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• GLEANINGS AND EEM4EKS: 
 
 COLLECTED 
 
 DURING MANY MONTHS OF RESIDENCE 
 
 BUENOS AYRES. 
 
 WITHIN THE UPPER COUNTRY; 
 
 WITH A 
 
 PREFATORY yiCCOUAT 
 
 or THK 
 
 EXPEDITION FROM ENGLAND, 
 
 UNTIL THE 
 
 L'NDEIl THE JOINT COMMAND OF 
 bIR D. LAIRD, C.C.JJ. K.C. AND SIR HOME POPHA!\I, K.C.B. 
 
 BY MAJOR ALEXANDER GILLESPIE, 
 
 J\'ou) upon the Eull-Patj rctiied List of the Rot/al Marints. 
 
 lllusUaUii with a Map of South America, and a Chart of Rio de la Plata, with pilotage 
 Dinclions. 
 
 OF THP 
 
 LEEDS: 
 
 FRINTEP BY B. DEWHIRST FOR THE AUTHOR: 
 
 SOLD UY J. W. WHITELEY, 103, NEW GaTE-SI REET, LONDON; 
 
 ROBINSON, SON, & HOLDSWORTH: AND HARDCA3TLE, LEEDS. 
 
 1818. 
 
V 
 
 F2808 
 
 ^EESE 
 
 )3C \ ^3 
 
INTKODUCTION. 
 
 The military traveller whom professio7ial 
 destiny throws amongst the different quarters of 
 the glohe^ may be justly compared to the giddy 
 and fortuitous stranger, who visits an extensive 
 museum, rvhere he admires every thing, but 
 examines into nothing. 
 
 Assuming this simile to himself, the Author 
 of the following Narrative has aptly preferred 
 the humble title of '•^ a Gleaner^' to a higher 
 name, upon taking a review of the luxuriant 
 fields through which he has ivandered, and 
 when looking at the sca7ity gatherings he has to 
 offer from them. But such as they are, he has 
 spread them out to be winnoived by the winds, 
 in the hope that a few scattered seeds may some- 
 where take root, and vegetate for the benefit of 
 others. 
 
 Alternately a conqueror and a captive upon 
 the shores of La Plata, it was his lot to derive a 
 privilege from misfortune, which had been denied 
 for ages to the most favoured foreigner. By 
 this inverted cause of incidents, he was not only 
 allowed, but compelled to penetrate many hun- 
 dred miles within its interior, to have a glance at 
 its productions, and to associate with its natives. 
 Still, after all, and however much the progress of 
 the prisoner may be elongated between two dis- 
 
11 
 
 taut extretnities, he is yet unhappily restrained 
 from steppifig far to either side, by the laws of 
 honour, and of vigilant coercion. His remarks 
 therefore, must be confined almost within the 
 narrow line over which he treads, consequently 
 often uninterresting, and few in their number, 
 when compared with those of the freeman. His 
 records too must be more various than compleat, 
 when they are noted upon little scraps of paper, 
 and his deductions neither positive nor sure, 
 when he is precluded from every source of 
 scientific reference. 
 
 Had it not been for the mighty events that 
 have recently passed within the country, about 
 which these details exclusively treat, and the 
 elevated independent rank she has finally at , 
 iaified amongst the nations, they 7iever would have 
 been obtruded upon the public, but contemplating 
 the immense and inexhaustible range, rvhich her 
 freedom opens to the commercial enterprise of 
 his own, the universal and p)revalent ignorance 
 of her wants, her customs, and her manners, the 
 writer of those Gleanings has ventured to com- 
 mit them to the world, under a strong sense of 
 social duty, and a zealous wish to contribute 
 his r^ite toward the general good. They lay no 
 claim to merit but in their truth, no ai7n at ex- 
 cellence beyond their simplicity. 
 
 Leed?, October 1st, 1818. 
 
OF 
 
 CJLEANIMC-S ^ REMARKS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 WHEN we review the many wars in which 
 we have been engaged with the monarchy of 
 Spain, always, till recently, the subsidiary ally 
 of France, when we contemplate those distant 
 pecuniary sources, from whence that nation 
 derived the means of waging and prolonging 
 them, it is matter of surprize that our reiterated 
 victories over both, upon the ocean, have never, 
 but in one instance, been followed up by any 
 enterprize against her South American Domi- 
 nions, that has been worthy of the British 
 name. It is yet more astonishing when we 
 trace their wide extent, their many defenceless 
 points, and above all their incalculable import- 
 ance to a commercial, and a great maritime 
 power. The gain of Cuba, in 1762, with 
 Havannah its capital, that padlock over the 
 Mexican gulf, after the loss of many lives, and 
 the expenditure of millions, produced no other 
 result than to serve as a portion of equivalent 
 
2 
 
 in the balance of mutual restitution, stipulated 
 in the terms of an ignominious peace, concluded 
 m the succeeding year. Since that period, a 
 far more enlightened policy has guided our 
 public councils in the conquest, and retention 
 of the island of Trinidad, which exhibits a 
 striking contrast of wisdom in the present, com- 
 pared with the fatal imbecility which over-ruled 
 the measures of those former times. Its in- 
 creasing; pi'paperity since it became an English 
 colony, is evidenced by an existing population 
 of" 3(),(;()0, whion in 1783 did not reach 3000, 
 and by some hundreds of barks for continental 
 intercourse, that under its previous masters, 
 was limited to two, for insular trade at home, 
 and abroad. Its native staples are now cul- 
 tivated beyond its wants, and have risen into 
 articles of export, while every year presents 
 some new specimens of our national genius 
 and activity over its hitherto neglected soil. 
 Those happy issues were anticipated by the 
 prophetic mind of Mr. Pitt, who, aware of its 
 local value, was determined never to surrender 
 it, and who not so much from a spirit of con- 
 quest, as a desire to monopolize for the 
 mercantile interests of his country, the benefits 
 that offered, resolved on the reduction of its 
 contiguous and rival islands, which were under 
 the respective jurisdiction of Holland, Sweden, 
 and Denmark, who successively were at war 
 with us. Before the peace of Amiens our 
 manufactures, being much needed, had a 
 ready access into the Spanish provinces bor- 
 dering on the sea, from the Oronoco to the 
 
Gulf of Darien, and the navigation was per- 
 formed chiefly under their own flag, protected 
 by British passports. This epitome will tend 
 to shew the cruel sacrifices made by the 
 negociation in 1763, as well as the weighty 
 considerations, always uppermost in the 
 thoughts of that immortal minister, either to 
 obtain a footing on the continent, or to eman- 
 cipate the colonies of South America. 
 
 Antecedent to these events, and so early as 
 1790, Mr. Pitt had conceived the latter pro- 
 ject, if the dispute with Spain had not been 
 amicably adjusted, and the plan was submitted 
 to the joint councils of General Miranda, and 
 some able Jesuit Missionaries, who when 
 expelled from those settlements had taken 
 refuge in Italy, but the storm blew over, and 
 the scheme was suspended, but not abandoned. 
 It was renewed however by the revolutionary 
 government of France, a member of which 
 was most anxious to interest Miranda in the 
 cause, from a knowledge of his active talents, 
 and his zeal to accomplish the freedom of his 
 country ; but that acute man, foreseeing the 
 danger of such an aim, he artfully waved the 
 proposal, by urging many obstacles to its suc- 
 cess, and averse to the sanguary and ambiti- 
 ous spirit of those reformers, he sometime 
 after abandoned their service and repaired to 
 England. Whether that officer's peregrinations 
 into various countries of Europe had a politi- 
 cal or a private object, cannot be decided on, 
 but his destinies, and his individual character 
 must have been precious in the eyes of his 
 
 B 2 
 
patriot brethren in Mexico ; a deputation 
 from whom followed him to Paris in 1796, 
 imploring, through him, a British aid, and for 
 him to head it, to establish their liberties and 
 independence. Soon after hostilities with 
 Spain, a compact most advantageous to us in 
 a pecuniary, as well as territorial view, was 
 sealed by Mr. Pitt, and as the United States 
 of North America were combined accessaries 
 to it, it only awaited the signature of their 
 President to commence their united operations 
 in the glorious struggle. Owing to procrasti- 
 nation on his part, this favourite design was 
 again dropped. 
 
 A similar expedition was imagined by Mr. 
 Addington in 1801, but the peace of Amiens 
 once more superseded it. The secession of 
 Spain from the coalition authorized its revival, 
 urged on too by the overwhelming progress of 
 the French arms, over continental Europe, 
 which held every state not yet subdued, in the 
 same submission from their terror, as if they 
 had conquered their capitals. Prohibitory 
 edicts against our manufactures had shut 
 almost every river and port, and it was 
 only through the narrow crevices of necessity, 
 or the perilous channels of an illicit trade, a 
 circulation of our vital existence as a nation 
 was maintained. 
 
 Those able coadjutors in the same adminis- 
 tration, the late Lord Melville and Mr. Pitt, 
 over whose tombs and memories England may 
 justly drop a tear, participating in the general 
 domestic gloom of 1804, and feeling the im- 
 
perative duty of retrieving such calamities by 
 a bold step, had again recourse to the same 
 expedient. Mi^'anda was called on, and a 
 respectable force was ordered under his 
 colleague. Sir Home Popham. Many thou- 
 sand stands of arms were to have been em- 
 barked, to have been put into the hands of the 
 revolters ; pilots from the Trinity-house were 
 nominated, the rendezvous wsls to have been 
 at the Island of Trinidad, and our debarkations 
 were to have been effected upon the banks of 
 the Oronoco. Such was the outline meditated 
 in the begining of 1805, when the Diadem was 
 commissioned for Sir Home's pennant, but it. 
 was deranged by many disastrous military 
 events upon the continent, and by a temporary 
 superiority during the summer, of the Brest 
 fleet, which alienated the services of that ship 
 to reinforce our channel squadron. This 
 retrospect is essential to explain, and perhaps 
 to vindicate the origin and motive of that sub- 
 sequent hostile attempt upon the shores of La 
 Plata, which constitutes the main ground 
 work of the present narrative, and as being 
 the avowed wish of Mr. Pitt, it must have had 
 a predominant influence over the future pro- 
 ceedings of Sir Home Popham, in undertaking 
 a measure not unsanctioned, though certainly 
 unauthorized, by the councils of his country. 
 
6 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 A MOST intelligent, and very interesting 
 description of the colony of the Cape of Good 
 Hope which had proceeded some years before, 
 from the pen of Mr. Barrow, roused our govern- 
 ment to a true sense of its value, as a military 
 and commercial entre-depot for India, from 
 its important geographical position, and its 
 unbounded productions. It may not be un- 
 worthy to remark the secrecy and address 
 with which this equipment was managed, so 
 opposite to our usual preparations for a secret 
 expedition, against that settlement. In July 
 1805, the Diadem returned to Portsmouth, 
 where orders had arrived for a foreign outfit. 
 A great many packages and letters were daily 
 shipped, addressed for Constantinople, whither 
 all supposed we were assuredly bound upon a 
 diplomatic mission, and every one anxiously 
 expected the great and wise man who was to 
 conduct it. The rumour obtained general 
 belief, but very trifling incidents will often 
 overthrow the best concerted schemes. One 
 day some horses were embarked, and it was 
 noticed on one of their covers, to be stamped 
 with the name of Sir David Baird. Our eyes 
 were opened, and all instantly concluded that 
 our future vocations wanted not the auxili- 
 aries of pen, ink, and paper, but those of shot, 
 shells, and gunpowder. 
 
Cotemporary with this, a large body of troops 
 was in readiness to embark at Cork, the com- 
 mand of which was assumed by that general, 
 while on the same plan of combination, a naval 
 force under sealed orders, was pushed on to 
 Madeira, our general rendezvous, there to await 
 the arrival of that armament, and of a mercan- 
 tile fleet destined for the West-Indies. The 
 Diadem reached Ireland early in August, and 
 soon after 14lndiamen, having soldiers on board, 
 and after every arrangement made, the whole 
 set sail on the 31st, and in the evening gained 
 an offing, with a fine leading wind. Our 
 passage thither was tedious, and stormy, 
 affording no interest, except our having seen 
 a large squadron one afternoon, supposed to 
 have been enemies, which never appeared 
 again after the darkness came on. On the 
 29th of September we anchored in the Bay of 
 Funchal, when our total effective force for the 
 expedition was concentred. A maritime 
 power, hke Britain, has always the exclusive 
 means of projecting and accomplishing great 
 designs, by a judicious direction of them, and 
 a wise combination. 
 
 The approaches to the town of Funchal, 
 appear picturesque, and few prospects offer a 
 finer display for the pencil. Houses inter- 
 spersed with trees, promiscuously towering 
 above one another, together with luxuriant 
 vineyards upon the sloping sides of the 
 adjacent mountains in the shape of an 
 amphitheatre, finely diversified by streams and 
 villas, are at once embraced by the eye. But 
 
on landing the fairy picture vanishes, as little 
 but ruinous houses, and dirty streets, in a con- 
 stant bustle from sledges, and men bearing 
 down to the beach the wines of the island for 
 shipment, are to be observed. The odours too 
 from those narrow places, need not description. 
 In all catholic countries the churches are the 
 prominent si)ecimens of their wealth and arts. 
 Here they are inferior edifices, and although 
 the painting and gilding within them are 
 tolerable, yet the pentiles of them all are 
 miserably finished. Their fortifications, and 
 military establishment, were alike despicable ; 
 but doubtless many reforms for the better, 
 have been instituted since the British held 
 Madeira in trust. Upon the 3d of October 
 the united convoys departed, and that bound 
 for the Antilles separated on the 6th together 
 with the Narcissus frigate. Captain Donelly, 
 to cruize for intelligence near to the Cape of 
 Good Hope. 
 
 Two very unfortunate accidents occurred 
 on the 3d. of November in the wreck of the 
 King George Transport, and the ultimate 
 loss of the Britannia East-Indiaman, which 
 ship though got off the Koccas Keef sunk 
 in a few hours after it. Two lives perished 
 in the former, and a woman who was delivered 
 on the same morning was providentially saved 
 together with her infant. Brigadier General 
 Yorke, who commanded the artillery depart- 
 ment, suffered on this occasion. When she 
 touched, the bowsprit of the King George was 
 perpendicular to the rocky surface, which 
 
9 
 
 happily preserved the crew. That officer was 
 urged to follow their example, but irresolute 
 betwixt two worlds, and being anxious to bear 
 along with him a box of guineas, he went 
 below for it, but in the attempt to be lowered 
 down, he missed his hold, when dropping into 
 a depth, he fell an instantaneous prey to the 
 sharks floating around in numbers. His death 
 was considered a great professional loss. Those 
 shoals, scarcely visible above water, are about 
 17 leagues to the West of Fernando de 
 N^oronha, an island near the Brazilian Coast ; 
 they lay in about 33" 23" West longitude, and 
 40" 46" South latitude. After a dispersion on 
 the 6th of November, the whole expedition 
 arrived in the Bay of All- Saints, St. Salvador 
 upon the 11th. The entrance to it is grand, 
 and a stranger feels a great desire to visit 
 the city, formed by the upper and lower towns. 
 The latter contains an excellent dockyard in 
 good order, near to which are wine vaults of a 
 prodigious extent, and well stored, belonging 
 to a company at Lisbon, besides a neat ex- 
 change, where gold and jewels are exposed for 
 sale. The two services were furnished here 
 with 66 pipes of sound port, at £24. each. 
 
 Like all other parts of the world where 
 Englishmen repair, the markets rose exhor- 
 bitantly, and the pilot of the port, seizing the 
 occasion, set up an ordinary and a grog shop, 
 from which he realized 5000 dollars during 
 our stay. An established Consul is the only 
 medium, through whom such glaring imposi- 
 tions can be remedied in foreign harbours. 
 
10 
 
 You proceed to the Upper Town by a gradual 
 and pleasant ascent, and you are not dis- 
 appointed when you reach it. At once are 
 comprehended a view of the sea, of the bay 
 with its fortified islands, and an extensive 
 range of beautiful country. The sick were 
 encamped on the summit, where they quickly 
 recovered. The streets are neat, and the 
 buildings elegant, and both towns possess 
 churches well decorated within, and of good 
 exterior appearance. All of them have organs. 
 Going into one of them with Dr. Emmerson 
 of the medical staff, who was an excellent 
 performer, he offered his services. It caused 
 a short demur, but they were at last accepted, 
 and the heretic was allowed to play. He 
 instantly struck off God save the king, Britons 
 strike home, Britannia rules the waves, and 
 some other grand national airs with admirable 
 effect. The glances, and attitudes of the 
 hearers, fully interpreted their sensibility to 
 the sound of our music, although bigotry had 
 rendered them inexorable to the charms of our 
 religion. 
 
 The position of the city of St. Sal- 
 vador, with its extended suburbs, is upon a 
 peninsula to the partial view, which is 
 formed by a salt-marsh stretching nearly 
 around the whole, connected by an isthmus, 
 with the main land not a mile in breadth. On 
 this rests a fort with no outworks, but having 
 four well-constructed bastions, but so small as 
 to allow but one gun to defend the face, and 
 another the flank of each. The ditch is deep, 
 
11 
 
 and descends into the Lower Town at its en- 
 trance, rounding the point of a bastion, and so 
 up a gentle eminence, where the North Eastern 
 suburb is situated. Beyond these are hues 
 that crown the heights, and overlook the 
 shore. The defences towards the sea are 
 formidable from many scattered batteries, but 
 especially one that flanks them all, about 300 
 yards from the beach. Being a great naval, 
 as well as commercial depot, the military force 
 here is always strong, and part of it respectable. 
 Most of the soldiers on guard, I observed, were 
 decently clothed and armed, but examine 
 their cartouch-boxes, you will be surprized to 
 find them full of ammunition for the belly, not 
 for the field, composed of a thick porridge 
 made with water, from the meal of Indian 
 corn. 
 
 Before taking leave of this spot, I would 
 caution my countrymen who may hereafter 
 visit it, against mingling with the natives after 
 sunset, and still more from confiding in the 
 boatmen who may carry them afloat after 
 dark. Always be armed with small pistols, 
 and shew those fellows you are so. This will 
 induce their fidelity from fear, otherwise they 
 may shape their course in an opposite direction, 
 and if superior, will unrelentingly murder you 
 for your imagined property. An example of 
 this occurred while we were here, to some 
 cadets going to India, who incautiously took 
 passage with some of those villains, and who 
 being defenceless, were assassinated in the 
 most barbarous manner. Similar attempts 
 
12 
 
 were tried upon others, but they were foiled 
 by a determined shew of resistance. An 
 excursion for a day up a narrow river that 
 discharges into the bay, in search of hve-stock 
 exhibited a beautiful chequered interior, 
 abounding and varied with wheat and maize- 
 fields, hills and fertile vallies. My friend and 
 self were hospitably entertained by a collector 
 of the land-tax, to whom we carried a letter of 
 introduction, seconded by two still more 
 powerful advocates, presents of gunpowder, 
 and several bottles of porter. After landing 
 near to his home, having a chapel attached, 
 we were ushered into a large room with an 
 earthern floor, not unlike a kitchen in disorder. 
 The venerable patriarch, for he merits the 
 title, was seated in an arm chair, surrounded 
 by three generations from his own loins, who 
 were walking about, or crawling on the ground, 
 besides a groupe of dogs, cats, pigs, and poul- 
 try to vary the piece. We were cordially 
 received, and the eyes of the old gentleman 
 glistened bright, when we unbagged our 
 offerings. After a hearty dinner, repeated in 
 the name of a supper, and pleasant repose, a 
 horn was sounded in the morning, summoning 
 all his liege dependents to bring in their com- 
 modities for sale, and having laid in our sup- 
 plies at a rate which inclined us to suspect 
 that our landlord must have had a fellow-feeling 
 of interest in them, we shipped our adventure, 
 wished the family good bye, and rejoined the 
 Diadem in the evening. Every preparation 
 finished, and our sick recruited, the fleet 
 
13 
 
 departed from the Bay of All-Saints on the 
 28th. of ISTovemher. Along the whole of the 
 Brazilian Coast, and even at Sea, we passed 
 close to several flat square hoats, railed in at 
 the edges, with short masts in the centre, 
 carrying a small sail, that were often com- 
 pletely covered by the water, and which a 
 stranger would at every wave, dread were 
 swallowed up. But they skim along with 
 safety, and are engaged in fishing, or in com- 
 municating with any vessels they may meet. 
 Nothing intervened in our passage to the 
 African coast, until the dawn of the 4th of 
 January, 1806, when the Table Mountain, its 
 Southern promentory, was seen just above the 
 horizon. Several days elapsed before a landing 
 could be ventured on, owing to heavy gales, 
 and a dangerous surf along the whole line of 
 our disembarkation, from Cape Town to the 
 Bay of Lospard's at its opposite extremity. 
 
 CHAP. III. 
 
 DEMONSTRATIONS of landing, and a 
 series of reconnaissance along the line of shore 
 in Table Bay, preceded a partial debarkation of 
 the 71st light company, in the small inlet ofLos- 
 pard,upon the afternoon of the sixth of January 
 Although a dense tangle of seaweed from 
 its entrance to the landing place, totally im- 
 peded the advance of our boats, and command- 
 
 I 
 
14 
 
 ing sandhills lined both its flanks, which if 
 occupied with a few fieldpieces, and some 
 hundred infantry, might have repelled any 
 attempt ; still the Dutch shewed only a few 
 rifle-men, who opened a loose fire, and on being 
 pushed by our detachment, they injudiciously 
 abandoned those valuable heights ; retiring 
 precipitately to the elevated grounds that 
 intervened betwixt us and their main army on 
 the fields of Blueberg. A very lamentable 
 accident befel thirty-five fine fellows of the 
 93d. who were drowned close to the beach, 
 owing to the mentioned obstruction, and 
 perhaps from a sudden movement in the boat, 
 proceeding from a want of familiarity with 
 that new danger. Throughout the whole of 
 this service, the promptness and dexterity of 
 the seamen from the transports were eminently 
 conspicuous, and far superior to those from 
 the men of war. That occasion naturally 
 obtrudes the suggestion how essential it is that 
 a portion of every crew in the navy should be 
 exercised in this arduous branch of duty. 
 Upon most seacoasts a heavy surf succeeds a 
 gale, or arises from other elementary causes. 
 In this instance I observed the former descrip- 
 tion of sailors to land the troops quite dry in 
 their persons and ammunition, while the latter 
 confused or appalled by every succeeding 
 swell, by exposing the sides of their launches 
 to each, endangered both the lives and the 
 effective use of every soldier. Generally 
 speaking, a thorough science with such casual- 
 ties, and the ready methods of avoiding them, 
 
cannot be too extensively inculcated on every 
 one destined for a sea life. 
 
 General Jan sens had most imprudently 
 committed his fortune to a battle in the field, 
 instead of maintaining and defending the strong 
 lines of Cape Town, with his numerous army. 
 Having adopted decisively this alternative, 
 he cooly awaited, in full array, the approach 
 of the British on the morning of the 7th. of 
 January. It would exceed my purpose and 
 limits " again to fight the fight, again to slay 
 the slain." It is enough to state that the 
 conflict was for a time obstinate, but that a 
 gallant charge of the Highland Brigade under 
 General Ferguson, broke, and put the enemy 
 to flight, which was instantly followed up by a 
 rapid pursuit. The animated fire of thirty-six 
 Chinese, who acted on foot as artillerists with 
 six light guns, which they managed most 
 admirably against the various positions of our 
 line, was much praised. They subsequently 
 enlisted with us in the same character. The 
 disposition of our squadron under weigh in the 
 bay overlooked every movement of the retreat- 
 ing army, and accordingly its marines were 
 landed in their rear ; a resolve, had it been 
 persevered in, which would have given a fine 
 termination to the day, by that fresh body 
 coming in contact with the troops of the 
 enemy, at that crisis in a totally exhausted 
 state from a confined march of several miles, 
 nearly knee deep in sand. But although some 
 representations were offered to that amount, 
 as well as its practability, yet the exertions 
 
16 
 
 of that spirited department were confined, by 
 orders, to the canonade of a house within a 
 square in closure which had been recently 
 evacuated by the Dutch, instead of defiling 
 along the salt-pans to the right, and by a 
 double-time movement, striking at any optional 
 point of their disordered columns. In place 
 of this too, we were soon after united to our 
 own army, and rested on the spot with it until 
 the afternoon. Jansens though beaten, still 
 kept together a respectable force with which 
 he retired into the Hottentot Kloof, with the 
 intention of cutting off the supplies of Cape 
 Town, which he thus abandoned to its fate, 
 and by raising insurrection amongst the 
 Caffre Tribes, to render our possession of it 
 both irksome and precarious. He trusted 
 also to the chance of aiming a blow at some 
 of our outports. The noon of the 9th. of 
 January placed Sir David Baird upon the 
 banks of the salt river, three miles distant from 
 the capital, whence a summons for its imme- 
 diate surrender was sent in. An unnecessary 
 delay in answering the flag, induced that 
 officer to put his army in motion for the 
 assault about two, on seeing which, the prof- 
 fered terms were accepted, and on the same 
 evening the British colours were hoisted on 
 all the works. 
 
 It yet remained incumbent to bring 
 Jansens to submission, for which purpose the 
 Highland Brigade was ordered out, accom- 
 panied by Mr. Thomas Tennant, an English 
 settler in the colony, who had been in personal 
 
17 
 
 intimacy, and held much influence over the 
 opinions of that general. This expedient 
 happily effected its complete conquest without 
 farther bloodshed, and added a gem to the 
 crown, not exceeded by any other in solid 
 value. 
 
 Premiums for flour and other articles soon 
 restored plenty, and evinced their superabun- 
 dance in the country, while a public procla- 
 mation stamping a fixed medium for the paper 
 circulation, that had long laboured in an unde- 
 termined and a depressed state, restored 
 general confidence, and a revival of trade. 
 None rejoiced more in this event than some 
 of our countrymen, who had remained after 
 its late cession to the Dutch, under the pro- 
 tection of that government ; they taking the 
 oaths of allegiance to it. One of them, an ex- 
 perienced agriculturist, had been sent out by 
 the Society in England, while the Cape was 
 under our dominion, to superintend its practi- 
 cal improvements, around a considerable dis- 
 trict. A spot of more than 200 acres was 
 allotted to him in fee, as a farm for residence, 
 and science, and his zeal and genius, were 
 remunerated by a regular contract for 1000 
 ploughs adapted to local cultivation, of his 
 own invention, at 100 rix-dollars each, or 
 ^17. 2s. 9d. sterling. This was only in part 
 fulfilled when the colony was restored to 
 Holland, and a few specimens delivered, but 
 afterwards it was shamefully annulled by the 
 authorities, and the individual almost ruined. 
 The superior excellence of the Constantia 
 
18 
 
 wines, a grape limited to two farms situated on 
 a range of heathy ground, is a proof that its 
 cultivation might be more extensively pursued, 
 if properly encouraged. Mr. William Maude, 
 a gentleman of property in the colony, and 
 possessing much public spirit, shewed by a 
 series of practice, and a close attention to the 
 vines, their capability of producing a very 
 superior sort to that now imported for general 
 use in England. Instead of promiscuously 
 mixing the ripe and unripe fruit together with 
 the stalks, as has been the usage, and still I 
 believe prevails, he carefully selected it into 
 two distinct crops, and manufactured each 
 when in a state of perfect maturity. This 
 observance, and the placing a superintendent 
 upon every one of his estates, to prune and 
 watch the progress of the trees, gave evidence 
 of the fact in various kinds, of an exquisite 
 quality, which annually, and progressively, 
 were highly improved. He purposed in time 
 to bring them to an equal perfection with those 
 upon Constantia. That individual complained 
 bitterly of the arbitrary conduct and exactions 
 of the Dutch government after he became its 
 subject, which was conceived also to have com- 
 mitted a flagrant breach of faith in not having 
 annulled the currency of the floating paper 
 money, in conformity to the stipulations upon 
 the late restoration of the colony by the 
 British, and in consideration of a sum paid to 
 their authorities, with that exclusive object. 
 Of course every rix-doUar in business, became 
 lawful prize to the captors, and the fraud was 
 
19 
 
 obviously discovered, in their dates being pre- 
 vious to that event, and to our reconquest of 
 the colony. Trade could not be easily carried 
 on here without the aids of those printed 
 instruments, for which not only the public on 
 the spot, but our national pledge is the 
 guarantee. In a financial view, there is no part 
 of our territories so economically supported 
 as the Cape, because its native commerce 
 contributes much from its revenue to the main- 
 tenance of our civil and military establishments 
 there, and the state of exchange being from 
 twenty-six to thirty-three in favour of the 
 Crown for public bills, that excess is conse- 
 quently a gain to it. 
 
 As the Dutch flag was displayed long after 
 the capture of the town, on the batteries and 
 ships, several arrivals under neutral colours 
 took place ; some of which being French pro- 
 perty were condemned, and a tender of 
 Admiral Linois, with La Volontaire frigate, 
 being decoyed into the bay by this stratagem, 
 were taken. On board the latter was a lieu- 
 tenant of their navy, named Steitz, a 
 Hamburgher, who was an old acquaintance of 
 Sir Home Popham's. Whether from the joy 
 on renewing it, or an open temper I know not, 
 but his communications were free and candid, 
 as to the state of European affairs, concerning 
 the escape of some French Squadrons from 
 their ports, but more especially respecting the 
 ultimate destination of that from which his 
 ship had been separated — being against the 
 Cape of Good Hope. So versatile was that 
 
 c 2 
 
20 
 
 officer in his principles, he voluntarily lent his 
 uniforms to ours on duty, when boarding ves- 
 sels coming into the bay, and was in every 
 way most officious to serve us. He avowed 
 having been some years before employed as a 
 spy in the North of Scotland, where he married 
 a lady of good family and fortune, with wnom 
 he still held an uninterrupted correspondence. 
 His disclosures were such as to render prepa- 
 rations necessary for receiving Admiral Jerome 
 Buonaparte, by anchoring our squadron in 
 proper positions in the bay, and strengthening 
 the shore line with additional cannon, outworks, 
 and lighted furnaces for redhot shot. But 
 the fleet not appearing after a lapse of weeks, 
 and knowing their inability to keep the sea so 
 long without supplies, as well as their habitual 
 terror of taking refuge in any port to seek them, 
 it was concluded as certain that they had been 
 diverted from prosecuting their final design. 
 
 The winter was now coming on, when 
 a farther continuance in Table Bay must 
 have been attended with danger, and permit- 
 ted an interval of months for active operation 
 in some other quarter, not subject to storms 
 at this season, without the risk of our 
 newly recovered dominions being exposed to 
 any serious attack, or to maritime insults. 
 Amongst other vessels, there was at this time 
 an American brig at anchor in the bay, com- 
 manded by a- Captain Wayne, who had been 
 employed in the slave-trade, and in the course 
 of it had frequently visited Monte Video, and 
 Buenos Ayres. On board the Diadem also, 
 were two sailors, who had touched at both 
 
21 
 
 places, and one of them had been some years 
 a resident in that capital. All coincided m 
 accounts of their defenceless state, of their 
 relaxed discipline, their unsuspecting security, 
 and that a bold sudden blow at either, could 
 not fail of success. The idea once conceived, 
 became cherished, and preparations com^ 
 menced at the close of March, 1806. 
 
 Having fdled a civil situation on shore during 
 our continuance at the Cape, it is my duty to 
 acknowledge the many hospitalities received, 
 before I take leave of it. They were many, and 
 must always be warmly recognized, because 
 they were disinterested. The climate is 
 healthy, but the conmion wines in use must 
 be carefully avoided by Europeans. Table 
 d'hotes are numerous, where a stranger may 
 dine sumptuously for a dollar, having a bottle 
 of it at his elbov/, but if he calls for foreign, 
 he must pay extra. There are likewise several 
 lodging-houses kept by respectable families, 
 who take in those who choose, at very moderate 
 rates, and to whom every comfort is supplied by- 
 separate bed-rooms, where each individual may 
 breakfast, by an elegant table where the whole 
 household assemble, as well as their visitors, to 
 dine, which is often frequented too by residents 
 of ascertained character. Both sexes associate 
 on such occasions. As all passengers to or 
 from India, are supposed to disembark while 
 these ships remain in port, those boarding-places 
 are much thronged during the whole period of 
 their stay, and they were indeed originally 
 established with that speculative view. If an 
 
22 
 
 intruder beyond their regular hours of meal- 
 time, shall enter a Dutch tavern, he may go 
 away empty, for they will cook nothing after 
 them. Some English adventurers however be- 
 gan, who knowing the whims, perfectly accom- 
 modated themselves to the taste and fashions 
 of their countrymen. The gross manner of 
 living in Cape Town, doubtless promotes the 
 corpulency of its inhabitants — and it is no 
 unusual thing to see a married lady, nay even 
 the unwedded, to sup on fish swimming in the 
 fat of sheep's tails, which are appropriated to 
 the purpose of frying, a second course of beef- 
 steaks with onions, and after a bumper of hol- 
 lands, to dive into bed. So far as I could 
 observe, their conversation was languid, but 
 their attentions to their children were amiable, 
 and steady to their domestic concerns. Al- 
 though Cape Town is seated on a desert, still 
 the houses built of stone and whitewashed, are 
 good, their streets very wide, and intersected 
 at right-angles, are regular, and the interior 
 country is highly cultivated by wealthy boors, 
 and British settlers. About eight miles from 
 it, there is a vast range of gardens planned by 
 a Scotchman, not far from Constantia, who 
 sells an immense variety of seeds in small 
 baskets, subdivided into forty-eight sorts, which 
 are very well adapted for our home soil, and 
 indeed the chance traveller cannot offer a more 
 handsome remembrance to his European friend 
 than by a few of them, with a collection of 
 those from the heath, that abound in an infi- 
 nite variety. Many pretty villas have been 
 
23 :. 
 
 pitched inland, and the adjacent grounds are 
 much improved. The Table Mountain tower- 
 ing above the town, gives a grandeur to it 
 from the bay, and it frankly warns the boat- 
 man against carrying sail, by a misty covering 
 on its top, which always portends squally 
 weather. The gusts are so sudden, that a 
 craft is overset in a moment by their partial 
 rage, when the surface is smooth as glass. 
 The company's gardens in which stands the 
 Governor's house, form a cool retreat during 
 the day to the lounger, and in the evening are 
 the resort of all descriptions, who are gratified 
 till late, by a military band of music. Every 
 shrub, or plant that can be found is here, and 
 every fruit tree which is congenial to the 
 climate. Oxen are the animals chiefly em- 
 ployed in labour. So pliant are they I have 
 observed their drivers going at full speed with 
 ten-in-hand, and their horses are deemed of 
 much greater value as pacers, than trotters, 
 to which they are trained. In estimating 
 distances they familiarly calculate by hours, 
 not by miles, and the hire is determined by the 
 former ; being a ratio of six for that space. 
 While we were at the settlement, a journey 
 unto CafFraria was undertaken by the Hon. 
 Captain Gordon, nephew to Sir David Baird, 
 in company with Major Boyer from Algoa 
 Bay, who had officiated annually as the ac- 
 credited representative of the Dutch and 
 English Governments, to the court of Gyka 
 their king. They were bearers of the first 
 presents sent to him after our being masters 
 
24 
 
 of it. That promising officer, after being at- 
 tached to the staff of the Duke of Welhngton, 
 during the whole of the peninsular war, termi- 
 nated his glorious career by the side of his 
 noble protector, on the fields of Waterloo. 
 His journal comprized a period of 36 days, 
 during which an extent of SOOO miles was 
 passed, with little variation on the road; both 
 travelling on horseback chiefly, with their 
 retinue and provisions in two covered wag- 
 gons, drawn by oxen ; halting and reposing 
 every night in the houses of the kindly boors, 
 and undisturbed throughout, except by a few 
 roving Boshmen who exist by the chase, and 
 inhabit the cliffs, until they reached the abode 
 of that royal chief. Captain Gordon described 
 him as an interesting man, who when they 
 were ushered into his house, was dressed in 
 an old Dutch uniform, with two of his wives in 
 the same chamber. After some previous ce- 
 remony, the gifts were produced, amongst 
 which was the full dress of a British dragoon 
 officer, still more richly ornamented. A 
 mirror was fixed in the place, and the splen- 
 dour of the jacket, instantly attracted the eye 
 of his majesty. Taking hold of his new 
 attire, after casting away the old with disdain, 
 he put it on, and eagerly approached the glass. 
 After a few capers, attuned by much self- 
 delight, he wreaked his royal vengeance upon 
 the decayed garment, protesting loudl} he 
 never would again wear a stitch sent him 
 by the Dutch republic, but only that of 
 English manufacture. His two wives wit- 
 
25 
 
 nessed the scene with much pleasure, and to 
 each of them some scissars, needles, and other 
 trifles were given, but two East India handker- 
 chiefs, were greatly prized. They soon de- 
 parted, and were succeeded by five others of 
 his spouses, drawn by similar inducements, 
 to share in the general bounties bestowed. A 
 court was held of the principal men, where all 
 the punctilios of precedence were observed, and 
 as various departments of state, both civil and 
 military were organized, and much order pre- 
 vailed in the community, it may be concluded 
 that those distant and sequestered tribes are 
 makinggradual advances to civilization. A body 
 of soldiers accompanied our travellers to a dis- 
 tance on their return, as a mark not only of 
 respect, but as a guard against the Boshmen, 
 with whom they wage a perpetual war. 
 While we continued at Cape Town, Lieutenant 
 Callendar, on the naval half-pay, was sent by 
 Sir Home Popham, to explore the Bay of 
 Plettenburg, of which he made a very favour- 
 able report. It contains several islands well- 
 placed to defend the anchorage, around which 
 the marine of England might ride in security, 
 and he entered an inlet which he penetrated to 
 some distance, having soundings throughout, 
 sufficient for the navigation of vessels exceed- 
 ing 300 tons burden. He stated that on each 
 side of it was a continued line of trees capable 
 for shipbuilding, and a kind of flax, from its 
 texture, suited to serve as a substitute in naval 
 equipments. 
 
26 
 
 Early in April our departure was resolved 
 on, and as our means were small, so the bustle 
 of preparation was not preceptible. The light 
 company of the 71st regiment, was the only 
 regular military force we possessed, which with 
 the marines, and seamen, trained to musquetry 
 from the whole squadron, did not exceed TOO 
 men. With this slender body, our flotilla got 
 under weigh upon Saturday the 12th, destined 
 to augment our conquests somewhere upon 
 the banks of Kio de la Plata. But an inter- 
 posing Providence decreed otherwise, for a 
 dead calm obliged the Armament to anchor. 
 Early on the following morning I was directed 
 by Sir Home Popham, to examine the two 
 sailors mentioned, apart from each other, to 
 submit such questions as I might judge pro- 
 per, and to record the details, in order to meet 
 the eye of Sir David Baird, who was expected 
 on board the Diadem at one in the afternoon. 
 At that hour the general appeared, and after 
 a short stay the whole of the 71st regiment, 
 with a few dismounted light dragoons of the 
 SiOth, and six fieldpieces, were embarked during 
 the same evening. To this reinforcement a 
 regular staff was annexed, which changed its 
 title into an expedition, instead of a predatory 
 enterprize. General Beresford commanded the 
 troops, having members under him from the 
 engineer, medical, and commissary departments. 
 To give uniformity, and a more imposing 
 appearance to the whole, the disciplined sea- 
 men were clothed in red jackets, and finally 
 
27 
 
 incorporated with the marines of their respec- 
 tive ships, under the common appellation of 
 the Royal Marine Battalion. 
 
 On the 14th of April, the Diadem, Raison- 
 able, Diomede, two frigates, one gunbrig, and 
 five transports set sail, but on the 22ncl, the 
 Ocean having Major ToUey with 200 soldiers 
 on board, parted company in a heavy squall 
 during the night. This was a serious accident 
 when we reflected upon our diminished num- 
 bers, and the magnitude of the undertaking 
 before us. The misfortune induced the 
 shaping our course for St. Helena, where it 
 could alone be repaired. 
 
 During our passage thither, a task was im- 
 posed upon Mr. Wayne and myself. That 
 American gentleman having sold his brig at 
 the Cape, determined to share in our destinies. 
 While at Buenos Ayreshe had collected a series 
 of weekly newspapers that had issued from the 
 periodical press of a Colonel of Militia, whose 
 liberal sentiments, and comprehensive know- 
 ledge were identified in every page, by the 
 most animated displays of patriot feeling for 
 his country's neglected interests, and the 
 most intelligent calm discussion upon the 
 remedies best calculated to promote them. The 
 publication was permitted to exist more than 
 a year, but its free tenor, and its enlightened 
 topics, could not long live in a political atmos- 
 phere obscured by despotism, and cherished by 
 indolence and ignorance. 
 
 In place of encouragement the author was 
 exiled, and his types were demolished. TheSe 
 
28 
 
 documents translated, were forwarded to our 
 ministry by a packet homeward bound, which 
 we found at St. Helena upon our arrival on 
 the 29th of April. I have to lament that a 
 counterpart of the whole fell a prey to the 
 mob, when my house was ransacked at a sub- 
 sequent period in Buenos Ayres. We rounded 
 the South point of St. Helena in the afternoon 
 of the 29th, close to the shore, where boards 
 are posted in very visible letters, and in various 
 languages, directing all vessels in approach "to 
 send a boat on shore." Conceiving that the 
 admonition did not apply to a man of war, the 
 Diadem was proceeding to her anchorage in 
 St. James's Bay, when a shot, the precursor of 
 many more, was sent a little aside, and a 
 second more seriously addressed, compelled 
 her to pay that homage from which none are 
 exempted. 
 
 It required the united persuasion and address 
 of both our commandants, with Governor 
 Patten, to repair our deficiency from the loss 
 of the Ocean, who had to combat in his 
 decision betwixt a high sense of his public 
 duty to the East India Company, and a loyal 
 wish to advance the prosperity of his country. 
 The exertions of that gentleman for the good 
 of the service were great, and generous. 
 Acquainted with the plan of our future oper- 
 ations, and fearing our inability to execute 
 it, he assumed the personal responsibility of 
 ordering 180 men from his garrison, with all 
 their appendages for the field, to be shipped 
 in the Justinia a merchant vessel of 26 guns, 
 
29 
 
 belonging to Messrs. Princeps and Saunders of 
 London, which was in the roadstead, bound to, 
 and insured for the Cape, but whose supercargo 
 was prevailed on to deviate his voyage to the 
 hostile shores of South America, in hopes of a 
 better market. This detachment from the 
 St. Helena corps was a valuable addition, as 
 most of them were artillerists and excellent 
 marksmen. From this sterile spot which 
 yields but little ; where the troops of the East 
 India Company were always upon salt rations, 
 and where a calf, tho' private property, could not 
 be slaughtered without the Governor's permis- 
 sion, he spared some days fresh provisions to 
 the expedition, which sailed on the 2nd of 
 May for their ultimate destination. The 
 result of Mr. Patten's unauthorized zeal 
 entailed upon him the forfeiture of his govern- 
 ment, but while that strict infliction of the 
 letter of the law was passed upon him, it is the 
 bounden duty of surviving justice to vindi- 
 cate his memory from stain, under a know- 
 ledge of the virtuous motives that led to it. 
 Upon the 26th of that month after a baf- 
 fling and tedious progress, a council of war 
 was held, after which Sir H. Popham shifted 
 his pennant into the Narcissus frigate, which 
 proceeded in advance of the squadron to 
 obtain intelligence, to sound the Kio Plata, 
 and to communicate with the Leda, which 
 ship had been previously detached for similar 
 purposes. On the 8th of June, Cape St. 
 Maria, the Northern point of it was perceived 
 through a fog, and some of our ships liad 
 
JO 
 
 narrow escapes, from a reef of rocks that run 
 to the eastward of the isle of Lobos, near to 
 the entrance of the river. Soon after the 
 surrender of Monte Video, this httle depend- 
 ency was purchased from the captors by some 
 Enghsh speculatists with a view to cure beef, 
 to manufacture portable soups, and to catch 
 seals and the wolf-fish which abound, and from 
 whence it derives its name. 
 
 It is seated about ten miles from the conti- 
 nent, stretches out to a considerable distance, 
 and some parts of it are scarcely visible 
 until near, from their being level with the 
 water. 
 
 It will be proper here to digress from the 
 continuous detail of events which terminated 
 in the reduction of Buenos Ayres, and to 
 appropriate the following chapter to a pilotage 
 definition of the dangers, that are profusely 
 scattered, and directions to avert them, 
 throughout the navigation of the magnificent 
 estuary of La Plata. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 AS little pains had been taken by the 
 Spanish Government to correct the errors that 
 had long prevailed in the Royal Charts of the 
 Rio de la Plata, by surveys, many disasters 
 consequently had befallen to the commercial 
 traders, owing to their inaccuracyj and to the 
 
31 
 
 prejudiced ignorance of the native pilots. The 
 quahfications usually exacted from those prac- 
 titioners, had never been ascertained by any 
 public examination, and the only experience, 
 or talent they derived to entitle their assuming 
 such important trusts, had been drawn from 
 occasional fishing excursions upon the river, 
 by some, while others founded their profes- 
 sional knowledge as commanders of little barks 
 employed in a frequent intercourse between 
 Buenos Ayres, Monte Video, and Maldonado. 
 Our temporary conquest of the capital, gave 
 us also the complete sovereignty of the Plata, 
 and after our misfortunes, it was perpetuated 
 by our superior naval force, and the reduction 
 of Monte Video. The following directions for 
 safely navigating the Rio de la Plata, were 
 obtained from a scientific naval officer, whose 
 exclusive duty it was to sound all its bounds, 
 to explore minutely around all its shoals and 
 dangers, and who recorded every remark at 
 the moment it was made. 
 
 For sailing up to Monte Video to avoid the 
 English Bank on the South Side keep to the South, 
 ward of the parallel 35° 24" South, till you are 
 so far to the Westward as Monte Video, when 
 youwill have seven or eight fathoms, and a clayey 
 bottom. Then steer N. by W.t7^uecourse,ti\\jou 
 get into the latitude of 35° 15", and when you 
 sound five or six fathoms, Monte Video bears 
 true North. Steer for it immediately, keeping 
 steadily in six fathoms water, until you see 
 the mountain, when you may anchor two or 
 three miles from the shore, as you judge proper. 
 
S'2 
 
 To avoid l/ie English Bank on the North 
 Side. — Keep between the parallel 35° 6" and 
 85° 0" 0" making a true West course. In 
 the best of the channel the ground is muddy, 
 and you will know whenever you are too far 
 either Sojuth or North, by its becoming sandy. 
 Pass between two and three miles to the South 
 of the Island of Floret, when you may soon an- 
 chor before Monte Video in six fathoms water. 
 
 For sailitig into Maldonado. — Pass fully 
 half a mile to the Westward of Goriti Island, 
 giving the same distance from its North-west 
 point, in order to clear a reef laying off it, and 
 when that island bears South by compass, 
 haul round to the Eastward, having the centre 
 of it S. W. by S. when you will anchor in six 
 fathoms. Variation E°. 
 
 l3Mring0 ^ JBi^Uwtt^ in X^t lllata fig GrDHipa00. 
 
 Miles. 
 
 From the Mount to the Beacon upon Ortiz Bank, W. by W. \ W. 46 
 
 That Beacon to the Trees seen ujion Embado, W. by S. \ S.... 36 
 
 Ditto to East end of Chico Bank, E. i S 26 
 
 The Beacon upon Ortiz and Chico Banks, W. bv N. i N 39 
 
 Ditto. ditto. ditto. To FariUo N. W. by W. 32 
 
 Beacon on Chico Bank to Ensenada del Banagon W. by "S 23 
 
 Colonia del Sacramento to Ensenada South 21 
 
 Colonia to Buenos Ayres S. W. \ W 31 
 
 Beacon on Chico Bank to Buenos Ayres West 47 
 
 The course up the Middle Channel' W. N. W 41 
 
 Ditto up the South Channel, W. N. W. 41 
 
 Be very cautious against approaching too near the Beacon. 
 
 Directions for sailing up the Middle Channel. 
 —The Beacon upon Ortiz Bank heaxsfrom the 
 anchorage at Monte Video W. N. W. i- W. 42 
 miles. That Bank extends seven or eight miles 
 to the Eastward of the beacon upon it. Sailing 
 
36 
 
 'W 
 
 Ja- 
 
 S^>ale e'f^Xe^ 
 
J 7 Zonoitiuff He^t inrm Lrndrn . 
 
