76 BAHIA BLAXCA. [chap, iv 



between the Colorado and Buenos Ayros in nearly such neat 

 order as his. He had a little room for strangers, and a small 

 corral for the horses, all made of sticks and reeds ; he had also 

 dug a ditch round his house, as a defence in case of being 

 attacked. This would, however, have been of little avail, if the 

 Indians had come ; but his chief comfort seemed to rest in the 

 thought of selling his life dearly. A short time before, a body 

 of Indians had travelled past in the night ; if they had been 

 aware of the posta, our black friend and his four soldiers would 

 assuredly have been slaughtered. I did not any w^here meet a 

 more civil and obliging man than this negro ; it was therefore 

 the more painful to see that he Mould not sit down and eat 

 with. us. 



In the morning we sent for the horses very early, and started 

 for another exhilarating gallop. We passed the Cabeza del 

 Buey, an old name given to the head of a large marsh, whicli 

 extends from Bahia Blanca. Here v^e changed horses, and 

 passed through some leagues of swamps and saline marshes. 

 Changing horses for the last time, we again began wading 

 through the mud. My animal fell, and I was well soused in 

 black mire — a very disagreeable accident, when one does not 

 possess a change of clothes. Some miles from the fort we met 

 a man, who told us that a great gun had been fired, which is a 

 signal that Indians are near. We immediately left the road, 

 and followed the edge of a marsh, which when chased offers the 

 best mode of escape. We were glad to arrive within the walls, 

 when w^e found all the alarm was about nothing, for the Indians 

 turned out to be friendly ones, who washed to join General 

 Kosas. 



Bahia Blanca scarcely deserves the name of a villao^e. A few 

 houses and the barracks for the troops are enclosed by a deep 

 ditch and fortified wall. The settlement is only of recent stand- 

 ing (since 1828) ; and its growth has been one of trouble. The 

 government of Buenos Ayres unjustly occupied it by force,, in- 

 stead of following the wise example of the Spanish Viceroys, 

 who purchased tlie land near the older settlement of the Rio 

 Negro, from the Indians. Hence the need of the fortifications ; 

 hence the few houses and little cultivated land without the 

 limits of the walls : even the cattle are not safe from the attacks 



