Transcriber's Note:
Minor typographical errors and inconsistencies have been corrected
without note, whilst significant amendments have been listed at the
end of the text. Archaic and variant spellings have been retained.
CRUISE OF THE "ALERT."
[Illustration: H.M.S. "ALERT" AT ANCHOR IN TOM BAY, WEST COAST OF
PATAGONIA (_see p. 42_). _Frontispiece._]
CRUISE OF THE "ALERT"
FOUR YEARS IN
_PATAGONIAN, POLYNESIAN, AND
MASCARENE WATERS_
(1878-82)
BY
R. W. COPPINGER, M.D.
(STAFF-SURGEON ROYAL NAVY, C.M.Z.S.)
_With Sixteen full-page Woodcut Illustrations from Photographs by
F. North, R.N., and from Sketches by the Author_
FOURTH EDITION
LONDON
SWAN SONNENSCHEIN & CO., LIM.
PATERNOSTER SQUARE
1899
FIRST EDITION, _May 1884_; SECOND EDITION, _January 1885_;
THIRD EDITION, _May 1885_.
PREFACE.
In preparing the following pages for the press, I have endeavoured to
give a brief account, divested as much as possible of technicalities,
of the principal points of interest in Natural History which came under
observation during the wanderings of a surveying ship; while at the
same time I have done my utmost, at the risk of rendering the narrative
disconnected, to avoid trenching on ground which has been rendered
familiar by the writings of travellers who have visited the same or
similar places. And if in a few instances I have given some rather dry
details regarding the appearance and surroundings of certain zoological
specimens, it has been my intention, by an occasional reference to the
more striking forms of life met with in each locality, to afford some
assistance to those amateurs who, like myself, may desire to avail
themselves of the opportunities afforded by the surveying ships of the
British Navy for performing, although with rude appliances and very few
books of reference, some useful and interesting work.
Large collections of zoological specimens were made, and as these
accumulated on board, they were from time to time sent home to the
Admiralty, whence they were transmitted to the British Museum, the
authorities of that institution then submitting them to specialists
for systematic description. For much kindly aid in making these
arrangements, as well as for advice and encouragement received during
the progress of the cruise, I am indebted to Dr. Albert Günther,
F.R.S., Keeper of Zoology in the British Museum.
I take this opportunity to thank Mr. Frederick North, R.N., for the
use of a collection of photographs which were taken by him during the
cruise under circumstances of peculiar difficulty, and of which most of
the engravings in this work are reproductions.
I am also under obligations to all the other officers for assistance
rendered to me in various ways; and especially to those officers
who acted successively as Senior Lieutenants, for the consideration
with which they tolerated those parts of my dredging operations
that necessarily interfered with the maintenance of good order and
cleanliness on the ship's decks.
Finally, I have to thank my friend, Mr. R. Bowdler Sharpe, the
distinguished ornithologist of the British Museum, by whose advice and
encouragement I was induced to submit these pages to the public, for
his assistance in perusing my MS., and offering some useful suggestions.
R. W. C.
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
PAGE
INTRODUCTION.
Object of the Voyage--Former Surveys of Straits
of Magellan--Change of Programme--Selection of
Ship--Equipment--Arrangements for Natural History
Work--Change of Captain--List of Officers 1-4
CHAPTER I.
Departure from England--Storm Petrels--A Sparrow-hawk
at Sea--Collecting Surface Organisms with
Tow-net--Water-kite--Wire Sounding Apparatus--Land-swallow
at Sea--Gulfweed--Phosphorescence of Sea-water--Arrive
at Madeira--Curious Town--Dredging Work--A
Pinery--Discoloured Sea-water--Petrels again--St.
Vincent--Cape de Verde--Pelagic Animals--Sounding near
Abrolhos Bank--Dredging over Hotspur Bank--Dredging
over Victoria Bank--Moths and Butterflies on the
Ocean--Extraordinary Vitality of Sphinx Moths--Arrive at
Monte Video--Gauchos--Trip into Interior of Uruguay--Buenos
Ayres--Dr. Burmeister's Museum--Arrive at the
Falklands--"Stone Runs" 5-33
CHAPTER II.
We enter Straits of Magellan--Reach Sandy Point--Gold
and Coal--Surrounding Country--Elizabeth
Island--Dredging--Fuegians at Port Famine--We
enter Smyth's Channel--Canoe "Portage" at Isthmus
Bay--Arrive at Tom Bay--A Fuegian Family--Trinidad
Channel--Climate of Western Patagonia--Flora--Rock
Formation--Soilcap--Natives--The Channel Tribe of
Fuegians--Scarcity of Old People--Water-birds of Tom
Bay--Sea Otters--A Concealed "Portage"--Habits of Gulls and
Shags--Steamer-ducks--Land-shells--Fresh-water Fish--Deer 34-65
CHAPTER III.
Trinidad Channel gouged out by Glaciers--Port
Henry--Trumpet-shells--Native Camp--Wolsey Sound--"Cache
Diablo"--"Ripple-marked" Limestone--Fuegian
Burial-place--Marine Animals--Strange Capture
of Fish--Whales Abundant--Exploration of Picton
Channel--Attack on Sealers--Signs of Old Ice
Action--"Hailstone" Rock--Soil motion--We proceed Northward
to Refit--English Narrows--Gulf of Peñas 66-80
CHAPTER IV.
Arrival at Valparaiso--War between Chili, Peru, and
Bolivia--Sir George Nares returns to England--Captain
Maclear joins--Coquimbo--Shell Terraces--Trip to
Las Cardas--Habits of _Pteroptochus_--Island of
St. Ambrose--Habits of Petrels--Flight of the
Albatross--Santiago de Chilé--Natural History Museum--Santa
Lucia--Church of La Compania--Heights of Montenegro--A
Fly-trap Plant--Copper mines of Brillador--Peculiarities of
Chilian Mines--Talcahuano--Outbreak of Small-pox--Isla de
los Reyes--Shooting a "Coypo"--Railway Trip to Araucanian
Territory--Our Locomotive--Incidents of the Journey--Fossil
Tree-trunk at Quiriquina Island 81-102
CHAPTER V.
We return to Patagonian Waters--Gulf of Peñas--Spring in
the Trinidad Channel--Gephyrean at Cockle Cove--Diving
Petrel--Tree Cormorants--Magellan Kingfisher--A
Curious Moss--Wind-swept Bushes--Gull, Cormorant, and
Skua--Examination of Brazo del Norte--Black-necked
Swan--A Sealer's Yarn--Fur-seal Trade--Hardships of
Seal-hunting--Otter Skins--Experiment with Condor--Fuegians
at Tilly Bay--Flaking Glass Arrow-heads--List of Fuegian
Words--The _Maranhense_--A Magellan Glacier--Native
Fish-weirs--The Magellan Nutria 103-126
CHAPTER VI.
We proceed towards Skyring Water--Otway Water--Canal of
Fitzroy Terrace-levels--Plants and Animals--Bay of the
Mines--Previous Explorers--The Coal Mines--Altamirano
Bay--Prospects of the Settlement--A Seal "Rookery"--Puerto
Bueno--We proceed Northwards--Port Riofrio--Gray
Harbour--Sailing for Coast of Chili--Small-pox amongst
the Chilians--Discoloured Sea-water--Habits of Ant Thrush 127-143
CHAPTER VII.
Early History of Tahiti--Otaheite and Tahiti--Its appearance
from Seaward--Harbour of Papiété--Produce--Matavai
Bay--Tahiti annexed to France--Prince Tamitao--Annexation
Festivities--King Pomare V.--Coral growing on Ship's
Bottom--Nassau Island--Danger Islands--Tema Reef--Union
Group--Nukunono--Oatáfu--Natives afflicted with a Skin
Disease--Stone Implements--Religious Scruples--Metal
Fish-hooks not appreciated--Capriciousness of Sharks--Lalla
Rookh Bank 144-158
CHAPTER VIII.
Arrival at Fiji--Levuka--Ratu Joe comes on Board--Excursion
to Bau in Viti Levu--We visit King Cacobau--A Native
Feast--Lalis--Tapa--The Bure Kalou--Bakola--Old Fijian
Atrocities--Double Canoe--Stone Adzes now becoming
rare--Angona Drinking--Sir Arthur Gordon--Walk across
Ovalau--The Kaicolos--An Imprudent Settler--Pine-apple
Cultivation--_Periophthalmus_--Suva--Site of Future
Capital--Sail towards Tonga Islands--Pelagic Animals--Early
History of Tonga--Missionaries--Nukualofa--A Costly Pair
of Gates--Visit to Bea--Davita--Evidence of Elevation of
Island--King George of Tonga--Wellington Gnu--Curious Stone
Monument--Trip to Village of Hifo--We are entertained by
the Natives--Famous Caves--Eyeless Fish--Swifts behaving
like Bats--Searching for Reefs--Discolouration of
Sea-water--Return to Levuka--Voyage to Australia--Surface
Life 159-179
CHAPTER IX.
