GENERAL ROSAS. \)'3 



it seems probable he will use to its prosperity and 

 advancement.* He is said to be the owner of sev^ 

 enty-four square leagues of land, and to have about 

 three hundred thousand head of cattle. His es- 

 tates are admirably managed, and are far more pro- 

 ductive of corn than those of others. He first gain- 

 ed his celebrity by his laws for his own estancias, 

 and by disciplining several hundred men, so as to 

 resist with success the attacks of the Indians. There 

 are many stories current about the rigid manner in 

 which his laws were enforced. One of these was, 

 that no man, on penalty of being put into the 

 stocks, should carry his knife on a Sunday : this 

 being the principal day for gambling and drink- 

 ing, many quarrels arose, which, from the general 

 manner of fighting with the knife, often proved fa- 

 tal. One Sunday the Governor came in great form 

 to pay the estancia a visit, and General Rosas, in 

 his hurry, walked out to receive him with his knife, 

 as usual, stuck in his belt. The steward touched 

 his arm, and reminded him of the law ; upon which, 

 turning to the Governor, he said he was extreme- 

 ly sorry, but that he must go into the stocks, and 

 that, till let out, he possessed no power even in his 

 own house. After a little time the steward was 

 persuaded to open the stocks and to let him out, 

 but no sooner was this done, than he turned to the 

 steward and said, "You now have broken the laws, 

 so you must take my place in the stocks." Such 

 actions as these delighted the Gauchos, who all 

 possess high notions of their own equality and 

 dignity. 



General Rosas is also a perfect horseman — an 

 accomplishment of no small consequence in a coun- 

 try where an assembled army elected its general 



* This prophecy has turned out entirely and miserably wiong. 

 1845. 



