THE PAMPAS. 



251 



a live sheep. I then took a siesta, and it was late 

 in the evening before the carriage and the party 

 arrived. They had stopped at a hut a few leagues 

 from San Luis, and had afterwards broken the pole 

 of the carriage, which had delayed them several 

 hours. After supper I thought that the weather 

 looked very wild, and I therefore got into the four- 

 wheeled carriage to sleep, and one of the party was 

 close to me in the two-wheeled one. The nine 

 peons were scattered about the ground. Two of 

 our party slept under the carriage, and the rest on 

 the ground in different places. About midnight 

 we were awakened by a most sudden and violent 

 whirlwind, which blew several of the party^s clothes 

 away, and they were afterwards found in the river. 

 There was so much dust that we could scarcely 

 breathe, and all was utter darkness until the light- 

 ning suddenly flashed over our heads : the thunder 

 was unusually loud, and down came a deluge of 

 rain. The wind, which was what is termed a Pam- 

 pero, was now a dreadful hurricane, and I ex- 

 pected every moment that it would overturn the 

 carriage. I sat up and looked around me, and in my 

 life I never saw so much of the sublime and of the 

 ridiculous mixed together. While the elements were 



