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Show 124 CHAPTER VI. . S Sierra Ventana-Transportal of Set out for Buenos Ayres-DR~o. aulc~s Bolas-Partridges and foxes bbl Third posta- riVlng wrs - pe es- L 1 d plover_ Teru-tero-Hailstorm --Features of country- ong- egge Fl h f uma-Meat diet Natural enclosures in Sierra Tapalguen- es o p. C d =Guardia del Monte-Effects of cattle on the vegetatiOn- ar oon- Buenos Ayres-Corral where animals are slaughtered. . BAHIA BLANCA TO BUENOS AYRES. S EPTEMBER 8T H.-Having with some difficulty hired a Gaucho to accompany me, on my ride ~o Buen.os Ayres, we starte d earl y m. the morning · The distance 1s about four hundred miles, and nearly the whole way through an un-inhabited country. Ascending a few hundred feet from the b . of O"reen turf on which Bahia Blanca stands, we en-asm o . br tered on a wide desolate plain. It consists of a crum mg argillaceo-calcareou·s rock, which, from th~ dry nature of .the climate, supports only scattered tufts of withered grass, wit~out a single bush or tree to break the monotonous umformity. The weather was fine, but the atmosphere remarkably hazy ; I thought the appearance fore~oded a gale, but the Gauchos said it was owing to the plam, at some great distance in the interior, being on fire. Mter a long gallop, having changed horses twice, we reached the Rio Sauce. It is a deep, rapid, little stream, but not above twenty-five feet wide. The second posta on the road to Buenos Ayres stands on its banks ; a little above there is a pass for horses, where the water does not reach to the horse's belly; but from that point, in its course to the sea, it is quite impassable, and hence makes a most useful barrier against the Indians. Insignificant as this stream is, the Jesuit Falc~ner, whose information is generally so very correct, figures 1t as a considerable river, rising at the foot of the Cordillera. With respect to its source, I do not doubt this is the case; for the Sept. 1833. SIERRA V.ENTANA. 125 Gauchos assured me, that in the middle of the dry summer this stream, at the same time with the Colorado, has perio~ dical floods; which can only originate in the snow melting on the Andes. It is extremely improbable that a str~am, so small as the Sauce then was, should traverse the entire width of the continent; and indeed, if it were the residue of a large river, its waters, as in other ascertained cases would be saline. During the winter we must look to th~ sprin~s r~und the Sierra V entana as the source of its pure ~nd hmpid stream.. I suspect the plains of Patagonia, hk~ those of Australia, are traversed by many water-courses, whwh only .Pe~form their ~roper parts at certain periods. Probably this Is the case With the water which flows into the head of Port Desi~e, and likewise with the Rio Chupat, on the banks of whwh masses of highly cellular scorire were ~ound by the. officers employed in the survey. As It was early m the afternoon when we arrived, we took fr~sh horses, and a soldier for a guide, and started for the Sierra de la Ventana. This mountain is visible from the ~ncho~age at Bahia Blanca ; and Capt. FitzRoy calculates Its hmght to be 3500 feet ;-an altitude very remarkable on this. eastern si~e of the con~i~ent. I am not aware that any foreigner, prevwus to my VISit, had ascended this mountain . and indeed very few of the soldiers at Bahia Blanca kne~ any thing about it. Hence we heard of beds of coal of gold and silver, of caves, and of forests, all of which infla~ed my curiosity, only to disappoint it. The distance from the posta was about six leagues, over a level plain of the same character as before. The ride was, however, interesting, as the mountain began to show its true form. When we reached the foot of the main ridge, we had much difficulty in finding any water, and we thought we should have been obliged to have passed the night without any. At last we discovered some, by looking close to the mountain, for at the distance even of a few hundred yards, the streamlets were buried and entirely lost in the friable calcareous stone, and loose detritus. I do not think nature ever made a more solitary, |