GAUCHOS. 



273 



the more immediate neighbourhood of the 

 towns and villages, and their direct communica- 

 tions, that can take any part in the particular 

 transactions of the province in which they hap- 

 pen to live. The rest are so remote from the 

 seat of authority, that they scarcely consider 

 themselves bound by allegiance to any superior 

 control. They are lords of their own families 

 and feeding-grounds, like the patriarchs of 

 old ; and they may go on gaming, eating beef, 

 playing the guitar at home, and hunting 

 ostriches abroad, from generation to generation 

 without interruption, unless accident or design 

 brings a party of Indians within sight of their 

 isolated dwellings. 



Except of those tribes that have been civilized 

 and converted by the Jesuits in Paraguay, and 

 brought under subjection in Peru, I have never 

 met with any satisfactory account of the Indian 

 n 3 



