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pounds weight ; and cost altogether ten pounds of tobacco,
forty biscuits, and six pocket-knives. At first a biscuit was
considered equivalent to forty or fifty pounds of meat ; hut as
the demand increased, the price rose four or five hundred per
cent. With the Patagonians were two of Mr. Low’s crew, who
had left him. They were Portuguese, in a miserable state, and
appeared to be thoroughíy ashamed of being the companions of
such a dirty set : they could not speak English, and could give
us very little information. They had not then assumed the
Indian garb, although, from the state of their clothes, they
would very soon be obliged to adopt it.
At Pecket’s Harbour a few words of the native language
were collected, which are very different from those given by
Falkner, in his description of the Patagonian natives : he says
himself, that the language of the northern Indians differs
materially from that of the ‘ Yacana Cunnees.’
During Lieutenant Graves’s communication with the natives,
at Pecket’s Harbour, he obtained some interesting information
respecting these Indians, which will be given in a subsequent
part of the work.
The Adelaide brought me a few very gratifying additions
to my zoological collection, among which was the Zorillo, or
Skunk, of the Pampas ; differing in no way whatever from the
species found about the River Plata, in such numbers as to
impregnate the air with their disagreeable odour for many miles
around.
I have frequently found the scent of this offensive little animal
distinctly perceptible when I was on board the Adventure,
lying at anchor about two miles from Monte Video, with the
wind blowing from the land.*
* D ’Azara, in his Essai sur THistoire Naturelle des Quadrupèdes de
Paraguay, gives the following account of this animal, which he calls
Yagouare. I t burrows in the ground, eats insects, eggs, and birds, when
it can surprise them, and moves about the plains and fields both by day
and night in search of food ; brushing the ground with its body, and
c arrying its tail horizontally. I t regards not the presence of man or
b e as t; unless an attempt be made to injure or take it, when, it gathers up
its body, bristles up the hairs of its tail, erecting it vertically ; and in
this
A very large condor was shot by one of the Adelaide’s
party, which measured, in length, four feet three inches and a
half, and nine feet two inches between the extremities of the
wings. It was presented to the British Museum. Many exaggerated
accounts of this bird have been given by old voyagers;
but the largest dimensions stated, of whose accuracy there
exists no doubt, are those of one that was preserved in the
Leverian Museum, which measured thirteen feet one inch,
from wing to wing. This, however, must have been an old
bird ; for the one we killed is larger than the usual size of
specimens which have been obtained. Mohna states, in his
account of this bird, vol. i. p. 298, that the largest he ever saw
measured fourteen feet and some inches (Spanish measure), from
the tip of one wing to that of the other. M. Humboldt also
gives a detailed description.
“ It is with the condor,” says this celebrated voyager, “ as
with the Patagonian, and many other objects of natural history;
the more they are examined, the more they diminish in size.”
They inhabit the highest mountains of the Andes, and only
descend to the plains when pressed by hunger. Frequently, in
troops, they attack cattle, deer, guanacoes, and even the puma,
and always succeed in killing them ; but their principal food
is carrion, of which, in a country so abundantly stocked with
quadrupeds, there is probably no want.
Our departure from the Strait was attended with beautiful
weather ; the moon was full, and the wind fair and moderate.
this position awaits the approach of its enemy, a t whom it ejects its urine,
which produces so unbearable a smell, that neither man, dog, nor tiger,
will attempt to touch the animal.
The yagouare moves very slowly, and cannot run. I t produces two
young ones, which are placed at the bottom of its burrow. T h e unconquered
Indians of the Pampas make mantles with the furs of the fox,
cavia, or other animals, and border them with the skins of the yagouare,
which are very soft and fine, and would be fit for being employed by the
fu rrie r were it not for the disagreeable odour wliich they impart to
every thing tliey touch. The Indians eat the flesh of this animal, which
they irritate until its only means of defence is unavailing, and it can bo
captured without offensive consequences.
ii.