Rio Negro--Estancias attacked by Indians--Salt lakes, geological
position of--Flamingoes--R. Negro to Colorado--Sacred tree--Patagonian
hare--Indian families--General Rosas--Proceed to Bahia Blanca--Sand
dunes--Negro lieutenant--Bahia Blanca--Ground incrusted with Glauber
salt--Punta Alta--Zorillo.
RIO NEGRO TO BAHIA BLANCA.
JULY 24TH, 1833.--The Beagle sailed from Maldonado, and on August the
3d she arrived off the mouth of the Rio Negro. This is the principal
river on the whole line of coast between the Straits of Magellan and
the Plata. It enters the sea about three hundred miles south of the
estuary of the latter. About fifty years since, under the old Spanish
government, a small colony was established here; and it is still the
most southern position (lat. 41°) on this eastern coast of America
which is inhabited by civilized 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. The
surface is every where covered up by a thick bed of gravel, which
extends far and wide over the open plain. Water is extremely scarce,
and, where found, is almost invariably brackish. The vegetation is
scanty; and although there are bushes of many kinds, all are armed
with formidable thorns, which seem to warn the stranger not to enter
on these inhospitable regions.
The settlement is situated eighteen miles up the river. The road
follows the foot of the sloping cliff, which forms the northern
boundary of the great valley, in which the Rio Negro flows. On
the way we passed the ruins of some fine “estancias,” which a few
years since were destroyed by the Indians. They withstood several
attacks. A man present at one gave me a very lively description of
what took place. The inhabitants had sufficient notice to drive all
the cattle and horses into the “corral”[1] which surrounded the
house, and likewise to mount some small cannon. The Indians were
Araucanians from the south of Chile; several hundreds in number,
and highly disciplined. They first appeared in two bodies on a
neighbouring hill; having there dismounted, and taken off their
fur mantles, they advanced naked to the charge. The only weapon of
an Indian is a very long bamboo or chuzo, ornamented with ostrich
feathers, and pointed by a sharp spear head. My informer seemed to
remember with the greatest horror the quivering of these chuzos as
they approached near. When close, the cacique Pincheira hailed the
besieged to give up their arms, or he would cut all their throats.
As this would probably have been the result of their entrance under
any circumstances, the answer was given by a volley of musketry.
The Indians, with great steadiness, came to the very fence of the
corral: but to their surprise they found the posts fastened together
by iron nails instead of leather thongs, and, of course, in vain
attempted to cut them with their knives. This saved the lives of the
Christians: many of the wounded Indians were carried away by their
companions; and at last one of the under caciques being wounded, the
bugle sounded a retreat. They retired to their horses, and seemed to
hold a council of war. This was an awful pause for the Spaniards,
as all their ammunition, with the exception of a few cartridges,
was expended. In an instant the Indians mounted their horses,
and galloped out of sight. Another attack was still more quickly
repulsed. A cool Frenchman managed the gun; he stopped till the
Indians approached close, and then raked their line with grape-shot:
he thus laid thirty-nine of them on the ground; and, of course, such
a blow immediately routed the whole party.
The town is indifferently called El Carmen or Patagones. It is built
on the face of a cliff which fronts the river, and many of the houses
are excavated even in the sandstone. The river is about two or three
hundred yards wide, and is deep and rapid. The many islands, with
their willow-trees, and the flat headlands, seen one behind the other
on the northern boundary of the broad green valley, forms, by the aid
of a bright sun, a view almost picturesque. The number of inhabitants
does not exceed a few hundreds. These Spanish colonies do not, like
our British ones, carry within themselves the elements of growth.
Many Indians of pure blood reside here: the tribe of the Cacique
Lucanee constantly have their Toldos[2] on the outskirts of the town.
The local government partly supplies them with provisions, by giving
them all the old, worn out horses, and they earn a little by making
horse-rugs and other articles of riding gear. These Indians are
considered civilized; but what their character may have gained by a
lesser degree of ferocity, is almost counterbalanced by their entire
immorality. Some of the younger men are, however, improving; they are
willing to labour, and a short time since a party went on a sealing
voyage, and behaved very well. They were now enjoying the fruits of
their labour, by being dressed in very gay, clean clothes, and by
being very idle. The taste they showed in their dress was admirable;
if you could have turned one of these young Indians into a statue of
bronze, his drapery would have been perfectly graceful.
One day I rode to a large salt-lake, or Salina, which is distant
fifteen miles from the town. During the winter it consists of a
shallow lake of brine, which in summer is converted into a field of
snow-white salt. The layer near the margin is from four to five
inches thick, but towards the centre its thickness increases. This
lake was two and a half miles long, and one broad. Others occur in
the neighbourhood many times larger, and with a floor of salt, two
and three feet in thickness, even when under water during the winter.
