When the Caciques and their followers were all assembled there might be about 1500 men, who were paraded by their chiefs much in the same manner as before described. The same ceremonies to drive away the gualichú, and the same preliminary discussions amongst themselves, before they commenced their parleys with the officers; and these terminating precisely in the same unsatisfactory and indefinite manner. The presents it was evident were the only objects contemplated by the savages, and, when these were not produced quite so quickly as they expected, an attempt was made to seize them by force, and the officers themselves would have been stripped, if not sacrificed, had not old Lincon bravely protected them, and killed upon the spot with his own hand two of the most forward of the assailants: cowed by the old man's intrepidity, and the preparations of their escort to defend themselves, the wretches slunk away, and so ended in blood and confusion the labours of the commissioners. To old Lincon they owed their lives, and subsequent safety on their road back to Buenos Ayres, whither they were glad to return as fast as they could, under an escort furnished by him and some of the more friendly tribes of the Huilliches.
Their route homeward was by the Sierra Amarilla, on the eastern slope of which rises the river Barancas, which they followed some way: before it emerges from the mountains it is joined by the Quetro-leufú, and both together form the Tapalquen. Beyond the Sierra Amarilla was seen that group called by the natives the Huellucalel, from which proceeds the river Azul, the waters of which, running parallel with those of the Torralnelú and Chapaleofú, are lost in the marshes sixteen or twenty leagues distant towards the Salado. Crossing the Tapalquen, they once more found the beaten track to the Guardia del Monte, which they reached in safety on the 28th of May, after an absence of about six weeks.
In reporting the results of their mission they recommended that the range of the Vuulcan should be at once adopted as the boundary of the province in that direction, and that a chain of military posts should be established upon it, extending from the sea-coast as far west as the Laguna Blanca, with a sufficient force to overawe the savages and afford efficient protection to such settlements as might be made within that line.
The government, at last roused to the conviction of the necessity of some vigorous demonstration of physical force, in order to re-establish something like that salutary fear of the superior military power and discipline of the Christians, which, in old times, had, to a certain degree, restrained and kept the savages in order, adopted the suggestion, and preparations on a considerable scale were made for carrying it into effect. The construction of a fortification on the Tandil was determined upon, and the governor himself prepared to superintend the work, and take the field against the savages with an adequate force. The little army assembled for this purpose was ready to march about the close of February, 1823. It consisted of 2500 men, seven pieces of artillery, with a considerable accompaniment of carts and waggons, and everything requisite for the establishment of a permanent military settlement.
Instead of following the track of Garcia and his companions, by the Tapalquen, after a consultation with some guides, who professed to be well acquainted with the intervening country, General Rodriguez determined upon marching direct across it to the Tandil; an attempt, as it proved, more adventurous than prudent. On the 10th of March the troops left the Guardia del Monte, and had hardly crossed the Salado when they found themselves in the midst of apparently interminable swamps, thickly set with canes and reeds higher than their horses' heads. It was with great difficulty that the waggons and artillery were dragged through; nevertheless they foundered onwards as far as a lake, to which, from the clearness of its waters, they gave the name of Laguna Limpia; but there it became absolutely necessary to halt in order to reconnoitre the country before proceeding further. So far they had been grossly misled by their guides, whose only knowledge of the country it appeared had been acquired in excursions in quest of nutrias, which little animals are found in vast numbers in these swamps; but nutria catching and the march of an army accompanied by heavy waggons and artillery are very different things, and the wonder is that all the guns and baggage were not left behind in the bogs. The marshes themselves are formed by the streams which run into them from the hilly ranges further south, and which seem not to have sufficient power to force their way through the low lands either to the Salado or to the sea-coast. Beginning from the morass in which the Tapalquen joins the Flores, they extend far eastward, and render useless a considerable tract of country south of the Salado.
The scouts returning brought accounts that they had found the river Chapeleofú, the course of which it was determined to follow to the Tandil, where it was known to rise; but they had hardly left the Laguna Limpia when they were beset by a new danger, which, for a short time, threatened a frightful termination to the expedition. A sweeping wind blew towards them clouds of dense smoke, followed by one vast lurid blaze, extending across the horizon, and indicating but too clearly the approach of one of those dreadful conflagrations, not uncommon in the pampas after dry weather, when the long dry grass, and canes and thistles, readily igniting, cause the flames to extend rapidly over the whole face of the country, involving all in one common and horrible destruction. The gauchos, on the first indication of danger, have sometimes sufficient presence of mind to set fire immediately to the grass to leeward, by which they clear a space on which to take refuge before the general conflagration reaches them; but there is not always time to do this, much less to save the cattle and sheep, great numbers of which perish in the devouring element. Upon the present occasion the guides seem to have lost their wits as well as their way; and, but for the fortunate discovery of a small lake near them, into which men and beasts alike rushed, dragging the carts with them, the whole army would have been involved in the same tragical end. There, up to their necks in the water, they remained for three hours, during which the fire-storm raged frightfully round them, and then, for want of further fuel, subsiding, left a desolated waste as far as the eye could reach, covered with a black stratum of cinders and ashes.
After these dangers the army continued its march along the western bank of the Chapeleofú, through a country which improved every step they advanced towards the sierras beyond. Picturesque and fertile, the lands seemed only to require to be taken possession of to form a most valuable addition to the territory of Buenos Ayres. The wandering tribes of Indians usually dwelling there had, to all appearance, abandoned them, and withdrawn further south, no doubt in alarm at the preparations made by the Spaniards to occupy them.
The wild guanacoes, and the deer, and the ostriches ranged in thousands over the pastures of their native regions, and, with hares, partridges, and armadilloes, afforded abundant sport to those sent out to shoot them. For some days the army was almost entirely subsisted upon them. Vast quantities of armadilloes, especially, were caught by the soldiers. One memorable afternoon's chase is recorded, in which upwards of 400 were taken; and a more delicate dish than one of these little animals, roasted, in his own shell, I will venture, from my own experience, to say, is not to be had in any part of the world. The rivers and lakes swarmed with wild and water-fowl of every sort, named and nameless, from the snipe to the beautiful black-necked swan peculiar to that part of the world.[43]
An observation was taken on the Chapeleofú in latitude 37° 17´ 34"; shortly after which the army left its course, and marched eastward to the Tandil, where they encamped, and whence the surveying officers reconnoitred the surrounding country, and determined upon the site for the new fortification.