1833.] THE GREAT DROUGHT. 133 
numbers of animals of all kinds have been embedded together. 
The period included between the years 1827 and 1830 is called 
the “gran seco,” or the great drought. During this time so 
little rain fell, that the vegetation, even to the thistles, failed ; 
the brooks were dried up, and the whole country assumed the 
appearance of a dusty high road. This was especially the case 
in the northern part of the province of Buenos Ayres and the 
southern part of St. Fé. Very great numbers of birds, wild 
animals, cattle, and horses perished from the want of food and 
water. A man told me that the deer* used to come into his 
courtyard to the well, which he had been obliged to dig to suppiy 
his own family with water; and that the partridges had hardly 
strength to fly away when pursued. The lowest estimation of 
the loss of cattle in the province of Buenos Ayres alone, was 
taken at one million head. A proprietor at San Pedro had pre- 
viously to these years 20,000 cattle; at the end not one re- 
mained. San Pedro is situated in the middle of the finest 
country ; and even now abounds again with animals; yet, during 
the latter part of the “gran seco,” live cattle were brought in 
vessels for the consumption of the inhabitants. The animals 
roamed from their estancias, and, wandering far southward, were 
mingled together in such multitudes, that a government com- 
mission was sent from Buenos Ayres to settle the disputes of the 
owners. Sir Woodbine Parish informed me of another and very 
curious source of dispute; the ground being so long dry, such 
quantities of dust were blown about, that in this open country 
the landmarks became obliterated, and people could not tell the 
limits of their estates. 
I was informed by an eyewitness that the cattle in herds of 
thousands rushed into the Parana, and being exhausted by hunger 
they were unable to crawl up the muddy banks, and thus were 
* In Capt. Owen’s Surveying Voyage (vol. ii. p. 274) there is a curious 
account of the effects of a drought on the elephants, at Benguela (west coast 
of Africa), ‘“ A number of these animals had some time since entered the 
town, in a body, to possess themselves of the wells, not being able to procure 
any water in‘ the country. The inhabitants mustered, when a desperate 
conflict ensued, which terminated in the ultimate discomfiture of the in- 
vaders, but not until they had killed one man, and wounded several others.” 
The town is said to have a population of nearly three thousand! Dr. Mal- 
colmson informs me, that during a great drought in India the wild animals 
entered the tents of some troops at Ellore, and that a hare drank out of a 
vessel held by the adjutant of the regiment. 
