20 MENDOZA. 



ingly. It is difficult to eav what the price ought to be in such a case. When I was looking 

 about me for a conveyance from Mendoza to Eosario, the best arriero in the place oiiered to take 

 me, with two loads of baggage, under the above stipulations, for the sum of one hundred dollars; 

 and I was led to suppose that he would eventually agree for seventy-five, which I had offered. 

 Probably when there are two or three jjersons together, with a tent and some necessary small 

 stores, this, after the galera, would be the most comfortable way of travelling, because one 

 becomes accustomed to the men, and, what is more important, to the horse or mule he rides, 

 which is not the case in travelling by post — the last to be mentioned of the several modes of 

 crossing the country. 



To go by the post does not imply, as one would suppose, going with the mail, and obliged to 

 keep pace with the courier. It merely means that, by paying a certain tax for a certificate from 

 the administrador de correos, or postmaster general of the larovince, you are authorized to call 

 at the post-houses and demand of the master of the post the number of horses stipulated in the 

 certificate, which he is bound to furnish at a fixed 2:)rice. The privilege is granted to the master 

 of the post, in consideration of the advantages he derives from the traffic, which is not inconsid- 

 erable in a country where the wages of a postillion rarely exceed five dollars a month, and the 

 value of horses is almost nominal. With the exception of the first post out from the seat of 

 government of a province or department, which is charged double, the price per league is six 

 and a quarter cents for a saddle-horse and twelve and a half for a carriage-horse. In some of 

 the provinces, the charge for burden-horses is the same as for saddle-horses, and in others 

 double. I paid twelve and a half cents in Santa Fe and San Luis, but in Cordova and Mendoza 

 only six and a quarter. The horse ridden by the j^ostillion is also paid for by the traveller, 

 who will find it to his convenience, if he be in a hurry, or encumbered with but little baggage, 

 to pack his things in a soft valise, which, if not too large, is carried by the postillion across the 

 crujiper of his saddle. In this way I have seen them carry valises at least three feet long and 

 one thick, for which they did not receive a cent beyond the six and a quarter cents per league 

 for the horse on which they rode. 



Provided with a certificate from the administrador, for which he has paid one dollar, the trav- 

 eller goes to the post-house and notifies the master of the post at what hour he wishes to have 

 the horses, and they are brought at the stipulated time. He may then go to the next post-house 

 leisurely or at a galloi), as he pleases ; and, on arrival, may either call for horses immediately 

 or wait any length of time he wishes. 



It is advisable, if one wants good horses, to fee the master of the post, and a feeling of gen- 

 erosity will generally suggest a small gratification to the postillion who accompanies him ; but 

 for the purpose of obtaining good horses, feeing the postillion is of no use whatever, because he 

 is generally occupied preparing for the ride while another is catching them. 



The great inconvenience attending this mode of travel is, that one hardly becomes accustomed 

 to his horse before it is necessary to change ; and if there is a burden-horse along, the postillion 

 from one post may be iierfectly versed in arranging the load, and the one from the next know 

 nothing about it, so that if it begins to turn on one side there is a deal of trouble to get it straight 

 again. Besides this there is another inconvenience. Every man or boy in the pampa rides as 

 if he was born to it — which is in reality the case — and they have a thorough contempt for any 

 one who does not ride well ; so that the chances are rather more than even that the inexpe- 

 rienced rider will have the most vicious horse in the drove palmed on him, and if he does not 

 get a fall before arriving at the next post it will be little short of a marvel. 



