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having to take charge of the ship during our absence, could
not g o ; neither could Mr. Stewart, or Mr. King, who were
required to attend to duties on board ; but Mr. Darwin, Mr.
Chaffers, Mr. Stokes, Mr. Bynoe, Mr. Mellersh, Mr. Martens,
and eighteen seamen and marines prepared to accompany me.
Early on the 18th we left the Beagle, and with a favouring
wind and flood tide sailed up the estuary, into which the river
flows. This wide and turbid estuary receives a torrent which
rushes through a confined opening into the ocean, during seven
hours, and is opposed and driven back by the flood tide during
about five hours of the twelve. On each side of both the estuary
and river lie extensive plains of arid desert land : these plains
are not, however, on the same level; for, on the northern bank
the land is very little raised above the level of high spring tides;
while, on the southern side of the river, high, perpendicular
cliffs form a striking contrast: but after ascending these heights,
by any of the ravines which intersect them, one finds a dead
level expanse, similar in every respect to that on the northern
shore'. In the horizon, another ‘ steppe,’ or parallel plain, at a
higher elevation, is seen; which, at a distance, appears like a
range of hiUs of equal height.
Excepting in the porphyry districts, all the eastern coasts of
Patagonia, and the little of the interior which I have seen,
seemed to me to be a similar succession of horizontal ranges of
level land varying in height, intersected here and there by
ravines and water-courses. There are, certainly, hills in many
places which appear when one is passing at sea, or in the distance,
conical, or at all events peaked; but even those hills
are but the gable ends, as it were, of narrow horizontal ridges
of land, higher than the surrounding country.
The cliffs on the south side of the river have a whitish
appearance; and are similar to those on the outer coast,
which were said by Sir John Narborough to resemble the
coast of Kent. Their upper outline, when seen from a distance,
is quite horizontal. Brownish yellow is the prevailing
colour, lighter or darker, as the sun shines more, or becomes
obscured. Here and there, in hollow places and ravines, a
VOL. II. z