S3 
 
 from the anchorage mentioned, the course you 
 must steer to clear it is S. W. by W. ^ W, but 
 should there be a strong floodtide, or current, 
 steer S. W. by W. to preserve a safe distance 
 from the Bank. Then shape your course 
 South until you observ^e the trees upon Point- 
 In dio from the tops of your vessel. You will 
 then be seven or eight miles to the South of 
 the lieacon, which distance you must preserve, 
 and where you will find when the river is low, 
 from 3 ^ to 3 1- fathoms, and when it is high, 4. 
 When the Beacon bears North, you may tack 
 at the distance of five or six miles, when you 
 will soon be in four fathoms, and when it bears 
 East, you are in a fair and safe way up the 
 Middle Channel. The course to carry you 
 through is W. N. W. jl W. You will fmd 
 the depth to vary from 4 4 to seven fathoms, but 
 in passing through, you must not approach the 
 Chico Beacon nearer than four miles, which 
 will bear South from you. In beating through 
 against a contrary wind, you must be very at- 
 tentive not to stand into less than three fathoms 
 water, because the ground upon the Chico 
 Bank is extremely irregular. When you are 
 under that depth, the breadth of the Channel 
 is between four and five miles at the nearest 
 points. 
 
 Directions for sailing up the South Channel. 
 — Make Point-Indio which bears from the Bea- 
 con upon Ortiz Bank by compass nineteen or 
 twenty miles, then keep the land distinctly in 
 sight from the deck, until you get abreast of Em- 
 babo, when you will have three fathoms, after- 
 
S4 
 
 wards 3 1 to 3 ^ and when Attalaya is S. W. 
 from you one quarter less. The Chico Bank 
 is twelve miles nearly in length. If bound to 
 Colonia, the course whicli carries you through 
 between the banks, will also serve for FaroUon. 
 
 Latitude of Ortiz Beacon 35o 1' 15" 
 
 Longitude from Greenwich West 57 9' 00" 
 
 Latitude Chico Bank 34 49' yS" 
 
 Longitude ditto. 57° 37" 30" 
 
 It is necessary from the very sudden and 
 unaccountable falls that often occur in the Plata, 
 as it rises or declines on such occasions seven 
 or eight feet, for vessels who anchor in it, always 
 to veer in due time, to a long cable, whenever 
 there is the least appearance of wind, as their 
 safety in a gale chiefly depends upon that 
 early precaution. A thunderstorm always pre- 
 cedes its approach, and is quickly succeeded 
 by a tremendous South Wester, which having 
 nothing to break its violence along the im- 
 sheltered plains of the Pampas, rushes down 
 the river with an irresistible fury. Eetrospec- 
 tively, and upon the whole of this perilous 
 navigation, it may be remarked, that vessels 
 in making Cape Maria from the N. East, it 
 would be proper, if having a flowing sheet, to 
 keep the Northern shore until they have passed 
 the Ortiz Bank, because although this channel 
 is more narrow, yet it is deeper and less 
 dangerous than the Southern, which contains 
 many rocks off Point Piedras. Having got 
 sight at once of the Pescador and Chico 
 Banks, you sail securely between them in a 
 direct line for the roadstead of Buenos Ayres. 
 
35 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Having dwelt particularly upon the naviga- 
 tion, it may also be proper to extend a little in 
 description of the various ports upon Rio de 
 la Plata, as both are intimately connected, and 
 as both are of relative use under sudden, and 
 incidental dangers. 
 
 In case of fogs, which are very prevalent in 
 the river from June to September, the vicinity 
 of its mouth is always denoted by the water 
 gradually assuming a muddy hue, being a 
 contest between the fresh and salt. During 
 that period, the perils from the tremendous 
 pamperos are as much to be dreaded, as those 
 from its shoals. These winds, as has been said, 
 after an uninterupted passage across the exten- 
 sive plains of the Pampas come in contact with 
 the Plata, which serving as a kind of contracted 
 funnel for their farther progress, they rush along 
 its surface with an irresistible fury, from Buenos 
 Ayres to the sea. In ordinary seasons also, 
 the depth of the river sometimes rises or falls 
 seven or eight feet, being under the arbitrary 
 control of the casual breezes that may blow. 
 Both these remarks were lamentably exempli- 
 fied in the subsequent loss of our gunboats, 
 anchored some distance above the city, from 
 the violence of the former, and in a vessel of 
 force having been unexpectedly left dry, and 
 in that state boarded by some cavalry, and 
 
 D 2 
 
S6 
 
 taken, upon the day of our surrender, from the 
 latter cause. These unaccountable agitations 
 determine the quality of the water, as the 
 slightest gale from the North, or South of 
 East, impregnate the fresh with the sea, and 
 one from the opposite directions gives it in a 
 clear and wholesome state. 
 
 The two points of St. Anthony, and Mary, 
 bear a relative distance of about 150 miles, 
 and Buenos Ayres rather more than 200 from 
 the centre between both. Having represented 
 the elementary risks that occur, it remains 
 to delineate the harbours which yield a refuge 
 from them. 
 
 Towards the entrance from the North is 
 'Maldonado Bay, quite open, and unadvisable 
 to choose as an anchorage, except in South- 
 east gales, when it is sheltered by the conti- 
 guous island of Goritti, owing to the rocky 
 approaches to it. Tracing along the North- 
 western bank is Monte Video, deemed the most 
 secure of any part during nine months of the 
 year, but it was usual for vessels to winter off 
 Ensenada de Banagon, on the other side during 
 the remainder, notwithstanding its numerous 
 shoals, in order to avoid the pamperos, to which 
 the former anchorage is exposed. In making 
 the harbour of Monte Video, keep to the East 
 of its entrance because the water is much 
 deeper, and v/ith fewer rocks than the opposite 
 one.. The tides produce a fluctuation from 
 four to seven feet depth, according to the 
 direction of the prevailing breeze. This place 
 seems the most eligible depot in the Plata, for 
 
37 
 
 both military and commercial purposes, from 
 its position near to the sea, its impregnable 
 strength, and as precluding the necessity of 
 those risks, and that waste of time, which a 
 prolonged navigation in large vessels upwards, 
 unavoidably involves. Little attention I am 
 informed has been paid to the roads, by which 
 an inland communication can be maintained 
 with San Carlos, whence boats were always in 
 waiting to proceed for Buenos Ay res, but 
 increased improvement, induced by self- 
 interest, will one day overcome all obstacles 
 to such facilities for its internal intercourse. 
 Coastwise, a small craft of a flattish construc- 
 tion and a good breadth, might be employed 
 in the transport of foreign imports and native 
 produce. Above all considerations Montevideo 
 from its scite, is the commercial key to the 
 Plata, and the capital, because nothing can 
 come in without a certainty of search or 
 capture, by some of its cruzers. 
 
 Going onwards, in a line higher, Colonia 
 stands opposite to Buenos Ay res, which is an 
 open roadstead, and so abounding with shoals, 
 that the regular pilots often err. Not distant 
 from the inlet to the interior country, having 
 a daily connection with the coast, and the 
 continent, and from its vicinity to the metro- 
 polis, this place has long been the grand centre 
 of contraband traffic ; a pursuit which is sure 
 to meet the protection, and favour of ev^ery 
 South American subject. 
 
 Crossing over to Buenos Ayres, about 
 thirty-one miles distant, you land on a pier 
 
38 
 
 constructed of stone at much labour and ex- 
 pence, which is carried considerably within 
 seamark. Excepting small craft, nothing 
 can anchor nearer than four miles with safety, 
 and these serve to transport the merchandize 
 to and from the vessels in the roadstead. 
 Under sudden falls the beach is dry for a 
 great way, and the river Chuello discharging 
 into the Plata about two miles off, and having 
 a dockyard near its mouth, is so precarious in 
 its soundings, that no trust can be placed in a 
 regular communication from it, by the many 
 large boats that are always fastened to its 
 sides. Buenos Ayres therefore cannot pro- 
 perly be denominated a seaport. 
 
 To remedy these disadvantages attached to 
 so great an emporium, the anchorage off 
 Ensenada de Banagon, has been selected as a 
 retreat for those merchantmen that have 
 delivered their cargoes at Buenos Ayres, by 
 means of the craft mentioned, and sometimes 
 the village itself serves as a warehouse, from 
 whence goods destined for the use of that city 
 are forwarded by land carriage, and by a like pro- 
 cess it is converted into a deposit for the exports 
 of the capital, at the most convenient intervals 
 for their shipment. Had such a place been 
 raised upon the most barren spot in England, 
 we would long since have beheld a mighty city 
 there. Ensenada stands upon a bay of dan- 
 gerous access, into which a river runs, having 
 not more than thirteen feet of water, of course 
 only vessels of little burden can enter, and the 
 range of banks which intervene between it 
 
39 
 
 and the Plata, form the shelter against the 
 pamperos to those riding at anchor in the 
 offing. Many Americans frequented this 
 place, and particularly those concerned in the 
 slave-trade. While the ships continued off, 
 their captains were engaged in disposing of 
 their cargoes, and in negociating returns for 
 them. Until the prohihition of that inhuman 
 traffic, it enjoyed many exclusive privileges 
 from the revenue, in drawhacks upon the 
 rest of their lading, immunities in their pur- 
 chases, and in an extension of residence 
 for the winding up of their husiness. 
 The overland intercourse from Ensenada 
 to Buenos Ayres, is only during the 
 summer, and by carriages drawn with oxen. 
 The extent is nearly thirty-two miles, over 
 paths frequently intersected by deep ravines, 
 which are made passable by a collection of 
 materials dried in the sun., but which are 
 dissolved again by the winter rains. Over the 
 Chuello river, that lays on the line of road, 
 there was a wooden bridge. Ail the maritime 
 travellers journeyed on horseback, with a guide, 
 who acted also as a guard. 
 
 The rising importance of the river of Plata 
 to the whole commercial world, has induced 
 me to this tedious, but I hope not uninterest- 
 ing deviation from the thread of detiuL It is 
 offered from a sense of public duty, and in a 
 hope that its errors may tend to further 
 enquiry and correction, and its deficiencies 
 su])pUed by those who may hereafter visit its 
 shores. 
 
40 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE two commanders in chief did not 
 make Cape Maria until tlie 8th of June, and 
 on the following day the Narcissus very 
 fortunately detained a schooner under the 
 Portugueze flag, a little above Monte Video, 
 having on board the son of the Governor of 
 Truxillo, charged with dispatches for Old 
 Spain. There was likewise a Scotchman in 
 her, named Russel, who disguised himself, and 
 affected not to underst'<^md our language, but 
 after a minute examination, he avowed himself 
 to be a naturalized subject of Buenos Ayres 
 after a residence of fifteen years, that he 
 officiated as a royal pilot for La Plata, that 
 the true character of the vessel was Spanish, 
 and her destination for Eio Janeiro, from 
 whence that diplomatic agent was to proceed 
 incognito for Europe. I fear much that this 
 man's services were poorly requited by us, 
 as in 1811, I understood he had found his way 
 to England in pursuit of redress, but after 
 several ineffectual appeals to some who ought 
 to have supported him, and having been at the 
 expence of employing an attorney to advocate 
 his cause, he once more relinquished his own 
 country without a remuneration. His fidelity 
 to us was afterwards proved in his being im- 
 mured by the Spaniards on the reconquest of 
 the city, sent up the country in irons, and from 
 
41 
 
 whence he was not released till a peace ^vitli 
 that peninsula took place. 
 
 The intelligence given by Russel was, that a 
 large sum of money had lately arrived at 
 Buenos Ayres from the Upper Country, to be 
 embarked for Spain by the earliest opportunity, 
 that the city was protected by only a few 
 regulars, five companies of undisciplined 
 Blandengos, a popular rabble, and that the 
 approaching annual festival of Corpus Christi, 
 which engaged the attention of all descrip- 
 tions, and terminated in a general scene of 
 drunkenness and riot, would be the most 
 favourable crisis for an attack upon it. 
 
 Upon the 13th of June, the whole arma- 
 ment having united, a council of war was held, 
 which resolved that the intended attempt upon 
 Monte Video should be diverted against the 
 capital itself. 
 
 It appeared from Eussel's information too, 
 that our expedition, which had touched at 
 St. Salvador the preceding November, had 
 been reported, by their public agents there, to 
 the Spanish Government, as having some part 
 of South America for it object, but from such 
 a lapse of time, and nothing having been heard 
 of its operations upon their coasts, the conclu- 
 sion was, that it had other views, and in this 
 sentiment, that every department had relapsed 
 into their wonted security. 
 
 The acquisition of such a man at this time 
 seemed to augur well, but his intellects were 
 non-efFective whenever he could have access 
 to the bottle. An allowance however was 
 
42 
 
 ])erinitted him beyond common, and by a 
 watch through the day over his motions, as 
 well as ovt'i' his pillow through the night, he 
 was debarred from excess after his propensity 
 was known. 
 
 Great difficulties intervened before we could 
 reach, in a combined order, the point of our 
 debarkation. Besides the common dangers of 
 the river, we were often involved in thick fogs, 
 which, with the inequality of sailing in some 
 of the transports, tended much to retard our 
 progress; for those ships that had gained con-^ 
 siderably while it was day, were obliged to 
 sacrifice that advantage at its close, so as to 
 reunite the whole, and to commence their 
 labours afresh every succeeding morning. In 
 justice to Sir Home Popham, those trying oc- 
 casions evinced a great equanimity of temper, 
 and an unruffled genius, which uniformly 
 marked and directed both his words, and 
 actions. This tribute, and its merits, are 
 greatly enhanced when we penetrate into 
 those conflicts of anxiety that must have 
 ruled within him, struggling at the moment 
 against adverse incidents, and with a mind 
 weighed down by a conscious load of responsi- 
 bility. Having been personally on board the 
 Encounter gunbrig, with 130 men, which ves- 
 sel was always under weigh, and in advance 
 of the squadron, and whither that naval chief 
 always repaired every morning to guide its 
 movements, I was enabled to remark those 
 testimonies. 
 
 While under Russel's charge, the Narcissus 
 
43 
 
 grounded upon Ortiz Bank, but after lighten- 
 ing her she was fortunately saved. 
 
 Upon the afternoon of the 25tli of June, the 
 military branch of the armament was abreast 
 of Quilmes, a low point of land situated twelve 
 miles from Buenos Ayres, and in the course of 
 it a landing of the whole effective force, with 
 their annnunition for service, was effected. 
 The Encounter drawing only twelve feet of 
 water, could not stand nearer to the shore 
 than a mile. Fires lighted upon every sum- 
 mit, and an immense concourse of horsemen 
 from all directions, to the grand centre of Re- 
 duction, a village more than two miles in our 
 front, denoted a general alarm, and that this 
 rising ground was chosen by the enemy as the 
 field for the approaching contest. 
 
 After a close view of our own position, it 
 was ascertained that we were insulated at the 
 time, owing to a flow of tide into a ravine 
 which surrounded it. But an ebb, and an im- 
 mediate advance placed us beyond it, near to 
 the margin of a green morass. Our effective 
 army which was destined to conquer a city of 
 more than 40,000 in population, with an 
 immense body to dispute our way into it, con- 
 sisted only of seventy officers of all ranks, 
 seventy-two Serjeants, twenty-seven drummers, 
 and 1466 rank and file ; making a grand total 
 of 1635. 
 
 However disinclined I am to military detail, 
 still I must be permitted to indulge a little in 
 it, not so much from the interest of its events, 
 or the splendour of its achievements, than the 
 
44 
 
 desire of inculcating upon those, whose duty 
 it may be hereafter to sustain the honour of 
 the British arms, how much may be designed, 
 and finally accomplished by a bold conception, 
 followed up by a persevering, and a resolute 
 decision. To have temporized a day would 
 have involved our ruin, and as the first die was 
 thrown, the game must be finished. 
 
 In whatever light political jealousies may 
 have considered the motives, and result of this 
 enterprize, yet the credit of our nation, 
 and the glory of her soldiers, was neither 
 tarnished or lost, by the meanest subordinate 
 employed in it. Adopting the language of a 
 well wisher to my country with respect to the 
 former feeling, and keeping out of sight those 
 p?ivafe views that might have induced the 
 expedition, the measure certainly led to the 
 public good, at this period of our domestic 
 history, Avhen our commerce and manufactures 
 languished, when the resources of Spain were 
 exclusively absorbed by France, to procras- 
 tinate a war of universal revolution, and who 
 seeking neither the aids of her fleets or armies 
 in the cause, looked to the mines of America 
 alone, for the means of consummating this 
 awful catastrophe. As to the result, into 
 whatever pockets the money went, is immate- 
 rial; it is sufficient that it was alienated from 
 the coffers of such an enemy to mankind. 
 
 It must however be acknowledged when 
 speaking comparatively of the importance 
 between Monte Video and Buenos Ayres, as 
 military posts, and as permanent conquests, or 
 
■45 
 
 depots for our commerce, that a great sacrifice 
 of national objects was made by the alterna- 
 tive of proceeding against the latter. It is 
 not pleasant to reflect on, but candour demands 
 an animadversion upon their relative value, 
 and the sad consequences that arose from the 
 fatal measure. 
 
 In the council of war which decided on our 
 field of campaign. General Beresford was 
 overruled in his opinion to proceed against 
 Monte Video, by his naval colleague, and a 
 large majority. 
 
 Enough has been said respecting its supe- 
 riority as a seaport, and it only remains to 
 terminate this relative discussion by describing 
 its preemience in the view of a military post, 
 and as a more permanent hold until better 
 times. Had that fortress been attacked and 
 carried, instead of the capital, there is not a 
 doubt but that with our little force, aided by 
 the co-operation of our squadron, we would 
 have maintained ourselves independent of 
 local supplies, and against any enemy that 
 might have been brought against us. Our 
 ships might have transported in a short time 
 provisions from St. Catharine's in the Brazils, 
 and as Monte Video stands on the extremity 
 of a narrow peninsula, which touches on the 
 sea, and is navigable to gunboats on each side 
 of it, any assailing army from the continent 
 must have been exposed to the cross fire of 
 those small craft in their approaches to the 
 garrison. From this stand, an intercourse 
 might have been kept up with such natives as 
 
46 
 
 were favourable to us, it would have served as 
 a secure warehouse for our manufactures, 
 which being much wanted, would have been 
 eagerly purchased at all risks by adventurous 
 smugglers from the interior; and Buenos Ay res 
 left to herself, and her trade thus blockaded, 
 would have deplored its loss, and under a joint 
 impulse of necessity as well as self-interest, 
 would have acceded to a temperate compronnse, 
 in those sacrifices which she would not after- 
 wards surrender to seven thousand bayonets. 
 The alternative adopted by us, irritated her 
 natives, and the calamitous issue adequately 
 records the blunder without a farther enlarge- 
 ment. 
 
 Picquets having been thrown out in front, 
 the army bivouacked through the night upon 
 its ground. It was just dark when an alarm 
 was heard from some unsteady fellows upon 
 advance, who discharged their musquets in a di- 
 rection from whence the sound of horses' feet 
 proceeded, seemingly floundering down at 
 full speed upon them. Lieutenant Landel 
 of the marines who commanded it, behaved 
 with a cool spirit. In place of falling back 
 precipitately he maintained his ground until 
 the main body formed. — This arose from some 
 sailors, who observing a number of horses, 
 attempted in vain to catch some of them, and 
 thus drove them upon our line. 
 
 At dawn on the 26th, the whole was under 
 arms, after some heavy rain during f\e 
 night which injured a few pieces. D y- 
 light exhibited to us the village of Reduc- 
 
47 
 
 tion nearly two miles on our left, a mass 
 of horse and foot, with four guns upon 
 each flank before us, and a dense colunm of 
 cavalry hovering upon our right. They were 
 drawn up on the farther extremity of a deep, 
 but verdant morass, and on a chosen flat 
 rising abruptly many yards above our level, 
 like to the steep bank of a river. Nothing 
 could be finer for a defensive position. Early 
 on the morning several of their leaders upon 
 steeds richly caparisoned, and dressed in superb 
 cloaks or ponchos, came down to reconnoitre 
 the borders of the swamp that intervened 
 betwixt us, and from their subsequent confi- 
 dence it may be presumed, that they held our 
 menaces in derision. We had no other alterna- 
 tive but to force our way through every 
 obstacle. 
 
 Our troops formed into two columns, and 
 after a forward movement of 800 yards they 
 deployed into line. The 71st regiment formed 
 the right; the marine battalion, a little to the 
 rear of it, the left ; and the St. Helena corps 
 200 paces behind, the reserve. An instanta- 
 neous advance brought us to the bog, and 
 the enemy noticing one of our guns entangled 
 and our men irretrievably committed in it, 
 opened their fire with an oblique direction to the 
 right. The 71st however undismayed by ob- 
 stacles, rattled through, and soon came down to 
 the charge, while the marines doubled rapidly 
 into its rear, and somewhat to the right, in 
 order to cover that flank from any impression 
 attempted by the stationary body described, 
 
48 
 
 which seemingly awaited for th^ chance of 
 such an advantage. Having surmounted the 
 marsh, and gained the summit beyond it, a 
 close fire was thrown in by the grenadiers of 
 the 71st, which put their army to flight in 
 every direction ; leaving behind their cannon 
 and the mules that drew them. 
 
 Our trip through this amphibious excursion 
 was marked by some cross incidents which 
 served to cheer those who escaped them. I 
 mention one only, which occurred to my 
 brother-officer. Captain Alexander M'lvenzie. 
 Equipped for the field, he carried as usual 
 some requisites on his back, for the in and 
 outsides. Eager to push on, he suddenly 
 simk into a d*eep hole, from which he was 
 unable to retreat with such a load, but zeal 
 dictated to him the necessity of imploring the 
 aid of some compassionate friend, by a 
 vociferating appeal to his mercy, of " cut awa 
 my bag, for God's sake cut awa my bag." 
 
 Our loss was trifling from the elevation of 
 the Spanish guns, but Mr. Halliday who was 
 a surgeon's assistant, and who had remained 
 too long upon the ground we occupied in the 
 morning, was barbarously murdered. After a 
 halt of two hours to refresh, and to keep alive 
 the panic produced, the pursuit was continued; 
 their scattered parties retiring upon the river 
 Chuello, where they had a wooden bridge, to 
 which they set fire, and afterwards combined 
 their force upon its opposite bank. 
 
 Our main body rested during the night 
 about a mile from it, having pushed on three 
 
49 
 
 companies of the 7 1st, which had some distant 
 skirmishing across the stream in the course of 
 it. 
 
 The evening was beautiful, and we beheld 
 from our position, the lofty spires of Buenos 
 Ayres a league off; the grand aim of our 
 hopes, and the period of our labours. 
 
 Before daylight we were formed, and after 
 it, put in motion ; preceded by a strong de- 
 tachment of artillery, upon which the enemy 
 commenced a heavy fire from their recesses 
 amongst ditches, hedges, and houses about one 
 hundred yards from the Chuello, but after an 
 interchange of an hour it was silenced, when 
 their troops disappeared. Several seamen 
 swam across that river, about forty yards 
 broad, and bringing over some vessels that 
 were fastened to the side, a bridge was made 
 which soon passed our whole force with their 
 equipage. This accomplished, we took posses- 
 sion of the little villao^e of Barrackas, with its 
 dockyard, and a large flotilla of small craft. 
 A summons was dispatched at mid-day of the 
 27th of June, into the city, which was ac- 
 cepted, on verbal terms, to be subsequently 
 ratified, and which to the everlasting honour 
 of the British name, was fulfilled to an extent 
 far beyond its original conditions, or the most 
 sanguine expectations of our enemies. 
 
 Three hours had not elapsed from that 
 happy event which introduced us as conquerors 
 into Buenos Ayres, when the interposition of 
 a protecting providence towards us, was made 
 manifest, in having decreed us success at so 
 
 E 
 
50 
 
 very critical a moment, and in having pre- 
 served us from the torrents of rain that fell, 
 and the piercing winds that blew, against 
 either of which we would have otherwise been 
 destitute of shelter. What they might not 
 have effected, famine must have completed, 
 or the assassin's knife. 
 
 We entered the capital in the afternoon, in 
 a wide order of column, to give a more im- 
 posing shew to our little band, amidst a down- 
 pour of water, and a very slippery ascent to 
 it. The balconies of the houses were lined 
 with the fair sex, who smiled a welcome, and 
 seemed by no means displeased with the 
 change. 
 
 The Marquis Sobramonte, Viceroy of the 
 province, had been amongst the first to 
 relinquish the field of battle, and was also the 
 foremost to abandon the seat of his dignity 
 and government. Every tongue spoke freely 
 of his conduct, and I doubt not but that his 
 precipitate flight gave a serious and a lasting 
 stab to the authority and honour of the Crown, 
 in the popular estimation. 
 
 The night had not closed before we were 
 accosted by several of our countrymen, over 
 whose individual histories there hung much 
 obscurity. Some we were told had been 
 supercargoes, or consignees, who had abused 
 their trust, and had thus become everlasting 
 exiles from their country and their friends, 
 while others were composed of both sexes, who 
 by a violation of our laws, had been banished 
 from their protection, and whose crimes, in a 
 
51 
 
 ])art of them, had been still more deepened in 
 their die, as perpetrators of murder. These 
 were some of the convicts of the Jane Shore, 
 who had become denizens by their religion ; 
 a most essential preliminary in this continent, 
 to personal safety and prosperity. As we 
 could not, under our circumstances, discri- 
 minate their shades of guilt, I can only speak 
 of them as a body of unfortunates, and in doing 
 so, I rejoice that truth authorizes me to vindi- 
 cate human nature, in so far, that there are few 
 hearts which are completely depraved, by the 
 facts this occasional intercourse unfolded. 
 
 Those who have never been removed from 
 their own soil to a distant quarter of the 
 world, can have but faint conceptions of the 
 noble feelings inspired by national consangui- 
 nity. Every being who has sprung from it, 
 whom we meet, seems as if to merit, not only 
 our notice, but our friendship ; errors are 
 obliterated, and we take him to our bosom. 
 This was realized mutually upon the present 
 occasion. All of that list, except one disso- 
 lute female, were settled in decent employs, 
 and doing well, and all of them contended in 
 their good offices to us. The partial services 
 of a few towards our distressed soldiers while 
 in prison, w^ill atone for many weighty sins. 
 They w^ll come yet under review at a future 
 stage. The better orders stamped this set 
 with detestation, but the populace em- 
 braced them as champions of the catholic 
 cause, by having rid the world of so many 
 abominable heretics, while the church received 
 
52 
 
 them as precious elects in its spiritual cam- 
 paigns, and as meet subjects for its impious, 
 aud expiatory absolutions. 
 
 After our arms had been secured, guards 
 planted, and different parts of the city had 
 been examined, most of us were compelled to 
 go in search of refreshment. There were 
 many guides ready at our service to conduct 
 us from amongst a parcel of idle porters that 
 ply about the streets in numbers. They led 
 us to a tav^ern called Los Tres Reyes, or Three 
 Kings, in a street of the same name. A repast 
 of eggs and bacon was all they could supply, 
 for every family uses the purchases of the 
 morning on the same evening, and the markets 
 shut very early. At the same table there sat 
 many Spanish officers, with whom, a few hours 
 before, we had combated, who had become 
 prisoners by the capture of the city, and who 
 were regaling upon the same fare with our- 
 selves. A handsome young woman served 
 both parties, but on her brow there sat a deep 
 frown. Caution prevented, for a time, her 
 casting an eye, that telltale of a woman's 
 thoughts, upon its object, and we considered 
 it directed to ourselves. Anxious to remove 
 every unfavourable prejudice against us, which 
 might naturally arise from fear of an inadequate 
 recompence being paid by so many hostile 
 voracious strangers, so busily engaged in 
 devouring the contents of her father's larder, 
 I interpreted through Signior Barreda, a 
 civilian Creole who had resided some years in 
 England, and was present, the liberal usages of 
 
53 
 
 Englishmen in such cases, and begged from 
 her a candid avowal of the cause of her 
 displeasure. After thanking us for this 
 honourable declaration, she instantly turned 
 to her countrymen, who were at the other 
 end of a long table, addressing herself to them 
 in a loud and most impressive tone. " I wish 
 that you gentlemen had informed us sooner of 
 your cowardly intentions to surrender Buenos 
 Ayres, for I will stake my life that had we 
 known it, the women would have turned out 
 unanimously, and driven back th« English 
 with stones." This heroic speech astounded 
 those warriors, and pleased not a little our 
 Creole friend. After its delivery, she resumed 
 her natural good humour and charms. That 
 landlord proved a kind friend to our nation, 
 by affording a free assylum to many commer- 
 cial prisoners who fell into the enemy's hands 
 after the reconquest, who were forlorn and 
 destitute. He clothed and fed them, and 
 tenders of money were not wanting in their 
 misfortunes. If that family still inhabits the 
 inn, they are well entitled to the gratitude of 
 every Englishman, or if their benovolent vir- 
 tues have reached the ears of their govern- 
 ment, and have drawn its vengeance on their 
 heads, — perhaps a stock from it survives some- 
 where, who will retain, while they live, an 
 inherent, and imprescribable bond upon the 
 bounty of every British purse. 
 
 When we were afterwards ordered off into 
 the country, every officer dined at their house 
 on the same day, and by united consent, a 
 
54 
 
 letter was left with them, drawn up in strong 
 terms of recommendation, to that conquering 
 army which we anticipated to replace our flag, 
 and to redress our wrongs. 
 
 The Viceroy in his haste to be off, did not 
 neglect however to enforce the removal of 
 those treasures, that next to his own salvation, 
 were nearest to his heart. Under the im- 
 pending storm he had directed a retrogade 
 march to them, and notwithstanding the bad 
 roads caused from the late rains, they had 
 reached in three days the village Luxan about 
 fifty miles distant. No time was lost in pur- 
 suing them, and the daring duty was confided 
 to Captain Arbuthnot of the 20th Light 
 Dragoons, Lieutenants Graham and Murray, 
 with only thirty men from the gallant 71st 
 regiment. That little detachment set out 
 upon the 3d of July, and returned upon the 
 10th, conducting back 631,684 dollars in 
 coined and uncoined specie, a great portion of 
 v>hich had been thrown into wells, under a 
 confidence that no military force would pre- 
 sume to penetrate so far into the country in 
 search of it. Although threatened by bands of 
 horsemen from a little distance,, and a popula- 
 tion hostile to a man, yet the service was 
 performed without any farther molestation. 
 
55 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE public authorities, and the commercial 
 inhabitants of Buenos Ayres, very soon under- 
 stood the amount of that force which had sub- 
 dued them, and that the chiefs of the expedi- 
 tion were vested with no power either to pledge 
 the protection or guarantee of their own 
 government to a new dynasty, or to hold out 
 any permanent melioration of their condition, 
 or any fixed specific engagement on which 
 they could confidently rest their future hopes. 
 The only solid or intermediate remedy they 
 could offer, until they received instructions 
 from home, was to reduce the former duties of 
 34t upon exports and imports, to 12t and to 
 permit a free trade to the port. 
 ^ But an early knowledge of our numbers, so 
 totally inadequate, even to the purpose of self 
 defence, far less to dictate laws to them, ex- 
 cited the magistracy to political intrigue for 
 the subversion of our power, in the very first 
 stage of its existence, by their official sway 
 over the popular impulse, and by deeply 
 concerted plans, widely ramified through 
 various members of the church, as well as of 
 the secular orders. The better-informed too 
 were early apprized, and it had a powerful 
 impression upon them, that the expedition 
 itself had originated with an individual, and 
 
56 
 
 that they could expect but few connrmaiions 
 to promises made them from our legislature, 
 thus pronounced from the mouth of an unau- 
 thorized organ. As the Audiencia had con- 
 stitutionally succeeded to the supreme direc- 
 tion of public affairs by the self-abdication of 
 the Viceroy, its duties, as well as those of the 
 other departments were allowed their uncon- 
 trolled exercise, in terms of the capitulation, 
 with the exception that General Heresford, 
 according to the late system, should sit in 
 character of its })resident, and as the represent- 
 ative of his Sovereign. Its sittings Avere few 
 while we held the place, and at none did that 
 officer assume the dignity. 
 
 To cover our own weakness, rations were 
 demanded beyond our real wants, but our 
 guards being paraded every morning and mar- 
 ched off from the grand square, on which oc- 
 casions a large assemblage convened, amongst 
 whom were officers in disguise, who by count- 
 ing off the strength of each, and ascertaining 
 their different posts of duty, they were of course, 
 in less than a week, perfect masters of our 
 total effective returns, together with the most 
 vulnerable points in the city which they res- 
 pectively occupied. 
 
 From having been nominated commissary 
 for prisoners of war two days after its surren- 
 der, the duties of that office consequently 
 introduced me to the ruling principles and 
 natural dispositions of various classes in its 
 society, to a greater degree than fell to the 
 lot of most of my brother-officers. It pro- 
 
57 
 
 diiced several results which will appear in 
 their projier places. 
 
 If mild treatment, and liberal conduct to- 
 wards an enemy fallen, and at our mercy, 
 merit a kindly recollection, and a grateful 
 return, under a reverse of fortune, we assuredly 
 were entitled to both, from all descriptions of 
 men in Buenos Ayres. Waving a right to 
 captures made afloat, every bark was restored 
 to its proper owner, and the pecuniary claims 
 of every individual upon the public treasury 
 were adjusted, until they exceeded the funds 
 lodged in that depository. The review of 
 such generous, and honourable acts must 
 doubtless operate with a due impression upon 
 the feelings of every worthy South American 
 of the present day, and although we were 
 denied the fruits of them, we are entitled to 
 transfer, as we most cheerfully assign their 
 harvest, to our fellow-countrymen, who I 
 trust will have an ample reaping in the uni- 
 versal esteem, and the national favour of that 
 rising people. The film is now drawn from 
 their eyes, they see things as they are, and 
 will judge for tliemselves, independently, and 
 aright. Let our first intercourse with them 
 be frank, let neitlier religious, or political 
 topics be discussed without arising from them- 
 selves, and even then let there be few displays 
 upon either, and if the native integrity of the 
 British merchant holds an equal superiority 
 with his commodities, in those distant regions, 
 he will soon establish a permanent ascendancy 
 above all others in the world, and can 
 
58 
 
 naturalize himself, without a difficulty, in the 
 common privileges and affections of a fellow- 
 subject. 
 
 Notwithstanding that in 1806, as in pre- 
 ceding times of war, the warehouses as well as 
 outer yards, were stuffed with tallow and 
 hides, the real staples of their traffic, yet 
 there appeared little desire in the merchants 
 to dispose of them, or to avail themselves of 
 the inducements from a free trade, or an 
 English market, both open to their choice, 
 while we possessed the city. Every thing 
 indicated distrust ; a spirit warmly cherished 
 by the Cabildo, and the heads in power both of 
 Church and State, who had taken the oaths of 
 allegiance to the British Government, which ob- 
 ligations were reciprocally sealed by us, in a rigid 
 respect for the sanctuary and its rites, and the 
 undisturbed maintenance of their established 
 laws. 
 
 While we remained in Buenos Ay res, we 
 had no opportunity of observing the splendour 
 attached to the sovereign representative. 
 A voluntary exile, he had thus terminated his 
 political life, which was prolonged in tlie 
 Koyal Audienza, a court formed entirely of 
 native Spaniards, and holding a supremacy 
 over all others throughout South America. It 
 consisted of a regent, three oidores, or magis- 
 terial members, two fiscals, for the financial 
 and justiciary departments, an alguazil-major, 
 and a reporter. Their dress was neat and 
 plain, being a black robe in the form of a 
 cloak, with the rest correspondent to it. As 
 
59 
 
 their offices were derived from the king alone, 
 who also paid them, and as all their future 
 hopes of still more exalted dignities pointed 
 exclusively to the throne, so they were faith- 
 fully devoted to its interests. Loyalty, high 
 birth, talents and moral character, were the 
 indispensable characteristics of every candi- 
 date to a seat in it. Assimilating to our 
 House of Lords, no oaths were prescribed to 
 them, and like to the balance in our own legis- 
 lature, they served to restrain at tlie same 
 time, the excess of power in the monarch, and 
 of ambition in the people. Although they 
 could not control any sentence pronounced by 
 the Viceroy, nor stay its execution in criminal 
 matters, still they possessed the right of an 
 appeal to the King, as well as to the council 
 of the Indies at Madrid, in civil cases, praying 
 a reversal of them, upon grounds of law and 
 equity, and if it was solidly represented, their 
 petition was respected. In this land of bigotry, 
 and of ecclesiastic preponderance, even the 
 heads of the church were am.enable to that 
 tribunal, under erroneous decrees whether as 
 to law or justice, and where a breach of either 
 appeared, they were subject to punishment or 
 censure. Their proceedings were annually 
 transmitted for royal retrospect, in order to 
 become documents of their activity in deter- 
 mining suits, of their uprightness in such 
 decisions, and thus to impress on them a sense 
 of their own responsibility. In short their 
 duties embraced at once the great good of the 
 
Mother Country, and the guardian care of the 
 security and happiness of the Colonists. 
 
 Endued with so high authority over such 
 a range of dominion to which their power 
 extended, and to ensure a faithful discharge of 
 their functions, as well as to stamp a venera- 
 tion in the public opinion, of every member 
 who sat upon its benches, the Court of 
 Audienza was always supposed to consist of 
 men, who from the day of their appointment 
 withdrew from all social intercourse, that 
 could vitiate the heart or the will, who resigned 
 all the trappings of shew or the indulgence of 
 appetite, and to subscribe to a coercive moral 
 code, more appropriate for the rules of the 
 priesthood, than suited to the observance of 
 a set of laity, who had been long habituated to 
 the fashions and the pleasures of the world./ 
 Possessing, or at least appearing to possess, 
 such high qualifications, no wonder then that 
 this establishment should have been held in 
 universal respect, that combining with these, 
 an honourable dispensation of the laws, and a 
 wide influence from their high stations, they 
 were well calculated to command the general 
 allegiance within their respective boundaries, 
 and that so constituted, it has been the great 
 means of sustaining as his representative, the 
 grandeur of the monarch, and the perpetuation 
 of his empire over those distant provinces. 
 Whatever may be their future destinies, or 
 whatever the events of revolution, that body 
 will never sacrifice their loyalty. 
 
61 
 
 The Cabildo, or corporation, is the active 
 magistracy of the city, in all civil affairs of 
 minor import, and its police. Their sentences 
 are revocable by the Audienza, and something 
 like our Courts of Assize, they occasionally 
 resolve themselves into two courts for the trial 
 of civil and criminal causes. Their President 
 was the Governor of the province, absent or 
 not, and its members consisted in two alcaldes, 
 annually chosen by the regidors, one of the 
 former of whom as senior, carried a white 
 wand as a badge of distinction ; those regidors 
 were nominated by the Governor, besides four 
 others of the same title, who were appointed 
 by the Crown, and the same number denomi- 
 nated under the alferez-real, provinci-alalcalde, 
 fiel-executors and alguazil-major; all of them 
 being venal. To these a syndic was annexed, 
 to whom references were made under legal 
 doubts, and a registrar who was the depositary 
 of their records. The whole had a delibera- 
 tive voice, and while the courts were employed, 
 they were crowded with advocates, attorneys, 
 and public notaries. At the time we remained 
 at Buenos Ayres, the Cabildo was composed 
 of more than the usual proportion of Europeans 
 by birth, for according to the wise policy of 
 Spain in her colonial system, the Creoles had 
 an inherent privilege of being elected into that 
 body. This incence paid to their pride ensured 
 their fealty, while it conferred a natural right 
 that involved no bad consequences to the state. 
 Those institutions were co-eval with the empire 
 of Spain in South America, and they were 
 
62 
 
 planned with a view to its consolidation by the 
 facilities they afforded for redress to litigants 
 in distant quarters, as also for the regulation 
 of those villages amongst which they were 
 scattered ; but they have since been gradually 
 diminished, and they are now fixed only in 
 towns, that necessarily require them from an 
 increase of population. Their progress in 
 business was very slow, caused by their volu- 
 minous writings, which required hours to read 
 over, besides the time engrossed in a discus- 
 sion of their merits. Those judges seemed to 
 have much more of buckram importance, 
 than of quickness in their verdicts. Great 
 exterior deference was paid to them by the 
 popular mass, to whose irregular passions they 
 could give any direction they chose. At any 
 other crisis of affairs, this corporation might 
 have been inclined, notwithstanding its majority 
 of Spaniards, to have espoused revolutionary 
 objects, because they were mostly individuals, 
 who by a blending of connexion and interest, 
 were doomed to finish their days upon the 
 soil, and who having bidden an everlasting 
 adieu to Europe, had thus identified their pro- 
 perties and happiness in those of South 
 America. But our hostile coming revived 
 in them all their national animosities, and 
 drowned every other feeling but the thoughts 
 of our extirpation. This impulse actuated all 
 their native colleagues in office too, who pos- 
 sessed but little political comprehension beyond 
 the events of the moment, and whose loyalty 
 combined with their interest, induced a ready 
 
6S 
 
 acquiescence in any scheme suggested for the 
 conduct of the body at large. 
 
 As the clergy, under their dignitary the 
 bishop, had absorbed by right so much revenue 
 to themselves, so they engrossed a great share 
 of influence over that and other subordinate 
 branches of the administration, besides the 
 general reverence in which they were per- 
 sonally viewed, from their sacred profession, 
 by a devoted, and a bigotted crowd. That 
 head of the church had in his earlier days, 
 attained the rank of major in the Spanish 
 armies, and it may be deduced that he had 
 thus acquired some military knowledge, which 
 ambition, and the existing crisis, stimulated 
 him to recal into action. He was endued 
 besides, with an elegant address, with a 
 plausibility inspiring confidence, and an in- 
 triguing turn, to which these qualities were 
 very useful auxiliaries. 
 
 I have been thus prolix in describing the 
 various branches of the dynasty which ruled 
 over Buenos Ayres while we held it, and in 
 delineating the motives that guided their 
 measures, as necessary contexts in under- 
 standing the series of a drama where they were 
 the principal actors, from the prologue to its 
 close. It must be remarked moreover, that 
 all of them recognized the British dominion 
 under tests of their oaths, or pledges, equally 
 binding, consistent with their public, and 
 private feelings, to preserve their neutrality, 
 and to continue peaceable subjects under its 
 reign. Although those transactions are dis- 
 
64 
 
 taut as to time, and are apparently quite mi- 
 connected with the history of South America 
 as to the present rera, still I am led to con- 
 clude that they will he foimd to have a close 
 intimacy, upon a review of circumstances from 
 first to last, and that those breaches of honour 
 which were exercised upon us in 1806, by the 
 Spanish Authorities, were the first foundation 
 stones of the revolutionary fabric which was laid 
 in that capital in 1810— by their detaining our 
 persons in defiance of a solemn stipulation to 
 the contrary, by extending with them conse- 
 quently, an association of our opinions amongst 
 an ignorant community, and by exciting a 
 military spirit in the natives, self-defensive in 
 its origin, but invigorated by growth, and 
 finally powerful, and enlightened enough, to 
 pull down those who raised it, and to build the 
 independence of their country upon the ruins. 
 Soon after the surrender of Buenos Ayres, 
 Colonel Liniers, a French emigrant, and a 
 captain of their navy under the monarchy, 
 who commanded a small force at Ensenada, 
 being conscious of his inability to defend it, 
 resolved to compromise the recent disasters of 
 his government, by a deep stroke of artifice. 
 In order to have interviews with those leading 
 men in the city, whom he knew were well 
 inclined to second his schemes, and with a 
 motive the more readily to arrange them, he 
 affected great candour by forwarding his own 
 submission, and that of his garrison, to General 
 Beresford, with a request that he might be 
 allowed to enter the capital, when he would 
 
65 
 
 consummate this tender, by subscribing his 
 parole as a prisoner of war ; stating also the 
 intention of abandoning his military, to resume 
 his former commercial pursuits. Upon this 
 assurance he was admitted, and though from 
 delicacy, a written pledge was not exacted 
 from him, still one, equally imperative, was 
 declared by him verlmlly to that effect, upon 
 honour. At this period, and long preceding 
 it, swarms of French agents were scattered 
 over the country, whose persons and residences 
 were well known to this faithless adventurer. 
 He justly reckoned upon them as accomplices, 
 whenever their services might be wanted^ and 
 although he could lay no claim to those 
 abilities, or that firmness of character, so 
 essential to head an enterprize, yet he com- 
 pensated for those deficiences by an unprin- 
 cipled cunning, and by a greater confidence 
 in the resources of others, than of his own. A 
 dissolute life, and low habits, that commonly 
 engender similar associations, had rendered 
 him generally known, and perhaps popular 
 amongst many of the inferior orders. From 
 that class he could draw thousands to follow 
 him to the field. Liniers' sojournment in 
 Buenos Ayres was no longer than while he 
 could render himself master of our numbers, 
 of our military system, and to settle with some 
 elects in power, a plan of simultaneous revolt. 
 In this grand co-operation, the bishop had 
 his share by means of his subordinates. 
 Throughout the month of July, but especially 
 towards its close, the emigration of the clergy, 
 
66 
 
 by passports which were rarely denied, was 
 very great, to the side of Colonia, on the pre- 
 tence of sacerdotal duties. After landing 
 there, a part of them bent their way to Monte 
 Video, while others took an opposite course 
 into the country ; but both under like objects 
 to collect. all the troops of the Crown, who 
 were in that fortress, with the little detach- 
 ments stationed along the guardias upon the 
 Indian frontiers, as well as to promote a 
 general rising of the people. So extended 
 was the plot, that the priesthood to a consi- 
 derable distance, exerted ever Sunday, all their 
 powers to stimulate their hearers to arms. 
 Those are the details of the origin, and pro- 
 gressive means employed to reconquer Buenos 
 Ay res in 1806. 
 
 During the currency of those events, how- 
 ever, it appeared we had some latent friends 
 within it, for almost every evening, after dark, 
 one or more of the Creole citizens repaired to 
 my house, to make a voluntary offer of their 
 allegiance to the British government, and to 
 attest their names in a book, to an obligation 
 that had been drawn up. The number finally 
 amounted to fifty-eight, and most of them 
 concurred in saying, that many others were 
 disposed to follow their example, but were 
 kept back from diffidence as to the future, and 
 not from any political scruples, or a want of 
 attachment toward us. But we will resign 
 this topic for the present, until a more appro- 
 priate occasion of circumstances. Amidst 
 these passing scenes, every thing assumed the 
 
67 
 
 face of happiness, hospitality reigned, the laws 
 had their course, and the worshippers of the 
 sanctuary attended as usual, without any one 
 to' make them afraid. JNIost of our officers 
 were lodged in })rivate families, who paid them 
 the kindest attentions, which laid the founda- 
 tion of reciprocal friendships. They afforded 
 many examples of a natural goodness of heart, 
 and they were so often, and so generally exhi- 
 bited as to convince us that benevolence was a 
 national virtue. The fair sex are interesting, not 
 so much from their education, than a pleasing 
 address, a facetious conversation, and the most 
 amiable tempers. It was winter when we 
 were masters of Buenos Ayres, during which 
 tertullos, or dances were given every evening, 
 at one house or another. Thither all the 
 neighbouring females resorted without cere- 
 mony in their long cloaks, and when not en- 
 gaged, they drew close together, seemingly to 
 warm each other, upon a long form, as tliere 
 were no chimneys, and fire was used only in 
 extreme cold, being brought into the room in 
 a brazero, which is placed near to the feet, 
 over which a stranger never fails to experience 
 a head-ach from the fumes of the charcoal. 
 No refreshments were offered on these occa- 
 sions, to which few were specially invited, and 
 where all, if but slightly introduced, were wel- 
 come. Waltzes were the vogue, and the 
 piano, accompanied by the guitar, on which 
 all degrees play, was the music. Xo other 
 matron, except that in the house Was present, 
 who was their sole protectress, and the whole 
 
 F ^^ 
 
68 
 
 departed at ten at night. When any of the 
 clergy intruded, a general reserve was observed, 
 and so bound were the ladies by a temporary 
 sense of decorum, and of servile fanaticism, 
 that they exclusively addressed themselves to 
 him during his stay. There were some literary 
 and gentlemanlike members amongst the secu- 
 lar priesthood, but the plurality we saw were 
 better calculated for agents of the devil, by 
 their ignorance, their vices, and illiberality, 
 than as spiritual elects in propogating the 
 sacred truths of their christian calling, and its 
 generous precepts. 
 
 Music was held as a preeminent accomplish- 
 ment, and no expence was spared in that 
 attainment, either as to instruments, or com- 
 positions. These articles will always have a 
 ready sale in Buenos Ayres, as they have a 
 partiality for both, when of English manufac- 
 ture. 
 
 Like in all countries bordering on a state of 
 nature, poetry seems the leading genius of the 
 lower classes in this part of South America, 
 for upon any one being asked to play a tune 
 on the guitar, he will always adapt to it a set 
 of extemporaneous and accordant verses, witli 
 much facility. 
 
