As in Chiloe, the lower parts are matted together by
canes: here also another kind (resembling the bamboo of Brazil and
about twenty feet in height) grows in clusters, and ornaments the
banks of some of the streams in a very pretty manner. It is with
this plant that the Indians make their chuzos, or long tapering
spears. Our resting-house was so dirty that I preferred sleeping
outside: on these journeys the first night is generally very
uncomfortable, because one is not accustomed to the tickling and
biting of the fleas. I am sure, in the morning, there was not a
space on my legs of the size of a shilling which had not its little
red mark where the flea had feasted.
FEBRUARY 12, 1835.
We continued to ride through the uncleared forest; only
occasionally meeting an Indian on horseback, or a troop of fine
mules bringing alerce-planks and corn from the southern plains. In
the afternoon one of the horses knocked up; we were then on a brow
of a hill, which commanded a fine view of the Llanos. The view of
these open plains was very refreshing, after being hemmed in and
buried in the wilderness of trees. The uniformity of a forest soon
becomes very wearisome.
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