Notes of a naturalist in South America

I was on foot before daylight on the 11th of June. The benevolent German who managed Mr. Meidell’s establishment sent up a cup of hot coffee, and a brazier with charcoal, which was grievously wanted to dry my plant-paper. The sky was still clear, and the sun, rising blood-red over the flat shores of Tierra del Fuego on the opposite side of the Straits, was a striking spectacle. I had arranged overnight to take with me a boy having some knowledge of the neighbourhood, and was just starting for a walk when I met the governor, who at this early hour was on his way to call upon me. After a short conversation with this courteous gentleman, and accepting an invitation to dine at his house, I pursued my course in the direction of the now disused coal mine. For about half a mile I followed the tramway which was erected some years ago to carry the coal to the port. It runs along the low ground between the hills and the shore, and then enters a little flat-bottomed valley between the hills. Heavy rain had recently fallen, and the flat had been flooded, but the surface was now frozen over. Before long we found the tramway impracticable; it had been allowed to fall to decay, and, being supported on trestles, the gaps were inconveniently frequent. I then attempted to continue my walk over the flat, and found the ice in some places strong enough to bear my weight, but it frequently gave way, and I soon got tired of splashing through the surface into the ice-cold water, and resolved to betake myself to the adjoining hills. The weather showed itself as changeable on this day as it usually is in this singular climate. For about half an hour the sky was clear and the sun so warm that I could not bear an overcoat. Then a breeze sprung up from the north-west, the sky was soon covered, and some rain fell; again the sky cleared, and, if I remember right, four or five similar changes occurred before nightfall.

VEGETATION OF SANDY POINT.

At this season I could not expect to see much of the vegetation of the country, but I found rather more than I expected. Two Compositæ, both evergreen shrubs, were abundantly clothed with fruit, and among other characteristic forms I collected two species of Acæna, a genus widely spread through the southern hemisphere, allied to, but very distinct from, our common Alchemilla. From its ancestral home in south polar lands, many descendants have reached South America, and some of these have followed the Andean chain, and thus got to Mexico and California. From the same stock we find representatives in New Zealand, Australia, Tristan d’Acunha, and South Africa, while one has travelled so far as the Sandwich Islands. The seeds are provided with hooked beaks, which may have attached themselves to the plumage of oceanic birds, and a single successful transport in the course of many ages may have introduced the parent of the existing species to new regions of the earth. It was not without interest to find two cosmopolitan weeds, our common shepherd’s purse and chickweed, both flowering in winter in this remote part of the world.

From the summit of the hill I enjoyed a good view of the flat-topped range – apparently from 2500 to 3000 feet in height – that separates the Straits of Magellan from Otway Water. This is a landlocked basin nearly fifty miles long and half as wide, connected with the sea by a narrow sound that opens on the western side of the Straits near Port Gallant. The lower slopes of the intervening range are covered with forest, and the summit apparently bare, but in this season covered with snow. If the extreme difficulty of penetrating the forests were not well known, it would be a matter of surprise that no one has ever crossed the range, and that the eastern shores of Otway Water, not thirty miles distant from Punta Arenas, are yet unexplored.

In returning to Punta Arenas I passed through the remains of the burnt forest that once extended close to the houses. In the summer of 1873, either by design or accident, fire seized the forest, composed of large trees of the antarctic beech, and raged so furiously for a time as to threaten destruction to the entire place. After the first efforts at averting the immediate danger, no further interference was attempted, and I was assured that the conflagration was not entirely exhausted until the ensuing winter, nearly six months after it commenced. I passed the charred remains of hundreds of thick stumps, many of them over three feet in diameter, but I was surprised to find several trees much too large to have grown up since the fire, which in some unexplained way escaped destruction. Unlike most of the beeches of the southern hemisphere, this has deciduous leaves, so that the branches were bare; but many of them were laden with the curious parasite, Myzodendron punctulatum, the structure of which plant and its allies was long ago admirably illustrated by Sir Joseph Hooker.34

THE GOVERNOR’S FAMILY.

