Pampas of Buenos Ayres to Tucnman. 101 



but since nearly filled up with mud : the wells^ from the same 

 cause, now only afford muddy water, and the natives are con- 

 tent to use what they can obtain from a pool, which occupy- 

 ing the centre of a field and receiving all the washing of the 

 neighbourhood, tastes far too strong of cattle to be palateable. 

 Yet these indolent people make no attempt to obtain a better 

 supply of this needful element. For the same reason they 

 neglect to cultivate the native trees, many of which, such as 

 peaches, growing here fine and healthy by the road sides, 

 would prove highly valuable with little trouble ; but a few 

 pompions and maize are all that they care to rear. 



In the afternoon of the 15th we arrived at the Post Del 

 Carmen, and entered the province San Jago del Esterro, lying 

 at the north-west point of the Cordova mountains. Here the 

 road for a short distance was of a fine hard gravel, the first 

 I had trodden in any of the Argentine Provinces. 



The Algaroba^ hitherto so abundant, now gave place to se- 

 veral other kinds of large trees, as the Quebra Halcha, Colo- 

 rada or Blanca : this names signifies the Hatchet-breaker, as 

 the wood is so hard that a large tree of this sort is rarely 

 felled without breaking the hatchet ; the Color ada was covered 

 with large tufts of red seed, much like the sycamore ; while 

 the Blanca is distinguished by its small myrtle-like foliage 

 and long pendent slender boughs, which give the whole tree 

 the appearance of a weeping w'illow ; its seed is a flat pap-like 

 substance, inclosed in large flat white pods hanging in twos, 

 threes, and fours at the tips of the slender branches like the 

 pendulum of a clock. This tree always grows quite erect till 

 it attains the height of 20 to 30 feet, and has a singularly 

 majestic appearance. 



We now came to a thickly wooded, but deserted country, 

 and travelled for 50 miles without meeting with a single in- 

 habitant, though we saw numbers of old Ranchos and the 

 ruins of what had been good dwellings. The immense num- 

 ber of tigers which infest this district and destroy all the 

 cattle, has caused the people to remove and leave to these 

 voracious animals the exclusive possession of these extensive 

 forests. While our beasts were feeding I took a cautious stroll 

 into the woods and came upon what had been an Indian vil- 



