82 RIO NEGRO. -'■'-, 



caciques being wounded, the bugle sounded a re- 

 treat. Tliey retired to their horses, and seemed 

 to hold a council of war. This was an awful pause 

 for the Spaniards, as all their ammunition, with the 

 exception of a few cartridges, was expended. In 

 an instant the Indians mounted their horses, and 

 galloped out of sight. Another attack was still 

 more quickly repulsed. A cool Frenchman man- 

 aged the gim ; he stopped till the Indians approach- 

 ed close, and then raked their line with gi-ape-shot : 

 he thus laid thirty-nine of them on the ground ; 

 and, of course, such a blow immediately routed the 

 whole party. 



The town is indifferently called El Carmen or 

 Patagones. It is built on the face of a cliff which 

 fronts on the river, and many of the houses are ex- 

 cavated even in the sandstone. The river is about 

 two or three hundred yards wide, and is deep and 

 rapid. The many islands, with their willow-trees, 

 and tlie flat headlands, seen one behind the other 

 on the northern boundary of the broad green val- 

 ley, forms, by the aid of a bright sun, a view al- 

 most picturesque. The number of inhabitants does 

 not exceed a few hundreds. These Spanish col- 

 onies do not, like our British ones, carry within 

 themselves the elements of growth. Many Indians 

 of pure blood reside here : the tribe of the Cacique 

 Lucanee constantly have their Toldos* on the out- 

 skirts of the town. The local government partly 

 supplies them with provisions, by giving them all 

 the old worn-out horses, and they earn a little by 

 making horse-rugs and other articles of riding-gear. 

 These Indians are considered civilized ; but what 

 their character may have gained by a lesser degree 

 of ferocity, is almost counterbalanced by their en- 

 tire immorality. Some of the younger men are, 

 * Tlie hovels of the Indians are thus called. 



