Seen and Lost. 379 



wheeled round square before me, stared straight 

 into my eyes, and in an exceedingly high-pitched 

 reedy or screechy voice and a sing-song tone re- 

 turned my " good morning," and bade me call for 

 the liquid I loved best at his expense. I declined 

 with thanks, and in accordance with gaucho 

 etiquette added that I was prepared to pay for his 

 liquor. It was then for him to say that he had 

 already been served and so let the matter drop, but 

 he did not do so : he screamed out in his wild 

 animal voice that he would take gin. I paid for 

 his drink, and would, I think, have felt greatly 

 surprised at his strange insolent behaviour, so un- 

 like that of the usually courteous gaucho, but this 

 thing affected me not at all, so profoundly had his 

 singular appearance and voice impressed me ; and 

 for the rest of the time I remained in the place I 

 continued to watch him narrowly. Professor 

 Huxley has somewhere said, " A variation frequently 

 occurs, but those who notice it take no care about 

 noting down the particulars." That is not a failing 

 of mine, and this is what I noted down while the 

 man's appearance was still fresh in memory. He 

 was about five feet eleven inches in height very 

 tall for a gaucho straight and athletic, with ex- 

 ceedingly broad shoulders, which made his round 

 head look small ; long arms and huge hands. The 

 round flat face, coarse black hair, swarthy reddish 

 colour, and smooth hairless cheeks seemed to show 

 that he had more Indian than Spanish blood in him, 

 while his round black eyes were even more like 

 those of a rapacious animal in expression than in the 

 pure-blooded Indian. He also had the Indian or 



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