crews of sealing vessels; but, except in the rainy season, they
all contain saltish water. This observation is applicable to
nearly the whole extent of the porphyritic country. Oyster-
shells, three or four inches in diameter, were found, scattered
over the hills, to the height of three or four hundred feet above
the sea. Sir John Narborough, in 1652, found oyster-shells at
Port San Julian; but, from a great many which have been lately
collected there, we know that they are of a species different
from that found at Port Santa Elena. Both are fossils.
No recent specimen of the genus Ostrea was found by us on
any part of the Patagonian coast. Narborough, in noticing
those at Port San Julian, says, “ They are the biggest oyster-
shells that I ever saw, some six, some seven inches broad, yet
not one oyster to be found in the harbour: whence I conclude
they were here when the world was formed.”
The short period of our visit did not enable us to add much
to natural history. Of quadrupeds we saw guanacoes, foxes,
cavies, and the armadillo; but no traces of the puma (Felis
concolor), or South American lion, although it is to he met
with in the interior.
I mentioned that a herd of guanacoes was feeding near the
shore when we arrived. Every exertion was made to obtain some
of the animals; but, either from their shyness, or our ignorance
of the mode of entrapping them, we tried in vain, until
the arrival of a small sealing-vessel, wliich had hastened to our
assistance, upon seeing the fires we had accidentally made, but
which her crew thought were intended for signals of distress.
They shot two, and sent some of the meat on board the Adventure.
The next day, Mr. Tarn succeeded in shooting one, a
female, which, when skinned and cleaned, weighed 168 lbs.
Narborough mentions having killed one at Port San Julian,
that weighed, “ cleaned in his quarters, 268 lbs.” The watchful
and wary character of this animal is very remarkable.
Whenever a herd is feeding, one is posted, like a sentinel, on a
height; and, at the approach of danger, gives instant alarm
by a loud neigh, when away they all go, at a hand-gallop, to
tlie next eminence, where they quietly resume their feeding,
I [
until again warned of the approach of danger by their vigilant
‘ look-out.’
Another peculiarity of the guanaco is, the habit of resorting
to particular spots for natural purposes. This is mentioned in
the ‘ Dictionnaire d’Histoire Naturelle,’ in the ‘ Encyclopédie
Méthodique,’ as well as other works.
In one place we found the bones of thirty-one guanacoes
collected within a space of thirty yards, perhaps the result of
an encampment of Indians, as evident traces of them were
observed ; among which were a human jaw-bone, and a piece
of agate ingeniously chipped into the shape of a spear-head.
The fox, which we did not take, appeared to be small, and
similar to a new species afterwards found by us in the Strait of
Magalhaens.
The cavia* (or, as it is called by Narborough, Byron, and
Wood, the hare, an animal from which it differs both in appearance
and habits, as well as flavour), makes a good dish ; and so
does the armadillo, which our people called the shell-pig.i*
This little animal is found abundantly about the low land, and
lives in burrows underground ; several were taken by the
seamen, and, when cooked in their .shells, were savoury and
wholesome.
Teal were abundant upon the marshy grounds. A few partridges,
doves, and snipes, a rail, and some hawks were shot.
The few sea-birds that were observed consisted of two species
of gulls, a grebe and a penguin {Aptenodytes Magellanica).
We found two species of snakes and several kinds of lizards.
Fish were scarce, as were also insects ; of the last, our collec-
• Basyprocta patachonica : it is the Patagonian cavy o f Dr. Shaw, and
P en n an t’s Quadr., tab. 39, and the li'aire pampa of D’Azara. M. Desma-
re s t thinks th a t if the teeth were examined it would form a n ew genus, for
which he proposes the name of Dolichotis (Ency. Meth. Mamm. p. 359).
A t p resent he has, from its external character, placed it amongst the genus
Dasyproota (agouti). T h e only one th a t was taken was not preserved,
which prevented me from ascertaining the fact.
f Dusypus minuttbs, Desm. Tatou pichiy, or tatoib sejoiîéme o f D ’Azara,
&c. &c. I t has seven bands.
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