76 RIO COLORADO chap. 



to its prosperity and advancement^ He is said to be the 

 owner of seventy -four square leagues of land, and to have 

 about three hundred thousand head of cattle. His estates are 

 admirably managed, and are far more productive of corn than 

 those of others. He first gained his celebrity by his laws for 

 his own estancias, and by disciplining several hundred men, so 

 as to resist with success the attacks of the Indians. There are 

 many stories current about the rigid manner in which his laws 

 were enforced. One of these was, that no man, on penalty of 

 being put into the stocks, should carry his knife on a Sunday : 

 this being the principal day for gambling and drinking, many 

 quarrels arose, which from the general manner of fighting with 

 the knife often proved fatal. 



One Sunday the Governor came in great form to pay the 

 estancia a visit, and General Rosas, in his hurry, walked out 

 to receive him with his knife, as usual, stuck in his belt. The 

 steward touched his arm, and reminded him of the law ; upon 

 which, turning to the Governor, he said he was extremely 

 sorry, but that he must go into the stocks, and that till let 

 out, he possessed no power even in his own house. After 

 a little time the steward was persuaded to open the stocks, 

 and to let him out, but no sooner was this done, than 

 he turned to the steward and said, "You now have broken 

 the laws, so you must take my place in the stocks." Such 

 actions as these delighted the Gauchos, who all possess high 

 notions of their own equality and dignity. 



General Rosas is also a perfect horseman — an accomplish- 

 ment of no small consequence in a country where an assembled 

 army elected its general by the following trial : A troop of 

 unbroken horses being driven into a corral, were let out through 

 a gateway, above which was a cross-bar: it was agreed who- 

 ever should drop from the bar on one of these wild animals, 

 as it rushed out, and should be able, without saddle or bridle, 

 not only to ride it, but also to bring it back to the door of 

 the corral, should be their general. The person who succeeded 

 was accordingly elected ; and doubtless made a fit general for 

 such an army. This extraordinary feat has also been performed 

 by Rosas. 



By these means, and by conforming to the dress and habits 



^ This prophecy has turned out entirely and miserably wrong. 1845. 



