South American sketches

ii6 SOUTH AMERICAN SKETCHES

inconvenient for me to remain like the rustic,
waiting for it to flow past. I determined if
possible to get over at once. The only way
to cross it was by means of a frail temporary
raft, upon which I embarked under the guid-
ance of an Italian sailor, with the result that it
sank beneath the two of us in mid-stream, and
left us floundering in the torrent. Fortunately
I succeeded in grasping a wire that was stretched
between the banks, and with its aid I pulled
myself along until I got to calm water, and
found a submerged branch of a tree upon which
to rest my feet. The pilot, who was an expert
swimmer, and not overweighted with heavy
clothes as I was, recovered the raft, and towed
it into the "back-water," from which he reached
me with ease, and brought me to the land. A
young engineer upon the bank awaiting his turn
to be ferried over threw off his coat and boots
when the accident occurred, and prepared to
plunge into the water to come to my assistance.
It was with difficulty, too, that he could be per-
suaded to desist from the attempt, although it
would have been utterly useless to try to swim
across a current of such velocity.

PERILS BY LAND AND WATER 117

On another occasion I was travelling in a
wagonette drawn by three horses harnessed
abreast, when we came to the ford of a river
that looked rather swollen. Every care was
taken to examine it, and the general opinion
was that we might safely drive across it. It
was, however, desirable to lighten the load as
much as possible, so we descended from the
vehicle and rode over on horseback, leaving the
driver alone to guide it across.

Matters proceeded satisfactorily till he had
reached the middle of the stream, where some
confusion took place, and the horses became
restive and began to plunge wildly, when all at
once they moved a little to one side and got
out of their depths. The wheels of the wagon-
ette had become entangled in the branches
of a fallen tree lying in the bed of the river,
and could not be moved one way or the other.
The pole-straps kept the horses' heads down, so
that they made furious struggles to try to free
themselves.

Three men that accompanied me did every-
thing in their power to release the struggling
animals, but it was no easy task to perform.

REESE LIBRARY

or Tin.

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA

s No.

Accession No. /£> 0

BY THE SAME AUTHOR.

ACROSS THE PAMPAS AND THE ANDES.

"The book is charming throughout. . . ." — Nottingham Daily
Guardian.

" The engineer-in-chief of the expedition . . . has here collected
together, in a delightful book, the experiences which he and his
brother explorers met with. . . ."—Bristol Mercury.

"The naturalist, as well as the engineer and the physicist, will
see that the author is an observer of more than usual scientific
exactness, and all interested in well-told accounts of travel will
feel themselves carried from page to page with sustained interest.

"Mr. Crawford has a story to tell, and in 'Across the Pampas and
the Andes ' he tells it modestly and pleasantly. . . ."—Scotsman.

"Very agreeably told. . . ."—North British Daily Mail.

"Gives a very interesting description of the country through
which he passed. . . ."—Glasgow Herald.

"When the Andes are reached, a fine idea of these stupendous
mountains is given. . . . Mr. Crawford narrates pleasantly and
forcibly all that befell his party. ... He describes the scenery as
one who appreciates the beauty of the world around him. ... It
is impossible with our space to give a proper idea of the varied and
interesting contents of this volume. . . ." — Dundee Courier.

" Delightful and instructive reading. . . ." — Dublin Evening Mail.

" A most engrossing book of travel. . . ." — Irish Times.

"A record of British pluck and resolution. . . ." — Dublin Daily
Express.

" The descriptions ... are as delightful as they are instructive.
. . ." — Montreal Gazette.

"A most interesting book of travel and adventure. . . ." — Quebec
Morning Chronicle.

" His explorations of wild Indian country were more perilous and
uncomfortable than most modern travels, even in Africa. . . ." —
Harper's New Monthly Magazine.

"Interesting, independently of its descriptions of scenery and
events. . . ." — Australasian.

"An exceedingly cheerful companion to accompany in his travels.
. . ." — New Zealand Herald.

" His narrative, in the midst of prospects the most gloomy, remains
always attractive, lively, impressed with that cheerful humour which
triumphs over every obstacle. . . ." — Translated from the Revue de
Geographic, Paris.

"Crawford's book is an entertaining description of the journey,
with its daily pains and pleasures. . . ."—Translated from the
Globus, Brunswick.

LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO.

LONDON, NEW YORK, AND BOMBAY.

BY THE SAME AUTHOR.

REMINISCENCES OF FOREIGN TRAVEL.

"Mr. Crawford, well and favourably known as the author of
'Across the Pampas and the Andes,' writes neatly, thinks clearly,
. . . and has really a great deal to say of a great number of ' foreign
parts." . . ." — Saturday Review.

"A second book of travel, which is a worthy successor to its
successful companion. . . . Mr. Crawford has the happy knack of
telling his anecdotes with point and zest, and he never overdoes a
subject. He throws a well-balanced variety into his work, as the
artist arranges the harmony of his colouring. . . ."—Morning Post.

" Surely no apology is needed from such an entertaining writer
as the author of ' Across the Pampas and the Andes.' The new book
is not less interesting than its predecessor. . . ." — Manchester
Examiner.

"The author . . . has the art of making the record of his travels
as exciting as a novel. ... In short, Mr. Crawford is a born narrator
of travel and adventure. . . ." — Newcastle Courant.

' ' A brighter, pleasanter, and yet a less pretentious book ... it
has not been our fortune to meet with for some time. . . ."—Notting-
ham Daily Guardian.

" Every page is interesting. . . ."—Yorkshire Post.

"No one who opens the book . . . will close it without confessing
to himself that he has much profited by its perusal. . . ." — Liverpool
Daily Post.

"The book contains a number of capital stories which glide grace-
fully into the narrative and entrap the reader's interest. . . ."—Leeds
Mercury.

"Mr. Crawford writes as freshly and as pleasantly as ever. . . .
His bright, cheery style, and the good sense of his observations make
the book unusually pleasant to read. . . ." — Scotsman.

"Seldom do we come across such a vivacious and indefatigable
traveller . . . or such a thoroughly enjoyable book. . . ."—Dtwdee
Advertiser.

" The present volume will maintain his reputation. . . ."—Nature.

"There are many bits of good reading and realistic description
like this in the book. . . ."—United Service Gazette.

" Fully maintains his character as a writer. . . ." — Field.

"Mr. Crawford is a bright companionable guide. . . ."—Graphic.

" Pleasantly written papers. . . ."—Literary World.

"The reading of them has been an enjoyment. . . ."— St. James's
Gazette.

" Austria, Egypt, the River Plate, and Algeria, are subsequently
visited and pleasantly treated. . . ."—Pall Mall Gazette.

" This picturesque and entertaining record. . . ." — Engineering.

LONGMANS, GKEEN, AND CO.

LONDON, NEW YORK, AND BOMBAY.

SOUTH AMERICAN SKETCHES

BY THE SAME AUTHOR.

ACROSS THE PAMPAS AND THE ANDES.

" Almost as exciting as a novelette by Jules Verne." — Daily News.

"It is quite a treat to read a book like this. Written by a man
who has something to say, and who says it well. . . . Compiled with
great skill. . . . The reader's interest never flags. . . . Mr. Crawford
always writes with great simplicity and freshness and vigour."—
Guardian.

"A capital volume of description and travel." — Globe.

"His experiences were often exciting and dangerous, and his story
never flags. . . . The book is a valuable contribution to the literature
of the subject." — Contemporary Review.

"Lion -hunting in Algeria is no doubt a very fine, manly sport;
crossing the Atlantic in a five-ton yacht is an agreeable and adven-
turous mode of spending a short holiday ; but for a delightful com-
bination of the utile with the dulce, not unmixed with the enjoyable
zest derived from an occasional dash of mortal danger, we recommend
strongly to aspiring youth a turn at civil engineering in South
America. . . . Mr. Crawford's interesting pages. "—Pall Mall Gazet te.

' ' There are some capital stories here . . . whole pages of descrip-
tion and incident that would not disgrace the pen of Mayne Reid."—
Daily Telegraph.

"Probably he was helped to follow the path of virtue by the fact
that he had a most interesting subject." — Saturday Review.

"Mr. Crawford has a sensitive eye for the beauties of Nature." —
Academy.

" Mr. Crawford tells his story pleasantly." — Athenaeum.

" It is always pleasant and profitable to make acquaintance with
such a book." — Illustrated London News.

"This valuable work."— Graphic.

" A most interesting account of this formidable journey."— Literary
World.

" Mr. Crawford's excellent book." — Land and Water.

"All through the narrative the reader's interest is sustained."—
Nature.

1 ' An excellent map, and illustrations admirably executed by Mr.
Whymper, add to the interest of the volume."— Times.

"Gives a lively account of everything in animate and inanimate
Nature that attracted his attention."— Spectator.

"Will be read by all sportsmen and lovers of Nature with great
interest."— Tablet.

"His notes are exceedingly valuable and entertaining. . . ."—
Birmingham Daily Gazette.

"He relates in a very agreeable manner several of his adventures.
. . ." — Liverpool Mercury.

LONGMANS, GKEEN, AND CO.

LONDON, NEW YORK, AND BOMBAY.

SOUTH AMERICAN
SKETCHES

BY

ROBERT CRAWFORD, M.A.

HONORARY MASTER HST ENGINEERING, DUBLIN UNIVERSITY

MEMBER OF THE INSTITUTION OF CIVIL ENGINEERS

MEMBER OF THE ROYAL IRISH ACADEMY

ETC. ETC.

Author of "Across the Pampas and the Andes"
"Reminiscences of Foreign Travel," etc.

LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO,

39 PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON

NEW YORK AND BOMBAY

1898

All rights reserved

PRESERVATION ' *9?lL .

COPY ADDED
ORIGINAL TO BE

RETAINEO

Printed by BALLANTYNE, HANSON &-' Co.
At the Ballantyne Press

PREFACE

ALTHOUGH this volume had its origin in a visit
to South America, resulting in a residence in
Uruguay for three and a half years, ending in
1892, the incidents related in it, and the infor-
mation it conveys, are not confined to that period.
Of those narratives that do not recount the
writer's personal experience some occurred be-
fore the time in question, others since then.

As regards the railways of Uruguay, the infor-
mation concerning them is brought down to the
present date ; and the same may be said of the
part of the contents which relates to the general
condition of that country.

Uruguay has suffered much of late from a
revolution, which seriously retarded its progress ;
but as peace has been concluded, it is to be hoped
that good government and wise reforms may
ensue, and the country be left undisturbed in the

viii PREFA CE

future to attain to the prosperity for which it
is so eminently suited by position, soil, and
climate.

Although the headquarters of the reader's
thoughts during the perusal of this volume will
be in Uruguay, his attention will not be exclu-
sively confined within the limits of that republic.
Many of the narratives contained in the following
pages refer to occurrences in other places. This
explanation seems necessary in consequence of the
strong family likeness existing in the incidents
of public and political life all throughout South
America, which might easily cause the history of
current events in one part of that continent to
be mistaken for that belonging to another.

ROBERT CRAWFORD.

STONEWOLD, BALLYSHANNON,
March 1898.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

PAGE

It is always the unexpected that happens — Wisdom in epi-
grammatic form— We don't possess the gift of prophecy
— Unanticipated events occur with sufficient frequency
— My own experience— A railway in Uruguay— A country
with opposite characteristics — Altering the position of
the moral— Advantages of civility — A civil letter- writer
— Eesults — Indirect certificate of character for urbanity
— Suaviter in modo not always successful — Fortiter in re
sometimes necessary 1-8

CHAPTER II

"A LIFE ON THE OCEAN WAVE "

The voyage begins — Carril and Vigo — Embarking emigrants
— Spanish officials — Lisbon— More emigrants — Off to St.
Vincent — Across the Atlantic — Fellow-passengers — A
caterer for the general amusement — The centre of attrac-
tion— Disadvantages of the best position — Professor

M 's "Principles of the Art of Conversation" —

Wasted moments — Unavailing regrets — Eeach the
South American coast — Pernambuco — The surf break-
ing there — A hot residence — Catamarans — Proceeding
southwards — Maceio — Flowers and scenery — Absence

CONTENTS

PAGE

of bird-life — Flying-fish numerous — Fight between a
whale and a swordfish — Rio de Janeiro — Santos — Hot-
bed of yellow fever— Everything in the wrong place —
Sailor's philosophy — Quarantine station — Visit of health
officer— Good-bye — Land at Montevideo— Kind recep-
tion by old friends ....... 9-21

CHAPTER III

URUGUAY

Republic of Uruguay, or Band a Oriental del Uruguay —
Smallest South American Republic — Area— Population
— Compared with British, Dutch, and French Guiana —
Geographical position — Greatest length and width —
Boundaries — Face of the country — The Rio de la Plata
little affected by tides — Salto Grande rapids — Rivers —
Great floods — Geological features — Minerals — Monte-
video— The bay — Proposed harbour and docks . 22-32

CHAPTER IV

EL PASO DB LOS TOROS

Northern terminus of the Central Uruguay Railway — Exten-
sion to Brazilian frontier — Multiplicity of names — Hard
on patron saints— Picturesque spots on the Rio Negro—
Resemblance to the Erne — My native river — Fish and
birds — "Come back to Erin" — Crimson-flowering acacias
— Cina-cina — Variety of water-fowl — Not long since
beasts of prey roamed about here — A comfortable hotel
— Watch-dog — Soothing him with the bagpipes — Afraid
of a fox — Character for courage lost — Procuring fowl
for table — " Aunt Sally " — Frequenters of the place —
Bloodshed viewed with little concern— Object-lesson
of hardening effects upon children — Get into trouble
driving bullocks — " Pulperias " — A festive magistrate —
In the "lock-up" 33~45

CONTENTS xi

CHAPTER V

EXAMINING THE COUNTRY

PAGE

Began surveying operations — An uncomfortable night —
Hard camping ground — Bed and bedding left behind
— Tarantulas and scorpions — Campo Santo — Ostriches
and deer — A polite host — Had to leave — Pressing busi-
ness— Two ways of looking at the crime of murder —
The upas-tree— Other superstitions— Cures— Dangerous
to ride a grey horse in a thunderstorm — The river
Tacuarembd Chico— Beautiful trees and flowers — Wild
birds — Horses in the river Tres Cruces — Tres Cerros —
Curiously shaped hills — Crossed the Tacuarembo Grande
— Gold mines of Cunapiru and Corrales — Lack of enthu-
siasm— Unpleasant reminiscences of a gold mine— Early
visitors — A town of many " first officials " . . 46-63

CHAPTER VI

THE HAUNT OF THE OUTLAW

The Tambores valley — A steep ascent— Cactus plants-
Parley with an attacking party — Explanations — Man
robbed of his wife — Bereaved husband — Paasifig"
through the valley— A doubtful military protection —
Where ignorance is bliss — Resting peacefully among
the cut- throats — A lovely spot — Ruthless navvies — The
soldiers we saw in the valley — Anticipate events —
Special police force — Not much use— Outlaws trouble-
some— Matters get worse — The navvies solve the pro-
blem in their own way — They have a Sunday's shooting
in the woods — Somewhat reticent about the bag they
made— Dead men tell tales — Tambores afterwards less
popular with outlaws — They migrate— Cattle farmer's
escape — Second migration — Night attack upon a
farmer's house — Robber killed by his companions — A
victor on the field of bloodless battle — Nearly shooting

xii CONTENTS

PAGE

by mistake — The workmen had their own little differ-
ences— Too many graves — "Valley of Eden" — The
" Robber's Kest " 64-81

CHAPTER VII

WATCHMEN

Watchman, what of the night? — Discrepancies in informa-
tion—A citizen's perplexities — The people of El Paso
de los Toros— Reputation of the place — Accidental dis-
charge of firearms — Walls of houses bullet-marked — A
tragic occurrence — The knife did its work silently —
The public uneasy — Watchmen appointed — Men of ex-
cellent character — Paraded and reviewed — Their first
night on duty— A personal confession — Rumours that
the watchmen slept on their posts — The chief of police
tests the matter — Capture of lanterns — Explanations —
Death-blow to the force— Our private watchmen — A
New Year's visit — Shooting at a police-sergeant — Cul-
prit caught and flogged — Private differences — Burglar
fired at, but escaped 82-93

CHAPTER

POLICE

Objections to police — Burglars dislike bulldogs — Personal
experience of police— Effective assistance rendered by
them — Timely information — Headquarters— Our office
— Obliged to be careful — Gangs of robbers — A projected
attack thwarted — The chief of police — Another attempt
at burglary — Bringing money from the bank — Paying
along the line — A friendly publican — Pay trains —
Attempt to wreck a train . . . . . 94-105

CONTENTS xiii

CHAPTER IX

PERILS BY LAND AND WATER

PAGE

A tour of inspection — Coach upset — Floundering in the mud
— Rescued and washed down — A night at a wayside inn
— Aggressive cats — Upsets not uncommon — Four falls
in one day — A broken nose — Surgical skill— Professional
jealousy — The rustic waits for the river to flow past —
Horace and Tennyson not acquainted with South
American rivers — A daily experience— Sudden floods
and equally rapid subsidence — Flood in the Tacuarembo
Chico — Search for a lost child — Floods in the Rio Negro
— Many houses submerged — Upset in a flooded river —
Rescued — Another disaster — Horse drowned — Many
accidents crossing rivers — Two of them had fatal
endings 106-119

CHAPTER X

LANDOWNERS, WORKMEN, ETC.

Landowners — Local information — Natural aptitude for
selecting railway mies — Resemblance to hen lapwings
—Different characters — A fierce landlord — A cold re-
ception— A warning to trespassers — A sharp look-out —
The wheel of fortune — An enemy converted into a friend
— A generous offer — Unable to accept it — Difficulty of
establishing a menagerie at a country house in Ireland
— Another angry landlord — Surveyors' troubles — Saint
Patrick's day — A special train asked for — A night
attack — A general engagement — Killed, wounded, and
prisoners— Disputed boundaries — Another class of land-
owners —Workmen— Italians — Austrians — Bavarians-
Basques— Natives of Uruguay— Occasional troubles-
Strikes— Outbreak of smallpox .... 120-133

xiv CONTENTS

CHAPTER XI

LITEBA SCRIPTA MANET

PAGE

A general assertion nearly as often wrong as right — A maxim
dear to members of the legal profession— Like Meso-
potamia to the good old lady — The one safe anchorage
upon the lawyer's chart — On a par with the arithmetical
dogma that 2 and 2 make 4 — The written letter flies
away — Wafted up to the heavens — The reader's sym-
pathy is sought — Unanswered letters — Letters found in
a river — Stolen correspondence — A stolen despatch-box
recovered — Missing title-deeds — Title-deeds rescued
from being sold for waste paper — Pages cut out of
manuscript records — Gravestones injured — Love-letters
alone survive — After all, the maxim may have a different
meaning I34-H3

CHAPTER XII

SAN FRUCTUOSO

San Fructuoso or Tacuarembo — Approach to it — Houses and
gardens — Public square — Australian trees — Promenades
on summer evenings — A peculiar custom— The theatre
— Enterprising inhabitants — Bobbers in the suburbs —
A row upon the river — Foliage, flowers, and birds—
"The Fern Grotto" — Tree-ferns— Soothing effect— A
lovely spot— Nature's pictures .... 144-154

CHAPTER XIII

IN THE GARDEN

Enjoyable half -hours— The sunflower — Mistake of the poets
— Professors of aesthetic art — Blind leaders of the blind
—Lily of the Nile— A less thirsty flower— The Scar-

CONTENTS xv

PAGE

borough lily — Beautiful flowers — Black ants — Their red
relations — Warfare — Ant-hills on bedroom floor — Hard
to appease — Humming-birds — Oven-birds— Their nests
— Peculiar strut— Advantage of the form of nest — An
unwelcome visitor — "Not at home" — New tenants —
The South American swallow — The garden in the night-
time— Frogs of various kinds — Their concerts and
oratory — The clepsydra — The brown stork — Its dreadful
voice— Mystery explained 155-167

CHAPTER XIV

THE FOUR-LEAFED SHAMROCK

The minstrel's song — The magic plant — How I found it —
Awaiting extra good fortune — In a state of perpetual
suspense, like Sidney Smith's young clergyman — Other
trefoils — The midwinter primrose — Winter — The heart-
marked trefoil— Better emblem for Ireland — A pity
Saint Patrick was in such a hurry — Irishmen, whether
saints or sinners, are inclined to be impulsive — Saint
Patrick's nationality — Particulars of his early life and
history — Claims of the Scots and Gauls — A case of non
sequitur — A fly in amber — Intercourse between Ireland
and Gaul — A county Wexford man became Eoman
emperor— Soldiers of fortune — Did Saint Patrick banish
snakes and toads from Scotland and Gaul, as he did
from Ireland? 168-174

CHAPTER XV

THE SNAKE IN THE GRASS

Latet anguis in herbd — Good serpentine society — They don't
appear to wish for concealment — One meets with them
in the most unexpected places — Visit from a snake and
toad while in my bath — An Irishman to the rescue —
Catches the toad with a lasso — The lasso used for all

xvi CONTENTS

PAGE

purposes— Snakes eat toads— Dog and snake story —
Snakes in numbers— Flooded out — Snakes on the rail-
way— Lost no man from snake bites, and but one from
the bite of a toad — " A frog bit him " . . . 175-180

CHAPTER XVI

LAW AND LAWYERS

Why bandage the eyes of Justice? — Legal "blind man's
buff" — A wide field for investigation — Too great a
growth of lawyers — Personal experience— Peculiar people
—Many excellent men — Legal troubles with contractor
— A part greater than the whole! — Euclid at fault —
Judge taxed with corruption — Contempt of court not in
force — Overtures for a settlement — What came of them
— Lawyer and client — Attempt to rob a farmer— An
attorney-general shot — Newspaper comments on the
occurrence — Land arbitration extraordinary — Legal par-
tition of property leaving out the heirs — Coffee with
the chief— Something up — Half a loaf better than no
bread — Sleeping Justice suddenly awakes — Eviction on
a wholesale scale — A judge in gaol . . . 181-191

CHAPTER XVII

AMATEUR DIPLOMACY

One never knows what he can do till he tries— Unskilled in
the ways of the " foreign office" — A diplomatic difficulty
— Home-made measures — Immense dissatisfaction —
Overtures of peace — Conditions accepted and acted
upon — Another diplomatic difficulty— A Christmas
dinner — The loan of a band — International etiquette —
The toasts — Her Majesty's health — Preliminary pro-
test— Objections overcome in the end — "God save the
Queen" — Great enthusiasm— The President's health —
Good feeling restored — All's well that ends well— A
diplomatist's doubts 192-201

CONTENTS xvii

CHAPTEK XVIII

PEN VERSUS SWORD

PAGE

The pen is mightier than the sword "—The editor who got
309 lashes—" There's luck in odd numbers " — The stout
editor in trouble — Inmgdio tutissimus ibis— Adding insult
to injury — A rare job for the tailor— A worse fate— A
fierce colonel — Twelve thousand lashes ! — Uncere-
monious burial—" The Bold Soldier Boy "—Mickey Free
— The South American " Tommy Atkins " — The colonel
under a cloud— His explanation — Much force in it—
Recruiting from the gaols— Something to be said on
the other side — Leniency towards criminals — Keeping
their hands in practice — The editor flushed with vic-
tory— Sufficiently outspoken — Meets an opponent —
Contest of smallarms — No one hurt except a stray dog
—Editor leaves, finding the place unhealthy — A govern-
ment official attacked and severely wounded — One of
his antagonists caught— Nothing comes of it . 202-210

CHAPTER XIX

RIVERA AND SANTA ANA

A town of many" first officials " — Twin towns — Neutral zone —
High hills — Source of the river Cufiapiru — Population —
Toll-keeper and his wife — Mr. Weller's theory only partly
borne out — Most hospitable people— Cherry-brandy un-
suited to a warm climate — Escape from a dilemma —
Chief trade — Shooting contrabandists — "Under the
poncho " — An attractive spot — A young jaguar — Santa
Ana — Wants a custom-house— Accident to an engineer
— A Brazilian surgeon — An unpleasant suggestion — A
consultation — Narrow escape from suffocation — Fancy
method for getting clear of mosquitoes — Life upon the
frontier — Exponents of " free trade "—Reports of fire-
arms in the night-time — Double supply of amusement —

xviii CONTENTS

PAGE

A feu dc joie — Excess of zeal — Neutral zone again — The
troubles of a photographer — Blackmail levied on hotel-
keepers — Brazilian doctor has to fly . . . 211-221

CHAPTER XX

IN REVOLUTIONARY TIMES

Prevalence of revolutions — Like "whirlwinds" — First ex-
perience of the kind — Pure patriotism— Out of office
and in office — Political "beggar my neighbour" — A
perennial subject of discussion — Safety of the state-
Officially communicated — Invitation to witness a battle
— Explanations — The battle — Terrific firing — No one
hurt — Capitulation— Sacrifice of self -interest— Laying
down arms — An open secret — A traitor in the camp —
Convinces all but one — The plot thickens — A banquet
in barracks — Guests arrive — Betrayed — Bloodshed in
the banqueting-hall— Arresting political opponents —
Honourable conduct of a government official — A train
captured by insurgents — Soldiers put to death — Living
on the enemy— A military receipt— Opportunities for
revenge — A nice discrimination between methods of
killing — Man with his hands cut off — His end — Evils
arising from the revolutionary spirit — Injury to credit
and prosperity 222-237

CHAPTER XXI

NATURAL HISTORY NOTES

Larger wild animals disappearing— Wild-cats and foxes still
numerous — Deer of two kinds — Armadilloes — Ant-
eater — Carpinchoes — Nutrias — Otters — Freshwater
seals— Eagles of three kinds : blue, brown, and black-
Hawks— Vultures— Falcons— Game-birds— Pavo del
Monte— Man shot by a bird — Partridges of two kinds-
Snaring partridges— Shooting snipe over a bull-terrier

CONTENTS xix

—A sporting pig— The giant stork— Ordinary storks—
A pet stork — A strange bird — The brown stork — My
aviary— Other pets — A coati— Tame tortoise — One of
Nature's gentlemen . . 238-254

CHAPTER XXII

CLIMATE OF URUGUAY

Hot in summer, but climate good and healthy — Mr. Mul-
hall's Handbook, and statistics as to heat and cold, &c.
— Our register of same — The seasons — Dust storms —
Curious experiences — Dust storms followed by heavy
rain — Lightning — Large hailstones — Locusts — Stop-
ping trains — Difficulty of keeping cool in summer-
Various suggestions — A new plan to prevent one's
" head swelling"— The Dead March in Saul, with varia-
tions—Improving upon orders — A good shaking up —
Meteorites 255-265

CHAPTER XXIII

RAILWAYS OF URUGUAY

Railways essential to the progress of the country — No public
roads worthy of the name — Former means of communi-
cation— Wire fencing — Road allowances — Advantages
of carriage by rail — Railways begun in 1867 — Durazno
line the first one started — Its subsequent progress —
Central Uruguay Railway — The Pando Railway — Fre-
quent change of name— The Central Uruguay Eastern
Extension — The Central Uruguay Northern Extension —
Uruguay Great Eastern — Midland Railway — North-
Western Railway — Northern Railway — Projected
Western Railway — Railway from Montevideo to the
slaughter yards — Best policy with regard to railways
— Railway mania in Argentina — Growth and present
extent of railways in Uruguay .... 266-276

xx CONTENTS

CHAPTER XXIV

CONCLUSION

PAGE

Role of candid friend — Skeletons in cupboards — You can't
hide them — They should be banished — The persons
reflected upon do not represent society generally — Their
misdeeds are condemned — The wants of South American
States — Strong and just governments — Requires no great
sacrifice or self-denial — The people of the River Plate-
Kindly feeling — Willing testimony regarding them — A
bright and prosperous region if only the demon of
political revolution were exorcised and banished . 277-280

SOUTH AMERICAN
SKETCHES

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

WE are frequently told by people with a didactic
turn of mind, that it is always the unexpected
that happens. They appear to think that by
conveying their wisdom in epigrammatic form,
just as chemists encase the nauseous ingredients
of their pills in a coating of some less disagree-
able substance, the mental palate may be deceived
into accepting the proffered instruction without
remonstrance.

Critics may suggest that it is only another
way of saying we don't possess the gift of pro-
phecy; but that if we were more careful to
note what is going on around us, we should

find events turning out in accordance with our

A

2 SOUTH AMERICAN SKETCHES

anticipations much oftener than they now appear
to do.

However this may be, I think most people
will agree with me in assuming that unan-
ticipated events do occur with sufficient fre-
quency to give the assertion a popular currency,
even though such coincidences may fail to
establish a fixed law in the matter; just as a
light sovereign may remain in general circula-
tion, and be accepted as if retaining its full
weight and value, when deficient in both.

For my own part, the unexpected has so
frequently occurred to me, that scarcely any-
thing would surprise me now. I will mention
one instance of the kind, which I think should
suffice to convince those sceptical about the
matter.

Towards the close of the year 1888 I went
to London, and upon arriving there I was
handed a telegram that had reached my home
in Ireland after my departure from thence, and
had been sent on to me. It contained a request
that I should come over to have an interview
with some gentlemen in the city upon a subject
about which they wished to speak with me.

INTRODUCTION 3

When I had breakfasted I called upon the
sender of the telegram, who expressed much
surprise at the rapidity with which I made
my appearance in response to his communica-
tion. My explanations, however, corrected the
somewhat too hasty conclusion at which he had
arrived as to the speed attainable by the modern
appliances of travel in these islands, and we pro-
ceeded to business.

It related to a project for the construction
of a railway in Uruguay, which the gentlemen
interested in it were anxious I should carry out,
and after some negotiation I agreed to do so.

I think this may be accepted as a fair example
of the unexpected happening, for when I left
home I had no more intention of going to the
River Plate again, than I had of embarking on a
voyage of discovery to the North Pole.

In the following pages we are about to visit a
country upon the other side of the globe, where
everything presents opposite characteristics to
what we are accustomed to observe in their
equivalents at home. The inhabitants stand with
their heads pointing downwards, and their feet
directed upwards towards ours; the sun is in

4 SOUTH AMERICAN SKETCHES

the north at noon ; and midsummer occurs at
Christinastide. These, and many other interest-
ing peculiarities, combine to impress upon the
traveller in Uruguay the feeling that he is in a
strange land of curious phenomena, if not quite
in such an enchanted region as that so charm-
ingly described in " Through the Looking-Glass."

Under inverted circumstances of the kind, it
may well be permitted to one who essays to
sketch some of the peculiar features of the coun-
try and of its people, to depart from the time-
honoured custom of placing the moral to be
conveyed at the end of the narrative, and to
establish a new precedent by opening with it, as
a fit introduction to what is to follow.

There is a manifest advantage in this treat-
ment of the subject, for the unwary reader is
thus ensnared in the meshes of the moral, to his
own great benefit, before he is aware of the fact.
Whereas, when the moral comes at the end, the
majority of readers having by that time had
their curiosity satiated, pass over it unread, and
cast the book aside, just as a schoolboy, when he
has sucked an orange dry, throws away the rind,
as unworthy of his further attention.

INTRODUCTION 5

To prevent any such mishap in the present
instance, I will state, without further circumlocu-
tion, that the lesson I wish to convey at the start
is the desirability of cultivating a habit of civility
and politeness in our intercourse with our fellow-
men. In order to impress this the more forcibly
upon the minds of my readers, I shall proceed to
illustrate the benefits arising from a strict adherence
to the principles of the maxim I have laid down.

While engaged in making preparations for
my departure to South America, I had frequent
interviews with the officials of the steamship
company by whose line we proposed to make the
voyage, and found them to be most reasonable
and obliging ; and in consequence of the manner
in which suggestions of mine had been met by
the directors, I wrote to thank them for it. Some
days afterwards, having occasion to visit the office
again, their representative said he wanted to in-
troduce me to the directors, who were then sitting
at a board meeting. " I don't mind telling you,"
he added, " that you are the first person who ever
wrote them a civil letter, and they are anxious to
make the acquaintance of one who has afforded
them such an unusual experience/'

6 SOUTH AMERICAN SKETCHES

Thus it happened that I was introduced in the
character of the civil letter writer.

I was not a little amused by the incident, and
thought the matter had ended there ; but this
was by no means the case. Just before sailing
I received a letter from the secretary of the com-
pany, enclosing an introduction to the captain of
the ship in which our passages were taken. It
was unsolicited on my part, and unexpected ; and
was, moreover, an official document, written by
order of the directors, to request that every
attention should be paid to me, and to the staff
of engineers accompanying me, so as to make the
voyage as agreeable as possible for us.

Upon 22nd November 1888, the day of our
departure, we went on board, and seeing that the
captain was much occupied at first with the
affairs of the ship, I postponed presenting my
letter of introduction until a more favourable
opportunity. This I found later in the evening,
after we had dropped the pilot, and when the
captain was enjoying a cigar, as he paced the
quarter-deck. He read the secretary's letter with
an amused expression on his face, and then,
laughingly, asked me how I had managed to

INTRODUCTION 7

make the directors take such a special interest in
me. He had himself, he said, received a strongly
worded private letter from the secretary to much
the same effect as the official one I gave him ;
in addition to which, about an hour before sailing,
a telegraphic reminder, of similar import, had
reached him. I told him the story of the civil
letter, which he heartily enjoyed.

Here I may state that he fully carried out his
instructions with regard to us, and moreover,
that he was a most agreeable and well-read man,
whose information was not bounded by a nautical
horizon, but extended far beyond it into a wide
expanse of general knowledge.

This incident of the civil letter and its results
go far to prove the correctness of my contention
on the subject of politeness, and to remove the
erroneous impression so widely current, that
directors of companies are impervious to ordinary
civility, or indeed to everything but abuse.

Some of the less charitably-minded of my
acquaintances may, possibly, fancy that I have
another, and personal, motive for being so com-
municative about this trivial matter, and that I
am actuated by a desire to obtain for myself an

8 SOUTH AMERICAN SKETCHES

indirect certificate of character for urbanity in
the capacity of a letter writer, a quality they may
think not always characteristic of my style.

To such I would reply that they are illogical
in their deductions, arguing from a particular to
a general case, when they infer from some rare
specimen of my correspondence what the general
law is that regulates it.

In one's dealings with the world it is not
always possible to set everything right by the
simple remedy of suaviter in modo, as if it were
one of those patent medicines which are warranted
to cure all complaints. Obstinate cases, showing
a tendency to assume a chronic character, are
sometimes to bs met with, to combat which it
becomes necessary to have recourse to the stronger
expedient of fortiter in re. Under these circum-
stances, it will be readily understood that the
hand of even a much more skilful compounder
than I can claim to be may occasionally shake a
little when making up the recipe, and add, per-
haps, a drop too much of the stronger ingredient
to the mixture, giving it a more bitter taste than
it was intended it should have.

