18.33.] THROWING THE BOLAS. Ill 



food who liave an unconquerable desire for salt. The Indians 

 gave us good-liumoured nods as they passed at full gallop, driv- 

 ing before them a troop of horses, and followed by a train of 

 lanky dogs. 



September \2ih and 13^//. — I staid at this posta two days, 

 waiting for a troop of soldiers, which General Rosas had th^ 

 kindness to send to inform me, would shortly travel to Buenos 

 Ayres ; and he advised me to take the opportunity of the escort. 

 In the morninj? we rode to some neiorhbourinsr hills to view the 

 country, and to examine the geology. After dinner the soldiers 

 divided themselves into two parties for a trial of skill with th:^ 

 bolas. Two spears were stuck in the ground thirty-five yards 

 apart, but they were struck and entangled only once in four or 

 five times. Tlie balls can be thrown fifty or sixty yards, but 

 with little certainty. This, however, does not apply to a man 

 on horseback ; for when the speed of the horse is added to the 

 force of the arm, it is said, that they can be whirled with effect 

 to the distance of eighty yards. As a proof of their force, 1 

 may mention, that at the Falkland Islands, when tlie Spaniards 

 murdered some of their own countrymen and all the Englishmen, 

 a young friendly Spaniard was running away, when a great tall 

 man, by name Luciano, came at full gallop after him, shouting 

 to him to stop, and saying that he only wanted to speak to him. 

 Just as the Spaniard was on the point of reaching the boat, Lu- 

 ciano threw the balls : they struck him on the legs with such a 

 jerk, as to throw him down and to render him for some time 

 insensible. The man, after Luciano had had his talk, was 

 allowed to escape. He told us that his legs were marked by 

 creat weals, where the thon^- had wound round, as if he had been 

 flogged with a whip. In tlie middle of the day two men arrived, 

 who brought a parcel from the next posta to be forwarded to 

 the general : so that besides these two, our party consisted this 

 evening of my guide and self, the lieutenant, and iiis four soldiers. 

 The latter were strange beings ; the first a fine young negro ; the 

 second" half Indian and negro ; and the two others nondescripts ; 

 numely, an old Chilian miner, the colour of mahogany, and an- 

 other partly a mulatto ; but two such mongrels, with such de- 

 testable expressions, I never saw before. At night, when they 

 were sitting round the fire, and playing at cards, I retired to 



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