17th August 1833

Patagonas to B. Ayres
In the morning he sent for the horses very early & we started for another exhilarating gallop. We passed the Cabeza del Buey, an old name given to the head of a large marsh which extends from Bahia Bianca. Here we changed horses & passed through some leagues of swamps & saltpetre marshes; changing horses for the last time, we again began wading through the mud. My animal fell & I was well souzed in black mire, a very disagreeable accident, when one does not possess a change of clothes. Some miles from the Fort we met a man who told us that a great gun had been fired, which is a signal that Indians are near. We immediately left the road & followed the edge of a marsh, which when chased, offers the best mode of escape; we were glad to arrive within the walls, when we found all this alarm was about nothing, for the Indians turned out to be friendly ones, who wished to join General Rosas.

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