13G BAIIIA BLANCA TO BUENOS AYRES. 



tered tufts of withered grass, \vithout a single bush 

 or tree to break the monotonous uniformity. The 

 weather was fine, but the atmosphere remarkably 

 hazy ; I thought the appearance foreboded a gale, 

 but the Gauchos said it was owing to the plain, at 

 some great distance in the interior, being on fire. 

 After a long gallop, having changed horses twice, 

 we reached the Ilio Sauce : it is a deep, rapid lit- 

 tle stream, not above twenty-five feet wide. The 

 second posta on the road to Buenos Ayres stands 

 on its banks ; a little above there is a ford for hor- 

 ses, where the water does not reach to the horses' 

 belly ; but from that point, in its course to the sea, 

 it is quite impassable, and hence makes a most 

 useful barrier against the Indians. 



Insignificant as this stream is, the Jesuit Falco- 

 ner,, whose information is generally so very correct, 

 figures it as a considerable river, rising at the foot 

 of the Cordillera. With respect to its source, I do 

 not doubt that this is the case ; for the Gauchos 

 assured mo, that in the middle of the dry summer, 

 this stream, at the same time with the Colorado, 

 has periodical floods, which can only originate in 

 the snow melting on the Andes. It is extremely 

 improbable that a stream so small as the Sauce then 

 was, should traverse the entire width of the conti- 

 nent ; and, indeed, if it were the residue of a large 

 river, its waters, as in other ascertained cases, would 

 be saline. During the winter we must look to the 

 springs round the Sierra Ventana as the source of 

 its pure and limpid stream. I suspect the plains 

 of Patagonia, like those of Australia, are traversed 

 by many water-courses, which only perform their 

 proper parts at certain periods. Probably this is 

 the case with the water which flows into the head 

 of Port Desire, and likewise with the Rio Chupat, 

 on the banks of which masses of highly cellular 