Refitting Ship at Sydney--Mr. Haswell joins us--We proceed
Northwards along East Coast of Australia--Port Curtis,
Queensland--A "Labour Vessel"--Mr. Eastlake--Marine
Fauna abundant--Festivities at Gladstone--Birds--Percy
Islands--Survey of Port Molle--Queensland
Aborigines--"Black Police"--"Dispersing" Black
fellows--Dredging Operations--A Parasitic Shell-fish--Port
Denison--Visit to a Native Camp--Throwing the Boomerang--A
Beche-de-mer Establishment at Lizard Island--Hostility of
the Natives--Drawings by Aborigines at Clack Island--Albany
Island, North-Eastern Australia 180-193
CHAPTER X.
Settlement at Thursday Island--Torres Straits
Islanders--Pearl-Shell Fisheries--Value of
the Shell--Pearls not abundant--Neighbouring
Islands--Lizards--Land-crab--Land-shells--Ferns--Birds--Booby
Island--Arrive at Port Darwin, North-Western
Australia--Submarine Cables--Trans-continental
Telegraph--Palmerston--Northern Territory
Gold-fields--Aborigines at Port Darwin--Marine
Fauna--Birds--Geese perching on Trees 194-208
CHAPTER XI.
Voyage from Port Darwin to Singapore--Through the
Eastern Archipelago--We arrive at Singapore--Oceanic
"Tiderips"--Bird Island, Seychelles--Sea-birds on
Land--Port Mahé, Seychelles--The Coco-de-Mer--Gigantic
Tortoise--Produce of the Islands--Vanilla--A Primitive
Crushing-mill--Dredging Operations--_Periophthalmus_--The
Seychelles, of Granitic Structure--We visit the Amirante
Group--African Islands--Abundance of _Orbitolites_--Crabs
pursued by Eels--Eagle Island--Partridge shooting--Young
Lizards--Darros Island--_Casuarinas_--Dredging--Poivre
Island--Trees and Shrubs--Isle des Roches--Flora
scanty--Land-birds--General Remarks on the Amirantes as a
Group--"Fringing Reefs," but no "Barrier Reefs"--Signs of
Elevation--Weather and Lee Sides contrasted 209-229
CHAPTER XII.
Alphonse Island--Pearl-shell--Providence Island--Method
of planting Cocoa-nuts--Edible Turtle--Flora--Red
Coral--Cerf Islets--St. Pierre--Du Lise Island--Flora and
Fauna--Erratic Stones on Coral Reef--Glorioso Island--We
sail for Mozambique Island--And sight East Coast of
Africa--Trade at Mozambique--Inhabitants--Caju--Shells
of Foreshore--The Survey concluded--Homeward Bound--Cape
of Good Hope--Egg of the _Epiornis_--Arrival at Plymouth 230-245
GENERAL INDEX 246
INDEX OF NATURAL HISTORY TERMS 253
_LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS._
_Facing_
H.M.S. "ALERT" AT ANCHOR IN TOM BAY, WEST COAST OF PATAGONIA _title_
FUEGIAN AND AUSTRALIAN IMPLEMENTS 34
CANOE OF CHANNEL FUEGIANS 50
FUEGIAN "PORTAGE" FOR TRANSPORT OF CANOES OVERLAND 60
FUEGIANS OFFERING THEIR CHILDREN FOR BARTER 65
OUR FUEGIAN FRIENDS AT TILLY BAY, STRAITS OF MAGELLAN 104
FUEGIAN HUT AT TILLY BAY 120
FOOT OF GLACIER, AT GLACIER BAY, STRAITS OF MAGELLAN 124
FISH-HOOKS OF UNION ISLANDERS 143
WOMAN OF TAHITI 144
FISHERMAN OF TAHITI 148
KING CACOBAU OF FIJI, WIFE, AND RATU JOE 160
TOTOONGA VALLEY, OVALAU, FIJI 166
ANCIENT STONE MONUMENT AT TONGATABU 174
FACSIMILES OF DRAWINGS BY AUSTRALIAN ABORIGINES 192
ABORIGINES OF NORTH-WEST AUSTRALIA 204
"TRAVELLERS' TREES" IN GARDENS AT SINGAPORE 210
"COPRA" CRUSHING MILL AT SEYCHELLES 218
CRUISE OF THE "ALERT."
INTRODUCTION.
In the summer of 1878 it was decided by the Lords of the Admiralty to
equip a vessel for the threefold purpose of continuing the survey of
the Straits of Magellan, of investigating the nature and exact position
of certain doubtful reefs and islands in the South Pacific Ocean, and
of surveying a portion of the northern and western coasts of Australia.
The special object of the Magellan portion of the work was to make
such a detailed survey of the sheltered channels extending southward
from the Gulf of Peñas to Port Tamar as would enable vessels to pass
from the Straits to the Pacific, and _vice versâ_, without having to
encounter the wild and inhospitable outer coasts presented by the chain
of desolate islands here fringing the western coasts of South America.
It was also desirable that additional anchorages should be found and
surveyed, where vessels might lie in safety while waiting for the
cessation of a gale, or for a favourable tide to help them through the
straits. The surveys made by the _Adventure_ and _Beagle_ in 1826-36,
and by the _Nassau_ in 1866-9, were excellent so far as they went, and
so far as the requirements of their times were concerned; but the great
increase of ocean navigation within the last few years had rendered
it necessary that the charts should contain more minute surveys of
certain places which were not formerly of importance. The South
Pacific portion of our survey was to be mainly in connection with the
recently acquired colony of the Fiji Islands, and was to be devoted to
an exploration of the eastern passages leading to this group, with an
investigation of the doubtful dangers reported in the vicinity of the
great shipping tracts. Finally, on completing the above, and arriving
at Australia, we were to spend a year and a half, or thereabouts, in
surveying the line of reefs which fringe its whole western seaboard,
the ill-defined position of which is a serious obstacle to the now
extensive trade between Western Australia and the Dutch islands of the
Malay Archipelago.
The latter part of the orders was subsequently changed, inasmuch as we
were directed to omit the survey of the western shores of Australia,
and were ordered instead, on completing the North Australian work,
to proceed to Singapore, in the Straits of Malacca, to refit. Thence
we were to return home by the Cape of Good Hope, stopping on our
way at the Seychelles, Amirante Islands, and Mozambique, in order
to fix astronomically the position of the Amirante Group, and, as
opportunities occurred, to take a line of soundings off the east coast
of Africa.
The vessel selected for this special service was the _Alert_, a
man-of-war sloop of 751 tons measurement and 60 horse-power nominal;
and the command of the expedition was given to Capt. Sir George Nares,
K.C.B. By a happy coincidence the same stout craft which had already
done such good service in the Arctic Expedition of 1875-6, and which
bears the honour of having attained the highest _northern_ latitude,
was selected as the ship in which Sir George Nares was now about to
proceed on a voyage of exploration in high _southern_ latitudes. She
was officially commissioned on the 20th of August, with a complement of
120 officers and men, her equipments including apparatus for conducting
deep sea sounding and dredging operations, and a miscellaneous
collection of instruments not usually supplied to H.M.'s ships.
It being the wish of the enterprising hydrographer of the
navy--Captain, now Sir Frederick Evans, K.C.B.--that the opportunities
which this expedition would afford of making a valuable natural
history collection in regions little known to science should not be
thrown away, and Sir George Nares warmly seconding him in this wish,
the Admiralty determined on appointing as surgeon an officer who,
in addition to his duties as medical officer of the ship, would be
inclined to devote his spare time to the cause of natural science.
Sir George Nares, knowing my fondness for natural history, with
characteristic kindness gave my application his support, and I had
therefore the good fortune to be appointed as medical officer of
the _Alert_, on the understanding that (so far as my medical duties
permitted) I would not lose sight of the advantages which would accrue
to science from a collection of natural-history objects illustrative
of the fauna and flora of the countries visited in the course of the
voyage.
During the four years over which my narrative extends, many changes
took place in the _personnel_ of the expedition. Scarcely a year had
elapsed from the date of our departure from England, when we had
to regret the loss of Sir George Nares, who left us at Valparaiso,
and returned to England by mail-steamer, in order to enter upon his
duties as Director of the Marine Department of the Board of Trade.
We were fortunate, however, in having as his successor Captain John
Maclear--formerly of the _Challenger_ exploring expedition--to whom
I take this opportunity of expressing my thanks for the unvarying
kindness which I have always experienced at his hands, as well as for
much assistance and encouragement in the prosecution of our zoological
work.
