V EXPEDITION AGAINST THE INDIANS 105 



this Virgularia explain one such case. Captain Lancaster, in 

 his Voyage^ in 1601, narrates that on the sea-sands of the 

 Island of Sombrero, in the East Indies, he " found a small 

 twig growing up like a young tree, and on offering to pluck 

 it up it shrinks down to the ground, and sinks, unless held 

 very hard. On being plucked up, a great worm is found to 

 be its root, and as the tree groweth in greatness, so doth the 

 worm diminish ; and as soon as the worm is entirely turned 

 into a tree it rooteth in the earth, and so becomes great. This 

 transformation is one of the strangest wonders that I saw in 

 all my travels : for if this tree is plucked up, while young, and 

 the leaves and bark stripped off, it becomes a hard stone when 

 dry, much like white coral : thus is this worm twice transformed 

 into different natures. Of these we gathered and brought home 

 many." 



During my stay at Bahia Blanca, while waiting for the 

 Beagle, the place was in a constant state of excitement, from 

 rumours of wars and victories, between the troops of Rosas 

 and the wild Indians. One day an account came that a small 

 party forming one of the postas on the line to Buenos Ayres 

 had been found all murdered. The next day three hundred 

 men arrived from the Colorado, under the command of Com- 

 mandant Miranda. A large portion of these men were Indians 

 {mansos, or tame), belonging to the tribe of the Cacique 

 Bernantio. They passed the night here ; and it was im- 

 possible to conceive anything more wild and savage than 

 the scene of their bivouac. Some drank till they were intoxi- 

 cated ; others swallowed the steaming blood of the cattle 

 slaughtered for their suppers, and then, being sick from 

 drunkenness, they cast it up again, and were besmeared with 

 filth and gore. 



Nam simul expletus dapibus, vinoque sepultus 

 Cervicem inflexam posuit, jacuitque per antrum 

 Immensus, saniem eructans, ac frusta cruenta 

 Per somnum commixta mero. 



In the morning they started for the scene of the murder, 

 with orders to follow the " rastro," or track, even if it led them 



* Kerr's Collection of Voyages, vol. viii. p. 119. 



