of sedi-
ment all round these islands, and generally widest
where the included islands are smallest, is highly
improbable, considering their exposed positions in
the central and deepest parts of the ocean. In
the case of the barrier-reef of New Caledonia,
which extends for 150 miles beyond the northern
point of the island, in the same straight line with
which it fronts the west coast, it is hardly possible
to believe that a bank of sediment could thus have
268
FRINGING-REETS.
been straightly deposited in front of a lofty island,
and so far beyond its termination in the open sea.
Finally, if we look to other oceanic islands of
about the same height and of similar geological
constitution, but not encircled by coral-reefs, we
may in vain search for so trifling a circumambient
depth as 30 fathoms, except quite near to their
shores ; for usually land that rises abruptly out of
water, as do most of the encircled and non-encir-
cled oceanic islands, plunges abruptly under it.
On what, then, I repeat, are these barrier-reefs
based ? Why, with their wide and deep moat-
like channels, do they stand so far from the in-
cluded land? We shall soon see how easily these
difficulties disappear.
We come now to our third class of Fringing
Reefs, which will require a very short notice.
Where the land slopes abruptly under water, these
reefs are only a few yards in width, forming a mere
riband or fringe round the shores : where the land
slopes gently under the water, the reef extends
further, sometimes even as much as a mile from
the land; but in such cases the soundings outside
the reef always show that the submarine prolonga-
tion of the land is gently inclined. In fact, the
reefs extend, only to that distance from the shore
at which a foundation within the requisite depth
from 20 to 30 fathoms is found. As far as the
actual reef is concerned, there is 110 essential dif-
ference between it and that forming a barrier or
an atoll : it is, however, generally of less width,
and consequently few islets have been formed on
it. From the corals growing more vigorously on
the outside, and from the noxious effect of the sedi-
ment washed inwards, the outer edge of the reef
is the highest part, and between it and the land
there is generally a shallow sandy channel a few
THEORY OF CORAL-REEFS.
269
feet in depth. Where banks of sediment have
accumulated near to the surface, as in parts of the
West Indies, they sometimes become fringed with
corals, and hence, in some degree, resemble lagoon-
islands or atolls; in the same manner as fringing.
reefs, surrounding gently-sloping islands, in some
degree resemble barrier-reefs.
No theory on the formation of coral-reefs can be
considered satisfactory which does not include the
three great classes. We have seen that we are
driven to believe in the subsidence of those vast
areas, interspersed with low islands, of which not
one rises above the height to which the wind and
waves can throw up matter, and yet are constructed
by animals requiring a foundation, and that founda-
tion to lie at no great depth. Let us, then, take an
island surrounded by fringing-reefs, which offer
no difficulty in their structure; and let this island
with its reef, represented by the unbroken lines in
the woodcut, slowly subside. Now, as the island,
sinks down, either a few feet at a time or quite in-
sensibly, we may safely infer, from what is known

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A A. Outer edges of the fringing-reef, at the level of the sea. BB. The
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of subsidence, now converted into a barrier, will islets on it. B'B'. The
shores of the now encircled island. O C. Lagoon-channel.
N.B. In this and the following woodcut, the subsidence of the land could
be representod only by an appareut rise in the level of the sea..
of the conditions favourable to the growth of coral,
that the living masses, bathed by the surf on the
Z 2
270
THEORY OF CORAL-REEFS.
margin of the reef, will soon regain the surface.
The water, however, will encroach little by lituse
on the shore, the island becoming lower and smaller,
and the space between the inner edge of the reef
and the beach proportionally broader. A section
of the reef and island in this state, after a subsi-
dence of several hundred feet, is given by the
dotted lines. Coral islets are supposed to have
been formed on the reef; and a ship is anchored
in the lagoon-channel. This channel will be more
or less deep, according to the rate of subsidence,
to the amount of sediment accumulated in it, and
to the growth of the delicately branched corals
which can live there. The section in this state
resembles in every respect one drawn through an
encircled island: in fact, it is a real section (on the
scale of .388 of an inch to a mile) through Bola-
bola in the Pacific. We can now at once see why
encircling barrier-reefs stand so far from the shores
which they front. We can also perceive that a
line drawn perpendicularly down from the outer
edge of the new reef to the foundation of solid
rock beneath the old fringing-reef, will exceed by
as many feet as there have been feet of subsidence
that small limit of depth at which the effective
corals can live; the little architects having built
up their great wall-like mass, as the whole sank
down, upon a basis formed of other corals and their
consolidated fragments. Thus the difficulty on this
head, which appeared so great, disappears.
If, instead of an island, we had taken the shore
of a continent fringed with reefs, and had imagined
it to have subsided, a great straight barrier, like
that of Australia or New Caledonia, separated from
the land by a wide and deep channel, would evi-
dently have been the result.
Let us take our new encircling barrier-reef, of
THEORY OF CORAL-REEFS.
271
which the section is now represented by unbroken
lines, and which, as I have said, is a real section
through Bolabola, and let it go on subsiding. As
the barrier-reef slowly sinks down, the corals will

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A"A". Outer edges of the reef, now converted into an atoll. C'. The
lagoon of the new atoll.
N.B. According to the true scale, the depths of the lagoon-channel and
lagoon are much exaggerated.
go on vigorously growing upwards; but as the
island sinks, the water will gain inch by inch on
the shore, the separate mountains first forming
separate islands within one great reef, and, finally,
the last and highest pinnacle disappearing. The
instant this takes place a perfect atoll is formed :
I have said, remove the high land from within an
encircling barrier-reef, and an atoll is left, and the
land has been removed. We can now perceive
how it comes that atolls, having sprung from en-
circling barrier-reefs, resemble them in general
size, form, in the manner in which they are grouped
together, and in their arrangement in single or
double lines ; for they may be called rude outline
charts of the sunken islands 'over which they stand.
We can further see how it arises that the atolls in
the Pacific and Indian Oceans extend in lines
parallel to the generally prevailing strike of the
high islands and great coast-lines of those oceans.
I venture, therefore, to affirm, that on the theory
272
SUBSIDENCE OF CORAL-REEFS.
of the upward growth of the corals during the sink-
ing of the land, * all the leading features in those
wonderful structures, the lagoon islands or atolls,
which have so long excited the attention of voya-
gers, as well as in the no less wonderful barrier-
reefs, whether encircling small islands or stretch-
ing for hundreds of miles along the shores of a
continent, are simply explained.
It may be asked whether I can offer any direct
evidence of the subsidence of barrier-reefs or atolls;
but it must be borne in mind how difficult it must
ever be to detect a movement the tendency of
which is to hide under water the part affected.
Nevertheless, at Keeling atoll I observed on all
sides of the lagoon old cocoa-nut trees undermined
and falling; and in one place the foundation-posts
of a shed, which the inhabitants asserted had stood
seven years before just above high-water mark,
but now was daily washed by every tide : on in-
quiry, I found that three earthquakes, one of them
severe, had been felt here during the last ten years.
At Vanikoro, the lagoon-channel is remarkably
deep, scarcely any alluvial soil has accumulated at
the foot of the lofty included mountains, and re-
markably few islets have been formed by the heap-
ing of fragments and sand on the wall-like barrier-
reef; these facts, and some analogous ones, led me
to believe that this island must lately have sub-
sided and the reef grown upwards: here, again,
earthquakes are frequent and very severe. In the
* It has been highly satisfactory to me to find the following
passage in a pamphlet by Mr. Couthouy, one of the naturalists in
the great Antarctic Expedition of the United States :: “Having
personally examined a large number of coral-islands, and resided
eight months among the volcanic class having shore and partial-
ly encircling reefs, I may be permitted to state that my own ob-
servations have impressed a conviction of the correctness of the
theory of Mr. Darwin." The naturalists, however, of this expe-
dition differ with me on some points respecting coral formations,
CHANGES IN CORAL-REETS.
273
Society Archipelago, on the other hand, where the
lagoon channels are almost choked up, where much
low alluvial land has accumulated, and where, in
some cases, long islets have been formed on the
barrier-reefs—facts all showing that the islands
have not very lately subsided-only feeble shocks
are most rarely felt. In these coral formations,
where the land and water seem struggling for mas-
tery, it must be ever difficult to decide between
the effects of a change in the set of the tides and
of a slight subsidence: that many of these reefs
and atolls are subject to changes of some kind is
certain ; on some atolls the islets appear to have
increased greatly within a late period; on others
they have been partially or wholly washed away.
The inhabitants of parts of the Maldiva Archipelago
know the date of the first formation of some islets;
in other parts, the corals are now flourishing on
water-washed reefs, where holes made for graves
attest the former existence of inhabited land. It is
difficult to believe in frequent changes in the tidal
currents of an open ocean; whereas we have, in
the earthquakes recorded by the natives on some
atolls, and in the great fissures observed on other
atolls, plain evidence of changes and disturbances
in progress in the subterranean regions.
It is evident, on our theory, that coasts merely
fringed by reefs cannot have subsided to any per-
ceptible amount; and therefore they must, since
the growth of their corals, either have remained
stationary or have been upheaved. Now it is re-
markable how generally it can be shown, by the
presence of upraised organic remains, that the
fringed islands have been elevated; and so far,
this is indirect evidence in favour of our theory.
I was particularly struck with this fact, when I
found, to my surprise, that the descriptions given
18
274
BREACHES IN BARRIER-REFFS.
by MM. Quoy and Gaimard were applicable, not
to reefs in general, as implied by them, but only
to those of the fringing-class; my surprise, how-
ever, ceased when I afterwards found that, by a
strange chance, all the several islands visited by
these eminent naturalists could be shown, by their
own statements, to have been elevated within a
recent. geological era.
Not only the grand features in the structure of
barrier-reefs and of atolls, and of their likeness to
each other in form, size, and other characters, are
explained on the theory of subsidence-which
theory we are independently forced to admit in
the very areas in question, from the necessity of
- finding bases for the corals within the requisite
depth—but many details in structure and excep-
tional cases can thus also be simply explained. I
will give only a few instances. In barrier-reefs it
has long been remarked with surprise, that the
passages through the reef exactly face valleys in
the included land, even in cases where the reef is
separated from the land by a lagoon-channel so
wide and so much deeper than the actual passage
itself, that it seems hardly possible that the very
small quantity of water or sediment brought down
could injure the corals on the reef. Now, every
reef of the fringing-class is breached by a narrow
gateway in front of the smallest rivulet, even if dry
during the greater part of the year, for the mud,
sand, or gravel, occasionally washed down, kills
the corals on which it is deposited. Consequently,
when an island thus fringed subsides, though most
of the narrow gateways will probably become closed
by the outward and upward growth of the corals,
yet any that are not closed (and some must always
be kept open by the sediment and impure water
flowing out of the lagoon-channel) will still con-
BREACHES IN BARRIER-REETS.
275
tinue to front exactly the upper part of those val-
leys, at the mouths of which the original basal
fringing-reef was breached.
on one side, or on one side with one end or both
ends encircled by barrier-reefs, might, after long-
continued subsidence, be converted either into a
single wall-like reef, or into an atoll with a great
straight spur projecting from it, or into two or
.
which exceptional cases actually occur. As the
reef-building corals require food, are preyed upon
by other animals, are killed by sediment, cannot
adhere to a loose bottom, and may be easily car-
ried down to a depth whence they cannot spring
up again, we need feel no surprise at the reefs
both of atolls and barriers becoming in parts im-
perfect. The great barrier of New Caledonia is
thus imperfect and broken in many parts; hence,
after long subsidence, this great reef would not
produce one great atoll 400 miles in length, but a
chain or archipelago of atolls, of very nearly the
same dimensions with those in the Maldiva Archi-
pelago. Moreover, in an atoll once breached on
opposite sides, from the likelihood of the oceanic
and tidal currents passing straight through the
breaches, it is extremely improbable that the corals,
especially during continued subsidence, would ever.
be able again to unite the rim; if they did not, as
the whole sank downwards, one atoll would be:
divided into two or more. In the Maldiva Archi-
pelago there are distinct atolls so related to each
other in position, and separated by channels either
unfathomable or very deep (the channel between
Ross and Ari atolls is 150 fathoms, and that be-
tween the north and south Nillandoo atolls is 200
fathoms in depth), that it is impossible to look at
276
MALDIVA ARCHIPELAGO.
a map of them without believing that they were
once more intimately related ; and in this same
archipelago, Mahlos-Mahdoo atoll is divided by a
bifurcating channel, from 100 to 132 fathoms in
depth, in such a manner that it is scarcely possible
to say whether it ought strictly to be called three
separate atolls, or one great atoll not yet finally
divided. .
I will not enter on many more details ; but I
must remark that the curious structure of the
northern Maldiva atolls receives (taking into con-
sideration the free entrance of the sea through
their broken margins) a simple explanation in the
upward and outward growth of the corals, original-
ly based both on small detached reefs in their la-
goons, such as occur in common atolls, and on
broken portions of the linear marginal reef, such
as bounds every atoll of the ordinary form. I can-
not refrain from once again remarking on the sin-
gularity of these complex structures a great sandy
and generally concave disk rises abruptly from the
unfathomable ocean, with its central expanse stud-
ded, and its edge symmetrically bordered with oval
basins of coral-rock just lipping the surface of the
sea, sometimes clothed with vegetation, and each
containing a lake of clear water!
One more point in detail: as in two neighbour-
ing archipelagoes corals flourish in one and not in
the other, and as so many conditions before enu-
merated must affect their existence, it would be an
inexplicable fact if, during the changes to which
earth, air, and water are subjected, the reef-build-
ing corals were to keep alive for perpetuity on any
one spot or area. And as by our theory the areas
including atolls and barrier-reefs are subsiding, we
ought occasionally to find reefs both dead and sub-
merged. In all reefs, owing to the sediment being
DEAD AND SUNKEN REEFS.
277
washed out of the lagoon or lagoon-channel to lee-
ward, that side is least favourable to the long-con-
tinued vigorous growth of the corals; hence dead
portions of reef not unfrequently occur on the lee-
ward side; and these, though still retaining their
proper wall-like form, are now, in several instances,
sunk several fathoms beneath the surface. The
Chagos group appears from some cause, possibly
from the subsidence having been too rapid, at pres-
ent to be much less favourably circumstanced for
the growth of reefs than formerly: one atoll has a
portion of its marginal reef, nine miles in length,
dead and submerged; a second has only a few
quite small living points which rise to the surface;
a third and fourth are entirely dead and submerged;
a fifth is a mere wreck, with its structure almost
obliterated. It is remarkable that in all these cases
the dead reefs and portions of reef lie at nearly the
same depth, namely, from six to eight fathoms be-
neath the surface, as if they had been carried
down by one uniform movement. One of these
"half-drowned atolls," so called by Captain Mores-
by (to whom I am indebted for much invaluable
information), is of vast size, namely, ninety nauti-
cal miles across in one direction, and seventy
miles in another line, and is in many respects
eminently curious. As by our theory it follows
that new atolls will generally be formed in each
new area of subsidence, two weighty objections
might have been raised, namely, that atolls must
be increasing indefinitely in number; and, second-
ly, that in old areas of subsidence each separate
atoll must be increasing indefinitely in thickness,
if proofs of their occasional destruction could not
have been adduced. Thus have we traced the his-
tory of these great rings of coral rock, from their
first origin through their normal changes, and
II.-AA
· 278
DISTRIBUTION OF CORAL-REEFS.
through the occasional accidents of their existence,
to their death and final obliteration.
In my volume on“ Coral Formations” I have
published a map, in which I have coloured all the
atolls dark-blue, the barrier-reefs pale-blue, and
the fringing-reefs red. These latter reefs have
been formed whilst the land has been stationary,
or, as appears from the frequent presence of up
raised organic remains, whilst it has been slowly
rising: atolls and barrier-reefs, on the other hand,
have grown up during the directly opposite move-
ment of subsidence, which movement must have
been very gradual, and in the case of atolls so vast
in amount as to have buried every mountain-sum-
mit over wide ocean-spaces. Now in this map
we see that the reefs tinted pale and dark blue,
which have been produced by the same order of
movement, as a general rule, manifestly stand near
each other. Again, we see that the areas with the
two blue tints are of wide extent, and that they lie
separate from extensive lines of coast coloured red,
both of which circumstances might naturally have
been inferred, on the theory of the nature of the
reefs having been governed by the nature of the
earth's movement. It deserves notice, that in more
than one instance where single red and blue circles
approach near each other, I can show that there
have been oscillations of level; for, in such cases,
the red or fringed circles consist of atolls, original-
ly, by our theory, formed during subsidence, but
subsequently upheaved; and, on the other hand,
some of the pale-blue or encircled islands are com-
posed of coral-rock, which must have been uplifted
to its present height before that subsidence took
place, during which the existing barrier-reefs grew
upwards.
THEIR RELATION TO VOLCANOES.
279
Authors have noticed with surprise that although
atolls are the commonest coral-structures through-
out some enormous oceanic tracts, they are entire-
ly absent in other seas, as in the West Indies: we
can now at once perceive the cause, for where
there has not been subsidence, atolls cannot have
been formed; and in the case of the West Indies
and parts of the East Indies, these tracts are known
to have been rising within the recent period. The
larger areas, coloured red and blue, are all elon-
gated ; and between the two colours there is a de-
gree of rude alternation, as if the rising of one had
balanced the sinking of the other. Taking into
consideration the proofs of recent elevation, both
on the fringed coasts and on some others (for in-
stance, in South America) where there are no
reefs, we are led to conclude that the great conti-
nénts are, for the most part, rising areas; and from
the nature of the coral-reefs, that the central parts
of the great oceans are sinking areas. The East
Indian Archipelago, the most broken land in the
world, is, in most parts, an area of elevation, but
surrounded and penetrated, probably in more lines
than one, by narrow areas of subsidence.
