d,
therefore," he says, "in the first part of our journey a most faint tinge
of green, which soon faded away. Even where brightest, it was scarcely
sufficient to remind one of the fresh turf and budding flowers during the
spring of other countries. While travelling through these deserts, one
feels like a prisoner, shut up in a gloomy courtyard, longing to see
something green, and to smell a moist atmosphere."

The effects of a great drought in the Pampas are thus described. "The
period included between the years 1827 and 1830 is called the 'gran seco'
or the great drought. During this time so little rain fell, that the
vegetation, even to the thistles, failed; the brooks were dried up, and
the whole country assumed the appearance of a dusty high road. This was
especially the case in the northern part of the province of Buenos Ayres,
and the southern part of St. Fe. Very great numbers of birds, wild
animals, cattle, and horses, perished from the want of food and water. A
man told me that the deer used to come into his courtyard to the well
which he had been obliged to dig to supply his own family with water; and
that the partridges had hardly strength to fly away when pursued. The
lowest estimation of the loss of cattle in the province of Buenos Ayres
alone, was taken at one million head. A proprietor at San Pedro had
previously to these years 20,000 cattle; at the end not one remained.
San Pedro is situated in the midst of the finest country, and even now
again abounds with animals; yet, during the latter part of the 'gran
seco' live cattle were brought in vessels for the consumption of the
inhabitants. The animals roamed from their _estancias_, and wandering
far to the southward, were mingled together in such multitudes that a
government commission was sent from Buenos Ayres to settle the disputes
of the owners. Sir Woodbine Parish informed me of another and very
curious source of dispute; the ground being so long dry, such quantities
of dust were blown about, that in this open country the landmarks became
obliterated, and people could not tell the limits of their estates.

"I was informed by an eye-witness, that the cattle in herds of thousands
rushed into the river Parana, and being exhausted by hunger they were
unable to crawl up the muddy banks, and thus were drowned. The arm which
runs by San Pedro was so full of putrid carcasses, that the master of a
vessel told me, that the smell rendered it quite im