THE INDIAN OF THE PAMPAS. 109 



ARGENTINE REPUBLIC. 



old man, with his little boy, riding like Mazeppa on the 

 white horse, thus leaving far behind him the host of pursuers ! 



In a battle at the small Salinas a tribe, consisting of about 

 one hundred and ten Indians, men, women, and children, were 

 nearly all taken or killed. Four men ran away together. 

 They were pursued : one was killed, and the other three were 

 taken alive. They turned out to be messengers from a large 

 body of Indians, united in the common cause of defence, near 

 the Cordillera. The tribe to which they had been sent was 

 on the point of holding a grand council ; the feast of mare's 

 flesh was ready, and the dance prepared : in the morning the 

 messengers were to have returned to the Cordillera. They 

 were remarkably fine men, very fair, above six feet high, and 

 all under thirty years of age. The three survivors, of course, 

 possessed very valuable information, and to extort this they 

 were placed in a line. The two first, being questioned, an- 

 swered, " No se " (I do not know), and were one after the 

 other shot. The third also said " No se ;" adding, " Fire ! I 

 am a man, and can die!" Not one syllable would they 

 breathe to injure the united cause of their country. 



During my stay at Bahia Blanca, while waiting for the 

 Beagle, an account came that a small party, forming one of 

 the postas on the line to Buenos Ayres, had been found all 

 murdered. The next day three hundred men arrived from 

 the Colorado, a large portion of whom were Indians, and 

 passed the night here. In the morning they started for the 

 scene of the murder, with orders to follow the rastro or track, 

 even if it led them to Chile. One glance at the rastro tells 

 these people a whole history. Supposing they examine the 



