98 HUNTING EXTINCT ANIMALS 



the government gets to it, will be a railroad center, but is 

 now reached by four or five days of wagon travel. As 

 everything is carried in by this means, hay is $5 a bale, 

 corn (or maize as it is always called in South America) 

 five cents a pound, and everything to correspond. Toward 

 six we found water and camped a few rods from the trail. 



Next morning just as we were pulling on to the trail, 

 a Spanish freighter yelling at the top of his lungs, and 

 cracking his long whip over the twelve horses spread out 

 like a fan in front of his wagon, got in just ahead of us. 

 Though it was half-past five in the morning, he was trav- 

 eling at a slow trot while we felt that at that time of day 

 we could not go faster than a walk. Inside of half an hour 

 some one of the poorly made and loosely adjusted harnesses 

 got out of order and we with our two-horse outfit took 

 the lead. This was too much and we soon heard our rival 

 coming on at a gallop, so that he soon passed us again, 

 and as he forged ahead his wagon grew small in the distance 

 but never got out of sight. At nine we came up with him 

 again and found that he was unhitching, having completed 

 his forenoon's drive of about twelve miles. His horses had 

 to pick up their entire living along the trail and required 

 five or six hours in the middle of the day to feed. We 

 never saw that outfit again, as we went on three more 

 hours before stopping for our hour's nooning. Doubtless, 

 as is the custom, he made eight or nine miles during the 

 afternoon. 



At noon we came upon a roadhouse, and it being Sun- 

 day, we celebrated by buying our dinner and turning our 

 horses into the man's pasture to get a full stomach. About 

 three we came to the head of that canyon and put on all 

 five horses to pull up the steep pitch on to the pampa. 

 As we came out on top we met a fierce gale of wind howling 

 over the great plain, and accompanied by* a drop in the 

 temperature nearly down to freezing. Soon it began to rain 

 on top of all the rest; so keeping all the horses on the wagon 



