Narrative of the surveying voyages of his majesty's ships Adventure and Beagle (vol.1): between the years 1826 and 1836 : describing their examination of the southern shores of South America, and the Beagles's circumnavigation of the globe

Nov. 18S6*. FIRE GEOLOGY GUANACOES. 3 made snug, than it blew a hard gale from the S.W. The water however, from the wind being off the land, was perfectly smooth, and the ships rode securely through the night : but the following morning the gale increased, and veered to the southward, which threw a heavy sea into the port, placing us, to say the least, in a very uneasy situation. Happily it ceased at sunset. In consequence of the unfavourable state of the weather, no attempt was made to land in order to observe an eclipse of the sun ; to make which observation was one reason for visiting this port. The day after the gale, while I was employed in making some astronomical observations, a party roamed about in quest of game : but with little success, as they killed only a few wild ducks. The fire which they made for cooking communicated to the dry stubbly grass, and in a few minutes the whole country was in a blaze. The flames continued to spread dur- ing our stay, and, in a few days, more than fifteen miles along the coast, and seven or eight miles into the interior were over- run by the fire. The smoke very much impeded our observa- tions, for at times it quite obscured the sun. The geological structure of this part of the covmtry, and a considerable portion of the coast to the north and south, consists of a fine-grained porphyritic clay slate. The summits of the hills near the coast are generally of a rounded form, and are paved, as it were, with small, rounded, siliceous pebbles, imbed- ded in the soil, and in no instance lying loose or in heaps ; but those of the interior are flat-topped, and uniform in height, for many miles in extent. The valleys and lower elevations, not- withstanding the poverty and parched state of the soil, were partially covered with grass and shrubby plants, which afford sustenance to numerous herds of guanacoes. Many of these animals were observed feedino- near the beach when we were working into the bay, but they took the alarm, so that upon landing we only saw them at a considerable distance. In none of our excursions could we find any water that had not a brackish taste. Several wells have been dug in the valleys, both near the sea and at a considerable distance from it, by the li 2