With the change in the geological structure of the plains the
character of the landscape likewise altered. While rambling up some
of the narrow and rocky defiles, I could almost have fancied myself
transported back again to the barren valleys of the island of St.
Jago. Among the basaltic cliffs I found some plants which I had
seen nowhere else, but others I recognised as being wanderers from
Tierra del Fuego. These porous rocks serve as a reservoir for the
scanty rain-water; and consequently on the line where the igneous
and sedimentary formations unite, some small springs (most rare
occurrences in Patagonia) burst forth; and they could be
distinguished at a distance by the circumscribed patches of bright
green herbage.
(PLATE 42. BASALTIC GLEN, SANTA CRUZ (RIO NEGRO).
APRIL 27, 1834.
The bed of the river became rather narrower, and hence the stream
more rapid. It here ran at the rate of six knots an hour. From this
cause, and from the many great angular fragments, tracking the
boats became both dangerous and laborious.
This day I shot a condor. It measured from tip to tip of the wings
eight and a half feet, and from beak to tail four feet.
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