FROM SAN LUIS TO EOSARIO. 31 



of their holes, and therefore during sun light take a nap. After leaving the wooded land near 

 San Luis we saw no more large partridges or liebres. 



As it was not certain that Mr. Van Sice would ask me to dinner, I gave the arriero money 

 to buy heef, with directions to let me know when it was roasted, in order that, if I failed in 

 obtaining somebody else's dinner, I should have my own to fall back on. In due time, how- 

 ever, I partook of a good meal served in the house, and, supposing the men would look out 

 for themselves, turned in for a nap. When it was nearly time to start again, I went out, and 

 found the arriero asleep under an ox-cart, but without beef. He said he had not been able to 

 find any, and that neither himself nor the peon had eaten since the previous day — a matter 

 which appeared to give him no uneasiness at all. In answer to my inquiry as to what we were 

 to do for dinner the nest day, he very coolly said he supposed we should have to "suffer." 

 At the expense of a good growl on his part for the want of endurance of "los estrangeros," 

 I succeeded in persuading him to exert himself, and we procured enough charqui for our neces- 

 sities. He was perfectly willing to fast for sixty hours, rather than trouble himself; and as 

 the peon was away taking care of the horses, he had no vote in the matter. 



At 6.30 p. M. we left San Jose, and at 9.30 p. m. camped. The first part of our road was 

 over rocky hills, and the last over rolling ground. Passed two or three streamlets running to 

 the southward. 



December 22. — At 5 A. M. left camp, and after travelling twenty-four miles, by estimation, or 

 thirty-six from San Jose, we stopped in a small valley watered by a streamlet whose banks are 

 shaded by a little grove of willows. This is the dividing line between the provinces of San 

 Luis and Cordova, and was one of the most delightful places we had found in which to pass the 

 siesta — the water and shade being both equally cool and refreshing. At the distance of ten 

 miles from our last night's stopping-place, we passed a low rocky hill lying north and south, and 

 at twenty miles crossed a streamlet running to the southeastward, near which there are one 

 or two ranches with small patches of cultivated ground around them. The road leads over 

 pampa except at the streamlet, where there are low rocky hills. Wind strong from the north- 

 ward. After the siesta set out again, and at the distance of five miles we arrived at the village 

 of Achiras : road, as before, leading over rocky lomas thinly covered with soil, in many places 

 entirely bare. Achiras, like San Jose, is partly surrounded by walls and ditches^ which, with 

 two little streams, constitute its defences. It is built more scatteringly than the latter, 

 and covers a greater space, but I think does not bontain more than half the population. It has 

 a plaza and chapel, but there is a decayed look about the place very different from the fresh ap- 

 pearance of San Jose. Perhaps the style of building and general aspect of the two places may 

 be better understood by comparing San Jose to a pile of new-made adobes, and Achiras to a 

 cluster of old ones, rain-washed. The latter, however, has the advantage of being partially 

 surrounded by trees. On the banks of the streamlets by which it is watered, there is a fine 

 grove of fig-trees, which very much relieve the otherwise decayed appearance of the collection of 

 ruinous, thatched mud-huts. 



While the arriero was procuring food for the following day I rode into the town to obtain 

 cigarritos, and was amused at the astonishment and contempt expressed by an old gentle- 

 man, to whom I referred for information as to where they could be bought, when he learned 

 that I did not know how to make them. After lecturing me severely upon the folly of travel- 

 ling in the pampa without carrying my own tobacco and paper, he insisted on my dismounting 

 to take a lesson in the art of cigar-making ; and when I had acquired knowledge of the modus 

 operandi, he made me a present of a few, and started me off, not, however, before I had obtained, 

 through the agency of a soldier, a good supply ready made. 



As soon as the arriero was ready — he having procured a sucking calf for food — we continued 

 our journey and travelled till ten o'clock, when we camped on the pampa. After crossing the 

 streamlets near the town, the road leads for about four miles over rocky hills, similar to those we 

 had passed near some of the other streamlets, with the exception that the prominent rocks here. 



