i833.] GENERAL ROSAS. 83 



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 accomplish- 

 ment of no small consequence in the country where an 

 assembled army elected its general by the following trial — 

 A troop of unbroken horses being driven into a corral, 

 were let out through a gateway, above which was a 

 cross-bar ; it was agreed whoever should drop from the 

 bar on one of these wild animals, as it rushed out, and 

 should be able, without saddle or bridle, not only to ride 

 it, but also to bring it back to the door of the corral, should 

 be their general. The person who succeeded was accord- 

 ingly elected ; and doubtless made a fit general for such 

 an army. This extraordinary feat has also been performed 

 by Rosas. 



Bv these means, and by conforming to the dress and 

 habits of the Gauchos, he has obtained an unbounded 

 popularity in the country, and in consequence a despotic 

 power. I was assured by an English merchant, that a 

 man who had murdered another, when arrested and 

 questioned concerning his motive, answered, "He spoke 

 disrespectfully of General Rosas, so I killed him." At the 

 end of a week the murderer was at liberty. This doubt- 

 less was the act of the general's party, and not of the 

 general himself. 



In conversation he is enthusiastic, sensible, and very 

 grave. His gravity is carried to a high pitch : I heard one 

 of his mad buffoons (for he keeps two, like the barons of 

 old) relate the following anecdote : " I wanted very much to 

 hear a certain piece of music, so I went to the general two 

 or three times to ask him ; he said to me, 'Go about your 

 business for I am engaged.' I went a second time; he 

 said : ' If you come again I will punish you.' A third time 

 I asked, and he laughed. I rushed out of the tent, but 

 it was too late ; he ordered two soldiers to catch and stake 

 me. I begged by all the saints in heaven he would let me 

 off ; but it would not do ; — when the general laughs he 

 spares neither mad man nor sound." The poor flighty 

 gentleman looked quite dolorous at the very recollection of 

 the staking. This is a very severe punishment ; four posts 

 'ire driven into the ground, and the man is extended by hi'? 



ins and legs horizontally, and there left to stretch foi 



