FROM ROSARIO TO MENDOZA. 51 



how the ohl termagant hopped around at that. As for listening to what she said, it would not 

 have been advisable. I certainly did not, bnt rested satisfied with the fact that the desired 

 efi'ect had been produced, for we soon had the horses forthcoming. While settling my accounts, 

 I noticed a malicious twinkle in her eyes, and we had not gone far before we foimd that she 

 had, to use a common expression, "taken her change." A set of more worthless animals I never 

 saw. By nightfall we were only a third of the way, and two of the horses were so dead beat 

 that neither whipping nor spurring would induc-> them to go farther, and we were obliged to 

 stop in the woods, where there was neither water nor food. The next morning (November 23) 

 we started early, and after travelling at a snail's pace, got about five leagues farther, when we 

 were obliged to halt again and let the horses rest; so that it was near eleven o'clock before we 

 reached the post-house of the Desaguadero. 



After obtaining something to eat for ourselves, my attention was attracted to the woebegone 

 looks of our postillion, and another^ a boy about fourteen years old, who had arrived with a 

 courier two or three hours before. We had passed this little fellow two leagues out, sleeping 

 in the sun while his horses grazed, and he had turned back with us. On inquiring, I learned, 

 that although neither of them had eaten for twenty-four hours, and had to return immediately 

 with their horses, which would probably occupy nearly twenty-four hours more, they could get 

 nothing to eat, because they had no money. Of course, I ordered as much as would satisfy 

 their hunger, which, by the way, was no little, and after giving them a real or so, saw them 

 ofl', highly contented. 



The post-house of the Desaguadero is nearly four miles south of the ford by which we crossed 

 it on the former trip. It consists of two or three miserable ranches. The travellers' room, at 

 the time we passed, was occupied by two litters of puppies and several chickens. 



As it was very warm, the thermometer being 9*7° in the sun, and the wet-bulb '72°, we allowed 

 the heat of the day to pass before we continued our journey. At midnight, arrived at Acoro- 

 corto, after a long^ dusty, and tiresome ride. Found but little accommodation at the post-house, 

 and less desire to accommodate ; the master of the post being the nabob of the place, and con- 

 sequently too important a personage to attend to the wants of travellers, but not too great, 

 to receive their money. 



Before arriving at this place, my man "Don Marcos" informed me that at one time he had 

 been better off in the world, and as we were now approaching a part of the country where he 

 was well known, it would be very mortifying for him to have his friends suppose he was trav- 

 elling as a servant. He therefore requested I would say that he was merely accompanying us. 

 I told him I did not care how he represented himself, provided he performed his work. But 

 when we arrived he walked into the post-house, told the master of the post — who was an 

 acquaintance, by the way — that he had been taken sick at the Kio Quarto, and was returning 

 home in our company ; then seated himself very comfortably, leaving me to unsaddle my horse 

 and make my own bed. Next morning I told him he must either do his duty, which Avas very 

 little, or quit, and thus brought him to his senses. After all his pretension to belonging to the 

 "fir.st family," the fellow was very desirous, on our arrival in Mendoza, that I should employ 

 him as my servant in crossing the mountains, and came several times to effect that object, tell- 

 ing me, on each occasion, about the tabletas (cake made of alternate layers of sweetmeats and 

 pastry) that his wife was making, as a present for me. As soon as he learned I had engaged 

 another servant, he borrowed a dollar of me, and I did not see him again until I was leaving 

 Mendoza the last time, when, at about a mile out, whom should we meet but Don Marcos, 

 riding with a party of friends. He did not see me until I was close up, and hailed him, 

 to know where my dollar and his wife's tabletas were. I never saw such a crest-fallen devil in 

 my life as he was, on being thus accosted. 



On the afternoon of the 22d of November, a smart shock of an earthquake was felt from 

 Mendoza to Acorocorto. 



November 24.— The forenoon was clear and very warm, the dry-bulb thermometer standing 



