with a yellow pulpy matter, which, examined under a microscope,
presented an extraordinary appearance. The mass consisted
of rounded, semi-transparent, irregular grains, aggregated
together into particles of various sizes. All such particles,
and the separate grains, possessed the power of rapid movement
; generally revolving around different axes, hut sometimes
progressive. The movement was visible with a very
weak power, but with the highest its cause could not be
perceived. It was very different from the circulation of the
fluid in the elastic bag, containing the thin extremity of the
axis. On other occasions, when dissecting small marine
animals beneath the microscope, I have seen particles of pulpy
matter, some of large size, immediately they were disengaged,
commence revolving. I have imagined, I know not with
how much truth, that this granulo-pulpy matter was in
process of being converted into ova. Certainly in this
zoophyte such appeared to be the case.
During my stay at Bahia Blanca, while waiting for the
Beao-le, the place was in a constant state of excitement, from
rumours of wars and iflctories, between the troops of Rosas
and the wild Indians. One day an account came, that a
smaU party forming one of the postas on the line to Buenos
A>Tes, had been found aU 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 any thing more wild and
savage than the scene of their bivouac. Some drank till
theyYere 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.
N am s im u l e x p le tu s d a p ib u s , v in o q u e s e p u ltu s
C e rv ic em in fle x am p o s u it, ja c u i tq u e p e r a n trum
Im m e n su s , s a n iem e ru c ta n s , a c fru s ta c ru e n ta
P e r som n u ra c om m ix ta m ero.
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
teUs these people a whole history. Supposing they examine
the track of a thousand horses, they will soon guess
by seeing how many have cantered the number of men; 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, mares’ flesh for food,,
their saddle-cloths for beds,—as long as there is a little
water, these men would penetrate to the land’s end.
A few days afterwards I saw another troop of these han-
ditti-like soldiers start on an expedition against a tribe of
Indians at the smaU salinas, who had been betrayed by a
prisoner cacique. The Spaniard who brought the orders for
this expedition was a very intelligent man. He gave me an
account of the last engagement at which he was present.
Some Indians, who had been taken prisoners, gave information
of a tribe living north of the Colorado. Two hundred
soldiers were sent; and they first discovered the Indians by
a cloud of dust from their horses’ feet, as they chanced to be
travelling. The country was mountainous and wild, and it
must have been far in the interior, for the Cordillera was in
sight. The Indians, men, women, and children, were about
one hundred and ten in number, and they were nearly all