FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   61   62   63   64   65   66   67   68   69   70   71   72   73   74   75   76   77   78   79   80   81   82   83   84   85  
86   87   88   89   90   91   92   93   94   95   96   97   98   99   100   101   102   103   104   105   106   107   108   109   110   >>   >|  
we could not see much of the flourishing little colony which has been formed here. We therefore paddled across the wet road to the inn, where, despite the somewhat rough surroundings, we enjoyed a capital dinner, cooked in the true French style. They are specially celebrated here for their asparagus, but the locusts had devoured all but a very few stalks, besides which they were held responsible, on the present occasion, for the absence of other vegetables and salad. Yesterday there was a grand wedding-party near here, the complete success of which was, we were told, somewhat marred by the fact, that for six hours, in the very middle of the day, it became absolutely necessary to light candles, owing to the dense clouds of locusts, about a league in extent, by which the air was darkened. Trains are even stopped by these insects occasionally; for they appear to like a hard road, and when they get on the line their bodies make the rails so greasy that the wheels of the engines will not bite. Moreover, they completely obscure the lights and signals, so that the men are afraid to proceed. The only remedy, therefore, is to go very slowly, preceded by a truck-load of sand, which is scattered freely over the rails in front of the engine. Horses will not always face a cloud of locusts, even to get to their stables, but turn round and stand doggedly still, until it has passed. After dinner we once more stepped into our special train, in which we arrived at Rosario at about half-past nine o'clock, thoroughly tired out. CHAPTER VI. LIFE ON THE PAMPAS. _There's tempest in yon horned moon,_ _And lightning in yon cloud;_ _But hark the music, mariners!_ _The wind is piping loud._ _Saturday, September 16th_.--Waking at half-past five, we busied ourselves until nine o'clock, when we again started in a special train for Carcarana. After a short stop at Roldan, it was reached two hours later, and breakfast was followed by a long ride through the Land Company's colony, and from thence to Candelaria, a purely Spanish settlement. I freely confess that I had hardly believed all the stories they told me last night about the terrible doings of the locusts, and thought they must have been slightly exaggerated. It all seemed too dreadful to be true--as if one of the plagues of Egypt had been revived by the wand of an evil magician. In this somewhat incredulous mood I rashly said that, although I was very so
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   61   62   63   64   65   66   67   68   69   70   71   72   73   74   75   76   77   78   79   80   81   82   83   84   85  
86   87   88   89   90   91   92   93   94   95   96   97   98   99   100   101   102   103   104   105   106   107   108   109   110   >>   >|  



Top keywords:
locusts
 

freely

 

special

 
dinner
 

colony

 

tempest

 

horned

 

piping

 

PAMPAS

 

revived


plagues

 
mariners
 

lightning

 
rashly
 
arrived
 

stepped

 

incredulous

 

Rosario

 

CHAPTER

 

magician


September

 

Spanish

 

purely

 

settlement

 

exaggerated

 
Candelaria
 

Company

 

confess

 

slightly

 

terrible


thought

 

believed

 
stories
 

started

 

Carcarana

 

busied

 

doings

 

Waking

 

dreadful

 

breakfast


Roldan
 
reached
 

Saturday

 

remedy

 

vegetables

 
Yesterday
 

absence

 
responsible
 
present
 

occasion