I have marked with vermilion spots all the many
known active volcanoes within the limits of this
same map. Their entire absence from every one
of the great subsiding areas, coloured either pale
or dark blue, is most striking; and not less so is
the coincidence of the chief volcanic chains with
the parts coloured red, which, we are led to con-
clude, have either long remained stationary, or more
generally have been recently upraised. Although
a few of the vermilion spots occur within no great
distance of single circles tinted blue, yet not one
single active volcano is situated within several hun-
dred miles of an archipelago, or even small groups
280
VAST AMOUNT OF SUBSIDENCE.
of atolls. It is, therefore, a striking fact, that in
the Friendly Archipelago, which consists of a group
of atolls upheaved and since partially worn down,
two volcanoes, and perhaps more, are historically
known to have been in action. On the other hand,
although most of the islands in the Pacific which
are encircled by barrier-reefs are of volcanic ori-
gin, often with the remnants of craters still distin-
guishable, not one of them is known to have ever
been in eruption. Hence, in these cases, it would
appear that volcanoes burst forth into action and
become extinguished on the same spots accordingly
as elevatory or subsiding movements prevail there.
Numberless facts could be adduced to prove that
upraised organic remains are common wherever
there are active volcanoes; but until it could be
shown that in areas of subsidence volcanoes were
either absent or inactive, the inference, however
probable in itself, that their distribution depended
on the rising or falling of the earth's surface, would
have been hazardous. But now, I think, we may
freely admit this important deduction.
Taking a final view of the map, and bearing in
mind the statements made with respect to the up-
raised organic remains, we must feel astonished at
the vastness of the areas which have suffered chan-
ges in level either downwards or upwards, within
a period not geologically remote. It would appear,
also, that the elevatory and subsiding movements
follow nearly the same laws. Throughout the
spaces interspersed with atolls, where not a single
peak of high land has been left above the level of
the sea, the sinking must have been immense in
amount. The sinking, moreover, whether contin-
uous, or recurrent with intervals sufficiently long
for the corals again to bring up their living edifices
to the surface, must necessarily have been extreme-
VAST AMOUNT OF SUBSIDENCE.
281
ly slow. This conclusion is probably the most im-
portant one which can be deduced from the study
of coral formations, and it is one which it is diffi-
cult to imagine how otherwise could ever have
been arrived at. Nor can I quite pass over the
probability of the former existence of large archi-
pelagoes of lofty islands, where now only rings of
coral-rock scarcely break the open expanse of the
sea, throwing some light on the distribution of the
inhabitants of the other high islands, now left stand-
ing so immensely remote from each other in the
midst of the great oceans. The reef-constructing
corals have indeed reared and preserved wonder-
ful memorials of the subterranean oscillations of
level; we see in each barrier-reef a proof that the
land has there subsided, and in each atoll a monu-
ment over an island now lost. We may thus, like
unto a geologist who had lived his ten thousand
years and kept a record of the passing changes,
gain some insight into the great system by which
the surface of this globe has been broken up, and
land and water interchanged.
CHAPTER IX.
Mauritius, beautiful Appearance of_Great crateriform Ring of
Mountains-Hindvos-St. Helena-History of the Changes in
the Vegetation-Cause of the Extinction of Land-shells-As-
cension--Variation in the imported Rats-Volcanic Bombs-
Beds of Infusoria~-Bahia, Brazil--Splendour of tropical Scen-
ery-Pernambuco-Singular Reef-Slavery-Return to Eng.
land-Retrospect on our Voyage.
MAURITIUS TO ENGLAND.
April 29th.-In the morning we passed round
the northern end of Mauritius, or the Isle of
France. From this point of view the aspect of
the island equalled the expectations raised by the
A 2
282
MAURITIUS.
many well-known descriptions of its beautiful scen-
ery. The sloping plain of the Pamplemousses,
interspersed with houses, and coloured by the large
fields of sugar-cane of a bright green, composed
the foreground. The brilliancy of the green was
the more remarkable, because it is a colour which
generally is conspicuous only from a very short
distance. Towards the centre of the island groups
of wooded mountains rose out of this highly-culti-
vated plain; their summits, as so commonly hap-
pens with ancient volcanic rocks, being jagged
into the sharpest points. Masses of white clouds
were collected around these pinnacles, as if for the
sake of pleasing the stranger's eye. The whole
island, with its sloping border and central mount-
ains, was adorned with an air of perfect elegance;
the scenery, if I may use such an expression, ap-
peared to the sight harmonious.
I spent the greater part of the next day in walk-
ing about the town and visiting different people.
The town is of considerable size, and is said to
contain 20,000 inhabitants; the streets are very
clean and regular. Although the island has been
so many years under the English government, the
general character of the place is quite French:
Englishmen speak to their servants in French, and
the shops are all French ; indeed, I should think
that Calais or Boulogne was much more Anglified.
There is a very pretty little theatre, in which op-
eras are excellently performed. We were also
surprised at seeing large booksellers' shops, with
well-stored shelves. Music and reading bespeak
our approach to the old world of civilization; for
in truth, both Australia and America are new
worlds.
The various races of men walking in the streets
afford the most interesting spectacle in Port Louis.
HINDOOS.---LA POUCE.
283
Convicts from India are banished here for life; at
present there are about 800, and they are employ-
ed in various public works. Before seeing these
people, I had no idea that the inhabitants of India
were such noble-looking figures. Their skin is
extremely dark, and many of the older men had
large mustaches and beards of a snow-white col-
our; this, together with the fire of their expression,
gave them quite an imposing aspect. The greater
number had been banished for murder and the
worst crimes; others for causes which can scarce-
ly be considered as moral faults, such as for not
obeying, from superstitious motives, the English
laws. These men are generally quiet and well-
conducted; from their outward conduct, their
cleanliness, and faithful observance of their strange
religious rites, it was impossible to look at them
with the same eyes as on our wretched convicts in
New South Wales.
May 1st.-Sunday. I took a quiet walk along
the sea-coast to the north of the town. The plain
in this part is quite uncultivated : it consists of a
field of black lava, smoothed over with coarse
grass and bushes, the latter being chiefly Mimosas.
The scenery may be described as intermediate in
character between that of the Galapagos and of
Tahiti; but this will convey a definite idea to very
few persons. It is a very pleasant country, but it
has not the charms of Tahiti, or the grandeur of
Brazil. The next day I ascended La Pouce, a
mountain so called from a thumb-like projection,
which rises close behind the town to a height of
2600 feet. The centre of the island consists of a
great platform, surrounded by old, broken basaltic
mountains, with their strata dipping seawards.
The central platform, formed of comparatively re-
cent streams of lava, is of an oval shape, thirteen
284
MAURITIUS.
geographical miles across, in the line of its shorter
axis. The exterior bounding mountains come into
that class of structures called Craters of Elevation,
which are supposed to have been formed, not like
ordinary craters, but by a great and sudden up-
heaval. There appears to me to be insuperable
objections to this view : on the other hand, I can
hardly believe, in this and some other cases, that
these marginal crateriform mountains are merely
the basal remnants of immense volcanoes, of which
the summits either have been blown off, or swal-
lowed up in subterranean abysses.
From our elevated, position we enjoyed an ex-
cellent view over the island. The country on this
side appears pretty well cultivated, being divided
into' fields, and studded with farm-houses. I was,
however, assured, that of the whole land, not more
than half is yet in a productive state; if such be
the case, considering the present large export of
sugar, this island, at some future period, when
thickly peopled, will be of great value. Since
England has taken possession of it, a period of
only twenty-five years, the export of sugar is said
to have increased seventy-five fold. One great
cause of its prosperity is the excellent state of the
roads. In the neighbouring Isle of Bourbon, which
remains under the French government, the roads
are still in the same miserable state as they were
here only a few years ago. Although the French
residents must have largely profited by the in-
creased prosperity of their island, yet the English
government is far from popular.
3d.-- In the evening, Captain Lloyd, the Survey-
or-general, so well known from his examination of
the Isthmus of Panama, invited Mr. Stokes and
myself to his country-house, which is situated on
the edge of Wilheim Plains, and about six miles
ST. HELENA. .
285
from the Port. We stayed at this delightful place
two days: standing nearly 800 feet above the sea,
the air was cool and fresh, and on every side there
were delightful walks. Close by, a grand ravine
has been worn to a depth of about 500 feet through
the slightly-inclined streams of lava which have
flowed from the central platform,
5th.-Captain Lloyd took us to the Rivière
Noire, which is several miles to the southward,
that I might examine some rocks of elevated coral.
We passed through pleasant gardens and fine
fields of sugar-cane growing amidst huge blocks of
lava. The roads were bordered by hedges of Mi-
mosa, and near many of the houses there were av.
enues of the mango. Some of the views, where
the peaked hills and the cultivated farms were
seen together, were exceedingly picturesque, and
we were constantly tempted to exclaim, "How
pleasant it would be to pass one's life in such quiet
abodes !". Captain Lloyd possessed an elephant,
and he sent it half way with us, that we might en-
joy a ride in true Indian fashion. The circum-
stance which surprised me most was its quite
noiseless step. This elephant is the only one at
present on the island, but it is said others will be
sent for.
May 9th.-- We sailed from Port Louis, and,
calling at the Cape of Good Hope, on the Sth of
July we arrived off St. Helena. This island, the
forbidding aspect of which has been so often de-
scribed, rises abruptly, like a huge black castle,
from the ocean. Near the town, as if to complete
nature's defence, small forts and guns fill up every
gap in the rugged rocks. The town runs up a
flat and narrow valley ; the houses look respecta-'
ble, and are interspersed with a very few green
286
ST. HELENA.
trees. When approaching the anchorage there
was one striking view: an irregular castle perched
on the summit of a lofty hill, and surrounded by a
few scattered fir-trees, boldly projected against
the sky.
The next day I obtained lodgings within a stone's
throw of Napoleon's tomb:* it was a capital cen-
tral situation, whence I could make excursions in
every direction. During the four days I stayed
here, I wandered over the island from morning to
night, and examined its geological history. My
lodgings were situated at a height of about 2000
feet; here the weather was cold and boisterous,
with constant showers of rain; and every now and
then the whole scene was veiled in thick clouds.
Near the coast the rough lava is quite bare: in
the central and higher parts, feldspathic rocks, by
their decomposition, have produced a clayey soil,
which, where not covered by vegetation, is stained
in broad bands of many bright colours. At this
season the land, moistened by constant showers,
produces a singularly bright green pasture, which,
lower and lower down, gradually fades away and
at last disappears. In latitude 169, and at the
trifling elevation of 1500 feet, it is surprising to
behold a vegetation possessing a character deci-
dedly British. The hills are crowned with irregu-
lar plantations of Scotch firs, and the sloping banks
are thickly scattered over with thickets of gorse,
covered with its bright yellow flowers. Weeping
willows are common on the banks of the rivulets,
and the hedges are made of the blackberry, pro-
ducing its well-known fruit. When we consider
* After the volumes of eloquence which have poured forth on
this subject, it is dangerous even to mention the tomb. A mod-
ern traveller, in twelve lines, burdens the poor little island with
the following titles—it is a grave, tomb, pyramid, cemetery, sep-
ulchre, catacomb, sarcophagus, minaret, and mausoleum!
CHARACTER OF THE SCENERY.
287
that the number of plants now found on the island
is 746, and that out of these fifty-two alone are in-
digenous species, the rest having been imported,
and most of them from England, we see the rea-
son of the British character of the vegetation.
Many of these English plants appear to flourish
better than in their native country; some also
from the opposite quarter of Australia succeed re-
markably well. The many imported species must
have destroyed some of the native kinds, and it is
only on the highest and steepest ridges that the in-
digenous Flora is now predominant.
The English, or, rather, Welsh character of the
scenery is kept up by the numerous cottages and
small white houses, some buried at the bottom of
the deepest valleys, and others mounted on the
crests of the lofty hills. Some of the views are
striking; for instance, that from near Sir W. Dove-
ton's house, where the bold peak called Lot is
seen over a dark wood of firs, the whole being
backed by the red water-worn mountains of the
southern coast. On viewing the island from an
eminence, the first circumstance which strikes one
is the number of the roads and forts : the labour
bestowed on the public works, if one forgets its
character as a prison, seems out of all proportion
to its extent or value. There is so little level or
useful land, that it seems surprising how so many
people, about 5000, can subsist here. The lower
orders, or the emancipated slaves, are, I believe,
extremely poor: they complain of the want of
work. From the reduction in the number of pub-
lic servants, owing to the island having been given
up by the East India Company, and the consequent
emigration of many of the richer people, the pov-
erty probably will increase. The chief food of the
working class is rice, with a little salt ineat; as
288
ST. HELENA.
neither of these articles are the products of the
island, but must be purchased with money, the
low wages tell heavily on the poor people. Now
that the people are blessed with freedom, a right
which I believe they value fully, it seems probable
that their numbers will quickly increase: if so,
what is to become of the little state of St. Helena ?
My guide was an elderly man, who had been a
goatherd when a boy, and knew every step amongst
the rocks. He was of a race many times crossed,
and although with a dusky skin, he had not the
disagreeable expression of a mulatto. He was a
very civil, quiet old man, and such appears the
character of the greater number of the lower classes.
It was strange to my ears to hear a man, nearly
white, and respectably dressed, talking with indif-
ference of the times when he was a slave. With
my companion, who carried our dinners and a horn
of water, which is quite necessary, as all the water
in the lower valleys is saline, I every day took
long walks.
Beneath the upper and central green circle, the
wild valleys are quite desolate and untenanted.
Here, to the geologist, there were scenes of high
interest, showing successive changes and compli-
cated disturbances. According to my views, St.
Helena has existed as an island from a very re-
mote epoch: some obscure proofs, however, of the
elevation of the land are still extant. I believe
that the central and highest peaks form parts of
the rim of a great crater, the southern half of which
has been entirely removed by the waves of the
sea : there is, moreover, an external wall of black
basaltic rocks, like the coast-mountains of Mauri-
tius, which are older than the central volcanic
streams. On the higher parts of the island, con-
siderable numbers of a shell, long thought a marine
CHANGES IN THE VEGETATION.
289
species, occur embedded in the soil. It proves to
be a Cochlogena, or. land-shell of a very peculiar
form ;* with it I found six other kinds; and in
another spot an eighth species. It is remarkable
that none of them are now found living. Their
extinction has probably been caused by the entire
destruction of the woods, and the consequent loss
of food and shelter, which occurred during the
early part of the last century.
The history of the changes which the elevated
plains of Longwood and Deadwood have under-
gone, as given in General Beatson's account of the
island, is extremely curious. Both plains, it is
said, in former times were covered with wood, and
were therefore called the Great Wood. So late
as the year 1716 there were many trees, but in
1724 the old trees had mostly fallen; and as goats
and hogs had been suffered to range about, all the
young trees had been killed. It appears also from
the official records that the trees were unexpect-
edly, some years afterwards, succeeded by a wire
grass, which spread over the whole surface.t Gen-
eral Beatson adds, that now this plain “is covered
with fine sward, and is become the finest piece of
pasture on the island." The extent of surface,
probably covered by wood at a former period, is
estimated at no less than two thousand acres; at
the present day scarcely a single tree can be found
there. It is also said that in 1709 there were
quantities of dead trees in Sandy Bay; this place
is now so utterly desert, that nothing but so well
attested an account could have made me believe
that they could ever have grown there. The fact
that the goats and hogs destroyed all the young
* It deserves notice, that all the many specimens of this shell
found by me in one spot differ, as a marked variety, from another
set of specimens procured from a different spot.
+ Beatson's St. Helena. Introductory chapter, p. 4. i
IT.
19
290
ST. HELENA.
trees as they sprang up, and that in the course of
time the old ones, which were safe from their at-
tacks, perished from age, seems clearly made out.
Goats were introduced in the year 1502, eighty-
six years afterwards, in the time of Cavendish, it
is known that they were exceedingly numerous.
More than a century afterwards, in 1731, when
the evil was complete and irretrievable, an order
was issued that all stray animals should be de-
stroyed. It is very interesting thus to find that
the arrival of animals at St. Helena in 1501 did
not change the whole aspect of the island until a
period of two hundred and twenty years had
elapsed; for the goats were introduced in 1502,
and in 1724 it is said “the old trees had mostly
fallen.” There can be little doubt that this great
change in the vegetation affected not only the land-
shells, causing eight species to become extinct, but
likewise a multitude of insects.
St. Helena, situated so remote from any conti-
nent, in the midst of a great ocean, and possessing
a unique Flora, excites our curiosity. The eight
land-shells, though now extinct, and one living
Succinea, are peculiar species found nowhere else.
