128 ST. FE\ [chap. vii. 



From this point to St. Fe the road is not very safe. The western 

 side of the Parana northward, ceases to be inhabited ; and hence 

 the Indians sometimes come down thus far, and waylay travellers. 

 The nature of the country also favours this, for instead of a grassy 

 plain, there is an open woodland, composed of low prickly 

 mimosas. We passed some houses that had been ransacked and 

 since deserted ; we saw also a spectacle, which my guides viewed 

 with high satisfaction ; it was the skeleton of an Indian with the 

 dried skin hanging on the bones, suspended to the branch of a 

 tree. 



In the morning we arrived at St. Fe. I was surprised to 

 observe how great a change of climate a difference of only three 

 degrees of latitude between this place and Buenos Ayres had 

 caused. This was evident from the dress and complexion of the 

 men from the increased size of the ombu-trees the number of 

 new cacti and other plants and especially from the birds. In 

 the course of an hour I remarked half-a-dozen birds, which I had 

 never seen at Buenos Ayres. Considering that there is no natural 

 boundary between the two places, and that the character of the 

 country is nearly similar, the difference was much greater than I 

 should have expected. 



October 3rd and 4th. I was confined for these two days to 

 my bed by a headach. A good-natured old woman, who attended 

 me, wished me to try many odd remedies. A common practice 

 is, to bind an orange-leaf or a bit of black plaster to each temple : 

 and a still more general plan is, to split a bean into halves, 

 moisten them, and place one on each temple, where they will 

 easily adhere. It is not thought proper ever to remove the beans 

 or plaster, but to allow them to drop off; and sometimes, if a 

 man, with patches on his head, is asked, what is the matter? he 

 will answer, " I had a headach the day before yesterday." Many 

 of the remedies used by the people of the country are ludicrously 

 strange, but too disgusting to be mentioned. One of the least 

 nasty is to kill and cut open two puppies and bind them on each 

 side of a broken limb. Little hairless dogs are in great request 

 to sleep at the feet of invalids. 



St. Fe is a quiet little town, and is kept clean and in good 

 order. The governor, Lopez, was a common soldier at the time 

 of the revolution ; but has now been seventeen years in power. 



