THE VOYAGE OF THE BEAGLE 



53 



with a proud and dissolute expression of countenance. They 

 frequently wear their moustaches and long black hair curl- 

 ing down their backs. With their brightly coloured gar- 

 ments, great spurs clanking about their heels, and knives 

 stuck as daggers (and often so used) at their waists, they 

 look a very different race of men from what might be ex- 

 pected from their name of Gauchos, or simple countrymen. 

 Their politeness is excessive; they never drink their spirits 

 without expecting you to taste it; but whilst making their 

 exceedingly graceful bow, they seem quite as ready, if occa- 

 sion offered, to cut your throat. 



On the third day we pursued rather an irregular course, 

 as I was employed in examining some beds of marble. On 

 the fine plains of turf we saw many ostriches (Struthio 

 rhea). Some of the flocks contained as many as twenty or 

 thirty birds. These, when standing on any little eminence, 

 and seen against the clear sky, presented a very noble ap- 

 pearance. I never met with such tame ostriches in any other 

 part of the country : it was easy to gallop up within a short 

 distance of them; but then, expanding their wings, they 

 made all sail right before the wind, and soon left the horse 

 astern. 



At night we came to the house of Don Juan Fuentes, a 

 rich landed proprietor, but not personally known to either 

 of my companions. On approaching the house of a stranger, 

 it is usual to follow several little points of etiquette: riding 

 up slowly to the door, the salutation of Ave Maria is given, 

 and until somebody comes out and asks you to alight, it is 

 not customary even to get off your horse : the formal answer 

 of the owner is, " sin pecado concebida " — that is, conceived 

 without sin. Having entered the house, some general con- 

 versation is kept up for a few minutes, till permission is 

 asked to pass the night there. This is granted as a matter 

 of course. The stranger then takes his meals with the family, 

 and a room is assigned him, where with the horsecloths be- 

 longing to his recado (or saddle of the Pampas) he makes 

 his bed. It is curious how similar circumstances produce 

 such similar results in manners. At the Cape of Good Hope 

 the same hospitality, and very nearly the same points of eti- 

 quette, are universally observed. The difference, however, 



