74 RIO COLORADO 



to show my passport. He began to cross-question me in the 

 most dignified and mysterious manner. By good kick I had 

 a letter of recommendation from the government of Buenos 

 Ayres ^ to the commandant of Patagones. This was taken 

 to General Rosas, who sent me a very obliging message ; and 

 the Secretary returned all smiles and graciousness. We took 

 up our residence in the rancho, or hovel, of a curious old 

 Spaniard, who had served with Napoleon in the expedition 

 against Russia. 



We stayed two days at the Colorado ; I had little to do, 

 for the surrounding country was a swamp, which in summer 

 (December), when the snow melts on the Cordillera, is over- 

 flowed by the river. My chief amusement was watching the 

 Indian families as they came to buy little articles at the rancho 

 where we stayed. It was supposed that General Rosas had about 

 six hundred Indian allies. The men were a tall, fine race, yet 

 it was afterwards easy to see in the Fuegian savage the same 

 countenance rendered hideous by cold, want of food, and less 

 civilisation. 



Some authors, in defining the primary races of mankind, 

 have separated these Indians into two classes ; but this is 

 certainly incorrect. Among the young women or chinas 

 some deserve to be called even beautiful. Their hair was 

 coarse, but bright and black ; and they wore it in two plaits 

 hanging down to the waist. They had a high colour, and eyes 

 that glistened with brilliancy ; their legs, feet, and arms were 

 small and elegantly formed ; their ankles, and sometimes their 

 waists, were ornamented by broad bracelets of blue beads. 

 Nothing could be more interesting than some of the family 

 groups. A mother with one or two daughters would often 

 come to our rancho, mounted on the same horse. They ride 

 like men, but with their knees tucked up much higher. This 

 habit, perhaps, arises from their being accustomed, when 

 travelling, to ride the loaded horses. The duty of the women 

 is to load and unload the horses ; to make the tents for the 

 night ; in short to be, like the wives of all savages, useful 

 slaves. The men fight, hunt, take care of the horses, and 



^ I am hound to express, in the slronjjest terms, my oI)Iii;.ition to tlie Government 

 of Buenos Ayres for the obliging manner in which passjiorts to .ill ]iavts of the 

 country were given me, as naturalist of the Beagle. 



