When the pasture is tolerably long, the niata cattle feed with the tongue and palate as well as common cattle; but during the great droughts, when so many animals perish, the niata breed is under a great disadvantage, and would be exterminated if not attended to; for the common cattle, like horses, are able just to keep alive, by browsing with their lips on twigs of trees and reeds; this the niatas cannot so well do, as their lips do not join, and hence they are found to perish before the common cattle.
This strikes me as a good illustration of how little we are able to judge from the ordinary habits of life, on what circumstances, occurring only at long intervals, the rarity or extinction of a species may be determined.
NOVEMBER 19, 1833.
Passing the valley of Las Vacas, we slept at a house of a North American, who worked a lime-kiln on the Arroyo de las Vivoras.

In the morning we rode to a projecting headland on the banks of the river, called Punta Gorda.

On the way we tried to find a jaguar.
There were plenty of fresh tracks, and we visited the trees on which they are said to sharpen their claws; but we did not succeed in disturbing one.

From this point the Rio Uruguay presented to our view a noble volume of water.

From the clearness and rapidity of the stream, its appearance was far superior to that of its neighbour the Parana.