CHAPTER II

"A LIFE ON THE OCEAN WAVE"

THE voyage began pleasantly enough. Every-
thing was in our favour ; the weather and the
sea were alike propitious as we ran down the
Channel and across the Bay of Biscay. On the
third day out we called at Carril and Vigo, ports,
or rather indentations, of the western coast of
Spain, about thirty miles apart. The towns
themselves are picturesquely situated on sloping
hill sides, shut in by a background of mountains.
At each of them we embarked about i 5 o Basque
emigrants for the River Plate. As far as the male
portion of these was concerned, the Spanish officials
examined their passports and certificates of military
service with great care and minuteness, to prevent
any one escaping from the country without having
fulfilled his duty in this respect.

The officials themselves seemed very proud of
a singularly long finger-nail on each of their

io SOUTH AMERICAN SKETCHES

hands, as bearing evidence that their grade in
the social scale was above that employed in
manual labour. To such an extent does the
custom pervade Spanish society, that it is no
uncommon thing to see men very little raised
above the labouring classes assiduously cultivat-
ing a distinctive peculiarity of the kind.

From Vigo we made for Lisbon, where we
added to the number of people on board a good
many steerage passengers of Portuguese nation-
ality, bound for Brazil. Proceeding next to Saint
Vincent we took in a supply of coal there, and
then steered across the Atlantic.

Here we may pause for a while, to pay some
attention to those on board, among whom were
an old acquaintance of mine and his wife, going
out for a trip to the River Plate, and their agree-
able society added greatly to the pleasantness of
the voyage.

We were singularly fortunate in our fellow-
passengers, many of whom proved to be inter-
esting companions, while some of them were
conspicuous in contributing to what I may term
the social success of our life at sea.

There was a little Brazilian gentleman, who

"A LIFE ON THE OCEAN WAVE" u

bestirred himself to the utmost to provide amuse-
ment of various kinds for all his fellow-passengers,
whose entertainment he took under his own special
care. In fact, he appeared almost offended if any
one was discovered comfortably ensconced in some
quiet spot on deck, reading an interesting book,
and enjoying in peace and quietness the delicious
sea-breeze. It was a slight to his powers as a
caterer for the general amusement that any one
should prefer an occupation other than that which
he had provided, knowing it to be most suitable
and best for the occasion. He was full of ex-
pedients for killing time. He was even a sort of
variety show in himself, and would have made an
excellent actor on the theatrical stage, for Nature
had given him a face as mobile as his character.
In a moment he could change the expression of
his features from a realistic representation of the
depths of misery, into which he had been plunged
by his remorseless and only enemy, sea-sickness,
to a facial arrangement suggestive of the most
perfect concentration of light-hearted and mis-
chievous fun. He knew something of all the
modern languages of Europe, though his know-
ledge of them was not profound, and his applica-

12 SOUTH AMERICAN SKETCHES

tion of it occasionally suggested the inference that
his education in foreign tongues had been ac-
quired rather in the byways than the highways
of learning.

It was most amusing to hear him explaining
to some unimpressionable person the fascinations
and allurements of a game at "poker," or of a
sweepstake on the ship's daily run. One could
almost fancy that, to him, life, without some
such excitement, would suggest an imperfect,
colourless, and unenjoyable existence.

There were many others among the passengers
well deserving of a favourable notice, but to
describe them all is quite impossible.

There was one, however, upon whom not to
bestow a word or two of appreciative recognition
would stamp me as being devoid of all aesthetic
perceptions. This was a lady, beside whom it
was my good fortune to be placed at table. The
advantageous position thus acquired was not of
my own seeking. It was the steward who put
me there, and thus brought down upon me the
envious feelings of several young gentlemen, who
scarcely concealed how much they desired to
change places with me.

"A LIFE ON THE OCEAN WAVE" 13

The lady I refer to possessed among other
attractions a great mass of beautiful golden hair ;
none of those artificial productions, the creation
of " auricomus fluid," but the real genuine
growth, that Nature alone could supply in such
burnished brilliancy. It made a glowing halo
around the head it decked, like that of some
mediaeval saint, suggestive of a shrine, at which,
as already hinted, it was easy to see there were
several of the passengers prepared to worship.

But here I must check my too erratic pen,
which, having got upon this subject, seems well
disposed to ramble on, forgetful of the fact that
feminine beauty and attractions must be reserved
for poets to describe, the cold and harsh reality
of prose being wholly unfitted for the purpose.
Besides, the subject is an exceedingly delicate
one to deal with. Who can tell whether the
violet would not much rather be left to exhale its
fragrance unperceived beneath the shade of its
protecting leaves, than to be brought forth from
its seclusion into the glare of public notice and
admiration ?

As I sat beside the centre of attraction I could
not be ignorant of the fact that, however great

14 SOUTH AMERICAN SKETCHES

might be the advantages of my position, it was
not without its drawbacks ; just as philosophers
tell us there is no cup of happiness, however full,
that does not contain some bitter ingredient.
There were my rivals, all attention, with ears
strained to catch even fragmentary portions of
my feeble attempts to be agreeable to my fasci-
nating neighbour ; while adverse criticism of the
performance was stereotyped upon their faces
beforehand, and shone from unfriendly eyes with
the green light of jealousy.

No one shall ever know, if I can help it, the
mental torture I endured while passing through
that trying ordeal ; or how deeply I regretted my
former folly in neglecting to master the details
of that useful volume, " Principles of the Art of

Conversation," by my friend Professor M ,

a competent knowledge of which is in itself a
liberal education. Had I but assimilated even a
small portion of its wisdom, I could not have gone
astray. But under the trying circumstances of
my position, the knowledge intended to be con-
veyed in the professor's pages deserted me com-
pletely. I remembered, it is true, that it forbids,
under heavy penalties, any reference to the weather,

"A LIFE ON THE OCEAN WAVE" 15

or other common topic, when addressing a new
acquaintance; and suggests the most prudent
course to pursue in order to ingratiate yourself
with an elderly lady afflicted with numerous
children, or a young one blessed with none. But
not a single hint, or even word, could I recall to
guide me how to act in the absence of any definite
information as to these family matters, when con-
versing with an attractive lady possessing a wealth
of golden hair.

It is useless, however, wasting time in vain
regrets over what might have been, and in
lamenting lost opportunities ; so we had better
proceed upon the voyage, about which there is
little to report.

Upon December 7th we reached the South
American coast at Pernambuco, where the sea was
breaking over a ledge of rocks in front of the
town with sufficient fury to strike terror into the
hearts of sailors as well as of landsmen. Behind
the ledge, however, there was a bay of smooth
water, in which small coasting craft could lie
securely, if their navigators knew the entrance
to it. A castaway captain with whom I once
travelled told me that his ship was burnt at sea,

16 SOUTH AMERICAN SKETCHES

and he and his crew had to take to an open boat,
in which they reached Pernambuco after sailing
400 miles. But so frightened were his men
when they saw the surf breaking on the shore,
that they wanted him to put about and make
for some other port, notwithstanding that they
were in a most wretched condition.

Pernambuco is an extremely hot residence in
summer, and the red-tiled roofs of the houses
intensify the effect of the heat, as far as appearance
goes. The land lies low along the coast, except
at the point called Lindah, an early Portuguese
settlement, where it is hilly.

It is on the higher background that the
houses of the principal merchants are built, among
mango groves, bananas, and palm-trees, sur-
rounded on all sides by luxuriant tropical vegeta-
tion, including orchids innumerable.

The fishing catamarans that passed our ship
as she lay at anchor formed a curious feature in
the scene before us. They are generally con-
structed of six pieces of rounded timber, placed
longitudinally parallel to each other, and close
together, a couple of cross-pieces, to which they
are bound, keeping them in their proper position.

"A LIFE ON THE OCEAN WAVE" 17

The raft thus formed is furnished with a rough
board seat, placed aft for the convenience of the
helmsman, who is also captain, cook, and crew ;
and on this he sits in a fairly dry position as
regards his body, while the water rushes up be-
tween the timbers of the raft and washes his feet.
The sail with which a catamaran is usually fur-
nished has the appearance of a triangle with
curved sides. The mast is bent like a fishing-
rod when playing a fish, and a " sprit," projecting
from it at right angles, takes the place of a boom,
keeping the lower part of the sail stretched.
Such sails appeared to be only used for running
before the wind, so that if this is the case, the
raft must be propelled by oars when it is desired
to go to windward.

When the passengers and cargo for Pernam-
buco had been landed, our ship weighed anchor
and proceeded southward, at a distance of some
three or four miles from the coast. This for the
most part presented the appearance of low sand-
hills, with a fringe of palm-trees at their base.

On the following day we touched at Maceio,
where the foreshore was low, and consisted of a
white sandy beach, palm-trees growing every-

i8 SOUTH AMERICAN SKETCHES

where, almost down to the seaside. The land
rose to a considerably higher level at no great
distance from the shore, while the water in the
bay was beautifully clear, and of a bright green
colour. Some of the passengers who went on
shore brought back lovely flowers and large
bunches of the gaudy- coloured bougainvillea.

From Maceio we made for Bahia, the character
of the coast-line remaining much the same as
on our course the previous day. The weather
was glorious, with a cloudless sky overhead, while
the water beneath for many miles was of a deep
shade of ultramarine, the whole forming a
perfect picture of tropical coast-scenery. One
peculiarity I remarked about it, and that not for
the first time, was the strange absence of bird life
at this particular part of our voyage, although
there were plenty of flying fish to furnish food
for them.

At this same place, upon another trip, I wit-
nessed a fight between a whale and a swordfish,
which lasted for a considerable time. During the
encounter the whale kept part of its body above
water, the surface of which it lashed into spray
with the furious beating of its tail. We did not

"A LIFE ON THE OCEAN WAVE" 19

see the ending of the duel, but the captain told
us a fight of the kind usually terminates in favour
of the swordfish.

The remaining ports that we called at were
Bahia, Rio de Janeiro, and Santos, from which
latter place we were glad to get away, owing to
the evil reputation it bears, in a sanitary point
of view, as a "hot-bed" for propagating yellow
fever. Nor can one wonder at this, for the ill-
snielling ooze and slime along the foreshore are
just of the class to fester into noxious gases under
a scorching sun.

There was nothing to note about the rest of
our voyage; in fact, from first to last, the only
remarkable thing about it was that, as regards
the sea itself, we had everything in the wrong
place. In northern latitudes, where we looked
for rough water, we found it calm and smooth,
whereas, when we steamed southwards into a
region where the ocean is generally tranquil and
at rest, it was nearly all the time disturbed and
"choppy," although no corresponding wind existed
to account for its roughness. The only explana-
tion of this which was given us by those on board,
who were learned in the habits and customs of

20 SOUTH AMERICAN SKETCHES

the sea, was that it must have been blowing hard
somewhere else. I thought this philosophy had
much to recommend its general adoption in
matters unexplainable, and I hoped to comfort
myself thereafter by a similar process of reason-
ing about many things I do not understand. It
is so pleasant to think, with the honest, simple-
minded mariner, that every effect must have had
a cause of some kind to produce it, and it is
useless to go on puzzling our brains further about V
the matter.

After a run of twenty-six days, ending a week
before Christmas, we reached Flores Island, the
quarantine station for Uruguay. It was a miser-
able place, and its buildings and appointments
gave it a most depressing aspect. When the
health officers came alongside and received the
report of the surgeon of the ship, there was a
long consultation as to whether we should be
allowed to land at Montevideo, which was our
destination, or be compelled to spend a proba-
tionary time in quarantine, as some of the ports
our ship had touched at were declared to be
infected.

In the end, after considerable deliberation, the

"^ LIFE ON THE OCEAN WAVE" 21

authorities, to our great satisfaction, decided upon
adopting the former course. So, when we had
said good-bye to those on board, we passed down
the gangway to a little steamer full of old friends,
who had come out to meet me, and from whom
the kindly greetings I received on all sides were
of the warmest and most flattering kind. Then
with three loud cheers from us for those we were
leaving, responded to energetically from the ship,
we cast off and made for the shore, where a re-
ception no less warm and kindly from other
friends awaited me.

CHAPTER III

URUGUAY

BEFOKE proceeding further it is desirable that
the general reader should be made acquainted
with the main features of the country to which
he has been brought, and where it is proposed
to detain him during his stay in South America.

But though Uruguay may be his temporary
home, he will be taken, in thought, from time
to time to witness occurrences in other portions
of that great continent.

The Republic of Uruguay, or the "Banda
Oriental del Uruguay" as it is formally styled,
and still shorter, colloquially, as the "Baiida
Oriental," is the smallest of South American
Republics, of which there are ten, besides three
colonies, the latter belonging respectively to
England, France, and Holland.

It has an area of 73,000 square miles, or rather
more than four-fifths of that of Great Britain.

URUGUAY 23

Uruguay occupies about one per cent, of the
surface of South America, and has about two per
cent, of its population, or say, 750,000 persons.

It is about two-thirds of the size of British
Guiana, one-half larger than Dutch Guiana, and
three times the size of French Guiana.

Uruguay lies on the north-eastern or left bank
of the Rio de la Plata, between the parallels of
30° 5' and 35° south latitude, and 53° and
58° 20' west longitude.

Its greatest length is about 360 miles, measured
in a straight line north-west by north, from Mal-
donado on its southern or Atlantic coast, to the
river Cuareim.

The maximum width is about 310 miles, from
Palmeira, on the river Uruguay, to the Laguna
Mirim, a little to the east of Artigas, which
direction cuts the line of greatest length at
nearly right angles, at a distance of some ninety
miles from the sea coast.

Boundaries. — Uruguay is bounded on the north
and north-east by Brazil, from which it is separated
in part by the rivers Cuareim and Jaguaron, fall-
ing respectively into the river Uruguay and the
Laguna Mirim, the remaining portion of the

24 SOUTH AMERICAN SKETCHES

northern boundary being a frontier land line join-
ing the waters of the two rivers above mentioned.

The rest of the eastern boundary is formed
by the Laguna Mirim and the Atlantic Ocean;
which latter, and the Rio de la Plata, constitute
the southern boundary. On the west, Uruguay
is bounded by the river of the same name, which
separates it from the Argentine Confederation.

Face of the Country. — The surface of Uruguay
differs altogether from the very level character
of the Pampas formation in Buenos Ayres, on
the Argentine, or southern side of the Rio de
la Plata.

A special feature of the land is the number of
main ridges or water-sheds running in different
directions and sending out lateral spurs, so that
the general character of the country, especially
towards the north, is a combination of hills,
valleys, and rolling plains.

Uruguay, although generally inferior to
Argentina as regards the quality of its soil
for agricultural purposes, and unable to support
an equal head of cattle for the same area, has
many advantages of its own. The tortuous
sequence of hills and valleys affords shelter to

URUGUAY 25

cattle and sheep, no matter from what point
of the compass a gale may blow ; while the
permanent rivers, with which the country is
so well watered, relieve the farmers from the
great anxiety and labour that fall to the lot of
their southern neighbours, in consequence of the
shrinking of the streams during droughts.

Eivers. — The first and most important of these
— the Rio de la Plata — is, strictly speaking, not
a single river, but the channel through which
the waters of a collection of rivers — the Parana,
Uruguay, Paraguay, and their tributaries — are
conveyed to and discharged into the sea. It
is assumed to begin at the junction of the
rivers Parana and Uruguay, and has a course
of 150 miles from that point to the Atlantic,
if we take the configuration of the coast-line as
determining its extent. Seafaring men, however,
consider it to flow for some distance farther into
the ocean, in consequence of the prevailing fresh-
ness of the water in the locality.

Though so comparatively short, it should be
remembered that the Rio de la Plata is in
reality the name given to what is only the
lower reach of a river system, the central artery

26 SOUTH AMERICAN SKETCHES

of which has a continuous course of not far
short of 2500 miles.

It is to be observed that the Kio de la Plata
is little affected by ordinary tides ; but being
about 60 miles wide at its mouth, and less
than half that width 120 miles higher up its
course, it presents what may be termed &
funnel-shaped estuary, in which the water is
frequently banked up to a considerable height
by strong winds blowing up the channel.

The next river in importance is the Uruguay,
which gives its name to the country we are
dealing with, and forms, as we have seen, a
portion of its boundary.

After an independent courae of about 1000
miles it joins the Parana and loses its identity.

Although a majestic river, it is only navigable
by moderate sized ocean-going steamers for the
lower forty miles of its course or thereabouts.
Smaller craft, drawing from six to eight feet,
can, however, ascend it for 200 miles, to the
rapids known as the Salto Grande (or Great
Leap), situated about twelve miles above the
town of Salto, an important centre of population
on the left bank of the river.

URUGUAY 27

A specially constructed steamer, drawing very
little water, used at one time to be poled and
warped past this obstruction up a narrow channel
in the rapids, along their right or Argentine
bank. Once above this point the river, though
shallow in many places, is navigable for small
vessels up to and beyond the frontier of Brazil.

Some years ago, while engaged in making the
survey for a canal to overcome these rapids,
which it .was contemplated at the time to con-
struct as a Government work, I ascended the
river as far as the town of Uruguayana, in Brazil,
taking soundings all the way, and finding it to
be as I have described ; but the project was not
carried out.

The foregoing remarks as to the available
depth of water in the river Uruguay apply to
its normal state only, as it is subject to great
floods, completely altering the aspect of the
navigation.

There is another class of rivers to be dealt
with, consisting of those which intersect the
country. Of these by far the most important is
the Rio Negro, which takes its rise in Brazil, and
after running in a south-westerly direction through

28 SOUTH AMERICAN SKETCHES

the heart of Uruguay for a distance of more than
300 miles, joins the river Uruguay at about lati-
tude 33° 20' south. Like the river into which
it flows, it is also subject to great floods. The
Rio Negro divides the country into two parts of
unequal size, the northern portion being consi-
derably smaller, less fertile, and more broken,
rugged, and thinly populated than that lying
to the south of it. The scanty nature of the
population may be partially accounted for by the
absence of roads and the want of bridges ; but
these are disadvantages which railways will gra-
dually neutralise.

The river Yi is an important affluent of the
Rio Negro, into which also flow the waters of the
Cunapiru, the Tacuarembo Grande and Chico,
the Rubio Chico, and Tres Cruces. The Cuareim,
as already mentioned, forms part of the northern
frontier with Brazil, and empties itself into the
Uruguay, as do also the Arapey, Dayman, and
Queguay. The Santa Lucia falls into the Rio
de la Plata a little to the west of Montevideo,
while the Cebollati discharges itself into the
Laguna Mirim, which forms part of the eastern
boundary of the country.

URUGUAY 29

These are the chief rivers of Uruguay, and
they are all subject to considerable floods during
heavy rains.

Geological Features. — Rock of a granitic descrip-
tion prevails in the neighbourhood of Montevideo
and in the south generally, affording excellent
paving materials. Limestone is found to the
south-east and in some parts of the interior.

Going northwards, a friable rock is met with,
having the appearance of being formed from
indurated clay, and exhibiting a peculiar curved
fracture when broken up. This formation ex-
tends to some distance north of the Rio Negro,
and then gives place to sandstone, the beds of
which latter deposit furnish very fine building
material.

To the north-east and north, near the Brazilian
frontier, quartz occasionally appears, and in the
former direction there are gold mines, but the
working of them has not as yet been very profit-
able or encouraging.

Considerable deposits of gravel, containing
agates, carnelian, and other pebbles, are not un-
common, and I have heard of one instance in
which two diamonds were found among the

30 SOUTH AMERICAN SKETCHES

gravel ballast used for the railway ; but they
were of no great intrinsic value.

By far the most interesting mineralogical
specimens in Uruguay are, in my estimation,
the so-called water-stones.

They are small, white, and transparent ; hollow
in the interior, and partially filled with water, so
that a bubble of air moves about upon its sur-
face, according to the position in which the object
is held.

These stones consist of pure silex, their sur-
face presenting the appearance of a series of little
curves and nodules, all rounded and smoothed
off, as if the material had once been in a viscous
state, while the interior of the broken stones
that I have seen exhibits a mass of crystalline
structure principally made up of hexagonal prisms
terminating in similar pyramids.

How have these stones been formed ? That is
a question about which geologists may differ, but
I think that one stage of their production is
easy enough to understand.

Water, impregnated with a considerable amount
of silex, dripping through the crevices of a rock
into a small cavity in it, would deposit crystals of

URUGUAY 31

silex upon the top, bottom, and sides of the
cavity, the crystals all pointing inwards. This
operation being continued through long periods
might gradually form a complete external casing,
and eventually close any aperture in it, leaving
therein the water and air that it happened to
contain at the time.

But how are we to account for the external
appearance of these geological curiosities ? Can
the material of which the matrix consisted have
had anything to say to it ? These, and other
questions that will suggest themselves to the
inquirer, are interesting subjects for consideration,
which had better, perhaps, be left to the treatment
of experts.

Montevideo. — This is the capital of the Re-
public, its only city and principal port. It is
well situated, about the middle point of the
southern coast, at what may be roughly called
the mouth of the Rio de la Plata, though, as has
been already said, the water continues fresh for
many miles farther out to sea.

Montevideo, including its suburbs, has about
250,000 inhabitants, that is to say, speaking ap-
proximately, it absorbs one- third of tire entire

32 SOUTH AMERICAN SKETCHES

population of the Republic. It is a well-built
city, and some of the suburban houses, surrounded
by gardens and pleasure grounds, are very attrac-
tive.

It is situated upon a promontory forming one
side of a bay, the depth of water in which is,
unfortunately, insufficient for shipping purposes,
and this condition of affairs is aggravated by the
fact that the bay is said to be silting up. Ocean-
going steamers have to lie out at anchor in the
open roadstead. Many proposals for establishing
a properly constructed port, with docks, at Monte-
video have been made from time to time for the
last quarter of a century, but without practical
effect. Recently, however, the matter seemed to
have assumed a new and more promising phase ;
but the outbreak of a revolution pushed this very
necessary work into the background, from which
it is to be hoped it will be brought forward before
long.

None of the other centres of population in
Uruguay call for any special notice in a general
description of the country, being merely places
for supplying the wants of the surrounding
districts.

CHAPTER IV
EL PASO DE LOS TOROS

THE work we were about to undertake was practi-
cally an extension of the Central Uruguay Railway,
from its then northern terminus on the right bank
of the Rio Negro, distant 1 70 miles from Monte-
video, to the town of Rivera, at the frontier of
Brazil, a farther length of about 182 miles.

Our starting-point possessed a multiplicity of
names. It is generally known as the Paso de los
Toros, but the railway people give it the shorter
designation of Rio Negro, after the river flowing
past it, while its legal name is, I believe, Santa
Isabel.

A residence of some time there impressed rne
with the conviction that there are at least occa-
sional mistakes made in assigning certain places
to patron saints, for I feel sure that none such, if
their wishes could be consulted, would accept the
charge of the locality in question.

33

34 SOUTH AMERICAN SKETCHES

It would almost seem as if the manner of
appointment of a patron saint was somewhat
similar to that of the high sheriff of a county
with us; the victim has no choice or option in
the matter, and must act if appointed.

Call it by whatever name we may, it is nfct a
place of much interest. It owes its origin to the
existence of a ford in the river at that point,
which is passable, however, only when the water
is low, so that in former times, before the intro-
duction of ferry-boats, which preceded railways,
passengers arriving there in any other condition
of the river were obliged to await upon its bank a
more favourable opportunity for crossing over.

Although the Paso de los Toros is not in itself
calculated to excite much admiration, there are
many parts of the Rio Negro near it that are very
picturesque. There is a lovely reach of it about
a league below the town, that reminded me of a
scene on my native river — the Erne — at a place
called Mois Rhua, which Saxon anglers who fre-
quent our shores have corrupted into the more
easily pronounced but less poetic name of " Moss
How."

I have called it my native river, and I think I

EL PASO DB LOS TOROS 35

am entitled to do so, for I was born on its bank,
and got dipped in its waters, both purposely and
accidentally, many times in my youth. Possibly
it may be due to this early aqueous experience that
the Erne has always been for me the standard of
beauty with which to compare the scenery upon
other rivers.

To return to the Rio Negro ; when I first saw
the part of it to which I have referred, large fish
were jumping in it, making rings upon its surface,
just as salmon would do of a summer's day with
us at home, A solitary cormorant was swimming
about as unconcernedly as if it were in the Erne,
while kingfishers followed their usual calling, and
rasped out an unmusical chuckle from time to
time, when they succeeded in capturing something
particularly choice.

Such were the general surroundings, which
were of a nature to make me feel, if prone to
indulge in day-dreams, that I had accepted the
invitation in the song to " Come back to Erin,"
and had been wafted unconsciously to her shores
by some magic process. But there were other
matters to attract attention and correct all such
erroneous impressions. Black-necked swans floated

36 SOUTH AMERICAN SKETCHES

lazily about, while rose-coloured spoon-bills waded
in the shallow water along the river's edge, stirring
up the silt in search of food, and brown storks
flitted awkwardly from tree to tree. These animated
objects broke the spell woven by the similarity of
the landscape to a familiar scene at home. *»

In another locality the blossoms of a number
of crimson-flowering acacias clustering together
made a fine display of colour against a back-
ground of evergreen shrubs. The cina-cina, too,
a tree of the Mimosa family, presented an oppo-
sition show of creamy-white flowers yielding a
fragra t perfume.

In the vicinity there was a lake, the favourite
haunt of a wonderful variety of wildfowl, some
of them with brilliant plumage.

Not many years ago beasts of prey roamed
about where the Paso de los Toros now stands.
Within the memory of the present owner of the
adjoining lands two jaguars were shot there in
one day. Wild dogs were frequently to be met
with, sometimes in formidable packs ; but such
conditions have become altogether matters of the
past.

Those wild animals, that are dangerous to flocks

EL PASO DE LOS TOROS 37

and herds, are fast disappearing before the in-
crease of the latter, every expedient being resorted
to by the settlers to extirpate them. Only very
rarely are specimens of the kind still to be met
with in Uruguay, and that in the most un-
frequented and secluded places.

Upon our arrival at the Paso de los Toros we
took up our temporary residence, until permanent
arrangements could be made, at a comfortable
hotel which the Central Uruguay Railway Com-
pany had built for the convenience of travellers.
One thing about it which struck me as peculiar
was the great precaution that was taken to pre-
sent burglars entering by the back of the house,
while the front was left to take care of itself.

The back of the building opened upon a terrace,
to which access from the yard below was obtained
by a flight of stone steps. Parallel, and close to
the outer edge of this terrace, and stretching the
whole length of it, was an overhead wire rope,
upon which worked a running ring, with a long
chain and dog-collar attached to it, so fitted as to
give the canine guardian of the position perfect
command not only of the flight of steps, but also
of the base of the terrace from end to end.

38 SOUTH AMERICAN SKETCHES

The animal for whose convenience these elabo-
rate arrangements had been made was one of the
ugliest and most savage-looking bulldogs I ever
saw. He barked furiously, and strained at his
chain as if he would tear its links asunder to get
at us whenever we looked down upon him from
the railings above.

One of our party, a Scotchman, who prided
himself not a little on his musical accomplish-
ments, and especially on his proficiency as a
performer on the bagpipes, determined to try the
soothing effects which a lively air on that instru-
ment would have upon the irritable dog. With
this intention he opened the campaign from the
terrace. The result was marvellous. The savage
brute became dumb at first with terror and
amazement, and then uttering his protest against
the proceeding in a fit of the most piteous howl-
ing, betook himself to the privacy of his kennel,
from which no inducement could subsequently
dislodge him.

On another occasion, while we were observing
the bulldog, a young fox that had been tied up
in the yard, broke loose, and came along dragging
a piece of rope behind him, which got entangled

EL PASO DE LOS TOROS 39

in a fence post, where he was well within reach
of the ferocious bulldog. The latter, seeing the
position of affairs, and counting upon an easy
victory over such a juvenile and weak antagonist,
rushed frantically at the intruder.

Finding escape by flight impossible, the fox
made the best of his unfortunate position, and
bared his teeth to prepare for the onslaught.
The bulldog, however, suddenly changed his mind,
and pulled up a couple of yards short of biting
distance, where he contented himself by barking
angrily, while refusing to come to closer quarters.
In the end the fox managed to disentangle him-
self, and retired without further molestation,
leaving the dog's reputation for courage gone for
ever. What is still stranger, is that the animal
himself seemed quite aware of this, for subse-
quently, during one of his paroxysms of rage at
us, a member of the party, without any weapon
in his hand, walked boldly down to confront him,
with the result that the dog did not await the
interview, but skulked off to his kennel.

Another curious thing at the same hotel was
the manner in which the fowl required for table
were procured. When they were needed the

40 SOUTH AMERICAN SKETCHES

cook issued forth with an armful of short sticks,
about the size of the rungs of a ladder, and so
provided, he looked exactly like the proprietor
of that popular target known as "Aunt Sally."
With serious strides he marched towards the
garden, where the rank vegetation afforded 'excel-
lent cover for fowl during the heat of the day.
He was always attended by a boy, to start the
game and 'retrieve the birds that were knocked
over, besides collecting the expended missiles for
another discharge. According as each frightened
chicken was driven across the path, the cook's
trained eye took in at once whether it was fit for
culinary purposes, and if it was he despatched a
wooden weapon after it, that seldom failed to
take effect. In this way he generally returned
in a very short time, his attendant following him
loaded with a full bag of chickens. Occasionally
the bulldog I referred to got loose and joined the
chase, but he generally came quickly back again,
howling loudly, having apparently got in the way
of the sticks thrown at the fowl.

The people whose occupation lies at the Paso
de los Tor os are for the most part a primitive
race, engaged in connection with cattle farming

EL PASO DE LOS TOROS 41

and kindred pursuits, together with the trades-
men who supply their wants.

Arising out of these conditions are the in-
dustries known as " saladeros," where cattle are
slaughtered and their carcasses converted into
"jerked beef," for consumption in Brazil and
the West Indies. The constant occupation
among such scenes hardens men to the sight
of bloodshed, so that the taking away of human
life is frequently regarded with but little con-
cern, and sometimes even as an act to feel
proud of. This is one of the first things that
attracts the attention of a stranger upon his
arrival in the country. A native talking about
a fellow-countryman of his, remarked, " He is
a very steady fellow, but not half so good a
man as his younger brother. That lad had
killed his two men, in fair fight, before he was
eighteen years of age."

I had an object-lesson as to the hardening
effect produced upon children by being brought
up in close proximity to slaughter-houses. As
I was walking along one lovely morning, when
everything seemed peaceful and quiet, I noticed
two boys at no great distance below me. The

42 SOUTH AMERICAN SKETCHES

elder of them was about eight years of age, and
the younger one was scarcely four. The larger
boy held a little dog in one arm, while with his
disengaged hand he sharpened a knife, which,
when it had attained a condition to his satis-
faction, he drew across the throat of the poor
little dog. The blood gushed out, smearing the
clothing of the urchins, who laughed with delight
over the writhings of their victim. The elder
little ruffian could not understand my scolding
him for the act, which he considered perfectly
justifiable, as he explained to me, in surprise,
that the dog was his own.

The drivers of bullock-carts bringing produce
and merchandise to and from the railway formed
no inconsiderable portion of the floating popu-
lation.

Vehicles of the kind are not easily guided by
beginners at the art, as I know from experience.
While riding out one evening I overtook a boy
on horseback managing two such carts, each
drawn by eight oxen. The owners of the teams
were no doubt refreshing themselves at some
convenient grog-shop, while they entrusted their
carts to the lad to take them to their camping-

EL PASO DE LOS TOROS 43

ground for the night. I readily complied with
the youngster's request to take charge of one
of the carts while he steered the other through
the gateway of a paddock they were about to
enter. Irishman-like, I thought the best way
to drive was to make the animals stand still
until the boy should get the first vehicle through
the gate, so that he might come back and take
charge of the second one himself.

I had observed his tactics, and followed them
closely. Riding up in front of the bullocks I
flourished my whip in their faces, and adjured
them, as they valued their comfort, to stand still.
The stupid oxen, instead of obeying me, made a
frantic dash to get past; but I headed them,
whereupon, by a rapid flank movement, they
completely turned my position, and got away.
My instructor roared out his directions to me at
the top of his voice, but they proved ineffectual,
and he came back to my cart, leaving his own
stationary, as he thought. In this he was mis-
taken, for immediately afterwards we heard a
crash, occasioned by the carrying away of the
gate-post, against which the leading team had
pulled their load in their desire to enter the field

44 SOUTH AMERICAN SKETCHES

they were bound for. Then followed a volley of
abuse, couched hi language so emphatic, that I
understood at once how it was the bullocks had
disregarded my feeble admonition. It was not
what they were accustomed to, or suited to their
comprehension. In their ears it sounded like
childish weakness, which they might disregard
with impunity. It requires an amount of moral
courage, to which I do not lay claim, to remain
silent under undeserved obloquy, and to listen
unmoved to the enumeration of a long list of
supposititious defects of character which, honestly,
I do not think I can be fairly charged with. So
I rode away, leaving the boy still in angry mood.
Upon reflection I decided to be guided by his
advice, and to avoid making a fool of myself again
by attempting to drive bullocks, at all events
until I should have reinforced my command of
Spanish expletives up to the necessary standard.

These same grog-shops (pulperias), at one of
which the owners of the bullocks that got me into
trouble were no doubt carousing at the time,
have a very evil influence on the habits of the
people, who are by nature not at all addicted to
strong drink. Houses of the kind are practically

EL PASO DE LOS TOROS 45

the clubs or meeting-places for neighbours and
acquaintances, who are led to treat each other, too
frequently with the result that drunken loungers,
in a quarrelsome mood, are often to be met with
in such places. One frequenter of these resorts,
with whom business brought me into contact
pretty often, was a festive little magistrate, who
greatly enjoyed the company and atmosphere to
be met with there. Nor was he always fortunate
in his visits to these houses of entertainment.
On one occasion he entered a refreshment room
where some rough men were drinking, whose ire
he managed to excite. Thereupon they carried
him out by the legs and arms, and ducked him in
a pool of mud. While undergoing the unpleasant
process the police came up and rescued the un-
fortunate man, who was in such a condition that
he failed to recognise his deliverers, and drew his
knife upon the officer in charge. A struggle
ensued, in which he was disarmed, and eventually
he spent the night in the " lock up " at the police
station.

CHAPTER V

EXAMINING THE COUNTRY

WE began surveying operations at the Paso de los
Toros upon the last day of the year 1888, and
when they were fairly started I left the rest of
the party and went ahead upon a tour of inspec-
tion of the route by which it was proposed to
take the line.

