fiS R. NEGRO TO R. COLORADO. [chap, iv 



the capital. As the Beagle intended to call at Bahia Blanca, 

 I determined to proceed there by land; and ultimately I ex- 

 tended my plan to travel the whole way by the postas to Buenos 



Ayres. 



August llth. — Mr. Harris, an Englishman residing at Pata- 

 gones, a guide, and five Gauchos, who were proceeding to the 

 army on business, were my companions on the journey. The 

 Colorado, as I have already said, is nearly eighty miles distant : 

 and as we travelled slowly, we were two days and a half on the 

 road. The whole line of country deserves scarcely a better name 

 than that of a desert. Water is found only in two small wells ; 

 it is called fresh ; but even at this time of the year, during the 

 rainy season, it was quite brackish. In the summer this must 

 be a distressing passage ; for now it was sufficiently desolate. 

 The valley of the Rio Negro, broad as it is, has merely been ex- 

 cavated out of the sandstone plain ; for immediately above the 

 bank on which the town stands, a level country commences, 

 which is interrupted only by a few trifling valleys and depres- 

 sions. Everywhere the landscape wears the same sterile aspect ; 

 a dry gravelly soil supports tufts of brown withered grass, and 

 low scattered bushes, armed with thorns. 



Shortly after passing the first spring we came in sight of a 

 famous tree, which the Indians reverence as the altar of "\Yal- 

 leechu. It is situated on a high part of the plain, and hence is a 

 landmark visible at a great distance. As soon as a tribe of 

 Indians come in sight of it, they offer their adorations by loud 

 shouts. The tree itself is low, much branched, and thorny . 

 just above the root it has a diameter of about three i^et. It stands 

 by itself without any neighbour, and was indeed the first tree we 

 saw ; afterwards we met with a few others of the same kind, but 

 they were far from common. Being winter the tree had no 

 leaves, but in their place numberless threads, by which the 

 various offerings, such as cigars, bread, meat, pieces of cloth, &c. 

 had been suspended. Poor Indians, not having anything better, 

 only pull a thread out of their ponchos, and fasten it to the 

 tree. Richer Indians are accustomed to pour spirits and 

 mate into a certain hole, and likewise to smoke upwards, 

 thinking thus to afford all possible gratification to Walleechu. 

 To complete the scene, the tree was surrounded by the bleached 



