Narrative of the Voyage of H.M.S. Rattlesnake, Commanded By the Late Captain Owen Stanley - Volume 2 - John MacGillivray (best novels of all time .txt) 📗

again immediately on three legs, and attempted to charge the horse and rider. Catching one of the forelegs and neck in this manner is considered the master-stroke in lassoing, being the most difficult of execution: Captain Sulivan told me that a one-armed man at Montevideo, famous for his skill in lassoing, on one occasion for a wager caught nine out of ten bullocks in succession after this fashion. It was admirable to observe the manner in which the horse eased off the shock of bringing up an animal much heavier than itself, and by keeping a strain upon the lasso urged the furious beast onwards to a triangle which had been put up. The other gaucho, Andrez Pelaluya by name, meanwhile was riding up behind, and at length threw his lasso over the heifer's flanks, the slack of the noose falling down upon the ground-in throwing up her heels the hind legs were dexterously caught, when in a moment the beast was dragged over on one side and firmly moored. Leaving the horses to keep up the strain-for the lasso is made fast to an iron ring in the saddle-the riders dismounted, and Escalante drawing out a long knife from his belt and renewing the edge upon a steel which he carried in one boot, quickly despatched the beast. A second heifer was afterwards picked out from the herd and caught by the horns; as the animal, maddened with terror, was galloped past with the lasso at full strain, I must confess that being a novice I did not feel quite comfortable, and instinctively clutched my gun, not being altogether sure that the lasso might not break-but, although no thicker than the little finger, it is of immense strength, being made of plaited hide. This beast was secured and butchered pretty much as in the former instance; the bolas had been thrown at the hind legs, but caught only one, round which the three thongs and balls were so tightly interlaced as to require some patience in extricating them.

While slaughtering the cattle it was amusing to notice the familiarity of the carrion hawks, hundreds of which were collected about, perched upon the little hillocks all round, watching every movement of ours, or hovering overhead within the distance of a few yards. They are the Milvago australis, a bird of which the sexes differ so much in appearance, that they were pointed out to me as distinct species. The settlers and others call them rooks, and another very common carrion bird of the vulture family (Cathartes aura) is known here as the john-crow. On board the ship the sight of some quarters of beef secured to the mizen cross-trees had attracted numbers of these hawks, and upwards of a dozen might have been seen at one time perched upon the rigging, including one on each truck; on shore they made several attacks upon a pile of geese lying near the boat, and although repeatedly driven off with stones, they returned as often to make a fresh attempt.

July 25th.

Yesterday afternoon some of our people employed in cutting grass upon a small island close to the ship, stumbled upon a huge sealion asleep in one of the pit-like recesses among the tussocks. At first it was supposed to be a dead bullock, but the beast on being disturbed rose upon his fore flippers, and, displaying a formidable array of teeth, roared loudly* at the disturbers of his rest, who, being unarmed, rushed helter-skelter to the boat and went off to the ship. They returned immediately with an assortment of pikes, muskets, and pistols sufficient to ensure the destruction of a host of sealions; but after cautiously investing the place, it was discovered that the beast had very prudently got out of the way, nor this morning could he be found by a person who went to make a second search.

(*Footnote. "Sometimes when we came suddenly upon them, or waked them out of their sleep (for they are a sluggish sleepy animal) they would raise up their heads, snort and snarl, and look as fierce as if they meant to devour us; but as we advanced upon them, they always ran away; so that they are downright bullies." Cook's Voyages Volume 4 page 187.)

On this-Peat Islet of the chart-the tussock grass grows in great luxuriance, and to a stranger presents a most singular appearance. Its clusters of stems-frequently upwards of a hundred or more in a bunch-are raised from the ground upon a densely matted mass of old and decayed roots, two or three feet high, from the summit of which the leaves, frequently six feet in length, arch gracefully outwards. The tussock grass has been likened to a palm on a small scale, but altogether it reminded me more of the Xanthorrhoea, or grass-tree of Australia. We saw many seals swimming about among the kelp, and on the shore found the carcases of several which had lately been killed with clubs, each of the skulls having been fractured by a blow at the root of the nose. They were of the kind known here as the hair-seal, the skin of which is of little value. It is still very abundant; but the fur-seal, from the indiscriminate slaughter of old and young for many years back has become scarce, and is now confined to a few favourite localities-rookeries as they are called, a name also applied at the Falklands to any great breeding place of penguins or other seafowl. A few days ago a party of five sealers returned to the settlement after a short absence, with the skins of no less than 120 fur-seals, worth, I was told, twenty-five shillings each.

