1831 



' INDIAN pass' SHINGLE BEDS. 



345 



tives to select it as a crossing place. ^ To pass a river running 

 at the rate of six or seven miles an hour, and about two hun- 

 dred yards in width, can be no easy task to women and chil- 

 dren. But as we saw many prints of very small feet on the 

 muddy bank, both women and children must have crossed at 

 this place with the men. How did they get over ? there is no 

 wood, neither are there rushes with which they might make 

 •balsas.-|- Perhaps some of the women and children were put 

 into rough, coracle-like boats, made of hides, J and towed 

 across by the horses, holding by whose tails the men swam 

 and perhaps many of the women. This method of holding by 

 the tail, while swimming, is said to be better than resting a 

 hand upon the horse'^s neck and holding by the mane. None 

 of the Indians sit upon their horses while swimming. 



This day (22d) we passed two places which we considered 

 rapids, the stream of the river ran so violently, and we had 

 so much difficulty in passing, even with all hands upon the 

 rope. Besides the strength of the stream we had to contend 

 against high cliffs, over whose upper edges it was difficult to 

 convey the tow-line : yet we made good about twelve miles 

 in the day. Th^ night of the 22d was not so cold as the pre- 

 ceding, but we always found the nights wintry though the 

 days were warm, so much so, indeed, that we were often 

 annoyed by the heat of the sun. So winding was the course 

 of 'the river that we certainly walked double the distance 

 which was advanced in a direct line : yet very little of inte- 

 rest, as a picturesque subject, had been seen; for no country 

 excepting a desert could wear a more triste and unvarying 

 appearance. 



Immense accumulations of shingle, rounded stones, imbed- 

 ded, as before mentioned, in diluvial deposition, form the 

 level plain, or valley, through which the river pursues its 

 very winding course. The width of this vale varies from one 

 mile to five miles, and the level of the shingle plain is from 



* Marked * Indian Pass ' on the plan. t Floats or rafts. 



I " Me envio tres indios nadadores, provisto do cueros y palos para 

 forraar unapelota." (Diario de Viedma, p. 58.) 



