IV 
A FALSE ALARM 
79 
born in Africa : to his credit be it said, there was not a ranche 
between the Colorado and Buenos Ayres in nearly such neat 
order as his. He had a little room for strangers, and a small 
corral for the horses, all made of sticks and reeds ; he had 
also dug a ditch round his house, as a defence in case of being 
attacked. This would, however, have been of little avail, if the 
Indians had come ; but his chief comfort seemed to rest in the 
thought of selling his life dearly. A short time before, a body 
of Indians had travelled past in the night ; if they had been 
aware of the posta, our black friend and his four soldiers 
would assuredly have been slaughtered. I did not anywhere 
meet a more civil and obliging man than this negro ; it was 
therefore the more painful to see that he would not sit down 
and eat with us. 
In the morning we sent for the horses very, early, and 
started for another exhilarating gallop. We passed the Cabeza 
del Buey, an old name given to the head of a large marsh, 
which extends from Bahia Blanca. Here we changed horses, 
and passed through some leagues of swamps and saline marshes. 
Changing horses for the last time, we again began wading 
through the mud. My animal fell, and I was well soused in 
black mire—a very disagreeable accident, when one does not 
possess a change of clothes. Some miles from the fort we met 
a man, who told us that a great gun had been fired, which is 
a signal that Indians are near. We immediately left the road, 
and followed the edge of a marsh, which when chased offers 
the best mode of escape. We were glad to arrive within the 
walls, when we found all the alarm was about nothing, for the 
Indians turned out to be friendly ones, who wished to join 
General Rosas. 
Bahia Blanca scarcely deserves the name of a village. A 
few houses and the barracks for the troops are enclosed by a 
deep ditch and fortified wall. The settlement is only of recent 
standing (since 1828) ; and its growth has been one of trouble. 
The government of Buenos Ayres unjustly occupied it by force, 
instead of following the wise example of the Spanish Viceroys, 
who purchased the land near the older settlement of the Rio 
Negro, from the Indians. Hence the need of the fortifications ; 
hence the few houses and little cultivated land without the 
limits of the walls : even the cattle are not safe from the 