One of these brilliantly-white and level expanses, in the midst of
the brown and desolate plain, offers an extraordinary spectacle. A
large quantity of salt is annually drawn from the salina; and great
piles, some hundred tons in weight, were lying ready for exportation.
It is singular that the salt, although well crystallized, and
appearing quite pure, does not answer so well for preserving meat
as sea salt from the Cape de Verd Islands. Although the latter is
necessarily much dearer, it is constantly imported and mixed with
the salt procured from these salinas. A merchant at Buenos Ayres
told me that he considered the Cape de Verd salt worth fifty per
cent more than that from the Rio Negro. The season for working the
salinas forms the harvest of Patagones; for on it, the prosperity of
the place depends. Nearly the whole population encamps on the banks
of the river, and the people are employed in drawing out the salt in
bullock-waggons.
The border of the lake is formed of mud: and in this numerous
large crystals of gypsum, some of which are three inches long, lie
embedded; whilst on the surface, others of sulphate of magnesia lie
scattered about. The Gauchos call the former the “Padre del sal,”
and the latter the “Madre”; they state that these progenitive salts
always occur on the borders of the salinas, when the water begins to
evaporate. The mud is black, and has a fetid odour. I could not, at
first, imagine the cause of this, but I afterwards perceived that the
froth, which the wind drifted on shore was coloured green, as if by
confervæ: I attempted to carry home some of this green matter, but
from an accident failed. Parts of the lake seen from a short distance
appeared of a reddish colour, and this, perhaps, was owing to some
infusorial animalcula. The mud in many places was thrown up by
numbers of some kind of worm, or annelidous animal. How surprising
it is that any creatures should be able to exist in a fluid,
saturated with brine, and that they should be crawling among crystals
of sulphate of soda and lime! And what becomes of these worms when,
during a long summer, the surface at least is hardened into a solid
layer of salt? Flamingoes[3] in considerable numbers inhabit this
lake; they breed here, and their bodies are sometimes found by the
workmen, preserved in the salt. I saw several wading about in search
of food,--probably for the worms which burrow in the mud; and these
latter, perhaps, feed on infusoria or confervæ. Thus we have a little
world within itself, adapted to these little inland seas of brine.[4]
With respect to the geological position of the salinas, they occur
either in the plains composed of shingle, and overlying various
deposits, or within the grand calcareo-argillaceous formation of the
Pampas. The only rule I can discover, is, that they do not occur
where the substratum is granitic, as in Brazil and Banda Oriental.
I know of their occasional existence over the immense territory
extending from lat. 23°, near the Rio Vermejo, to 50° south. The
climate may generally be considered as rather dry; at least, such is
the case in Patagonia, where the salinas are most numerous. Those
which I saw occurred in depressions, whence there was no exit; in
a more humid climate the water flowing from the lake would soon
have hollowed a channel in the soft strata, and thus converted the
depression of the soil into an ordinary valley. There is reason to
believe that the whole of these great plains have been raised above
the level of the sea within a recent geological period. May we not
then consider the salinas as the receptacles of the washings of
the sedimentary strata? On this idea we understand their absence
where the land is granitic. It is manifest that these great natural
evaporating dishes can only occur where the amount of annual rain is
small.[5]
To the northward of the Rio Negro, between it and the inhabited
country near Buenos Ayres, the Spaniards have only one small
settlement, recently established at Bahia Blanca. The distance in
a straight line to the capital is very nearly five hundred British
miles. The wandering tribes of horse Indians, which have always
occupied the greater part of this country, having of late much
harassed the outlying estancias, the government at Buenos Ayres
equipped some time since an army under the command of General Rosas
for the purpose of exterminating them. The troops were now encamped
on the banks of the Colorado; a river lying about eighty miles to the
northward of the Rio Negro. When General Rosas left Buenos Ayres,
he struck in a direct line across the unexplored plains: and as the
country was thus pretty well cleared of Indians, he left behind him,
at wide intervals, a small party of soldiers, with a troop of horses
(a _posta_), so as to be enabled to keep up a communication with the
capital. As the Beagle intended to call at Bahia Blanca, I determined
to proceed there by land; and ultimately I extended my plan so as to
travel the whole way by the postas to Buenos Ayres.
AUGUST 11TH.--Mr. Harris, an Englishman residing at Patagones, a
guide, and five Gauchos, who were proceeding to the army on business,
were my companions on the journey. The Colorado, as I have already
said, is nearly eighty miles distant: and as we travelled slowly,
we were two days and a half on the road. The whole line of country
deserves scarcely a better name than that of a desert. Water is
found only in two small wells: it is called fresh; but even at this
time of the year, during the rainy season, it was quite brackish.
