All the
small rivers became highly saline, and this caused the death of
vast numbers in particular spots; for when an animal drinks of such
water it does not recover. Azara describes the fury of the wild
horses on a similar occasion, rushing into the marshes, those which
arrived first being overwhelmed and crushed by those which
followed. (7/9. "Travels" volume 1 page 374.) He adds that more
than once he has seen the carcasses of upwards of a thousand wild
horses thus destroyed. I noticed that the smaller streams in the
Pampas were paved with a breccia of bones, but this probably is the
effect of a gradual increase, rather than of the destruction at any
one period. Subsequently to the drought of 1827 to 1832, a very
rainy season followed which caused great floods. Hence it is almost
certain that some thousands of the skeletons were buried by the
deposits of the very next year. What would be the opinion of a
geologist, viewing such an enormous collection of bones, of all
kinds of animals and of all ages, thus embedded in one thick earthy
mass? Would he not attribute it to a flood having swept over the
surface of the land, rather than to the common order of things?
(7/10.
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