RIO DESAGUADERO. 



67 



this, a vast plain again extends to the right as 

 far as the eye can reach ; but our road still lay 

 through brushwood and trees ; and it was late 

 before we arrived at a pulperia^ situated on the 

 banks of the Rio Desaguadero, which separates 

 the province of San Luis from Mendoza. Here 

 we remained for the night, being too late to cross 

 the river ; and the novel scene fully compensated 

 for our detention. It was a lovely moonlight 

 night : on the opposite shore were about twenty 

 waggons of the country drawn up, and upwards 

 of a hundred mule-loads of wine regularly laid 

 out in a circle^ forming an encampment, waiting 

 to cross over : on our side, were about the same 

 number; the cattle were feeding by the sides of 

 the waggons, and the mules straying about, pick- 

 ing up what they could. In the midst of these 

 various encampments, were seven or eight fires 

 on each side of the river; round which, were 

 different groups of eight or ten peons, some 

 preparing their suppers. Their long knives and 

 dark countenances were easily distinguished as 



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