During my stay at Bahia Blanca, while waiting for the Beagle, the place
was in a constant state of excitement, from rumours of wars and
victories, between the troops of Rosas and the wild Indians. One day
an account came that a small party forming one of the postas on the
line to Buenos Ayres, had been found all murdered. The next day three
hundred men arrived from the Colorado, under the command of Commandant
Miranda. A large portion of these men were Indians (mansos, or tame),
belonging to the tribe of the Cacique Bernantio. They passed the night
here; and it was impossible to conceive anything more wild and savage
than the scene of their bivouac. Some drank till they were
intoxicated; others swallowed the steaming blood of the cattle
slaughtered for their suppers, and then, being sick from drunkenness,
they cast it up again, and were besmeared with filth and gore.
Nam simul expletus dapibus, vinoque sepultus Cervicem inflexam posuit,
jacuitque per antrum Immensus, saniem eructans, ac frusta cruenta Per
somnum commixta mero.
In the morning they started for the scene of the murder, with orders to
follow the "rastro," or track, even if it led them to Chile. We
subsequently heard that the wild Indians had escaped into the great
Pampas, and from some cause the track had been missed. One glance at
the rastro tells these people a whole history. Supposing they examine
the track of a thousand horses, they will soon guess the number of
mounted ones by seeing how many have cantered; by the depth of the
other impressions, whether any horses were loaded with cargoes; by the
irregularity of the footsteps, how far tired; by the manner in which
the food has been cooked, whether the pursued travelled in haste; by
the general appearance, how long it has been since they passed. They
consider a rastro of ten days or a fortnight, quite recent enough to be
hunted out. We also heard that Miranda struck from the west end of the
Sierra Ventana, in a direct line to the island of Cholechel, situated
seventy leagues up the Rio Negro. This is a distance of between two
and three hundred miles, through a country completely unknown. What
other troops in the world are so independent? With the sun for their
guide, mare's flesh for food, their saddle-cloths for beds,--as long as
there is a little water, these men would penetrate to the end of the
world.
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