 The male heads of families shewed great 
 kindness to us, by their offers of money, and 
 every comfort, but there was always a visible 
 reserve in them, and an evident peevishness, 
 upon the mention of any religions or political 
 subjects, that necessarily interfered with their 
 own notions. Those who presumed to broach 
 
69 
 
 them, very soon perceived an alienation of 
 their favour and their cordial manners, and 
 some Englishmen who had thus incautiously 
 committed themselves, were no longer welcome 
 visitors. I received one day an invitation to 
 dinner from a captain of engineers, the parti- 
 culars of which I will describe, as being probably 
 demonstrative of the general customs on occa- 
 sions of ceremony. AJl who sat down to a 
 very long table profusely covered, were three, 
 his wife. Captain Belgrano, and myself. No 
 domestics were present at any time, except 
 when bringing in or carrying away the various 
 courses, which consisted in twenty-four re- 
 moves ; the first being soup and bouille, and in 
 succession ducks, turkeys, and every thing 
 produced in the country, with a large dish of 
 fish as a finale — and we were served during 
 the repast, by four of their nearest male rela- 
 tives, who never sat down. The wines of St. 
 Juan and Mendoza were circulated freely, 
 and while we were enjoying our segars, the 
 lady of the house, with two others who step- 
 ped in, amused us with some pretty English 
 and Spanish airs upon the guitar, accompanied 
 by those female voices. We dined at two, and 
 the party broke up to their siesta at four 
 o'clock. 
 
 In 1806 the population of Buenos Ayres 
 did not exceed 41,000; the fifth of which were 
 whites, the rest being a compound breed 
 throughout various stages of connexion, and 
 progressive changes, from the negro to the hue 
 of the clearest European. Although the colour 
 
TO 
 
 may be improved, yet in its most refined state 
 there often remains a stamp of features which 
 reminds many of them of their true original. 
 Superior to mechanic employs and averse to 
 them, both from pride and indolence, the 
 Spaniard and the blanched Creole, leave such 
 to be pursued by their darker fellow-subjects, 
 who are industrious in their respective callings 
 as shoemakers, taylors, barbers, free hired ser- 
 vants, keepers of dram-shops, carpenters, and 
 little retail-traders. There were only two 
 blacksmiths in the city, who w^ere very slow in 
 their work, but sohd in the finish. All sorts of 
 iron and steel were in very great demand, and 
 a set of horseshoes cost five dollars, while the 
 animal might be purchased for two. These in 
 a manufactured state, and incorporated as a 
 part of the ballast in any vessel, would always 
 find a ready market, and provided they are not 
 offered in too gr^at a glut, would yield a high 
 return. As they seldom put any upon the 
 hinder feet, a proportion of three to one of the 
 fore, should be shipped in every adventure. 
 A speculation in watches if they are capped and 
 jewelled, and bear the impression of a London 
 maker, will rarely fail upon a limited scale, but 
 they must be of warranted goodness. Owing 
 to the refuse of these, as well as of other goods, 
 having been poured into Buenos Ayres some- 
 time after its conquest, by needy emigrants 
 from England, who cared little for national 
 repute, a considerable prejudice existed against 
 every article with the marks of its manufac- 
 ture for a long period subsequent to the recap- 
 
71 
 
 ture of tlie place. Allured more by shew 
 than quality, of which l)ut few were competent 
 to judge, they were still more vindictive than 
 uninstructed, under impositions. A knowing 
 one may practice the artifice once, but he will 
 be designated ever after by all in trade. The 
 mercantile branches being so reserved, few 
 conclusions could be drawn of their profes- 
 sional attainments, and although I slept in the 
 counting-house of a gentleman who had a 
 considerable tannery upon the river, and when 
 times were better, an extensive correspondence 
 with Europe, yet I never observed him to 
 make any other entries of his daily transac- 
 tions, than upon scraps of paper, or minutes in 
 a small book, which always lay upon his desk, 
 and it is more remarkable as his son had 
 passed two years in London, in a great mer- 
 cantile house, purposely to accomplish himself 
 as a complete man of business. A cause of 
 this, in part may be, that as cash is the only 
 medium of their dealings, few engrossments 
 are necessary. In their friendly offers of pe- 
 cuniary accommodations to us, in which they 
 were very sincere, ours in return of bills of 
 exchange were sternly declined, seemingly 
 from a misapprehension of their meaning. 
 In short the shackles that had been placed 
 against a free intercourse with the world, its 
 monopoly having been for centuries confined 
 to Spain, the total inattention paid to them in 
 their earlier days, had limited their concep- 
 tions to their own narrow sphere, had rivetted 
 their aflfections and devotion to the Parent 
 
72 
 
 State, which seclusions from all others, at 
 Buenos Ayres and Cordova, had taught them 
 to consider the greatest upon earth, and a 
 religious superstition had absorhed all the 
 remainder of their faculties, by its sovereign 
 assertion over their credulous and untutored 
 minds. 
 
 A great portion of the clerical orders, little 
 short of eleven hundred, was in the same 
 intellectual degradation, but far more depraved 
 in their morals. Teachers of the christian 
 doctrine without comprehending it, devout 
 mimics in all ceremonies of their church, 
 which they were incapable of understanding, 
 and licensed instructors of precepts they were 
 the first to violate, no wonder that in such 
 hands, knowleiige should be stiflled, that the 
 forms should supersede the real essence of 
 goodness, and that crimes should triumph over 
 the laws of God under the prevalence of such 
 a sway. Exceptions from these banditti, are 
 the higher grades, those who are delegated 
 from Spain as missionaries, and the youth who 
 from the first are destined for orders, and 
 undergo the regular pre})arative by a classical 
 course of study in the college at Buenos Ayres, 
 and Cordova. As our sick, and afterwards our 
 wounded men, were removed to the convent 
 of St. Dominice for cure, I had often the op- 
 portunity of witnessing the system, the mild 
 treatment, and the medical abilities of some 
 of the brotherhood in that society. It may 
 be said to combine a regular progress of divi- 
 nity, botany, and surgery. Under two fathers, 
 
73 
 
 are twenty lay-brothers, who are always em- 
 ployed in the spacious gardens attached to the 
 building, in planting, collecting, and ascer- 
 taining the virtues of their unbounded produc- 
 tions, in administering medicines to the sick, 
 for which there are some airy wards; in lesser 
 domestic attentions, by turns, and in those 
 stated duties of devotion which are rigidly 
 observed in this well-ordered cloister. There 
 were very often seen amongst them some fine 
 yoimg men, aspirants for the church, entitled 
 novices, dressed in black mantles, with belts 
 round their waists and otherwise extremely 
 genteel. The heads of this seminary often go 
 their rounds into those districts, that are within 
 the jurisdiction of Buenos Ayres, where the 
 Indian religious establishments are placed. 
 These have undergone three successive 
 changes in their title, under those of reduc- 
 tions, missions, and presidencies which have 
 become now their general denomination. 
 They are planted throughout a great part of 
 Paraguay, and to some distance on both sides 
 of the river Parana. Upon every excursion 
 in their holy office, the fathers are ac- 
 companied by a number of those noviciates, 
 no doubt with a view to inculcate in them the 
 most important branches of their future des- 
 tinies, by an acquaintance with the natural tem- 
 pers of their rude scholars, the rules and regula- 
 tions of those local institutions, and still more 
 to impress on their minds the best practicable 
 means of being useful labourers, by definitions 
 from ocular examples. Every member within 
 
74 
 
 this establishment shewed great attention to 
 all enquiries made about their patients, were 
 eager to converse with us, and peculiarly 
 inquisitive concerning the state of pharmacy 
 and surgery in England, upon which we 
 could give but little information. Every in- 
 digenous plant almost on the Parana, is in 
 their gardens, and by constant study, with a 
 cool process of analysis, they have converted 
 the properties of many of them to the benefit 
 of man. An European botanist may very 
 much abridge his trouble in selection, by 
 paying an early visit to this fraternity, who 
 will confirm beyond this delineation, their 
 liberality of opinion, and kindness, by the most 
 frank communications. The Franciscan order 
 here, is another very enlightened body, but we 
 were often pestered by a set of mendicants 
 named Carmelites, who wear white cloaks, are 
 barelegged, and have sandals tied across the 
 feet. The best use to which they can be ap- 
 plied would be to recruit the army, for they 
 exercise no function, are held in contempt by 
 the people, and many of them are stout fellows. 
 They are extremely importunate, and are a 
 great nuisance. 
 
 The medical profession was at a low ebb 
 indeed, at the same time there are none upon 
 whom the arts of quackery might be more 
 successfully practiced, than the Creoles. 
 Having an exalted opinion of every English 
 practitioner, into whatever society he might 
 enter, the females generally affected to be 
 unwell, and sought advice. The symptom 
 
75 
 
 was denoted by a patch on one of their tem- 
 ples, and tlie common conij)laint a lassitude, 
 with head-ach. As little art was necessary to 
 dispel it, being caused by want of exercise, 
 some of us became empirics, and prescribing 
 happily, our talents obtained repute, but a 
 striking instance occurred, which evinced the 
 general partiality for our countrymen, in Dr. 
 Forbes, who being left behind in charge of 
 our sick and wounded, after the recapture of 
 the city, was so exclusively consulted, to the 
 prejudice of the faculty in Buenos Ayres at 
 large, that a memorial for his removal v^^as 
 presented to the government with effect, but 
 not until he had amassed some thousands of 
 dollars from four months practice. By the 
 general peace, many meritorious individuals at 
 home, have been thrown loose, in this pursuit, 
 who, from a want of employ, are converted into 
 a part of the excess of our j)opulation. Such 
 adventurers will not only find bread, but 
 wealth in those parts of South America, and 
 they will be a valuable accession not alone by 
 their professional exertions, but by the effects 
 of their superior education, amongst an un- 
 civilized community. Their persons would 
 always be secure in that reverence which is 
 rendered, to the general usefulness of their 
 calling, as it is nearly equal to that paid to the 
 higher grades of the priesthood. Such an emi- 
 grant would find an account by taking with him 
 a large stock of medicines, as well as of the 
 most approved instruments accompanying him; 
 Like all other blessings, that of drugs whiqh 
 
76 
 
 are in such abundance, is lost from an ig- 
 norance of chemistry, and their prices in 
 Buenos Ayres, are double upon such exports 
 from home. 
 
 As agricidture, not nnneralogy, is the natu- 
 ral source of prosperity in the regions of La 
 Plata to a great extent, a wide field in this 
 branch lays open to enterprize. Proceeding 
 into the country from tlie capital, it is with 
 serious regret the traveller beholds the seem- 
 ingly interminable plains that offer to the eye, 
 upon whose surface, the luxuriant crops rise 
 from year to year, only to perish upon it, and 
 as they Avere the common property of every 
 man, who chose to be industrious, it is a great 
 reflection upon all, that so few availed them- 
 selves of so near, and so permanent an emolu- 
 ment. Every morning, grass was brought 
 in small bunches, that had ready sale, 
 and each fetched a real ; according to which 
 calculation, a waggon load might have easily 
 realized thirty-five dollars, with only the 
 labour of cutting, and driving it. But although 
 a love of money is the general characteristic, 
 yet this ceconomy was confined to a few, and 
 to a morning supply, which might have been 
 profitably repeated by another in the evening. 
 Clover, with bran from the bakers, was the 
 food of all descriptions of cattle in Buenos 
 Ayres. Whatever form of legislature may 
 ultimately reign, nay even during a crisis of 
 revolution, the encouragement of husbandry 
 being its obvious interest, must be its primary 
 object, and as no race upon the globe is better 
 
77 
 
 qualified to accelerate the science into imme- 
 diate perfection than our own, its hardy sons 
 will be hailed with joy, and embraced with 
 welcome. As their sphere of action would be 
 limited to an entirely level, and chiefly a 
 loamy soil, both ploughs and harrows ought to 
 be light, and the speculatist might risk a num- 
 ber beyond his own wants, because public 
 spirit would compensate to him for individual 
 languor in purchasing every useful implement, 
 for the good of the whole. 
 
 As refinement must produce a demarkation 
 of property, those plains which at present 
 scarcely recognize an owner, will soon be 
 occupied, by purchases, or by grants from the 
 state — inclosures will quickly be reared by 
 the jealousy of their possessors, and the 
 numerous herds that now wildly roam through 
 their pastures, heedless of a master, will ere 
 long, be collected by a legal partition, into 
 separate pens, and though brutes, they Avill 
 yet participate in the universal reform. This 
 happy aera, whenever it may be, is the judicious 
 moment for a broad speculation. It will be 
 long before the value of land can attain the 
 ratio of its produce, for the items of bread in 
 Buenos Ayres, and all sorts of corn bear an 
 exhorbitant j)rice. Hay has never been made, 
 but the crops would not be credited by a 
 stranger in their probable amount. It is 
 enough to say that the grass will reach the 
 shoulders of a tall man, and during that 
 season the weatlier is steady and serene 
 through the harvest. This simple improve- 
 
78 
 
 ment in grain and feeding, would yield an 
 immense profit to the adventurer, and in it 
 short space would stamp a high character upon 
 their exports of beef, which is one of the most 
 important staples of this part of South America. 
 From the manner, and the temper of blood in 
 which the animal has been hitherto butchered, 
 it could not be expected that its meat was 
 calculated for cure. The ox marked out, has 
 been pursued at full speed until lassoed by the 
 horseman, another in the chase does the same, 
 and both striking off at opposite angles, either 
 threw him down, or retarded his progress, 
 while a third dismounting, hamstringed him 
 in both hinder legs, and then cut his throat. 
 In this state of fever was he killed, skinned, 
 and after an inadequate bleeding, the flakes of 
 flesh were torn off, put into a barrel of brine, 
 during twenty-four hours, dried in the sun 
 after being drained, and packed up for use or 
 traffic. Owing to the green food, and no 
 sugar being mixed with the preparation, the 
 meat became hard, and sometimes putrid ; 
 in which state it will never repay except 
 in the West Indies, where it is readily bought 
 up for the negroes, who have generally a 
 strong predilection for food very salt, and even 
 tainted. 
 
 With all those hereditary advantages, Buenos 
 Ayres and its dependencies, have been greatly 
 indebted to their more industrious neighbours 
 in the Kio Grande Brazils, for wheat which 
 arrives in hides sewed up like sacks, besides a 
 sort of rum named cania, sweetmeats, sugar, 
 
79 
 
 rice, and cotton-cloths that are worn by the 
 people of colour. >*> 
 
 Long fettered in their commerce, as well as 
 their political sentiments, it would be presump- 
 tuous to detail those acticles of import, best 
 adapted for the various degrees in this popula- 
 tion. Upon a general review from an expe- 
 rience of mankind, we are taught to expect 
 that most of them have ceased to be the 
 slaves of fashion, after a certain chmax 
 of life, and it is not to that description 
 I would venture to apply my theories, but 
 the short period of our reign, evinced a prone- 
 ness in the youth to follow our customs, and 
 in some respects our dress. Having renounced 
 the sovereignty of Spain, they will perhaps 
 under a political as well as a hostile impulse, 
 also abolish her costumes and her manners, and 
 from the same transient feeling will adopt 
 those of the most favoured nation. In this 
 catalogue none stands higher than England, 
 notwithstanding the more open part which 
 North America has taken in their cause. A 
 prejudice amongst the Buenos Ayrians was 
 formed against that country, from a supposi- 
 tion that a plot was formerly in agitation by a 
 number of captains of trading vessels with their 
 crews at that time in the river, to seize upon 
 the city by surprize, to ransack its wealth, and 
 to depart with it. Although this surmise did 
 not interrupt an intercourse so absolutely 
 essential to their wants, yet there are lurking- 
 reflections upon it in many a heart, and it will 
 operate as a lasting restraint against ex- 
 
80 
 
 tending to those brother-citizens, their confi- 
 dence, or regard. In this presumption, our 
 goods will meet a preference, as well as the 
 more flippant ones of the toilet. But in all, 
 an eye must be had to the religious preposses- 
 sions of the natives, which will never change 
 further, than in an abatement of its bigotry. 
 This list may be shortly comprized in 
 household furniture, musical instruments, and 
 compositions, hardware of all sorts, long knives 
 in sheaths always worn by the Peons, hammers, 
 wedges, pickaxes, steam-engines, mechanical 
 manufactures of shew and genius, fowling- 
 pieces, with all their ammunition in mahogany 
 boxes, lead m every form, black and blue 
 cloths, stout woolen-cloths, printed cottons 
 for gowns and pantaloons, calicoes, nankeens, 
 boots, shoes, kerseymeres, mostly sky-blue, 
 low cotton-cloths, blankets, ladies' dresses 
 the most modern, their shoes and silk 
 stockings ornamented, cheese, butter, flower, 
 and garden seeds. As sales are often flat, 
 it would be very eligible to establish an 
 auction room, to be open at stated periods, for 
 public biddings, which would prevent an over- 
 flow in the markets, and combine the general 
 interests of every agent under one contract and 
 price, by a proportion from each being exposed 
 to vendure, and in such lots as to accommodate 
 the petty shopman and the wholesale-trader. 
 Such an establishment would convene many 
 from the interior, beyond the various orders in 
 the city, for the latter were their usual 
 mediums of supply. There were duties of four 
 
81 
 
 per cent upon such transactions while under 
 the monarchy. 
 
 If churches are specimens of true rehgion, 
 Buenos Ayres must hold a high rank for good 
 morals ; from morning till night the bells toll 
 for devotion, whither crowds of devotees re- 
 paired. The lower orders usually attended 
 early, and the better females resorted daily to 
 mass at noon, in long black cloaks drawn over 
 their faces, with their beads and crucifixes on 
 their arms, and a female slave behind carrying 
 a prayer-book. The ceremony is soon finished 
 by each, and there was a constant thoroughfare 
 of those pious passengers, until the doors were 
 closed. The city contains six parishes, two 
 monasteries, six convents, a very handsome 
 college, the remains of Jesuit architecture, a 
 house for poor orphans, and a foundling 
 hospital. The churches are all neat, but the 
 cathedral exceeds them all in grandeur, stand- 
 ing on the North-west of the grand square, 
 and its door facing the street of the Holy 
 Trinity, which runs N. W. and S. E. nearly 
 the whole range of the town. Its exterior is 
 elegant, having <i cupola and a portico, but the 
 embellishments within are too gaudy for the 
 sanctuary of God. It contains a fine histori- 
 cal painting of the Acts of the Apostles, which 
 produces a striking effect. In the Franciscan 
 church there is also an exquisite performance, 
 by a reformed Indian, descriptive of the last 
 Slipper, which was executed under the super- 
 intendance of the Jesuit fathers, who had pre- 
 sented it to the heads of that order. The 
 
 G 
 
82 
 
 frame-work which is made of feathers dyed hke 
 gold, is so well and closely constriicted.that it 
 appears even when near, to be a light-coloured 
 carving. There are many other places of 
 worship which possess interest, such as those 
 of St. Francis, St. Domingo, of noted story, 
 and of Mary, besides that of St, John's, which 
 stands on the South-western suburbs, and is 
 exclusively devoted for the worship of those 
 neophytes, who are employed in Buenos Ayres 
 in the various drudgeries of the pul)lic service. 
 The streets, twelve in number, proceed in a 
 North-west direction, and run parallel with the 
 Plata, having two half-ones upon the North- 
 east, and four on the South-west, which ter- 
 minate in many dirty houses near to the 
 Plaza del Toros. The former are intersected 
 eight times in their course at right-angles, 
 have broad side-pavements, and the principal 
 dwellings have projected iron railings, whither 
 the ladies repair in the evening to breathe the 
 cool air, and to gratify their curiosity. The 
 outer doors are of strong materials, and like the 
 housetops, which are flat, communicating with 
 one another, and all having high parapets, 
 they seem to have originated in a plan to 
 serve as joint-barriers, against the sudden 
 attacks of their savage neighbours in the 
 Pampas, who in former days rushed precipi- 
 tately upon the inhabitants, and Avithout any 
 warning. Nearer to the river, and to the 
 North of the Toros, the arsenal stood, which 
 was an open spot upon which lay blank shells, 
 and pyramids of shot, and from hence there is 
 
83 
 
 a passage to the fort along the heach, but over 
 rugged ground leading to the East. A little 
 above, and to the South-west of the Plata, 
 is the grand parade, having in the same corner 
 the Cabildo, or Townhouse, and nearly oppo- 
 site to it is the Chief Fortress, which in our 
 time was a miserable defence for so important 
 a city. The canjion were honey-combed, their 
 carriages rotten, the walls low and in part 
 demolished towards the square, and the ditches 
 choaked up with rubbish, besides a drawbridge 
 over it, into the castle, where the Governor 
 resided, and a chapel for him and his at- 
 tendants. This place of defence was neither 
 calculated to protect Buenos Ay res, nor to 
 repel maritime invasion, or insult, as the water 
 within the range of its guns, is too shallow 
 for vessels to approach. 
 
 That social intercourse which was offered to 
 us, gave occasion to notice the manners and 
 usages of different families, and as human nature 
 is intrinsically the same through ages, and par- 
 takes not of the fleeting fashions of every sue- 
 ceeding generation, it may be presumed that 
 any delineation upon the former, may very pro- 
 perly be couched in the present, and not the past„_^ 
 tense. Amongst the most amiable traits of 
 the Creolian character, there is none more 
 conspicuous, and none tliat more impressively 
 bespeaks an unfeigned benevolence, than their 
 conduct towards their slaves. Often a witness 
 to the harsh treatment of those fellow-mortals 
 in the West Indies, of the total indifference to 
 their religious instruction there so universally 
 
84 
 
 prevalent, 1 was instantly struck with the 
 contrast between our planters, and those South 
 Americans. These unhappy exiles from their 
 own country, are no sooner purchased at 
 Buenos Ayres, than the master's first care is 
 to instruct his bond-servant in the native 
 language of the place, and in the general 
 principles as well as the creed of his own faith. 
 This sacred branch is committed to a priest, 
 who reports when his scholar has attained 
 sufficient knowledge of his catechism, and of 
 the sacramental duties, to take upon himself 
 the vows of baptism. Although this process 
 at best must be superficial, still it has a ten- 
 dency to inspire a sense of dependence upon a 
 Supreme Being, it enforces a serious deport- 
 ment, tranquillizes the temper, and reconciles 
 those sufferers to their lot. Until thus natu- 
 ralized, the negroes from Africa, and their 
 brother-natives of America, are stigmatized by 
 the vulgar, as infidels, and barbarous. The 
 owners were, so far as I could notice, equally 
 attentive to their domestic morals. Every 
 morning, before their mistress went to mass, 
 she assembled the females in a ring upon the 
 floor, both young and old, to whom needle- 
 work or knitting was assigned, according to 
 their capacities. All seemed chearful, and I 
 doubt not but admonition too entered their 
 circle. Before and after dinner, and also at 
 supper, one of these ultimately was introduced 
 to implore a blessing, and to return thanks, 
 which they were taught to think as duties of 
 preeminence, and they always performed them 
 
85 
 
 with solemnity. Parental respect seemed not 
 to be a ceremonious, but an innate expression. 
 No junior member presumed to sit down 
 until both father and mother shewed the 
 example, and their mutual address seemed 
 affectionate and wellbred. After meals the 
 head takes up a segar, but no one ventures to 
 do so until his assent is signified by a nod. 
 
 A series of sameness predominates over 
 the economy of their tables — chocolate and 
 sweet cakes is the common breakfast of 
 the higher orders, soup having a hodge- 
 podge of pork cut small, beef, pease, and 
 numerous vegetables ; or another sort with 
 eggs, bread, and spinnage with meat in tatters 
 is the first course ; which is followed by beef, 
 roasted to rags, and finally by fish swim- 
 ming in oil, perfumed with garlic. The ladies 
 drink nothing but water, and the gentlemen 
 regale either on white wine of St. Juan or the 
 red from Mendoza, places in the province of 
 Cuyo, and the latter touching upon the Andes, 
 during the repast ; after which they smoke and 
 go to siesta, awaking about five to smell the 
 air, not to take that exercise so indispensable 
 for health. The same is repeated at ten o'clock, 
 and bed is again their refuge. Such a train of 
 indulgences produces a corpulency in most, 
 together with a mjcntal langour, but a steady 
 sobriety, with the frequent use of the herb of 
 Paraguay, tend to counteract those disorders 
 that might naturally be expected. Although 
 the Philippine Company had an agent and a 
 large depot at Buenos Ayres, with imports of 
 
86 
 
 tea, yet it never was demanded : — as a great 
 favour he spared me a pound at the exhorbitant 
 price of three dollars. 
 
 The very reserved and austere manners of 
 the gentlemen, but more especially of the true 
 Spaniards, were strong interdicts against con- 
 versation, and whatever passed, related to the 
 triffling occurrences of the day. Any queries 
 upon the the general state of the country were 
 always evaded by an immediate transition to 
 another topic. But the ladies compensated 
 most amply by a lively chat, the most fascina- 
 ting sweetness, and by what never fails in its 
 pur})ose, a desire to please. Their genuine 
 goodness was more strongly attested in the 
 subsequent days of our misfortunes. Their 
 dress is little suited to set off the disi)lays of 
 their persons, having no gowns but a sort of 
 jacket which covers the top of their petticoats, 
 their shoulders and heads bei*ng covered by a 
 hood that obscures a part of their faces ; they 
 wear no cap, and their loiig black hair is tied 
 into a close bunch at the top, fixed by a highly 
 ornamented comb, lliis must be considered 
 by them as a most becoming appendage, for 
 their children, of only a few months old, and 
 in the mother's arms, have their little tops 
 bound in a like way, in the most funny stile. 
 It is laughable to see those infants, of both 
 sexes, in their breeches, which add to their 
 fantastical appearance. Very high shoes, and 
 bespangled silk stockings, generally adorn the 
 fenmle leg. 
 
 In speaking of different families of the same 
 
87 
 
 surname, they distinguish the native Spanish 
 from the CreoHan, ])y the title of Chapetone. 
 Notwithstanding the imagined wealth of 
 South America, yet there are few quarters 
 were mendicity is more visible. The abun- 
 dance of food prevents starvation, but the 
 poverty of the lower classes is always apparent 
 in their garments, and their filth. Crowds 
 wander through Buenos Ayres, as there are 
 few establishments of charity for their support, 
 who meet but little pity, as the pecuniary 
 sources of the middling classes are drained by 
 the superstitions of the church, or to maintain 
 the lowest, and most worthless of its members. 
 Besides these conscientious calls upon their 
 purses, as well as the regulated taxation, the 
 rich inhabitants were amenable to the sudden 
 and arbitrary requisitions of the government, 
 when the public treasury was empty. Three 
 of these were demanded while I was a prisoner 
 from one family, and the payments were re- 
 quired to be made after the notice of a day, 
 The plea of inability was vain, for confiscation 
 to the amount, or personal imprisonment 
 would have been the fate of the defaulter. 
 
88 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 IN the middle of July, a circumstance deve- 
 loped that a plot existed for the overthrow of 
 our power, and that the Cabildo were chief 
 actors in it. Intelligence was received that 
 a large magazine of gunpowder had been 
 formed at Fleuris, about three leagues from 
 the city, which, as being a military dependency, 
 ought to have been delivered up along with it, 
 agreeably to the laws of honour. This how- 
 •^ver was reserved as a depot for their levies 
 m the country, which were collecting from 
 afar with the ultimate view of its reconquest, 
 and supplies from it had been already pushed 
 on to an army in a state of forwardness under 
 the command of Puerridon. Captain Ogilvie 
 was ordered thither to complete our own tum- 
 brils, and his orders were to explode the 
 remainder. Some one of the magistracy held 
 the keys, although all disavowed it; for other- 
 wise it would have been a serious impeachment, 
 and must have involved the punishment of the 
 whole body. We had two killed, and several 
 badly wounded upon that service from ac- 
 cidents. In so very wide a city, it were 
 impossible to observe or to check the workings 
 of the people. Nightly meetings took place 
 among them to be trained to arms, and several 
 instances occured of our advanced sentries 
 being forcibly carried off, mounted and in- 
 
89 
 
 stantly driven into the interior, or closely 
 confined until a favourable occasion of doing 
 so. In this state, many of the friars tried to 
 seduce our men from their duty, by the most 
 tempting rewards, but all withstood them 
 except a few of the Eoman Catholic persua- 
 sion. Simultaneous with these incidents, and 
 to evince that the whole were conducted upon 
 a plan of combination, another may be ad- 
 duced, which must altogether prove that they 
 could neither originate in, or be directed by a 
 portion of disaffected citizens, but that they 
 were sanctioned by, and received the aids of 
 the supreme authorities. Opposite to the 
 barracks of the 71st regiment, there stood a 
 seminary belonging to the order of St. Francis, 
 which, with all the contiguous houses, were 
 gradually deserted by the students and tenants. 
 A narrow street intervened between both, 
 and a mine was dug from the college, across to 
 the South-west angle of the soldiers' rooms. 
 A drumboy in one of them, remarked to his 
 Serjeant that he had been repeatedly disturbed 
 by a noise during the night, as if proceeding 
 from labourers beneath him. An expedient 
 was adopted by laying several musquets, bar- 
 rels uppermost, gently secured, upon the floor, 
 upon which some pins were placed, so as to be 
 deranged by the smallest concussion. One 
 morning they were found upon the ground, 
 but although an investigation was ordered yet 
 nothing was discovered, because the mouth of 
 the mine could not be retraced, but the fact 
 was afterwards substantiated, and that the 
 
90 
 
 infernal plot was to liave blown up our men by- 
 means of thirty-six barrels of powder 
 
 Amidst these scenes of secrecy the bishop 
 played his part with dexterity by a shew of 
 the most obsequious respect, and a delusive 
 friendship to General Beresford, while the 
 officers in the government continued to render 
 him their daily homage, and their hearty con- 
 gratulations upon his safe return after having 
 dispersed the army of Puerridon at Pedriall, 
 about twenty miles from the city, upon the 2d 
 of August. That skirmish was no farther 
 remarkable, than in the daring push of two 
 men from the ranks of the enemy, v/hile ours 
 were in a progress of advance, against the 
 person of that chief. Being well-mounted, 
 they gained unperceived to the rear of the 
 right flank of the 71st regiment, when they 
 made a furious charge in a direct line for 
 the general, whose orderlies then happened to 
 be at some distance ; but Captain Arbuthnot 
 who was near, kept one of them at bay. The 
 other however still persevered, and would have 
 struck the fatal bloAV, if Colonel Pack with his 
 habitual coolness, had not drawn his attention, 
 until Lieutenant Mitchel ordered a few files of 
 his grenadiers to give their fire, which brought 
 that dashing adventurer with his horse to the 
 ground. 
 
 General Beresford's sword during tjiis time, 
 from rust, stuck fast in the scabbard. Another 
 example of heroism, but arising from an 
 erroneous impulse, was exhibited in a German 
 Roman catholic, who had previously deserted 
 
91 
 
 from us, upon this occasion. One of the 
 enemy's guns was al)andoned by all except 
 that man, and although charged by a part of 
 our troops, yet he resolutely stood fast and was 
 taken with it. Eeing brought a prisoner into 
 Buenos Ayres, he was afterwards tried and 
 sentenced to be shot. Before the execution, 
 the bishop in person, administered the sacra- 
 ment to him, who was much hurt that the 
 guard which was over him, did not take off 
 their hats during the ceremony, and even an 
 assurance made to him that such a deference 
 was contrary to our rides of military discipline, 
 did not at all mitigate the omission. That 
 victim met his fate with firmness, and his 
 anxious last request was, that his parents might 
 for ever remain strangers to it. 
 
 At the intersected corners of almost every 
 street in that capital, pulperias, or dram, and 
 grocery shops, are established, that vend 
 liquors, candles, and other articles. They are 
 often so crowded by the scum of society, that 
 there are two doors to each, both for the 
 accommodation of the rabble, as well as for 
 shelter against the noon, and the evening sun. 
 Those resorts, like ours in our seaports during 
 war, are' commonly the property of some 
 wealthy men unknown, who employ subordinate 
 responsible agents to carry on the business. 
 They are above six hundred in nimiber, and 
 yield a considerable revenue to the public. 
 Our sentries were planted near to them through 
 the day, to preserve order. Correspondent 
 with the intrigues of their superiors, the 
 
92 
 
 populace kept pace with them, but in a more 
 manly way. The dispersion of their army at 
 Pedriall on the 2d of August, had an evident 
 effect upon the feelings of all ranks during 
 three days after. They were unusually civil, 
 but having learnt that no serious loss had 
 accrued, every one resumed a degree of con- 
 temptuous insolence, by claiming the wall, and 
 in other instances of petty insult. One day 
 Lieutenant Sampson of the St. Helena Corps, 
 while passing one of these shops, saw some 
 of those fellows sally forth to wrest the mus- 
 quet from the sentry which they effected, 
 and he was dangerously stabbed in the act of 
 aiding his brother-soldier. Remonstrances 
 were made without avail, for in all references 
 to the civil power, a few shrugs of the shoulders, 
 and fair promises to get rid of importunity, 
 were the only substitutes of solid remedy. 
 
 During this interval of narrative, Liniers had 
 concentred all his forces and having organized 
 them at Colonia, he awaited the tide of events, 
 when he might elude our gunboats at anchor 
 above Buenos Ayres, and accomplish a debark- 
 ation of them upon the western bank of the 
 river Conchas. That naval guard, happily for 
 him, was in one night almost annihilated by 
 an awful pamperos, which sunk the whole 
 except two, leaving them in a disabled state. 
 It was resolved however to attack his flotilla 
 with this reserve, should he venture out. The 
 advantage was too great to be lost, and he 
 embraced it during a gale. After having 
 chased one of our cruizers, whose orders were 
 
93 
 
 to counteract his motions, he made good his 
 landing with 2000 men, and ten pieces of 
 cannon, upon the 6th of August. Heavy- 
 rains having fallen between the 4th and 8th, 
 they retarded the junction of Puerridon's 
 army, again rallied, until the 9th, and this 
 could not have been effected without an 
 unlimited command of horses. That present 
 Franklin of his country, brought with him not 
 only his own original strength, but a great 
 accession to it of Catalans from Monte Video. 
 The only naval resistance we had now to 
 offer, consisted in a small schooner, under 
 Lieutenant Herrick, riding close to the beach, 
 who opened his fire upon their encampment 
 so successfully, as to compel Liniers to take 
 up a nevf one out of sight, and at some distance. 
 At that time the garrison of Buenos Ayres 
 was prevented from meeting him in the field 
 by the rugged roads, not in a condition to 
 admit the transportation of artillery without 
 a powerful drawing-train. During this critical 
 moment, any demonstration upon the river 
 must have shaken the confidence of the enemy, 
 and diverted him awhile from his object. Not 
 knowing the means within Sir Home Popham's 
 reach to have retrieved our late naval disasters, 
 I can only regret that his mental resources 
 were no way equal to meet the difficulty, and 
 that his professional exertions in this hour of 
 danger, fell far short of general expectation, of 
 the high importance of the stake at issue, and 
 such as might have been looked for from his 
 own feelings of ultimate responsibility. There 
 
94 
 
 was a commercial vessel at this period, which 
 had approached the city for traffic, that was 
 of essential use to us. The Justinia of 
 twenty-six guns, being lightened, was manned 
 with officers and one hundred seamen from the 
 Squadron, besides her own crew. On the day 
 of our surrender she was well fought, and by 
 her guns impeded all the movements of the 
 Spaniards, not only along the beach, but in the 
 diffi?rent streets they occupied, which were 
 also exposed to them. She offers a phe- 
 nomenon in military events, that of a ship 
 having been boarded, and taken by cavalry at 
 the close of the 12th of August, from a sudden 
 fall in the river. 
 
 Having approached the city upon the 10th, 
 Liniers advanced with his whole force against 
 a Serjeant and seventeen men, which was most 
 imprudently our total number then posted at 
 the Ketiro. These brave men occasioned some 
 loss to the assailants, and covered with their 
 bodies the ground they occupied, saving two, 
 who escaped to us badly woimded. Along 
 with this hostile step he also pushed on a flag 
 to the gate of the castle demanding its imme- 
 diate surrender. The bishop was at the mo- 
 ment in conference with General Beresford, 
 within, which delayed for a time any atten- 
 tion being paid to the summons. The officer 
 being impatient, threatened to return without 
 one, but at last a negative was given. 
 Throughout Sunday afternoon, and the whole 
 of Monday the 11th of August, much fighting 
 took place in the streets attended with heavy 
 
95 
 
 losses to both sides. More persevering, but 
 needless valour was never exhibited than by 
 our soldiers against hosts of unseen opponents, 
 and a few others who were more worthy to 
 contend with them. These details would be 
 too tedious, I therefore hurry on to those of 
 another day, which was the death-blow to our 
 short-lived reign in South America. 
 
 During the whole of the night of the 11th, 
 a constant barking of dogs was heard from the 
 Retiro and its vicinity, which indicated some 
 extraordinary movements. The dawn of the 
 12th shewed us the churches and houses 
 crowded with people, who only waited for the 
 approach of Liniers to co-operate in the general 
 onset. Most of the former, and all the latter 
 commanded our bastions in the fort, and they 
 likewise regulated the motions of their columns 
 in the streets below them. Our orders were 
 to spare the sanctuaries, but they became so 
 troublesome from their fire of small guns and 
 musquetry, that we could not refrain from 
 indulging them with similar favours, which 
 always produced a momentary pause. From 
 my glass I could perceive the inferior clergy 
 particularly active, both in managing their 
 anus, and in directing their troops beneath 
 them. The battle raged in every adjoining 
 avenue to the castle, but wherever an enemy 
 or a gun dared openly to combat with us, they 
 were successively beaten or captiu'ed ; such 
 glories however were dearly bought, as they 
 were finally unavailing. Our last stand was 
 made at eleven, in the market-place, where the 
 
96' 
 
 gallant 71st regiment was formed with guns on 
 each flank, and one in the centre. Every out- 
 post had been previously withdrawn upon their 
 respective bodies. At this hour our disposi- 
 tions besides, were as follow : The marines 
 and seamen were attached to the batteries 
 within the castle, and the St. Helena corps 
 were a little thrown out in two divisions, under 
 the East and West bastions of it, which com- 
 manded the approaches from the streets of St. 
 Domingo, and Three Kings, that run parallel 
 with the Plata. A communication was main- 
 tained between them all. 
 
 As a feint to draw the enemy, so immensely 
 superior, from his fortresses, the 71st fell back, 
 but without its desired consequence. Nothing 
 could tempt him to the open fight with all his 
 numbers. Every minute diminished ours, 
 and humanity dictated that such brave men 
 should no longer be exposed as targets to the aim 
 of a sanguinary, though dastardly multitude. 
 Several officers had fallen, some were wounded, 
 and the drawbridge was crowded by those who 
 were borne upon the shoulders of their brother- 
 soldiers into the fortress. An immediate 
 retreat into it became expedient, after which 
 the gate was shut, and two cannon were 
 planted within to defend it. Previous to this 
 a flag of truce was hoisted by us, and one was 
 admitted from the enemy, during which inter- 
 val, ever consecrated to peace, their army 
 rushed like a torrent into the grand square 
 before us, setting up a most hideous yell, and 
 dragging on many guns, which they planted 
 
97 
 
 witliin fifty paces of the gate-way. During 
 this panic eight Frenchmen scaled the wall of 
 the bastion which I commanded, who attempted 
 to carry off some of the men's great coats, but 
 on being told if they persisted we would cut 
 them down, they retired. Curiosity induced 
 me to look over the parapet, when above 
 fifty musquets were discharged at my head 
 from various quarters of the square, which 
 would most certainly have beed retaliated by 
 a twenty-four pounder, loaded with grape, if I 
 had not been peremptorily restrained. Cap- 
 tain Quintana, an aid-de-camp of General 
 Liniers, observing this flagrant breach of 
 honour, and having been introduced to nego- 
 ciate terms of surrender with some French and 
 Spanish officers, into the castle, he very 
 spiritedly ascended the ramparts, when throw- 
 ing open his waistcoat, and extending both 
 arms at full length, he seemed to offer himself 
 a victim to the unbridled rage of the rabble, 
 and by his expressive gestures rebuked their 
 indiscipline with instantaneous effect. If he 
 lives, that young man will be an honour to his 
 king and country. A tedious discussion ensued 
 upon the parade in the fort, in which those 
 Frenchmen took a leading share, who urged 
 the danger of procrastination, and pledged 
 their protection to us against the popular 
 fury. Accordingly verbal terms vv^ere stipu- 
 lated upon the spot, to be afterwards ratified; 
 the leading articles of which consisted in 
 " security to our persons and properties, and 
 speedy embarkation for Europe, not to serve 
 
 If. 
 
1)8 
 
 until regularly exchanged, and that the 
 expences of the voyage would be defrayed by 
 the Spanish Government." 
 
 These conditions with others of minor im- 
 port, were signed by Liniers four days after the 
 12th of August, but the deed was basely 
 denied by him, from a servile comphance with 
 the wishes of the ruling authorities, to qualify 
 their dishonour, and from the selfish principle 
 of exalting his own fame. 
 
 Our little army now reduced to less than 
 1000 musquets, being formed into distinct 
 corps, were marched to the front of the Cabildo 
 Plouse, in the great square, through two irre- 
 gular lines; the officers falling out after having 
 cleared the drawbridge, while our gallant 
 subordinates were moved on to that prison, each 
 man grounding his arms, and undergoing a 
 strict search l^efore entering it. Many of 
 them in obeying that injunction, strongly tes- 
 tified their feelings of indignity by dashing 
 their musquets upon the ground. It appeared 
 as if Liniers had selected this guard of honour 
 upon the occasion, from the dregs of his troops, 
 to mortify us. 
 
 The speech of that unhappy female outcast 
 from the Jane Shore, who has been already 
 iiinted at, bespoke a burst of patriot pride in 
 beholding the humiliating sight. Indifferent 
 about the results to herself, she kept pace with 
 our column vociferating to us " Look, look my 
 brave fellows, at the set of ragged cowards to 
 whom you have given in." Without refresh- 
 ments, and huddled in filth, our men remained 
 
99 
 
 many hours in that prison until they were dis- 
 persed amongst other places, and the officers, 
 except the few who had contracted intimacies 
 with private families during happier times, were 
 abandoned to their ov/n resources. The greater 
 part took refuge in the castle during the night 
 of the 12th, to avoid the outrages of a frantic 
 mob, who appeared to assume to themselves 
 the sovereign sway. Their forlorn situations 
 having been represented to the Cabildo, billets 
 were soon issued, and it is to the everlasting 
 credit of the better inhabitants of Buenos 
 Ay res, but more especially of the Creole 
 branches, that their hospitable attentions were 
 redoubled in our misfortunes, and that their 
 amiable sensibilities towards our v^ounded, can 
 never be forgotten. 
 
 While our men were immured in the 
 prisons of the metropolis VAdth but scanty food 
 amidst plenty, and that too irregularly sup-^ 
 plied, some examples of the most disinterested 
 humanity, and of well-timed charities blazoned 
 forth, in which the native females, and some 
 of our exiled countrywomen, acted conspicuous 
 parts. Two women who had once been 
 criminals, but who were now married, gave 
 daily instances of these virtues to our soldiers 
 who were confined in the Residentia prison. 
 Every morning they visited it with the money, 
 clothes, and provisions, which they had col- 
 lected through the preceding day from the 
 well disposed, to which they never failed to 
 contribute their own mite, and they loaded 
 tliem with their benefits when they were put 
 
100 
 
 ill motion lor the Upper Country. That 
 doom was appointed for our men soon after 
 the reconquest, and as their destinies were 
 identified with those of their officers in the 
 terms agreed on prehminary to that event, so 
 early a measure towards them plainly shewed 
 the decision resolved on as to us, and tends 
 to blacken the more the mean shuffling, the 
 indelible perfidy, and the dishonourable expe- 
 dients of the Spanish government practised 
 towards both classes of their prisoners. The 
 solid interests of the Parent State have been 
 often sacrificed to the short-sighted policy, 
 the perverse ignorance, and the cruel des- 
 potism of her delegated servants in South 
 America, who are now driven from their seats 
 by her long loyal, but persecuted subjects. 
 From the sera of the 12th of August, 1806, 
 we may date their military origin, and cha- 
 racter, from that day they began to know 
 their own importance and powers as a people, 
 and although they have little cause to exult 
 in the triumph over but one effective regiment, 
 still the issue infused a general confidence in 
 themselves, a new spirit of chivalry amongst 
 all, and a self-consciousness that they were 
 not only equal in prowess, but superior in 
 numbers to those more regular legions with 
 whom they had co-operated, and by whom 
 they had hitherto been so long kept under 
 subjection. 
 
 Much as we had reason to complain of 
 their want of public faith, still much do we, 
 and our country, owe to individual benevolence 
 
101 
 
 during the dark days of disaster. A tribute 
 is due to such worth, not alone as a direct 
 acknowledgment, but as a pattern for universal 
 imitation. 
 
 My brother officer Captain M'Kenzie hemg 
 most severely wounded on the day of our 
 surrender, was billeted, by mistake, upon a 
 house already pre-occupied by its due propor- 
 tion of officers. This was ascertained while 
 on his way to it, but being worn out by loss 
 of blood and fatigue, he stepped, with' .'lis 
 assistants, into the outer room of the family 
 of Donna Escurras, where others had also 
 been quartered, to rest until the return of his 
 friend with another ticket. The ladies ob- 
 serving his state however, would not allow 
 him to move, but insisted upon his continuance 
 under their roof, imtil cured. It became a 
 tedious process of five months, during the 
 whole of which space, their attentions and hos- 
 pitality were unrelaxed, and unbounded, and 
 they consummated all by furnishing him with 
 every comfort for his journey up the country, 
 whither he was ordered upon the first symp- 
 toms of convalescence. Every recompence, 
 however it was tendered, was nobly declined. 
 The names of Galvis, Vidal, Komero, Terrada, 
 and Barreda must be long recognized with 
 gratitude for their protection and generous 
 kindness to us, and many more, were it of use 
 to enumerate them. 
 
 Notwithstanding that Liniers had subscribed 
 to the capitulation, still the fulfilment of its 
 conditions was delayed by new pretexts, from 
 
102 
 
 day to day, sometimes the flour vv-hich' was ex- 
 pected for our voyage, had not arrived, again, 
 that other means for it were deRcient, and 
 lastly, with a still more plausible one, the sud- 
 den, and unaccountable departure of our 
 transport vessels from the roadstead. It is 
 impossible to allege a motive for the conduct 
 of Sir Home Popham upon this occasion. It 
 certainly ^urnished a strong apology for that 
 of the Spanish Authorities, wavering between 
 faith and dishonour, and they eagerly availed 
 themselves of so specious a palliative to cover 
 their final intentions, and to temporize with 
 -our feelings. As those vessels had nothing to 
 dread from any naval attack, they being under 
 the protection of a heavy frigate, this precipitate 
 retreat is the more mysterious, and it was a 
 fatal step for us at the time. Had they 
 remained, some discussions might have been 
 interchanged by flags of truce, which might 
 have led to a release, or a melioration ; but at 
 any rate they must have extorted an undisguised 
 exposition of the reasons for our detention, and 
 a sense of shame might have perhaps accom- 
 plished those ends, which neither threats nor 
 arguments could produce. 
 
 Although our brave comrades had been 
 marched into the country many hundreds of 
 miles, in a woeful condition, soon after the 
 recapture of Buenos Ayres, yet the men in 
 power had the effrontery to persist in saying, 
 that it v/as not meant as a violation of the treaty, 
 but a necessary precaution for their personal 
 safety, and in the same spirit of duplicity they 
 
103 
 
 persevered in assurances of our speedy and 
 joint restoration to our country. To sum up 
 this history of artifice, they at last_resorted to 
 the pitiful trick of proposing to us all, the ex- 
 pediency of consummating our verbal pledges, 
 by our written signatures of parole, as being 
 requisite to appease the popular clamour in the 
 mean time, and as an essential preliminary to 
 our embarkation for Europe. Such being 
 exacted, and obtained from most of us, under 
 false pretences, consequently became null when 
 the deceit was unfolded, and in this view every 
 British officer, who subsequently escaped from 
 the hands of so perfidious an enemy, stands 
 fully vindicated in the eyes of the world, of his 
 profession, and his country. We can cite a 
 similar example from military record, and upon 
 a far greater scale to this, in the convention 
 of Closterseven, when the Hanoverian army 
 under the Duke of Cumberland surrendered to 
 the French upon conditions, which being 
 broken by them, in part, it resumed its arms 
 under Prince Ferdinand, achieved many vic- 
 tories under his auspices, and its conduct was 
 not only acquitted, but applauded by Europe, 
 and by mankind. 
 
