insensible. The man, after
Luciano had had his talk, was allowed to escape. He told us that
his legs were marked by great weals, where the thong had wound
round, as if he had been flogged with a whip. In the middle of the
day two men arrived, who brought a parcel from the next posta to be
forwarded to the general: so that besides these two, our party
consisted this evening of my guide and self, the lieutenant, and
his four soldiers. The latter were strange beings; the first a fine
young negro; the second half Indian and negro; and the two others
nondescripts; namely, an old Chilian miner, the colour of mahogany,
and another partly a mulatto; but two such mongrels, with such
detestable expressions, I never saw before. At night, when they
were sitting round the fire, and playing at cards, I retired to
view such a Salvator Rosa scene. They were seated under a low
cliff, so that I could look down upon them; around the party were
lying dogs, arms, remnants of deer and ostriches; and their long
spears were stuck in the turf. Farther in the dark background their
horses were tied up, ready for any sudden danger. If the stillness
of the desolate plain was broken by one of the dogs barking, a
soldier, leaving the fire, would place his head close to the
ground, and thus slowly scan the horizon. Even if the noisy
teru-tero uttered its scream, there would be a pause in the
conversation, and every head, for a moment, a little inclined.

What a life of misery these men appear to us to lead! They were at
least ten leagues from the Sauce posta, and since the murder
committed by the Indians, twenty from another. The Indians are
supposed to have made their attack in the middle of the night; for
very early in the morning after the murder, they were luckily seen
approaching this posta. The whole party here, however, escaped,
together with the troop of horses; each one taking a line for
himself, and driving with him as many animals as he was able to
manage.

The little hovel, built of thistle-stalks, in which they slept,
neither kept out the wind nor rain; indeed in the latter case the
only effect the roof had, was to condense it into larger drops.
They had nothing to eat excepting what they could catch, such as
ostriches, deer, armadilloes, etc., and their only fuel was the dry
stalks of a small plant, somewhat resembling an aloe. The sole
luxury which these men enjoyed was smoking the little paper cigars,
and sucking mat,. I used to th