They Were, However, So Completely Decayed,
That I Could Only Bring Away Small Fragments Of One Of The
Great Molar
Teeth; but these are sufficient to show that the
remains belonged to a Mastodon, probably to the same species
with
That, which formerly must have inhabited the Cordillera
in Upper Peru in such great numbers. The men
who took me in the canoe, said they had long known of these
skeletons, and had often wondered how they had got there:
the necessity of a theory being felt, they came to the
conclusion that, like the bizcacha, the mastodon was formerly
a burrowing animal! In the evening we rode another stage,
and crossed the Monge, another brackish stream, bearing the
dregs of the washings of the Pampas.
October 2nd. - We passed through Corunda, which, from
the luxuriance of its gardens, was one of the prettiest
villages I saw. From this point to St. Fe the road is not very
safe. The western side of the Parana northward, ceases to
be inhabited; and hence the Indians sometimes come down
thus far, and waylay travellers. The nature of the country
also favours this, for instead of a grassy plain, there is an
open woodland, composed of low prickly mimosas. We
passed some houses that had been ransacked and since deserted;
we saw also a spectacle, which my guides viewed
with high satisfaction; it was the skeleton of an Indian
with the dried skin hanging on the bones, suspended to the
branch of a tree.
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