Aug. 1833. 



SALINAS. 



75 



Stopped till the Indians approached close^ and then raked 

 their line with grape-shot : he thus laid thirty-nine oi them 

 on the ground ; and, of course^ such a blow immediately 

 routed the whole party. 



The town is indifferently called El Carmen or Patagones. 

 It is built on the face of a cliff which fronts the river^ and 

 many of the houses are excavated even in the sandstone. 

 The river is about two or three hundred yards wide, and is 

 deep and rapid. The many islands, with their willow- trees, 

 and the flat headlands, seen one behind the other on the 

 northern boundary of the broad green valley, forms, by the 

 aid of a bright sun, a view almost picturesque. The number 

 of inhabitants does not exceed a few hundreds. These Spa- 

 nish colonies do not, like our British ones, carry within 

 themselves the elements of growth. Many Indians of pure 

 blood reside here : the tribe of the Cacique Lucanee con- 

 stantly have their Toldos * on the outskirts of the town. The 

 local government partly supplies them with provisions, by 

 giving them all the old, worn out horses, and they earn a 

 little by making horse-rugs and other articles of riding gear. 

 These Indians are considered civilized; but what their 

 character may have gained by a lesser degree of ferocity, is 

 almost counterbalanced by their entire immorality. Some of 

 the younger men are, however, improving ; they are willing 

 to labour, and a short time since a party went on a 

 sealing voyage, and behaved very well. They were now 

 enjoying the fruits of their labour, by being dressed in very 

 gay, clean clothes, and by being very idle. The taste they 

 showed in their dress was admirable ; if you could have 

 turned one of these young Indians into a statue of bronze, 

 his drapery would have been perfectly graceful. 



One day I rode to a large salt lake, or Salina, which is 

 distant fifteen miles from the town. During the winter it 

 consists of a shallow lake of brine, which in summer is con- 

 verted into a field of snow-white salt. The layer near the 



* The hovels of the Indians are thus called. 



