LOCAL AND GEOGRAPHICAL PECULIARITIES. 95 



gentleman looketl quite dolorous at the very recol- 

 lection of the staking. This is a very severe pun- 

 ishment : four posts are driven into the ground, 

 and the man is extended by his arms and legs hor- 

 izontally, and there left to stretch for several hours. 

 The idea is evidently taken from the usual method 

 of drying hides. My interview passed away with- 

 out a smile, and I obtained a passport and order 

 for the government post-horses, and these he gave 

 me in the most obliging and ready manner. 



In the morning we started for Bahia Blanca, 

 which we reached in two days. Leaving the reg- 

 ular encampment, we passed by the toldos of the 

 Indians. These are round like ovens, and covered 

 with hides ; by the inouth of each, a tapering chuzo 

 was stuck in the gi'ound. The toldos were divided 

 into separate gi'oups, which belonged to the differ- 

 ent caciques' tribes, and the groups were again di- 

 vided into smaller ones, according to the relation- 

 ship of the owners. For several miles we travel- 

 led along the valley of the Colorado. The alluvial 

 plains on the side appeared fertile, and it is sup- 

 posed that they are well adapted to the gi'ovnh of 

 corn. Turning northward from the river, we soon 

 entered on a country differing from the plains south 

 of the river. The land still continued dry and 

 sterile, but it supported many different kinds of 

 plants ; and the grass, though brown and withered, 

 was more abundant, as the thomy bushes were less 

 so. These latter in a short space entirely disap- 

 peared, and the plains were left without a thicket 

 to cover their nakedness. This change in the vege- 

 tation marks the commencement of the grand cal- 

 careo-argillaceous deposit, which forms the wide 

 extent of the Pampas, and covers the granitic rocks 

 of Banda Oriental. From the Strait of Magellan 

 to the Colorado, a distance of about eight hundi-ed 



