328 PORTILLO PASS. [caap. xv 
and reached a hovel, where an officer and three soldiers were 
posted to examine passports. One of these men was a thorough- 
bred Pampas Indian: he was kept much for the same purpose 
as a bloodhound, to track out any person who might pass by 
secretly, either on foot or horseback. Some years ago, a pas- 
senger endeavoured to escape detection, by making a long 
circuit over a neighbouring mountain; but this Indian, having 
by chance crossed his track, followed it for the whole day over 
dry and very stony hills, till at last he came on his prey hidden 
ina gully. We here heard that the silvery clouds, which we 
had admired from the bright region above, had poured down 
torrents of rain. The valley from this point gradually opened, 
and the hills became mere water-worn hillocks compared to the 
giants behind: it then expanded into a gently-sloping plain of 
shingle, covered with low trees and bushes. This talus, although 
appearing narrow, must be nearly ten miles wide before it blends 
into the apparently dead level Pampas. We passed the only house 
in this neighbourhood, the Estancia of Chaquaio; and at sunset 
we pulled up in the first snug corner, and there bivouacked. 
March 25th.—IJ was reminded of the Pampas of Buenos Ayres, 
by seeing the disk of the rising sun, intersected by an horizon, 
level as that of the ocean. During the night a heavy dew fell, 
a circumstance which we did not experience within the Cordil- 
lera. The road proceeded for some distance due east across a 
low swamp ; then meeting the dry plain, it turned to the north 
towards Mendoza. The distance is two very long days’ journey. 
Our first day’s journey was called fourteen leagues to Estacado, 
and the second seventeen to Luxan, near Mendoza. The whole 
distance is over a level desert plain, with not more than two or 
three houses. The sun was exceedingly powerful, and the ride 
devoid of all interest. There is very little water in this “ tra- 
versia,” and in our second day’s journey we found only one 
little pool. Little water flows from the mountains, and it soon 
becomes absorbed by the dry and porous soil ; so that, although 
we travelled at the distance of only ten or fifteen miles from the 
outer range of the Cordillera, we did not cross a single stream. 
In many parts the ground was incrusted with a saline efflor- 
escence; hence we had the same salt-loving plants, which are 
common near Bahia Blanca. The landscape has a uniform 
