256 



THE PAMPA.S. 



Good heavens said I, with an astonishment 

 which I could not conceal, — have you never been 

 to see San Luis?" — " Never," he replied. I asked 

 him where he was born ; he told me, in the hut 

 close to the post; that he had never gone beyond 

 the plains through which we were riding, and that 

 he had never seen a town or a village. I asked 

 him how old he was: " Quien sabe,'' said he. It 

 was no use asking him any more questions ; so, 

 occasionally looking at his particularly handsome 

 figure and countenance, and calling to mind the 

 manly opinions he had expressed to me on many 

 subjects, I was thinking what people in England 

 would say of a man who could neither read nor 

 write, nor had ever seen three huts together, &c. 

 &c., when the Gaucho pointed to the sky, and 

 said, " See ! there is a lion !" I started from my 

 reverie, and strained my eyes, but to no purpose, 

 until he shewed me at last, very high in the air, a 

 number of large vultures, which were hovering 

 without moving ; and he told me they were there 

 because there was a lion devouring some carcass, 

 and that he had driven them away from it. We 

 shortly afterwards came to a place where there was 



