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 by this well for the same purpose. Sclater thinks that one or two of these endemic forms should be ranked rather as varieties than species, which always seemed to me probable. Richardson well remarks, utterly inexplicable connected with the different degrees of shyness and care with which birds conceal their nests. We then enjoyed bright and clear weather, while running pleasantly along at the rate of 150 or 160 miles a day before the steady tradewind. The thermometer in the poop cabin, by night and day, ranged between 80 and 83 degs. 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. Wilson, the missionary of the district, who met us on the road, and gave us a very friendly reception. After sitting a very short time in his house, we separated to walk about, but returned there in the evening. The land capable of cultivation, is scarcely in any part more than a fringe of low alluvial soil, accumulated round the base of the mountains, and protected 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 coralsand, is covered by the most beautiful productions of the intertropical regions. In the midst of bananas, orange, cocoanut, and breadfruit trees, spots are cleared where yams, sweet potatoes, and sugarcane, and pineapples are cultivated. Even the brushwood is an imported fruittree, namely, the guava, which from its abundance has become as noxious as a weed. However seldom the usefulness of an object can account for the pleasure of beholding it, in the case of these beautiful woods, the knowledge of their high productiveness no doubt enters largely into the feeling of admiration. I was pleased with nothing so much as with the inhabitants. They are very tall, broadshouldered, athletic, and wellproportioned. 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 somewhat like the crown of a palmtree.

It is, however, certain, that tortoises can subsist even on these islands where there is no other water than what falls during a few rainy days in the year. 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, however, always first drink the water in the pericardium, which is described as being best. The inhabitants, from observing marked individuals, consider that they travel a distance of about eight miles in two or three days. 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 hundred yards. Bynoe found seven placed in a fissure. The young tortoises, as soon as they are hatched, fall a prey in great numbers to the carrionfeeding buzzard. 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 tortoise, it is not sufficient to turn them like turtle, for they are often able to get on their legs again. Bibron informs me that he believes that it was distinct, as the species now living there certainly is. It is a hideouslooking creature, of a dirty black colour, stupid, and sluggish in its movements. Their tails are flattened sideways, and all four feet partially webbed. 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 motionless and closely collapsed on its sides. Their limbs and strong claws are admirably adapted for crawling over the rugged and fissured 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, basking in the sun with outstretched legs. If such be the case, the object of these animals occasionally going out to sea is explained. The stomach contained nothing but the seaweed. The intestines were large, as in other herbivorous animals.

The extraordinary number of churches gives it, even at the present day, a peculiar and striking character, especially when viewed from a short distance. The remains of houses, enclosures, irrigating 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 impossible not to respect the considerable advance made by them in the arts of civilization. Quantities of shingle almost conceal the foundations of the walls, and vast masses of brickwork appear to have been whirled about like pebbles by the retiring waves. The height of this bed is eightyfive feet. They rest on fragments of the underlying sandstone, and are covered by a few inches thick of detritus. The resultant salts, however, ought to be carbonate of soda and muriate of lime, the latter is present, but not the carbonate of soda. 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 archipelago consists of ten principal islands, of which five exceed the others in size. Some of the craters, 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 hesitate to affirm, that there must be in the whole archipelago at least two thousand craters. These consist either of lava or scoriae, or of finelystratified, sandstonelike tuff. Hence, whilst the lower 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 vegetation. This is especially the case on the windward sides of the islands, which first receive and condense the moisture from the atmosphere. Nothing could be less inviting than the first appearance. A broken field of black basaltic lava, thrown into the most rugged waves, and crossed by great fissures, is everywhere covered by stunted, sunburnt brushwood, which shows little signs of life. After the season of heavy rains, the islands are said to appear for a short time partially green. These huge reptiles, surrounded by the black lava, the leafless shrubs, and large cacti, seemed to my fancy like some antediluvian animals.

