THE VOYAGE OF THE BEAGLE 



113 



different natures. Of these we gathered and brought home 

 many." 



During my stay at Bahia Blanca, while waiting for the 

 Beagle, the place was in a constant state of excitement, from 

 rumours of wars and victories, between the troops of Rosas 

 and the wild Indians. One day an account came that a small 

 party forming one of the postas on the line to Buenos Ayres, 

 had been found all murdered. The next day three hundred 

 men arrived from the Colorado, under the command of Com- 

 mandant Miranda. A large portion of these men were In- 

 dians (niansos, or tame), belonging to the tribe of the Ca- 

 cique Bernantio. They passed the night here; and it was 

 impossible to conceive anything more wild and savage than 

 the scene of their bivouac. Some drank till they were 

 intoxicated; others swallowed the steaming blood of the 

 cattle slaughtered for their suppers, and then, being sick 

 from drunkenness, they cast it up again, and were besmeared 

 with filth and gore. 



Nam simul expletus dapibus, vinoque sepultus 

 Cervicem inflexam posuit, jacuitque per antrum 

 Immensus, saniem eructans, ac frusta cruenta 

 Per somnum commixta mero. 



In the morning they started for the scene of the murder, 

 with orders to follow the " rastro," or track, even if it led 

 them to Chile. We subsequently heard that the wild In- 

 dians had escaped into the great Pampas, and from some 

 cause the track had been missed. One glance at the rastro 

 tells these people a whole history. Supposing they examine 

 the track of a thousand horses, they will soon guess the num- 

 ber of mounted ones by seeing how many have cantered ; by 

 the depth of the other impressions, whether any horses were 

 loaded with cargoes; by the irregularity of the footsteps, 

 how far tired; by the manner in which the food has been 

 cooked, whether the pursued travelled in haste; by the gen- 

 eral appearance, how long it has been since they passed. 

 They consider a rastro of ten days or a fortnight, quite 

 recent enough to be hunted out. We also heard that Miranda 

 struck from the west end of the Sierra Ventana, in a direct 



