88 EXCURSION TO ST. F. [CHAP. vii. 



to resist the force, generally dashes at full speed to one side ; but the 

 horse immediately turning to receive the shock, stands so firmly that 

 the bullock is almost thrown down, and it is surprising that their 

 necks are not broken. The struggle is not, however, one of fair 

 strength ; the horse's girth being matched against the bullock's extended 

 neck. In a similar manner a man can hold the wildest horse, if caught 

 with the lazo, just behind the ears. When the bullock has been 

 dragged to the spot where it is to be slaughtered, the matador with 

 great caution cuts the hamstrings. Then is given the death bellow; 

 a noise more expressive of fierce agony than any I know ; I have often 

 distinguished it from a long distance, and have always known that the 

 struggle was then drawing to a close. The whole sight is horrible and 

 revolting : the ground is almost made of bones ; and the horses and 

 riders are drenched with gore. 



CHAPTER VII. 



BUENOS AYRES TO ST. F 



Excursion to St. F<5 Thistle Beds Habits of the Bizcacha Little Owl 

 Saline Streams Level Plains Mastodon St. Fe Change in Land- 

 scape Geology Tooth of Extinct Horse Relation of the Fossil 

 and Recent Quadrupeds of North and South America Effects of a 

 Great Drought Parana Habits of the Jaguar Scissor-beak King- 

 f*her, Parrot and Scissor-tail Revolution Buenos Ayres State of 

 Government. 



September T.'jth. IN the evening I set out on an excursion to St. Fe, 

 which is situated nearly three hundred English miles from Buenos 

 Ayres, on the banks of the Parana. The roads in the neigfit'ourhood 

 of the city, after the rainy weather, were extraordinarily bad. 1 should 

 nevex have thought it possible for a bullock waggon to have crawled 

 along : as it was, they scarcely went at the rate of a mile an hour, 

 and a man was kept ahead, to survey the best line for making the 

 attempt. The bullocks were terribly jaded : it is a great mistake to 

 suppose that with improved roads, and an accelerated rate of travelling, 

 the sufferings of the animals increase in the same proportion. We 

 passed a train of waggons and a troop of beasts on their road to 

 Mendoza. The distance is about five hundred and eighty geographical 

 miles, and the journey is generally performed in fifty days. These 

 waggons are very long, narrow, and thatched with reeds ; they have 

 only two wheels, the diameter of which in some cases is as much 

 as ten feet. Each is drawn by six bullocks, which are urged on by a 

 goad at least twenty feet long; this is suspended from within the 

 roof; for the wheel bullocks a smaller one is kept; and for the inter- 

 mediate pair, a point projects at right angles from the middle of the 

 long one. The whole apparatus looked like some implement of war, 



