rooteth in the earth,
and so becomes great. This transformation is one of the strangest
wonders that I saw in all my travels: for if this tree is plucked
up, while young, and the leaves and bark stripped off, it becomes a
hard stone when dry, much like white coral: thus is this worm twice
transformed into different natures. Of these we gathered and
brought home many." (5/19. Kerr's "Collection of Voyages" volume 8
page 119.)

Nam simul expletus dapibus, vinoque sepultus
Cervicem inflexam posuit, jacuitque per antrum
Immensus, saniem eructans, ac frusta cruenta
Per somnum commixta mero.
During my stay at Bahia Blanca, while waiting for the "Beagle," the
place was in a constant state of excitement, from rumours of wars
and victories, between the troops of Rosas and the wild Indians.
One day an account came that a small party forming one of the
postas on the line to Buenos Ayres had been found all murdered. The
next day three hundred men arrived from the Colorado, under the
command of Commandant Miranda. A large portion of these men were
Indians (mansos, or tame), belonging to the tribe of the Cacique
Bernantio. They passed the night here; and it was impossible to
conceive anything more wild and savage than the scene of their
bivouac. Some drank till they were intoxicated; others swallowed
the steaming blood of the cattle slaughtered for their suppers, and
then, being sick from drunkenness, they cast it up again, and were
besmeared with filth and gore.

In the morning they started for the scene of the murder, with
orders to follow the rastro, or track, even if it led them to
Chile. We subsequently heard that the wild Indians had escaped into
the great Pampas, and from some cause the track had been missed.
One glance at the rastro tells these people a whole history.
Supposing they examine the track of a thousand horses, they will
soon guess the number of mounted ones by seeing how many have
cantered; by the depth of the other impressions, whether any horses
were loaded with cargoes; by the irregularity of the footsteps, how
far tired; by the manner in which the food has been cooked, whether
the pursued travelled in haste; by the general appearance, how long
it has been since they passed. They consider a rastro of ten days
or a fortnight quite recent enough to be hunted out. We also heard
that Miranda struck from the west end of the Sierra Ventana, in a
direct line to the island of Cholechel, situated seventy leagues