1833.] SALINE STREAMS. 119 



birds may be seen in every direction standing frequently by pairs 

 on the hillock near their burrows. If disturbed they cither enter 

 the hole, or, uttering a shrill harsh cry, move with a remarkably 

 undulatory flight to a short distance, and then turning round, 

 steadily gaze at their pursuer. Occasionally in the evening they 

 may be heard hooting. I found in the stomachs of two -which 

 I opened the remains of mice, and I one day saw a small snake 

 killed and carried away. It is said that snakes are their common 

 prey during the daytime. I may here mention, as showing on 

 what various kinds of food owls subsist, that a species killed 

 among the islets of the Chonos Archipelago, had its stomach full 

 of good-sized crabs. In India* there is a fishing genus of owls, 

 which likewise catches crabs. 



In the evening we crossed the Eio Arrecife on a simple raft 

 made of barrels lashed together, and slept at the post-house on 

 the other side. I this day paid horse-hire for thirty-one leagues ; 

 and although the sun was glaring hot I was but little fatigued. 

 When Captain Head talks of riding fifty leagues a day, I do not 

 imagine the distance is equal to 150 English miles. At all events, 

 the thirty-one leagues was only 76 miles in a straight line, and in 

 an open country I should think four additional miles for turnings 

 would be a sufficient allowance. 



2Q(h and oOth. We continued to ride over plains of the same 

 character. At San Nicholas I first saw the noble river of the 

 Parana. At the foot of the cliff on which the town stands, some 

 large vessels were at anchor. Before arriving at Rozario, we 

 crossed the Saladillo, a stream of fine clear running water, but 

 too saline to drink. Eozario is a large town built on a dead level 

 plain, which forms a cliff about sixty feet high over the Parana. 

 The river here is very broad, with many islands, which are low 

 and wooded, as is also the opposite shore. The view would 

 resemble that of a great lake, if it were not for the linear-shaped 

 islets, which alone give the idea of running water. The cliffs arc 

 the most picturesque part; sometimes they are absolutely perpen- 

 diciilar, and of a red colour; at other times in large broken masses, 

 covered with cacti and mimosa-trees. The real grandeur, however, 

 of an immense river like this, is derived from reflecting how im- 

 portant a means of communication and commerce it forms between 

 one nation and another ; to what a distance it travels ; and from 

 * Journal of Asiatic Soc., vol. v. p. 3G3. 