 To give specimens of the character of the 
 populace at this period, as well as of the im- 
 becility of the laws, it is incumbent upon me 
 to assume the style of an egotist. 
 
 From having officiated as commissary for 
 prisoners of war at Buenos Ayres, it was my 
 misfortune to be an early object of plebeian 
 vengeance, after I became one in my turn. 
 
104 
 
 Three mornings after tPie place was recon- 
 quered, a large mob convened before my house, 
 when I was fortunately abroad, which they 
 entered by force, and demolished every thing 
 they could not carry off, even to the paper 
 upon the walls. The hfe of the owner would 
 have been however a much more pleasing 
 sacrifice to them. On my return they had 
 indeed dispersed, but I had to lament over the 
 loss of my all, except a very small trunk which 
 had been conveyed, upon the preceding night, 
 to the house of Signor Alguazabal, and con- 
 tained 1£0 dollars, a few shirts, and some 
 other trifles. Even these remains of my pro- 
 perty were traced thither, and plundered by a 
 captain of the Spanish Army, vv^ho to the credit 
 of Liniers, was afterwards dismissed from the 
 service with disgrace, on my informing him of 
 the circumstance, and the name of the culprit. 
 I recovered the money too from that chief, 
 upon declaring the fact, and its amount upon 
 honour, but it was not so well vv^ith regard to 
 my wearing apparel, my papers, books, and 
 many native productions which I had collected 
 while we held the city. An officer of the 71st 
 having stated to me his having seen several 
 volumes marked by my name, amongst other 
 articles, in a warehouse within the fort, I 
 instantly went into it, where I picked up four, 
 and carried them into Liniers' apartment, who 
 was then in conversatation with those French 
 officers, whom I remarked to have been so 
 active upon the day of its surrender. Pro- 
 xiucing the books and my identity, I repre- 
 
105 
 
 sen ted them as only a portion of my property 
 that had been lost, and that the bulk of it was 
 then under the lock and key of the Spanish 
 commissary, which I demanded to be restored 
 to me in terms of our capitulation. Liniers 
 seemed well inclined to listen and to accede, 
 but he yielded to the persuasions of his 
 countrymen, who assured him that such 
 things were common in towns just captured, 
 and to dismiss the request. He certainly 
 offered to me the books, but they were thrown 
 indignantly on the floor, with the reply of 
 " All or none." 
 
 It is to me a bitter reflection, that in this 
 calamity, there was involved the loss of what 
 can never be repaired. Three weeks before the 
 recapture of the city, a Spanish oflicer had 
 spared me three duodecimo volumes, published 
 at T.ima in the year 1654. They contained 
 an historical series of the dynasty of the Incas 
 over the empire of Peru, and comprehended a 
 period including the 12th and 16th centuries, 
 until that sovereignty was voluntarily resigned 
 for ever by the last of its kings, into the 
 hands of Philip II, since which it has been an 
 appendage of the Spanish Crown. Of such 
 importance did my friend consider the work to 
 be, and the danger to which he exposed him- 
 self by the transferrence, that he impressed 
 upon me an everlasting secrecy by the strongest 
 pledge, and every trace of his name he himself 
 obliterated. 
 
 Whenever I went into the streets, I was 
 commonly followed by several attendants 
 
106 
 
 with drawn knives, who appeared with scowling 
 eyes to watch for a favourable opportunity of 
 using them, but guarding one side by the wall, 
 and the other with a sword under my arm, 
 the villains were kept in awe An incident 
 yet more serious occurred upon Saturday the 
 30th of August, which confirmed me in the 
 propriety of publishing, through the medium 
 of my landlord, a true statement of those cir- 
 cumstances, that had fostered so general a 
 prejudice against me, and to screen me from 
 such a train of marked persecution. 
 
 From a sense of delicacy toward the hospi- 
 table families of Buenos Ayres, it was often 
 customary for the English officers to dine at 
 the Three Kings altogether, when not other- 
 wise engaged. On the day stated, more than 
 the usual number convened, and after all had 
 risen from the table, it was proposed to pass 
 the evening there in commemoration of 
 Saturday night. All who were present acceded 
 to it, but in a little after, an intervening thought 
 struck me, urging the propriety of going to 
 my quarters. The sudden change in my in- 
 tention, 1 have cause to declare, could have 
 been dictated alone by a guardian Providence. 
 Having signified my desire to go home to 
 Lieutenant Murray of the 71st regiment, he 
 accompanied me so far on the way to his own, 
 but I had scarcely reached mine, when an 
 immense rabble collected about the inn, calling 
 out for the delivery of the commissary for pri- 
 soners to them. All in the room of course 
 fled whither they best could, and many of 
 
107 
 
 tliem most imprudently took refuge amongst 
 the poultry, where their terrors became aug- 
 mented by the loud clamours of those natural 
 tenants of the roost. An unguarded ansv/er 
 was given to the mob, that the commissary 
 had gone to his quarters, but that his servant 
 was in the kitchen at supper. Some miscreants 
 instantly seized the unhappy substitute, drag- 
 ged him forth into the street, where they 
 murdered the unoffending boy with every 
 description of weapons. Not satiated, they 
 set out in a body to the gateway of my resi- 
 dence, which belonged to one of the members 
 of the Cabildo. While we were walking about 
 the room in conversation, he suddenly opened 
 the door of one adjoining to it, and without 
 saying a word, thrust me in. My protector 
 then went out, addressed the banditti, and 
 assured them that I was absent. How ever 
 little respect they paid to the law, they on this 
 occasion rendered a deference to its magistrate, 
 by taking their departure, but in two hours, 
 when all were asleep, they returned, setting 
 Up the most dreadful shouts. 
 
 The stancheons of my bed-room window, 
 which looked into the street, and the side 
 walls had been much shattered by shot, during 
 our defence, and any one might have gained 
 access into the chamber, but none had the pre- 
 sumption to attempt it. The noise awakened 
 my landlord who came silently to arouse me, 
 and having conveyed me through a long pas- 
 sage into a warehouse full of hides and tallow, 
 he locked the door and sallied out to the people. 
 
108 
 
 They all insisted upon entering the house to 
 search it closely, which my host with great 
 address, seemed readily to permit, but it was 
 accompanied with expressions of displeasure 
 at their doubts of his veracity ; still assuring 
 them that their victim was somewhere else in 
 the city. The coolness of my friend, and his 
 habitual character, stamped such an impression 
 upon his words, that they all resigned the 
 sanguinary chase. No measures were adopted 
 by the military or the police to disperse this 
 assemblage, who ruled uncontrolled by any 
 authority throughout the night, and from so 
 recent a specimen of such unbridled a fury in 
 the populace of the capital, it obviously im- 
 poses this inference, that much remains to be 
 done after the attainment of independence, in 
 the regeneration of its laws, in inspiring its 
 public functionaries with spirit to enforce 
 y^ them, in annihilating the inferior classes of its 
 ' clergy, who studiously direct the ignorant to a 
 wrong bias, and in cherishing by its institutes, 
 the works of genius, and of industry. But 
 many allowances must be made for a set of 
 men flushed by success, pushed on by a mo- 
 mentary impulse, unawed by the dread of 
 punishment, devoid of good order, and stimu- 
 lated by the priesthood, when we only cast an 
 eye to those licentious scenes that too often 
 occur at home. It is incumbent, in having 
 enlarged upon those details, to offer also a 
 review of their cause. The infuriated preju- 
 dice was engendered from a suspicion that I 
 had been the means of withholding from the 
 
109 
 
 Spanish soldiery the rations that are commonly 
 issued to prisoners of war. In the present 
 case, and during our dominion over BuenoS 
 Ayres, the mihtary were enjoined to present 
 themselves to me for muster, four days in the 
 week, when their numhers were as regularly 
 reported to General Beresford. This was with 
 the main object of preventing them from 
 passing into the interior, there to join the 
 armies collecting at the time. Excepting 
 upon these particular periods, the privates were 
 allowed to follow their proper callings under 
 the denomination of prisoners at large. Com- 
 plaints ensued, that most could not obtain 
 employ, and that their families were necessitous. 
 This was likewise officially represented, and a 
 plan of remedy was in a train of completion, 
 which was to have acted with a retrospective 
 effect, by making up for past deficiencies, and 
 by adopting the usages of the Spanish Govern- 
 ment in like cases towards our countrymen, as 
 models for future issues, when we in our turn 
 became prisoners. But this was never realized 
 owing to that event, and all the consequences 
 of its omission fell individually on me. My 
 landlord seeing the expediency of giving some 
 publicity to this statement, kindly undertook 
 the task, and I must do justice to the commu- 
 nity, that after it was propagated, and during 
 the remainder of my stay in Buenos Ayres, 
 those very men who had so eagerly sought my 
 life, were the foremost in atoning for their 
 errors by a marked civility. I doubt not too, 
 that the report of tiiese prisoners who had been 
 
110 
 
 closely confined within the castle while we 
 held the place, and who had experienced the 
 most humane treatment while there, very much 
 conduced to change the popular sentiment. 
 
 After we were prisoners, many of the 
 families in the city shewed a particular desire 
 to have English soldiers for their domestics, 
 far more from the liberal wish to alleviate their 
 captivity, than to benefit from their services. 
 In these capacities our subordinates too shared 
 in their kindness, and an evident partiality 
 existed on the part of the females, to English 
 officers, over that shewn to that class of their 
 friends. The only bar to the closest con- 
 nexion, was the difference in their creed, which 
 only sacrificed, the ladies would have viewed 
 the military rank of their admirers as a minor 
 consideration. One of them was married to a 
 cadet in the St. Helena corps, who was a 
 voluntary convert, and who soon after received 
 a captain's commission in the Buenos Ayres 
 army. Much priestly eloquence was exerted 
 in this holy struggle. 
 
 Such was the female passion fur music, that 
 the master of the band of the 71st regiment, was 
 invited to become teacher, many pupils pressed 
 upon him, and being an excellent composer, his 
 little productions were keenly bought up. They 
 used their utmost to retain him after we were 
 sent into the country without effect, but he 
 amassed money sufficient to ensure him com- 
 forts while he was a prisoner in that continent. 
 
 A much greater confidence appeared while 
 under their power, than when we were masters 
 
Ill 
 
 of the city, in our mutual conferences. There 
 were some Creohan officers, who had gone to 
 Spain for their education in their former days, 
 and who had been induced to accept of com- 
 missions in her army on the war breaking out 
 with France. They had served under General 
 De L'Union, and most of them had fallen into 
 the hands of the enemy during the course of 
 it. Their opinions and principles were strongly 
 tinctured with republicanism, and their dress 
 as well as their manners were closely assimi- 
 lated to those of their recent associates. In 
 their eyes no power was equal to that of 
 France, no captain like Buonaparte. The 
 greatness of the Parent State, which had 
 before been supreme above every other, was 
 now beheld as nothing amongst the nations, 
 and it needed little penetration to see, that 
 much pains had been employed in giving a new 
 construction to their political catechism. 
 Some of them divulged thoughts, which they 
 dared not to have avowed to their dearest 
 friends, but which are now doubtless realized 
 by actions, in the great cause of their country's 
 independence. There were likewise two civi- 
 lians, who had visited England, and who spoke 
 with a freedom upon the degraded situation of 
 their own land, which they could have imbibed 
 nowhere else. I was intimate with one of 
 them, the tenor of whose conversation was 
 chiefly a series of contrast betwixt the two, 
 drawn from every little incident that presented 
 itself to his ideas. He observed, however, great 
 caution in all his communications as to time 
 
and place, aud impressed on me secrecy as a 
 duty due to him. 
 
 A few days only had elapsed from the 
 surrender of the place, when a military 
 enthusiasm broke forth in every rank of so- 
 ciety. All the youths of the most respectable 
 families hastened to enrol their names, and to 
 submit to the laws of discipline. Recruiting 
 parties daily paraded through the streetsi, 
 beating up for volunteers, and amongst other 
 levies, a regiment was raised, upon which they 
 conferred the numerical title of the 71st,' 
 which they clothed in red uniforms, and 
 chiefly armed with the wrecks of musquets 
 taken from that distinguished British corps; 
 to whose prowess this formation was intended 
 as a compliment. This was the first martial 
 stock of Buenos Ayres, upon whence have been 
 engrafted these armies that have not only 
 driven every enemy from her borders, but that 
 have established the independence of their own 
 country, and after it, have nobly achieved the 
 freedom of their less powerful sister-kingdom 
 of Chili, 
 
 To describe the thraldom in which the 
 intellects, as well as the commerce of that 
 dependency were held by the Parent State, and 
 to evince the little estimation in which our 
 island was considered by those natives ; a 
 doctrine most studiously inculcated upon them 
 by their rulers, as well as by the emissaries of 
 France, it was generally imagined that England 
 would be compelled to sue for peace in conse- 
 quence of our recent disaster, and the loss of 
 
11; 
 
 so many of her troops. On the mention of 
 this sagacious remark, one of our officers 
 pulled from his pocket an old army list, all the 
 details of which he explained to the observer, 
 whose surprize I believe, at first exceeded his 
 credibility, but it led to reflection, and ulti- 
 mately to a belief of the greatness of our 
 nation. On another occasion, a map of London 
 was shewn to a captain of their troops, for in 
 speaking of Londres, the most of them compre- 
 hended Great Britain, who after a tedious 
 search, expressed much wonder, that neither 
 Scotland or Ireland, of which he had heard 
 something, could be found in it. On his being 
 told that it contained only one city in 
 our kingdom, he pronounced a long string of 
 ejaculations, and handed the marvellous dis- 
 covery to several of his brethren. The limits 
 of science amongst that profession did not 
 reach beyond reading and writing, and only 
 few of them understood at all the principles of 
 arithmetic. But it was no fault of theirs, it 
 arose from the jealous parsimony of their 
 governors, who discouraged, instead of cherish- 
 ing private seminaries, from the sole view of 
 stifling knowledge. The Creoles seemed to 
 possess very quick apprehensions, and the most 
 earnest inquisitiveness in matters of novelty ; 
 faculties in man that undoubtedly acquire an 
 additional vigour from suppression. 
 
 As to the restraints upon the press, a 
 strong instance has been adduced in that 
 of the colonel of militia, already mentioned, 
 concerning whose final destinies, after some 
 
114 
 
 inquiries, I could learn nothing, except that 
 his valuable impressions had suffered the same 
 fate, with their composer and his types The 
 deceptions practised in the official communi- 
 cations of European events, were strikingly- 
 perceived in the one respecting the battle of 
 Trafalgar, which I saw. It stated the loss of 
 twelve of our largest ships, one of which was 
 named the Duke of York, as having been sunk, 
 while it admitted but eleven casualties to the 
 coml)ined fleets. I noticed the falsehoods to 
 a Biscayan, who only smiled significantly, and 
 shook his head, but they had obtained implicit 
 belief amongst the lower orders, and to have 
 contradicted them amongst that branch, would 
 have been attended with much danger. It 
 was in our power however, to develope these 
 and many otlier truths by degrees, which must 
 have produced a secret contempt of their 
 government. 
 
 There were above six hundred shopkeepers 
 in Buenos Ayres, who sell every article like 
 our own. Their goods were chiefly of the 
 coai^est kind, the intercourse with Europe 
 having been long suspended upon any scale, 
 and their fabric supplies having been chiefly 
 supplied from the coarse manufactures of 
 Peru, or the cottons from Brazils. Three 
 shirts of a very inferior sort, cost me twenty- 
 four dollars, and the yard measure by which 
 tliey sold, was as five to four of English. The 
 materials for hats are rich and abundant, but 
 they will not stand rain or sun. The chief 
 merchants had travellers like our own, through 
 
the country. Silversmiths are numerous, who 
 understand the processes of alloy, and a native 
 will buy thirty per cent cheaper from tliem 
 than a stranger can. It is advisable then to 
 employ a friend in such offices. There was 
 one gunsmith in the city, but it must now be 
 a profitable business. There was no copper in 
 cu'culation, but there was a representative of 
 it, which accommodated the transactions of all 
 retailers, in the Quartillo, having the impres- 
 sion of a plume, about the size of a London 
 twopenny-piece, but somewhat under that 
 value in Buenos Ayres. It was hit oft' 
 originally as an encouragement, and a pre- 
 mium upon the introduction of dollars from 
 the upper country ; one of them having been 
 given over and above the change that is 
 allowed in the interior upon each. A consi- 
 derable, and an advantageous traffic used to 
 exist betwixt the Brazils and Buenos Ayres, 
 in money. At Kio Janeiro the doubloon was 
 valued at 13* which if brought to the latter 
 city, produced 16| of dollars. Their export- 
 ation in any number was deemed illicit, but 
 the profits were tempting, and they were often 
 shipped under pretext of their being employed 
 in a trade of barter. 
 
 The occupations of shoemakers, and taylors, 
 the latter chiefly females, are the most 
 numerous and best employed. Here the 
 honourable appellation of merchant is sadly 
 perverted, as it implies, without distinction, 
 the first commercialist, and the meanest 
 retailer. Upon an individual reference to the 
 
116 
 
 former, however, he will not fail to mark the 
 difference, but the principal houses are mostly 
 carried on by native Spaniards, whose profes- 
 sional ideas are far superior to the Creoles, 
 while their transactions, I was told, fall as much 
 short in candour and liberality. The former 
 use much art in packing of their sheep's wools, 
 the inferior sorts being often done in the same 
 manner as the best. They are brought from 
 Chili, and flax of the first quality was sent from 
 Peru, for use and exportation. 
 
 The wheat of the country was monopolized 
 by forestallers, who sold it to the bakers. It 
 is measured by fanegas, less considerably than 
 the English quarter, and was transported in 
 liides strongly bound. The farmers are very 
 poor, being at the mercy of those monopolists, 
 who absorb the chief profits, and who have no 
 police to control their actions. Bread was 
 very dear, and latterly scarcely to be bought. 
 
 While we were there, many religious pro- 
 cessions took place, to all of which our guards 
 regularly turned out, but several officers who 
 obstinately refused to bend the knee to them, 
 suffered many insults. There can be no 
 apology for any man who shews a contempt 
 for even human customs, but far less to the 
 rites of any religion, however widely they may 
 differ from his own. Nothing tends more to 
 injure the Englishman's character when abroad, 
 than the habitual exercise of his native free- 
 dom wherever he goes. As it is not an error 
 of the heart, it may be corrected by admoni- 
 tion^ and were we to view general civility as 
 
117 
 
 near of kin to benevolence, and so a moral 
 duty, we would cease to assume any manners, 
 that could offend eitlu-r the common, or the 
 serious feelings of those who are innocent 
 strangers to us. 
 
 The vast excess of the female, beyond the 
 male population of Buenos Ay res, was conspi- 
 cuous while we were masters of it, and it w^as 
 equally remarkable, that this observation be- 
 came inverted after a short progress into the 
 country. This may be accounted for, at that 
 time, by the many secret emigrations from it, 
 to recruit their armies, which had hitherto 
 been composed of Indian subjects, or others 
 nearly allied to them by colour and habits. 
 The whole military establishments of Spain in 
 those remote regions, had been permitted to 
 dwindle into a rabble, owing to the want of 
 reinforcements from home, and the only troops 
 I saw at all worthy of the name, did not 
 exceed one hundred and thirty, upon whom 
 was stamped the title of veteranos. Such an 
 erroneous policy was likely to invite revolution 
 whenever a leader might start up, and as 
 every soldier on foot, for the purpose of com- 
 mon defence, was a native of the soil, it nmst 
 have been evident that those defenders would 
 be the foremost to enlist under its banners. 
 This is the radical explanation of those facili- 
 ties by which Buenos Ayres has risen into an 
 independent state, in comparison with those 
 checkered and sanguinary scenes that yet 
 rage in doubtless issue, in the more northern 
 provinces of that continent, wliicli had 
 
118 
 
 always been occupied and awed by regular 
 armies. 
 
 As might naturally be expected in so fertile 
 a land, the markets of Buenos Ayres were most 
 abundantly supplied with all sorts of provisions. 
 Very early risers, they were generally cleared 
 before nine in the morning, and those who 
 were later, must have been contented with the 
 refuse. Adjoining to that spacious square, 
 were the butchers, within an inclosed range of 
 stalls, who finished their business at the same 
 hour, after which they were locked up. Beef 
 only was seen, and that a disagreeable colour 
 from want of bleeding. Whatever was not used 
 at their private tables, or by their domestics, 
 was thrown out to the poultry, who prefer it to 
 corn. It was impossible for us to kill either a 
 turkey or a hen, before it imderv/ent starvation 
 to reconcile them to other food, with comfort, 
 because the gravy from those birds partook 
 of the red nature of their meat. A scarcity 
 however in every species and articles, became 
 visible in the end of July, owing to the prohi- 
 bition of supplies from without, the daily 
 removal of families into the interior, and the 
 languor of the magistracy to enforce them. 
 The change was too notorious not to be 
 perceived, and it foreboded some early, and 
 eventful issue, which was realized in the 
 reconquest of the city. 
 
 The houses in the suburbs of Buenos Ayres, 
 in every direction, are mean, but penetrate a 
 little into the country, it is richly adorned with 
 gardens abounding in European fruits and 
 
vegetables, as well as many of the tropical. 
 Olives prosper well, and are sold clieap by the 
 keepers of little coffee-houses, and in the shops 
 of confectioners. A great drawback upon 
 domestic comfort, as well as the petty manu- 
 facturing trades, is the want of fuel. The 
 bakers consume the peach-trees, in their busi- 
 ness, and a great proportion of the charcoal 
 used, is derived from the banks of the river St. 
 Lucia, near to Maldonado, togetlier with those 
 of the Parana. It was stated that both stately 
 trees, and a rich quarry were near the city, but I 
 saw neither, although the existence of the latter 
 was proved, from the great quantities of stone 
 brought in for architectural purposes. 
 
 During nine aiaonths in the year, excepting 
 a few occasional hail and thunderstorms, there 
 is not a finer, climate on tlie globe. From the 
 middle of June, until the beginning of October, 
 indeed, the rains are heavy, and the ther- 
 mometer fluctuates greatly between the day 
 and night. During a great portion of that inter- 
 val, I have seen early in the mornings, a dense 
 ice upon the water, which disappears at nine, 
 and every one is glad to throw open the waist- 
 coat until four, when the air resumes its keen- 
 ness. At the Cape of Good Hope, nearly 
 under the same South latitude, our soldiers 
 were sickly, but here, although exposed to very 
 hard duties, and from the cheapness of their 
 messes, they had an excess of pay beyond their 
 real wants, and many might have consequently 
 indulged in liquor, yet our sick list was never 
 swelled beyond common. This is more SLir- 
 
1^0 
 
 prizing, as the remark alludes exclusively to 
 the winter season, when the humidities from 
 the Plata are felt severely even by the natives, 
 and frequently occasion their concomitant dis- 
 orders. Snow was never remembered to have 
 fallen, but during the stated period, a northern 
 subject will be happy to fly to an extraordinary 
 covering, which I would recommend as a part 
 of equipment for every adventurer to that part 
 of the world. If resident on the spot during 
 the winter, a little bark taken now and then 
 will guard against the effects of the fogs, and 
 gentle cooling medicines rarely resorted to, 
 will keep the blood in a pleasant state of 
 temperature during the summer heats. An 
 attentive, and industrious agriculturist by ac- 
 commodating his crops to the seasons, which are 
 in this happy clime of a well-regulated nature, 
 might rear and reap three in perfection, and 
 have a prompt sale for all in the capital. 
 
 The great pests are rats, which stumble 
 upon passengers in the streets in numbers, and 
 every morning many of their dead are strewed 
 about, killed by men or dogs. Every house 
 swarms with them, and granaries are dread- 
 fully taxed. Indeed the increase of that 
 species seems to have kept pace with the cat- 
 tle in those regions. Ants are likewise an uni- 
 versal scourge to every description of vegetable 
 growth, and no means have been yet suggested 
 to thin them. There is a bird named the 
 ant-eater, but like the fly-catcher of the 
 Antilles, it is more a pet for amusement at 
 table, than of extensive benefit. The Chin- 
 
121 
 
 chillas partaking of the squirrel's appearance, 
 are great favourites with the ladies, they are 
 light grey, and their hair hke silk. The small 
 dogs, without hair except on the head and 
 tail, which are shagged, are often companions 
 of the females. An animal named the rattone 
 was domesticated, which destroyed the rats, 
 and was very much formed like one, but nearly 
 as large as a cat. Its chief retreat was in the 
 jaw holes that let off the water from their 
 kitchens, and it was neither timid or fierce. 
 
 A theatre was established at Buenos Ayres, 
 but it was never opened during our stay, and 
 the national amusement of bull-baiting, was 
 exhibited only once at the Retiro, or Plaza del 
 Toros, from which exercise that spot derives 
 its name. 
 
 The want of schools has been already .w-/ 
 noticed, but the native inclination to give them '^— .— . 
 encouragement, was very conspicuous at a 
 former period, marked by the grant of many 
 commercial privileges to the people of Buenos 
 Ayres. In 1778, a more enlightened policy 
 threw open to seven ports of Spain, a free trade 
 with Buenos Ayres, which happy change in 
 their relative intercourse, raised in those South 
 Americans, a desire . to cultivate amongst 
 them- selves, the sciences best adapted to lead 
 to their own general improvement. Ac- 
 cordingly in 1779, a seminary was constructed 
 and endowed for the studies of geometry, and 
 architecture, with other inferior pursuits, and 
 premiums were established to animate the 
 scholars, but it had degenerated sadly. The 
 
122 
 
 college of St. Carlos, now entitled the Union of 
 the South, was the only public literary monu- 
 ment perceptible in our day. Various other 
 observations upon the manners, dress, and 
 usages of the community at large, will properly 
 fall under those heads of occurrence that are 
 hereafter detailed, and wherev^er an ostensible 
 difference exists, in any between the inha- 
 bitants of the interior, and those of the capital, 
 such will be noticed in their subsequent stages. 
 As to physical powers, the whole population 
 may be comprized under one description ; that 
 of an athletic, if required, a manly, and a 
 vigorous race — lazy, yet capable of bearing 
 great fatigvie, dissipated when the means are 
 within their reach, yet happy under privations, 
 and likely to become active soldiers, and 
 dangerous enemies from discipline, although 
 when I knew them, they were timorous from 
 an unacquaintance with danger, and seemingly 
 formed cowards by nature. A reconciliation 
 of all these paradoxes, will be substantiated by 
 a close review of their social and military 
 history. 
 
 Throughout those foreign climates which I 
 have visited during my life, I have often 
 remarked a singular revolution in the disposi- 
 tions of my countrymen. While the animal 
 portion has become feeble and relaxed, the 
 mental powers have attained a more than 
 usual expansion, and from having known 
 many of the individuals to which the nota- 
 tion alludes, both at home and abroad, the 
 unaccoimtable change has been closely as- 
 
certained, and the facts have heen fully 
 identified. 
 
 In England I have always considered my 
 friend very close-fisted; in the Antilles I have 
 seen him regardless of money ; here he was 
 pensive, yonder he was the life of his circle ; 
 on this side the water his sentiments were 
 confined, upon the other they breathed nought 
 but liberality ; in Europe I have remembered 
 him a puritan, and in the other hemisphere I 
 have found him a libertine ! 
 
 While British feelings undergo such opposite 
 impressions under different atmospheres, the 
 Spanish seems to assume yet greater, but in an 
 inverted order, by__a j)assage to South America. 
 If that emigrant was ever munificent, he is 
 there avaricious ; was he formerly cheerful and 
 frank, he is now sullen on the brow, and dark 
 reserve is fixed upon his lips ; were his actions 
 at any time generous, alas! they are now 
 debased by despotism ; and he who was once 
 a tolerant in the old, has now become an un- 
 forgiving bigot in the new world, at the close 
 of his days ! Kough as the sketch is, yet I fear 
 that too many of them have sat for the 
 picture. 
 
 It is now time to bid Buenos Ayres farewell, 
 but before 1 take my leave, the pen I hold, 
 indites to you a tribute, ye better orders of 
 Creolians ! We uniformly experienced you to 
 be mild, humane, hospitable; and wherever your 
 conversation wanted of interest, it was amply 
 made up by its complacency. As your kind- 
 nessess to us were disinterested, were steady, 
 
124 
 
 and indiscriminate, we may well proclaim you 
 to be benevolent, and as they shone brightest 
 through the dark days of our misfortunes, we 
 may exalt your race amongst the most benign 
 under heaven, as we trust you will ere long be 
 ranked amongst the most enlightened of the 
 nations ! Our eyes do follow you throughout 
 all your future destinies, while our hearts will 
 never cease to implore your everlasting pros- 
 perity ! 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 AFTER a long indulgence betwixt hope 
 and fear, it was generally circulated on the 
 morning of the 9th of October, that our doom 
 was inevitably fixed for the Upper Country, 
 and that waggons were about to enter the city 
 to convey us. These reports were confirmed 
 by our landlords in the ev^ening, who now 
 threw off all reserve, and advised us to prepare 
 for a long journey that promised few comforts 
 on the road. The young of both sexes 
 evinced great sympathy on hearing of our 
 departure, which was ordered upon the after- 
 noon of the 11th. 
 
 In the same spirit of duplicity that had 
 hitherto actuated the conduct of the public 
 authorities towards us, they now strove to 
 
125 
 
 palliate their dishonour by representing the 
 cruel alternative as essential to preserve us 
 from a disorderly populace, which was at once 
 an acknowledgment of their own magisterial 
 impotence, and at best an avowal of the 
 inellicacy of their laws. The prospect to me 
 was peculiarly unpleasant, as I had been en- 
 gaged to accompany the family with which I 
 resided, to their home in the country, where 
 a wide scope for remark would have been 
 afforded, and where communications might 
 have been more frankly given, than when under 
 the numerous restraints of the capital. 
 
 The only, and the last test of respect within 
 our power which we could shew to the junior 
 branches of our hospitable protectors, was to 
 invite as many of them to dinner as the house 
 could accommodate, to drink a parting glass, 
 and to bid a mutual adieu. We convened as 
 usual at the Three Kings for the occasion, and 
 after having conferred much delight upon our 
 Creolian friends, as well as having given, and 
 received the blessings of those humble, but 
 worthy publicans, the whole cavalcade moved 
 into the Grand Square upon the afternoon of 
 the 11th, where an immense number of the 
 king's horses were saddled, and bridled, and 
 ready for the journey. Notwithstanding the 
 superabundance of food close at hand, yet they 
 were in miserable order, and ill qualified for a 
 distant trip. Waggons also were allotted to 
 us, in the proportion of one to two officers, to 
 serve as depots for our provender, the wretched 
 remnants of our baggage, and as retreats 
 
126 
 
 through the nights. All of our South American 
 attendants were greatly affected, they tendered 
 to us their services at any future period, and 
 having mounted our sorry cattle we shook 
 hands, gallopped off, and soon lost sight of each 
 other. This part of the scene I could discern 
 was little agreeable to the Spaniards. General 
 Beresford with his staff proceeded in a coach 
 at the same hour, and the waggons having 
 set off early in the morning they had gone 
 beyond the resting place that had been 
 appointed for us until the ensuing day. This 
 was at an old college formerly belonging to 
 the Jesuits, of a square form, and not unlike 
 to an eastern caravansary, about two leagues 
 from Buenos Ayres, where we arrived at six 
 o'clock, but owini^ to the forward movement 
 of our carriages, we were without food or 
 accommodation. A few hides were our 
 beds, and our saddles with their shee}) skin 
 trappings, answered for our pillows. The 
 little space we had gone, was adorned a great 
 way by gardens fenced with quince and prickly 
 pear bushes, and our direction North-west, 
 upon the road to Luxan. 
 
 All were again on horseback by dawn, upon 
 the 12th of October upon the same horses, 
 who had been turned to feed through the 
 night, with two persons to watch them. The 
 troubles of that day were many and grievous, 
 which the perpetual view of a level luxuriant 
 plain covered with cattle, and which herbage, 
 with maize and wheat fields, could not divert 
 or soften. We reached a post-house about ten, 
 
127 
 
 four leagues from Buenos Ayres, where we 
 saw some of our ])rave fellows under the same 
 destination with ourselves, and where with 
 cutting appetites we regaled upon eggs and 
 bacon. These places are at regular distances 
 from each other, initil near the Anterior Andes, 
 on the high road to Potosi, and furnish relays 
 of horses to government messengers, as well 
 as to private travellers, who when within 
 hearing, always sound a horn, by which means 
 there is not a minute delay. It is usual to 
 drive some hundreds every evening into a 
 coral, or inclosure, as a reserve for the follow- 
 ing day, which are successively turned out to 
 grass, when they are replaced by others. The 
 animals used in those services were mostly 
 those belonging to the king as royal tythes, 
 and were always distinguished as such by a 
 slit in the left ear. As an instance of the 
 rapidity with which expresses were performed 
 by those establishments, I can adduce one in 
 Lieutenant Colonel Merlos, whom I personally 
 knew at Buenos Ayres, which was stated by 
 himself, and attested by others. A dispatch 
 of high importance to both governments, was 
 made up at Lima, for the former city, which 
 required a quick delivery. That officer 
 volunteered to be the bearer, and although 
 their relative distance is 3000 miles, he dis- 
 charged his trust in thirty days, and he en- 
 joyed the rank he then held, in recompence 
 for the feat. It must be remembered that a 
 great part o^ the way lays along the rugged 
 Andes, where mules only are effective, and 
 
1528 
 
 their pace slow. It may therefore he deduced 
 that the rate of his speed could not have been 
 less than 200 miles per day in the low country. 
 He was a man about five feet seven inches 
 high, rather corpulent, but of strong make. 
 
 We set out from that post-house at 2 P.M. 
 Many of us had never mounted for years, 
 whose anguish it is better to imagine, than to 
 describe. If comfort can ever be derived 
 from the misfortunes of another, it was now 
 liberally dispensed by the mutual sympathy 
 that was exhibited between the tortured rider, 
 and the jaded beast, and at times, I believe, 
 they would have readily agreed to exchange 
 characters and duties. What added to those 
 sufferings were the small wooden stirrios of 
 our saddles, which were of a triangular form, 
 and so narrow as only to admit the toe, and 
 affording no support to the wearied leg. These 
 are always worn by the lower orders, and are 
 of wood. Major Tooley kindly lent me his 
 that were of English make, otherwise I cannot 
 tell what would have been the personal result 
 to me. This day we noticed many owls, who 
 burrow in the earth, and we crossed a caravan 
 of sixty waggons from Mendoza, with wine 
 for Buenos Ayres. That place is the capital of 
 the province of Cuyo, stands at the bottom of 
 the Cordilleras, or mountains, that pass into 
 Chili, is within the jurisdiction of La Plata, 
 and produces a red vintage geneially drank in 
 all parts of the country. They always travel 
 in numbers for self-defence, for otherwise the 
 carriages would be assailed by the Pampas 
 
129 
 
 liidianSj-who inhabit the plains on their way. 
 They are usually drawn by six oxen, two of 
 which bear the shaft of the waggon, the others 
 being yoked to them by traces made from 
 hides, which are the substitutes every where 
 for cordage. The driver guides his team with 
 a long cane, having a spike in the end for the 
 two leaders, another for the centre pair in the 
 middle, while those in the shafts are goaded 
 by a smaller stick when wanted. The wag- 
 gonners are very expert in using them, and 
 they perform their task with much ease 
 and safety. Those troops proceed with great 
 regularity, they are subdivided at the outset 
 into parties, to each of which is attached a 
 guide, named the Carratera, vAio goes in 
 advance whenever they approach any ford, or 
 deep ravine, to probe for the best place to 
 cross them. With that express object, the 
 wheels of those machines are very high, and 
 the compact order in which their line of marcli 
 is maintained, is with a view to form more 
 readily into circles, under any sudden attack. 
 The cattle seemed to reject the rich clover^ 
 and to pry for the short grass that here and 
 there too rose in abundance. The wide expanse 
 offered only a few miserable huts, tenanted 
 by the poorest class, whose food consisted in 
 flesh, eggs, milk, and water, without bread or 
 salt. There were occasionally seen little square 
 plantations that had apparently served as shel- 
 ters to some small cottages within them, but no 
 remains were observed to warrant the conclu- 
 sion that such had ever existed. 
 
130 
 
 Toward twilight, the looks and attitudes of 
 our scattered rear guard were both ludicrous 
 and pitiable. One was seated like a female, an- 
 other bent double, exhibiting all the infirmities 
 of age, while a third nearly worn out had 
 dismounted, and laid himself in despair upon 
 the ground. Many visible symptoms there 
 were of tumbling, kicking, falling. Six leagues 
 from Buenos Ayres we crossed the river Con- 
 chas (or shells) which falls into the Plata. 
 General Beresford, and those officers who 
 were well mounted reached Luxan about four 
 P.M. others at seven o'clock, in the most woeful 
 appearance from dust and fatigue, and as for 
 myself, it was eleven at night before I arrived, 
 although the village spire was seen, and ap- 
 peared quite close five hours before. We 
 were all billeted on the inhabitants, and were 
 well treated by every creature in it except the 
 fleas, who shewed a great partiality for English 
 blood, and a total want of feeling for our worn- 
 out bodies. 
 
 Next morning we examined this spot which 
 consists in more than 5^00 houses, not more 
 than three of which are of two stories, and 
 the streets, if they deserve the name, run at 
 right angles, and are very narrow. The 
 buildings are of mud, but the church is neat, 
 having a sort of cupola, and in its exterior 
 resembling our chapels at home. Every one 
 of the natives who passed it, took off his hat, 
 which ceremony I would recommend to every 
 foreigner who desires to be popular and safe. 
 The observance certainly has nothing degra- 
 
131 
 
 ding in it, but on the contrary it yields a self- 
 complacency by doing that which is right, and 
 still more, it is a pleasing sacrifice. 
 
 There is Hkewise a Cabildo, or Town-Hall, 
 whicli was converted into lodgings for General 
 Beresford, and those officers who remained 
 with him. 
 
 The females at Luxan had seemingly no 
 occupation of industry, but they loitered in 
 numbers before each other's houses, basking in 
 the sun, where their sole employ was in 
 mutually picking the vermin from their heads, 
 which are in multitudes, from their own 
 habitual filth, and the length, with the thick- 
 ness of their black hair. No trade or bustle 
 was visible, although the place is the inlet to 
 the Upper Country, and there were no shops, 
 excepting those that sold spirits and groceries. 
 All the lower orders who have any money, 
 indulge most freely in aguardiente, which is a 
 native spirit and something like to Irish whisky. 
 Like other spots in those parts that are popu- 
 lous, a river of the same name runs close to the 
 village, over which there is a handsome bridge 
 of wood, serviceable only under the winter 
 overflows, as the bed of it in common times, is 
 very shallow. We very soon ascertained that 
 the water supplied many delicious fish, which 
 the peons were too indolent to catch. Its 
 magistrates consisted in a first and second 
 alcaldi. Our waggons having arrived, we 
 generally resolved to make them our sleeping 
 places in future, from an experience of the 
 comfortless accommodations hitherto afforded 
 
 K 9. 
 
0.0 
 
 IS 
 
 fis. On the evening of the 18th of October, 
 we accompanied them on horsei)ack, and halted 
 in a boundless space of clover during the 
 night. Fires were quickly lighted by the 
 drivers, some cattle from a small herd that had 
 joined us, were slaughtered, and supper was 
 prepared. Our domestics hovered round the 
 carcases with vulture's eyes, ready to dart at 
 the first and favourite cuts, which were 
 brought to the spit quivering in every sinew. 
 Our repast that night was composed of some 
 thin slices, that being run through with a 
 small stick, sharpened at both ends, it was 
 fixed into the ground, and occasionally turned 
 upside down, until the meat was roasted, or 
 more properly burnt. The fire was kept alive 
 by large pieces of the fat thrown upon the 
 embers, and now and then a little brushwood, 
 or some weeds. The ease with which food is 
 procured amongst these plains, the dispatch 
 with which they can dress or cure it, and the 
 privations of bread, spirits, and salt, which are 
 unfelt by every South American, qualify him 
 peculiarly for all military operations. He only 
 needs to be inspired with a spirit of well- . 
 directed enthusiasm, and a sense of glory, in 
 order to arouse him from his habitual apathy, 
 to become the first soldier in the world. His 
 hardihood on those occasions, surpasses his 
 abstemiousness, for whether it be cold or hot, 
 the itinerant peon reposes soundly under the 
 open canopy of heaven, having the earth as his 
 bed, his poncho as his covering, and his saddle 
 for^his pillow. He possesses also a very acute 
 
l; 
 
 vigilance through the r.ight. With such phy- 
 sical means, and these so easily sii|)portecl Itotti 
 tlie intrinsic resources of the soil, the province 
 of Buenos Ayres cannot fail to conquer her 
 independence, and to maintain it. 
 
 Around eveiy hut on our way this day, 
 there were short poles placed, through which 
 strings were passed, and from them were sus- 
 pended thin pieces of heef to dry in the sun, 
 it being a favourite aliment. We cro&.">ed 
 many rivulets this afternoon, and were joined 
 on the morning of the 14th by several of our 
 companions, who preferred to remain at 
 Luxan during the night, to a residence in 
 their waggons, which were most prolific in our 
 old pests, the fleas. 
 
 At five on the morning we departed for 
 Capello del Senor upon a road but rarely fre- 
 quented. The orders issued to the Com- 
 mandant of the guard were, to deviate from 
 the beaten paths, so as to bewilder, and pre- 
 vent our observations. Many dogs far more 
 anxious to travel than ourselves, had joined 
 us on the line of march, and yielded great 
 amusement. Some had retained the horses 
 brought from Buenos Ayres, and others having 
 purchased fresh ones, we were all mounted 
 during the day, and when any game started, 
 there was a general pursuit, and though our 
 pack were at first ignorant of the object, still 
 a few runs, and the taste of blood, soon made 
 them eager for the chase. An adventure of 
 this day however, cooled the zeal of some of 
 them, for observing a zorilla, whose vicinity is 
 
134 
 
 always ascertained by a nauseous foetid smell, 
 they followed and seized him. His perfume 
 without any other exertion, soon repelled the 
 assailants, who retreated in apparant agony, a 
 few of them burying their noses in the ground, 
 and others foaming violently at the mouth. 
 Two were missing at the evening's muster 
 which we imagined had died in consequence. 
 That animal is like a very small dog, is marked 
 with dark brown and yellow streaks, and is 
 only hostile from the liquor which it discharges 
 out of a bladder at the root of the tail, at every 
 one who approaches it. Lieutenant Wade of 
 the navy, incautiously rode near to one, who 
 using the common means of defence, it 
 blinded him for several hours, and being near 
 to a river, he plunged headlong to relieve him 
 from the anguish. Notwithstanding its odours, 
 that animal's skin is in much esteem, as 
 edgings to those of the Janguara, and others. 
 After proceeding through a wide, covered with 
 clover, and thousands of wild cattle, we reached 
 the village of Capello del Senor at two in the 
 afternoon of the 14th of October, which is 
 seventy miles from Buenos Ayres, and twenty 
 from Luxan. There stands in it a small 
 chapel dedicated to the virgin, a river abound- 
 ing with fish passes near to it, but it is too 
 insignificant to have a court-house. Our 
 course with little variation, had been W.N.W. 
 The village Avas under the administration of an 
 alcaldi, who possesses within the interior, the 
 comparative powers of our justices, and head 
 constables. It is the name alone, not the 
 
135 
 
 man who is feared in those characters, and as 
 tew, if any perquisites, are annexed to the 
 office, his zeal in the support of the laws is but 
 languid. We must cease to wonder at this, 
 when we reflect that those magistrates, from all 
 of them keeping dram-shops, have an interested 
 bias to the criminal, whose earnings from 
 rapine and murder, are generally dissipated in 
 liquour and gambling, which have long been 
 the predominant vices of all the lower orders. 
 That functionary in place of being a terror to, 
 is a stimulator of misdeeds, and in almost 
 every criminal commission he may be traced 
 as an accessary to it, because in him all their 
 dishonest gains centre, and he well knows that 
 they cannot possess money without industry, 
 nor can such sources be derived from any 
 other method but violence. He will there- 
 fore be inclined to hide the culprit, instead of 
 dragging him forth to punishment, and this is 
 perpetuated with impunity through the dura- 
 tion of his natural life, for he is never called 
 to any account. Such a fellow-feeling, so well 
 understood by both parties, has tended nearly 
 as much as the bigotries of the church, to 
 prolong and to contaminate the morals of the 
 vulgar, in that quarter of South America. All 
 those little villages are infested by gangs of 
 ladrones, or robbers, who are ever on the proAvl 
 for prey, and will unreluctantly take a life for 
 a neckcloth. Such men are not subject to any 
 remorse when they are intuitively taught, that 
 a dollar saved at the end of every year, will 
 obtain the absolution of their sins, however 
 
136 
 
 heinous, for the past. There was a priest here, 
 with whom some of our party conversed, hut J 
 understood that his intellects were as weak, 
 as his sentiments were illiberal. None of us 
 being allowed to enter the church several 
 slept under the shelter of its porch. The river 
 mentioned, rises but a few miles above this 
 hamlet, and empties into the Parana, near to 
 where the Conchas falls also. 
 
 At mid-day of the 15th of October, we 
 departed, having left fourteen of our com- 
 panions at the place, agreeably to the orders 
 of the Spanish Government. Our direction 
 was North-west, and the surface became some- 
 what varied by its inequalities. Vast crowds 
 of green plover making a great noise, flew 
 around us, and large bodies of wild dogs, who 
 live and breed in holes, were visible, in quest of 
 water and food. Lieutenant Balingall, by the 
 power of imitating, decoyed two pups from their 
 recess, which were afterwards domesticated 
 with great difficulty. They were long very 
 shy, but proved in the end very faithful house- 
 dogs. Their hair is harder and thicker than 
 the tame sort. They subsist upon their fel- 
 lows of the plain, and tend much to diminish 
 the general stock of cattle. I often noticed 
 their preference to the calves, which they 
 attack in bodies of about twenty — guarded by 
 the mother, the battle is sometimes furious 
 and long-contested, but in almost all of them, 
 natural affection is compelled to yield to a 
 sense of self-preservation. Happily for the 
 human race, they are cowardly by nature, for 
 
Oi 
 
 a shrill whistle will put thousands to flight, 
 although above the ordinary size of the canine 
 species. The manner in whicli they are 
 hunted, with a view to thin them, will be 
 noticed hereafter. 
 
 Indeed the natural ferocity that appertains 
 to animals in other countries is evidently im- 
 paired in the beasts that so freely range in 
 those favoured regions. Amongst all the 
 nun :erou sherds I saw, one solitary bull was alone 
 observed, who threatened hostility, which was 
 roused, as it was diverted by a female near to 
 me, that running off in another quarter, was 
 as quickly followed by her angry paramour. 
 We rested this night close to a small hut, 
 seated upon a marshy plain, where there were 
 numbers of sheep, with four and five horn?, 
 some of which we bought for ten-pence each. 
 The natives never eat them, but often use 
 their bones for cuhnary purposes, the burning 
 of bricks, and their skins for their saddle 
 appendages. 
 
 At daylight of the I6th, we renewed our 
 labours, and after crossing an arm of the river 
 passing close to it, we reached the village of St. 
 Antonio de Areca. A dry season, the greatest 
 scourge that can befal those parts, had occur- 
 red this year, and those rivulets to which the 
 cattleihad been accustomed to resort, had been 
 tptally absorbed by it. Their carcases were 
 streAved so thickly on our bye-road, that the 
 air was impregnated to a great distance, and 
 to such a degree that neither the wild dogs, 
 nor the birds perched upon them in flocks, 
 
138 
 
 eould correct it. Most of them had beeii 
 skinned by the itinerant peons. 
 
 While we were invited to reverence that 
 beneficent Being who has thus clad those fields 
 with plenty, we could not but lamentover the 
 abuse of such blessings. Computed by the 
 eye, we may fairly reckon ten thousand heads 
 to be the fortune allotted by providence to 
 every lunrian tenant upon them, from his birth. 
 Unconscious of his own wealth, he slumbejs 
 through his days, and abandons them to the 
 sports of nature, only gleaning from them at 
 will, from day to day, a chance victim to 
 satiate his epicurism, rejecting with disdain 
 those better portions, that would feed millions 
 of his fellow-creatures. Viewing the world as 
 one grand theatre, and mankind as one com- 
 mon family, the philanthropist must rejoice in 
 the early prospect of those fertile wastes 
 being converted to the universal good, and of 
 their rude possessors being soon added to 
 the great stock of civilization. The prevalent 
 soil thus far, is a soft black loam, except near 
 to the streams where the exterior denotes a 
 clayish marie. It is well adapted for any 
 crops, and vegetables of all descriptions would 
 grow to an immense size. 
 