The evening of this day was very agreeably spent at the house of the governor, who had invited to his table Commander Pietrabona and two officers of the Argentine corvette, Cabo de Ornos, Signor Vinciguerra, the captain of the port, and two or three of the principal inhabitants. One of the favourable features by which a stranger is impressed in Chili is the comparative moderation with which political conflicts are conducted. In the other South American republics a conspicuous party leader is marked by the opposite party for relentless proscription, and not rarely for assassination. In Chili political offences are condoned. Don Francisco Sampayo, who is a courteous and accomplished gentleman, had been mixed up in the same abortive movements in which Don B. Vicuña Mackenna was concerned, and had with that gentleman undergone a term of exile, but was subsequently appointed by his political opponents to the government of this settlement.

The government house was unpretending, and could not by any stretch of language be called luxurious. Two good reception-rooms and the bedrooms of the family, all on the ground floor, opened into a small court exposed to rain and snow. The reception-rooms had fireplaces, but these were used only in the evenings, and it was not surprising that the governor’s wife, brought up in the tepid climate of Peru, seemed unable to resist the inclemency of this region. Their children, however, were vigorous and thriving, reminding one more of English boys and girls than any I had seen in South America. The most interesting figure in the family group was that of the mother of Madame Sampayo, an elderly lady, with the remains of remarkable beauty, and an unusual combination of dignity and grace with lively, almost playful, conversation. The removal to this inhospitable shore had not quenched her activity, and she employed her leisure in devising pretty ornaments from seaweeds, shells, and other natural productions of the place.

The Chilian and Argentine Republics concluded, in the year before my visit, a convention to regulate their rival pretensions to the possession of the territory on both sides of the Straits of Magellan, which at one time threatened to engage the two states in war for a worthless object. The new boundary-line is drawn along the middle of the peninsula, ending in Cape Virgenes at the eastern entrance of the Straits, thus leaving to Chili the whole of the northern shores. Opposite to Cape Virgenes is a headland named Cape Espiritu Santo on the main island of Tierra del Fuego. The boundary runs due south from that point, cutting the island into two nearly equal parts, of which the eastern half, along with Staten Island, is assigned to Argentaria. As I understood from the conversation at dinner, Commander Pietrabona had obtained from his government a grant or lease of Staten Island, but it seems very doubtful whether any profit can be derived from an island lying nearly three degrees further south than the Falklands, and fully exposed to the antarctic current.

Amongst the various nationalities that met on this evening, the representative of Germany, the captain of the port, was perhaps the most typical. He is believed to have a more complete and accurate knowledge of the coasts of the Straits of Magellan and of the Channels of Patagonia than any other living man. The conversation was animated, and not seldom turned on the topography of this region; but the worthy Teuton sat obstinately silent, or, when directly appealed to, generally answered by a single monosyllable of assent or negation. A superficial observer would have set this down as evidence of a surly or misanthropic disposition, but in truth this worthy man is noted for good nature and a ready disposition to oblige his neighbours. Having accepted the governor’s offer of a horse for an excursion on the following day, I departed with the other guests, and once again enjoyed the view of the southern heavens undefiled by a single cloud, and found the mud of the streets frozen hard.

A WET DAY.

The dawn of June 12 was again cloudless, and the circle of the red sun, distorted by refraction, rose over the flats of Tierra del Fuego. But in less than a quarter of an hour heavy leaden clouds gathered from all sides and portended a stormy day. I felt rather unwell, and resolved to postpone my intended excursion to the following day. After the needful care given to my plant-collections, I repaired to the hospitable sitting-room of Dr. Fenton, which was, I believe, the only moderately warm spot at Punta Arenas, and passed the day in his company, or that of Mrs. Fenton and their pretty and intelligent children. The heavy rain which persisted nearly all day diminished my regret at having to remain indoors. I made a few notes of the varied information which I obtained from a gentleman who has had unusual opportunities for acquiring knowledge, and who, although not a professed naturalist, appears to be an accurate observer.

