At night (17th) we slept on the neck of land at the hea of Choiseul Sound, which forms the south-west peninsula The valley was pretty well sheltered from the cold wind but there was very little brushwood for fuel. The Gauchos however, soon found what, to my great surprise, made nearl as hot a fire as coals; this was the skeleton of a bullock lately killed, from which the flesh had been picked by the carrion-hawks. They told me that in winter they often killed a beast, cleaned the flesh from the bones with their knives and then with these same bones roasted the meat for thei suppers.
18th. -- It rained during nearly the whole day. At nigh we managed, however, with our saddle-cloths to keep ourselves pretty well dry and warm; but the ground on whic we slept was on each occasion nearly in the state of a bog and there was not a dry spot to sit down on after our day' ride. I have in another part stated how singular it is tha there should be absolutely no trees on these islands, althoug Tierra del Fuego is covered by one large forest. Th largest bush in the island (belonging to the family of Compositae) is scarcely so tall as our gorse. The best fuel i afforded by a green little bush about the size of commo heath, which has the useful property of burning while fres and green. It was very surprising to see the Gauchos, i the midst of rain and everything soaking wet, with nothin more than a tinder-box and a piece of rag, immediately mak a fire. They sought beneath the tufts of grass and bushe for a few dry twigs, and these they rubbed into fibres; the surrounding them with coarser twigs, something like a bird' nest, they put the rag with its spark of fire in the middl and covered it up. The nest being then held up to th wind, by degrees it smoked more and more, and at las burst out in flames. I do not think any other method woul have had a chance of succeeding with such damp materials.
19th. -- Each morning, from not having ridden for som time previously, I was very stiff. I was surprised to hea the Gauchos, who have from infancy almost lived on horseback, say that, under similar circumstances, they alway suffer. St. Jago told me, that having been confined for thre months by illness, he went out hunting wild cattle, and i consequence, for the next two days, his thighs were so stif that he was obliged to lie in bed. This shows that the Gauchos, although they do not appear to do so, yet really mus exert much muscular effort in riding. The hunting wil cattle, in a country so difficult to pass as this is on accoun of the swampy ground, must be very hard work. Th Gauchos say they often pass at full speed over ground whic would be impassable at a slower pace; in the same manne as a man is able to skate over thin ice. When hunting, th party endeavours to get as close as possible to the herd with out being discovered. Each man carries four or five pair o the bolas; these he throws one after the other at as man cattle, which, when once entangled, are left for some day till they become a little exhausted by hunger and struggling They are then let free and driven towards a small herd o tame animals, which have been brought to the spot on purpose. From their previous treatment, being too much terrified to leave the herd, they are easily driven, if thei strength last out, to the settlement.
The weather continued so very bad that we determine to make a push, and try to reach the vessel before night From the quantity of rain which had fallen, the surfac of the whole country was swampy. I suppose my horse fel at least a dozen times, and sometimes the whole six horse were floundering in the mud together. All the little stream are bordered by soft peat, which makes it very difficult fo the horses to leap them without falling. To complete ou discomforts we were obliged to cross the head of a cree of the sea, in which the water was as high as our horses backs; and the little waves, owing to the violence of th wind, broke over us, and made us very wet and cold. Eve the iron-framed Gauchos professed themselves glad whe they reached the settlement, after our little excursion
The geological structure of these islands is in mos respects simple. The lower country consists of clay-slat and sandstone, containing fossils, very closely related to, bu not identical with, those found in the Silurian formation of Europe; the hills are formed of white granular quart rock. The strata of the latter are frequently arched wit perfect symmetry, and the appearance of some of the masse is in consequence most singular. Pernety [8] has devote several pages to the description of a Hill of Ruins, th successive strata of which he has justly compared to th seats of an amphitheatre. The quartz rock must have bee quite pasty when it underwent such remarkable flexure without being shattered into fragments. As the quart insensibly passes into the sandstone, it seems probable tha the former owes its origin to the sandstone having bee heated to such a degree that it became viscid, and upon cooling crystallized. While in the soft state it must have bee pushed up through the overlying beds.