but where, as at Bahia Blanca, the Bizcacha is not found, the Agouti
burrows for itself. The same thing occurs with the little owl of the
Pampas (Athene cunicularia), which has so often been described as
standing like a sentinel at the mouth of the burrows; for in Banda
Oriental, owing to the absence of the Bizcacha, it is obliged to hollow
out its own habitation.
The next morning, as we approached the Rio Colorado, the appearance of
the country changed; we soon came on a plain covered with turf, which,
from its flowers, tall clover, and little owls, resembled the Pampas.
We passed also a muddy swamp of considerable extent, which in summer
dries, and becomes incrusted with various salts; and hence is called a
salitral. It was covered by low succulent plants, of the same kind
with those growing on the sea-shore. The Colorado, at the pass where
we crossed it, is only about sixty yards wide; generally it must be
nearly double that width. Its course is very tortuous, being marked by
willow-trees and beds of reeds: in a direct line the distance to the
mouth of the river is said to be nine leagues, but by water
twenty-five. We were delayed crossing in the canoe by some immense
troops of mares, which were swimming the river in order to follow a
division of troops into the interior. A more ludicrous spectacle I
never beheld than the hundreds and hundreds of heads, all directed one
way, with pointed ears and distended snorting nostrils, appearing just
above the water like a great shoal of some amphibious animal. Mare's
flesh is the only food which the soldiers have when on an expedition.
This gives them a great facility of movement; for the distance to which
horses can be driven over these plains is quite surprising: I have been
assured that an unloaded horse can travel a hundred miles a day for
many days successively.
The encampment of General Rosas was close to the river. It consisted of
a square formed by waggons, artillery, straw huts, etc. The soldiers
were nearly all cavalry; and I should think such a villainous,
banditti-like army was never before collected together. The greater
number of men were of a mixed breed, between Negro, Indian, and
Spaniard. I know not the reason, but men of such origin seldom have a
good expression of countenance. I called on the Secretary to show my
passport. He began to cross-question me in the most dignified and
mysterious manner. By good luck I had a letter of recommendation from
the government of Buenos Ayres [5] to the commandant of Patagones. This
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