our blankets. After a miserable night, started for Pasaje (nine leagues), which we made in two hours.

November 16th. Got off at 7 o'clock and crossed the River Pasaje, which courses a few hundred yards from a posta of the same name. I saw this river at low water, but its depth was from two to three feet, with evidences of a rise when swollen of over twelve. The road lay very much along its south bank, in an easterly direction for nine leagues, when it turned more directly south, and we crossed a narrow but rapid stream, "Las Piedras," which a little beyond this empties into the Pasaje.

Learning from the post-master that the country bordering the upper waters of the Salado was populous and well cultivated, I sent Mr. Murdaugh from this place, with directions to follow the course of that river from Miraflores-a capilla four leagues below Las Piedras-to the Estancia Taboado,* and to rejoin me at Santiago.

November 17th. From the Posta las Piedras we had a viewnorth of the Pasaje-of the eastern termination of the sierra whose spurs and valleys we had been passing since leaving Salta: from this point the Pasaje enters the pampas.

The mountains were here behind us, and for some leagues our way lay through a level country, extensively wooded with quebracho colorado and cevil., There was no undergrowth in these forests, and the earth was clothed with the freshest young turf. At a distance of five leagues we made Pueblito Conchas, a little posta on the north side of a stream of the same name. In this neighborhood was some cultivation of sugar-cane; and in the village, to my astonishment, a large tannery in course of erection by an enterprising Frenchman. I wished to purchase a bottle of caña; the price was one dollar for the liquor and fifty cents for the bottle, from which I judged that both bottles and caña were scarce articles in this district. We made a hearty breakfast on bread and milk, the latter to me always a luxury, and in La Plata not always obtainable.

In these pastoral regions nothing astonished me more than the small use of milk, and even its avoidance in the preparation of food. Among the cattle recaptured by the soldiers in their expedition against the Indians were some milch cows; but in all that body of men-about one hundred and fifty-Murdaugh and Cornelius were the only individuals, besides myself, who tasted

*It will be remembered that our little boat was launched at this estancia.

milk. Upon one occasion I told a lady of Santiago that peaches (they are excellent in the neighborhood of that city) served with cream were a delicious and favorite dessert in the United States. Had I assured her that a dish of rattlesnakes was with our people the greatest table delicacy possible, her countenance could not have expressed more perfect horror and astonishment as she exclaimed, "Senor Commandante, no es possible! Es venino (It is not possible! It is poison)." My pretty young friend was so earnest that I laughed heartily, then discussed the subject with all due gravity, and the fair señorita promised me that at the next season of peaches she would try the smallest bit of one with cream.

From Conchas to Paso Grande the country was level, fertile, and intersected by two small streams, the Mitan and Yatasto, neither of which reaches the Pasaje except during the rainy season, which had now set in. In this district no artificial irrigation is necessary for the sugar-cane. For many miles the road lay through a magnificent forest of cevil, where trees of great size and unencumbered by undergrowth or climbing plants were growing with all the regularity and symmetry of plantations. The ground beneath, as far as the eye could reach, was clothed with the brightest, freshest, cleanest turf, upon which the sun, glancing through the dense masses of foliage, fell in golden lines and many-tinted figures, relieving the forest from all gloom, without detracting from its imposing grandeur.

Before leaving the last posta I overtook a traveler with his servants and cargaro mules. From his appearance and the style of his equipments I at once recognized him as an estanciero (a country gentleman). As if moved at the same moment by the same impulse-a desire to join company-he quickened his pace and I slackened mine, until we were side by side ambling along through these magnificent natural parks. He seemed to know who I was, introduced himself as Don Martin Güemes, and invited me to stop on the road at the Yatasto river, and join him in an "asado of coidero" (roast kid). Sending Cornelius ahead with the postillion to Verde, the next posta, to get his breakfast and have fresh horses ready, I accepted the invitation. Having reached the appointed spot, we seated ourselves upon the grass round quite an elaborate repast, consisting of a well-cooked asado, cheese, bread, and dulces from the stores of Don Martin, who presided with all the dignified gravity of a hidalgo dispensing the hospitalities of an ancestral mansion. This gentleman was young, hand

420

THE FIRST STAGE-COACH.

some, and, as I afterward learned, an estanciero of very large possessions. His mode of traveling illustrates that of the inhabitants generally. At Verde I parted from my friend of an hour, and, finding horses ready, mounted, and was off in a few minutes.