The following is a list of the officers:--
Captain Sir George S. Nares, K.C.B., F.R.S.; succeeded by Captain John
Maclear, F.R.M.S.
Lieut. George R. Bethell; succeeded by Lieut. James Deedes.
Lieut. the Hon. Foley C. P. Vereker; succeeded by Lieut. George Rooper.
Lieut. Gordon S. Gunn (subsequently became senior lieutenant).
Nav. Lieut. William H. Petley.
Sub-Lieut. James H. C. East (subsequently served as lieutenant).
Sub-Lieut. Charles W. de la P. Beresford (left the ship at Singapore).
Staff-Surgeon Richard W. Coppinger, M.D.
Paymaster Frederick North.
Engineer, John Dinwoodie.
Engineer, William Cook.
Boatswain, Alfred Payne.
(Lieut. Grenfell joined the ship at Singapore, and remained until the
close of the commission.)
CHAPTER I.
_FROM ENGLAND TO THE FALKLANDS._
After various delays, owing to defects in machinery, we finally bade
adieu to the shores of England on the 25th of September, 1878, taking
our departure from Plymouth.
On the second day at sea the little storm petrels appeared over our
wake, and accompanied us, off and on, for most of our way to Madeira.
These seemed to be of two kinds, the _Thalassidroma pelagica_ and
_Thalassidroma leachii_, the latter being sufficiently recognizable
from their having _forked_ tails, in which respect they differ from
other species of the genus. Many attempts were made to catch them by
means of hooks baited with fat, skeins of thread, etc., but all to no
purpose; and I rather fancy that in this thoroughfare of the ocean the
wily creatures have had too much experience of the arts of man, and are
therefore not to be caught so easily as their more ignorant brethren of
the southern hemisphere.
On the 28th of September, when 155 miles to the westward of Cape
Finisterre, and during a fresh easterly breeze, a sparrow-hawk made his
appearance, at first hovering round the ship, and ultimately settling
on the rigging. It had probably strayed too far from the shore in
the pursuit of some tempting prey, and had then lost its reckoning,
being eventually blown to seaward. At all events, it had travelled
some long distance, as it evinced its weariness by resting quietly and
contentedly on the main-topgallant rigging, until one of the seamen,
who had managed to climb up unobserved, suddenly laid hands on it.
On placing it in a meat-safe, which we extemporised as a cage, it ate
ravenously, as well it might after its long journey.
When in the latitude of Lisbon, and 180 miles to the westward of the
Portuguese coast, a large "sea-flier" bird paid us a visit, soaring
over the waves in our vicinity, and evidently on the look-out for
garbage from the ship. The plumage of the upper surface of wings and
body was of a dusky brown colour, the under surface of the body was
whitish, and the wings were long and pointed; in mode of flight he
resembled a large tern. He did not long remain with us, probably not
finding it a sufficiently productive hunting-ground. I may here mention
that on the 6th of October, when a hundred miles from Madeira, we
sighted a bird answering the same description.
All opportunities of plying the tow-net were duly availed of, but owing
to the unusually rapid speed of the ship, these were few. However, we
succeeded in capturing many specimens of living Foraminifers (mostly
of the genus _Orbitolites_), stalk-eyed Crustaceans, Radiolarians, an
Ianthina, a few Salpæ, and the pretty little Pteropod Mollusc, the
_Criseis aciculata_, besides many other organisms which the rapid
motion of the net through the water had rendered unrecognizable. As
it is usually found that these minute pelagic organisms are to be
obtained from the surface in most abundance at night-time, and during
the day retreat for some fathoms from the glare of the sunlight, I
constructed a wooden apparatus on the principle of a kite, which I
attached to the towing line at some three or four yards from the net,
and which had the effect of dragging down the net some yards below
the surface, and then retaining it at a uniform depth. It of course
required to be adjusted each time to suit the required depth and the
rate of the vessel, but it had this great advantage over the usual
system of employing heavy weights, that the strain not being nearly so
great, a light and manageable rope could be used; and that, moreover,
the adjustment for depth could be readily made by altering the trim of
this _water-kite_. When I first tried this apparatus, and before I had
succeeded in trimming it satisfactorily, it caused great amusement to
the bluejackets by the playful manner in which it manœuvred under
our stern, now diving deeply towards our rudder post (the shimmer of
the white wood in the deep blue water reminding one of a dolphin), and
now whimsically rising rapidly to the surface with an impetus that shot
it fully six feet out of the water.
On the 4th of October, the captain made some experiments with the
"Lucas deep-sea sounder." It consists of a strong brass drum carrying
2,000 fathoms of fine steel wire, and fitted with a cyclometer which
registers on a dial the number of fathoms of wire run out. The sinker,
which weighs 20 lbs., is made of lead, and has at its lower extremity
a bull-dog snapper, which, on striking the ground, shuts up suddenly,
so as to enclose a sample of the sea bottom. The apparatus is supposed
to be capable of sounding to a depth of 500 fathoms in a vessel going
5 knots, and to 50 fathoms when going 12 knots. It is said to be a
modification of an invention of Sir W. Thompson's. We subsequently used
this largely, and found it to be a most convenient and expeditious
method of sounding to depths of 500 fathoms, with the ship almost
stationary. The wire could be wound up again while the ship was under
way.
During the forenoon of this same day we saw, to our astonishment, a
land swallow, which flew about the ship for a few minutes, and then
went on his way rejoicing. He would have had to travel 254 miles to
make the nearest land, which was the island of Porto Santo.
An erratic fragment of gulfweed (_Sargassum bacciferum_) was entangled
in the tow-net on the 5th of October, when we were 105 miles north-east
of Madeira, a circumstance which is of interest as regards the
distribution of the plant, the locality cited being considerably beyond
the northern limit of the great eddy between the Gulf Stream and the
Atlantic equatorial current, commonly called the Sargasso Sea. It was
encrusted with a delicate white Polyzoon (_Membranipora_), and among
other organisms carried on its fronds a pretty little _Spirorbis_
shell, and several entomostracous Crustaceans of a deep-blue colour.
The phosphorescence of the sea is a trite subject, and one about which
a very great deal has been written; but nevertheless, of its actual
cause, or of the purposes which it is intended to serve, really very
little is positively known. The animals to which it would seem mainly
due are the small stalk-eyed Crustacea, the _Pyrocystis noctiluca_,
and the Tunicate Molluscs. I have sometimes observed, when occupied
at night in sifting the contents of a tow-net, that these organisms,
as they were being sucked through the nozzle of the dip-tube, emitted
flashes of light, so brilliant, that they could be distinctly seen even
in a well-lighted room. During the voyage from England to Madeira, the
wake of the ship was every night, with one exception, phosphorescent.
The exception alluded to was on the night previous to our arrival at
Madeira, when probably the unusual brilliancy of the moonlight caused
the light-emitting creatures to retreat a few yards from the surface,
as happens in the day-time. I have often noticed that while the
phosphorescence of the comparatively still water abeam of the ship and
on her quarter usually seems to emanate from large spherical masses of
about a foot in diameter (commonly called "globes of fire"), yet the
luminosity of the broken water in the vessel's immediate wake comes
apparently from innumerable minute points. I have rarely captured any
of the larger jellyfishes in the tow-net; and on those nights when I
have observed the water lighted up the most brilliantly, the prevailing
organisms have proved to be the small entomostracous Crustaceans.
The morning of the 7th of October broke cool and hazy, as we steamed up
and dropped anchor in Funchal Roads, on the south side of the island
of Madeira. Crowds of native boats, with their half-naked occupants,
quickly thronged around; remaining, however, at a respectful distance,
until the boat containing the haughty pratique officer came alongside.
On the present occasion this portentous individual was contented with a
very superficial inquiry into our sanitary condition, and after a few
formal questions as to our tonnage, complement of crew, number of guns,
and general condition, shoved off with the laconic exclamation, "All
right!" We soon availed ourselves of this permission to visit the shore.
The most conspicuous objects in Funchal, as seen from the anchorage,
are the "Loo Rock" (used as a fort and lighthouse), on the west side of
the town, and on the centre of the crescent-shaped beach which fronts
the town a remarkable and lofty cylindrical tower of dark-brown stone.
