Forays into the interior required some local knowledge, and Charles was usually able to find various characters willing to accompany him. At Bahia Blanca, a settlement on the coast of Argentina at the edge of the great Patagonian plains, or Pampas, he found himself in the company of gauchos, the local cowboy that Charles found “by far the most savage picturesque group I ever beheld.” Amused by their colorful dress and ponchos, Charles also noted the sabers and muskets they carried. They were in constant conflict with local tribes, but as they were also “well known as perfect riders” and knew where to find the few sources of fresh water, Charles and the officers of the Beagle accepted their assistance. This included an introduction to the local cuisine of rhea eggs (from a flightless bird Charles called an “Ostrich”) and armadillos, which Charles declared “taste & look like a duck.”

While exploring the coast just a bit farther south, near Punta Alta, Charles found some rocks containing shells and the bones of large animals. He used his pickaxe to free what he guessed were parts of a “rhinoceros.” The next day he found a large head embedded in soft rock and spent many hours removing it. Two weeks later, he found a jawbone and a tooth that he thought belonged to the Megatherium, or giant ground sloth. He was not sure of what he had, so he crated the bones (“cargoes of apparent rubbish,” FitzRoy teased) for shipment so that the experts back in England could decipher their identities.

Eventually, it was determined that Charles had found remnants of several species, including a giant armadillo-like creature called a glyptodont, Toxodon, an extinct relative of the capybara, and three types of ground sloth—Megatherium, Mylodon (Figure 2.3), and Glossotherium.

It would be a long wait before Charles would hear that his fossils had arrived safely. The safe passage of either parcels or passengers was far from guaranteed in those days, as Charles was about to learn firsthand.”

The description for the second stop of the tour will provide a summary of “Gauchos & Bones”, the excerpt from Sean B. Carroll’s book, Remarkable Creatures: Epic Adventures in the Search for the Origins of Species. Your summary should include specific fossils that Darwin found around Punta Alta, as well as a mention of his experience with Gauchos in Argentina.