Ayres, was through one of the narrow passages that are the boundaries
of islets, higher up than, as well as parallel with, the island of
Martin Garcia. As we steam along and pass the estancias of wealthy
farmers, I observe on the banks hundreds of cows, large troops of
horses, and flocks of sheep, in numbers sufficient to puzzle even the
calculating Pedder. There are very few wild trees to be seen, except on
the highlands an occasional specimen of the Ombu or Algaroba species.
The residences are invariably surrounded by groves or shrubberies of
peach-trees. The physical aspect of the islands is quite flat, and until
we advance a few hundred miles there is no elevation above a few feet
close to the river's side. Now and then--as, for example, when passing
through the creek called the "Baradero"--I catch a glimpse of high land,
on part of which there is a convent or chapel; but the whole country is
uncultivated, except in isolated patches near the compounds of the
tillers.
Flocks of wild duck and snipe are seen in abundance; wild turkeys
likewise, with occasionally a group of flamingoes, whose scarlet plumage
forms a strikingly dazzling object in the bright sunshine. Indeed, birds
of various kinds are about us everywhere. Passing through one of these
island passages, you see strewing the banks on the mainland side the
skeletons of cows and horses, while other poor brutes are lying in the
agonies of death; for the mud at the extreme edge of the water is too
soft to support them; hence, when they go down to drink, they are
swamped in its sponginess, and must therefore remain to die.
Steaming on, we pass or meet several small river-craft engaged in the
coasting-trade between Montevideo, Buenos Ayres, and the towns up the
river, until we land at an estancia, where cows, horses, and sheep are
bred and nurtured: the cows and bullocks chiefly for the hides and meat,
disposed of as already described at a saladero; sheep for their wool;
while horses are reared for every possible purpose, and are turned to
use whether alive or dead.
Horses dead! Their skins are tanned; the grease of the mare's body is
used for light, and for many oleaginous purposes. Close to one of our
towns is a rancho or hut belonging to a brick-maker, and there, between
his door and the kiln, is an immense pile--as high as an ordinary
house--of dead horses, whose bodies are to be used for burning the
bricks. Mares' tongues, preserved, are sold in the market as luxuries;
hoofs, skulls, shank, thigh, and other bones of the animal, as well as
the hair of the mane and tail, are exported hence to England, America,
and other places across the sea in large quantities. At the saladeros,
too, they slaughter mares in hundreds for their hides and grease, the
operation being conducted by crunching the animal's skull with a mallet,
after it has been brought to the ground by means of a lasso thrown round
the feet. One can scarcely travel a mile through the camp without seeing
a dead horse somewhere.
Horses alive! At many stations on the river they fish on horseback, by
riding into a considerable depth of water and throwing a peculiar kind
of net, which is drawn back to the shore by the horse. Our letters are
delivered at the door by a rat-tat in regular English style from the
postman, who is on horseback. The daily journal is brought to us by a
cavalier, who hands it in without dismounting; even a beggar-man rides
up every Saturday to solicit _Una limosna por el amor de Dios_, and he
has a license from the police in the shape of a piece of branded wood
suspended round his neck. The aristocracy of beggary is evident in this
fellow, too; for on one occasion, being offered cold meat and bread by
my servant, he rode off, indignantly saying he wanted money to buy
cigarritos.
_Horses making bricks!_ Ay, incredible as it may appear, there are the
very animals which dragged the dead bodies of their brethren to be made
fuel of at the brick-kilns before mentioned, now driven round and round
in a circus, tramping into malleable mud clay and water mixed together,
and doing everything in the brick-making except the moulding.
_Horses threshing corn!_ Here at our friend's estancia I see another
large circus, styled a _hera_, in which are placed several sheaves of
wheat, and into this are turned fifteen to twenty horses; a mounted man
goes in also, and drives these animals with whip and yell round the
circus until all the corn is threshed by their tramping.
_Horses churning butter!_ A novel sort of thing it is to see a bag made
of hides, into which the milk is put when it is turned sufficiently
sour; this bag, fastened to a long strip of rope-hide, is attached at
the other end to the leather girth which is round the horse's body; the
latter is then mounted by a gaucho, and ridden at a hard pace over the
camp for a sufficient length of time to secure the making of the butter,
by bumping the milk-bag against the ground.