The Patagonian Indians who frequent Punta Arenas to dispose of skins appear to be rapidly diminishing in numbers, and one good observer believes that they are now to be counted rather by hundreds than by thousands. The chief cause is doubtless the destructive effect of ardent spirits. They commonly expend nearly everything they gain in drink, but after recovering from a fit of beastly intoxication they usually invest whatever money remains in English biscuits, which they carry off to the interior. Here, as well as at many other places in South America, I heard curious stories showing the extraordinary estimation in which Messrs. Huntley and Palmer are held by the native population. Among the curious customs of these Indians, Dr. Fenton told me that as soon as a child is born one or more horses are assigned to it as property, and if the child should die, as they often do, prematurely, the horses are killed. He further says that a childless Indian not rarely adopts a dog, the ceremony being marked by assigning horses to the dog as his property, and that, as in the case of the human child, at the dog’s death the horses are killed.

Agreeing with most of those who have observed the Fuegians in their native home, Dr. Fenton is sceptical as to the possibility of raising that hapless tribe above their present condition. All honour is due to the devoted men who have laboured at the mission station at Ushuaia in the Beagle Channel, and it may be that some partial success has been obtained with children taken at an early age. But, looking around at the multiplied needs of so many other less degraded branches of our race, one is tempted to believe that such noble efforts might more usefully be bestowed elsewhere. Dr. Fenton thinks that the fact, which appears to be well attested, that Fuegians, in a rough sea, when in danger in their frail canoes, have been known to throw an infant overboard, is evidence that they believe in spirits, the child being offered to appease the wrath of supernatural powers. I confess that I place little reliance on the conclusions of civilized men as to the ideas or motives of savage races in a condition so low that we have the most imperfect means of communicating with them.

HABITS OF RHEA DARWINII.

I was not able to ascertain positively whether the species of rhea, or South American ostrich, found near the Straits of Magellan, is exclusively the smaller species (Rhea Darwinii), but I believe there is no doubt that the larger bird does not range so far as Southern Patagonia. Dr. Fenton has had frequent opportunities for observing the habits of the bird. He finds that the nests are constructed by the female birds, three or four of these joining for the purpose. One of them deposits a single egg in a hollow place, and over this the nest is built. Each of the females deposits several eggs in the nest, and then wanders away, the male bird sitting on the nest till the young birds are hatched. When this happens the parent clears away the nest, breaks up the egg which lay beneath it, and gives it to the young birds for food. The flesh is described as delicious, somewhat intermediate in flavour between hare and grouse.

Dr. Fenton had commenced the trial of an experiment which, if successful, may hereafter attract settlers to the eastern shores of the Straits of Magellan. The appearance of the country had already shown to me that the climate is much drier here than on the western side of Cape Froward, and I believe that the range above spoken of, which divides this coast from Otway Water, is about the eastern limit of the extension of the zone of continuous forests that cover all but the higher levels of Western Patagonia. Between Peckett Harbour, about forty miles north of Punta Arenas, and the Atlantic coast the country is open and produces an abundance of coarse herbage. Sheep are known to thrive in the Falkland Islands, about the same latitude, and Dr. Fenton had recently procured from that place a flock which he had established in the neighbourhood of Peckett Harbour.

I was warned that the English steamer might possibly arrive in the afternoon of June 13, though more probably on the following day, so that it was expedient to start early on the short excursion which I proposed to make along the coast to the north of Punta Arenas. The horses were ready soon after sunrise, and the governor’s secretary was good enough to accompany me. After fording the stream which flows by the settlement, we for some distance followed the sandy beach, dismounting here and there to examine the vegetation. Few plants could at this season be found in a state in which they could be certainly identified, but there was quite enough to reward a naturalist. It was very interesting to find here several cosmopolitan species whose diffusion cannot, I think, be set down to the agency of man. Of these I may reckon Plantago maritima, and a slight variety of our common sea-pink (Armeria maritima, var. andina). To these I am disposed to add Rumex acetosella, which I found creeping in the sand far from the settlement, and a form of the common dandelion (Taraxacum lævigatum of botanists). Along with these were several representatives of the antarctic flora – a Colobanthus, three species of Acæna, a Gunnera, an Ourisia, and several others. Of bushes the most conspicuous are the berberries, of which I found three species. One of these, which I had already seen in the Channels, has leaves like those of a holly, and is appropriately named Berberis ilicifolia. Another, which is very common here (Berberis buxifolia), has sweet berries, pleasant to the taste; and the third (B. empetrifolia) is a dwarf bush, scarcely a foot high, which seems to be confined to the sandy shore. A taller shrub, which I had seen in the Channels as well as in this neighbourhood (Maytenus Magellanica of botanists), is called Leña dura, and is valued for the hardness of the wood, useful for many small articles. The genus extends throughout South America, but most of the species inhabit tropical Brazil, and we may look on this as the solitary representative of the tropical flora which has reached the southern extremity of the continent.

