73 



CHAPTER IV. 



Rio Negro — Estancias attacked by Indians — Salt lakes, geological position 

 of— Flamingoes — R. Negro to Colorado — Sacred tree — Patagonian hare 

 — Indian families — General Rosas — Proceed to Bahia Blanca — Sand 

 dunes — Negro lieutenant — Bahia Blanca — Ground incrusted with 

 Glauber salt — Punta Alta — Zorillo. 



RIO NEGRO TO BAHIA BLANCA. 



July 24th, 1833. — The Beagle sailed from Maldonado, 

 and on August the 3d she arrived off the mouth of the Rio 

 Negro. This is the principal river on the whole Hne of 

 coast between the Straits of Magellan and the Plata. It 

 enters the sea about three hundred miles south of the estuary 

 of the latter. About fifty years since, under the old Spanish 

 government, a small colony was established here; and it is still 

 the most southern position (lat. 41°) on this eastern coast of 

 America which is inhabited by civilized man. 



The country near the mouth of the river is wretched in 

 the extreme : on the south side a long line of perpendicular 

 cUffs commences, which exposes a section of the geological 

 nature of the country. The strata are of sandstone, and one 

 layer was remarkable, from being composed of a firmly- 

 cemented conglomerate of pumice pebbles, which must 

 have travelled more than four hundred miles, from the 

 Andes. The surface is every where covered up by a thick 

 bed of gravel, which extends far and wide over the open 

 plain. Water is extremely scarce, and, where found, is 

 almost invariably brackish. The vegetation is scanty ; and 

 although there are bushes of many kinds, all are armed with 

 formidable thorns, which seem to warn the stranger not to 

 enter on these inhospitable regions. 



The settlement is situated eighteen miles up the river. 

 The road follows the foot of the sloping cliff, which forms 



