Twm o'r Nant (Thomas Edwards) - "The Works of Twm o'r Nant, Volume II"

A. S. M. Hutchinson - "This Freedom"

Wallace Irwin - "The Love Sonnets of a Car Conductor"

Robert Chambers - "Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation"

The Voyage Of The Beagle

C >> Charles Darwin >> The Voyage Of The Beagle




During the night it rained, and the next day (17th) was very
stormy, with much hail and snow. We rode across the island to the
neck of land which joins the Rincon del Tor (the great peninsula
at the south-west extremity) to the rest of the island. From the
great number of cows which have been killed, there is a large
proportion of bulls. These wander about single, or two and three
together, and are very savage. I never saw such magnificent
beasts; they equalled in the size of their huge heads and necks
the Grecian marble sculptures. Captain Sulivan informs me that
the hide of an average-sized bull weighs forty-seven pounds,
whereas a hide of this weight, less thoroughly dried, is
considered as a very heavy one at Monte Video. The young bulls
generally run away for a short distance; but the old ones do not
stir a step, except to rush at man and horse; and many horses
have been thus killed. An old bull crossed a boggy stream, and
took his stand on the opposite side to us; we in vain tried to
drive him away, and failing, were obliged to make a large
circuit. The Gauchos in revenge determined to emasculate him and
render him for the future harmless. It was very interesting to
see how art completely mastered force. One lazo was thrown over
his horns as he rushed at the horse, and another round his hind
legs: in a minute the monster was stretched powerless on the
ground. After the lazo has once been drawn tightly round the
horns of a furious animal, it does not at first appear an easy
thing to disengage it again without killing the beast: nor, I
apprehend, would it be so if the man was by himself. By the aid,
however, of a second person throwing his lazo so as to catch both
hind legs, it is quickly managed: for the animal, as long as its
hind legs are kept outstretched, is quite helpless, and the first
man can with his hands loosen his lazo from the horns, and then
quietly mount his horse; but the moment the second man, by
backing ever so little, relaxes the strain, the lazo slips off
the legs of the struggling beast which then rises free, shakes
himself, and vainly rushes at his antagonist.

During our whole ride we saw only one troop of wild horses. These
animals, as well as the cattle, were introduced by the French in
1764, since which time both have greatly increased. It is a
curious fact that the horses have never left the eastern end of
the island, although there is no natural boundary to prevent them
from roaming, and that part of the island is not more tempting
than the rest. The Gauchos whom I asked, though asserting this to
be the case, were unable to account for it, except from the
strong attachment which horses have to any locality to which they
are accustomed. Considering that the island does not appear fully
stocked, and that there are no beasts of prey, I was particularly
curious to know what has checked their originally rapid increase.
That in a limited island some check would sooner or later
supervene, is inevitable; but why has the increase of the horse
been checked sooner than that of the cattle? Captain Sulivan has
taken much pains for me in this inquiry. The Gauchos employed
here attribute it chiefly to the stallions constantly roaming
from place to place, and compelling the mares to accompany them,
whether or not the young foals are able to follow. One Gaucho
told Captain Sulivan that he had watched a stallion for a whole
hour, violently kicking and biting a mare till he forced her to
leave her foal to its fate. Captain Sulivan can so far
corroborate this curious account, that he has several times found
young foals dead, whereas he has never found a dead calf.
Moreover, the dead bodies of full-grown horses are more
frequently found, as if more subject to disease or accidents than
those of the cattle. From the softness of the ground their hoofs
often grow irregularly to a great length, and this causes
lameness. The predominant colours are roan and iron-grey. All the
horses bred here, both tame and wild, are rather small-sized,
though generally in good condition; and they have lost so much
strength, that they are unfit to be used in taking wild cattle
with the lazo: in consequence, it is necessary to go to the great
expense of importing fresh horses from the Plata. At some future
period the southern hemisphere probably will have its breed of
Falkland ponies, as the northern has its Shetland breed.

