r:°i :■
134 Sept. 1833.
dozen dry thistle-stalks bound together with thongs of hid e ;
and by the aid of these Ionic-like columns the roof and sides
were thatched with reeds. We were here told a fact, which
I would not have credited, if I had not had partly ocular
proof of i t ; namely, that, during the previous night, hail as
large as small apples, and extremely hard, had fallen with
such violence, as to kill the greater number of the wild
animals. One of the men had already found thirteen
deer [Cervus campestris) lying dead, and I saw their fresh
hides; another of the party, a few minutes after my arrival,
brought in seven more. Now I weU know, that one man
without dogs, would hardly have killed seven deer in a week.
The men believed they had seen about fifteen dead ostriches
(part of one of which we had for dinner); and they said that
several were running about evidently blind in one eye. Numbers
of smaller birds, as ducks, hawks, and partridges, were
killed. I saw one of the latter with a black mark on its
back, as if it had been struck with a paving-stone. A fence of
thistle-stalks round the hove), was nearly broken down, and
my informer putting his head out to see what was the matter,
received a severe cut, and now wore a bandage. The storm
was said to have been of limited extent: we certainly saw
from our last night’s bivouac a dense cloud and lightning in
this direction. It is marvellous how such strong animals as
deer could thus have been killed; but I have no doubt, from
the evidence I have given, that the story is not in the least
exaggerated. I am glad, however, to have its credibility
supported by the Jesuit Drobrizhoffer,* who, speaking of a
country much to the northward, says, hail fell of an enormous
size and killed vast numbers of cattle : the Indians hence
called the place Lalegraicava/ca, meaning “ The little white
things.”
Having finished our dinner of hail-stricken meat, we
crossed the Sierra Tapalguen; a low range of hills, a few
hundred feet in height, which commences at Cape Corrientes.
I
Sept. 1833. NATURAL ENCLOSURE. 135
The rock in this part is pure quartz; further eastward I
understand it is granitic. The hills are of a remarkable
form; they consist of flat patches of table-land, surrounded
by low but perpendicular cliffs, like the outliers of a sedimentary
deposit. The hill which I ascended was very
small, not above a couple of hundred yards in diameter; but
I saw others larger. One which goes by the name of the
“ Corral,” is said to be two or three miles in diameter, and
encompassed on all sides by perpendicular cliffs, between
thirty and forty feet high, excepting at one spot, where the
entrance lies. Falconer# gives a curious account of the
Indians driving within it troops of wild horses, and then by
guarding the entrance, keeping them secure. I have never
heard of any other instance of table-land in a formation of
quartz, and which, in the hill I examined, had neither
cleavage or stratification. I was told that the rock of the
“ Corral” was white, and would strike fire.
We did not reach the posta on the Rio Tapalguen till
after it was dark. At supper, from something which was
said, I was suddenly struck with horror at thinking that
I was eating one of the favourite dishes of the country,
namely, a half-formed calf, long before its proper time of
birth. It turned out to be Puma; the meat is very white,
and remarkably like veal in taste. Dr. Shaw was laughed
at for stating that, “ the flesh of the lion is in great esteem,
having no small affinity with veal, both in colour, taste, and
flavour.” Such certainly is the case with the Puma.
The Gauchos differ in their opinion, whether the Jaguar
is good eating, but are unanimous in saying that cat is
excellent.
S e p t e m b e r 1 7 t h .—We followed the course of the Rio
Tapalguen, through a very fertile country, to the ninth
posta. Tapalguen itself, or the town of Tapalguen, if it
may be so called, consists of a perfectly level plain, studded
over as far as the eye can reach, with the toldos, or oven