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Show 92 BAHIA BLANCA. Aug. 1833. attention of naturalists : what can be more singular th.an thus to see square miles of country thinly crusted over with Glauber salt? It may be asked whether plants do not decompose the muriate of soda ? but whence ?omes the l 1 · · d ' In Peru nitrate of soda occurs m beds far SU p lUflC aCl . ' thicker than these of the sulphate. Both cases are equally mys t en·o us. I suspect that, as a general rule, the. salts of soda are infinitely more common in South Amenca than those of potash. Two days afterwards, I again rode to the harb.our~ but to a nearer part of it. When not far from our destmatwn, my companion, the same man as ~efore, ~pied three people hu~ting on horseback. He immedmtely d.1smo~nted, a~d .watchmg them intently, said, "They don't nde hke Chnstians, and nobody can leave the fort." The three h~nters joined company, and likewise dismounted from ~heir horse~. At last one mounted again and rode over the h11l out of sight. My companion said, " We must now get on our horses : load your pistol;" and he looked to his own sword. I. asked, "Are they Indians?"-" Quien sabe? (who knows?) If there are no more than three, it does not signify." It then struck me, that the one man had gone over the hill to fetch the rest of his tribe. I suggested this ; but all the answer I could extort was, " Quien sabe ?" His head and eye never for a minute ceased scanning slowly the distant horizon. I thought his uncommon coolness too good a joke, and asked him why he did not return home. I was startled when he answered, " We are returning, but in a line so as to pass near a swamp, into which we can gallop the horses as far as they can go, and then trust to our own legs; so that there is no danger." I did not feel quite so confident of this, and wanted to increase our pace. He said, " No, not until they do." When any little inequality concealed us, we galloped; but when in sight continued walking. At last we reached a valley, and turning to the left, galloped quickly to the foot of a hill, he gave me his horse to hold, made the dogs lie down, and then crawled on his hands and knees to reconnoitre. He re- Aug. 1833. ZORILLO, 93 mained in this position for some time and at 1 t b t' t · 1 h . ' as , urs mg ou m aug ter, ex~la1med, ': Mugeres !" (women!) He knew them to be the Wife and Sister-in-law of th · ' h . . , e maJor s son untmg for ostnch s ego-s. J have descn'b d th' , ' t1 e Is man s con-duct, because he acted under the full im . h h were Indians. As soon however as the pbressdwn . t akt t ey ' ' a sur mista e was found out, he gav~ me a hundred reasons, why they could not have been Indians . but all these f . ' were orgotten at the ti~e. We then rode on in peace and quietness to a low pomt called Punta Alta, whence we could see nearl the whole of the great harbour of Bahia Blanca. y The wide expanse of water is choked up by nu great mud-banks, which the inhabitants call Cangre. 7erous crabberies, from the number of small crabs Th Jade~, or f h · · . · emu IS so so t, t at .It IS Impossible to walk over them, even for the shortes~ distance. Many of the banks have their surfaces co~~ r~d With long rushes, the tops of which alone are visible at 1Ig water. On one occasion, when in a boat, we were so en-tangl~ d by these shallows, that we could hardly find our way N othmg was visible, but the flat beds of mud : the day wa~ n~t very clear, and there was much refraction or as the S~Jlo:s expres~ed it, "things loomed high." Th: only object Withm our VIew, which was not level, was the horizon . ~ushes looked like bushes unsupported in the air, and wate; like mud-banks, and mud-banks like water. ~ e passe~ the night in Punta Alta, and I employed myself m searchmg for fossil bones; this point, being a perfect catacomb for monsters of extinct races. The evening was perfe~tly ~alm and clear; the extreme monotony of the view gave It. an mterest, even in the midst of mud-banks and gulls, sand-~Illocks, and solitary vultures. In riding back in the ~ormng, we cam~ across a very fresh track of a Puma but did no.t succeed m finding him. We saw also a c~uple of Zonllos, or skunks,-odious animals, which are far from uncommo~. In general appearance the Zorillo resembles ~ ~o.lecat, but it. is rathc~ larger, and much thicker in pro! 01 tion. Conscwus of 1ts power, it roams by day about |