It was curious to behold the machinery, if such a term may be used, for the drainage, all, with the last trifling exception, perfect, yet without any signs of action. These houses, when perfect, must have been capable of containing a considerable number of persons. They were situated in the most conspicuous and defenceless position, at the bottom of the flat broad valley. At the present day, with the advantage of beasts of burden, a mine, unless it were very rich, could scarcely be worked here with profit. Gill, a civil engineer, who had seen much of the interior country. Is it not most wonderful that men should have attempted such operations, without the use of iron or gunpowder? Near it was the dry course of a considerable river, whence the water for irrigation had formerly been conducted. 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 unequivocal evidence that a ridge had been uplifted right across the old bed of a stream. From the moment the rivercourse was thus arched, the water must necessarily have been thrown back, and a new channel formed. From that moment, also, the neighbouring plain must have lost its fertilizing stream, and become a desert. We continued gradually ascending, and the valley now changed into a ravine. 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, brightened 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. 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 valley, 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 below the freezingpoint, for water in a vessel soon became a block of ice.

Their bodies are not very muscular. They rarely eat meat once a week, and never oftener, and then only the hard dry charqui. 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. Joseph, saying it was a pity the lady should not have a husband. 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. It was interesting to watch the effect of this trifling amount of moisture. Before this shower every part of the surface was bare as on a high road. 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 whole party escaped. The danger in an earthquake is not from the time lost in opening the door, but from the chance of its becoming 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. Lyell to have been formed by the sea, during the gradual rising of the land. They have undoubtedly been formed by the denuding power of the sea, during long periods of rest in the gradual elevation of the continent. These modern beds rest on an ancient tertiary formation containing shells, apparently all extinct. I believe the explanation is not difficult, and that it is perhaps applicable to nearly analogous facts observed in other quarters of the world.

Shortly before we arrived at this place, we observed to the south a ragged cloud of dark reddishbrown colour. The poor cottagers in vain attempted by lighting fires, by shouts, and by waving branches to avert the attack. Before sucking they are quite thin, but afterwards they become round and bloated with blood, and in this state are easily crushed. When placed on a table, and though surrounded by people, if a finger was presented, the bold insect would immediately 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. The prosperity of the place has much declined of late years. To my mind the town had a stupid, forlorn aspect. We had to cross a long and most sterile traversia of fifteen leagues. 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. I stayed here and at some neighbouring mines during the two succeeding days. The geology of the surrounding country is very curious. I was gratified in a very extraordinary manner. These were petrified trees, eleven being silicified, and from thirty to forty converted into coarselycrystallized white calcareous spar. They were abruptly broken off, the upright stumps projecting a few feet above the ground. The trunks measured from three to five feet each in circumference. They stood a little way apart from each other, but the whole formed one group. 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. 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 difference in their volume.

We rode during this day to the last, and therefore most elevated, house in the valley. They may be traced up to a height of between 7000 and 9000 feet, where they become hidden by the irregular piles of debris. The rivers which flow in these valleys ought rather to be called mountaintorrents. Their inclination is very great, and their water the colour of mud. 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. It was like thinking on time, where the minute that now glides past is irrevocable. It is not possible for the mind to comprehend, except by a slow process, any effect which is produced by a cause repeated so often, that the multiplier itself conveys an idea, not more definite than the savage implies when he points to the hairs of his head. 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. This sign of the approaching winter hurried our steps, more than was convenient for geologizing. As we ascended the valley, the vegetation, with the exception of a few pretty alpine flowers, became exceedingly scanty, and of quadrupeds, birds, or insects, scarcely one could be seen. The lofty mountains, their summits marked with a few patches of snow, stood well separated from each other, the valleys being filled up with an immense thickness of stratified alluvium. Occasionally in the spring, great masses of this detritus slide down the mountains, and cover the snowdrifts in the valleys, thus forming natural icehouses. We rode over one, the height of which was far below the limit of perpetual snow. It was covered by a little dry pasture, and we had the pleasant sight of a herd of cattle amidst the surrounding rocky deserts. We slept with a party of men, who were employed in loading mules with this substance, which is used in the manufacture of wine. These alternating masses are covered in the central parts, by a great thickness of red sandstone, conglomerate, and calcareous clayslate, associated with, and passing into, prodigious beds of gypsum.

