A very large condor was shot by one of the Adelaide's party, which measured, in length, four feet three inches and a half, and nine feet two inches between the extremities of the wings. It was presented to the British Museum. Many exaggerated accounts of this bird have been given by old voyagers; but the largest dimensions stated, of whose accuracy there exists no doubt, are those of one that was preserved in the Leverian Museum, which measured thirteen feet one inch, from wing to wing. This, however, must have been an old bird; for the one we killed is larger than the usual size of specimens which have been obtained. Molina states, in his account of this bird, vol. i. p. 298, that the largest he ever saw measured fourteen feet and some inches (Spanish measure), from the tip of one wing to that of the other. M. Humboldt also gives a detailed description.
It is with the condor, says this celebrated voyager, "as with the Patagonian, and many other objects of natural history; the more they are examined, the more they diminish in size." They inhabit the highest mountains of the Andes, and only descend to the plains when pressed by hunger. Frequently, in troops, they attack cattle, deer, guanacoes, and even the puma, and always succeed in killing them; but their principal food is carrion, of which, in a country so abundantly stocked with quadrupeds, there is probably no want.
Our departure from the Strait was attended with beautiful weather; the moon was full, and the wind fair and moderate.
Cape Virgins was passed soon after sunset, and we proceeded on our course with rapidity.
The timely supply of guanaco meat had certainly checked the scurvy, for we had no new cases added to the number of the sick, now amounting to twenty. The Beagle was not so sickly; but, during the last cruise, upwards of forty cases, principally pulmonic, had occurred, and several were not yet recovered. On the passage, a man fell overboard from the Beagle, at night, and was drowned.
In latitude 45° S. we were delayed three days, by northerly winds and damp foggy weather, after which a fresh S.W. gale carried us into the River Plata. Having obtained good chronometer sights in the afternoon, we steered on through the night, intending to pass to the westward of the Archimedes Shoal; which would have been rather a rash step, had we not been well assured of the correctness of our chronometrical reckoning. At this time Brazil and Buenos Ayres were at war, and some of the blockading squadron of the former were generally to be met with in the mouth of the river; but we saw none, until half-past two in the morning, when several vessels were observed at anchor to leeward, and we were soon close to a squadron of brigs and schooners, whose number was evident by a confusion of lights, rockets, and musketry, on board every vessel. I bore down to pass within hail of the nearest, which proved to be the Commodore's, the Marañao of eighteen guns; and on approaching, explained who and what we were; but they were so confused, I could not even make myself understood. The breeze, at the time, had fallen so light, that, fearing to get foul of the brig, the ship was hove up in the wind, and the anchor ordered to be let go. Unluckily a stopper was foul, and before another bower could drop, the Brazilians had fired several muskets into us, happily without doing any mischief; and threatened us, if we did not immediately anchor, with a broadside, which, in their utter confusion, I am astonished they did not fire.
