This was most tantalizing, as
not less than 10,000 head of cattle filed by my camp every morning as
they were driven from the town to pasturage. All this amount of beef
paraded before me, and did not produce a steak! Milk was cheap and
abundant; fowl were scarce; corn was plentiful; vegetables were unknown;
not even pumpkins were grown by the Latookas.
Fortunately there was an abundance of small game in the shape of wild
ducks, pigeons, doves; and a great variety of birds such as herons,
cranes, spoonbills, &c. Travellers should always take as large a supply
of shot as possible. I had four hundred weight, and prodigious
quantities of powder and caps: thus I could at all times kill sufficient
game for ourselves and people. There were a series of small marshy pools
scattered over the country near the stream that ran through the valley;
these were the resort of numerous ducks, which afforded excellent sport.
The town of Tarrangolle is situated at the foot of the mountain, about a
mile from the stream, which is about eighty yards wide, but shallow. In
the dry weather, water is obtained by wells dug in the sandy bed, but
during the rains it is a simple torrent not exceeding three feet in
depth. The bed being sandy, the numerous banks, left dry by the
fluctuations of the stream, are most inviting spots for ducks; and it
was only necessary to wait under a tree, on the river's bank, to obtain
thirty or forty shots in one morning as the ducks flew down the course
of the stream.
Pages:
236
237
238
239
240
241
242
243
244
245
246
247
248
249
250
251
252
253
254
255
256
257
258
259
260