We passed the night in Punta Alta, and I employed myself in searching
for fossil bones; this point being a perfect catacomb for monsters of
extinct races. The evening was perfectly calm and clear; the extreme
monotony of the view gave it an interest even in the midst of mud-banks
and gulls sand-hillocks and solitary vultures. In riding back in the
morning we came across a very fresh track of a Puma, but did not
succeed in finding it. We saw also a couple of Zorillos, or
skunks,--odious animals, which are far from uncommon. In general
appearance, the Zorillo resembles a polecat, but it is rather larger,
and much thicker in proportion. Conscious of its power, it roams by day
about the open plain, and fears neither dog nor man. If a dog is urged
to the attack, its courage is instantly checked by a few drops of the
fetid oil, which brings on violent sickness and running at the nose.
Whatever is once polluted by it, is for ever useless. Azara says the
smell can be perceived at a league distant; more than once, when
entering the harbour of Monte Video, the wind being off shore, we have
perceived the odour on board the Beagle. Certain it is, that every
animal most willingly makes room for the Zorillo.
[1] The corral is an enclosure made of tall and strong stakes. Every
estancia, or farming estate, has one attached to it.
[2] The hovels of the Indians are thus called.
[3] Report of the Agricult. Chem. Assoc. in the Agricult. Gazette,
1845, p. 93.
[4] Linnaean Trans., vol. xi. p. 205. It is remarkable how all the
circumstances connected with the salt-lakes in Siberia and Patagonia
are similar. Siberia, like Patagonia, appears to have been recently
elevated above the waters of the sea. In both countries the salt-lakes
occupy shallow depressions in the plains; in both the mud on the
borders is black and fetid; beneath the crust of common salt, sulphate
of soda or of magnesium occurs, imperfectly crystallized; and in both,
the muddy sand is mixed with lentils of gypsum. The Siberian
salt-lakes are inhabited by small crustaceous animals; and flamingoes
(Edin. New Philos. Jour., Jan 1830) likewise frequent them. As these
circumstances, apparently so trifling, occur in two distant continents,
we may feel sure that they are the necessary results of a common
76