The cattle, instead of having degenerated like the horses, seem,
as before remarked, to have increased in size; and they are much
more numerous than the horses. Captain Sulivan informs me that
they vary much less in the general form of their bodies and in
the shape of their horns than English cattle. In colour they
differ much; and it is a remarkable circumstance, that in
different parts of this one small island, different colours
predominate. Round Mount Usborne, at a height of from 1000 to
1500 feet above the sea, about half of some of the herds are
mouse or lead coloured, a tint which is not common in other parts
of the island. Near Port Pleasant dark brown prevails, whereas
south of Choiseul Sound (which almost divides the island into two
parts) white beasts with black heads and feet are the most
common: in all parts black, and some spotted animals may be
observed. Captain Sulivan remarks that the difference in the
prevailing colours was so obvious, that in looking for the herds
near Port Pleasant, they appeared from a long distance like black
spots, whilst south of Choiseul Sound they appeared like white
spots on the hill-sides. Captain Sulivan thinks that the herds do
not mingle; and it is a singular fact, that the mouse-coloured
cattle, though living on the high land, calve about a month
earlier in the season than the other coloured beasts on the lower
land. It is interesting thus to find the once domesticated cattle
breaking into three colours, of which some one colour would in
all probability ultimately prevail over the others, if the herd
were left undisturbed for the next several centuries.

The rabbit is another animal which has been introduced, and has
succeeded very well; so that they abound over large parts of the
island. Yet, like the horses, they are confined within certain
limits; for they have not crossed the central chain of hills, nor
would they have extended even so far as its base, if, as the
Gauchos informed me, small colonies had not been carried there. I
should not have supposed that these animals, natives of Northern
Africa, could have existed in a climate so humid as this, and
which enjoys so little sunshine that even wheat ripens only
occasionally. It is asserted that in Sweden, which any one would
have thought a more favourable climate, the rabbit cannot live
out of doors. The first few pairs, moreover, had here to contend
against pre-existing enemies, in the fox and some large hawks.
The French naturalists have considered the black variety a
distinct species, and called it Lepus Magellanicus. (9/5.
Lesson's "Zoology of the Voyage of the Coquille" tome 1 page 168.
All the early voyagers, and especially Bougainville, distinctly
state that the wolf-like fox was the only native animal on the
island. The distinction of the rabbit as a species is taken from
peculiarities in the fur, from the shape of the head, and from
the shortness of the ears. I may here observe that the difference
between the Irish and English hare rests upon nearly similar
characters, only more strongly marked.) They imagined that
Magellan, when talking of an animal under the name of "conejos"
in the Strait of Magellan, referred to this species; but he was
alluding to a small cavy, which to this day is thus called by the
Spaniards. The Gauchos laughed at the idea of the black kind
being different from the grey, and they said that at all events
it had not extended its range any farther than the grey kind;
that the two were never found separate; and that they readily
bred together, and produced piebald offspring. Of the latter I
now possess a specimen, and it is marked about the head
differently from the French specific description. This
circumstance shows how cautious naturalists should be in making
species; for even Cuvier, on looking at the skull of one of these
rabbits, thought it was probably distinct!

The only quadruped native to the island is a large wolf-like fox
(Canis antarcticus), which is common to both East and West
Falkland. (9/6. I have reason, however, to suspect that there is
a field-mouse. The common European rat and mouse have roamed far
from the habitations of the settlers. The common hog has also run
wild on one islet; all are of a black colour: the boars are very
fierce, and have great tusks.) I have no doubt it is a peculiar
species, and confined to this archipelago; because many sealers,
Gauchos, and Indians, who have visited these islands, all
maintain that no such animal is found in any part of South
America. Molina, from a similarity in habits, thought that this
was the same with his "culpeu" (9/7. The "culpeu" is the Canis
Magellanicus brought home by Captain King from the Strait of
Magellan. It is common in Chile.); but I have seen both, and they
are quite distinct. These wolves are well known from Byron's
account of their tameness and curiosity, which the sailors, who
ran into the water to avoid them, mistook for fierceness. To this
day their manners remain the same. They have been observed to
enter a tent, and actually pull some meat from beneath the head
of a sleeping seaman. The Gauchos also have frequently in the
evening killed them, by holding out a piece of meat in one hand,
and in the other a knife ready to stick them. As far as I am
aware, there is no other instance in any part of the world, of so
small a mass of broken land, distant from a continent, possessing
so large an aboriginal quadruped peculiar to itself. Their
numbers have rapidly decreased; they are already banished from
that half of the island which lies to the eastward of the neck of
land between St. Salvador Bay and Berkeley Sound. Within a very
few years after these islands shall have become regularly
settled, in all probability this fox will be classed with the
dodo, as an animal which has perished from the face of the earth.