This tower, we were informed, was built about the year 1800, and was
intended as a support for a huge crane, which was to facilitate the
loading and disembarkation of the cargo of merchant ships. The tower as
it stands is about eighty feet in height, and as its base is now about
forty yards distant from high-water mark on the beach, as an article
of utility it is quite effete. Our surveyors have ascertained that the
land has not been elevated since the first admiralty surveys. This they
arrive at by a comparison of old and recent charts with known marks
on the shore, and we are therefore inclined to believe that the beach
has been silted up by accumulations of basaltic rubble brought down
by the two adjoining rivers, and here washed inshore by the sea. The
tower is now without any appearance of the crane, and raises its plain
cylindrical body in gloomy grandeur, reminding one of the old round
towers of Ireland; and, as in their case, its origin will probably some
years hence be veiled in obscurity.
Madeira was considered to be looking unusually dingy, on account of a
long season of drought, rain not having fallen for nine months. But
some two or three days after our arrival a great religious ceremony
took place at the village of Machico, eight miles to the eastward of
Funchal. The object was to offer up prayers for rain; and, sure enough,
two days afterwards, rain fell abundantly!
During our stay here the dredge was several times brought into
requisition. On the 8th of October, a party, consisting of the captain,
Lieut. Vereker, some seamen, and myself, started in the steam-cutter
on a dredging expedition to the bay of Santa Cruz, which is distant
about eight miles from Funchal. As we steamed along the coast, we had
excellent opportunities of observing the sections exhibited by the
cliffs of the varieties of volcanic rock of which the upper crust of
the island is mainly formed. At Point Garajas (Brazen Head), of which
Lieut. Vereker made a good sketch, the north-east face of the cliff
presents a magnificent dyke--a nearly vertical seam of dark lava,
about three feet in width and two hundred feet in height, extending
from summit to water line, and sealing up this long fissure in the
older trachytic rock of the head. Farther on, masses of basalt resting
unconformably on variously arranged layers of laterite tuff and
trachyte, the latter in many places honeycombed in weird fantastic
caverns, afforded a fertile subject for geological reveries into the
early history of this now beautiful island. On reaching the bay of
Santa Cruz, we lowered the dredge in thirty-five fathoms, finding,
as we had half anticipated, that it was altogether too heavy to ride
on the mass of sand that here forms the sea bottom. It buried itself
like an anchor, and it was not without great difficulty that we could
succeed in dislodging it. On bringing it up, we found it to contain
some shells of the genera _Cardium_, _Pecten_, _Cypræa_, _Oliva_,
and _Dentalium_, a few small _Echini_, a Sertularian Polyp, several
Annelids--among others, a _Nereis_--and Alcyonarians. We returned on
board soon after dusk, having spent a most enjoyable, if not materially
profitable, day. On subsequently dredging in fifty fathoms in the same
bay, our work was more satisfactory; but besides some Crustaceans, an
Ophiocoma, and an _Asterias_ of a brilliant orange colour, obtained
few specimens of any interest. On another day we tried the coast to
the westward of Funchal; and as we moved along in the steam-cutter,
obtained, by means of the tow-net, several specimens of gulfweed
entangling small sponges. The dredge, being put over in seven fathoms,
procured for us many specimens of a _Cidaris_, studded with black
spines three to four inches long, and whose oblate spheroidal tests of
about two inches diameter were of a beautiful smalt colour. Off the
same coast, in forty fathoms, the bottom was found to consist of black
basaltic sand crowded with tooth-shells. This fine black sand seemed
to form the sea-bottom along the south coast of the island as far out
as the fifty fathom line, and from our experience does not prove a
favourable berth for our friends the Mollusca and Annulosa.
Among the Crustaceans obtained in the above dredgings was a species
of _Glaucothöe_ new to science, which has since been described by Mr.
E. J. Miers, of the British Museum, under the title of "_Glaucothöe
rostrata_."
On the afternoon of the 12th of October, in company with Sir George
Nares, and under the guidance of Dr. Grabham, a British doctor for
many years resident in Madeira, we had an opportunity of inspecting
a "pinery," established within the last two years by a Mr. Holloway,
and by which he expects to amass a considerable fortune. This
establishment, which lies to the north-east of the town, at an altitude
of about three hundred feet, consists of a series of long, low
hothouses with sloping glass roofs, painted white, and facing to the
southward, and is heated entirely by the sun's rays. The material in
which the pines are planted consists of the branches of the blackberry
plant chopped to fragments, and spread out in a thick layer, and in
this substitute for mould the young pines are placed, at intervals
of about eighteen inches apart. They grow to an enormous size, as we
ourselves witnessed; and being cut when they show the least sign of
ripening, and packed carefully in well-ventilated boxes, are shipped
to London, where they fetch prices varying from twenty-five to thirty
shillings each.
Dr. Grabham was kind enough to give us much interesting information
concerning the natural history of the island, which, from his long
experience and constant observation, was most valuable. He pointed out
to us a considerable tract of land in the vicinity of the town which
used to be thickly planted with vines, but which is now only devoted
to the cultivation of sweet potatoes. During the last seven years the
vine crops have been steadily decreasing, owing to the ravages of the
_Phylloxera vastatrix_, and wine-making is now at a low ebb. The number
of trees in the island was also rapidly diminishing, owing to the
demand for fuel; and although efforts are made, by the cultivation of
pine forests, to supply that want, the demand yet exceeds the supply.
In a few years Madeira will no longer be, as its name implies, a land
of _wood_. Although so late in the season, numbers of flowers were
still in full bloom; the _Bougainvillea_ with its dark-red bracts, and
the yellow jasmine adorning the trellis-work; further up the hill the
belladonna lily attracted attention, and on the heights were the old
familiar furze blossoms, reminding us of the land we had left behind us.
On October 12th we weighed anchor, and proceeded to the southward. All
that night and the following day we steamed quietly along in smooth
water, with a long, shallow ground swell (of which, however, the old
craft took advantage to display her extraordinary rolling powers), and
late in the afternoon, just before dark, caught sight of Palmas, one of
the Canary Islands, whose peak, 7,000 feet high, loomed conspicuously
through a light bank of clouds. It was distant seventy miles. On the
morning of the 15th we experienced for the first time the influence
of the north-east trade wind, which wafted us along pleasantly at the
rate of about seven knots. Up to this the only sign of animal life
had been a solitary storm petrel, but on the following day a shoal of
flying fish (_Exocetus volitans_) appeared, to pay their respects and
greet us on our approach to the tropical zone. During the night, the
wind, which had hitherto only behaved tolerably, fell light; and as the
morning of the 17th dawned, we found ourselves flapping about in almost
a complete calm. There were several merchant vessels in sight, with
one of which, a fine-looking full-rigged clipper ship, we communicated
by signal, when the usual dumb interchange of civilities took place;
she informing us that she was the _Baron Collinson_, seventeen days
out from Liverpool, and we in return giving the latest news we were
aware of, viz., the failure of the Glasgow Bank. During the afternoon,
a shark, which seemed to be the _Squalus glaucus_, hovered about
our stern. It was accompanied by at least four "pilots" (_Naucrates
ductor_), whose conspicuous dark-blue body stripes showed out in
striking contrast to the sombre hues of the shark, whose body formed
the background.
It is during those tropical calms, usually so wearisome to the seaman,
that the lover of natural history reaps his richest harvest. On
the present occasion the tow-net brought up quantities of a minute
_conferva_ consisting of little bundles of delicate straw-coloured
fibres, about one-eighth of an inch in length, and resembling, on a
small scale, the familiar bundles of "faggots" as one sees them hawked
in the streets. Under a high magnifying power the individual fibres
composing these bundles were seen to consist of jointed segments marked
with dots and transverse striæ as a diatom. When placed in spirit,
they at once broke up into a shapeless fluffy mass. The surface water
was thickly impregnated with them, yet not so as to impart any obvious
discolouration. About dusk the trade wind suddenly returned, and a
heavy shower of rain brought to a close a day of great interest.
On the 18th of October, many of us fore and aft were diligently
expending our ingenuity in fishing for bonitoes, of which several
(apparently the _Thinnus pelamis_) were to be seen about the ship; but,
to our great chagrin, only one, a small specimen, was captured. The
tow-net still brought up quantities of the _conferva_ before mentioned,
and multitudes of minute unattached specimens of the _Spirorbis
nummulites_.
