of the Lower Pilcoinayn, 121 



slow. After nearly three months of great lal)Our only a few 

 miles' further advanee was made, and then, on June 13tli, 

 the expedition eame to a full stop at the point which was 

 afterwards named " Fortin Pae-e." The ' Bolivia ' was now 

 hard and fast aground ; the dry season had set in ; and the 

 river had fallen greatly. Advanee and retreat were alike im- 

 possible. Provisions gave out, the military part of the expe- 

 dition left in a hody, and other parties which were sent down 

 the river for supplies never returned. Then the leader and 

 the doctor hoth succumbed, and the small remainder, some 

 nine men all told, were left with the ' Bolivia.'' This small 

 remnant remained at Fortin Page undergoing various hard- 

 ships and under the constant espionnaf/e of the Indians, until 

 they were leaehcd on October 4th by a military relief expe- 

 dition sent out to search for them. After the arrival of the 

 rescuers, several months longer were spent at and in the 

 neighbourhood of Fortin Page, and it was not until March 

 of this year (1891) that I was forced to leave the ^Bolivia,' 

 and to come away on muleback, bringing with me such 

 portions of my collections as it was possible under the 

 circumstances to convey. 



This paper, then, refers more especially to the neigh- 

 bourhood of Fortin Page, a district which I regard as fairly 

 typical of a very large area of the " Gran Chaco,'' and 

 on the physical charaeterislics of which I may be allowed 

 to say a word or two. For many miles around the country 

 is flat and low-lying — an almost dead-level plain, covered 

 with long grass, dotted with Carandai palms, and liable 

 to jjcriodic inundations. The open expanse of this 

 "palmar" is broken by occasional isolated patches of 

 dicotyledonous forest, composed of small and scrubby 

 trees, and never of any great extent. These form what 

 is called by the Argentines " monte duro." Along the banks 

 of the rivei- there runs a zone of open woodland, or in 

 places brushwood. By far the greater part of the district is 

 oceujjied by the open palmar, and the region is essentially 

 one of llanos or campos, and not of forest. On the lower 

 portions of the Pilcomayo — from about " Las Juntas " the 



