130 CHARLES DARWIN 



nothing but beef. But they eat, I observe, a very large 

 proportion of fat, which is of a less animalized nature; and 

 they particularly dislike dry meat, such as that of the Agouti. 

 Dr. Richardson,* also, has remarked, " that when people 

 have fed for a long time solely upon lean animal food, the 

 desire for fat becomes so insatiable, that they can consume 

 a large quantity of unmixed and even oily fat without 

 nausea:" this appears to me a curious physiological fact. 

 It is, perhaps, from their meat regimen that the Gauchos, 

 like other carnivorous animals, can abstain long from food. 

 I was told that at Tandeel, some troops voluntarily pursued 

 a party of Indians for three days, without eating or drinking. 



We saw in the shops many articles, such as horsecloths, 

 belts, and garters, woven by the Indian women. The pat- 

 terns were very pretty, and the colours brilliant; the work- 

 manship of the garters was so good that an English mer- 

 chant at Buenos Ayres maintained they must have been 

 manufactured in England, till he found the tassels had been 

 fastened by split sinew. 



September i8th. We had a very long ride this day. At 

 the twelfth posta, which is seven leagues south of the Rio 

 Salado, we came to the first estancia with cattle and white 

 women. Afterwards we had to ride for many miles through 

 a country flooded with water above our horses' knees. By 

 crossing the stirrups, and riding Arab-like with our legs 

 bent up, we contrived to keep tolerably dry. It was nearly 

 dark when we arrived at the Salado; the stream was deep, 

 and about forty yards wide; in summer, however, its bed 

 becomes almost dry, and the little remaining water nearly 

 as salt as that of the sea. We slept at one of the great estan- 

 cias of General Rosas. It was fortified, and of such an 

 extent, that arriving in the dark I thought it was a town 

 and fortress. In the morning we saw immense herds of 

 cattle, the general here having seventy-four square leagues 

 of land. Formerly nearly three hundred men were em- 

 ployed about this estate, and they defied all the attacks of 

 the Indians. 



September ipth. Passed the Guardia del Monte. This 

 is a nice scattered little town, with many gardens, full of 

 Fauna Boreali-Americana, vol. i. p. 35. 