Our first night out on this separate expedition
was one of considerable discomfort. We reached
the camping-place after dark, and the only suit-
able spot that could be found upon which to pitch
our tent was very rough and stony. My bed and
bedding was left behind by mistake, so that as I
had to lie down upon the bare ground, I got but
little sleep or rest. But bad as was my plight,
I should have been still more uncomfortable had
I known at the time, as I did afterwards, that the
locality abounded in scorpions and tarantulas. Of
fourteen stones that I subsequently turned over

EXAMINING THE COUNTRY 47

by daylight in that vicinity, no less than twelve
disclosed the habitation of one kind or of the
other of these objectionable acquaintances.

Next morning we made an early start, and
although at first somewhat stiff and sore after the
night's experiences, I soon forgot all about them.
Before I had ridden far we came to a small rect-
angular yard, surrounded by a low brick wall.
The enclosure was what is locally known as a
Campo Santo, or holy ground, where the remains
of the dead are temporarily deposited, awaiting
the time when they can be more readily trans-
ferred to some graveyard in the vicinity of a
town. No attempt at burial appeared to have
been made in any case, as coffins in every stage of
decay lay exposed upon the surface, while portions
of human skeletons were scattered about on all
sides. I subsequently saw many other similar
temporary receptacles for the dead, some of which,
however, were not quite so desolate as the one I
have described. A few of them contained rough
attempts at what appeared to be provisional vaults.
A possible explanation of the apparent neglect to
which I have referred might be, that the relatives
of those whose remains were lying about may have

48 SOUTH AMERICAN SKETCHES

been killed in some of the numerous revolutions
which lay waste the country from time to time,
or they may have fled to other lands from some
pressing and sufficient cause.

As we went along we met with numbers of
ostriches and deer grazing peacefully on the un-
dulating grass lands over which we passed, adding
greatly to the picturesque effect of the scene. The
ostriches are protected by law, there being a heavy
fine for killing one. On the other hand, they are
hunted, caught, and plucked of their finer feathers
at the season when they are in best plumage, and
then set free again to grow another crop for the
following year.

For some time after they have undergone this
unpleasant treatment they are shy of making
casual acquaintances among the human race, and
take themselves off into the distant perspective
when a man on horseback comes in sight. But
gradually, as time wears on, they appear to forget
their painful experience about the feathers, and
allow one to approach them more closely. Even
then there is a limit to their friendliness or in-
difference, whichever it may be, and when that is
past, off go the birds at a trot, pitching themselves

EXAMINING THE COUNTRY 49

from side to side occasionally in a most comical
manner, as if mimicking the staggering of drunken
men.

It is apparently a game they play, or perhaps the
ostrich equivalent for a dance, as each member of
the party seems to take it up in turn, and then all
of them join in it together, wheeling and doubling,
with their wings rapidly thrown out to help the
movement, and though perpetually changing places,
they never appear to jostle each other.

For the next few days there was nothing of
interest to note, until one evening towards night-
fall, when we reached a house, from the owner of
which I asked permission to encamp upon his
land. This he not only granted, but most hos-
pitably insisted upon my dining with him and
some friends of his, who happened, he said, to be
stopping in his house at the time.

Nothing could be kinder or more courteous
than my reception by the entire party, and we
spent a very pleasant evening. My host was an
agreeable, soft-spoken, mild-looking man, with
most affable manners. Next morning he was
profuse in expressions of regret that he could not

remain to show me more attention, and to point

D

50 SOUTH AMERICAN SKETCHES

out the best route for the railway in that neigh-
bourhood. But the Government wished for his
presence in Montevideo, and had sent up for
him, so he was obliged to go; official business
could not be put off. I would understand this,
he said, and excuse him. Of course I did. I
could not be so unreasonable as to do anything
else. Later on in the day, when I learned fuller
particulars of the cause of his hasty departure, I
was confirmed hi the opinion that he could not
have acted otherwise than he did.

It appeared there had been a double murder
in the neighbourhood, and the authorities got it
into their heads that my host of the previous
night could throw some light upon the circum-
stance, and had gone through the formality of
making him a prisoner, until they heard the
explanations he could give of his share in the
transaction. That he found the means of satis-
fying the powers that be was certain, for he was
let off and allowed to return to his home. His
personal friends made light of the whole affair as
far as he was concerned, and blamed the Govern-
ment greatly for their interference in it. They
argued that the two men who had been murdered

EXAMINING THE COUNTRY 51

were ruffians of the deepest dye, and that the doing
away with them was a beneficial act, for which
the perpetrator of it deserved public gratitude.

It was evident that there were two ways of
looking at the matter, though most people might
retain a prejudice in favour of due legal for-
malities being adhered to when capital punish-
ment was in question.

On this same journey, while I was riding at
a walking pace over very rough : ground, I was
approaching a solitary tree growing among rocks,
when the man in attendance upon me, who had
been loitering behind, unobservant of my move-
ments, suddenly called out to me, in a frightened
voice, to stop and wait for him. I did so, and
when he came up he caught me by the arm to
pull me away from the tree I had got close to,
as, if I passed under the shadow of it, it would
certainly, he said, be fatal to me. This would
seem to indicate the existence in South America
of a similar belief to that of the upas-tree.

Other superstitions they have of many kinds.
The natives have cures (remedios they call them)
for every possible complaint of man and beast,
some of which are of a curious nature.

52 SOUTH AMERICAN SKETCHES

There is a skin disease not uncommon in the
country, due to severe chills, or sleeping in wet
clothes. The eruption follows the course of the
nerves, and the people universally believe that
if it completely encircles the body, the death
of the patient must ensue. This is a belief
which I understand prevails in some other
countries too ; but the cause to which it is attri-
buted, and the cure suggested for it, both struck
me as peculiar.

The eruption is said to be produced by the
slime of a snake passing over the afflicted
person's shirt when spread out on the ground
to dry after having been washed. The remedy
suggested, which is held by the people generally
to be infallible, is to catch a toad and kill it, and
then rub the eruption with its dead body.

I was astonished to find a very intelligent and
educated Englishman who was a firm believer in
the efficacy of this cure.

Perhaps it is the natural antipathy existing
between snakes and toads that suggests the
idea of the one being the antidote for the
other, for undoubtedly snakes are partial to a
diet of toads when they get the chance.

EXAMINING THE COUNTRY 53

Another curious remedio was once tried for a
horse that I was riding, which had gone lame.
The man who was accompanying me told me
to dismount, and he would make all right in
a moment. I obeyed, as I thought he had
detected what had caused the lameness. But
instead of proceeding to examine the horse's
foot he merely plucked a hair from the fet-
lock and another from the opposite leg, and
placing the hairs in the animal's ear, he mut-
tered something in the nature of a charm or
spell, and then told me to re-mount and I should
find the lameness gone. I did as I was told to
do; but I must confess that I gave way to in-
credulous laughter, which the operator told me
had spoiled the whole effect of the cure. Cer-
tainly something had marred its healing influence,
for the horse stepped off as lame as before.

Another belief which exists wherever I have
been in South America is, that it is particularly
dangerous to ride upon a grey horse during a
thunderstorm.

One can readily understand that on the plains
a man on horseback is a conspicuous object, and
may act like a lightning conductor when a thunder-

54 SOUTH AMERICAN SKETCHES

cloud is rolling along close to the surface of the
ground. But why the grey colour should be more
attractive to the lightning than any other — bay,
for example — I must leave for electricians who
have studied the subject to explain.

Proceeding upon our journey, the route we
took was by the high land along a spur from
the main ridge, and when we came to the end
of it the drop down into the valley below was
a difficult undertaking, over exceedingly rough
ground. Having accomplished it, not without
some mishaps, though none of them were of a
serious nature, we approached and crossed the
river Tacuareinbo Chico, and encamped upon its
farther bank.

Its course was fringed with beautiful trees,
mostly evergreens. In one place the Passion-
flower, in rich blossom, had climbed over and
almost covered the branches of a thorn -tree.
In another there was a beautiful scarlet-flowering
creeper, somewhat resembling laburnum in the
formation of its blossoms, which had used the
support of the widespreading branches of a tall
forest tree to display its attractions to advantage.

Our arrival disturbed a number of birds with

EXAMINING THE COUNTRY 55

/
showy plumage, and shrieking their complaints at

our intrusion, they sought a sanctuary elsewhere.

Another day's march took us to the river Tres
Cruces, on the south bank of which we encamped
for the night, as darkness had already set in when
we reached it.

In the morning we crossed over on a raft
made of planks, supported by air-tight barrels,
our horses being made to swim. Nor was this
latter part of the arrangement so simple to carry
out as it sounds to describe it, for they became
frightened, and made for the shore among the
tangled branches and roots of trees growing by
the water's edge. It seemed as if they would
get drowned in the wild plunging and confusion
that ensued ; but the man in charge boldly
swam out among them, and with great dexterity
managed to get them back into the clear water,
from whence they easily made their way to shore.

Soon after crossing the river we passed rough
hilly, ground, where the soil was barren and the
rock showed out on all sides. Away to the east,
in the distance, lay the three remarkable hills
known as the " Tres Cerros." They are isolated
from each other, and rise abruptly from the plain,

56 SOUTH AMERICAN SKETCHES

attaining to a considerable height. Their form
in each case is that of a truncated pyramid or
cone, surmounted by a vertical castellated wall
of natural rock resembling a fortification. This
is a peculiarity common to many hills in the
north of Uruguay.

Towards evening we reached the river
Tacuarembo Grande, which we crossed, and
encamped a couple of miles beyond it.

On the following day, when we had risen to
the higher ridge, the mining district of Cufia-
piru lay spread out before us like a panorama,
at a distance of about a league to the right of
the course we were travelling ; while a couple
of leagues farther off in the same direction were
the mines of Corrales.

Here our guide became very voluble in
describing the untold wealth contained in the
district; but do what he could, he was unable
to stir up my enthusiasm on the subject to a
height corresponding to that of his own, and
this puzzled him not a little. The secret was
this, but I did not think it necessary to impart
it to him: I once had an interest in a gold mine,
and my experience thus acquired was not of a

EXAMINING THE COUNTRY 57

nature to occasion me rapturous delight upon
visiting a neighbourhood of the kind again. The
gold it produced was good and pure, but in
quantity insufficient to pay for working. It was
then tried for silver, which it also yielded, with
a similar result. Copper was next discovered in
it, and promised to yield better returns than the
more precious metals did.

Here, it was hoped, the downward tendency
of our luck might be arrested, but it was not so.
When once you have stepped upon the ladder of
misfortune and begin to descend it the intervals
between the rungs diminish with progressive and
wonderful rapidity. The copper, after keeping
up for a short time the spurt with which it first
led off, gradually followed the example set it
by the other ores and ceased to pay. Then
plumbago was brought to the surface. It also
was good of its kind, but the fatal defect of too
great cost of working rendered it practically
worthless.

Such was my experience of mining enterprise,
and ever since I have looked askance upon pos-
sessions of the kind.

After all, that mine was really a wonderful

58- SOUTH AMERICAN SKETCHES

one. I believe it would have gone on yielding
one ore after another until it had got through
the list usually treated of in class - books on
mineralogy. It would have been most lucra-
tive as a curiosity, if only it could have been
exhibited after the manner of a conjurer's in-
exhaustible bottle. But there was the difficulty.
In the nature of things a mine as a whole is
not a portable article, that you can take about
with you from place to place as if it were a
travelling theatre or circus. And to " run " it
as a stationary exhibition would have been a
hopeless venture in a country where unsuccessful
mines with a choice variety of ores are at a
discount, in consequence of the supply being
far in excess of the demand.

Old reminiscences of this sore subject rose up
before me as I looked upon the land of hidden
treasure, so that it was not so very strange after
all that it failed to excite any great amount of
enthusiasm in me.

Towards the end of our journey we reached
the vicinity of Rivera, on the frontier. I thought
it expedient to encamp some little distance from
the town as a precaution against early visitors, of

EXAMINING THE COUNTRY ' 59

whom I stood in a certain amount of awe, from
previous experience of the kind. We arrived at
our camping ground too late for comfort, and, as
a consequence, had not had a good night of it.
Under the circumstances I was not, I fear, in the
best of tempers upon being called up shortly
after daylight to speak with a gentleman, who
announced himself as the " First Official " from
the neighbouring town, and wished to see me
at once on urgent business. He would not be
denied, so I had to get up and hear what he
wanted to say to me. I should perhaps explain
that the " First Official " is a very important
personage, and only second to the Gefe Politico
himself, who represents the Government, and oc-
cupies a position somewhat similar to that of the
governor of a province.

The topic of conversation began very wide
of the mark of any specially urgent business.
My visitor informed me that he was an ardent
admirer of, and deeply attached to, England and
her people. Then he expatiated upon the merits
of his own country and race, in which I could
not do less than concur, after his complimentary
beginning. Next we wandered off into a dis-

60 SOUTH AMERICAN SKETCHES

cursive chat about railways and their civilising
influence upon mankind, while all the time I was
longing to get to his urgent business, and to bed
again. Seeing that I was conversing with the
chief official of the town we were about to enter
I suppressed any signs of weariness,, and waited
patiently for the momentous announcement as
to the nature of his special business ; but he
hesitated to make it.

At last, after a considerable time, he got up to
leave, and looking at me with rather a pitying
glance I thought, " I observe," he said, " that the
senor does not use a razor; but some of his
party may do so," adding, " I am a barber, and
shall be happy to shave them." Then, as if a
bright thought occurred to him, he went on to
say, " I cut hair also," glancing at my head as
he said so ; but the momentary illumination of
his countenance faded rapidly away, for I was as
closely cropped as a " ticket-of-leave " man upon
getting out of gaol.

I shall not trouble the reader with a descrip-
tion of my feelings upon learning the nature of
the urgent business for which I had been called
up from my sleep at about four o'clock in the

EXAMINING THE COUNTRY 61

morning, after only two or three hours rest ; but
I fancy the Spartan youth of old, who had to
smile and look pleasant while a fox was gnawing
away at his vitals all the time, must have felt
much as I did upon that occasion.

Before turning in again I thought I should
like a cup of coffee, which the cook had very
thoughtfully prepared, and while I was drinking
it up rode another man, and almost took my
breath away, causing me to choke with a mouth-
ful of the hot liquid, too rapidly swallowed, by
saying that he was the " first official " of the town
hard by.

As soon as I recovered from the choking fit
and the shock of this announcement, I stopped
our voluble visitor's flow of language by telling
him that he must be labouring under some
strange hallucination about his position, for there
could not be two " first officials " of the town,
except they were bracketed equal, like two
" senior wranglers," who had got similar marks
for their answering. I drew his attention to the
fact that we had just received a visit from a
gentleman claiming to hold that honourable post,
whom he must have met returning on the road.

62 SOUTH AMERICAN SKETCHES

" Oh ! that man," said he, bursting into a fit of
uncontrollable laughter, in which I was far too
much annoyed to join, "he is only the barber,"
he pleasantly remarked, seeming to enjoy the
whole affair as a capital joke. I was not in the
humour to be " done " a second time, so this
other claimant for high office was not encouraged
to stop. Before going, however, he informed me
that he had a well-fenced paddock, in which he
would be willing to keep our horses for us at
a moderate charge while we remained in the
vicinity.

Later on the same morning another horseman
appeared in sight coming our way, whereupon I
at once retired, expressing my conviction that he
was another of the same kind as those who had
preceded him. But, even so, I refused to be
interviewed again, and lay down to rest.

It may seem incredible, but my prophecy
proved to be correct : the new arrival, like those
who had put in an earlier appearance, claimed to
be a " first official " also. He was vastly amused
with the recital of what had taken place, and
explained that our second visitor was a messenger
of his, whom he sent on errands. This of

EXAMINING THE COUNTRY 63

course I did not hear till afterwards, at second
hand, as I was not present at the interview. I
forget what particular offer he had to make us ;
but I may despatch him after the other two with
the remark, that neither he nor they had any real
claim to the office from which they sought to
borrow reflected glory. I subsequently got to
know the genuine possessor of the post, and a
very different type of man he was.

After inspecting the neighbourhood, we left
the town of many " first officials," a description
of which I will leave for a later chapter, when we
shall have had time to forget the unfavourable
first impression conveyed by the redundancy of
its officials.

CHAPTER VI

THE HAUNT OF THE OUTLAW

As the surface of the country to be traversed was
rough, numerous trial surveys had to be made
in order to ascertain the best route to adopt for
the railway. One of these took us through a
valley, which I have called " the Haunt of the
Outlaw," for reasons that shall presently appear,
but the name by which it is locally known is the
Tambores.

In descending to it from the high land, a
rill of trickling water marks the gradual depres-
sion in the ground, and it grows by progressive
development into a brook, and then a river of
importance, bearing along the surface water dis-
charged into it by numerous lateral feeders from
a widespread drainage area. Corresponding to
the increase in the volume of water are the depth
and width to which the valley has been worn out.
In the first couple of miles of its course it attains

THE HAUNT OF THE OUTLAW 65

a width of between fifty and one hundred yards,
with a depth beginning almost at nothing and
reaching to fifty feet, while two or three miles
lower down it is some three hundred yards across,
and continues widening and deepening as it goes
along. At some places vertical rock cliffs, four
hundred feet in height, act as its boundaries, and
at others it is shut in by rounded or sloping hills.
At one part of the valley I followed a footpath
leading up the face of the cliff in order to ascend
to the high land, where I hoped to get an exten-
sive view of the country ahead of us. But before
I reached the top the path became so steep, that
I had to hold on by the mane of the horse I was
riding, and lie out upon his neck as far as possible.
Even then he stopped short, as if unable to go on,
and the man who was following behind called to
me to dismount, which I did at once. Nor was
the change made one moment too soon, for it was
only with great exertion, even when relieved from
the extra weight of his rider, that the horse was
able to reach the top. Had I remained in the
saddle, there was every probability that both he
and I might have fallen over the precipice in his
struggles to ascend.

66 SOUTH AMERICAN SKETCHES

Early in its course the water of the stream

collects in a deep and placid pool, the surface of

which reflects the overhanging crags. This basin

!acts as a sort of service reservoir, regulating the

flow to the river.

On the hill-sides cactus plants of various kinds,
with white and yellow flowers, flourish, and the
valley below is densely wooded with a growth
of timber, chiefly composed of evergreens, the
branches of which are matted together by in-
numerable climbing plants, the whole forming an
almost impenetrable mass of tangled vegetation
dear to the hearts of outlaws, who can there lie
safely concealed from the intrusive eye of in-
quisitive police. When our surveying party first
entered the valley, one of the engineers, standing
alone upon an eminence while he sketched the
topography of the locality, was surprised to see
five or six men on horseback approaching him at
a gallop. Not liking the appearance of matters
he drew his revolver and called to his comrades,
who went to his assistance. They and the at-
tacking party arrived upon the scene at the same
moment, and a parley ensued, in which explana-
tions were duly made on both sides. It appeared

THE HAUNT OF THE OUTLA W 67

that the wife of one of the mounted men had
gone to the stream the previous day to wash
clothes, and that she was captured and carried
off by an outlaw hidden in the valley. The
bereaved husband had collected some friends to
help him in his search for the captive, and seeing
the engineer on foot near the spot where the
abduction took place, assumed him to be the
culprit, a charge of which my friend easily proved
himself guiltless. This incident, coupled with
some unfavourable rumours I had heard of the
Tambores, made me rather suspicious of its char-
acter, so when I had to go through it to select
the line by which the railway should be taken,
I adopted the precaution of having a man to
accompany me. As we rode along I made notes
of the ground, which, when we had got two or
three miles ahead of the party, I wished to send
back for their guidance, but did not quite like
the idea of being left alone in a place of such
bad repute. While considering what was best
to be done under the circumstances, I descried
a couple of soldiers lying under a tree not far
distant from me, and evidently shunning obser-
vation. I at once jumped to the conclusion that

68 SOUTH AMERICAN SKETCHES

these were men sent out by the authorities to
watch the valley on our account, and keep it
clear of objectionable characters; so, taking ad-
vantage of the protection their presence afforded,
I sent back my attendant to the surveying party
with the notes I had made, and lay down in the
shade to await his return.

I could scarcely have chosen a more lovely
spot to rest in. Near me was a pond, the surface
of which was decked with blue water-lilies, while
around its margin grew a fringe of evergreens,
blossoms of the Passion-flower hanging in frequent
clusters from the branches around which the
climber had entwined itself.

The moss-covered rocky couch on which I lay
was in the deepest shade of a grotto, every nook
and cranny of which was clothed with borrowed
verdure, maiden-hair and other ferns peeping
out from every crevice. In the foreground of
the landscape a solitary palm-tree raised its head
aloft, while opposite it stood a cactus plant, covered
with yellow blossoms, brightening the effect of
the picture.

Amid such surroundings I waited in no im-
patient mood for the return of my messenger,

THE HAUNT OF THE OUTLAW 69

and upon his arrival we proceeded down the
valley through other interesting scenes, though
not perhaps of equal beauty to that I have
described.

Alas! that I should have to confess it, but
the truth must come out sooner or later, our
railway, when it came to be constructed, passed
through the very place where I had rested while
waiting for the messenger's return, and grotto,
palm-tree, cactus, all are gone, swept away by the
ruthless action of the navvy's pick and shovel.

A day or two after our passage through the
Tainbores Valley the colonel of a regiment lying
at San Fructuoso, not far distant from it, hearing
where the surveying party was, advised us to be
very cautious, as the place, he said, was full of
matreros (murderers). Upon its being remarked
that there could be no great fear of them so long
as the authorities sent military patrols through
the valley, he seemed puzzled, and asked for an
explanation. When told of the soldiers we had
seen there he only smiled and replied, " There
have been no patrols ; the men you saw were pro-
bably deserters from my regiment, as twenty of
the worst characters in it went off in a body a

70 SOUTH AMERICAN SKETCHES

few nights ago, taking their arms and ammunition
with them, and I rather suspected they had gone
to the Tambores." This was a new idea for me.
Had I known the real character of my supposed
protectors at the time when I lay in the grotto
enjoying the beauties of Nature spread so lavishly
around me, I scarcely think I should have rested
as tranquilly as I did.

The fact that the soldiers I saw did not attack
me while I was alone and unprotected may have
been due to various causes. We were generally
assumed to go about well armed, and had the
reputation of being good shots. Possibly the
departure of the messenger had not been noticed.
Besides, although they could only have seen the
two of us, they may have supposed that our com-
rades were close at hand, for I have no doubt
they identified us as members of the survey-
ing party. Or they may not have been aware
that they were observed in their place of conceal-
ment, and thought it just as well not to draw too
much attention to their whereabouts.

In order to make matters clearer it becomes
necessary that I should anticipate events, and
refer now to subsequent incidents that, if traced

THE HAUNT OF THE OUTLAW 71

in strict historical sequence, would give a some-
what disjointed effect to the narrative.

For some time after the construction of the
railway works began the presence of our men in
the valley did not seem to greatly disturb the
outlaws in the woods, who carried on their depre-
dations by night as usual ; we were, therefore,
obliged to establish a police force of our own,
with the sanction of, and appointed by, the
Government authorities, to patrol this section of
the line. Nor was this measure altogether suc-
cessful, for we found that the attention of these
special police was directed rather to discovering
small delinquencies on the part of our own work-
men, than to keeping the professional robbers in
check. For this reason, after a sufficient period
had elapsed to give the working of the plan a fair
trial, the arrangement was abandoned. By this
time the number of Italians on the works in the
locality had greatly increased, and some of them
had suffered seriously at the hands of the outlaws,
whom they occasionally met on their nightly visits
to the drinking shops, which sprang up, mushroom
like, on the lands adjoining the railway, notwith-
standing all our endeavours to suppress them.

72 SOUTH AMERICAN SKETCHES

One of these criminals, being very expert with
the use of his knife, had at various times stabbed
workmen when he caught them alone, so that at
last the body generally became enraged at the
matter, and determined to take the law into their
own hands, with a view to putting down the
objectionable custom. For this purpose they
met together one Sunday morning in large num-
bers, well armed with guns and revolvers, and
organised a regular battue, beating the woods in
the valley from end to end. Those sportsmen
never boasted much about the bag they made
that day, but a couple of dead bodies were found
soon afterwards along the route they had taken,
suggesting the nature of the game they were in
pursuit of. Both of the bodies were recognised as
those of notorious murderers, one of whom was
the man who had given the Italians special cause
of complaint. He was hanging by a rope round
the neck attached to the branch of a tree, his
body being actually riddled with bullets. That
it was a case of suicide was improbable, seeing
that if the man shot himself so frequently, in the
first instance, he could scarcely have had strength
to complete the hanging operation ; while, on the

THE HAUNT OF THE OUTLAW 73

other hand, if he began with the latter, he must
have had immense vitality, and some one loading
for him, and handing him the weapons wherewith
to perforate himself in such a wholesale manner.
The probability is that the Italian sporting party
could have given a more satisfactory explanation
of the matter had they felt disposed to do so.
One thing is certain, that the neighbourhood was
a less popular resort of the outlaws for some time
after the occurrence. Many of them fled no
doubt from a place that had become too hot to
be comfortable or healthy for them, and sought
refuge in inferior asylums, just as pheasants take
to the hedgerows for a while after the plantations
have been shot.

The new locality to which some of them
migrated was also upon our line of railway, and
a cattle farmer passing through it had a narrow
escape from a gang of them.

He had just sold and delivered a herd of fat
cattle, and was returning home with the price of
them in his pocket, when he rode straight into
the middle of a party lying in wait for travellers.

His presence of mind did not desert him ; but
feigning to think they were policemen in dis-

74 SOUTH AMERICAN SKETCHES

guise, he remarked, " I suppose you are on some
special duty, as I see you are not in uniform ? "
and then he asked where the officer in charge
of the party was.

They replied that he had gone away, but
would be back presently, and requested him to
dismount and await their chiefs return.

" No," said he ; " but when your officer comes
back, tell him I want him to come up and dine
with me," pointing, as he said so, to his house,
which was plainly in sight, "and to bring you
all with him. I can put the whole party up
for the night," he added, " as I am living alone
just now. I will hurry on and get ready, and I
can go round by the public-house and get some-
thing for you to drink as well as eat." So saying,
he put spurs to his horse, and rode off without
any attempt being made to stop him. No doubt
the confederates thought that it would be a still
better game to rob the man and his house at
their leisure after partaking of his hospitality.

Once out of sight, the farmer made his way
to some neighbours' houses, where he got three
or four friends to accompany him home to help
him to receive his guests. The latter turned up

THE HAUNT OF THE OUTLAW 75

soon after nightfall, and were met by a volley
of shots fired at them. They knew at once the
trap they had fallen into, and made off.

Next day every hiding-place in the neigh-
bourhood was searched for them, but they
had anticipated this movement, and changed
their quarters to another district during the
night.

I heard several other stories relating to these
interesting people, the outlaws ; but there was
generally such a sameness about the character
of their proceedings, that the narration of them
would, I fear, prove to be tedious reading. I
shall, therefore, restrict myself to a brief refer-
ence to a couple of them, that appear to present
peculiar features, which remove them from the
commonplace category of ordinary events of the
kind.

The first of these related to a night attack
upon a farmer's house, the proprietor of which
was aroused by hearing unusual and stealthy
noises about the place. He got out of bed
quietly, and after listening attentively, discovered
that some people outside were cutting a hole
through the door, close to the bolt by which it

76 SOUTH AMERICAN SKETCHES

was kept shut. It did not require any great
amount of detective talent to guess the object
of the operation, and the best way to foil it was
suggested to him by a thong of raw hide with a
loop on it that hung from a hook on the inside
of the door. Noiselessly removing the thong, he
slipped the end of it through the loop, and there
he stood, armed with an impromptu lasso, ready
for action. A bright moon shone in the sky,
diffusing sufficient light within the house to
facilitate the preparations for receiving the in-
tending visitors.

It was a very anxious time for the man inside,
watching the hole in the door grow larger and
larger, until at last it was of sufficient size to
effect the purpose for which it was made. There
he stood intently observing the opening, as a cat
does a mouse-hole, till the supreme moment
arrived, and a hand was stealthily inserted not
only through the hole, but also through the loop
of the little lasso which hung skilfully around it.
With a sudden jerk the loop was tightened round
the wrist and the hand dragged in as far as the
aperture would admit of, while the thong was
securely fastened to the hook on the back of the

THE HAUNT OF THE OUTLAW 77

door. In this position the intending robber was
perfectly helpless. His companions came to his
aid, and having ineffectually dragged at the im-
prisoned arm till they were tired, gave up the
struggle, and prepared to depart.

But they were prudent men, and it occurred
to them that to save himself their comrade might
betray them. Dead men, they thought, tell no
tales, so they cut his throat, and then retired from
the scene.

The other iricident to which I have referred
occurred to a friend of mine. He was riding a
young, half-broken horse, when suddenly he ob-
served three mounted men coming towards him
in a very suspicious manner. He had incautiously
got into a position from which he could not ex-
tricate himself without giving an immense advan-
tage to those approaching him, if it became a
race for life, in which event he also doubted the
staying powers and temper of his untried horse.
He had but little time for deliberation, and chose
the alternative, to take his stand in a place where
his rear was protected by rocks, so that he could
only be attacked in front. There he dismounted,
and with the horse broadside on, in front, stood

78 SOUTH AMERICAN SKETCHES

behind him, affecting to draw and examine his
revolver, for unfortunately he was unarmed at
the time. The men galloped down upon him,
but as he appeared to be taking steady aim over
his saddle, they swerved off to one side or the
other when they got within about thirty yards
of him. These tactics they repeated several
times, their object evidently being to draw his
fire on them at a distance where revolver practice
would be uncertain, so that they might be able to
ride in on him afterwards, before he had time to
reload, and finish the matter to their satisfaction.
On the other hand, he wished to impress them
with the idea that his intention was to reserve
his fire- until they came to sufficiently close
quarters to insure that every shot should be
effective. After continuing these manoeuvres for
some time his assailants held a consultation and
then rode away, leaving my friend in possession
of the field, from which he too retired im-
mediately upon seeing that the enemy was
far enough off to admit of his reaching home
without further molestation.

I got a fright myself from falling in with men
whom I supposed to belong to the class of out-

THE HAUNT OF THE OUTLAW 79

laws, but fortunately, discovered my mistake in
time.

While riding home one evening in company
with a young engineer, we passed by a grog-shop,
in a lonely spot, keeping at a respectful distance
off, as the place had a bad name. A number of
noisy men congregated in front of it shouted
and signalled to us as we passed by, but we
took no notice of them. Two of the party then
jumped upon their horses, and galloped down to
us in what we took to be a threatening attitude.
One pulled aside, but the other came on till he
quite got abreast of my companion, so that their
horses were almost touching each other. In this
position he placed his hand behind his back,
under his poncho, for the purpose, as I thought,
of drawing his knife to stab my friend. I there-
fore covered him with my revolver, and prepared
to pull the trigger the moment I should see the
knife appear. To my great relief, however, it was
nothing so deadly that he produced, but only a
matchbox, as he wanted to light a cigarette.

It turned out that he had been employed upon
our surveys, though we did not recognise him at
first, and his intentions were altogether hospitable,

8o SOUTH AMERICAN SKETCHES

not hostile. He wanted us to have a drink with
him at the public-house close by, where to all
appearance he had already imbibed too much
himself. We thanked him, but declined the
kindly meant offer, and proceeded homewards,
while he went back to the attractions of the
grog-shop.

To return to the valley of the Tambores. Even
after the professional outlaws were expelled from
its precincts, all was not quite so peaceful in that
happy region as one could have desired. The
workmen occasionally had their own little differ-
ences between themselves, which were settled in
the usual way, by the arbitration of the knife.
The results appear in the grass-covered graves,
surmounted by wooden crosses, that are to be
seen, all too frequently, along the line of rail-
way, and in one instance that I recall, in a
triple row.

The railway company have established a station
in the Tambores, which they call by the rather
fanciful name of the "Valley of Eden." The
only connecting link between the place and the
name that I can think of is the presence of the
serpent, which is well represented in the Tarn-

THE HAUNT OF THE OUTLA W 81

bores. Perhaps I am a little sore upon this
subject, as the railway authorities rejected with
a touch of scorn a suggestion of mine, that they
should give their station the appropriate title of
" The Robbers Rest."

CHAPTER VII

WA TCHMEN

WATCHMAN, what of the night ? is a reasonable
question to ask if one is anxious for information
on the subject ; but there is this drawback to
the value of the knowledge thus acquired, that
its accuracy is frequently open to considerable
doubt. It is a pity that such should be the
case, but it is to be feared that uncertainty of the
kind will continue to prevail until the guardians
of the night adopt more careful means to make
the news which they proclaim aloud agree ap-
proximately with actual facts than has hitherto
been the custom with them. It tends to shake
one's confidence in the correctness and precision
of a force, the members of which* frequently dis-
agree about such a plain and uncontroversial
matter as the hour of the night.

For example, take such a case as occasionally

occurs. A watchman arriving round the corner

82

WATCHMEN 83

of a street publicly announces in a sing-song
voice, intended to be musical, that it is just two
o'clock, when another, whose slumbers he has
probably disturbed, takes up the information in-
correctly, and proclaims the hour as twelve, both
the numbers sounding somewhat alike in Spanish.

A citizen whom their noise awakens strikes
a match in order to look at his watch, and see
which of the two is right, and finds that both are
very far astray, the true time being say half-past
four o'clock. Is it likely, when that person turns
over in his bed for another sleep, that his mind
will be in the peaceful condition conducive to
repose ? I fear not. He is far more likely to
let his angry passions rise, while he calls down
all sorts of imprecations upon the heads of the
erring officials, whose blundering has marred
his rest.

But these observations are only of a specu-
lative nature, and I do not think that the people
of El Paso de los Toros had given their minds to
any contemplation of the kind when first the
subject of these remarks came into prominence
among them, whatever may have been their
opinion about it later on.

84 SOUTH AMERICAN SKETCHES

The place had a character which people un-
friendly to the district professed to think might
easily have been better. In fact, life there was
not, upon the whole, so quiet and monotonous as
one might expect from the isolated position of
the town.

Some of the inhabitants were of a lively and
enterprising disposition, and kept up a certain
amount of excitement by sundry acts, that those
in authority viewed with disfavour.

