IV ENCAMPMENT OF GENERAL ROSAS 73 



but where, as at Bahia Blanca, the Bizcacha is not found, 

 the Agouti burrows for itself The same thing occurs with 

 the httle owl of the Pampas (Athene cunicularia), which 

 has so often been described as standing like a sentinel at the 

 mouth of the burrows ; for in Banda Oriental, owing to the 

 absence of the Bizcacha, it is obliged to hollow out its own 

 habitation. 



The next morning, as we approached the Rio Colorado, the 

 appearance of the country changed ; we soon came on a plain 

 covered with turf, which, from its flowers, tall clover, and little 

 owls, resembled the Pampas. We passed also a muddy swamp 

 of considerable extent, which in summer dries, and becomes 

 incrusted with various salts ; and hence is called a salitral. It 

 was covered by low succulent plants, of the same kind with 

 those growing on the sea-shore. The Colorado, at the pass 

 where we crossed it, is only about sixty yards wide ; generally 

 it must be nearly double that width. Its course is v^xy 

 tortuous, being marked by willow-trees and beds of reeds : in a 

 direct line the distance to the mouth of the river is said to be 

 nine leagues, but by water twenty-five. We were delayed 

 crossing in the canoe by some immense troops of mares, which 

 were swimming the river in order to follow a division of troops 

 into the interior. A more ludicrous spectacle I never beheld 

 than the hundreds and hundreds of heads, all directed one way, 

 with pointed ears and distended snorting nostrils, appearing 

 just above the water like a great shoal of some amphibious 

 animal. Mare's flesh is the only food which the soldiers have 

 when on an expedition. This gives them a great facility of 

 movement ; for the distance to which horses can be driven over 

 these plains is quite surprising : I have been assured that an 

 unloaded horse can travel a hundred miles a day for many 

 days successively. 



The encampment of General Rosas was close to the 

 river. It consisted of a square formed by waggons, artillery, 

 straw huts, etc. The soldiers were nearly all cavalr\- ; and I 

 should think such a villainous, banditti-like army was never 

 before collected together. The greater number of men were 

 of a mixed breed, between Negro, Indian, and Spaniard. 

 I know not the reason, but men of such origin seldom have 

 a good expression of countenance. I called on the Secretary 



