7 6 
RIO COLORADO 
CHAP. 
to its prosperity and advancement . 1 He is said to be the 
owner of seventy-four square leagues of land, and to have 
about three hundred thousand head of cattle. His estates are 
admirably managed, and are far more productive of corn than 
those of others. He first gained his celebrity by his laws for 
his own estancias, and by disciplining several hundred men, so 
as to resist with success the attacks of the Indians. There are 
many stories current about the rigid manner in which his laws 
were enforced. One of these was, that no man, on penalty of 
being put into the stocks, should carry his knife on a Sunday : 
this being the principal day for gambling and drinking, many 
quarrels arose, which from the general manner of fighting with 
the knife often proved fatal. 
One Sunday the Governor came in great form to pay the 
estancia a visit, and General Rosas, in his hurry, walked out 
to receive him with his knife, as usual, stuck in his belt. The 
steward touched his arm, and reminded him of the law ; upon 
which, turning to the Governor, he said he was extremely 
sorry, but that he must go into the stocks, and that till let 
out, he possessed no power even in his own house. After 
a little time the steward was persuaded to open the stocks, 
and to let him out, but no sooner was this done, than 
he turned to the steward and said, “You now have broken 
the laws, so you must take my place in the stocks.” Such 
actions as these delighted the Gauchos, who all possess high 
notions of their own equality and dignity. 
General Rosas is also a perfect horseman—an accomplish¬ 
ment of no small consequence in a country where an assembled 
army elected its general by the following trial : A troop of 
unbroken horses being driven into a corral, were let out through 
a gateway, above which was a cross-bar : it was agreed who¬ 
ever should drop from the bar on one of these wild animals, 
as it rushed out, and should be able, without saddle or bridle, 
not only to ride it, but also to bring it back to the door of 
the corral, should be their general. The person who succeeded 
was accordingly elected ; and doubtless made a fit general for 
such an army. This extraordinary feat has also been performed 
by Rosas. 
By these means, and by conforming to the dress and habits 
1 This prophecy has turned out entirely and miserably wrong. 1845. 
