1829. ] Recent Journey in South America. 267 
Quitting this hospitable roof, we reached, on the 9th of September, 
the Villa del Rio Quinto, the cultivated lands appertaining to which 
town are irrigated by the beautiful river from which it takes its name. 
This place is within the jurisdiction of Cordova, and contains a popula- 
tion of four thousand souls. Here we passed a day and night, and then 
proceeded to the picturesque village of San Bernardo, where we slept. 
On the 11th, we crossed the river Quarto, at the Paso del Durazno, and 
the next day arrived at a small village named Reduccion. Here we 
found the inhabitants busily employed in repairing a mud fort, in 
anticipation of an attack from the Indians. Soon after leaving this place 
we encountered some fallow deer, which we occasionally hunted ; some- 
times running them down by the superior speed and strength of our 
horses, and at others catching them by means of bolas (a species of mis- 
sile noose), or shooting them with rifles. At first, my companions refused 
to partake of the flesh of these animals—alleging that | was rank and 
unwholesome ; but my example at length induced them to make a trial 
of it, after which they preferred it to any thing else. I afterwards 
found, that the reason of their not liking the flesh of the wild deer 
was, that all the South Americans are accustomed to dress and eat 
their meat immediately it is killed ; and venison in this state is not only 
hard and unpleasant, but unwholesome. They had no notion that hang- 
ing it up for a few days would produce any other than a mischievous 
change in it. But when the experiment was made for them, they 
readily acknowledged and availed themselves of the advantages it offered. 
On the 13th of September, we reached the Punta del Sauce,. a most 
wretched town situated on the river Quarto, and forming the frontier 
line of the Indian territories, called Las Pampas, an uninhabited plain, 
forty leagues in breadth, extending from the Rio Saladillo to Melinque. 
During the whole route from San Bernardo hither, we had been infested 
almost incessantly by flights of locusts, so numerous that they sometimes 
literally intercepted the light of the sun—throwing a shadow upon the 
ground as if a dense cloud was passing. They rose in almost unbroken 
masses before our horses feet as we galloped onwards, and we were 
compelled to cover our faces with our ponchos, to ward off the blows, 
which might otherwise have proved seriously injurious, especially if they 
had struck the eyes—for the locusts were of great size and weight. 
The town of Punta del Sauce we found in a most ruinous condition, 
consequent on repeated attacks of the Indians for purposes of plunder ; 
but still, it was not without an appearance of considerable activity 
arising out of the commercial pursuits of the inhabitants. It contained 
no less than six shops for the sale of European goods of various kinds— 
for which returns are made in mare and other hides. A shop (or 
pulperia) in the Pampas is distinguishable from a great distance in every 
direction, by means of a flag which is fastened to a high pole stuck in 
the ground, as a sign. The governor of this town was a brave young man, 
who had fifty militia under his command, at the head of whom he occasion- 
ally scoured the country in a circle of a hundred miles, on the look-out for 
the roving Indians with which these plains are infested. Though these 
expeditions sometimes last for more than a month, the party take with 
them provisions for the two first days only; trusting for the future 
: wpPly to the wild animals they may be able to take as they proceed. 
The flesh of ostriches is that which they prefer before any other ; then 
that of mules ; after that, of horses and mares ; and lastly that of deer. 
2M 2 