 The village of St Antonio de Areca stands 
 most beautifully upon a rising ground, in the 
 midst of square inclosures of fruit-trees, com- 
 posed of peach, fig, walnut, pear, and some 
 other kinds. The river that passes it rises a 
 few miles to the South, and discharges into 
 the Parana, near the Conchas. There is a 
 
139 
 
 neat church built of brick, with a spire, having 
 a regular curate and an assistant. 
 
 After great trouble, another officer and 
 myself, procured a small hut at the rent of 
 three dollars per rnonlh, behind the house of 
 an inhabitant. Our abode had been entirely 
 devoted to a flour granary, and our contract 
 was that it should continue so, but for form's 
 sake that it should be entitled our house. We 
 however were contented Avith our lot, for minds 
 happy within, cannot be shaken either by 
 trifles or misfortunes. This village became 
 our resting-place nearly three months, and 
 yielded the pastimes of fishing, cricket, hunt- 
 ing and riding. Our dress, like our furniture, 
 was often the cause of merriment within doors, 
 both being alike threadbare and plain, but 
 neither in plenty, and for the sake of economy 
 and comfort, three others joined in a dinner 
 mess, which altogether formed an agreeable 
 society. Our landlord was a sensible shrewd 
 man in the affairs of the world, but a natural 
 proneness to corpulency, a never-failing appe- 
 tite, and a sedentary indulgence, had swelled him 
 out beyond the common size of our species ; 
 but although he was thus unwieldy in his body, 
 his wit was lively, and his disposition a com- 
 pound of humour and good nature. As animal 
 contrasts are always pleasant when they 
 appear together at the same time, I am 
 therefore induced to usher in my companion. 
 He was tall, thin, meagre, and his corporation 
 was never designed from the cradle, to attain 
 the true Eng^lish bulk — although like his 
 
140 
 
 neighbours, he could take his share of good 
 things ; he was very fond of exercise, very in- 
 quisitive for information, and possessed a mind 
 well cultivated by reading. Between two 
 mortal frames so opposite, there existed how- 
 ever a cordial liking, which was evinced the 
 most when they pelted at each other's singu- 
 larities. Notwithstanding he was thus fenced 
 by nature against the sanguinary prowling 
 flea, yet my friend spent many sleepless nights 
 from their attacks, on the floor, and though 
 being senior m years, I was exalted upon a 
 bed, yet I was equally exposed to them., as 
 well as to the rats, that swarmed in numbers. 
 The assurance of a dollar per day from the 
 Spanish Government, cheered every fore- 
 thought, and had it been regularly paid, we 
 should have felt easy in our circumstances. 
 
 Amongst other improvements introduced 
 by the Jesuits, the burning of bricks is one 
 that has contributed much to the appearance 
 of the interior villages. Here they are un- 
 burnt, but the houses are all whitewashed. 
 That process is performed by horses, being by 
 similar means to those used in threshing out 
 their corn. They are driven into an inclosed 
 circle, which contains the clay, and are kept 
 in a constant gallop until it is ready for the 
 fire ; men being employed from without in 
 throwing water where required. The bricks 
 are fired by the heads of oxen, or the bones of 
 sheep, whose carcases are often laid on to keep 
 up the heat. The sun will in a short time 
 perform the same task as the brush upon their 
 
141 
 
 liabitations, and it is frequently left to his good 
 offices. 
 
 The arrangements formed upon the 17th of 
 October, were, that thirty officers with their 
 servants should remain at Antonio, and that 
 the rest should be dispersed amongst the con- 
 tiguous estancias. Our soldiers had been cau- 
 tiously pushed far in advance from us, all com- 
 munication v/ith them vv-as cut off, and having 
 hitherto been the dupes, anticipation rendered 
 it probable, that we miglit soon become sacri- 
 fices to the unsteady councils of the ruling 
 authorities. Under this impression, my com- 
 panion and myself, notified to the commandant 
 of the guard, that we had withdrawn our 
 parole, and that he might accordingly treat us 
 as he saw fit. Nothing followed this frank an- 
 nunciation ; a restraint that was imposed upon 
 that officer by temjyjrary policy, and a little 
 too by his natural indolence. 
 
 In describing the diary of a day, the whole 
 may be comprehended, except when we visited 
 our neighbouring fellow-captives. To com- 
 pensate the lack of events, two weekly papers 
 were established, open to all, but differing in 
 their sentiments, that amused for a while, but 
 they soon degenerated into channels of satire, 
 and were abandoned. A better amusement was 
 suggested in the revival of Saturday night, 
 when the whole of our society collected under 
 a friendly tree that stood in the fields. Each 
 member brought his stool, his bottle, and his 
 jug, and in the centre of the groupe, a fire was 
 kindled, around which, every one in his turn, 
 
U2 
 
 was obliged to sing a song, or tell a stcrj. 
 Many of the country people, who are called 
 peons, stood by, and partook of the hilarity. 
 It was to them a strange sight, for I scarcely 
 ever saw a native who enjoyed a flow of spirits 
 beyond common, and except in disputation, 
 have rarely heard their voices raised above the 
 ordinary tone. When differing in opinion, they 
 speak fast and loud, with which their gestures 
 correspond ; features of character which they 
 inherit from their European progenitors. 
 A neutral person who is unacquainted with 
 them, would conclude from both these 
 symptoms, that their quarrels could not pos- 
 sibly terminate without bloodshed, but unless 
 they arise from losses at gambling, they are 
 always lulled into peace. On these occasions 
 they fight with long knives, which they always 
 carry, and many casualties occur. 
 
 The village of St. Antonio is admirably 
 placed for any manufactory that requires a 
 regular supply of water, but no business is 
 carried on by the population, who amount to 
 six hundred, except the knitting of stockings, 
 which belongs to the females. ' The males 
 seem.ed to have had no pursuit, and no visible 
 means of existence but from rapine, and the 
 lasso. The liquor shops are many, and thither 
 the multitude repair upon Sundays, to carouse 
 after worship, and then to play, until one or 
 another loses his all, even to the tatters upon 
 his back. 
 
 Our arrival however gave a stimulus to their 
 economy and industry. That excess of milk 
 
143 
 
 which had before been given to the pigs, and 
 sometimes thrown away, was now converted 
 into cash, and butter, that had been rarely 
 made, was sold at three shillings per pound, 
 while the cow herself might have been bought 
 for a dollar. A colonel of militia was stationed 
 here, who also imbibed the general spirit, for 
 having two slaves, and some adjoining copses 
 which he chose to call his own, he collected by 
 their labour all the wood he could gather, and 
 personally superintended the sale of it. It was 
 a farce to observe him quibbling with our 
 doniestics about a few sticks, and in the same 
 way when trafficking for his pears and peaches. 
 Foreseeing that we should soon commence to 
 be our own providers, he exerted his local 
 powers to prevent us from invading those 
 spots, but as he exhibited no title deeds, our 
 servants set his authority at nought, for the 
 crops had been previously used in common. 
 Any produce that demanded culture was 
 rejected, and to find cabbages, turnips, or 
 potatoes, we were obliged to visit the estancias, 
 or farm-houses in the country, where they 
 might spare us a few as we were strangers, but 
 they never would sell them. We could not 
 ride any distance without a blandengo soldier 
 as a guard, unless we went out in bodies. The 
 peons paid the most submissive respect to mi- 
 litary supremacy, while they held the laws in 
 contempt, for the garb of a soldier was a suffi- 
 cient passport, and any one in those days with 
 ^uch a companion, might have travelled every 
 ^here with securitv. 
 
144 
 
 la ail excursion which I made lifteen miles 
 from St. Antonio, I had occasion to remark a 
 few of the agricultural usages of these parts, at 
 the farms of Don Marcos, and Don Phillippi 
 Zavaleta, two brothers, who lived three miles 
 apart from each other, near to the Parana. 
 The former managed his own estate, which 
 extended fourteen miles in length, with three 
 in breadth. A very respectable house was on 
 the property, an orchard of thirty-five acres 
 with many hundreds of peach, fig, apple, and 
 pear trees, besides an excellent kitchen garden, 
 were bought with the estate for seven thou- 
 sand dollars, and with them were transferred 
 to him, the unnumbered herds throughout 
 those boundaries. Annexed to the whole, was 
 a privilege to take the fish and turtle that 
 abounded in the river, floating past his fields. 
 The spot was elevated and picturesque from 
 the wood around it, and more especially so 
 when in a district where trees are seldom seen, 
 but contiguous to the little hamlets. That 
 gentleman possessed above 60,000 heads of 
 cattle, comprized under the various classes of 
 horses, beeves, mares, asses, and mules ; the 
 latter of which were high-priced, from the 
 great demands for them in Peru. Indeed few 
 could ascertain the exact amount of them. 
 Don Marcos stated his recent losses from the 
 drought, at 10,000, and of calves, lambs, and 
 young colts at 2000, being his annual estimate, 
 from the rapacity of the wild dogs. He con- 
 stantly employed eighty negroes to watch that 
 specie? of his property, who mounted and 
 
145 
 
 tired every successive day, two horses upon 
 that duty, they being turned wide and not 
 rode again perhaps for a week. Such was the 
 indolence of those fellows, who are domesti- 
 cally engaged, that I noticed the cook using 
 an animal to bring meat for dinner, from a 
 distance of only sixty yards, and have often 
 remarked one yoked to draw water, from a 
 depth of ten. No creature ever walked about, 
 such is the tyranny of habit. 
 
 The threshing of some corn took place 
 one day, which had been brought in from the 
 field. A fenced circular inclosure was formed, 
 in the centre of which, some negroes placed 
 layers of grain. A nimiber of stallions, and 
 mares were turned in, who were kept at full 
 gallop until that on the ground was beaten 
 out, when more straw was thrown on, and the 
 same process was renewed till the whole was 
 finished, after which, the crop remained on the 
 spot, waiting a gust of wind. When this 
 happened, the slaves assembled, who threw the 
 stuff in the air, and when properly dressed, it 
 continued stationary till wanted. This method 
 causes the bread generally consumed, to be 
 very gritty. Every family grinds its own 
 flour in small hand-mills, and loaves are only 
 sold by the dram-shops in villages, for the 
 cottagers seldom taste them. The mares in 
 the country are never saddled, or disposed of, 
 but are kept for breeding, and those farming 
 purposes. The harvest begins in January, 
 and ends in February. Don Marcos Zavaletta 
 preserved a diary of his proceedings in every 
 
146 
 
 branch. As his experience was derived from 
 a practice of years, and his judgment in all 
 other matters was very solid, I am therefore 
 induced to appreciate his opinions, and to adopt 
 him as a proper standard and authority, for 
 the highest state of agriculture in that quarter 
 of the world. He fixed his average returns at 
 fifty-six, and particularized one spot of land 
 that had been deluged some weeks by the 
 river, as having yielded eighty-nine. The 
 only plough I observed in that country, for 
 none of his were at work, was a wooden one, 
 with a single pole, which the labourer held in 
 his hand to direct the operation, and its share 
 was of the same material. The soil however 
 is so pliant, and the furrows were so shallow, 
 that it performed very well, and it was only 
 the listlessness of the hind that displeased me. 
 After the ground was sown, a bunch of thick- 
 set liedges was drawn five times over it, when 
 the issue was committed to providence. The 
 estate produced many musk melons, which in 
 various instances attained a circumference of 
 twenty-two inches, and eighteen in length. 
 The mules which were reared by Don Marcos 
 were designed for the carriage, as well as for 
 the annual fairs of Salta, where all the neces- 
 sities of Peru are supplied. The former when 
 broke, fetched one hundred and twenty dol- 
 lars, while an excellent horse might have 
 been bought for three. He daily killed six 
 bullocks for his slaves, and twice as many 
 during the harvest, besides one for his pigs 
 and poultry. Every where that was marked 
 
147 
 
 as having been a spot of sacrifice, there were 
 scattered the heads, hearts, backbones, and 
 necks of animals, which those dusky epicures 
 had left behind them as useless. 
 
 Along his plains, Don Marcos had erected 
 corals, into which he collected all the herds 
 upon his borders, and after each beast was 
 marked by an instrument of his own choice, 
 with red paint, it was again let loose. The 
 impression ever after served to identify the 
 brute as his individual property, although the 
 peons are no way scrupulous in selecting any 
 one most convenient to themselves. The like 
 practice was used with the horses, only that a 
 slit in the left ear, denoted that he belonged to 
 the king as his tribute. 
 
 One day after dinner, while smoking in a 
 portico attached to the house, Don Marcos 
 suddenly arose, and repeatedly crossed himself. 
 This was occasioned by the approach of 
 myriads of locusts that appeared in the South. 
 A similar plague, he said, had ravaged the land 
 seven years before, in the destruction of their 
 cornfields, and his fears as to the future for 
 the present one, were subsequently realized. 
 Those who did not employ their servants in 
 guarding them from those destructive invaders 
 through the day, sustained nearly a total loss 
 of their crops. As I was a witness of their 
 first coming, so was I of their dissolution. 
 After they had cut up every improtected 
 vegetable, they became enfeebled, and resorted 
 in thousands to the banks of the river, where 
 they were either drowned, or fell a prey to the 
 
 L 2 
 
148 
 
 fishes. Our diversion was sensibly injured by 
 that plentiful supply of preferable food. >i^ivye. 
 
 Cruelty to brutes seems a striking cb^irac- 
 teristic of the lower orders, and the rery 
 methods used in slaughtering them, tend much 
 to render it an habitual stain. At every 
 country house, bands of dogs are kept, to 
 consume the carrion, to intimidate the wan- 
 dering ladrones, as well as to repel the mid- 
 night assaults of their less civilized brethren, 
 who visit the estancias in their roam, but their 
 hostilities are always confined to bullying and 
 barking. So prolific are they in this state of 
 nature, that if they were not occasionally 
 destroyed, they would overrun the land. To 
 check their increase, which could not be 
 effected by the tamer branches of the species, 
 parties are formed twice a year from the adja- 
 cent country, all of whom are mounted and 
 armed with their cuchillos, or knives. After 
 compelling the dogs to brush from their holes 
 by fumigation, they close them and pursue the 
 refugees, butchering them in numbers. It is 
 a stigma that on those occasions one unhappy 
 victim is flayed alive, and so set free, which is 
 imagined by those executioners, to make an 
 impression upon the rest. 
 
 The officers who resided with those brothers 
 spoke highly of them, both as sensible and 
 humane men, who spurning every recompense, 
 were lavish of their kindnesses, and who by 
 breaking asunder the iron chains of captivity, 
 bound them fast by the silken chords of friend- 
 ship. Their opinions were liberal on every 
 
149 
 
 topic, and their religious sentiments were given 
 frankly, and in the spirit of toleration. As a 
 test of the worthy Don Marcos, one anecdote 
 will fully bespeak his character. In January 
 1807, an order arrived for the removal of his 
 inmates to the Upper Country. On being 
 informed of it, he instantly dispatched a servant 
 to Buenos Ayres, a distance of seventy-two 
 miles, with a letter to General Liniers, pra^^ng 
 a revocation of the mandate. The domestic 
 participating in the generous feelings of his 
 master, set out at half-past five in the morning, 
 reached the city at three in the afternoon, and 
 returned with a reprieve a little past mid- 
 night. Soon afterwards, however, an interdict 
 was issued by the government, against the 
 officers at both houses communicating with 
 one another, or even going abroad, but it was 
 evaded by an agreement between them, to 
 meet half-way upon stated days of the week, 
 when they enjoyed a mutual society » 
 
 Several changes took place intermediately 
 before our departure, and a few officers were 
 quartered at the village of Kincon, on the 
 banks of the Parana, where that river is not 
 above half a mile in breadth, over which, the 
 tigers from the opposite side, frequently swim 
 in search of food. That great water which 
 may be translated the sea, rises in the Brazi- 
 lian mountains, in latitude 15" 2" S. and 
 rushing with a deviating course, meets the 
 Paraguay near to Corrientes, a small town 
 four hundred and eighty miles North-west 
 from Buenos Ayres, which stands upon the 
 
150 
 
 spot of their confluence. Here the latter 
 becomes extinct, and assumes the name 
 of the Parana, which in its farther passage 
 towards the South-east, receives the Uraguay 
 a little above the capital, when all are united 
 to form, together with their tributary streams, 
 the Rio de la Plata, that finally discharges 
 into the sea. Like that grand estuary, the 
 Parana must have been choaked up in its navi- 
 gation by the winds and soil, for it is well 
 authenticated, that on its first discovery, ves- 
 sels of some burden ascended to the town of 
 Corrientes. At present, the only traffic which 
 exists, is no higher than St". Fe, two hundred 
 and forty miles above Buenos Ayres, and that 
 is carried on by small craft for goods, and 
 boats called balsas, for passengers, that always 
 row, and never sail. The latter penetrate 
 considerably higher, and are hauled into creeks 
 during the nights, where the people must 
 light fires, as a protection against the wild 
 beasts that infest its banks. 
 
 Upon my return to St. Antonio from a few 
 days excursion, we were shocked at hearing of 
 an unprovoked murder, committed at Capello 
 del Senor, upon a soldier of the 71st regiment, 
 in the face of day. While standing at the 
 door of his billet, on a Saturday afternoon, 
 unsuspicious of danger, he was suddenly 
 lassoed round the shoulders, by one of those 
 vagrant horsemen who are always in motion, 
 and who putting spurs to his horse, gallopped 
 off with his prey to the end of the village, 
 where after having extinguished life in the 
 
151 
 
 most brutal manner, he stripped the body. At 
 the same time there occurred another instance 
 of savage depravity, which there was cause to 
 infer Iiad been urged on by some one in a 
 much higher sphere of hfe, than that of the 
 despicable agent who perpetrated it. Amongst 
 others left behind with General Beresford at 
 Luxan, were Colonel Pack and Captain Ogilvie 
 of the Eoyal Artillery. The latter was sup- 
 posed to have made some professional remarks 
 upon Buenos Ayres, and he was therefore an 
 object of public jealousy, while the life of the 
 former was much prized by them, on account 
 of the talents and valour that had distinguished 
 it. One forenoon a peon arrived in much 
 apparent haste, and in an expressive, but 
 guarded address, enquired for those two officers, 
 adding confidentially, that he was charged 
 with letters for both, of much importance, 
 which he could deliver only in secret and to 
 themselves. He suggested that they would 
 walk out on the Buenos Ayres road, where 
 they would be unobserved by any one. 
 Curiosity, and the sudden proposal, unguarded 
 them both, and they sallied out with the 
 villain, who sometimes preceded, and at others 
 followed them. They twice pressed the fellow 
 to explain, but he artfully deferred it, until 
 they should reach a more unfrequented part. 
 He contrived to get behind them, when he 
 pulled out a brace of pistols, with one of Avhich 
 he wounded Captain Ogilvie mortally in the 
 back, and with the other, aimed at Colonel 
 Pack, but it happily missed fire. Foiled in 
 
152 
 
 this, he resorted to his lasso, with which he 
 caught the colonel above the wrist, when with 
 a presence of mind that saved his life, he 
 closed with the assassin, who did not expect 
 to be so anticipated, at the same moment 
 disengaging the rope, when he struck him in 
 the face with a small cane, which was the only 
 defence they had carried with them. Some 
 slaves from work appeared in sight, when the 
 fellow being alarmed, was soon out of view. 
 Captain Ogilvie languished above a fortnight 
 in great pain, when he expired, a heavy loss to 
 his country, and carrying with him the esteem 
 of all who knew him. As pistols were not the 
 favourite arms of those people, but were on the 
 contrary objects of dread to them, it was 
 conclusive, that he must have been the dele- 
 gate of another, who had supplied him with 
 those means, and instructed him in the use of 
 them. The civil power affected to feel con- 
 cern on this event, but it exerted only a shew 
 of bustle, in discovering the culprit, as no 
 pecuniary recompense was held out, which is 
 the only motive that could have operated in 
 bringing him forth to justice. 
 
 After some stay at St. Antonio, our funds 
 ran low, and the Spanish Government taking 
 no measures to fulfil their promised stipula- 
 tions to us, several of us were critically placed. 
 As we were not sufficiently established to 
 gain credit prospectively upon that public 
 guarantee, which every shopkeeper distrusted 
 fully more than ourselves, and as our wants 
 could alone be supplied by ready money, some 
 
of us were compelled to dispose of our wretched 
 remnants to feed nature. Appeals for remedy 
 only produced fair promises to be again bro- 
 ken ; a substitute that was often current for 
 cash in those dominions. While we thus 
 found the servants of the Crown temporizing 
 and deceitful, our landlords, and the com- 
 munity at large had some pity on our suffer- 
 ings. Grim prejudice was obvious upon our 
 first arrival amongst them, but it gave way to 
 the workings of conviction, and a general 
 attachment to us. Our unwieldy host with a 
 feeling of self-interest, united also a degree of 
 benevolence. He alleviated our situation as 
 much as he could, and we derived entertain- 
 ment from his conversation, which always 
 evinced a superior knowledge of local manners, 
 as well as of a natural understanding far above 
 the common. His hour of siesta always 
 occurred during our dinner, after which he 
 joined our society without ceremony, purely 
 with an inquisitorial motive, and not to share 
 in any of our festivities. Possessed of such 
 intellectual powers upon all secular topics, I 
 cannot introduce a more apt example, to shew 
 what must have been the degraded state of 
 religious attainments in that part of the world, 
 than Don Gourde our landlord. One day he 
 asked us if there was not a nation called the 
 Jews, and if so, did they eat, sleep, and drink 
 like other men ? Having explained to him 
 their unhappy condition in the world, we 
 referred him to the Bible for their history, but 
 he shrugged his shoulders, and with a sigli 
 
154 
 
 replied that he had none. He said that there 
 was a very large hook in the priest's house, 
 which he believed might be one, but that it 
 was written in a language he could not under- 
 stand, and was never used except on Sundays. 
 These were the benighted sentiments of a man 
 wise in temporal affairs, upon spiritual record, 
 and he may be quoted as a standard by which 
 we may conclusively judge of the small advan- 
 ces made by the gospel in those regions. There 
 were no schools in those villages to train or to 
 instruct the infant mind, not a trace to be 
 seen of the footsteps of those pious Jesuits, 
 who had so recently traversed that continent 
 communicating and doing good, not one of 
 those zealous missionaries who had for ever 
 relinquished their own land, to propogate the 
 truths of Christianity amongst the isles of the 
 Pacific, could be heard of, nor could a tattered 
 page of that sacred volume be discovered, 
 as a memorial of its having ever been con- 
 sulted in former times. Who can be astonished 
 then at those specimens of immorality which 
 incidents and truth have obtruded upon my 
 narrative ? Who must not view with an eye 
 of compassion, the errors of a race " who 
 know not what they do," amongst whom a 
 superstitious ignorance is studiously cherished, 
 where the shedding of a stranger's blood, who 
 differs in creed from themselves, is held up as 
 a virtue and not as a crime, and where human 
 faws are afraid to punish, and the divine are 
 cancelled by absolution ? Thank God that a 
 brighter day is soon to dawn over that be- 
 
155 
 
 nighted land, and that the mental endowments 
 of its population, will ere long commence a 
 race to perfection, side by side, with their 
 physical energies, and the national improve- 
 ment. 
 
 While we were at San Antonio, the details 
 of one Sunday will serve for the whole year. 
 All the surrounding neighbours flocked in 
 early upon horseback, when they went to 
 church, and rendered an homage which the 
 multitude imagined would atone for past, and 
 would palliate all the succeeding transgressions 
 of the day. While at worship, which consisted 
 of a few exterior forms, and the utterance of 
 some words by the priest, that were unintel- 
 ligible to them all, there prevailed great 
 solemnity, but in half an hour they dispersed to 
 the dram-shops where their horses had been 
 left, and were they remained without food 
 during the whole day. Those who had money 
 drank freely, and in that state they adjourned 
 to play, some with bones, like to our pitch and 
 toss, and others at cards, which were sold for 
 the exclusive benefit of the Crown, but their 
 games were rarely abandoned until some un- 
 fortunates were deprived of their all, when 
 their quarrels' commenced ; and they rarely 
 ended without death, or wounds. Every 
 officer kept one or more horses, which grazed 
 in the contiguous fields, and they were distin- 
 guished by their cropped tails ; a deprivation 
 that stamps a disgrace upon the animal in the 
 eyes of those South Americans. They were 
 however objects with those unlucky adven- 
 
15(i 
 
 tiirers, from which alone they could retrieve 
 their disasters, for on every Sunday night some 
 of them were stolen, and the thief himself turned 
 informer, offering also to restore the treasure 
 for a certain reward, but latterly we declined 
 to give any, for we then knew, that pride would 
 not allow the culprit to ride those brutes thus 
 despoiled of their hair. The women here, as 
 we ever found them, were very civil, and 
 industrious with the distaff. The men on 
 week days, were for ever on the roam from 
 house to house in the country. In our excur- 
 sions we observed that they assembled alter- 
 nately at their little huts, when more than a 
 hundred horses were tied, while their masters 
 were regaling over the cattle slaughtered for 
 the occasion. The feast terminated with a cup 
 of water, and neither bread or salt was used, 
 after which they divided into their usual par- 
 ties to play. 
 
 Where a military officer was stationed, he 
 superseded the authority of the civil power, as 
 all references of moment were made to him. 
 This accounts in some degree for the obsequi- 
 ous respect which was paid by the populace to 
 that profession, and no doubt the dictates of 
 policy had a share in giving to it that import- 
 ance, for it, and not numbers kept the whole 
 country in awe, as the whole establishment in 
 it, inclusive of the guardias upon the Indian 
 frontiers, could not reach beyond 2500 sol- 
 diers, or their expences to the public more 
 than the contingencies of a British regiment. 
 Although their pay was not more than a 
 
]57 
 
 penny per day, still there were long arrears 
 due to them, but no murmurs were heard. So 
 long as their matesitos and papels were issued 
 regularly, the blandengo felt himself indepen- 
 <lent. The formerallowance consisted in acertain 
 weight of the herb of Paragua}^, which is taken 
 when thirsty, or before meals, by the peons in 
 these parts of South America, in a decoction 
 from warm, if it can be had, or cold water 
 without sugar. The operation is compleated 
 in the first instance within a minute, and in 
 the last requires two, for if a longer time, the 
 liquor assumes a dark colour, which is reckoned 
 less wholesome. Every one carries a small 
 bladder to hold it, and a pouch for his paper 
 segars, with a steel and flint to raise a fire for 
 his provisions and pipe. Thus equipped, and 
 with his liorse and lasso, to supply hunger, the 
 soldier will keep the field for months, killing an 
 ox when wanted, turning off his animal when 
 tired, and taking another at will. As chocolate 
 was scarce, and tea could not be had, we adopted 
 the vulgar fashion of mattee to breakfast. It 
 grows upon a tree of the evergreen oak class, 
 about the size of a small pear, and prefers a 
 marshy soil. It is an article in universal 
 use amongst the poor, but the Spanish refuse 
 it more from pride, than real dislike. There 
 are two sorts of the herb, but we could only 
 get the inferior at about eight-pence per 
 poiuid. At first it was unpleasant from its 
 bitterness, but we latterly preferred it to any 
 beverage, and its happy effects as a stomachic 
 medicine were fully ascertained. The best 
 
158 
 
 portions of it are the powdered particles, the 
 rest being hke cut hay, and less strong. If 
 East India monopoly would allow of its impor- 
 tation, it would soon obtain general consumption 
 amongst the lower orders, as a healthful nourish- 
 ing substitute for tea, and I doubt not but the 
 apothecary might be much indebted to its 
 virtues. The labourers in the mines are half 
 supported by the drink, whither it is sent in 
 skins, containing an arroba (or twenty-five 
 pounds) which I purchased at Buenos Ayres 
 under four dollars. The profits arising from 
 the sale of it were in those days the property 
 of the crown. Like the former custom in our 
 own country to present wine to a caller, so 
 mattee is introduced there, in a cocoa shell, 
 which is ornamented according to the fashion 
 or wealth of the host, and to prevent an inter- 
 ference with the strawy particles, a pipe of 
 gold, silver, or lead, is passed through a small 
 hole in the cover of it, globular and perforated 
 at the lower end, through which the liquor 
 ascends to the mouth. The most odious 
 observance in the ceremony is, that it is 
 circulated from one to another ; beginning with 
 the stranger. 
 
 Never could I listen with pleasure to the 
 notes of any bird on that point of the continent, 
 although those to the North are distinguished 
 for their melody. But nature never fails to 
 compensate for the defects of all her creatures, 
 by making amends for one want, in another 
 excellence of nearly equal value. If they are 
 not musical, their plumage is highly adorned 
 
159 
 
 not by a variety, but by tbe delicacy of their 
 colours. Two kinds of opposite complexions 
 drew my notice ; one being milk-white on the 
 body, with a tip of black on the head, and 
 point of the tail, and the other in every respect 
 an exact contrast ; both being about the size of 
 a grey linnet. A few yards from our hut was 
 a large orchard, from whence the noise of the 
 paroquets was incessant, and would have 
 drowned the largest rookery in clamour. Their 
 nests were thickly perched on every tree, and 
 we found their young well suited for domestic 
 use. There are many wild turkies in the 
 plantations, but they must be impervious to 
 small shot, for none was killed, although they 
 allowed the sportsman to approach within a few 
 yards. Teal ducks were numerous and tame, 
 and green plover were in flights and daring. 
 One day some friends unexpectedly visited us, 
 when we were badly prepared for them, but to 
 remedy this T took with me a youth of about 
 eleven years old, who was provided with a 
 short lasso, having three balls of about half a 
 pound each, covered with leather, not more 
 than four minutes walk into the neighbouring 
 plains, where the plover frequented, desiring 
 him to catch a few for dinner. He threw it 
 six times, at each bringing down his bird. 
 The rope he employed in this was of bullock's 
 hide of about five yards long, to which the balls 
 were suspended, and when thrown into the air, 
 all acted separately, when they moved in a tri- 
 angular shape. This missile instrument is the 
 boyish rudiment for the more manly pursuits 
 
160 
 
 of the bullock, the horse, and the ostrich. To 
 obviate the almost unerring aim of the bullock 
 lasso, when directed against the human species, 
 however desperate the expedient may be, is to 
 close instantly with the assailant before he can 
 strike off to clench his prisoner, and to maim 
 his horse, or to throw in a blow if you can reach 
 him, trying in your progress to disentangle 
 yourself from the noose. This decision would 
 appal him, for all those fellows were as timid 
 as they were cruel. As a sudden reformation 
 cannot be effected by any form of government 
 however well-inclined, I would advise every 
 adventurer to La Plata, to provide himself 
 with two brace of trusty pistols, and that one 
 of them be his companion at all times, that he 
 go seldom abroad in the evening, unless 
 with a native, and that he ride not far from 
 Buenos Ayres, or elsewhere, without such an 
 associate. 
 
 Amongst the boundless varieties we wit- 
 nessed of animals and plants, our researches 
 could not go beyond the eyesight, from a total 
 lack of scientific references to discriminate 
 them. A simple delineation of them all, there- 
 fore, must suffice, and the practical deductions 
 must be the theme of the student and the 
 naturalist. Our usual evening recreations were 
 the chase of the viscacha, which burrows like 
 the rabbit, but is much larger, having shorter 
 legs, with very soft hair, a mixture of light 
 grey and black, its head resembling a cat with 
 thick whiskers, and a tail as hard and bristly 
 as a fox. When in its hole, it grunts like a 
 
161 
 
 pig. Their resort is near the water, and we 
 turned them out of their retreats, by diverting 
 its channel into them, after which we blocked 
 them up, and destroyed them with sticks, for 
 shot will not penetrate them. Their flesh was 
 good, but tough, and their skins are fine 
 materials for hats. The armadillo also con- 
 tributed to our sport and luxury, for its meat 
 is greatly prized by the rich, and in taste is 
 akin to the sucking pig. Though small, they 
 will produce a dollar singly at Euenos Ay res. 
 It is covered with a kind of clinkered shell, 
 being smooth over the head and tail, and on 
 the throat and belly there is a little hair of a 
 whitish hue. Their pace is not faster than a 
 quick walk, but unless the pursuer is rapid 
 to take them, they will dig a fresh hole in a 
 minute, and escape from him. When its 
 capture is inevitable, it forms itself into a close 
 coiL A traveller must be cautious thereabouts, 
 not to wander from the beaten paths, for it is 
 dangerous from their little cavities, that are 
 hid amongst the grass- Many accidents 
 occurred in consequence. 
 
 We remained peaceably at Antonio during 
 nearly three months, occasionally remonstra- 
 ting with the commandant, on the want of 
 punctuality in his government to pay our 
 stipulated allowance. They became more 
 urgent, upon our learning that General 
 Beresford and his suite, had been compelled 
 to move from T.uxan, and that they were on 
 full march for the vale of Catamarca, 1000 
 miles distant, under the escort of fifty dragoons. 
 
 M 
 
162 
 
 This third outrage upon good faith, loosened 
 on the part of all of us also, the ties of honour, 
 but the Spanish authorities were never at a 
 loss to invent some subtle apology for their 
 treachery. They alledged that the General 
 had maintained a clandestine correspondence 
 with some of the leading men in the capital, 
 and the first step taken by that guard, was to 
 break open the desks of every officer, on the 
 pretext of discovering some traces of it, but 
 in reality to seize upon the original of the 
 treaty, that had been ratified after our surren- 
 der. Another co-existing motive for these 
 proceedings was, the intelligence they had 
 received of our force at Maldonado having been 
 considerably reinforced, which they feared, 
 were early destined to retalliate our sufferings 
 upon their own heads, and they conceived 
 the best expedient to alienate the infliction, 
 was to destroy for ever that record of their 
 guilt. 
 
 The removal of General Beresford was only 
 a prelude to a plan already decided on, which 
 was, that all his subordinates too should be 
 pushed to a distance from Buenos Ayres, and 
 that they should be posted in scattered bodies, 
 amongst the line of guardias upon the Indian 
 frontiers. 
 
 Having openly renounced their parole, the 
 General and Colonel Pack had already reached 
 the Estancia de Barbones, near to Salta de 
 Areco, after two days march, where they 
 halted some time, and from whence they 
 contrived to effect their escape by the aid of 
 
163 
 
 two friendly Creoles, who sympathizing in 
 their unmerited misfortunes, first conducted 
 them to the capital itself, where they were 
 concealed, and soon after to Monte Video, 
 which had recently surrendered to the British 
 army. 
 
 Proceeding in the same scheme of policy, 
 we were apprized early in January 1 807, to be 
 in readiness for another journey, which how- 
 ever affected only a division of us at that time, 
 in which I was included. Our little traps 
 were accordingly soon packed up, but the 
 want of money was a sad forethought. As 
 senior officer of the body about to move, the 
 duty of representing our forlorn state to Lieu- 
 tenant Colonel Campbell of the 71st regiment, 
 who was British commandant of the whole 
 prisoners at Antonio, devolved upon me, and 
 it was submitted to him officially both as 
 being the legitimate guardian of our interests, 
 as well as the most natural organ through 
 which we could express our wants to the 
 Spanish Government. All however availed 
 nothing, and its mandates triumphed over the 
 feelings of humanity ; but whether from a 
 defect of energy in ourselves, or from the 
 habitual shuffling of the superior powers, can- 
 not be accurately determined. 
 
 If an acknowledgment of civilities receiv^ed 
 from friends, is incumbent upon all, how much 
 more then is it due to strangers, who from 
 political causes were bound to consider us as 
 enemies. We owe much to the humble 
 tenants of the village of Antonio, for their 
 
 111 rV 
 
164 
 
 well-meant kindnesses, extended to the utmost 
 of their abilities, and without a moti. :, but 
 from natural goodness. An early impression 
 against us prevailed ev^ery where we went, but 
 it soon vanished, when attachment succeeded, 
 and as the conversion was visible, it might 
 have perhaps been disagreeable to their jealous 
 rulers, and have been one of the reasons for 
 changing our quarters. After some know- 
 ledge of us, the shopkeepers cheerfully ten- 
 dered us their credit, not in the hope of our 
 redeeming it from our public allowance, an 
 assignment upon which they regularly declined, 
 but from the opinion they had formed of our 
 national integrity. Those fine features of 
 character attach exclusively to the people who 
 have a fixed residence, and who associate in 
 numbers, and by no means to the roving 
 peons, Avho are unsettled from their habits, who 
 reject the refinements of domestic life, and 
 who have no worldly wish beyond the enjoy- 
 ments of indolence, or the gain of spoil to 
 gratify their vices. But as both spring from 
 the same stock, and most of both bear the 
 same shade of colour, we can only ascribe the 
 contrast of moral conduct, to a moral cause, 
 yet to be corrected by time. 
 
 Our honest landlord felt deeply the news of 
 our departure, and he realized them by tears 
 at the last. Our regard was mutual, for while 
 he placed implicit reliance on our secrecy, we 
 Avere indebted to it for a free disclosure of 
 every occurrence at Buenos Ayres, which he 
 had from the priest, that gazette of every inte- 
 
165 
 
 rior village, uncontamiiiated by the lies of the 
 military commandant, or the alcaldi. During 
 our stay we enlightened his notions respect- 
 ing J^]urope, and its geography. Spain had 
 hitherto in his idea, occupied almost the whole 
 of the map, and that she swayed over all, but 
 when its boundaries were distinguished, and 
 its various territories described, his errors 
 yielded to reason, and his former prejudices to 
 conviction. The only part that staggered 
 him, was the power of England, which to his 
 natural eye appeared like a speck apart, and 
 seemingly exposed to annihilation at the 
 pleasure of other states. But this we defended 
 to his final belief, by a definition of the free- 
 dom, the commerce^ the security of property 
 to every subject, of the colonial possessions, the 
 happy constitution, the naval strength, and 
 the natural bidwarks that skirted our island. 
 
166 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 UPON the 7th of January, 1807, we set 
 out from this pleasant spot, and next day 
 arrived at El Fortun de Areco, a distance of 
 nine leagues, after having encountered one of 
 the most dismal nights ever seen, of rain, 
 thunder, and lightning, against which our 
 waggons afforded but a wretched shelter. 
 
 The day was spent in catching partridges, 
 
 which were found singly, after the manner of 
 
 the country. It is much less in size than the 
 
 English bird, its flight is rarely beyond fifty 
 
 yards, and when it alights on smooth ground, 
 
 it always runs to the nearest rush-bush, where 
 
 it squats. Of course it was easily marked in. 
 
 Our instrument was a long tapering rod, with 
 
 a hair noose upon the end, and being all of us 
 
 mounted, we followed the game. Having got 
 
 sight of it, we began to move round each his 
 
 bird, before him, gradually reducing the circle, 
 
 till the point reached its head, at which it 
 
 startles, but seldom takes wing, when the 
 
 sportsman entangles, and hangs it by the 
 
 neck. A native never fails in this attempt, 
 
 and many of them were taken by the hands at 
 
 dark. Pheasants, rather bigger than our 
 
 grouse were killed through the day, by the 
 
 same means, and we came in contact with 
 
 some zurillos, which our dogs, taught by a 
 
167 
 
 ])itter lesson, cautiously shunned. Two opos- 
 sums and one fox, quite grey, besides three 
 deer of diminutive bulk, and inferior flavour, 
 were likewise included in the diary of amuse- 
 ment. They were all started from marshy 
 places. The country was burnt from the 
 drought, and water was very scarce. We had 
 gone over a sequestered ground, known only 
 to the guard, who directed our motions on a 
 line with the springs upon the way. The Fort 
 of Areco where we halted during the night of 
 the 8th of January, is built of unburnt bricks, 
 had two iron, and two swivel guns, mounted, 
 in miserable order, and is formed like a star. 
 It is the first post of defence that intervenes 
 against the Indians, but only an ensign with 
 six blandengos were stationed in it. It had 
 also an alcaldi, who as usual was subservient 
 to the military officer. We set out early upon 
 the 9th, which presented a heathy country, 
 abounding in deer, and a variety of snakes, and 
 stopped for the night on the open ground, 
 where several oxen were lassoed and instantly 
 cooked, and all of us retired to our respective 
 waggons to rest. At dawn on the 10th, we 
 left it, for the village of Salto de Areco, our 
 intended abode for a time, which we reached 
 to dine with the alcaldi, who invited us, and 
 entertained us well, but who unceremoniously 
 retired to his siesta, leaving his guests to their 
 own free will, but not without telling the 
 company that he kept shop, from which we 
 might supply ourselves cheap with every 
 necessary. 
 
168 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 IT was with difficulty my friend and 
 myself 'procured a mud-built hut for four 
 dollars per month, opposite to the house of 
 that magistrate, whose charges being un- 
 usually exhorbitant, we transferred our dealings 
 to the shop of a Portugueze, who ultimately 
 proved to us a most generous friend. Our 
 tenement was truly humble, having only two 
 earthern apartments ; one for ourselves, the 
 other for our domestics which communicated by 
 an aj^erture in the wall. The light was intro- 
 duced through two square breaches, with wood 
 sliders, that shut at pleasure. Our foundling 
 pup had now improved greatly in growth and 
 manners, and was a valuable addition to our 
 garrison. Having with me an introductory 
 letter to a miller in the place, from a facetious 
 liberal priest, whom I had often seen at 
 Antonio, I lost no time in delivering it. His 
 deportment however did not tally with his 
 business, for he was very consequential, and 
 like most of his countrymen, established in La 
 Plata, the flour manufacturer had his intervals 
 of coldness and kindness. He valued the re- 
 commendation of his friend so far, as to send 
 us occasional presents of veal and poultry, but 
 being prone to much disputation upon trifles, 
 we rather avoided his company in the end. 
 
 Half a mile below the village, a river 
 
169 
 
 furnished excellent sport. Besides other 
 kinds, there were two fishes of a fine 
 flavour, Avhich we caught with heef. One of 
 them was shaped like a salmon-trout, its meat 
 was white, and the other was singular for a 
 very large head, similar to that of a codling, 
 which it resembled in form and taste. It 
 always struck at the angler to bite him, and 
 when it did succeed, the wound was difficult 
 to heal. That hamlet is built of iinburnt 
 bricks, the houses are whitewashed by the sun, 
 and the whole are constructed in squares, with 
 little gardens before them. At opposite sides 
 of one of these, the church and fort are placed; 
 the former plain, and the latter much larger 
 than that of El Fortima de Areco, having two 
 of its faces raised from indurated earth taken 
 out of the bed of the river, and the others are 
 protected by a ditch and pallisados. Eleven 
 iron and swivel guns were planted upon them, 
 in a ruinous condition, and barracks were 
 attached in a like state. The military force 
 allotted to its defence, if effective, consisted in 
 one first, and one second captain, with fifty 
 men, who were always Creoles. But this 
 frontier post could not have withstood a hun- 
 dred resolute men, twenty minutes, much less 
 the sudden incursions of those hosts of Indians, 
 against whom it was a barrier, whose opera- 
 tions are guided by no principle, and whose 
 motions, are rapid as the wind. The relaxa- 
 tion of discipline observable in all those places, 
 considering their vast importance, was of a 
 piece with the Spanish character. The officers 
 
170 
 
 had no control over their men, who being ill 
 paid and clothed, cared little for them, or their 
 government. Their duties were irregularly 
 performed, and their sentries might have been 
 seen daily asleep, basking in the sun. The 
 main objects with the commandant of those 
 guardias, were to traffic, and to smuggle where 
 they could, either with their own itinerant 
 countrymen, or the neighbouring Indians, who 
 thrice entered the village of Salto, while we 
 were there, to barter their goods. 
 
 A description of that process may now be 
 appropriate, as being a slight view of the pre- 
 sent state of the Pampas Indians, who inhabit 
 the plains. Before entering any place, a 
 notice is given to the military commandant of 
 their approach, after which they appear in pro- 
 cession with the cacique at their head, who is 
 distinguished by a sort of turban. They are 
 all well mounted, and in their best attire. They 
 always lodged their commodities aside from 
 the street, and immediately after their arrival, 
 both here, and at Buenos Ayres, soldiers were 
 appointed to accompany the different retailers 
 wherever they went, not to protect, but as 
 spies over their conduct. The articles which 
 they brought, were chiefly the herb of Paraguay, 
 or mattee, strong worsted ponchos, dyed black 
 and red, finished so as to defy rain, one of 
 which I bought for six dollars; wool, salt, 
 lassoes with balls, for catching horses, oxen, 
 and ostriches, bridle reins, tyger, zorillo, and 
 fox skins, besides minor trifles. They go 
 almost naked, with a wrapper round the mid- 
 
171 
 
 die only, are copper-coloured, and have a 
 
 greater variety of features than any of the 
 
 other tribes we saw. This may be attributed 
 
 to a frequent intercourse with the Spanish or 
 
 Creole women, whom they had carried off into 
 
 captivity. Their hair is a coarse black, their 
 
 faces broad, and cheek bones high. The men 
 
 dress the hair in a bunch upon the crown of 
 
 the head, and the females separate it into three 
 
 tails ornamented with beads, some of them 
 
 having large ear rings like padlocks, others 
 
 round, in the shape and size of a small plate, 
 
 and the whole sex are fond of thimbles which 
 
 they put round the neck, with bracelets of 
 
 beads round their ankles. They never enter 
 
 the Spanish bounds upon such occasions, 
 
 without a large drove of mares in their train, 
 
 whose flesh they prefer to any other, and eat 
 
 raw. At other times they will devour dogs, 
 
 foxes, and even the foetid zorillo in cases of 
 
 emergency. They are most filthy, for they 
 
 rub over their skins with grease and blood to 
 
 encourage the growth of vermin, in order to 
 
 consume it, and it is a daily practice amongst 
 
 their women, to officiate in one another's heads 
 
 in quest of them ; a custom too, very prevalent 
 
 amongst the more refined Creoles, and originally 
 
 derived from the Spaniards themselves. As to 
 
 mental endowments, the Hottentot may exult 
 
 in the reflection, that there lives a race upon 
 
 the earth, yet more degraded than himself. 
 
 The first bargain they conclude is for their 
 
 favourite spirits, and after each day's labours, 
 
 the whole detachment regale upon their mare's 
 
172 
 
 flesh, when they set in for a debauch. A 
 caution is however observable, for two of the 
 party are always planted over their merchan- 
 dize, who are enjoined to preserve sobriety, 
 while the rest of the fraternity are buried in 
 the most brutal excess. The liquor is drank 
 raw, and soon produces its effects. Those 
 who are able, continue to tell stories, or sing 
 ballads commemorative of their ancestors' 
 exploits, until the whole sink into sleep, or roll 
 about in a promiscuous jumble of the sexes. 
 The last living effort they evince, before falling 
 into a total stupidity, is like that of several 
 men struggling against suffocation, with their 
 faces on the ground. Subsisting upon the 
 resources of a hunter's life, they are still more 
 expert in the lasso, than the Creole himself. 
 They are pagans to a man, and pay adoration 
 to the sun. 
 
 Close to the village there are numerous 
 flocks of ostriches, which owing to the un- 
 dulatory surface of the ground, sometimes 
 appear like an army in battle array. They are 
 very shy, and though their fastest movements 
 is in a zig-zag direction, yet they will excel the 
 swiftest horse in speed. A half grown one 
 held out against five riders three quarters of 
 an hour, and it was at last taken under one 
 of the horses bellies compleatly exhausted. 
 
 Early in 1807, we were at intervals joined 
 by many commercialists who not knowing 
 of the recapture of Buenos Ayres, had 
 fallen, together with their adventures into 
 the hands of the enemy. Several of them had 
 
17S 
 
 saved a few portable remains of them, which 
 principally consisted of watches very inferior 
 in quality. The unsuspicious natives who had 
 dollars, were eager to purchase them, providing 
 they bore the name of a London maker, but 
 in a very few days most of them had cause to 
 repent of their bargains. As none could repair 
 their defects, those oracles were carried in the 
 pocket, as dumb letters, and I much doubt if 
 the impressions resulting from those transac- 
 tions, are yet obliterated from the popular 
 mind. The afternoon of the 18th of March 
 was remarkable for a tremendous hail and 
 thunderstorm, accompanied with stones like 
 pease, and flashes of lightning that killed two 
 women in the village, and a man near to it. 
 Some hundreds of teal ducks that had suffered, 
 were brought into market next morning, but 
 the spectacle on each bank of the river, parti- 
 cularly proved the violence of the tempest, 
 which must have raged like a whirlwind along 
 the whole of its surface. Fishes were strewed 
 upon the entire extent, some far above, ai^d 
 others level with the water, and our diversion 
 upon it ended with that day. The hurricane 
 did not continue more than an hour, ana the 
 evening was fine. The bigness of the hail- 
 stones were held as a phsenomenon in those 
 parts. 
 
