Aug. 1833. 



ASPECT OF COUNTRY. 



87 



is a very severe punishment ; four posts are driven into the 

 ground, and the man is extended by his arms and legs 

 horizontally, and there left to stretch for several hours. 

 The idea is evidently taken from the usual method of drying 

 hides. My interview passed away without a smile, and I 

 obtained a passport and order for the government post- 

 horses, and this he gave me in the most obhging and ready 

 manner. 



In the morning we started for Bahia Blanca, which we 

 reached in two days. Leaving the regular encampment, we 

 passed by the toldos of the Indians. These are round like 

 ovens, and covered with hides ; by the mouth of each a 

 tapering chuzo was stuck in the ground. The toldos were 

 divided into separate groups, which belonged to the dif- 

 ferent caciques^ tril3es, and the groups were again divided 

 into smaller ones, according to the relationship of the 

 owners. For several miles we travelled along the valley 

 of the Colorado. The alluvial plains on the side appeared 

 fertile, and it is supposed that they are well adapted to the 

 growth of corn. Turning northward from the river, we soon 

 entered on a country, differing from those plains that extend 

 south of the river. The land still continued dry and sterile ; 

 but it supported many different kinds of plants, and the grass, 

 though brown and withered, was more abundant, as the thorny 

 bushes were less so. These latter in a short space entirely 

 disappeared, and the plains were left without a thicket to 

 cover their nakedness. This change in the vegetation marks 

 the commencement of the grand calcareo-argillaceous de- 

 posit, which I have already noticed as forming the wide 

 extent of the Pampas, and as covering the granitic rocks of 

 Banda Oriental. From the Strait of Magellan to the Colo- 

 rado, a distance of about eight hundred miles, the face of the 

 country is every where composed of shingle : the pebbles are 

 chiefly of porphyry, and probably owe their origin to the 

 rocks of the Cordillera„ North of the Colorado the bed 

 thins out, and the pebbles become exceedingly small, and 

 here the characteristic vegetation of Patagonia ceases. 



