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SS AN ADVENTURE. [ch^p. 



M. Parchappe* found that the saline Incrustation on the 

 plain, at the distance of some miles from the sea, consisted 

 chiefly of sulphate of soda, with only seven per cent, of 

 common salt ; whilst nearer to the coast, the common salt 

 increased to thirty-seven parts In a hundred. This circum- 

 stance would tempt one to believe that the sulphate of soda 

 is generated in the soil, from the muriate, left on the surface 

 during the slow and recent elevation of this dry country. 

 The whole phenomenon Is well worthy the attention of 

 naturalists. Have the succulent, salt-loving plants, which 

 are well known to contain much soda, the power of decom- 

 posing the muriate ? Does the black fetid mud, abounding 

 with organic matter, yield the sulphur and ultimately the 

 sulphuric acid ? 



Two days afterwards I again rode to the harbour. When 

 not far from our destination, my companion, the same man 

 as before, spied three people hunting on horseback. He 

 immediately dismounted, and watching them intently, said, 

 "They don't ride like Christians, and nobody can leave the 

 fort." The three hunters joined company, and likewise 

 dismounted from their horses. At last one mounted again, 

 and rode over the hill out of sight. My companion said, 

 ** We must now get on our horses : load your pistol ; " and 

 he looked to his own sword. I asked, ** Are they 

 Indians?" — "Quien Sabe?" (who knows?) ** if there are 

 no more than three, it does not signify." It then struck 

 me that the one man had gone over the hill to fetch the 

 rest of his tribe. I suggested this ; but all the answer I 

 could extort was, * ' Quien sabe ? " His head and eye never 

 for a minute ceased scanning slowly the distant horizon. I 

 thought his uncommon coolness too good a joke, and asked 

 him why he did not return home. I was startled when he 

 answered, "We are returning, but In a line so as to pass 

 near a swamp, into which we can gallop the horses as 

 far as they can go, and then trust to our own legs ; so that 

 there is no danger." I did not feel quite so confident of 

 this, and wanted to Increase our pace. He said, ** No, not 

 until they do." When any little inequality concealed us, 

 we galloped ; but when in sight, continued walking. At 

 last we reached a valley, and turning to the left, galloped 

 quickly to the foot of a hill ; he gave me his horse to hold, 



* Voyage dans rAmerique Mend., par M. A. d'Orbigny. Part. Hist., 

 tom. i., p. 66< 



