A WALK ABOUT URUGUAY
Taken as a whole the Indians of Uruguay are--and have ever been--a
brave but peace-loving people, engaged principally in sheep and
cattle-rearing. No doubt the mildness of their character and pursuits
is largely due to considerations which are purely geographical; for
the sea and the Uruguay River together make the country almost an
island, to which the Argentine and Brazilian Indians would never
venture to penetrate. Further, there are--apart from the native
cattle--no large or fierce wild animals.
The latter fact is by no means generally known; and ignorance, or
doubt of it, led the late Thomas Woodbine Hinchcliff to take a trip
across from Buenos Ayres to the little state in the hope of finding
jaguars, pumas, or other animals more worthy of a sportsman's gun than
those which he had seen round about Buenos Ayres.
Mr. Hinchcliff was a London barrister, but is better remembered as the
first president of the Alpine Club, and the man who did more than any
of his contemporaries to popularise mountaineering. In 1861, while
touring in South America, he went ashore from a Uruguay River
steamer, quite alone and with only provisions for a couple of days,
determined to explore one of the mountain forests, and, if possible,
to reach San Jose, the largest of the inland towns.
A fourteen-mile walk across a well-wooded plain brought him in sight
of a Gaucho farmstead, where he was made very welcome and persuaded to
stay the night; and it was here that he learned the futility of
attempting to find any big game shooting in the country, and that
there was nothing special to see at San Jose.
In consequence, he altered his course in the morning, making direct
for the most accessible of the mountain forests, and, arrived here, he
wandered about with the ecstasy of a man who has discovered an earthly
paradise. It was the Amazon forest over again, with all its beauties
and advantages and none of its drawbacks; a climate similar to that of
Algiers, a wealth of fruit and flowers and streams and birds; and no
deadly swamps, no suffocating heat, no jaguars or alligators, and
apparently no snakes. He made his dinner of fruit and continued his
wanderings, with a result that he might well have foreseen: when night
came, he was utterly lost. He slept sweetly enough, however, under a
tree, and after a hearty breakfast, continued his wanderings.
By evening he came to an outlet, and found himself on an undulating
grass plain, but, as no habitation was in sight, he finished his
provisions and philosophically resigned himself to another night in
the fresh air.
He awoke early, conscious of two things; the one that he was hungry,
the other that a beast whose like he had never seen, in or out of a
show, was gravely inspecting him from a distance of a few feet. Was it
a bull, or a bison, or a nightmare? Without question it had the body
of a bull, but the face was far more like that of a bull-dog, for the
nostrils were placed high up, and the lower jaw protruded in such a
fashion, that the teeth showed ferociously, whether the mouth was
closed or open.
He reached for his gun, which he had laid ready loaded on going to
bed; the beast looked well capable of goring or trampling him to death
at less than a minute's notice. But even while, half sitting, half
lying, he took aim for the creature's eye, a general lowing sounded
from farther down the hill, and the bull turned and ran swiftly down
the slope. The bewildered Englishman arose and was now able to learn
the cause of the lowing. A dozen mounted Indians were in the valley,
their horses standing motionless, while two more, approaching from the
left and right sides of the hill, were seeking to frighten a small
herd of the remarkable-looking animals into the valley. The bull, no
doubt the recognised protector of his tribe, whom curiosity had
betrayed into a momentary neglect of duty, had heard the bellowings of
alarm, and was hastening to the defence of his kindred.
But even as he charged wrathfully down the hill, the nearer of the
Indians made a motion with his arm, and he fell with a crash that was
distinctly audible to the spectator above; while the second Indian,
spurring his horse and bawling at the top of his voice, rode straight
at the retreating cattle; these, of course, became panic-stricken and
ran helter-skelter down towards the spot where the unruffled horsemen
were awaiting them with lassoes. From his vantage ground, Hinchcliff
watched the proceedings with breathless interest. For a minute or so a
whole maze of lassoes showed against the background of the next slope,
curling and twirling; then the herd fled, some right, some left; some
to rush away out of sight, others to be pulled up in mid-career by the
fatal thong that had been deftly thrown over their horns; and so
suddenly and sharply, that in most cases they fell to the ground.
The Englishman walked quickly towards his particular bull, which lay
roaring piteously, but the animal was up again before he could reach
him; the Indian had dismounted, slipped a noose over the roarer's
head, and untwisted from his forelegs what Hinchcliff at once
recognised as a _bolas_--three thongs of equal length, the upper ends
joined, the lower loose, and each terminating in a ball of metal or
heavy wood.
The redskin, whose only garment was a pair of loose-fitting trousers
made of deer-skin, looked inquisitively at the stranger and gave him a
respectful "good morning" in Spanish; adding to the bull, which was
beginning to toss his head and stamp, "Useless, old friend; useless;
we have coveted you this many a day," and even while he spoke he
vaulted across his horse and started away at a breakneck speed,
dragging his captive after him, willy-nilly.