In the summer this must be a distressing passage; for now it was
sufficiently desolate. The valley of the Rio Negro, broad as it
is, has merely been excavated out of the sandstone plain; for
immediately above the bank on which the town stands, a level country
commences, which is interrupted only by a few trifling valleys and
depressions. Every where the landscape wears the same sterile aspect;
a dry gravelly soil supports tufts of brown withered grass, and low
scattered bushes, armed with thorns.
Shortly after passing the first spring we came in sight of a famous
tree, which the Indians reverence as the altar of Walleechu. It is
situated on a high part of the plain, and hence is a landmark visible
at a great distance. As soon as a tribe of Indians come in sight of
it, they offer their adorations by loud shouts. The tree itself is
low, much branched, and thorny. Just above the root it has a diameter
of about three feet. It stands by itself without any neighbour, and
was indeed the first tree we saw; afterwards we met with a few others
of the same kind, but they were far from common. Being winter the
tree had no leaves, but in their place numberless threads, by which
the various offerings, such as cigars, bread, meat, pieces of cloth,
&c., had been suspended. Poor people not having any thing better,
only pulled a thread out of their ponchos, and fastened it to the
tree. The Indians, moreover, were accustomed to pour spirits and maté
into a certain hole, and likewise to smoke upwards, thinking thus
to afford all possible gratification to Walleechu. To complete the
scene, the tree was surrounded by the bleached bones of the horses
which had been slaughtered as sacrifices. All Indians of every age
and sex, made their offerings; they then thought that their horses
would not tire, and that they themselves should be prosperous. The
Gaucho who told me this, said that in the time of peace he had
witnessed this scene, and that he and others used to wait till the
Indians had passed by, for the sake of stealing their offerings from
Walleechu.
The Gauchos think that the Indians consider the tree as the god
itself; but it seems far more probable that they regard it as the
altar. The only cause which I can imagine for this choice, is its
being a landmark in a dangerous passage. The Sierra de la Ventana is
visible at an immense distance; and a Gaucho told me that he was once
riding with an Indian a few miles to the north of the Rio Colorado,
when the latter commenced making the same loud noise, which is usual
at the first sight of the distant tree; putting his hand to his head,
and then pointing it in the direction of the Sierra. Upon being asked
the reason of this, the Indian said in broken Spanish, “First see
the Sierra.” This likewise would render it probable that the utility
of a distant landmark is the first cause of its adoration. About two
leagues beyond this curious tree we halted for the night: at this
instant an unfortunate cow was spied by the lynx-eyed Gauchos. Off
they set in chase, and in a few minutes she was dragged in by the
lazo, and slaughtered. We here had the four necessaries of life “en
el campo,”--pasture for the horses, water (only a muddy puddle),
meat, and firewood. The Gauchos were in high spirits at finding all
these luxuries; and we soon set to work at the poor cow. This was
the first night which I had ever passed under the open sky, with
the gear of the recado for my bed. There is high enjoyment in the
independence of the Gaucho life--to be able at any moment to pull up
your horse, and say, “Here we will pass the night.” The death-like
stillness of the plain, the dogs keeping watch, the gipsy-group of
Gauchos making their beds round the fire, have left in my mind a
strongly-marked picture of this first night, which will not soon be
forgotten.
The next day the country continued similar to that above described.
It is inhabited by few birds or animals. Occasionally a deer, or a
Guanaco (wild Llama) may be seen; but the Agouti (_Cavia Patagonica_)
is the commonest quadruped. This animal here represents our hares.
It differs, however, from that genus in many essential respects;
for instance, it has only three toes behind. It is also nearly
twice the size, weighing from twenty to twenty-five pounds. The
Agouti is a true friend to the desert; it is a common feature in the
landscape to see two or three hopping quickly one after the other
in a straight line across these wild plains. On the eastern side
of America their northern limit is formed by the Sierra Tapalguen
(lat. 37° 30′), where the plains rather suddenly become greener and
more humid. The limit certainly depends on this change, for near
Mendoza (lat. 33° 30′), which is much further north, but where the
country is very sterile, I again met the Agouti. It is not evident
by what circumstances their southern limit is governed; it occurs
between Port Desire and St. Julian (about 48° 30′), where there is no
change in the kind of land, and only a trifling and gradual one of
temperature. It is a singular fact, that although the Agouti is not
now found so far south as Port St. Julian, yet that Captain Wood, in
his voyage in 1670, talks of them as being numerous there. What cause
can have altered, in a wide, uninhabited, and rarely-visited country,
the range of an animal like this? It appears, also, from the number
shot in one day at Port Desire, that they must have been considerably
more abundant there formerly than at present. Azara states that
the Agouti never excavates its own burrow, but uses that of the
Bizcacha. Wherever this animal is present, without doubt this is
true; but on the sandy plains of Bahia Blanca, where the Bizcacha is
not found, the Gauchos maintain that the Agouti is its own workman.