On the following day, as we lay all but becalmed, the storm petrels
(_Thalassidroma pelagica_) appeared in great numbers, settling on
the water close to our stern, in flocks of twelve or fourteen, and
feeding greedily on the rubbish thrown overboard. It seems that the
natural food of these birds (which probably consists of the minute
surface organisms) is not within their reach when the surface of the
water is unbroken, and hence during calms they are more than commonly
anxious to avail themselves of any offal thrown overboard. It was
most interesting to observe the neat and graceful way in which they
plant their webbed feet on the water, as with outstretched wings and
legs erect they maintain a stationary attitude while pecking at the
object of their fancy. They appeared to scrupulously avoid wetting the
tarsi, and still to use the feet as a means of maintaining a fixed
position on the surface of the water. I had never previously observed
those untiring little navigators at rest in mid-ocean, but on this
occasion we all saw them, with wings closed, floating as placidly on
the water as ducks in a millpond. The old idea of their following
ships only before and during stormy weather is, I believe, now quite
exploded. I think that within the tropics, at all events, they are
most numerous in the vicinity of ships during calm weather. Finding
animal life scarce at the surface, I tried the tow-net sunk to a depth
of about three fathoms, and having previously raked the surface, was
enabled to institute a comparison; the result being that similar
species were captured in both situations, but that a far greater
number of individuals were present in the deeper water. During the
day-time we obtained a number of Crustaceans, several _Atlanta_ shells,
_Globigerina bulloides_, and the same _conferva_ as on the previous
day. After dark I got a great quantity of highly phosphorescent
Crustaceans, and one small cuttle-fish.
On the 20th the trade wind returned in full force, and the monotony of
an otherwise uneventful day was varied by the appearance of a shoal of
porpoises, which accompanied us for some time, moving along abreast of
us and about two hundred yards off on our starboard beam, and making
themselves conspicuous by their usual frisky behaviour.
On the afternoon of the 22nd the high land of San Antonio, the most
northerly of the Cape de Verde Islands, hove in sight, far away on
our starboard bow; but the evening closing in thick and dark, and
this group being almost without lighthouses, the captain decided on
laying-to until next morning. When about twenty miles off, we received
a visit from a good-sized hawk, evidently out on a foraging tour; he
hovered for a while about our mastheads, reconnoitring our decks, and
then soared away.
As we sailed along the east coast of San Antonio (the largest island
of the Cape de Verde group), we observed a small outlying island rock,
composed of closely packed vertical columnar masses of rock (probably
basaltic), which, from their artificial appearance, reminded one
forcibly of the Giant's Causeway, or of the Staffa Columns. The hills
of the main island, which sloped up majestically from a low rocky beach
to peaks five or six thousand feet high, were clothed with herbage,
whose varying tints of green, to which the shadows of the secondary
peaks added dusky patches of brown, created a most pleasing landscape.
We reached the harbour of Porto Santo, St. Vincent, on the afternoon
of the 23rd of October, and soon after the anchor was dropped, those
of us who could leave the ship proceeded to land. As we approached the
beach, we were greatly struck by a contrivance, new to most of us,
for carrying coals from the yard where it is stowed to the shipping
wharves, a distance of nearly a quarter of a mile,--a row of posts,
like those used for telegraph wires, placed about four yards apart, and
supporting on iron rollers a long endless wire, to which are hung at
intervals large metal buckets containing the coal. There is an incline
from the depôt to the wharf, and consequently, as the full buckets
travel down to the lower end of the circuit, and are canted so as to
discharge their contents, the empty buckets pass up the incline back
to the coal-yard, and so a circuit is completed. Most of the large
passenger-steamers traversing the South Atlantic find St. Vincent a
convenient place to stop at to replenish their bunkers, and it is to
this coal trade that the island owes its importance.
After a cursory inspection of the little town, which presented a
very neat and orderly appearance, we strolled out into the country,
following the direction of the western shore of the bay. The country
exhibited a tolerably green appearance, and we were informed that
vegetation had been exceptionally good during the previous two years,
owing to the rainfall having been much above the average. Of trees of
course there were none to be seen, and of shrubs only a few stunted
representatives, scattered singly or in patches. A species of rank
grass, however, flourished, and here and there a rather stately
fungus raised its head as if in defiance of its otherwise sterile
surroundings, the blown sand of the foreshore supplying sufficient
nutriment for its humble wants. Of dead shells a great variety were
picked up on the beach between tide marks, including representatives
of the genera _Arca_, _Patella_, _Cardium_, _Harpa_, _Littorina_,
and _Strombus_; a very perfect _Spirula_ shell was also noticed. The
blown-sand ridges above high-water mark were everywhere perforated
by the burrows of a very active grey-coloured crab (_Remipes
scutellatus_), whose feet terminated in sharp incurved claws admirably
adapted for the creature's mining operations. Its burrows extended
obliquely downwards, and to a depth of two feet from the surface of
the blown-sand ridges. A couple of grasshoppers were the only other
additions made on this occasion to our zoological collection.
The afternoon of the next day (24th October) I was enabled to devote
to dredging operations, working over the bay at depths varying from
two to twelve fathoms. From these I obtained some large and active
specimens of a large wing-shell, the _Strombus pugilis_, whose
gymnastic performances, when subsequently placed in a vessel of
sea-water, excited general interest. Armed with his long powerful foot,
he struck out boldly in all directions, the operculated extremity acting
like a sword blade, and alarming me for the safety of the seaweeds and
other more delicate organisms which occupied the same vessel. When
disposed to turn about, it protruded the foot so as to half encircle
the shell, and by then rapidly straightening the organ the desired
change of position was effected. It was very interesting to see the
complete control which the animal thus exercised over its heavy and
apparently unwieldy shell. In twelve fathoms of water we came upon a
great quantity of blue-spined _Echini_, the tangles of the dredge in
one short haul bringing up about two dozen. Fishing-lines were also
brought into requisition, resulting in the capture of some fishes of a
pale crimson colour, belonging to the blenny family.
In the evening of this day (24th October) we sailed from St. Vincent.
Up to the 29th instant the north-east trade wind proved fairly
propitious, but it now failed us completely; and as we were at
this time in latitude 8° N., and there were otherwise unmistakable
indications of our having arrived at the "Doldrums" (the region of
equatorial calms), steam was had recourse to. Under this artificial
stimulus we proceeded at a rate of from five to six knots, a speed
unfortunately too great for the use of the tow-net; and on this
occasion the circumstance was all the more vexatious, as the surface
water seemed peculiarly rich in animal life. Ultimately, however,
determining on sacrificing some bunting in the cause of science, I
put a tow-net over the stern, and the captain aided me materially
by towing from the end of the lower studding-sail boom a ten-foot
trawl-net. Between the two we succeeded in capturing some water insects
of the genus _Halobates_, several beautiful large _Ianthinæ_, but
unfortunately with their fragile shells partly broken and severed
from their rafts; also a _Physalia_, a small free-swimming _Actinia_,
some discophorous Medusæ, and several Pteropod Molluscs of the genus
_Hyalea_. For several consecutive days the surface water after dusk was
thronged with the above-mentioned Medusæ, whose tough gelatinous discs,
of three inches diameter, continually clogged up the meshes of the
tow-net. On the 2nd of November we obtained some Globigerina forms,
several Crustaceans, some minute Pteropods of the genus _Cuvieria_,
and a host of minute Confervæ, of the kind met with previously to the
northward of Madeira. On the afternoon of the 5th of November, when we
were about a hundred miles from St. Paul's Rocks, we noticed that the
little petrels, which for weeks had accompanied us in great numbers,
were now feebly represented, and in the evening were completely gone.
Perhaps they had found out their proximity to _terra firma_, and were
gone for a run on shore. It is very strange how these birds, which
follow ships over the ocean for thousands of miles, can manage to time
their journeys so as to reach land for their breeding season. That
the same individuals do follow ships for such great distances we have
good evidence; for Captain King, in his voyage of the _Adventure_ and
_Beagle_, mentions a case in which the surgeon of a ship, coming home
from Australia, having caught a Cape pigeon (_Daption capensis_), which
had been following the ship, tied a piece of ribbon to it as a mark,
and then set it free. The bird, recognized in this way, was observed to
follow them for a distance of no less than 5,000 miles.
From the last date to the 9th of November, but little of interest
occurred. One day a petrel (_Thalassidroma pelagica_) had been caught
with a skein of thread; and on opening the body the crop was found to
contain a number of stony particles, bits of cinders, minute shells,
and otolites of fishes. In the tow-net we caught a number of Rhizopods,
of 1/20 inch diameter, which kept continually unfolding and shutting
up their bodies in telescopic fashion. When quiescent, the animal is
egg-shaped, and about the size of a mustard seed; but when elongated,
it is twice that length, and exhibits a tubular sort of proboscis
armed with an irregular circle of vibrating cilia. We also obtained
a Pteropod resembling the _Criseis aciculata_, an Ianthina, and some
hyaline amœbiform bodies, which were entirely beyond my powers of
recognition. On the following day we got more of the pretty violet
shells (_Ianthina fragilis_), several Crustaceans, including a large
and perfect Glass-crab (_Phyllosoma_), and several large Salpæ and
Medusæ.
