Narrative of the surveying voyages of his majesty's ships Adventure and Beagle (vol.2): between the years 1826 and 1836 : describing their examination of the southern shores of South America, and the Beagles's circumnavigation of the globe

1832. ENTER RIVER PLATA. 85 vicinity of Cape Sta Maria to avoid being drifted about by irre- gular currents. For upwards of an hour St. Elmo fires were seen at each mast-head, and at some of the yard-arms : the mast-head vane also, fixed horizontally, and framed with cop- per, had an illuminated border round it. Heavy rain, much thunder, and a fresh southerly wind followed ; but as we were prepared for bad weather, and the sea did not rise much, we maintained our position till daylight next morning, notwith- standing an officer of the watch startling me by reporting that we must be very near the land, because he heard bullocks bellowing."* On the 23d we entered the great estuary of this shallow though wide river, a hundred and twenty miles across at this part, yet averaging less than ten fathoms in depth ; and above fifty miles wide between Monte Video and the opposite point, called Piedras, where the average depth is not more than three fathoms. Very great care is required by vessels navigating the Plata, because of its exceedingly dangerous shoals, its strong and irregular currents, and the sudden temjiests to which it is subject. The shoals and currents may be guarded against by a very careful attention to the lead, and a ground-log ; but the fury of a violent pampero-|- must be endui'ed. The land on each side of the Plata is so low, and those extraordinary plains called pampas, hundreds of miles in extent, are so perfectly free from a single obstacle which might offer any check to the storm, that a pampero sweeps over land and water with the weight of a rushing hurricane. Captain King has already de- scribed one, by which the Beagle suffered severely, in 1829 ;+ but having, to my sorrow, been more immediately concerned, I will endeavour to give a brief account of that disastrous affair, as a warning to others. On the 30th of January 1829, the Beagle was standing in, * These noises must have been the discordant ' braying' of the bird called by seamen 'jack-ass penpfuin.' t So called because it appears to come from the vast plains called ' pampas.' J Vol. i. pp. 189, VM, 101.