THE PAMPAS. 



sun, with the horns upwards, and appearing as if 

 the animal had just risen from his grave, and was 

 Inoralising to the hving cattle which were feeding 

 ahout him. 



In consequence of what this man had told me 

 respecting his birth, &c., I asked every one of the 

 Gauchos who rode with me from post to post, 

 for the next six hundred miles, the same questions, 

 and I found that the greater number of them had 

 never seen a town, and that no one of them knew 

 his age. When we came to the post, which is one 

 of the richest possessions in the Pampas, I found 

 about twenty Gauchos assembled to commence 

 breaking in the young horses, an operation which 

 was to be continued for many days. As the 

 carriage was many hours behind me, I resolved to 

 see this, and, getting a fresh horse, I rode immedi- 

 ately to the corral, and soon made friends with 

 the Gauchos, who are always polite, and on horse- 

 back possess many estimable qualities, which at the 

 door of their hut they appear to be devoid of. 

 The corral was quite full of horses, most of 

 which were young ones, about three and four years 

 old. The capataz, mounted on a strong steady 

 horse, rode into the corral, and threw his lasso 



