102 Account of a Journey across the 



lage, consisting of a few straggling huts^ formed of four-forked 

 posts, on which were laid unpruned branches which were 

 again covered with sods and loose earth, thus merely afford- 

 ing a protection from the sun, but none from the cold, these 

 huts being entirely open at the sides. Not a human being 

 could be seen, though it would appear that this encampment 

 was but recently deserted, from the vegetables, pompions, to- 

 matos, capsicums, and maize, which now covered the ground, 

 as wild and promiscuous as if natives of the soil. In this 

 wilderness I observed several of the small silver grey fox and 

 a large species of hare, with a broad tail like that of the Cape 

 sheep. Parrots and paroquets were in vast number, but no 

 other birds. Here were some curious Cacti, of large erect 

 growth, and 16 angles to the stem, some of the naked pole- 

 like branches being upwards of 30 feet high, beset with spines 

 2 to 4 inches long. The fruit is very small in proportion to 

 the size of the species, some single plants sending out more 

 than a hundred of these naked pole-like branches, most of 

 which were from 6 to 8 inches through, and generally thicker 

 at the top than bottom. 



1 7th. At mid-day we reached the river Saladillo de Gus- 

 man, and here w^e were kept waiting 15 days for its decrease, 

 the season being that of its greatest fulness, in consequence 

 of the melting of the early fallen snow on the Cordilleras. It 

 may seem an extraordinary circumstance, that when travelling 

 through a country where man and beast often suffer the ut- 

 most distress for want of water, the party should at the very 

 same time be arrested by a river whose margins were flooded 

 for half a mile on either side beyond the ordinary channel ; 

 but such was nevertheless the case here, as in other tropical 

 countries ; the greater the heat and drought, the more swollen 

 are the streams, which diminish in proportion as the weather 

 becomes cold and wet. After waiting for two weeks in vain, 

 we discovered a place, a considerable way further down, where 

 the height of the banks had much contracted the river, and 

 with much labour, and after cutting down many trees, our 

 carts were dragged to the water's edge. Another Tropa, con- 

 sisting of 11 similar vehicles, having joined us on the one side, 

 while another of 13 was drawn up on the opposite bank. 



