1833.] GENERAL ROSAS. 73 
and advancement.* He is said to be the owner of seventy-four 
square leagues of land, and to have about three hundred thou- 
sand 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 disciplin- 
ing 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 thie 
general manner of fighting with the knife often proved fatal. 
One Sunday the Governor came in great form to pay the estan- 
cia 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 accomplishment 
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 throigh a gateway, 
above which was a cross-bar: it was agreed whoever 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 of 
* This prophecy has turned out entirely and miserably wrong. 1845 
