134 PAMPAS. Sept. 1833. 



dozen dry thistle-stalks bound together with thongs of hide ; 

 and by the aid of these lonic-hke columns the roof and sides 

 were thatched with reeds. We were here told a fact, which 

 I would not have credited, if I had not had partly ocular 

 proof of it ; namely, that, during the previous night, hail as 

 large as small apples, and extremely hard, had fallen with 

 such violence, as to kill the greater number of the wild 

 animals. One of the men had already found thirteen 

 deer {Cervus campestris) lying dead, and I saw their fresh 

 hides ; another of the party, a few minutes after my arrival, 

 brought in seven more. Now I well know, that one man 

 without dogs, would hardly have killed seven deer in a week. 

 The men believed they had seen about fifteen dead ostriches 

 (part of one of which we had for dinner) ; and they said that 

 several were running about evidently blind in one eye. Num- 

 bers of smaller birds, as ducks, hawks, and partridges, were 

 killed. I saw one of the latter with a black mark on its 

 back, as if it had been struck with a paving-stone. A fence of 

 thistle-stalks round the hovel, was nearly broken down, and 

 my informer putting his head out to see what was the matter, 

 received a severe cut, and now wore a bandage. The storm 

 was said to have been of limited extent : we certainly saw 

 from our last night's bivouac a dense cloud and lightning in 

 this direction. It is marvellous how such strong animals as 

 deer could thus have been killed ; but I have no doubt, from 

 the evidence I have given, that the story is not in the least 

 exaggerated. I am glad, however, to have its credibility 

 supported by the Jesuit DrobrizhofFer,* who, speaking of a 

 country much to the northward, says, hail fell of an enormous 

 size and killed vast numbers of cattle : the Indians hence 

 called the place Lalegraicavalca, meaning " The little white 

 things." 



Having finished our dinner of hail-stricken meat, we 

 crossed the Sierra Tapalguen ; a low range of hills, a few 

 hundred feet in height, which commences at Cape Corrientes. 



* History of the Abipones, vol. ii., p. 6. 