On the 12th of November we entered the north limit of our surveying
ground, being in latitude 17° S., and in the vicinity of the Abrolhos
Bank. Here, in latitude 17° 18′ S., longitude 35° 34′ W., we made
a cast with Bailie's deep-sea sounding apparatus; reaching bottom
in 1,975 fathoms, and finding it to consist of "Globigerina mud,"
of a pasty tenacity, tinged with red, and containing a great mass
of Globigerina tests, whole and fragmentary. Later in the day, when
in latitude 17° 32′ S., longitude 35° 46′ W., we again sounded,
getting bottom in 700 fathoms, and bringing up a sort of light-grey
ooze. Towards evening we struck soundings in thirty-five fathoms,
over the Hotspur Bank. There we made a successful haul of the dredge,
finding the bottom composed of dead coral encrusted with Nullipores,
Polyzoa, and slimy Algæ, and containing in its crevices some
Crustaceans of the genera _Actæa_ and _Corallana_, and a few Annelids.
The stony masses of coral which we brought up were pierced in all
directions by boring molluscs; and one specimen of a long elaborately
woven sponge (which has since been described by Mr. S. O. Ridley, of
the British Museum, as a new variety of _Cladochalina armigera_) was
found attached to a lump of coral.
The next day we sounded in latitude 18° 4′ S., longitude 36° 1′
W., using the Lucas wire sounder. We reached bottom in 300 fathoms,
the bull-dog apparatus bringing up fragments of coral rock encrusted
with calcareous Algæ. In the afternoon we passed into deeper water,
sounding over the Globigerina ooze area, in 1,395 and 2,025 fathoms.
The surface water again exhibited the same conferva-like bodies which
were so abundantly obtained near Madeira. The _Pyrocystis noctiluca_
was also largely represented; and in the evening the tow-net was found
to contain small cuttle-fish, some dead spirorbis shells, specimens of
the _Criseis aciculata_, _Cleodora pyramidata_, and of a species of
Hyalea, and a thick fleshy Pteropod, a species of Pneumodermon, small
globe fishes, many long, transparent, stalk-eyed Crustaceans, and other
minute members of the same class of Arthropoda.
On the 14th of November we sounded in latitude 19° 43′ S., longitude
36° 5′ W., the bottom consisting of a pale chocolate-coloured
tenacious mud. Towards evening we reached the position of the Montague
Bank, which is indicated on the chart as a bank about three miles
long, and in one part covered by only thirty-six fathoms of water. We
sounded for this bank repeatedly, but in vain, nowhere getting bottom
with 470 fathoms of line. The ship was now allowed to drift during
the night-time, soundings being made from time to time; and towards
morning we filled our sails to a northerly breeze, and stood on for the
Victoria Bank. In the afternoon we met with a large school of sperm
whales (_Physeter macrocephalus_), displaying to advantage, as usual,
their huge cylindrical snouts, and alternately their great spreading
tails; this circling exercise appearing to be a favourite amusement of
theirs.
On reaching the Victoria Bank, we hauled the dredge in thirty-nine
fathoms, but dropping on a rugged coral bottom, the bag was torn to
pieces; however, the tangles contained numbers of an oval-shaped
sponge, varying in length from a quarter of an inch to an inch, and
studded with beautiful glassy spicules (determined by Mr. Ridley to
be a new species of Chalina), and also numbers of the genera _Vioa_,
_Nardoa_, _Aphroceras_, and _Grantia_. Among Polyzoa, the genera
_Canda_, _Membranipora_, _Cribrillina_, _Gigantopora_, _Rhyncopora_,
_Smittia_, and _Cellepora_ were represented. Our operations in the
Abrolhos region being now at an end, we shaped a course for Monte Video.
On the 22nd of November, when we were a hundred miles from the
Brazilian coast, and in about the latitude of Rio, great numbers
of moths appeared, hovering about the ship, and settling on the
rigging. The wind was at the time blowing freshly from the westward;
but the moths appeared, strange to say, as if coming up from the
south-eastward. Conspicuous among them by their great numbers as
well as by their formidable appearance, were the Sphinx moths. These
large insects seemed gifted with marvellous powers of flight; for
although the wind amounted to a fresh breeze, I noticed that they were
not only able to hold their own, but even to make headway against
it. We concluded, however, that nearer in shore the wind was much
stronger, perhaps reaching us so as an upper current, and that it had
consequently blown them off the land. Later in the day the Lepidoptera
were represented in still greater variety, so that altogether the
ship exhibited an unusually sportive appearance; men and officers
alike striking out with their caps here and there, as they pursued the
objects of their fancy. In the course of the day I collected no less
than seventeen species, of which fourteen were moths, and the remainder
butterflies. As illustrating the great tenacity of life of the Sphinx
moths, I may mention that, in the case of one refractory individual,
it was only after employing all the deadly resources at the time at
my command, viz., prussic acid, ammonia, oxalic acid, chloroform,
crushing the thorax, etc., that I could succeed in removing all the
ordinary manifestations of life. However, as, after long incarceration
in a bottle filled with the fumes of chloroform, he at length appeared
to have succumbed, I proceeded to remove the contents of his large
fleshy body. This done, I filled in the body with cotton wadding, and
placing the specimen on one side, proceeded to operate on another. But
no sooner had I put down the specimen thus prepared, than it proceeded
to kick about in a most vigorous way, and otherwise gave unmistakable
signs of vitality. On turning it on its legs, it crawled about, clung
to my finger, and seemed to imply that it could get on just as well
with a cotton interior as with the whole complicated apparatus of
intestine and so forth, which it had given me so much trouble to remove.
It was a strange coincidence, that among the contents of the tow-net on
this occasion was a large black Chrysalis. It also contained a great
number of little phosphorescent spheres, which, under a high magnifying
power, proved to be similar to the bodies described by Sir Wyville
Thompson, under the term _Pyrocystis noctiluca_. On the same day we
entered the Albatross region, one large white bird (_Diomedea exulans_)
and several sooties (_Diomedea fuliginosa_) soaring around our ship.
Some land-birds were also seen, one of which, a species of finch (?)
was captured and preserved.
On the 24th of November we approached within eighty miles of the
Brazilian coast, and on getting soundings in forty-eight fathoms,
immediately put the dredge overboard. The hempen tangles contained
starfishes of three or four species, and the bag brought up a mass of
bluish tenacious mud, which, on sifting, was found to contain some
Crustaceans and tube-building Annelids, and many small shells, living
and dead, of the genera _Dentalium_, _Hyalea_, _Arca_, and others.
About the same time a turtle was observed floating on the water.
On the forenoon of the 26th, land--the coast of Uruguay--was in view on
our starboard beam, a long low line of beach, whose uniform outline was
broken by a conspicuous tall lighthouse, which stamped the locality as
Cape Santa Maria. A few hours later we obtained a view of Lobos Island,
a bare-looking uninviting mass of rock, situated just off Maldonado
Point; and as we now fairly entered the estuary of the Plate, a number
of large gulls (apparently of the genus _Dominicanus_) joined us,
eagerly picking up any offal cast overboard.
We arrived at Monte Video on the 27th of November, and stayed until
the 14th of December, during this time making several trips into the
country.
On one occasion I went by train to a place called Colon, about ten
miles to the N.W. of Monte Video. Starting from the central station
of the Northern Railway, I took my seat in a clean well-fitted
carriage, with two other passengers, one of whom, my _vis-à-vis_,
might have realized one's ideas of a Guy Fawkes. In the course of
the journey, this individual somewhat surprised me by diving his hand
into a back coat pocket, and producing therefrom a formidable-looking
silver-sheathed dagger, which, however, to my relief, he quietly
laid down beside him on the seat, perhaps that he might the more
conveniently stretch himself out; possibly because he thought me a
suspicious companion, and wished to show in time that he was not
unprepared in case of an attack.
About Colon the country was open enough, presenting to the eye a great
bare tract of weedy-looking land varied by gently undulating hills,
and studded with oxen innumerable; the farm-houses, low structures
disposed about half a mile apart, hardly breaking the monotony of the
landscape. Here and there a gaily caparisoned Gaucho cantered about,
apparently without any fixed object, except to enjoy his liberty, and
gave a picturesque character to the scene. These Gauchos are really
fine-looking fellows, well mounted, and most excellent horsemen.
They have about them a certain air of well-fed contentment, which,
in spite of their known ferocity, almost elicits admiration. It is a
popular error to apply the term "Gaucho" indiscriminately to all the
horse-riding community of the lower classes, for the term is properly
only applicable to those homeless wandering horse-riders whose sole
worldly possession consists of a horse and its trappings, who roam
about from place to place, picking up whatever they can appropriate by
fair means or foul, and who, consequently, do not enjoy a very high
reputation among the settled inhabitants. The word "Gaucho" is looked
upon as a term of reproach, and an honest, self-respecting peasant
so addressed would reply, "No, Señor, no soy Gaucho, soy Paysano."
