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Show uo PAMPAS. Sept. 1833. rived, who brought a parcel from t~e next posta to be forwarded to the general ; so that besides these two, ou~ party consisted of myself and guide, the lieutenant and his four soldiers. The latter were strange beings ; the first a fine young negro ; the second half Indian and ~~gro ; . and the two others nondescripts; namely, an old Chihan mmer, the colour of mahogany, and another partly a mulatto; but two such mongrels, with such detestable ~x~ressions, I never saw before. At night, when they were sittmg round the fire, and playing at cards, I retired to view such a Salvator Rosa scene. They were seated under a low cliff, so that I could look down upon them ; around the party were lying dogs, arms remnants of deer and ostriches ; and their long spears were' stuck in the turf. Further in the dark background, their horses were tied up, ready for any sudden danger. If the stillness of the desolate plain was broken by one of the dogs barking, a soldier, leaving the fire, would place his head clos~f to the ground, and thus slowly scan the horizon. Even I the noisy teru-tero uttered its scream, there would be a pause in the conversation, and every head, for a moment a little inclined. What a life of misery these men appear to us to lead ! They were at least ten leagues from the Sauce posta, and since the murder committed by the Indians, twenty from another. The Indians are supposed to have made their attack in the middle of the night ; for very early in the morning after the murder, they were luckily seen approaching this pasta. The whole party, however, escaped, together with the troop of horses ; each one taking a line for himself, and driving with him as many animals as he was able to manage. The little hovel, built of thistle-stalks, in which they slept, neither kept out the wind or rain ; indeed in the latter case the only effect the roof had, was to condense it into larger lowed to escape. He told us that his legs were marked by great weals, where the thong had wound round, as if he had been flogged with a whip. Sept. 1833. HUNTING PARTY. drops. They had .nothing to eat excepting what they could catch, such as ostnches, deer, armadilloes, &c., and their only fuel was the dry stalks of a small plant, somewhat resembling an aloe. The sole luxury which these men enjoyed was smoking the little paper cigars, and sucking mate. I used to think the carrion vulture, man's constant attendant on these dreary plains, while seated on some little eminence seemed by its very patience to say, "Ah ! when the Indians ~orne we shall have a feast." In the morning we all sallied forth to hunt, and although we had not much success, there were some animated chases. Soon after starting the party separated, and so arranged their plans, that at a certain time of the day (in guessing which they show much skill) they should all meet from different points of the compass on a plain piece of ground, and thus drive together the wild animals. One day I went out hunting at Bahia Blanca, but the men there merely rode in a crescent, each being about a quarter of a mile apart from the other. A fine male ostrich being turned by the headmost riders, tried to escape on one side. The Gauchos pursued at a reckless pace, twisting their horses about with the most admirable command, and each man whirlin()' the balls round his head. At length the foremost threw 0 them, revolving through the air : in an instant the ostrich rolled over and over, its legs fairly lashed together by the thong. ~he plains abound with three kinds of partridge,* two of whiCh are as large as hen pheasants. Their destroyer, a small and pretty fox, was also singularly numerous ; in the course of the day we could not have seen less than forty or fifty. They were generally near their earths, but the dogs killed one. When we returned to the posta, we found two of the party ~eturned who had been hunting by themselves. They had killed a pumn, and had found an ostrich's nest with twenty-seven eggs in it. Each of these is said to equal in • Two species of Tinamus, and Eudromia elegans of D 'Orbigny, which can only be called a partridge with regard to its habits. K2 |