8o BAH J A BLANC A chap. 



attacks of the Indians beyond the boundaries of the plain on 

 which the fortress stands. 



The part of the harbour where the Beagle intended to 

 anchor being distant twenty- five miles, I obtained from the 

 Commandant a guide and horses, to take me to see 

 whether she had arrived. Leaving the plain of green turf, 

 which extended along the course of a little brook, we soon 

 entered on a wide level waste consisting either of sand, saline 

 marshes, or bare mud. Some parts were clothed by low 

 thickets, and others with those succulent plants which luxuriate 

 only w^here salt abounds. Bad as the country was, ostriches, 

 deers, agoutis, and armadilloes, were abundant. My guide 

 told me, that two months before he had a most narrow escape 

 of his life : he was out hunting with two other men, at no 

 great distance from this part of the country, when they were 

 suddenly met by a party of Indians, who, giving chase, soon 

 overtook and killed his two friends. His own horse's legs 

 were also caught by the bolas ; but he jumped off, and with 

 his knife cut them free : while doing this he was obliged to 

 dodge round his horse and received two severe wounds from 

 their chuzos. Springing on the saddle, he managed, by a 

 most wonderful exertion, just to keep ahead of the long spears 

 of his pursuers, who followed him to within sight of the fort. 

 From that time there was an order that no one should stray 

 far from the settlement. I did not know of this when I 

 started, and was surprised to observe how earnestly my guide 

 watched a deer, which appeared to have been frightened from a 

 distant quarter. 



We found the Beagle had not arrived, and consequently set 

 out on our return, but the horses soon tiring, we were obliged 

 to bivouac on the plain. In the morning we had caught an 

 armadillo, which, although a most excellent dish when roasted 

 in its shell, did not make a very substantial breakfast and 

 dinner for two hungry men. The ground at the place where 

 we stopped for the night was incrusted with a layer of sulphate 

 of soda, and hence, of course, was without water. Yet many 

 of the smaller rodents managed to exist even here, and the 

 tucutuco was making its odd little grunt beneath my head, 

 during half the night. Our horses were very poor ones, and in 



