1833.] HOSPITALITY. 107 



could not have seen less than forty or fifty. They were generally 

 near their earths, but the dogs killed one. When we returned to 

 the posta, we found two of the party returned who had been hunt- 

 ing by themselves. They had killed a puma, and had found an 

 ostrich's nest with twenty-seven eggs in it. Each of these is said 

 to equal in weight eleven hen's eggs ; so that we obtained from this 

 one nest as much food as 297 hen's eggs would have given. 



September 14</t. As the soldiers belonging to the next posta 

 meant to return, and we should together make a party of five, and 

 all armed, I determined not to wait for the expected troops. My 

 host, the lieutenant, pressed me much to stop. As he had been 

 very obliging not only providing me with food, but lending me 

 his private horses I wanted to make him some remuneration. I 

 asked my guide whether I might do so, but he told me certainly 

 not ; that the only answer I should receive, probably would be, 

 " We have meat for the dogs in our country, and therefore do not 

 grudge it to a Christian." It must not be supposed that the rank 

 of lieutenant in such an army would at all prevent the acceptance 

 of payment : it was only the high sense of hospitality, which every 

 traveller is bound to acknowledge as nearly universal throughout 

 these provinces. After galloping some leagues, we came to a low 

 swampy country, which extends for nearly eighty miles northward, 

 as far as the Sierra Tapalguen. In some parts there were fine 

 damp plains, covered with grass, while others had a soft, black, 

 and peaty soil. There were also many extensive but shallow lakes, 

 and large beds of reeds. The country on the whole resembled 

 the better parts of the Cambridgeshire fens. At night we had 

 some difficulty in finding, amidst the swamps, a dry place for our 

 bivouac. 



September 15th. Rose very early in the morning, and shortly 

 after passed the posta where the Indians had murdered the five 

 soldiers. The officer had eighteen chuzo wounds in his body. By 

 the middle of the day, after a hard gallop, we reached the fifth 

 posta : on account of some difficulty in procuring horses we stayed 

 there the night. As this point was the most exposed on the whole 

 line, twenty-one soldiers were stationed here; at sunset they 

 returned from hunting, bringing with them seven deer, three 

 ostriches, and many armadilloes and partridges. When riding 

 through the country, it is a common practice to set fire to the plain ; 

 and hence at night, as on this occasion, the horizon was illuminated 



