76 BAHIA BLANCA. [clLAP. Iv 
between the Colorado and Buenos Ayros 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 any where 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. Tiere 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 stand- 
ing (since 1828); and its growth has been one of trouble. The 
government of Buenos Ayres unjustly occupied it by force, in- 
stead 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 attacks 
