The Country On The Whole Resembled The Better
Parts Of The Cambridgeshire Fens.
At night we had some
difficulty in finding amidst the swamps, a dry place for our
bivouac.
September 15th. - Rose very early in the morning and
shortly after passed the posta where the Indians had murdered
the five soldiers. The officer had eighteen chuzo
wounds in his body. By the middle of the day, after a hard
gallop, we reached the fifth posta: on account of some difficulty
in procuring horses we stayed there the night. As this
point was the most exposed on the whole line, twenty-one
soldiers were stationed here; at sunset they returned from
hunting, bringing with them seven deer, three ostriches, and
many armadilloes and partridges. When riding through the
country, it is a common practice to set fire to the plain;
and hence at night, as on this occasion, the horizon was
illuminated in several places by brilliant conflagrations.
This is done partly for the sake of puzzling any stray Indians,
but chiefly for improving the pasture. In grassy
plains unoccupied by the larger ruminating quadrupeds, it
seems necessary to remove the superfluous vegetation by fire,
so as to render the new year's growth serviceable.
The rancho at this place did not boast even of a roof,
but merely consisted of a ring of thistle-stalks, to break
the force of the wind. It was situated on the borders of an
extensive but shallow lake, swarming with wild fowl, among
which the black-necked swan was conspicuous.
The kind of plover, which appears as if mounted on
stilts (Himantopus nigricollis), is here common in flocks of
considerable size. It has been wrongfully accused of inelegance;
when wading about in shallow water, which is its
favourite resort, its gait is far from awkward. These birds
in a flock utter a noise, that singularly resembles the cry of
a pack of small dogs in full chase: waking in the night, I
have more than once been for a moment startled at the distant
sound. The teru-tero (Vanellus cayanus) is another
bird, which often disturbs the stillness of the night. In
appearance and habits it resembles in many respects our peewits;
its wings, however, are armed with sharp spurs, like
those on the legs of the common cock. As our peewit takes
its name from the sound of its voice, so does the teru-tero.
While riding over the grassy plains, one is constantly pursued
by these birds, which appear to hate mankind, and I
am sure deserve to be hated for their never-ceasing, unvaried,
harsh screams. To the sportsman they are most annoying,
by telling every other bird and animal of his approach: to
the traveller in the country, they may possibly, as Molina
says, do good, by warning him of the midnight robber. During
the breeding season, they attempt, like our peewits, by
feigning to be wounded, to draw away from their nests dogs
and other enemies. The eggs of this bird are esteemed a
great delicacy.
September 16th. - To the seventh posta at the foot of the
Sierra Tapalguen. The country was quite level, with a
coarse herbage and a soft peaty soil. The hovel was here
remarkably neat, the posts and rafters being made of about
a dozen dry thistle-stalks bound together with thongs of
hide; and by the support 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 had already found thirteen
deer (Cervus campestris) 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 could hardly have killed seven deer in a week.
The men believed they had seen about fifteen 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 Dobrizhoffen, [4]
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 _Lalegraicavalca_, meaning
"the little white things." Dr. Malcolmson, also, informs me
that he witnessed in 1831 in India, a hail-storm, which
killed numbers of large birds and much injured the cattle.
These hailstones were flat, and one was ten inches in
circumference, and another weighed two ounces. They
ploughed up a gravel-walk like musket-balls, and passed
through glass-windows, making round holes, but not cracking
them.
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.
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 perpendicular cliffs, like the outliers of a sedimentary
deposit.
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