ii 'jli;
98 MAR-CHIQUITO HANGES OF HIL LS. A u g U S t
heads, nothing like an opening could be detected, though the
beach was scrutinized with good glasses, as well from the deck
as by those who looked down upon it from aloft as we sailed
by, I suspect that there has been some confusion of ideas
respecting the little river San Pahlo, and a supposed entrance
to the lagoon : but, he this as it may, very great difficulty
would be found in attempting to form a large and permanent
communication at a spot so exposed to heavy south-east gales.
A t Port Valdez (in latitude 42° S.) the entrance is sometimes
completely blocked up by shingle and sand, during and
after a strong south-east gale; and I think it probable that
such an effect would be caused here, at times, whether there
were a natural or an artificial opening; and as there is no
great rise and fall of tide, I much doubt whether the opening
would be again cleared, as at Port Valdez, by the mere ebb
and flow of water.
In the vicinity of Mar-chiquito, the country (campo) is very
fertile, and well watered. Sheltered to the south by a range
of down-like hills, whence numerous small brooks originate, it
gives abundant pasturage to many thousands of cattle, and
is considered by the Buenos Ayreans to be the finest district
of their territory. This range of hiUs extends in a west northwest
direction for more than fifty leagues, and varies in name
at different places. That part next to Cape Corrientes is called
Sierra Vuulcan ;* twenty leagues inland is the ridge named
Tandil, and at the western extreme is a height called Cayru.
Between Tandil and Cayru there are many hills known by
particular names, but they are all part of the range above-
mentioned ; and it is a remarkable fact, that not only this
range, that nearer to Buenos Ayres called Cemllada, and
that of which the Sierra Ventana forms a part, extend nearly
in an east-south-east and west-north-west direction; hut that
most of the ranges of high land, most of the rivers, and the
greater number of inlets, between the Plata and Cape Horn,
have a similar direction, not vai-ying from it above one point,
or at most two points of the compass. After we became awai-e
• An Indian word, which means • opening,’ or ‘ having openings.’
1832. CAPE CORRIENTES TÓSCA COAST. 99
of this pecuharity, it was far easier to avoid shoals, as they all
lay in a similar direction.
On a round-topped hill, near Mar-chiquito, we saw an immense
herd of cattle, collected together in one dark-coloured
mass, which covered many acres of ground. A few men, on
horseback, were watching them, who, seeing us anchor, drove
the whole multitude away at a gallop, and in a few minutes
not one was left behind. Probably they suspected us of marauding
inclinations.
Cape Corrientes is a bold, cliffy promontory; off which,
notwithstanding the name, I could not distinguish any remarkable
current. I t is said to be hazardous for a boat to go alongshore,
near the high chffs of that cape, because there are rocks
under water which sometimes cause sudden and extremely
dangerous ‘ blind breakers.’ More than one boat’s crew has
been lost there, in pursuit of seals, which are numerous among
the rocks and caves at the foot of those cliffs. Hence to Bahia
Blanco is a long and dreary line of coast, without an opening
fit to receive the smallest sailing vessel, without a remarkable
feature, and without a river whose mouth is not fordable. Even
the plan of it, on paper, has such a regular figure, that an
eye accustomed to charts may doubt its accuracy; so rarely
does the outhne of an exposed sea-coast extend so far without
a break. A heavy swell always sets upon i t ; there is no safe
anchorage near the shore; and, as if to complete its uninviting
qualities, in the interior, but verging on this shore, is a desert
tract, avoided even by the Indians, and called, in their language,
Huecuvu-mapu (country of the Devil). In exploring
this exposed coast, southerly winds sometimes obliged us to
struggle for aji offing; and we lost several anchors in consequence
of letting them go upon ground which we thought was
hard sand lying over clay, but which turned out to be tosca,
slightly covered with sand, and full of holes. The lead indicated
a sandy, though hard bottom; but we found it every
where so perforated and so tough, that, drop an anchor where
we might, it was sure to hook a rock-like lump of tosca, which
sometimes was torn away, but at others broke the anchor.
o
il .ii
I '
!■
J it ,
f tá
? 1