74 BAHIA BLAXCA. [CHAP. iv. 



from the muriate, left on the surface during the slow and recent 

 elevation of this dry country. The whole phenomenon is well 

 worthy the attention of naturalists. Have the succulent, salt- 

 loving plants, which are well known to contain much soda, the 

 power of decomposing the muriate ? Does the black fetid mud, 

 abounding with organic matter, yield the sulphur and ultimately 

 the sulphuric acid? 



Two days afterwards I again rode to the harbour : when not far 

 from our destination, my companion, the same man as before, spied 

 three people hunting on horseback. He immediately dismounted, 

 and watching them intently, said, " They don't ride like Christians, 

 and nobody can leave the fort." The three hunters joined com- 

 pany, and likewise dismounted from their horses. At last one 

 mounted again and rode over the hill out of sight. My companion 

 said, " We must now get on our horses : load your pistol ; " and 

 he looked to his own sword. I asked, "Are they Indians?" 

 " Quien sabe ? (who knows ?) if there are no more than three, 

 it does not signify." It then struck me, that the one man had gone 

 over the hill to fetch the rest of his tribe. I suggested this ; but 

 all the answer I could extort was, "Quien sabe?" His head and 

 eye never for a minute ceased scanning slowly the distant horizon. 

 I thought his uncommon coolness too good a joke, and asked him 

 why he did not retiirn home. I was startled when he answered, 

 " We are returning, but in a line so as to pass near a swamp, into 

 which we can gallop the horses as far as they can go, and then 

 trust to our own legs ; so that there is no danger." I did not feel 

 quite so confident of this, and wanted to increase onr pace. He 

 said, " No, not until they do." When any little inequality con- 

 cealed us, we galloped ; but when in sight, continued walking. At 

 last we reached a valley, and turning to the left, galloped quickly 

 to the foot of a hill ; ho gave me his horse to hold, made the dogs 

 lie down, and then crawled on his hands and knees to reconnoitre. 

 He remained in this position for some time, and at last, bursting 

 out in laughter, exclaimed, " Mugeres ! " (women !) He knew them 

 to bo the wife and sister-in-law of the major's son, hunting for 

 ostrich's eggs. I have described this man's conduct, because ho 

 acted under the full impression that they were Indians. As soon, 

 however, as the absurd mistake was found out, he gave me a hun- 

 dred reasons why they could not have been Indians ; but all these 



