14 Account of a Journey across the 



the sake of plunder. We therefore travelled night and day, 

 making only very short stoppages to change the cattle and 

 singe our beef, cooking being out of the question, where no 

 fuel could be procured except dry grass, and when it was un- 

 advisable to make any delay. We however saw nothing in 

 these vast plains but three Tropas on their way to Buenos 

 Ayres, at considerable distances from us. On these wide and 

 open tracts an assemblage of fifty waggons only looks like a 

 few ships scattered on the vast ocean, steering their way, as 

 by compass, through the trackless wastes. Even the wild 

 animals, as Foxes, Polecats, and Becatchos, abundant in more 

 inhabited districts, are not to be seen in this desert : some 

 grey and black vultures only attended our Tropa, which 

 picked up any offal that came in their way. Here while stop- 

 ping, during the passage of the Arroya called Del Indio- 

 muerto, I saw great quantities of a large species of quail, ge- 

 nerally called the pheasant of the country, probably attracted 

 to this spot by the fine and large species of grass, with eat- 

 able seeds, which grow in the Arroya. On the 22nd of March, 

 which was a clear calm sunny day, we noticed vast flocks of 

 swallows, flying in a direction contrary to our course, which 

 was north-west, at a great height from the ground ; probably 

 on their way to the warm islands of the Pacific Oceans. These 

 birds generally quit Buenos Ayres in the beginning of April 

 and return thither late in September. Only one kind of swal- 

 low is found in this country : it is large, and with more grey 

 on the back than the house swallow of Britain, builds its nest 

 under tiles and in holes of walls, and has a strong melodious 

 note much resembling that of a rising lark. 



24th. Having travelled for the last seven days and nights 

 through a continued flat grassy plain, where nothing but bit- 

 ter and brackish water could be had, we stopped at sunrise to 

 let the poor exhausted cattle eat the damp though withered 

 grass, and at nine in the morning reached Guardia del Equina, 

 a poor village of thirty-two Ranchos. Here are some old mud 

 forts, whence the cannon have however been removed ; this 

 military establishment, which was built by the old Spaniards 

 to awe the Indians, is now given up. We rested all night at 

 this place to repair our carts, and sent back about 100 of the 



