'833.] SACRED TREE. ^9 



bones of horses which had been slaughtered as sacrifices. All 

 Indians of every age and sex make their offerings ; they then 

 think that their horses will not tire, and tiiat they themselves 

 shall 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: from AYalleechu the offering's. 



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 Yen tana is visible at an immense distance ; and a Gauciio 

 told me that he w'as once riding with an Indian a few miles to 

 the north of the Rio Colorado, when the Indian 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 

 in the direction of the Sierra. Upon being asked the reason 

 of tliis, the Indian said in broken Spanish, " First see the Sierra." 

 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, who set off in full chace, and in a few minutes 

 dragged her in with their lazos, and slaughtered her. We 

 here had the four necessaries of life " en el campo," — pasture 

 for the horses, water (only a muddy puddle), meat and fire- 

 wood. 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 whicli I 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 tlie fire, have left in my mind a strongly-marked picture of 

 this first night, which will never be forgotten. 



The next day tlie country continued similar to that above de- 

 scribed. It is inhabited by few birds or animals of any kind. 

 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 diflfers, however, from 



