One fellow in a short red poncho-I shall never forget him as long as I live-kept crawling round this sickening heap, till he seized one palpitating mass by the hind leg, pulled from under his poncho an old blood-stained bag, dropped his prize into it, and gliding off without anybody observing his proceedings, disappeared from the shed. From this charnel heap he had picked out his breakfast! My blood curdled at the thought. I could endure such scenes no longer, and I hastened away. Our horses were only a few yards distant, but they stood as quiet as if they had been grazing on the open plain-they were used to it.

In a few minutes we were at full speed on our way home, and reached town in time for breakfast; but it was three days before I could again touch a piece of meat-I could not bear to look at it.

CHAPTER VI.

TO HORSE.

THE few days I was yet to remain at Buenos Ayres, I spent in walking about the town, seeing and hearing as much as possible. In the afternoon I usually rode out, partly to have a better opportunity of seeing the neighbourhood, partly to accustom myself to the saddle; for though I could sit a horse very well, I was not quite sure how I could stand a ride, nearly all the way at full speed, of three hundred and nineteen leagues, at one stretch.

Horses are very cheap at Buenos Ayres, and one can very well hire a horse for a dollar a day; but the report spread by captains of merchantmen, that horses are so cheap here, that they are perfectly satisfied at a livery-stable if you only bring back the saddle, and will not ask a higher price for the horse than the common hire of it, is, I need hardly say, a fable. Sea-captains

are, in fact, the only persons who can ever play this trick, as the proprietors of livery-stables at Buenos Ayres-nearly all of whom are Englishmen-know seamen as far as they can see them, and are aware how they treat horses, whenever they get on board" of one; therefore they take very good care to let them have such animals only as they cannot spoil-the oldest and worst in the stable-and consequently it is always an accident if they do come back. For such animals even a dealer in horseflesh has not the heart to ask a price, and they let off the delinquents, as the captains aver, if they only bring back the saddle; while the poor devil of a rider, who had hoped to enjoy an afternoon's quiet ride, thinks himself very well off, only to have been obliged to carry home his saddle for a distance of five or six miles on his own back, instead of the horse's.

On the 17th of June, two boys came to me from the old correo, leading a horse, to take me to his house, whence he intended to make an early

start.

At home, Mr. Davies, my landlord-or rather my landlady's husband, for he was in the wool trade, and hardly ever at home-had in the meantime taken the greatest pains to persuade me not to risk the trip, at least not to do it for the sake of settling in California; and I could never con

vince him that I was not travelling to, but through California. Stay away from the accursed country," he used to say; "I have got a particular friend there, hem," he put in the hem sometimes in the drollest way imaginable--" and he knows all about it, hem." He then told me some very dreadful tales about the mines, the fevers there, the murders and robberies, and a hundred other pleasant incidents, which might encourage a traveller, and finished this glowing account of the gold country nearly always with the words: "And to get to this wretched country as quick as possible, hem! you want to have your throat cut first from ear to ear, hem? and then be stuck up in the snow, and let the temporales have a blow at you, hem ?"

Poor Mr. Davies, all his reasonings were in vain; and as I shook hands with him at parting, he hoped to see an account in the papers that the Pampas had not eaten me, at least without pepper and salt.

Reaching the house of the old correo, I was rather astonished to see the old fellow, whom I had expected to find packing and saddling his horses, sitting very quietly and unconcerned in a chair, sucking his maté; while the whole room was strewn over with packets, packs, and blankets. His old lady was squatting in a corner, blowing a rather sickly coal-fire, to keep the water boiling

for that eternal beverage; and his son leant back on a mattress, which seemed to serve at once as a sofa and bed, and played some Spanish dances, with a really skilful hand, on the guitar.

As I entered the room, the lady rose and offered me a small gourd, with a thin metal tube sticking in it, and containing fluid boiling hot. I knew from the description given to me by some friends, that this was the famous maté, and put the tube, without grumbling, between my lips; but bless my soul, how quickly I drew it out again! I believe it was red-hot, and the skin of my lips stuck to the pipe; but the lady smiled, and the old correo laughed outright, for they thought me a great greenhorn. Not able to drink their maté! how then could I stand a ride through the Pampas ?

Seeing the bad impression I had made, I put the tube once more into my mouth, like a good boy, and at it I went. The tears rose in my eyes, and I considered myself a martyr in a small way, but I did not dare to wink any more.

The maté is the most favourite drink in the Argentine republic, and perhaps the reader may be well satisfied to hear a few words about it, if he has not to drink it. Maté itself is principally raised in the Brazils and Paraguay, and is gathered from a tree. It looks like a very fine green powder, with little pieces of stalk in it.