By the time the pedestrian reached the valley, the prisoners seemed to
have become sullenly reconciled to their fate, for they were making
no attempt to struggle, and some had even begun to crop the grass at
their feet, leaving their captors free to inspect the stranger.
Hinchcliff told them, in Spanish, that he had lost his way and wanted
some breakfast.
"It is many miles to our town," said the young man who had caught the
disturber of his peace; "but we shall breakfast here when we have made
our cattle fast. You are welcome to share our food."
His companions echoed the invitation, and, the cattle being secured to
the neighbouring trees, the Indians seated themselves by a pool and
shared their breakfast of chocolate-cake, bread and beef with their
guest, who now began to notice the queer bulls and cows more closely.
The hind legs were markedly longer than the front ones, and, whenever
they moved, they seemed to be looking for pasture, for they
persistently kept their heads low and their necks sloping.
"We call them _niata_," was the reply to a question of his. "The best
and youngest will be kept for breeding; the rest will be slaughtered
for _carne seca_."
_Carne seca_, the very meat to which the hungry Englishman was doing
such abundant justice, is beef dried in the sun; and for the last
fifty years, Uruguay has been exporting immense quantities of it all
over South America. The _niata_ cattle are peculiar to Uruguay and La
Plata, and are probably the only kind indigenous to South America.
When breakfast was finished, the question naturally arose, whither did
the senor wish to be guided? In point of fact, the senor had seen
quite enough of the woods and hills for one while, and lost no time
in making up his mind that he would like to visit their village,
provided there was some means of riding there.
One of the Indians pointed to his horse.
"Neither of us is very heavy; you can ride behind me. If you hold by
my waistband you will be perfectly safe."
It was a method of locomotion new to the explorer; but now that the
morning was growing warm and he was away from the shade of the forest,
it would be decidedly preferable to walking; and he meekly mounted
behind this good Samaritan.
At starting, the cattle became obstinate for a while; but superior
force and intelligence prevailed; the horses were not the deplorable
scarecrows of the Argentine, but stout, well-fed animals, that
understood the business of catching and driving refractory bulls as
well as their masters; and they closed in on the _niata_, hustling
them with knees and shoulders, till they were glad enough to walk in
sober fashion. All the same, the journey to the Indian town was not to
be entirely void of adventure. Outside the village was a stream some
forty feet wide, deep, but easily fordable in some places; and this
would have to be crossed.
"We always swim our horses across," said Hinchcliff's companion; "but
if we have cattle with us, it is safer to go a little out of our way
to this ford. Why, good Lord! only last year one of our men was
killed--cut nearly in halves, if the senor will believe me--through a
bull hanging back on the bank after his horse had started to swim. The
horse took fright, and backed so that the man got the lasso drawn
round him and--Bah!"
Cattle and horses plunged into the water and all landed safely on the
other side without more ado, except the horse that carried the two
men. Whether it was that he was less used to the water, or was merely
restive at the unaccustomed weight, it was impossible to say; but,
when he was about a fifth of the way across, he stopped and began to
kick; and the Englishman, with the gruesome story of the man who was
sawn through by a lasso still in his mind, felt that he was in no
enviable position.
"Sit tight, Senor," shouted the Indian, putting the bridle into his
hand and jumping down so suddenly, that Hinchcliff had barely time to
clutch at the saddle and steady himself.
"Keep his head straight; don't let him jib." Then water began to
splash liberally in the face of the disobedient horse, which
immediately plunged forward, stopping whenever the splashing ceased.
The Englishman could not refrain from throwing an inquiring glance
over his shoulder, and then he was very much tempted to burst out
laughing; for the Indian, up to his shoulders in water, was grasping
the animal's tail with one hand, and beating the water into his face
with the other. And so, with much patience, horse and rider and
helmsman landed on the other bank.
The town, its inhabitants and their actions, were very much what
Hinchcliff had seen in Brazil and the Argentine; very orderly and
simple and not too cleanly. The people refused to take any money for
their hospitality, and it was only with difficulty that he persuaded
the chief, on bidding him good-bye the next day, to accept a small sum
to hold in trust for any one of his subjects who might happen to be in
want. The truth is, that where they have not been demoralised by white
people, savage tribes are usually simple enough in their habits; none
of them is ever in want, and poverty, as understood in civilised
countries, is almost unknown. A man works (or, more properly speaking,
makes his wife work) not for a fixed sum, but for the necessaries of
life merely; and the Indian tribes, whether of North or South, have
little of the insatiable cupidity of the Asiatic or the negro.
After a night in the village, Hinchcliff set out to find his way back
to the river by a different route, avoiding the woods and endeavouring
to follow a faintly-marked horse-track over the grassy hills. This
procedure nearly led him into a difficulty far more serious than that
of losing his way in a luxuriant forest, for he missed his road and
got on to one where there was no sign of a stream, and where the pools
had nothing but dry mud to offer him, so that he went all the
afternoon and night without tasting a drop of water. He woke before
daybreak, almost delirious, and set off at the best pace he could
contrive for some low-lying land, which he had failed to notice
overnight.