The rocking of the ground was very sensible. The people rushed out of doors in the greatest alarm. It is these accompaniments that create that perfect horror 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 aweexciting phenomenon. The tides were very curiously affected. In the course of the evening there were many weaker shocks, which seemed to produce in the harbour the most complicated currents, and some of great strength. Besides chairs, tables, bookshelves, etc. The island itself as plainly showed the overwhelming 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. It is, perhaps, owing to this same reason, that earthquakes do not cause quite such terrific havoc within deep mines as would be expected. The first shock was very sudden. Rising up, he was again thrown down. He also told me that some cows which were standing on the steep side of the island were rolled into the sea. Innumerable small tremblings followed the great earthquake, and within the first twelve days no less than three hundred were counted. He had scarcely reached the middle of the courtyard, when one side of his house came thundering 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. 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 approach the shattered ruins, and no one knew whether his dearest friends and relations were not perishing from the want of help.

Caldeleugh sent home two tubers, which, being well manured, even the first season produced numerous potatoes and an abundance of leaves. 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. 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. In the morning the volcano became tranquil. It is difficult even to conjecture whether this coincidence was accidental, or shows some subterranean connection. Having hired horses and a guide, we set out on the morning of the 22nd. We had not proceeded far, before we were joined by a woman and two boys, who were bent on the same journey. These pegs render a fall from a horse dangerous, as the chance of alighting on one of them is not small. 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 foresttrees, with their bases matted together by canes. I was told that several people had formerly lost their lives in attempting to cross the forest. 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. 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 civilized. Shortly after sunset we bivouacked for the night. I was surprised at the total want of pride shown by her and her brother. King and myself whilst eating, till we were fairly shamed into feeding the whole party.

We stayed here three days. We stood out to sea. The next day a harbour was discovered, which on this dangerous coast might be of great service to a distressed vessel. It was a laborious undertaking, for the sides were so steep that in some parts it was necessary to use the trees as ladders. 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 failed 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 communicates to the mind. In these little frequented countries 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 whether any human being has previously visited an unfrequented spot. A bit of wood with a nail in it, is picked up and studied as if it were covered with hieroglyphics. Close by it there had been a fire, and the man had used an axe. 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. 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 another harbour was discovered, where we anchored. Directly afterwards a man was seen waving a shirt, and a boat was sent which brought back two seamen. 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 discovered! 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.

Was he at a loss how to classify them, and did he consequently think that silence was the more prudent course? It is one more instance of the frequency of omissions by authors, on those very subjects where it might have been least expected. 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. 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 winter 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. 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. The people all dress in strong woollen garments, which each family makes for itself, and dyes with indigo of a dark blue colour. The forests are so impenetrable, 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. There is also a great deficiency of a circulating medium. I have seen a man bringing on his back a bag of charcoal, with which to buy some trifle, 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. 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. The land in this neighbourhood has been extensively cleared, and there were many quiet and most picturesque nooks in the forest. We had not long bivouacked, before the barefooted son of the governor came down to reconnoitre us.

These bridges are very poor affairs. The road, following the curvature of the suspending ropes, is made of bundles of sticks placed close together. It was full of holes, and oscillated rather fearfully, even with the weight of a man leading his horse. In the evening we reached a comfortable farmhouse, where there were several very pretty senoritas. They were much horrified at my having entered one of their churches out of mere curiosity. The suspension bridges, in the less frequented parts, are generally taken down during the winter when the rivers are low. Such was the case in this valley, and we were therefore obliged to cross the stream on horseback. We reached the baths in the evening, and stayed there five days, being confined the two last by heavy rain. The buildings consist of a square of miserable little hovels, each with a single table and bench. It is a quiet, solitary spot, with a good deal of wild beauty. A considerable quantity of gas is continually escaping from the same orifices with the water. After the great earthquake of 1822 the springs ceased, and the water did not return for nearly a year. The man who had charge of the baths assured me that in summer the water is hotter and more plentiful than in winter. I scrambled up a peaked mountain, probably more than six thousand feet high. Here, as indeed everywhere else, scenes of the highest interest presented themselves. Pincheira was a capital horseman, and he made all around him equally good, for he invariably shot any one who hesitated to follow him. The next morning we rode to the mines, which are situated at the distance of some leagues, near the summit of a lofty hill. Their form is generally circular, and their thickness from four to six feet, of which the greater part is immersed in the water. As the wind blows, they pass from one side of the lake to the other, and often carry cattle and horses as passengers.

