I833.J ARRIVE AT RIO NEGRO. 68 



CHAPTER IV. 



Rb Negro — Estancias attacked by the Indians— Salt Lakes— Flamingoes— 

 R. Negro to R. Colorado— Sacred Tree— Patagonian Hare— Indian Families 

 —General Rosas— Proceed to Bahia Blanca— Sand Dunes — Negro Lieu- 

 tenant— Bahia Blanca— Saline Incrustations— Pun ta Alta— Zorillo. 



RIO NEGRO TO BAHIA BLANCA. 



July 2Ath, 1833.— The Beagle sailed from Maldonado, and on 

 August the 3rd she arrived ofF the mouth of the Rio Neo-ro. 

 This is the principal river on tlie whole line of coast betweer 

 the Strait of Magellan and the Plata. It enters the sea about 

 three hundred miles south of the estuary of the Plata. About 

 fifty years ago, under the old Spanish government, a small colony 

 was established here ; and it is still the most southern position 

 (lat. 41°) on this eastern coast of America, inhabited by civilized 

 man. 



The country near the mouth of the river is wretched in tlie 

 extreme : on the south side a long line of perpendicular cliffs 

 commences, which exposes a section of the geological nature of 

 the country. The strata are of sandstone, and one layer was re- 

 markable from being composed of a firmly-cemented conglome- 

 rate of pumice pebbles, which must have travelled more than 

 four hundred miles, from the Andes. The surface is everj^- 

 where covered up by a thick bed of gravel, which extends far 

 and wide over the open plain. Water is extremely scarce, and, 

 where found, is almost invariably brackish. The vegetation is 

 scanty ; and although there are bushes of many kinds, all are 

 armed with formidable thorns, which seem to warn the strano^er 

 not to euter on these inhospitable regions. 



The settlement is situated eighteen miles up the river. The 

 road follows the foot of the sloping cliff, which forms the north- 

 ern boundary of the great valley, in which the Rio Negro flows. 

 On the way we passed the ruins of some fine " estancias," which 

 a fe\^ years since had been destroyed by the Indians. They with- 

 4 