BOTANICAL EXCURSION.

Having collected whatever was to be found close to the shore, I proposed to strike inland towards the base of the low hills. The country near was a dead flat, and seemed to offer no obstacle. After riding for about a mile over dry ground, we gradually found ourselves in the midst of shallow pools of water, now frozen over. As we advanced progress became more and more difficult. The heavy rain of the preceding day had partially melted the ice. In some places it was strong enough to bear the horses; but it constantly broke under their feet, and they became restive, very naturally objecting to this mode of travelling. After a while, to my surprise, we struck upon a cart track. This, as I soon saw, led to two or three houses inhabited by a few Swiss settlers, who endeavoured to make a living by raising some vegetables for Punta Arenas. The soil appeared to be rich: in this climate few plants can mature fruit or seed, but the more hardy European vegetables thrive sufficiently. Our difficulties were by no means at an end. The cart track was a mass of half-frozen mud, with holes fully two feet deep, into which the horses plunged, until at last it was not easy to persuade them to move in any direction. I dismounted and ascended a hillock some eighty feet above the plain, but on all sides could see no issue from the maze of shallow frozen pools. With some trouble we reached one of the houses, but, in answer to our inquiries, were told that they knew of no better way to Punta Arenas than by the cart track. Apprehending the arrival of the Pacific Company’s steamer, and not wishing to remain another fortnight in this remote region, I resolved to return as best we could, and, as always happens, experience enabled both horses and riders to avoid the worst places, so that we got through better than we had expected.

Having made all ready for the possible arrival of the steamer, whose stay is usually very short, I again enjoyed the hospitality of the governor, and once more found myself in the agreeable society of Signor Vinciguerra. One of the many laudable characteristics of Chilian society, in striking contrast with their kinsmen in Spain, is the genuine anxiety commonly shown for the education of the rising generation. It is, indeed, rather amusing to note the tone of contemptuous pity with which the Chilians of pure Spanish descent speak of their European cousins, who are usually denominated “los Gotos.” The governor’s eldest son had been sent to Germany to pursue his studies, and the services of a young German, who apparently had got into some scrape connected with politics in his own country, had been secured to conduct the education of the younger children. Before dinner the preceptor was engaged in guiding the fingers of one child upon an old pianoforte, and immediately after dinner lessons were resumed with the other children.

ZEAL FOR EDUCATION.

In the course of the evening we had a curious illustration of the difficulty of speaking correctly two closely allied dialects. Conversing in Italian with Signor Vinciguerra, a laugh was raised against me for introducing a Spanish word into a sentence; but this was redoubled when, a few minutes later, my Italian friend did exactly the same thing.

Thought is inextricably linked with the impressions derived from the senses, which, excepting with the deaf and dumb, are ordinarily based upon language; and whenever a man speaks with even moderate fluency the fact implies that he thinks in that language. The effort of changing from one language to that of another is that of changing, so to say, the channel through which thought runs. When they are sufficiently different there is no difficulty in maintaining thought within the assigned channel; but when the languages, or dialects, are nearly alike, it is much more difficult to maintain the intended course. It seems to me, indeed, that there is a link of association not only between the idea and the word, but also with the sound of the word. There is comparatively little difficulty in passing from one language to another, though etymologically near akin, when the prevailing sounds are different. Thus, although Portuguese and Spanish are so nearly allied, it is easier to pass from one to the other than from Spanish to Italian, because the phonetic differences are greater in the former case.

