possessing but little nourishment. Cattle
breed well enough upon such land, but they
seldom except in. very favourable years
fatten.

In this hemisphere the climate between
the latitudes of twenty-eight and forty
degrees, seems to be the best calculated for
estancias. Out of that line it appears to be
either too hot or too cold. In the hot climate
the insects goad the animals to deatli in the
summer; and beyond the latitude of forty
degrees, the snow in winter lies upon the
ground, and cattle then cannot be confined to
limits, and in great measure cease to be of
any value to their owners.

In the present day, when a new Estancia is
to be formed upon land the property of the
state, the purchase being made, the land
measured, and possession given, the proprietor
proceeds to erect his homesteads, which at
the first, are not such as to occupy much
time or capital. The principal building
consists of a room for himself or his Capitaz,
and a kitchen for his peons to eat and sleep
in. They are for the most part built of mud,
or bricks dried in the sea, and thatched with
bullrushes, or the reeds which grow in the
lakes and marshes. The Estancia is then
surrounded with a deep fosse, a single plank
serving as a drawbridge. His next care is to
make an enclosure to shut up his cattle at
night. These are, for the most part, in a
circular form, varying from one hundred and
fifty to two hundred yards in diameter,
surrounded by a deep, ditch, having a doorway
about ten yards in width to admit the entrance
and exit of the cattle. He now only requires
a Corral, which is also formed of posts placed
perpendicular, and so close together, that four
of them do not occupy more space than a
yard, and are bound together with short
thongs cut from the hide of a bull; the
Corral (in Dutch, at the Cape, called kral) is
generally made circular, and about thirty or
forty yards in diameter; this is to enclose the
macadas or mares, when he wants to catch
his saddle-horses, or occasionally to shut up
a troop of cattle when he sells them for the
market. These, with a well to supply the
house with fresh water, and a few posts for
the men to tie their horses to, form all
that is necessary for the commencement
of an Estancia, as far as the homestead is
concerned.

At a convenient distance from the house,
a piece of rising ground is selected in which
a post is deeply fixed to serve as a mark for
the cattle. This is called the Rodio, and I
must explain its use. It is to the cattle
precisely what the parade ground is to the
soldier. Here the herd is assembled daily,
and taught to remain as long as may be
required. When the Resero, or drover, comes to
part off the cattle purchased for the market,
the herd is assembled in the Rodio; when
our neighbours come to part their stray
cattle, it is done in the Rodio; and on every
occasion that it is necessary to assemble the
herd, the animals know by custom, as soon as
the herdsmen appear with the dogs, that they
are wanted in the Rodio, and thither they
bend their way. Upon the maintenance of
this discipline their value mainly depends;
and I believe the increase, too, is greater than
when they are permitted, through neglect, to
run wild in the Campo.

I rise at three o'clock in the morning.
Would you could see me seated round the fir
on the kitchen floor, surrounded by the herds-
men and shepherds! The uncouth appearance
of the men their moustachios and black
beards their long knives stuck in their
girdles; the kitchen jet-black with smoke; it
looks just like one of those scenes, and the
men look like those banditti, which old Farley
used to introduce in his melo-dramas, such as
the "Miller and his Men." Yet they are an
inoffensive race of people, and I feel quite as
secure as I should do in England. How could
you know me in my present dress! Except
my white planter's hat, I have adopted all
the clothing in use among the paisanas
of the Pampas. Mine is a life on horse-
back. The ground I have to ride over
is fifteen miles by twelve in extent, and
contains about thirty to forty thousand head
of horned cattle, five thousand horses and
mares, and about twelve thousand sheep,
besides donkeys and mules. I enjoy excellent
health; the air is pure and bracing. The
herdsman's diet suits the hunter's appetite;
plenty of roast beef, and a drink of water to
wash it down no ale or porter in the Pampas
beef in its natural state, fresh from the
plains, and no stint. If the men eat a whole
ox at breakfast, they will kill another for
supper. The hide and tallow are worth
nearly as much as the living animal, so that
the cost of maintaining the men is but little.
No bread is allowed, a little Indian corn or
pumpkin at certain seasons is all that we
have to accompany the meat. When at home
at the principal residence, I generally keep
tea, sugar, and biscuit; but when from home,
at the distant stations, I live as the herds-
men do, eat roast beef, and roast beef to it.
I am stout, but not fat, my weight from
fourteen to fifteen stone; yet I can stoop, and tie
my shoe-string with as much ease as I could
when ten years of age.

I live quite alone; not a soul sleeps in the
house with me. According to the custom
of the Campos, the people live apart from
the patron or major-domo, as I am styled.
You may think, therefore, that in winter I
am very dull in the evenings. My library
is reduced to the Bible and Prayer-Book,
"Nicolson's Mathematics," "Don Quixote,"
and "Smith's Wealth of Nations."

Eighteen out of the twenty-four hours are
devoted by me to active duties, either in the
counting-house, or in the field. I have now
thirty-five thousand head of cattle under
process of drill, at pasture all day and inclosed at