All
Indians Of Every Age And Sex Make Their Offerings; They Then
Think That Their Horses Will Not Tire, And That They Themselves
Shall Be Prosperous.
The Gaucho who told me this, said that
in the time of peace he had witnessed this scene, and that
he and others used to wait till the Indians had passed by, for
the sake of stealing from Walleechu the offerings.
The Gauchos think that the Indians consider the tree as
the god itself, but it seems for more probable that they
regard it as the altar. The only cause which I can imagine
for this choice, is its being a landmark in a dangerous passage.
The Sierra de la Ventana is visible at an immense
distance; and a Gaucho told me that he was once riding with
an Indian a few miles to the north of the Rio Colorado
when the Indian commenced making the same loud noise
which is usual at the first sight of the distant tree, putting
his hand to his head, and then pointing in the direction of the
Sierra. Upon being asked the reason of this, the Indian said
in broken Spanish, "First see the Sierra." About two
leagues beyond this curious tree we halted for the night: at
this instant an unfortunate cow was spied by the lynx-eyed
Gauchos, who set off in full chase, and in a few minutes
dragged her in with their lazos, and slaughtered her. We
here had the four necessaries of life "en el campo," - pasture
for the horses, water (only a muddy puddle), meat and
firewood. The Gauchos were in high spirits at finding all
these luxuries; and we soon set to work at the poor cow. This
was the first night which I passed under the open sky, with
the gear of the recado for my bed. There is high enjoyment
in the independence of the Gaucho life - to be able at any
moment to pull up your horse, and say, "Here we will pass
the night." The death-like stillness of the plain, the dogs
keeping watch, the gipsy-group of Gauchos making their
beds round the fire, have left in my mind a strongly-marked
picture of this first night, which will never be forgotten.
The next day the country continued similar to that above
described. It is inhabited by few birds or animals of any
kind. Occasionally a deer, or a Guanaco (wild Llama) may
be seen; but the Agouti (Cavia Patagonica) is the commonest
quadruped. This animal here represents our hares. It
differs, however, from that genus in many essential respects;
for instance, it has only three toes behind. It is also nearly
twice the size, weighing from twenty to twenty-five pounds.
The Agouti is a true friend of the desert; it is a common
feature of the landscape to see two or three hopping quickly
one after the other in a straight line across these wild plains.
They are found as far north as the Sierra Tapalguen (lat.
37 degs.
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