A gaucho without his steed is an impracticability. To move his
furniture, consisting of beds, chairs, tables, crockery, or hardware,
the horse's back is fitted to the burden. Coffins are conveyed to the
burying-ground by being strapped transversely on a horse's loins; and
one would scarcely be surprised to hear of a specimen of the
semi-centaur under consideration going asleep or cooking his dinner on
horseback, more especially with the picture before us of a dentist
operating on a poor fellow's grinders, the patient and his physician
being both mounted.
No crusader of olden time could have borne himself more proudly at the
head of a gallant regiment bound to the Holy Land than does the gaucho,
who guides a troop of twenty to thirty carretas, each drawn by six
bullocks, across the Pampas to Cordova or Mendoza. On his saddle,
chiefly made of untanned horse-hide and sheep-skin, he sits with the
consciousness that he is the horse's master. Indeed, it is rarely that
the real gaucho puts his foot in a stirrup,--for practical purposes of
riding never,--as it is only on state occasions that he uses them.
Stirrups made in this country are of a triangular form, of iron or
silver, with the base fabricated after the fashion of a filigree
cruet-stand, though on a diminutive scale. At the museum in Buenos Ayres
I saw some of these triangular stirrups that were described as having
been brought from Paraguay, made from hard wood, so large, clumsy, and
heavy as to constitute in themselves a load for a horse. With such heavy
stirrups it may be imagined what a weight the gaucho's horse has to
bear, when we consider the component parts of the saddle or recado.
[This saddle is a very complex affair, made up of layers of
sheep-skin, carpet, cow-hide, woollen cloth, etc., too
intricate to be here described. It consists in all of twelve
separate parts.]
The skill and endurance of the gaucho in the management of horses is
very remarkable. One of these men is reported to have stood on the
transverse bar, which crosses over the gate of the corral, and dropped
down upon the back of a horse, while the animal, in company with several
others, without bridle or saddle, was at full gallop out of the
enclosure. What made the feat more adroit was the fact of his having
permitted a looker-on to select the horse for him to bestride before the
whole lot were driven out. The endurance of the gaucho is also striking;
and I have been told of a man, well known at Buenos Ayres, having ridden
a distance of seventy leagues--that is to say, two hundred and ten
miles--in one day to that city.
Senor Don Carlos Hurtado, of Buenos Ayres, informs me that the great
gaucho game, in which the famous Rosas was most proficient, was what is
called _el pialar_,--that is, catching horses by lassoing their feet
(the ordinary mode of doing this round the neck is called _enlaser_).
Two lines of horsemen, each from ten to twenty in number, are placed at
distances so far apart as to allow a mounted gaucho to pass between
them. This man is to gallop as fast as he can from one end to the
other,--in fact, to run the gauntlet. Every horseman in the lines
between which he passes is furnished with a lasso. As he gallops up to
the end of the line the first lasso is thrown; should it miss him, the
second is cast, and so on. The dexterity evidenced by the watchfulness
of men able to throw in such rapid succession after a horse which is
galloping, whilst they are standing, is truly expert. At length the
horse is pinned, and down he falls as if he were shot. And now the
activity of the gaucho is displayed, for he comes on his feet without
any injury, smoking his cigarette as coolly as when he lighted it at the
starting-post.
The original popularity of Rosas was founded on his gaucho dexterity.
The game of _el pato_ is performed by sewing a cooked duck into a piece
of hide, leaving a leather point at each end for the hand to grasp. This
play having been in former times limited in its carousal to the feast of
St. John (or San Juan), a gaucho took it up. Whoever is the smartest
secures the duck, and gallops away to any house where he knows a woman
residing who bears the name of Juana,--Joan I suppose she would be
called in English. It is an established rule that the lady of this name
should give a four-real piece (_i.e._, one shilling and sixpence),
either with the original duck returned or another equally complete. Then
away he gallops to another house where lives a maiden of the name of
Leonora, followed by a troop of his gaucho colleagues, trying to snap
the duck-bag out of his hand. With it, of course, must be delivered up
the four-real piece in the best of good humor. Falls and broken legs
have often been the result of this game.