A curious circumstance connected with the
case was the frequency with which the accidental
discharge of firearms took place, and, stranger
still, it was not in single shots at a time that
this usually occurred. When the weapon was a
revolver, there was generally a series of five or
six discharges on such occasions, according to the
number of chambers it had. If its owner was
asked to account for the circumstance, he invari-
ably was quite unable to do so. That the revolver
went off of its own accord, without any provoca-
tion from him, was all he could say about it.
Generally the bystanders were more frightened than
hurt on these occasions, but the result was not al-
ways equally innocuous. In one instance the bullet

WATCHMEN 85

went through an inoffensive spectator and lodged
in an equally innocent passer-by, while in other
cases wounds of a more or less dangerous nature
were inflicted. There were several houses in the
place, the walls of which bore bullet marks, both
inside and outside, giving evidence of their having
" stood fire." Querulous people there were who
suggested that where events of the kind were so
numerous they could not possibly have been all
accidental, and there appears to be some force in
this view of the case. But, for my own part, I
have had so jtnany narrow escapes myself from
the accidental discharge of firearms, and I have
known other persons with similar experiences to
mine, that I am not disposed to press doubts of
the kind too far, or to be too dogmatic on the
question of design or accident in such matters.

There was a very deplorable and tragic occur-
rence at El Paso de los Toros while we were
there. A most respectable and steady young
man, while fiddling with a rifle, which he did
not know was loaded, shot his mother and his
sister, to both of whom he was deeply attached.
The one died immediately, and the other in a
few hours after the accident. But this is a

86 SOUTH AMERICAN SKETCHES

digression indulged in for the purpose of showing
that some of the discharges of firearms that dis-
turbed the public nerves may have been purely acci-
dental. That there were others the design of which
did not admit of any doubt, is but too certain.

Nor was the chance of being shot the only
danger of which the peaceful inhabitants com-
plained. The knife was a weapon that did its work
silently, and far too frequently to be agreeable.

In this condition of affairs the public mind
became alive to the necessity of adopting mea-
sures to stop unnecessary killing, and attempts at
it, and even robbery; or, at all events, to reduce
these occupations to more moderate figures in the
crime statistics of the district. The outcome of
all the deliberations on the subject was a general
agreement that the best plan to accomplish the
desired reform was to supplement the exertions of
the ordinary preservers of the peace by establish-
ing a strong and efficient body of night watchmen,
under the control of the police authorities.

This decision was hailed with public approba-
tion, and law-abiding people willingly subscribed
towards the cost of carrying it into effect, in the
hope of reducing crime to a minimum.

WATCHMEN 87

The matter was undertaken with becoming
spirit and determination, and no time was lost
in completing the necessary arrangements. Men
congratulated each other when they met, and
" stood treat " on the strength of the happy era
about to be inaugurated.

At last the eventful day arrived, the night of
which was to usher in the new order of affairs.
Men of unblemished character, sleepless vigilance,
and innumerable other good qualities had been
selected to form the force of watchmen. They
were duly paraded, reviewed, and addressed, amid
the acclamations of the populace, who were
greatly pleased to hear that the safety of their
persons and properties were to be entrusted to
such a band of heroes. There was not a man in
that force that did not leave the parade-ground
with the highest opinion of his own merits, and
the assured belief that he had done more for the
salvation of his country — a form of expression
that is very popular, and does not seem to mean
much — than if his personal valour and strong
right arm had gained many decisive victories
for her.

When the proper hour came round the watch-

88 SOUTH AMERICAN SKETCHES

men went on duty. " Nox erat ; et lifores intrabat
luna fenestras " ; and the reason " the moon entered
at the windows with their double shutters" was
because people took no trouble to close their
shutters that night. Why should they, when
their houses were protected by such vigilance
and valour ?

In the discharge of his duty upon that occa-
sion one of the new guardians of the peace was
proclaiming to the inhabitants, whose entire confi-
dence he possessed, the hour of the night, the
state of the weather, and that everything was
everywhere tranquil, when his statement was
rudely cut short, and his unfinished assertion
contradicted, by a loud report in his immediate
neighbourhood. It was the usual thing — a
revolver shot, and the man who fired it was
arrested, but could not account for the trick
the mischievous weapon had played him. He
had only taken it out of his pocket to make
sure that he had it on his person, when it went
off of its own accord in the most absurd way.

The circumstance was passed over without
much comment, and matters settled down quietly
into daily, or rather nightly routine.

WATCHMEN 89

Like children with a new toy, we were greatly
interested in the watchmen at first, but before
long we got tired of listening to their monotonous
information.

For my own part, I confess that I was guilty of
an attempt to corrupt those members of the force
who were stationed in our immediate neighbour-
hood to the extent of requesting them to give
as little public information as possible during
the small hours of the night ; or, if the conscien-
tious discharge of their duty in this respect was
not to be tampered with, that they would make
their public statement from time to time regard-
ing the hour, the weather, and the peaceful con-
dition of the town in a colloquial tone of voice,
instead of resorting to the high-pitched key that
awoke the soundest sleepers.

I hope I shall not be considered by purists in
such matters to have been guilty of any gross
bribery in arranging to supply the two watchmen
whose "beat" was nearest to us with a cup of
hot coffee each night at eleven o'clock. The
result I found conducive to my own sleep and,
a cynical friend added, to that of the watchmen
also.

90 SOUTH AMERICAN SKETCHES

After a time people began to complain that
there was no perceptible reduction in the amount
of nightly crime that was committed, and public
attention was directed to the matter by two or
three exceptionally bad cases which occurred just
then. There were the amateur detectives too —
young men addicted to keeping late hours — who
boldly asserted that the watchmen slept peace-
fully in quiet nooks and corners all through the
night.

These charges caused the chief of police to
investigate the matter for himself, in order to see
if they had any foundation in fact. With this
intention he went the rounds unexpectedly one
dark night and found the public guardians
slumbering peacefully at their respective posts.
He therefore captured and removed their
lanterns, but did not disturb the sleepers.

Next morning, at the hour for the watchmen
to give in the night's report, the different ways
in which the loss of the lanterns was accounted
for would lead one to suppose that an extra-
ordinary epidemic, with varied symptoms, had
broken out among those useful articles. When
the watchmen's powers of invention were ex-

WATCHMEN 91

hausted they were shown into a room, in which
the missing lanterns stood all arranged in proper
order ; nor was their pleasure at discovering their
lost property half so great as might have been
expected. That episode was a deathblow to
the force. It gradually faded and withered, and
before long ceased to disturb the nightly slumber
of the citizens.

For our own purposes we had, however, to
employ night-watchmen to look after a large
quantity of railway sleepers and other materials
liable to be stolen or to be set on fire. Nor were
we always successful in securing the most suitable
men for the service.

One New Year's morning the chief of police
called upon me at an early hour, and after we
had exchanged the friendly greetings of the
season, he drew a revolver from his pocket and
handed it to me, saying it was mine. I replied
No ; that my revolver was in my bedroom. " I
don't mean the one you carry yourself," he said,
" but that it belongs to your company," and then
he went on to explain that during the previous
night his sergeant had been twice fired at, and
the second time they caught the culprit, and

92 SOUTH AMERICAN SKETCHES

found him to be our night-watchman, who had
some outstanding grievance against the sergeant.
The chief disarmed the man, and had a sound
flogging administered to him. He then gave him
back his knife, but retained the revolver, telling
him to continue on duty as watchman for us,
and that if he did not find him at his post the
next time he went the rounds, he should get
another taste of the lash.

I thanked the officer for his thoughtful con-
sideration of our interests, and of course dis-
missed from our service one who was so anxious
to distinguish himself in the role of murderer, as
our watchman appeared to be.

Another night our two watchmen had a differ-
ence between themselves, which they fought out
for their own amusement, one of them overcoming
and disarming his adversary. He generously ab-
stained, however, from following up the usual rule
of vce metis ! In fact, neither suffered much, only
receiving a few scratches, but they lost their
situations.

While sitting up late one night a shot was
fired close to my door; when I went out to see
what was the matter I heard the sound of the

WATCHMEN 93

retreating footsteps of some one running away,
and then followed the report of two more shots.
I waited for a while to listen if anything par-
ticular was going on, but as I heard no further
noise, I set the matter down to the fault of some-
body's revolver going off of its own accord as
usual.

Another night I was aroused from my sleep by
four or five shots fired in quick succession quite
close at hand. There seemed to be a general
engagement going on in the yard behind the
house. I seized my revolver, a weapon which, in
that country, is always kept, like the candle and
matchbox, within easy reach, in case of being
needed in a hurry, and opened the back door,
where I found our watchman standing outside in
a very excited state.

His account of the matter was that he had
come upon a man in the act of getting in through
my bedroom window, and had promptly fired at
him, not once only, but four or five times, and
although he was quite satisfied some of the shots
had taken effect, the intending burglar had man-
aged to make good his escape in the darkness of
the night."

CHAPTER VIII

POLICE

THERE exists in the minds of some persons a
strong antipathy to police, as a body, both at
home and abroad. Perhaps the feeling may be
due to unreasoning prejudice, or partake of the
nature of the constitutional objection which bur-
glars are understood to entertain to the presence
of bulldogs about a house, the interior of which
they desire to inspect.

For my own part, like most people who have
travelled a good deal, and penetrated into strange
places, I have made acquaintance with the police
of many lands, and not always in the most
friendly way. Indeed, there have been occasions
when I considered myself badly treated by them.
Still, on the whole, I have no great fault to find
with police, as an institution, and until the world
at large becomes a triHe better behaved than it has
hitherto been, it is somewhat premature to expect,

94

or even hope for, the dissolution of the recognised
guardians of the public peace.

In Uruguay I was not, I fear, always in the
best of tempers with every member of the " force,"
as, for example, when I met a policeman, as I
did more than once, mounted upon a horse of
mine, that he had ridden almost to death, besides
giving him a sore back, that rendered the animal
useless for weeks together. The ready excuse on
such occasions was, that his own horse had broken
down, and meeting with a stray animal on the
way, which turned out to be mine, he had pressed
him into the service, as he was bound to do. That
was the official version. The real one was that,
having been sent on a long journey, the police-
man went to our paddock, where he knew the
horses were well-fed and in good condition, and
took a temporary loan of one of ours, without
going through the formality of asking permission.
After a while, however, we managed to get a stop
put to this class of annoyance.

Most of the police officers with whom we were
brought into almost daily contact, in consequence
of the large number of labourers employed upon
the railway works, were pleasant and satisfactory

96 SOUTH AMERICAN SKETCHES

to deal with, and of some of them I must speak
in the highest terms, in consequence of the ex-
cellent manner hi which they discharged their
duties. In many cases of emergency too, they
rendered me most energetic and effective assistance.

There were other persons in authority also, to
whom I was frequently indebted for timely and
important information, that enabled me to frus-
trate designs which had been made against us.

Our headquarters, as previously mentioned,
were at first at Paso de los Toros, which has been
already described. Our office consisted of a
corrugated iron hut, including rooms for myself
and a servant, and we were obliged to be very
watchful on the nights when large sums of money
had to be kept in the safe to meet the require-
ments of the monthly pay-days.

On several such occasions I received information
that different gangs of robbers were ambitious
to relieve us from the responsibility of keeping
the cash which caused so much anxiety. I did
not enter into particulars about such matters
with my servant, though he was entirely trust-
\vorthy, as I wished to keep them as private as
possible. I merely warned him to be very careful

POLICE 97

about keeping the doors and windows shut at night
when we had much money in the house, no matter
how hot the weather might be at the time, and
also to be particularly on his guard not to get
into conversation with strangers, or to mention
anything about our habits or affairs to outsiders.
One evening, after nightfall, upon returning to
the stables to leave my horse there, I received
private information that a strong gang of well-
known robbers had left Montevideo and come up
country with a view, it was thought, of visiting
us that night, as it was one of those occasions
on which we had to be careful. While pondering
on this serious news I came suddenly round the
corner of the office, and found my servant deep
in conversation at the yard gate with some one
whom I did not know. I took a sharp look at him,
however, before he moved away, and when he
had gone I asked my man who he was. " Some
stranger," was the reply. " What was he saying to
you ? " I continued. " He only wanted to know
who lived in the house, and what rooms we slept
in," he made answer. I thought this incident,
following so closely upon the warning I had
received, was very suspicious, so sought at once

G

98 SOUTH AMERICAN SKETCHES

an interview with the chief of police, to whom
I told all I had heard, giving him at the same
time as good a description as I could of the
stranger I had seen at the gate. "I'll go,"
he said, " and see if I can make anything out
of it, and let you know the result." In the
meanwhile I got my dinner, and inspected our
arms and ammunition, to see that all was
in order, and ready to hand in case of being
required.

About an hour afterwards the chief of police
returned and reported that all was right, as he
put it. " I have found the men," he said ; " they
are a pretty strong gang, too, and the man you
saw at the gate is one of them. They have en-
gaged rooms for the night at the inn opposite,
and are playing billiards there now. I am going
over to have a talk with them, and I shall see
you later on." With this he went off, but re-
turned towards midnight, when the information
he had to give me took somewhat this shape.
Upon leaving me, earlier in the evening he had
posted men on the look-out near each of the
public-houses in the town, to watch for the gang
in case of their changing their quarters, and to

POLICE 99

report their movements to him. This done, he
went back to the billiard-room where he had
already seen them, and finding matters going on
as before, he managed to get into conversation
with the strangers, asking many questions. While
so engaged an acquaintance of his came in, and
addressed him by the title of his office, where-
upon he saw a look of intelligence pass between
the men he was watching. Presently they left
the room, and soon afterwards word was brought
him that they had gone to another inn, where he
also went, and discovered they had taken lodgings
for the night there too. He then visited the
billiard-room, and expressed surprise at meeting
them again; but they soon moved on elsewhere,
and he followed them, questioning them closely
about their movements. This time they resented
his pursuing them in so marked a manner. In
reply, he explained it was part of the duty of
the police, of which body he had charge, to
observe the movements of all strangers, and to
prevent their getting into any unpleasantness or
trouble, especially when notice of their coming
had been announced by telegram.

He then told them openly that the authorities

ioo SOUTH AMERICAN SKETCHES

had sent warning to be on the watch for them,
that their plans had been made known, and a
particularly warm reception was prepared for
them. His men, he explained, had been watching
them all the evening, and would not lose sight
of them that night, no matter where they went,
if they remained in the neighbourhood.

This settled the matter; they saw their game
was up, and they quietly left the town, passing
over the railway bridge, which was the only way,
except by the ferry-boat, of returning again. At
both places he left a couple of policemen on guard
with rifles, and then came to tell me of the steps
he had taken, as I have narrated them. " I
thought it better," he said, " not to wait for a
shooting-match in the night-time, when all sorts
of accidents and mischances might happen, and
perhaps the wrong people get shot. You can go
to bed now," he added, " and sleep comfortably,
for they will not come back again when they
know that we were advised of their movements
beforehand."

He was right about their not returning, though
I was not able to follow his advice altogether.

Sleep won't always come exactly when one

POLICE 101

wishes for it ; besides, I felt I had better keep
in a state of preparedness during the night, and
postpone my sleep till after daylight. I never
told iny servant what a near thing it was that
night, nor the character of the man he had
been talking to at the gate, and I feel sure he
thought I had allowed myself to be absurdly
concerned about trifles on that occasion.

This incident, taken in connection with one
mentioned in the preceding chapter, where our
night-watchman fired at a man trying to get in
through my bedroom window, and the private
warnings I so frequently received, besides meet-
ing with suspicious persons lurking about the
place at night on different occasions, made me
very watchful during that anxious time. But
my position would have been much worse had
it not been for the efficient assistance so readily
given me by the chief of police.

Another night burglars made an attempt to break
into one of our huts at the Paso de los Toros,
but were discovered in time, and their scheme
frustrated. I think they must have belonged to
a different gang of robbers, and probably mistook
the house they attacked for the cash office.

102 SOUTH AMERICAN SKETCHES

We had other causes of anxiety also, by reason
of the fact that the money for our monthly pay-
ments had to be brought up from Montevideo
by a night train, as the day train did not suit
bank hours.

Our accountant conveyed it, always travelling
with a companion, both well armed. Then there
was the further process of transmitting it up
country to pay the various sub-contractors, which
had at first to be done by an armed party travelling
on horseback. According as the rails were laid
use of course was made of them for this purpose,
and a monthly pay train, well armed, was sent
over the line.

While this system was in full working order
an intimation was once given me by the pro-
prietor of a public -house in a lonely neigh-
bourhood to be specially careful, as he felt sure
an attack upon the pay train was contemplated.
His suspicions were aroused by the conduct of
a man from a verj- bad locality, who had been
spending a couple of days at his house without
any visible business. Our informant observed
that this stranger made many inquiries about the
means we adopted for sending the money over

POLICE 103

the line to pay the workmen, asking all sorts
of particulars about our pay train and its
movements. Nor was it only from the public-
house people that this information was sought.
Whenever any workmen from the railway came
in the stranger plied them with similar questions.
Thus forewarned, we took extra precautions. The
pay train was well manned and armed, and drove
very carefully past all suspicious places. No attack
was made upon it ; but I was not the less obliged
to the friendly publican who had given us warn-
ing ; for I thought it by no means improbable
that some plot of the kind had been in con-
templation, though it was not carried out.

On one occasion a determined and elaborate
attempt was made to wreck a train of ours under
circumstances that looked as if the object was
robbery. The police authorities felt sure that
such was the intention, and that the people who
made the attempt mistook the special train, for
which the plot was laid, for a pay train.

A tour of inspection of the works, by some
officials, had been arranged, to begin about fifty
miles up the line, and to extend onwards from
that point. As there was a long day's work

104 SOUTH AMERICAN SKETCHES

bofore us, it was decided to start a couple of
hours before daylight, so as to begin inspecting as
soon as we could see to do so. We had also to
avoid getting in the way of the material train,
which went out to the front every morning with
rails and sleepers. It was therefore settled that it
should follow, and pass our " special " at the place
where we were to begin operations. These ar-
rangements were duly notified up the line the
previous day, so that everything should be off the
rails, and the way clear for our special an hour
earlier than the usual time for the passage of the
material train.

Some delay occurred in starting, so we had to
alter our plan and let the material train precede
ours. We followed it in due course, and when
we arrived at the station where we were to begin
inspecting, we found the material train waiting
upon the siding there, getting some repairs done
to the engine. It appeared that shortly before
daylight it struck against a pile of sleepers which
had been placed upon the rails, and packed care-
fully into an open culvert. The material train
was a very heavy one, and running at a high
speed at the time, there being a stiff gradient to

POLICE 105

surmount just in front of it, so that it knocked
the obstruction off the rails, but kept to them
itself. Had our light " special " been the one to
meet with it, the result might have been very
different.

CHAPTER IX

PERILS BY LAND AND WATER

IN the course of our proceedings we met with, or
witnessed, many adventures, the recital of some
of which may not be uninteresting. The first of
these that I will mention occurred in the following
manner : —

The Chairman and the Managing Director of
the Central Uruguay Railway having come out
from England to the River Plate, it was arranged
that they should drive through the district to be
traversed by our line, so as to obtain a better and
more intimate knowledge of the country with
which we were dealing. Several other gentlemen
connected with the undertaking joined the party,
and I accompanied them.

Our means of conveyance consisted of a heavy,
lumbering coach, called a diligencia, drawn by ten
horses. The chairman and I sat in an open seat
in front, as he wished to get a good view of the

106

PERILS BY LAND AND WATER 107

country through which we were to pass, while the
other gentlemen occupied the interior of the
vehicle. In this way we started upon our jour-
ney, and soon found that our horses, which seemed
so unnecessarily numerous at first, were not too
many, as the roads were heavy, and^we had some
difficulty in getting over the bad places. Towards
nightfall we came to a spot where there was a
depth of about three feet of thick inud. The
horses entered it willingly enough, and did their
best to take the vehicle through it, but the wheels
only sank deeper and deeper in the mire. After
they had struggled in this way for some time the
iron pin connecting the body of the coach with
the front axle broke off short, and away went
horses, pole, axle, and driver, whose hands were
entangled in the reins, all together, while we
were turned over into the mud.

I got a kick on the head in the fall, which
stunned me for the moment, but a man of mine,
who was travelling with us, rescued me, and
brought me to more solid ground. As soon as I
recovered sufficiently he took me to a pool of
water and washed the dirt off me, just as if I had
been a horse that floundered into it.

io8 SOUTH AMERICAN SKETCHES

The chairman got off very safely, nor were the
inside passengers much the worse for the upset.
The driver was an energetic man, and soon had
the breakage repaired, and was ready to go on
again, so that the results of the disaster were not
very serious after all.

The remainder of our drive that day was not
far, and we stopped for the night at a small
wayside inn, of very limited accommodation. It
had but one room for strangers, into which we
put the chairman and the managing director;
another member of the party slept on the kitchen-
table, while the rest of us took shelter in an out-
house. There we snatched such sleep as we
could during the intervals of peace conceded to
us by a most aggressive family of cats, that
looked upon our arrival on the scene as an un-
justifiable invasion of their territory.

I may here observe that the upsetting or
breaking down of public conveyances is by no
means an unusual experience in Uruguay. Seve-
ral people connected with the railway met with
accidents of the kind from time to time, and our
material trains frequently rescued belated tra-
vellers who were victims of mishaps of the kind.

PERILS BY LAND AND WATER 109

Nor was it only from the overturning of
vehicles that inconvenience arose. There were
other accidents of various kinds perpetually hap-
pening. Four times in one day did horses fall
under me. Two of these incidents were trivial
affairs, but the other two were rather serious. I
will only refer more particularly to one of them,
the results of which were painful enough for a
time. I was riding back to our encampment one
night after dark, when my horse stumbled over
something, and fell with a crash. In trying to get
upon his legs again he threw back his head, which
struck me full in the face with the force of a
sledge-hammer. One of my assistants, who was
riding with me, sprang to the ground and helped
me to get down, and supported me until I was
sufficiently recovered to stand alone. As soon as
I was able I remounted and rode on to our tent.
When we arrived there my nose was found to be
broken, and almost flattened to my face, and one'
of my fingers was much crushed.

The latter was soon bandaged, ,and then I
directed my attention to the injured nose, which
I worked into as good a shape as I could, and
bound it up, with the aid of my friend, who was

no SOUTH AMERICAN SKETCHES

as handy and attentive as a trained nurse would
have been, and ' did everything in his power to
relieve my suffering.

In the morning I was in the saddle and at
work again soon after daybreak, with my face so
closely wrapped up, that there was nothing visible
of it but the eyes. Gradually my wounds healed,
and I was able to discard the protection for my
nose, of which a doctor friend of mine told me
I had made a very fair job. It is true that at
the same time he took somewhat from my pride
about the surgical skill I had displayed in the
matter, as well as from my personal vanity, by
asking me the suggestive question, " Was your
nose always crooked ? " I tried to lessen the
sting implied in his remark by persuading myself
that it was due to professional jealousy.

I will now turn to that part of the subject
which relates to perils by water. The Latin poet
tells us that the rustic waits for the river to flow
past. He evidently thought that the rustic was
an example of imbecility, for he adds, " but it
flows on, and will continue to flow, through
every revolving age." Our own late poet-laureate
probably had these lines in his mind when

PERILS BY LAND AND WATER in

he made the brook to say, "but I go on for
ever."

It is quite clear that both authorities were
thinking only of streams, the habits of which
were regular and above reproach, and not of such
as display their force and progress with inter-
mittent energy, changing from dried-up water-
courses to foaming torrents, and vice versd, within
the space of a few short hours.

Had Horace or Tennyson visited the River
Plate, and travelled much in the interior of that
country, he would, no doubt, have discovered from
his own experience that the rustic was not such
a fool as many people might suppose him to have
been.

In rainy weather, waiting for the river to flow
past is one of the commonest occupations of daily
life in Uruguay. A man rides up to a ford, and
finding it too deep and rapid, after recent rains,
to attempt to cross with safety, quietly dismounts,
unsaddles his horse, and ties him to some tree or
peg. He then sits down to smoke a cigarette,
and at nightfall rolls himself up in his poncho,
and turns over to sleep upon the leather bed
provided by the trappings of his cumbrous saddle,

ii2 SOUTH AMERICAN SKETCHES

patiently awaiting the morning's light and the
hoped-for subsidence of the river. What else can
he do in a country where there are no bridges
except those upon the railways ?

I have known a little stream that I have
repeatedly jumped across on foot spread out to
a width of more than a hundred yards, with a
depth of from ten to fifteen feet, in five or six
hours, and fall again as rapidly.

Nor was it the smaller rivulets and brooks
alone that changed their character so completely
according to the rain that fell. The larger rivers,
too, felt the influences of alterations in the weather
equally, though not, perhaps, with quite so great
rapidity.

One of these, the Tacuarembo Chico, is a
good example of the kind. In its normal state
everything suggested peace and tranquillity ; but
I have also looked upon its waters in a very
different mood.

Rain had fallen in torrents, and a destructive
flood arose, converting the usually placid stream
into an angry rushing torrent thirty feet deep,
and in some places half a mile in width.

As I gazed in wonder on the scene, a solitary

PERILS BY LAND AND WATER 113

boat with two men in it came drifting along among
the tree-tops, where the current was least. They
seemed looking for something which the flood had
carried away, and in reply to my inquiries told
me that the object of their search was the son of
one of them. The hapless child had strayed into
the woods to gather wild flowers, and his return
was cut off by the sudden rising of the water.
The body of the victim was never found, but lay
no doubt amidst the general desolation, as did
also the carcasses of numerous cattle that had
been similarly surrounded, and unable to find
their way back to dry land.

While residing at the Paso de los Toros I saw
a most impressive, I might almost call it a ter-
rible, flood in the Rio Negro. During one rainy
season it overflowed its banks, but at first no one
thought much about it, or expected it to rise to
any dangerous height. As time wore on matters
looked more serious. The poorer huts along the
margin were the first invaded, and one after
another had to be abandoned. The more solidly
built houses, that stood on higher ground, were
reached in due succession, while hour by hour

the water stole up the side walls, silently

H

ii4 SOUTH AMERICAN SKETCHES

but surely blocking first the entrance doors, then
the windows, and lastly submerging the roof of
each luckless building. Those who lived in them
fled towards higher land, some in boats, others on
rafts hurriedly extemporised from the doors of
their deserted houses, and cowered in a wet and
miserable plight till the flood, after rising to a
height of sixty feet and more, began to subside
again. But bad as was this inundation, it was not
so formidable as one that occurred in the same
locality not many years before.

I did not witness this previous visitation, but I
saw photographs of it, and heard descriptive par-
ticulars of its rise and fall from several persons
whose business required them to examine closely
at the time into the question of its magnitude
and the effects produced by it. It rose much
higher than that which I have already described,
and reached to about three feet above the surface
of the rails upon the Rio Negro bridge, the under
side of the superstructure of which is more than
sixty feet above the ordinary height of water in
the river.

All traffic upon the line was impossible, and I
was assured by the general manager and by the

PERILS BY LAND AND WATER 115

resident engineer, that large snakes and curious
wild animals, which had been carried down upon
floating trees from Brazil, were found resting upon
the girders of the bridge.

This inundation completely destroyed a great
portion of the old town, and huts had to be
erected on a high promontory to accommodate
the houseless sufferers.

Nor was my knowledge of such terrible floods
derived solely from beholding them as a spectator
standing on dry land, at a safe distance from
the destructive scene enacted by the rushing
waters, or from hearing the graphic descriptions
of them from those who had witnessed their
effects.

I had myself personal experience of the horrors
of immersion in the maelstrom of a torrent of the
kind, and of the exciting struggle against its re-
lentless fury.

I came one day to a river that was swollen
till the water flowed through the tops of the
trees growing upon its banks. Thinking that,
perhaps, Horace was right after all, and that the
river might go on flowing deeply, if not for ever,
at all events for a sufficient period to be very

ii6 SOUTH AMERICAN SKETCHES

inconvenient for me to remain like the rustic,
waiting for it to flow past. I determined if
possible to get over at once. The only way
to cross it was by means of a frail temporary
raft, upon which I embarked under the guid-
ance of an Italian sailor, with the result that it
sank beneath the two of us in mid-stream, and
left us floundering in the torrent. Fortunately
I succeeded in grasping a wire that was stretched
between the banks, and with its aid I pulled
myself along until I got to calm water, and
found a submerged branch of a tree upon which
to rest my feet. The pilot, who was an expert
swimmer, and not overweighted with heavy
clothes as I was, recovered the raft, and towed
it into the "back-water," from which he reached
me with ease, and brought me to the land. A
young engineer upon the bank awaiting his turn
to be ferried over threw off his coat and boots
when the accident occurred, and prepared to
plunge into the water to come to my assistance.
It was with difficulty, too, that he could be per-
suaded to desist from the attempt, although it
would have been utterly useless to try to swim
across a current of such velocity.

PERILS BY LAND AND WATER 117

On another occasion I was travelling in a
wagonette drawn by three horses harnessed
abreast, when we came to the ford of a river
that looked rather swollen. Every care was
taken to examine it, and the general opinion
was that we might safely drive across it. It
was, however, desirable to lighten the load as
much as possible, so we descended from the
vehicle and rode over on horseback, leaving the
driver alone to guide it across.

Matters proceeded satisfactorily till he had
reached the middle of the stream, where some
confusion took place, and the horses became
restive and began to plunge wildly, when all at
once they moved a little to one side and got
out of their depths. The wheels of the wagon-
ette had become entangled in the branches
of a fallen tree lying in the bed of the river,
and could not be moved one way or the other.
The pole-straps kept the horses' heads down, so
that they made furious struggles to try to free
themselves.

Three men that accompanied me did every-
thing in their power to release the struggling
animals, but it was no easy task to perform.

n8 SOUTH AMERICAN SKETCHES

At last it was accomplished, but not till more
than an hour had been spent in the endeavour.
One of the horses was so much exhausted that
he had to be towed to the river bank, where
his head was supported, and he was left to re-
cover strength, but he succumbed and died in
a few minutes. A second horse had strength
enough remaining to swim to shore ; while the
third, known by the name of " the Tiger," from
his vicious disposition, when freed from the
trammels of the harness, turned round, and, -in-
stead of swimming for the shore, clambered into
the wagonette he had previously helped to draw ;
nor could he be dislodged from his position as an
inside passenger until he had rested for some time
and regained a portion of his strength. Both the
surviving horses had suffered so much, that it was
some months before either of them was sufficiently
recovered to do ordinary work again.

The crossing of flooded streams was a perpetual
source of trouble and accident to us. Many a
time has a horse fallen under me while fording a
river, and sent me head foremost into the water.
I don't suppose there was an engineer connected
with the work who did not frequently experience

PERILS BY LAND AND WATER 119

the sensation of taking an involuntary bath of
the kind. But it was not always a fit subject for
mirth or amusement, as twice during the pro-
gress of the works such accidents had fatal
endings.

CHAPTER X

LANDOWNERS, WORKMEN, ETC.

AFTER the difficulties which the want of regular
roads and bridges occasioned us, I think I might
place the obstacles arising from our dealings with
landowners. In saying so, I am bound in fair-
ness to admit that many of them showed great
favour to the railway, some even giving their
land for it gratuitously, while others aided us in
different ways.

It is, however, with the majority, not with the
exceptions, that I am now dealing.

One curious phase of the matter was the
immense amount of local information voluntarily
supplied to us by the people living in the dis-
tricts through which we passed when making the
preliminary surveys. It was often of a most
contradictory nature, necessitating much care and
trouble to sift it so as to separate the grain from
the chaff.

LANDOWNERS, WORKMEN, ETC. 121

If we could credit them, it would almost ap-
pear as if the inhabitants of Uruguay were born
with a natural aptitude for selecting lines of rail-
way. They always knew, or at least said they
did, the best possible route to follow, irrespective
of its length or such minor considerations as
curves and gradients, viaducts or tunnels. *

After a varied experience of their ways I have
come to the conclusion that they are as full of
expedients for diverting railway surveyors from
their own lands to those of their neighbours, or
vice versd, according to what they consider to be
most conducive to their private interests, as a
hen-lapwing is in her endeavours to lure away
unwelcome intruders from the vicinity of her
nest. Like her, too, they occasionally become
very angry if their little stratagems are unsuc-
cessful, and swoop down upon one with denuncia-
tions almost as shrill as hers.

Some of them content themselves with uttering
dark threats of vengeance on the part of the
powers that be, who, by a strange coincidence,
always seemed to be nearly related to, or on terms
of great intimacy with, these slighted landowners.

Others, of a more fiery nature, place greater

122 SOUTH AMERICAN SKETCHES

trust in their own right hands than in official
partizanship, and publicly proclaim their prefer-
ence for bloodshed, with a determination to resort
to it upon the first favourable opportunity that
presents itself.

There was wonderful unanimity in the nature
of the advice given to us by all persons of the
former class with whom we had dealings, though
it frequently bore very different meanings.

Each one of them was confident that we were
giving ourselves unnecessary trouble in making
any further surveys, or in searching for any other
line for the railway than that which he recom-
mended. Besides, we were told we might rest
assured that it would certainly be the only one
sanctioned by the Government.

This was perplexing, for the lines suggested
possessed varieties of position and direction that
were perfectly irreconcilable.

Conspicuous among the fiercer landowners was
one with whom our relations were anything but
friendly at first. He hated the railway and
railway people.

One wet and stormy night I reached his house,
and finding that I could not get any farther,

LANDOWNERS, WORKMEN, ETC. 123

and that there was no other place for miles
around where I could get shelter, I asked for
it from him, but was unceremoniously refused.
I was told that I might sleep outside in an
open shed if I chose. This was a most unusual
piece of discourtesy in South America, where
the people pride themselves, and justly so, on
their universal hospitality.

The owner was kind enough to give me
warning that if he ever saw me upon his land
anywhere away from the line of railway, he
would " shoot at sight." As he bore the re-
putation of being as good, or as bad, as his
word, I did not spend much of my time tres-
passing upon his property. I had to ride across
it frequently, however, and once I had to pull
down part of his fence to get a bullock-cart
through it ; but on such occasions I kept a
good look-out for the enemy, and was always
careful to see that there were no empty cartridge
cases in my revolver.

The wheel of fortune in its revolutions
brought about a state of affairs when it was
in my power to do this man a material service,
and I did it. At first he could scarcely believe

124 SOUTH AMERICAN SKETCHES

the fact, but when he grasped its reality, he be-
came one of my warmest supporters, and remained
so till the end.

As a mark of special friendship — I may
mention the fact, though it is anticipating
events — when I was leaving the Eiver Plate
he was anxious to bestow upon me a lively
collection of wild animals, in which specimens
of the carnivora were well represented.