The night passed without disturbance, though I had made all ready in case of being summoned to embark; but as the arrival of the steamer was confidently predicted, I completed my arrangements, and removed my luggage to the office of the port captain on the morning of the 14th. The weather was nearly quite dry all day, with a prevailing sharp wind from the south-west, varied by two or three abrupt changes. I did not venture to go into the country, and contented myself with trotting up and down, mainly with the object of keeping myself warm. Evening closed; but no steamer appeared, and I accepted Dr. Fenton’s offer of a sofa in his sitting-room for the night, whereon to await the expected summons. Towards four o’clock I sallied forth, without disturbing the household. Profound silence prevailed throughout the settlement; the stars of the southern hemisphere beamed with extraordinary brilliancy, and the muddy streets were iron-bound with frost. After another doze on the sofa, I again went out at dawn, and enjoyed a beautiful sunrise.

WRECK OF THE “DOTEREL.”

The morning of June 15 was unusually favourable for distant views. Beyond the low, bare flats of Tierra del Fuego there showed to the south-east a range of hills, or mountains, whose heights I estimated at from 3500 to 4000 feet, but it is needless to say that, with unfamiliar atmospheric conditions, where the judgment as to distance is so uncertain, such an estimate is quite unreliable. Nearly due south lies Dawson Island, and several high summits were visible in that direction, but I do not believe that either Mount Darwin or Mount Sarmiento are visible from this part of the coast.

During the day I went a short way along the shore to the south, passing the cemetery wherein lie the bodies recovered from the wreck of the Doterel. The origin of the explosion which caused that ship to go down with all hands within sight of the settlement, was long a matter of doubt. The most probable opinion is that it was due to the spontaneous ignition of gas generated in unventilated coal-bunkers. Nearly opposite lay the hull of another ship which became a partial wreck on this coast. It contained a cargo of Welsh coal, which is sold at the heavy price of four pounds a ton, and occasionally serves for steamers whose supply has run short.

Along the sandy shores the most conspicuous plant, with large white cottony leaves, is a species of Senecio (S. candidans of botanists), which, with nearly twenty others, represents that cosmopolitan genus in this region. What light would be thrown on the past history of the vegetable kingdom if we could learn the origin of that vast genus, and the processes by which it has been diffused throughout the world! Of about nine hundred known species that extend from the Arctic Circle to high southern latitudes, and from the highest zone of the Alps, the Himalayas and the Andes, to the low country of Brazil and the scorching plains of North and South Africa, the great majority are confined to small areas, and are unusually constant in structure, thus presenting a marked contrast to the ordinary rule, dwelt on by Darwin, that among genera that extend over a large portion of earth and have numerous species, the species, or many of them, are themselves widely spread and vary much in form. Neither do we find among the crowd of species many indications of the general tendency to form groups of species nearly allied in appearance and structure within the same geographical area. Many of the very numerous South American species are nearly allied to European and Asiatic forms. Thus in the comparatively small area of Europe we find the representatives of groups characteristic of regions widely separated, and even in the poverty-stricken flora of Britain such different forms as the common groundsel, the ragwort of neglected fields, and the less common Senecio paludosus, and S. campestris.

PACIFIC STEAMER DELAYED.

The day wore on, and yet no steamer appeared. Knowing people began to speculate on the possibility of some accident having delayed her arrival, or surmised the prevalence of such thick weather about the western entrance to the Straits as might have led her commander to make the circuit by Cape Horn. In the latter case, I should be detained for another fortnight, and although I should have gladly seen something more of the country, and found myself meantime fortunate in pleasant society, I did not in this season desire so long a delay. Once more I betook myself at night to the sofa in Dr. Fenton’s hospitable house, and at length, about four in the morning, a tapping at the window announced that the lights of the steamer were in view. Dr. Fenton, who wished to go on board, was speedily ready, and we went to the landing-place where, until the jetée, still in construction, should be finished, the boats are run up on the sandy beach. There was some delay in finding the key of the store where my luggage was housed, but at last we were ready to start. The boat, however, was fast aground on the flat margin of the bay; in vain the four boatmen shoved with their oars, until the taciturn port captain barked out the order to get into the water and shove her off. It was freezing hard, and I fear the poor fellows wished me and my luggage no good when, after much striving, we were finally afloat, and they resumed their places at the oars. In the dark the great hull loomed gigantic as, about five a.m., we pulled alongside of the steamer, which turned out to be the Iberia, one of the largest and finest vessels of the Pacific Company, commanded by Captain Shannon.