FROM ROSARIO TO MENDOZA. 49 



assured me was perfectly true — namely, that at or near the same moment and place, discharges 

 of electricity occurred vertically upward and perpendicularly downward. During the storm 

 occasional puffs of warm air passed by, indicating that it was a local phenomenon, and confined 

 to a small space, which after experience proved to he the fact ; for we found that at the time we 

 felt the stm-m, it rained hut little in the Villa del Rio Cuarto, and a short distance to the west- 

 ward it did not rain at all. As soon as the wind was sufficiently fair for us we pursued our 

 journey, and arrived at the villa about ten o'clock at night. 



On going down the steep cliif to the bed of the Eio Cuarto we came near having a mishap, 

 the rain having rendered the road so slippery that it was very difficult to descend. The postil- 

 lion, who was ahead leading the baggage-horse, got down very well ; but the Frenchman, who 

 followed next, had not descended half way when his horse slipped, and for a while the pair of 

 them floundered in the mud at a terrible rate ; but at length the horse lodged in a gutter, with his 

 heels in the air, from which we had some trouble to extricate him, and the Frenchman escaped 

 with no other damage than being muddy from head to foot. We found very little water in the 

 river — not a tenth of what there was at the same place I crossed before. 



Stopped at the old posada, and found Don Pancho still drunk. In addition to his imperti- 

 nence, I had to suffer that of a drunken companion, who claimed to be the son of some foreigner, 

 and seemed to think this fact gave him exclusive right to be civil to me. As soon as I asked if 

 we could have something to eat, he bolted out of the house, and in a few minutes returned with 

 a disgusting mess of scraps of beef — the remains of his own dinner. On my refusing to partake 

 of it he became outrageous ; and, eventually, it was necessary to point a cocked pistol at him in 

 order to get rid of him. 



Novemher 16. — Weather partially cloudy. Made a set of observations. 



November 17. — Detained by rainy weather. 



From what I heard in this place, the troop of friars passed on the Parana, last journey, must 

 have sweated under their load here. Their provincial^ or leader, preached two sermons a day 

 for the nine days they remained, and all the friars — thirty-five, I think — had authority to receive 

 confession and give absolution. This they did in the church, every day, except Thursdays and 

 Sundays, when they sallied forth to visit the houses and receive confessions of the sick, the lame, 

 and the lazy. When they left town, all the women, and half of the men, accompanied them on 

 the road, and government furnished them with an escort of fifty soldiers as far as the province 

 of Mendoza. 



November 18. — The weather was still rainy; but as we had already lost one day, I determined 

 to set out. Before doing so, however, in order to have no further trouble with the load, I made 

 a contract with a man to accompany us and attend to its arrangement. 



Left town at 8 o'clock, and rode till night, when we stopped in Achiras. Changed horses at 

 the post-houses of "Los Ojos de Agua" and Las Barranquitas. Weather chilly. Wind 

 southwest, with a heavy Scotch mist. As tjie road from the Villa del Rio Cuarto is the same 

 passed over on my first trip, it is unnecessary to say anything about the country. 



November 19. — ^To San Jose del Morro, where we were delayed for the remainder of the day, 

 because the villain of a post-master would not have his horses brought up. It turned out that 

 he had a letter to write to San Luis ; and notwithstanding he had all the afternoon before him, 

 he put off writing till the next morning, again delaying us more than two hours. Between 

 Achiras and San Jose we changed horses at the post of Portezuelo, which consists of two or 

 three huts, situated at the eastern base of a range of rocky hills running to the northward. 



November 20. — To the post-house of Rio Quinto, where we dined. The heat of the sun was so 

 oppressive as to produce, at times, a film over my eyes and a singing in the ears. Found much 

 less water in the river than on the former occasion. After dinner, set out on such wretchedly 

 lean horses, that, from the heat and length of the post, (twelve leagues), we could not afford to 

 push them until after nightfall, and even then we could not get more than a draggling trot out 

 of them ; we therefore did not arrive at San Luis till after midnight. We found the city illu- 



