1833.] SACRED TREE. 69 
bones of horses which had been slaughtered as sacrifices. All 
Indians of every age and sex make their offerings; they then 
think that their horses will not tire, and that they themselves 
shall be prosperous. The Gaucho who told me this, said that in 
the time of peace he had witnessed this scene, and that he and 
others used to wait till the Indians had passed by, for the sake of 
stealing from Walleechu the offerings. ‘ 
The Gauchos think that the Indians consider the tree as the 
god itself; but it seems far more probable, that they regard it as 
the altar. ‘The only cause which I can imagine for this choice, 
is its being a Jandmark in a dangerous passage. The Sierra de 
la Ventana is visible at an immense distance; and a Gaucho 
told me that he was once riding with an-Indian a few miles to 
the north of the Rio Colorado, when the Indian commenced 
making the same loud noise, which is usual at the first sight of 
the distant tree; putting his hand to his head, and then pointing 
in the direction of the Sierra. Upon being asked the reason 
of this, the Indian said in broken Spanish, “ First see the Sierra.” 
About two leagues beyond this curious tree we halted for the 
night: at this instant an unfortunate cow was spied by the lynx- 
eyed Gauchos, who set off in full chace, and in a few minutes 
dragged her in with their lazos, and slaughtered her. We 
here had the four necessaries of life “‘en el campo,”’—pasture 
for the horses, water (only a muddy puddle), meat and fire- 
wood. The Gauchos were in high spirits at finding all these 
luxuries; and we soon set to work at the poor cow. This was 
the first night which I passed under the open sky, with the 
gear of the recado for my bed. There is high enjoyment 
in the independence of the Gaucho life—to be able at any 
moment to pull up your horse, and say, “‘ Here we will pass 
the night.” The death-like stillness of the plain, the dogs 
keeping watch, the gipsy-group of Gauchos making their beds 
round the fire, have left in my mind a strongly-marked picture of 
this first night, which will never be forgotten. 
The next day the country continued similar to that above de- 
scribed. It is inhabited by few birds or animals of any kind. 
Occasionally a deer, or a Guanaco (wild Llama) may be seen ; 
but the Agouti (Cavia Patagonica) is the commonest quadruped. 
This animal here represents our hares. It differs, however, from 