The intention was kind, but I could not see
my way to accept the proffered gift ; it is so
difficult to arrange satisfactorily and comfort-
ably for the establishment of a menagerie about
a country house in Ireland. If you keep the
beasts locked up they will howl and roar at
night, making sleep precarious, if not impossible,
for wakeful people. Or if you try the alter-
native plan, and let them loose, the neighbours,
especially those who keep cattle, sheep, or even
children, might not like it ; and it is always
unpleasant to be on unfriendly terms with one's
neighbours. For these reasons I had to dis-
appoint my generous friend, and deny myself
the pleasure of possessing an interesting collec-
tion of the kind.

LANDOWNERS, WORKMEN, ETC. 125

There was another landowner very similar in
many respects to the one I have just described.
He also hated the railway and all belonging to
it, and was equally explicit as to his intention
to shoot any of us he caught trespassing upon
his property.

On one occasion, while on a tour of inspection,
I was stopped by a flooded river, and found that
I must either cross the land in question or make
a deviation of several miles. In this dilemma I
rode straight to the owner's house, explained the
matter to him, and asked his permission to con-
tinue my journey over his property, which he
gave me without any hesitation.

Nor are railway engineers the only people who
get mixed up unpleasantly with land questions
in Uruguay. Surveyors engaged in defining the
limits between properties frequently meet with
difficulties in the discharge of their duties.

One St. Patrick's Day I received a telegram
from the authorities asking me to send an engine
with some trucks to one of the stations on the
railway, to bring back wounded men and prisoners.
The request sounded quite natural and home-like,
and I concluded that some enthusiastic people

126 SOUTH AMERICAN SKETCHES

had been celebrating the day a little too well,
and had got into trouble. But iny conjecture was
altogether wrong. No Irishman was mixed up
in the quarrel ; nor had St. Patrick's Day anything
to do with it, except the accidental circumstance
that the fighting took place on the eve of that
festival.

I heard all about it afterwards from some of
the persons who took part in the affray.

It arose in this way. A party of surveyors
was employed to mark out the boundary line
between two properties, and as they proceeded,
the man who employed them, and at whose house
they were stopping, was well satisfied with the
manner in which they were performing their
work. Not so, however, his neighbour, who
thought that some of his land was being .-taken
from him, and he determined to make a struggle
to maintain his rights. His plan of action was
prompt, but not of a nature to recommend its
general adoption in questions of disputed boun-
daries. He decided to make a night attack, with
the aid of his friends, upon the surveying party,
and for this purpose entered into negotiations
with one of the latter's workmen to betray his

LANDOWNERS, WORKMEN, ETC. 127

employers, and open the door of the house for
the attacking party. They would thus be able
to surprise the inmates in their beds, and make
short work of them. Everything was arranged,
and when the conspirators reached the yard gate,
in the night time, their confederate duly opened
it and admitted them to the enclosure. There
he left them while he stealthily entered the house
by one of the windows, so that he might open the
door for them. He did so without delay, and
the next moment they were received with a volley
fired from within the house. The workman had
told his employers of the plot against them, and
the assistance of a party of police had been ob-
tained to repel the attack. A general fight
ensued, in which one man was killed on each side
and several wounded; in the end the aggressors
being beaten, and many of them made prisoners.
It was for the purpose of bringing in them and
the wounded that we were asked to send out a
train.

The question of disputed boundaries often gave
us much trouble, but I have said enough to show
how serious it may become at times.

As I already explained, all the landowners

128 SOUTH AMERICAN SKETCHES

were not unfriendly to us ; but besides those I
have mentioned, there was a third or intermediate
class, who for a long time remained very reserved
and distrustful in their dealings with us. In several
cases much trouble had been taken to prejudice
them against us.

One man in particular comes back to my
memory, to whom we had been painted in any-
thing but pleasing colours. Great exertions were
made to induce him to take legal proceedings
against the railway company for imaginary injuries
of various sorts, but he withstood all the alluring
offers that he received in respect of assistance in
matters of the kind. For some time after I
made his acquaintance he evidently looked upon
me with great suspicion, and was very cautious
and reserved in his dealings with me. Gradually,
however, I gained his confidence, and the re-
serve was changed to feelings of mutual respect
and friendship, which continued unbroken till we
said good-bye and parted at the close of the
works.

Here I must say something of the workmen
by whose labour and toil the railway was con-
structed. The great majority of those that we

LANDOWNERS, WORKMEN, ETC. 129

employed were Italians, who came principally
from the northern and mountainous districts of
their native country. As a rule, they were hard-
working, cheerful, well conducted, and not difficult
to manage. A reference to them in the chapter
upon the " Haunt of the Outlaw " shows, however,
that at times they could take the law into their
own hands, though it should be remembered that
in the case referred to they had received great
provocation.

Like other rough men, they had their quarrels,
and did occasionally resort to the evil practice of
using their knives to settle such disputes; but
even so, and when actually engaged in fighting,
they were comparatively easy to control. As an
example of this, I may quote an instance that
came under my personal observation.

Upon one occasion, as I turned an abrupt
corner, I found myself among an excited crowd
of spectators, looking on at two Italians fighting
fiercely with their knives. The combatants at
once obeyed my order to stop and give me their
weapons, apologising for their conduct as they
handed them to me. I scarcely think that two
of my own countrymen could have been so

130 SOUTH AMERICAN SKETCHES

easily separated if engaged in a serious encounter
of the kind.

We had a good many Austrians and Bavarians
from the Tyrol, who were mostly masons or
quarrymen, and particularly satisfactory and plea-
sant to deal with.

There were but few Spaniards upon the works,
and they were chiefly Basques, a hard-working,
strong, and thrifty race.

Of the workmen who were natives of Uruguay
I ought to have a kindly word to say, as they
mostly served me well. They are not adepts
with the pick and shovel, but they are very
intelligent and handy men, and at their own
particular occupation of looking after horses or
horned cattle they have few equals.

Of course I do not mean to say that all our
workmen were perfect, and that they never gave
us trouble. On the contrary, there were some
of them whom I should have to describe quite
differently if I went into particulars. We had
the usual strikes and threats to deal with, but,
thanks to the energy of the G-efe Politico of the
district and the assistance he gave us, we got
fairly well out of our troubles of that description.

LANDOWNERS, WORKMEN, ETC. 131

One great difficulty we had to contend against
during the progress of the works was a serious
outbreak of smallpox.

It began at the Paso de los Toros, and soon
developed into a very formidable epidemic. The
police bestirred themselves well to meet the
emergency, and erected a wooden hospital, for
which we helped to provide the materials.

When I went to look at the result of their
labours, I was somewhat shocked to see that they
had placed the building exactly opposite the gate
of the public cemetery. I remonstrated with
them about this, and said it would have a very
depressing effect upon the inmates of the hos-
pital, to which the police sergeant, who was in
charge of the party, replied, " But then, sefior, it
is so very convenient for the burials." I remem-
ber a precisely similar arrangement of hospital
and cemetery in the case of a continental town,
that always seemed to me to have been a most
unwise selection.

The Government sent up a medical inspector
to report upon the outbreak. When he came to
the Paso de los Toros he found the temperature
in the hospital there too high, and ordered the

132 SOUTH AMERICAN SKETCHES

windows and doors to be all opened wide. The
weather was piercingly cold at the time, and it
was said, with what truth I know not, that six
deaths followed immediately upon the sudden
change of temperature. It was further stated
that two of the patients, who had witnessed this
result, were so frightened, that they took the first
opportunity to get out of their beds and made
their escape, nor were they heard of afterwards.

The epidemic spread rapidly, extending to San
Fructuoso and Rivera, which places it visited
with considerable severity. Nor was this surpris-
ing, for the general inhabitants took little pre-
caution against it; and as vaccination did not
appear to have been in common practice, people
lacking that protection, when they came in the
way of contagion, ran all the greater risk of
catching the disease.

I have seen a beautiful little girl, of about
twelve years of age, carrying in her arms a baby
in the worst stage of smallpox, and as it was
highly improbable that she had been vaccinated,
one could not but shudder at the thought of the
danger she was incurring.

But if the public generally did not do much

LANDOWNERS, WORKMEN, ETC. 133

to counteract the ravages of the disease, societies
of charitable ladies were formed in the various
centres of population, who did their best to
fight against it, and to relieve the accompanying
distress.

CHAPTER XI

LITER A SCRIPT A MANET

THE headline of this chapter is one of those
general assertions which are nearly as often wrong
as right, and yet I have some hesitation in
attacking it, for it is a maxim dear to the
members of the legal professions, among which
bodies I have many valued friends. It seems
to yield them a somewhat similar consolation to
that which, we are told, the sonorous word Meso-
potamia afforded the good old lady when learned
discourses became too abstruse for her simple
understanding.

It is the one spot on the lawyer's chart where
he thinks he may anchor with safety during the
fogs of uncertainty or squally weather, so pre-
valent in legal navigation ; but outsiders like
myself may be pardoned for entertaining some
doubt about the matter, notwithstanding that the
information is conveyed in a dead language to
give it greater force.

134

LITER A SCRIPT A MANET 135

At one period of my life I looked upon the
truth of the maxim as unassailable, and on a par
with the arithmetical dogma that " two and two
make four " ; but the experience of years has
weakened rather than strengthened my con-
fidence in this respect.

It is useless to tell me now, either in English
or Latin, that " the written letter remains," when
I know to my cost that it sometimes flies away,
like a bird, on the wings of the wind.

In support of my present incredulity I will
mention a few cases, from many, that are de-
cided exceptions to the asserted rule.

The weather was exceedingly hot, the ther-
mometer marking over 100° Fahrenheit in the
shade, as I sat down one morning in my hut
at El Paso de los Toros to read the letters that
had just come in from the post-office. The
windows in the room were wide open, and not
a breath of air was stirring. The first operation
was to sort the correspondence, and distinguish
between what apparently related to the works
and that which was private, " business first and
pleasure afterwards." I had exhausted the first
category, and opened a fat-looking letter of the

136 SOUTH AMERICAN SKETCHES

second, that seemed to promise an abundant yield
of information. It began well, and I turned over
to read the name of my correspondent, as I did
not recognise the handwriting.

Just then a noise behind me attracted my
attention, and I looked to see what caused it. A
" whirlwind " was passing by, and occasioned the
rustling sound I had heard. Having ascertained
this, I turned back again to go on with the read-
ing of my letter, but observed to my surprise and
dismay that it was passing through the open
window and circling upwards out of reach. I
rushed after it hastily, and sent one of our men
in pursuit of the flying letter, telling him to
watch carefully where it might fall, and bring
it back to me.

After the lapse of a considerable time the
messenger returned, looking hot and crestfallen,
for he was obliged to confess that he had been
unsuccessful.

" Senor," said he, " I followed that letter of
yours all the way to the Rio Negro, and I do
believe it contained the prayers of some good
person, for there it was wafted up to heaven out
of my sight." After such an experience, is it not

LITERA SCRIPTA MANET 137

mockery to tell me that " the written letter
remains " ?

I wonder if the reader can sympathise with
me in my disappointment at the loss I sustained.
One as a rule gets so few nice letters, and this
was a charming one, as far as I had glanced at it.
It is so disappointing to think that I never knew
who wrote it, and that it has remained un-
answered to this day. I only hope the writer
of it may read these pages, and see in them the
explanation of my long silence and apparent
rudeness. I appeal to every person who ever
wrote me a letter to which no reply was returned
to recognise in that lost document the one so left
unanswered, and to accept this public explana-
tion and apology for my compulsory share in the
transaction.

I met with another case where several written
letters did not remain. We were crossing a river,
in which there lay floating about Avhat looked like
a number of envelopes. Upon closer inspection
they proved to be unopened letters, which we
collected, dried, and then forwarded to the post ;
and it is to be hoped they eventually reached
their respective destinations.

138 SOUTH AMERICAN SKETCHES

The mischance in this case was probably due
to the upsetting of a diligencia in the river, no
uncommon experience, and the falling out of
some of the correspondence from an open letter-
bag into the water. Perhaps it may be argued
that this example rather goes to support the legal
view of the case, because the written letters did
remain in the river till we fished them out of it.
My contention, however, is that they did not
remain in the mail-bag, which was their proper
place till sorted for delivery in the post-office in
the regular way.

Another case where the written letters did not
remain occurred to a friend of mine at the Paso
de los Toros. He had arrived by train, and after
placing his portmanteau and a bag containing a
voluminous correspondence in his bedroom on the
ground floor, threw open the windows and went
out to enjoy a cigarette under the shade of the
veranda. While so occupied he observed a man,
bag in hand, coming out of his room ; but this
did not surprise him, as he thought it was some
one who was retreating upon finding thatjie had
opened the wrong door by mistake. The man,
as he passed by, made some polite apology for

L1TERA SCRIPTA MANET 139

mistaking the room, and my friend thought no
more of the matter till some time afterwards,
when, wishing to look at his letters, he went
for his bag and found it had been stolen. Here,
surely, the written letters did not remain.

A somewhat similar trick was tried upon me,
but not in the same place. I had a despatch-
box full of business documents and correspond-
ence with me in a tramway- carriage, and when
I reached the terminus I got out, leaving it
behind me on the seat while I helped some
lady passengers to descend. Having done so I
went for my despatch- box, but it was nowhere
to be seen. At that moment I observed a
man with what looked like my missing property
hurrying away rapidly, and I followed at once
in pursuit. When I overtook him I claimed
the box he was carrying off as mine, but he
boldly asserted it was his own. I explained
that my name was engraved upon a brass plate
on the lid of my box, and insisted upon the
cover being unstrapped, to prove to whom the
property rightfully belonged. When this was
done the justice of my claim was apparent, and
the man, with profuse apologies for what he

140 SOUTH AMERICAN SKETCHES

called his stupid mistake, returned towards the
tramway-office to search for his own despatch-
box. On his way to it he suddenly disappeared
round the corner of a street in the most un-
accountable manner, and, strange to say, no
article of the kind was claimed or found by the
tramway people on that occasion.

In this instance, again, the written letters did
not remain, though it is true they were recovered
and brought back.

Perhaps objection to my views may be raised
on the ground that the maxim in question only
applies to legal or public documents, and not
to general correspondence. Even so, I am pre-
pared to show that in that sense too it is fre-
quently falsified.

Proceedings in the Landed Estates Court have
shown that the title-deeds of numerous properties
in Ireland have been lost, and cannot be recovered.

I know of an instance, too, where the sale of
a branch railway to a main line cannot be, or,
at all events, is not, perfected because the title-
deeds for the land it occupies are not forthcoming.

Nor is it in Ireland alone that documents of
the kind go astray. I had personal knowledge

LITERA SCR1PTA MANET 141

of a number of valuable title-deeds having been
rescued from the ignominious fate of being sold
to a retail grocer as waste-paper in which to
wrap up his wares. And this occurred in London,
where one would expect them to be guarded with
especial care.

Once when searching through the manuscript
records of an important public body I came
upon a blank of several years, caused by the
cutting out of the pages relating to them.

Who has not heard of erasures in baptismal
registries when they disclose inconvenient facts ?
One constantly meets with passages similarly
treated when examining old manuscripts. Grave-
stones have even been known to be mutilated to
prevent the legend on them being produced as
evidence in legal proceedings. Sometimes cases
of the kind arise from carelessness or vandalism.
I possess a photograph showing an example of
the latter. It is of a grave-stone, on which are
carved the arms of a very ancient family long
since extinct and forgotten in the district -ex-
cept by antiquaries, while under the arms is
boldly cut into the stone an inscription of only
a few years ago, in memory of a man of the

142 SOUTH AMERICAN SKETCHES

labouring or small farmer class, of a totally
different name and family to that to which the
arms belonged, and evidently without any in-
tention of establishing any connection between
them. It would appear that the stone in ques-
tion was a fallen one which belonged to an
unknown grave, and that it was dug up in the
process of preparing the ground for a new burial.
As the inscription on it was almost obliterated, it
was thought to be of no value, except as a head-
stone for the new grave, for which it came in
handy. It seems a great pity that some one
should not have interfered to prevent the act;
but probably it was not discovered till too late.

I know of no class of document but one that
seems to have any claim to such permanence as
suggested by the maxim I am dealing with. It
is that which comprises the department of corre-
spondence commonly described by the term,
" love-letters."

Their tenacity of existence is beyond dispute
when one reflects upon the certainty with which
they are forthcoming, in profusion, in all cases
of breach of promise of marriage tried in court,
to the utter discomfiture of the faithless swain,

LITER A SCRIPT A MANET 143

and the enjoyment of a virtuous public, that
rejoices in the triumph of right over wrong.

After all, I may perhaps be told that the
meaning of the maxim is not that which I have
given to it, but that it is simply equivalent to
saying it is safer to put the terms or conditions
of an agreement in writing, than to trust to the
retentiveness of the memory to reproduce them
when necessary. If so, why not have said as
much in language that did not admit of any
doubt ?

CHAPTER XII

SAN FRUCTUOSO

SAN FRUCTUOSO, or Tacuarembo, as it is also
called, is the only intermediate town upon the
extension of the railway with which we were
engaged. It is situated 1 1 o miles from the
starting-point, or about 280 miles north of
Montevideo, and some 72 miles from the
Brazilian frontier. It has a population of about
3000, and lies in the valley of the Tacuarembo
Chico, on the right bank of that river, upon low
land, the soil of which is a sandy loam.

The town is approached from the south by
a road, along the sides of which grow aloe
hedges, that appear to be impenetrable, by
reason of the formidable spikes with which
Nature supplies that plant as a protection
against all foes. The aloe is the porcupine of
the vegetable kingdom.

These hedges extend for some distance within

SAN FRUCTUOSO 145

the limits of the town, till they give place to
wire fences with timber posts, and these again to
walls of brick, less picturesque, but more suitable
and convenient for enclosing human habitations.

The houses are all one storey high, and most
of them have flat roofs, although a shed or
sloping roof is occasionally to be seen. The
dwellings of the poorer classes have a very bare
and unfinished look, but possibly those that
attracted my attention on this account may
only recently have been developed from the
primitive mud ranches of the original settlers.

Some houses, on the other hand, exhibit
every sign of comfort and prosperity, being
surrounded by gardens and enclosures full of
flowers, shrubs, and climbing plants, Wistaria
being conspicuous among the latter.

In one place I saw a tall hedge of roses, with
a small pink flower about the size of the Banksia
kind; in another, a fence composed of quince-
trees, with their delicately- tinted blossoms like
those of an apple-tree.

The principal public square is planted with
Eucalyptus and other Australian trees, which
seem to flourish well in Uruguay.

K

146 SOUTH AMERICAN SKETCHES

The inhabitants of the town congregate in this
square on fine summer evenings to listen to the
music of a military band, while breathing the
cooler air that comes with the approach of night,
and is rendered all the more enjoyable after the
scorching heat of the mid-day sun.

A peculiarity about the promenading upon
these occasions is that ladies and gentlemen
keep strictly apart, and one seldom sees them
intermingle.

Another source of amusement, though of an
intermittent kind, which the people of San Fruc-
tuoso possess, consists of a small but well-
appointed theatre, where sometimes travelling
actors make their appearance.

San Fructuoso, like other towns of its kind,
was not without its fair share of enterprising,
though unpleasant inhabitants. I refer to the
class the members of which prefer to make other
people support them, to working honestly them-
selves. Their calling was usually followed by
night, and in the unfrequented suburbs.

One of our men was attacked in a lonely spot,
but managed in the struggle that ensued to dis-
arm his antagonist, and carried., off a huge knife,

SAN FRUCTUOSO 147

which he took from him, as a trophy of victory.
On another occasion an attempt was made to rob
and murder an Italian, who was on his way to his
duty at night as cleaner of an engine. He, too, was
expert with his knife, and gave his assailant some
ugly gashes, only receiving scratches himself.
The aggressor finding that he was getting the
worst of the encounter blew a whistle, and imme-
diately a couple of policemen came running up
from a house close by. The robber with great
presence of mind gave our man in charge for an
attempt to murder him. He had managed to get
clear of his knife, and the only weapon to be
found was that in our man's hand, so that he was
arrested, and before he could get out had to pay
a fine of fourteen dollars for a murderous and
unprovoked attack upon a peaceful citizen who
was going about his business. At least that was
the view the authorities took of the case.

Another time a member of the staff, walking
along the road on the outskirts of the town after
dark, saw a man suddenly appear before him
going in the same direction. When he reached
a lonely spot the man in front stopped and turned
round. My friend immediately stepped out into

148 SOUTH AMERICAN SKETCHES

the middle of the road to proceed by it, such
being a very usual precaution to take in that
country. The man on the pathway also walked
out and barred his passage. Upon being remon-
strated with he replied that the road was a public
one, to the use of which all people were equally
entitled. " Good ! " said my friend, " you shall
have your choice; take either the main road or
the pathway, whichever you wish, and I will go
by the other ; but if you attempt to stop me, or
approach me, I will shoot you without further
notice," and suiting his action to the word he
covered the man with his revolver. After a
moment for reflection his opponent gave way
and allowed him to pass on unmolested, only
muttering some disparaging allusions as he
did so.

There is nothing in San Fructuoso calling for
special notice, but some of its surroundings have
considerable interest for those to whom Nature
in all her varied phases presents never-ending
attractions.

Upon the river Tacuarembo Chico, which flows
past it, one gets many glimpses of tranquil beauty
from a boat floating down the current in its

SAN FRUCTUOSO 149

normal summer condition. The width of the
stream then averages from forty to fifty yards,
with a depth of nine or ten feet, though in places
it is only two or three feet deep, affording good
crossing for those on horseback.

Here and there a double channel surrounds an
island, where wild fowl live a life of retirement
for the most part undisturbed. Then, again, the
surface of the water spreads out in a picturesque
bay, along the margin of which aquatic plants,
with flowers of various colours, form an indeter-
minate boundary. Both banks of the river are
for the most part thickly wooded. Willows with
a delicate yet luxuriant foliage, unknown in
colder climates, dip the points of their weeping
branches into the stream as it ripples past.
Forest trees make their appearance here and
there, while evergreens in endless variety, among
them a very fragrant one of the myrtle family
in full blossom, occupy the intervening space.
The crimson-flowering Mimosa, with its brush-
like blossoms, is to be seen on all sides ; nor are
climbing plants unrepresented in the general dis-
play. Bright yellow and delicate mauve-coloured
bignonias hang from the branches of the trees

150 SOUTH AMERICAN SKETCHES

around which they have entwined themselves,
contributing their full share to the brilliancy of
the scene. When the sun is not too high the
light and shade cast upon the varied foliage
intensifies the general effect; but, if the heated
glare wearies the beholder's eye, a soothing
change is easily obtainable by looking at the
mimic representation of the scene mirrored in
water as smooth as glass.

Animal life adds interest to these surroundings.
An occasional water-hog (carpincho) plunges into
the river from the bank on which he lay basking
lazily in the sun, uttering a bark-like grunt as he
disappears. The giant kingfisher drops from some
overhanging bough upon his finny prey, or betakes
himself to a more distant post, protesting, with
discordant chatter, against the disturbance of his
retreat. Two lesser relatives of his there are that
occasionally follow his example and contribute to
swell the volume of complaint.

While rowing in these placid waters one often
sees the dwarf-heron, the smallest of its tribe,
standing scarcely six inches high. It is a beauti-
ful little bird, with slate - coloured body and
yellow legs, a black crest and dark beak, also

SAN FRUCTUOSO 151

dark covering feathers to the wings, and a brown
stripe down the breast. White herons and others
of ordinary slate colour, exactly like our own at
home, from time to time fly up from some seques-
tered nook as we row along, and seek retirement
elsewhere. In the thicket the calandria sings
to his mate upon her nest, while from the
glades beyond the fringe of trees the plaintive
whistle of the larger partridge (martinetta) gives
warning of the approaching close of day. As
we turn a sudden bend in the river's course, a
flock of doves with a couple of hawks, frightened
into strange companionship by the approach of
a common enemy, fly off and leave us to pursue
our course till darkness falls upon us, and the
night-herons come out to follow their calling in
company with the vampire bats.

Near where I lived there was a placid lake,
on which the willows growing on its margin
were so clearly represented, that it was difficult
to say where the tree itself ended and its re-
flected image in the water began. Gay-coloured
blossoms of various aquatic plants decked the
surface of this lake in summer, their leaves
matted together forming floating islands, upon

152 SOUTH AMERICAN SKETCHES

and among which a numerous young family of
water-hens were wont to disport themselves.

They were most gaudy birds of the kind,
possessing red bodies and golden-coloured wings.
Such is a correct description of them when
flying, but when on the ground or in the
water, they appeared to be altogether red. It
must, therefore, have been the under side of the
wings only that was yellow.

Here, too, might frequently be seen a pair of
white herons standing patiently upon the bank,
awaiting a fitting opportunity when some foolish
young frog or other edible delicacy ventured
within reach of their long, sharp bills, to show
with what unerring swiftness and dexterity they
can strike their prey.

Any description of San Fructuoso and its sur-
roundings that did not embrace some notice of
the " fern grotto," not far distant from it,
would give but an imperfect impression of the
locality. Thither I will now ask my readers to
accompany me, and to rest for a while beneath
its grateful shade, while I endeavour to reproduce,
though in dim perspective, some of its leading
features. It lies hidden away among the hills,

SAN FRUCTUOSO 153

and one comes upon it unexpectedly, if unaccom-
panied by a guide. It is a perfect little gem of
almost tropical scenery, wholly unlike the character
of the surrounding country. It would look as if
it had been transferred from its natural position
by some magic power to a more southern latitude,
where men might view its beauties under more
comfortable conditions than are attainable in the
torrid zone.

The name, however, is somewhat misleading, as
there is no cave or grotto to be seen, but only a glen
flanked by steep rocky cliffs of most picturesque
appearance. Through it runs a rippling brook,
the banks of which are clothed with a rich growth
of ferns in great variety, among them being two
flowering kinds I had not seen before. Large
trees, with branches covered with mosses and
orchids, afford both shade and shelter to tree-ferns
varying in height from fifteen to nineteen feet.
The fronds of these latter are of immense size,
and delicately formed, shooting from a stem
almost worthy of a palm-tree, and hanging down
in graceful drooping curves. Here and there
beautiful flowers interpose between the ferns,
upon those favoured spots where sunlight falls

154 SOUTH AMERICAN SKETCHES

with unimpeded brightness, making up patches of
colouring that would charm an artist's eye.

The whole effect is lovely and soothing, and
it makes an impression upon the memory that
is very pleasant to recall. The power of Nature
is displayed in a manner so lavish, that were one
to try to copy it on canvas, the fault of over-
crowding could scarcely be avoided ; yet looking
around on all sides, I defy the most critical
observer to suggest a single alteration that would
improve the general effect.

You would, perhaps, remove that fallen tree or
those withered fern fronds, and leave nothing but
what was fresh and young and beautiful to be
seen ? My friend ! you would paint your land-
scape without lights and shades upon it. It
should present no hint of death or of decay. A
pleasant composition truly ! but only suited to
hang upon the walls of Paradise, and not well
calculated to appeal to beings such as we are,
with the force of Nature's own treatment of the
subject.

CHAPTER XIII
IN THE GARDEN

THERE are few places where a busy man can
spend a more enjoyable half -hour, when he
happens to have the rare good luck to be able
to indulge in an extravagance of the kind, than
in his garden. When so engaged his surround-
ings exert a soothing influence on his mind, and
tend to smooth the asperities only too often in-
cident to the occupations of an active life.

There is much to learn from observation on
occasions of the kind, if one enters the enclosure
with a mind prepared to receive instruction from
the best of all teachers, Nature herself, and to
carefully preserve the impressions thus derived
in the storehouse of his memory.

I hope it was in some such spirit as this that
I strolled into the garden one bright sunny day,
repeating to myself, while I walked along —

" As the sunflower turns on her god when he sets,

The same look which she turn'd when he rose,"

155

156 SOUTH AMERICAN SKETCHES

for a number of these golden blossoms attracted
my attention. But my poetical quotation was
cut short before I got more than half through
the verse, for the flowers themselves, of which
the poet sang, were flatly contradicting his state-
ment regarding their habits. There was the sun
high up in the sky, and not one of his floral
worshippers had turned to look at him. On the
contrary, they were mostly looking at each other,
or on the ground ; but none of them ventured to
stare up straight overhead, perhaps from the fear
of getting a sun-stroke.

Surely the poets (for many, both ancient and
modern, have written on the subject) cannot
have meant that the regard of the sunflower for
the luminary of the day was of an intermittent
nature, restricted to a look turned towards him
twice in the twenty-four hours, when he rose in
the morning and set at night. Moore, at least,
cannot have intended to convey an impression of
this kind, for the lines which follow those I have
quoted clearly indicate that the gaze of the sun-
flower towards her god was of a continuous nature,
following his diurnal track in the heavens. One
can't help feeling just a little sorry for the sun-

IN THE GARDEN 157

flower, and unwilling to mention anything that
would tend to lower its status. This is especially
the case when we reflect that not so long ago
it was brought before us by the professors of
aesthetic art as being the most lovely and high-
class flower of the garden, " a thing of beauty
and a joy for ever." It was to form the model
by which those people who set up for culture
should regulate their lives.

Alas that it should be so ! but it is sadly to
be feared that these professors were themselves
blind leaders of the blind, for as the sunflower
faded, the lily blossomed forth in all its purity,
and a new aesthetic prophet told us to worship
and live up to it.

Philosophers of this cult are lavish in their
praises of its superiority to anything of the kind
that had hitherto appeared. This may be so,
but, for my part, I should not consider the life it
necessitated as altogether one of self-denial.

As to the purity of the lily, that is indisput-
able, and it furnishes a high example in this
respect; but the plant possesses other charac-
teristics that may not be generally considered so
worthy of imitation. For example, it leads a

158 SOUTH AMERICAN SKETCHES

proverbially sluggish and idle life, and has an
amazing power of absorbing liquids, qualities to
which man is sufficiently prone, especially in hot
climates, without the necessity for any extra en-
couragement to cultivate such habits.

Perhaps these little difficulties might be over-
come by substituting as the exemplar a less
thirsty flower for that popular favourite, the lily
of the Nile.

Close beside the sunflowers in the garden stood
one that I could recommend, a white trumpet-
lily. It is true that its petals had a delicate,
crimson - coloured, feathery marking which took
somewhat from the purity of their whiteness;
but then the flower was abstemious enough in
the matter of drinking to satisfy the most rigid
teetotaler, though I can't say whether it is less
lazy than its Egyptian relative.

There is a gorgeous flower of the same family,
somewhat like our Scarborough lily, but I sup-
pose that would shock aesthetic tastes ; and, after
all, to live up to a scarlet flower is more than can
be reasonably expected from ordinary mortals.

Leaving worshippers of the higher art to settle
all such questions relating to the objects of their

IN THE GARDEN 159

adoration, we, with humbler pretensions, may occupy
our leisure moments in a survey of the pleasant
scene before us. Beautiful flowers grow luxu-
riantly on all sides, so that the eye rests with
satiated pleasure on its surroundings.

Nor is it inanimate Nature alone that supplies
objects of interest to the observer. While gazing
at the flowers I almost trod unawares upon an
army of black ants that were endeavouring to
force a passage through the territory of their
red relations. The latter are of much smaller
size, but they make up for any deficiency in
this respect by an extra venomous and fiery
disposition. It is wonderful how quickly one
of them can dispose of an antagonist so much
larger than himself,* as the black ant is. His
usual plan of action is to begin by biting off
his foe's legs, and when he has finished this
part of the operation he quietly hoists the
mutilated trunk on to his back, and walks away
with his load, to hide it in a place of safety as
an article of food for future use, just as a dog
secretes a bone when he is not hungry, or has
not sufficient time to devote to the consideration
of it at the moment.

160 SOUTH AMERICAN SKETCHES

With the red ants it is not easy to get on
friendly terms, they are so prone to treat all
overtures of the kind with distrust, and to meet
them with hostile demonstrations. With the
black ones it is less difficult to arrive at a
modus videndi, especially out of doors. As an
engineer I am naturally interested in all in-
dustrial proceedings, and bound to watch with
pleasure the work of these busiest of creatures.
But when it comes to the building of ant-hills,
about the size of small haycocks, on one's bed-
room floor, the annoyance and inconvenience far
outweigh other considerations, and it becomes
necessary to protest against a trespass of the
kind.

The worst of it is, that they look upon all such
remonstrances as unreasonable, and this produces
strained relations, which frequently end in open
war. My experience is, that if once you begin
to fight with ants, whatever may be their colour,
there is no peace to be had till every one of
them is driven out of the locality or otherwise
accounted for.

There were other inhabitants of the place, or
rather migratory visitors to it, that spent much

IN THE GARDEN 161

of their time in the garden. They were the
humming-birds, the most charming little creatures
in existence. As they darted about from flower
to flower, with the sunshine reflected from their
feathers, they looked as if they were animated
gems — emeralds and rubies. At times when
they rested, perched upon a telegraph wire, and
twittered their experiences to each other, one
could almost fancy they were part of a fairy
creation.

Very friendly feathered acquaintances in the
garden were the oven-birds. They seek the
dwellings of men, and build their nests in their
vicinity, apparently for safety and companionship.
The bird is not quite so large as a thrush, of
a brown colour, and has an unmusical song of
its own, of which it is quite as proud in its way
as the nightingale might be of its unmatched
performance. The name is derived from the
character of the bird's nest, which is a round,
dome-shaped structure, built of mud, and bear-
ing some resemblance to the primitive baking
ovens one occasionally meets with in the country.
It is divided internally by a partition into two
compartments communicating with each other,

162 SOUTH AMERICAN SKETCHES

that next the door doing duty for an entrance
hall, and the one inside being the dwelling-room,
or nest proper.

At first I thought the two rooms suggested a
rather conceited sort of bird, that fancied itself
higher in the social scale than most others of the
feathered tribe, which are content with one apart-
ment. The nest being roofed in I did not mind
so much, for many other birds also adopt that
wise arrangement. A peculiar strut in the oven-
bird's walk seemed to corroborate the idea as to
its having an exaggerated opinion of its own
importance.

In this estimate of its character I was wrong,
and I now publicly retract it, and apologise for
having attributed such unworthy motives as pride
or conceit to the oven-bird.

I had an opportunity of seeing the great prac-
tical advantage of its style of domestic architec-
ture. A pair of birds of this description built
their nest on the cornice of the house in which
I lived, and their young family were brought up
in it, and almost fledged and ready for flight,
when a stranger called to visit them one day
while their parents were absent. It was by no

IN THE GARDEN 163

means the sort of acquaintance that the old birds
would have chosen for their children, for the
visitor was no other than a kestrel. It alighted
at the nest, the door of which was too small to
admit of its entering, but it stretched in first one
of its claws and then the other, and made several
attempts to seize and drag out some of the young
inmates. At this point I came to their rescue,
and the kestrel flew to a tree close by, where it
watched my movements, coming back to the
nest when I went away, and renewing its at-
tempts to get at the young birds, but unsuccess-
fully. Had there been only one room in that
home, it is scarcely probable that the attack of
the hawk would have ended fruitlessly as it did.

