222 



JOURNEY ACROSS 



worn into holes, and is also full of pointed 

 stumps of broken trees; so that we found it 

 necessary to ride with great caution. In con- 

 sequence^ our fatiguing march was prolonged 

 until ten o^clock. We were then hardly con- 

 scious of our arrival, though we had been some 

 time in the town ; for the low mud houses of 

 which it is built, are enclosed within a high wall 

 of the same material, and are so hidden by the 

 leaves of the algaroba and fig trees, that we still 

 imagined ourselves in the wilderness which we 

 had left some time behind us. Before I had 

 made up my mind on the subject, * estamos 

 circa,"* our military friend cried, and in another 

 minute we entered the court-yard of his own 



* This expression is often used in a most provoking 

 manner, in answer to an inquiry of " how near ?" for 

 though it literally means " close at hand," a gaucho will 

 tell you this an hour or two before the time of arrival. 



