6 
POPULAR SCIENCE REVIEW. 
the water. The lasso is shaken from the animal’s horns by a 
man perched over him in the roof of the shed, which sets him 
free, more furious than before. Looking round, he sees his 
old enemy, and at once rushes at him, head down. The gaucho 
quietly waits until the animal is close to himself and to the 
water, and then steps behind the wall. The impetus acquired 
by running down the slope prevents the ox from stopping, 
and he therefore goes head-foremost into the water, to splash 
out on the other side, with blood and temper fitly cooled before 
going to pasture. The animal is prevented from coming out 
on the same side as the man by a perpendicular bank, while 
the opposite one is a slope. 
On approaching Mendoza distant views of the Andes are 
seen, and the road is for miles shaded by poplars and willows, 
growing close to the banks of streams employed for irrigating 
the farms and pastures. 
The waters from the melted snows of the Andes in the Rio 
de Mendoza, and one of its branches, the Tutumaya, are led 
considerable distances for irrigation, through channels mostly 
by the sides of the road, and from these are tapped into the 
pastures, vineyards, and fields of lucerne, the last of which are 
protected by adobe walls of four or five feet in height. 
The town of Mendoza is beautifully situated, and most 
picturesque ; the views of the Andes to be obtained from several 
parts of it through streets with trees on either side being very 
fine, especially when the atmosphere is somewhat clouded, while 
the ruins of the old town on the same site, 12,000 out of 15,000 
inhabitants of whom perished by the earthquake of 1861, 
renders more impressive the character of the distant peaks. 
The waters of the baths gathered from hot springs in this 
neighbourhood are strongly impregnated with sulphuretted 
hydrogen and carbonic acid, so strongly as to make their pre- 
sence recognizable at a distance of a hundred yards. 
The generally flat piece of country between Mendoza and San 
Juan, a distance of eighty-five miles, is interesting in itswildness. 
The ground shows evidence of the action of water resulting 
from the storms that sweep over this district, bringing down 
detritus from the limestone and sandstone hills to the west. 
The fine sands deposited in these stream-beds harden and 
crack into pieces that remain firmly attached to the bottom. 
This may account for the filling up and diversion of the streams, 
which has occurred so often, as to have cut up the country 
in all directions. In passing almost due north from Mendoza 
to San Juan, the rainfall diminishes, and becomes more 
uncertain. This may be accounted for, to some extent, by 
the bend westward taken by the main chain of the Andes. 
The great Plateau, the western slope, and the Primera 
