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Ì I
July
but chiefly from their having descended from active and enterprising,
though lawless settlers, who were ejected from other
places ; and from a few respectable colonists induced to emigrate
from the Azores. Before I quit the neighbourhood of
frequented ports on this coast, one possessing peculiar interest,
Santos, ought to be mentioned ; to remind seamen that they
may there also obtain any refreshments, and secure their ships
in a sheltered creek, quite easy of access. For several leagues
round Santos there is an extensive flat, covered with thick
woods, but intersected by rivers and salt water inlets, whose
banks are lined with thickets of mangrove trees. Inland a
mountain range abruptly rises to the height of two or three
thousand feet, every where clothed with almost impenetrable
forests. The climate is, however, unhealthy in December,
January, and February ; and during the whole year there is
a great deal of rain.
Keturning to the coast southward of Santa Catharina, I may
mention that Cape Santa Martha, and the shores extending
northward of it, are high and woody, like the greater part of
the coast of Brazil ; hut that on the south side of the promontory
there is a complete change of character : lofty ranges of
mountains sinking into low treeless shores, whose outline is as
tame and unvarying as that of the former is bold and picturesque.
While sailing along the level uninteresting coast just mentioned,
with a fresh breeze off the land, we found it bitterly
cold, though the thermometer never was below 40°. F ah t: so
much does our perception of heat or cold depend upon comparison.
Some of our exaggerated opinions as to the coldness
of the southern hemisphere may have arisen from the circumstances
under wliich voyagers usually visit high southern latitudes,
immediately after enduring the heat of the tropics, and
without staying long enough to ascertain the real average temperature
during a whole year.
On the 22d of July we were near the river Plata, and as the
weather, after sunset, became very dark, with thunder and
lightning, though with but little wind, we anchored in the
vicinity of Cape Sri Maria to avoid being drifted about by irregular
cuiTents. For upwards of an hour St. Elmo fires were
seen at each mast-head, and at some of the yard-arms: the
mast-head vane also, fixed horizontally, and framed with copper,
had an illuminated border round it. Heavy rain, much
thunder, and a fresh southerly wind followed ; but as we were
prepared for bad weather, and the sea did not rise much, we
maintained our position till daylight next morning, notwithstanding
an ofiicer of the watch startling me by reporting that
we must be very near the land, because he heard bullocks
bellowingO-.'*
On the 23d we entered the great estuary of this shallow,
though wide river, a hundred and twenty miles across at this
part, yet averaging less tban ten fathoms in depth; and above
fifty miles wide between Monte Video and the opposite point,,
called Piedras, where tbe average depth is not more than tlu-ee
fatboms. Very great care is required by vessels navigating
the Plata, because of its exceedingly dangerous shoals, its
strong and in-egular currents, and the sudden tempests to which
it is subject. The shoals and currents may be guarded against
by a very careful attention to the lead, and a ground-log ; but
the fury of a violent pampero-f- must be endured. The land on
each side of the Plata is so low, and those extraordinai-y plains
called pampas, hundreds of miles in extent, are so perfectly
free from a single obstacle which might offer any check to the
storm, that a pampero sweeps over land and water ivith the
weight of a rushing hurricane. Captain King has already described
one, by which the Beagle suffered severely, in 1829
but having, to my sorrow, been more immediately concerned,
I will endeavour to give a brief account of that disastrous
affair, as a warning to others.
On the 30th of January 1829, the Beagle was standing in,
• These noises most have been the discordant ‘ braying’ of the bird
called by seamen ‘ jack-ass penguin.’
t So called because it appears to come from the vast plains called
‘ pampas.’
i Vol. i. pp. 189, 190, 191.
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