Pampas of Buenos Ay res to Tucuman. 13 



and stopped in sight of the small village of Salto Chico, which 

 we reached in the afternoon. This was another straggling 

 assemblage of Ronchos^ their walls of unburnt bricks, but the 

 church with its whitewashed spire looked rather respectable ; 

 for here, as in all countries w^here the Romish pontiff holds 

 sw^ay, be the morals of the people as depraved as they may, 

 the outward appearance of the church is the first considera- 

 tion. For instance, at San Lorenzo on the Poran, a village of 

 but five miserable huts, the church is one of the most splendid 

 buildings in the whole Argentine Republic. The population 

 of Salto Chico is about 1500 : the place is noted for sending 

 a great number of cheeses to Buenos Ayres, w^hich are how- 

 ever but very poor eating, and fetch a current dollar, fivepence 

 each, weighing about 2 lbs. A small river passes the village : 

 the w ater is very brackish and bad, but w^e obtained a supply 

 of what was good from wells, about fifteen feet deep to the 

 bottom. 



14th. Having again travelled most of the night, we found 

 ourselves in the morning traversing a dreary houseless plain 

 country, covered however with cattle and sheep. Rain came 

 on in the evening, accompanied w ith thunder and vivid conti- 

 nued flashes of lightning ; these, however, caused no alarm to 

 the inhabitants as they would have done in a metallic coun- 

 try : for though storms of lightning are much more frequent 

 and violent here than in England, they are never know n to do 

 any injury. 



15th. We entered another poor village, called Pergamena, 

 with a population of about 2000. Here we quitted the pro- 

 vince of Buenos Ayres and therefore found it needful to lay 

 in a stock of pumpions and some bread ; the latter was with 

 difficulty procured, being considered a luxury in this neigh- 

 bourhood. We are now 120 miles from Buenos Ayres, and I 

 have found but seven specimens of plants. 



16th. At the Arroya del Medio, which divides the province 

 of Buenos Ayres from that of Santa Fe, w^e were joined by 

 100 fresh draught bullocks, as we now enter uninhabited 

 Pampas, occupied only by wandering Indians, and it is most 

 desirable to pass through this country as quickly as possible 

 lest the Indians should have time to collect and attack us for 



