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

296 WOLF — DEEK — DOGS. Oct. Nov. quarter of a mile further south, the stream being there " broad and rapid," with two fathoms water when the tide was out ; but beset, to seaward, by sandbanks, which shift with every south- east gale. Quantities of drift-wood, a kind of willow (sauci), lay about every where, indicating that the river sometimes overflowed its banks to a great distance, and brought down these trees from the interior country, as none grow within three leagues of the mouth. The river hereabouts is divided into many streams, forming a great number of small islands, which are nearly all of clay covered with rushes. From one of these streams or channels, the Canada, there are creeks commu- nicating at high- water with Union Bay. Here Lieut. Wick- ham's party saw a wolf. On the 27th they met a whale-boat (at Creek Island in Ane- gada Bay) from the River Negro, in search of sea-elephants. Next day they reached a snug creek in San Bias Bay, v;here they heard that the Indians had lately driven off all the cattle from the San Bias Estancia, had destroyed the houses, dis- mounted the guns, and broken the carriages. They were accompanied by a number of desperate criminals who had fled from justice at Buenos Ayres, and idle gauchos, who preferred robbery to work, and were unquestionably the most savage of the troop. On the 29th the Liebre was hauled ashore, to exti-act a piece of sauci wood that had run through her bot- tom : and a party was afterwards employed in erecting a conspi- cuous mark upon Hog Island; a very difficult task, because the loose sand, of which that island wholly consists, flies in clouds at every gust, and nowhere affords a solid foundation. By the help of casks filled with it, and spare anchors, they at length suc- ceeded in securing an old spar upright, which was large enough to be seen ten miles round, in that low half-drowned country. Deer were very numerous on Javali Island ; but on the place called Deer Island, there was not one, though they were so plentiful there a few years before. Some dogs had been left there by a whale-ship, which liave increased very much in numbers and are very savage : these dogs have exterminated the deer.