80 ARRIVE AT RIO NEGRO. 



CHAPTER IV. 



Rio Negro — Estancias attacked by the Indians — Salt Lakes — 

 Flamingoes — R. Negro to R. Colorado — Sacred Tree — Patago- 

 nian Hare — Indian Families — General Rosas — Proceed to Ba- 

 hiaBlanca — Sand Dunes — Negro Lieutenant — Bahia Blanca — 

 Saline Incrustations — Punta Alta — Zorillo. 



RIO NEGRO TO BAHIA BLANCA. 



July 2it7i, 1833. — The Beagle sailed from Mal- 

 donado, and on August tlie 3d slie amved off the 

 mouth of the Rio Negro. This is the principal 

 river on the whole line of coast between the Strait 

 of Magellan and the Plata. It enters the sea about 

 three hundred miles south of the estuary of the 

 Plata. About fifty years ago, under the old Span- 

 ish government, a small colony was established 

 here ; and it is still the most southern position (lat. 

 41°) on this eastern coast of America, inhabited by 

 civilized man. 



The cou.ntry near the mouth of the river is wretch- 

 ed in the extreme : on the south side a long line of 

 perpendicular cliffs commences, which exposes a 

 section of the geological nature of the country. 

 The strata are of sandstone, and one layer was re- 

 markable from being composed of a firmly-cement- 

 ed conglomerate of pumice pebbles, which must 

 have travelled more than four hundred miles, from 

 the Andes. The surface is everywhere covered 

 up by a thick bed of gravel, which extends far and 

 wide over the open plain. Water is extremely 

 scarce, and, where found, is almost invariably 

 brackish. The vegetation is scanty ; and although 

 there are bushes of many kinds, all are armed with 

 formidable thonis, which seem to warn the stranger 

 not to enter on these inhospitable regions. 



