1H& IRR1GA1IOX AGE. 



251 



cret of which passed not out of his 

 alembic. 



Not far from his dwelling we 

 came upon a group of children 

 playing by the roadside. I saw by 

 tneir deportment that only the par- 

 ish priest was held in equal rever- 

 ence with my companion. Yet his 

 greeting to them was devoid of 

 formality, and in his speech and 

 manner were at once distinguish- 

 able the genial traits I had ob- 

 served in him. There was no ap- 

 proach to familiarity on the part 

 of these merry urchins, nor trace 

 of servile regard in the way they 

 doffed their caps and stood aside to 

 -offer the customary civility, "the 

 wall." 



Further on we met a charcoal 

 vender, straddling his grimy pan- 

 niers and singing as he rode along. 

 To him also my friend addressed 

 a courteous salutation, inquiring 

 heartily whether accident had be- 

 fallen him that he had not visited 

 the town in such a while. 



Then we took a path leading 

 across the fields, where towering 

 aloes filled the air with slumberous 

 odors, and terrible barriers of 

 prickly pear stayed the inroads of 

 roving cattle. Over the bright 

 sward were scattered clusters of 

 wood sorrel, salvia. lantana. ager- 

 atum and verbena of different hues, 

 forming here and there patches of 

 tropical color: along the border of 

 hills which skirted the landscape 

 beyond us a slow procession of 

 sunlit clouds moved majestically 

 onward, and in the middle distance 

 the eye rested upon willows, pop- 

 lars, and soft masses of mimosa in 

 varied gradations of shadow; while 

 permeating all. being impercepti- 

 bly mingled with the meditation 

 awakened by the tranquil scene, 

 we felt and breathed that delicious 

 atmosphere which enchanted the 

 early explorers of La Plata, lead- 

 ing the sailors to exclaim: "'Ay, 

 que buenos air-:*!" "Ah. what balmy 

 #<>.*/" thereby christening the land. 



The doctor had removed his hat 



that he might catch the soft breeze 

 upon his temples, and stood with 

 placid countenance regarding the 

 lovely features of the spot, quite 

 forgetful of the simples which were 

 his quest, and calling upon me to 

 admit that, if man can of truth 

 draw nigh to the heart of nature, 

 comprehend her moods, and invest 

 her with something akin to human 

 thought and emotion, it must be in 

 some fair solitude like this. And 

 then he drew from his pocket a 

 favorite volume, Garcilaso, and 

 read with thoughtful comment 

 many a noble stanza and idyllic 

 verse. 



Turning homeward at last, we 

 passed a band of gauchos, riotous 

 with strong waters, their faces 

 hideous with traces of the wild 

 passion to which their nomadic, 

 freebooting life lends fatal lury. 

 It needed little observation to be 

 persuaded that, with so irrespon- 

 sible a soldiery to command, any 

 leader of wealth or influence might 

 establish a revolutionary govern- 

 ment, evading capture and terror- 

 izing the country for years, if not 

 finally successful in his schemes. 

 Yet these same ruffians, as I knew, 

 could be as peaceful as the Swiss 

 peasantry, and, as the Tyrolese 

 lover wakes the tender music of his 

 zither, draw from their guitars 

 such plaintive melody, so sad and 

 of so heart-breaking a pathos, that 

 one listens to it as to some pastoral 

 lament of Dorian days set to rythm 

 of a later age. 



I had spent a rare evening with 

 this engaging friend, and return- 

 ing to my hotel bethought me of 

 the riches to be met with every- 

 where, so we seek them in earnest. 

 I remembered having first found 

 and read Plato's Phaedrus, while, 

 hemmed in by dreary sand heaps, 

 oar regiment awaited an army 

 transport near Point Isabel, in 

 Texas: of discovering, in an inland 

 village far up the Rio Grande. 

 Chateaubriand and Montesquieu, 

 and the Divine Comedy, with the 