There was a further interest for me attaching
to this particular nest, for when the oven-birds
were- done with it, and their young ones had
grown up and gone out into the world, two
swallows took possession of the nest, attracted
to it, possibly, by the recommendation of its
burglar - proof qualities, and brought up their
family in it also.

I may here mention that the swallow proper
of South America is not the same bird as the

164 SOUTH AMERICAN SKETCHES

European one, being larger and clumsier, and
having a less sharply forked tail than the latter.
But as regards house-martins, after repeated and
close observations of them, they seemed to me to
be the same in both countries.

It was not only in the daytime that the garden
proved an agreeable retreat. Frequently in the
evenings I used to sit there, breathing the cool
refreshing air after a day of more than usual heat
in summer, and gazing at the Southern Cross,
which I would have willingly exchanged for the
Ursa Major of the northern hemisphere.

It must be confessed, however, that the voices
of the night, breaking the surrounding stillness
from time to time, were sometimes neither musical
nor attractive. There is an extraordinary race
of frogs inhabiting the neighbourhood of a lake
close by the garden I have been describing,
that " mew " like a cat. Their vocal performances
are evidently controlled by a single conductor
or bandmaster. In the midst of the most pro-
found silence, one may be startled to hear what
seems at first to be the mewing of a cat. The
spell is broken, and a thousand other throats
take up the cry, repeating it with monotonous

IN THE GARDEN 165

iteration, until at some preconcerted signal all
stop together as suddenly as they began. Then
the large frog of discontented mind and grumbling
habits, never tired of airing his own grievances
in a note of deepest bass, addresses the assembled
multitude, receiving croaks of approbation from
time to time when he makes a point of more
than usual force. I feel certain that the subject
of his discourse, whenever I have listened to him,
was always the same — a strong denunciation of
the railway people, who had drained his native
swamp to some extent, thus lessening his " marshy
joys." In fact, his estimate of the progress of his
country was that it was going from bad to worse
with the speed of an express train and the ease
with which the Latin poet tells us the descent
to Avernus can be made, a sentiment in which
the others of his kind appeared to concur
unanimously.

Next came the little green tree-frog, that ad-
dressed the audience in a musical voice, with a
metallic ring in it. This family take a much
less depressing view of things in general than
that entertained by the preceding orator. They
sing in chorus a more lively refrain, that seems

1 66 SOUTH AMERICAN SKETCHES

to indicate a belief in the approach of better
times.

Lastly, there was a frog in that neighbour-
hood with a voice like the note of a policeman's
whistle, which he often sounded when he thought
that the others had been discoursing or occupy-
ing public attention too long. This frog seems
to discharge a somewhat similar function among
batrachians to that for which the clepsydra, or
water-clock, was used by the ancient Greeks — to
regulate the period allotted to speakers.

As regards its peculiar note, several times
have I been startled by it, thinking that a
policeman was calling for assistance.

But by far the most weird of the voices of
the night was the cry of the brown stork. The
first time I heard it I was going into the garden,
when dreadful shrieks, that seemed to be uttered
by some one in great agony, reached my ear.
I felt sure a murder was being committed quite
close to me, -^07 revolver in hand, I rushed to
the spot from whence the sounds seemed to
come, but could find nothing to account for
them. I feared that I had come upon the scene
too late to be of any use, that the crime had

IN THE GARDEN 167

been already accomplished, and the victim's voice
silenced in death, while darkness favoured the
murderer's escape.

In pursuing my search I disturbed a stork of
the kind to which I have alluded, and it flew
away, repeating as it went off a series of dreadful
shrieks similar to those that had at first startled
me, thus affording an explanation of the mystery
of the moment.

CHAPTER XIV
THE FOUR-LEAFED SHAMROCK

" I'LL seek a four-leafed shamrock " sang the
minstrel, and, if I remember rightly, in the event
of his search being successful he expected to
become surpassingly fortunate and happy for the
remainder of his life.

Well, the bard's romantic wish, for the ac-
complishment of which he was prepared to travel
over the entire surface of the globe, was realised
in my case, at least so far as obtaining a specimen
of the magic plant is concerned. Nor was I
looking for it at the time. On the contrary,
I was merely gathering wild flowers when I came
upon and secured a specimen of the four-leafed
shamrock itself. _~

Ever since that auspicious moment I have
been awaiting the advent of the extra happiness
and good fortune that my precious possession
is to bring me. In fact I am living in a state

1 68

THE FOUR-LEAFED SHAMROCK 169

of perpetual suspense, like Sidney Smith's de-
scription of a " young clergyman distantly related
to a bishop." Of course I know that the good
luck must come sooner or later, but occasional
doubts will arise, suggesting that it is stopping
over long upon the way. In the meanwhile I
may occupy myself by describing other kindred
plants in Uruguay.

There are many trefoils to be met with, all of
them closely allied to each other, and to the
shamrock from which I plucked my treasure,
though differing from it in some essential re-
spects. The most common, and at the same
time the brightest and most showy, of them I
will call the mid- winter primrose, from the time
of the year at which its blossoms make their
appearance, and their strong resemblance to our
own favourite spring flower. They are, however,
less delicate in shade, being more of a bright
sulphur-yellow.

Here I may mention that, in Uruguay, winter
lacks much of the conventional character of
desolation with which we, in northern latitudes,
are accustomed to associate it. It is true that
there the clouds occasionally open their sluice-

i;o SOUTH AMERICAN SKETCHES

gates and pour down torrents of rain upon the
thirsty earth, which has grown brown and parched
by summer droughts, until the rivers flood the
districts through which they flow, so that the
eye grows weary of the waste of waters stretched
out before it. But when the floods subside, the
desolate scene is replaced with marvellous rapidity
by a rich green growth of grass sprinkled every-
where with flowers peculiar to the season.

In addition to the mid-winter primrose, two
other trefoils then blossom forth with similarly-
shaped flowers, but differing in colour, one of
them being white and the other pink.

The normal number of petals of all three, as
in the case of our own primrose, is five, but in
this respect both they and it present many ex-
amples with great variety of numbers.

There is another little trefoil common enough
in Uruguay, the blossom of which is yellow in
colour, and very minute, but differently shaped,
being somewhat -like that of the ordinary clover.

I sometimes think that it was a pity Saint
Patrick did not meet with it, and select it as an
emblem for his beloved country. Upon each of
its leaves is impressed a small but perfectly-

THE FOUR-LEAFED SHAMROCK 171

shaped heart in a rich chocolate-colour, on a deep
green ground. It would perhaps be more ex-
plicit were I to adopt the phraseology of the
kennel to express my meaning, and describe it as
a liver-coloured heart ; but the association of ideas
suggested by the composite term is rather too
anatomical for my purpose.

It appears to me that the trefoil in question
would represent Hibernian peculiarities more
suitably and neatly than the ordinary shamrock
does. Its softer and brighter green corresponds
more closely with the verdant appearance of the
isle itself, while the shrinking nature of the plant
would convey a delicate intimation of the modest
and retiring side of the Irish character, too often
overlooked by those who criticise us. Then, I
may add, what better emblem could possibly be
found for a land where hearts are always trumps,
than that which bears upon its leaves the effigy
of a human heart, an organ conventionally ac-
cepted as being the source of man's warmest and
most susceptible qualities ?

It is now too late, I fear, to suggest a change
of emblems, with any hope of its being generally
adopted. If Saint Patrick had not been in such

172 SOUTH AMERICAN SKETCHES

a hurry, all might yet be satisfactorily arranged
in this respect ; but Irishmen, whether saints or
sinners, are always too much inclined to be
impetuous.

Of course I cannot but be aware that in treating
Saint Patrick as being unquestionably an Irishman
by birth, I am falling foul of the fond aspirations
of those enthusiastic Scots who would like to
claim him as a countryman of their own, and of
the historians who assert that he was born in
Gaul, and brought over captive to Ireland by that
celebrated warrior, " Mall of the Nine Hostages,"
who sold the future saint into slavery in Armagh
for the price of a yearling calf. As regards the
claim of the Scotchmen, I don't blame them in
the least degree for striving to associate Saint
Patrick with Saint Andrew in the responsibilities
of the position of patron saint and representative
of their country. I grant them, too, that the Irish
were first called Scots, and whatever advantage
they can derive from that they are justly entitled
to ; but with every wish to oblige our neighbours
in all reasonable matters, I cannot bring myself
to willingly resign to them our national saint.

Looking next to the pretensions set up on

THE FOUR-LEAFED SHAMROCK 173

behalf of Gaul, they rest in my opinion upon an
unphilosophical treatment of the historical element
in the question. The contention appears to be
that because the youth, who afterwards became
the saint, was found in Gaul, he must, therefore,
have been born there. This is a clear case of
non sequitur. If you find that curiosity " a fly in
amber," it by no means follows that the insect
was born in the interior of the solid in which
it has been discovered imbedded.

The fact is worthy of consideration, that there
was a considerable amount of intercourse between
Ireland and Gaul, and many other parts of the
continent of Europe, at and before the period to
which our speculations relate. Did not the
celebrated Irish warrior, Carausius, a County
Wexford man, become Roman Emperor ? And
if we read the history of our country carefully,
we shall find that Irish monarchs and soldiers of
fortune of those times were perpetually leading
military expeditions into Gaul and elsewhere. It
may, therefore, well be the case that the future
Saint Patrick, when a boy, accompanied one
of them as page, or in some other honourable
capacity, and that he was captured and left

174 SOUTH AMERICAN SKETCHES

behind, to be subsequently recaptured and brought
back to Ireland by " Niall of the Nine Hostages,"
who, with that aptitude for business transactions
for which he was celebrated, turned him at once
into ready money.

I will only refer to one other circumstance
which seems to me to point strongly to Ireland
as the place of Saint Patrick's birth. It is but
natural that any man, and especially a saint,
should love his native country above all others.
Did not Saint Patrick, I would ask, show extra
affection for Ireland in banishing from her shores
both snakes and toads for ever, while he pro-
nounced no similar interdict, as far as history
records, against them either in Gaul or Caledonia ?

CHAPTER XV
THE SNAKE IN THE GRASS

Latet anguis in herbd, so runs the Latin proverb ;
and perhaps a well-bred snake that knows what
is expected of it, and acts up to its responsi-
bilities, does usually lie concealed in the grass.
Nor have I any great personal objection to the
habit, provided I happen to be wearing long boots
when I come across one. But if the classical
authority is correct in this matter, then all I
can say is, that I must have mixed in anything
but good serpentine society, for those I have
met, and their name is legion, were by no
means always hidden away in the grass. They
frequently appeared to wish for no concealment
whatever, but, on the contrary, were inclined to
make their presence both known and felt, and
that, too, in awkward places, and at the most
inconvenient times. If I were called upon to
express an opinion in the matter, it would be to

176 SOUTH AMERICAN SKETCHES

the effect that no\vhere are you so likely to meet
with them as where you least expect to do so.

For example, who would think a biscuit-box
or a teapot a probable place in which to find
a living specimen of the kind ? And yet they
have been known to try a temporary residence
in both these places. I would appeal to any
qualified judge in the matter to say whether
it is " good form " for a snake to insist upon
making a morning call hi your bedroom, just
at the critical moment when you are in your
bath, and wholly unprepared for the reception
of strangers. I have an unpleasant recollection
of a visit of the kind. What made matters
more uncomfortable was that the unbidden
guest did not come alone, but in company
with a great, lumbering, ill-visaged toad, with
which it affected to be having a game of romps,
though I am inclined to think that it meant
the sport to end in breakfast. I confess the
reception I gave that snake was not of a nature
to encourage the cultivation of any closer in-
timacy between us, or characterised by any high
appreciation of the duties of hospitality, and it
left in a hurry.

THE SNAKE IN THE GRASS 177

When I turned round to attend to the toad,
which had been momentarily overlooked in the
more animated interview with the snake, it
flopped clumsily into the bath, just as if it
did not know where it was going. Here was
an aggravation to my annoyance, and I called
my servant to aid me. He was an Irishman,
long resident in South America, yet still re-
tained a fresh and fervent hatred of snakes and
toads that would have done credit to Saint Patrick
himself in olden times. The expression he made
use of, however, when he took in the position
of affairs was anything but saintly. He was a
man of resources, and after the first outburst
he said, " Wait, sir, till I lasso him." In a very
short time he returned with a piece of fine cord
and a loop at the end of it, with which he
dexterously entangled the toad, and carried it
off in triumph.

It is a wonderful country for the use of the
lasso ; nearly everything is done there by its
aid. I almost believe that if a dentist in South
America had to extract a tooth, he would begin
the operation by lassoing the patient.

That snakes eat toads I have had frequent

M

1 78 SOUTH AMERICAN SKETCHES

opportunities of learning from niy own observa-
tion, having often witnessed the pursuit, the
capture, and the repast. Once I came across
the dead body of a snake which had been cut
in two upon the railway by a passing train, and
in its mouth, still held fast, was a toad, also dead.
One of our engineers had an experience con-
nected with a bath and a snake which I may
narrate here, though it throws my own story
that I have given above somewhat into the
shade, inasmuch as it includes the additional
fact that the intelligence of a dog is strikingly
exhibited by it. The engineer in question was
returning from taking a bath, and walking along
a pathway on which his dog was lying down.
When my friend got close to the spot, instead
of the affectionate reception he was accustomed
to, he was met by a savage growl, followed by a
sharp, angry bark, indicating the determination
of the dog to bar the passage. Looking about
him in surprise for some explanation of this
extraordinary conduct on the part of an animal
whose usual manners were perfect of their kind,
he discovered a large snake lying in the path, just
before him. Thereupon he retreated cautiously,

THE SNAKE IN THE GRASS 179

and having procured a stick, returned to settle
the disputed " right of way " with the snake, which
he killed. When this was accomplished, but not
till then, the dog's demeanour changed, and he
gave vent to his natural feelings, explaining as
well as he could the cause of his previous strange
behaviour, and exhibiting in an unmistakable
manner his delight at the escape of his master
from a danger so imminent.

As a general rule, one only makes the ac-
quaintance of individual snakes at a time, though
we do read of their being met with occasionally
in the Western States of North America coiled
up together in great numbers, in the form of a
pyramid. Exceptional circumstances, however,
gave me the opportunity of seeing a great many
of them in one locality in Uruguay. A valley,
in which there was much thick brushwood and
coarse grass, and known to be a favourite haunt
of snakes, was suddenly flooded, so that they had
to swim to dry land in search of new quarters.
While thus engaged I saw numbers of them in
the water, apparently well able to take care of
themselves, and swimming strongly.

The result of this migration of the snakes was

i8o SOUTH AMERICAN SKETCHES

that the rock embankments of the railway and
its broken stone ballast in that locality became
thickly inhabited by a colony of them, which
made one careful how he picked his steps when
walking along the line, as at least two kinds of
the snakes to be met with there were venomous.
If so, it is only fair to them to state that we lost
no men from snake bites, and only one man on
the railway works died from the bite of a toad.
When my Irish servant told me of his death I
inquired the cause of the fatality, and received
the characteristic reply, " A frog bit him."

CHAPTER XVI

LAW AND LAWYERS

MANY people find occupation in wondering how
it happens that legal proceedings, which are
designed to keep matters working in a straight
and even groove, where injustice should find no
place, so frequently produce results exactly the
reverse of what they are. intended to accomplish.

The explanation of this appears plain enough,
if one will only take the trouble to look for it
in the right place.

Why start by tying a bandage over the eyes
of Justice, and then expect her to see all the
more clearly for it, just as if she were a "thought-
reader" intent upon finding a pin hidden away
in some very unusual cushion ? How can she
possibly know when some weight has been put
into one of the .scales she holds so fairly balanced
in her hand, in order to bring it down unduly ?
Depend upon it, many of the miscarriages of

181

1 82 SOUTH AMERICAN SKETCHES

justice, and the wrongs committed by her repre-
sentatives, in her name, are due to her bandaged
eyes in the game of legal " blind man's buff."

South America presents a wide field for in-
vestigating the curious problems that so often
arise out of legal proceedings. The growth of
lawyers there somewhat resembles the ordinary
vegetation of the country in its tropical profusion,
and the similitude extends to the rank legal
weeds sometimes to be met with. These tend
at times to choke and conceal the purer and
more wholesome vegetation.

It is a pity that such should be the case, as I
have met with many excellent men connected
with the law in South America who would re-
flect credit upon any country. It must not be
forgotten that it is not about such as they are,
but about exceptional members of the legal pro-
fession, that I am now writing. My personal ex-
perience of this latter class is scarcely of sufficient
importance to be recalled, except as exhibiting a
phase of the matter that is not without interest.

Some of these peculiar people to whom I have
referred endeavoured to organise opposition to
the railway on the part of the landowners, that

LA W AND LA WYERS 183

gave us a good deal of trouble. Others went
about among our workmen and sub-contractors,
inquiring whether they had any complaints to
make of us, and generously offering, if they had,
to take legal proceedings against us on their be-
half, free of cost to the claimant.

One sub-contractor, who was doing his work so
badly that we were obliged to take it out of his
hands and finish it ourselves, listened to the per-
suasion of a philanthropic lawyer of the kind I
have described, and made large demands upon us
for damages. The strange part of the business
was, that the contractor's excuse for the manner
in which his work was done had previously been
that his prices were too low, and consequently
he could not afford to do any better, as he was
losing heavily by his contract.

But when the lawsuit began it changed the
whole aspect of affairs, for it then appeared that
his anticipated profits, which he had been pre-
vented realising, amounted to even more than the
total estimated cost of the works he had under-
taken to complete. This was a curious circum-
stance, which I thought would of itself be
sufficient to dispose of the matter.

184 SOUTH AMERICAN SKETCHES

But in this I was mistaken, as the judge did
not appear to think it strange that a part should be
greater than the whole, notwithstanding Euclid's
opinion to the contrary. The lawsuit dragged its
slow length along from month to month, and we
were threatened with all manner of pains and
penalties, the least of which was an application
for an injunction to prevent the railway being
opened for traffic until the case was settled.
Matters looked very gloomy, and while still in this
condition the judge before whom the case was
proceeding required further proof on some point
from our opponent.

This gave great offence. His lawyer rushed
into print, and published a violent letter in the
local newspaper, taxing the judge with corruption,
and boldly asserting that he had been bribed
(contempt of court does not appear to have
reached that region yet). Our lawyer was de-
lighted ; he rubbed his hands with glee, and said
the case was as good as won for us. Nor was he
far wrong in his opinion, for shortly afterwards
overtures for a settlement were made by the
opposite side, which resulted in their accepting,
as payment in full, the amount we had been

LA W AND LA WYERS 185

prepared to lodge in court at the opening of the
trial, ^as the balance due to the contractor on
account of the works executed by him up to
the time when they had been taken out of his
hands.

I subsequently heard that this settlement gave
rise to a new complication between the lawyer
and his client, as the former not only absorbed
the whole of the money we paid, but demanded
more, what he had received being, he said, insuf-
ficient to pay his costs.

But it is necessary to go beyond the confines
of Uruguay to other parts of South America if we
desire to study the subject of law and lawyers on
a larger and higher scale.

An extraordinary and suggestive case occurred
in a neighbouring republic in the year 1892.

A farmer, in a lonely situation, with no one but
his wife living in the house with him, sold some
cattle one evening to a dealer who was passing
by. That night there was a knock at his door,
and when it was opened two men with blackened
faces rushed in, and demanded the money re-
ceived for the cattle. The farmer was a plucky
fellow, and gave a flat refusal to the request,

i86 SOUTH AMERICAN SKETCHES

whereupon the robbers tied him up and threatened
to kill him. His frightened wife pleaded for her
husband, and offered to show where the money
was hidden if only they would spare his life.
This proposition being agreed to, one man
mounted guard over his prisoner, while the other
accompanied the woman into the bedroom to
get the money. There she placed the candle on
a table, and opened a chest containing clothes to
look for the object of her search.

It proved, however, to be of a very different
kind to what the robbers expected.

She laid hold of a loaded revolver, with which
she shot the man who had accompanied her to
the room, and when his companion, hearing the
noise, rushed to the door and saw what had hap-
pened, and that the woman had got him carefully
covered with the weapon she had shown herself
so expert in using, he fled from the house in dis-
may. The courageous wife then set free her
husband, and they prepared to resist another
attack, expecting that the man who escaped
would return with a stronger party during the
night-time. But they were not further molested,
and when the neighbours and police visited the

LAW AND LA WYBRS 187

scene next morning, it was discovered that the
dead body lying in the house was that of the
attorney-general of the district.

One of the newspapers headed its comments
on the affair with the title of "A nice thing in
Attorney-Generals," while another publicly ex-
pressed the opinion that the robber who had
escaped was most probably a judge of the
criminal court.

This was certainly a strange development, for
in the present day one does not expect to find
prominent officers of justice emulating the his-
toric exploits of Dick Turpin and his brotherhood
of the road.

More recently a curious case, also unconnected
with Uruguay, arose out of ordinary law pro-
ceedings ; not amateur acting like the example
previously cited, but a regular performance upon
the ordinary legal stage. I am obliged to admit,
however, that one of the actors in it belonged to
my own profession.

It was the case of a railway which crossed
some swampy iand in a remote district, taking a
portion of it that was valued by experts in the
usual way. But the price they put upon it did

i88 SOUTH AMERICAN SKETCHES

not satisfy the owner, and the matter went to
legal arbitration.

The company's representative was willing to
give double the valuation in order to settle the
question out of court, but the landowner's arbi-
trator stood out for between two and three
hundred times the valuation. An engineer was
called in to act as umpire, and he fixed the price
at about one hundred times the value placed
upon the land by the original experts.

Against this decision the railway company
appealed to the court, but the judge confirmed
it. The peculiarities of the transaction were
stated by a newspaper commenting upon it to
be, that the nominal proprietor and his arbi-
trator were subsequently discovered to be partners
in the ownership of the land, while the judge
who decided the case was a third partner, and
the paper added that the umpire laboured under
strong public suspicion of being a fourth.

I knew of a railway which at one part of its
length passed through an extensive property that,
at the time I mention, was before* the court for
the purpose of having the succession to it formally
declared. There were so many heirs who laid

LA W AND LA WYERS 189

claim to an interest in it, that the difficulty of
deciding between them, or apportioning the rela-
tive shares in which they were entitled to in-
herit it, appears to have quite surpassed the
judge's arithmetical powers, so he was said to
have hit upon the simpler expedient of throwing
over the claimants altogether, and divided the
property between himself and an individual high
in power.

Another curious case came to my knowledge
incidentally. I was sitting reading in my room
in a hotel in a remote district one night, when
I heard a knock at the door, which was then
opened, and in walked an officer, who gave me a
polite message from the governor of an adjoining
province in a neighbouring republic, who also
happened to be there at the time, and, hearing
of my presence, politely sent to ask me to come
hi and have coffee with him. Upon entering his
room I found a number of gentlemen collected
there. The conversation was of a general char-
acter, but it was easy to see it was no ordinary
social gathering, and that the object of their
meeting must relate to some business of im-
portance. I therefore remained but a short time

190 SOUTH AMERICAN SKETCHES

with the assembled company, and then took my
departure, leaving them to proceed with the work
they had in hand, of which I subsequently dis-
covered the nature.

A claim to establish a right to a very large tract
of land had been before the court for years, with-
out any prospect of a settlement being arrived at.
In fact, the lawsuit was said to have been an
heirloom in the family of the claimant, handed
down from father to son, until it came to the
representative in the present generation. He was
one of those philosophical people believing in the
maxim that " half a loaf is better than no bread,"
and it was said he endeavoured to convert some
influential persons to his views in this respect.

There are people who seem to be able to
command success, and he was one of them.
Justice, that had been sleeping soundly for many
previous generations, suddenly awoke, and de-
cided the lawsuit in his favour, and the gentle-
men whom I had seen at the hotel were met
together to arrange the necessary proceedings for
giving effect to the decree of court. The result
was the wholesale eviction of a district as large
as an Irish county.

LA W AND LA WYERS 191

Indulging in peculiar legal practice, however,
occasionally gets one into trouble, and sometimes
into something else. I remember hearing of a
judge who tried the game once too often, and as
a consequence, became himself the inmate of a
prison, to which he had in his time consigned
many a delinquent.

CHAPTER XVII

AMATEUR DIPLOMACY

" ONE never knows what he can do till he tries "
is a trite but true saying. His capabilities may
lie hidden and undiscovered by casual observers,
and even unsuspected by himself, until the divin-
ing rod of necessity upon being applied indicates
their existence and nature. I have not served in
the "foreign office," nor studied in the school
that teaches the chief use of words is to conceal
one's thoughts, and yet, when brought face to face
with a diplomatic difficulty — and I have had to
enter the lists without being encased in the usual
educational armour for protection in an encounter
of the kind — I think I may, without undue boast-
ing, claim to have been fairly successful.

One day a man of ours went into the town of
Santa Ana do Libramento, in Brazil, with a couple
of saddled horses for the use of engineers who
were stopping at the hotel there. After he had

AMATEUR DIPLOMACY 193

passed the police barracks he heard a whistle, and
upon looking round saw a policeman, who said he
wanted to speak to him. Our man replied he
would come back in a moment, when he had left
the horses at the hotel, to which he pointed, a few
yards farther on in the street. This he did, but
on his way back, instead of going straight to the
police office he most improperly stopped at a
shop to buy a packet of cigarettes. While so
engaged the policeman entered and demanded
why he had not stopped at once when first
accosted. An angry altercation ensued, and the
policeman drew his sword, which our man wrested
from him and threw away. The representative
of law and order next produced his revolver, but
was speedily disarmed of this weapon also, and it
shared the fate of the sword.

At this stage of the proceedings some other
policemen came running up, and separated the
combatants. They then arrested our man and
took him to the barracks, where he was brought
up at once before the officer in charge. The first
thing done was to search him, when, fortunately,
he was found to have no weapon of any kind
about him. The officer then demanded what he

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194 SOUTH AMERICAN SKETCHES

meant by trying to murder the policeman, and
drawing his sword, gave the prisoner a severe cut
with it across the head and arm, following up the
attack by a thrust which the intended victim
avoided by springing hastily aside.

In the meanwhile his master, who was the
engineer in charge of the adjoining district of the
railway, and resided close by, called at the police
office, saw the officer, and expressed his regret
for any misconduct his servant had been guilty
of, and offered at the same time to give satis-
factory bail for his appearance when called upon,
if they would let him out in order that his
wounds might be dressed. This request was
rudely refused, and our engineer was turned out
of the office ; but later in the day the man was
set free, and no subsequent proceedings were
taken against him.

I laid the case before her Majesty's minister
at Montevideo, a most accomplished and obliging
gentleman, who at once undertook to have the
matter properly represented to the Brazilian
Government at Rio de Janeiro. For this purpose
he required the sworn depositions of the Brazilian
people who had been spectators of the scene.

AMATEUR DIPLOMACY 195

These latter, although strong in their denunciation
of the action of the police at the time, were afraid
to put their testimony in writing, saying they
should be marked down for subsequent injury if
they did so. Lacking these necessary documents,
regular diplomacy could not be put in motion,
so that we were thrown back upon our own
resources. We had a large intercourse with
Brazil at the time, and were in the habit of buy-
ing a considerable quantity of timber and other
materials for the construction of the railway there,
and I feared if we allowed the matter to drop
the police would consider themselves privileged to
treat our people with scant consideration, which
might place us in a very awkward position at
times. I therefore adopted the course I thought
most likely to bring them to a more rational frame
of mind. I issued orders that no person em-
ployed upon our railway works in Uruguay should
cross the frontier of Brazil, and that no further
purchases of material should be made there.
This, as I anticipated it would, produced immense
dissatisfaction. Several merchants and others
begged me to withdraw the order ; but I was
obdurate, and refused to do so. I made it clear

196 SOUTH AMERICAN SKETCHES

to them that we were obliged to protect ourselves
against a recurrence of such treatment as we had
already received at the hands of the police.

Different people volunteered to negotiate an
arrangement of the difficulty between us and
Brazil, but I declined the offer of their good
offices, and refused to enter into any negotiations
until I had received a written apology from the
authorities.

When this unsatisfactory position of affairs had
lasted for some time, there carne to me one day
an officer with whom I was well acquainted, and
told me he was closely related to the general
commanding upon the southern frontier of Brazil.
He explained that his relative was very much
annoyed at what had happened, and most anxious
to put an end to the unfriendly feeling existing
at the time. For this purpose he desired to know
what would satisfy me, so as to withdraw my
prohibition, and allow matters to resume the
original condition which they occupied before
the dispute arose.

My demand required a written apology, ex-
pressing regret for the occurrence, and an under-
taking that nothing of the kind should happen

AMATEUR DIPLOMACY 197

again; the public reprimand and punishment of
the officer who had attacked and wounded an
unarmed prisoner, also of the policeman with
whom the quarrel originated ; and lastly, the
issuing of explicit orders that all persons em-
ployed upon the railway were to be treated with
due regard to what is customary in similar cases
among civilised nations.

These terms were at once agreed to, and I ain
bound to say were carried out in no grudging or
slipshod manner. Even more than I had asked
for was conceded : the policemen of the station
were all removed to the interior and replaced by
new men, and matters upon the frontier, so far as
concerned us, worked well and smoothly for the
remainder of the time occupied in the construc-
tion of the railway.

On another occasion 1 had a somewhat per-
plexing experience in overcoming a diplomatic
difficulty. The engineers and other members of
the staff had been working very willingly and
hard, early and late, and I thought in recognition
of this satisfactory condition of affairs I would
give them a dinner at Christmas time in the
hotel. My intention was to restrict the guests

198 SOUTH AMERICAN SKETCHES

to those who were employed upon the railway,
but this was frustrated by the civility of a friend.
He was the colonel of a cavalry regiment quar-
tered in the town where we were to dine, and,
upon hearing of our intended festivity, he begged
to be allowed to send his band, which was a very
good one, to play for us on the occasion. His
kindly proposal could not well be declined without
the danger of giving offence, which it was particu-
larly desirable to avoid. Having accepted the
offer, I had, of course, to ask the colonel himself
to make one of the party, explaining at the same
time the strictly private nature of the entertain-
ment, to which, had it been a public one, we
would have extended the invitations to his
officers also.

It then became necessary to ask the chief
civilian of the place, the Gefe Politico, for fear
of creating jealousy.

Upon the day of our festivities we met at the
hotel, a party of about twenty-four. Everything
went well until we came to that critical stage of
the proceedings, the introduction of the toasts.
At this point I explained to my neighbours on
the right and left of me, who represented the

AMATEUR DIPLOMACY 199

civil and military powers, that our universal cus-
tom on occasions of the kind was to propose the
health of her Majesty Queen Victoria as the first
item on the programme of our festive oratory.

This suggestion they took very seriously, and
after a brief consultation, they informed me they
should have to leave the table if the health of
the President of the Republic was not the first
toast proposed. I appealed ineffectually to their
feelings upon the principle of place aiuc dames.
I next urged the fact that it was practically a
British gathering, and the room, having been
hired for the evening, might be considered to Le
British territory for the moment ; but their views
on international law would not take them so far
as to admit the correctness of my contention.

The reader may, perhaps, fancy that the solu-
tion of the difficulty was as obvious as it was
simple, and entirely in my own hands. All that
was necessary was to have no speeches of any
kind that evening. Such a course would have
been wholly inapplicable ; for one might as well
have a dinner of the kind without eatables or
wine, as without toasts when the Spanish ele-
ment was present.

200 SOUTH AMERICAN SKETCHES

As a last resource I explained to our official
guests that I thought they were just a little
too careful of the dignity of the ruler of the
Republic, in forbidding a custom that I had
been allowed to follow on similar occasions in
foreign countries on the continent of Europe.
This softened their hearts, and they withdrew
all further opposition to the course I proposed
adopting. They drank her Majesty's health
enthusiastically, cheered lustily, and joined us in
singing "God save the Queen." Immediately
following this display of loyalty I proposed the
health of the President of the Republic, who, I
felt assured, had he been one of the party on
that occasion, would have been the first to stand
aside and make way for her Majesty. It is just
possible that, in gratitude for having been allowed
to carry my point, I described the character of the
first magistrate of the State rather as it should
have been than as it actually was ; for, upon re-
flection, I could not help thinking that I struck
a key somewhat too high for the general " concert
pitch" of South American rulers. Be this as it
may, good feeling was perfectly restored, and I
believe my own health was proposed at least

AMATEUR DIPLOMACY 201

half-a-dozen times that evening. On each of
these occasions I was found to possess some new
and excellent quality previously undiscovered by
my most intimate acquaintances.

"All's well that ends well" we are told, and
we may apply the remark to our festivities on
that evening.

It is true my satisfaction with the result has
been somewhat modified by the assurance I have
since received from an experienced diplomatist,
that I was altogether wrong, and guilty of a
breach of international etiquette in insisting
upon the Queen's health being proposed first
in a foreign country. It may be so. As I
explained at the beginning of this chapter, I
had not been brought up in the devious ways
of diplomacy, but, all the same, whether right
or wrong, under similar circumstances, I think
I would act again as I did before.

CHAPTER XVIII

PEN VERSUS SWORD

" THE pen is mightier than the sword " says the
enthusiastic journalist, giving publicity to a
popular proverb that is a product of the
northern hemisphere, not, for so far, as well
acclimatised in South America as the friends
of that continent could desire.

For example, what would the unfortunate
newspaper editor have to say about it, while
smarting from the 309 lashes administered to
him by order of an irate colonel whose conduct he
had been rash enough to- criticise in his paper ?

It is true the military gentleman, when asked
by the civil power for an explanation of the
circumstance, excused himself on the plea that
it was all a mistake of orders on the part of the
sergeant to whom he had issued them. Whether
the poor editor found the explanation entirely
satisfactory does not appear, but I think he must

PEN VERSUS SWORD 203

have acknowledged to himself that in his case
at all events the proverb did not hold good.

There is something curious in the number of
the lashes too ; why the extra nine ? Perhaps
the colonel had some superstitious belief in the
luck that lurks in odd numbers, following the
example of our old friend Rory O'More in the
song.

The editorial experience, however, did not
happen in Uruguay, but much farther north,
where the temperature, the temper, politics, and
things generally are much warmer than in the
River Plate.

It is not so very long ago, if report be true,
that other curious methods were adopted in South
America for dealing with refractory editors. One
of this class having given offence to those in power
by the freedom of his criticisms, was arrested and
confined in a narrow passage between the cages
of two jaguars, notorious for their bad tempers,
coupled with an intense dislike to the society
of men.