Two leagues from this crossed the Rosario, a small stream, showing unmistakable marks of being a considerable river during the rainy season. A league farther on was the pueblito of Rosario, consisting of a few scattering houses, a plaza, and church; and three leagues beyond this was the estancia of my friend Don Martin Güemes. At eight o'clock we reached the Posta Arenal; the country in its vicinity sandy, as the name indicates. A few minutes before I had met the stage-coach from Tucuman for Salta, the first attempt at this description of conveyance as yet ever made in this province, all travel between the two cities having heretofore been made on horseback. This will necessarily lead to another innovation and improvement, the establishment of a ferryboat at the Pasaje, for during the season of high water the river can not be forded. I described to some persons at Salta the means used where the current is made the motive power. The simplicity of the contrivance seemed to please them much; a ferry-boat

RETURN TO TUCUMAN.

421 of such construction will probably supersede the unsafe hide balsa, and make the Pasaje passable at all seasons of the year.

After an excellent supper we spread blankets and saddle-gear on the young grass, and though spared the annoyance of musquitoes or posta vermin, found it so chilly that I could not sleep; for, notwithstanding the intense heat of the day, the nights were very cool.

November 18th. The air was deliciously fresh, and under its invigorating influence we were astir at an early hour of the morning, and dashing at full speed over the lomas. Thence we passed into a pretty green valley from which the lands rose west, with the regularity of steps, in successive eminences to the sierra, while a detached range bounded the valley east for a distance of six miles. Here our road again led over broken lomas-to the Posta Tala, the point of junction of the Camino de las Cuestas and El Camino Carril; the first being the route taken on our road to Salta. From this point we made directly for Tucuman, where I arrived at 9 P.M., having ridden one hundred and five miles since leaving Arenal in the morning. The distances were generally six leagues, but twice during the day I rode from posta to posta, eighteen miles, in one and a quarter hours.

I had imagined that I was beginning to like the wild independence of the gaucho life-grassy bed, saddle-gear bedding, canopied by the heavens-but I must confess that, after a ride of the above distance for two successive days, most thankfully did I appreciate and enjoy all the comforts of Dr. Priestly's house, and most gratefully do I recall his cordial welcome.

November 19th. At an early hour paid my respects to the governor and minister, and when I returned to the doctor's found that several citizens had already called, and in the course of the morning came all the acquaintances made during my first visit to welcome me back.

November 20th. Received a visit from the governor and his minister. I had been advised to return to Santiago through the south of Tucuman, a district watered by the Dulce, and represented to me as not only beautiful in natural scenery, but as populous and highly cultivated, and was told that if I would adopt this route the government would provide me with horses and other facilities for travel within the limit of its own province, and would also arrange for them with that of Santiago. The governor now expressed his regret that for want of time only these arrange

ments had not been made, and gave me statistics of the popula tion, products, and a rough pen-sketch of the rivers and mountain streams that empty into the Dulce within the limits of the province. He also showed me a chart exhibiting the different districts, which, though roughly made, gave a very fair idea of the physical features of Tucuman.

November 21st. Yesterday said farewell to my friends, and this morning, for the last time, shook the hand of Dr. Priestly, feeling all the regret of parting with an old friend. At 8 o'clock A.M. we dashed off from Tucuman at the rate of twelve miles an hour, which speed we maintained from posta to posta throughout the day. At sunset we had made one hundred and five miles, and would have reached Santiago, only thirty-five miles distant, the same evening but for the swollen state of the Dulce, which I should have been compelled to cross in a hide balsa, and at that hour would have found some difficulty in getting men from the opposite side to ferry me over. I did not feel fatigued, which may be attributed more to the exceeding purity of the air than to the easy gait of the horses, and could have made the whole distance between the two cities, one hundred and forty miles, by sundown, had I left Tucuman at an earlier hour in the morning. I was told that this ride had been made but once before, and then in the transmission of some important political intelligence.

November 22d. The horses swam over, and we crossed the Dulce at an early hour in the one boat of the western province-our picnic yacht, the "Animal of the Salado"-the little craft in which we had toiled so many days in descending the Salado from Estancia Taboado. It had been brought back to Santiago from Sandia Paso on a carreta. By 9 o'clock I was once more at the governor's, where I was received, not as a stranger, but with the cordiality and confidence of a member of the family.

On the 25th Mr. Murdaugh reached Santiago, having, according to my instructions, followed the course of the Salado from Miraflores to Estancia Taboado. He thought that the fall of the land, the consequent rapidity of the current, and many sand-banks, similar to those in the Dulce, that intersect the bed of the Salado, would impede navigation from Miraflores to San Miguel. From San Miguel to Taboado-where it will be remembered my exploration of the river commenced-there was less current and greater width than below; the stream flowed tranquilly between high and well-wooded banks; the adjacent country being level,