Mr. Cuming, however, informs me that an English
Helix is common here, its eggs no doubt having
been imported in some of the many introduced
plants. : Mr. Cuming collected on the coast sixteen
species of sea-shells, of which seven, as far as he
knows, are confined to this island. Birds and in-
sects,* as might have been expected, are very few
* Among these few insects, I was surprised to find a small
Aphodius (nov. spec.) and an Oryctes, both extremely numerous
under dung. When the island was discovered it certainly pos-
sessed no quadruped, excepting, perhaps, a mouse : it becomes,
therefore, a difficult point to ascertain whether these stercovorous
insects have since been imported by accident, or, if aborigines, on
what food they formerly subsisted. On the banks of the Plata,
where, from the vast number of cattle and horses, the fine plains
: 291
in number; indeed, I believe all the birds have
been introduced within late years. Partridges and
pheasants are tolerably abundant : the island is
much too English not to be subject to strict game-
laws. I was told of a more unjust sacrifice to
such ordinances than I ever heard of even in Eng-
land. The poor people formerly used to burn a
plant, which grows on the coast-rocks, and export
the soda from its ashes; but a peremptory order
came out prohibiting this practice, and giving as a
reason that the partridges would have nowhere to
build! .. .
ENTOMOLOGY.
In my walks I passed more than once over the
grassy plain, bounded by deep valleys, on which
Longwood stands. Viewed from a short distance,
of turf are richly manured, it is vain to seek the many kinds of
dung-feeding beetles, which occur so abundantly in Europe. I
observed only an Oryctes (the insects of this genus in Europe
generally feed on decayed vegetable matter) and two species of
Phanæus, common in such situations. On the opposite side of
the Cordillera in Chiloe, another species of Phanæus is exceed-
ingly abundant, and it buries the dung of the cattle in large earthen
balls beneath the ground. There is reason to believe that the
genus Phanæus, before the introduction of cattle, acted as scaven-
gers to man. In Europe, beetles, which find support in the mat-
ter which has already contributed towards the life of other and
larger animals, are so numerous, that there must be considerably
more than one hundred different species. Considering this, and
observing what a quantity of food of this kind is lost on the plains
of La Plata, I imagined I saw an instance where man had dis-
turbed that chain, by which so many animals are linked together
in their native country. In Van Diemen's Land, however, I found
four species of Onthophagus, two of Aphodius, and one of a third
genus, very abundant under the dung of cows; yet these latter
animals had been then introduced only thirty-three years. Pre-
viously to that time, the Kangaroo and some other small animals
were the only quadrupeds; and their dung is of a very different
quality from that of their successors introduced by man. In Eng.
land the greater number of stercovorous beetles are confined in
their appetites; that is, they do not depend indifferently on any
quadruped for the means of subsistence. The change, therefore,
hich must have taken place in Van Diemen's Land, is
highly remarkable. I am indebted to the Rev. F. W. Hope, who,
I hope, will permit me to call him my master in Entomology, for
giving me the names of the foregoing insects.
292
SCENSION.
it appears like a respectable gentleman's country-
seat. In front there are a few cultivated fields,
and beyond them the smooth hill of coloured rocks
called the Flagstaff, and the rugged, square black
mass of the Barn. On the whole, the view was
rather bleak and uninteresting. The only incon-
venience I suffered during my walks was from the
impetuous winds. One day I noticed a curious
circumstance: standing on the edge of a plain, ter-
minated by a great cliff of about a thousand feet in
depth, I saw, at the distance of a few yards right
to windward, some tern, struggling against a very
strong breeze, whilst where I stood the air was
quite calm. Approaching close to the brink, where
the current seemed to be deflected upwards from
the face of the cliff, I stretched out my arm, and
immediately felt the full force of the wind : an in-
visible barrier, two yards in width, separated per-
fectly calm air from a strong blast.
I so much enjoyed my rambles among the rocks
and mountains of St. Helena, that I felt almost
sorry, on the morning of the 14th, to descend to
the town. Before noon I was on board, and the
Beagle made sail.
On the 19th of July we reached Ascension.
Those who have beheld a volcanic island situated
under an arid climate will at once be able to pic-
'ture to themselves the appearance of Ascension.
They will imagine smooth conical hills of a bright
red colour, with their summits generally truncated,
rising separately out of a level surface of black,
rugged lava. A principal mound in the centre of
the island seems the father of the lesser cones. It
is called Green Hill; its name being taken from
the faintest tinge of that colour, which at this time
of the year is barely perceptible from the anchor-
GREEN HILL
293
age. To complete the desolate scene, the black
rocks on the coast are lashed by a wild and turbu-
lent sea.
The settlement is near the beach: it consists of
several houses and barracks placed irregularly, but
well built of white freestone. The only inhabitants
are marines, and some negroes liberated from slave-
ships, who are paid and victualled by government.
There is not a private person on the island. Many
of the marines appeared well contented with their
situation; they think it better to serve their one-
and-twenty years on shore, let it be what it may,
than in a ship: in this choice, if I were a marine,
I should most heartily agree.
The next morning I ascended Green Hill, 2840
feet high, and thence walked across the island to
the windward point. A good cart-road leads from
the coast-settlement to the houses, gardens, and
fields, placed near the summit of the central mount-
ain. On the roadside there are milestones, and
likewise cisterns, where each thirsty passer-by can
drink some good water. Similar care is displayed
in each part of the establishment, and especially in
the management of the springs, so that a single
drop of water may not be lost: indeed, the whole
island may be compared to a huge ship kept in
first-rate order. I could not help, when admiring
the active industry which had created such effects
out of such means, at the same time regretting that
it had been wasted on so poor and trifling an end.
M. Lesson has remarked with justice, that the Eng-
lish nation alone would have thought of making the
island of Ascension a productive spot; any other
people would have held it as a mere fortress in the
ocean.
Near this coast nothing grows; further inland,
an occasional green castor-oil plant, and a few
..
B B 2
294
ASCENSION.
grasshoppers, true friends of the desert, may be
met with. Some grass is scattered over the sur-
face of the central elevated region, and the whole
much resembles the worse parts of the Welsh
mountains; but scanty as the pasture appears, about
six hundred sheep, many goats, a few cows and
horses, all thrive well on it. Of native animals,
land-crabs and rats swarm in numbers. Whether
the rat is really indigenous may well be doubted:
there are two varieties, as described by Mr. Water-
house; one is of a black colour, with fine glossy
fur, and lives on the grassy summit; the other is
brown-coloured and less glossy, with longer hairs,
and lives near the settlement on the coast. Both
these varieties are one third smaller than the com-
mon black rat (M. rattus), and they differ from it
both in the colour and character of their fur, but in
no other essential respect. I can hardly doubt that
these rats (like the common mouse, which has also
run wild)-have been imported, and, as at the Gala-
pagos, have varied from the effect of the new con-
ditions to which they have been exposed : hence
the variety on the summit of the island differs from
that on the coast. Of native birds there are none;
but the guinea-fow], imported from the Cape de
Verd Islands, is abundant, and the commoni fowl
has likewise run wild. Some cats, which were
originally turned out to destroy the rats and mice,
have increased so as to become a great plague.
The island is entirely without trees, in which, and
in every other respect, it is very far inferior to St.
Helena.
One of my excursions took me towards the S.W.
extremity of the island. The day was clear and
hot, and I saw the island, not smiling with beauty,
but staring with naked hideousness. The lava-
streams are covered with hummocks, and are rug-
GEOLOGY.--VOLCANIC BOMBS.
295
ged to a degree which, geologically speaking, is
not of easy explanation. The intervening spaces
are concealed with layers of pumice, ashes, and
volcanic tuff. Whilst passing this end of the island
at sea, I could not imagine what the white patches
were with which the whole plain was mottled; I
now found that they were seafowl, sleeping in such
full confidence, that even in midday a man could
walk up and seize hold of them. These birds were
the only living creatures I saw during the whole
day. On the beach a great surf, although the
breeze was light, came tumbling over the broken
lava rocks.:
The geology of this island is in many respects
interesting. In several places I noticed volcanic
bombs, that is, masses of lava which have been
shot through the air whilst fluid, and have conse-
quently assumed a spherical or pear shape. Not
only their external form, but, in several cases, their
internal structure, shows in a very curious manner
that they have revolved in their aerial course. The
internal structure of one of these bombs, when bro-
ken, is represented very accurately in the woodcut
on the next page. The central part is coarsely cel-
lular, the cells decreasing in size towards the exte-
rior, where there is a shell-like case about the third
of an inch in thickness, of compact stone, which
again is overlaid by the outside crust of finely cel-
lular lava. I think there can be little doubt, first,
that the external crust cooled rapidly in the state
in which we now see it; secondly, that the still
fluid lava within was packed by the centrifugal
force, generated by the revolving of the bomb,
against the external cooled crust, and so produced
the solid shell of stone; and, lastly, that the centrif-
ugal force, by relieving the pressure in the more
central parts of the bomb, allowed the heated va-
296
ASCENSION.

pours to expand their cells, thus forming the coarse-
Iy cellular mass of the centre.
A hill, formed of the older series of volcanic
rocks, and which has been incorrectly considered as
the crater of a volcano, is remarkable from its broad,
slightly hollowed, and circular summit having been
filled up with many successive layers of ashes and
fine scoriæ. These saucer-shaped layers crop out
on the margin, forming perfect rings of many dif-
ferent colours, giving to the summit a most fantas-
tic appearance; one of these rings is white and
broad, and resembles a course round which horses
have been exercised; hence the hill has been call-
ed the Devil's Riding School. I brought away
specimens of one of the tufaceous layers of a pink-
ish colour; and it is a most extraordinary fact that
Professor Ehrenberg* finds it almost wholly com-
* Monats, der König. Akad. d. Wiss, zu Berlin. Vom April, 1845.
BAHIA, BRAZIL.
297
posed of matter which has been organized : he de-
tects in it some siliceous-shielded, fresh-water in-
fusoria, and no less than twenty-five different kinds
of the siliceous tissue of plants, chiefly of grasses.
From the absence of all.carbonaceous matter, Pro-
fessor Ehrenberg believes that these organic bod-
ies have passed through the volcanic fire, and have
been erupted in the state in which we now see
them. The appearance of the layers induced me
to believe that they had been deposited under wa-
ter, though, from the extreme dryness of the cli-
mate, I was forced to imagine that torrents of rain
had probably fallen during some great eruption, and
that thus a temporary lake had been formed into
which the ashes fell. But it may now be suspect-
ed that the lake was not a temporary one. Any-
how, 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 the chrono-
metrical measurement of the world. We arrived
there on August 1st, and stayed four days, during
which I took several long walks. I was glad to
find my enjoyment in tropical scenery had not de-
creased from the want of novelty, even in the slight-
est degree. The elements of the scenery are so sim-
ple, that they are worth mentioning, as a proof on
what trifling circumstances exquisite natural beau-
ty depends.
The country may be described as a level plain
of about three hundred feet in elevation, which in
all parts has been worn into flat-bottomed valleys.
298
BAHIA, BRAZIL.
This structure is remarkable in a granitic land, but
is nearly universal in all those softer formations of
which plains are usually composed. The whole
surface is covered by various kinds of stately trees,
interspersed with patches of cultivated ground, out
of which houses, convents, and chapels arise. It
must be remembered that within the tropics the
wild luxuriance of nature is not lost even in the
vicinity of large cities; for the natural vegetation
of the hedges and hillsides overpowers in pictu-
resque effect the artificial labour of man. Hence
there are only a few spots where the bright red
soil affords a strong contrast with the universal
clothing of green. From the edges of the plain
there are distant views either of the ocean, or of
the great Bay with its low-wooded shores, and on
which numerous boats and canoes show their white
sails. Excepting from these points, the scene is
extremely limited; following the level pathways
on each hand, only glimpses into the wooded val-
leys below can be obtained. The houses, I may
add, and especially the sacred edifices, are built
in a peculiar and rather fantastic style of architec-
ture. They are all whitewashed; so that when il-
lumined by the brilliant sun of midday, and as seen
against the pale blue sky of the horizon, they stand
out more like shadows than real buildings.
Such are the elements of the scenery, but it is
a hopeless attempt to paint the general effect.
Learned naturalists describe these scenes of the
tropics by naming a multitude of objects, and men-
tioning some characteristic feature of each. To a
learned traveller this possibly may communicate
some definite ideas : but who else, from seeing a
plant in an herbarium, can imagine its appearance
when growing in its native soil? Who, from see-
ing choice plants in a hot-house, can magnify some
TROPICAL SCENERY.
299
.
into the dimensions of forest-trees, and crowd oth-
ers into an entangled jungle? Who, when exam-
ining in the cabinet of the entomologist the gay
exotic butterflies and singular cicadas, will asso-
ciate with these lifeless objects the ceaseless harsh
music of the latter, and the lazy flight of the for-
mer, the sure accompaniments of the still, glowing
noonday of the tropics? It is when the sun has
attained its greatest height that such scenes should
be viewed: then the dense, splendid foliage of the
mango hides the ground with its darkest shade,
whilst the upper branches are rendered, from the
profusion of light, of the most brilliant green. In
the temperate zones the case is different; the ve-
getation there is not so dark or so rich, and hence
the rays of the declining sun, tinged of a red, pur-
ple, or bright yellow colour, add most to the beau-
ties of those climes.
When quietly walking along the shady path-
ways, and admiring each successive view, I wished
to find language to express my ideas. Epithet
after epithet was found too weak to convey to
those who have not visited the intertropical re-
gions the sensation of delight which the mind ex-
periences. I have said that the plants in a hot-
house fail to communicate a just idea of the vege-
tation, yet I must recur to it. The land is one
great, wild, untidy, luxuriant hot-house, made by
Nature for herself, but taken possession of by man,
who has studded it with gay houses and formal gar-
dens. How great would be the desire in every ad-
mirer of nature to behold, if such were possible,
the scenery of another planet! yet to every person
in Europe it may be truly said, that at the distance
of only a few degrees from his native soil the glo-
ries of another world are opened to him. In my
last walk I stopped again and again to gaze on
R
300
PERNAMBUCO, BRAZIL.
these beauties, and endeavoured to fix in my mind
forever an impression which at the time I knew
sooner or later must fail. The form of the orange-
tree, the cocoa-nut, the palm, the mango, the tree-
fern, the banana, will remain clear and separate ;
but the thousand beauties which unite these into
one perfect scene must fade away; yet they will
leave, like a tale heard in childhood, a picture full
of indistinct but most beautiful figures.
August 6th. - In the afternoon we stood out to
sea, with the intention of making a direct course
to the Cape de Verd Islands. Unfavourable winds,
however, delayed us, and on the 12th we ran into
Pernambuco, a large city on the coast of Brazil, in
latitude go south. We anchored outside the reef;
but in a short time a pilot came on board and took
us into the inner harbour, where we lay close to
the town.
Pernambuco is built on some narrow and low
sand-banks, which are separated from each other
by shoal channels of salt water. The three parts
of the town are connected together by two long
bridges built on wooden piles. The town is in
all parts disgusting, the streets being narrow, ill
paved, and filthy; the houses tall and gloomy.
The season of heavy rains had hardly come to an
end, and hence the surrounding country, which is
scarcely raised above the level of the sea, was flood-
ed with water, and I failed in all my attempts to
take long walks..
· The flat, swampy land on which Pernambuco
stands is surrounded, at the distance of a few miles,
by a semicircle of low hills, or rather by the edge
of a country elevated perhaps two hundred feet
above the sea. The old city of Olinda stands on
one extremity of this range. One day I took a ca-
noe, and proceeded up one of the channels to visit it;
1
2 17
BRAZILIAN RUDENESS.-- CURIOUS REET, 301
I found the old town, from its situation, both sweeter
and cleaner than that of Pernambuco. I must here
commemorate what happened for the first time du-
ring our nearly five years' wandering, namely, hav-
ing met with a want of politeness : I was refused
in a sullen manner at two different houses, and ob-
tained with difficulty from a third permission to
pass through their gardens to an uncultivated hill,
for the purpose of viewing the country. I feel
glad that this happened in the land of the Brazil-
ians, for I bear them no good will—a land also of
slavery, and therefore of moral debasement. A
Spaniard would have felt ashamed at the very
thought of refusing such a request, or of behaving
to a stranger with rudeness. The channel by
which we went to and returned from Olinda was
bordered on each side by mangroves, which sprang
like a miniature forest out of the greasy mud-banks.
The bright green colour of these bushes always
reminded me of the rank grass in a churchyard :
both are nourished by putrid exhalations; the one
speaks of death past, and the other too often of
death to come.
The most curious object which I saw in this
neighbourhood was the reef that forms the har-
bour. I doubt whether in the whole world any
other natural structure has so artificial an appear-
ance.* It runs for a length of several miles in an
absolutely straight line, parallel to, and not far dis-
tant from, the shore. It varies in width from thirty
to sixty yards, and its surface is level and smooth;
it is composed of obscurely-stratified hard sand-
stone. At high water the waves break over it; at
low water its summit is left dry, and it might then
be mistaken for a breakwater erected by Cyclope-
* I have described this Bar in detail in the Lond. and Edin.
Phil. Mag., vol. xix. (1841), p. 257.
II.Co
302
.
PERNAMBUCO, BRAZILY
an workmen. On this coast the currents of the sea
tend to throw up in front of the land long spits and
bars of loose sand, and on one of these part of the
town of Pernambuco stands. In former times, a
long spit of this nature seems to have become con-
solidated by the percolation of calcareous matter,
and afterwards to have been gradually upheaved,
the outer and loose parts during this process having
been worn away by the action of the sea, and the
solid nucleus left as we now see it. Although night
and day the waves of the open Atlantic, turbid
with sediment, are driven against the steep outside
edges of this wall of stone, yet the oldest pilots
know of no tradition of any change in its appear-
ance. This durability is much the most curious
fact in its history: it is due to a tough layer, a few
inches thick, of calcareous matter, wholly formed
by the successive growth and death of the small
shells of Serpulæ, together with some few barnacles
and nullipora. These nullipora, which are hard,
very simply-organized sea-plants, play an analogous
and important part in protecting the upper surfaces
of coral-reefs, : behind and within the breakers,
where the true corals, during the outward growth
of the mass, become killed by exposure to the sun
and air. These insignificant organic beings, espe-
cially the Serpulæ, have done good service to the
people of Pernambuco; for without their protect-
ive aid the bar of sandstone would inevitabīy have
been long ago worn away, and without the bar
there would have been no harbour.
