18350 SWARM OF LOCUSTS. 239 



March 2$th. I was reminded of the Pampas ot Buenos Ayres, by 

 seeing the disc of the rising sun, intersected by an horizon, level as that 

 of the ocean. During the night a heavy dew fell, a circumstance which 

 we did not experience within the Cordillera. The road proceeded for 

 some distance due east across a low swamp; then meeting the dry 

 plain, it turned to the north towards Mendoza. The distance is two 

 very long days' journey. Our first day's journey was called fourteen 

 leagues to Estacado, and the second seventeen to Luxan, near Mendoza. 

 The whole distance is over a level desert plain, with not more than 

 two or three houses. The sun was exceedingly powerful, and the ride 

 devoid of all interest. There is very little water in this " traversia," 

 and in our second day's journey we found only one little pool. Little 

 water flows from the mountains, and it soon becomes absorbed by the 

 dry and porous soil ; so that, although we travelled at the distance of 

 only ten or fifteen miles from the outer range of the Cordillera, we did 

 not cross a single stream. In many parts the ground was incrusted 

 with a saline efflorescence ; hence we had the same salt-loving plants, 

 which are common near Bahia Blanca. The landscape has a uniform 

 character from the Strait of Magellan, along the whole eastern coast of 

 Patagonia, to the Rio Colorado ; and it appears that the same kind of 

 country extends inland from this river, in a sweeping line as far as 

 San Luis, and perhaps even further north. To the eastward of this 

 curved line, lies the basin of the comparatively damp and green plains 

 of Buenos Ayres, The sterile plains of Mendoza and Patagonia 

 consist of a bed of shingle, worn smooth and accumulated by the 

 waves of the sea ; while the Pampas, covered by thistles, clover, and 

 grass, have been formed by the ancient estuary mud of the Plata. 



After our two days' tedious journey, it was refreshing to see in the 

 distance the rows of poplars and willows growing round the village and 

 river of Luxan. Shortly before we arrived at this place, we observed 

 to the south a ragged cloud of a dark reddish-brown colour. At first 

 we thought that it was smoke from some great fire on the plains ; but 

 we soon found that it was a swarm of locusts. They were flying 

 northward ; and with the aid of a light breeze, they overtook us at a 

 rate of ten or fifteen miles an hour. The main body filled the air from 

 a height of twenty feet, to that, as it appeared, of two or three thousand 

 above the ground; " and the sound of their wings was as the sound of 

 chariots of many horses running to battle ; " or rather, I should say, 

 like a strong breeze passing through the rigging of a ship. The sky, 

 seen through the advanced guard, appeared like a mezzotinto engraving, 

 but the main body was impervious to sight ; they were not, however, 

 so thick together, but that they could escape a stick waved backwards 

 and forwards. When they alighted, they were more numerous than 

 the leaves in the field, and the surface became reddish instead of being 

 green : the swarm having once alighted, the individuals flew from side 

 to side in all directions. Locusts are not an uncommon pest in this 

 country : already during this season, several smaller swarms had come 

 up from the south, where, as apparently in all other parts of the world, 

 they are bred in the deserts. The poor cottagers in vain attempted by 



