108 THE IIEllDSMEN OP THE LLANOS. 



arrived at a little farm. It was a solitary Louse in the 

 steppes, surrounded by a few small huts, covered with 

 reeds and skins. The cattle, oxen, horses, and mules' 

 were not penned, but wandered freely over an extent of 

 several square leagues. There was nowhere any inclo- 

 sure ; men, naked to the waist and armed with lances, 

 rode over the savannahs to inspect the animals, bringing 

 back those that wandered too far from the pastures of 

 the farm, and branding all that did not already bear the 

 mark of their proprietor. These mulattoes were partly 

 freed-men and partly slaves. They were constantly ex- 

 posed to the burning heat of the tropical sun. Their 

 food was meat dried in the air, and a little salted ; and 

 of this even their horses sometimes partook. Being 

 always in the saddle, they fancied they could not make 

 the slightest excursion on foot. The travellers found an 

 old negro slave, who managed the farm in the absence 

 of his master. He told them of herds composed of 

 several thousand cows, that were grazing in the steppes ; 

 yet they asked in vain for a bowl of milk. They were , 

 offered, in a calabash, some yellow, muddy, and fetid 

 water, drawn from a neighbouring pool. The indolence 

 of the inhabitants of the Llanos was such that they did 

 not dig wells, though they knew that almost everywhere, 

 at ten feet deep, fine springs were found. After suffering 

 during one half of the year from the effect of inunda- 

 tions, they quietly resigned themselves, during the other 

 half, to the most distressing deprivation of water. The 

 old negro advised the travellers to cover tlie cup with 

 a linen cloth, and drink as through a filter, that they 

 might not be incommoded by the smell, and might swal- 

 low less of the yellowish mud suspended in the water. 