The same thing occurs with the little owls of the Pampas (_Noctua
cunicularia_), which have so often been described as standing like
sentinels at the mouths of the burrows; for in Banda Oriental, owing
to the absence of the Bizcacha, they are obliged to hollow out their
own habitations. Azara also says that the Agouti, except when pressed
by danger, does not enter its burrow: on this point I must again
differ from that high authority. At Bahia Blanca I have repeatedly
seen two or three of these animals sitting on their haunches by
the mouths of their holes, which, as I passed by at a distance,
they quietly entered. Daily in the neighbourhood of these spots the
Agouti were abundant: but differently from most burrowing animals, it
wanders, commonly two or three together, to miles or leagues from its
home; nor do I know whether it returns at night. The Agouti feeds and
roams about by day; is shy and watchful; does not squat, or so rarely
that I never saw an instance of this; it cannot run very fast; and,
therefore, is frequently caught by a couple of dogs, even of mixed
breed. Its manner of running more resembles that of a rabbit than
of a hare. The Agouti generally produces two young ones at a birth,
which are brought forth within the burrow. The flesh, when cooked, is
very white; it is, however, rather tasteless and dry.
The next morning, as we approached the Rio Colorado, the appearance
of the country changed; we soon came on a plain covered with turf,
which, from its flowers, tall clover, and little owls, resembled the
Pampas. We passed also a muddy swamp of considerable extent, which
in summer dries, and becomes incrusted with various salts; and hence
is called a salitral. It was covered by low succulent plants, of the
same kind with those growing on the sea-shore. The Colorado, at the
pass where we crossed it, is only about sixty yards wide; generally
it must be nearly double that width. Its course is very tortuous,
being marked by willow-trees and beds of reeds: in a direct line
the distance to the mouth of the river is said to be nine leagues,
but by water twenty-five. We were delayed crossing in the canoe by
some immense troops of mares, which were swimming the river in order
to follow a division of troops into the interior. A more ludicrous
spectacle I never beheld, than the hundreds of heads, all directed
one way, with pointed ears and distended nostrils, appearing just
above the water like a great shoal of some amphibious animals. Mare’s
flesh is the only food which the soldiers have when on an expedition.
This gives them a very great facility of movement; for the distance
to which horses can be driven over these plains is quite surprising:
I have been assured that an unloaded horse can travel a hundred miles
a day for many days successively.
The encampment of General Rosas was close to the river. It
consisted of a square formed by waggons, artillery, straw huts, &c.
The soldiers were nearly all cavalry; and I should think such a
villanous, banditti-like army, was never before collected together.
The greater number of men were of a mixed breed, between Negro,
Indian, and Spaniard. I know not the reason, but men of such origin
seldom have a good expression of countenance. I called on the
secretary to show my passport. He began to cross-question me in the
most dignified and mysterious manner. By good luck I had a letter
of recommendation from the government of Buenos Ayres[6] to the
commandant of Patagones. This was taken to General Rosas, who sent me
a very obliging message; and the secretary returned all smiles and
graciousness. We took up our residence in the _rancho_, or hovel,
of a curious old Spaniard, who had served with Napoleon in the
expedition against Russia.
We staid two days at the Colorado; I had little to do, for the
surrounding country was a swamp, which in summer, (December) when the
snow melts on the Cordillera, is overflowed by the river. My chief
amusement was watching the Indian families as they came to buy little
articles at the rancho, where we staid. It was supposed that General
Rosas had about six hundred Indian allies. The men were a tall, fine
race, yet it was afterwards easy to see in the Fuegian savage the
same countenance rendered hideous by cold, want of food, and less
civilization. Some authors, in defining the primary races of mankind,
have separated these Indians into two classes; but I cannot think
this is correct. Among the young women or chinas, some deserve to be
called even beautiful. Their hair was coarse, but bright and black;
and they wore it in two plaits hanging down to the waist. They had
a high colour, and eyes that glistened with brilliancy; their legs,
feet, and arms were small and elegantly formed; their ankles, and
sometimes their waists, were ornamented by broad bracelets of blue
beads. Nothing could be more interesting than some of the family
groups. A mother with one or two daughters would often come to our
rancho, mounted on the same horse. They ride like men, but with their
knees tucked up much higher. This habit, perhaps, arises from their
being accustomed, when travelling, to ride the loaded horses. The
duty of the women is to load and unload the horses; to make the tents
for the night; in short to be, like the wives of all savages, useful
slaves. The men fight, hunt, take care of the horses, and make the
riding gear. One of their chief indoor occupations is to knock two
stones together till they become round. The bolas is a very important
weapon to the Indian; for with it he catches his game, and also his
horse which roams free over the plain. In fighting, his first attempt
is to throw the horse of his adversary with the bolas, and when
entangled by the fall to kill him with the chuzo. If the balls only
catch the neck or body of an animal, they are often carried away and
lost. As the making the stones round is the labour of two days, the
manufacture of the balls is a very common employment. Several of
the men and women had their faces painted red, but I never saw the
horizontal bands which are so common among the Fuegians. Their chief
pride consists in having every thing made of silver; I have seen a
cacique with his spurs, stirrups, handle of his knife, and bridle
made of this metal: the head-stall and reins being of wire, were
not thicker than whipcord; and to see a fiery steed, wheeling about
under the command of so light a chain, gave to the horsemanship a
remarkable character of elegance.
