THE ANDES AID PAMPAS. 



CHAPTER I. 



FROM SANTIAGO TO MENDOZA BY THE USPALLATA PASS. 



OCCUPATION PENDING MY DEPARTORE. DIFFICULTY IN MAKING ARRANGEMENTS FOR ANIMALS. DEPARTURE. 



SANTA ROSA. CHACRA DE MONTUMAS. PREPARATION OF FOOD FOR THE MOUNTAINS. SANTA ROSA. ESTERO 



DE LAS CRUCES. LADERAS CASUCHAS. GLACIER. OJOS DE AGUA. ALTO DE LA LAGUNA. MOUNTAIN LAKE. 



CUMBRE. PUNA. CONTRABANDISTAS. CONTRAST BETWEEN THE TWO SIDES OF THE MOUNTAIN. CASUCHA DE 



LOS PUQUIOS. DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE STREAMS ON THE TWO SIDES OF THE PASS. FATE OF THE CON- 

 TRABANDISTAS. HOSPITALITY OF THE ARRIEROS. INCA's BRIDGE. CERKO DE LOS PENITENTES. TUPUNGATO. 



LADERA DE LOS POLVADERAS. LADERA DE LOS CORTADERAS. FALSE SUNSET. USPALLATA. INSTANCE OF THE 



VALUE OF MADRINAS. VILLA VICENSIO. THE PLAIN. MOCKING BIRDS. ARRIVE AT MENDOZA. STREAMS PASSED 



IN THE MOUNTAINS. ANIMALS AND BIRDS. 



A part of your instructions, directing me to inform myself about the course and ultimate ter- 

 mination of certain rivers ; tlieir capabilities for navigation, &c. ; of the moral and social con- 

 dition of the people; the prevailing diseases, virtues, and vices of the different communities 

 through which I might pass; their mineral and agricultural resources, &c., &c., are too wide 

 in their extent for me to furnish, from personal experience during two hasty trips, made with 

 very limited means, and more limited knowledge of natural science, any other than a shadow 

 of the information desired; and this, meagre as it is, is not of sufficient importance to be put 

 in a separate or tabular report. 



In European or North American cities and provinces, registers are kept, containing full in- 

 formation on all these points, and there is no difficulty in obtaining it; but in the thinly settled 

 provinces of that part of South America through which my road lay, no such records are to be 

 had. 



Therefore, after due consideration of these facts, I have concluded that the best I can do will 

 be to give my limited information as it was received, in connection with a narrative of my 

 journeys. 



The time intervening between the departure of the other members of the expedition and the 

 opening of the mountain pass over which I was directed to go, was spent in the enjoyment of 

 the posthumous reputation of the party, which, I am sorry to say, was not very agreeable. 



Our existence had ceased so recently, that people were not yet prepared to occupy themselves 

 with more than our faults ; and as I was, so to speak, the tombstone on which they read our 

 supposed virtues and merits, I had at times to learn that our reputation was not in every respect 

 1* 



