Pampas of Buenos Ayres to Tucuman, 177 



quest that the owner would treat me as a friend of his ; but no 

 such recommendation was needful, for I found both the master 

 and mistress of the house most worthy and agreeable people, 

 as were indeed the mass of the population in this fine country, 

 where the inhabitants are generally as friendly as their coun- 

 try is pleasant. 



25th. Having arrived yesterday, I had the opportunity this 

 morning, as I anticipated, of seeing what I supposed would 

 be a grand military show, it being the anniversary of the free- 

 dom of this country from the Spanish yoke, an event which 

 is celebrated with rejoicings throughout the Argentine pro- 

 vinces, especially at Tucuman, where independence was first 

 proclaimed, and where a brick pillar still marks the exact 

 spot of this proclamation. I consequently supposed that the 

 military would sport their best uniforms on the occasion, and 

 that something very grand should be exhibited : but at about 

 8 in the morning 200 men assembled in the Gran Plaz of the 

 town, these being the militia of the country, as there is now 

 no standing army ; their uniform was rags, of all colours, how- 

 ever, and most of them were bare-footed ; the other had old 

 shoes or torn slippers, with hats much like the fragments of 

 bee-skeps, the crown being generally covered with coarse un- 

 cut wool, undyed and in the state in which it comes from the 

 sheep's back. Clothes they had none, but rough pouchos, 

 loosely hanging over the body, a tattered dirty shirt beneath, 

 but no jacket or trousers. They fired Sifeu de joie and di- 

 spersed. At night the town was illuminated wdth lumps of 

 tallow, put into square thick pieces of Agave leaves, a hollow 

 being made in them, and filled with the grease. These chan- 

 deliers were set on the window sills in place of lamps or lan- 

 terns. (For a further description of Tucuman, with its fine 

 scenery, &c. see the pamphlet of Alvardi pubHshed in 1834.) 



Appendix. 



Our return to Buenos Ayres was somewhat different from 

 our former route, the course being first more southerly and 

 then more to the north. Two miles after leaving Tucuman, 



Ann, Nat. Hist, Vol.4. No. 23. Nov, \SZ9, o 



