APPROACH TO MENDOZA. 



71 



pretty, having many fine fields, with good hedges 

 and plantations of poplars, and well supplied 

 with cattle and water. The road to it also is 

 good, being hedged on both sides. 



Thursday^ August Sdth. We left the Villa 

 Nueva at ten, and skirted into the main road 

 again, which became very stony, with here and 

 there streams of water running across : it was 

 much overflowed, in many places for the distance 

 of a quarter of a mile, and many bad pantanos 

 in it. Changed horses at the post of Rodeo del 

 Medio, five leagues from Retano. As we neared 

 Mendoza, each side of the road was lined with 

 a mud wall, and here and there, rows of poplars. 

 About noon crossed the Rio de Mendoza, and 

 entered the town at an amazing rate : the peons 

 spurring the poor horses till the blood absolutely 

 ran from their sides. This, in the opinion of our 

 travelling companions, (whom I shall give a de- 

 scription of hereafter,) was thought very fine 

 indeed. We were shortly afterwards set down 

 at the inn, one of the most dirty houses in the 