Here I found two pairs of the sheathbill (Chionis alba) a bird whose place in the system has puzzled ornithologists. It has been variously considered as being one of the galinaceous birds, the pigeons, the waders, and even as belonging to the web-footed order. Its habits are those of the oyster-catchers,* however different the form of the beak, which in the sheathbill is short, stout, and pointed, and enveloped at the base by a waxy-looking sheath. Its feet are like those of a gallinaceous bird, yet one which I wounded took voluntarily to the water and swam off to a neighbouring point to rejoin its mate. Cuvier, besides erroneously mentioning that it is a native of New Holland, states that it feeds on carrion; the stomachs of two which I examined contained seaweed, limpets, and small quartz pebbles. The people here call it the rock-dove, and from its snow-white plumage it forms a conspicuous object along the shores.

(*Footnote. When the above was written I had not seen the remarks on Chionis by M. Blainville, whose anatomical investigation assigns to it precisely the same position in the system-or next the oyster-catchers-which appeared to me to have been indicated by its habits. Voyage de la Bonite Zoologie tome 1 page 107 plate (oiss.) 9.)

We resumed our homeward voyage on July 25th, and thirty-six days afterwards crossed the equator in 24 degrees west longitude. The last pintado left us 240 miles within the tropics to follow an outward-bound vessel. Another petrel much resembling it-a new species with longer wings and different markings, the head, neck, and upper surface being dark chocolate, and the lower parts white-was abundant between the latitude of 46 and 40 degrees South, and between the parallels of 36 and 35 degrees South, Procellaria conspicillata was numerous, but unfortunately I had no opportunity of procuring specimens of either.

Five days after leaving the Falkland Islands, we encountered a very heavy gale, commencing at south-east, and blowing hardest at east, when the barometer was down to 29.264-next day the wind went round to the south-west and moderated. From the latitude of the entrance of the River Plate up to latitude 15 degrees South, we experienced northerly winds between East-North-East and West-North-West, after which we got winds commencing at South-West and merging into the South-East trade, which we may be said to have fairly got in 13 1/2 degrees South latitude and 23 1/2 degrees West longitude, and lost in 6 degrees North latitude, and 22 degrees West longitude. We picked up the North-East trade in latitude 13 degrees North and longitude 24 degrees West and carried it up to latitude 29 degrees North and longitude 37 1/2 degrees West. I mention these particulars as the limits of the trade-winds as experienced by us were considered to differ considerably from what was to be expected at this season of the year. Gulf weed made its first appearance in latitude 24 degrees North and longitude 35 1/2 degrees West but in small quantity, and was last seen in latitude 38 degrees North and longitude 33 1/2 degrees West in detached pieces, mostly dead. About 31 1/2 degrees North and 37 3/4 degrees West it was very plentiful, occurring in long lines from one to fifty yards in width, extending in the direction of the wind. Some pieces which were hooked up furnished on being shaken numbers of a minute univalve shell (Litiopa) many small fish-especially pipe-fish (Syngnathus) and numerous crustacea (of which Planes minuta was the most plentiful) while several delicate zoophytes were encrusted or attached to the weed. In short each little patch of gulf weed seemed a world in itself, affording the shelter of a home to hundreds of minute and wonderful animals.*

(*Footnote. The gulf weed is still regarded as of questionable origin. Has it-unlike all other seaweeds-always existed as a floating plant, or has it been detached by storms from the bottom of the sea and carried by the currents of the ocean into the well defined region it now occupies and out of which it is never met with in any great quantity? Without entering into proofs, the principal of which are its not yet having been found attached to the shore, and the invariable absence of fructification-it seems probable that those botanists are in the right who consider the gulf weed (Sargassum bacciferum) to be merely an abnormal condition, propagating itself by shoots, of S. vulgare, which in its normal state grows upon the shores of the Atlantic and its islands. See note by Dr. J.D. Hooker in Memoirs of Geological Survey of Great Britain volume 1 page 349.)

September 29th.

With only another day's supply of fresh water on board, we were glad this morning to have the islands of Pico and Fayal in sight. The view, as we closed the land, standing in from the south-westward for the roadstead of Horta, was very fine-on our left we had the beautiful island of Fayal rising to the height of 3000 feet, its sides gradually sloping towards a range of maritime cliffs, while the lower grounds, in full cultivation, indicated-along with numbers of neat white-washed cottages and occasional villages-a well peopled and fertile country, contrasting strongly with those from which we had lately returned. To the right was Pico-with the summit of its peak (stated to be 7,613 feet in height) peeping out from a mass of snowy clouds descending almost to the shore-and the centre was occupied by the more distant island of St. Jorge with a portion of Graciosa dimly seen projecting beyond its western end.

After having been for two months cooped up on board ship, I was glad to have a quiet walk on shore. In a ravine at one end of the town it was pleasing to see numbers of old acquaintances among the birds, bringing vividly to my recollection that home which we had now approached so closely. Martins were hawking about, the whitethroat warbled his short snatches of song among the bushes, and blackbirds and starlings flew past. And although engaged in the matter-of-fact occupation of searching for landshells, by turning over the stones, I could not help being struck with the