Aug. 1833. 



RIO COLORADO. 



83 



sixty yards wide ; generally it must be nearly double that 

 width. Its course is very tortuous^ being marked by willow- 

 trees and beds of reeds : in a direct line the distance to the 

 mouth of the river is said to be nine leagues,, but by water 

 twenty-five. We were delayed crossing in the canoe by some 

 immense troops of mares^ which were swimming the river in 

 order to follow a division of troops into the interior. A 

 more ludicrous spectacle I never beheld^ than the hundreds 

 of heads^ all directed one way^ with pointed ears and dis- 

 tended nostrils, appearing just above the water like a great 

 shoal of some amphibious animals. Mare^s flesh is the only 

 food which the soldiers have when on an expedition. This 

 gives them a very great facility of movement; for the dis- 

 tance to which horses can be driven over these plains is quite 

 surprising : I have been assured that an unloaded horse can 

 travel a hundred miles a day for many days successively. 



The encampment of General Rosas was close to the river. 

 It consisted of a square formed by waggons, artillery, straw 

 huts, &c. The soldiers were nearly all cavalry; and I 

 should think such a villanous, banditti-like army, was never 

 before collected together. The greater number of men were 

 of a mixed breed, between Negro, Indian, and Spaniard. I 

 know not the reason, but men of such origin seldom have a 

 good expression of countenance. I called on the secretary to 

 show my passport. He began to cross-question me in the 

 most dignified and mysterious manner. By good luck I had 

 a letter of recommendation from the government of Buenos 

 Ayres* to the commandant of Patagones. This was taken to 

 General Rosas, who sent me a very obliging message ; and 

 the secretary returned all smiles and graciousness. We took 

 up our residence in the rancho, or hovel, of a curious old 

 Spaniard, who had served with Napoleon in the expedition 

 against Russia. 



We staid two days at the Colorado ; I had little to do, for 



* I am bound to express, in the strongest terms, my obligation to the 

 Government of Buenos Ayres for the obhging manner in which passports 

 to all parts of the country were given me, as naturalist of the Beagle. 



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