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

493 ' dripstome'' — local peculiarities. Sept. In a small cave near the " governor's dripstone," an old sailor lived during several years : he had been unfortunate, and was tired of the world. Terrapin and potatoes were his food, till a former friend, the master of a whaler, recognised him, and car- ried him away by force. So strongly was the old man attached to his cave, that he shed tears when taken away. There are goats and hogs upon this island, but they are scarce and wild, not having yet had time to increase much they are hunted with dogs, though it would be wiser to let them alone for a few years. The settlers have abundance of vegetables, and depend chiefly upon terrapin for their meat. Many of these animals being large and heavy, the people who go in search of them kill and open them on the spot, then take out the fleshy pieces and put them in a bag. Thus one man can carry away the useful parts of more terrapins than several men could lift. The quantity of tortoise shells lying about the ground, shows what havock has been made among these helpless ani- mals. On the lower ground, near the spring, I saw an apology for a garden, in which the large terrapin shells were used to cover young plants, instead of flower pots. In a place one has not seen before, some marked peculiarity occasionally reminds one, more forcibly than the ordinary novelties of scenery, that all around is strange and new. The palm-trees and arid appearance of St. Jago, the sedan chairs of Bahia, the boats of Rio de Janeiro, the beef carts of Monte Video^ the travelling waggons of Buenos Ayres, the ' toldo ' of the Patagonian, the wigwam of the Fuegian, the wooden houses and clogs of San Carlos de Childe, the stockades of Valdivia, the effects of earthquake at Concepcion, the concentrated bustle of Valparaiso, the quiet and uniform serenity of Co- quimbo, women riding astride and troops of ill-used donkeys at Lima, are a few instances among the multitude of such local peculiarities. Small birds are numerous on this island, and so remarkably tame that they may be knocked down with a stick. Lizards are also numerous ; and there are a few small snakes, but those