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Show 78 RIO NEGRO. Aug. 1833. o ex.i t· m. a more humid climate the whence there was n ' ld soon have hollowed a water flowing from the laked whou verted the depression . h ft t ata an t us con . channel m t e so s ~ ' ll There is reason to believe of the soil into an ordmary va e~. . have been raised above that the whole of the~eh~reat peai nntsgeological period. May 1 f th a wit m a rec the leve o e se' d the sa1 .m as as the receptacles of the we not then consi .er t ta ? On this idea we un- . f th sedimentary s ra . . washmgs o e h the land is granitic. It 1s derstand their absence w tere 1 evaporating dishes can only manifest that these great na ura l . 's small* h unt of annua ram 1 . occur where t e amo he Rio Negro, between it and the To the northward of tB Ayres the Spaniards have inhabited country near uenos tly . ~stablished at Bahia 11 settlement, recen . . only one sma . . t . ht line to the cap1tal1s very 1 The distance m a s raig . f B anca.f i 1 dred Bn.t l.s h m1. 1e s. The wandering tnbes o nearly v: mn h' h have always occupied the greater part of horse Indmns, wh 1~ f late much harassed the outlying h. ntry avmg o . t 1S c?u ' ment at Buenos Ayres eqmpped some estanCias, the govern d th command of General Rosas time since an army un er e re now ur ose of exterminating them. The ~roops :Ve for the pdp the banks of the Colorado; a nver lymg about encampe on h R' N ro When . 'l s to the northward of t e 10 eg . ~~~::~sas left Buenos Ayres, he struck in a direc\~ne the Unexplored plains: and as the country was us across · d h' t 'de pretty well cleared of Indians, he left behm Im, a WI "* Almost every circumstance here mentl·O ne d ' oc curs in the. salt lakes . l b d rs Of the Caspian. That country, like Patagoma, appears near t 1e or e p 11 tates to have been recently elevated above the w~ters ?f the sea. a. :a~ the that the salt lakes occupy shallow depressiOns m ~he steppes ' h l d on the borders in every case is black and fetJd ; that beneat . t le ::st of sea salt, sulphate of magnesia occurs, imperfec~ c;;stal!J:;o~~ that the muddy sand is mixed with lentils of gypsum. e .ave d stated that these lakes are inhabited by small crustace~ous ~mmals ; ant flaml'ngoes (Edin. New Philos. Jour., Jan. 1830) hkew1s~ frequde~ th As these circumstances, apparent1 y so tn'f l'm g, occu r m two JS- ta~~·continents, we may feel sure they are the necessary results of some common cause.-See Pallas's Travels, 1793 to 1794, P· 129-134. Aug. 1833. SACRED TREE. 79 intervals, a small party of soldiers, with a troop of horses (a posta), so as to be enabled to keep up a communication with the capital. As the Beagle intended to call at Bahia Blanca, I determined to proceed there by land ; and ultimately I extended my plan so as to travel the whole way by the postas to Buenos Ayres. AuGUST 11 TH.-Mr. Harris, an Englishman residing at Patagones, a guide, and five Gauchos, who were proceeding to the army on business, were my companions on the journey. The Colorado, as I have already said, is nearly eighty miles distant: and as we travelled slowly, we were two days and a half on the road. The whole line of country deserves scarcely a better name than that of a desert. W at~r is found only in two small wells : it is ca1led fresh ; but even at this time of the year, during the rainy season, it was quite brackish. In the summer this must be a distressing passage ; for now it was sufficiently desolate. The valley of the Rio Negro, broad as it is, has merely been excavated out of the sandstone plain ; for immediately above the bank on which the town stands, a level country commences, which is interrupted only by a few trifling valleys and depressions. Every where the landscape wears the same sterile aspect; a dry gravelly soil supports tufts of brown withered grass, and low scattered bushes, armed with thorns. Shortly after passing the first spring we came in sight of a famous tree, which the Indians reverence as the altar of W alleechu. It is situated on a high part of the plain, and hence is a landmark visible at a great distance. As soon as a tribe of Indians come in sight of it, they offer their adorations by loud shouts. The tree itself is low, much branched, and thorny. Just above the root it has a diameter of about three feet. It stands by itself without any neighbour, and was indeed the first tree we saw ; afterwards we met with a few others of the same kind, but they were far from common. Being winter the tree had no leaves, but in their place numberless threads, by which the various offerings, such as cigars, bread, meat, pieces of cloth, &c., |