35 degs.) I was told by a Spanish
resident who had visited Ireland, that he had often sought for
this substance, but had never been able to find any.
He showed
me, as the nearest approach to it which he had discovered, a
black peaty soil, so penetrated with roots as to allow of an
extremely slow and imperfect combustion.
The zoology of these broken islets of the Chonos Archipelago
is, as might have been expected, very poor. Of quadrupeds
two aquatic kinds are common. The Myopotamus
Coypus (like a beaver, but with a round tail) is well known
from its fine fur, which is an object of trade throughout the
tributaries of La Plata. It here, however, exclusively frequents
salt water; which same circumstance has been mentioned
as sometimes occurring with the great rodent, the
Capybara. A small sea-otter is very numerous; this animal
does not feed exclusively on fish, but, like the seals, draws a
large supply from a small red crab, which swims in shoals
near the surface of the water. Mr. Bynoe saw one in Tierra
del Fuego eating a cuttle-fish; and at Low's Harbour, another
was killed in the act of carrying to its hole a large volute
shell. At one place I caught in a trap a singular little mouse
(M. brachiotis); it appeared common on several of the islets,
but the Chilotans at Low's Harbour said that it was not found
in all.
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