On the 19th of August we finally left the shores
of Brazil. I thank God I shall never again visit a
slave-country. To this day, if I hear a distant
scream, it recalls with painful vividness my feel-
ings, when, passing a house near Pernambuco, I
heard the most pitiable moans, and could not but
SLAVERY.
303
suspect that some poor slave was being tortured,
yet knew that I was as powerless as a child even
to remonstrate. I suspected that these moans were
from a tortured slave, for I was told that this was
the case in another instance. Near Rio de Janei-
ro I lived opposite to an old lady who kept screws
to crush the fingers of her female slaves. I have
stayed in a house where a young household mulat-
to daily and hourly was reviled, beaten, and perse-
cuted enough to break the spirit of the lowest ani-
mal. I have seen a little boy, six or seven years
old, struck thrice with a horsewhip (before I could
interfere) on his naked head for having handed me
a glass of water not quite clean; I saw his father
tremble at a mere glance from his master's eye.
These latter cruelties were witnessed by me in a
Spanish colony, in which it has always been said
that slaves are better treated than by the Portu-
guese, English, or other European nations. I have
seen at Rio Janeiro a powerful negro afraid to
ward off a blow directed, as he thought, at his face.
I was present when a kind-hearted man was on the
point of separating forever the men, women, and
little children of a large nnmber of families who
had long lived together. I will not even allude to
the many heart-sickening atrocities which I authen-
tically heard of; nor would I have mentioned the
above revolting details had I not met with several
people so blinded by the constitutional gayety of
the negro as to speak of slavery as a tolerable
evil. Such people have generally visited at the
houses of the upper classes, where the domestic
slaves are usually well treated; and they have not,
like myself, lived amongst the lower classes. Such
enquirers will ask slaves about their condition; they
forget that the slave must indeed be dull who does
not calculate on the chance of his answer reaching
his master's ears.
304
SLAVERY.
It is argued that self-interest will prevent exces-
sive cruelty; as if self-interest protected our do-
mestic animals, which are far less likely than de-
graded slaves to stir up the rage of their savage
masters. It is an argument long since protested
against with noble feeling, and strikingly exempli-
fied, by the ever illustrious Humboldt. It is often
attempted to palliate slavery by comparing the
state of slaves with our poorer countrymen: if the
misery of our poor be caused, not by the laws of na-
ture, but by our institutions, great is our sin; but
how this bears on slavery I cannot see; as well
might the use of the thumb-screw be defended in
one land, by showing that men in another land
suffered from some dreadful disease. Those who
look tenderly at the slave-owner, and with a cold
heart at the slave, never seem to put themselves
into the position of the latter-what a cheerless
prospect, with not even a hope of change! Picture
to yourself the chance, ever hanging over you, of
your wife and your little children-those objects
which nature urges even the slave to call his own
-being torn from you and sold like beasts to the
first bidder! And these deeds are done and palli-
ated by men who profess to love their neighbours
as themselves; who believe in God, and pray that
his will be done on earth! It makes one's blood
boil, yet heart tremble, to think that we English-
men and our American descendants, with their
boastful cry of liberty, have been and are so guilty:
but it is a consolation to reflect that we, at least,
have made a greater sacrifice than ever made by
any nation to expiate our sin.
On the last day of August we anchored for the
second time at Porto Praya, in the Cape de Verd
Archipelago; thence we proceeded to the Azores,
RETROSPECT.
305
where we stayed six days. On the 2d of October
we made the shores of England, and at Falmouth
I left the Beagle, having lived on board the good
little vessel nearly five years.
Our voyage having come to an end, I will take
a short retrospect of the advantages and disadvan-
tages, the pains and pleasures, of our circumnavi-
gation of the world. If a person asked my advice
before undertaking a long voyage, my answer
would depend upon his possessing a decided taste
for some branch of knowledge, which could by this
means be advanced. No doubt it is a high satis-
faction to behold various countries and the many
races of mankind, but the pleasures gained at the
time do not counterbalance the evils. It is neces-
sary to look forward to a harvest, however distant
that may be, when some fruit will be reaped, some
good effected.
Many of the losses which must be experienced
are obvious, such as that of the society of every
old friend, and of the sight of those places with
which every dearest remembrance is so intimately
connected. These losses, however, are at the time
partly relieved by the exhaustless delight of an-
ticipating the long-wished-for day of return. If,
as poets say, life is a dream, I am sure, in a voyage,
these are the visions which best serve to pass away
the long night. Other losses, although not at first
felt, tell heavily after a period : these are the want
of room, of seclusion, of rest; the jading feeling
of constant hurry; the privation of small luxuries,
the loss of domestic society, and even of music and
the other pleasures of imagination. When such
trifles are mentioned, it is evident that the real
grievances, excepting from accidents, of a sea-life
are at an end. The short space of sixty years has
II.
20.
306
RETROSPECT.
made an astonishing difference in the facility of
distant navigation. Even in the time of Cook, a
man who left his fireside for such expeditions un-
derwent severe privations. A yacht now, with
every luxury of life, can circumnavigate the globe.
Besides the vast improvements in ships and naval
resources, the whole western shores of America
are thrown open, and Australia has become the
capital of a rising continent. How different are
the circumstances to a man shipwrecked at the
present day in the Pacific, to what they were in
the time of Cook! Since his voyage a hemisphere
has been added to the civilized world.
If a person suffer much from sea-sickness, let
him weigh it heavily in the balance. I speak from
experience : it is no trifling evil, cured in a week.
If, on the other hand, he take pleasure in naval
tactics, he will assuredly have full scope for his
taste ; but it must be borne in mind how large a
proportion of the time during a long voyage is
spent on the water as compared with the days in
harbour. And what are the boasted glories of the
illimitable ocean? A tedious waste, a desert of
water, as the Arabian calls it. No doubt there are
some delightful scenes. A moonlight night, with
the clear heavens and the dark glittering sea, and
the white sails filled by the soft air of a gently-
blowing trade-wind; a dead calm, with the heaving
surface polished like a mirror, and all still except
the occasional flapping of the canvass. It is well
once to behold a squall with its rising arch and
coming fury, or the heavy gale of wind and mount-
ainous waves. I confess, however, my imagination
had painted something more grand, more terrific
in the full-grown storm. It is an incomparably
finer spectacle when beheld on shore, where the
waving trees, the wild flight of the birds, the dark
RETROSPECT.
307
shadows and bright lights, the rushing of the tor-
rents, all proclaim the strife of the unloosed ele-
ments. At sea the albatross and little petrel fly as
if the storm were their proper sphere, the water
rises and sinks as if fulfilling its usual task, the
ship alone and its inhabitants seem the objects of
wrath. On a forlorn and weather-beaten coast,
the scene is indeed different, but the feelings par-
take more of horror than of wild delight.
Let us now look at the brighter side of the past
time. The pleasure derived from beholding the
scenery, and the general aspect of the various coun-
tries we have visited, has decidedly been the most
constant and highest source of enjoyment. It is
probable that the picturesque beauty of many parts
of Europe exceeds anything which we beheld.
But there is a growing pleasure in comparing the
character of the scenery in different countries,
which, to a certain degree, is distinct from merely
admiring its beauty. It depends chiefly on an ac-
quaintance with the individual parts of each view:
I am strongly induced to believe that, as in music,
the person who understands every note will, if he
also possesses a proper taste, more thoroughly en-
joy the whole, so he who examines each part of a
fine view may also thoroughly comprehend the full
and combined effect. Hence a traveller should be
a botanist, for in all views plants form the chief
embellishment. Group masses of naked rock even
in the wildest forms, and they may for a time af-
ford a sublime spectacle, but they will soon grow
monotonous. Paint them with bright and varied
colours, as in Northern Chile, they will become
fantastic; clothe them with vegetation, they must
form a decent, if not a beautiful picture.
When I say that the scenery of parts of Europe
is probably superior to anything which we beheld,
308
RETROSPECT.
I except, as a class by itself, that of the intertrop-
ical zones. The two classes cannot be compared
together; but I have already often enlarged on the
grandeur of those regions. As the force of impres-
sions generally depends on preconceived ideas, I
may add, that mine were taken from the vivid de-
scriptions in the Personal Narrative of Humboldt,
which far exceed in merit anything else which I
have read. Yet, with these high-wrought ideas,
my feelings were far from partaking of a tinge of
disappointment on my first and final landing on the
shores of Brazil.
Among the scenes which are deeply impressed
on my mind, none exceed in sublimity the prime-
val forests undefaced by the hand of man; whether
those of Brazil, where the powers of Life are pre-
dominant, or those of Tierra del Fuego, where
Death and Decay prevail. Both are temples filled
with the varied productions of the God of Nature:
no one can stand in these solitudes unmoved, and
not feel that there is more in man than the mere
breath of his body. In calling up images of the
past, I find that the plains of Patagonia frequent-
ly cross before my eyes; yet these plains are pro-
nounced by all wretched and useless. They can
be described only by negative characters; without
habitations, without water, without trees, without
mountains, they support merely a few dwarf plants.
Why, then, and the case is not peculiar to myself,
have these arid wastes taken so firm a hold on my
memory? Why have not the still more level, the
greener and more fertile Pampas, which are ser-
viceable to mankind, produced an equal impres-
sion? I can scarcely analyze these feelings; but it
must be partly owing to the free scope given to the
imagination. The plains of Patagonia are bound-
less, for they are scarcely passable, and hence un-

RETROSPECT.
309
known : they bear the stamp of having lasted, as
they are now, for ages, and there appears no limit
to their duration through future time. If, as the
ancients supposed, the flat earth was surrounded
by an impassable breadth of water, or by deserts
heated to an intolerable excess, who would not look
at these last boundaries to man's knowledge with
deep but ill-defined sensations ? .
Lastly, of natural scenery, the views from lofty
mountains, though certainly in one sense not beau-
tiful, are very memorable. When looking down
from the highest crest of the Cordillera, the mind,
undisturbed by minute details, was filled with the
stupendous dimensions of the surrounding masses.
Öf individual objects, perhaps nothing is more
certain to create astonishment than the first sight
in his native haunt of a barbarian-of man in his
lowest and most savage state. One's mind hurries
back over past centuries, and then asks, could our
progenitors have been men like these ? men, whose
very signs and expressions are less intelligible to
us than those of the domesticated animals ; men
who do not possess the instinct of those animals,
nor yet appear to boast of human reason, or at least
of arts consequent on that reason. I do not be-
lieve it is possible to describe or paint the differ-
ence between savage and civilized man. It is the
difference between a wild and tame animal; and
part of the interest in beholding a savage is the
same which would lead every one to desire to see
the lion in his desert, the tiger tearing his prey in
the jungle, or the rhinoceros wandering over the
wild plains of Africa.
Among the other most remarkable spectacles
which we have beheld, may be ranked the South-
ern Cross, the cloud of Magellan, and the other
constellations of the southern hemisphere-the wa-
310
RETROSPECT.
21
ter-spout-the glacier leading its blue stream of
ice, overhanging the sea in a bold precipice - a
lagoon-island raised by the reef-building corals
an active volcano-and the overwhelming effects
of a violent earthquake. These latter phenomena,
perhaps, possess for me a peculiar interest, from
their intimate connexion with the geological struc-
ture of the world. The earthquake, however,
must be to every one a most impressive event: the
earth, considered from our earliest childhood as
the type of solidity, has oscillated like a thin crust
beneath our feet; and in seeing the laboured works
of man in a moment overthrown, we feel the insig-
nificance of his boasted power.
It has been said that the love of the chase is an
inherent delight in man—a relic of an instinctive
passion. If so, I am sure the pleasure of living
in the open air, with the sky for a roof and the
ground for a table, is part of the same feeling; it
is the savage returning to his wild and native hab-
its. I always look back to our boat cruises, and
my land journeys, when through unfrequented
countries, with an extreme delight, which no
scenes of civilization could have created. I do
not doubt that every traveller must remember the
glowing sense of happiness which he experienced
when he first breathed in a foreign clime, where
the civilized man had seldom or never trod.
There are several other sources of enjoyment in
a long voyage which are of a more reasonable na-
ture. The map of the world ceases to be a blank;
it becomes a picture full of the most varied and an-
imated figures. Each part assumes its proper di-
mensions : continents are not looked at in the light
of islands, or islands considered as mere specks,
which ary, in truth, larger than many kingdoms of
Europe. Africa, or North and South America,
RETROSPECT.
311
are well-sounding names, and easily pronounced ;
but it is not until having sailed for weeks along
small portions of their shores that one is thorough-
ly convinced what vast spaces on our immense
world these names imply.
From seeing the present state, it is impossible
not to look forward with high expectations to the
future progress of nearly an entire hemisphere.
The march of improvement, consequent on the in-
troduction of Christianity throughout the South
Sea, probably stands by itself in the records of
history. It is the more striking when we remem-
ber that only sixty years since, Cook, whose ex-
cellent judgment none will dispute, could foresee
no prospect of a change. Yet these changes have
now been effected by the philanthropic spirit of
the British nation.
In the same quarter of the globe Australia is
rising, or, indeed, may be said to have risen, into a
grand centre of civilization, which, at some not
very remote period, will rule as empress over the
southern hemisphere. It is impossible for an Eng-
lishman to behold these distant colonies without a
high pride and satisfaction. To hoist the British
flag seems to draw with it as a certain conse-
quence, wealth, prosperity, and civilization.
In conclusion, it appears to me that nothing can
be more improving to a young naturalist than a
journey in distant countries. It both sharpens,
and partly allays that want and craving which, as
Sir J. Herschel remarks, a man experiences al-
though every corporeal sense be fully satisfied.
The excitement from the novelty of objects, and
the chance of success, stimulate him to increased
activity. Moreover, as a number of isolated facts
soon become uninteresting, the habit of coinpari-
son leads to generalization. On the other hand,
312
RETROSPECT.
as the traveller stays but a short time in each place,
his descriptions must generally consist of mere
arises, as I have found to my cost, a constant ten-
dency to fill up the wide gaps of knowledge by in-
But I have too deeply enjoyed the voyage not
to recommend any naturalist, although he must not
expect to be so fortunate in his companions as I
have been, to take all chances, and to start, on
travels by land if possible, if otherwise on a long
voyage. He may feel assured he will meet with
no difficulties or dangers, excepting in rare cases,
nearly so bad as he beforehand anticipates. In a
moral point of view, the effect ought to be, to
teach him good-humoured patience, freedom from
selfishness, the habit of acting for himself, and of
making the best of every occurrence. In short, he
ought to partake of the characteristic qualities of
most sailors. Travelling ought also to teach him
distrust; but, at the same time, he will discover
how many truly kind-hearted people there are with
whom he never before had, or ever again will
have, any further communication, who yet are
ready to offer him the most disinterested assist-
ance.
NOTE.---The snake, described at page 123, vol. i., with the cu-
rious habit of vibrating its tail, is a new species of Trigonoceph-
alus, which M, Bibron proposes to call T. crepitans,
I N D E X.
72.
Abbott, Mr., on spiders, i., 45. | Azara on habits of carrion-hawks, i.,
Aborigines banished from Van Die-
men's Land, ii., 235. .
on a thunder-storm, i., 79.
of Australia, ii., 218-239. on ostrich-eggs, i., 117.
Abrolhos, i., 18. .
com on bows and arrows, i., 135.
Absence of trees in Pampas, i., 58. -- on new plants springing up,
Aconcagua, volcano of, i., 325, ii., 32. | i., 152.
Actinia, stinging species, ii., 258. Son great droughts, i., 170.
Africa, Southern part desert, yet on hydrophobia, ii., 113.
supports large animals, i., 108.
Agouti, habits of, i., 89..
Bachman, Mr., on carrion-hawks,
Ague, common in Peru, ii., 129. i., 237.
Albemarle Island, ii., 143.
Bahia Blanca, i., 97-135.
Allan, Dr., on Diodon, i., 18.
Bahia, Brazil, i., 14.
on Holuthuriæ, ii., 258, - , scenery of, ij., 297..
259.
Balbi on coral reefs, ii., 266.
Alluvium, saliferous, in Peru, ii., Bald Head, Australia, ii., 239
127.
Ballenar, Chile, ii., 107.
-, stratified, in Andes, ii.,63. Banda Oriental, i., 49,
Amblyrhynchus, ii., 155, 168.
Banks's Hill, i., 270..
Anas, species of, i., 257.
Barking-bird, ii., 28.
Animalculie, see Infusoria.
Basaltic platforın of Santa Cruz, i
Antarctic Islands, i., 319.
231.
Antipodos, ii., 196.
Bathurst, Australia, ii., 229.
Ants at Keeling Island, ii., 247. Bat, vampire, i., 27.
- in Brazil, i., 44.
Bay of Islands, New Zealand, ii.,
Apires, or uniners, ii., 96.
· 196.
