1833.] THE BIZCACHA. 117 



nience in this country. We passed also Areco. The plains ap- 

 peared level, but were not so in fact; for in various places the 

 horizon was distant. The estancias are here wide apart ; for there 

 is little good pasture, owing to the land being covered by beds 

 either of an acrid clover, or of the great thistle. The latter, well 

 known from the animated description given by Sir F. Head, were 

 at this time of the year two-thirds grown ; in some parts they were 

 as high as the horse's back, but in others they had not yet sprung 

 up, and the ground was bare and dusty as on a turnpike-road. 

 The clumps were of the most brilliant green, and they made a 

 pleasing miniature-likeness of broken forest land. When the 

 thistles are full grown, the great beds are impenetrable, except 

 by a few tracts, as intricate as those in a labyrinth. These are 

 only known to the robbers, who at this season inhabit them, and 

 sally forth at night to rob and cut throats with impunity. Upon 

 asking at a house whether robbers were numerous, I was answered, 

 " The thistles are not up yet ; " the meaning of which reply was 

 not at first very obvious. There is little interest in passing over 

 these tracts, for they are inhabited by few animals or birds, 

 excepting the bizcacha and its friend the little owl. 



The bizcacha * is well known to form a prominent feature in the 

 zoology of the Pampas. It is found as far south as the Eio Negro, 

 in lat. 41, but not beyond. It cannot, like the agouti, subsist on 

 the gravelly and desert plains of Patagonia, but prefers a clayey 

 or sandy soil, which produces a different and more abundant vege- 

 tation. Near Mendoza, at the foot of the Cordillera, it occurs in 

 close neighbourhood with the allied alpine species. It is a very 

 curious circumstance in its geographical distribution, that it has 

 never been seen, fortunately for the inhabitants of Banda Oriental, 

 to the eastward of the river Uruguay : yet in this province there 

 are plains which appear admirably adapted to its habits. The 

 Uruguay has formed an insuperable obstacle to its migration: 

 although the broader barrier of the Parana has been passed, and 

 the bizcacha is common in Entre Eios, the province between these 

 two great rivers. Near Buenos Ayres these animals are exceedingly 

 common. Their most favourite resort appears to be those parts of 



* The bizcacha (Lagostomus trichoclactylus) somewhat resembles a 

 large rabbit, but with bigger gnawing teeth and a long tail : it has, 

 however, only three toes behind, like the agouti. During the last three 

 or four years the skins of these animals have been sent to England for 

 tbe sake of the fur. 