These shells either lie loose on the surface, or are embedded in a reddishblack vegetable mould. I was much surprised to find under the microscope that this vegetable mould is really marine mud, full of minute particles of organic bodies. At its base there were many fine evergreen foresttrees, but these flourished only in the ravines, where there was running water. The prospect was one of remarkable artificial luxuriance. The valley is very broad and quite flat, and is thus easily irrigated in all parts. The little square gardens are crowded with orange and olive trees, and every sort of vegetable. On each side huge bare mountains rise, and this from the contrast renders the patchwork valley the more pleasing. Chile must formerly have resembled the latter country in the configuration of its land and water. The contrast of these flat valleys and basins with the irregular mountains, gave the scenery a character which to me was new and very interesting. From the natural slope to seaward of these plains, they are very easily irrigated, and in consequence singularly fertile. Without this process the land would produce scarcely anything, for during the whole summer the sky is cloudless. The mountains and hills are dotted over with bushes and low trees, and excepting these the vegetation is very scanty. Each landowner in the valley possesses a certain portion of hillcountry, where his halfwild cattle, in considerable numbers, manage to find sufficient pasture. The orchards produce an overflowing abundance of peaches figs, and grapes. With all these advantages, the inhabitants of the country ought to be much more prosperous than they are. The paths were very bad, but both the geology and scenery amply repaid the trouble. This must be an old name, for it is very many years since a guanaco drank its waters. These palms are, for their family, ugly trees. Their stem is very large, and of a curious form, being thicker in the middle than at the base or top.

It is a globular, brightyellow fungus, which grows in vast numbers on the beechtrees. How singular is this relationship between parasitical fungi and the trees on which they grow, in distant parts of the world! It has a mucilaginous, slightly sweet taste, with a faint smell like that of a mushroom. With the exception of a few berries, chiefly of a dwarf arbutus, the natives eat no vegetable food besides this fungus. Throughout the beech forests, high up and low down, in the most gloomy, wet, and impenetrable ravines, it may be met with. Landshells could be procured only in the same alpine situations with the beetles. If we turn from the land to the sea, we shall find the latter as abundantly stocked with living creatures as the former is poorly so. In all parts of the world a rocky and partially protected shore perhaps supports, in a given space, a greater number of individual animals than any other station. There is one marine production which, from its importance, is worthy of a particular history. This plant grows on every rock from lowwater mark to a great depth, both on the outer coast and within the channels. I know few things more surprising than to see this plant growing and flourishing amidst those great breakers of the western ocean, which no mass of rock, let it be ever so hard, can long resist. The stem is round, slimy, and smooth, and seldom has a diameter of so much as an inch. The beds of this seaweed, even when of not great breadth, make excellent natural floating breakwaters. It is quite curious to see, in an exposed harbour, how soon the waves from the open sea, as they travel through the straggling stems, sink in height, and pass into smooth water. A great volume might be written, describing the inhabitants of one of these beds of seaweed. Almost all the leaves, excepting those that float on the surface, are so thickly incrusted with corallines as to be of a white colour. Innumerable crustacea frequent every part of the plant. I can only compare these great aquatic forests of the southern hemisphere with the terrestrial ones in the intertropical regions. The dark ragged clouds were rapidly driven over the mountains, from their summits nearly down to their bases.