The intervening space was so regulated that
neither of the ferocious animals could get its
paws quite so far as the middle line between

204 SOUTH AMERICAN SKETCHES

the cages, so that a spare, active person, if very
careful to follow the classical advice, in medio
tutissimus ibis, might manage to pass without re-
ceiving any injury, though the achievement would
be both exciting and dangerous. But what
made the matter still more cruel in this par-
ticular case was that the unfortunate editor
happened to be very stout, and therefore the
more easily reached by the occupants of the
cages. Adding insult to injury, he was handed
a chair on which to sit, and furnished at the
same time with a copy of his own paper, that
had brought him into trouble, in order that he
might read and meditate upon its contents during
his exciting imprisonment. People, jesting about
the matter afterwards, which seemed very heart-
less, said that the tailor had a rare job repairing
the editor's torn clothes when he got out.

It is probable that this is one of the stories
that require to be seasoned with many grains
of salt, although an old soldier assured me that,
when on guard where the wild animals were kept,
he had frequently seen opponents of the Govern-
ment of the day meet with a worse fate than that
which befell the stout editor.

PEN VERSUS SWORD 205

There was a trial of strength between the pen
and sword, which I remember, that caused con-
siderable excitement at the time in the locality
where it occurred. A series of fierce attacks was
made in a newspaper upon the colonel of a
certain regiment, charging him with gross cruelty
to those under his command, besides numerous
other crimes of a varied and sensational character.
That which appeared to be the most startling was
that he had occasionally sentenced men to as
many as twelve thousand lashes ! If .the culprits
possessed the proverbial nine lives of the animal
which gives its name to the instrument of torture
from the lashes of which they were condemned
to suffer, they would have lost them all long
before the full sentence had been carried out.

An additional complaint made against the
colonel was, that when his victims had been
flogged to death he would not allow them to
be buried in consecrated ground, but had their
bodies cast into holes dug in the river's bank
to receive them, with as little ceremony as would
be used in burying the carcass of a dog or cat.

What a commentary is this upon the stirring
ballad of " The Bold Soldier Boy," in which that

206 SOUTH AMERICAN SKETCHES

illustrious warrior, Mickey Free, sang the praises
of a military life ! One thing is quite certain,
that the lot of the South American " Tommy
Atkins" is far less happy than that depicted in
the verses alluded to.

For a long time the colonel treated the news-
paper attacks with contempt ; but in the end
the scandal became so public, that an investiga-
tion was ordered, which resulted in his being
relieved of his command and relegated to private
life in supposed disgrace. I use the qualifying
expression, as many people boldly, and persistently,
asserted that confidential relations between him
and the Government continued to exist.

While the colonel in question was under the
cloud of public disapprobation, and smarting from
the loss of his regiment, a friend of mine, who
knew him intimately, heard his version of the
story, which was narrated to me afterwards,
" I did flog the man to death," he said, referring
to one particular case, " but what else could I
do ? He had committed several murders before
he came to me, and he was beginning at his old
tricks again. I knew it was useless to hand him
over to the civil arm for punishment, as he would

PEN VERSUS SWORD 207

only be sent back to me for promotion after a
while. I had to settle the matter myself, and
the twelve thousand lashes did it." In truth
there is much force in what the colonel said
when put in another form. It is impossible to
keep up the discipline of a regiment when its
ranks are largely recruited from among the
criminal inmates of the gaols, a practice all too
common in South America.

And yet there is something to be said upon
the other side to account for its adoption. The
life of a murderer, when he has been convicted,
seems to be held as particularly precious in that
long-suffering land. It shocks the public moral
sense to think that a bloodthirsty criminal, whom
nothing can reclaim, should be executed, while
the cruel fate of his victims arouses but a passing
sympathy.

This forbearing attitude towards the law-
breaking classes would naturally produce the
undesirable result of gaols full to overflowing,
and very costly to maintain, but for the expedient
which is frequently resorted to of allowing the
inmates to volunteer to serve as soldiers. Such
undesirable recruits join their regiments with the

208 SOUTH AMERICAN SKETCHES

intention of deserting upon the first favourable
opportunity, as shown by a case of the kind
conducted upon a wholesale scale, which was
mentioned in the chapter on the " Haunt of the
Outlaw." In the meantime, while serving with
the colours, they are always ready and willing to
keep their hands in practice at their original
trade, when a chance of doing so presents itself.
Under such circumstances, one can easily under-
stand how difficult it is for an officer in command
of a corps so recruited to keep his men in
order.

The pen having conquered the sword in the
contest I have narrated, its wielder, while flushed
with victory, laid about him on every side with
immense energy. He attacked many persons,
holding them up to public odium, one of them
being an important government official, who also in
the end was superseded ; but whether or not this
was due to the newspaper attacks. I cannot say.

Here again the editor was certainly sufficiently
outspoken to satisfy the strongest advocate of
candour in the treatment of public men, and the
discussion of their actions; but before long an
attempt was made to check his reforming ardour

PEN VERSUS SWORD 209

By this time the enterprising censor of public
officials and of others had stirred up a consider-
able amount of enmity. He was pretty much
in the position of an intruding bluebottle in a
hornets' nest, when it has disturbed all the in-
mates by its buzzing, and will not let them rest.
One night as he left the cafe which he was in
the habit of frequenting he was met at the door
by a man, who fired at him point-blank with a
revolver, to which the editor replied in similar
style, whereupon a contest of small-arms ensued,
and continued until all the ammunition on both
sides was expended, with the curious result that
although some dozen shots had been fired, neither
of the combatants was anything the worse for the
encounter. The only sufferer was a poor stray
dog that happened to be passing by at the time,
and had the misfortune to get in the way of one
of the ill-directed bullets. The aggressor on this
occasion, when arrested, proved to have influential
friends, and very little was done to him for the
double crime of shooting the dog and firing at
the editor.

After this incident the newspaper attacks be-
came still more bitter, as was not at all sur-

o

210 SOUTH AMERICAN SKETCHES

prising ; but before long the editor announced his
intention of moving from the locality, as he did
not find it healthy.

Here we may take leave of him, but a sub-
sequent occurrence in the same town reminds
one of him incidentally, as it refers to an episode
very similar to his impromptu duel.

There had been a change made in the whole
staff of government officials in the district, and
the new second in command, not long after his
appointment, was attacked one night in the public
street by two men wearing disguises. He de-
fended himself pluckily, but received some very
severe knife wounds, from which, however, he
recovered. One of his assailants was identified,
and proved to be related to some one of import-
ance, as happened in the similar case previously
quoted; but I do not remember to have heard
that any punishment was meted out to him
either.

CHAPTER XIX

RIVERA AND SANTA ANA

IN a previous chapter, near the beginning of this
volume, we paid a hurried visit to Rivera, the
town of many " first officials," and I now propose
to take my readers there once more, in order that
they may become better acquainted with it, as
well as with its Brazilian neighbour, Santa Ana
do Librarnento.

These twin towns lie upon the frontier between
the two republics, and are separated only by a
neutral zone or belt 1 1 o yards wide, on which
no buildings are erected.

In this " no man's land " there stands a high
hill, from the top of which an extensive view of
the surrounding district can be obtained. Be-
sides being useful as a post of observation for
both countries as to what their neighbours are
about, it has interesting geological features, being
traversed by a huge trap-dyke.

212 SOUTH AMERICAN SKETCHES

At its base there is a bountiful spring of good
drinking water, and at no great distance to the
west is the source of the river Cunapiru, which, in
the lower part of its course, before joining the
Tacuareinbo Grande, of which it is a tributary,
flows through the goldfields of Uruguay.

Rivera, which has a population of about 1400,
is situated 352 miles to the north of Montevideo,
measured along the line of railway that now con-
nects them. The road into it from the south
crosses the above-mentioned Cunapiru by a small
bridge, at which there is a toll-bar. The collector
who levied payment at it, and his wife, cor-
responded, in one respect, to the theory of that
close observer of human nature, Mr. Weller, senior,
as regards the class of people who take to keep-
ing toll-bars, or pikes, as he called them. They
had met with serious disappointments in life; in
fact, their history was a very sad and pathetic one,
and it was that which caused them to adopt the
calling in which I made their acquaintance. So
far Mr. Weller was perfectly right, but his further
proposition, that it was because people became
misanthropical that they took to keeping toll-
bars, in order to revenge themselves upon man-

RIVERA AND SANTA ANA 213

kind, was utterly wrong in this instance, for a
kinder or more hospitable couple than those I
am writing of it would not be easy to meet with.
When our surveying party first reached Rivera
these good people insisted upon our dismounting
and entering their house, where they regaled us
with cherry-brandy. Nor was it on this occasion
only that they did so ; each time we passed the
toll-bar the hospitality was repeated.

Now, however popular cherry-brandy may be
upon the sideboard, at a hunting breakfast, in our
cold northern climate on a damp winter's morn-
ing, it is not the most suitable or cooling of
drinks on the frontier of Brazil, with the ther-
mometer at 1 00° Fahr. in the shade. For this
reason, and not wishing to offend these kind and
hospitable people, some of us, in order to escape
from the dilemma thus arising, frequently risked
a ducking by riding across the river at another
place where the ford was uncertain. Nor can
our enemies assert that by so doing we saved
paying toll, for by that time we had contracted
with the toll-keeper for a monthly payment to
cover all our horses and people.

The chief trade of Rivera is said to have been of

214 SOUTH AMERICAN SKETCHES

a contraband nature ; but this industry received a
serious check from the shooting of two of its most
vigorous adherents by the police in skirmishes
on the frontier, when we were there. One fre-
quently hears allusions on both sides of the
boundary line to the fact of some article having
been brought in " under the poncho," which is the
local metaphor to intimate that it was smuggled
in. I have even heard the expression used with
reference to a piano, an instrument altogether too
large and cumbrous to be concealed beneath a
poncho, in the literal sense.

The most attractive spot about Rivera was an
old garden full of magnificent orange-trees ; but
it is otherwise bare and uninteresting, although
both soil and climate are suitable to the growth
of many rare plants.

In a garden at Rivera, while walking one day
with the owner, I was startled to hear a savage
growl from some wild animal quite close to me.
Upon asking for an explanation I was taken to
an iron cage, which had been concealed from our
view by the thick foliage that intervened. In it
was the finest specimen of a young jaguar that
I had ever seen. Though not full grown, his coat

RIVERA AND SANTA ANA 215

was beautifully marked. But the manner in
which he received all overtures of friendship
from strangers was not calculated to encourage
one to persist in the attempt to gain his good
will. No doubt he may have inherited infir-
mities of temper that were not improved by
imprisonment.

The Brazilian town of Santa Ana do Libramento,
which lies to the north of Kivera, is an old estab-
lished settlement, with about 1700 inhabitants.
One meets everywhere evidence of its age in the
fine orange-trees with which its gardens abound.

It, too, has only a small legitimate trade, but
all that is necessary to make both towns pros-
perous and important places is the establishment
of a well- organised custom-house at the frontier.
If this were done, and the corresponding regula-
tions framed upon a wise and liberal basis, it
would greatly foster the growth of international
commerce at this point.

It is understood that the Governments of both
countries recognise the importance of the matter,
so that it is to be hoped a favourable solution of
the question may ere long be arrived at.

One of the engineers engaged upon the con-

2i6 SOUTH AMERICAN SKETCHES

struction of the railway met with a serious acci-
dent at Rivera. He was in the act of dismounting
from his horse when his revolver fell to the
ground and a cartridge went off, the bullet pass-
ing through his leg and imbedding itself in the
door-frame of the house he was about to enter.

A Brazilian surgeon from Santa Ana was called
in, who examined and bandaged up the wounded
limb. Everything went on well from day to day,
and the patient was rapidly regaining his usual
health, the wound being almost healed, Avhen the
surgeon in attendance said it would be necessary
to have an operation, and cut down to the bone
to see if it had sustained any injury. My friend
asked for an explanation of this extraordinary
proposal, as he was not suffering any pain, nor
was there any symptom from the first to indicate
that the bone had been touched by the bullet.
The surgeon admitted these facts, but stuck to
his point that the operation was necessary, as it
would clear away any possible doubt about the
matter. Besides, in performing it he could then
get the assistance of another eminent surgeon,
which might not be obtained so easily at another
time. Thereupon the wounded man said quietly,

RIVERA AND SANTA ANA 217

" If an operation must be performed, I shall go
to Montevideo and have it done in the British
hospital there." This was quite another way of
looking at the matter, and the doctor agreed to
have a consultation the next day about it. He
did so, and the conclusion arrived at was that an
operation was unnecessary after all, an opinion
the correctness of which subsequent experience
corroborated.

At the hotel in Santa Ana I had a narrow
escape on one occasion of being asphyxiated.
Mosquitoes were very bad at the time, and a
waiter gave me a pastille, which he told me to
burn when I went to bed, and that it would drive
them all away. I followed his directions, with
unexpected results.

Not long after I had gone to sleep I awoke
suffocating, and to my horror found myself un-
able to get up, or call for help. I could move
my arms, however, so I got hold of the candle-
stick and struck with it against the door of the
next room, which was fortunately within reach of
my bed.

This awoke two friends of mine, who came in
to see what was wrong, and when they had

218 SOUTH AMERICAN SKETCHES

thrown open door and windows, I soon recovered
the power of speech and the use of my limbs.
Since then I have been very careful not to try
fancy methods for getting rid of mosquitoes.

Life upon the frontier has its own little excite-
ments, as, for example, the shooting of contra-
bandists, to which allusion has been already made.
Nor are these exponents of " free trade " always
the only people to suffer in encounters of the
kind ; they frequently retaliate with considerable
effect. It is no rare occurrence when near the
frontier to have one's rest disturbed by the report
of firearms discharged in the preventive service.

But it is during political commotions that the
fun becomes both fast and furious. At such
times dwellers near the boundary line have the
doubtful advantage of a double supply of excite-
ment of the kind, that furnished by the inhabi-
tants of both countries. Practically it makes
little difference whether it is Uruguayan or Bra-
zilian bullets that are flying about.

When fighting takes place between Government
troops and insurgents near the frontier, if the
revolutionists are the beaten side they invariably
seek refuge on foreign soil. On such occasions

RIVERA AND SANTA ANA 219

their opponents seldom fail to favour them with
a parting feu de joie of ball cartridge, continuing
the salute until those in retreat have penetrated
farther into the asylum of a friendly territory
than a rifle bullet will carry.

Sticklers for the rights of neutrality may look
upon this as a breach of the code which should
regulate such matters, but in South America an
act of the kind is seldom regarded as much worse
than an excess of zeal.

At such times the neutral belt of ground
separating Rivera from Santa Ana becomes a
happy hunting-ground for both parties, where
" pot-shots " at individuals escaping from either
side to the other are held to be legitimate sport.

The disadvantages of such a condition of affairs
were very clearly impressed upon my mind by the
remarks of a resident photographer on the subject.
Being asked why he kept the shutters up on his
shop windows, as we could not see his wares to
advantage inside the house, and had to take them
out into the street to inspect them : " Well, you
see," he replied, " no one can tell when they may
begin to shoot, and the bullets destroy so many
photographs, and break the ' negatives ' if the

220 SOUTH AMERICAN SKETCHES

shutters are off, that I think it better to keep
them up." It was impossible not to see the force
of his reasoning, and one could not help sym-
pathising with the artist. There was nothing
querulous about his remark ; he seemed to accept
the ruling condition of affairs as natural, and no
complaint escaped his lips as to the danger to
himself or the members of his family from the
action of the "patriots" and their opponents.
His plaintive remarks applied solely to the damage
to his stock in trade.

I had an opportunity of judging of other effects
of a successful revolution which took place in
Brazil while we were engaged upon the construction
of the railway to Rivera. I was standing in a
Brazilian hotel upon the frontier one night talking
to the proprietor, when a policeman of the new
regime came in. He was in plain clothes, the
only indication of his calling being a rosette in
his hat. He walked up to the bar and drank off
some refreshment: then, turning towards the
door, he made a sign to a party of his companions
waiting there, who at once joined him, and all had
drinks, which the policeman ordered. I noticed
that when leaving he merely nodded to the

RIVERA AND SANTA ANA 221

bar-keeper, but made no payment. I asked the
hotel owner if he allowed people to run up
accounts on credit in such an indiscriminate
manner, and he replied, " We have to give the
new policemen and their friends drinks for nothing,
otherwise they might revenge themselves upon
us in some way."

That same revolution provided us with many
object-lessons, of which I will only mention one
other.

The Brazilian doctor who attended the engineer
with the wounded leg had to fly the country.
He had made the political mistake of favouring
the losing side, which set many of his fellow-
countrymen athirst to take his life. Fortunately
he managed to escape in the darkness of the night-
time, and arrived at one of our encampments,
where he found shelter. From thence he got to
the railway, by which he reached Montevideo,
and embarked upon a steamer bound for Europe,
there to await the return of more peaceful times in
Brazil.

CHAPTER XX

IN REVOLUTIONARY TIMES

HAVING in the preceding chapter alluded to some
of the discomforts that dwellers on the frontiers
suffer during periods of political disturbance, it
may be well before leaving the subject to consider
other phases of it as applying to a more extended
area.

It is curious how prevalent revolutions are in
South America: they seem to spring up in the
most unlikely places, when least expected, like
those spiral columns of the air in motion which'
one frequently observes moving about upon the
plains there, when all around them the atmos-
phere is absolutely still. Like them, too, some
of the political disturbances do little more than
stir up an immense amount of dust, while others
overturn everything and create general confusion
everywhere within the circular limits of their
sphere of action, desolation marking their onward
course.

IN REVOLUTIONARY TIMES 223

It is many years since first I had an oppor-
tunity of witnessing a revolution in operation. I
had but recently landed in South America, and
was new to its peculiar ways, when a gentleman
came to me one morning, in the office where I
was at work, and told me that if I Avished to see
a revolution going on I could do so by merely
looking out of one of the front windows of the
house. I had heard the noise of what I took to
be rockets going off, but paid no attention to it,
knowing that the people enjoyed fireworks by
daylight, and I thought they were amusing them-
selves with some harmless display of the kind.

I followed my friend's suggestion, and there I
saw men fighting in the public street. It was
my first experience of a revolution, and it proved
to be only a trivial affair, more formidable looking
than sanguinary, involving no very great loss of
life after all, and it was soon ended.

Since then I have seen other similar political
movements of various degrees of importance,
but in one respect, they all seemed to me to
bear a wonderful family likeness to each other.
In each the patriots appeared to be burning with
a pure and holy zeal to turn the Government

224 SOUTH AMERICAN SKETCHES

of the day out of office for their misdeeds. But
when the revolution was successful, and its leaders
assumed the reins of power, they generally forgot
those necessary reforms for which they had fought
so manfully, and followed a very similar course to
that they had so strongly denounced when pur-
sued by their predecessors in office. Generally
speaking, the only difference that is perceptible
to lookers on at this game of political "beggar
my neighbour," lies in the fact that the recipients
of Government favours are different persons from
those who previously enjoyed advantages of the
kind.

It is a somewhat illogical proceeding, but no
one seems to think it very irregular, and these
movements have the advantage of furnishing the
newspapers with a perennial subject for discus-
sion, so long as they don't disapprove too strongly
of the measures adopted by the Government for
dealing with their opponents. If they venture
upon adverse criticism it must be of the mildest
type, otherwise the papers in which it appears are
sure to be suppressed as dangerous to the safety
of the State.

When matters arrive at this pass all further

IN REVOLUTIONARY TIMES 225

speculation as to the progress of events is useless ;
there is nothing for it but to await patiently the
development of affairs. One can, of course, follow
the information given in the journals that have
not been suppressed ; but as this is invariably a
version prepared and put forward by the party in
power, its purport can usually be foretold without
the trouble of wading through a " communi-
cated " report, that deceives no one, for no one
trusts it.

Strange things often take place in connec-
tion with insurrectionary movements in South
America.

A friend of mine who had long been resident
in that country was asked on one occasion by a
general, just as if he was inviting him to a pic-
nic, to accompany him and his staff the following
day, in order to be present at a battle which was
about to be fought with a party of insurgents.
My friend not unnaturally asked to be excused,
on the plea that he was not a soldier, and had no
particular desire to witness scenes of bloodshed.
At this the general laughed, and explained that
there would be nothing of the kind, as the whole
matter had been pre-arranged with the leader of

226 SOUTH AMERICAN SKETCHES

the rebels, who would submit after some firing of
blank cartridge.

Next morning the Government troops marched
forward, and opened a brisk fire upon the enemy
from a great distance, giving them several tre-
mendous volleys, whereupon the patriots prudently
retired beyond the crest of the hill upon which
they were posted.

Their leader then addressed them, explaining
that he had been watching through his glass the
effects of the firing of the soldiers, and that it was
terrific. Fortunately they had not as yet got
the right range, but when this was accurately
ascertained, he feared it would soon be all up with
his poor followers, facing such a diabolical weapon
as the new "repeater." He could not bear the
thought of his brave men, so badly armed as
they were, being mowed down like grass, while
unable to reply effectively at such a distance.
He would risk his own life to save them, and
would at once ride forward with a flag of truce to
make the best terms that he could on their behalf
with the enemy. If he was but successful in this
respect, he cared not what happened to himself.

With these brave words upon his lips he rode

IN REVOLUTIONARY TIMES 227

boldly forward towards the enemy, being accom-
panied by a volunteer, who held aloft a lance
from which a white flag floated.

When they reached the lines of the Govern-
ment troops they were met by an officer of the
staff, who conducted the insurgent chief to the
general's tent, where the two great men were left
alone for half-an-hour. At the end of that time
they both came forth, and ceremoniously saluting
each other, the visitor rode away, escorted in like
manner as upon his arrival.

It soon became known among the soldiers that
the terms for . the capitulation of the rebels had
been arranged, while in the ranks of the latter
there was much excitement and speculation about
the result of the mission as they awaited the
return of their chief.

When he arrived he explained that he had
been entirely successful, even beyond his utmost
hopes, so far as they were concerned. No punish-
ment would be inflicted upon any of them, and
they should be free to return at once to their
respective homes as soon as they had laid down
their arms and delivered them over to the
soldiers. Moreover, all the reforms for which

228 SOUTH AMERICAN SKETCHES

they had been fighting were to be conceded by
the Government, and carried out.

These very favourable terms of capitulation he
had only been able to secure for them by the
sacrifice of his own interests, and by surrendering
as a prisoner himself, unconditionally. He added
that they needed not to grieve for him, for what-
ever might be his fate, his patriotic heart beat
proudly in his bosom at the thought that, by his
act of renunciation, he had gained for his com-
panions-in-arms their lives and liberty. In the
confusion of the moment he quite forgot to
mention another item of gain that he had secured
by the transaction, in the form of a substantial
draft upon the Treasury of the Republic, which
he had in his breast-pocket.

His audience seemed saddened for a moment
by the personal misfortune and pathetic speech
of their chief, but they had wonderfully elastic
spirits. By the time they reached the soldiers,
and had laid down their arms, they were quite
cheerful again, and as friendly as possible with
their enemies of an hour before, and willing to
drink as many " treats " as they could get their
conquerors to stand them.

IN REVOLUTIONARY TIMES 229

It is said that in revolutionary times a good
deal of such negotiating as I have been describing
frequently goes on which is not made public, nor is
good faith always kept between the parties to it.

An example of this kind occurred the last time
I was out in South America, which made some
little stir in the papers for a while, but it was
soon forgotten.

It was an open secret to all who studied the
signs of the times that revolutionary schemes
were going on, though that, of course, was nothing
very unusual. Prominent among the plotters was
an ex-officer of the army ; but the good faith of
his adherence to the cause was doubted by
another of the conspirators, who plainly told
him so. " What ! " said the angry soldier, " do
you doubt my honour ? but even if you do, can
you not see that I have every reason in the world
to be heart and soul with you in this matter ? "
With words like these he removed the doubts of
all the men who were banded together, except
those of him with whom they first arose. The
latter stood aside, severing his connection with
the movement ; but matters went on in the
revolutionary grooves, and the plot thickened.

230 SOUTH AMERICAN SKETCHES

The plan of action suggested by the ex-officer
was that he, taking advantage of his acquaintance
with his old colleagues in the army, should sound
those in the chief garrison to see if they would be
willing, and on what terms, to join the movement.

Negotiations with them went on satisfactorily,
according to the reports of progress made from
time to time. All was alleged to have been
arranged for the troops in garrison to make
common cause with the insurrectionary party
when matters were ripe for doing so.

The occasion upon which the formal ratifica-
tion of the compact was to take place was a
banquet to be given by the military in their
barracks. To this the leaders of the movement
were invited, and when they had all assembled,
they were surprised by the entrance of an armed
body of soldiers, who proceeded at once to arrest
the guests. The latter, when they found they
had been betrayed, drew their revolvers, and de-
fended themselves with desperation ; but in the
end, the survivors of them were overcome and
secured, while several dead and dying men lay
upon the bloodstained floor of the banqueting
hall.

IN REVOLUTIONARY TIMES 231

During this same attempt at revolution an
official appeared in a country town, armed with
full power from the Government to arrest all
their opponents whom he thought it desirable
to imprison. Of the authority so delegated to
him he made a very free and full use during
the absence of the principal Government official,
who found the gaol full to overflowing upon his
return home.

The special official requested permission to
examine the prisoners, but this the chief refused.
" I know what your interrogation means," he said,
and he drew his hand suggestively across his
throat. " Go back," he added, " and tell the
Government they may dismiss me if they like ;
but so long as I hold the position I do, no
man in the district under my charge shall suffer,
except by the regular process of the law."

This ended the matter, the authorities being
afraid to accept the challenge, and the imprisoned
persons were released without further molestation.

During a revolution which occurred some years
ago, a friend of mine was travelling in a railway
train which was captured by insurgents. Some
of the passengers being soldiers were put to

232 SOUTH AMERICAN SKETCHES

death in presence of my friend, who had the
good fortune to be let off when they discovered
that he was an Englishman.

Another acquaintance of mine happened to be
the manager of a large cattle farm, the owner of
which was suspected of sympathising secretly
with the party in revolt at the time. A large
body of troops was sent out to quell the rising,
and they encamped upon the property referred
to. There they remained for a considerable time,
killing the fattest cattle and the most highly
bred, imported sheep for their daily food. When
they moved on to other quarters, the manager
politely asked the chief of the commissariat de-
partment to give him a written acknowledgment
of the cattle and sheep they had taken for the
troops, for future settlement.

But this officer explained that a document of
the kind should be signed by the general in
command, so the two men rode forward to see
him about it.

When he heard the case stated, his reply to
the manager was short and explicit, to this effect :
" The only receipt I shall give you will be
through the medium of a file of soldiers, at ten

IN REVOLUTIONARY TIMES 233

yards' distance, with loaded rifles. If you want
that, you can have it at once."

I need scarcely add that the applicant did not
wait for an acknowledgment of the kind, but
mounted his horse without delay and rode off.

Another very unpleasant phase of the matter
is, that during periods when the public peace is
disturbed, or even threatened, by political move-
ments, no rare occurrence, much power falls into
the hands of irresponsible soldiers at times, and
it is often used by them with cruel ingenuity to
wreak their vengeance upon persons against whom
they entertain some private cause of enmity. I
have heard many harrowing tales from men who
had been troopers, of crimes of the kind to which
they have been eye-witnesses; but I will not
repeat any of them, as they may have been
exaggerated. I will mention a case bearing upon
the same subject which a friend of mine heard
from the principal actor in it. It struck me as
exhibiting a curious way of looking at deeds of
bloodshed, and a nice discrimination between
methods of killing.

Revolutionary troubles were going on, and the
narrator of the story was a soldier on the Govern-

234 SOUTH AMERICAN SKETCHES

ment side. The fatigues of campaigning he bore
with willingness, buoyed up by the hope that he
would one day meet and square accounts with
a deadly enemy of his whom he well knew took
an active part upon the other side. Time rolled
on, but his hoped-for chance seemed distant as
ever, until one day, to his great delight, he
recognised a straggler of the enemy, who was
retreating after a skirmish, as the long-sought
object of his hatred.

He gave immediate pursuit, and as he rode
along he saw by the unsteady seat of the in-
tended victim and the gait of his horse that
both had been wounded in the fray. " I was
delighted," he said, " for my horse was fresh,
and there was a long stretch of marshy land
before us, and I knew I should overtake my
enemy when we got to it. I gained on him
at every stride," • he went on, " and he had
scarcely got a hundred yards into the rough
ground when his horse floundered through a
soft place and fell. I was up with them in a
moment, and there lay my enemy helplessly upon
his back, too weak from the loss of blood to rise
to his feet. I got my knee upon his chest, and

IN REVOLUTIONARY TIMES 235

grasped him by the hair in my left hand, while T
drew my knife to cut his throat, but he looked up
so pitifully at me, that I could not bear to do it."

Here my friend interrupted him, saying he had
acted quite properly, as one should always spare
an enemy when powerless and at his mercy.

" No, senor ! " was the indignant reply ; and
when asked to explain what he had done, he
continued, " I turned my face away and drove
the knife into his heart."

On another occasion a man whom I knew was
stopping at a small country inn when a party of
soldiers arrived with a prisoner, both of whose
hands had been cut off as a punishment for
his having taken part in a revolution. The
unfortunate captive in his agony begged to be
put to death, and the officer in charge sanctioned
his request, simply telling his men to take him
outside and cut his throat.

The recent revolution in Uruguay, which was
only brought to a close in the autumn of last
year (1897), if indeed it is a real peace, not a
temporary truce, that has been effected, offers
many subjects for reflection that deserve careful
consideration.

236 SOUTH AMERICAN SKETCHES

Perhaps no better example could be found
of the utterly untrustworthy nature of the
official statements published during such poli-
tical upheavals. In relation to it we were re-
peatedly told, on the authority of the Government,
and in the most circumstantial manner, that it
was suppressed and at an end, after a decisive
victory over the insurgents, who were nearly all
slain and the survivors dispersed.

Yet these conquered and scattered remnants
of a revolutionary party had the awkward knack
of turning up again after each such suppression in
stronger force than previously, and closer to the
seat of government, till in the end the latter
appeared to be at their mercy, and peace was
made with them. It is only fair to add that,
in the case of the revolution of which I am
writing, its object seemed to have been, as well
as one can judge of the matter from the pub-
lished reports, to bring about much needed
reforms, and to suppress abuses that were ruin-
ing the State.

During the disturbance referred to there was
a tragic episode, the assassination of the President
of the Republic, who was shot on the steps of the

IN REVOLUTIONARY TIMES 237

cathedral in Montevideo by a soldier. The foul
deed was thought at first to have been inspired
by political motives, but it proved to be due to
private revenge.

This is but one example of the many evils
arising from the revolutionary spirit which too
frequently pervades society, deadening the moral
perceptions of its members, and inculcating a
disregard for law and order.

It is easy to understand how, from such con-
ditions, a feverish and unwholesome state of
existence should ensue, highly detrimental to the
progress and prosperity of the country.

Its credit is injured in the foreign markets, and
the difficulty of raising capital, so necessary for
the development of its resources, is correspond-
ingly increased. Immigration, which it should
be the especial care of a prudent Government to
foster by every legitimate means, is paralysed and
discouraged. The insecurity of life and property
that prevails during political commotions tends
to deter those in search of a new country from
settling there, and induces them to seek elsewhere
more peaceful homes. The injury thus inflicted
upon the country is incalculable

CHAPTER XXI
NATURAL HISTORY NOTES

DUKING the whole of the time occupied by the
construction of the railway I was far too busy to
have much opportunity for shooting, or personally
collecting information relating to sporting matters
or the habits of beasts and birds. There are
some brief references to the latter part of the
subject in other chapters, which I shall now
endeavour to supplement by a few further
observations on kindred matters.

It has already been mentioned that the larger
and more dangerous wild animals are fast dis-
appearing from Uruguay before the increase of
flocks and herds, but wild-cats and foxes are still
much more numerous there than the inhabitants
of the country like. An enormous specimen of
the former was shot in the valley of the Tambores
by one of the workmen on the railway. I had

seen many others, both alive and dead, but none

238

NATURAL HISTORY NOTES 239

before approaching that one in size, or of such
formidable appearance.

Deer of the species Cervus campestris are fre-
quently to be met with in the open country, as
already mentioned in these pages, but the larger
deer, with more massive antlers, which keep to
the woods or their immediate vicinity, are being
rapidly exterminated.

I met with but one specimen of them alive,
among thick brushwood in a river valley, though
I have frequently seen their skins exposed for
sale in shops.

Armadilloes of various kinds are very common,
and one occasionally meets with the great ant-
eater.

Upon the bank of the river Tres Cruces I saw
a beautiful black marten, about the size of a
domestic cat, but shaped like a stoat.

It is somewhat remarkable that biscachoes,
which are so common in Buenos Ayres, are not
to be found in Uruguay.

Carpinchoes, or water-hogs, are numerous, as
are also nutrias, an animal like a huge water-rat,
the size of a cat.

In the little river Guayavos I once saw an

240 SOUTH AMERICAN SKETCHES

ordinary otter, under circumstances that could
not admit of my being mistaken about its identity.
In the Rio Negro, as also in the Tacuarembo
Grande, I repeatedly saw huge fresh-water seals.
I have heard it stated by people living near these
rivers that such animals will attack a dog in the
water and drown him.

As to birds, I must naturally give first place
to eagles, of which there are three different kinds
to be met with in Uruguay, distinguished by the
colours black, brown, and blue. The last men-
tioned is the largest of them, the other two being
about equal in size, and all three considerably
smaller than their European relations.

When seen in the sunlight at a particular
angle the brown eagle appears to be golden-
coloured. Both it and the blue species fly rather
heavily, but the flight of the black eagle is perfect
in every respect. Nothing can be more easy and
graceful than it is. They rise high into the air
or skim along the surface of the ground with
equal ease and motionless wings, whether with or
against the wind.

They are very destructive to partridge. Two
dead birds of the kind were found in a nest from

NATURAL HISTORY NOTES 241

which we took a young eagle, almost fully grown,
but yet unable to fly. That they occasionally
vary the nature of their food I had an opportunity
of learning when hidden one day in the thick
woods of the Tambores valley. My attention was
attracted by the noisy contentions of birds of
prey in my immediate neighbourhood, that seemed
to be disputing for the possession of some choice
dainty they had discovered. After a while the
turbulent assembly broke up and flew away.

In their flight they passed close to where I
lay concealed, and I was able to ascertain the
cause of all their quarrelling. An eagle, with a
writhing snake in its talons, led the procession,
followed closely by a number of very angry hawks,
that loudly demanded to share the spoil; while
some hungry vultures, at a more respectful dis-
tance, openly proclaimed their disapprobation of
the whole affair.

