134 



PAMPAS. 



Sept. 1833. 



dozen dry thistle- stalks bound together with thongs of hide ; 

 and by the aid of these lonic-hke columns the roof and sides 

 were thatched Avith reeds. We were here told a fact^ which 

 I would not have credited^ if I had not had partly ocular 

 proof of it ; namely^ that^ during the previous nighty hail as 

 large as small apples^ and extremely hard, had fallen with 

 such violence^ as to kill the greater number of the wild 

 animals. One of the men had already found thirteen 

 deer {Cervus campestris) lying dead^ and I saw their fresh 

 hides ; another of the party^ a few minutes after my arrival, 

 brought in seven more. Now I well know, that one man 

 without dogs, would hardly have killed seven deer in a week. 

 The men believed they had seen about fifteen dead ostriches 

 (part of one of which we had for dinner) ; and they said that 

 several were running about evidently blind in one eye. Num- 

 bers of smaller birds, as ducks, hawks, and partridges, were 

 killed. I saw one of the latter with a black mark on its 

 back, as if it had been struck with a paving-stone. A fence of 

 thistle- stalks round the hovel, was nearly broken down, and 

 my informer putting his head out to see what was the matter, 

 received a severe cut, and now wore a bandage. The storm 

 was said to have been of limited extent : we certainly saw 

 from our last night's bivouac a dense cloud and lightning in 

 this direction. It is marvellous how such strong animals as 

 deer could thus have been killed ; but I have no doubt, from 

 the evidence I have given, that the story is not in the least 

 exaggerated. I am glad, however, to have its credibility 

 supported by the Jesuit DrobrizhofFer,* who, speaking of a 

 country much to the northward, says, hail fell of an enormous 

 size and killed vast numbers of cattle : the Indians hence 

 called the place Lalegraicavalca^ meaning The little white 

 things 



Having finished our dinner of hail-stricken meat, we 

 crossed the Sierra Tapalguen ; a low range of hills, a few 

 hundred feet in height, which commences at Cape Corrientes. 



* History of the Abipones, vol. ii., p. 6. 



