35^ The N'aturalist in La Plafa. 



abounding in the place, and where no man could 

 follow. I have not space to tell more about this 

 horse; but at last, in the fulness of time, when the 

 figs were ripe — literally as well as figuratively, for 

 it happened in the autumn of the year — the long 

 tyrannous rule ended, and Santa Anna came out of 

 the reed-beds, where he had lived his wild-animal life, 

 to mix with his fellows. I knew him some years 

 later. He was a rather heavy-looking man, with 

 little to say, and his reputation for honesty was not 

 good in the place ; but I dare say there was some- 

 thing good in him. 



Students of nature are familiar with the modifying 

 effects of new conditions on man and brute. Take, 

 for example, the gaucho: he must every day traverse 

 vast distances, see quickly, judge rapidly, be ready 

 at all times to encounter hunger and fatigue, violent 

 changes of temperature, great and sudden perils. 

 These conditions have made him differ widely from 

 the peasant of the Peninsula ; he has the endurance 

 and keen sight of a wolf, is fertile in expedients, 

 quick in action, values human life not at all, and is 

 in pain or defeat a Stoic. Unquestionably the horse 

 he rides has also suffered a great change. He differs 

 as much from the English hunter, for instance, as 

 one animal can well differ from another of the same 

 species. He never pounds the earth and wastes his 

 energies in vain parade. He has not the dauntless 

 courage that performs such brilliant feats in the 

 field, and that often as not attempts the impossible. 

 In the chase he husbands all his strength, carrying 

 his head low, and almost grazing the ground with 

 his hoofs, so that he is not a showy animal. Con 



