was accomplished, and retired. Two hunters approached, threw their
lassos over the animal, and fixed the ends to the ground with stakes;
and now our prey was thoroughly subdued, and reduced to immobility,
so that we could approach him with impunity. With blows of their
cutlasses the Indians hacked off his horns, which would so well have
revenged him had he been free to use them; then, with a pointed bamboo,
they pierced the membranes that separate the nostrils, and passed
through them a cane twisted in the form of a ring. In this state
of martyrdom they fastened him securely behind two tame buffaloes,
and led him to the next village.

Here the animal was killed, and the hunters divided the carcass, the
flesh of which is equal in flavour to beef. I had been fortunate in my
first essay, for such encounters with these shaggy sovereigns of the
plain do not always end so easily. A few days afterwards we renewed
the sport, which, alas! terminated with an accident of too frequent
occurrence. An Indian was surprised by a buffalo, at the moment the
animal issued from the wood. With one blow from his horns the horse
was impaled and cast to the earth, while his Indian rider fell near
to him. The inequality of the ground offered some chance of the man
escaping the notice of his redoubtable foe, until the latter, by a
sudden movement of his head, turned the horse over upon his rider,
and inflicted several blows with his horns, either of which would have
proved fatal, but from the force becoming diminished in traversing
the carcass of the horse. Fortunately some of the other sportsmen
succeeded in turning the animal, and compelled him to abandon his
victim. It was indeed time, for we found the poor Indian half dead,
and terribly gored by the horns of the buffalo. We succeeded in
stopping the blood which flowed copiously from his wounds, and
carried him to the village upon a hastily constructed litter. It was
only by considerable care and attention that his care was eventually
effected, and my friend the Indian strongly opposed my assisting at
such dangerous sport for the future.

Anna's health was now completely re-established. I no longer dreaded
the return of her fearful malady. During the space of several
months I had enjoyed all the pleasures that Tierra-Alta afforded,
and my affairs now requiring my presence at Manilla we set out for
that city. Immediately after my arrival I was compelled, much to my
regret, to resume my ordi