Aplysia, i., 8. .
Beads, hill of, i., 190.
Apple-trees, ii., 39.
Beagle Channel, Tierra del Fuego,
Aptenodytes demersa, i., 256.
i., 280.
Areas of alternate movements in the Beech-trees, i., 303, ii., 18.
Pacific and Indian Oceans, ii., 279. Beetles alive in sea, i., 203.
Armadilloes, habits of, i., 122.
- dung-feeders, ii., 290, 291.
-, fossil animals allied to, - at St. Julian, i., 218.
i., 165, 198..
-- in brackish water, i., 27.
Arrow-heads, ancient, i., 134, ii. 117. - on a fungus, i., 41.
Ascension, ii., 292.
Aspalax, blindness of, i.
Athene, i., 89, 159.
Benchuca, ii., 82.
Berkeley Sound, i., 241.
Attagis, i., 121.
-
Rev. J., on Confervæ, i., 18
Atwater, Mr., on the prairies, i., 152.
--,on Cyttaria, i., 303
Audubon, M., on smelling-power of Bibron, M., ii., 150, 155.
carrion-hawks, i., 236, 237. Bien-te-veo, i., 69..
Australia, ii., 214.
Birds of the Gallapagos Archipelago,
ii., 146, 168.
Birds, tameness of, ii., 172.
ma on rain in La Plata, i., 59 Birgos latro, ii., 25
- on range of carrion-hawks, i., | Bizcacha, habits of, i., 89, 158.
75.
Blackwall, Mr., on spiders, i., 207.
II.-DD
314
INDEX.
Blindness of tucutuco, i., 65. 1 Capybara, or carpincho, i., 63, ii., 26.
Body, frozen, i., 113, 320.
-, fossil allied to, i., 105.
Bolabola, ii., 264, 270.
Cape Horn, i., 272.
Bulas, manner of using, i., 56, 142. | Cape of Good Hope, i., 109.
Bombs, volcanic, ii., 295.
Caracara, or Carrancha, i., 70, 71.
Bones of the guanaco collected in Cardoon, beds of, i., 153, 189.'
certain spots, i., 215.
Carmichael, Capt., ii., 175, 247.
- , fire made of, i., 250.. Carrion-hawks, i., 70, 153, 236.
--, recent in Pampas, i., 171. Casarita, i., 122..
--, fossil, i., 104, 162, 165, 198, Castro, Chiloe, ii., 13,
222.
Casts of trees, ii., 240
Bory St. Vincent on frogs; ii., 150. Casuchas, ii., 89.
Boulders, i., 240, 318.
Cathartes, i., 75, 237, ii., 22.
Bramador, Él, ii., 123.
Cats run wild, i., 153, ii., 29
Brazil, great area of granite, i., 15. good to eat, 1., 149.
Breaches in coral reefs, ij., 274.
scratch trees, i., 173.
Breakwater of sea-weed, i., 308.
-, cruelty to mice, i., 256.
Brewster, Sir D., on a calcareous Cattle, effects of their grazing on the
deposit, i., 12.
vegetation, j., 152.
Bridge of hide, i., 338.
- killed liy great droughts, ii,
- of Incas, ii., 68, 89, 117. 170, 187.
Buckland, Dr., on fossils, i., 168.
know each other, i., 185.
Buenos Ayres, i., 154.
---, curious breed of, i., 185, 186.
Buffon on American animals, i., 222, --, waste of, i., 190.
223.
- wild at the Falkland Islands,
Bug of Pampas, ii., 82.
i., 243-247.
Buildings, Indian, ii., 116-120, 133. Cauquenes, hot springs of, i., 339.
Bulimus on desert places, ii., 105. Causes of extinction of species among
Burchell, Mr., on fnod of quadrupeds, mammalia, j., 223.
i., 111.
of discoloured sea, i., 18.
on ostrich eggs, i, Cavia Patagonica, i., 89.
116.
Cervus campestris, i., 61.
, on perforated stones, Ceryle Americana, i., 176. .
i., 345.
Chacao, Chiloe, ij., 9.
Butterflies, flocks of, i., 202, 203 | Chagos atolls, ii., 277.
Butterfly producing clicking sound, Chalk-like mud, ii., 259.
i., 42.
Chamisso on drifted sceds and trees,
Button, Jemmy, i., 266.
ii., 246, 254.
Byron's account of fox of Falklands, -- on coral reefs, ii., 261.
i., 249.
Changes in vegetation of Painpas, i.,
on an Indian killing his child,
i., 279.
- in vegetation of St. Helena,
ii., 289.
Cacti, i., 212, 336, ii., 140.
Charles Island, Galapagos Archipel-
Cactornis, ii., 147, 168.
ago, ii., 141.
Calasoma on wing out at sea, i., 203. Cheese, salt required for, i., 84.
Calcareous casts of branches and Cheucau, ji., 14, 27.
rools of trees at King George's Chile, i., 325, ii., 91.
Sound, ii., 240.
- features of country, i., 328
incrustations on rocks of Chiloe, ii., 7.
Ascension, i., 11.
-, forests of, and climate, i.,313.
Callao, ii., 128.
-, roads of, ii., 9, 33.
Calodera, i., 159.
-, inhabitants of, ii., 8, 11.
Calomys bizcacha, i., 158. .
Chionis, i., 121.
Camarhynchus, ii., 148, 168.
Chonos Archipelago, ii., 18.
Camelidie, fossil animal allied to, i.,
-, cliniate of, i.,
221.
313.
Canis antarcticus, i., 249.
o , oruithology of,
Canis fulvipes, ii., 17.
| ii., 27.
153.
INDEX
315
coptera 011t at Julian .203, 1., 22;.
Chupat, Rio, i., 136.
| Couthouy, Mr., on coral-reefs, ii.,
Cladonia, ii., 126.
• 272.
Clearness of atmosphere within Crabs, hiermit species of, ii., 248.
Andes, in Chile, i., 330.
at Keeling Island, ji., 256.
Climate of Tierra del Fuego and ---- at St. Paul's, i., 13.
Falkland Islands, i., 312.
Craters, number of at the Galapagos
- Antarctic Islands, i., 319. Archipelago, ii., 139.
Galapagos, ii., 139, 145.
of Elevation, ii., 284.
-, change of, in Chile, ii., Crisia, i., 260.
118, 119.
Cruelty to animals, i., 195.
Clouds of vapour after rain, i., 30. Crustacea, pelagic, i., 207.'
- on Corcovado, i., 36.. Ctenomys Braziliensis, i., 64. .
- hanging low, ii., 131.
, fossıl species of, i., 105.
- at sea, ii., 1 Cucao, Chiloe, ii., 35.
Coleoptera in Tropics, i., 43. Cuckoo-like habits of Molothrus, i.,
- out at sea, i., 203.
67.
- of St. Julian, i., 218. Cuentas, Sierra de, i., 190.
Colias edusa, flocks of, i., 203. Cumbre of Cordillera, ii., 89.
Collnett, Capt., on spawnin sea, i., 22. Cuming, Mr., on shells, ii., 162, 290.
on a inarine lizard, Cuttle-fish, habits of, i., 8, ii., 27.
ii., 156..
Cuvier on Diodon, i., 17.
-a, on transport of seeds, Cynara, i., 152.
ii., 165.
Cyttaria Darwinii, i., 303.
Colonia del Sacramiento, i., 183.
Colorado Rio, i., 89.“
Dacelo lagoensis, i., 2.
Compound animals, i., 258, 259. Dasypus, three species of, i., 122.
Concepcion, Chile, ii., 46.
Deer, i., 61, 62, 169.
Condor, habits of, i., 234, 238, 348. Degradation of tertiary formations,
Conferva, pelagic, i., 18.
ii., 101.
Conglomerate on the Ventana, i.,139. Deinornis, ii., 210.
I
in Cordillera, ii., 69. Deserts, ii., 107, 126.
Conurus, i., 176.
Desmodus i., 27.
Convicts of Mauritius, ii., 283. Despoblado, valley of, ii., 115.
-, condition of, in New South Dieffenbach on Auckland Island, i.,
Wales, ii., 233.
314, ii., 220.
Cook, Capt., on kelp, i., 308. Diodon, habits of, i., 16.
Copiapó, river and valley of, ii., 108. Discoloured sea, i., 18.
- --, town of, ii., 114.
Diseases from miasma, ii., 129, 219.
Coquimbo, ii., 98.
Distribution of mammalia in Ameri-
Coral formations, ü., 177, 242-281.
ca, i., 167.
, stinging species of, ii., 257.
- of animals on opposite
- ; dead, ii., 253, 277.'
sides of Cordillera, ii., 78.
Corallines, i., 259.
of frogs, ii., 150.
Corcovado, clouds on, i., 36.
- of Fauna of Galapagos
---, volcano, ii., 31.
ii., 165.
Cordillera, appearance of, i., 332, ii., Dobrizhoffer on ostriches, i., 120.
· 10, 66, 67.
- on a hail-storm, i., 148.
---, different productions on Docks, imported, ii., 211.
east and west side, ii., 78.
Dogs, shepherd, i., 191.
- passage of, ii., 61.
D'Orbigny, Travels in South Ameri-
-, structure of valleys, ii.,63. ca, i., 100, 119, 153, 165, 191, 215.
- geology of, ii., 68-71, 86. Doris, eggs of, i., 258.
, rivers of, ii., 64.
Doubleday, Mr., on a noise made by
- of Copiapó, ii., 122.
a butterfly, i., 42.
Cormorant catching fish, i., 256. Drigg, lightning tubes at, i., 76.
Corral, where animals are slaugh Droughts, great, in Pampas, i., 169
tered at Buenos Ayres, i., 155. Dryness of St. Jago, i., 5.
Coscguina, eruption of, ii., 32.
of winds in Tierra del Fu-
Countries, unhealthy, ii., 129.
ego, i., 298.

316
INDEX.
79.
340,
ons
Terfects of, on rocks, i..
bed, ii., 120.
Dryness of air in Cordillera, ii., 77. | Elevated shells, i., 108, 165, 219, 327.
Du Bois, ii., 151, 175.
ij., 39, 56, 100, 134.
Dung-feeding beetles, ii., 290, 291. Elevation of coasts of Chile, i., 327,
Dust, falling from atmosphere, i., 6. ii., 39, 53, 56, 92, 100, 118.
- B. Blanca, i., 106.
Earthenware fossil, ii., 136.
Patagonia, j., 220, ii.,
Earthquake, accoin panied by an elo 137. .
vation of the coast, ii., 56.
Pampas, i., 165.
- accompanied by rain,
-- mountain-chains, ii., 59.
ii., 110.
-- Cordillera, ii., 64, 70, 85.
- at Callao, ii., 133.
- fringing-reefs, i., 273.
- at Concepcion, ii., 46.
- Peru, ii., 133.
- at Coquiinbo, ii., 98.
within human period, ii.,
- at Keeling and Vani 136.
koro, and Society Islands, ii., 272, Entomology of the Galapagos Archi-
273,
pelago, ii., 150, 164, 166.
o at Valdivia, ii., 45.
-- Brazil, i., 43.
-, causes of, ii., 58.
-- Patagonia, i., 218, ii.,
- , effect of, on springs, i.,
- Tierra del Fuego, i.,
- on bottom of 306, 307.
sea, ii., 52.
Keeling Island, ii,
247.
St. Helena, ii., 290.
- effects of, on sea, ii., 46, Entre Rios, geology of, i., 164.
48, 50.
Epeira, habits of, i., 46, 48.
, effects of, on a river Erratic blocks, how transported, i.,
317.
-, line of vibration of, ii.,
- absent in intertropi-
52.
cal countries, i., 319.
L , on S.W.coast, i., 316.
on plains of Santa
-, tossing fragments from Cruz, i., 240.
the ground; i., 254.
- of Tierra del Fuego,
-, twisting movement of, i., 317.
ij., 54.
Estancia, value of, i., 185.
Eggs of Doris, i., 258.
Extermination of species and races,
Ehrenberg, Prof., on Atlantic dust, i., 224, ii., 219, 228, 237.
i., 6.
Extinction of shells at St. Helena, ii.,
on infusoria in 289.
Pampas, i., 105, 165.
of species, causes of,i.,224.
- of man in New South
the open sea, i., 208.
Wales, ii., 219, 237.
Eyes of tucutuco and mole, i., 66.
Patagonia, i., 219.
Falconer, Dr., on the Sivatherium, i.,
Fuegian paint, i., 284.
187.
- Jesait, on the Indians, i.,
coral mud, ii., 259.
in
-, on rivers in Pam-
tuff at Ascension, ii., 296, 297. pas, i., 136.
'on phosphores-
---, on natural enclo-
cence of the sea, i., 209.
sures, i., 149.
on noises from a Falkland Islands, i., 241.
hill, ii., 123.
cs, birds tame at, ii.,
Eimeo, view of, ii., 182.
172.
Elater, springing powers of, i., 39.
- , absence of trees at,
Electricity of atmosphere within | i., 60, 61.
Andes, ii., 77.
-, carrion-hawks of,
Elephant, weight of, i., 111. 1 i., 73.
133.
INDEX.
317
Falkland Islands, wild cattle and Gauchos live on meat, i., 150.
horses of, i., 243-247.
Gay, M., on floating islands, i., 342.
M o , climate of, i., 312. -, on shells in brackish water,
---, peat of, ii., 25. i., 26.'
Fat, quantity eaten, i., 150.
Geese at the Falkland Islands, i., 257.
Fear an acquired instinct, ii., 175. Geographical distribution of Ameri-
Februa, i., 42..
can animals, i., 167, ii., 78.:
Fennel, run wild, i., 152.
- of frogs,
Ferguson, Dr., on miasma, ii., 130. ii 150.
Fern-trees, i., 314, ii., 238.
of Fau.
Fernando Noronha, i., 14, 11., 140. na of Galapagos, ii., 165.
Fields of dead coral, ii., 253
Geology of Cordillera, ii., 68, 86.
Fire, art of making, i., 251, ii., 186. - of Patagonia, i., 219, 233.
Fish, eating coral, ii., 258.
of St. Jago, i., 7.
o of Galapagos, ii., 162.
of St. Paul, i., 10
- emitting harsh sound, i., 174.
of B. Blanca, i., 104.
Flamingoes, i., 85. .
- of Pampas, i., 164.
Fleas, ii., 102, 103.
- of Brazil, i., 15.
Floods after droughts, i., 171. Georgia, climate of, i., 320.'
clear after snow, ii., 68. Geospiza, ii., 147, 168.
Flora of the Galapagos, ii., 140, 164, Gill, Mr., on an upheaved river-bed,
169.
ii., 120.
of Keeling Island, ii., 244. Gillies, Dr., on the Cordillera, ii., 73.
- of St. Helena, ii., 286, | Glaciers in Tierra del Fuego, i., 289,
Flustracee, i., 258, 309.
316.
Forests, absence of, in La Plata,i.,59. --- in Cordillera, ii., 75.
-- of Tierra del Fuego, i., 271,
in lat. 460 40', i., 317.
313, ii., 24.
Glow-worms, i., 38.
- of Chiloe, 1.,313,11., 17, 24,33. Goats, destructive to vegetation at
--- of Valdivia, ii., 40, 44.
St. Helena, ii., 289.
of New Zealand, ii., 209,210. -, bones of, i. 215.
-- of Australia, ii., 217. Goitre, ii., 61.
Fossil Mammalia, i
198, 222. malia, i., 104, 162, 165 /
Gold-washing, i., 343.
Good Success Bay, i., 262.
- earthenware, ii., 136.
Gossamer spider, i., 204.
Fox of the Falkland Islands, i., 249. Gould, Mr., on the Calodera, i., 159.
-- of Chiloe, ii., 17.
on birds of Galapagos,
Friendly Archipelago, ii., 280.
Frogs, noises of, i., 37.
Granite mountains, Tres Montes, i.,
-- -, bladders of, ii., 153.
and toads, not found on ocean-
of Cordillera, ii., 69.
ic islands, ii., 150.
Graspus, i., 13.
Frozen soil, i., 113, 319.
Gravel, how far transported, i., 138.
Fruit-trees, southern limit of, i., 313. o of Patagonia, i., 06, 219.
Fucus giganteus, i., 308.
Greenstone, fragments of, i., 331.
Fuegians, i., 262-302.
Gryllus migratorius, ii., 82. .
Fulgurites, i.; 76.
Guanaco, habits of, i., 213-215.
Fungus, edible, i., 303
, fossil allied genus, i., 22
Furnarius, i., 122.
Guantajaya, mines of, ii., 126.
Guardia del Monte, i., 151.
Galapagos Archipelago, ii., 138; Guasco, ii., 106.
natural history of, ii., 145. Guasos of Chile, i., 332,
- belongs to American Zool. | Guava, imported into Tahiti, ii., 178.
ogy, ii., 145, 166.
Guinea-fowl, i., 4, ii., 294.
Gale of wind, i., 279, ii., 18.
Gunnera scabra, ii., 16.
.
Gallegos River, fossil bones at, i., 2 Gypsum, great beds of, ii., 68.
Gallinazo, i., .
in salt-lake, i., 83.
Gauchos, i., 54, 200.
- in Patagonian tertiary.
- character of, i., 200. beds, i., 219.
ii., 146.
21.
otone, fragicji., 82015.
DD 2
318
INDEX.
157.
315.
crustatione, ii., 88, 116–324. '5.