_Juego de la sortija_ is a class of sport played by having a small
finger-ring fastened under a gibbet, beneath which a gaucho gallops, and
tries to tilt off the ring with a skewer which he holds in his hand.
This is done for a prize.
The salutation between two gauchos--even though they be the best of
friends--who have not met for a long time is prefixed by a pass of arms
with their knives. The conduct of these men is in general marked by
sobriety, but when the "patron" pays them their wages they often buy a
dozen of brandy or of gin, and this is all drunk, or spilled in
drinking, by one man at a single sitting.
It often happens in the gaucho communities that some one gains a
reputation for bravery. To prove his courage, this hero goes to a
_pulperia_, with a bottle in one hand and a knife in the other, stands
at the door, and turns out all the occupants. One gaucho in the north
and another in the south hear of each other's bravery, obtain a meeting,
and, after returning compliments, draw out their knives and fight to the
death.
The gaucho dress is peculiar,--a poncho, which is placed over the head
by a hole in the centre, and which falls over the body to the hips. This
is often of a very gay pattern, especially on Sundays and holidays. The
lower garment is a curious combination of bedgown and Turkish trousers,
named _calzoncillos_; it is bordered by a fringe, sometimes of rich
lace, from two to six inches in depth. Enormous spurs form part of the
toilette. I saw a pair on a gaucho at the estancia of my friend Dr.
Perez that measured seven inches in diameter. These were of a larger
size than those mentioned by Mr. Darwin in his "Journal of Researches,"
describing the "Beagle's" voyage round the world, and which he saw in
Chile, measuring six inches in the same direction as aforesaid. The
boots for working purposes are made of untanned hide, but those for
holiday dress are often of patent leather with bright scarlet tops.
Many of the gauchos wear purple or yellow handkerchiefs over their
heads, inside the sombrero, and others have wide belts around their
bodies, that are glistening with silver dollars tacked on. The costume
of a gaucho is, however, only complete when he is on horseback with the
_bolas_, the _lasso_, and a knife at his girdle. The bolas consists of
two balls, which are fastened at the end of two short leathern ropes,
and thrown by means of another short thong,--all three being secured
together,--when they are whirled round the head of the thrower before
propulsion, which is so efficaciously managed as to bring down at once
the horse or cow in whose legs they get entangled.
Mr. Prescott, in his admirable work on the "History and Conquest of
Peru," when alluding to the attack made by the Peruvians on their
ancient capital Cuzco, then (A.D. 1535) occupied by the Spanish invaders
under Pizarro, writes thus of the lasso: "One weapon peculiar to South
American warfare was used to some effect by the Peruvians. This was the
lasso,--a long rope with a noose at the end, which they adroitly threw
over the rider, or entangled with it the legs of his horse, so as to
bring them both to the ground. More than one family fell into the hands
of the enemy by this expedient." The knowledge of the weapon was
therefore, in all probability, derived from this quarter.
The horse-riding of the Chaco Indians, even in our day, surpasses that
of the gaucho. Fancy a troop of horses, apparently riderless, galloping
at full speed, yet each of these animals is managed by a man who, with
one arm over the neck of his brute, and with his other hand guiding a
bridle as well as grasping a lance, supports the whole weight of his
body by the back of the feet near the toes, clinging on the horse's
spine above his loins,--the rider's body being thus extended, under
cover of the steed's side. As quick as thought he is up and standing on
the horse's back with a war-cry of defiance,--although, according to
Captain Page, U.S.N., never flinging away his javelin, for with him it
must be a hand-to-hand fight,--whilst with equal rapidity he is down
again, so as to be protected by the body of the horse, which is all the
time in full gallop.
Mr. Coghlan, C.E., and now attached to the Buenos Ayres government,
writes of those whom he saw when exploring the Salado del Norte: "The
riding of the Indians is wonderful. The gauchos even give their horses
some preliminary training; but the Indian catches him (of course with
the lasso), throws him down, forces a wooden bit into his mouth, with a
piece of hide binds it fast to the lower jaw, and rides him. I have seen
a man at the full gallop of his horse put his hand on the mane and jump
forward on his feet, letting the animal go on without a check, merely to
put his hand to something."
VALPARAISO AND ITS VICINITY.
CHARLES DARWIN.
