Beyond the place where we slept last night, the country is
completely terra incognita, for it was there that Captain Stokes
turned back. We saw in the distance a great smoke, and found the
skeleton of a horse, so we knew that Indians were in the
neighbourhood. On the next morning (21st) tracks of a party of
horse, and marks left by the trailing of the chuzos, or long
spears, were observed on the ground. It was generally thought that
the Indians had reconnoitred us during the night. Shortly
afterwards we came to a spot where, from the fresh footsteps of
men, children, and horses, it was evident that the party had
crossed the river.
APRIL 22, 1834.
The country remained the same, and was extremely uninteresting. The
complete similarity of the productions throughout Patagonia is one
of its most striking characters. The level plains of arid shingle
support the same stunted and dwarf plants; and in the valleys the
same thorn-bearing bushes grow. Everywhere we see the same birds
and insects. Even the very banks of the river and of the clear
streamlets which entered it, were scarcely enlivened by a brighter
tint of green. The curse of sterility is on the land, and the water
flowing over a bed of pebbles partakes of the same curse.
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