104 OV ALLEYS HISTORICAL RELATION OF CHILE. 



it, which makes them fleep in their gardens abroad, without any apprehenfion, except 

 it be of fome fudden fhower which does often happen in fummer ; for on a fudden, 

 though the heavens be clear and bright, it grows cloudy, and falls a raining with great 

 fury ; but this may be eafily remedied ; and likewife the thunders and thunderbolts 

 might be avoided, which are the things which fright thofe of Chile moft, they being fo 

 little ufed to them ; and therefore at the very name of Cuyo, they think the heavens 

 are falling upon their heads, or that the puhaifes, and other naufeous vermin are never 

 to leave them ; fo that no greater mortification can be propofed to an inhabitant of 

 Chile, than to go to live in Cuyo. And befides all this, the vafl fnows which fall on 

 the mountains, fhut up the pafles, and hinder all communication or intercourfe ; fo 

 that in five or fix months one cannot receive a letter, though thofe two provinces are 

 not above thirty or forty leagues afunder, that is, the breadth of that chain of 

 mountains called the Cordillera. This therefore is that which difcredits Cuyo ; and 

 if it had been further off from Chile, it would have had a better name ; but it is with 

 that, as with two loaves, which though both goo4, yet if one be whiter and better, no 

 body will touch the other, the beft being always moft pleafmg. 



CHAP. VII. — Of the Confines of the Province of Cuyo, and particularly of its Eafterly 

 Bounds, the Pampas, and of the River of Plata, 



THE confines of this province of Cuyo to the weft, are Chile ; and to the eaft, the 

 Pampas, or vaft plains of the Rio de la Plata, and part of Tucuman ; which reaching 

 as far as thofe of Rioca, and the mountains of St. Michael, with all the reft as far 

 as Salta and Jujuy, make the north fide of it ; and to the fouth, it has the ftraights of 

 Magellan. All this continent is called the Efcombradas, or plains without hindrance ; 

 for there is not fo much as any ftop to the eye ; but it is hke a fea, and the fun feems 

 to rife and fet out of the earth ; and at its rifing, it is fometime that it gives but little 

 light ; as alfo it lofes fome of its beams before it be quite out of fight when it fets. 

 The way of travelling in thofe plains is with very high carts, which they cover over 

 neatly with hoops, over which are cow-hides, with doors to go in and out ; and thefe 

 are drawn by oxen : there are alfo windows to give a free paffage to the air, and on 

 the bottom one makes one's bed with fo much conveniency, that often travellers fleep 

 out the whole journey, and feel not any of the inconveniences which attend it. 

 Generally they fet out about two hours before fun-fet, and travel all night, till it be an 

 hour or two after fun-rifing ; fo that a traveller juft wakes when he comes to the 

 baiting-place. This muft be owned to be a great conveniency ; becaufe one may alfo 

 walk on foot fometimes, in the cool, before one lies down, and fo one comes merrily 

 and eafily to one's journey's end. 



There is alfo another entertainment which helps to pafs the time pleafantly, and that 

 is hunting : and for this end fome carry horfes empty, and dogs on purpofe ; and 

 there is game enough both of hare and venifon : for there are herds of Guanacos, of 

 two or three hundred. The dog follows them; and the young-ones, not able to 

 follow, are left behind, which the hunter knocks on the head with a club he carries, 

 without lighting from his horfe, and returns to the carts loaden with venifon, which 

 ferve for provifion as well as entertainment. At other times they follow the partridges, 

 francolins, or the bird called Quiriquincho. But to all this there are abatements and 

 mixtures of trouble : the firft is, the mighty heat in fummer ; for which reafon, lefl 

 the oxen fhould be ftifled with it, they travel in the night ; and when they come to 



halt. 



