102 RIO NEGRO. 
at Buenos Ayres. The large herds that were formerly kept in this 
country are now reduced to comparatively few. 
None of the government officers have received any salaries for the 
last eighteen months. 
There are about two thousand inhabitants within a circuit of 
eighty miles, exclusive of a few roving Indians. The population of 
Carmen is about five hundred. There are five Americans residing 
here, who state that they enjoy all the protection that the government 
can give, and that they are well treated. 
The Rio Negro is navigable for boats to the village of Chichula, 
two hundred miles from its mouth. 
The distance across the country to Buenos Ayres is but five hun- 
dred miles, yet it requires fifteen days to communicate with it ; the 
governor had received no advices or information for the last two 
months from that place. The route is very uncertain, owing to the 
hordes of hostile Indians. 
Grain, fruit, and vegetables thrive well, and with proper industry 
every thing might be produced in abundance. 
The climate is delightful, and cold weather is seldom felt, although 
ice has occasionally been seen a quarter of an inch in thickness. 
Bullocks and horses are the principal articles of trade ; indeed they 
constitute the legal tender of the country. The former are worth 
from five to ten dollars, according to age ; wild horses two or three 
dollars, and if broken to the saddle, ten or fifteen. 
The tariff of duties is the same as at Buenos Ayres, but the late 
reduction of thirty-three per cent, during the blockade did not extend 
to this place. 
The Indians that are accustomed to visit this place (Carmen) for 
the purpose of war or trade are of four different tribes, viz., Pampas, 
Ancases, Tehuiliches or Teheulehes, and Chilenos. The two former 
occupy the territory to the north of the Rio Negro as far as the Rio 
Colorado. The Tehuiliches are from the mountains to the south, 
and the Chilenos from the southwest. 
During the infancy of the settlement, and until of late years, these 
Indians were extremely troublesome, making descents upon the place, 
and ravaging the outposts, waylaying all who were not on their 
guard, killing them, and retreating rapidly on their wild steeds, with 
their booty, to the pampas and mountains. The Spaniards frequently 
retaliated, and by the superiority of their arms and discipline, inflicted 
summary punishment on them. The last attack of the Indians was 
