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Show 80 RIO NEGRO. Aug. 1833. had been suspended. Poor people not having any thing better, only pulled a thread out of their ponchos, and fastened it to the tree. The Indians, moreover, were accustomed to pour spirits and mate into a certain hole, and ~kewise to smoke upwards, thinking thus to afford all possible gratification to W alleechu. To complete the scene, the tree was surrounded by the bleached bones of the horses which had been slaughtered as sacrifices. All Indians of every age and sex, made their offerings ; they then thought that their horses would not tire, and that they themselves should be prosperous. The Gaucho who told me this, said that in the time of peace he had witnessed this scene, and that he and others used to wait till the Indians had passed by, for the sake of stealing their offerings from W alleechu. The Gauchos think that the Indians consider the tree as the god itself; but it seems far more probable that they regard it as the altar. The only cause which I can imagine for this choice, is its being a landmark in a dangerous passage. The Sierra de la V entana is visible at an immense distance ; and a Gaucho told me that he was once riding with an Indian a few miles to the north of the Rio Colorado, when the latter commenced making the same loud noise, which is usual at the first sight of the distant tree ; putting his hand to his head, and then pointing it in the direction of the Sierra. Upon being asked the reason of this, the Indian said in broken Spanish, " First see the Sierra." This likewise would render it probable that the utility of a distant landmark is the first cause of its adoration. About two leagues beyond this curious tree we halted for the night: at this instant an unfortunate cow was spied by the lynx-eyed Gauchos. Off they set in chase, and in a few minutes she was dragged in by the lazo, and slaughtered. We here had the four necessaries of life " en el campo,"-pasture for the horses, water (only a muddy puddle), meat, and firewood. The Gauchos were in high spirits at finding all these luxuries ; and we soon set to work at the poor cow. This was the first night which I had ever passed AGOUTI. Aug. 1833. 81 under the open sky, with the gear of the recad 'rhere is high enjoyment in th . d d 0 for my bed. life-to be able at any m etm epen ence of the Gaucho omen to pull up yo h say, " Here we will pass the . ht " ur ?rse, and ness of the plain the do k n~g · The deathhke still- ' gs eepmg watch th · of Gauchos making their b d d ' e gipsy-group . e s roun the fir h 1 . my mmd a strongly-marked . t . e, ave eft m will not soon be forgotten. pw ure of this first night, which The next day the country continu d . . described. It is inhabited b fe b~ ~Imilar .to that above sionally a deer, or a Guanaco rwil: L;rds or ammals. Occathe Agouti (Cavia Pata(}'onic ) . th ama) may be seen; but This animal here repres~nts :u:s har:~ornmo~est quadruped. from that genus in many esse t' I . It di~ers, however, only three toes behind I; .Ia rlespects ; for mstance, it has . h. . IS a so nearly twic th . Weig mg from twenty to t t fi e e Size, is a true friend to the desertwe~t Y.- ve pounds. The Agouti 1 d · ; I Is a common r tu . an scape to see two or th h . lea re m the other in a strai(J'ht I' ree oppmg quickly one after the o me across these wild 1 . eastern side of America th . h p ams. 0 n the s· eir nort ern limit is£ d b Ierra Tapalguen (lat. 3 7o 30') h . orme y the denly become greener d ' wh ere. the plams rather sud-d an more umid Th I' . epends on this chan t · e Imit certainly wh' h . ge, or near Mendoza (lat 39o 30') Ic Is much further north but wh . v ' sterile, I again met the A ' . I . ere the ~ountry is very circumstances their south~~~tlllmitt :: not eVIdent. by what between Port Desire and St Jul' governed; It occurs there is no chanae in the k' d f lla~ (about 48o 30'), where gradual one of otem t m o an ' and only a trifling and pera ure. It is · 1 although the Agout' · a smgu ar fact, that S 1 Is not now found so £ h t. Julian, yet that Ca tain . . ar sout as Port talks of them b . p Wood, m his voyage in 1670 as emg numerous th Wh ' have altered 1·n a 'd . ere. at cause can ' WI e umnhab't d d country, the range of an :nimal l'k I e.' an rarely-visited from the number shot . I e this? It appears, also, must have beeil 'd m one day at Port Desire, that they than at present coAn si erably mo re a lm n d ant there formerly · zara states that the A t' VOL. nr. gou 1 never ex- G |