By a clever stroke of policy the present dictator of Uruguay, Señor
Letore, has almost succeeded in putting a stop to the infamous practice
of "cattle lifting," formerly so common among the "Gauchos." Their
equipment usually includes a long strip of hide, ostensibly carried as
a tether for the horse, but frequently turned to account as a lasso.
A law has now been enacted, and is rigidly enforced, restricting the
length of this rope to five "brazeros," _i.e._, five arm spans; and as
it is in consequence much too short to answer the purpose of a lasso,
these mounted tramps are no longer able to capture stray bullocks for
the sole pleasure of gouging out the tongue as a dainty dish. Indeed, a
gentleman of Durazno, for many years resident in the country, informed
me that it was now no uncommon thing to see a Gaucho carrying a hempen
rope instead of a thong, the want of a lasso leaving him without the
means of helping himself to a cowhide.
About Colon the prevailing plants were a large thistle and a
purple-flowered _Echium_, and these so predominated as at a distance to
seem to cover the entire surface of the ground. A light fall of rain,
and a puffy breeze, combined to make it a bad day for insect hunting,
and accordingly very few of these creatures were seen or captured. Of
birds, the cardinal grosbeak, partridges, and pigeons, were abundant.
Some days subsequently we received, through the courtesy of the
directors of the railway company, permission to travel free to the
extremity of their line, and of this indulgence we availed ourselves
so far as to make a trip to Durazno, the northern terminus of the
railway. Accordingly, a party consisting of the captain and four of us
ward-room officers started by a train leaving the central terminus at
seven in the morning. This railway, which has been for eleven years
in existence, and for a long time struggling against unfavourable
circumstances (rebellion and so forth), is now gradually assuming a
prosperous condition, and has been extended so far that it now pierces
the republic of Uruguay in a northern direction, to a distance of
128 miles from Monte Video. As we emerged from the precincts of the
town, and passed through a hamlet called "Bella-Vista," on the shores
of the bay, we noticed here and there woods of the eucalyptus tree
growing in great luxuriance to a height of eighty and even a hundred
feet, the foliage of adjoining trees being so interlocked as to afford
considerable patches of shelter from the sun's rays. Sir George
Nares, who has had some experience of these trees in Australia, where
they are indigenous, said that he had rarely seen them clad with
so dense a foliage. We were told that these trees had been imported
and planted only twelve years previously; yet such is their rapidity
of growth, that they are now of the magnitude of forest trees. On
reaching a distance of about twelve miles from Monte Video, the number
of trees (none of which, except the willows, were indigenous) had so
far decreased, that the few solitary representatives which dotted
the landscape served only to render the paucity of the race the more
remarkable. The surface configuration of the land was everywhere the
same--a gently undulating grass-covered plain, where the depths from
crest to hollow averaged about thirty feet, admitting a range of
vision of about twelve miles from the summit of each rise. Of ravines,
fissures, or gullies, there were none; and as the railway track had
evaded the difficulties of levelling by pursuing a most meandering
course, not even a cutting was to be seen to afford means for arriving
at a geological examination of the district. About the station of
Independencia, rock was to be seen for the first time, consisting of a
coarse-grained (apparently felspathic) granite, showing itself through
the alluvial soil in the shape of low rounded masses, or as boulders
disseminated in streams directed radially from the outcropping source.
At the next station, appropriately named "Las Piedras" (the stones),
the rock was in greater proportion; and during the remainder of our
journey north, perhaps once in every ten miles, the wide expanse of
grass-land would be varied by an odd-looking outcrop of granite. Stone
was evidently a rare commodity in these parts, most of the huts being
built of sticks and mud.
As far as Santa Lucia, a station about forty miles from Monte
Video, the land (divided into fields by hedgerows of aloes) was
studded thickly enough with large prickly thistles of a very coarse
description; but to the northward of this position the prominent
features of the landscape underwent a change. Trees disappeared
altogether, and except along the river banks, where some bushes
resembling bog-myrtle eked out an existence, no shrubs were to
be seen. Thistles were still present, but in very small numbers,
and indeed there was little to meet the eye but a wide expanse of
grass-land dotted here and there with herds of oxen, sheep, and horses
(which seemed in very small proportion to the acreage), and exhibiting,
at distances of about two miles apart, small one-storied huts. For
ploughing and other agricultural work, oxen seemed to be used, to the
exclusion of horses; which is all the more strange, as the latter here
exist in great abundance, and are so cheap as to create that equestrian
peasantry which to a European visitor is, I think, the most striking
characteristic of the country.
As one of the up-trains passed by us at the station of Joashim Suarez,
we noticed several trucks piled up with ox skulls and other bones,
and on enquiry ascertained that they were for exportation to England,
to be used in sugar-refining factories: the bones were piled up so
high on the trucks as to tower above the engine, so that as the train
approached us end-on, they formed a ghastly sort of figure-head.
At Santa Lucia the train stopped half an hour for refreshments, and
all hands adjourned to an hotel close by the railway station, where a
good breakfast, consisting of many courses (including beefsteak and
potatoes), was satisfactorily disposed of. The charge for this repast
was moderate, being only six reals = 3_s._ 6_d._ a head.
Of birds a great many were to be seen as we travelled along. Looking
forward from the carriage windows, we could see ground doves of a dull
slate colour, rising from the track, and sheering off to either side
in great flocks, as the train advanced. A species of lapwing, with
bluish-grey plumage barred with white across the wings, and displaying
a pair of long red legs, kept us continually alive to its presence by
its harsh double cry. Partridges were also abundant. These birds are
strictly preserved all over Uruguay, and during the breeding season,
from September to March, no shooting of any kind is allowed without
special permission. We saw one flock of ostriches stalking about
unconcernedly among the cattle. We were subsequently told that the
ostriches in this district were all allowed to run wild, the value of
the feathers not repaying the cost of farming. Of deer, the largest
indigenous mammal, we saw only one individual, browsing quietly among
a herd of cattle. They are allowed to come or go as they please, not
being sought after or utilized by the inhabitants.
On arriving at Durazno we were most hospitably received and entertained
by Mr. Ware, the engineer of the railway, under whose guidance we
inspected the sights of this dilapidated country town, and then
proceeded to explore the banks of the river Yi, a tributary of the
Rio Negro, where a great variety of animal life was to be seen. There
was here a large lagoon bordered with low bushes, a favourite haunt
of the largest living rodent, the capybara or "carpincho," as the
natives call it, and also largely stocked with birds. Snipe and dottrel
were here so tame as to allow one to approach within a few yards of
them. In the course of the day we had the good fortune to meet a Mr.
Edye, an Englishman, who, during thirteen years' residence in the
Plate, had acquired a considerable insight into the natural history
of the country. He told us that a great variety of birds inhabit the
low bushes of the "Monte" (as they call the shallow valley of the
river), including three species of the cardinal, one humming bird, the
calandria or South American nightingale, etc. With reference to the
tucutuco (_Ctenomys_), he assured us, contrary to the opinion expressed
by Dr. Darwin, in his "Journal of a Naturalist," as to the animals
never coming to the surface, that the little rodents were commonly
to be seen near their holes about the time of dusk, and that they
invariably retreated to the burrows on the near approach of a human
being. He considered it almost impossible to catch them, but had no
doubt about their habit of coming to the surface. As we strolled along
the river banks, we saw and captured a black snake about two and a
half feet long, which was swimming gracefully from bank to bank, with
its head elevated about two inches from the top of the water. We also
got some living specimens of a river mussel, which is here used as fish
bait.
Everywhere among the English-speaking community we heard the same
gloomy accounts of the dulness of trade, arising from the yet unsettled
state of the country. All agreed that the present Dictator was managing
the country admirably, but expressed their fears that he would some day
be "wiped out," as others had been before him, and that the country
would again relapse into a state of anarchy and brigandage.
Some days later I had an opportunity of visiting Buenos Ayres, the
capital of the Argentine Republic, situated on the opposite or south
shore of the river Plate. Accompanied by Lieut. Gunn, I started from
Monte Video on the evening of the 9th of December, taking passage on
board one of the river-steamers (_Villa de Salto_), then plying daily
between the two cities. The distance, 120 miles, is usually traversed
at night-time, and in this arrangement sight-seers lose nothing, as,
owing to the lowness of the banks and the great width of the river,
the opposite shores are barely visible from a position in mid-channel.
