266 JYew Publications. [April, 



is called a rincon ; that is, one side was fronted by the Plata, and 

 the two others guarded by impassable brooks. There was an ex- 

 cellent port for little vessels, and an abundance of small wood, 

 which is valuable as supplying fuel to Buenos Ayres. I was 

 curious to know the value of so complete an estancia. Of cattle 

 there were 3000, and it would well support three or four times 

 the number; of mares 800, together with 150 broken-in horses, and 

 600 sheep. There was plenty of water and limestone, a rough 

 house, excellent corrals, and a peach orchard. For all this he had 

 been offered ^£2000, and he only wanted ^£500 additional, and 

 probably would sell it for less. The chief trouble with an estan- 

 cia is driving the cattle twice a week to a central spot, in order 

 to make them tame, and to count them. This latter operation 

 would be thought difficult, where there are ten or fifteen thousand 

 head together. It is managed on the principle that the cattle in- 

 variably divide themselves into little troops of from forty to one 

 hundred. Each troop is recognised by a few peculiarly marked 

 animals, and its number is known: so that, one being lost out of 

 ten thousand, it is perceived by its absence from one of the tro- 

 pillas. During a stormy night the cattle all mingle together, but 

 the next morning the tropillas separate as before, so that each 

 animal must know its fellow out of ten thousand others. 



On two occasions I met with in this province some oxen of a 

 very curious breed, called nata or niata. They appear externally 

 to hold nearly the same relation to other cattle which bull or pug 

 dogs do to other dogs. Their forehead is very short and broad, 

 with the nasal end turned up, and the upper lip much drawn 

 back; their lower jaws project beyond the upper, and have a cor- 

 responding upward curve: hence their teeth are always exposed. 

 Their nostrils are seated high up and are very open; their eyes 

 project outwards. When walking they carry their heads low, on 

 a short neck; and their hinder legs are rather longer, compared 

 with the front legs, than is usual. Their bare teeth, their short 

 heads, and upturned nostrils give them the most ludicrous, self- 

 confident air of defiance imaginable. 



Since my return I have procured a skeleton head, through the 

 kindness of my friend. Captain Sulivan, R. N., which is now de- 

 posited in the College of Surgeons.* Don F. Muniz, of Luxan, 

 has kindly collected for me all the information which he could 

 respecting this breed. From his account, it seems that about 

 eighty or ninety years ago they were rare, and kept as curiosities 

 at Buenos Ayres. The breed is universally believed to have 

 originated amongst the Indians southward of the Plata, and that 

 it was with them the commonest kind. Even to this day, those 



• Mr. Waterhouse has drawn up a detailed description of this head, which 

 Ih ope he will publish in some Journal. 