Gypsum at Iquique with salt, ii., 127. | Hydrochærus capybara, i., 63.
- at Lima with shells, ii., 134. Hydrophobia, ii., 113.
Hyla, i., 37. '
Hachette, M., on lightning-tubes, i., | Hymenophallus, i., 41.
77.
Hailstorm, i., 147.
Jackson, Col., on frozen snow, ii., 75.
Hall, Capt., Basil, on terraces of Co Jaguar, habits of, i., 172.
quimbo, ii., 99.'
Jajuel, mines of, 'i., 334.
Hare, Varying, i., 58.
James Island, Galapagos Archipela-
Head, Capt., on thistle-beds, i., 152, go, ii., 143.
Juan Fernandez, volcano of, ii., 57.
Height of snow-line on Cordillera, i.,
- -, flora of, ii., 165.
Henslow, Prof., on potatoes, ii., 23. Ibis melanops, i., 212.
, ou plants of Keeling Ice, prismatic structure of, ii., 75.
Island, ii., 245
Icebergs, i., 240, 289, 316-324.
Hervuit crabs, ii., 248.
Incas' bridge, ii., 88, 117.
Hill, emitting a noise, ii., 123.
Incrustations on coast rocks, i.,12,1
Himantopus, i., 146.
Indian fossil remains, ii., 135.
Hogoleu barrier-reef, ii., 265.
Indians, attacks of, i., 81, 98, 164.
Holes made by a bird, i., 122.
Patagonians, i., 298.
Holman on drifted seeds, ii., 245.
Araucarians, ii., 42.
Holuthurive feeding on coral, ii., 259.
of the Pampas, i., 129.
Hooker, Sir J., on the Cardoon,i.,152.
of Valdivia, ii., 42.
, Dr. J.D., on the Kelp,i.,307. -, perforated stones used by, i.,
on Galapageian 345.
plants, ii., 164, 165, 169.
, powers of tracking, ii., 79.
Horn, Cape, i., 272.
- , grave of, i., 217, 240.
Horner, Mr., on a calcareous deposit, - , ruins of houses of, in Cor-
i., 12.
dillera, ii., 116, 133.
Horse-fly, i., 218.
--, antiquities of, in La Plata,
Horses difficult to drive, i., 141.
134.
- drop excrement on paths, i., , decrease in numbers, i., 133.
152.
Infection, ii., 220.
killed by great droughts, i., | Infusoria in dust in the Atlantic, i., 6
170.
in the sea, i., 18, 208.
-, multiplication of, i., 299.
- in Pampas, i., 105, 165.
- broken in, i., 193.
in Patagonia, i., 219.
Horse, powers of swimming of, i., 182.
- in white paint, i., 284.
- wild at the Falkland Islands,
- in coral mud, ii., 259.
i., 245.
- at Ascension, ii., 297.
, fossil, i., 104, 165,
Insects, first colonists of St. Paul's
Horscinanship of the Gauchos, i., rocks, i., 13.
195, 251.
--- blown out to sea, i., 204.
Hot springs of Cauquenes, i., 339.
of Patagonia, i., 218, ii., 79.
Huacas, ii., 133, 135.
- of Tierra del Fuego, i., 306,
Humboldt on burnished rocks, i., 16. 307.
on the atmosphere in trop-
- of Galapagos, ii., 150, 164,
ics, i., 40.
on frozen soil, i., 113.
- of Keeling Island, ii., 247.
-
on hyhernation, i., 125.
- of St. Helena, ii., 290, 291.
on potatoes, ii., 23.
Instincts of birds, i., 122, ii., 172.
- on earthquakes and rain, lodine with salt at Iquique, ii., 128.
ji., 110.
Iquique, ii., 124.
on miasma, ii., 130, 220. Iron, oxide of, on rocks, i., 16.
Humming-birds of Rio de Janei Islands, oceanic, volcanic, i., 10
40.
-, floating, i., 342.
of Chile, i., 350.
, Antarctic, i., 319.
Hybernation of animals, i., 125.
-, low, ii., 177, 262.
169.
INDEX.
319
320.
Kater's peak, i., 272.
Lund and Clausen on fossils of Bra-
Kauri pine, ii., 209, 210.
zil, i., 166, 222.
Keeling Island, ii., 242.
| Luxan, ii., 81.
---., subsidence of, ii., | Luxuriani vegetation not necessary
272.
to support large animals, i., 108.
- --, birds of, ii., 247. Lycosa, i., 45.
---, entomology of, ii., | Lyell, Mr., on terraces of Coquimbo,
247.
ii., '99.
--, flora of, ii., 244.
--, on longevity of Mollusca,
Kelp, or sea-weed, i., 307.
i., 106.
Kendall, Lieut., on a frozen body, i.,
--, on subsidence in the Pa-
cific, ii., 263, 264.
Kingfishers, i., 2, 176.
---, on change in vegetation,
King George's Sound, ii., 239. i., 153.
---, on fossil horses' teeth, i.,
Labourers, condition of, in Chile, 1., 166.
344.
- , on distribution of ani-
Lagoon-islauds, ij., 170, 243, 260. mals, ii., 78.
Lagostomus, i., 158.
---, on frozen snow, ii., 75.
Luke, brackish, near Rio, i., 26.
-, on extinct mammals and
- with floating islands, i., 342. ice-period, i., 223.
– formed during earthquake, ii., ---, on flocks of butterflies,
136.
i., 203.
Lanarck on acquired blindness, i.,66. ---, on 'stones twisted by
Lampyris, i., 37.
earthquakes, ii., 54.
Lancaster, Capt., on a sea-tree,i.,128.
Land-shells, ii., 105, 288, 289, 290. MacCulloch on infection, ii., 220.
Lazo, i., 56, 196, 243.
Macquarie river, ii., 230.
Leave's, fall of, i., 302.
Mucrauchenia, i., 104, 221.
~, fossil, ii., 237.
Macrocystis, i., 307.
Leeks in New Zealand, imported, ii., Madrina, or godmother of a troop of
mules, ii., 62.
Lepus Magellanicus, i., 248. Magdalén Channel, i., 310.
Lesson, M., on the scissor-beak, i., Magellan, Strait of, i... 297.
Malcolinson, Dr., on hail, i., 148.
-, on rabbit of the Falk Maldiva atolls, ii., 261, 273, 276.
lands, i., 248.
Maldonado, i., 49.
Lichen on loose sand, ii., 126. Mammalia, fossil, i., 104, 162, 165,
Lichtenstein on ostriches, i., 117. 198, 222, ii., 137. '
Lightning storins, i., 79.
Man, antiquity of, ii., 119.
tubes, i., 76.
— , fussil remains of, ii., 135.
Lima, ij., 128, 132.
, body frozen, i., 320.
- , elevation of a river near,ii.,119. - fear of, an acquired instinct, ii.,
Lime, changed by lava into crystal- 175.
line rock, i., 7.
- extinction of races, ii., 219, 237.
Limnæa in brackish water; i., 26. Mares killod for their hides, i., 197.
Lion-ant, ii., 229.
Mare's flesh eaten by troops, i, 130.
Lizard, i., 125.
Mastodon, i., 162, 165.
- -, marine species of, ii., 155. Matter, granular, movements in, i.,
Lizards, transport of, ii., 151.
128.
Llama or Guanaco, habits of, i., 213 Mauritius, ii., 281.
215.
Maypu River, ii., 64.
Locusts, ii., 81.
Megalonyx, i., 104, 167. :
Longevity of species in Mollusca, i., Megatherium, i., 104, 106, 167.
106.
Mendoza, climate of, ii., 74.
Lorenzo, San, island of, ii., 134.
- , ii., 83.
Low Archipelago, ii., 177.
Mexico, elevation of, i., 168.
Lund, M., on antiquity of man, ii., | Miasmata, ii., 128, 220.
119.
Mice inhabit sterile places, ii., 121.
211.
176.
320
INDEX.
Mice, number of, in America, i., 62. y Opuntia Darwinii, i., 212.
how transported, ii., 27, 146.
i., 336.
different on opposite sides of Orange-trees, self-sown, i., 154.
Andes, ii., 78.
Ores, gold, i., 343.
of the Galapagos, ii., 146. Ornithorhynchus, ii., 228.
of Ascension, ii., 294.
Ornithology of Galapagos, ii., 146,
Millepora, ii., 257.
168.
Mills for grinding ores, i., 343.. Osorno, volcano of, fi., 8, 10, 31.
Mimose, i., 32.
Ostrich, habits of, i., 54, 114.
Mimus, i., 69, ii., 168, 173.
Ostrich's eggs, i., 144.
Miners, condition of, 1., 336, 342, ii., Otaheite, ii., 177.
94, 103.
Otter, ii., 26.
Mines, i., 335, ii., 95, 103.
Ova in sea, i., 21.
- , how discovered, ii., 66. Oven-biru, i., 121.
Missionaries at New Zealand, ii.,207. Owen, Capt., on a drought in Africa,
Mitchell, Sir T., on valleys of Aus- |
tralia, ii., 224.
--- Professor, on the Capybara,
Mocking-bird, i., 69, ii., 168, 173.
Molina, omits description of certain
-- fossil quadru-
birds, i., 350.
peds, i., 104-107, 166.
Molothrus, habits of, i., 66.
nostrils of the
Monkeys with prehensile tails, i., 35 Gallinazo, i., 237.
Monte Video, i., 50, 181.
Owl of Pampas, i., 89, 159.
Moresby, Capt.,on a great crab,ii.,257. | Oxyurus, i., 305, ii., 28. .
on coral - reefs, ii., Oysters, gigantic, i., 219.
277.
Mount Sarmiento, i., 300, 310. Paint, white, i., 284.
Tarii, i., 301.
Pallas on Siberia, i., 85.
Mountains, elevation of, ii., 59. Palm-trees in La Plata, i., 59.
Moveinents in granular matter,i.,128.
- in Chile, i., 329, 330.
Mud, chalk-like, ii., 259.
-~, south limit of, i., 314.
- disturbed by earthquake, ii.,52. Palms absent at Galapagos, ii., 142.
Mules, ii., 62.
Pampas, number of embedded re-
Muniz, Sig., on niata cattle, i., 186. mains in, i., 199.
Murray, Mr., on spidors, i., 206.
-, S. limit of, i., 95.
Mylodon, i., 104, 167, 198.
-, changes in, i., 153.
Myopotamus Coipus, ii., 26.
not quite level, i., 157, 161,
183.
Negress with goitre, ii., 61.
-, geology of, i., 164, 199.
Negro, Rio, i., 80, 190.'
-, view, of, from the Andes,
- lieutenant, i., 96.
ii., 79.
New Caledonia, reef of, ii., 265, 267, Papilio feronia, i., 42.
275.
Parana, Rio, i., 160, 177, 188. .
Zealand, ii., 196,
----, islands in, i., 171.
Niata cattle, i., 185, 180.
Parish, Sir W., on the great drought,
Noises from a hill, ii., 123,
i., 170.
Noses, ceremony of pressing, ii., 204, Park, Mungo, on eating salt, i., 141.
205.
Parrots, i., 176, 315.
Nothura, i., 57.
Partridges, i., 57.
Notopod, crustacean, i., 207.
Pas, fortresses of New Zealand, ii.,
Nulliporã, incrustations like, i., 11. 198.
- protecting reels, ii., 301, Passes in Cordillera, ii., 88.
302.
Pasture, altered from grazing of cat-
tle, i., 152.
Octopus, habits of, i., 8.
Patagones, i., 82.
Oily coating on sea, i., 22.
Patagonia, geology of, i., 219, ii., 81.
Olfersia, i., 13.
-, zoology of, i., 212, 219,
Opeliorhynchus, ii., 28.
230.
Opuntia Galapageia, ii., 140. Patagonian Indians, i., 298.
INDEX.
321
Peach-trees self sown, i., 154.
Protococcus nivalis, ii., 3.
Péat, formation of, ii., 25.
Pteroptochos, two species of, i., 348.
Pebbles perforated, i., 190, 345.
-, species of, ii., 14,27,28.
- transported in roots of trees, Puente del Inca, ii., 88, 117.
ii., 254.
Puffinus cinereus, ii., 29.
Pelagic animals in southern ocean, Puflinuria Berardii; ii., 30.
i., 207.
Puma, habits of, i., 173, 235, 347.
Penas, Gulf of, i., 318.
flesh of, i., 149.
Penguin, babits of, i., 256.
Puna, or short respiration, ii., 71.
Pepsis, habits of, i., 45..
Punta Alta, Bahia Blanca, i., 104.
Pernambuco, reef of, ii., 301, 302. - Gorda, i., 165, ii., 116.
Pernety on hill of ruins, i., 252. Pyrophorus luminosus, i., 38.
- on tame birds, ji., 174.
Peru, ii., 124-137.
Quadrupeds, fossil, i., 104, 162, 165,
, dry, valleys of, ii., 119, 12
198, 222.
Petrels, habits of, ii., 29.
-, large, do not require
Peuquenes, pass of, ii., 68.
luxuriant vegetation, i., 108.
Phonolite at F. Noronha, i., 14.
mm, weight of, i.,111.
Phosphorescence of the sea, i., 208. Quartz of the Ventana, i., 139.
- of a coralline, i.,
of Tapalguen, i., 148.
260.
of Falkland Island, i., 252.
- - of land insects and Quedius, i., 13.
sea animals, i., 37, 38.
Quillota, valley of, i., 327.
Phryniscus, i., 124.
Quintero, i., 327.
Pine of New Zealand, ii., 209, 210. Quiriquina İsland, ii., 46.
Plains at foot of Andes in Chile, i., Quoy and Gaimard on stinging corals,
338, ii., 63.
ii., 258.
- almost horizontal near St. Té,
- on coral-reefs, ii.,
i., 161.
274.
anarive, terrestrial species of, i., 33.
Plants of the Galapagos, il., 140, Rabbit, wild, at the Falkland Islands,
169.
i., 248.
- of Keeling Island, ii., 244. Rain at Coquimbo, ii., 92, 104, 106.
of St. Helena, ii., 287.
o at Rio, i., 36.
-- fossil in Australia, ii., 237.
and earthquakes, ii., 110.
Plata, Rio, i., 49.
in Perii, ii., 127, 128.
~ , thunderstorms of, i.,
in Chile, formerly more abun.
Plover, long-legged, i., 146.
dant, ii., 118.
Polished rocks, Brazil, i., 16.
--, effects on vegetation,
Polyborus chimango, i., 73.'
ii., 93.
- Nova Zelandice, i., 73. Rana Mascariensis, ii., 151.
--- Braziliensis, i., 70
Rat, only aboriginal animal of New
Ponsonby Sound, i., 285.'
Zealand, i., 210.
Porpoises, i., 49.
Rats at Galapagos, ii., 146.
Port Desire, i., 211.
at Ascension, ii., 294.
-----, river of, i., 136, 215.
at Keeling Island, ii., 247.
St. Julian, i., 218.
Rattle-snake, species with allied
Famine, i., 300.
habit, i., 123.
Portillo pass, ii., 68, 76.
Red snow, ii., 73. .
Porto Praya, i., l.
Reduvius, iii, 82.
Potato, wild, ii., 23. :
Reef at Pernambuco vf sandstone, ii.,
Potrero Seco, ii., 108.
301, 302.
Prairies, vegetation of, i., 152. Reeſs of coral, ii., 260-281.
Prevost, M., on cuckoos, i., 68. - , Barrier, ii., 261, 274.
Priestley, Dr., on lightuing-tubes, M., Fringing, ii., 268.
i., 76.
Reeks, Mr., analysis of salt, i., 83.
Procellaria gigantea, habits of, ii., 29.
bones, i., 198.
Proctotretus, i., 125.
-
salt and sliells,
Proteus, blindness of, i., 66.
ii., 135.
11-21
322
INDEX.
Remains, human elevated, ji., 135. Sand-dunes,
Remedies of the Gauchos, i., 163. Sand, hot froin' sun's rays, at Gala.
Rengger on the horse, i., 299.
pagos Archipelago, ii., 145.
Reptiles absent in Tierra del Fuego --, noise from friction of, ii., 123.
i., 306.
Sandstone of New South Wales, ii.,
--- at Galapagos, ii., 150.
222, 223..
Respiration difficult in Andes, ii., 72.
, reef of, ii., 301, 302.
Retrospect, i., 65.
Santa Cruz, river of, i., 227.
Revolutious at Buenos Ayres, i., 179 Santiago, Chile, i., 338.
Rhinoceroses live in desert coun. Sarmiento, Mount, i., 300, 310.
tries, i., 109.
Sauce, Rio, i., 136.
, frozen, i., 114, 322. Saunphagus sulphureus, i., 68.
Rhynchons nigra, i., 174.
Scarus eating corals, ii., 258.
Richardson, Dr., on mice of North Scelidotheriuni, i., 104.
America, ii., 146.
Scenery of Andes, ij., 67.
---, on polished rocks, Scissor-tail, i., 177.
i., 324.
Scissor-beak, habits of, i., 174.
, on frozen soil, i., Scorpions, cannibals, j., 212.
113, 320.
Scoresby, Mr., on effects of snow on
--, on eating fat, 1., rocks, ii., 67.
150.
Scrope, Mr., on earthquakes, ii., 111.
-, on geographical Scytalopus fuscus, i., 305, ii., 29.
distribution, i., 166.
Sea, open, inhabitants of, i., 208.
Rimsky atoll, ji., 261.
----, phosphorescence of, i., 208.
