The country near the mouth of the river is wretched in the extreme: on
the south side a long line of perpendicular cliffs commences, which
exposes a section of the geological nature of the country. The strata
are of sandstone, and one layer was remarkable from being composed of a
firmly-cemented conglomerate of pumice pebbles, which must have
travelled more than four hundred miles, from the Andes. The surface is
everywhere covered up by a thick bed of gravel, which extends far and
wide over the open plain. Water is extremely scarce, and, where found,
is almost invariably brackish. The vegetation is scanty; and although
there are bushes of many kinds, all are armed with formidable thorns,
which seem to warn the stranger not to enter on these inhospitable
regions.
The settlement is situated eighteen miles up the river. The road
follows the foot of the sloping cliff, which forms the northern
boundary of the great valley, in which the Rio Negro flows. On the way
we passed the ruins of some fine "estancias," which a few years since
had been destroyed by the Indians. They withstood several attacks. A
man present at one gave me a very lively description of what took
place. The inhabitants had sufficient notice to drive all the cattle
and horses into the "corral" [1] which surrounded the house, and
likewise to mount some small cannon. The Indians were Araucanians from
the south of Chile; several hundreds in number, and highly disciplined.
They first appeared in two bodies on a neighbouring hill; having there
dismounted, and taken off their fur mantles, they advanced naked to the
charge. The only weapon of an Indian is a very long bamboo or chuzo,
ornamented with ostrich feathers, and pointed by a sharp spearhead. My
informer seemed to remember with the greatest horror the quivering of
these chuzos as they approached near. When close, the cacique
Pincheira hailed the besieged to give up their arms, or he would cut
all their throats. As this would probably have been the result of
their entrance under any circumstances, the answer was given by a
volley of musketry. The Indians, with great steadiness, came to the
very fence of the corral: but to their surprise they found the posts
fastened together by iron nails instead of leather thongs, and, of
course, in vain attempted to cut them with their knives. This saved
the lives of the Christians: many of the wounded Indians were carried
away by their companions, and at last, one of the under caciques being
wounded, the bugle sounded a retreat. They retired to their horses,
and seemed to hold a council of war. This was an awful pause for the
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