two small wells; it is called fresh; but even at this time of the year,
during the rainy season, it was quite brackish. In the summer this must
be a distressing passage; for now it was sufficiently desolate. The
valley of the Rio Negro, broad as it is, has merely been excavated out
of the sandstone plain; for immediately above the bank on which the
town stands, a level country commences, which is interrupted only by a
few trifling valleys and depressions. Everywhere the landscape wears
the same sterile aspect; a dry gravelly soil supports tufts of brown
withered grass, and low scattered bushes, armed with thorns.
Shortly after passing the first spring we came in sight of a famous
tree, which the Indians reverence as the altar of Walleechu. It is
situated on a high part of the plain; and hence is a landmark visible
at a great distance. As soon as a tribe of Indians come in sight of
it, they offer their adorations by loud shouts. The tree itself is
low, much branched, and thorny: just above the root it has a diameter
of about three feet. It stands by itself without any neighbour, and
was indeed the first tree we saw; afterwards we met with a few others
of the same kind, but they were far from common. Being winter the tree
had no leaves, but in their place numberless threads, by which the
various offerings, such as cigars, bread, meat, pieces of cloth, etc.,
had been suspended. Poor Indians, not having anything better, only pull
a thread out of their ponchos, and fasten it to the tree. Richer
Indians are accustomed to pour spirits and mate into a certain hole,
and likewise to smoke upwards, thinking thus to afford all possible
gratification to Walleechu. To complete the scene, the tree was
surrounded by the bleached bones of horses which had been slaughtered
as sacrifices. All Indians of every age and sex make their offerings;
they then think that their horses will not tire, and that they
themselves shall 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 from Walleechu the offerings.
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 Ventana 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 Indian
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