142 BAIIIA BLAXCA TO BUENOS AYRES. 



spears were stuck in the gi'ound thirty-five yards 

 apart, but they were struck and entangled only 

 once in four or five times. The balls can be thrown 

 fifty or sixty yards, but with little certainty. This, 

 however, does not apply to a man on horseback ; 

 for when the speed of the horse is added to the 

 force of the arm, it is said that they can be whirled 

 with effect to the distance of eighty yards. As a 

 proof of their force, I may mention, that at the 

 Falkland Islands, when the Spaniards murdered 

 some of their own countrymen and all the English- 

 men, a young friendly Spaniard was running away, 

 when a great tall man, by name Luciano, came at 

 full gallop after him, shouting to him to stop, and 

 saying that he only wanted to speak to him. Just 

 as the Spaniard was on the point of reaching the 

 boat, Luciano threw the balls ; they struck him on 

 the legs with such a jerk as to throw him down, 

 and to render him for some time insensible. The 

 man, after Luciano had had his talk, was allowed 

 to escape. He told us that his legs were marked 

 by gi'eat weals, where the thong had wound round, 

 as if he had been flogged with a whip. In the 

 middle of the day two men arrived, who brought a 

 parcel from the next posta to be forwarded to the 

 general : so that besides these two, our party con- 

 sisted this evening of my guide and self, the lieu- 

 tenant, and his four soldiers. The latter were 

 strange beings : the first a fine young negro : the 

 second half Indian and negro ; and the two others 

 nondescripts, namely, an old Chilian ininer, the 

 colour of mahogany, and another partly a mulatto ; 

 but two such mongrels, with such detestable ex- 

 pressions, I never saw before. At night, when they 

 were sitting round the fire and playing at cards, I 

 retired to view such a Salvator Rosa scene. They 

 were seated under a low cliff, so that I could look 