All at once a strongly built Indian started up from the ground fifty
yards in front of him, and, after one look at him, began to flee down
the hill.
"Stop! I want you; I want water," shouted Hinchcliff.
The fleeing figure turned its head as though straining to catch the
words, but still ran on. Then the thirsting man grew desperate, and,
determined to make the man help him to find water, raised his gun and
pretended to take aim at him. Immediately the fugitive stopped.
"Water!" shouted Hinchcliff. "I have lost my way, and am dying of
thirst."
The Indian appeared to reflect for a moment, and at last made towards
his pursuer, disengaging a large water-gourd from his belt as he
walked.
"What made you run away?" panted the Englishman, when he had emptied
the gourd at one draught.
"I saw your gun and I was frightened. We do not like firearms, Senor;
and here in the lowlands we seldom see white men.--You have lost your
way, you say?"
"Yes; I want to reach the river."
"I am going that way and will show you it; it is but a few miles. But
first, with your permission, I will finish what I was doing when I
caught sight of you."
He sat down, and from a round wooden box, began to cover his fingers
liberally with a lard-like substance which he proceeded to rub over
his face, shoulders, breast, arms, and waist.
"I have been much indoors, lately; sick," he explained; "and the
insects trouble me greatly. They will not sting through this ointment.
Some of our more ignorant people use mud instead; but I--I have lived
in towns at times; I am more learned."
The Indian was, in truth, a very intelligent man, and Hinchcliff
found him a most interesting companion. He soon discovered a stream
where they could drink their fill; he asked questions about the
weapons that had frightened him so much, and even so far overcame his
fear of firearms as to offer to carry the gun a little way; an offer
that was declined with thanks. When the wonderful instrument brought
down a fine young ostrich for dinner, the unsophisticated fellow
actually put his lips to the barrel. Quick to turn his hand to any
open-air work, he plucked and cleaned the bird and collected sticks
and dry pampas grass for the fire; whereupon another surprise awaited
him; for Hinchcliff was growing very short of matches, and was in the
habit of economising them by using a burning-glass for lighting his
pipe and his fire. And this was the only occasion on which an Indian
ever asked him for anything, even indirectly; on receiving a hint that
his companion would give the world to possess such a wonderworking
implement, he handed it to him readily enough; for, if necessary, he
could easily use one of the lenses of his field-glass for getting a
light.
Shortly before sunset, as the two trudged along towards the river,
which had long been in sight, the Indian, after a sudden glance behind
him, set off at a sharp run, making for a tiny valley that opened
between the hills on his left.
"_Now_ what?" shouted the astonished Englishman. As he turned to look
back, the sound of approaching horses caught his ear, and he saw an
Indian and three Gauchos riding at full speed, followed closely by a
man who rode like a European. They wheeled for the valley at once,
and reached it long before the fleeing Indian, who turned back
shrieking towards Hinchcliff.
"Shoot, Senor; for the love of all the Saints; shoot them dead; they
are bad men," he gasped in an agonised voice.
This was rather a large call on a man who came from a country where to
shoot people is a capital crime; but the piteous appeal for help in
the fugitive's face was irresistible. If an Englishman is averse to
taking pot-shots at strangers, he is generally quite as loth to see
the weaker side go to the wall. While he was asking himself what was
the best thing to do, the foremost Gaucho made a sudden motion with
his arm, the noose of a lasso dropped over the Indian's head, and he
was jerked over on to his back. At sight of the bulging eyes of the
half-strangled victim, Hinchcliff pulled out his knife and was about
to slash the thong through, when the second Gaucho, springing to the
ground, flung himself in the way and presented a pistol.
"We are acting under orders," he said. "Be careful what you do.--All
right; loose him and tie his hands, Juan."
"You are sure that's your man?" asked the European stranger, hurrying
up. He had spoken in such execrable Spanish, that Hinchcliff said
unceremoniously:
"Englishman, aren't you?"
"Yes; I am British vice-consul for this district. Question for
question--is this a friend of yours?"
"No; merely a paid guide; but----"
"Then you don't know that he is the cleverest thief and prison-breaker
in Uruguay, if what these fellows say is true. I only met them by
accident a little higher up; but I know it's a fact that an Indian
prisoner broke loose from San Jose gaol the other day."
"There's no mistaking _him_," said the man who was binding the
prisoner. "But let the tracker decide." (A "tracker" is an Indian who
hires himself out as a sort of blood-hound, to catch horse-thieves,
stray cattle, etc.) "He knows him well enough."
No mistake had been made; the simple--but teachable--Indian was the
man who was wanted; and a most respectable barrister of the Inner
Temple had spent a whole day chatting affably with a notorious
criminal, who would assuredly have robbed him of his gun and money had
the opportunity arisen.