LAKE REGION OF WESTERN ARGENTINA 413 



the season was closed and there was little besides coots and 

 grebes; however, at certain times of the year there is an 

 abundance of water-fowl and sportsmen from La Paz get 

 enviable shooting opportunities. 



The marshes along the Cauca River, Colombia, had given 

 better results. Teals, tree-ducks, ruddies, and an occasional 

 pair of big muscovies could always be found; but the ducks 

 were loath to take wing, and going after them in the dense 

 grass and thorny shrubbery growing in the marshes was 

 very trying work. 



Then we had reached the rice-growing district around 

 Los Sarmientos. 



"Ducks?" they said. "Why, hombre, they are bringing 

 them into Tucuman by the thousands. The government 

 is paying a bounty of five cents a head on them as they are 

 destroying all the rice. They are swooping down by the 

 tens of thousands; all the lakes in the south have dried 

 up, so they are coming here. When the flocks rise from 

 the fields, the earth trembles." 



That was certainly good news; but when we arrived, 

 the birds had departed for regions unknown. 



Leaving San Juan at 6 P. M., we reached a station called 

 Media Agua (half water) two hours later. Our new friend 

 had sent a peon to meet us, bringing a wagon; so as soon 

 as we could extricate our luggage from the pile on the station 

 platform, we loaded the vehicle and started on the long 

 drive across the cold, barren country. It was very dark 

 and there was not much of a road anyway, so the wagon 

 jolted along over the rocks or dragged heavily through deep 

 sand. The cold was intense; we wrapped up in heavy In- 

 dian blankets, which, however, did not give complete pro- 

 tection from the stinging blasts. 



At midnight the driver refused to go any farther and 

 drew up at a lonely hut, where we spent the rest of the 

 night. Early next morning we were off again. We now 

 passed through large irrigated fields where wheat was grown, 

 and also a good deal of maize. Then the desert began 



