n raced in their day. There were
but a few leagues of cultivated ground to be passed before we reached
the broad, undulating, solitary Pampas, where for some time the only
visible signs of life were to be found in the Teru-tero birds (a sort
of plover), who shrieked discordantly as we disturbed their repose;
the partridges, large and small, put up by the retriever who
accompanied us; some prairie fowls; a great many hawks, of all sizes;
and the pretty little wydah-birds, with their two immense tail
feathers, four times the length of their bodies. The first glimpse of
the far-spreading prairie was most striking in all its variations of
colour. The true shade of the Pampas grass, when long, is a light
dusty green; when short it is a bright fresh green. But it frequently
happens that, owing to the numerous prairie-fires, either accidental
or intentional, nothing is to be seen but a vast expanse of black
charred ground, here and there relieved by a few patches of vivid
green, where the grass is once more springing up under the influence
of the rain.

The road, or rather track, was in a bad condition, owing to the recent
wet weather, and on each side of the five _canadas_, or small rivers,
which we had to ford, there were deep morasses, through which we had
to struggle as best we could, with the mud up to our axletrees. Just
before arriving at the point where the stream had to be crossed, the
horses were well flogged and urged on at a gallop, which they
gallantly maintained until the other side was reached. Then we stopped
to breathe the horses and to repair damages, generally finding that a
trace had given way, or that some other part of the harness had shown
signs of weakness. On one occasion we were delayed for a considerable
time by the breaking of the splinter-bar, to repair which was a
troublesome matter; indeed, I don't know how we should have managed it
if we had not met a native lad, who sold us his long lasso to bind the
pieces together again. It was a lucky _rencontre_ for us, as he was
the only human being we saw during the whole of our drive of thirty
miles, except the peon who brought us a change of horses, half-way.

In the course of the journey we passed a large estancia, the road to
which was marked by the dead bodies and skeletons of the poor beasts
who had perished in the late droughts. Hundreds of them were lying
about in every stage of decay, those more recently dead being
surrounded by vultures and ot