bN THE EDGE OF THE GRAN CHACO. 
TOIiD WILLIAM KiNQSBUKt TO WiLlIAM H. AVI§. 
Chapter I. 
, WhiLb I greatly regret being compelled to acknowledge that I was 
neither a sharer in the adventures, nor a participator ia the glorious 
hunting and fishing enjoyed by those of whom I will write in the fol- 
lowing description of a trip into tlie wilds of the Argentine Republic, 
still I shall strive to the best of my ability to give as accurate an ac- 
count of the trip as I would had t been along. Should I succeed, 
much of the credit must be attributed to the fact that one of the 
p'arty, who caught most of the fish and shot more than his share of 
the game, sits at my elbow spinning the story of the trip while t am 
writing it down. 
The full names of but two of the party will be used, and the third 
member will be known simply as H. 
Mr. William Kingsbury, who dictates the Story, was born in Blassa- 
chusetts'. He is a man near (he sifee of Nessmuk, being only 5ft. Sin. 
m height, and weighing about llOlbs. As was Nessmuk, be is a natu- 
ral born hunter and a close observer of nature and the habits of all 
kinds of game. He has killed many deer and moose ih Maine, the 
State of his ancestors, where several relatives are now guides. Up to 
four months ago, however, he has spentthe past eleven years of his 
life on the pampas and on the edge of the Gran Chaco of the Argen- 
tliie Kepublic. He and his chum. James Gal vin, would spend about 
six months or so on some estancia as herders. When they grew tired 
bf i-emaining in one place, they would take what money they had 
earned, and mounting their horses go off on a hunting trip, perhaps 
to some remote part of the republic not before visited, but more gen- 
erally to the country bordering on the Gran Chaco. 
Mr. James Galvin, Kingsbury's chum, was a young Dublin Irish- 
inan. He had traveled extensively in all quarters of the world, and 
was one of the crew of the yacht Sunbeam when she made her 
famous trip around the world. Mr. Kingsbury sppaks in the highest 
terms of Jim, and declares that some day in the future he will roam 
the pampas again with his chum. 
The third member of the party, H., born in England, was a jolly, 
happy go-lucky, devil-may-care sort of fellow, and wherever he 
went, there mirth and jolity were sure to be foimd. He was wealthy, 
and a. person of considerable influence. 
With this brief introduction of the three persons who will figure 
the most conspicuously in this yarn, I will immediately commence 
the description of how three months were passed in hunting and fish- 
ing on the Salado's banks, as told to me by Mr. Kingsbury. 
William H. Avis. 
James Galvin, H. and I had decided to take a trip up 
the Eiver Salado, and into the Gran Chaco in the Argen- 
tine Republic. It was our intention to hunt, fish, camp 
and enjoy ourselves in general. As H.'s business was very 
pressing, when the day set for our departure arrived, it 
was decided that Jim and I should go ahead and H. would 
meet us later on. Our outfit consisted of four horses, two 
apiece. Two of these horses were used to carry our camp- 
ing equipment and the provisions, and the other two, 
which we had used on several ranches or estancias where 
we had been employed, were tough, mettlesome little ani- 
mals, which we ourselves had broken to the saddle; these 
two of course we rode. Besides the horses, we had my 
good pointer bitch Chena. She was a grand dog both on 
martinets and partridges. Our armament consisted of 
one Winchester, model '75, one double-barreled Parker, 
for shooting partridges and martinets, or any other game 
for that matter; two Smith & Wesson revolvers, a couple 
of serviceable hunting knives, two lassoes, and plenty of 
ammunition. 
When we started from Los Oardos the cholera was rag- 
ing, and BO we were not loath to get away. We regretted, 
however, to start without H. After leaving Los Oardos, 
we struck across the country in a northerly direction. We 
had figured that we would make about thirty miles, and 
reach the estancia of Las Limpias, where we would put up 
for the night. We passed many lagoons which were alive 
with ducks and other jvaterfowl, but did not bother them, 
as we knew we could shoot something at any time we 
needed game. At every few yards partridges would fly 
out of the long grass almost from under the horses' feet. 
These partridges (called in Spanish perdice cMco, meaning 
small partridge) are very gamy. They fly, I think, even 
swifter than the ruffed grouse of the United State?. On 
the ranches they are found in the wheat stubble during 
the daytime, and secrete themselves in the long grass of 
the pampas at night. They are never found in coveys, ex- 
cept when very young; then thej'^ seem to stay together 
as long as the mother bird will furnish them food. As 
soon as they are left to shift for themselves they scatter, 
and are never found together afterward excepting in pairs 
during the mating season. They are so swift and gamy as 
to afford excellent sport to the lover of wing shooting. 
