COUNTRY SPOKTS AND LIFE IN CHILE. 167 



races of more than half a mile ; for the Chile race^ in 

 vogue among the natives only, only Chile horses are 

 nsed. Cuyanos are possessed of considerable bottom for 

 long-continued journeys on the commonest of food. 

 Like Artemus Ward^s old mare, which made a com- 

 fortable lunch off an empty sardine box or two, they will 

 eat literally anything. All through the country, speaking 

 generally, horses are left to pick up what they can during 

 the day, and in the evening they get a bundle of alfalfa 

 or trefoil ; not one horse in a thousand ever knows the taste 

 of barley. Hardly any horses are stabled in Chile, the 

 climate being so pure that the horses keep in far better 

 health when allowed to run loose than when stalled. 

 The alfalfa mentioned above, I believe, is nearly identical 

 with our trefoil ; in Chile it grows to a height frequently 

 of two feet and more, and as thick as it can stand ; in a 

 well-watered potrero three crops can be cut a year. All 

 animals are excessively fond of it, eagerly leaving barley 

 or corn at the sight of a bundle, and, although exces- 

 sively " wet " food, they do a lot of work on it. A well- 

 watered potrero in the neighbourhood of a puehlo, put 

 down with alfalfa, is a mine of wealth to its owner ; a 

 bundle such as a man could compass in his arms is worth 

 more or less 2d. 



The Chile horse is usually a compactly made, big 

 little animal, thick-necked and big-headed; nine times 

 out of ten he has a beautiful forehand and shoulder, and 

 detestable hind-quarters. If you see a Chile horse with 

 good quarters, or, indeed, slightly gooserumped, try 

 to buy him, and then keep him. They are very docile 

 and tractable, and are the pleasantest horses to ride a 

 long journey that I know. The usual journey pace is 

 somet-hiug between a shamble and a quick walk ; it is 



