MODE OF TRAVELLING. 



51 



and I have often been so giddy when I dismounted 

 that I could scarcely stand; but the system, by de- 

 grees, gets accustomed to it, and it then becomes 

 the most delightful Hfe which one can possibly 

 enjoy. It is delightful from its variety, and 

 from the natural mode of reflecting which it en- 

 courages — for, in the grey of the morning, while 

 the air is still frosty and fresh, while the cattle are 

 looking wild and scared, and while the whole face 

 of Nature has the appearance of youth and inno- 

 cence, one indulges in those feelings and specula- 

 tions in which, right or wrong, it is so agreeable to 

 err; but the heat of the day, and the fatigue of 

 the body, gradually bring the mind to reason ; 

 before the sun has set many opinions are corrected 5 

 and, as in the evening of life, one looks back with 

 calm regret upon the past follies of the morning. 



In riding across the Pampas with a constant 

 succession of Gauchos, I often observed that the 

 children and the old men rode quicker than the 

 young men. The children have no judgment, but 

 they are so light, and always in such high spirits, 

 that they skim over the ground very quickly. The 

 old grey-headed G audio is a good horseman, with 



E 2 



