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Show 198 PATAGONIA. Dec. 1833. flood of the St. Cruz, would wash down many bones of the guanaco, but probably not a single one of the puma, ostrich, or fox. I may also observe, that almost every kind of waterfowl when wounded takes to the shore to die; so that the remains of birds, from this cause alone and independently of other reasons, would but rarely be preserved in a fossil state. One day the yawl was sent under the command of Mr · Chaffers with three days' provisions to survey the upper part of the harbour. In the morning we searched for some watering-places, mentioned in an old Spanish chart. We found one creek, at the head of which there was a trickling rill (the first we had seen) of brackish water. Here the tide compelled us to wait several hours ; and in the interval I walked some miles into the interior. The plain as usual, consisted of gravel, mingled with soil resembling chalk in appearance, but very different from it in nature. From the softness of these materials it was worn into many gullies. There was not a tree, and excepting the guanaco, which stood on the hill-top a watchful sentinel over its herd, scarcely an animal or a bird. All was stillness and desolation. One reflected how many ages the plain had thus lasted, and how many more it was doomed thus to continue. Yet in passing over these scenes, without one bright object near, an ill-defined but strong sense of pleasure is vividly excited. In the evening we sailed a few miles further up, and then pitched the tents for the night. By the middle of the next day, the yawl was aground, and from the shoalness of the water could not proceed any higher. The water being found partly fresh Mr. Chaffers took the dingey, and went up two or three miles further, where she also grounded, but in a fresh-water river. The water was muddy, and though the stream was most insignificant in size, it would be difficult to account for its source, except from the melting snow on the the Cordillera. At the spot where we bivouacked, we were surrounded by bold cliffs and steep pinnacles of porphyry. I do not thinic I ever saw a spot, which appeared more Dec. 1833. POR'l' ST. JULIAN. 199 secluded from the rest of the world, than this rocky crevice in the wide plain. The second day after our return to the anchorage, a party of officers and myself went to ransack an old Indian O'rave h. h 0 ' w IC • I had found on the summit of a neighbouring hill. Two Immense stones, each probably weighing at least a couple of tons, had been placed in front of a ledge of rock about six feet high. At the bottom of the grave on the hard rock, there was a layer of earth about a foot deep, which must have been brought up from the plain below. Above it a pavement of flat stones was placed, on which others were piled, so as to fill up the space between the ledge and the two great blocks. To complete the grave, the Indians had contrived to detach from the same ledge a huge fragment, and to throw it over the pile so as to rest on the two blocks. We undermined the grave on both sides, but could , not find any relics, or even bones. The latter probably had decayed long since (in which case the grave must have been of extreme antiquity), for I found in another place some smaller heaps, beneath which a very few crumbling fragments could yet be distinguished, as having belonged to a man. Falconer states, that where an Indian dies he is buried, but that subsequently his bones are carefully taken up and carried, let the distance be ever so great, to be deposited near the sea-coast. This custom, I think, may be accounted for, by recollecting that before the introduction of horses, these Indians must have led nearly the same life as the Fuegians, and therefore generally resided in the neighbourhood of the sea. The common prejudiceoflyingwhere one's ancestors have lain, would make the now roaming Indians bring the less perishable part of their dead to their ancient burial-grounds. JANUARY 9TH, 1834.-Before it was dark the Beagle anchored in the fine spacious harbour of Port St. Julian, situated about one hundred and ten miles to the south of Port Desire. We remained here eight days. The country is nearly similar to that of Port Desire, but, perhaps, rather more sterile. One day a party accompanied Captain Fitz- |