horses, to take me to see whether she had arrived. Leaving the plain
of green turf, which extended along the course of a little brook, we
soon entered on a wide level waste consisting either of sand, saline
marshes, or bare mud. Some parts were clothed by low thickets, and
others with those succulent plants, which luxuriate only where salt
abounds. Bad as the country was, ostriches, deer, agoutis, and
armadilloes, were abundant. My guide told me, that two months before
he had a most narrow escape of his life: he was out hunting with two
other men, at no great distance from this part of the country, when
they were suddenly met by a party of Indians, who giving chase, soon
overtook and killed his two friends. His own horse's legs were also
caught by the bolas, but he jumped off, and with his knife cut them
free: while doing this he was obliged to dodge round his horse, and
received two severe wounds from their chuzos. Springing on the saddle,
he managed, by a most wonderful exertion, just to keep ahead of the
long spears of his pursuers, who followed him to within sight of the
fort. From that time there was an order that no one should stray far
from the settlement. I did not know of this when I started, and was
surprised to observe how earnestly my guide watched a deer, which
appeared to have been frightened from a distant quarter.
We found the Beagle had not arrived, and consequently set out on our
return, but the horses soon tiring, we were obliged to bivouac on the
plain. In the morning we had caught an armadillo, which although a
most excellent dish when roasted in its shell, did not make a very
substantial breakfast and dinner for two hungry men. The ground at the
place where we stopped for the night, was incrusted with a layer of
sulphate of soda, and hence, of course, was without water. Yet many of
the smaller rodents managed to exist even here, and the tucutuco was
making its odd little grunt beneath my head, during half the night. Our
horses were very poor ones, and in the morning they were soon exhausted
from not having had anything to drink, so that we were obliged to walk.
About noon the dogs killed a kid, which we roasted. I ate some of it,
but it made me intolerably thirsty. This was the more distressing as
the road, from some recent rain, was full of little puddles of clear
water, yet not a drop was drinkable. I had scarcely been twenty hours
without water, and only part of the time under a hot sun, yet the
thirst rendered me very weak. How people survive two or three days
under such circumstances, I cannot imagine: at the same time, I must
confess that my guide did not suffer at all, and was astonished that
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