101 



THE PAMPAS. 



***** 



In the province of Santa Fe, a few of the posts 

 are fortified to protect the inhabitants against the 

 Indians. 



The fort is a very simple one. The huts are 

 surrounded by a small ditch, which is sometimes 

 fenced on the inside with a row of prickly pears. 



The ditch I have generally been able to jump 

 over on foot, but no horse of the country would 

 attempt to leap it. 



Most of these forts have often been attacked by 

 the Indians ; and one of them I looked at with pe- 

 culiar interest, as it had very lately been defended 

 for nearly an hour by eight Gauchos against about 

 three hundred Indians. The cattle, the women, 

 and six families of little children, were all in the 

 inside, spectators of a contest on which so much 

 depended, and they described their feelings to me 

 with a great deal of nature and expression. 



They said that the naked Indians rode up to the 



