During the winter we must look
to the springs round the Sierra Ventana as the source of its pure
and limpid stream. I suspect the plains of Patagonia, like those of
Australia, are traversed by many watercourses, which only perform
their proper parts at certain periods. Probably this is the case
with the water which flows into the head of Port Desire, and
likewise with the Rio Chupat, on the banks of which masses of
highly cellular scoriae were found by the officers employed in the
survey.
As it was early in the afternoon when we arrived, we took fresh
horses and a soldier for a guide, and started for the Sierra de la
Ventana. This mountain is visible from the anchorage at Bahia
Blanca; and Captain Fitz Roy calculates its height to be 3340
feet--an altitude very remarkable on this eastern side of the
continent. I am not aware that any foreigner, previous to my visit,
had ascended this mountain; and indeed very few of the soldiers at
Bahia Blanca knew anything about it. Hence we heard of beds of
coal, of gold and silver, of caves, and of forests, all of which
inflamed my curiosity, only to disappoint it. The distance from the
posta was about six leagues, over a level plain of the same
character as before.
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