Oct. 1833. 



MASTODON. 



147 



will presently be mentioned. Hearing also of the remains 

 of one of the old giants^ which a man told me he had seen 

 on the banks of the Parana^ I procured a canoe^ and pro- 

 ceeded to the place. Two groups of immense bones pro- 

 jected in bold relief from the perpendicular cliff. They 

 were^ however^ so completely decayed^ that I could only 

 bring away small fragments of one of the great molar-teeth ; 

 but these were sufficient to show that the remains belonged 

 to a species of Mastodon. The men who took me in the 

 canoe^ said they had long known of them^ and had often 

 wondered how they had got there : the necessity of a theory 

 being felt, they came to the conclusion, that, like the bizcacha, 

 the mastodon formerly was a burrowing animal ! In the 

 evening we rode another stage, and crossed the Monge, 

 another brackish stream, bearing the dregs of the washings 

 of the Pampas. 



October 2d. — We passed through Corunda, which, 

 from the luxuriance of its gardens, was one of the prettiest 

 villages I saw. From this point to St. Fe the road is not 

 very safe. The western side of the Parana further north- 

 ward, ceases to be inhabited ; and hence the Indians some- 

 times come down, and waylay travellers. The nature of the 

 country also favours this, for instead of a grassy plain, there 

 is an open woodland, composed of low prickly mimosas. 

 We passed some houses that had been ransacked and since 

 deserted ; we saw also a spectacle, which my guides viewed 

 with high satisfaction ; it was the skeleton of an Indian with 

 the dried skin hanging on the bones, suspended to the 

 branch of a tree. 



In the morning we arrived at St. Fe. I was surprised to 

 observe how great a change of climate a difference of only 

 three degrees of latitude between this place and Buenos 

 Ayres had caused. This was evident from the dress and 

 complexion of the men — from the increased size of the ombu- 

 trees — the number of new cacti and other plants — and espe- 

 cially from the birds. In the course of an hour I remarked 



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