io6 BAHIA BLANC A 



to Chile. We subsequently heard that the wild Indians had 

 escaped into the great Pampas, and from some cause the track 

 had been missed. One glance at the rastro tells these people 

 a whole history. Supposing they examine the track of a 

 thousand horses, they will soon guess the number of mounted 

 ones by seeing how many have cantered ; by the depth of the 

 other impressions, whether any horses were loaded with cargoes ; 

 by the irregularity of the footsteps, how far tired ; by the 

 manner in which the food has been cooked, whether the 

 pursued travelled in haste ; by the general appearance, how 

 long it has been since they passed. They consider a rastro of 

 ten days or a fortnight quite recent enough to be hunted out. 

 We also heard that Miranda struck from the west end of 

 the Sierra Ventana, in a direct line to the island of Cholechel, 

 situated seventy leagues up the Rio Negro. This is a distance 

 of between two and three hundred miles, through a country 

 completely unknown. What other troops in the world 

 are so independent ? With the sun for their guide, mares' 

 flesh for food, their saddle-cloths for beds, — as long as there 

 is a little water, these men would penetrate to the end of the 

 world. 



A few days afterwards I saw another troop of these banditti- 

 like soldiers start on an expedition against a tribe of Indians at 

 the small Salinas, who had been betrayed by a prisoner 

 cacique. The Spaniard who brought the orders for this expedi- 

 tion was a very intelligent man. He gave me an account of 

 the last engagement at which he was present. Some Indians, 

 who had been taken prisoners, gave information of a tribe 

 living north of the Colorado. Two hundred soldiers were sent ; 

 and they first discovered the Indians by a cloud of dust from 

 their horses' feet as they chanced to be travelling. The 

 country was mountainous and wild, and it must have been far 

 in the interior, for the Cordillera were in sight. The Indians, 

 men, women, and children were about one hundred and ten in 

 number, and they were nearly all taken or killed, for the soldiers 

 sabre every man. The Indians are now so terrified that they 

 offer no resistance in a body, but each flies, neglecting even his 

 wife and children ; but when overtaken, like wild animals, they 

 fight against any number to the last moment. One dying 

 Indian seized with his teeth the thumb of his adversary. 