General Rosas intimated a wish to see me; a circumstance which I was
afterwards very glad of. He is a man of an extraordinary character,
and has a most predominant influence in the country, which it seems
probable he will use to its prosperity and advancement. He is
said to be the owner of seventy-four square leagues of land, and
to have about three hundred thousand head of cattle. His estates
are admirably managed, and are far more productive of corn than
any others. He first gained his celebrity by his laws for his own
estancias, and by disciplining several hundred men, so as to resist
with success the attacks of the Indians. There are many stories
current about the rigid manner in which his laws were enforced. One
of these was, that no man, on penalty of being put into the stocks,
should carry his knife on a Sunday: this day being the principal
one for gambling and drinking, many quarrels arose, which from the
general manner of fighting with the knife often proved fatal. One
Sunday the Governor came in great form to pay the Estancia a visit,
and General Rosas, in his hurry, walked out to receive him with his
knife, as usual, stuck in his belt. The steward touched his arm, and
reminded him of the law; upon which turning to the Governor, he said
he was extremely sorry, but that he must go into the stocks, and that
till let out, he possessed no power even in his own house. After a
little time the steward was persuaded to open the stocks, and to let
him out, but no sooner was this done, than he turned to the steward
and said, “You now have broken the laws, so you must take my place in
the stocks.” Such actions as these delighted the Gauchos, who all
possess high notions of their own equality and dignity.
General Rosas is also a perfect horseman--an accomplishment of no
small consequence in a country where an assembled army elected its
general by the following trial: A troop of unbroken horses being
driven into a corral, were let out through a gateway, above which was
a cross-bar: it was agreed, whoever should drop from the bar on one
of these wild animals, as it rushed out, and should be able without
saddle or bridle, not only to ride it, but also to bring it back
to the door of the corral, should be their general. The person who
succeeded was accordingly elected; and doubtless made a fit general
for such an army. This extraordinary feat has also been performed by
Rosas.
By these means, and by conforming to the dress and habits of the
Gauchos, he has obtained an unbounded popularity in the country,
and in consequence a despotic power. I was assured by an English
merchant, that a man who had murdered another, when arrested and
questioned concerning his motive, answered, “He spoke disrespectfully
of General Rosas, so I killed him.” At the end of a week the murderer
was at liberty. This doubtless was the act of the general’s party,
and not of the general himself.
In conversation he is enthusiastic, sensible, and very grave. His
gravity is carried to a high pitch: I heard one of his mad buffoons
(for he keeps two, like the barons of old) relate the following
anecdote: “I wanted very much to hear a certain piece of music, so
I went to the general two or three times to ask him; he said to me,
‘Go about your business, for I am engaged.’ I went a second time; he
said, ‘If you come again I will punish you.’ A third time I asked,
and he laughed. I rushed out of the tent, but it was too late; he
ordered two soldiers to catch and stake me. I begged by all the
Saints in heaven, he would let me off; but it would not do;--when
the general laughs he spares neither mad man or sound.” The poor
flighty gentleman looked quite dolorous, at the very recollection
of the staking. This is a very severe punishment; four posts are
driven into the ground, and the man is extended by his arms and
legs horizontally; and there left to stretch for several hours. The
idea is evidently taken from the usual method of drying hides. My
interview passed away without a smile, and I obtained a passport and
order for the government post-horses; and this he gave me in the most
obliging and ready manner.
