IV A FALSE ALARM 79 



born in Africa : to his credit be it said, there was not a ranche 

 between the Colorado and Buenos Ayres in nearly such neat 

 order as his. He had a little room for strangers, and a small 

 corral for the horses, all made of sticks and reeds ; he had 

 also dug a ditch round his house, as a defence in case of being 

 attacked. This would, however, have been of little avail, if the 

 Indians had come ; but his chief comfort seemed to rest in the 

 thought of selling his life dearly. A short time before, a body 

 of Indians had travelled past in the night ; if they had been 

 aware of the posta, our black friend and his four soldiers 

 would assuredly have been slaughtered. I did not anywhere 

 meet a more civil and obliging man than this negro ; it was 

 therefore the more painful to see that he would not sit down 

 and eat with us. 



In the morning we sent for the horses very early, and 

 started for another exhilarating gallop. We passed the Cabeza 

 del Buey, an old name given to the head of a large marsh, 

 which extends from Bahia Blanca. Here we changed horses, 

 and passed through some leagues of swamps and saline marshes. 

 Changing horses for the last time, we again began wading 

 through the mud. My animal fell, and I was well soused in 

 .black mire — a very disagreeable accident, when one does not 

 possess a change of clothes. Some miles from the fort we met 

 a man, who told us that a great gun had been fired, which is 

 a signal that Indians are near. We immediately left the road, 

 and followed the edge of a marsh, which when chased offers 

 the best mode of escape. We were glad to arrive within the 

 walls, when we found all the alarm was about nothing, for the 

 Indians turned out to be friendly ones, who wished to join 

 General Rosas. 



Bahia Blanca scarcely deserves the name of a village. A 

 few houses^ and the barracks for the troops are enclosed by a 

 deep ditch and fortified wall. The settlement is only of recent 

 standing (since 1828) ; and its growth has been one of trouble. 

 The government of Buenos Ayres unjustly occupied it by force, 

 instead of following the wise example of the Spanish Viceroys, 

 who purchased the land near the older settlement of the Rio 

 Negro, from the Indians. Hence the need of the fortifications ; 

 hence the few houses and little cultivated land without the 

 limits of the walls : even the cattle are not safe from the 