They asked for everything they saw, and stole what they could. Bynoe, oh, bird all same horse! Everything went on so quietly that some of the officers and myself took long walks in the surrounding hills and woods. Suddenly, however, on the 27th, every woman and child disappeared. Looking towards either hand, no object intercepted the vanishing points of this long canal between the mountains. We sailed on till it was dark, and then pitched our tents in a quiet creek. The greatest luxury was to find for our beds a beach of pebbles, for they were dry and yielded to the body. There is something very solemn in these scenes. At no time does the consciousness in what a remote corner of the world you are then standing, come so strongly before the mind. The occasional barking of a dog, heard in the distance, reminds one that it is the land of the savage. The scenery here becomes even grander than before. The lofty mountains on the north side compose the granitic axis, or backbone of the country and boldly rise to a height of between three and four thousand feet, with one peak above six thousand feet. They are covered by a wide mantle of perpetual snow, and numerous cascades pour their waters, through the woods, into the narrow channel below. It is scarcely possible to imagine anything more beautiful than the beryllike blue of these glaciers, and especially as contrasted with the dead white of the upper expanse of snow. The boats being hauled on shore at our dinnerhour, we were admiring from the distance of half a mile a perpendicular cliff of ice, and were wishing that some more fragments would fall. At last, down came a mass with a roaring noise, and immediately we saw the smooth outline of a wave travelling towards us. This was most fortunate for us, for we were a hundred miles distant from the ship, and we should have been left without provisions or firearms. This promontory was evidently a moraine, heaped up at a period when the glacier had greater dimensions. We met with no natives.

After a little more trouble we gained the peat, and then the bare slate rock. A ridge connected this hill with another, distant some miles, and more lofty, so that patches of snow were lying on it. When we reached the hill we found it the highest in the immediate neighbourhood, and the waters flowed to the sea in opposite directions. There was a degree of mysterious grandeur in mountain behind mountain, with the deep intervening valleys, all covered by one thick, dusky mass of forest. The atmosphere, likewise, in this climate, where gale succeeds gale, with rain, hail, and sleet, seems blacker than anywhere else. The evening was calm and bright, and we enjoyed a fine view of the surrounding isles. We stood out to sea, and on the second day again made the land, when we saw on our weatherbow this notorious promontory in its proper form veiled in a mist, and its dim outline surrounded by a storm of wind and water. The only thing which reminded us of the gale outside, was every now and then a puff from the mountains, which made the ship surge at her anchors. The surrounding islands all consist of conical masses of greenstone, associated sometimes with less regular hills of baked and altered clayslate. These heaps can be distinguished at a long distance by the bright green colour of certain plants, which invariably grow on them. Among these may be enumerated the wild celery and scurvy grass, two very serviceable plants, the use of which has not been discovered by the natives. It merely consists of a few broken branches stuck in the ground, and very imperfectly thatched on one side with a few tufts of grass and rushes. The whole cannot be the work of an hour, and it is only used for a few days. On the west coast, however, the wigwams are rather better, for they are covered with sealskins. We were detained here several days by the bad weather. The thermometer generally stood about 45 degs. From the damp and boisterous state of the atmosphere, not cheered by a gleam of sunshine, one fancied the climate even worse than it really was. On the east coast the natives, as we have seen, have guanaco cloaks, and on the west they possess sealskins. Amongst these central tribes the men generally have an otterskin, or some small scrap about as large as a pockethandkerchief, which is barely sufficient to cover their backs as low down as their loins.

Eight times successively the bird let its prey go, then dived after it, and although in deep water, brought it each time to the surface. When thus opposed he continually rolled his head from side to side, in a very odd manner, as if the power of distinct vision lay only in the anterior and basal part of each eye. When crawling, it may be said on four legs, through the tussocks or on the side of a grassy cliff, it moves so very quickly that it might easily be mistaken for a quadruped. They do not migrate, but build on the small outlying islets. They live entirely on vegetable matter. Their wings are too small and weak to allow of flight, but by their aid, partly swimming and partly flapping the surface of the water, they move very quickly. These clumsy, loggerheaded ducks make such a noise and splashing, that the effect is exceedingly curious. The steamer is able to dive only to a very short distance. When in the evening pluming themselves in a flock, they make the same odd mixture of sounds which bullfrogs do within the tropics. I will mention only one class of facts, relating to certain zoophytes in the more highly organized division of that class. The head itself possessed considerable powers of movement, by means of a short neck. In the greater number of species, each cell was provided with one head, but in others each cell had two. When one of the vulturelike heads was cut off from the cell, the lower mandible retained its power of opening and closing. Perhaps the most singular part of their structure is, that when there were more than two rows of cells on a branch, the central cells were furnished with these appendages, of only onefourth the size of the outside ones. When touched with a needle, the beak generally seized the point so firmly, that the whole branch might be shaken. Each of these bristles and each of the vulturelike heads generally moved quite independently of the others, but sometimes all on both sides of a branch, sometimes only those on one side, moved together coinstantaneously, sometimes each moved in regular order one after another. In these actions we apparently behold as perfect a transmission of will in the zoophyte, though composed of thousands of distinct polypi, as in any single animal. But the remarkable circumstance was, that the flashes of light always proceeded up the branches, from the base towards the extremities. The examination of these compound animals was always very interesting to me.