At night (17th) we slept on the neck of land at the head of
Choiseul Sound, which forms the south-west peninsula. The valley
was pretty well sheltered from the cold wind; but there was very
little brushwood for fuel. The Gauchos, however, soon found what,
to my great surprise, made nearly as hot a fire as coals; this
was the skeleton of a bullock lately killed, from which the flesh
had been picked by the carrion-hawks. They told me that in winter
they often killed a beast, cleaned the flesh from the bones with
their knives and then with these same bones roasted the meat for
their suppers.

MAY 18, 1834.

It rained during nearly the whole day. At night we managed,
however, with our saddle-cloths to keep ourselves pretty well dry
and warm; but the ground on which we slept was on each occasion
nearly in the state of a bog, and there was not a dry spot to sit
down on after our day's ride. I have in another part stated how
singular it is that there should be absolutely no trees on these
islands, although Tierra del Fuego is covered by one large
forest. The largest bush in the island (belonging to the family
of Compositae) is scarcely so tall as our gorse. The best fuel is
afforded by a green little bush about the size of common heath,
which has the useful property of burning while fresh and green.
It was very surprising to see the Gauchos, in the midst of rain
and everything soaking wet, with nothing more than a tinder-box
and a piece of rag, immediately make a fire. They sought beneath
the tufts of grass and bushes for a few dry twigs, and these they
rubbed into fibres; then surrounding them with coarser twigs,
something like a bird's nest, they put the rag with its spark of
fire in the middle and covered it up. The nest being then held up
to the wind, by degrees it smoked more and more, and at last
burst out in flames. I do not think any other method would have
had a chance of succeeding with such damp materials.

MAY 19, 1834.

Each morning, from not having ridden for some time previously, I
was very stiff. I was surprised to hear the Gauchos, who have
from infancy almost lived on horseback, say that, under similar
circumstances, they always suffer. St. Jago told me, that having
been confined for three months by illness, he went out hunting
wild cattle, and in consequence, for the next two days, his
thighs were so stiff that he was obliged to lie in bed. This
shows that the Gauchos, although they do not appear to do so, yet
really must exert much muscular effort in riding. The hunting
wild cattle, in a country so difficult to pass as this is on
account of the swampy ground, must be very hard work. The Gauchos
say they often pass at full speed over ground which would be
impassable at a slower pace; in the same manner as a man is able
to skate over thin ice. When hunting, the party endeavours to get
as close as possible to the herd without being discovered. Each
man carries four or five pair of the bolas; these he throws one
after the other at as many cattle, which, when once entangled,
are left for some days, till they become a little exhausted by
hunger and struggling. They are then let free and driven towards
a small herd of tame animals, which have been brought to the spot
on purpose. From their previous treatment, being too much
terrified to leave the herd, they are easily driven, if their
strength last out, to the settlement.

The weather continued so very bad that we determine to make a
push, and try to reach the vessel before night. From the quantity
of rain which had fallen, the surface of the whole country was
swampy. I suppose my horse fell at least a dozen times, and
sometimes the whole six horses were floundering in the mud
together. All the little streams are bordered by soft peat, which
makes it very difficult for the horses to leap them without
falling. To complete our discomforts we were obliged to cross the
head of a creek of the sea, in which the water was as high as our
horses' backs; and the little waves, owing to the violence of the
wind, broke over us, and made us very wet and cold. Even the
iron-framed Gauchos professed themselves glad when they reached
the settlement, after our little excursion.

The geological structure of these islands is in most respects
simple. The lower country consists of clay-slate and sandstone,
containing fossils, very closely related to, but not identical
with, those found in the Silurian formations of Europe; the hills
are formed of white granular quartz rock. The strata of the
latter are frequently arched with perfect symmetry, and the
appearance of some of the masses is in consequence most singular.
Pernety has devoted several pages to the description of a Hill of
Ruins, the successive strata of which he has justly compared to
the seats of an amphitheatre. (9/8. Pernety "Voyage aux Isles
Malouines" page 526.) The quartz rock must have been quite pasty
when it underwent such remarkable flexures without being
shattered into fragments. As the quartz insensibly passes into
the sandstone, it seems probable that the former owes its origin
to the sandstone having been heated to such a degree that it
became viscid, and upon cooling crystallised. While in the soft
state it must have been pushed up through the overlying beds.