A curious flock of birds of prey, like falcons,
were frequently to be seen in the valley of the
Tacuarenibo Chico, hunting together on the wing,
to the number of twelve or fourteen, just as a
pack of beagles would do on the ground.

Turning now to game-birds, the best of these

Q

242 SOUTH AMERICAN SKETCHES

in Uruguay is the bronze -coloured pheasant,
locally known as the Pavo del Monte, or wood-
turkey. It is somewhat larger than an ordinary
pheasant, and the prevailing colour of the plumage
is a dark-bronzed green, almost approaching black.
On the neck, breast, and shoulder the feathers
are slightly tipped with white, as are also some of
the covering feathers of the wing at its point.
The back of the bird from the shoulder down
is of a dark brownish-green. The throat and
sides of the neck adjoining it are bare for a length
of nearly two inches, and of a red colour. The
first two of the primary feathers .in each wing
are very curiously formed. Number one has only
the same narrow width of feathering, for two inches
from the point, on the concave side of the cen-
tral quill rib that it has on its convex side, and
then it widens out like the feathers of an ordinary
bird to three or four times that width. In the
case of the second primary feather the same
peculiarity exists, but only for a length of one
inch and a half; while the third and succeeding
feathers are of the ordinary shape all the way
from the point. The extreme length of the bird
from the bill to the end of the tail is two feet

NATURAL HISTORY NOTES 243

six inches. The tail itself, in which there are
eleven feathers, is eleven and a half inches long,
and it is broad at the end, not pointed like that
of an ordinary pheasant. Lastly the length of
the leg is ten inches.

The Pavo del Monte flies well and strongly,
but it is unwilling to take to the wing, and keeps
much to the thick foliage among the top branches
of high trees. Its call or cry is somewhat like
that of a turkey, to which the name it has re-
ceived in Spanish is probably due, as in most
other respects it is very unlike a turkey. In
Uruguay it is held in much esteem as a table
delicacy. I cannot say that my own taste corro-
borates this opinion, as those which I shot I
found to be rather coarse in flavour, but this
may perhaps have been caused by the cooking
of them.

I heard a curious tale of a Pavo del Monte
shooting a man, which was positively asserted to
be true. The bird in question had been wounded,
but only winged, and ran away when it fell to
the ground. The man who fired at it laid down
his gun hurriedly and gave chase, when a game
of " hide and seek " took place among the brush-

244 SOUTH AMERICAN SKETCHES

wood. In one of its doublings and turnings the
pavo passed over the gun, which was lying on the
ground, and its toes happened to strike against
the trigger of the undischarged barrel, the hammer
of which in the hurry of the moment had been
left at full cock, with the result that the charge
went off and wounded the sportsman.

Birds, we know, are sometimes taught to fire
off pistols in those exhibitions known as " Happy
Families," as well as to perform other unusual
feats ; but it is not often that a wild bird in the
woods shoots a man with his own gun, as this one
did in Uruguay.

Partridges of two kinds, small and large (No-
thura maculosa and RJiyncotus rufescens), were for-
merly very plentiful in Uruguay, but they are
becoming scarcer year by year. Eagles and
sportsmen with firearms are not their only
enemies. The natives of the country are very
expert in snaring them. A boy of ours who
was employed looking after the horses while
grazing, was very smart at taking partridges by
means of a loop made with an ostrich feather
attached to the end of a long bamboo cane.

I saw another boy catching the smaller par-

NATURAL HISTORY NOTES 245

tridge in a most ingenious way. He rode along
until he saw a partridge, and then dismounting,
set about his plan of attack. The surface of
the ground was rough at the place where I
watched him at work, and he selected an opening
five or six inches wide, between two rocks, in
which he laid a wire snare, just as if he were
setting it for a rabbit. This done, he proceeded
to look up the partridge, which had been hiding
during the operation, and having disturbed it
once more, drove it gradually, in the most skilful
manner, into his trap, and then walked up and
took his fluttering prize.

Of course this plan would only suit with birds
that are great runners, and unwilling to take to
the wing.

In winter one meets with many wild duck of
different kinds, though they are not nearly as
numerous as in the Argentine province of Buenos
Ayres. This latter remark will also apply to
snipe, which I had the curious experience of
shooting over a bull-terrier, that was exceedingly
well trained to point them.

While in Uruguay I saw another example of
misdirected energies, in the case of a sporting

246 SOUTH AMERICAN SKETCHES

pig. It had been reared along with some dogs,
and became very much attached to them. At
a later period, when they were brought out to
search for game, the pig always accompanied
its canine friends and ranged about with them.
Whenever it met with an obstacle in its path
that it could not leap over, its cries at being
left behind were piteous to hear. The dogs, its
companions, would frequently on such occasions
return to assist and encourage it to renewed
exertions to scramble over the difficulty.

I missed this curious pointer on one of my
visits to the district, and from the laughing reply
that I got to my inquiries about it, I fear poor
piggie, notwithstanding its unusual sporting pro-
pensities, had gone the way that so many others
of its race had travelled before it.

I once met with a giant stork that was a
perfect grenadier beside its companions of the
ordinary kind. These latter were common
enough, and I have seen them in great flocks
flying high up in the air during their periodical
migrations.

One that was made a pet of by the engineers
at a hut upon the works became very tame, and

NATURAL HISTORY NOTES 247

was a great favourite, performing a number of
tricks when told to do so, and remained with
them all the year round.

There was a bird closely allied to the storks
of which I made the acquaintance in Uruguay.
Taking advantage of the cover afforded by a
thick growth of shrubs and brushwood, I managed
to get close to it, and was able to observe its
movements carefully through a field-glass, with-
out being seen myself. When in search of food
it walked into the water where there was a
current, and instead of striking at its prey, as
the storks and herons do, it placed its bill in
the water in such a position as it would occupy
if the bird was engaged in examining its own
legs. The mandibles were kept apart in an
inverted position. By this means the water
flowed between them, and from time to time
they were brought together and closed with a
snap upon some small fish or insect that was
passing through. If what had been seized
proved upon reflection to be edible, the bird
raised its head and swallowed the morsel, and
then resumed its former attitude ; but if the
object seemed uninviting, the mandibles were

248 SOUTH AMERICAN SKETCHES

merely opened again, and the prisoner was
allowed to escape. As I subsequently obtained
one of these birds, I am enabled to give a more
accurate description of it.

The body is white; but the primary and
secondary wing feathers are of a beautiful dark
green, with metallic lustre, resembling the tail
feathers of a magpie. There are twelve similar
green feathers in the tail, the last one on each
side having a tendency to white on its inside or
covered edge.

The neck is rather shorter, in proportion to
the size of the body, than that of an ordinary
stork, and it is of a brownish colour. The fore-
head is quite bald, and the upper part of the bill,
which is yellow, is very coarse and large where it
is set on to the head ; but it tapers much to-
wards the point, where it is slightly curved and
rounded, being intended for the purpose of pre-
venting food escaping from the bill, not for strik-
ing at it. The legs are slate -coloured, and are
bare to a height of 5 inches above the joint, to
allow for deep wading. The eyes are dark-
coloured. This bird when standing in a natural
and erect position is about 3 i inches high. The

NATURAL HISTORY NOTES 249

length of the body is 9 inches, that of the neck
8 inches, that of the bill 7| inches. The upper
joint of the leg is 10 inches, and the lower one
7 inches.

Here I may also give some particulars of a
bird to which reference has been already made
more than once in these pages, and which, for
want of a better name, I have called the brown
stork.

In some respects it differs considerably from
the storks, much more closely resembling the
ibis family in appearance. It lacks, however, the
regular curved bill common to the latter, as the
one it possesses is straight almost down to the
end, where it is only slightly curved.

The ordinary height of the bird when stand-
ing in a natural position is about 2 feet. Its
extreme length stretched out is 3 feet ij inch.
The length of leg is 1 4 inches ; the toes are very
long, the central one being 4^ inches. The bill
is 4f inches, the lower mandible ending in a
very fine point, which fits into a hollow in the
upper one prepared to receive it.

The colour of the bird appears to be black
when seen at a distance, but when examined

250 SOUTH AMERICAN SKETCHES

closely it is a dark olive-brown. The primary
wing-feathers are almost black. There are small
white markings on the feathers of the back of
the neck, from the head down to the shoulders,
and on the angles of the wings. The eyes are
brown, and the legs slate-coloured.

Its dreadful cry was referred to elsewhere.

While in Uruguay I had an aviary, in which I
kept a number of birds that various people sent
me. Among them were a pair of beautiful buff
egrets, a large partridge, and many small birds
of various kinds, all of which lived on friendly
terms together, with the exception of one Cardinal
bird, that displayed the most ill-bred manners I
ever saw in any member of the feathered tribe.
Its constant habit was to hop up to other birds,
especially if new arrivals, and look them full in
the face, first with its head on one side then on
the other, and finally toss it up in the air as if
implying, " I don't think much of you." One
bird only in the whole collection knew how to
deal properly with this pert Cardinal. It was of
small size, but possessed a sharp bill and a
wonderfully capacious throat, which it opened
wide whenever the Cardinal approached it. This

NATURAL HISTORY NOTES 251

form of reception gradually taught the objection-
able intruder better manners. Among the col-
lection there were Calandrias, the best singing
birds of South America, and other specimens,
some with showy plumage, others clothed in
sombre colours.

An interesting and pleasing incident connected
with my aviary was the escape and return of one
of its inmates. A bird got out and flew away so
far, that it was lost to sight in the distance. This
occurred in the morning, and the same evening,
towards nightfall, the truant came back, and
alighted upon the roof of the aviary, waiting to
be let in again. When the door was opened
it flew down to the ground and walked in as if
it had only been out for the day on leave.

Then there were the uncaged and casual pets
which we had from time to time. Among them
may be mentioned an eagle, and two owls of
different kinds, and the most charming of all,
a young ostrich, which was captured and
taken with us when making the surveys for the
line of railway. In a couple of days it became
quite tame, and never attempted to escape. To-
wards nightfall it would come and ask, in the

252 SOUTH AMERICAN SKETCHES

most doleful little whistle, to be put to bed,
where it was quite happy. In the mornings it
always accompanied the men when they went to
catch the horses, in which operation it seemed to
take great delight. Wherever the confusion was
greatest there it was always to be found rushing
wildly in and out among the men and horses, and
getting into every person's way. It was irre-
sistibly comical, and reminded one of the officious
clown at the circus, who persists in appearing to
help every one else, while in reality he is giving
them no assistance whatever, but rather retarding
their operations.

Besides the birds I had other pets; among
them should be mentioned a coati (Nasua narica).
It was a native of Brazil, somewhat larger than a
raccoon, an animal to which it bore some resem-
blance in general appearance; but it possessed a
much larger head, with a longer and more pig-like
snout. It was very tame and harmless.

Another creature I possessed was a large
tortoise, about which there was nothing very re-
markable except the late hours it kept. During
the daytime it seemed to sleep quietly at home
in a barrel of water, but when darkness set in it

NATURAL HISTORY NOTES 253

used to climb out of the barrel and descend by
the primitive method of dropping on to the
ground on its back, the shell of which protected
the body from injury from the concussion of the
fall, and then it went off to visit its friends or
examine the locality.

What to do with my pets when the time
should come round for me to leave South
America often occasioned me some anxious
thoughts. The tortoise settled the matter as
far as it was concerned, by going off on its
own account. The two owls followed its ex-
ample. The coati I gave back to the person
from whom I originally got it. Another kind
friend took the whole of the inmates of the
aviary, and would no doubt tend them with
even more care than I bestowed on them myself.

While residing at San Fructuoso I became
acquainted with an old French sportsman, who
made his living by fishing and shooting.

He was one of Nature's gentlemen, whom it
is a pleasure to meet. When a young man he
had been a cavalry soldier in France, and on
one occasion a vicious horse caught him up in
his teeth, and shook him as a dog would a rat,

254 SOUTH AMERICAN SKETCHES

fearfully injuring the bone of his left arm. The
army surgeon was for immediate amputation, but
the man begged so hard against the operation
that the surgeon desisted, and left him to his
own devices. His comrades bandaged up the
injured limb in their own rough way, and in
time it healed; but their job was not a neat
one from a professional point of view, as the
setting of the bone was very crooked. It was
better to have a crooked arm, however, than
none at all, as he was able to make consider-
able, though awkward, use of it. He used to
bring me fish and game in their respective
seasons, and I often got rare specimens of birds
from him, which I was glad to add to my
collection. He was also able occasionally to
supply information regarding them that I could
not otherwise have obtained.

CHAPTER XXII

CLIMATE OF URUGUAY

ALTHOUGH Uruguay is very hot in summer, the
climate of the country is good and healthy. Mr.
M. G. Mulhall, in his excellent " Handbook of
the River Plate," gives the highest temperature at
Montevideo for the years 1884, 1885, and 1886
as 101°, 96°, and 100° Fahrenheit in the shade,
and the lowest reading of the thermometer for
the same years, in the same place, as 35°, 34°,
and 35° Fahrenheit respectively.

During the years 1890 and 1891 I kept a
careful register of the temperature at the Paso
de los Toros, which was about 2° 20' north of
Montevideo. As might be expected, it was per-
ceptibly warmer there in summer, being so
much closer to the tropics ; but on the other
hand, it was considerably colder in winter. This
no doubt was due to the proximity to the sea

at Montevideo, which would have a moderating

255

256 SOUTH AMERICAN SKETCHES

influence upon the cold as well as upon the
heat.

Summer may be assumed to last from the
beginning of November till the end of February.
Of the 1 20 days comprised within these four
summer months, we found that two-thirds of
them had a maximum temperature of 80°
Fahrenheit and upwards in the shade, made
up thus: —

30 days, with a maximum temperature of 8o°- 90°
34 i, i) .» 9o°-ioo°

16 „ „ „ ioo°-uo°

Total 80 days, with a temperature from 80° to 110°
Fahrenheit in the shade.

Whenever three or four excessively warm
days came together they were generally fol-
lowed by a very cool one.

As regards the coldest night in winter for
the three years that Mr. Mulhall deals with,
3°, 2°, and 3° Fahrenheit above freezing-point
were, as already stated, the lowest temperatures
registered, whereas we frequently had it much
lower, and more than once it touched 24° Fahren-
heit with us, or 8° of frost. Ice was frequently

CLIMATE OF URUGUAY 257

to be seen on the water in the side ditches of
the railway.

Comparing the annual rainfall for the same
period, Mr. Mulhall gives it as 38, 37, and 36
inches respectively. We found these figures to
correspond approximately with our observations
for the year 1890; but it was worthy of remark
that on the 6th March of that year 6.30 inches
fell, or one-sixth of total.

1891 was unusually wet, it having rained on
ninety days of that season, making up a total
rainfall of 60 inches, or nearly double the average
one.

The two heaviest days' rain during that period
were respectively six inches and 5.70 inches in
the twenty-four hours. These figures, however,
afford no adequate idea of how heavy the rain is
at times. On one occasion half an inch fell in
five minutes, on another eight-tenths of an inch
in fifteen minutes, and one inch in half-an-hour.
Twice the rainfall was between four-tenths and
half an inch in twenty minutes; one and one-
tenth inch fell in an hour, and two inches fell in
two hours. These facts suggest how tropical the
rain can be in Uruguay at times.

258 SOUTH AMERICAN SKETCHES

For a month before the regular summer season
begins and for a like period after it ends, that is,
for the months of October and March, the weather
is generally delightful. Throughout the winter
too there are frequently many very fine days.

During dry, hot summers dust storms are very
prevalent. At the approach of a visitation of the
kind, though the sun may have been shining
brightly in the sky at noonday, its light is soon
obscured by the dust clouds as they advance,
until an almost Egyptian darkness prevails. The
atmosphere becomes most suffocating, and one
finds difficulty in breathing it in consequence of
the quantity of impalpable dust floating suspended
in it.

I have had many unpleasant experiences of
travelling under such circumstances, one of which
presented a rather unusual incident.

I was riding accompanied by one of our men,
when a storm of the kind burst upon us. So
great was the difficulty of breathing, that I took
out my pocket-handkerchief and held it over my
mouth to act as a respirator, and intercept some
of the dust with which the air was laden. While
proceeding in this manner at a walking pace along

CLIMATE OF URUGUAY 259

the road a sudden gust of wind blew the hand-
kerchief away, and rny companion jumped off his
horse and ran after it into the darkness.

He soon returned and handed me what we
both took to be my lost property which he had
recovered, but on examination it proved to be
a totally different pocket-handkerchief that he
brought back. Of course the ready explanation
that will occur to the reader is, that I had been
making use of a pocket-handkerchief that was
not my own, which had been sent back to me
from the wash by mistake, and only discovered
the fact upon its loss and recovery, as described
above. But this could not have been the case,
for the handkerchief blown out of my hand had
a mourning border on it, which the one returned
to me had not.

The suggestion I would make is, that a similar
mishap occurred in the case of some other
traveller who had passed along the road before us,
and that he had failed to recover his handker-
chief, which the man riding with me found when
looking for mine.

Such storms as I have been describing are
nearly always followed by heavy rain, which lays

260 SOUTH AMERICAN SKETCHES

the dust and clears the air. This is generally
accompanied by thunderstorms, which are very
frequent and severe in Uruguay during the sum-
mer. I remember one of them that lasted for
nearly twelve hours with scarcely any intermission.
On two occasions a house quite close to me was
struck by lightning and damaged, but in neither
case were the inmates injured. Men, houses, cattle
and sheep are frequently struck by lightning
and killed.

Sometimes very heavy hailstones fall during
or immediately after a thunderstorm, doing great
damage to crops and sheep. One such hailstone
that we measured was 3j inches long by two
inches broad and two inches thick, or larger than
a goose egg, and there were several others lying
on the ground that did not seem much smaller.

There are summer visitors which occasionally
arrive in these countries that are not always
welcomed. I allude to the flights of locusts,
which come in clouds so thick, that neither
spurs nor whip will force a horse to face them
at times; and when they alight, they stay until
they have eaten up every green thing that is
within their reach and capable of consumption.

CLIMATE OF URUGUAY 261

The poor people whose gardens they attack
rush out beating tin pans, kettles, and fire-irons,
somewhat like the practice in the case of swarm-
ing bees at home, only the object is different in
the two cases, the intention being to attract the
bees, but to drive off the locusts.

American stories about railway trains having
been stopped by a flight of locusts appear to some
people to be gross exaggerations, but they are the
simple truth. When locusts alight upon the rails
in such great numbers that their crushed bodies
yield a lubricating substance causing the wheels
of the engine to slip, its power of traction is lost,
with the natural result that the train is brought
to a stand-still upon the first incline it meets
where the locusts are in force.

There are few things more difficult of accom-
plishment than to keep one's self cool and com-
fortable during intensely hot weather. That hero
of our school-days, Achilles, was, we know, vulner-
able only in the heel, but it is at the other end,
the head, that ordinary mortals are most liable
to suffer injury from excessive heat. Under
such circumstances it is not surprising that
various attempts should have been made from

262 SOUTH AMERICAN SKETCHES

time to time in different lands to provide an
artificial protection for this sensitive extremity.

Turbans, pith-helmets, air-chambered hats, and
a pugaree have their respective advocates, and no
doubt much could be said hi favour of each of
them ; but by far the most extraordinary means
for keeping one's head cool in hot weather was
a plan adopted by a young office-boy, of Irish
nationality, that we had in Uruguay. It had,
however, two serious defects, which would, no
doubt, militate against its general adoption.
One of these was, that it was not of a portable
nature, so that it could not be worn while walk-
ing about; the other was, that it interfered
considerably with the sense of hearing of the
person protected by it.

I discovered the boy's invention in this way.
The weather was very hot, and I called out,
" Tom, bring me a glass of water from the re-
frigerator," but received no reply. I then raised
my voice and called him, repeating the operation
several times, but with a like ineffectual result.
So I thought I should go and fetch the water
myself, as Tom had apparently given himself
leave of absence and gone off duty. Upon

CLIMATE OF URUGUAY 263

reaching the refrigerator I found the missing
Tom with his head down in it, and discovered
to my surprise that this was his usual way of
cooling himself when his head began to " swell
with the heat," as he expressed it.

It is perhaps unnecessary to add that I pre-
scribed a change of treatment to effect his
purpose for subsequent attacks of the kind.

Here I may make a few remarks about him,
though they are not of a meteorological nature.

Tom was not a bad boy in his way, but he
had peculiarities that he would have been better
without. He was born and brought up near a
large military station in Ireland, on the road
between the barracks and the cemetery, and
had acquired a great admiration for the "Dead
March," which he used to hear played at
soldiers' funerals.

Unfortunately he had a quick musical ear, and
as he was never tired of whistling the melancholy
dirge with variations of his own, introduced ap-
parently for the purpose of imparting a more
lively spirit to it, the result was most lugubrious.

Another failing of his was an innate persuasion
that he could improve on all orders given him.

264 SOUTH AMERICAN SKETCHES

One evening he was told to lead a saddle-horse,
which was not very easy to manage, from my hut
to the stable-yard. Tom, however, thought riding
preferable to walking, so he mounted, and pro-
ceeded in this manner until some difference of
opinion arose between him and the horse. The
latter, not approving of the turn affairs had taken,
cantered off, increasing his pace to a gallop as he
went along. When they reached the yard gate
it was shut, which brought the horse to a stand-
still, but not so his rider, who was thrown over
it. The unfortunate boy came back to me in
a sad plight, denouncing the horse's vicious-
ness, and proclaiming that all his own ribs and
one of his arms were broken. It was not quite
so bad as this, as he had only received a
severe shaking, and was very sore all over from
the fall.

Among the curious atmospheric phenomena
that I observed on several occasions were meteor-
ites shooting upwards like the discharge of rockets.
They generally occurred in the south.

Once while walking along the railway, a couple
of hours after nightfall, the moon being well up
in the sky, not far from full, and shining brightly

CLIMATE OF URUGUAY 265

at the time, my attention was suddenly attracted
by the appearance of a magnificent meteor in the
north, which travelled slowly eastwards towards
the moon in an almost horizontal course for some
seconds and then disappeared. It seemed to be
about one-fourth of the size of the moon.

CHAPTER XXIII

RAILWAYS OF URUGUAY

AT the present day it will scarcely be disputed
that facilities for travelling and for the transport
of goods are essential to the progress and pros-
perity of a nation.

It is in the ability to deliver articles of barter
at a market where their sale can be effected that
lies their practical value. The gem or mineral at
the mine, if irremovable, has no realisable worth
beyond that possessed by the coarser rock sur-
rounding it ; and the excess of farm produce over
that which can be consumed upon the spot is
similarly valueless under like conditions.

I have seen many acres of fine wheat, ripe for
the sickle, set fire to and burnt, in order to get
clear of it, the cost of transporting it to market
being greater than the price it would fetch there.

Bearing these principles in mind, and applying

them to the case of Uruguay, we find in it an

266

RAILWAYS OF URUGUAY 267

example of a country pre-eminently depending for
the development of its resources, and the conse-
quent prosperity of its people, upon the facilities
afforded for the transport of its produce and
articles of consumption.

Of public roads worthy of the name there are
none throughout the length and breadth of the
land, except — and such exceptions are rare — in
the vicinity of towns.

The means of communication in times gone by
were merely rights of way across the various pro-
perties that intervened between the traveller and
his destination, and when the track became im-
passable from rain and traffic, one had only to go
to either side of it in search of better ground on
which to continue his journey. Lately, however,
these circumstances have altered greatly.

Wire fencing has been introduced and largely
adopted in the country. So-called roads, which,
more correctly speaking, are mere sites or allow-
ances for roads, have been fenced off and separated
from the adjoining properties, so that traffic is
concentrated within narrower limits than formerly,
with the result that the hollows where rain collects
become so worked into mud, as frequently to be

268 SOUTH AMERICAN SKETCHES

impassable for wheels in wet weather. This makes
the conveyance of produce or merchandise by
bullock carts, which are the ordinary means of
transport of the country, both tedious and costly,
not to mention the chance of injury to the goods
from exposure to the weather on the journey.

These conditions tend to break down competi-
tion from such a source, and to demonstrate more
clearly the advantages of carriage by rail.

It was not until the year 1867 that the vis
inertite of public opinion in Uruguay upon the
subject of the necessity for improved means of
communication between the capital and the in-
terior was finally overcome. In that year a
railway was begun near Montevideo by a local
company, with the intention of pushing it north-
wards to the central town of Durazno, a distance
of 127^ miles. The project was, however, far too
great for the means available for its execution, and
only 6 miles of the line were then constructed.

In the year 1871 the enterprise was taken
seriously in hand by a new company that had
been formed in London, and the section to Santa
Lucia, 37 miles from Montevideo, was opened the
following year.

RAILWAYS OF URUGUAY 269

In 1874 it was extended for another 90 J miles
to Durazno, a portion of this length having been
previously opened for traffic. The following year
a branch of 20 miles was completed from about
the fortieth mile on the main line to the town of
San Jose, being a part of what was then called
the Central Uruguay and Higueritas Railway.

In this condition matters remained till 1880,
when a couple of miles, from Durazno to the
north side of the river Yi, were added to the
main line.

In 1886 an extension of 38 miles, to a little
south of the Rio Negro, was opened, and the
large and important bridge across that river
was finished in January 1887, making the total
length of the line then brought into traffic 190
miles.

This constitutes the whole of the original
Central Uruguay line ; but as the system now
comprises other undertakings, it may be well to
give the details of the latter here. The first of
these was a line of some twenty miles in length,
extending from Montevideo, in an eastwardly
direction, to the small town of Pando, that gave
its name to the undertaking which was then

270 SOUTH AMERICAN SKETCHES

known as the Pando Railway. Its infancy was
not of a robust character ; in fact, it was quite
the reverse, and it was re- christened more than
once, apparently with the hope of obtaining for it
some benefit by the process.

The modesty of its original designation having
failed to attract the attention it merited, it was
changed to the alliterative and more pretentious
title of the Montevideo, Minas, and Maldonado
Railway, but without any perceptible increase of
luck.

It had struggled from 1875 till 1880 for
a feeble existence, and various concessions, or
modifications of concessions, were then and subse-
quently obtained for the purpose of strengthening
its constitution. But it was not till 1888 that
it was strong enough to stand alone ; and it
was opened hi that year, from Montevideo to
Minas, 76 miles, under the name of the North-
Eastern of Uruguay Railway.

Its success was at once assured, as it was seen
that the district it served could yield a fair
traffic; but it did not long retain its separate
and independent character, for in 1889 it was
leased and taken over by the Central Uruguay

RAILWAYS OF URUGUAY 271

Railway Company. Out of this grew another
branch, or more correctly, a completely new
" shoot," as it was a distinct and separate, although
allied, undertaking — the Central Uruguay Eastern
Extension Railway — from Toledo Station, on the
North-Eastern line, to Nico-Perez, a length of 1 28
miles, part of which was opened in 1890 and
the remainder in 1891.

In the preceding year a junction line 5 miles
long was made near Montevideo, to connect the
eastern section more perfectly with the Central
Railway by which it was leased.

In the year 1888 another friendly project had
been set on foot, under the title of the Central
Uruguay Northern Extension Railway, to continue
the main line northwards from the Rio Negro
to the Brazilian frontier, a distance which proved
to be i82j miles. It was for the construction
of this railway that the writer went out to South
America for the third time, and remained there
more than three years. The works were begun
in 1889, 41 miles were opened in 1890, 68 more
in 1891, and the remaining 73 J miles in 1892.

From the foregoing it will be seen that the
Central Uruguay Railway system consists of a

2/2 SOUTH AMERICAN SKETCHES

main or trunk line of 352^ miles from Monte-
video to the Brazilian frontier at Rivera, with
branches or allied lines to the extent of 229
miles, making a total of 5 8 1 J miles.

It also draws traffic from lines that form junc-
tions with its systems, but with the management
of which it has no concern.

One of these is styled the Uruguay Great
Eastern Railway, of which, however, only 3 1
miles, that were made five or six years ago, are
as yet in traffic. It branches off from the North-
Eastern Railway at Olmos Junction, close to
Pando, and extends to La Sierra, in the direction
of Maldonado.

Another and much more important line of this
description is the Midland Railway. It has a
junction with the Central Uruguay at Rio
Negro, 170 miles north of Montevideo, and is
196^ miles long, rather more than half of the
distance being the section between Rio Negro
and Paysandu, on the river Uruguay, which town
lies in the direction of north-west by west from
Rio Negro. The second section runs northwards,
approximately parallel to the course of the Uru-
guay, as far as the town of Salto, where it joins

RAILWAYS OF URUGUAY 273

the North- Western Railway. It was constructed
some nine years ago.

The North-Western Railway, to which allusion
has just been made, was begun and partly finished
more than twenty years ago. It extends from
Salto, for in miles, in a northerly direction to
the Brazilian frontier at Santa Rosa.

At a station called Isla de Cabellos, on the
North-Western Railway, 72 miles north of Salto,
a line called the Northern Railway branches off
in a north-eastwardly direction for San Eugenio,
on the Brazilian frontier, a distance of 70 miles.

There was a projected line, called the Uruguay
Western Railway. The scheme contemplated the
making of a line from Montevideo to Colonia, on
the Rio de la Plata. Part of the idea was to
purchase and utilise the line of rails 14^ miles
long, from Montevideo to the slaughter yards for
cattle, as a means of getting into the city.

The affair collapsed at the time, but several
attempts have since been made to resuscitate it.

Such being the actual state of the railways of
Uruguay, to judiciously extend the existing sys-
tem by the construction of the necessary branch
lines to reach the various districts, according as

274 SOUTH AMERICAN SKETCHES

the increase of population and the progress of the
country require them, should be the true progres-
sive policy to follow.

It is to be hoped that the lesson taught by the
railway mania of eight or nine years ago in the
Argentine Kepublic will long be remembered in
Uruguay.

During that craze, in a few months, new lines
were proposed in Argentina to the extent of
twenty-three thousand miles, or more than four
times the total length then open for traffic — the
growth of the previous thirty years. In the
case of some of these projects, the promoters
made no stipulation as to receiving any financial
assistance ; but the majority of applicants for
concessions asked the government to guarantee
the payment of a fixed rate of interest upon
capital to the immense aggregate amount of
about sixty-six millions sterling, for projects that
were, for the most part, absolutely worthless.

To those who knew the country and its re-
sources, it was evident that such so-called pro-
gress was not due to increased strength in the
beat of life-blood in the national pulse, but to a
fevered temperature produced by a mania, having

RAILWAYS OF URUGUAY 275

its outcome in the scramble for railway con-
cessions.

Injudicious railway expenditure of the kind
tends only to embarrass the country by adding
to its indebtedness, without in any way assisting
to develop its resources. Nor does the evil stop
there ; for worthless undertakings cast discredit
upon others that are sound and good enough, and
thus retard the carrying out of works that might
be of great public utility and value.

The following tabular statement will serve to
show at a glance the growth of railways in Uru-
guay, as well as their present position : —

w

O

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1

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TABULAR ST,

p

«

6

i

3

B

i

5

Central Uruguay Railway
Main Line (Montevideo to R
Branch to San Jose" .
Eastern Extension
North-Eastern of Uruguay
Northern Extension .
Pefiarol Junction

Total Central Sy
Uruguay Great Eastern Railway
Midland Uruguay Railway
North-Western of Uruguay .
Uruguay Northern
,, Western .

"o
H

* There has beer

CHAPTER XXIV
CONCLUSION

PERHAPS it may be thought that in the preced-
ing pages I have assumed too much of the role
of " candid friend," exposing so many skeletons in
South American cupboards.

Why, it may be asked, drag them into the
light of publicity ? Why write of the little fail-
ings of military men, of lawyers, and others in
various callings ? Why draw dismal pictures of
the insecurity of life, of revolutionary times, and
of the mean developments of political intrigues ?
Why not ignore such unpleasant subjects alto-
gether, and foster the belief that they have no
existence, save in the imaginative brains of
journalists in need of sensational " copy " ?

To such suggestions my reply would be that
you may wrap the poncho of pretended igno-
rance around the bony shoulders of the skeletons,
and strive by that means to hide their hideous

278 SOUTH AMERICAN SKETCHES

deformity ; but they will continue to look down
upon you, and meet the public gaze with ghastly
and familiar leers, as clearly as they would under
the prying search of the " Rontgen rays."

Ignoring the facts will not cure the disease.
It is but postponing the evil day when it must
be dealt with; for if the country is to advance
with the times, the skeletons must be ruthlessly
laid bare and banished, never to return. They
should be relegated without delay to the glass
cases of the national museums as curious speci-
mens from bygone days. Professors of political
anatomy would there be able to examine them
at their leisure, and draw from that source a
wholesome warning wherewith to caution future
generations.

Not one word that I have given expression to
has been written in an unfriendly spirit. It is
true that some of the incidents herein narrated
may reflect upon "all sorts and conditions of
men," but it must not be assumed that society
generally approves of or is fairly represented by
the more objectionable ot them. On the con-
trary, their misdeeds are repudiated and con-
demned by the wholesome and robust portion

CONCLUSION 279

of public opinion in the countries where they
occur. The local press deals with them in scath-
ing denunciations, couched in language compared
with which the strongest of my remarks are mild
to the verge of feebleness.

My firm conviction is, that the great wants of
South American States are rest and freedom from
political upheaval and disturbance, and a strict
adherence not only to the letter, but also to the
spirit of all their engagements ; a state of things
which peace would tend to foster.

Such a condition of affairs can only exist under
just and strong governments, careful to make the
laws respected, and to afford efficient protection
to all who reside in or have dealings with the
countries under their control. To accomplish
these objects local politicians should devote all
their best energies.

It would not seem to demand any great sacrifice
or special exercise of self-denial on the part of the
members of society in general to further such
endeavours by adopting a political creed of the
kind.

No nation that is not prepared to accept and
act up to such principles of government can

280 SOUTH AMERICAN SKETCHES

hope to make progress in material prosperity,
importance, and civilisation.

I will close this volume by stating that to-
wards the people of the River Plate as a whole,
with many of whom I have been brought into
frequent contact, and among whom I have
several highly valued friends, I am actuated by
nothing but kindly feelings.

I also willingly bear testimony to the fact that
those countries can boast of numerous members
of the bench and bar, of the military service,
and of civilians in every walk of life, able and
upright men of the highest type, respected by
every one who knows them.

Theirs might be one of the bright and pros-
perous regions of the earth if only the demon
of political revolution and discord were exorcised
and banished from their lands for ever.

OF THE

UNIVERSITY
THE END

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