1833.] SALT-LAKES OR SALINAS. (Jl 



one behind the other on the northern boundary of the broad greeu 

 valley, forms, by the aid of a bright sun, a view almost picturesque. 

 The number of inhabitants does not exceed a few hundreds. These 

 Spanish colonies do not, like our British ones, carry within them- 

 selves the elements of growth. Many Indians of pure blood reside 

 here : the tribe of the Cacique Lucanec constantly have their 

 Toldos * on the outskirts of the town. The local government partly 

 supplies them with provisions, by giving them all the old worn-out 

 horses, and they earn a little by making horse-rugs and other 

 articles of riding-gear. These Indians are considered civilized ; 

 but what their character may have gained by a lesser degree of 

 ferocity, is almost counterbalanced by their entire immorality. 

 Some of the younger men are, however, improving ; they are willing 

 to labour, and a short time since a party went on a sealing-voyage, 

 and behaved very well. They were now enjoying the fruits of 

 their labour, by being dressed in very gay, clean clothes, and by 

 being very idle. The taste they showed in their dress was admir- 

 able ; if you could have turned one of these young Indians into a 

 statue of bronze, his drapery would have been perfectly graceful. 



One day I rode to a large salt-lake, or Salina, which is distant 

 fifteen miles from the town. During the winter it consists of a 

 shallow lake of brine, which in summer is converted into a h'eld of 

 snow-white salt. The layer near the margin is from four to five 

 inches thick, but towards the centre its thickness increases. This 

 lake was two and a half miles long, and one broad. Others occur 

 in the neighbourhood many times larger, and with a floor of salt, 

 two and three feet in thickness, even when under water during the 

 winter. One of these brilliantly white and level expanses, in the 

 midst of the brown and desolate plain, offers an extraordinary 

 spectacle. A large quantity of salt is annually drawn from the 

 saliua : and great piles, some hundred tons in weight, were lying 

 ready for exportation. The season for working the Salinas forms 

 the harvest of Patagones; for on it the prosperity of the place 

 depends. Nearly the whole population encamps on the bank of the 

 river, and the people are employed in drawing out the salt in 

 bullock-waggons. This salt is crystallized in great cubes, and is 

 remarkably pure : Mr. Trenham Eeeks has kindly analyzed some 

 for me, and he finds in it only 0'26 of gypsum and O22 of earthy 

 matter. It is a singular fact, that it does not serve so well for 

 * The hovels of the Indians are thus called. 