The Argentine mode of snaring these birds is this: A 
native of the country, mounted on horseback and armed 
with a long, reed-like pole, on the end of which is fastened 
a noose made of horsehair, finds a bird in the grass and 
immediately begins to circle around it, gradually narrow- 
ing in on it. _ The bird watches these movements as 
though hypnotized, and allows the hunter to approach so 
near that he is able to reach out cautiously with the pole 
and quietly drop the noose over the bird's head; then he 
gives a quick, dexterous yank and pulls the fluttering, live 
bird toward him. After unloosing the bird he puts it in a 
bag carried for the purpose and starts to hunt up another 
one. In this manner thousands of birds are taken and 
sold alive in the markets of the cities. The larger mar- 
tinet is taken in the same manner; this bird, however, is 
more wary and so harder to capture. 
We stopped at noon by the side of a small, fresh-water 
lagoon and had our dinner. Jim attended to the culinary 
end of the business while I looked after the horses. As a 
general thing Jim attended to the cooking, being more 
adept at that business than myself, while I always acted as 
hostler. 
We traveled through a country that afternoon that 
would prove a veritable paradise for the small game 
shooter. Martinets, partridges and hares could he seen 
on every side of us. The hares were of the large English 
variety, having been introduced into the Argentine Re- 
public from England. Thej-^have increased to such an ex- 
tent as fairly to overrun the country and are considered an 
abominable nuisance. 
It was about 5 o'clock when we reached the estancia, 
our objective point for the day. Las Limpiaa, owned by an 
Englishman named Traill, is a large, fine estancia with 
many hundreds of head of stock. After asking permission 
of the owner to camp on his place, which he readily 
granted, we built a fire and roasted some beef over the 
coals. jSesides the beef we had hot camp biscuit and mate 
bombilla. This is a drink which is as universal in that 
country as tea and cofiee in our own land. Unlike tea and 
coJfee, however, mate bombilla is not drunk from a cup, 
but is sucked through a tube from a gourd, The end of 
the tube, whiclx is placed in the gourd, is bulb-shaped and 
full of tiny holes; this is so that the tube will act as a 
strainer. The yerba, from which the mate is made, comes 
from Paraguay, and the beverage itself is really Paraguayan 
tea. The manner in which the beverage is made is this: 
first, some yerba and sugar are placed in the gourd, then 
hot water is poured into the gourd until it is filled; the 
tube or bombilla is then placed in the opening at the top 
df the gourd and the beverage is read}'' to be sucked 
through the tube. I consider it a far more pleasant drink 
than tea or coffee, and it certainly is healthier than either. 
After supper we procured some alfalfa for the horses and 
lariated them out for the night. When all had been made 
secure, we spread our blankets on the ground and crawled 
under them. Then, while the moon cast her soft, silvery 
beams down upon us and the Soitthiern Cross twinkled 
among a myriad of glow'ng worlds, we were lulled to 
dreamless sleep by the softest warldering zephyr as it 
sighed faintly over the wide pampas' bosom. 
We were astir next morning before dawn. While Jim 
put the water on to boil for the mate and prepared break- 
fast, I gave each of the horses another large bundle of 
alfalfa, which I procured from a stack near by and from 
which we had been told to help ourselves. 
As soon as breakfast was over we were in the saddle and 
away. We had not gone far before we noticed Chena act- 
ing in a strange manner; she was staggering along and 
seemed entirely played out. What ailed her was a puzzle 
to us. Finally we concluded that she must have grown 
footsore, but it surprised us to think that she should get 
into such a condition in but one day's travel. Of course 
she had traveled a great deal further than we had, for 
while we rode in a straight line she would race here and 
there and point birds in all directions. She had done the 
same thing, however, on many other occasions, therefore 
it puzzled us to see her grow lame so soon. 
When we had left the estancia a mile and a half in our 
rear, we struck the railroad which runs from Rosario to 
Cordova. Soon after crossing the track we came to a long 
prairie, which was covered with thousands of head of cat- 
tle belonging to a large estancia which we could see in the 
distance. While crossing this prairie we passed now and 
then mounds of earth made by the biscatcha, an animal 
similar to our prairie dog, only larger. 
After crossing the prairie we came to a road that crossed 
a wide canada. The caiiada was covered partly with water 
and partly with long grass. In the water and among the 
grass were thousands of ducks and other water fowl. We 
soon entered the small town of Ombu, but as it was only 
10 o'clock decided to go on to the town of Santa Clara de 
Bueno Vista, which we reached by noontime. The dog 
had grown so bad and was in such a pitiful condition that 
we almost decided to stop for a few days. She had tried a 
great many times to get a drink of water that morning, 
but as the lagoons which we passed were all salt, it had 
been impossible for her to do so. Now she was so com- 
pletely exhausted that, just before we arrived at thefonda, 
she ran to the peletta, or public place for watering horses, 
and jumped in. She refused to come out at my command, 
and lay lapping the water as though she had never tasted 
anything half so good. Her bath revived her to such an 
extent, however, that she finally came into the fonda 
where we were eating and quietly lay down at our feet. 
