136 PAMPAS. Sept. 1833. 



shaped huts of the Indians. The families of the friendly- 

 Indians, who were fighting on the side of Rosas, resided 

 here. We met and passed many young Indian women, riding 

 by two or three together on the same horse : they, as well 

 as many of the young men, were strikingly handsome, — their 

 fine ruddy complexions being the picture of health. Be- 

 sides the toldos, there were three ranchos ; one inhabited by 

 the Commandant, and the two others by Spaniards with small 



shops. 



We were here able to buy some biscuit. I had now been 

 several days without tasting any thing besides meat : I did 

 not at aU dislike this new regimen ; but I felt as if it would 

 only have agreed with very hard exercise. I have heard that 

 patients in England, when desired to confine themselves ex- 

 clusively to an animal diet, even with the hope of life before 

 their eyes, have hardly been able to endure it. Yet the 

 Gaucho in the Pampas, for months together, touches 

 nothing but beef. But they eat, I observe, a very large 

 proportion of fat, which is of a less animalized nature; 

 and they particularly dislike dry meat, such as that of the 

 Agouti. It is, perhaps, from this regimen that the Gauchos, 

 like other carnivorous animals, can abstain long from food. 

 I was told that at Tandeel, some troops voluntarily puisued a 

 party of Indians for three days, without eating or drinking. 



We saw in the shops, many articles, such as horsecloths, 

 belts, and garters , woven by the Indian women. The pat- 

 terns were very pretty, and the colours brilliant; the workman- 

 ship of the garters was so good, that an Enghsh merchant at 

 Buenos Ayres, maintained they must have been manufac- 

 tured in England, till he found the tassels had been fastened 

 by split sinew. 



September 18th. — We had a very long ride this day. At 

 the twelfth posta, which is seven leagues south of Rio Salado, 

 we came to the first estancia with cattle and white women. 

 Afterwards we had to ride for many miles through a country 

 flooded with water above our horses' knees. By crossing 

 the stirrups, and riding Arab-like with our legs bent up, we 



