124 CHARLES DARWIN 



The latter were strange beings ; the first a fine young negro ; 

 the second half Indian and negro; and the two others non- 

 descripts ; namely, an old Chilian miner, the colour of ma- 

 hogany, and another partly a mulatto; but two such mon- 

 grels, with such detestable expressions, I never saw before. 

 At night, when they were sitting round the fire, and playing 

 at cards, I retired to view such a Salvator Rosa scene. They 

 were seated under a low cliff, so that I could look down 

 upon them; around the party were lying dogs, arms, rem- 

 nants of deer and ostriches ; and their long spears were stuck 

 in the turf. Further in the dark background, their horses 

 were tied up, ready for any sudden danger. If the stillness 

 of the desolate plain was broken by one of the dogs barking, 

 a soldier, leaving the fire, would place his head close to the 

 ground, and thus slowly scan the horizon. Even if the noisy 

 teru-tero uttered its scream, there would be a pause in the 

 conversation, and every head, for a moment, a little inclined. 



What a life of misery these men appear to us to lead ! 

 They were at least ten leagues from the Sauce posta, and 

 since the murder committed by the Indians, twenty from 

 another. The Indians are supposed to have made their at- 

 tack in the middle of the night; for very early in the morn- 

 ing after the murder, they were luckily seen approaching 

 this posta. The whole party here, however, escaped, together 

 with the troop of horses ; each one taking a line for himself, 

 and driving with him as many animals as he was able to 

 manage. 



The little hovel, built of thistle-stalks, in which they slept, 

 neither kept out the wind nor rain ; indeed in the latter case 

 the only effect the roof had, was to condense it into larger 

 drops. They had nothing to eat excepting what they could 

 catch, such as ostriches, deer, armadilloes, etc., and their 

 only fuel was the dry stalks of a small plant, somewhat re- 

 sembling an aloe. The sole luxury which these men enjoyed 

 was smoking the little paper cigars, and sucking mate. I 

 used to think that the carrion vultures, man's constant at- 

 tendants on these dreary plains, while seated on the little 

 neighbouring cliffs seemed by their very patience to say, 

 " Ah ! when the Indians come we shall have a feast." 



In the morning we all sallied forth to hunt, and although 



