io6 
BAHIA BLANCA 
CHAP. 
to Chile. We subsequently heard that the wild Indians 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 number 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 general 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 line to the island of Cholechel, 
situated seventy leagues up the Rio Negro. This is a distance 
of between two and three hundred miles, through a country 
completely unknown. What other troops in the world 
are so independent ? With the sun for their guide, mares’ 
flesh for food, their saddle-cloths for beds,—as long as there 
is a little water, these men would penetrate to the end of the 
world. 
A few days afterwards I saw another troop of these banditti¬ 
like soldiers start on an expedition against a tribe of Indians at 
the small Salinas, who had been betrayed by a prisoner 
cacique. The Spaniard who brought the orders for this expedi¬ 
tion was a very intelligent man. He gave me an account of 
the last engagement at which he was present. Some Indians, 
who had been taken prisoners, gave information of a tribe 
living north of the Colorado. Two hundred soldiers were sent ; 
and they first discovered the Indians by a cloud of dust from 
their horses’ feet as they chanced to be travelling. The 
country was mountainous and wild, and it must have been far 
in the interior, for the Cordillera were in sight. The Indians, 
men, women, and children were about one hundred and ten in 
number, and they were nearly all taken or killed, for the soldiers 
sabre every man. The Indians are now so terrified that they 
offer no resistance in a body, but each flies, neglecting even his 
wife and children ; but when overtaken, like wild animals, they 
fight against any number to the last moment. One dying 
Indian seized with his teeth the thumb of his adversary, 
