for strangers, and a small corral for the horses, all made of sticks
and reeds; he had also dug a ditch round his house as a defence in case
of being attacked. This would, however, have been of little avail, if
the Indians had come; but his chief comfort seemed to rest in the
thought of selling his life dearly. A short time before, a body of
Indians had travelled past in the night; if they had been aware of the
posta, our black friend and his four soldiers would assuredly have been
slaughtered. I did not anywhere meet a more civil and obliging man
than this negro; it was therefore the more painful to see that he would
not sit down and eat with us.
In the morning we sent for the horses very early, and started for
another exhilarating gallop. We passed the Cabeza del Buey, an old
name given to the head of a large marsh, which extends from Bahia
Blanca. Here we changed horses, and passed through some leagues of
swamps and saline marshes. Changing horses for the last time, we again
began wading through the mud. My animal fell and I was well soused in
black mire--a very disagreeable accident when one does not possess a
change of clothes. Some miles from the fort we met a man, who told us
that a great gun had been fired, which is a signal that Indians are
near. We immediately left the road, and followed the edge of a marsh,
which when chased offers the best mode of escape. We were glad to
arrive within the walls, when we found all the alarm was about nothing,
for the Indians turned out to be friendly ones, who wished to join
General Rosas.
Bahia Blanca scarcely deserves the name of a village. A few houses and
the barracks for the troops are enclosed by a deep ditch and fortified
wall. The settlement is only of recent standing (since 1828); and its
growth has been one of trouble. The government of Buenos Ayres
unjustly occupied it by force, instead of following the wise example of
the Spanish Viceroys, who purchased the land near the older settlement
of the Rio Negro, from the Indians. Hence the need of the
fortifications; hence the few houses and little cultivated land without
the limits of the walls; even the cattle are not safe from the attacks
of the Indians beyond the boundaries of the plain, on which the
fortress stands.
The part of the harbour where the Beagle intended to anchor being
distant twenty-five miles, I obtained from the Commandant a guide and
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