316 MENDOZA. [CHAP. xv. 



in all other parts of the world, they arc bred ill the deserts. The 

 poor cottagers in vain attempted by lighting fires, by shouts, and 

 by waving branches to avert the attack. This species of locust 

 closely resembles, and perhaps is identical with the famous Gryllus 

 niigratorius of the East. 



We crossed the Luxau, which is a river of considerable size, 

 though its course towards the sea-coast is very imperfectly known : 

 it is even doubtful whether, in passing over the plains, it is not 

 evaporated and lost. We slept in the village of Luxan, which is a 

 small place surrounded by gardens, and forms the most southern 

 cultivated district in the Province of Mendoza ; it is five leagues 

 south of the capital. At night I experienced an attack (for it 

 deserves no less a name) of the Benckuca,& species of Eeduvius, the 

 great black bug of the Pampas. It is most disgusting to feel soft 

 wingless insects, about an inch long, crawling over one's body. 

 Before sucking they are quite thin, bxit afterwards they become 

 round and bloated with blood, and in this state are easily crushed. 

 One which I caught at Iquique, (for they are found iu Chile and 

 Peru,) was very empty. When placed on a table, and though sur- 

 rounded by people, if a finger was presented, the bold insect would 

 immediately protrude its sucker, make a charge, and if allowed, 

 draw blood. No pain was caused by the wound. It was curious 

 to watch its body during the act of sucking, as in less than ten 

 minutes it changed from being as flat as a wafer to a globular form. 

 This one feast, for which the benchuca was indebted to one of the 

 officers, kept it fat during four whole months ; but, after the first 

 fortnight, it was quite ready to have another suck. 



March 27<7. We rode on to Mendoza. The country was beauti- 

 fully cultivated, and resembled Chile. This neighbourhood is 

 celebrated for its fruit ; and certainly nothing could appear more 

 flourishing than the vineyards and the orchards of figs, peaches, 

 and olives. We bought water-melons nearly twice as large as a 

 man's head, most deliciously cool and well-flavoured, for a halfpenny 

 apiece ; and for the value of threepence, half a wheelbarrowful of 

 peaches. The cultivated and enclosed part of this province is very 

 small; there is little more than that which we passed through 

 between Luxan and the capital. The land, as in Chile, owes its 

 fertility entirely to artificial irrigation ; and it is really wonderful 

 to observe how extraordinarily productive a barren haversia is 

 thus rendered. 



