We Have
Likewise Many Of The Same (To The Eyes Of A Person Who Is
Not A Botanist) Thorny Stunted Bushes, Withered Grass, And
Dwarf Plants.
Even the black slowly crawling beetles are
closely similar, and some, I believe, on rigorous examination,
absolutely identical.
It had always been to me a subject of
regret, that we were unavoidably compelled to give up the
ascent of the S. Cruz river before reaching the mountains:
I always had a latent hope of meeting with some great
change in the features of the country; but I now feel sure,
that it would only have been following the plains of Patagonia
up a mountainous ascent.
March 24th. - Early in the morning I climbed up a mountain
on one side of the valley, and enjoyed a far extended
view over the Pampas. This was a spectacle to which I had
always looked forward with interest, but I was disappointed:
at the first glance it much resembled a distant view of the
ocean, but in the northern parts many irregularities were
soon distinguishable. The most striking feature consisted
in the rivers, which, facing the rising sun, glittered like
silver threads, till lost in the immensity of the distance. At
midday we descended the valley, and reached a hovel, where
an officer and three soldiers were posted to examine passports.
One of these men was a thoroughbred Pampas
Indian: he was kept much for the same purpose as a bloodhound,
to track out any person who might pass by secretly,
either on foot or horseback.
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