68 RIO COLORADO. [CHAP. iv. 



which roams free over the plain. In fighting, his first attempt is 

 to throw down the horse of his adversary with the bolas, and when 

 entangled by the fall to kill him with the chuzo. If the balls only 

 catch the neck or body of an animal, they are often carried away 

 and lost. As the making the stones round is the labour of two 

 days, the manufacture of the balls is a very common employment. 

 Several of the men and women had their faces painted red, but 

 I never saw the horizontal bands which are so common among the 

 Fuegians. Their chief pride consists in having everything made of 

 silver ; I have seen a cacique with his spurs, stirrups, handle of his 

 knife, and bridal made of this metal : the head-stall and reins being 

 of wire, were not thicker than whipcord ; and to see a fiery steed 

 wheeling about under the command of so light a chain, gave to the 

 horsemanship a remarkable character of elegance. 



General Eosas intimated a wish to see me ; a circumstance which 

 I was afterwards very glad of. He is a man of an extraordinary 

 character, and has a most predominant influence in the country, 

 which it seems probable he will use to its prosperity and advance- 

 ment.* He is said to be the owner of seventy- four square leagues of 

 land, and to have about three hundred thousand head of cattle. His 

 estates are admirably managed, and are far more productive of corn 

 than those of others. He first gained his celebrity by his laws for 

 his own estancias, and by disciplining several hundred men, so as 

 to resist with success the attacks of the Indians. There are many 

 stories current about the rigid manner in which his laws were 

 enforced. One of these was, that no man, on penalty of being put 

 into the stocks, should carry his knife on a Sunday : this being the 

 principal day for gambling and drinking, many quarrels arose, 

 which from the general manner of fighting with the knife often 

 proved fatal. One Sunday the Governor came in great form to pay 

 the estancia a visit, and General Eosas, in his hurry, walked out 

 to receive him with his knife, as usual, stuck in his belt. The 

 steward touched his arm, and reminded him of the law; upon 

 which turning to the Governor, he said he was extremely sorry, but 

 that he must go into the stocks, and that till let out, he possessed 

 no power even in his own house. After a little time the steward 

 was persuaded to open the stocks, and to let him out, but no 

 sooner was this done, than he turned to the steward and said, 

 "You now have broken the laws, so you must take my place in the 



* This prophecy has turned out entirely and miserably wrong. 1845. - 