 Two days after, according to annual cus- 
 tom, a rude festival was performed by burning 
 the efligy of Judas Iscariot. The figure large 
 as a man, and filled with combustibh , was sus- 
 pended by the neck across one of the narrow 
 
174 
 
 streets from dawn until twelve at noon, when it 
 was exploded, leaving only a few vestiges 
 behind, which the assembled mob dragged 
 through a pond, after which each horseman 
 rode over them until none could be perceived, 
 who seemed to exult not a little in the meri- 
 torious deed. 
 
 Our pecuniary sorrows now began afresh, 
 and no relief appeared. The only compro- 
 mise which the commandant could offer 
 for the omissions of his government, was his 
 personal security to the shopkeepers for the 
 ultimate payment of debts, contracted with 
 them for our support, but this they all declined, 
 and preferred our pledges as British officers, 
 to liquidate them when we were able, to the 
 most solemn assurances of the public. The 
 tatters that were sold by my friend and me 
 merely to preserve existence, would not have 
 graced the back and body of an English beg- 
 gar. A kind Portugueze who trafficked con- 
 siderably with the Indians, being aware of our 
 circumstances, voluntarily tendered us the 
 credit of his shop, and money if we wished it. 
 The only security in our power to return, 
 was a few trinkets purchased at Buenos Ayres 
 for our friends at home, which he obstinately 
 refused to accept. Gratitude prescribed to 
 me, on our return from the Upper Country, to 
 deviate from the road above sixty miles, 
 merely to thank our benefactor, in which I was 
 accompanied by Lieutenant Roy of the 71st 
 regiment, who had a similar debt due to ano- 
 ther family. 
 
175 
 
 Upon tlie 22nd of March an incident 
 occurred which brouglit matters to a crisis. 
 Before reaching my hut, in returning from a 
 forenoon's walk, I observed a cart before the 
 door, and some soldiers busied in loading it 
 with our scanty furniture, against the remon- 
 strances of our domestics who were within. 
 On enquiry it was ascertained that their orders 
 were to carry it to some larger waggons in the 
 plain, and the guard told me we were our- 
 selves to move on the morrow upon a distant 
 journey. As deeds only were needed at the 
 moment, the vehicle was soon discharged, and 
 our baggage replaced. 
 
 Being senior officer of the whole detachment 
 at Salto, to protect their interests, and com- 
 forts, became my duty. Those whom we 
 left at Antonio, had arrived upon the same 
 forenoon, to be joined by us, in order for the 
 whole to proceed to the Upper Country. 
 Knowing our fate, decision, and perseverance 
 were now imperative obligations; and not 
 being subject to the commands of any superior, 
 I could determine from myself for the general 
 good. The Spanish commandant was very 
 soon apprized that the prisoners at his guardia 
 would not advance an inch until their arrears 
 were adjusted to the uttermost farthing, and 
 that if force was used, it would be met by 
 force. Things remained in this state without a 
 settlement during eight days, through which 
 the commandant must have stood in an auk- 
 ward dilemma between the orders from his 
 superiors to push us on, and his conscious 
 
176 
 
 incapacity to comply with our claims. Seeing 
 that the resolution taken by us was not to be 
 shaken, he adopted an expedient not unusual 
 in those dominions, that of assessing the 
 villagers in an amount equal to our necessities, 
 under an official promise to refund in better 
 times. Six week's pay were due to those pri- 
 soners who had arrived at this time. The only 
 individuals with whom we left our regret in 
 parting, were our faithful Portugueze, and the 
 priest of the village who was a liberal, well- 
 educatedman, whose attentions we experienced 
 on every occasion, and whose communications 
 were always frank when under his own roof. 
 
 Our funds now not only enabled every one 
 to pay his debts, but to furnish comforts upon 
 the road before us, and it was in this happy 
 and independent state of mind, the whole 
 detachment set out from Salto de Areco, upon 
 the 30th of March. 
 
177 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 THE wagirons were early in readiness on- 
 the plain below the village, Init we did not 
 move off the gronnd till the afternoon, and 
 not farther than fivc^ miles when we halted 
 during the night on the edge of a river. Sixty- 
 officers with their servants, besides the mer- 
 cantile prisoners wlio had recently joined us, 
 altogether formed a body of more than two 
 hundred, which with an escort of one hundred 
 soldiers, and forty-nine carriages prolonged our 
 hne of march beyond two miles, and retarded 
 our progress over those ravines that so often 
 intersect the country. This is accounted for, 
 as the foremost cattle in each machine are, 
 when in draught, four yards apart from the 
 other four. At day light of the 31st of 
 March we crossed the river, and reached 
 within two leagues of the village of Eoccas, 
 which is eleven from Salto, at seven in the 
 evening ; arriving at the former about noon 
 of the 1st of April. Upon those days the 
 country became more uneven, and the herbage 
 more rushy in its nature. Amidst the ap- 
 parent dearth of grass, still the herds of cattle, 
 and of horses, that evidently arranged them- 
 selves in small divisions under their respective 
 stallions, were undiminished, besides mules 
 that roved in numbers. Some beautiful steeds 
 
 2sr 
 
178 
 
 were taken by the missile lasso, similar in 
 principle, but much stronger than that used 
 against the ostrich, which is thrown when near 
 enough, and entangles the animal about the 
 legs, who in trying to get clear involves him- 
 self the more, and at last falls, when he is at 
 the mercy of the horseman, who without 
 dread, will instantly bridle and mount him. 
 He is soon broken in, by riding round a 
 marked circumference until he. is tired, and 
 thus subdued to the saddle. Small deer, a 
 few wild pigs, the opossum, thousands of 
 ostriches, and several zurillos, were observed 
 in our way, and an animal of the viper kind, 
 one of which 1 had seen thrice in the same 
 bushes, upon the bank of the river at Salto, 
 was started. Its motion was rapid, it had a 
 long trailing tail, and a head formed trian- 
 gularly. No native could give it a name, for 
 with them all animal, and other objects 
 derive their titles from any similitudes in 
 nature that are familiar to their senses. 
 Quantities of wild thyme, a few cucumbers 
 that tasted very bitter, and long rushes grew 
 spontaneously,besidesrich crops of mushrooms. 
 Three plantations of cochineal presented a 
 novelty, the cultivation of which was attempted, 
 but badly understood, although the climate 
 here was sufficiently propitious. It is a fly 
 when at full growth resembling a bug, with 
 its eyes and feet invisible, but to a micro- 
 scope, as they are hid under the wrinkles of 
 its skin. The male is distinguished by two 
 large wings, the female having none. The 
 
179 
 
 interior of the one seen was of a very deep 
 dark red, and the external parts of a pale ash 
 colour. They are reared on a prickly bush, 
 on whose leaves they feed, where they pass 
 through their successive growth, and finally 
 beget a numerous progeny, unless nipped by 
 winds or rain, which destroy them, or by the 
 ants and other vermin, which are their perpe- 
 tual enemies. Negroes are ever on the watch 
 to drive them off. They are collected thrice 
 a year, and a breed is left. Their nests are 
 from two to three upon each leaf when pros- 
 perous, and in each are from ten to fourteen 
 insects, which are killed by hot water, and 
 afterwards dried in the sun. I purchased two 
 cakes manufactured, larger and thicker than 
 a crown piece for a dollar each, for the article 
 is dear, and the speculation was in its 
 infancy. 
 
 The village of Koccas is smaller than Salto, 
 but the houses were in better repair, and 
 finer orchards were around it. Bricks, from 
 mud hardened in the sun, composed their 
 habitations, and their mode of thatching them 
 was both simple and ingenious. After cutting 
 the turf, which is long and thick, they dip it 
 in earth and water, when they place the 
 wetted parts successively upon the roof, like 
 tiles, which in a few hours attain a perfect 
 density, and are impenetrable to the heaviest 
 rains. The outsides were clean, but within 
 they were sepulchres. That hamlet stands on 
 a river which was the stipulated boundary 
 between the Spaniards and Indians, whose 
 
 N 2 
 
180 
 
 strict letter would have authorized acts of 
 hostility against either who might presume to 
 cross it, but the former stood in no restraint 
 in such a trespass. The village lays upon the 
 road which leads to Cordova through the 
 Pampas country, and although so immediately 
 exposed to inroads, yet the fort was in the 
 same ruined state with Salto, and the others 
 described. Its commandant had previously 
 suffered from a suspicion of having aided the 
 escape of General Beresford. We lamented 
 him from an intimacy with his character, 
 allowed to us by his having sometimes before 
 visited us at Salto, where his open disposition, 
 mild manners, and an imdisguised partiality 
 for our nation, recommended him to us all. 
 
 "We remained at Koccas until the 7th of 
 April, which interval had been employed in 
 collecting the means of transport for those 
 brother officers who had hitherto been sta- 
 tionary in it. Our own cattle had been 
 advanced farther upon the 2d, to await our 
 arrival, as there was a scarcity of food for 
 them in the vicinity of the village, to graze in 
 a pasturage near to a river that was strongly 
 mipregnated with salt, and its bed of a hard 
 marie, intermixed with shells. To our great 
 sorrow many favourite horses died from drink- 
 ing it, who swelled exceedingly, but it had no 
 bad effects upon the bidlocks. 
 
 Our progress on the 7th was limited to two 
 leagues through high coarse grass, and with 
 no other occurrence than the killing of a large 
 green snake, on the eve of parting with its 
 
181 
 
 skin. The Creoles shewed a powerful dread of 
 tliem, and nothing would provoke their re- 
 venge more, than to hold even a dead one 
 near to them. After resting on the plaiji, we 
 departed at day-break, and on the evening of 
 the 8th of April we arrived at the small fort 
 of Mercedes, twelve leagues from Roccas, on 
 which two iron guns were mounted, and 
 remarkable only for a look-out house, about 
 fifty feet high, from whence the eye might 
 range to its utmost, witbout seeing a speck 
 but grass, or weed. It was to guard against 
 a sudden attack from the Indians, and a cor- 
 poral with four men were its only defenders. 
 Travelling onwards till midnight, we unyoked 
 upon a wide heath, after having passed a large 
 lagoon, and having run down several deer, and 
 armadillos through the day. At this season, 
 the distant fires of the Indians produced a 
 striking effect, for they were interminable to 
 the view, owing to the parched state, and 
 length of the grass. We set forward early on 
 the 9th, and at sunset rested within a league 
 of the small fort of Milanqui, which we 
 reached upon the following morning. It had 
 only one gun, and seven mud huts. A build- 
 ing, intended for a church, but not roofed in, 
 also stands near, and divine service was per- 
 formed in one of the little hovels. The 
 situation is however highly picturesque, being 
 seated on a lake about ten miles broad, and 
 twenty in circumference, the water of which 
 is approaching to salt, and is indurated at the 
 bottom. Great numbers of swans with black 
 
182 
 
 heads and necks, and their bodies white, were 
 observable, whose down and wings were 
 objects of traffic, besides a variety of birds 
 with the most beautiful plumage. The fort 
 might have been insulated from the lake at 
 pleasure, and in it a corporal with five 
 milizianos were posted. Some murmurs hav- 
 ing escaped those who had arrears due, Avhich 
 were promised to be paid up at this place, 
 the commandant to prevent any trouble, or 
 desertion, affected to have received intelligence 
 that the Indians were near in considerable 
 force, which urged him to recommend close 
 order in our future movements, and to cover 
 his finesse, he deviated from his former line 
 into the main road to Cordova, which is about 
 seven leagues N.E. from Milanqui which we 
 found on the evening of the 11th, after having 
 been joined on that day by five waggons with 
 prisoners from TVrgimeno, under the same 
 destination with ourselves. Our tract had 
 been hitherto wide from any beaten path, by 
 which the real distance we had gone could 
 not be accurately ascertained, farther than 
 that it was augmented beyond a passage along 
 the regular highway. All joined in the tally 
 of the day, during which some fawns, and two 
 grey foxes were literally rode down by the 
 horsemen, having no retreats in this open 
 country, and our dogs were seldom in at the 
 death. Our encampment during a night of 
 rain, thunder, and lightning, was close to the 
 road, from which the waggons afforded little 
 protection, and there was no cessation of the 
 
18S 
 
 weatlier until the evening of the 12th of April, 
 when the sky resumed its serenity, and having 
 lighted our tires, we could perceive from them 
 the village of Esquina, where we arrived next 
 morning. The fort there is a mean square 
 building, with two brass swivels, and a few 
 scattered mud huts. The river Tercero runs 
 close to it, which rises in a branch of the 
 Cordilleras and discharges into the Parana, 
 twenty leagues below S". Fe, after a passage 
 near the heights of Cordova, receiving on its 
 way some lesser streams, and shaping with 
 little variation a S. S. E. course. It experi- 
 ences a fall, when meeting sometimes a sandy 
 soil, it is absorbed in dry weather, but in 
 future rains it re-assumes its name and cha- 
 racter, in some other part. Where we were 
 at this time its waters were brackish, but they 
 had no unpleasant effects. This river often 
 recurs from its positions, throughout this 
 narrative. Its banks hereabouts are richly 
 adorned with shrub, and willow trees, and a 
 stir prevailed amongst its inhabitants on both 
 sides. The depths were mostly shallow, and 
 the bed as well as the floating sands were 
 transparent as gold, of which both contained 
 many atoms. The same features of filth, 
 poverty, and wretchedness were predominant 
 all along, amongst the people, and nowhere 
 could we remark a spot improved by in- 
 dustry. 
 
 The arrears due being settled at Esquina, 
 and a repose of some days being allowed us, 
 full pockets and vacant time revived the 
 
184 
 
 national diversions of horse-racing, and cricket, 
 for which we always carried the materials. 
 On this occasion we found that the horses 
 accustomed to soft food, were ill qualified to 
 stand out heyond a mile's heat, which with 
 their violent tempers, untrained to the course, 
 and the superior accomplishments of our 
 native opponents, whose deviation from rules 
 it might not have heen prudent to dispute, our 
 countrymen were mostly outdone in the prac- 
 tical tactics of the turf, and lost their money. 
 The buying of horses too was quite in vogue, 
 which being again stolen by the peons, a cir- 
 culation of cash was incessant while we re- 
 mained. An ugly club was established, which 
 convened in the centre of our waggons, that 
 were circularly formed, over which, happiness 
 and good humour presided. Our mirth trans- 
 ferred itself to the gaping crowd, and recon- 
 ciled them to our religion, and our manners, 
 more than the strongest favours we could have 
 imposed on them, I'hree pleasant days of joy 
 and j)lenty, drowned all past reflection, and it 
 was not before the 16th of April, we renewed 
 our labours, which brought us to the village 
 of Cruz, at three in the afternoon, when ovens 
 for bread were heated, but from whence we 
 started by a sudden mandate an hour after, 
 allowing no remarks on the spot, but those 
 that were conspicuous from its external misery. 
 It was moreover a disappointment, for our spirit 
 horns were empty, and Ave were without many 
 other comforts. We stopped two leagues be- 
 yond it upon the ground, when the lasso men 
 
185 
 
 were dispatched to catch cattle for our imme- 
 diate wants, as well for the future, which we 
 always hung from the end of our waggons. 
 Our mess for the first time, feasted upon what 
 is called by the peons, carne con quero, which 
 is a piece of meat cut out of the animal, with 
 the hide upon it, and is much relished by 
 them, because none of the natural juices can 
 go oil*. It is hollowed in the middle with that 
 view, and is laid on the embers until enough. 
 We liked it much, and often enjoyed it after- 
 wards. Before we approached any village, the 
 most active in every society commonly pushed 
 on beforehand, with their large horns, which 
 are customary to hold wine and spirits, hung 
 by leathers across their horses, and bags in the 
 same way for the provender. Little fellow- 
 sympathy existed, and the most liberal minds 
 were converted into avaricious forestallers, 
 merely to provide for the mortal bodies that 
 covered them. 
 
 The heights we now passed were covered 
 with a saltpetre, like our hoar frosts, which is 
 the staple of these districts. The afternoon 
 was rainy, but it did not prevent the lassoing 
 some beautiful horses. No Arabian could 
 excel the physical address, or the equestrian 
 activity of the riders in such pursuits. In 
 common dull, and lazy, but mount those South 
 Americans in their favourite vocations, the eye 
 glistens, and every nerve is animated, which 
 combine to shew, that proper objects, and a 
 right direction of their energies, are only 
 wanting to prove their capabihties in any 
 
186 
 
 other pursuits. Their hahitudes in slaughter, 
 and tlie transports they exhihit amidst acts of 
 cruelty to brutes, have by usage, deadened all 
 their feelings of sensibility, and are marks of 
 their barbarous depravity, which deadly skill, 
 commences in its exercise with the cattle of the 
 fields, and terminates by a callous transition 
 upon the life of man. This partial theory of 
 the human heart, is most beautifully exempli- 
 fied in that branch of our own criminal code, 
 which with an acute benevolence has debarred 
 those professions, necessarily inured to blood, 
 from even judging upon the actions of a fellow- 
 creature, amenable to their verdict. The class 
 of which I speak under the title of peons, are 
 a heterogenous breed between the Creoles and 
 Indians, tainted with the slothfulness of the 
 former, and the savage nature of the latter. 
 They have vmiformly a revengeful scowling 
 eye, have little beard, and never shave ; are 
 copper-coloured, very strong made, have long 
 black hair floating about the shoulders ; flattish 
 faces and noses, moimted unless when asleep, 
 at their meat, or when engaged in gambling. 
 They wear a poncho, generally have boots 
 fitted from the green hide, which do not 
 change their shape, and are open at the toes, 
 with large brass spurs, and their hats are 
 small, resting on the forehead, and tied under 
 the chin. When crossing one another at full 
 speed, they always undo them at the same 
 time, making not an ungraceful and reciprocal 
 bow, with the compliments of good day, and at 
 parting^ — may God be with you. 
 
187 
 
 On the ITtli of April, our path was along 
 the side of a river well inhabited, and through 
 a checkered country of hillocks, woods, and 
 plains, but the pasture was still luxuriant. At 
 twelve we arrived at a small village named 
 Cabeza del Tuigere, or Tyger's head, situated 
 upon the Tercero, where the bed of that river 
 was composed of a variegated granite, and 
 about seven leagues from the Guardia of 
 Esquina. Many rividets of a brackish taste 
 were passed on the Avay to that village, which 
 comprizes only a few houses. Three snakes 
 were caught diu'ing the day, two of a green 
 colour, one of them with a rat in its belly ; the 
 other being a dark piu'ple, nearly two feet long, 
 with ringlets on the body of a bright Vermil- 
 lion straw, at the alternate distance of an inch 
 from each other. The trees that were seen in 
 the course of it stood mostly upon gentle 
 ascents, and had a deep green foliage like to 
 the olive, but they had no fruit upon them. 
 The cattle now became diminished to the eye, 
 and a whitish clay surface, covered a stratum 
 of salt. 
 
 We departed on the 18th at daylight, and 
 in three hours reached Saladillo, where there 
 were four huts, a chapel, and a fort in ruins. 
 Here a small river incorporates with the 
 Tercero, and after a progress of no interest, 
 we rested in the fields through the night. At 
 daylight on the 19th, we saw the Condores, 
 thirty leagues off, a range of lofty hills that 
 extends ninety miles in a South direction 
 from Cordova. Nothing was remarkable, ex- 
 
188 
 
 cept the rising ground that intervened in our 
 way to Frailem Muerto, where we arrived at 
 eight in the evening. That village is named 
 from a friar having heen murdered on the spot, 
 by the Indians whom he Avas employed to 
 convert. Here a fine wood intervenes, which 
 uninterruptedly reaches Cordova, on whose 
 verge the hamlet stands, of ahout twenty 
 houses, with a fortified barrack, having loop 
 holes for musquetry, and a very neat church. 
 The Tercero river is here very rapid, owing to 
 the declivities near the place, and its hed con- 
 sists of pe])bles and decomposed granite. We 
 remained till six p. m. and halted at nine, 
 having met three hundred mounted volunteers 
 from Cordova, on their way to join the army 
 at Buenos Ayres — Marched off our ground 
 early on the 21st of April, and refreshed at 
 Balestero de Esquina, five leagues from 
 Frailem del INIuerto, where these is a post- 
 house in the plains. The dress of the people 
 was now altered, for instead of the poncho they 
 wear a coarse blanket of their own manufac- 
 ture, which was a slow operation, for not know- 
 ing how to throw the shuttle, they invariably 
 passed it through the hand. We had hitherto 
 moved from Cruz-alto, close to the banks of 
 the Tercero. On the 22d we remained near 
 a small chapel dedicated to the Holy Trinity, 
 with a curate and assistant, within a mile of 
 that river, which now runs due West and 
 East, and on the 23d of April stopped at a few 
 houses, close to it, from whence we had a 
 superb view of some high mountains, which 
 
189 
 
 bound the western horizon. Some officers who 
 had this day separated from the main hody, 
 were assailed by tlie ])eons, but they fled at 
 the moment of a shew of resistance. The 
 soil in the course of the 24th, became very 
 sandy, but the grass was still very high, 
 though coarse. Every where extensive woods 
 were seen, the trees of which were not more 
 lofty than our inferior oaks, and must have 
 been the growth of nature, from their irregu- 
 larity. We encompassed this noon at the edge 
 of a large one, which several of us attempted 
 to penetrate to an extremity, but having no 
 compass we were soon bewildered, and it was 
 by the guidance Of the sun we were enabled to 
 rejoin oiu' waggons, when on the eve of their 
 departure. In the afternoon we got into a 
 most beautiful lawn, of about eight miles 
 extent, and apparently the work of man, from 
 the varied l^ut regular plantations by which it 
 was covered, but no mansion was to be seen. 
 The delightful scene called forth many mingled 
 reflections upon home, from whence we were 
 fast journeying, and to which a few disconso- 
 lates had bidden, in their own minds, an ever- 
 lasting adieu. On this bed of roses and of care, 
 we passed the night, and started from it at 
 sunrise of the 25th. The country now obtains 
 a decided change of aspect. Our route was 
 within half a mile from the Tercero, along 
 whose banks, houses and population were in 
 throngs, which, with the stupendous Cordil- 
 leros in our front, and the scattered clinnps on 
 every side, united to compleat a most enliven- 
 
190 
 
 ing landscape. At noon we stopped amidst 
 some woody heights, hanging over the dilFs of 
 the river, that here rose above its level, 
 which, with the interesting village of Capello 
 Rodriguez and its neat church, exalted a mile 
 beyond the right bank, oiu' progress had intro- 
 duced into the border of the ])icture. The 
 surface however was a bed of sand, covered 
 with heath, whose pasture was evidently most 
 unpalatable to our stud, and oiu' oxen. Under 
 those vegetable fluctuations, a traveller ought 
 to sell his horses from the lower country, and 
 buy those accustomed to this new soil, for as 
 the former loathe its food, much work cannot 
 be expected from them. Indian corn, which 
 may be had in abundance, is the most eligible 
 substitute on a journey. Rodriguez is about 
 twenty-eight leagues from Esquina. Through 
 the day we could observe the wild goats seated 
 in the rocky clefts like hares, from whence 
 they looked down upon us and our faithful 
 dogs with indifference, whose clamours and 
 yelping could not disturb them. The whole 
 of the 26th, presented a hilly face laid out in 
 ridges, with the Tercero, about four hundred 
 yards on our right. We had chosen this night 
 a spot that yielded no herbage, and for the 
 sake of the brutes, pushed on early upon the 
 27th of April, a league in advance, near to a 
 village called Salto, being nine from the end 
 of our journey, and six from Rodriguez. The 
 roads before us being rough, dangerous, and 
 intricate, the officer of the guard halted to 
 reconnoitre the passes, and to procure guides. 
 
191 
 
 The hamlet itself is only a few houses upon 
 the Tercero, environed by stony heights on 
 both sides of the road, and its banks are here 
 locally remarkable by cliffs, like walls gradually 
 descending into a valley, richly adorned by 
 trees, and undergrowth. Across and opposite 
 there is an oratory for the purpose of confession, 
 when the itinerant clergy arrive, and where 
 they convene their flock on their annual 
 rounds. The river's bed is of granite sand, 
 and over it there is a shallow ford, which 
 touches upon the high road to Cordova. Near 
 the village, some dogs killed two lions while 
 we remained, of a darkish brown colour, their 
 limbs strong, and with heads neither shagged 
 nor broad. They lodged in the thick bushes 
 around, and happily for humanity, they are 
 timid on the approach of man, and their 
 resistance is feeble. One opossum too, having 
 a bag for its young, with ten teats, fell a prey 
 to our pack. The 28th and 29th were idle 
 days, notable only for heavy rains, with tre- 
 mendous thunder and lightning, as the 30th 
 was by its j)iercing winds, being then close to 
 the Cordilleras, covered with snow. 
 
 From the 1st of May, our progress was 
 slow, for although St. Ignatius, the ultimate 
 destination, was not more than at three leagues 
 distance in a straight line, yet owing to the 
 windings, the rough roads, and deep ruts 
 caused by the rains, we did not finish our 
 journey until the fifth. Upon the night of 
 the first, we rested near to a few huts, and 
 close to woods that may now be justly raised 
 
192 
 
 to the rank of forests. All were on wing upon 
 the morning of the 2d, ])eing anxious to 
 anticipate the Avaggons in their arrival at the 
 village of Condores, Avhich takes its name from 
 the numbers of that immense bird frequenting 
 the almost inaccessil)le rocks in its vicinity. 
 It consists of fifteen houses, in a valley run- 
 ning North and South, with a cha})el, and is 
 well sheltered by nimierous flat and conical 
 rocks of granite, which form the back ground. 
 It stands twenty-five leagues S. S. E. from 
 Cordova, and nearly three from the Tercero 
 to the North. Our tract had been undescriba- 
 bly rough, beset on all sides with rocky hillocks, 
 in many parts like to the crater of a volcano ; 
 an inference supported by the numerous frag- 
 ments of indurated lava, laying every where 
 about them. Some of the most active ascended 
 the mountains, which are the abodes of the 
 condor bird. It was attended with great 
 danger, for it is tlie most daring of the 
 feathered tril>e, and more especially when its 
 territories are invaded by man. Its velocity, 
 courage, size, and strength, raise it above the 
 eagle, to Avhich are annexed the effeminacies 
 of a head and neck quite destitute of hair. 
 Its l^eak impelled by its natural force, will per- 
 forate and bear off a sheep or deer, and the 
 natives said, that if its wants were not more 
 than adequately supplied from the animal 
 creatures around it, it would seek to gratify 
 them from the haunts of man. There are no 
 rivals to dispute its reign, which is absolute 
 alike over the beasts of the field, and their 
 
193 
 
 brethren of the air. It may be well supposed 
 tliat the trophies borne away from sucli preci- 
 pices, were but few, and that they were limited 
 to the feathers that had been moulted by 
 nature : even these were not carried olF with- 
 out a few serious menaces from their original 
 owners,! which specimens fully authorize the 
 conclusion, that the wings, from tip to tip, 
 could not be less than fourteen feet in 
 measurement. Pushing on from this village, 
 the oxen were unyoked near some pleasant 
 huts, surrounded^ by fig-trees. Soon after 
 dawn of the Sd of IMay, our descent was 
 slow, but perceptible into the vast plains of 
 Calamacheyta, between the stupendous hills 
 of the Condores, and the lofty Sierras, or 
 mountains of Cordova, until we reached the 
 Rio Grande, which rises contiguous to the 
 latter, and runs through this valley, being 
 joined in its way by several streams, amongst 
 which is that of St. Ignatius, whose source is 
 in the eastern parts of them. The vale of 
 Calamacheyta, our destined residence, lays 
 nearly North and South, and is bounded by 
 those grand extremities, expanding a little to 
 the S. S.E. until it touches upon the confines 
 of the Pampas Indians. 
 
 Many inaccuracies prevail here amongst the 
 natives, in defining the proper names of those 
 lesser streams that pervade their boundaries, 
 as they acquire fresh titles at every village 
 they pass, which consequently subjects the 
 narrative of the traveller, who occasionally 
 deviates froili their banks, to perplexity and 
 
 o 
 
194 
 
 error. There are five of them that circulate 
 through this vale, in arithmetical progression 
 from one to five, all of them originating in, and 
 descending firom the Cordovan mountains, in 
 the province of Tucuman, and finally contri- 
 buting to swell the Tercero, which, as has 
 been already said, discharges into the Parana. 
 
 A varied scene of villages, farm-houses, in- 
 dustry and population, at once burst upon the 
 view, so many monuments of the exiled Jesuits 
 who yet seemed to five in the handiworks of 
 their tutored offspring. It was impossible 
 to pass the Rio Grande where we halted, owing 
 to its temporary depth and rapidity, for which, 
 patience was the only remedy, and in the 
 evening, both having much decliiied, we crossed 
 and encamped on its opposite side. St. 
 Ignatius was now only six. miles, but although 
 we started at dayhght, yet we did not arrive 
 at it until one p. m. of the 5th of May. In 
 place of a village, we found it but an old square 
 building, with fourteen rooms upon three sides 
 of it, and on the other, a decent house 
 tenanted by a pubUc defaulter, who held the 
 premises, and some adjacent inelosures from 
 the crown, with a view to redeem his shattered 
 fortunes. Like all the other establishments of 
 the Jesuits in South America, this had devolved 
 in property to the king, after tl^ir expulsion. 
 
 It was soon found that this spot was too 
 small to contain more than a third of our 
 number, and that accommodations elsewhere 
 were necessary for the rest. Accordingly 
 Lieutenant Colonel Campbell and others were 
 
195 
 
 lodged at S\ Rosa, four miles off; the naval 
 officers were removed to Cordova, and the 
 remainder were permitted to establish where 
 they could in the country. On the 9th, every 
 arrangement was finished, and domestic com- 
 fort and economy became the exclusive objects 
 of every individual. 
 
 St. Ignatius is almost surrounded by woods 
 and orchards, having a shallow river within a 
 mile of the building. To the East, and in 
 front of the college, there rises above them a 
 continuation of the mountains, described on 
 our entry into the vale, not indeed remarkable 
 for their height, but from their being over- 
 spread with trees, from their base to the sum- 
 mits. Don Ortiz our landlord cultivated a 
 large garden with taste and economy. It was 
 the only one I saw in South America, that 
 contained in perfection the culinary vegetables 
 of our island, or where they were reared upon 
 any plan of arrangement. Apples, pears, 
 peaches, walnuts, quinces, and olives, abounded 
 in regular order, and onions, turnips, carrots, 
 and cabbages, were dressed after our manner. 
 As the contiguous river was too shallow for 
 sport, and the noon-day heats too intense for 
 exercise, our retreats were often amongst these 
 shades, where we were allowed to regale upon 
 the fruits at pleasure. Riding in the cool, 
 visiting, and the handball now became the 
 amusements, for the ground was every where 
 too rugged and uneven for the cricket. We 
 were formed into the same number of societies 
 as there were rooms, and being far from every 
 
 o 2 
 
196 
 
 supply except meat, the monopoly of every 
 other article was vested in the tenant of the 
 college, who also united the character of an 
 appraiser, to that of a salesman. As we 
 had been cast upon him for his own benefit, 
 so he determined to act the part of a profitable 
 steward, by making the most of us. 
 
 Xear to the building and included in its 
 lease, there were four very large inclosures, 
 little short in all of 1000 acres, capable of 
 yielding any crop without manure, of being 
 irrigated at will from the river, and in a popu- 
 lous country, where the produce might have 
 met a ready market, if manufactured into 
 flour. But this bequeath from the more in- 
 dustrious Jesuits, was allowed to degenerate 
 into rushes and tares, excepting on a few spots 
 which necessity had enforced the plough to 
 enter. The substantial wall that compassed 
 round this beautifully connected farm, must 
 have been a work of years, for it was of sod, 
 broad in the base, narrowing gradually towards 
 the top, seven feet high, with deep well-cleared 
 ditches. It had been evidently laid out by 
 those fathers, for the sustenance of their 
 establishment, for near to it there stands a 
 neat little flour-mill, a living monument of 
 their genius, which is turned by the river, and 
 is still in use. Adjoining to it there is also a 
 smelting-house for copper, with the furnace 
 yet perfect, together with fragments of the 
 refined metal scattered on the surface to 
 perish, or more properly to return into its pri- 
 mitive dust. 
 
197 
 
 Our landlord had a sheep-walk too, which is 
 hereabouts defined into property, as the cattle 
 are, from their being far less prolific and wild 
 than in the Lower Country, the pasture being a 
 dry grass, and s])ringing from an arid sand, of 
 which the rising grounds are composed, The 
 rents which Don Ortiz paid for the whole 
 tract and buildings, were imder four hundred 
 dollars, and soon after our arrival, he shewed 
 that he did not Avant capacity to turn every 
 thing to account. As was common, all 
 drudgeries were j)erformed by the negroes and 
 Indians, who began to till the ground, to raise 
 whatever was adapted to our use, while others 
 were constantly employed in a trading inter- 
 course with Cordova, from whence our wines, 
 spirits, sugars and tobacco, were drawn. Ovens 
 were fixed in out-houses, bread was baked 
 thrice a week, and three retail shops were 
 opened in the square, one of which was kept 
 by the landlord's son-in-law, who was an 
 officer. This bustle of preparation foreboded 
 that our continuance was to be long. 
 
 The people of South America are certainly 
 indolent from climate and nature, but I have 
 uniformly observed them diligent and active, 
 where there was a motive or an interest for 
 their exertions. All men are prone to ease, 
 and few would stir if the means of existence 
 could be o])tained without effort. Early in- 
 dulgence engenders habit, which in a little 
 stamps character, both national and individual, 
 and it is under this stigma, so applicable to 
 the whole human race, that the natives of this 
 
198 
 
 new world stand accused in the eyes and 
 opinions of the universe. But as we are uncon- 
 scious of our own powers, until occasion and 
 emergency may demand them, so are we of 
 theirs, until similar opportunities befal them. 
 When such may present, I wiU venture to 
 anticipate, that they will perform their parts 
 like men, and all their duties with an alert 
 zeal. 
 
 N^o situation could have been better adapted 
 for the seminar}^ of religious knowledge, and 
 industry than St. Ignatius, for it is retired 
 from society and its vices, furnishes the neces- 
 saries of life in superfluity, and its staple 
 wood, enough for the axe or the chisel. It was 
 one of the retreats of the Jesuit fathers, when 
 they were driven across to the western banks 
 of the Parana, by the merciless Paulonese, to 
 which they repaired with a few of those 
 adherents whom they had saved from the 
 sword of the pursuer. As it is not the dutv 
 of a diarist to dwell upon historical retrospect, 
 but to state with accuracy cotemporary inci- 
 dents, or those he witnessed, I will forbear 
 any enlargement upon a topic., which affords at 
 once a wide range for the displays of feeling, 
 and observation, as being foreign to so hum- 
 ble a character. I can only attest the 
 reverential love which animated all the sur- 
 viving pupils of that order, when speaking of 
 those pious instructors of their early years, 
 and as forty had scarcely elapsed since they 
 had lost their fathers, while most of those 
 spiritual children had passed through eighty 
 
199 
 
 annual revolutions, their testimonies had the 
 weight of manhood, and of long reflection. I 
 conversed with a few of them, who seemed 
 ignorant of the hand that had so prematurely 
 snatched those parents from their sight, while 
 a sigh and a tear fuUj bespoke their affections 
 and their loss, and a few records given in sim- 
 plicity concerning their departed friends, told 
 bow deeply their mepiories were imprinted 
 upon their own hearts. 
 
 During our march upwards, the com- 
 mandant of the guard had attached for our 
 convenience, and his own profit, two carts 
 which attracted his attention much more than 
 his military duties. He frequently sold and 
 received the money with his own hand, for 
 spirits, bread, cheese, and fish. So it was with 
 the son-in-law of Don Ortiz, who by his 
 licence, was only restrained not to undersell 
 the granter of it. Our escort was now relieved 
 by a hundred Neophyte Indians, armed chiefly 
 with long sticks, having knives at the end of 
 them ; a few only carrying musquets wMch 
 were in very bad order. The effective ordnance 
 of every description at Cordova and elsewhere, 
 bad been forwarded to Buenos Ayres, and all 
 who were capable of service in the community. 
 The fall of Monte Video had produced a general 
 panic, caused by an alarm for the capital, from 
 an attack by the supernumeraries of that 
 garrison, combined with those reinforcements 
 which intelligence had informed them, were 
 on their passage from Europe. So extensive 
 and powerful was the impression of oiur final 
 
200 
 
 success, that the lieads of every family with 
 which our officers had lodged, in their progress 
 to the Upper Country, solicited at parting, 
 some written testimonial of good treatment, 
 in order to shew as a protection from those 
 invaders, which fear had already converted 
 into conquerors. Whether from dread of our 
 employing them, or as an expedient to arm 
 their population, I know not, hut all fire 
 weapons were searched for, and taken from our 
 officers, by the captain of the new guard, upon 
 his arrival. This was a serious demand, at a 
 time when none of us could move to any dis- 
 tance, without the means of defence against 
 those equestrians, who are still more mmierous 
 in that district, and equally sanguinary as 
 those in the country below. Happily when 
 this scrutiny took ])lace, I was on horseback, 
 and was met by Captain Hudson of the St. 
 Helena corps, near the college, who acquainted 
 me with the circumstance. I had a brace of 
 small pistols in my pocket, which I had bought 
 a few weeks before, from a mercantile pri- 
 soner, and by this piece of fortune saved them 
 providentially to guard my life, three days 
 afterwards. On the morning of the 22d of 
 May, I left St. Ignatius upon a visit to some 
 friends, farther advanced into the vale, at 
 about six leagues distance. I was alone, and 
 had jiLst reached the ascent beyond the Quarto 
 river, and gained the heath, when I observed a 
 large caravan of mules, proceeding for Cordova, 
 at its extremity. Having already gone more 
 than fourteen miles, the horse was jaded, and 
 
201 
 
 liaving an old red jacket, the colour soon 
 attracted three of the driv^ers, who struck off 
 at full speed towards me. Flight was useless, 
 and must hav^e been fatal. The only alter- 
 native left, was to close with them at once, at 
 the same time pulling out my two dumb seconds, 
 as interpreters of my meaning. By this re- 
 solve, so unexpected by them, I had got far 
 within the range of the bullock lasso, Avhicli is 
 about ninety feet, for otherwise I might have 
 been a sacrifice. All of them assumed a 
 meiiacing tone, until they saw my mute com- 
 panions ready to obey their master's will, 
 when their voices and manners were visibly 
 altered. Frankly telling them I perfectly 
 understood their intentions, and would be 
 beforehand with them if they did not instantly 
 set off; after some confused questions con- 
 cerning St. Ignatius, they galloped away with 
 the same rapidity they had advanced. It is 
 proper here to admonish the traveller against 
 allowing any peon to approach too near in 
 conversation, dr otherwise, for they all exist by 
 the same means, all are actuated by like 
 motives, and there are few who can be trusted. 
 Deprecating all prejudice, it must be remarked 
 that there are features in the countenance of 
 this race, which strongly tell their inward 
 feelings upon common, as well as trying occa- 
 sions. There can be no peculiar enmity in a 
 light copper visage, or long black hair, although 
 it bespeaks ferocity, but it is in the eye, and 
 their quick restless motions, that their vindic- 
 tive and sanguinary spirits can be traced upon 
 
202 
 
 the slightest provocations, which rehgion alone 
 can subdue. The decorum which they assume 
 upon entering the sanctuary, is an evidence of 
 the awe they feel when in the Divine Presence, 
 and the restraints that it imposes, and it is 
 not their error, because they are taught to 
 beheve, that in this consists the whole of their 
 duty. Were higher ones recommended, were 
 morals, and not forms, enjoined upon them as 
 incumbent, and as being more pleasing to that 
 Deity whom they thus appear to hold in such 
 external reverence, they might easily be led by 
 affectionate impulse, to yield that more intel- 
 lectual homage. Even their present attain- 
 ments are to them a cause of triumph, for with 
 all the pride of superiority, when speaking of 
 the poor unconverted Indians, they contemp- 
 tuously pronounce them brutos, infideles. The 
 seeds of belief are already sown amongst them, 
 and it will no doubt be one of the first legisla- 
 tive objects to cultivate them unto perfection. 
 In this age, so distinguished for missionary 
 zeal, and pecuniary liberahty in propogating 
 the truths of the gospel, there is not a finer 
 field for the exercise of both, than on the 
 ground I speak of It matters not they are 
 catholics, for all labour in the same vineyard, 
 and all serve the same Great Master. Ireland 
 has many respectable brethren, who would 
 gladly volunteer in the sacred cause, and who 
 are in all respects quahfied to identify them- 
 selves with the opinions of the higher classes, 
 together with the prejudices of the vulgar. 
 To them the state would grant a free admis- 
 
203 
 
 sion, under a conviction that it would be the 
 shortest and easiest method of extending civi- 
 lization, promoting social connections, and of 
 rendering those unsettled wanderers better 
 and more useful subjects. Constituted as their 
 own clergy are, those ends cannot be obtained 
 either from their activity, or education. Let 
 then our holy emissaries be but once landed, 
 let them be endued with the Spanish tongue, 
 and armed with the Bible and the Cross, they 
 will penetrate farther, and subdue more than 
 50,000 bayonets. It has been customary- 
 when touching upon the habits of those vagrant 
 South Americans, to condemn them without a 
 palliative. Have we not amongst ourselves, 
 our proportion of murderers, and robbers, who 
 might be trebled in their numbers, were it not 
 for the terrors of the law ? — and as all laws of 
 so criminal a dye, are consequent upon actual 
 commission in the early stages of society, is it 
 strange that amongst them, the knife and the 
 lasso should be employed without remorse, 
 since few have been enacted, and these rarely 
 enforced, against the perpetrators of either ? 
 But to return from a digression already too 
 tedious. 
 
 The plan of instruction ever since the 
 banishment of the Jesuits, had been under a 
 public control, and the professors have been 
 nominated either by the crown, or the bishop 
 of the diocese. Cordova is the principal 
 seminar}^, but hke other districts throughout 
 the viceroyalty of La Plata, the studies are 
 limited to Latin, the system of ancient philo- 
 
S04 
 
 sophy, theology, with a smattering of civil and 
 a great deal more of canonical jurisprudence ; 
 nothing of mathematics, or the arts that 
 could enlighten the understanding, or tend to 
 hetter the general improvement. It was only 
 towards the close of the reign of the very last 
 of their viceroys, Don Pino, who encouraged 
 the estahlishment of ,a nautical school at 
 Buenos Ayres, that the marked hostility of 
 the crown was exhibited against all useful 
 sciences, in an order for its inmiediate aboli- 
 tion, and the sending of their youth to London 
 or to Paris, for accomplishments, was an illicit 
 measure, and a heinous contravention of long 
 standing edicts, emanating from the sovereign. 
 With a very few exceptions, all the itinerant 
 clergy I met with, some of whom are con- 
 stantly on the move through the interior, are 
 grossly ignorant, and intolerant. Their dress 
 is uniform, being black or dark coloured stock- 
 ings, a black vest, plain breeches, and over 
 them a sort of dark grey robe, fastened at the 
 neck with a button and loop, and round the 
 waist by a belt and buckle, its sleeves so wide 
 and long, that it is necessary for comfort to 
 turn them half-way up the wrist, and a large 
 black or white hat of wide dimensions. I 
 saw only one who could converse at all in 
 Latin, although their prayers are pronounced 
 in that language. There are three classes of 
 them under the denominations of curates, 
 doctors, and missionaries. The first are the 
 resident priests of parishes civilized, the second 
 officiate in the Indian districts, who recognize 
 
205 
 
 the Spanish supreniacy, and pay a poll tribute 
 of a dollar annually, and the last who are 
 apostolically engaged in the works of conver- 
 sion, amongst the recesses of the heathen. 
 
 An instance of depraved barbarity, and the 
 impotence of police, occurred on the evening 
 of the 25th of May. The wife of a soldier of 
 the 71st regiment, stationed at S". Rosa, had 
 walked over to the college, in company with a 
 friend to make some pm'chases, and during 
 the transaction was observed to change a 
 doubloon by some of the Spanish guard. 
 Those miscreants followed them homewards, 
 and when near to that village stabbed her 
 companion who died in a few minutes, and 
 mangled the unfortunate female with knives, 
 in such a manner that she survived only two 
 days. The spoil was taken from her, and sus- 
 picion being raised against a few absentees, 
 we insisted upon a scrutiny of their persons 
 and arms. There were marks of blood dis- 
 covered upon tAVO, which circumstantially 
 evidenced their guilt, but strong as such proof 
 was, yet no steps were taken either by the 
 captain of the guard, or by the landlord of the 
 house, and in a little time the matter dropped, 
 but it founded ever after a mutual hostility, 
 which soon broke out in some serious conten- 
 tions. There was a general apathy in the 
 people, as well as a relaxation in the law, to 
 bring forth any criminal to justice. The first 
 originated with the individual in a total igno- 
 rance of his common duty to society, the 
 little importance he attached to any commis- 
 
206 
 
 sion, however atrocious, and from a conscious 
 feeling that he himself would have been the 
 culprit under a like opportunity, or temptation. 
 As the functionaries of the state, and the 
 clergy, had absorbed far more than their 
 share of the pubhc revenue ; the crown whose 
 business it ought to have been to prosecute, 
 was constantly poor, and the treasury always 
 too empty to estabhsh any vigourous police 
 beyond the capital, or to hold out those re- 
 wards, so absolutely essential to accomplish 
 its great ends. This may in some degree 
 account for the last. 
 
 Upon the night of the surrender of Buenos 
 Ayres, several prisoners who had been confined 
 for various offences were released by mistake, 
 amongst whom there was one man of the 
 most notorious bad character, who was recog- 
 nized as an habitual murderer and robber. 
 Although the event did not at all interfere 
 with the judicial administrations of the city, 
 yet that fellow walked about the streets some 
 days after, with impunity, as some of the 
 inhabitants who knew him well said, to pepe- 
 trate more. His appearance and muscular 
 strength exceeded those of any man I ever 
 beheld, and his contour denoted him a villain. 
 Soon after the melancholy instance stated, 
 and upon one of our club nights, an officer 
 who had gone out of the room but a minute, 
 was struck by a black slave belonging to the 
 house, which ensued in a scruffle, and in a few 
 Mendozas well hit in upon the visage and body 
 of the sutty assailant. This not bemg deemed 
 
207 
 
 satisfactory enough, a representation of the 
 affair was made to his master, with a demand 
 of farther punishment, who promised to us all 
 that it should be inflicted in the morning. 
 This was enough, and we were satisfied, but 
 about eleven at night, after all had gone to 
 bed, a loud alarm of " Turn out, turn out," 
 roused every one from his pillow. This was 
 occasioned by the captain of the guard 
 having, without any notice, put two of our 
 servants into the stocks, which was commonly 
 done for petty faults. Some seized cudgels, 
 or sticks, and others tent-poles, with which 
 they sallied into the square, a few rushing 
 to the gateway of the college, to oppose the 
 entry of the guard, which they attempted in 
 vain. Our domestics were instantly liberated 
 and an intimation was given to the commandant 
 that if he did not keep his men at a respect- 
 able distance we would attack him, and 
 moreover that he had conducted himself like 
 a scoimdreL His reply not being agreeable, we 
 immediately closed with his troops, all of whom 
 were quickly disarmed, but not without leaving 
 some conspicuous traces of British energy 
 upon their outsides. This rough usage so 
 very unusual to the soldiers of the king, 
 worked upon their captain with the finest 
 medical effects, for a sudden cure upon his 
 temper was performed, which was ever after 
 most placid, and as gentlemanlike as could be 
 expected, at the same time it inspired all his 
 subordinates with a high respect for us, and 
 even a superstitious dread from the expressions 
 
208 
 
 they frequently uttered, that we were demons, 
 and not men. On the following morning a 
 severe earthquake Avas felt at a little distance, 
 which forced all of us from our rooms, and the 
 whole family from their house, who incessantly 
 crossed themselves while it continued. To 
 them it was a prolongation of terror, and a 
 few fancied that we had a concern in this 
 additional convulsion, for though they are fre- 
 quently in Peru, not one had heen remembered 
 in those parts by the oldest survivor. At this 
 period the weather had been changeable, the 
 mornings damp and foggy, with occasional 
 drizzling rain, until nine, Avhen the most 
 intense heat succeeded till five, and the nights 
 were piercing cold, with light hoar frosts. 
 Some days occurred at the time, of thunder 
 and lightning, during which the wind was 
 steadily from the South. The interval adduced, 
 was the month of June, which is there the 
 fall of the leaf, and the commencement of 
 winter. 
 
