animals citlier in Europe or South America, yet destroyed
many quadrupeds in regions now characterized by frig id ,
temperate, and warm* climates! Tliese cases of extinction
forcibly recal the idea (I do not wish to draw any close
analogy) of certain fruit-trees, which, it has been asserted,
though grafted on young stems, planted in varied situations,
and fertilized by the richest manures, yet at one period,
have all withered away and perished. A fixed and determined
length of life has in such cases been given to thousands
and thousands of buds (or individual germs), although produced
in long succession. Among the greater number of
animals, each individual appears nearly independent of its
kind; yet aU of one kind may be bound together by common
laws, as well as a certain number of individual buds
in the tree, or polypi in the Zoophyte.
I will add one other remark. We see that whole series
of animals, which have been created with peculiar kinds of
organization, are confined to certain areas; and we can
hardly suppose these structures are only adaptations to
peculiarities of climate or country; for otherwise, animals
belonging to a distinct type, and introduced by man, would
not succeed so admirably, even to the extermination of the
aborigines. On such grounds it does not seem a necessary
conclusion, that the extinction of species, more than their
creation, should exclusively depend on the nature (altered
by physical changes) of their country. All that at present
can be said with certainty, is that, as with the individual, so
with the species, the hour of life has run its course, and is
spent.
* T h e Elephas primigenus is th u s c irc um s ta n c e d , h a v in g b e e n fo u n d in
Y o rk s h ir e (a s so c ia te d w ith r e c e n t s h e l l s : L y e ll, vo l. i., c h a p . v i.), in
S ib e ria , a n d in th e w a rm reg io n s o f la t. 3 1 °, in N o r th A m e ric a . T h e
rem a in s o f th e M a s to d o n o c c u r in P a r a g u a y ( a n d I b e lie v e in B ra z il, in
l a t. 12°), a s w e ll as in th e tem p e r a te p la in s s o u th o f th e P l a ta .
C H A P T E R X .
S a n t a C r u z— E x p e d itio n u p r iv e r— In d ia n s— C h a r a c te r o f P a t a g o n i a -
B a s a ltic p la tfo rm — Im m e n s e s tr e am s o f la v a — N o n - tra n s p o r t o f
b lo ck s b y r iv e r— E x c a v a tio n o f v a lle y— C o n d o r , r a n g e a n d h a b its—
C o rd ille ra— E r r a t ic b o u ld e rs o f g r e a t s iz e— I n d ia n relics— R e tu rn to
th e sh ip .
SA NTA C R U Z P A T A G O N IA .
A p r i l 1 3 t h .—The Beagle anchored within the mouth
of the Santa Cruz. This river is situated about sixty miles
south of Port St. Julian. During the last voyage. Captain
Stokes proceeded thirty miles up, but then, from the want
of provisions, was obliged to return. Excepting what was
discovered at that time, scarcely any thing was known about
this large river. Captain FitzRoy now determined to follow
its course as far as time would allow. On the 1 8 t h ,
three whale-boats started, carrying three weeks’ provi-sions ;
and the party consisted of twenty-five souls—a force which
would have been sufficient to have defied a host of Indians.
With a strong flood-tide, and a fine day, we made a good
run, soon drank some of the fresh water, and were at night
nearly above the tidal influence.
The river here assumed a size and appearance, which, even
at the highest point we ultimately reached, was scarcely
diminished. It was generally from three to four hundred
yards broad, and in the middle about seventeen feet deep.
The rapidity of the current, which in its whole course runs
at the rate of from four to six knots an hour, is perhaps its
most remarkable feature. The water is of a fine blue colour,
but with a slight milky tinge, and not so transparent as at
first sight would have been expected. It flows over a bed
of pebbles, like those which compose the beach and surrounding
plains. Although its course is winding, it runs
through a valley which extends in a direct line to the west