A short time since, an officer left Buenos Ayres with five hundred horses, and when he arrived at the army he had under twenty.
Soon afterwards we perceived by the cloud of dust, that a party of horsemen were coming towards us; when far distant my companions knew them to be Indians, by their long hair streaming behind their backs.

The Indians generally have a fillet round their heads, but never any covering; and their black hair blowing across their swarthy faces, heightens to an uncommon degree the wildness of their appearance.

They turned out to be a party of Bernantio's friendly tribe, going to a salina for salt.

The Indians eat much salt, their children sucking it like sugar.

This habit is very different from that of the Spanish Gauchos, who, leading the same kind of life, eat scarcely any: according to Mungo Park, it is people who live on vegetable food who have an unconquerable desire for salt.