1833.] A FATAL DROUGHT. 139 



to come into his courtyard to the well, which he had been 

 obliged to dig to supply his own family with water ; and 

 that the partridges had hardly strength to fly away when 

 pursued. The lowest estimation of the loss of cattle in the 

 province of Buenos Ayres alone, was taken at one million 

 head. A proprietor at San Pedro had previously to these 

 years 20,000 cattle ; at the end not one remained. San 

 Pedro is situated in the middle of the finest country ; and 

 even now abounds again with animals ; yet, during the 

 latter part of the " gran seco," live cattle were brought in 

 vessels for the consumption of the inhabitants. The 

 animals roamed from their estancias, and, wandering far 

 southward, were mingled together in such multitudes, 

 that a government commission was sent from Buenos 

 Ayres to settle the disputes of the owners. Sir Woodbine 

 Parish informed me of another and very curious source of 

 dispute ; the ground being so long dry, such quantities of 

 dust were blown about, that in this open country the land- 

 marks became obliterated, and people could not tell the 

 limits of their estates. 



I was informed by an eye-witness that the cattle in herds 

 of thousands rushed into the Parana, and being exhausted 

 by hunger they were unable to crawl up the muddy banks, 

 and thus were drowned. The arm of the river which runs 

 by San Pedro was so full of putrid carcasses, that the master 

 of a vessel told me that the smell rendered it quite im- 

 passable. Without doubt several hundred thousand 

 animals thus perished in the river ; their bodies when 

 putrid were seen floating down the stream ; and many in 

 all probability were deposited in the estuary of the Plata. 

 All the small rivers became highly saline, and this caused 

 the death of vast numbers in particular spots ; for when 

 an animal drinks of such water it does not recover. Azara 

 1 escribes * the fury of the wild horses on a similar occasion, 

 ushing into the marshes, those which arrived first being 

 overwhelmed and crushed by those which followed. He 

 tdds that more than once he has. seen the carcasses of 



I .wn, in a body, to possess themselves of the wells, not being- able to procure 

 . riy water in the country. The inhabitants mustered, when a desperate 

 imflict ensued, which terminated In the ultimate discomfiture of the in- 

 vaders, but not until they had killed one man, and wounded several others." 

 The town is said to have a population of nearly three thousand I Dr. Mal- 

 f.olmBon informs me, that during a great drought in India the wild animals 

 entered the tents of some troops at fillore, and that a hare drank out of a 

 vessel held by the adjutant of the re{;imcat. 

 * " Travels," vol. i., p. 374. 



