72 BAHIA BLAXCA. [CHAP. iv. 



following the wise example of the Spanish Viceroys, who purchased 

 the 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 of the Indians beyond 

 the boundaries of the plain, on which the fortress stands. 



The part of the harbour where the Beagle intended to anchor 

 being distant twenty-five miles, I obtained from the Commandant 

 a guide and horses, to take me to see whether she had arrived. 

 Leaving the plain of green turf, which extended along the course 

 of a little brook, we soon entered on a wide level waste consisting 

 either of sand, saline marshes, or bare rnud. Some parts were 

 clothed by low thickets, and others with those succulent plants, 

 which luxuriate only where salt abounds. Bad as the country 

 was, ostriches, deer, agoutis, and armadilloes, were abundant. 

 My guide told me, that two mouths before he had a most narrow 

 escape of his life : he was out hunting with two other men, at no 

 great distance from this part of the country, when they were 

 suddenly met by a party of Indians, who giving chase, soon over- 

 took and killed his two friends. His own horse's legs were also 

 caught by the bolas ; but he jumped off, and with his knife cut 

 them free : while doing this he was obliged to dodge round his 

 horse, and received two severe wounds from their chuzos. Spring- 

 ing on the saddle, he managed, by a most wonderful exertion, just 

 to keep ahead of the long spears of his pursuers, who followed him 

 to within sight of the fort. From that time there was an order 

 that no one should stray far from the settlement. I did not know 

 of this when I started, and was surprised to observe how earnestly 

 my guide watched a deer, which appeared to have been frightened 

 from a distant quarter. 



We found the Beagle had not arrived, and consequently set out 

 on our return, but the horses soon tiring, we were obliged to bivouac 

 on the plain. In the morning we had caught an armadillo, which, 

 although a most excellent dish when roasted in its shell, did not 

 make a very substantial breakfast and dinner for two hungry men. 

 The ground at the place where we stopped for the night, was 

 incrusted with a layer of sulphate of soda, and hence, of course, 

 was without water. Yet many of the smaller rodents managed to 

 exist even here, and the tucutuco was making its odd little grunt 

 beneath my head, during half the night. Our horses were very 



