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AUSTRALIA.

bent manner, like the neck of that bird. In another dance, one man imitated the movements of a kangaroo grazing in the woods, while a second crawled up and pretended to spear him. When both tribes mingled in the dance the ground trembled with the heaviness of their steps, and the air resounded with their wild cries. Every one appeared in high spirits; and the group of nearly naked figures, viewed by the light of the blazing fires, all moving in hideous harmony, formed a perfect display of a festival among the lowest barbarians. In Tierra del Fuego we had beheld many curious scenes in savage life, but never, I think, one where the natives were in such high spirits and so perfectly at their ease. After the dancing was over, the whole party formed a great circle on the ground, and the boiled rice and sugar was distributed, to the delight of all.

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III.

GEOGRAPHY.

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URUGUAY.

THE

SOUTH AMERICA.

HE general and almost entire absence of trees in Banda Oriental (or Uruguay) is remarkable. Some of the rocky hills are partly covered by thickets, and on the banks of the larger streams, especially to the north of Las Minas, willow. trees are not uncommon. Near the Arroyo Tapes I heard of a wood of palms; and one of these trees, of considerable size, I saw near the Pan de Azucar (Sugar-Loaf), in latitude thirty-five de grees. These, and the trees planted by the Spaniards, offer the

OLIVE BRANCHI.

only exceptions to the general scarcity of wood. Among the introduced kinds may be enumerated poplars, olives, peach, and other fruit-trees: the peaches succeed so well that they

LA PLATA.

afford the main supply of firewood to the city of Buenos Ayres. Extremely level countries, such as the Pampas, seldom appear favorable to the growth of

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trees.

MONTEVIDEO.

RIVER PARANA.

THE Parana is full of islands, which undergo a constant round of decay and renovation. In the memory of the master of our balandra (one-masted vessel) several large ones had disappeared, and others again had been formed and protected by vegetation. They are composed of muddy sand, without even the smallest pebble, and were then about four feet above the level of the river; but during the periodical floods they are overflowed. They all have one character: numerous willow and a few other trees

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