104 Account of a Journey across the Pampas. 



teeth. Each hide carries from 3 to 4 cut. according to its size. 

 The river is here about 100 yards wide. To me the task ap- 

 peared a very luckless job ; and u hen my turn came to go with 

 my chest, boxes, and a fellow passenger, all launched into an 

 ordinary bull's hide, with a girl, none of the strongest, to drag 

 us, I felt considerable doubts of our safety. However no- 

 thing went wrong in crossing, either with us or a tropa of 11 

 carts, 28 in all, which were thus got over. The men, paid by 

 the old woman, of whom there were 11, w T ere occupied in 

 dragging our empty waggons across, in which were fixed 

 crates of earthenware, some heavy boilers, and other articles 

 too large for the hide boat. The passage of the waggons was 

 a still more troublesome business ; 3 men swam across with 

 a long rope of hide, and these men remained at certain dis- 

 tances with the rope over their shoulders to keep the water 

 from having too great an impression upon it. When over, it 

 was fixed to 6 bullocks, and the cart then tossed into the river 

 from the opposite side, when it unavoidably disappeared, and 

 on arriving at the other bank it was generally found to have 

 unset under water ; when it was no easv task to set it once 

 more upon its wheels. One cart, in particular, occupied most 

 of a day. Seven days were again consumed in reloading, &c, 

 during which time I made several excursions among the 

 woods by the river bank ; but from the dryness of the season 

 which had clad everything in its autumn or winter garb, very 

 little could be found ; I saw some memorable varieties of the 

 Cactus family, of all shapes and sizes. There were two spe- 

 cies, or rather perhaps vars., of Passifiora ; Mimosas were also 

 very numerous, among which was one allied to the Algaroba, 

 with spines from 4 to 8 inches long ; this is called in the coun- 

 try Bo?iiIla or Vanill; its leaves are applied by the natives to 

 cure a dim eyesight. This river flow r s from the south Andes 

 in a north-east direction towards the Porana, and having 

 traversed a saline tract, becomes so salt that even the cattle 

 refused to drink it. We however obtained good and sweet 

 water only 4 feet from the surface. 



[To be continued.] 