There is one main range of hills, nearly two thousand feet in height, and composed of quartz rock, the rugged and barren crests of which gave us some trouble to cross. In the evening we came across a small herd. Then dropping his hat to mark the spot where the balls were left, while at full gallop, he uncoiled his lazo, and after a most severe chase, again came up to the cow, and caught her round the horns. Jago had some difficulty in killing the furious beast. But when on level ground it does not appear an easy job for one man to kill a beast mad with terror. This horse, however, was a young one, and would not stand still, but gave in to the cow as she struggled. Jago dodged behind the beast, till at last he contrived to give the fatal touch to the main tendon of the hind leg after which, without much difficulty, he drove his knife into the head of the spinal marrow, and the cow dropped as if struck by lightning. He cut off pieces of flesh with the skin to it, but without any bones, sufficient for our expedition. This is as superior to common beef as venison is to mutton. A large circular piece taken from the back is roasted on the embers with the hide downwards and is the form of a saucer, so that none of the gravy is lost. From the great number of cows which have been killed, there is a large proportion of bulls. These wander about single, or two and three together, and are very savage. It was very interesting to see how art completely mastered force. During our whole ride we saw only one troop of wild horses. It is a curious fact, that the horses have never left the eastern end of the island, although there is no natural boundary to prevent them from roaming, and that part of the island is not more tempting than the rest. Sulivan has taken much pains for me in this inquiry. Sulivan that he had watched a stallion for a whole hour, violently kicking and biting a mare till he forced her to leave her foal to its fate. Sulivan can so far corroborate this curious account, that he has several times found young foals dead, whereas he has never found a dead calf. Moreover, the dead bodies of fullgrown horses are more frequently found, as if more subject to disease or accidents, than those of the cattle.

Several species of mice are externally characterized by large thin ears and a very fine fur. These little animals swarm amongst the thickets in the valleys, where they cannot for months together taste a drop of water excepting the dew. They all seem to be cannibals for no sooner was a mouse caught in one of my traps that it was devoured by others. A small and delicately shaped fox, which is likewise very abundant, probably derives its entire support from these small animals. The puma, with the condor and other carrionhawks in its train, follows and preys upon these animals. Like the navigators of old when approaching an unknown land, we examined and watched for the most trivial sign of a change. The top, however, of a heavy bank of clouds, which remained almost constantly in one position, was the most promising sign, and eventually turned out a true harbinger. At first the clouds were mistaken for the mountains themselves, instead of the masses of vapour condensed by their icy summits. We this day met with a marked change in the geological structure of the plains. This morning, however, pebbles of the same rock, but more compact, suddenly became abundant, and in the course of half an hour we saw, at the distance of five of six miles, the angular edge of a great basaltic platform. When we arrived at its base we found the stream bubbling among the fallen blocks. For the next twentyeight miles the rivercourse was encumbered with these basaltic masses. Above that limit immense fragments of primitive rocks, derived from its surrounding boulderformation, were equally numerous. At the first glance of the basaltic cliffs on the opposite sides of the valley, it was evident that the strata once were united. What power, then, has removed along a whole line of country, a solid mass of very hard rock, which had an average thickness of nearly three hundred feet, and a breadth varying from rather less than two miles to four miles? The river, though it has so little power in transporting even inconsiderable fragments, yet in the lapse of ages might produce by its gradual erosion an effect of which it is difficult to judge the amount. But in this case, independently of the insignificance of such an agency, good reasons can be assigned for believing that this valley was formerly occupied by an arm of the sea. But it may yet be asked, how has the solid basalt been moved? With the change in the geological structure of the plains the character of the landscape likewise altered.

Martinafcxto