SUFFERINGS FROM WANT OF WATER. 99 



ment. I did not know of this when I started, and 

 ■was sui-jnised to observe how earnestly my guide 

 watched a deer, which appeared to have been 

 frightened from a distant quarter. 



We found the Beagle had not an'ived, and con- 

 sequently set out on our return, but the horses 

 soon tiring, we were obliged to bivouac on the 

 plain. In the morning we had caught an armadillo, 

 which, although a most excellent dish when roasted 

 in its shell, did not make a very substantial break- 

 fast and dinner for two hungry men. The gi'ound, 

 at the place where we stopjjed for the night, was 

 incrusted with a layer of sulphate of soda, and 

 hence, of course, was without water. Yet many 

 of the smaller rodents managed to exist even here, 

 and the tucutuco was making its odd little gi'unt 

 beneath my head during half the night. Our hoi-- 

 ses were very poor ones, and in the morning they 

 were soon exhausted from not having had anything 

 to drink, so that we were obliged to walk. About 

 noon the dogs killed a kid, which we roasted. I 

 ate some of it, but it made me intolerably thirsty. 

 This was the more distressing, as the road, from 

 some recent rain, was full of little puddles of clear 

 water, yet not a drop was drinkable. I had scarce- 

 ly been twenty hours without water, and only part 

 of the time under a hot sun, yet the thirst rendered 

 me very weak. How people survive two or three 

 days under such circumstances, I cannot imagine: 

 at the same time, I must confess that my guide did 

 not suffer at all, and was astonished that one day's 

 deprivation should be so troublesome to me. 



I have several times alluded to the surface of the 

 ground being incrusted with salt. This phenome- 

 non is quite different from that of the salinas, and 

 more extraordinary. In many parts of South 

 America, wherever the climate is moderately dry, 