[It is doubtful if there exists a more interesting work of
scientific travel than Darwin's "Journal of Researches into the
Natural History and Geology of the Countries visited during the
Voyage Round the World, of H. M. S. Beagle." Nothing of
scientific interest and value seems to have missed the eyes of
the indefatigable explorer, and he has described what he saw in
so lucid and agreeable a style as to make his work a veritable
classic of travel and research. We give here his description of
Valparaiso and the adjoining country.]
_July 23._--The "Beagle" anchored late at night in the bay of
Valparaiso, the chief seaport of Chile. When morning came everything
appeared delightful. After Tierra del Fuego the climate felt quite
delicious,--the atmosphere so dry, and the heavens so clear and blue
with the sun shining brightly, that all nature seemed sparkling with
life. The view from the anchorage is very pretty. The town is built at
the very foot of a range of hills, about sixteen hundred feet high and
rather steep. From its position it consists of one long, straggling
street, which runs parallel to the beach, and wherever a ravine comes
down the houses are piled up on each side of it. The rounded hills,
being only partially protected by a very scanty vegetation, are worn
into numberless little gullies, which expose a singularly bright red
soil. From this cause, and from the low whitewashed houses with tile
roofs, the view reminded me of St. Cruz in Teneriffe.
In a northeasterly direction there are some fine glimpses of the Andes;
but these mountains appear much grander when viewed from the neighboring
hills; the great distance at which they are situated can then more
readily be perceived. The volcano of Aconcagua is particularly
magnificent. This huge and irregularly conical mass has an elevation
greater than that of Chimborazo; for, from measurements made by officers
of the "Beagle," its height is no less than twenty-three thousand feet.
The Cordillera, however, viewed from this point, owe the greater part of
their beauty to the atmosphere through which they are seen. When the sun
was setting in the Pacific, it was admirable to watch how clearly their
rugged outlines could be distinguished, yet how varied and how delicate
were the shades of their color.
The immediate neighborhood of Valparaiso is not very productive to the
naturalist. During the long summer the wind blows steadily from the
southward, and a little off shore, so that rain never falls; during the
three winter months, however, it is sufficiently abundant. The
vegetation in consequence is very scanty: except in some deep valleys
there are no trees, and only a little grass and a few low bushes are
scattered over the less steep parts of the hills. When we reflect that
at the distance of three hundred and fifty miles to the south this side
of the Andes is completely hidden by one impenetrable forest, the
contrast is very remarkable.
I took several long walks while collecting objects of natural history.
The country is pleasant for exercise. There are many very beautiful
flowers; and, as in most other dry climates, the plants and shrubs
possess strong and peculiar odors,--even one's clothes in brushing
through them became scented. I did not cease from wonder at finding each
succeeding day as fine as the foregoing. What a difference does climate
make in the enjoyment of life! How opposite are the sensations when
viewing black mountains half enveloped in clouds, and seeing another
range through the light blue haze of a fine day! The one for a time may
be very sublime; the other is all gayety and happy life.
_August 14._--I set out on a riding excursion, for the purpose of
geologizing the basal parts of the Andes, which alone at this time of
the year are not shut up by the winter snow. Our first day's ride was
northward along the sea-coast. After dark we reached the Hacienda de
Quintero, the estate which formerly belonged to Lord Cochrane. My object
in coming here was to see the great beds of shells which stand some
yards above the level of the sea, and are burnt for lime. The proofs of
the elevation of this whole line of coast are unequivocal: at the
height of a few hundred feet old-looking shells are numerous, and I
found some at thirteen hundred feet. These shells either lie loose upon
the surface or are embedded in a reddish-black vegetable mould. I was
very much surprised to find under the microscope that this vegetable
mould is really marine mud, full of minute particles of organic bodies.
_15th._--We returned towards the valley of Quillota. The country was
exceedingly pleasant, just such as poets would call pastoral; green open
lawns, separated by small valleys with rivulets, and the cottages, we
may suppose of the shepherds, scattered on the hill-sides. We were
obliged to cross the ridge of the Chihcauquen. At its base there were
many fine evergreen forest-trees, but these flourished only in the
ravines, where there was running water. Any person who had seen only the
country near Valparaiso would never have imagined that there had been
such picturesque spots in Chile.
