MODE OF TRAVELLING, 



45 



and red ; and they were as wild a looking crew as 

 ever was assembled. We had six horses in the 

 carriage, six in the cart, each of which was ridden 

 by a peon, and I, with one of the party, rode. 



The travelling across the Pampas a distance 

 of more than nine hundred miles is really a very 

 astonishing effort. The country, as before de- 

 scribed, is flat, with no road but a track, which is 

 constantly changed. The huts, which are termed 

 posts, are at different distances, but upon an ave- 

 rage, about twenty miles from each other ; and in 

 travelling with carriages, it is necessary to send a 

 man on before, to request the Gauchos to collect 

 their horses. 



The manner in which the peons drive is quite 

 extraordinary. The country being in a complete 

 state of nature, is intersected with streams, rivulets, 

 and even rivers, with pontanas (marshes), &c., 

 through which it is absolutely necessary to drive. 

 In one instance the carriage, strange as it may 

 seem, goes through a lake, which of course is not 

 deep. The banks of the rivulets are often very 

 precipitous, and I constantly remarked that we 

 drove over and through places which in Europe 