We lounged around until 4 o'clock, then, as the horses 
had enjoyed a good rest and Chena seemed very much re- 
vived, we proceeded out of town, intending to camp 
wherever night shoitld overtake us. Taking the road 
which led to San Martin, we followed its devious windings 
in and out among hundreds of tacaruses or ant hills. 
While passing through the ant hills Chena struck the trail 
of an animal. By her actions we knew she had found 
something other than a partridge. When she first struck 
the trail she seemed to forget all about her indisposition 
of the morning, and as the scent grew hotter she went 
faster. Finally she dashed into a tangled clump of bushes, 
and we heard her give three or four sharp yelps. Hand- 
ing my bridle rein to Jim, I dismounted and hurried for- 
ward. When I reached the clump of bushes I found that 
the dog was engaged in a very interesting fight with an 
iguana. The battle seemed to be going all her way, when 
suddenly her opponent managed to secure a good hold on 
her upper lip, and Chena yelped in despair. Soon the 
iguana lost his hold, and Chena, maddened at the treat- 
ment she had received, rushed desperately at the animal, 
and seizing him by the back soon made an end of him. 
We tied the iguana on one of the spare horses and took it 
along with us; they are grand eating. 
Soon after the iguana incident we came to a house where 
we had supper and stopped all night. Invariably I found 
the natives the most hospitable people I ever met. When- 
ever we approached a house to make inquiries or asked 
permission to camp on their premises, the time never was 
when we received uncivil answers or when we were re- 
fused permission to camp where we liked. Most generally, 
as in this case, we were invited to have mate and to par- 
take of dinner, supper, breakfast or to stop all night. 
We bade our new friend good-by and were on our way 
again before sunrise. A fine, bracing breeze was blowing, 
and as the sun rose into the heavens that were uuflecked 
by the faintest sign of cloud, it sent its darts of gold aslant 
the tops of the undulating pampas grass in such a manner 
that all the earth seemed a vast, fluctuating ocean of bril- 
liant colors. With shirt collars thrown wide open, we 
dashed over the wide pampas as free as the birds that 
wing the air. It was a glorious morning and a glorious 
ride, and we gloriously enjoyed both the morning and the 
ride. 
We had gone but a short distance, when San Martin 
broke to our view. Not caring to pass through it, we 
swung our horses to the right, and it soon disappeared in 
the distance. Shortly after we came to a long, wide 
can.ada, which was infested with the usual allowance of 
unsightly ant hills to be met in such places. We saw a 
number of foxes, and numerous small owls would fly up 
from the ground, and, hanging just over our heads, screech 
demoniacally in our very faces. After entertaining us 
in this manner they would fly away and alight on the 
ground in front of us, where they would stand as straight 
as soldiers on dress parade and stare at us with their big, 
round eyes in the most comical, solemn manner imagin- 
able. 
As we issued from the Canada we came to an excellent 
road which leads directly through the old colony of Hes- 
peranza. Years ago there were no trees where this colony 
now is. At the present time, however, beautiful foliaged 
squares are to be met throughout the colony. Theae trees 
were planted by the Swiss Colonists who settled here years 
ago; they consist of poplars, willows, and the pariso, or tred 
of paradise. Wetraveled over this road a distance of fifteen 
miles, and the trees meeting overhead in many places 
formed a complete arch, whose cool shade was greatljr 
appreciated. 
About noon we came to a nice little brook, and as ouf 
horses were somewhat jaded, and as the dog appeared to 
be growing worse than ever, we decided to camp. When 
dinner was over and we had rested awhile I examined 
Chena's feet, and found them in a terrible condition. The 
skin had come away from the bottoms and hung in loose 
patches almost ready to drop off. After retllovirig the 
loose skin I thoroughly greased the wouiided feet with 
some beef tallow, then, tearing up an old undershirt, f 
bound them up in pieces of cloth, which I tightly sewed 
around het legs, so that she Would liot lose the ^i'rapping^; 
As Chena showed no signs of improvement next niorningj 
we stopped until the afternoon; then, although it -vVerifc 
straight against us to do so, ahd seemed almost like nitii-- 
der, we decided to leave all the food we had ^^ith thfe ao^; 
and go on without her. That she nevef would haVe d^- 
serted us in such a manner Will be abundantly ptoved 
further along in my story. We felt, however, that wd 
could not stop there any longer, as we were very anxious 
to reach Soledad, where we were to meet H. We would 
have managed to carry her somehow on one of the horses, 
but when we tried to fasten her on she raised such a row 
that we had to give it up. Knowing that it was but fifteen 
miles ahead to the town of Hesperanza, and concluding 
that Chena would manage to get there, with heavy hearts 
we left her and continued on our way. We felt so mean 
that we never looked back after starting. It was sundown 
when we reached the town of Hesperanza. As we had no 
desire to stop there, we continued on until we reached the 
road that led through the pass across the river Salado. 