In the morning we started for Bahia Blanca, which we reached in two
days. Leaving the regular encampment, we passed by the toldos of the
Indians. These are round like ovens, and covered with hides; by the
mouth of each a tapering chuzo was stuck in the ground. The toldos
were divided into separate groups, which belonged to the different
caciques’ tribes, and the groups were again divided into smaller
ones, according to the relationship of the owners. For several miles
we travelled along the valley of the Colorado. The alluvial plains
on the side appeared fertile, and it is supposed that they are well
adapted to the growth of corn. Turning northward from the river, we
soon entered on a country, differing from those plains that extend
south of the river. The land still continued dry and sterile; but
it supported many different kinds of plants, and the grass, though
brown and withered, was more abundant, as the thorny bushes were
less so. These latter in a short space entirely disappeared, and
the plains were left without a thicket to cover their nakedness.
This change in the vegetation marks the commencement of the grand
calcareo-argillaceous deposit, which I have already noticed as
forming the wide extent of the Pampas, and as covering the granitic
rocks of Banda Oriental. From the Strait of Magellan to the Colorado,
a distance of about eight hundred miles, the face of the country is
every where composed of shingle: the pebbles are chiefly of porphyry,
and probably owe their origin to the rocks of the Cordillera. North
of the Colorado the bed thins out, and the pebbles become exceedingly
small, and here the characteristic vegetation of Patagonia ceases.
Having ridden about twenty-five miles, we came to a broad belt of
sand-dunes, which stretch, as far as the eye can reach, to the
east and west. The sand-hillocks resting on the clay, allow small
pools of water to collect, and thus afford, in this dry country, an
invaluable supply of fresh water. The great advantage arising from
depressions and elevations of the soil, is not often brought home
to the mind. The two miserable springs in the long passage between
the Rio Negro and Colorado were caused by trifling inequalities in
the plain; without them not a drop of water would have been found.
The belt of sand-dunes is about eight miles wide; at some former
period, it probably formed the margin of a grand estuary, where the
Colorado now flows. In this district, where absolute proofs of the
recent elevation of the land occur, such speculations can hardly
be neglected by any one, although merely considering the physical
geography of the country. Having crossed the sandy tract, we arrived
in the evening at one of the post-houses; and, as the fresh horses
were grazing at a distance, we determined to pass the night there.
The house was situated at the base of a ridge, between one and two
hundred feet high--a most remarkable feature in this country. This
posta was commanded by a negro lieutenant, born in Africa: to his
credit be it said, there was not a rancho between the Colorado and
Buenos Ayres in nearly such neat order as his. He had a little room
for strangers, and a small corral for the horses, all made of sticks
and reeds; he had also dug a ditch round his house, as a defence in
case of being attacked. This would, however, have been of little
avail, if the Indians had come; but his chief comfort seemed to rest
in the thought of selling his life dearly. A short time before, a
body of Indians had travelled past in the night; if they had been
aware of the posta, our black friend and his four soldiers, would
assuredly have been slaughtered. I did not any where meet a more
civil and obliging man, than this negro; it was therefore the more
painful to see that he would not sit down and eat with us.
In the morning we sent for the horses very early, and started for
another exhilarating gallop. We passed the Cabeza del Buey, an old
name given to the head of a large marsh, which extends from Bahia
Blanca. Here we changed horses, and passed through some leagues of
swamps and saltpetre marshes. Changing horses for the last time, we
again began wading through the mud. My animal fell, and I was well
soused in black mire--a very disagreeable accident, when one does
not possess a change of clothes. Some miles from the fort we met a
man, who told us that a great gun had been fired, which is a signal
that Indians are near. We immediately left the road, and followed the
edge of a marsh, which when chased offers the best mode of escape. We
were glad to arrive within the walls, when we found all the alarm was
about nothing, for the Indians turned out to be friendly ones, who
wished to join General Rosas.
Bahia Blanca scarcely deserves the name of a village. A few houses
and the barracks for the troops are enclosed by a deep ditch and
fortified wall. The settlement is only of recent standing (since
1828); and its growth has been one of trouble. The government of
Buenos Ayres did not follow the wise example of the Spanish viceroys
in purchasing the land from the Indians, as they did with the Rio
Negro, but unjustly occupied it by force. Hence the need of the
fortifications; hence the few houses and little cultivated land
without the limits of the walls: even the cattle are not safe from
the attacks of the Indians beyond the boundaries of the plain, on
which the fortress stands.
