SOUTH AMERICA. 



293 



the United States; the man of sense should endeavor 

 to rise above them. 



On my way back to the hotels I met a party of 

 twenty or thirty pampas Indians on horseback, who 

 had come to town for the purpose of bartering skins 

 for such things as they wanted. They excited no cu- 

 riosity as they rode along the street, although tricked 

 out with their nosebobs and earbobs, and except the 

 poncho, which they wore, entirely naked. They were 

 rather taller, and more square shouldered than ours, 

 but their physiognomy was very nearly the same. 



At this season of the year, many of the principal in- 

 habitants are still in the country, to which they retire 

 for a few months, until the approach of cool weather. 

 This is probably the most pleasant season of the year, 

 but the climate is seldom otherwise than pleasant; the 

 range of the thermometer rarely exceeds fifty degrees, 

 and hardly ever rises within ten degrees as high as 

 with us. In the vast plains, or pampas, which stretch 

 from the margin of the river almost to the foot of the 

 Cordilleras, where there is no shade or shelter, or next 

 to none, the heat of the sun is said to be very oppres- 

 sive; travellers therefore lay by in the middle of the 

 day. The habit of the siesta, which prevails so uni- 

 versally in this country, is perhaps an excuse for this 

 loss of time. It was now the hour here for this indul- 

 gence, and the change from the busy popuhms city, of 

 a sudden, to the silence and loneliness which takes 

 place on these occasions, was peculiarly striking. 

 The inhabitants generally dine between one and two 

 o'clock, and soon after, retire to take their evening^s 

 nap, which usually lasts until five or six, at which 

 hour the devotees go to vespers, or evening prayers^ 



