330 MENDOZA. [cHAP. xv 
though its course towards the sea-coast is very imperfectly 
known: it is even doubtful whether, in passing over the plains, 
it is not evaporated and lost. We slept in the village of Luxan, 
which is a small place surrounded by gardens, and forms the 
most southern cultivated district in the Province of Mendoza; 
it is five leagues south of the capital. At night I experienced 
an attack (for it deserves no less a name) of the Benchuca, a 
species of Reduvius, the great black bug of the Pampas. It is 
most disgusting to feel soft wingless insects, about an inch long, 
crawling over one’s body. Before sucking they are quite thin, 
but afterwards they become round and bloated with blood, and 
in this state are easily crushed. One which I caught at Iquique, 
(for they are found in Chile and Peru,) was very empty. When 
placed on a table, and though surrounded by people, if a finger 
was presented, the bold insect would immediately protrude its 
sucker, make a charge, and if allowed, draw blood. No pain 
was caused by the wound. It was curious to watch its body 
during the act of sucking, as in less than ten minutes it changed 
from being as flat asa wafer to aglobular form. This one feast, 
for which "the benchuca was indebted to one of the officers, kept 
it fat during four whole months ; but, after the first fortnight, it 
was quite ready to have another ‘suck, 
March 27th.—We rode on to Mendoza. The country was 
beautifully cultivated, and resembled Chile. This neighbour- 
hood is celebrated for its fruit; and certainly nothing could 
appear more flourishing than the vineyards and the orchards of 
figs, peaches, and olives. We bought water-melons nearly twice 
as large as a man’s head, most deliciously cool and well-flavoured, 
for a halfpenny apiece; and for the value of threepence, half a 
wheelbarrowful of peaches. The cultivated and enclosed part 
of this province is very small; there is little more than that 
which we passed through between Luxan and the Capital. The 
land, as in Chile, owes its fertility entirely to artificial irriga- 
tion; and it is really wonderful to observe how extraordinarily 
productive a barren traversia is thus rendered. 
We stayed the ensuing day in Mendoza. The prosperity of 
the place has much declined of late years. The inhabitants say 
‘“it is good to live in, but very bad to grow rich in.” The 
lower orders have the lounging, reckless manners of the Gauchos 
