176 Account of a Journey across the 



after which we kindled a good fire at the gate and roasted our 

 kid for supper. We were accompanied for some time by a 

 young couple on their way to be married at Tucuman^ no 

 clergyman living nearer to perform the ceremony, for which 

 they had to travel 57 miles. However there was a saving of 

 trouble in this case, as the double object was answered of 

 getting their child baptized, a fine boy nearly 2 years old. 



24th. Started very early this morning, having been refresh- 

 ed by a comfortable night's rest, for we had slept by the side 

 of our large wood fire, sheltered on the weather side by long 

 clean grass waving above us. Our cattle too were recruited 

 by the fine grass they had eaten during the night, and we 

 took to the road in high spirits at the prospect of soon finish- 

 ing our long and arduous journey, a hope which was realized 

 about 4 in the afternoon, when we entered Tucuman. The 

 2 last days' journey was the most pleasing and interesting of 

 all ; the noble Andes lay on our left hand, thick fog covering 

 part of their sides, above which their snowy summits soared 

 bright and clear ; often we approached within a few miles di- 

 stance of the mountains. The vegetation too became more 

 varied a« we advanced into the warm and more humid cli- 

 mate which Tucuman enjoys, so as to be quite interesting. 

 Having reached the farm-house belonging to the owner of our 

 carts, who had arrived only the day before, he welcomed us 

 kindly to his dwelling : the first thing offered to a stranger here 

 is a cigar, then matte ; after which we visited his orangery, 

 where I saw some trees of almost incredible magnitude and 

 with equally incredibly enormous crops of fruit, whether con- 

 sidered as to number, size, or quality. Some of these trees 

 could not be less than 40 feet high, with tops high in pro- 

 portion, the points of the lower branches resting on the ground; 

 and the oranges of an uniformly large size, equally inter- 

 spersed all over and among the whole trees. The beautiful 

 hue of the fruit, which was generally ripe, added to the inter- 

 esting appearance of these trees. He had no other garden, 

 but noble fields of sugar cane and some rice grounds : a mill 

 for cleaning the latter article was also on the farm. At night 

 this kind person sent one of his servants to conduct us to the 

 only coffee-house in the town of Tucuman, with orders to re- 