 In order to get free from so many restraints 
 as were prescribed for officers in the college, 
 and to have a wider range for observation, I 
 got permission to join some who were resident 
 eighteen miles farther into the vale of Cala- 
 macheyta, at the close of May. 
 
 Every one in his secret thoughts con- 
 templated the means of escape to our army 
 at Monte Video, and a certainty of our 
 early removal to Kioja, one hundred leagues 
 in advance amongst the mountains from 
 whence it would have been impossible, ac- 
 
5209 
 
 ceJerated the following adventure on the part 
 of Major Tolley, and Lieutenant Adam son, 
 of the 71st regiment, which for judicious 
 plan, its persevering resolution, its interesting 
 details, and final triumph over every difficulty, 
 well merits an insertion, and cannot he more 
 appropriately introduced than in this stage of 
 the narrative. I feel highly indebted to the 
 friendly pen of the latter gentleman for all the 
 particulars. 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 LONG before the British officers were 
 removed from the Indian frontiers, to the moun- 
 tains, several plans of escape were in agita- 
 tion, but all of them were abortive, from their 
 being upon too large a scale, or the vacillating 
 conduct of those who were concerned in it ; 
 all equally desirous to get off, but few inclined 
 to run the risk, or to take the necessary trouble 
 for effecting it. Several indeed were proposed 
 upon the march, and heartily acceded to, but 
 I'rom incautious conduct, in part, the Spaniards 
 suspected such a design, which of course ended 
 in nothing ; thus trifling with time, till dis- 
 tance had rendered the attempt impracticable 
 to any considerable number, without the most 
 imminent danger. 
 
 Amongst those who were engaged in the 
 
210 
 
 scheme, was Lieutenant Peter (now Lieutenant 
 Colonel) Adamson of the 71st regiment, who 
 after all his brother officers had resigned the 
 hopes of escape, never once abandoned the 
 project, but who as soon as the division of 
 prisoners had reached the vale of Calama- 
 ^ cheyta, examined every recess to the right 
 and left of the country, and by means of an 
 English sailor (John Toller, alias Snow) who 
 spoke the Spanish language fluently, tried 
 to communicate with some of the soldiers of 
 his own regiment working in the neighbour- 
 hood, to procure horses and guides. Having 
 arranged these, he then submitted the ex- 
 pedient to Major Tolley, who perfectly 
 acquiesced, and agreed to share in the dangers 
 attending its accomplishment. Some obstacles 
 still however interfered with its execution. 
 The want of a trusty conductor, and of a sum 
 adequate to defray the expences of so long a 
 journey, as the Spanish government was two 
 months in arrears to oiu' officers. But chance 
 remedied the first, and the kindness of friends 
 provided to their utmost, for the last. 
 
 All having been settled, the necessity of 
 gaining time and distance upon the enemy 
 became evident, and that too before they 
 could be missed. Major Tolley instantly 
 suggested an effectual stratagem, which was 
 to make a visit to some fellow prisoners, six- 
 teen miles in the country, and upon the line 
 of their escape, where they left letters of vari- 
 ous subsequent dates, to their brother mess- 
 mates in the college, which were to be sent 
 
211 
 
 in from time to time, soliciting supplies of 
 linen, apologizing for their absence being 
 deferred, and specifying a future day for 
 their return. By this, five were gained 
 in advance, before the Spanish commandant 
 had the smallest suspicion, but who on ascer- 
 taining that two officers had disappeared, 
 detached horsemen every where in pursuit, 
 and sent an express to Buenos A^^res to hiter- 
 cept them, if they should cross from the city, 
 as General Beresford, and Colonel Pack had 
 done. 
 
 Upon the 27th of May this party of three, 
 set off at mid-day, directing their course 
 through a romantic wild, nearly opposite to 
 St. Ignatius, from which they defiled into the 
 mountains, where was the residence of their 
 guide, but during this first day's trip, an 
 incident, not unforeseen, occurred, that was 
 nearly the means of overturning the enter- 
 prize. Their companion Snow, instead of 
 being circumspect and cool, got drunk at the 
 outset, and fell from his horse, in one of the 
 windings of the wood, which drew some 
 reflections from Major Tolley, upon Lieutenant 
 Adamson, for having encumbered them with 
 so imsteady a character. The whole however 
 arrived in three hours at the guide's house, 
 situated amongst high cliffs, when Snow was 
 put to bedy while the two other adventurers 
 adjusted their change of dress, and eat some 
 dinner already prepared, during which the 
 host and his wife went to collect the horses. 
 They had scarcely gone out, when their 
 
 y'2 
 
^12 
 
 daughter obliged them to secrete themselves,. 
 as a stranger had called at the door, who 
 remained till dark, when the young woman 
 conveyed the whole through a back door into 
 the woods, and from thence to the coral where 
 the cattle were. This she did with so much 
 address, as to convince them that it had not 
 been her first essay in artifices of a worse 
 description. Indeed the dwelling perched 
 like an eagle's nest amongst the rocks, and 
 impenetrable forests, favoured more of the 
 haunt of a banditti, than the abode of a farmer, 
 who candidly avowed his long connexion with 
 the gangs of smugglers, that frequent the im- 
 measurable plains which lay between it at 
 S\ Fe, whither he had engaged to conduct 
 them. 
 
 When the party reached the coral, the 
 guide, who was named Francisco Ortiz, pro- 
 duced three decent liorses, and some provisions 
 composed of boilded fowls, and bread, which 
 were slung across each in small bags behind 
 the saddles, after which they presented him 
 with six doubloons as an earnest of more. At 
 eight in the evening they commenced their 
 journey. The night was very dark, and their 
 road passed through a valley covered with 
 trees, whose depth obliged our travellers to 
 proceed for some hours Avith the utmost cau- 
 tion. As they attained a more open country, 
 a number of houses were in view which induced 
 the guide to make several detours, and to 
 enforce silence, as the inhabitants had not yet 
 gone to sleep. In this manner they travelled 
 
213 
 
 till the breakof day without meeting the smallest 
 obstacle, and fell in with the river Tercero at 
 the fall of Salta, where having entered into a 
 wood on its bank, the guide left them, and went 
 to a house at a short distance to change his 
 horse, which had been done up; returning with 
 another in an hour. They now pushed along 
 the left bank of the river till near Capilla; 
 a church and village situated amidst a beauti- 
 ful wood, where they were obliged to keep to 
 the left in a North-east direction, through an 
 extensive flat covered with clumps of trees, 
 but no houses ; when having gained a small 
 copse, it was proposed to remain till Francisco 
 got fresh horses. On his leaving them, Snow 
 was placed as sentry on the outside, while 
 the other two laid down to repose, having 
 travelled about twenty leagues, according to 
 time and conjecture. 
 
 Lieutenant Adamson having awakened 
 before the Major, he went to v^isit his outpost, 
 where he found his centinel in a deep slumber 
 notwithstanding the charges enjoined upon 
 him to vigilance. Such is too often the case 
 with men of that class, who for a momentary 
 ease will sacrifice any trust, and who look not 
 beyond the present hour. Their guide had 
 now been absent more than three hours, and 
 the sun drawing fast towards the horizon, 
 determined Adamson to arouse the others, in 
 order to deliberate upon future measures, 
 should their conductor have abandoned them. 
 Upon ascertaining their real situation, it is 
 impossible to paint the despondency that pre- 
 
214 
 
 vailed amongst this little party, in the first 
 instance from the fear of their being be- 
 trayed, and in the second from their igno- 
 rance of the course intended to be pursued, 
 for none of them had been inquisitive enough 
 to enquire about it. These considerations 
 involved them in the greatest preplexity, and 
 nearly overturned all their pains and labour. 
 Night was fast approaching, and decision 
 became imperative. A proposal to move in 
 search of the guide, was strongly opposed by 
 Adamson, Avho alleged that if he had no in- 
 tent to deceive them he would return, and if 
 he should find them absent, would consequently 
 direct his way homewards ; on the other hand 
 their leaving the wood upon tired horses would 
 be of no avail in their attemj^t to escape, as 
 Francisco was entire master of their plan ; 
 however it was carried against him, and forth 
 they sallied. JMost fortunately they met 
 him on his way to rejoin them, just as the sun 
 dipped, having been detained, he said, by an 
 acquaintance with wliom he had met, and from 
 whom he could not part without creating a 
 suspicion. Tliey now made for the banks of 
 the Tercero, which having reached, they 
 watered their poor jaded brutes, and took up 
 their abode for the night, in a deep wood to 
 the left. 
 
 The guide having unsaddled the horses, and 
 let them to grass in such a position, that they 
 could not stray far, produced his maleta, or 
 wallet, from which he drew some cold fowls 
 and bread, and Snow unbagged a horn of 
 
9A5 
 
 spirits. Tlie party made a most hearty meal 
 and then spread their saddle-geer upon the 
 ground as a hed, upon which, after wrapping 
 themselves in their ponchos, they laid down to 
 sleep, and enjoyed a most comfortahle nap, 
 which contrihuted to keep their spirits alive 
 for farther adv^entures. 
 
 The day had scarcely dawned when they 
 left the wood and river to the right, keep- 
 ing the open plain from a dread of surprize. 
 The guide was most anxious to press on for 
 the place where he mentioned he coidd obtain 
 a compleat supply of animals, but to their 
 great astonishment he suddenly stopped short, 
 from his entertaining doubts of the proper 
 road, and candidly confessed that it was two 
 years since he had travelled it, and then, for 
 the first time in his life! The major had often 
 hinted his surmises upon the fidelity of the 
 fellow's intentions, and his brother-ofiicer, 
 although nearly of similar opinions, was forced 
 to conceal, and outwardly to differ from them, 
 in order not to throw a damp upon the enter- 
 prize ; they however pressed the man to 
 explain himself in vain, and the whole jogged 
 on at a gentle pace, in total uncertainty. 
 
 Our travellers arrived at a thick wood to- 
 v>^ards noon, and having taken their station 
 close to a very remarkable tree, the guide was 
 permitted once more to leave them in search 
 of refreshments, and to acquire sure intelli- 
 gence respecting the proper tract, which he at 
 last told them would lead to a village, a few 
 leagues below S\ Fe, named Corunda, upon 
 
216 
 
 the right bank of the Parana, where he would 
 procure them either a boat to transport them 
 to La Colonia, opposite to Buenos Ayres, or a 
 conductor, through the remainder of the 
 journey. They now ventured to unsaddle tlie 
 fatigued and hungry beasts, and turned them 
 out to feed, while their attendant Snow, was 
 again entrusted Avith the duty of a look out, 
 at an opening of the forest, from whence many 
 people, and some droves of mules were espied, 
 it being adjoining to one of the great highways 
 leading from the pass of Feirera to Cordova. 
 After an absence of more than three hours, 
 Francisco arrived, directing them to mount 
 and follow him, still keeping into the open 
 country, where they went on at a rapid pace, 
 and towards sunset, they observed several 
 passengers with their loaded caravans from S\ 
 Fe, on their way also to Cordova, which urged 
 them to incline to the right, to avoid giving 
 the Spaniards the smallest clue by which they 
 could trace their steps, and a little before dark, 
 they touched upon a small rivulet, where it 
 was proposed to stop during the night. All 
 of a sudden, the guide here began to recollect 
 himself, and informed them he was perfectly 
 v»^ell acquainted with the distance of the house, 
 at which he had determined to change their 
 horses, and as he expressed himself, where he 
 had some good friends ; but still fairly confes- 
 sing that the road was difficult, and saying he 
 would get a person to shew him the way, 
 intreating them at the same time to be under 
 no apprehensions, as they were now beyond 
 
217 
 
 the possibility of discovery, or pursuit; alleging 
 also, that he had more cause to fear such an 
 event, than any of them. His arguments 
 appeared so far just, as well as his conduct, 
 which became more attentive and officious 
 than ever, that it was agreed he should take 
 his own way, although Adamson still continued 
 to watch him narrowly, as the circumstances 
 of changing his own horse so often, without 
 bringing fresh ones for the i)arty, had again 
 awakened the suspicions of that officer. 
 
 A spot was chosen for the night, under a 
 few trees which crowned the bank of the 
 rivulet, and the horses turned loose to their 
 own free will, for the first time since startinor. 
 A fire was soon kindled, and Francisco, after 
 again advising them to be under no uneasi- 
 ness, set out for a cottage at some distance, 
 for provisions. During his absence, an Indian 
 passed on horseback, seemingly taking no 
 notice of them as strangers, and after crossing 
 the stream, he returned in an hour, when he 
 eyed them attentively, and afterwards shaped 
 his way in a direct line for the house, whither 
 the guide had gone before. 
 
 Upon Francisco's coming back, which was 
 immediately after the Indian passed, he in- 
 formed the party, that a widow woman hved 
 there, from whom he had got some boiled eggs, 
 a piece of veal, besides some other articles, 
 which he began to prepare for supper, and he 
 also informed them that he had hired a boy, 
 to shew him the short cuts across the country, 
 but that he could not accompany them until 
 
218 
 
 daybreak. This was so gratifying, that the 
 three laid down to rest for the night, covered 
 as usual with their ponchos. 
 
 The anxiety of Lieutenant Adam son, had 
 however prevented sleep, and taking advantage 
 of the brightness of tlie moon, he awoke the 
 guide, urging him to recommence their journey 
 before day broke in. In obedience to this 
 wish, he collected their animals, and afterwards 
 led the party from the wood to a large 
 estancia, but desiring them to remain at a 
 short distance till he should call the boy, re- 
 marking also, that if all went on, it might 
 raise suspicion, which being so contradictory 
 to his assertions upon the preceding evening, 
 that they could hardly reconcile his vacillating 
 conduct, with his protestations of fidelity. In a 
 few minutes however he returned, bringing 
 along with him the identical Indian whom they 
 had noticed yesterday, but who now evidently 
 shunned their observation. At the moment 
 Adam son recognized the countenance which 
 he had seen before, and Major Tolley affirmed 
 confidently that he had been one of the escort 
 from the Lower Country, which had guarded 
 the prisoners, and that he was most probably 
 one of the perpetrators of the shocking murders 
 that had taken place at St. Ignatius, previous 
 to their outset. It was resolved however, not 
 to enter into conversation with the fellow, 
 nor even to know him, under a dread of un- 
 pleasant, consequences. After they had pro- 
 ceeded about a league, the Indian struck off 
 to the left, desiring the guide by no means to 
 
219 
 
 deviate from his present track, and that he" 
 would soon overtake them, being under the 
 necessity of going aside to a house where he 
 had left something, but what that was, none of 
 them could ever learn. 
 
 At the instant the Indian went off towards 
 the left, Francisco pushed on with an unpre- 
 cedented haste, noticing that they had yet to 
 ride a great way, and he appeared more pensive 
 than he had been hitherto, during the whole of 
 their progress. The part of the country 
 through which they had traversed this morn- 
 ing, appeared very thinly inhabited, and no 
 cattle or houses were any where visible ; a 
 circumstance truly extraordinary amongst 
 the plains, but after proceeding onwards a 
 few hours, several of both were seen to the 
 right, upon which, the guide directed them to 
 go on, while he attempted to procure a fresh 
 supply, from some people who were in that 
 direction. 
 
 As parting with him so often had caused 
 much inquietude, a plan was now adopted, 
 which was, that the whole of them should move 
 parallel with, and keeping him constantly in 
 view. He was soon observed to alight at a 
 coral, on which they partly stopped, and laid 
 themselves down upon the grass, until their 
 patience was exhausted, when Snow was 
 detached to reconnoitre the houses, but quickly 
 returned with a fresh horse from Francisco, 
 who also sent orders for them to set out, and 
 that he would soon be at their heels. Wiiile 
 they were getting ready to obey, the Indian 
 
220 
 
 joined, and Snow was directed to take him in 
 advance, and to keep him in conversation until 
 they should reach the place marked out by the 
 guide, while the two officers followed at some dis- 
 tance. Upon their arrival at a thick copse of 
 thorn-trees, and a muddy pond, with which 
 this part of the plain abounds, they halted and 
 fastened their horses, having first driven out a 
 formidable herd of cattle, who offered similar 
 demonstrations against themselves, by bellow- 
 ing round in a furious manner, and enraged at 
 being disturbed by such strange intruders. 
 Francisco came back in an hour, and allowed 
 them to remain no longer than while Adamson 
 let his horse loose, he mounting him with a 
 fresh one he had brought. He intimated ex- 
 treme perplexity at seeing a Creole, who he 
 said knew him, and urged their speedy de- 
 parture, which was promptly complied with, 
 for all were alike anxious to elude observation. 
 
 After having gallopped some leagues, they 
 again took shelter in another copse, where the 
 Indian left them; for what purpose none coidd 
 ascertain, but it was only for a very short 
 time, and upon his return muttered a few un- 
 intelligible words to the guide, when they set 
 out at full speed. 
 
 About two in the afternoon, our travellers 
 entered one of the most perfect flats they had 
 as yet beheld, in what are denominated the 
 plains of South America. These in general 
 abound in fine and gradual swells, sometimes 
 being crowned with a farm-house, and a grove 
 of peach-trees, at others, only the thistles and 
 
221 
 
 the grass intercept the eye and the horizon ; 
 while the intermediate spaces, pecuharly during 
 the spring, are overspread with the richest 
 clover, through whose invisible bounds the 
 herds and flocks roam unmolested, and at 
 freedom. But this presented during the day, 
 a surface level as the calmest ocean, thinly 
 covered with palm-trees, varied only by 
 patches of thorn-wood, where the vestige of an 
 animal could not be traced, or even the roving 
 Saltadore in this extensive wild, which all 
 around, seemed to be consecrated to silence. 
 
 Towards dusk the scene underwent a great 
 change, when the trees thickened, and nu- 
 merous herds were every where on their right 
 and left, which induced our adventurers to 
 imagine that they were fast approaching to a 
 stage, where every thing comfortable would be 
 provided for them, but where a very different 
 fare was in store. A house was soon observed at 
 a distance among the palmitas, to which Fran- 
 cisco and the Indian directed their way, under a 
 pretext of reconnoitering the premises, while 
 the party were charged to remain near a con- 
 spicuous tree, until their return, as the former 
 remarked it was the probable haunt of smug- 
 glers, or strangers, and he appeared to be more 
 cautious than ever; although the latter, as was 
 supposed, said he knew them well, that no 
 cause existed for any fear, because they could 
 not possibly meet with any to stop them 
 amongst such sequestered wilds. — The guide 
 pursued his first intention to take a close 
 view, and went on. 
 
222 
 
 In this place our refugees had contiiuied 
 nearly an lioin', when a singular shrill whistle 
 was heard, which on being imitated by 
 Adamson, the Indian stepped forward, and 
 assured them that all was clear, advising them 
 to mount and follow him. Francisco too 
 came up when near the house, and carried 
 them on to a large barn, or out-house, where 
 he had provided a lamp, and some hides for 
 their bed, as well as beef, pumpkins, and milk, 
 for supper ; giving as a reason, that the family 
 of the house being absent, there were not any 
 comfortable means for their accommodation, 
 and that he was much averse to any of the 
 slaves observing the strangers. 
 
 Nothing occurred during the night, as 
 every precaution was taken against a surprize, 
 and according to custom, Adamson roused the 
 guide early in the morning, to proceed without 
 delay, but was told they coidd not move till 
 the horses were brought in, as it is the prac- 
 tice in that country, to collect and drive all of 
 them into a square pen, named a coral, at sun- 
 set, when those who are selected for the use of 
 the following day, are retained, and the rest 
 are liberated, who often range some leagues 
 from the farm-house ; and it was to that prac- 
 tice, our adventurers were indebted in some 
 degree, for their preservation during the 
 night. 
 
 Francisco being strongly pressed, departed^ 
 but in a little time returned in seeming con- 
 sternation, saying that there were two Indians 
 from St. Ignatius without, expressing great 
 
223 
 
 wonder as to their intentions, for that they 
 were at all times very dangerous fellows. He 
 then took out his own Indian a second time, 
 and in a few minutes came round to the back 
 window of the barn, requesting those within 
 to hand out his saddle to him, and immediately 
 horses were heard to gallop off. In the mean 
 time, Snow, who was listening at the door, 
 could perceive the guide whispering something 
 into the ear of the principal female-servant, 
 but could not collect any more from it, than 
 that " you are very religious," which was deli- 
 vered in an angry, and a sneering tone. A 
 little alarmed at this, the whole paid a keen 
 attention to what passed without, but nothing 
 transpired of moment, when Francisco opened 
 the door, begging all to get ready, as the steeds 
 were saddled. Previous to going out, he sug- 
 gested they would draw their handkerchiefs 
 round their hats and chins, so that their eyes 
 only could be noticed, and then led them to 
 the back of the out-house, where they saw the 
 Indians mentioned, who were looking at the 
 troop with a minute attention, but what ren- 
 dered matters the most vexatious, was, to find 
 that the same horses they had used upon the 
 preceding day, with the exception of one, were 
 all that had been provided for the day before 
 them. He stated as an apology for this 
 breach of contract, that as the master had 
 gone abroad, he could not persuade the slaves 
 to accommodate them with others, without his 
 express permission. 
 
 The Indian according to the directions of 
 
224 
 
 Francisco, led them off at full speed, who was 
 observed to follow them in a short space of 
 time. As soon as he joined, he directed their 
 movements towards a wood, two leagues in 
 advance, where they were to await his arrival, 
 from some houses upon the left, where he 
 would not fail in getting a fresh remount. They 
 could not however avoid remarking, that the 
 guide instead of going directly to the point he 
 proposed, kept wavering and undecisive upon 
 their rear, and evidently very unwilling to 
 lose sight of them ; but the trees becoming so 
 thick, and the Indian carrying on rapidly, he 
 was soon out of view. In two hours they 
 reached a small clump of wood, where he 
 dismounted, but not admiring its position, 
 they again set out. 
 
 About two miles farther, a Spaniard came 
 on at full gallop and demanded peremptorily 
 of the Indian, whither they were going? For 
 if to S\ Fe, he said, the road lay much more 
 to their left. The fellow grew very sulky on 
 being so questioned, replymg that they were 
 upon a very good road, at the same time asking 
 Snow for his knife, which the stranger no 
 sooner saw than he struck off in great haste 
 to the left, leaving them to continue their 
 route, without further trouble. Snow being 
 immediately ordered to renew conversation with 
 the Indian, desired him to restore his knife, 
 and also asked him the reason of his borrowing 
 it at such a time. The fellow after great 
 hesitation at last returned it, saying very 
 cooly it was his intention to have killed the 
 
225 
 
 Spaniard if he had continued to tease him 
 with questions. Tlie i)arty attributed this to 
 the zeal of the villain to serve them, as they 
 had presented him with some money upon the 
 night before, to secure him to their interest, 
 although the sanguinary resolution surprized 
 them not a little ; but it had a very opposite 
 motive, as it will be evident in the sequel, his 
 only fear was the loss of his prey. 
 
 They very soon got to a wood which 
 much delighted, and seemed to suit the 
 Indian's fancy, in which their cattle were 
 unsaddled, and were fastened by their lassoes 
 to feed, while the Indian ascended to the top 
 of a tree, from whence he might espy the 
 approach of Francisco, or any stranger, and 
 Snow kept watch to the rear. The two 
 officers then reposed tolerably well for a few 
 hours upon the grass, but as the sun was now 
 fast verging down, and no guide was to be seen, 
 they began to conjecture that he must have 
 missed the wood, and directed the Indian to 
 go on to the houses mentioned, for intelligence. 
 He obeyed with great reluctance, and returned 
 with an odd story, just as the sun had gone 
 down. His message from the guide was, he said, 
 that they must send him money to purchase 
 fresh horses, and that otherwise, they must 
 restore those they already had. Such an in- 
 solent demand astounded them greatly, and it 
 was sometime before they could make any 
 reply ; at last he was told that Francisco knew 
 well enough they had none, as he had got all 
 they had upon their outset. The scoundrel in- 
 
 Q 
 
2^6 
 
 stantly demanded how much money had been 
 given to the guide, and several other questions 
 that plainly indicated they were betrayed. 
 He went even so far as to attempt untying 
 the horses to draw them off, which Adamson 
 no sooner perceived than he pulled a pistol 
 from his pocket, which very much disconcerted 
 the villain, and taking advantage of his confu- 
 sion, endeavoured to prevail upon him to 
 accompany them to Corunda, promising to 
 pay him yet more liberally than they had 
 i'rancisco, if he acted faithfully towards them; 
 but all without effect, for nothing could alter 
 him. 
 
 Finding every effort to procure another 
 guide inelFectual, it was resolved to accom- 
 pany the Indian to the house, in order that 
 they might learn themselves the cause of 
 Francisco's detention. After riding half an 
 hour they observed a bright fire some way off, 
 which the Indian said was lighted purposely 
 to guide him back, and as they approached 
 nearer he was informed by the party that they 
 were well armed, and prepared to resist any 
 attack, or insult offered ; and also that the 
 moment they could observe any symptoms of 
 treachery, he would most undoubtedly be the 
 first victim. He answered coolly that none 
 was meant, but said at last that their guide 
 was not at the house, nor did he know whither 
 he had departed, but that it was necessary he 
 himself should go on before, to sohcit accom- 
 modation fram the landlady for the night ; 
 engaging at the same time to accompany 
 
227 
 
 them in the morning to Corunda. Expediency 
 compelled them to accede to the rascal's sug- 
 gestion, who soon retiH'ned with an invitation 
 for them to sup and sleep at the house. 
 Determined that they should not fall into any 
 snare, Snow was pushed on to take a close 
 inspection of things, who came back and re- 
 ported that the place was full of men, declaring 
 he would not venture farther, and pronouncing 
 a weighty oath, mingled with a prayer, that 
 all was lost, as the Indian had just before told 
 him, he might be spared, but that the officers 
 should not escape. Conceiving that this ac- 
 count proceeded much more from a temporary 
 timidity, than any real danger, Adamson pro- 
 posed for the Major to keep the Indian in 
 charge, while Snow and himself made a second 
 trial to ascertain if Francisco was really 
 amongst them, or if it was planned to rob and 
 murder them, as was affirmed, to which pro- 
 posal Major Tolley readily agreed. 
 
 The night was extremely dark, and the 
 glare from the fire served only to render every 
 object upon its right and left, the more obscure, 
 which forced them to proceed onwards with 
 great caution. Upon a near approach they 
 were challenged by the same tone of whistle 
 that had been formerly used by the Indian, 
 which was again responded to by Adamson as 
 before ; upon which the word " Alerto," was 
 uttered in a low voice to his left, and almost 
 at the same instant, it was repeated in a cla- 
 mour to the right, when moving some paces 
 to the front, he observed a man with a lasso 
 
 q2 
 
228 
 
 in the act of doubling it back, and round his 
 head, in order to entangle Snow, who noticing 
 the effort, at the same moment, wheeled his 
 horse rapidly about and cried, " Jesus ! 
 Mr. Adamson follow me, we are all lost ! " he 
 galloping off* at full speed, in which he was as 
 quickly attended by his friend, who obeyed so 
 forcible an order without delay. 
 
 Upon their coming in contact with the 
 Major, and after briefly representing the cir- 
 cumstance to him, Adamson suggested, and 
 attempted to shoot the villain who had thus 
 betrayed them, but he was restrained by the 
 former, who would not consent to so rash an 
 alternative, which might tend to involve them 
 in still more serious consequences, but as the 
 moments were precious, and a pursuit cer- 
 tain. Snow thrust his long knife into the flank 
 of the Indian's horse, and compleatly disabled 
 him ; after which the whole set off" at full 
 speed through the wild, not knowing where 
 they were, or whither they went, or upon what 
 point they should direct their course. 
 
 Neither road, nor the vestiges of a track 
 could any where be seen, and they were fre- 
 quently impeded by thickets and copses, through 
 which it was no small difficulty to force their 
 way. Add to this, they momentarily expected 
 to hear the noise of those sanguinary banditti 
 at their heels, and still the fire appeared at a 
 short distance, which led them to suspect that 
 instead of leaving it behind in a straight line, 
 they were only moving round it, and if so, that 
 they must inevitably fall into their hands ^ 
 
229 
 
 the break of day, when they would be enabled 
 to collect their horses. Full of tliis idea, they 
 halted for a few minutes, as it was now essen- 
 tial to adopt some decisive plan for their 
 future operations. Two were submitted under 
 this dilemma. The first was, whether to per- 
 severe in their original scheme of going upon 
 S\ Fe, or secondly to shape their way for the 
 river Tercero, which would be a sure guide 
 for them to the Parana. The latter was 
 preferred, because the Indian being apprized 
 of the former, their destruction, had they 
 embraced it, would have been sure. This 
 resolution being fixed, Adamson now under- 
 took to conduct the party, and it being too 
 dark to distinguish the compass bearings of his 
 little pocket oracle, he took a star for his 
 director, and steered directly South. 
 
 Midnight having arrived, and conceiving 
 that they must have far out-run their enemies, 
 they rested until the rise of the moon, and 
 gave to their worn-out brutes some food and 
 respite, as well as to themselves, for Snow 
 volunteered to watch over them all. For this 
 purpose their cattle were unsaddled and tied 
 together with lassoes ; but this fresh instance 
 of confidence nearly ruined every thing, for 
 that fellow having taken the end of one of 
 them in his hand, while the animals were 
 feeding, he fell into a sleep, and being haunted 
 by frightful dreams, and the terrors of being 
 murdered, he started suddenly up with a loud 
 scream, at the same time letting go his hold, 
 when the horses set off at full gallop ! It is 
 
230 
 
 impossible to describe the melancholy reflec- 
 tions that now obtruded upon the minds of 
 those refugees, whose situation had thus be- 
 come in the last degree wretched ; but most 
 providentially, the horses being nearly ex- 
 hausted already, they did not stray far, and 
 after some trouble were again recovered. 
 
 Impressed by such repeated examples of the 
 little confidence they could place in their 
 attendant, they immediately remounted, hurry- 
 ing on towards the South until hght broke in, 
 which was attended by so thick a fog that the 
 whole had nearly stumbled into the Tercero, 
 whose banks they reached much sooner than 
 they hoped for, having travelled during the 
 night more than forty miles. But when they 
 arrived upon them, they could neither hit upon 
 a fording place, nor were they aware of what 
 guard or village they were approaching, which 
 made it prudent for them to creep slowly 
 along the left side in quest of intelligence, as 
 they were now wet, cold, and hungry. As 
 the thickness however dispelled, they entered 
 a small cottage, where a few females were, 
 who kindly gave them some mattee, quite 
 warm, which, with an excellent fire, enlivened 
 their spirits greatly. It was here also they 
 obtained such information as to determine 
 them to cross the river as soon as possible, 
 and afterwards to proceed steadily along its 
 right bank, until they should attain the 
 Parana. 
 
 Before tliey moved at first from the vale of 
 Calamacheyta, Major Tolley advanced many 
 
231 
 
 objections against their starting with so slender 
 a stock of money, for both together could 
 muster only eleven doubloons, and three 
 English guineas. From that sum they had 
 now paid their treacherous guide six doubloons 
 at the outset, and of course they were after- 
 wards poorly provided to undertake a journey 
 of seven hundred miles, through an enemy's 
 country, which still lay before them, without a 
 conductor, or a friend, or even a correct idea 
 of the roads they ought to pursue to elude 
 their foes. Under those existing considera- 
 tions, Major Tolley advised their return to 
 St. Ignatius, from which their escape might as 
 yet be doubtful, where they might recruit 
 their finances and other necessaries to enable 
 their renewing the attempt, throwing out also 
 some reflections upon Adamson, for his too 
 sanguine temper, and his premature measures, 
 which were in some respects just. The latter 
 however being resolute to persevere, the Major 
 acquiesced likewise, under a conviction that 
 they had now gone too far to recede. 
 
 Having remained a short time with those 
 hospitable women, they entered a thick wood 
 upon the bank of the Tercero, with a view to 
 refresh the horses previous to their crossing it. 
 In this recess every plan for the future was 
 more clearly arranged, and the Major changed 
 his poncho for a blanket, which he had hitherto 
 worn under his saddle, so that they might not 
 be traced out by their dresses. 
 
 At eleven o'clock they forded the river in 
 presence of some Spanish soldiers, who mistook 
 
232 
 
 the Major for a priest, in this disguise, at the 
 village and guardia of Frailem Muerto. Not 
 choosing to pass through this place, they went 
 some hundreds of yards above it, upon the 
 Cordova road, from whence they darted abruptly 
 to the left, making a detour through the woods, 
 which brought them to a post-house, between 
 it and Saladillo, about five leagues distance. 
 Being in want of every thing. Snow was sent 
 to that spot to buy bread, while the officers 
 penetrated a little into the forest on the side 
 of the river, there to await his return. He 
 had scarcely however come back with a very 
 inadequate supply, when they were seen by 
 a negro, who believing them to be robbers, 
 immediately went for a Spanish corporal and 
 two soldiers to apprehend them. At first the 
 former was very shy, but imagining that the 
 negro might be mistaken, he approached them 
 more closely, and upon ascertaining that they 
 were white })eople, he behaved Avith great civi- 
 lity, although his conduct fully evinced that 
 he knew them, but affected ignorance of it. 
 Upon his understanding that they wanted 
 horses, he invited them to his house, and 
 offered to sell them as many as they required, 
 telling Adamson, who felt a little backward, 
 not to be alarmed, for he would treat them as 
 well as his humble cottage afforded. Although 
 they were averse to the risk of communicating 
 with any one who might be induced to form 
 plots against them, yet it had become a mat- 
 ter of necessity, as well as to assume a cheer- 
 fulness of manner, as a blind to the people, 
 
233 
 
 who now began to be very inquisitive about 
 them, and it was not without some address 
 they shifted the many questions proposed by 
 them. The party now imposed themselves 
 as merchants from the interior, who were on 
 their way to the Parana, to bring back Mer- 
 chandize, some of which was contraband, 
 and that it was their desire to pass on with 
 secrecy, in the prosecution of such an object. 
 Apparently crediting this assertion, the cor- 
 poral led them to an old dismounted waggon, 
 which had been converted into a residence for 
 himself and family, where they were regaled 
 with some hot mattee, and purchased two 
 horses for six dollars, and the father of the 
 wife was mounted upon another, who ac- 
 companied them into the main road, and past 
 a post-house, as they were afraid to continue, 
 although pressed hard, to sojourn some hours 
 longer, and promised roast beef for supper. 
 
 It was quite dark when they left the wag- 
 gon, and about midnight they struck into a 
 wood two leagues distant from Saladillo, and 
 having taken every precaution against another 
 escape of their cattle, they laid down to sleep, 
 it being more than forty-eight hours since 
 they had enjoyed any rest. 
 
 Before day, our adventurers resumed their 
 way, in order to pass Saladillo about sunrise, 
 but to their grievous disappointment, found that 
 their purchases of yesterday were both lame, 
 which obliged them to apply at a farm-house 
 for a fresh supply. The landlord of it no 
 sooner saw the brute upon which Snow was 
 
234 
 
 mounted, than he claimed it as having been 
 stolen from his uncle, and very plainly told the 
 party that he knew them very well, but that it 
 was far from his intention, either to detain or 
 betray them ; on the contrary, he engaged 
 to give them the best cattle he had for their 
 purpose, and the best advice in his power, if 
 they would accompany him to his house at 
 the distance of a league. He shrewdly 
 remarked at the same time, that he wished 
 well to the English, whom he would rejoice to 
 see in possession of the country, as they were a 
 very superior people to those who now held 
 it. Our adventurers attempted still to pass 
 upon him the tale of their being smugglers, 
 but the man replied, " Yes yes, I know well 
 enough what you want to smuggle, plenty of 
 powder and ball; however I sincerely wish you 
 success." Finding that no alternative was 
 left, they accordingly accepted the invitation, 
 and on going in, were sumptuously refreshed, 
 and their maletas replenished with beef suffi- 
 cient for some ensuing days. While all those 
 preparations were going on, the man's father 
 entered the house, and on being informed 
 whom the strangers were, he expressed great 
 surprize at the boldness of the undertaking ; 
 saying that it was impossible they could 
 escape. The son contradicted this opinion by 
 replying he was wrong, for " He knew the 
 English, that they were a brave nation, and 
 capable of much greater things," while he at 
 that instant turned round to them hastily and 
 said, " Tell me my friends what made you come 
 
235 
 
 upon this side of the river ? It is a great won- 
 der you have got on so far, but you must 
 cross it again immediately, for you cannot be 
 in safety here, and in the mean while you 
 must go down to its bank, and there conceal 
 yourselves until past sunset, when I will bring 
 you horses, and a guide to conduct you over 
 the ford at Cruz-alto." They instantly fol- 
 lowed his directions, and the man proved faith- 
 ful to his promise, with the exception of some 
 imposition in the value of the cattle, who were 
 truly miserable creatures; but they rejoiced to 
 get off with the expence of a doubloon. 
 
 Their companion who was to lead them to 
 Cruz-alto, and across the river, was by birth a 
 Cordovan, and a deserter from Buenos Ayres, 
 but he gave them the most judicious and 
 honest advice, begging them by all means to 
 keep the left bank of the Tercero, and some 
 way into the plain, to avoid the guardia of 
 Esquina, or elbow of that river, until they 
 reached near to S\ Fe, where they might make 
 a push upon the Parana, either above, or below 
 St. Lorenzo. He then offered to sell his 
 blunderbuss, but finding them scarce of money, 
 took his leave, and wished them a prosperous 
 journey, about nine o'clock at night, after 
 having conducted them a mile into the plain. 
 
 Soon after parting, our refugees having lost 
 the tract, wandered some hours in this waste, 
 in a state of uncertainty whether they were 
 gaining or losing ground, until nearly ex- 
 hausted, in search of a shrub or bush, to whicli 
 they might have fastened their horses, but 
 
236 
 
 none could be seen. Snow was detached a 
 little to the left, to examine a spot which 
 appeared very dark, and to try if shelter could 
 be found ; but in the mean time the wind rose, 
 and along with it so thick a fog, that objects 
 could not be discerned at ten yards distance. 
 Nothing therefore now remained but to stop 
 where they were, in order that their attendant 
 should not miss them in the morning. Ac- 
 cordingly the cattle were fixed together by a 
 lasso, the Major placing the other end of it 
 round his arm, for security, but this had nigh 
 proved fatal, for the brutes taking fright, drag- 
 ged him after them a considerable way, before 
 Adamson could assist him, and the accident 
 hurt him severely. In the morning Snow 
 rejoined, having spent the night as uncomfort- 
 ably as themselves, completely wetted through 
 with dew. After a quick movement through 
 the plain, chiefly guided by their pocket- 
 compass, they gained a post-house at sunset, 
 about twenty leagues from S\ Fe, without any 
 remarkable incident, and it was the first night 
 since their setting out, that they were lodged 
 under a roof, and in a state of security. The 
 inhabitants yielded an implicit credence to 
 the story of their being smugglers, treated 
 them with the most liberal hospitality, consi- 
 dering their humble circumstances, and it was 
 with much reluctance they w^ould accept of 
 a dollar, for their kind entertainment of both 
 men and brutes, through the evening and the 
 night. 
 
 The horses being greatly refreshed by their 
 
SS7 
 
 plentiful cheer, they travelled at a very round 
 rate in the morning, and having gone some 
 leagues, they reached a ford, to which they 
 had been directed, where it was resolved by the 
 party to breakfast upon its edge. This step 
 produced another untoward accident, which 
 nearly rendered all their labours and sufferings 
 unavailing, for the unruly animals taking 
 fright at something or other, flew off while 
 they were sitting on the grass, tearing Major 
 Tolley's saddle almost to pieces, and they had 
 no sooner recovered them than a Creole 
 accosted them, saying, " that he knew them to 
 be English, and advised them to be cautious, 
 as guards were posted along the whole bank of 
 the Parana, who had already apprehended two 
 people in attempting to make their escape." 
 Immediately on their being informed of this, 
 the party mounted, forded the river, and di- 
 rected their course upon St. Lorenzo, near to 
 which, they arrived before sunset, and at a 
 small hut belonging to a Paraguay Indian, 
 who was the herdsman of a large estancia. To 
 him they repeated their old tale, begging to 
 learn from him, if a canoe could be hired or 
 bought, to bring up their goods, which they 
 told him consisted of many articles, but more 
 particularly of black tobacco, (of which those 
 natives are concessively fond,) and if horses or 
 mules could afterwards be procured to trans- 
 port them into the interior, before the Spaniards 
 could have intelligence of their proceedings. 
 The Indian and his wife gave their advice, and 
 most heartily combined in the scheme, pledging 
 
238 
 
 himself to have cattle ready against their 
 return, providing that they would in turn 
 engage to rendezvous at his house, and to 
 employ him as a joint-labourer in the business, 
 which he seemed to relish greatly. 
 
 In order to confirm his sincerity and zeal 
 in their cause, he proposed at once to go in 
 search of a canoe, which was eagerly seconded 
 by them, and Snow having been provided with 
 another horse, accompanied him to strike the 
 bargain. They were however unsuccessful, 
 and it was agreed on to rest in his cabin during 
 that night, and to proceed early the following 
 morning to the neighbourhood of St. Pedro, 
 where this Paraguayan had fellow-countrymen, 
 whom he said would assuredly accommodate 
 them. 
 
 After having travelled about six leagues, 
 they arrived early next morning at this 
 wretched hut of skins, where they found that 
 the canoe was quite out of order, which com- 
 pelled our adventurers to wait nearly two days 
 in concealment. Upon one of these, while 
 Snow was smoking a segar at the fire that was 
 burning on the ground, while the two others 
 were hidden by a sort of partition, a Spanish 
 Serjeant entered the cabin, and immediately 
 began a conversation with the former, which 
 turned chiefly upon the operations of the 
 English on the opposite side of the river. 
 Understanding from Snow that he was well 
 acquainted in Monte Video, the soldier ex- 
 pressed himself in the most doleful terms upon 
 its fall ; asking " If the English were devils, 
 
239 
 
 or had wings, for how was it possible, added 
 he, they could otherwise have got in ?" Snow 
 consoled him by replying " That they were a 
 very bad peopley and that he did not doubt 
 but they might have some connexion with 
 evil spirits, if they were not actually such 
 themselves'' — upon which, the old Serjeant 
 took his departure, exclaiming in a loud, but 
 woeful tone — Oh Monte Video ! — Oh Monte 
 Video ! 
 
 The canoe having been reported as fit for 
 service, Adam son and Snow went to examine 
 into the truth of it, but found upon trial, that 
 she would not keep afloat above ten minutes. 
 It was then represented to their Indian friend, 
 that another must be procured, as it would 
 damage all their merchandize, upon which he 
 promised to obtain a good one six leagues 
 farther down the river, if they woidd give him 
 nine dollars as a recompense for his trouble. 
 Having acceded to the proposal, the party set 
 out immediately, and by three in the after- 
 noon, they stipulated with another Indian and 
 his companion, to carry them to the mouth of 
 the Parana, at Martin Garcias, for fifty dollars. 
 At last they embarked with a sheep, a dollar's 
 worth of bread, and two horns full of spirits, 
 after fourteen days and nights of wandering, 
 and laying amongst the woods and the plains. 
 
 The river Parana, so far as our travellers 
 had an opportunity of examining it, or could 
 learn, is here about three leagues in breadth, 
 and widens gradually to ten, opposite the 
 island of Martin Garcias, receiving before it 
 
240 
 
 reaches that part, several very large rivers, and 
 especially the Urugay, by whose addition it 
 constitutes the Plata. Upon the South side 
 of the Parana, there are many insular spots, 
 some of which are very fme and broad, being 
 also six and eight leagues in length, excluding 
 from the view by their beautiful woods, every 
 other prospect. The numerous labyrinths 
 which are formed by them, present many, and 
 perplexing obstacles to the inexperienced navi- 
 gator, and it demands a long practice, and a 
 thorough knowledge of them all, to qualify any 
 one in assuming the pilotage of vessels of 
 little burden, either up or down the stream. 
 The open water to the North too, owing to its 
 shallowness and breadth is very precarious, 
 particular when the Pamperos or South winds, 
 blow, which frequently drive the Indian canoes 
 on shore, and often dash them into pieces, even 
 amongst the narrow intervals between the 
 islands. 
 
 Behold then those adventurers embarked in 
 a little vessel hollowed out from a single tree, 
 not more than seventeen feet in length, or two 
 in breadth, with two paddles, a mast, and a 
 sail made from two horse-rugs. Thus pro- 
 vided, they had yet to navigate near one 
 hundred and seventy miles of this wonderful 
 river, and totally left to their own resources, 
 as the Indians were utter strangers to it, they 
 having never been below St. Nicolas, a village 
 upon its bank, about forty five-leagues from 
 Buenos Ayres. Our travellers miscalculated 
 greatly the time, and the stores necessary to 
 
^41 
 
 accomplisli finally their undertaking, imagining 
 that two days would have placed tliem oppo- 
 site to Colonia, which was the point aimed at, 
 hilt they were much retarded hy adverse winds, 
 and were once more compelled to put ashore 
 for food, which they happily procured at a few 
 huts on their way down. The poor Indians 
 appeared uneasy on their passing heyond St. 
 Nicolas, hut on being told that Snow was a 
 complete pilot for the whole river, they were 
 perfectly reconciled, and gave themselves little 
 concern, except when any of the party com- 
 plained of the unfavourable breeze, when the 
 poor faithful creatures would say, their masters 
 must have patience, a virtue which they had 
 much need to practice. 
 
 After a train of persevering efforts, they 
 passed the village of the Conchos during the 
 night of the 19th of June, and having got 
 well down the river Plata upon the following' 
 day, they gained sight of his Majesty's gun- 
 brig, the Charwell, at that time cruizing 
 amongst the narrows. It is needless to add, 
 that their reception was Warm and kind, and 
 that they were not long before they expe- 
 rienced the luxury of clean linen, having not 
 once shifted themselves since their elopement, 
 or enjoyed one night of secure' repose. Their 
 state and feelings may easily be surmised. 
 
 The two honest Paraguayans were rewarded 
 far beyond their contract or their hopes, their 
 canoe was unexpectedly restored to them, they 
 were loaded with every necessary for their 
 voyage homewards, and went away strongly 
 
 R 
 
242 
 
 impressed with a high idea, which they would 
 doubtless spread abroad amongst their coun- 
 trymen, of British talents, courage, generosity, 
 and honour. 
 
 As for Snow he too was recompensed beyond 
 his expectations, and had it in his option either 
 to enter into the fleet, or to take a passage to 
 England, and as he preferred the former, was 
 allowed to remain. Although his conduct had 
 been stained by unsteadiness, he was still 
 staunch to his trust, and he was greatly aiding 
 in the final success of the enterprize, by his 
 knowledge of the Spanish language, and of 
 seamanship. 
 
 The recovery of two officers who were so 
 intimately acquainted with the geography of 
 Buenos Ayres, and its environs, were of high 
 moment at so peculiar a crisis, and as their 
 zeal to serve their country, was strongly 
 manifest, both in the motive that induced, and 
 the hazards they ran to return to it, so was 
 it effectively consummated by a tender of 
 their abilities as companions in arms, with that 
 expedition which was soon after undertaken 
 from Monte Video, against the capital; in 
 which Lieutenant Adamson was severely 
 wounded in the hand. They were universally 
 congratulated by their brother-soldiers, and 
 both are still in existence; respected not more 
 on account of this lasting memorial of their 
 fortitude as men, than from the subsequent 
 distinguished tenor of their military lives. 
 
248 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 SOON after those officers disappeared, pre- 
 parations were made to transport the others from 
 their different quarters, in separate divisions, 
 towards the mountains, and one detachment 
 was put in motion towards Rioja, early in 
 June. As the travelhng in carriages was now 
 impracticable, mules were the only substitutes, 
 the dearness of which, and the poverty of the 
 government, were the or.ly o1)stacles that inter- 
 fered with a general and a simultaneous 
 movement of the whole body, towards the 
 upper districts. The Spaniards often taun- 
 tingly jeered us, that as we had invaded their 
 country in search of gold, we might depend 
 upon having enough of it before we left them ; 
 and there is little doubt but that our final des- 
 tinies would have been placed amongst the 
 mountains of Potosi, if they had not been 
 diverted by those military events at Buenos 
 Ayres, in the beginning of July, which com- 
 promised for our release. 
 