While making our way slowly in the direction of the 
river, we met a tall, venerable-appearing old gentleman, 
whose long locks and beard were snow white. He saluted 
us, and when we had returned his salutation, asked us 
where we were going. We told him that we were going 
a short way the other side of the river to camp for the 
night. "Hadn't you better turn back and stop at my house 
to-night?" he asked, in Spanish. "You and your horses 
look dusty and tired, and I have plenty of feed to give the 
horses, and some supper and good beds for yourselves." 
As he looked thoroughly honest, we decided to go back 
with him. 
The house we found to be in a thick monte about 
100yds. back from the road. It was an old-fashioned 
place, built of mud and sun-dried bricks. It had a tin 
roof and was surrounded by peach, orange and sauce, or 
South American willow trees. As it was right in the sea- 
son for them, the orange trees hung loaded with the golden 
globes. Back of the house, in the midst of a clump of wil- 
lows, was the corral. Taken altogether^ it was a very 
charming place. 
When we had removed the packs and saddles from the 
horses, we gave them a thorough scrubbing; then watered 
and led them into the corral, where our host had placed 
some great heaps of alfalfa for them. While they had 
greatly enjoyed their bath, still when we turned them 
loose in the corral, instead of immediately commencing to 
eat, they walked sniffing around the corral, and when 
they had at last found the driest and dirtiest place they 
could, they immediately lay down and rolled. When they 
finally got upon their feet again we didn't know whether 
to laugh or swear. The time we had spent in washing 
them had been literally thrown away; they certainly were 
the dirtiest lot of horses we had ever seen. 
When we returned from the corral to the house we 
found the family seated aroimd a small fire under the 
trees. There was the old gentleman, his wife, two grown 
daughtei-8 and two boys ten or twelve years of age; they 
were engaged in sucking mate. After our host had intro- 
duced us to the other members of the family, we were 
invited to be seated. 
The old gentleman and one of his sons surrendered 
their stools to us, and the boy brought two steer skulls, to 
which the horns were still attached. These he placed in 
such a manner that the horns and nose rested on the 
ground; the upturned neck served as a seat. It is a com- 
mon thing to find these skull-stools among the Gauchos of 
the pampas. 
The supper consisted of plenty of bread, eggs, and large 
quantities of good, fresh milk. While we were eating, our 
host entertained us with yarns of some of the Indian scrim- 
mages he had been mixed up in. He also recited many 
exciting incidents connected with the history of the Col- 
ony of Hesperanza. He told of how the Indians used to 
harass the people by swooping down upon them in an un- 
expected moment, running off large herds of cattle, and 
even taking the women and children along with them. 
The old man was greatly interested in my Winchester; 
he had never seen a rifle like it before. Not that repeaters 
are necessarily scarce in that country, but because they are 
seldom owned by the poorer classes. I loaded and un- 
loaded the rifle several times for his amusement; he won- 
dered greatly at its perfect working. When I had finished 
showing the gun to him I leaned it against a tree to one 
side, and we were all soon engaged in conversation. 
As the younger members seemed to be more deeply in- 
terested in the rifle than intheconversation, Jim, to satisfy 
their curiosity, picked it up and gave them a special ex- 
hibition and lecture on its wonderful mechanism. When 
he had given them a thorough explanation, he set the gun 
back in the place where he had taken it from. 
I have said before that the general hospitality of the 
Gauchos of the Pampas cannot be surpassed. While they, 
as a rule, are bad people to antagonize, being unforgiving 
in their hatred of their enemies and unrelenting in their 
efforts for revenge; still, toward those whom they consider 
friendly, they are exceedingly polite and generous. We 
found our new acquaintance, Don Francisco Montenegro, 
a natural born gentleman, kind and generous to a fault. It 
seemed then — and time has only strengthened the impres- 
sion — that perfection of these generous qualities had not 
only been developed in the old Don, but had been trans- 
mitted, through him and his good wife, to their offspring 
for a happier, more contented family than they appeared 
to be I had never seen before. While on our return, six 
months later, we found, to our extreme regret, that the 
poor old Don had gone to that mysterious realm from 
which none ever returns— death had claimed old age ae its 
own. 
