ng surrounded by
vultures and other carrion birds. The next _canada_ that we crossed was
choked up with the carcasses of the unfortunate creatures who had
struggled thus far for a last drink, and had then not had sufficient
strength left to extricate themselves from the water. Herds of
miserable-looking, half-starved cattle were also to be seen; the cows
very little larger than their calves, and all apparently covered with
the same rough shaggy coats. The pasture is not fine enough in this part
of the country to carry sheep, but deer are frequently met with....

"The natives of these parts pass their lives in the saddle. Horses are
used for almost every conceivable employment, from hunting and fishing
to brick-making and butter-churning. Even the very beggars ride about on
horseback. I have seen a photograph of one, with a police certificate of
mendicancy hanging round his neck. Every domestic servant has his or her
own horse, as a matter of course; and the maids are all provided with
habits, in which they ride about on Sundays, from one estancia to
another, to pay visits. In fishing, the horse is ridden into the water
as far as he can go, and the net or rod is then made use of by his
rider. At Buenos Ayres I have seen the poor animals all but swimming to
the shore, with heavy carts and loads, from the ships anchored in the
inner roads; for the water is so shallow, that only very small boats can
go alongside the vessels, and the cargo is therefore transferred
directly to the carts to save the trouble and expense of transhipment In
out-of-the-way places, on the Pampas, where no churns exist, butter is
made by putting milk into a goat-skin bag, attached by a long lasso to
the saddle of a peon, who is then set to gallop a certain number of
miles, with the bag bumping and jumping along the ground after him."[29]

* * * * *

When on her way to the Straits of Magellan, Lady Brassey saw something
of one of the most terrible of "disasters at sea"--a ship on fire. The
barque proved to be the _Monkshaven_, from Swansea, with a cargo of
smelting coal for Valparaiso. The _Sunbeam_, on discovering her,
hove-to, and sent a boat, which, as it was found impossible to save the
burning vessel, brought her captain and crew on board, and afterwards
saved most of their effects, with the ship's chronometers, charts, and
papers.

"The poor little dingy belonging to the _Monkshaven_ had been cast away
as soon