In many parts of the island the bottoms of the valleys are
covered in an extraordinary manner by myriads of great loose
angular fragments of the quartz rock, forming "streams of
stones." These have been mentioned with surprise by every voyager
since the time of Pernety. The blocks are not waterworn, their
angles being only a little blunted; they vary in size from one or
two feet in diameter to ten, or even more than twenty times as
much. They are not thrown together into irregular piles, but are
spread out into level sheets or great streams. It is not possible
to ascertain their thickness, but the water of small streamlets
can be heard trickling through the stones many feet below the
surface. The actual depth is probably great, because the crevices
between the lower fragments must long ago have been filled up
with sand. The width of these sheets of stones varies from a few
hundred feet to a mile; but the peaty soil daily encroaches on
the borders, and even forms islets wherever a few fragments
happen to lie close together. In a valley south of Berkeley
Sound, which some of our party called the "great valley of
fragments," it was necessary to cross an uninterrupted band half
a mile wide, by jumping from one pointed stone to another. So
large were the fragments, that being overtaken by a shower of
rain, I readily found shelter beneath one of them.

Their little inclination is the most remarkable circumstance in
these "streams of stones." On the hill-sides I have seen them
sloping at an angle of ten degrees with the horizon; but in some
of the level, broad-bottomed valleys, the inclination is only
just sufficient to be clearly perceived. On so rugged a surface
there was no means of measuring the angle; but to give a common
illustration, I may say that the slope would not have checked the
speed of an English mail-coach. In some places a continuous
stream of these fragments followed up the course of a valley, and
even extended to the very crest of the hill. On these crests huge
masses, exceeding in dimensions any small building, seemed to
stand arrested in their headlong course: there, also, the curved
strata of the archways lay piled on each other, like the ruins of
some vast and ancient cathedral. In endeavouring to describe
these scenes of violence one is tempted to pass from one simile
to another. We may imagine that streams of white lava had flowed
from many parts of the mountains into the lower country, and that
when solidified they had been rent by some enormous convulsion
into myriads of fragments. The expression "streams of stones,"
which immediately occurred to every one, conveys the same idea.
These scenes are on the spot rendered more striking by the
contrast of the low, rounded forms of the neighbouring hills.

I was interested by finding on the highest peak of one range
(about 700 feet above the sea) a great arched fragment, lying on
its convex side, or back downwards. Must we believe that it was
fairly pitched up in the air, and thus turned? Or, with more
probability, that there existed formerly a part of the same range
more elevated than the point on which this monument of a great
convulsion of nature now lies. As the fragments in the valleys
are neither rounded nor the crevices filled up with sand, we must
infer that the period of violence was subsequent to the land
having been raised above the waters of the sea. In a transverse
section within these valleys the bottom is nearly level, or rises
but very little towards either side. Hence the fragments appear
to have travelled from the head of the valley; but in reality it
seems more probable that they have been hurled down from the
nearest slopes; and that since, by a vibratory movement of
overwhelming force, the fragments have been levelled into one
continuous sheet. (9/9. "Nous n'avons pas été moins saisis
d'étonnement à la vûe de l'innombrable quantité de pierres de
toutes grandeurs, bouleversées les unes sur les autres, et
cependant rangées, comme si elles avoient été amoncelées
négligemment pour remplir des ravins. On ne se lassoit pas
d'admirer les effets prodigieux de la nature." "Pernety" page
526.) If during the earthquake which in 1835 overthrew
Concepcion, in Chile, it was thought wonderful that small bodies
should have been pitched a few inches from the ground, what must
we say to a movement which has caused fragments many tons in
weight to move onwards like so much sand on a vibrating board,
and find their level? (9/10. An inhabitant of Mendoza, and hence
well capable of judging, assured me that, during the several
years he had resided on these islands, he had never felt the
slightest shock of an earthquake.) I have seen, in the Cordillera
of the Andes, the evident marks where stupendous mountains have
been broken into pieces like so much thin crust, and the strata
thrown on their vertical edges; but never did any scene, like
these "streams of stones," so forcibly convey to my mind the idea
of a convulsion, of which in historical records we might in vain
seek for any counterpart: yet the progress of knowledge will
probably some day give a simple explanation of this phenomenon,
as it already has of the so long thought inexplicable transportal
of the erratic boulders which are strewed over the plains of
Europe.

