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Show J.34 PAMPAS. Sept. 1833. dozen dry thistle-stalks bound together with thongs of hide ; and by the aid of these Ionic-like columns the roof and sides were thatched with reeds. We were here told a fact, which I would not have credited, if I had not had partly ocular proof of it; namely, that, during the previous night, hail as large as small apples, and extremely hard, had fallen with such violence, as to kill the greater number of the wild animals. One of the men h_ad already found thirteen deer (Cervus campest1·is) lying dead, and I saw their fresh hides; another of the party, a few minutes after my arrival, brought in seven more. Now I well know, that one man without dogs, would hardly have killed seven deer in a week. The men believed they had seen about fifteen dead ostriches (part of one of which we had for dinner); and they said that several were running about evidently blind in one eye. Numbers of smaller birds, as ducks, hawks, and partridges, were killed. I saw one of the latter with a black mark on its back, as if it had been struck with a paving-stone. A fence of thistle-stalks round the hovel, was nearly broken down, and my informer putting his head out to see what was the matter, . received a severe cut, and now wore a bandage. The storm was said to have been of limited extent: we certainly saw from our last night's bivouac a dense cloud and lightning in this direction. It is marvellous how such strong animals as deer could thus have been killed ; but I have no doubt, from the evidence I have given, that the story is not in the least exaggerated. I am glad, however, to have its credibility supported by the Jesuit Drobrizho:ffer,* who, speaking of a country much to the northward, says, hail fell of an enormous size and killed vast numbers of cattle: the Indians hence called the place Lalegmicavalca, meaning "The little white things." Having finished our dinner of hail-stricken meat, we crossed the Sierra Tapalguen ; a low range of hills, a few hundred feet in height, which commences at Cape Corrientes. • History of the Abipones, vol. ii., p. 6. Sept. 1833. NATURAL ENCLOSURE. 135 The rock in this part is pure quartz ; further eastward I understand it is granitic. The hills are of a remarkable form ; they consist of flat patches of table-land, surrounded by low but perpendicular cliffs, like the outliers of a sedimentary deposit. The hill which I ascended was very small, not above a couple of hundred yards in diameter; but I saw others larger. One which goes by the name of the " Corral," is said to be two or three miles in diameter, and encompassed on all sides by perpendicular cliffs, between thirty and forty feet high, excepting at one spot, where the entrance lies. Falconer* gives a curious account of the Indians driving within it troops of wild horses, and then by guarding the entrance, keeping them secure. I have never heard of any other instance of table-land in a formation of quartz, and which, in the hill I examined, had neither cleavage or stratification. I was told that the rock of the "Corral" was white, and would strike fire. We did not reach the posta on the Rio Tapalguen till after it was dark. At supper, from somethino- which was • 0 said, I was suddenly struck with horror at thinking that I was eating one of the favourite dishes of the country, namely, a half-formed calf, long before its proper time of birth. It turned out to be Puma; the meat is very white, and remarkably like veal in taste. Dr. Shaw was laughed at for stating that, " the flesh of the lion is in great esteem having no small affinity with veal, both in colour, taste, and flavour." Such certainly is the case with the Puma. !he Gauchos differ in their opinion, whether the Jaguar 1s good eating, but are unanimous in saying that cat is excellent. SEPTEMBER 17TH.-We followed the course of the Rio Tapalguen, through a very fertile country, to the ninth posta. Tapalguen itself, or the town of Tapalguen, if it may be so called, consists of a perfect! y level plain, studded over as far as the eye can reach, with the toldos, or oven- • Falconer's Patagonia, p. 70. |