(PLATE 18.

EL CARMEN, OR PATAGONES, RIO NEGRO.) Rio Negro.
Estancias attacked by the Indians.
Salt Lakes.
Flamingoes.
R.Negro to R.Colorado.
Sacred Tree.
Patagonian Hare.
Indian Families.
General Rosas.
Proceed to Bahia Blanca.
Sand Dunes.
Negro Lieutenant.
Bahia Blanca.
Saline Incrustations.
Punta Alta.
Zorillo.
RIO NEGRO TO BAHIA BLANCA.
JULY 24, 1833.
The "Beagle" sailed from Maldonado, and on August the 3rd she arrived off the mouth of the Rio Negro.

This is the principal river on the whole line of coast between the Strait of Magellan and the Plata.

It enters the sea about three hundred miles south of the estuary of the Plata.

About fifty years ago, under the old Spanish government, a small colony was established here; and it is still the most southern position (latitude 41 degrees) on this eastern coast of America inhabited by civilised man.
The country near the mouth of the river is wretched in the extreme: on the south side a long line of perpendicular cliffs commences, which exposes a section of the geological nature of the country.
The strata are of sandstone, and one layer was remarkable from being composed of a firmly-cemented conglomerate of pumice pebbles, which must have travelled more than four hundred miles, from the Andes.