town in London! I carried with me some promethean matches, which I
ignited by biting; it was thought so wonderful that a man should strike
fire with his teeth, that it was usual to collect the whole family to
see it: I was once offered a dollar for a single one. Washing my face
in the morning caused much speculation at the village of Las Minas; a
superior tradesman closely cross-questioned me about so singular a
practice; and likewise why on board we wore our beards; for he had
heard from my guide that we did so. He eyed me with much suspicion;
perhaps he had heard of ablutions in the Mahomedan religion, and
knowing me to be a heretick, probably he came to the conclusion that
all hereticks were Turks. It is the general custom in this country to
ask for a night's lodging at the first convenient house. The
astonishment at the compass, and my other feats of jugglery, was to a
certain degree advantageous, as with that, and the long stories my
guides told of my breaking stones, knowing venomous from harmless
snakes, collecting insects, etc., I repaid them for their hospitality.
I am writing as if I had been among the inhabitants of central Africa:
Banda Oriental would not be flattered by the comparison; but such were
my feelings at the time.
The next day we rode to the village of Las Minas. The country was
rather more hilly, but otherwise continued the same; an inhabitant of
the Pampas no doubt would have considered it as truly Alpine. The
country is so thinly inhabited, that during the whole day we scarcely
met a single person. Las Minas is much smaller even than Maldonado. It
is seated on a little plain, and is surrounded by low rocky mountains.
It is of the usual symmetrical form, and with its whitewashed church
standing in the centre, had rather a pretty appearance. The
outskirting houses rose out of the plain like isolated beings, without
the accompaniment of gardens or courtyards. This is generally the case
in the country, and all the houses have, in consequence an
uncomfortable aspect. At night we stopped at a pulperia, or
drinking-shop. During the evening a great number of Gauchos came in to
drink spirits and smoke cigars: their appearance is very striking; they
are generally tall and handsome, but with a proud and dissolute
expression of countenance. They frequently wear their moustaches and
long black hair curling down their backs. With their brightly coloured
garments, great spurs clanking about their heels, and knives stuck as
daggers (and often so used) at their waists, they look a very different
race of men from what might be expected from their name of Gauchos, or
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