i64 BANDA ORIENTAL 



at first strange that it can answer to kill mares for such a trifle ; 

 but as it is thought ridiculous in this country ever to break in 

 or ride a mare, they are of no value except for breeding. The 

 only thing for which I ever saw mares used, was to tread out 

 wheat from the ear ; for which purpose they were driven round 

 a circular enclosure, where the wheat -sheaves were strewed. 

 The man employed for slaughtering the mares happened to be 

 celebrated for his dexterity with the lazo. Standing at the 

 distance of twelve yards from the mouth of the corral, he has 

 laid a wager that he would catch by the legs every animal, with- 

 out missing one, as it rushed past him. There was another 

 man who said he would enter the corral on foot, catch a mare, 

 fasten her front legs together, drive her out, throw her down, 

 kill, skin, and stake the hide for drying (which latter is a tedious 

 job) ; and he engaged that he would perform this whole operation 

 on twenty-two animals in one day. Or he would kill and take 

 the skin off fifty in the same time. This would have been a 

 prodigious task, for it is considered a good day's work to skin 

 and stake the hides of fifteen or sixteen animals. 



November 26th. — I set out on my return in a direct line 

 for Monte Video. Having heard of some giant's bones at 

 a neighbouring farmhouse on the Sarandis, a small stream 

 entering the Rio Negro, I rode there accompanied by my host, 

 and purchased for the value of eighteenpence the head of the 

 Toxodon.^ When found it was quite perfect ; but the boys 

 knocked out some of the teeth with stones, and then set up 

 the head as a mark to throw at. By a most fortunate chance 

 I found a perfect tooth, which exactly fitted one of the sockets in 

 this skull, embedded by itself on the banks of the Rio Tercero, 

 at the distance of about 180 miles from this place. I found 

 remains of this extraordinary animal at two other places, so 

 that it must formerly have been common. I found here, also, 

 some large portions of the armour of a gigantic armadillo-like 

 animal, and part of the great head of a Mylodon. The bones 

 of this head are so fresh, that they contain, according to the 

 analysis by Mr. T. Reeks, seven per cent of animal matter ; 

 and when placed in a spirit-lamp, they burn with a small flame. 



1 I must express my obligation to Mr. Keane, at whose house I was staying on 

 the Berquelo, and to Mr. Lumb at Buenos Ayres, for without their assistance these 

 valuable remains would never have reached England. 



