1833-1 EXPEDITION AGAINST THE INDIANS. 73 



becomes great. This transformation is one of the strangest wonders 

 that I saw in all my travels ; for if this tree is plucked up, while young, 

 and the leaves and bark stripped off, it becomes a hard stone when dry, 

 much like white coral : thus is this worm twice transformed into 

 different natures. Of these we gathered and brought home many." 



During my stay at Bahia Blanca, while waiting for the Beagle, the 

 place was in a constant state of excitement, from rumours of wars and 

 victories, between the troops of Rosas and the wild Indians. One day 

 an account came that a small party forming one of the postas on the line 

 to Buenos Ayres, had been found all murdered. The next day three 

 hundred men arrived from the Colorado, under the command of Com- 

 mandant Miranda. A large portion of these men were Indians (mansos, 

 or tame), belonging to the tribe of the Cacique Bernantio. They passed 

 the night here ; and it was impossible to conceive anything more wild 

 and savage than the scene of their bivouac. Some drank till they were 

 intoxicated; others swallowed the steaming blood of the cattle 

 slaughtered for their suppers, and then, being sick from drunkenness, 

 they cast it up again, and were besmeared with filth and gore. 



" Nam simul expletus dapibus, vinoque sepultus 

 Cervicem inflexam posuit, jacuitque per antrum 

 Immensus, saniem eructans, ac frusta cruenta 

 Per somnum commixta mere." 



In the morning they started for the scene of the murder, with orders 

 to follow the " rastro," or track, even if it led them to Chile. We sub- 

 sequently heard that the wild Indians had escaped into the great 

 Pampas, and from some cause the track had been missed. One glance 

 at the rastro tells these people a whole history. Supposing they 

 examine the track of a thousand horses, they will soon guess the number 

 of mounted ones by seeing how many have cantered ; by the depth of 

 the other impressions, whether any horses were loaded with cargoes ; 

 by the irregularity of the footsteps, how far tired ; by the manner in 

 which the food has been cooked, whether the pursued travelled in 

 haste ; by the general appearance, how long it has been since they 

 passed. They consider a rastro of ten days or a fortnight quite recent 

 enough to be hunted out. We also heard that Miranda struck from 

 the west end of the Sierra Ventana, in a direct line to the island of 

 Cholechel, situated seventy leagues up the Rio Negro. This is a 

 distance of between two and three hundred miles, through a country 

 completely unknown. What other troops in the world are so indepen- 

 dent? With the sun for their guide, mares' flesh for food, their saddle- 

 cloths for beds, as long as there is a little water, these men would 

 penetrate to the end of the world. 



A few days afterwards I saw another troop of these banditti-like 

 soldiers start on an expedition against a tribe of Indians at the small 

 Salinas, who had been betrayed by a prisoner cacique. The Spaniard 

 who brought the orders for this expedition was a very intelligent man. 

 He gave me an account of the last engagement at which he was present 



