Considering South America alone, we should be tempted
to believe that trees could not possibly flourish, excepting m
a very humid climate. The limit of the forest land certainly
follows, ill a most remarkable manner, that ot the
damp winds.* In the southern part of the continent, where
the western gales, charged with moisture from the Pacific,
prevail, every island on the broken west coast, from lat. 38
to the extreme point of Tierra del Fuego is densely covered
bv impenetrable forest. On the eastern side of the Cordillera,
over the same extent of latitude, where a blue sky
and a fine climate prove that the atmosphere has been
drained of its moisture, the arid plains of Patagonia support
a scanty vegetation. Within the limits of the constant
south-east trade wind, the bulk of the eastern parts of the
continent is ornamented by magnificent forests; the we
coast, however, from lat. 4° south to lat. 32° may be described
as a desert. In this case, as before, all the vapour
has been condensed by the snow-clad pinnacles of the
Andes. In these two areas, determined by the prevalent
winds, the forest and desert lands occupy reversed
positions with respect to the great mountain axis. _ Between
their limits a broad intermediate band, which is neither
desert nor woodland, stretches across the entire continent
Central Chile and the Provinces of La Plata are included
in this division. On the west coast, about four degrés
south of the equator, where the trade wind ^
larity, and heavy torrents of ram penodicaUy fall, the desert
c L t of Peru assumes near Cape Blanco the character o
luxuriance so celebrated at Guayaquil and on the shores o
^ “ r these facts, it will perhaps
. tn tflp nuestion, to state that according to the South
is too dry for the growth of trees. But this reasoning,
apprehend, must not be extended to a general statement
in T d ln g L e r countries. The Falklands offer a more per-
* M a c la rc n , a rt. America, E n c y c . B r ita n .
plexing case even than Maldonado. Situated under the
same latitude with Tierra del Fuego, and only between two
and three hundred miles distant from it, possessed of an
entirely similar climate, with a geological formation almost
identical, with favourable situations, and the same kind of
peaty soil, yet these islands can scarcely boast of a plant
deserving the title even of a bush; whilst in Tierra del
Fuego, it is impossible to find an acre of land not covered
by the densest forest. In this case, both the direction of
the heavy gales of wind and of the currents of th e ’ sea are
favourable to the transport of seeds. Canoes and other
works of art, and trunks of trees, drifted from Tierra del
Fuego, are frequently thrown on the shores of the Western
Island. Hence perhaps it is that there are many plants
common to the two countries: but with respect to trees,
even some attempts which have been made to transplant
them, have failed.
During our stay at Maldonado I paid particular attention
to the mammalia and birds. Of the latter I procured, within
the distance of a morning’s walk, no less than eighty species,
of which many were exceedingly beautiful—I think even
more so than those of Brazil. The other orders were not
neglected. Reptiles were numerous, and nine different kinds
of snakes V’ere taken. Of the indigenous mammaha, the
only one now left of any size, which is common, is the
Cervus Campestris. This deer is exceedingly abundant
throughout the countries bordering the Plata. It is found in
Northern Patagonia as far south as the Rio Negro (lat. 41°) •
but further southward none were seen by the officers employed
m surveying the coast. It appears to prefer a hilly
country ; I saw very many small herds, containing from five
to seven animals each, near the Sierra Ventana, and among
the hiUs north of Maldonado. If a person crawling close
along the ground, slowly advances towards a herd, the deer
frequently, out of curiosity, approach to reconnoitre him I
have by this means killed, from one spot, tliree oui of
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