THE RETURN.

393 I was not quite prepared for the statement of a scout, who, before we set out on this exploration, had been sent to watch the movements of the Indians, and who stated that not far from Sandia Paso "the current was running up." I presumed that the man had been perplexed by the sinuosities of the river, and had mistaken down for up, but I afterward discovered that the assertion had some truth in it. The rains east were so heavy that the supply of water from that direction was far greater than from its upper sources in the western Cordilleras of Salta, and for a time-so little declivity has the bed of the Salado-that the movement seemed to be not from the west, but the east. The estimated direct course from Bracho to Monte Cueva de Lobo was 168 miles, and by the windings of the stream double that distance.

By observation the following are the distances in a right line between the points made by us: From Estancia Taboado to Matara, 51 miles; from Matara to Bracho, 38; Bracho to Narvicha, 17; Narvicha to Mistol, 69; Mistol to Monte Aguara, 81; Monte Aguara to Santa Fé, 88.

The relative distances in a right line and by the course of the river may be thus estimated: From Estancia Taboado to Matara, in a right line, 51 miles; by the river, 110. This may be assumed as a very good standard by which to judge of the others, with the exception of that between Monte Aguara and Santa Fé, which by the river is within a fraction of being four times greater.

On the 14th of October-one month from the time we had launched our boat upon the Salado at Estancia Taboado-we began to retrace our steps from Monte Cueva de Lobo.

394

A CORDON OF PORTS.

CHAPTER XXIII.

Crossing at Paso Mistol.-A Cordon of Posts.-Paso la Torre.-A Wild-goat Chase.-Navigation of the Salado.-Señora Mendez.-Sleep in the Open Air.Reservoirs of Water. - Drought. — Arrival at Santiago. -A Ball. - Toasts.Fine Dancing. -River Dulce. -Road to Tucuman.-Approach the Andes.Woodland.-Rio Tala.-Mountains.-Scenery.-Arrival at Tucuman.-Hotels in La Plata.-Dr. Priestly.-Sugar-Plantation. -Molasses, Sugar, and Rum Establishment.-Cultivation of the Sugar-cane.-A Dinner at Señor Zavalier's.Señora and her Daughters.-A Ride into the Country.-Scenery.-Dinner and Ball at the Governor's.-Beauty of Spanish-American Women.-Province of Tucuman.-The Capital.-Progress.-Statistics.-Cultivation.-Start for Salta. -Valleys.-Productive Capacity of the Soil.-Wheat.-Mountain Road.-Posta Romero. The foiled Post-master.-Alimaña.-Grassy Basin.-Destitute Postmaster.-Valley Chiguano.-Upper Waters of the Salado.-Products of Valley Chiguano.-River Rosario.-Ford the Arrias.-Arrive at Salta.

October 15th. At Paso Mistol a hide taken from the frame-work of a toldo was in a few minutes converted into a balsa, in which we crossed the Salado, having determined to follow the Chaco side some distance in order to avoid patanos and observe the northern vueltas of the river in returning to Santiago.

The men swam over with the horses. We found a few halfstarved howling dogs still hanging around the deserted toldo, and the skeletons of the two Indians who had been killed in the fight with the governor's soldiers bleaching upon the plain. The caranchas had stripped them of every particle of flesh. Six miles from the Paso we reached the little lake Tostado, which, from being one of the never-failing sources of fresh water in the country, is invariably passed by the Indians during their incursions into the provinces. This is the point for a strong military post. After I had completed the exploration of the Salado I addressed a note to the Minister of Foreign Affairs for the Argentine Confederation, Don Juan Maria Gutierrez, expressing my views as to the importance of a cordon of posts to extend from the Parana, nine miles below Goya, to this lake, which would, I think, effectually confine the Indians to the Chaco north of that line, and reclaim from their devastations the finest districts of three states. Such an establishment would render entirely unnecessary the maintenance of those now existing, and would therefore entail no additional annual expenditure upon the government. Señor Gutier

NAVIGATION OF THE SALADO

395

rez wrote in reply, thanking me in the name of the President for my suggestions, which he thought would be adopted, as they accorded with his Excellency's preconceived notions on the subject,

From the lake our road being one usually taken by the Indians-was a well-beaten track through a plain clothed with the finest grasses, and, both inland and skirting the Salado, wooded with algorroba and quebracho. There was not a sign of human occupation or a sound to indicate an approach to the scenes of man's industry. The rainy season had fairly set in, and for several nights we slept upon the ground with only the protection of India-rubber ponchos. The incessant drenching to which I was exposed disturbed me, however, less than the myriads of musquitoes that swarm the river courses of the pampas at that season.

