^44 A VOYAGE TO 



primanding him for not keeping his gauchos in a 

 proper state of subordination, threatened to put him 

 in irons. I will not vouch for the truth of the story, 

 but 1 have not heard it contradicted; the probability 

 is, that in serving under a regular officer, he found 

 himself in a very different situation from that of a 

 free and independent commander of a scouring party 

 on the frontier. His habits had disqualified him for 

 the observance of a rigid discipline, and, it is proba- 

 ble, he would have lost his influence over his gauchos 

 by attempting to enforce it. He was gladly received 

 by the government of Buenos Ayres, which was then 

 meditating an invasion of the Banda Oriental, and 

 which perceived at once that this man might be used 

 to great advantage, from his known intrepid charac- 

 ter, and his repute among the inhabitants of the 

 plains. They accordingly furnished him with a quan- 

 tity of arms and ammunition, and sent him over for 

 the purpose of raising the gauchos. General Rondeau 

 followed soon after with two thousand regulars. Un- 

 der the command of this general, a^ssisted by Artigas,| 

 "with his guerillas, the w^ar was carried on with rapid 

 success; Artigas gained considerable reputation by 

 defeating the Spanish troops under Elio, at Las Pie- 

 dras; and Maldonado, Colonia, and the principal vil-. 

 Ia2;es, fell into his possession. Rondeau next laid 

 siege to Monte Video, and which was kept up until the 

 close of the year. At this time, the situation of Bue- 

 nos Ayres was extremely critical; its forces had been 

 entirely defeated in the provinces of Peru; the royal- 

 ists were in possession of the country as low down as 

 Salta; while, at the same time, an array of four thou- 

 sand Portuguese, under general Sousa, was marching 



