102 BAIIIA BLANCA. 



and at last, bursting out in laughter, exclaimed, 

 " Mugeres !" (women !) He knew them to be the 

 wife and sister-in-law of the major's son, hunting 

 for ostrich's eggs. I have described this man's 

 conduct, because he acted under the full impres- 

 sion that they were Indians. As soon, however, as 

 the absurd mistake was found out, he gave me a 

 hundred reasons why they could not have been In- 

 dians ; but all these were forgotten at the time. 

 We then rode on in peace and quietness to a low 

 point called Punta Alta, whence we could see 

 nearly the whole of the great harbour of Bahia 

 Blanca. 



The wide expanse of water is choked up by 

 immerous great mud-banks, which the inhabitants 

 call Cangrejales, or crabberies, from the number of 

 small crabs. The mud is so soft that it is impossi- 

 ble to walk over them, even for the shortest dis- 

 tance. Many of the banks have their surfaces 

 covered with long rushes, the tops of which alone 

 ai-e visible at high water. On one occasion, when 

 in a boat, we were so entangled by these shal- 

 lows that we could hardly find our way. Nothing 

 was visible but the flat beds of mud : the day was 

 not very clear, and there was much refraction, or, 

 as the sailors expressed it, " things loomed high." 

 The only object within our view which was not 

 level was the horizon ; rushes looked like bushes 

 unsupported in the air, and water like mud-banks, 

 and inud-banks like water. 



We passed the night in Punta Alta, and I em- 

 |;,loyed myself in searching for fossil bones ; this 

 point being a perfect catacomb for monsters of ex- 

 tinct races. The evening was perfectly calm and 

 clear; the extreme monotony of the view gave it 

 an interest even in the midst of mud-banks and 

 gulls, sand-hillocks and solitary vultures. In riding 



