CHAPTER III 



Life on the Arid Plains 



The next morning we had breakfast before daylight,, 

 brought in the horses, broke camp, and were on the road 

 about seven, which was then about an hour after sunrise. 

 Our motto w^as, "go slow but keep at it." After lunch it 

 began to rain, but as there was no drinking water in sight,, 

 we kept pushing on until about six, when a light was spied, 

 and after another hour we came to a little mud-walled 

 puesta, the frame of which had been filled in with twigs, 

 and then the whole daubed over with mud, and covered 

 with a roof of second-hand corrugated iron. Having been 

 used before, this roof was full of nail holes and let in 

 the rain badly. The house had no chimney and the fire 

 was in the middle of the floor, so that the ceiling was cov- 

 ered with soot, and when the rain water came through 

 and dripped on the inhabitants, each drop had its load of 

 black. We found two men and two children occupying 

 the two-roomed hut. They asked us in, and as it was 

 now pouring and the wind howling, we were very glad not 

 to have to pitch a tent. We dared not turn the horses 

 loose, as before such a storm they might drift entirely 

 away from us; so they were tied up to the lee side of the 

 house and went hungry except for the little grain we could 

 give them. Upon coming into this home, we had our first 

 experience of the mate custom which is prevalent among the 

 country people, and many of those in the towns. 



Our host took a gourd from the shelf, filled it about half 

 full with mate, a tea-like herb from Paraguay and southern 

 Brazil, filled it up with hot water, and put in the hombillo^ 

 a metal straw with a perforated bulb at the base. As 

 eldest guest this was passed to me first. I drank out the 



