FKOM EOSAEIO TO MENDOZA. 53 



The blscacha, also, is said to be very destructive to the crojjs ; and persons who have unen- 

 closed gardens make it a point during heavy rains to dam the water up, and, by means of a 

 ditch, turn it into the burrows, thus drowning them or driving the animals out, when they 

 are killed as they attempt to escajDe. 



Of the rivers passed on the road, the first is the Mendoza,* which rises near the Uspallata 

 Pass, and reaches the plain about sixteen miles south of Mendoza. It then runs northeastward, 

 gradually turning more to the northward until, at the distance of twenty-five miles from the 

 city, it flows nearly due north to the Lagunas de Guanacache, a very small portion reaching 

 those lakes in dry weather, and that portion is salt. The Lagunas de Guanacache also receive 

 the waters of the San Juan from the northward, and I believe of one or two small streams from 

 the westward ; and their surplus waters, after speading out into marshes in some places, form 

 a stream called the " Desaguadero " flowing to the southward. 



Next to the Mendoza is the Tunuyan, which takes its rise at the base of Tupungato, between 

 the eastern and western ranges of the cordillera; flows first to the southwestward, then to the 

 southeastward, and issues to the plain about seventy-five miles south of Mendoza, where it 

 turns to the eastward and receives several small streams from the mountains. About two 

 leagues beyond Acorocorto it divides; the principal part running to the southward, and the 

 rest joining the Desaguadero, ten leagues farther on, and after spreading out in marshes in one 

 placCj the water collects, turns north, and empties into a salt lake some ten miles in diameter, 

 called the Bebedero. That part which goes to the southward receives the waters of the Dia- 

 mante, Atuel, and some other smaller streams from the mountains, and is finally lost in a salt 

 lake near the parallel of thirty-eight degrees. 



The next is the Eio Quinto or Fifth river, which rises in the San Luis range, and runs south- 

 eastward to about latitude thirty-four or thirty-five, where it is lost in lagunas and marshes. 

 It is possible that in rainy weather some of its waters find their way through, and form the 

 source of the Salado, emptying to the southward of Buenos Ayres. 



The Eio de la Laja, just to the eastward of Achiras — an inconsiderable stream — is also lost 

 in marshes and lagoons. Then comes the Eio Cuarto or Fourth river, which takes its rise in 

 the mountains to the southwestward of Cordova, and runs southeastward by the Villa del Eio 

 Cuarto to a bend called the " Punta del Sance," where it turns to the northward of east, and 

 enters the Eio Tercero near the village of Saladillo, being considerably smaller at its junction 

 than at the Villa del Eio Cuarto, and in dry weather quite salt. 



About ten miles east of the " Villa " there is a small stream called the Chucul, which runs 

 to the southeastward, and spreads out in marshes and lagunas near a place called " Las Chil- 

 cas,"t not far from the Eio Cuarto. 



Finally, the Eio Tercero or Third river, the last on the road before reaching the Parana, takes 

 its rise in the same mountains as the Eio Cuarto ; follows a course nearly parallel with it till 

 the two unite ; then runs more easterly as far as the post-house of Los Desmochados, where it 

 turns to the northeastward, and at length empties into the Parana. 



It is almost unnecessary to say that the Parana is a second Mississippi ; which, together with 

 the Uruguay, forms the Eio de la Plata. 



It will be seen, on referring to the narrative, that the Mendoza, at the ford, was divided into 

 three streams of about three, ten, and four yards wide, respectively, each a foot or eighteen 

 inches deep ; that the Tunuyan, before it divides, was about one-third of a mile wide, full of 

 sand-flats, and apparently shallow ; that the Desaguadero was four yards wide and eight inches 

 deep; that the Quinto, on the first journey, was about twenty-five yards wide and two feet 

 deep, and on the second, twenty yards wide and eight inches deep ; that I found the Cuarto, on 

 the first trip, sixty yards wide and two feet deep, but full of marshes and sand-flats at the first 



*Mr. DarwiQ calls this tbe Luxan. 



tThere is one hut near this ; but except that and a thicket of bushes called chilcas, there is nothing to justify the application of 

 a name to the locality. 