Our fellow-passengers, about eighty in number, represented Spanish,
Italian, and English nationalities, and among the latter we were
fortunate enough to meet two gentlemen residing in the country, to
whom, as well as to the captain, a jovial, hospitable American, we
were indebted for much interesting information concerning the men and
manners of the country. After dinner--a long, ponderous affair--had
been disposed of, a general dispersion took place, the gentlemen to
smoke, and the ladies to their cabins; but in an hour or so the latter
again appeared in the saloon, arrayed in evening dress of a more gay
and airy character than that worn at dinner, and they now applied
themselves diligently to the luxury of maté drinking. The fluid known
as maté is an infusion of the leaves of the _Ilex paraguayensis_,
commonly called Paraguay tea, and is usually sucked through metal
tubes about ten inches long, from a gracefully carved globular wooden
receptacle about the size of an orange. One stock of "yerba" seemed to
stand a great many waterings and sugarings, the necessary manipulations
for which furnished the ladies with a suitable occupation. It was
amusing to watch the eagerness with which the latter sucked away at
their maté tubes, the attitude reminding one of a boy using a decoy
whistle.
We anchored off the town of Buenos Ayres at an early hour the next
morning, and here the inefficiency of the landing arrangements were
made unpleasantly manifest. Three different means of locomotion were
resorted to, in order to convey us from the steamer to the shore. We
were pulled in a small boat for a portion of the way; then, as the boat
grounded, the rowers got out, and, wading alongside, dragged it on for
a few hundred yards more. We were then transferred, with our baggage,
to a high-wheeled cart, drawn by two horses, which brought us through
the last quarter of a mile of shallow water fringing the shore. The
cost of effecting a landing was no inconsiderable item in the expense
of our trip, and was moreover one calculated to prejudice unfavourably
one's first impression of Buenos Ayres.
After securing rooms at the Hotel Universal, and breakfasting at the
Strangers' Club, where we were most kindly received by the secretary,
Mr. Wilson, we proceeded in search of the museum, so celebrated for its
collection of fossil remains of the extinct South American mammals,
arranged under the direction of Dr. Burmeister. We found the learned
Professor enveloped in white dust, and busily engaged in restoring with
plaster of Paris the spinous process of the vertebra of one of his
specimens; and on explaining the object of our visit, he kindly drew
our attention to the principal objects of interest in his collection.
This museum has already been fully described, and I need hardly
allude to the splendid specimens which it possesses of the Glyptodon,
Machairodont, Toxodon, Mylodon, and other fossils; its beautiful
specimens of the _Chlamydophorus retusus_ (a mole-like armadillo), the
leathery turtle (_Sphargis coriacea_), the epiodon, etc. The Professor
pointed with great pride to a recent specimen of armadillo, with the
young one attached to its hind-quarters in a peculiar manner.
On the same day we inspected the Anthropological Museum, which is in a
large building in the Plaza Victoria, opposite the old market, where we
saw a fine collection of Tehuelche and Araucanian skulls, recently made
by Señor Moreno in his travels through Patagonia. Among others was the
skull of "Sam Slick," a son of the celebrated Casimiro, the Patagonian
cacique, so well known for many years in the vicinity of Magellan
Straits. We also saw a mummified specimen of a Patagonian, recently
found in a cave at Punta Walichii, near the head waters of the Santa
Cruz river.
In the course of the day we called upon Mr. Mulhall, the enterprising
and courteous editor of the _Buenos Ayrean Standard_, and from him we
acquired much valuable information as to the condition of the country.
On taking up the _Standard_ next morning, we found ourselves treated to
an editorial notice chronicling our visit to the Argentine capital, and
referring to the past and present services of H.M.S. _Alert_.
Coming fresh from so neat and trim a town as Monte Video, Buenos Ayres
was not to be expected to impress one very favourably. It seemed,
indeed, to be a great straggling town that, having arrived at a
certain degree of civilization, had now for some years back considered
itself entitled to rest on its laurels, and gradually fall into decay.
Streets, plazas, and tramways were in a wretched state of neglect;
and such were the great ruts which time and traffic had made in the
streets, that baggage-carts might be seen brought to a dead lock, even
in the principal thoroughfares. Buenos Ayres can boast of several fine
old public buildings, among which the cathedral, with its classic
front, stands pre-eminent; and although there are some fine pieces of
modern architecture, such as the Bolsa, or Exchange, the latter are so
stowed away among lofty houses in narrow streets, that they require to
be specially looked for to be noticed at all. I must qualify the above
observations by mentioning that these are the impressions of only two
days' sojourn in Buenos Ayres.
Some days later, His Excellency the Governor of the Falkland Islands
(Mr. Callaghan) and his wife arrived at Monte Video, _en route_ for his
seat of government; and as the sailing schooner, which was the only
regular means of communication between Monte Video and the Falklands,
was then crowded with passengers, the Governor gladly accepted Sir
George Nares's kind invitation to take him as his guest on board the
_Alert_.
We left Monte Video on the 14th of December, and on the 26th, amid a
furious storm of wind and hail, anchored in Stanley Harbour, Falkland
Islands. Here we found that the great topic of conversation was a
landslip of peat, which had occurred about a month previous to our
arrival, laying waste a portion of the little settlement. On the summit
of a hill above the east end of the town, a circular patch of turf,
about two hundred yards in diameter, had collapsed; and at the same
time a broad stream, four feet high, of semi-fluid peat, flowed down
the hillside to the sea, in its course sweeping away walls and gardens,
and partly burying the houses. This phenomenon, occurring at night,
caused great consternation among the inhabitants of such an uneventful
little place; but after the people had shaken themselves together
somewhat, and recovered from their surprise, they found that after all
no great damage had been done. The appearance of the peat avalanche, as
seen from the ship, was very peculiar, and in many respects the whole
occurrence resembled a lava flow.
On the evening of our arrival, we were most hospitably entertained at
Government House, where we had also the pleasure of meeting all the
rank and fashion of this part of the colony.
The next day, being fine, I determined to devote to an inspection of
the "stone runs," which have been rendered so famous in the geology
of the Falklands by the writings of Darwin, Wyville Thompson, and
others. In this excursion I was fortunate in having the assistance
of Dr. Watts, the colonial surgeon, a gentleman who, from his long
experience of the group, was well acquainted with all the salient
points in its natural history. The "run" which we visited lay in the
hollow of a winding valley, situated about two miles to the westward
of the settlement of Stanley. The rocks, heaped together confusedly,
formed a so-called "stone river," varying in width from fifty to two
hundred yards, and extending up the valley as a single "stream" for
about one mile and a half, to a point where it seemed as if originated
by a confluence of tributary streams flowing from the surrounding
hills. The stones, composed of quartzite, presented a roughly rounded
appearance, which was seemingly due to excessive weathering; and they
were so covered with lichens, as to appear of a uniform grey colour.
Those which lay below the surface were of a rust colour, and, by all
accounts, the upturned stones required an exposure of many years to
assume the uniform grey tint of the surface layer. The margin of the
"run" was distinctly defined by an abrupt edge of swampy soil, with
its tangled vegetation of diddle-dee, tea-plant, and balsam bog. Now,
why are the stones of the "run" so entirely destitute of soil? and why
do they exhibit a margin so sharp and well defined, yet without the
elevated, rounded appearance of a river bank? Sir Wyville Thompson's
theory, it seems to me, falls short of explaining this. I have as
yet seen too little of the country to justify me in forming a fixed
opinion; but I am, so far, inclined to think that these "streams of
stones" are of a date _anterior_ to the existence of peat on the
island, and that the peat has been approaching the valleys from
the elevated land by growth and slippage, and in its descent has
encountered difficulty in obtaining a footing in those places where
the stones are large, and being heaped to a great depth, act like
a gigantic drain, and so prevent any soil from forming. As far as I
can ascertain, no attempt has ever been made to estimate the rate of
movement (if any) of these "runs," and there is no evidence whatever
of their motion during the present century. There is not sufficient
land comprised by the watershed to form torrents capable of removing
the dense mass of peaty soil, which, according to Sir W. Thompson's
theory, would have been necessary for the transportation of the large
blocks of stone that are here accumulated. The inhabitants remark, and
I think with truth, that the summits of the hills and the upper slopes
are as a rule more wet and boggy than the hollows below. This supports
my view of the _drainage_ being greatest in the valleys where the big
stones were originally packed to a greater depth, and towards which
the peat is now encroaching. It is worthy of remark that the surface
of the stream is tolerably flat, and does not indicate a process of
accumulation by flow from either side.
To Dr. Watts, my guide on this occasion, I was also indebted for a
skin of the Falkland Island fox, an animal now almost extinct, a
skull of the sea elephant, and a dried specimen of the petrel, which
is known here as the "fire bird," from its habit of dashing itself
against the lantern of the lighthouse, at whose base dead specimens are
occasionally found.