140 DECAYING ISLANDS. [chap, vil 



~m 



upwards of a thousand wild horses thus destroyed. ^H 

 noticed that the smaller streams in the Pampas wer^^ 

 paved with a breccia of bones, but this probably is the 

 effect of a gradual increase, rather than of the destruction 

 at any one period. Subsequently to the drought of 1827 

 to 1832, a very rainy season followed, which caused great 

 floods. Hence it is almost certain that some thousands 

 of the skeletons were buried by the deposits of the very 

 next year. What would be the opinion of a geologist, 

 viewing such an enormous collection of bones, of all kinds 

 of animals, and of all ages, thus embedded in one thick 

 earthy mass ? Would he not attribute it to a flood having 

 swept over the surface of the land, rather than to the 

 common order of things ? * 



October 12th, — I had intended to push my excursion 

 further, but not being quite well, I was compelled to 

 return by a balandra, or one-masted vessel of about a 

 hundred tons' burden, which was bound to Buenos Ayres. 

 As the weather was not fair, we moored early in the day 

 to a branch of a tree on one of the islands. The Parana 

 is full of islands, which undergo a constant round of decay 

 and renovation. In the memory of the master several 

 large ones had disappeared, and others again had been 

 formed and protected by vegetation. They are composed 

 of muddy sand, without even the smallest pebble, and were 

 then about four feet above the level of the river ; but during 

 the periodical floods they are inundated. They all present 

 one character ; numerous willows and a few other trees 

 are bound together by a great variety of creeping plants, 

 thus forming a thick jungle. These thickets afford a 

 retreat for capybaras and jaguars. The fear of the latter 

 animal quite destroyed all pleasure in scrambling through 

 the woods. This evening I had not proceeded a hundred 

 yards before, finding indubitable signs of the recent presence 

 of the tiger, I was obliged to come back. On every island 

 there were tracks ; and as on the former excursion " el 

 rastro de los Indios " had been the subject of conversation, 

 so in this was ** el rastro del tigre." 



The wooded banks of the great rivers appear to be the 

 favourite haunts of the jaguar ; but south of the Plata, I 



* These droughts, to a certain degree, seem to be almost periodical ; I 

 was told the dates of several others, and the intervals were about fifteen 

 yeafs. 



