136 PAMPAS CHAP. 



proportion. We passed a train of waggons and a troop of 

 beasts on their road to Mendoza. The distance is about 580 

 geographical miles, and the journey is generally performed in 

 fifty days. These waggons are very long, narrow, and thatched 

 with reeds ; they have only two wheels, the diameter of which 

 in some cases is as much as ten feet. Each is drawn by six 

 bullocks, which are urged on by a goad at least twenty feet 

 long: this is suspended from within the roof; for the wheel 

 bullocks a smaller one is kept ; and for the intermediate pair, 

 a point projects at right angles from the middle of the long one. 

 The whole apparatus looked like some implement of war. 



September 2^ih. — We passed the small town of Luxan, 

 where there is a wooden bridge over the river — a most unusual 

 convenience in this country. We passed also Areco. The 

 plains appeared level, but were not so in fact ; for in various 

 places the horizon was distant. The estancias are here wide 

 apart ; for there is little good pasture, owing to the land being 

 covered by beds either of an acrid clover, or of the great 

 thistle. The latter, well known from the animated description 

 given by Sir F. Head, were at this time of the year two-thirds 

 grown ; in some parts they were as high as the horse's back, 

 but in others they had not yet sprung up, and the ground was 

 bare and dusty as on a turnpike -road. The clumps were of 

 the most brilliant green, and they made a pleasing miniature- 

 likeness of broken forest land. When the thistles are full 

 grown, the great beds are impenetrable, except by a few tracks, 

 as intricate as those in a labyrinth. These are only known to 

 the robbers, who at this season inhabit them, and sally forth 

 at night to rob and cut throats with impunity. Upon asking 

 at a house whether robbers were numerous, I was answered, 

 " The thistles are not up yet ;" — the meaning of which reply 

 was not at first very obvious. There is little interest in passing 

 over these tracts, for they are inhabited by few animals or 

 birds, excepting the bizcacha and its friend the little owl. 



The bizcacha^ is well known to form a prominent feature 

 in the zoology of the Pampas. It is found as far south as the 



^ The bizcacha (Lagostomus trichodactylus) somewhat resembles a large rabbit, 

 but with bigger gnawing teeth and a long tail : it has, however, only three toes 

 behind, like the agouti. During the last three or four years the skins of these 

 animals have been sent to England for the sake of the fur. 