Rio de Janeiro, i., 23.
---, distant noise of, ii., 37.
-- Plata, i., 49.'
Sea-pen, habits of, i., 127, 260.
-- Negro, i., 80, 190.
Sea-weed, growth of, i., 308.
-- Colorado, i., 89.
Seals, number of, ii., 22.
-- S. Cruz, i., 227.
Seeds transported by sea, ii., 165,245.
--- Sauce, i., 136.
Serpule, protecting reef, ii., 302
- Salado, i., 151.
Shark killed by Diodon, i., 18.
Rivers, power of, in wearing chan Shaw, Dr., on lion's flesh, i., 149.
nels, i., 233, ii., 69.
Sheep, infected, ii., 221.
River-bed, arched, ii., 120.
Shelley, lines on Mont Blanc, i., 216. -
River-courses dry in America, i., 137. | Shells, land, in great numbers, ii.,
Rocks burnished with ferruginous 105.
matter, i., 16.
-, at St. Helena, ii., 288,
Rodents, number of in America, i., 289.
62,230.
Shells, fossil, of Cordillera, ii., 70.
na, fossil species of, i., 104.
of Galapagos, ii., 162.
Rosas, General, i., 90, 132, 179.
elevated, i., 106, 165, 220,
Ruins of Callao, ii., 133.
327, ii., 100, 134.
- of Indian buildings in Cordil -, tropical forms of, ſar south,
lera, ii., 116, 133.
i., 313.
-, decomposition of, with salt,
S. Cruz, j., 227.
ji., 134.
Salaco, Rio, i., 151
Shepherd's dogs, i., 191.
Salinas at the Galapagos Archipela- | Shingle-bed of Patagonia, i., 96,219.
go, ii., 144.
Siberia compared with Patagonia, i.,
in Patagonia, i., 83, 218.
85.
Saline eMorescences, i., 99, 100.
, zoology of, related to North
Salt with vegetable food, i., 141. America, i., 168.
---, superficial crust of, ii., 127. Siberian animals, how preserved in
- , with elevated shells, ii., 134. I ice, i., 322.
Salt-lakes, i., 83, 218, ii., 144.
---, food necessary du-
Sandwich Archipelago, no frogs at, ring their existence, i., 113.
ii., 151.
Silicified trees, ii., 86, 112,
Laud, i., 320.
Silurian formations at Falkland Isl.
San Pedro, forests of, ii., 17.
ands, i., 252.
INDEX.
323
Silurus, habits of, i., 174.
Temperance of the Tahitians, ij.,189..
Skunks, i., 103.
Tenperature of Tierra del Fuego
Slavery, i., 24, 30, ii., 302.
and Falkland Islands, i., 312.
Snake, venomous, i., 123.
-- of Galapagos, ii., 139.
Snow-line on Cordillera, i., 315. Tercero, Rio, fossils, i., 162.
Snow, effects of on rocks, ii., 67. Terraces of Cordillera, ii., 63.
--, prismatic structure o
- of Coquimbo, ii., 99.
-, red, ii., 73.
of Patagonia, i., 220, 232.
Society, stato of, in La Plata, i., 52 Tertiary formations of the Pampas,
mo, state of, in Australia, ii.,231. i., 104, 164, 199.
-- Archipelago, ii., 177.
of Patagonia, i.,
Soda, nitrate of, ii., 125.
219, ii., 81.
, sulphate of, i., 100.
-- in Chile, epochs
Soil, frozen, i., 113, 319.
of, ii., 101.
Spawn on surface of sea, i., 21. Teru-tero, habits of, i., 146.
Species, distribution of, i., 167. Testudo, habits of, ii., 151, 166, 167.
--, extinction of, i., 224.
Theory of lagoon-islands, ii., 269.
Spiders, habits of, i., 45-48.
Theristicus, i., 212.
-, gossamer, i., 204.
Thistle-beds, i., 153, 1
- on Keeling Island, ii., Thunder-storms, i., 79.
on St Paul's, i., 13.
Tierra del Fuego, i., 262–324.
Springs, hot, i., 339.
climate and vege-
Stinging animals, ii., 285.
tation of, i., 312.
St. Helena, ii., 285.
, zoology of, i., 304.
Té, i., 164.
, entomology of, i.,
- Jago, Chile, i., 338.
306, 307.
- Maria, elevated, ii., 53, 56. Tinamus rufescens, i., 144.
- Paul's rocks, i., 10.
Tinochorns Eschschollzii, i., 120.
Stones, perforated, i., 190, 345. Toad, habits of, i., 124.
transported in roots, ii., 254. Torrents in Cordillera, ii., 64, 71.
Storm, i., 279, ii., 18.
Tortoise, habits of, ii., 151, 166, 167.
in Cordillera, ii., 74, 122. Toxodon, i., 105, 162, 165, 198.
Streams of stones at Falkland Isl- | Transparency of air in Andes, ii., 77.
ands, i., 253.
in St. Jago, i., 5.
Strongylus, i., 41.
Transport of seeds, ii., 165, 245.
Struthio Rhea, i., 54, 114.
- - - of boulders, i., 240, 318.
Darwinii, i., 119.
of stones, ii., 254.
Strzelecki, Count, ii., 237.
-
of fragments of rock on
Suadivu atoll, ii., 261.
banks of the St. Cruz River, i., 233.
Subsidence of coral reefs, i., 262-281 Travertin with leaves of trees, Van
of Keeling Island, ii.,27 Diemen's Land, ii., 237.
of Patagonia, i., 221. Tree-ſerns, southern limits of, 1., 314.
of coast of Perú, ii., 133.
-- ii., 238.
of Cordillera, ii., 70, 86. Trees, absence of, in Pampas, i., 58.
- of coasts of Chile, ii., 101. , silicified, vertical, ii., 85.
o of Vanikoro, ii., 272.
, size of, ii., 112,
Sulphate of lime, i., 84, 219, ii., 134. - , time required to rol, ii., 45.
Swainson, Mr., on cuckoos, i., 67. Tres Montes, ii., 19.
Sydney, ii., 215.
Trichodesmium, i., 18.
Trigonocephalus, i., 123.
Tabanus, j., 218.
Tristan d'Acunha, ii., 17
Tahiti (Otaheite), ii., 177.
Trochilus, i., 350.
Talcahuano, ii., 46.
Tropical scenery, ii., 297.
Tainbillas, Ruinas de, ji., 116. Tschudi, M., on subsidence, ii., 134.
Tameness of birds, ii., 172.
Tubes, siliceous, formed by light-
Tapacolo and Turco, i., 348, 349. ning, i., 76.
Tarn, Mount, i., 301.
Tucutuco, habits of, i., 64.
Tasmania, ii., 235.
-, fossil species of, i., 105.
Tattuoing, ii., 179, 180, 208, 209. Tuff, craters of, ii., 139.
324
INDEX.
Tuff, infusoria in, ii., 297.
| Walckenaer on spiders,
Tupungato, volcano of, ij., 5. Walleechu-tree, i., 87.
Turco, El, i., 348.
Water-hog, i., 63...
Turkey buzzard, i., 74, 237, ij., 22. Water, sold at Iquique, ji., 125. -
Turtle, manner of catching, ii., 251.
Tresh, floating on salt, i., 50.
Type of organization in Galapagos Waves, caused by fall of ice, i., 289.
Islands, American, ii., 166.
o from earthquakes, ii., 50, 54.
Types of organization in different Weather, connection with earth-
countries, constant, i., 222.
quakes, ii., 110.
Tyrannas, i.,. 177.
Weatherboard, N. S. Wales, ii., 222.
Weeds in New Zealand, imported,
Ulloa on hydrophobia, ii., 113. ii., 165, 211.
on Indian buildings, ji., 118. | Weight of quadrupeds, i., 111.
Unanue, Dr., on hydrophobia, ii.,113. Wellington, Mount, ii., 238.
Uruguay, Rio, i., 177, 187.
Wells, ebbing and flowing, ii., 249.
mo, not crossed by the
at Iquique, ii., 127.
Bizcacha, i., 158.
West Indies, banks of, ii., 226.
Uspallata range and pass, ii., 84.
-, coral reefs of, ij., 269.
---, zoology of, i., 168.
Vacas, Rio, ii., 87.
Whäles, oil froin, i., 22.
Valdivia, ii., 39.
i leaping out of water, i., 288.
- , forests of, ii., 40, 44. White, Mr., on spiders, i., 45.
Valley of St. Cruz, how excavated, Wigwams of Fuegians, i., 272, 273.
i., 233.
Williams, Rev. J., on infectious dis-
w, dry, at Copiapó, ii., 115. orders, ii., 220.'
Valleys, excavation of, in Chile, ii., Winds, dry, in Tierra del Fuego, i.,
63, 115.
298."
or of Tahiti, ii., 184, 185, 19
at the Cape Verds, i., 4.
a in Cordillera, ji., 63.
, cold, on. Cordillera, ii., 122.
- of New South Wales, ii.,
on Cordillera, ii., 73.
223.
Winter's Bark, i., 303, ii., 17.
Valparaiso, i., 325, ii., 60.
Wolf at the Falklands, i., 249.
Vampire bat, i., 27.
11., 60
Vapour front, 1.,
Wood, Capt., on the Agouti, i., 89.
Vapour from forests, i., 30.
Woollya, i., 285.
Van Diemen's Land, ií., 234.
Vanellus Cayanus, i., 146.
Yaquil, i., 342.
Vanessa, flocks of, i., 203.
Yeso, Valle del, ii., 68.
Vanikoro, ii., 265, 266, 272.
York, Minster, i., 266.
Ventana, Sierra, i., 137,
Verbena melindres, i., 51.
Zonotrichia, i., 67.
Villa Vicencio, ii., 84.
Zoological provinces of N. and S.
Virgularia Patagonica, i., 127, 260. I America, i., 167.
Volcanic bombs, ii., 295.
Zoology of Galapagos, ii., 145.
- islands, i., 10.
- of Keeling Island, ii., 247.
phenomena, ii., 5
of Tierra del Fuego, i., 304.
Volcanoes near Chiloe, ii., 8, 10, 31. -- of Chonos Islands, i., 26.
, their presence determined - of St. Helena, ii., 290, 291.
by elevation or subsidence, ii., 279. Zoophytes, i., 127.
Vultur aura, i., 74, 237, ii., 22.
at Falkland Islands, i.,
258, 259.
Waimate, New Zealand, ii., 202. Zorillo, or skunk, i., 103.
THE END.
VALUABLE BOOKS OF TRAVEL
PUBLISHED BY
IIARPER & BROTIERS, NEW-YORK.
1.
DR. DURBIN'S OBSERVATIONS IN THE EAST.
Observations in the East, chiefly in Egypt, the Desert,
Palestine, Syria, Asia Minor, and Constantinople. By
John P. Durbin, D.D. 2 vols. 12mo. Engravings. Muslin
gilt. $200.
It is a most rich, intellectual feast.-Buffalo Advocate.
The volumes are, without exaggeration, equal in interest and graphic
effect to the best books of modern travel with which we are acquainted.
There is an off-hand frankness and spirit about the sketches, which are
always marked by caution and discrimination, so that the statements are
as reliable as they are attractively interesting. Spirit of the Times.
This book is curious, attractive, and instructive; the author has avoid-
ed all useless lumber, and 'recorded in simple, unaffected language, his
observations upon what met his eye. His book shows the scholar, the
Christian, the philosophical observer, and the American patriot, but not
a bit of the nedant or the bore ; a more agreeable companion or guide
could scarcely be found than Dr. Durbin.-Buffalo Com. Advertiser.
II.
DR. DURBIN'S OBSERVATIONS IN EUROPE.
Observations in Europe, principally in France and Great
Britain. By John P. Durbin, D.D. 2 vols. 12mo. Engra-
vings. Muslin gilt. $200.
Few productions of the kind have been published of late years, in
which so inany valuable truths have beeu set forth in so attractive a
form.-Methodist Quarterly Review. .
III.
DR. OLIN'S TRAVELS IN THE HOLY LAND, &C.
Travels in Egypt, Arabia Petræa, and the Holy Land.
By Stephen Olin, D.D. 2 vols. 12mo. Engravings.
Eighth Edition. Muslin gilt. $250.
Dr. Olin's excellent volumes convey a great amount of information, also
remarkably accurate; his volume contains the best account of Egypt that
has appeared in this country-perhaps in the language.-Dr. DURBIN.
This work, from the pen of the distinguished President of the Wes-
leyan University, is among the latest on the subject. It is rich in infor-
mation, pervaded by a lofty spirit, and entitled to entire confidence. Dr.
POTTER's Hand-book.
We can most confidently and cordially recommend this book to our
readers, as a production which dues honour to the author.-Methodist
Quarterly Review.
VALUABLE BOOKS OF TRAVEL
IV.
DR. WOLFF'S MISSION TO BOKHARA.
Narrative of a Mission to Bokhara, in the Years 1843–
1845, to ascertain the Fate of Colonel Stoddart and Captain
Conolly. By Rev. Joseph Wolff, D.D., LL.D. 8vo. "En-
gravings. Muslin gilt. $200.
This is a most interesting and instructive' work, containing a sketch
of the distiuguished author's life, and a rich treasury of Oriental inission-
ary information, interspersed with incidents of thrilling interest. The
community are already familiar with the name of the Rev. Joseph Wolff,
one of the most remarkable inen of the present age.-Christian Intel.
A work of great interest, and full of the most curious information and
thrilling details. It will be seen to be the work of an eccentric inan, but
even this rather adds to its interest thau detracts from it.-Albany Spec-
tator,
11
V.
- HUMBOLDT'S COSMOS.
Cosmos: a General Survey of the Physical Phenomena
of the Universe. By Alexander Von Humboldt. From the
Fourth German Edition. 8vo. Muslin gilt. To be com-
pleted in Four Numbers. Two now published.
The work contains the latest results of the sciences and the last conclu-
sions drawn from them upon the mind and understanding of a great phi-
losopher. The work is one of the finest and most finished blossoms which
the cultivation of natural sciences has ever produced.--Broadway Journal.
This work, therefore, will be henceforth the text-book of all who would
learn how viature has herself unfolded the story of her birth, and how
those she nourished by her truths have recorded what she taught. Lon-
don Critic.
VI.
TRAVELS OF ALEXANDER VON HUMBOLDT,
Travels and Researches of Alexander von Humboldt ;
being a condensed Narrative of his Journeys in the Equi-
noctial Regions of America, and in Asiatic Russia ; togeth-
er with Analyses of his inore important Investigations. By
W. Macgillivray, A.M. 18mo. Engravings. 45 cents.
Humboldt is the most illustrious traveller of his day. Nothing seeing
too vast, too varied, too wonderful, or too minute for the keen eye, pene-
trating intellect, and unwearied exertions of this extraordinary man. A
botanist, zoologist, statist, and philosopher, the genius of this great wri-
ter seems to have been peculiarly fitted for surveying the varietios and
immensity of the physical world, and he accordingly takes the foreniost
rank of all travellers, dead or living. Dibden.
This work has been justly called by a coinpetent judge," a work of gi-
gantic extent and richness, to which the modern literature of Europe
cun hardly offer a parallel."- Encyclopedia Americana.
PUBLISHED BY HARPER & BROTHERS.
VII.
TRAVELS OF MARCO POLO.
Travels of Marco Polo, greatly amended and enlarged
from valuable early Manuscripts recently published by the
French Society of Geography, and in Italy by Count Bal-
delli Boni. With copious Notes, illustrating the Routes
and Observations of the Author, and comparing them with
those of more recent Travellers. By Hugh Murray,
F.R.S.E. 18mo. Two Maps and a Vignette. Muslin
gilt. 45 cents.
The best edition of the travels of Marco Polo that we have ever seen.
This famous old traveller, after so long labouring under a cloud of sus-
picion as to the verity of his statements, has lately, by the industry of
modern commentators, been rubbed bright, in some degree, and his nar-
ratives, always interesting, are now read with a degree of faith which
hitherto was not exercised in their perusal. The volume before us con-
tains maps, copious notes, and illustrations by the editor, and is every
way a most iuteresting buok.-Post.
A work hitherto inaccessible, though much renowned in the world of
Jetters. This is another of the great literary performances that originated
· within the walls of a dungeon, Marco Polo being, at the time of its com-
position, imprisoned at Pisa. This enterprising traveller explored inore
in the very heart of the Chinese Empire, and acquired more intimate
knowledge of the wandering Tartars of Asia, than any of his predeces-
sors, and, indeed, we might add, his successors, for in the 13th century
he enjoyed the immunity, since denied, of visiting Pekin with his eyes
open; his description, therefore, cannot but be interesting and valuable.
New-York Cornercial Advertiser.
VIII.
DR. PARROT'S JOURNEY TO MOUNT ARARAT.
Journey to Mount Ararat. By Dr. Friedrich Parrot.
Translated by W. D. Cooley. 18mo. Map and Engra-
vings. Muslin gilt. 50 cents.
This book is a desideratum in English literature. There is a popular
interest attached to the mountain, which the traditions both of Christian
and Mohammedan nations associate with one of the most impressive
events in the earliest records of our race.- London Speclator.
IX.
BUCKINGHAM'S TRAVELS IN AMERICA.
America: Historical, Statistical, and Descriptive. By
J. S. Buckingham. 2 vols. 8vo. Engravings. Muslin gilt.
$350.
"A work of great value, as comprising a vast amount of curious sta-
tistical inforination, criticisms on art," &c.
