Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
True, all was not a joyride, and I had a good taste of the consequences of a revolution that
lasted nearly all the time it took us to cross that wonderful but turbulent country, a distance of
some 1,500 miles from the extreme south to the north by the way we went.
A detachment of well-armed guards stopped us when we had crossed the bridge into the
landofthe
charros
,asthepicturesqueandvirileMexicancowboysarecalled.WhenItoldthe
guards who I was they all embraced me in true Mexican style and gave long and prolonged
vivas
for the Argentine republic. A bottle was immediately brought out and handed round,
food and cigars appeared as if by magic, and I had to answer a regular shower of questions.
After I had taken a photograph of the officers, together with my horses, an escort showed
methewaytowardsthenearest village. Gatowentsolame that wehadtohalt several times to
give him a rest. The news of our arrival soon spread all over the neighbourhood, and numer-
ous army officers, officials and people came to give me a hearty welcome into their country,
and within a few hours I received telegrams from the capital, some from the government, oth-
ers from societies, etc., all containing congratulations and welcomes. A veterinary surgeon of
the Mexican army, who happened to be in the neighbourhood, immediately came to examine
Gato, whose leg seemed to be getting worse. After a careful examination the veterinary sur-
geonlocatedthetrouble.Anailhadbeendrivennearthequickofthehoof,causinganabscess
and, by degrees, serious trouble had developed. We cut a large hole into the hoof to give the
matter inside an outlet, and after a few days the invalid showed great improvement.
Both horses were stabled under a shed in the backyard of the dirty hotel where I stayed,
andtheonlyfoddertheyhadwasacoarse swamp-grass whichwasdaily broughtintotownon
burros. In addition to this I gave my animals a certain amount of corn, but only a little, as it is
veryheatingintropicalclimates.Theinvalidhadpracticallyrecoveredwhen,ongoingtofeed
him early one morning, to my surprise I found a mule tied next to him, and my poor horse all
cut and bruised where he had been kicked during the night. The spiked shoes of the mule had
cut deep into his flank, and there was a nasty cut in the left knee. The pain made him put all
his weight to the right side, which had given the trouble before. The owner of the mule had
arrived late at night after I had gone to bed, and as no fodder was to be obtained at so late an
hour he had obviously tied his animal alongside mine that it might eat some of his.
My regret was that he had not placed his mount next to Mancha, for in that case the story
would have been the reverse. I never saw Gato show fight or retaliate if he was kicked or bit-
ten, but Mancha made up for that by immediately attacking any strange animal which came
near him. However, he was not treacherous with men, but gave a fair warning by lifting one
of his hindlegs and putting back his ears, and although he had been dangerous when he was
first tamed I have never known him hurt anybody, for people always took his unmistakable
warnings seriously and kept at a respectful distance when he showed signs of annoyance.
Gato's knee became so bad that he could no longer lie down, and soon a terrible abscess
set in. For a whole month I worked at him, and finally he looked so bad that some who saw
him thought the kindest thing would be to kill him to put him out of misery. Naturally I would