The part of the harbour where the Beagle intended to anchor being
distant twenty-five miles, I obtained from the Commandant a guide
and horses, to take me to see whether she had arrived. Leaving the
plain of green turf, which followed the course of the little brook,
we soon entered on a wide level waste, consisting either of sand,
saline marshes, or bare mud. Some parts were clothed by low thickets,
and others with those succulent plants, which luxuriate only where
salt abounds. Bad as the country was, ostriches, deer, cavies, and
armadilloes, were abundant. My guide told me, that two months before
he had a most narrow escape of his life: he was out hunting, at no
great distance from this part of the country, with two other men,
when they were suddenly met by a party of Indians, who giving chase,
soon overtook and killed his two friends. His own horse’s legs were
also caught by the bolas; but he jumped off, and with his knife cut
them free: while doing this he was obliged to dodge round his horse,
and received two severe wounds from their chuzos. Springing on the
saddle, he managed, by a most wonderful exertion, just to keep ahead
of the long spears of his pursuers, who followed him to within sight
of the fort. From that time there was an order that no one should
stray far from the settlement. I did not know of this when I started,
and was surprised to observe how earnestly my guide watched a deer,
which appeared to have been frightened from a distant quarter.
We found the Beagle had not arrived, and consequently set out on our
return, but the horses soon tiring, we were obliged to bivouac on the
plain. In the morning we had caught an armadillo, which, although a
most excellent dish when roasted in its shell, did not make a very
substantial breakfast and dinner for two hungry men. The ground at
the place where we stopped for the night, was incrusted with a layer
of Glauber salt, and hence, of course, was without water. Yet many of
the smaller rodents managed to exist even here, and the tucutuco was
making its odd little grunt beneath my head, during half the night.
Our horses were very poor ones, and in the morning they were soon
exhausted from not having had any thing to drink, so that we were
obliged to walk. About noon the dogs killed a kid, which we roasted.
I eat some of it, but it made me intolerably thirsty. This was the
more distressing as the road, from some recent rain, was full of
little puddles of clear water, yet not a drop was drinkable. I had
scarcely been twenty hours without water, and only part of the time
under a hot sun, yet the thirst rendered me very weak. How people
survive two or three days under such circumstances, I cannot imagine:
at the same time, I must confess that my guide did not suffer at
all, and was astonished that one day’s deprivation should be so
troublesome to me.
I have several times alluded to the surface of the ground being
incrusted with salt. This phenomenon is quite different from that
of the salinas, and much more extraordinary. In many parts of South
America, wherever the climate is moderately dry, these incrustations
occur; but I have nowhere seen them so abundant as near Bahia
Blanca. The salt here consists of a large proportion of sulphate
of soda mixed with a very little of the common muriate. As long
as the ground remains moist in these salitrales (as the Spaniards
improperly call them, mistaking this substance for saltpetre),
nothing is to be seen but an extensive plain composed of a black,
muddy soil, supporting scattered tufts of succulent plants. I was
therefore much surprised, after a week’s hot weather, when I first
saw square miles of country, that I had previously ridden over in
the former condition, white, as if from a slight fall of snow which
the wind had heaped up into partial drifts. This latter appearance
is chiefly due to the tendency which the salt has to crystallize,
like hoar-frost, round the blades of grass, stumps of wood, or on the
top of the broken ground, in lieu of the bottoms of the puddles of
water. The salinas, as a general rule, occur in depressions on the
more elevated plains; the salitrales, either on level tracts elevated
a few feet above the level of the sea, and appearing as if lately
inundated, or on alluvial land bordering rivers. In this latter
case, although I am not absolutely certain, I have strong reasons
for believing that the salt is often removed by the waters of the
river, and is again reproduced. Several circumstances incline me to
think that the black, muddy soil, generates the sulphate of soda. The
whole phenomenon is well worthy the attention of naturalists: what
can be more singular than thus to see square miles of country thinly
crusted over with Glauber salt? It may be asked whether plants do not
decompose the muriate of soda? but whence comes the sulphuric acid?
In Peru, nitrate of soda occurs in beds far thicker than these of the
sulphate. Both cases are equally mysterious. I suspect that, as a
general rule, the salts of soda are infinitely more common in South
America than those of potash.
Two days afterwards, I again rode to the harbour, but to a nearer
part of it. When not far from our destination, my companion, the
same man as before, spied three people hunting on horseback. He
immediately dismounted, and watching them intently, said, “They don’t
ride like Christians, and nobody can leave the fort.” The three
hunters joined company, and likewise dismounted from their horses.
At last one mounted again and rode over the hill out of sight. My
companion said, “We must now get on our horses: load your pistol;”
and he looked to his own sword. I asked, “Are they Indians?”--“Quien
sabe? (who knows?) if there are no more than three, it does not
signify.” It then struck me, that the one man had gone over the
hill to fetch the rest of his tribe. I suggested this; but all the
answer I could extort was, “Quien sabe?” His head and eye never for
a minute ceased scanning slowly the distant horizon. I thought his
uncommon coolness too good a joke, and asked him why he did not
return home. I was startled when he answered, “We are returning, but
in a line so as to pass near a swamp, into which we can gallop the
horses as far as they can go, and then trust to our own legs; so that
there is no danger.” I did not feel quite so confident of this, and
wanted to increase our pace. He said, “No, not until they do.” When
any little inequality concealed us, we galloped; but when in sight
continued walking. At last we reached a valley, and turning to the
left, galloped quickly to the foot of a hill, he gave me his horse
to hold, made the dogs lie down, and then crawled on his hands and
knees to reconnoitre. He remained in this position for some time,
and at last, bursting out in laughter, exclaimed, “Mugeres!” (women!)