I have little to remark on the zoology of these islands. I have
before described the carrion-vulture of Polyborus. There are some
other hawks, owls, and a few small land-birds. The waterfowl are
particularly numerous, and they must formerly, from the accounts
of the old navigators, have been much more so. One day I observed
a cormorant playing with a fish which it had caught. Eight times
successively the bird let its prey go, then dived after it, and
although in deep water, brought it each time to the surface. In
the Zoological Gardens I have seen the otter treat a fish in the
same manner, much as a cat does a mouse: I do not know of any
other instance where dame Nature appears so wilfully cruel.
Another day, having placed myself between a penguin (Aptenodytes
demersa) and the water, I was much amused by watching its habits.
It was a brave bird; and till reaching the sea, it regularly
fought and drove me backwards. Nothing less than heavy blows
would have stopped him; every inch he gained he firmly kept,
standing close before me erect and determined. When thus opposed
he continually rolled his head from side to side, in a very odd
manner, as if the power of distinct vision lay only in the
anterior and basal part of each eye. This bird is commonly called
the jackass penguin, from its habit, while on shore, of throwing
its head backwards, and making a loud strange noise, very like
the braying of an ass; but while at sea, and undisturbed, its
note is very deep and solemn, and is often heard in the
night-time. In diving, its little wings are used as fins; but on
the land, as front legs. When crawling, it may be said on four
legs, through the tussocks or on the side of a grassy cliff, it
moves so very quickly that it might easily be mistaken for a
quadruped. When at sea and fishing, it comes to the surface for
the purpose of breathing with such a spring, and dives again so
instantaneously, that I defy any one at first sight to be sure
that it was not a fish leaping for sport.

Two kinds of geese frequent the Falklands. The upland species
(Anas Magellanica) is common, in pairs and in small flocks,
throughout the island. They do not migrate, but build on the
small outlying islets. This is supposed to be from fear of the
foxes: and it is perhaps from the same cause that these birds,
though very tame by day, are shy and wild in the dusk of the
evening. They live entirely on vegetable matter. The rock-goose,
so called from living exclusively on the sea-beach (Anas
antarctica), is common both here and on the west coast of
America, as far north as Chile. In the deep and retired channels
of Tierra del Fuego, the snow-white gander, invariably
accompanied by his darker consort, and standing close by each
other on some distant rocky point, is a common feature in the
landscape.

In these islands a great loggerheaded duck or goose (Anas
brachyptera), which sometimes weighs twenty-two pounds, is very
abundant. These birds were in former days called, from their
extraordinary manner of paddling and splashing upon the water,
racehorses; but now they are named, much more appropriately,
steamers. Their wings are too small and weak to allow of flight,
but by their aid, partly swimming and partly flapping the surface
of the water, they move very quickly. The manner is something
like that by which the common house-duck escapes when pursued by
a dog; but I am nearly sure that the steamer moves its wings
alternately, instead of both together, as in other birds. These
clumsy, loggerheaded ducks make such a noise and splashing, that
the effect is exceedingly curious.

Thus we find in South America three birds which use their wings
for other purposes besides flight; the penguin as fins, the
steamer as paddles, and the ostrich as sails: and the Apteryx of
New Zealand, as well as its gigantic extinct prototype the
Deinornis, possess only rudimentary representatives of wings. The
steamer is able to dive only to a very short distance. It feeds
entirely on shell-fish from the kelp and tidal rocks; hence the
beak and head, for the purpose of breaking them, are surprisingly
heavy and strong: the head is so strong that I have scarcely been
able to fracture it with my geological hammer; and all our
sportsmen soon discovered how tenacious these birds were of life.
When in the evening pluming themselves in a flock, they make the
same odd mixture of sounds which bull-frogs do within the
tropics.

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