As soon as we reached the brow of the Sierra, the valley of Quillota was
immediately under our feet. The prospect was one of remarkable
artificial luxuriance. The valley is very broad and quite flat, and is
thus easily irrigated in all parts. The little square gardens are
crowded with orange- and olive-trees and every sort of vegetable. On
each side huge bare mountains rise, and this from the contrast renders
the patchwork valley the more pleasing. Whoever called Valparaiso the
"Valley of Paradise" must have been thinking of Quillota. We crossed
over to the Hacienda de San Isidro, situated at the very foot of the
Bell Mountain.
Chile, as may be seen in the maps, is a narrow strip of land between the
Cordillera and the Pacific; and this strip is itself traversed by
several mountain-lines, which in this part run parallel to the great
range. Between these outer lines and the main Cordillera a succession of
level basins generally opening into each other by narrow passages,
extend far to the southward; in these the principal towns are situated,
as San Felipe, Santiago, San Fernando. These basins or plains, together
with the transverse flat valleys (like that of Quillota) which connect
them with the coast, I have no doubt are the bottoms of ancient inlets
and deep bays, such as at the present day intersect every part of Tierra
del Fuego and the western coast. Chile must formerly have resembled the
latter country in the configuration of its land and water. The
resemblance was occasionally shown strikingly when a level fog-bank
covered, as with a mantle, all the lower parts of the country; the white
vapor curling into the ravines beautifully represented little coves and
bays, and here and there a solitary hillock, peeping up, showed that it
had formerly stood there as an islet. The contrast of these flat valleys
and basins with the irregular mountains gave the scenery a character
which to me was new and very interesting.
From the natural slope to seaward of these plains they are very easily
irrigated, and in consequence singularly fertile. Without this process
the land would produce scarcely anything, for during the whole summer
the sky is cloudless. The mountains and hills are dotted over with
bushes and low trees, and excepting these the vegetation is very scanty.
Each land-owner in the valley possesses a certain portion of
hill-country, where his half-wild cattle, in considerable numbers,
manage to find sufficient pasture.
Once every year there is a grand _rodeo_, when all the cattle are driven
down, counted, and marked, and a certain number separated to be fattened
in the irrigated fields. Wheat is extensively cultivated, and a good
deal of Indian corn; a kind of bean is, however, the staple article of
food for the common laborers. The orchards produce an overflowing
abundance of peaches, figs, and grapes. With all these advantages, the
inhabitants of the country ought to be much more prosperous than they
are.
_16th._--The major-domo of the hacienda was good enough to give me a
guide and fresh horses, and in the morning we set out to ascend the
Campana, or Bell Mountain, which is six thousand four hundred feet high.
The paths were very bad, but both the geology and scenery amply repaid
the trouble. We reached, by the evening, a spring called the Agua del
Guanaco, which is situated at a great height. This must be an old name,
for it is very many years since a guanaco drank its waters. During the
ascent I noticed that nothing but bushes grew on the northern slope,
while on the southern slope there was a bamboo about fifteen feet high.
In a few places there were palms, and I was surprised to see one at an
elevation of at least four thousand five hundred feet. These palms are,
for their family, ugly trees. Their stem is very large and of a curious
form, being thicker in the middle than at the base or top. They are
excessively numerous in some parts of Chile, and valuable on account of
a sort of treacle made from the sap.
On one estate near Petorca they tried to count them, but failed, after
having numbered several hundred thousand. Every year in the early
spring, in August, very many are cut down, and when the trunk is lying
on the ground the crown of leaves is lopped off. The sap then
immediately begins to flow from the upper end, and continues so doing
for some months; it is, however, necessary that a thin slice should be
shaved off from that end every morning, so as to expose a fresh surface.
A good tree will give ninety gallons, and all this must have been
contained in the vessels of the apparently dry trunk. It is said that
the sap flows much more quickly on those days when the sun is powerful,
and likewise that it is absolutely necessary to take care, in cutting
down the tree, that it should fall with its head upward on the slope of
the hill; for if it falls down the slope scarcely any sap will flow,
although in that case one would have thought that the action would have
been aided, instead of checked, by the force of gravity. The sap is
concentrated by boiling, and is then called treacle, which it very much
resembles in taste.