CHAPTER III. 



(1.) The Pamperos— (2.) The Rio Negro. Guachos. El Carmen.— (3.) Bue- 

 nos Ayres. Population and Resources. Lagunas de Salinas.— (4.) Indian 

 Tribes.— (5.) Alarm at El Carmen— (6.) Tierra del Fuego. Straits of Le 

 Maire and Magellan. Cape Horn.— (7.) Arrival at Orange Harbor. 



(1.) South of the thirtieth degree of north latitude, strong 

 westerly gales prevail for a greater part of the year, which 

 frequently terminate in severe pamperos, or hurricanes, the 

 effects of which are often experienced far out at sea. These 

 are supposed to be occasioned by the vast llafios, or grassy 

 plains, in the valley of the La Plata, which disturb the 

 equilibrium of the atmosphere. The currents of air here 

 collected, being walled in on the west by the giant barriers 

 of the Andes, and finding little or no resistance on the east, 

 rush forth in the latter direction, either skimming softly and 

 * gently over the bosom of the Atlantic, or plunging and dash- 

 ing on like the frightened courser. 



(2.) Favored by propitious, though light, and somewhat 

 variable winds, the Exploring Squadron held on their way 

 to the south. On the 25th of January, 1839, they again 

 approached the coast of South America, at the mouth- of 

 the Rio Negro, the southern boundary of Buenos Ayres, or, 

 as it is now called, the Argentine Republic. The coast 

 in the vicinity of the river, is low and barren ; consisting 

 of a succession of sand hdls and downs covered with a dry 

 and sickly vegetation, where the stunted shrubs that break 

 the monotony of the landscape, rarely rise to the dignity 

 of tree-hood, 



" And shrivelled herbs on withering stems decay." 



Further inland, there are immense pampas, over which roam 



