r
M ALOOXAi n ) . I8.W-3.
that thumU-rsldniis aiv very comiium near llio nuuiths of
groat rivors. Is it not possible that the mixture of large
hollies of fresh water witli tlie salt may ilisturb the elee-
trieal equilibrium? Fven duriug our oeeasioual visits to
this part of South Anieriea, we heard of a ship, two
eliurelies, and a house, having been struek. Both the
ehureh and the house I saw shortly afterwards: the house
belonged to Mr. Hood, the eonsul-general at Monte Video.
Some of the clleets were eurious ; the paper, for nearly
a foot on eaeh side of the line where the boll-wircs had
run. was blaekened. The metal had been fused, and although
the room was at least fifteen feet high, the globules
dropping on the chairs and furniture, had drilled in them a
chain of minute holes. A part of the wall was shattered as
if by gunpowder, and the fragments had been blown off
with" force sufficient to dent the walls on the opposite side
of tlie room. The frame of a looking-glass was blackened,
and the gilding must have been volatilized, for a smelling-
bottle, which stood on the chimney-piece, was coated ivith
bright metallic particles, which adhered as firmly as if they
had been enamelled.
C I I A I 'T E R IV .
liio Ni'gi'o— E s tiu ic ia s a tta c k o il b y Iticbaris— S a lt la k e s , g eo lo g ical p o s itio n
o f ■'M a n iin g o e s— 11. N e g ro to C o lo r a d o— S a c re d t r e e— I ’a la g o n ia ii h a re
- - In d ia n liiiviilics— G e n e r a l R o sa s— P ro c e e d to lia llia J ila n c a— S a n d
d im e s — N e g ro l ie u t e n a n t — l la h i a B la n c a— G ro u n d in c ru s te d witli
G la u b e r s a lt— P u n t a A lta— Z o rillo .
U lO N E G R O TO J iA I l lA H L A N CA .
J u l y 2 4 t i i , 18.3.3.—The Beagle sailed from Maldonado,
and on August the 3d she arrived off the mouth of the llio
Negro. This is the principal river on the whole line of
coast between the Straits of Magellan and the Plata. It
enters the sea about three hundred miles south of the estuary
of the latter. About fifty years since, under the old Spanish
government, a small colony w’as established here; and it is still
the most southern position (lat. 4 1 ° ) on this eastern coast of
America which is inhabited by civilized man.
The country near the mouth of the river is wretched in
the extreme : on the south side a long line of perpendicular
cliffs commences, which exposes a section of the geological
nature of the country. The strata arc of sandstone, and one
layer was remarkable, from being composed of a firmly-
cemented conglomerate of pumice pebbles, which must
have travelled more than four hundred miles, from the
Andes. The surface is every where covered up by a thick
bed of gravel, which extends far and wide over the open
plain. Water is extremely scarce, and, where found, is
almost invariably brackish. The vegetation is scanty ; and
although there are bushes of many kinds, all are armed with
formidable thorns, which seem to warn the stranger not to
enter on these inhospitable regions.
The settlement is situated eighteen miles up the river.
The road follows the foot of the sloping cliff, which forms
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