Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
wire fences and telegraph poles, the tops of the latter usually decorated with the wonderfully
constructed nests of the
hornero
(oven-bird). The
lechuza
(burrowing owl) peeping out of his
burrow, or sitting on a fence post, greets the traveller with a hideous screech,and, particularly
in swampy ground, the
tero-tero
, the
bête noire
of shooters, alarms all the game in the vicin-
ity with the squawk from which it gets its name. There is no stone to be found in these parts,
which accounts for the state of the roads. All the stone used in the country has to be brought
either from the mountainous districts in the West, or across the river from Uruguay. Incident-
ally, it might be of interest to add here that many of the granite paving-stones used in Buenos
Aires are shipped across the seas from Scandinavia!
There was one ever-present danger in this district, namely, the
romerillo
(or
mio-mio
), a
poisonous weed somewhat resembling Scotch heather, which is fatal to horses. Those reared
in the neighbourhood do not touch it, but animals that are strangers are apt to do so with un-
fortunate results. Horses can be trained to avoid this in either of two ways: by rubbing their
teeth with the bitter-tasting weed or by burning it and well-smoking the animal's nostrils with
the fumes. I used both of these precautions, but to make assurance doubly sure, took care not
to turn them loose where there was
romerillo
about.
IwasstruckwiththefactthatthefurtherIgotfromBuenosAiresthemorehospitablewere
the people. Possibly this is due to the fact that the influx of foreigners to the neighbourhood
of the capital has brought about mistrust of strangers and has caused a breakdown of the old
traditions. In the outer districts one is more among the old type of settler who holds by the
unwritten law of the open door to the stranger. Many is the night I have spent in a hospitable
ranch where I was made welcome to the little they had to offer, but which was offered with
a warm heart. Occasionally I stayed at one of the larger
estancia
houses, and at one of these
had the luck to witness a real camp
fiesta
. It was Saturday night when I arrived and the
patron
(boss) informed me that on the morrow they were going to hold a fiesta to celebrate a good
sale of cattle.
I was up and out early, and it was easy to see that there was something doing. As I strolled
towards the men's quarters my nostrils were greeted with a most appetising odour of roast-
ing meat. This emanated from a mighty
asado
that was in course of preparation. The
pièce
de résistance
was
carne con cuero
, or meat roasted with the hide on, a most delicious dish,
while to help it out were two or three lambs and a couple of sucking-pigs. This was suspen-
ded on grids or spits over a great bed of red-hot ashes of some special hardwood, and the
'chef'nevertookhisattentionoffitduringtheseveralhoursnecessaryforthepropercooking.
The men were in their gala attire, wearing black caps with gaily coloured tassels, or broad-
brimmed black hats carefully pressed and ironed. Each man had a coloured silk scarf round
his neck and, of course, carried his
facón
(long knife) in a broad belt; the 'swells' having their
belts studded with silver coins.
Bombachas
(trousers) of enormous width, and top boots or
embroidered shoes of soft leather helped to complete a picturesque costume. Some men wore
spurs of silver or baser metal with huge rowels, as much as four inches in diameter, and the
