1833.] AN ADVENTURE. 57 



M. Parchappe * found that the saline incrustation on the plain, at the 

 distance of some miles from the sea, consisted chiefly of sulphate of 

 soda, with only seven per cent, of common salt ; whilst nearer to the 

 coast, the common salt increased to thirty-seven parts in a hundred. 

 This circumstance would tempt one to believe that the sulphate of soda 

 is generated in the soil, from the muriate, left on the surface during 

 the slow and recent elevation of this dry country. The whole phe- 

 nomenon is well worthy the attention of naturalists. Have the succulent, 

 salt-loving plants, which are well known to contain much soda, the 

 power of decomposing the muriate? Does the black fetid mud, 

 abounding with organic matter, yield the sulphur and ultimately the 

 sulphuric acid ? 



Two days afterwards I again rode to the harbour; when not far 

 from our destination, my companion, the same man as before, spied 

 three people hunting on horseback. He immediately dismounted, and 

 watching them intently, said, "They don't ride like Christians, and 

 nobody can leave the fort." The three hunters joined company, and 

 likewise dismounted from their horses. At last one mounted again, 

 and rode over the hill out of sight. My companion said, " We must 

 now get on our horses : load your pistol ; " and he looked to his own 

 sword. I asked, " Are they Indians ? " " Quien sabe ? " (who knows ?) 

 11 if there are no more than three, it does not signify." It then struck 

 me that the one man had gone over the hill to fetch the rest of his 

 tribe. I suggested this ; but all the answer I could extort was, " Quien 

 sabe ? " His head and eye never for a minute ceased scanning slowly 

 the distant horizon. I thought his uncommon coolness too good a joke, 

 and asked him why he did not return home. I was startled when he 

 answered, " We are returning, but in a line so as to pass near a swamp, 

 into which we can gallop the horses as far as they can go, and then 

 trust to our own legs ; so that there is no danger." I did not feel 

 quite so confident of this, and wanted to increase our pace. He said, 

 " No, not until they do." When any little inequality concealed us, we 

 galloped ; but when in sight, continued walking. At last we reached 

 a valley, and turning to the left, galloped quickly to the foot of a hill ; 

 he gave me his horse to hold, made the dogs lie down, and then crawled 

 on his hands and knees to reconnoitre. He remained in this position 

 for some time, and at last, bursting out in laughter, exclaimed, " Mugeres ! " 

 (women !) He knew them to be the wife and sister-in-law of the 

 major's son, hunting for ostrichs' eggs. I have described this man's 

 conduct, because he acted under the full impression that they were 

 Indians. As soon, however, as the absurd mistake was found out, he 

 gave me a hundred reasons why they could not have been Indians; 

 but all these were forgotten at the time. We then rode on in peace 

 and quietness to a low point called Punta Alta, whence we could see 

 nearly the whole of the great harbour of Bahia Blanca. 



The wide expanse of water is choked up by numerous great mud- 



* "Voyage dans 1'Amerique Mcrid." par M. A. d'Orbigny, Part. Hist., 

 torn, L, p. 664, 



