156 



ST. FE. 



Oct. 1833. 



which he had been obliged to dig to supply his own family 

 with water ; and that the partridges had hardly strength to fly 

 away when pursued. The lowest estimation of the loss of cattle 

 in the province of Buenos Ayres alone, was taken at one million 

 head. A proprietor at San Pedro had previously to these 

 years 20,000 cattle; at the end not one remained. San 

 Pedro is situated in the middle of the finest country ; and 

 even now again abounds with animals ; yet, during the latter 

 part of the gran seco/^ live cattle were brought in vessels 

 for the consumption of the inhabitants. The animals 

 roamed from their estancias, and wandering far to the south- 

 ward, were mingled together in such multitudes, that a go- 

 vernment commission was sent from Buenos Ayres to settle 

 the disputes of the owners. Sir Woodbine Parish informed 

 me of another and very curious source of dispute ; the ground 

 being so long dry, such quantities of dust were blown about, 

 that in this open country the landmarks became obliterated, 

 and people could not tell the hmits of their estates. 



I was informed by an eyewitness, that the cattle in herds of 

 thousands rushed into the Parana,* and being exhausted by 

 hunger they were unable to crawl up the muddy banks, and 

 thus were drowned. The arm which runs by San Pedro 

 was so full of putrid carcasses, that the master of a vessel 

 told me, that the smell rendered it quite impossible to pass 

 that way. Without doubt several hundred thousand animals 

 thus perished in the river. Their bodies when putrid floated 

 down the stream, and many in all probability were deposited 



town, in a body, to possess themselves of the wells, not being able to 

 procure any water in the country. The inhabitants mustered, when a 

 desperate conflict ensued, which terminated in the ultimate discomfiture 

 of the invaders, but not until they had killed one man, and wounded 

 several others." The town is said to have a population of nearly three 

 thousand ! 



* Azara talks of the fury of the wild horses rushing into the marshes 

 during a dry season : " et les premiers arrives sont foules, et ecrases par 

 ceux, qui les suivent. II m'est arrive plus d'une fois de trouver plus de 

 inille cadavres de chevaux sauvages morts de cette facon."— Vol. i., 

 p. 374. 



