138 I3ANDA ORIENTAL. [CHAP. vra. 



rincon; that is, one side was fronted by the Plata, and the two 

 others guarded by impassable brooks. There was au excellent port 

 for little vessels, and an abundance of small wood, which is valuable 

 as supplying fuel to Buenos Ayres. I was curious to know the 

 value of so complete an estancia. Of cattle there were 3000, and it 

 would well support three or four times that number ; of mares 800, 

 together with 150 broken-in horses, and 600 sheep. There was 

 plenty of water and limestone, a rough house, excellent corrals, 

 and a peach orchard. For all this he had been offered 2000, and 

 he only wanted 500 additional, and probably would sell it for 

 less. The chief trouble with an estancia is driving the cattle twice 

 a week to a central spot, in order to make them tame, and to count 

 them. This latter operation would be thought difficult, where 

 there are ten or fifteen thousand head together. It is managed on 

 the principle that the cattle invariably divide themselves into little 

 troops of from forty to one hundred. Each troop is recognized by 

 a few peculiarly marked animals, and its number is known : so that, 

 one being lost out of ten thousand, it is perceived by its absence 

 from one of the tropillas. During a stormy night the cattle all 

 mingle together; but the next morning the tropillas separate as 

 before ; so that each animal must know its fellow out of ten thousand 

 others. 



On two occasions I met with in this province some oxen of a very 

 curious breed, called nata or niata. They appear externally to hold 

 nearly the same relation to other cattle, which bull or pug dogs do 

 to other dogs. Their forehead is very short and broad, with the 

 nasal end turned up, and the upper lip much drawn back ; their 

 lower jaws project beyond the upper, and have a corresponding 

 upward curve ; hence their teeth are always exposed. Their nostrils 

 are seated high up and are very open ; their eyes project outwards. 

 When walking they carry their heads low, on a short neck ; and 

 their hinder legs are rather longer compared with the front legs 

 than is usual. Their bare teeth, their short heads, and upturned 

 nostrils give them the most ludicrous self-confident air of defiance 

 imaginable. 



Since my return, I have procured a skeleton head, through the 

 kindness of my friend Captain Sulivan, E.N., which is now deposited 

 in the College of Surgeons.* Don F. Muniz, of Luxan, has kindly 



* Mr. Waterhouse has drawn up a detailed description of this head, 

 which I hope he will publish in some Journal. 



