d we found an excellent
repast spread out for us on two long tables. An hour later we started
in seven large carriages, and proceeded first to make the tour of the
town, afterwards visiting the bank, and a fine new house in the course
of construction by a native, built entirely of white marble from
Italy. Then we paid a visit to some Indians--an old chief and his four
wives, who have settled quietly down in a toldo near the town. They
were not bad-looking, and appeared fairly comfortable, as they
squatted in the open air round the fire, above which was suspended a
large iron pot, containing, to judge by the look and smell, a most
savoury preparation. We next went to a store, where we picked up a few
curiosities, and then drove to the mill of Azul, a new establishment,
of which the inhabitants of the town are evidently very proud. There
is a pretty walk by the mill-stream, overhung with willows, and close
by is another toldo, inhabited by more Indians.

[Illustration: Indians at Azul]

Leaving the town, we now proceeded about two leagues across the Pampas
to Mr. Frer's estancia. He is a farmer, on a very extensive scale, and
possesses about 24,000 sheep and 500 horses, besides goodly herds of
cattle. The locusts have not visited this part of the country, and the
pastures are consequently in fine condition after the late rains,
while the sheep look proportionately well. We passed a large
_grasseria_, or place where sheep are killed at the rate of seven in a
minute, and are skinned, cut up, and boiled down for tallow in an
incredibly short space of time, the residue of the meat being used in
the furnace as fuel. Running about loose, outside, were four or five
curly-horned rams, between two of which a grand combat took place,
apparently conducted in strict accordance with the rules of fighting
etiquette. The two animals began by walking round and round, eyeing
each other carefully, and then retiring backwards a certain distance,
which might have been measured out for them, they stopped so exactly
simultaneously. Then, gazing steadfastly at one another for a few
moments, as if to take aim, they rushed forward with tremendous force,
dashing their foreheads together with a crash that might have been
heard a mile away. It seemed marvellous that they did not fracture
their skulls, for they repeated the operation three or four times
before Mr. Frer could get a man to help to stop the fight, when the
two combatants were led off,