VALUABLE BOOKS OF TRAVEL
X.
GENERAL GREEN'S TEXIAN EXPEDITION AGAINST MIER.
Journal of the Texian Expedition against Mier; subse-
quent Innprisonment of the Author ; his Sufferings, and
final Escape from the Castle of Perote, with Reflections
upon the present Political and probable future Relations
of Texas, Mexico, and the United States. By General
Thomas J. Green. Illustrated by Drawings taken from
Life by Charles M'Laughlin, a Fellow-prisoner. 8vo.
Muslin gilt. $200.
This work is one of startling and most absorbing interest ; besides
being very graphic in description, it gives examples of personal and
moral courage and of fighting, such as brings back the remenibrance of
the fields of Cressy and Agincourt, for odds in the encounters.-Anglo-
American..
The history of the most thrilling incidents in the affairs of Texas, from
the pen of the leading actor, and in a style spirited, strong, and exciting.
It will be read with great avidity.- Evening Post.
A volume of romantic interest; it contains scenes and incidents con-
nected with the well-known expedition, involving a bloody struggle, and
gives us an insight into the character and conduct of men, which we read
with no little interest.- Evangelist.
XI.
DARWIN'S VOYAGE ROUND THE WORLD.
Journal of Researches into the Natural History and Ge-
ology of the Countries visited during the Voyage of H. M.
Ship Beagle round the World, under the Command of Capt
Fitz Roy, R.N. By Charles Darwin, M.A., F.R.S. 2 vols.
12mo. Muslin gilt. $1 00.
This is a first-rate work, combining popular interest with scientific
ability and value, better than any similar book we have seen. It is writa
ton in a graceful and popular style.-New-York Courier and Enquirer.'
XII. ,
DR. MOTT'S TRAVELS IN EUROPE AND THE EAST.
Travels in Europe and the East. By Valentine Mott,
M.D. 8vo. Muslin gilt. $1 90.
The learned professor has judiciously abstained from the more common
and familiar topics described by former tourists, and has introduced us to
the most distinguished schools of medicine and surgery, and to a familiar
acquaintance with the character, manners, &c., of the most distinguished
foreign members of the faculty. The author has evidently observed
whatever came under his notice with a critical eye, and has given some
new and striking views, particularly in regard to the Pythian Oracle, the
Temple of Apollo at Delphis, and the religion of the ancient Egyptians.
-Jethodist Quarterly Review).
PUBLISHED BY HARPER & BROTHERS
5
XIII.
The Glory and Shame of England. By C. Edwards
Lester. 2 vols. 12mo. Engravings. Muslin gilt. $1 50.
small share of attention both in this country and Great Britain. The
developments here made of the condition of the poor in England, making
due allowance for the luxuriance of the author's fancy, are of a most
fearful character. — Methodist Quarterly Revicw.
XIV.
PARRY'S VOYAGES TO THE POLAR SEAS.
Three Voyages for the Discovery of a Northwest Pas-
sage from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and Narrative of an
Attempt to reach the North Pole. By Sir W. E. Parry,
R.N. 2 vols. 18mo. Portrait. Muslin gilt. 90 cents.
· The history of these enterprises will be found exceedingly interesting ;
much curious and valuable information is also given in relation to the
dreary and inhospitable regions of northern Siberia, and the various
tribes that inhabit them.-A1ethodist Quarterly Review.
XV.
Narrative of the Texan Santa Fé Expedition, comprising
a Description of a Tour through Texas, and across the
great Southwestern Prairies, the. Camanche and Caygüa
Hunting-grounds, &c. By George Wilkins Kendall. 2
vols. 12mo. Map and Engravings. New Edition. Mus-
lin gilt. $2 50.
It has seldom fallen to our lot to read a narrative of so interesting and
touching incidents of travel as abound in these volumes; we were not
prepared to find in them reading so very attractive, nor could we form
any idea that such a narrative of toils and sufferings as are here detailed
by the sufferer himself, would present so many points of instruction to
the general reader.-Methodist Quarterly Review.
XVI.
ANTHON'S PILGRIMAGE TO TREVES.
· A Pilgrimage to Treves, through the Valley of the Meuse
and the Forest of Ardennes, in the Year 1844. By Charles
Edward Anthon. 12mo. Muslin gilt. 75 cents.
This book is a modest, carefully-written narrative of facts, with few
reflections, and those generally marked with good sonse and proper feel-
ing.-- Buffalo Commercial Advertiser.
If this at-ractive volume possessed no other claim to attention, it has
the charm of novelty about it, the author having chosen no beaten track
for his route, although one of great interest.-N. Y. Com. Advertiser.
nge this attractive volume is the author having chosecton. A dvertiser.
VALUABLE BOOKS OF TRAVEL
XVII.
MISS SEDGWICK'S LETTERS.
Letters from Abroad to Kindred at Home. By Miss C.
M. Sedgwick. 2 vols. 12mo. Muslin gilt. $1 90.
Miss Sedgwick has far exceeded her predecessors; for they only de-
scribed characters and scenes, while she has carried her researches into
the parlours, nay, into the very pantries of private individuals. Miss
Sedgwick occupies a high position in America, not merely as an ornament
of its world of light literature, but as a moral teacher.- London Atheneum.
XVIII.
VOYAGES ROUND THE WORLD.
Voyages round the World, from the Death of Captain
Cook to the present Time; including Remarks on the so-
cial Condition of the Inhabitants in the recently-discovered
Countries; their Progress in the Arts, and more especially
their Advancement in Religious Knowledge. 18mo. Mus-
lin gilt. 45 cents.
This volume, containing the researches of the latest navigators, is ad-
mirably written, presenting in every page matter of the most interesting
and valuable kind.-New-Orleans Bulletin
XIX.
STEPHENS'S CENTRAL AMERICA. .
Incidents of Travel in Central America, Chiapas, and
Yucatan. By John L. Stephens. 2 vols. 8vo. Map and
80 Engravings. Muslin gilt. $500.
XX.
STEPHENS'S YUCATAN.
Incidents of Travel in Yucatan. By John L. Stephens.
2 vols. 8vo. 120 Engravings, from Drawings by F. Cath-
XXI.
STEPHEN S'S TRAVELS IN EGYPT,
Incidents of Travel in Egypt, Arabia Petræa, and the
Holy Land. By John L. Stephens. 2 vols. 12mo. En-
gravings. Muslin gilt. $1 75.
STEPHENS'S TRAVELS IN GREECE.
Incidents of Travel in Greece, Turkey, Russia, and Po-
land. By John L. Stephens. 2 vols. 12mo. Engravings.
Muslin gilt. $1 75.
PUBLISHED BY HARPER & BROTHERS.
7
XXIII.
DR. FISK'S TRAVELS IN EUROPE.
Travels in Europe ; viz., in England, Ireland, Scotland,
France, Italy, Switzerland, some parts of Germany, and
the Netherlands. By W. Fisk, D.D. 8vo. Engravings.
Sheep extra. $3 25.
XXIV.
DR. HUMPHREY'S TOUR.
Great Britain, France, and Belgium. A short Tour in
1835. By H. Humphrey, D.D. 2 vols. 12mo. Muslin
gilt. $1 75.
XXV.
MRS. HAIGHT'S LETTERS FROM THE OLD WORLD.
Letters from the Old World. By Mrs. Haight. 2 vols.
12mo. Muslin gilt. $1 75.
XXVI.
KAY'S RESEARCHES IN CAFFRARIA.
Travels and Researches in Caffraria ; describing the
Character, Customs, and Moral Condition of the Tribes
inhabiting that Portion of Southern Africa. By Stephen
Kay. 12mo. Engravings. Muslin. 85 cents.
XXVII.
LANDERS' TRAVELS TO THE NIGER.
Journal of an Expedition to Explore the Course and Ter-
mination of the Niger. With a Narrative of a Voyage
down that River to its Terınination. By Richard and
John Lander. 2 vols. 18mo. Engravings. Muslin gilt.
90 cents.
XXVIII.
OWEN'S VOYAGES TO THE AFRICAN COAST.
Narrative of Voyages to explore the shores of Africa,
Arabia, and Madagascar; performed under the Direction
of Captain W. F. W. Owen, R.N. 2 vols. 12mo. Muslin.
$1 12.
XXIX.
REYNOLDS'S VOYAGE OF THE FRIGATE POTOMAC,
Voyage of the United States Frigate Potomac, during the
Circumnavigation of the Globe, in the Years 1831-1834.
By James N. Reynolds. 8vo. Engravings. Muslin gilt.
$3 25.
YT STT
VALUABLE BOOKS OF TRAVEL,
XXX.
CIRCUM NAVIGATION OF THE GLOBE.
An Historical Account of the Circumnavigation of the
Globe, and of the Progress of Discovery in the Pacific
Ocean, from the Voyage of Magellan to the Death of Cooki
18mo. Engravings. Muslin gilt. 45 cents.
XXXI.
EMERSON'S LETTERS FROM THE ÆGEAN.
Letters from the Ægean. By James Emerson. 8vo.
75 cents.
XXXII.
JACOBS'S ADVENTURES IN THE PACIFIC OCEAN.
Scenes, Incidents, and Adventures in the Pacific Ocean,
or the Islands of the Australasian Seas, during the Cruise
of the Clipper Margaret Oakley, under Captain Benjamin
Morrell. By Thomas Jefferson Jacobs. 12mo. Muslin
gilt. $1 25.
XXIII.
ROBERTS'S EMBASSY TO SIAM, COCHIN-CHINA, &C.
· Embassy to the Eastern Courts of Siam, Cochin-China,
and Muscat. By E. Roberts. 8vo. Muslin. $1 75.
XXXIV.
TASISTRO'S RANDOM SHOTS AND SOUTHERN BREEZES,
Random Shots and Southern Breezes. By Louis Fitz-
gerald Tasistro. 2 vols. 12mo. Muslin. $1 50.
XXXV.
MACKENZIE'S YEAR IN SPAIN.
A Year in Spain. By Alexander Slidell Mackenzie. 3
vols. 12mo. Muslin gilt. $2 25.
XXXVI.
MACKENZIE'S. SPAIN REVISITED.
Spain Revisited. By Alexander Slidell Mackenzie. %
vols. 12mo. Muslin gilt. $1 75.
XXXVII.
MACKENZIE'S AMERICAN IN ENGLAND.
The American in England. By Alexander Slidell Mac-
kenzie. 2 vols: 12mo. Muslin gilt. $1 50.
UV
IMPORTANT THEOLOGICAL WORKS
PUBLISHED BY
HARPER & BROTHERS, NEW-YORK.
MILMAN'S HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY,
The History of Christianity, from the Birth of Christ to
the Abolition of Paganism in the Roman Empire. By
Rev. H. H. Milman. With Notes, &c., by James Murdock,
D.D. 8vo. Muslin gilt. $1 90.
MILMAN'S HISTORY OF THE JEWS.
History of the Jews. By Rev. H. H. Milman. 3 vols.
-18mo. Maps, &c. Muslin gilt. $1 20.
III.
· PALEY'S EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
A View of the Evidences of Christianity. By William
Paley, D.D. 18mo. Half bound. 38 cents.
IV.
PALEY'S NATURAL THEOLOGY,
Paley's Natural Theology. With Illustrative Notes,
&c. By Henry Lord Brougham; F.R.S., and Sir Charles
Bell, F.R.S. To which are added, Preliminary Observa-
tions and Notes, by Alonzo Potter, D.D. 2 vols. 18mo.
Engravings. Muslin gilt. 90 cents.
V.
: MACLAINE'S MOSHEIM'S ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY.
Ecclesiastical History, Ancient and Modern ; in which
the Rise, Progress, and Variations of Church Power are
considered in their Connexion with the State of Learning
and Philosophy, and the Political History of Europe during
that Period. By J. L. Mosheim, D.D. Translated, wich
Notes, &c., by Archibald Maclaine, D.D. A new Edition,
continued to 1826, by Charles Coote, LL.D. 2 vols. 8vo.
Sheep extra. $350.
IMPORTANT THEOLOGICAL WORKS
VI.
MURDOCK'S EDITION OF MOSHEIM.
Mosheim's Institutes of Ecclesiastical History, &c. By
James Murdock, D.D. 3 vols.. 8vo. Sheep. $7 50.
VII.
NEAL'S HISTORY OF THE PURITANS.
The History of the Puritans, or Protestant Nonconſorin-
ists; from the Reformation in 1517 to the Revolution in
1688: comprising an Account of their Principles, their At-
tempts for a farther Reformation in the Church, their suf-
ferings, and the Lives and Characters of their most con-
siderable Divines. By Daniel Neal, M.A. A new Edition,
with very copious additional Notes, by Rev. J. O. Choules.
2 vols. 8vo. Portraits. Muslin gilt. $3 50.
VIII.
JARVIS'S NEW CHRONOLOGICAL INTRODUCTION.
A Chronological Introduction to the History of the
Church, being a new Inquiry into the True Dates of the
Birth and Death of Christ, with a Harmony of the Gospels,
&c. By Rev. S. F. Jarvis, D.D. 1 vol. 8vo. Muslin ex-
tra. $300.
IX.
TURNER'S SACRED HISTORY OF THE WORLD.
The Sacred History of the World, attempted to be philo-
sophically considered, in a Series of Letters to a Son. By
Sharon Turner, F.S.A. 3 vols. 18mo. Muslin gilt. $1 35.
X.
HUNTER'S SACRED BIOGRAPHY.
Sacred Biography; or, the History of the Patriarchs.
To which is added, the History of Deborah, Ruth, and Han-
nah, and also the History of Jesus Christ. By Henry Hun-
ter. 8vo. Muslin gilt. $175.
XI.
WADDINGTON'S CHURCH HISTORY,
A History of the Church, from the Earliest Ages to the
Reformation. By Rev. George Waddington, M.A. 8vo.
Muslin gilt. $175.
PUBLISHED BY IARPER & BROTHERS.
3
XII.
REV. ROBERT HALL'S WORKS.
The complete Works of Rev. Robert Hall, A.M. With
a brief Memoir of his Life, by Dr. Gregory, and Observa-
tions on his Character as a Preacher, by Rev. John Foster.
Edited by Olinthus Gregory, LL.D., and Rev. Joseph Bel-
cher. 4 vols. 8vo. Portrait. Sheep extra. $600.
XIII.
KEITH'S DEMONSTRATION.
Demonstration of the Truth of the Christian Religion.
By Alexander Keith, D.D. 12mo. Engravings. Muslin
gilt. $1 375.
XIV.
KEITH'S LAND OF ISRAEL,
The Land of Israel, according to the Covenant with
Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. By Alexander
Keith, D.D. 12mo. Plates. Muslin gilt. $1 25.
XV.
KEITH ON PROPHECY.
Evidence of the Truth of the Christian Religion, derived
from the Literal Fulfilment of Prophecy. By Alexander
Keith, D.D. 12mo. Muslin. 60 cents.
XVI.
REV, WILLIAM JAY'S WORKS.
The complete Works of Rev. William Jay. Author's
enlarged Edition, revised, comprising Morning and Even-
ing Exercises, short Discourses for Family Reading, the
Christian contemplate, selected Sermons, Lives of Win-
ter, Clark, &c. 3 vols. 8vo. Sheep extra. $5 00.
XVII.
PRIDEAUX'S CONNECTION.
The Old and New Testaments connected, in the Histo-
ry of the Jews and neighbouring Nations, from the Declen-
sion of the Kingdoms of Judah and Israel to the Time of
Christ. By Humphrey Prideaux, D.D. 2 vols. 8vo. Maps
and Engravings. Sheep extra. $375.
IMPORTANT THEOLOGICAL WORKS
XVIII.
SAURIN'S SERMONS.
Sermons of Rev. James Saurin. A new Edition, with
additional Sermons. Revised and corrected by Rev. Sam-
uei Burder, A.M. With a Preface by Rev. J. P. K. Hen-
shaw, D.D. 2 vols. 8vo. Portrait. Sheep extra. $3 75.
XIX.
SUMMERFIELD'S SERMONS.
Sermons and Sketches of Sermons. By Rev.John Sum-
merfield, A.M. With an Introduction, by Rev. Thomas
E. Bond, M.D. 8vo. Muslin gilt. $1 75.
XX.
BROWN'S BIBLE DICTIONARY.
A Dictionary of the Holy Bible. Containing an Account
of the Persons, Places, &c., mentioned in the Old and New
Testaments. By Rev. John Brown. With a Liſe of the
Author, and an Essay on the Evidences of Christianity.
8vo. Sheep extra. $1 75.
XXI.
LEWIS'S PLATONIC THEOLOGY.
Plato against the Atheists ; or, the Tenth Book of the
Dialogue on Laws, accompanied with Notes, Critical and
Philosophical, and extended Dissertations on the main
Points of the Platonic Theology as compared with the
Holy Scriptures. By Tayler Lewis, LL.D. 1 vol. 12mo.
Muslin gilt. $1 50.
We earnestly recommend this great work to every educated man in
the country; it opens up a field of reflection almost entirely new.--Truc
Sun.
One of the most remarkable works of the season, iſ not of the age.-
New York Courier and Enquirer.
1
XXII.
SHUTTLEWORTH'S CONSISTENCY OF REVELATION,
The Consistency of Revelation with Itself and with Hu-
man Reason. By Philip Nicholas Shuttleworth. : 18mo,
Muslin. 45 cents.

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