He knew them to be the wife and sister-in-law of the major’s son,
hunting for ostrich’s eggs. I have described this man’s conduct,
because he acted under the full impression that they were Indians.
As soon, however, as the absurd mistake was found out, he gave me a
hundred reasons, why they could not have been Indians; but all these
were forgotten at the time. We then rode on in peace and quietness to
a low point called Punta Alta, whence we could see nearly the whole
of the great harbour of Bahia Blanca.
The wide expanse of water is choked up by numerous great mud-banks,
which the inhabitants call Cangrejales, or _crabberies_, from the
number of small crabs. The mud is so soft, that it is impossible to
walk over them, even for the shortest distance. Many of the banks
have their surfaces covered with long rushes, the tops of which alone
are visible at high water. On one occasion, when in a boat, we were
so entangled by these shallows, that we could hardly find our way.
Nothing was visible, but the flat beds of mud: the day was not very
clear, and there was much refraction, or as the sailors expressed it,
“things loomed high.” The only object within our view, which was not
level, was the horizon; rushes looked like bushes unsupported in the
air, and water like mud-banks, and mud-banks like water.
We passed the night in Punta Alta, and I employed myself in searching
for fossil bones; this point, being a perfect catacomb for monsters
of extinct races. The evening was perfectly calm and clear; the
extreme monotony of the view gave it an interest, even in the midst
of mud-banks and gulls, sand-hillocks, and solitary vultures. In
riding back in the morning, we came across a very fresh track of a
Puma, but did not succeed in finding him. We saw also a couple of
Zorillos, or skunks,--odious animals, which are far from uncommon. In
general appearance the Zorillo resembles a polecat, but it is rather
larger, and much thicker in proportion. Conscious of its power, it
roams by day about the open plain, and fears neither dog nor man.
If a dog is urged to the attack, its courage is instantly checked by
a few drops of the fetid oil, which brings on violent sickness and
running at the nose. Whatever is once polluted by it, is for ever
useless. Azara says the smell can be perceived at a league distant;
more than once, when entering the harbour of Monte Video, the wind
being off shore, we have perceived the odour on board the Beagle.
Certain it is, that every animal most willingly makes room for the
Zorillo.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] The corral is an enclosure made of tall and strong stakes. Every
estancia, or farming estate, has one attached to it.
[2] The hovels of the Indians are thus called.
[3] Throughout South America, the flamingo appears singularly
attached to salt lakes. I saw instances of this throughout Patagonia,
in the Cordillera of Northern Chile, and at the Galapagos Islands.
[4] In the Linnæan Transactions, vol. xi., p. 205, a minute
crustaceous animal is described, under the name of _Cancer salinus_.
It is said to occur in countless numbers in the brine pans at
Lymington; but only in those in which the fluid has attained, from
evaporation, considerable strength; namely, about a quarter of a
pound of salt to a pint of water. This cancer is said, also, to
inhabit the salt lakes of Siberia. Well may we affirm, that every
part of the world is habitable! Whether lakes of brine, or those
subterranean ones hidden beneath volcanic mountains--warm mineral
springs; the wide expanse and depths of the ocean; the upper regions
of the atmosphere; and even the surface of perpetual snow;--all
support organic beings.
[5] Almost every circumstance here mentioned, occurs in the salt
lakes near the borders of the Caspian. That country, like Patagonia,
appears to have been recently elevated above the waters of the
sea. Pallas states that the salt lakes occupy shallow depressions
in the steppes; that the mud on the borders in every case is
black and fetid; that beneath the crust of sea salt, sulphate of
magnesia occurs, imperfectly crystallized; that the muddy sand is
mixed with lentils of gypsum. We have before stated that these
lakes are inhabited by small crustaceous animals; and flamingoes
(Edin. New Philos. Jour., Jan. 1830) likewise frequent them. As
these circumstances, apparently so trifling, occur in two distant
continents, we may feel sure they are the necessary results of some
common cause.--See _Pallas’s Travels_, 1793 to 1794, p. 129-134.
[6] I am bound to express, in the strongest terms, my obligation
to the Government of Buenos Ayres for the obliging manner in which
passports to all parts of the country were given me, as naturalist of
the Beagle.