Sept. 1833. NATURAL ENCLOSURE. ; 135 



The rock in this part is pure quartz ; further eastward I 

 understand it is granitic. The hills are of a remarkable 

 form ; they consist of flat patches of table-land^ surrounded 

 by low but perpendicular cliffs^ like the outliers of a sedi- 

 mentary deposit. The hill which I ascended was very 

 small^ not above a couple of hundred yards in diameter ; but 

 I saw others larger. One which goes by the name of the 

 " Corral/^ is said to be two or three miles in diameter^ and 

 encompassed on all sides by perpendicular cliffs^ between 

 thirty and forty feet high, excepting at one spot, where the 

 entrance lies. Falconer* gives a curious account of the 

 Indians driving within it troops of wild horses, and then by 

 guarding the entrance, keeping them secure. I have never 

 heard of any other instance of table-land in a formation of 

 quartz, and which, in the hill I examined, had neither 

 cleavage or stratification. I was told that the rock of the 



Corral was white, and would strike fire. 



We did not reach the posta on the Rio Tapalguen till 

 after it w^as dark. At supper, from something which was 

 said, I was suddenly struck with horror at thinking that 

 I was eating one of the favourite dishes of the country, 

 namely, a half-formed calf, long before its proper time of 

 birth. It turned out to be Puma ; the meat is very white, 

 and remarkably like veal in taste. Dr. Shaw was laughed 

 at for stating that, the flesh of the lion is in great esteem, 

 having no small affinity with veal, both in colour, taste, and 

 flavour.^^ Such certainly is the case with the Puma. 

 The Gauchos differ in their opinion, whether the Jaguar 

 is good eating, but are unanimous in saying that cat is 

 excellent. 



September 17th. — We followed the course of the Rio 

 Tapalguen, through a very fertile country, to the ninth 

 posta. Tapalguen itself, or the town of Tapalguen, if it 

 may be so called, consists of a perfectly level plain, studded 

 over as far as the eye can reach, with the toldos, or oven- 



* Falconer's Patagonia, p. 70. 



