DAVID VENTER'S 85 



saw armadillos we always gave chase for the fun there is in 

 it. They would make under a bush and begin to dig, and 

 do it so fast that before one could dismount they were 

 disappearing in the ground, but we could generally capture 

 them by getting hold of the tail and pulling them out again, 

 though they sometimes got away by getting into the midst 

 of bushes that were too thorny for us. This smaller species 

 is confined to the pampa northward from the Santa Cruz 

 River as far as the Rio Negro, beyond which live the larger 

 species, called peludo or the hairy armadillo. 



Wednesday came and with it Mr. Booysen with half 

 a sheep on his saddle which we had purchased for 80 cents. 

 While Billy got up a special supper, we took the men over to 

 see the prospects on which we were working, and inciden- 

 tally learned from them a good deal about the Boer Colony. 

 The people had then been there for six years, and their 

 families were getting where the education problem was 

 confronting them. There was no church within 300 miles; 

 the nearest school was 75 miles away ; the only doctor was 

 at Comodoro Rivadavia 75 miles off, and cost $150 a visit 

 beside the transporting him out and back. The treeless 

 country, the harsh winds, the lack of all social opportunities, 

 were especially hard on the women ; so that up to that time 

 nearly a third of the original colony had already returned 

 to the Transvaal. Then the requirement that they take the 

 oath of allegiance to Argentine, and the unlimited delays ia 

 granting titles to their lands (at that time not a title had 

 been perfected) were making the men restless, so that as fast 

 as good opportunities to sell came, they were cashing in their 

 assets and going back, the which was made still easier by 

 the English Government's having paid indemnities for the 

 buildings and stock destroyed during the war. In some 

 cases I understood that either the government, or societies 

 for the purpose, were paying their passage money back„ 

 that being the condition under which I met a returning fam- 

 ily on the boat. Finally the Boers understood the English 



