35° 
PORTILLO PASS 
CHAP. 
able. The most striking feature consisted in the rivers, which, 
facing the rising sun, glittered like silver threads, till lost in the 
immensity of the distance. At mid-day we descended the valley, 
and reached a hovel, where an officer and three soldiers were 
posted to examine passports. One of these men was a thorough¬ 
bred Pampas Indian ; he was kept much for the same purpose 
as a bloodhound, to track out any person who might pass by 
secretly, either on foot or horseback. Some years ago a 
passenger endeavoured to escape detection by making a long 
circuit over a neighbouring mountain ; but this Indian, having 
by chance crossed his track, followed it for the whole day over 
dry and very stony hills, till at last he came on his prey hidden 
in a gully. We here heard that the silvery clouds, which we 
had admired from the bright region above, had poured down 
torrents of rain. The valley from this point gradually opened, 
and the hills became mere water-worn hillocks compared to the 
giants behind ; it then expanded into a gently-sloping plain of 
shingle, covered with low trees and bushes. This talus, although 
appearing narrow, must be nearly ten miles wide before it blends 
into the apparently dead level Pampas. We passed the only 
house in this neighbourhood, the Estancia of Chaquaio ; and 
at sunset we pulled up in the first snug corner, and there 
bivouacked. 
March 25 th .—I was reminded of the Pampas of Buenos 
Ayres, by seeing the disk of the rising sun intersected by an 
horizon level as that of the ocean. During the night a heavy 
dew fell, a circumstance which we did not experience within 
the Cordillera. The road proceeded for some distance due 
east across a low swamp ; then meeting the dry plain, it 
turned to the north towards Mendoza. The distance is two 
very long days’ journey. Our first day’s journey was called 
fourteen leagues to Estacado, and the second seventeen to 
Luxan, near Mendoza. The whole distance is over a level 
desert plain, with not more than two or three houses. The 
sun was exceedingly powerful, and the ride devoid of all 
interest. There is very little water in this traversia,” and 
in our second day’s journey we found only one little pool. 
Little water flows from the mountains, and it soon becomes 
absorbed by the dry and porous soil ; so that, although we 
travelled at the distance of only ten or fifteen miles from the 
