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Show 252 FALKLAND ISLANDS. March, 1834. the Gauchos, who have from infancy almost lived on horseback, say that, under similar circumstances, they always suffer. St. J ago told me, that having been confined for three months by illness, he went out hunting wild cattle, and ~n consequence, for the next two days, his thighs were so stiff that he was obliged to lie in bed. This shows that the Gauchos, although they do not appear to do so, yet really must exert much muscular effort in riding. The hunting wild cattle, in a country so difficult to pass as this is on account of the swampy ground, must be very hard work. The Gauchos say they often pass at full speed over ground which would be impassable at a slower pace; in the same manner as a man is able to skate across thin ice. When hunting, the party en~ deavours to get as close as possible to the herd without being discovered. Each man carries four or five pair of the bolas ; these he throws one after the other at as many cattle, which, when once entangled, are left for some days, till they become a little exhausted by hunger and struggling. They are then let free and driven towards a small herd of tame animals, which have been brought to the spot on purpose. From their previous treatment, being too much terrified to leave the herd, they are easily drh·en, if their strength lasts out, to the settlement. The weather continued so very bad, that we determined to make a push, and try to reach the vessel before night. From the quantity of rain which had fallen, the surface of the whole country was swampy. I suppose my horse fell at least a dozen times, and sometimes the whole six were floundering in the mud together. All the little streams are bordered by soft peat, which makes it very difficult for the horses to leap them without falling. To complete our discomforts, we were obliged to cross the head of a creek, in which the water was as high as the backs of the horses, and the little waves, owing to the violence of the wind, broke over us, and made us very wet and cold. Even the ironframed Gauchos professed themselves glad when they reached the settlement, after our little excursion. March, 1834. GEOLOGY. 253 The geological structure of these islands is in most respects simple. T~e lower country consists of clay-slate and sandstone associated together, and the hills of white granular quartz rock. The strata of the latter are frequently arched with perfect symmetry, and the appearance of some of the masses is in consequence most singular. Pernety* has devoted several pages to the description of a hill of ruins th . ' e successive strata of which he has justly compared to the sea. ts of an amphitheatre. The quartz rock must have be en qmte pasty when it underwent such remarkable flexure without being shattered into fragments. As a passage between the quartz and the sandstone can be traced, it seems pro?able that the former owes its origin to the sandstone havmg been heated to such an excess, that it became viscid and upon cooling crystallized. While in the soft state it must have been pushed up through the overlying beds. The sandstone and clay-slate contain numerous casts of organic remains. These chiefly consist of shells allied to terebratula, of encrinites, of a branching coral divided into alternate compartments, and lastly, of an obscure impression of the lobes of a trilobite. These fossils possess great interest, because none hitherto have been brought to Europe from a lat!tude nearly so far south. Mr. Murchison, who had the kindness to look at my specimens, says that they have a close general resemblance to· those belonging to the lower division of his Silurian system ; and Mr. James So~erby is of opinion that some of the species are identical. Th1s would be a most remarkable circumstance in the ancie. nt natur~l history ~f the world ; for shells now living in l~htude 50 on opposite sides of the equator, are totally dtstinct. From the similarity of the Falkland fossils with those in England which are associated with remains that indicate a climate of a tropical character, we may I presume infer that, during this same epoch, nearly the whole world was thus circumstanced. • Pernety, Voyage aux Isles Malouines, p. 526. |