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

RIVERS — INDIANS GRAVES. 581 high water J may be easily entered, but at low water the banks are dry to a great extent ; a channel, however, is left on its south side, of sufficient depth for a small vessel : the tide rises forty-six feet, and the stream is very strong. Port Desire, in 47° 45' south latitude, has a narrow entrance with strong tides ; but affords in the offing very good anchorage as well as shelter from the prevailing winds, which are off shore, or westerly. The inlet extends up the country, nearly in a west direction, for eighteen miles; but the land is dry and parched, and very unsuitable for the establishment which the Spanish government formed there not many years since, and of which evident traces remain to this day. St. George's Gulf, called in the old charts ' Bahia sin Fondo,' or Deep-Sea Gulf, was formerly considered to be a deep sinuosity of the coast, into which a river emptied its waters after winding through a large tract of country ; for, until the Descubierta and Atrevida's voyage of discovery, very vague accounts had been given of this, or indeed of any other part of the coast. The Gulf, upon that examination, was found to possess no river or creek in any part excepting on the north side, where there are several deep bays and coves, which are, and have been frequented by our seal- ing vessels. The country about is dry and parched, although partially covered with small shrubs, and a wiry grass on which large herds of guanacoes feed. According to Falkner (the Jesuit missionary, who resided many years among the Indian tribes inhabiting the country about Buenos Ayres), the eastern coast between the latitudes of 41° and 51° is frequented by the natives for the purpose only of burying the dead : they have, however, been occasionally met with travelling along the coast, apparently without any particular object in view. Near Port Desire I have seen the graves of the Indians on the summit of the hills, but the bodies had been removed, probably by the Indians themselves ; for we are informed by Falkner, that, after the dead have been interred twelve months, the graves are visited by the tribe, for the purpose of collecting the bones and conveying them to their family sepulchres, where they are set up and adorned with all the beads and ornaments the friends and family of the deceased can collect for the occasion. The ceremony