rushed into the Parana, and being exhausted by hunger they were unable
to crawl up the muddy banks, and thus were drowned. The arm of the
river which runs by San Pedro was so full of putrid carcasses, that the
master of a vessel told me that the smell rendered it quite impassable.
Without doubt several hundred thousand animals thus perished in the
river: their bodies when putrid were seen floating down the stream; and
many in all probability were deposited in the estuary of the Plata. All
the small rivers became highly saline, and this caused the death of
vast numbers in particular spots; for when an animal drinks of such
water it does not recover. Azara describes [9] the fury of the wild
horses on a similar occasion, rushing into the marshes, those which
arrived first being overwhelmed and crushed by those which followed. He
adds that more than once he has seen the carcasses of upwards of a
thousand wild horses thus destroyed. I noticed that the smaller
streams in the Pampas were paved with a breccia of bones but this
probably is the effect of a gradual increase, rather than of the
destruction at any one period. Subsequently to the drought of 1827 to
1832, a very rainy season followed which caused great floods. Hence it
is almost certain that some thousands of the skeletons were buried by
the deposits of the very next year. What would be the opinion of a
geologist, viewing such an enormous collection of bones, of all kinds
of animals and of all ages, thus embedded in one thick earthy mass?
Would he not attribute it to a flood having swept over the surface of
the land, rather than to the common order of things? [10]
October 12th.--I had intended to push my excursion further, but not
being quite well, I was compelled to return by a balandra, or
one-masted vessel of about a hundred tons' burden, which was bound to
Buenos Ayres. As the weather was not fair, we moored early in the day
to a branch of a tree on one of the islands. The Parana is full of
islands, which undergo a constant round of decay and renovation. In the
memory of the master several large ones had disappeared, and others
again had been formed and protected by vegetation. They are composed
of muddy sand, without even the smallest pebble, and were then about
four feet above the level of the river; but during the periodical
floods they are inundated. They all present one character; numerous
willows and a few other trees are bound together by a great variety of
creeping plants, thus forming a thick jungle. These thickets afford a
retreat for capybaras and jaguars. The fear of the latter animal quite
destroyed all pleasure in scrambling through the woods. This evening I
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