On the 16th we still followed the grassy campo, here about seven miles wide, and bounded west by the great forest to which I have alluded; while to the left flowed the Salado, its course marked by a wooded belting. Toward evening we reached that part of the plain to which the soldiers pursued the Indians on the 25th of the past month, when they so suddenly disappeared in the depths of the wood.

Before crossing the river at Paso la Torre we chased a "corzuela," the wild goat of the country, which so closely resembles the small deer that, at a short distance, it might be readily mistaken for one. Notwithstanding the jaded condition of our horses we kept up with the gauchos, who, the moment they espied the little animal, dashed after it at full speed. But, fleet as the deer, it sped over the plain, gaining the river and swimming to the opposite bank before the horsemen were once near enough to throw the bolas or lasso.

On the 17th, with fresh horses and two guides furnished by the governor, we started at an early hour in a heavy rain, and reached Bracho the middle of the same day.

I here ended my examination of the lower waters of the Salado, and feel no hesitation in saying that a steamer properly constructed for this river navigation could ascend, the greater part of the year, from Santa Fé to Navicha. The only obstructions-grass or fallen trees-could be readily removed, without great loss of time, by a boat's crew. But there is no reason why Navicha should be the head of navigation. By removing tortora and barricados, Matara would be quite as accessible and a much more central point, being but forty-one miles from the town of Santia

go, in a right line, one hundred and fifty-three from Tucuman," and one hundred and twenty-eight from Sandia Paso by the river, making the entire distance from Santa Fé to Matara five hundred and eighty-seven nautical miles. By ascending the Salado even to Navicha, the time now consumed in the land route from Santa Fé to Tucuman would be diminished at least three fourths, and the expense of transportation-deducting a large profit-one half.

After obtaining observations of verification we left Bracho, and on the same evening arrived at the ranch of Don Pesado Mendez. We found a humble little thatched house of one room, with a shed in front; for here, as in other districts of Santiago, the inhabitants during the dry season sleep in the open air, and trouble themselves little about in-door arrangements. Señora Mendez gave us an excellent supper of hominy and lamb, and the Don offered me the use of his hide cot. We passed, in our ride from Bracho, some fine fields of wheat and corn, but many of the ranchos were deserted, their owners being still at Matara or concealed in the wood, whither they had fled from the last attack of the Indians. It was a melancholy spectacle to see a country thus

ARRIVAL AT SANTIAGO.

397

desolated, and after witnessing the courage with which the Santiaganians pursued the Indians and received a charge from them on the plain, I may repeat what Dobrizhoffer noted a hundred years ago: "The inhabitants of the district of Santiago are distinguished alike for the greatness of their valor and the scantiness of their means in war against the savages."

After some little detention at Matara, arising from the difficulty of obtaining horses, we continued our journey, and at two o'clock arrived at the ranch of an old man, who, though disturbed in his first nap, proved good-natured and hospitable to the extent of his means. Fortunately, at this moment one of the postillions, a good fellow and a shrewd provident caterer, produced from his traveling stores half of a kid, upon which we made a sumptuous feast. The master of the ranch offered me his cot, but I preferred the grass. The rain beating in my face awakened me at 4 A.M., and with the dawn we were in the saddle, Cornelius having first performed the important function of ministering to us the maté.

tion.

October 18th. We had now entered a region neither artificially irrigated nor as yet refreshed by the commencement of the periodical rains. The grass was brown and the vegetation generally so blighted that the country would have presented a desolate appearance but for the fine woodlands that intersected it. The quebracho-trees were the loftiest I had yet seen in the ConfederaIn this district I saw for the first time enormous reservoirs for the collection of rain-water. They are mere excavations protected by embankments of earth; one of a hundred feet in diameter, by a depth of twelve, affords an unfailing supply to a large number of cattle. At the estancia of Don Francisco Santiago, who was largely engaged in rearing mules, was one of still greater dimensions. We dined with this gentleman, whose household was most comfortably arranged, and presided over by a wife and two pretty daughters.

Through some mismanagement the governor's orders to furnish us with fresh horses had not been received, and we were compelled to make the last fifty-one miles of this journey upon the same animals which, unaware of the difficulty in obtaining others, we had ridden in the early part of the day twenty miles at half speed. They held out, however, and on reaching Santiago at 9 P.M. we rode directly to the residence of the governor, who had not yet arrived, but we were most kindly received by his brother Don Gaspar.