THE PAMPAS. 



family had been murdered in it. When we got to 

 it, I looked around me, and no other hut or habita- 

 tion was to be seen ; there were no cattle, and when 

 a few gamas (deer), which for a few moments were 

 in sight, had fled away, we were left completely to 

 ourselves, and not a bird or any animal was to be 

 seen. We were in the centre of a deserted pro- 

 vince. We galloped up to the hut — it was built of 

 large unbaked bricks and mud : the roof had been 

 burnt — one of the gables had fallen to half its 

 height — the other looked nearly falling — one wall 

 had fallen, and we all rode up to this side of the 

 hut — Close to us there was a deep well, into which 

 the Salteadores had thrown all the bodies — first the 

 courier and postilion, then the dog, and then the 

 horses. The carcases of the horses lay before us — ^ 

 they were nearly eaten up by the eagles and bisca- 

 chos. The dog had not been touched — he was a 

 very large one — and from the heat of the weather, 

 he was now bloated up to a size quite extraordinary 

 — his throat was cut, and in my life I never saw so 

 much expression in the countenance of a dead 

 animal — his lip was curled up, and one could not 

 but fancy that it expressed the feelings of rage and 