 This fresh and partial removal, caused 
 another attempt to avoid so sad a doom, on the 
 part of Captain Jones of the 71st regiment, 
 Lieutenant Sampson of the St. Helena corps, 
 and Mr. Davis of the East India service; which 
 did not terminate so happily, for being betrayed 
 by their guide, to whom they had given at the 
 outset too liberal an earnest, they were over- 
 
 R 2 
 
2U 
 
 taken by a few soldiers from the guard at St. 
 Ignatius, before they had fled fifty miles, and 
 carried to Cordova, which is about twenty-two 
 leagues North-west from the college. About 
 the same time the suspicions of the Spanish 
 Government rose to a very high pitch against 
 every Englishman, for the governor of that 
 place put a soldier of the 71st to the torture, 
 under pretext of his being privy to some insur- 
 rectionary plot, but nothing transpired from 
 that cruel infliction, and every officer in the 
 town was debarred from his usual indulgencies, 
 by a public order against their going abroad. 
 As for myself, I had continued in a peaceful 
 retreat, amongst the hills that all along diver- 
 sify the vale of Calamacheyta, situated near to 
 one of the many streams which intersect its 
 plains. Our mess consisted of three, and we 
 tenanted the end of a large wheat granary, 
 for five dollars per month. On going thither, 
 I purchased two very fme cream-coloured 
 horses, and a little hardy brown pony, which 
 was better adapted for the stony roads and 
 soil, that every where prevail, for nine dollars, 
 because in that spot, almost detached from 
 mankind, riding was the only amusement. 
 We adopted a new method to secure that 
 property against those vagrant peons who 
 swarm hereabouts, as well as in other parts, 
 by allowing to a slave of our landlord, half a dol- 
 lar per week to fasten each animal with a brood 
 mare, Avhich were almost domesticated to our 
 habitation, and who was obliged by his con- 
 tract, to bring them into a stable in the 
 
245 
 
 morning, from whence we took them in suc- 
 cession, as we generally tired out the whole 
 every day. Taught hy experience too, we 
 never cropped any of their natural tails. 
 
 The uniform surface of the rising grounds 
 in those parts is a stony pebhle, and the her- 
 bage a heathy coarse pasture, which the flocks 
 of sheep, and small breed of horses, prefer to 
 the broad-leafed luxuriant grasses, that grow 
 spontaneously in the intervening hollows. The 
 mutton was delicious from those animals, who 
 commonly had three lambs, with some four, 
 and others five horns, and their wool was 
 reckoned of a very superior kind, which was 
 carefully and regularly shorn for the manu- 
 factories of every private family, while all the 
 excess met a ready market at Cordova, where 
 some very flourishing establishments are, both 
 for cloth and cotton fabrics. That industrious 
 capital of the province of Tucuman, situated 
 upon the direct road from Buenos Ayres to 
 Peru, diffuses a commercial spirit many miles 
 around it, as it might have been termed at the 
 period of which I speak, one of the principal entre- 
 pots for the gold and silver of Peru, as well as for 
 the various mercantile transits from La Plata, 
 its own staple commodities of vegetable and 
 handiwork production, and of those numerous 
 herds of mules in the surrounding districts, 
 that altogether constituted the returns to that 
 viceroyahy for the precious metals. It is not 
 to its local advantages alone, that city is in- 
 debted for its prosperity at the present day. 
 That wealth which flows from mechanical 
 
246 
 
 labour, may be retraced in its origin to the 
 institutions of the Jesuits, for wherever their 
 footsteps can be marked throughout the coun- 
 try contiguous to theironce virtuous abodes, the 
 loom and the distalF are exclusively amongst 
 the appendages of the meanest hut. A hand- 
 some memorial of that order is still extant 
 in Cordova, although converted to other pur- 
 poses in the college, which all who were 
 resident said, was a building that seemed as if 
 consecrated to ages, but which has unfor- 
 tunately for the universal good, been decreed 
 long to outlive their beneficent empire. In 
 room of the fathers, there are now many 
 clerical institutions, an university, and a place 
 set apart for the tuition of the higher classes, 
 from distant quarters in the provinces of La 
 Plata. 
 
 Several officershavingformed an acquaintance 
 with some families at the village of Spenies, 
 about twelve leagues distant, represented the 
 track in a South-east direction, as every where 
 moimtainous, and rocky. They visited a 
 farmer named Don Gregorio Eerrotaran, 
 who inhabited a house far superior to any 
 they had seen in their journey, which was 
 whitewashed, and covered with tiles, but it was 
 seated amidst hills and cliffs, and from whence 
 they ascended to the immense heights of 
 Potociorco, which yielded an extent of pros- 
 pect, more than fifty miles, through the plains 
 leading towards liuenos Ayres. In order to 
 obtain a still better view, they scrambled up a 
 ridge on the top, of nearly forty feet high, and 
 
247 
 
 one hundred and sixty yards in hreadtli, where 
 they coidd distinguish only three small huts 
 along the entire range^ and two rivulets visible 
 to the eye, as deriving their sources from 
 the North and South-west quarters, which 
 passed througli to an undetermined point, 
 occasionally watering the low grounds. That 
 gentleman's ostensible profession was a sheep- 
 dealer, and farmer, although he had many 
 cattle, and no fields cidtivated beyond those 
 that were necessary for his family and domes- 
 tics. An excursion they took to another 
 dwelling, which they described as having a 
 much grander appearance, convinced them 
 that the population was extremely thin, and 
 improvement in its infancy. Near to the 
 last, in this sequestered wild, there was an 
 oritory with a priest, and four huts, whose 
 tenants composed his congregation, which they 
 also attended, having a few quince and peach- 
 trees about them. Their entertainment was 
 abundant, and kind, and it being Sunday pre- 
 vious to their return homewards, the padre of 
 the chapel was invited to dine with them, who 
 had little conversation, but adjourned to cards 
 immediately after, where he sat till night, 
 while the girls and the rest were dancing. The 
 same young ladies returned the visit soon after, 
 notwithstanding the distance, without any pro- 
 tectors, and they spent three pleasant days at 
 an estancia, about three miles from our's in 
 the vale, enjoying partly the same amusement 
 in the evenings, and horse-racing through the 
 day. To these our mess was invited, and I 
 
248 
 
 had an opportunity to observe in them all, 
 much unaffected good-nature, under rather a 
 ludicrous dress, which was a dark riding-habit 
 with petticoats tied outwards, and very large 
 hats stuffed with lofty ostrich feathers, point- 
 ing different ways. When going forth to the 
 race-ground about a mile oft, three of them 
 were mounted upon one horse, and the latter part 
 of their attire rendered each animal and his 
 groupe of riders, most truly laughable. 
 
 Our landlord held a large farm upon a fine 
 level, as well as cattle and horses, who did not 
 go beyond his boimds, and flocks that roamed 
 about the hills. He was besides a considerable 
 dealer in wheat, which was stored in the op- 
 posite end of the house we tenanted, and was 
 occasionally retailed, but his chief traffic in it 
 was with Cordova, as that in. mules extended 
 to Salta in Tucuman, although thev were fre- 
 quently sold to dealers, who buy them up 
 purposely some months previous to ]March, 
 when the grand annual fair is held there. 
 From his intercourse with the former place, 
 he was far more intelligent in the general 
 barter of the country, than most of his com- 
 peers, but he was peculiarly reserved in his 
 temper, and evinced a professional avarice, 
 even in his subordinate transactions with our- 
 selves. We pressed him much to sow some 
 vegetables, of which he had the seeds, and to 
 plant a few potatoes, a root that is known to 
 many, of a sweetish taste, but he declined both 
 on the score of trouble, although it must be 
 confessed that he paid more attention to, and 
 
249 
 
 had a greater extent of land luider corn crops, 
 than any farm I liad remarked througliout our 
 travels. 
 
 It was our practice in this retreat, every 
 morning after breakfast, and before taking the 
 exercise of the day, to read and set down a 
 portion of the Spanish Grammar, which was 
 the only mean we possessed of attaining that 
 language. Having as usual finished my own 
 lesson, and locked up the book in which it was 
 registered, in my potak, or small leathern 
 trunk, we were astonished to see a long line of 
 soldiers, descending from the heights in front 
 of our house, with an officer at their head. 
 Not anticipating that the records of parole, 
 subscribed by those Spanish officers who were 
 comprehended in the capitulation of Buenos 
 Ayres to the British, would ever be required, 
 after we ourselves had become prisoners in our 
 turn, I always inserted my morning exercise 
 within the same cover that contained them. 
 Little did we think that the volume alluded to, 
 could be the object of so great a military force, 
 and it had been just placed on the top of other 
 articles in my box, in a careless manner. But 
 the sequel will shew that it was deemed of 
 much value, by the public authorities at 
 Buenos Ayres, and Cordova. 
 
 Having, as already stated, filled the office 
 of Commissary for prisoners of war, in the 
 capital, it occured to General Liniers, that I 
 must consequently be the depositary of all the 
 documents .connected with it. Before our 
 departure from it, great preparations were 
 
250 
 
 made by vokiiitary levies, not only for the 
 immediate purposes of police, but for the 
 future defence of the city against attack, 
 which the most sagacious foresaw, would ere 
 long be made. Their agents in Monte Video 
 after its surrender to the British, were numer- 
 ous and active, and from those sources the 
 government at Buenos Ayres were regularly 
 furnished, not only with the authentic parti- 
 culars of every local occurrence, but also with 
 those that were most recent in Europe. Thus 
 they were early apprized of that expedition 
 which meditated the blow, even almost before 
 it left our ports, when it was enforced upon 
 them as a high duty to make ready for the 
 worst. Although late events had aroused a 
 military enthusiasm amongst the people, and 
 the better orders of their youth, still the 
 Buenos Ayerean army, with all its numbers, 
 was no better than a rabble, from a total want 
 of either knowledge or experience in its officers. 
 The best, and the most effective of that class, 
 were still under the same restraints of honour 
 not to serve against us until regularly ex- 
 changed, as if the reconquest of the city had 
 never taken place, and as they could not, like 
 soldiers, be created at the moment of emer- 
 gency, so the public determined to remedy 
 this deficiency at once, by another bare-faced 
 sacrifice of integrity and good faith. 
 
 It was at such a crisis of state necessity, 
 that Captain Martinez, its delegated agent, 
 appeared with his guard, in search of a record, 
 the only existing tie that bound those military 
 
251 
 
 servants to a perfect neutrality, wliicli many 
 of themselves were reluctant to violate either 
 from a dread of future consequences, or an 
 assumed sense of propriety, unless the original 
 was restored, or for ever cancelled. In short, 
 his grand aim was, in obedience to his instruc- 
 tions, to regain the effective use of those men 
 in the ensuing campaign, which was to be 
 decisive of the continuation, or overthrow of 
 the Spanish empire over I.a Plata. 
 
 That officer having arrived, formed his 
 guard close to our door, and having called me 
 out by my official name, he pulled two papers 
 from his pocket, which he announced to me 
 were his authorities for his present proceedings, 
 as well as that they were separate orders for 
 me to deliver up the book containing the signa- 
 tures of parole from the Spanish officers who 
 became prisoners at the capture of Buenos 
 Ayres, by the English, signed by General 
 Liniers, and the Governor of Cordova. He 
 farther intimated a pledge " That it would be 
 returned after it had ])een inspected by those 
 individual heads." These two documents in 
 the Spanish original are now in the transport- 
 office. He added verbally " That if I did not 
 surrender them readily, or peaceably allow him 
 to search for them, he must use force to compel 
 me." Thereplywasinstantaneous"Thatthebook 
 was not by me, that the key of my potak was 
 in my waistcoat pocket, from whence it should 
 not be transferred unless forced from it, and 
 that I would consider him personally amenable 
 for so constrained an act, upon some future 
 
25^ 
 
 day." After a tedious discussion in the front 
 of his guard, he took me aside to the gable 
 end of our house, and addressed me in a half- 
 wisper, " That seeing me absolutely resolved 
 not to comply with his wishes, and being averse 
 to extremities, as well as sensible that he must 
 appear to execute his duty to the utmost 
 before his own soldiers, who were spies upon 
 his conduct, he earnestly requested me to 
 permit only his feeling into my trunk, declaring 
 on his honour, that he would not derange any 
 of its contents, nor do more than merely to 
 put his hand down into different parts of it ; 
 saying also that if he found it, he was bound 
 to carry it off"." The proposal was fair and 
 candid, but under the circumstances detailed, 
 an immediate expedient was necessary to 
 avert so unpleasant a scrutiny. Lieutenants 
 Pilcher, and Charles Forbes of the Royal 
 Marines were standing by at the close of this 
 interview, and after the interchange of a few 
 significant hints with the latter, I was most 
 happily relieved from the aukward dilemma, 
 by a conveyance of the key of his potak, in 
 the most ingenious manner, which trick was 
 however noticed by our landlord, who was 
 repressed with difficulty from divulging it. 
 This unwelcome visitor then was allowed 
 access to the linen and papers of my friend 
 without reluctance, which he certainly rum- 
 maged in the way he had promised, after 
 which he begged me to bear testimony of his 
 having faithfully performed his mission, by 
 letters to each of those supreme authorities, 
 
253 
 
 who bad employed him in it. Accordingly 
 the following one was addressed by me to 
 General Liniers upon the spur of the occasion; 
 a counterpart of which Captain Martinez 
 carried with him to the Governor of Cor- 
 dova. 
 
 Vale of Calamacbeyta, June 6tb, 1807. 
 Sir, 
 
 " I have this morning been visited by a 
 strong guard, headed by Captain Manuel 
 Martinez, who has produced a paper, which I 
 consider as a mandate for me to deliver up 
 the records of parole from those Spanish officers 
 who became prisoners of war to the British 
 army, upon the conquest of Buenos Ayres, 
 and he has verbally intimated " That if this 
 shall not be complied with he is authorized to 
 use force." 
 
 " My reply, sir, is, that I can neitlier recog- 
 nize nor obey any order proceeding from the 
 delegate of a government in hostility with 
 mine, and that having anticipated the means 
 within your power, together with the qualified 
 facilities which you possess of executing them, 
 I took early precautions to place those docu- 
 ments you are now so solicitous to obtain, in a 
 state of security while I had the ability of 
 
254 
 
 doing so. Should his Britannic Majesty's 
 ship Diadem ever fall into your hands, per- 
 haps you may find them there, 
 
 " The officer whom you have appointed 
 to this unpleasant duty, has certainly ful- 
 filled it well, hy his having ransacked my 
 trimk ; backed by a force which I am unable 
 to resist, at the same time he has conducted 
 himself with much personal civility. I cannot 
 therefore withhold from him my commenda- 
 tion of his zeal in the discharge of a service, 
 doubtless most repugnant to his own feelings, 
 but imposed on him by you, and others, his 
 superiors. 
 
 " I am loth, sir, to close this correspondence 
 without commenting upon the object, as well 
 as the unprecedented mode of your procedure. 
 I am very well aware, that in the present 
 state of this country, the restoration of her 
 best officers to effective use would be to you, 
 and to your government, a most important 
 attainment, and that if those written obliga- 
 tions which identify, and now bind them to 
 their nutrality had been lost, or if at present 
 they were disgracefully surrendered by me 
 into your hands, they would be cancelled for 
 ever. I must remark too, that as a prisoner, 
 I am under your protection, and that of your 
 laws, so long as I demean myself well, and 
 while I consider the step you have now taken 
 to have compleatly released me from every 
 tie of parole on my own part, I fear that it may 
 also lead to the establishment of a precedent 
 
^55 
 
 for a more serious, and extensive retaliation 
 upon some future day. 
 
 I have the honour to be. 
 
 Sir, with due respect, 
 Your most obedient, and humble servant, 
 
 ALEX. GILLESPIE. 
 
 Captain Royal INIarines, and Commissary for jirisoners of war. 
 His Excellency General Liniers, Sfc. Buenos ^yres. 
 
 The moment after the guard disappeared 
 from the hills before us, Mr. Pilcher and 
 myself buried the book close to a small stream 
 a little way from our house, in order to pre- 
 vent the success of a similar recurrence, as 
 well as to render all information that might 
 be transmitted by our landlord to his govern- 
 ment, compleatly abortive. It remained in 
 the same gi'ave until we were ordered back 
 to St, Ignatius, which was only a few weeks 
 subsequent to that circumstance, and it 
 finally accompanied me to England, after our 
 release from captivity. 
 
 This seemingly trifling incident, might 
 under an opposite result, have involved many 
 respectable families at Buenos Ayres in pro- 
 scription, calamity, and ruin. It has already 
 been noticed that a partial, and a secret pledge 
 of allegiance to our government had been 
 voluntarily entered into, and signed by some 
 of the leading inhabitants of the city, during 
 the time we held it. Those tests were regis- 
 
256 
 
 tered officially under a separate head, but in 
 the same book with the paroles of the Spanish 
 officers, so that if it had fallen into public 
 hands, those men would have incurred, at the 
 least, a confiscation of their property, a banish- 
 ment from their country, and most })robably, 
 when reviewing the ferment of those times, 
 the massaci-e of their children by an unbridled 
 mob. Under so serious a pre-possession, I 
 was impelled by every motive of humanity 
 for those devoted individuals, and of high duty 
 to my country, to shield those zealous civilians 
 in our cause, from such an inevitable catas- 
 trophe, and to disable those soldiers, bound 
 only by their signatures, from unsheathing 
 their swords against us. 
 
 The arrival of General Whitelocke's army 
 at Monte Video, was no sooner understood at 
 Buenos Ayres, than it produced an immedi- 
 ate change in our situation, for all officers 
 who had hitherto resided at detached places 
 in the country, were then concentered at St. 
 Ignatius and S\ Kosa, previous to the removal 
 of the whole to the upper provinces, in the 
 event of disasters. Accordingly, the necessary 
 number of mules was brought to transport 
 ourselves, and our luggage thither, at the end 
 of June. It seemed as if by design, that the 
 most unruly of that animal tribe had been 
 selected for the purpose, because none of them 
 oould have been trained to carry a burden, 
 for after having been loaded, and put in 
 motion the whole cavalcade set off in various 
 directions along the hills, kicking, and dis- 
 
257 
 
 engaging themselves from their respective 
 incumbrances, while the drivers were highly 
 amused to see the destructive scene, which no 
 doubt in the end afforded them a plentiful 
 harvest. After some losses, heavy to us at 
 the moment, we again reached our destined 
 spot, and all were huddled together as well as 
 they could, during the remainder of their 
 stay. 
 
 Our necessities had again become urgent, 
 and as General Beresford had not issued any 
 bat and forage money to the army before his 
 departure, that resource was deemed the most 
 eligible fund from which they could be relieved. 
 Adopting this expedient, bills were drawn out 
 by Mr. Hill, the Deputy Commissary General, 
 and sanctioned by the commanding officer, 
 which w^ere discounted by a countryman of 
 our own, who had abundance of money, 
 at the enormous rate of seven shillings per 
 dollar. Upon our return however to Monte 
 Video, the circumstance underwent a retro- 
 spect, when our banker was directed to 
 refund the excess of his charge, beyond what 
 guided the current exchange of that place, at 
 the time. 
 
 Our daily excursions from St. Ignatius, 
 were now limited to a few miles into the 
 plain, or to a short distance amongst the 
 mountains facing the college, and those oppo- 
 site to S^ Kosa. Although there are only two 
 mines of gold, one of silver, two of copper, and 
 a like number of lead, reputed to exist in the 
 whole province of Tucuman, in which those 
 
258 
 
 mentioned places are situated, yet we may 
 confidently assert, that rich fossils of both gold 
 and copper, are contained within the bowels 
 of those heights we occasionally traversed, 
 from the fine specimens of the former, that 
 were found upon their surface near to S". Bosa, 
 large specks of which were comprized in 
 pieces of a blue argillaceous stone resembling 
 coarse marble. I brought a few of those to 
 England, as presents to friends. That copper 
 may be dug from the high grounds of St. 
 Ignatius in large quantities, is not only evi- 
 denced from the rude pieces of the metal that 
 are every where scattered upon the exterior, 
 but by the smelting furnaces built in the 
 vale immediately below, by the Jesuit mission- 
 aries, for extracting the ore. As those parts 
 are comprehended within the jurisdiction of 
 Buenos Ayres, their value must soon be 
 ascertained by that now independent republic, 
 in the coarse of scientific surveys. Upon the 
 subject of their mines, the Spaniards were 
 equally reserved as in politics, and even the 
 few atoms that were collected, having been 
 perhaps imprudently shewn them, raised some 
 jealousy and uneasiness. Meeting one day 
 rather an intelligent Creole, who was less 
 guarded than his cautious masters, when 
 riding in tlie neighbourhood of S'. Eosa, I 
 started the probability of such hidden wealth 
 being deposited so close to him, and my sur- 
 prize that no attempt should have been made 
 to realize it. He admitted the justice of the 
 surmise, and remarked, that it bad been in 
 
259 
 
 contemplation of the crown to have explored 
 for it about eighteen years before, by means of 
 some foreign mineralogists, who had gone to 
 the U])per Country on a similar errand, but 
 whose conduct while there, had rendered them 
 objects of suspicion to the government, and 
 from their heretical tenets, they had become 
 obnoxious to the people, insomuch, that they 
 were at last expelled from the continent. The 
 observation obviously alluded to Mr. Helmes, 
 and his German companions, who had emi- 
 grated to South America in the service of 
 Spain about that time, in the pursuit he men- 
 tioned, and whose ultimate fate it was, to have 
 been driven from its soil, with an hostility, 
 little less inveterate in its spirit, than if they 
 had been invaders. 
 
 Along the valley, for an extent of twelve 
 miles both east and west, there is a consider- 
 able population, in small detached villages, a 
 portion of which are petty farmers, shoemakers, 
 and Aveavers. Indeed the habits of industry 
 are preceptible in every cottage, which is 
 chiefly exercised in the manufacture of coarse 
 ponchos, that are disposed of amongst the 
 peons in the plain, as well as to those in the 
 lower parts, at the medium price of a dollar. 
 So far as I saw, they are universally worn by 
 the lower orders, and they answer the general 
 purposes of clothing through the day, and 
 covering during the bitterest nights. It is of 
 worsted, its form is oblong, there is a hole 
 worked in the center, through which the head 
 is passed, hangs at the sides down to the 
 
'260 
 
 wrists, and both before and behind rather 
 below the calf of the leg. It sits upon a 
 square well-proportioned man, with a peculiar 
 grace. The colours most preferred, are small 
 black and white patterns, or large red and 
 white bars, at right angles, but the vagrant 
 equestrians regard the former on account of 
 their concealing the spots. I have one of 
 them now by me of that description, another 
 of a middling quality, of mixed silk and cot- 
 ton, with red and yellow stripes, and on coming 
 to England in 1808, I sent a third that was 
 fabricated in Chili, to a particular friend, 
 which cost fifty dollars, was composed of both 
 materials, and its red, light blue dyes, blended 
 with white, were most exquisite and beautiful. 
 Cordova too yields many of a better kind, but 
 Chili possessing the finer materials, can supply 
 them at almost any price. 
 
 The huts in those little villages, are rather 
 better than those in the other places we visited, 
 although a compoimd of very short cut straw, 
 and clay, indurated and blanched by the sun. 
 Their roofs are thatched by the long rushy 
 grass, the indigenous growth about them, and 
 for one with a wooden door, there are twenty 
 made from hides well stretched and dried, 
 fastened occasionally by a nail, or stick, out- 
 side and in. Amongst their furniture of 
 luxury, beds were very rare, and the substitutes 
 are hides sewed closely together, when one 
 will not suffice, well stretched, and then dried, 
 which are fastened to four sticks, and from 
 these the hammock is suspended. This con- 
 
261 
 
 trivance must have been of very early origin 
 in that country, and most hkely the pattern 
 may have found its way to Europe, and have 
 suggested a similar adoption in our ships at 
 sea, for the name that has been immemorially 
 stamped on it in South America is, " hamac." 
 Those who can afford them have strong bed- 
 steads, with bottoms from the bullock's skin, 
 and the same material serves for those of 
 their chairs and stools, but in general the 
 seats of the poorer order are the skeletons of 
 the largest heads of their oxen. Unless in 
 winter, their cookery is performed out of doors, 
 in which season a fire for the purpose is 
 lighted immediately under the chimney. 
 Every hutholder seemed to have an interest 
 in the numerous flocks of sheep, and any one 
 would have undertaken to contract with us 
 for the number wanted. The carcase of each 
 in the vale, before our arrival, fetched no price, 
 and the inhabitants seemed every where to 
 dislike the meat, but they soon after raised 
 their value from two to six reals for one. 
 From the long line of small villages beside the 
 river St. Ignatius, the division of property, 
 and the social order, together with the habits 
 of industry that are conspicuous amongst 
 them all, I am led to conclude, that the rites 
 and duties of marriage are more regularly 
 performed, and better understood, than in any 
 other districts we had hitherto traversed. 
 There is but one stamp of character upon the 
 whole band of mounted vagrants ; which is, 
 that they exist on rapine, never form any 
 
262 
 
 matrimonial connexions, nor can they ever be 
 traced out to possess any fixed abode, where 
 they may occasionally rest from their labours. 
 Wherever a chapel stands, and that there are 
 dram-shops near it, the whole body convene 
 upon Sundays, as if by general consent, and 
 there pass the day, as has l3een before described. 
 It is only upon such occasions, that any esti- 
 mate of their numbers can be formed. Owing 
 to the rocky and uneven ground, by which 
 that country is varied, the use of the lasso is 
 seldomer resorted to than in the plains, 
 although those itinerants have constantly one 
 affixed to the saddle, just above where the 
 crupper passes, by a strong piece of leather 
 capaiile of bearing any strain, and the rope 
 itself is always coiled to the left side of it, 
 when the rider is not in i)in'suit of his prey. 
 When an animal has been marked out for 
 destruction, he imloosens it, and carries it in 
 the same form in the left hand, while he 
 guides the ardency of the horse with a 
 single finger at full speed, and on approaching 
 the victim almost to its utmost range, he 
 begins with the right arm to swing it round 
 the head, and when near enough he infallibly 
 catches him round one, or both horns, or the 
 neck, by the end noose. The entire process 
 has been already mentioned. This lasso 
 which is fixed, differs entirely from that 
 employed against the horses, it being missile, 
 and having three balls at the extremity, but 
 no noose. The Panipas Indians, living chiefly 
 by the sports of the field, are more expert 
 
26S 
 
 tliaii any of the other natives in tliis instru- 
 ment, which is made for their own occasions, 
 of thongs cut round from a bullock's hide, of a 
 good breadth, that twists close by drying, and 
 is rendered supple by tallow, and the noose 
 end is an iron ring, well lined with skin and 
 small cord, through which the other end is 
 put. ' The lassoes that are brought by those 
 people for traffic, are of four narrow plaits, 
 neatly twisted together, and although not 
 more than an inch in thickness, they will 
 bear off any weight which a strong horse is 
 capable of pulling. The ring at the end 
 assists to give an undeviating direction to the 
 line of rope. The aim is certain when the 
 object is about thirty yards oft*, being the 
 utmost extent of it, but within it, the thrower 
 does not feel confidence. . 
 
 While we were assembled at our Saturday's 
 club on the evening of the 31st of July, our 
 landlord at the college, Don Ortiz, peeped his 
 head into the door, and then entered into the 
 room with one of his sons, and the captain of 
 the guard, scarcely able to announce to us the 
 glad tidings of our immediate return to Buenos 
 Ayres, our release from captivity, and our 
 embarkation for England. From the many 
 illusive reports that had been in circulation of 
 the operations below, and a self-consciousness 
 of the little trust we placed in any of his 
 assertions, he at this time assumed a grave 
 and solemn aspect in support of his veracity, 
 when he proclaimed to us all, with thumb and 
 finger on the mouth, being the sacred emblem 
 
264 
 
 of an oath upon the cross, the unexpected, and 
 joyful news. The whole of us instantly with 
 one accord arose, and with melody in our 
 hearts, sang God save the king. The feelings 
 of the pardoned criminal fell far short of ours, 
 for they were not alloyed by restless remorse; 
 nor can the delight of him, already doomed 
 to perpetual exile by the injured laws of his 
 country, but who has been suddenly forgiven 
 and recalled to it, by the voice of mercy, be 
 compared to that which at the moment burst 
 upon us, for we were not to return to become 
 the contempt of our friends, or still to be for 
 ever considered by society, in the catalogue 
 of the guilty. All now looked forward to a 
 better and a happier portion. Instead of 
 languishing under the equator's heat, our 
 fixed destination, we were soon to revisit our 
 hale native climate, in place of being thrown 
 amongst strangers and tyrannical masters, we 
 exulted in the pleasing forethought of a speedy 
 reunion with those nearest connexions and 
 relatives to whom some amongst us had bidden 
 an everlasting farewell, in the hour of despon- 
 dency, and we had just cause to anticipate the 
 triumph of a favourable reception from our 
 nation, and our professions, whose honours 
 had not been tarnished in our hands. These 
 were the mingled sensations that rushed upon 
 the mind. 
 
 As our enlargement was beyond a doubt, 
 and the day named for our departure, the 
 officers with their domestics were divided 
 again into separate messes, and being informed 
 
265 
 
 that the journey might lay in a direction wliere 
 
 few supplies of water could be procured, some 
 
 equipments became necessary to supply so 
 
 serious a want. It was represented too, that 
 
 our progress woidd be as rapid as possible, and 
 
 that as we would all along be exposed to the 
 
 inclemencies of the nights in the open fields, 
 
 some additional covering would be required. 
 
 In this prospect, our society entered into a 
 
 subscription for the purchase of a large cask, 
 
 which was hung from the end of our waggon, 
 
 and twenty-six ponchos, that were so arranged 
 
 upon tent-poles, as to roll up, and to form our 
 
 encamped retreat every evening. Ox hides 
 
 and sheep skins laid on the ground, were our 
 
 mattresses, and with the addition of our 
 
 saddles, were also our pillows. The weather 
 
 at the close of July, and beginning of August, 
 
 was very chilly, and throughout our journey 
 
 was uniformly of a frosty cold. 
 
2G6 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 IT was not until the second of August we 
 ascertained the real state of matters at Buenos 
 Ayres, which convinced us of the mortifying 
 expence at which our freedom had been pur- 
 chased. The unpresuming modesty of the 
 enemy upon an event so signal to the glory of 
 their arms, and so complete in its results, was 
 astonishing. A Spanish officer arrived at the 
 college upon that day, who gave us a gazette 
 giving a very correct account of every thing, 
 who also informed us, that the waggons for 
 our accommodation would be at St. Ignatius 
 on the 4th, and that we should start upon 
 the 6th. Our landlord had public orders to 
 supply us with every necessary in his power at 
 their expence, and at nine in the morning of 
 the latter day, the whole body set out, keeping 
 close to the river near to the college, until two 
 p. m. when we once more crossed the Rio 
 Grande, which we now found discharged itself 
 into the Tercero, sixty yards below, and at 
 four rested for the night. As many remarks 
 cannot be expected from a retrogade move- 
 ment over the same country, my diary there- 
 fore must now be limited to little more than 
 the compass bearings of our progress from day 
 to day ; interspersed witti such notations as 
 may suggest themselves on the way. 
 
267 
 
 We recommenced our journey at six on the 
 morning of the 7th, proceeding a league in a 
 direction of E. S. E. and then East until we 
 reached the Condores at three p. m. and 
 liaving refreshed, we renewed our course, 
 keeping N. N. E. the whole way, when we 
 arrived at Salta, a very little village distant 
 twelve leagues from St. Ignatius. There were 
 now few restraints imposed upon any of the 
 officers advancing before, in our line of move- 
 ments. It was only necessary to signify their 
 intentions beforehand to the commandant of 
 the guard, who frequently accompanied them 
 in their frolics. The general aspect of the 
 country has been detailed. The whole of the 
 8th of August was in a continued course of 
 E. by S. — the river Tercero running close to 
 the road during the whole way, and we halted 
 for the night near to a house named Catalina 
 Rosas, after having performed a distance of 
 only three leagues, and on the 9th stopped at 
 Capello Rodriguez after compleating four. 
 
 Starting at seven upon the 10th, we travel- 
 led until twelve, and having remained till three 
 near to a beautiful lake of great extent^ we 
 soon after entered into a delightful valley, 
 when we changed our course from E. S. E. to 
 E. by S. and having nearly attained its ex- 
 tremity, the road gradually deviated to E. S. E. 
 which led us to a pleasant flat, nine leagues 
 from Capello Rodriguez, where we slept. 
 Large forests of wood were interspersed 
 through the whole of this day's progress, and 
 the nights were so intensely cold, as to create 
 
268 
 
 a hard ice upon our water-jugs standing by us, 
 while the days were sultry from the power 
 of the sun, from eight to five. 
 
 Our little encampments were formed every 
 evening on the ground, in a regular order, and 
 as our dogs had forsaken us, no sport occurred, 
 for none was necessary to amuse the mind 
 already enjoying the pleasing forethoughts of 
 home. The cattle were yoked at dawn of the 
 1 1th, and our way varied from E.S.E. to East, 
 until we arrived at the post-house of Paso 
 Farrera, which lies to the northward of the 
 high-road from Cordova to Buenos Ayres, and 
 stands nine leagues from the valley we had 
 left. It is to he remarked generally, that 
 those places, planted at relative distances for 
 general accommodation, have nothing of 
 interest, as they consist of buildings of one 
 story high, with a large kitchen in one end, 
 liaving a spirit and grocery shop in which the 
 lower orders of travellers sit, and in the other, 
 a disordered sitting-room for the better ranks. 
 They supply bread, su-pisada, a sort of dried 
 sausage, composed of pork cut small, stuffed 
 with garlic, eggs, and the wines of St. Juan and 
 Mendoza — besides cheese of an inferior kind, at 
 a very moderate rate. Adjoining to all of them 
 is a large coral, to serve as a relay for horses ; 
 and slaves, or peons are constantly in attend- 
 ance, to bring them out when wanted. Saddles 
 and every equipage for the road, are always in 
 readiness to expedite public dispatches, and 
 the individual who is in haste, may be assured 
 of an immediate supply. Wherever we 
 
369 
 
 touched on the high-road, we never failed to 
 notice some covered carts from the Upper 
 Country, who seemed to push on rapidly, as 
 we were informed, towards Monte Video, in 
 order that their owners might provide them- 
 selves with the English goods that had been 
 brought thither by our commercial adven- 
 turers, but as they were at the time illicit, the 
 real destination of these carriages, were 
 covered by a fictitious one of their being bound 
 for Buenos Ayres. 
 
 Our course during the 12th was E. by S, 
 and we remained through the night, near to 
 another post-house of a similar description, but 
 whose name I could not learn, three leagues 
 from that of Paso Ferreira, and at twelve on 
 the noon of the 13th, we arrived at Esquina 
 Balestera at the same distance from the last, 
 and proceeding onwards gained the post of 
 Marian Lopez, fifteen miles farther, from 
 whence we again set out at seven p. m. and at 
 eleven halted in the plains through the night, 
 having kept a course of S. E. ^ E. through 
 the day. We met at different times during 
 our stoppages, French officers who were on 
 their way downwards, some of whom were 
 suspected to have been civilians in a military 
 dress, and the nature of their mission was 
 equally liable to doubt. The country had 
 assumed its wonted plenty, and herds of cattle 
 and horses, again covered the plains. The 
 post-house of Lopez had a few huts adjoining 
 to it, inhabited by Creoles, in an open space. 
 Upon the 14th of August, we arrived at 
 
270 
 
 Frailepi Miierto, nine miles distant, and on 
 the following day, after having passed the 
 post-house of Zarjon, four leagues from the 
 last, and having gone S. S. E. we stopped in 
 the fields at nine, p. m. after varying, our 
 direction to E. S. E. ^ E. during the last two 
 — the woods being seen in every quarter. Set 
 off early on the 16th, and got to Saladillo 
 which is seven league from Zarjon, having 
 steered S. by E. ^ E. and recommencing at 
 ten ne-xt day, shaped two miles S. by E. and 
 then crossed a small salt river, which empties 
 itself into the Tercero, after which our pro- 
 gress was E. by INT. when towards the close of 
 the day, it turned to E. by S. We rested 
 four leagues from Saladillo, and now lost sight 
 of the immense forests. On the 18th, our line 
 was E. S. E. and we arrived at Cabeza del 
 Tygere, after a travel of twelve miles. Our 
 way fluctuated from E. S. E. to S. by W. 
 through the 19th of August, and at night we 
 got to Cruz-alto, near seven leagues from del 
 Tygere. 
 
 Lieutenant Roy and myself set out early 
 for Salto de Areco with a soldier, to bid farewell 
 to those friends who had been kind to us, we 
 changing our horses upon the road, and after 
 having passed the night with the commandant 
 of the guardia there, who kept a dram-shop, 
 and entertained us well, but who did not for- 
 get to charge us for our liquors, we rejoined 
 the waggons at the post-house of Nicholas 
 Galega, in the plains of Areco. Our com- 
 panions while we were absent, had touched at 
 
271 
 
 Esquina, three leagues from Cruz-alto, having 
 gone in an E.S.E. ^ E. course, and their line had 
 been close to the Tercero, and we found in our 
 own wa}^ that the rivers and waters were 
 saltish. We likewise passed a tree within 
 three miles from Saladillo, which stands alone 
 upon the south side of the road, and is remark- 
 able for being the specific boundary between 
 the provinces of Tucuman, and Buenos Ayres. 
 Upon the 21st we reached a small post-house, 
 nine leagues from Esquina, our course during 
 the day, having varied from E. by N. to 
 E. N. E. and having observed a number of 
 small cataracts, in the Tercero river, which 
 w^as close to us during our progress. 
 Having taken an early departure upon the 
 522nd, we com pleated ten leagues at midnight, 
 when we halted. We proceeded with little 
 deviation, in the due direction of East, and 
 remarked in the afternoon, that the Tercero 
 took a sudden turn to the northward, and after 
 winding a few miles, we ascertained that it fell 
 into the Parana, a small distance above St. 
 Nicolas. Having repeatedly visited different 
 post-houses upon the road, we found that the 
 observations already advanced are alike appli- 
 cable to them. Upon the following day we 
 reached the post-house of Areco de Barbon, 
 after a fluctuating course throughout, from E. 
 by N. to E. by S. and gained a distance of five 
 leagues. We at times only kept the main 
 road, as we chiefly traversed through unbeaten 
 paths, and striking occasionally aside to pro- 
 cure refreshments. When stopping at any 
 
272 
 
 liouse in our way, both up and down, we learnt 
 from repeated experience, and I now adduce 
 it as a lesson to the traveller in that country, 
 that it was a necessary precaution always upon 
 alighting, to take off our stirrups and leathers, 
 for there are constantly and every where, 
 fellows on the watch, whom you perhaps may 
 not see, who will cut them off, and having 
 once lost them, they never can be recovered. 
 The only substitute to be had, under such a 
 contingency, and at the places mentioned, is 
 the wooden stirrup, into which an Englishman 
 could not thrust the point of his boot, and he 
 would invariably find himself knocked up at 
 the end of a stage, if he had no better remedy. 
 The 24th of August we compleated a dis- 
 tance of six leagues, and at seven in the 
 evening reached the post-house of Aropavo, 
 where there runs a small rapid river, having 
 gone with a variation from East to E. S. E. 
 through the day, and on the succeeding one, 
 arrived at that of Medio Aroco, after having 
 made eighteen miles progress, and having 
 steered S. E. ^ S. from which we attained the 
 stage of Don Manuel Serv^eduro, five leagues 
 onwards, and all along in a S. E. course. 
 
 Leaving the last on the morning of the 26th, 
 we this day went no farther than that of 
 Puenta Suelta, which is tweh^e miles in a 
 S. S. E. direction from the last one. 
 
 On the 27th of August our advance was 
 slow, inclining at one hour to the S. S. E. and 
 another to the E. S. E. and being impeded 
 during the forenoons by three small rivulets, 
 
^73 
 
 which always occupy much time in passingr 
 owing to the slow movements of the waggon 
 drivers, although the whole of them joined in 
 assisting each separate team. We this day 
 went close to a respectable estancia, named 
 the Bourbon, and through a mean little village 
 called Arecifa, and having altered our bearings 
 at three p. m. to S. by E. we in an hour after 
 crossed a river of the same title,, which rises 
 a considerable way within the Pampas coun- 
 try, and after running N. N. E. it discharges 
 into the Parana a little below St. Nicolas. 
 As only half of our carts were enabled to get 
 over it before dark, both halted for the night 
 upon its bank, after having attained five 
 leagues in advance from Puento Suelto. Here 
 the post-road from Arecifa proceeds, E. S. E. 
 and there is a relay-house six miles off, 
 besides a seemingly well-frequented path ta 
 the right. 
 
 It was late at noon of the 28th, before the 
 remainder of the carriages had cleared the 
 river, after which we inclined E. N. E. until 
 we came into the main road, when we resumed 
 an E. S. E. course, and from the delays thrit 
 had recently occurred, we proceeded no farther 
 than the post-house mentioned in the diary of 
 yesterday, and the following day acco^iiplished 
 four leagues from it, when the whole halted; 
 having gone throughout towards the South- 
 east. 
 
 On the SOth of August we proceeded E. S. 
 E. until we touched at the post-house of St. 
 Antonio, and in the evening reached another^ 
 
 T 
 
274 
 
 which stands within a league South of the 
 village of Capello del Senor, after having gained 
 seven during the day. 
 
 Setting out early upon the 31st, we steered 
 E. by S. and got to Luxan at six in the 
 evening, which we left upon the 1st of Sep- 
 tember, pointing E. N. E. for three miles, 
 when changing to due East, we reached the 
 huts at Conchos, which is a distance of eight 
 leagues from that village. 
 
 Moving onwards upon the 2nd from that 
 resting-spot, we shaped towards the E. S. E. 
 along the high-road, and at eleven at noon, 
 came to a post-house, when verging to E. N. E. 
 very gradually, we arrived at another within 
 two leagues of Buenos Ayres, and bending our 
 way early in the morning of the 3rd in the 
 same direction, we entered the capital at three 
 p. m. after having maintained a straight line, 
 by the street which runs along the northern 
 side of the Cabildo, being nine leagues from 
 the bridge of the Conchos. 
 
 As for myself and a few others, we passed 
 on to the cliffs of the Retiro, at a small distance 
 from the Plata, in order to observe the im- 
 provements that had taken place in that 
 admirable defensive position, as well as to 
 avoid the popular bustle to be expected upon 
 such an occasion. The change was most 
 striking indeed to the eye, for instead of a bare 
 flat, and rugged heights adjoining to it, there 
 stood a fortress faced with stone, and having a 
 sally-port, from whence there issued about a 
 . dozen fellows, who had deserted from us while 
 
9,75 
 
 we possessed the city and afterwards. Instead 
 of ofFerins: us their cono^ratulations, which 
 would have heen only generous and manly, ni 
 this moment of exultation, they poured upon 
 us abuse, and ribaldry, in which the Spaniards 
 themselves scorned to join, and I subsequently 
 learnt with regret, that some of those dastardly 
 traitors to their king, and revolters from their 
 colvmins, in the hour of danger, tired of that 
 service, and under a bitter remorse from their 
 })erfidious conduct, had abandoned that cause 
 also, and by finding their way back to their 
 native country, where they covered their dis- 
 graceful history so artfully, as to receive their 
 unclaimed shares of prize-money, for Buenos 
 Ayres, and other captures. 
 
 Every officer having entered the city on 
 horseback, and the animal with his trappings 
 being his personal property, it was necessary 
 to convert both into cash, but there were few 
 purchasers, because the gentry have too much 
 pride to be seen upon one of an ordinary des- 
 cription, and ours were of the most haggard 
 kind. Those having speed as pacers, are in 
 great repute, and combining this quality with 
 shew, they will fetch a very high price in the 
 capital, notwithstanding their abundance in the 
 i[iterior. This partiality also rules the market 
 at the Cape of Good 'Hope, where a horse 
 with this steady step, will nearly double the 
 amount of his ordinary value. They are 
 broke in to it very early in South America, by 
 their never being permitted to gallop, which is 
 the common rate of travelling, commencing 
 
276 
 
 with a walk, and l)y giving the full range 
 gradiially to the power and spirit of the brute, 
 at that {)ace, until it becomes habitual and 
 easy. It is both a quick, and lengthened 
 movement, for without intermission, he raises 
 the fore and hind feet, always placing the last 
 much beyond the spot from Avhich the first had 
 been removed, thereby doubling, or more, the 
 rapidity of his progress, while the rider sits as 
 tranquil as in an arm chair. 
 
 Every thing was bustle in the city during 
 the short time we remained in it, and each 
 officer was left to his own free will in what 
 manner he could best feel his way down to 
 Monte Video, as there were no means of 
 transportation provided either by our own, or 
 the Spanish .^ government. Some who had 
 brought down with them little memorials for 
 their friends at home, such as the small dogs 
 of the country without hair, and a few parrots, 
 were forcibly deprived of them by a rude and 
 indiciplined soldiery, and the maddened 
 pin'enzy of the populace portended little 
 security to these Englishmen who might be 
 inclined to prolong their stay. 
 
 As for myself, I had not been tvro hours in 
 Buenos Ayres, when I was visited by two 
 young gentlemen, sons of Signior Terrada, 
 whose kind hospitality I had experienced 
 before our departure into the interior, who 
 insisted on my accompanying them and ma- 
 king their house my home, while I remained, 
 and they very considerately brought a domes- 
 tic to bear my luggage, which they were 
 
277 
 
 surprized to find, was reduced to n band 
 parcel. The reception from that family was 
 welcome and liberal, and I was ba[)py to loarn 
 tbat the whole were safe and ni healtii, 
 although three of them had served in the 
 various conflicts that had recently taken place, 
 in defence of their city. The expressions 
 of gratitude for Eritish generosity were 
 made by both parents upon my entering into 
 the house, when they intimated that my 
 conductors had been taken prisoners, by Sir 
 Samuel Achmuty on his storming the lletiro, 
 and that the treatment they had received 
 while they were in tliat imfortunate situation, 
 was noble and humane. I can attest the 
 tender delicacy shewn by every member of 
 their household, and I have reason to think 
 that it was imiformly the same in every other, 
 by none of them even hinting at the disastrous 
 events which had so lately befallen our army, 
 in which young soldiers might have been prone 
 to exult, nor was a single topic proposed by 
 them, but a few general enquiries concerning 
 the past, the repetition of some stories, 
 and the urging of a disclosure, in what way 
 they could provide for my personal comforts 
 through the voyage to Europe, by money, 
 cloathing, or necessaries. 
 
 As to the public, the Crown of Spain was 
 some months in arrears to every one of us, 
 and as no offer of any adjustment was tender- 
 ed to us, we had now neither time nor inclina- 
 tion to submit our claims. 
 
 Having continued at the house of my friend 
 
278 
 
 during the night of the 3rd of September, and 
 till after dinner upon the following day, I 
 wished every inmate all the blessings of the 
 world, and went down to the pier with a slave, 
 who was commissioned to assist me in procu- 
 ring a boat to carry me off to some vessels 
 then under weigh in the offing, and it was 
 after much trouble I hired the launch of an 
 American brig, which was bound direct for 
 Monte Video, whose mate in the name of his 
 master agreed to take me as a passenger for 
 fourteen dollars. 
 
 The whole line of the pier-head was beset 
 with thousands of an imruly mob, the greater 
 part of whom were intoxicated. They with 
 some disorderly Catalans, and native soldiers, 
 seemed to dictate the law, and to act without 
 controul either from the police, or their officers. 
 
 Soon after getting on board of the American 
 brig, an English gun vessel hove «in sight, 
 which we followed, and proved to be the 
 Encounter, Eieutenant Talbot, then cruizing 
 in the riv^er. She was the same vessel in 
 which I had entered it, and I now once more 
 took my departure in her. 
 
 We arrived at Monte Video upon the 6th 
 of September, where all was in a state of 
 confusion, owing to a recent order that had 
 been issued for the re-embarkation of the 
 English merchants and their goods, which was 
 most unfortunately premature, for even until 
 the last, adventurers were hurrying down from 
 the Upper Country to have made their pur- 
 chases, as the whole of the interior was in 
 
279 
 
 the utmost want of European manufactures, 
 from the long suspension of all commercial inter- 
 course with it. As we were all in a destitute 
 situation with respect to money, and cloaths. 
 General Whitelocke humanely gave directions 
 for an immediate payment of bat and forage 
 money to us, and as has been already hinted 
 at, called upon the gentleman who had dis- 
 counted our public bills for a similar allowance, 
 at a former period, to refund the enormous 
 premium he had imposed upon our temporary 
 necessities when in the Upper Country. 
 
 Those combined items ensured our personal 
 comforts upon the voyage, so far as cash 
 could afford them, but there being a total 
 cessation from business, and empty markets 
 during the day, we had little opportunity to 
 replenish our stock of covering, against the 
 dead of winter in our northern latitudes, or to 
 provide the supplies that were required for a 
 tedious and cold passage. 
 
 The officers and men belonging to the 
 army, were distributed amongst the transport 
 vessels, and the prisoners of both classes 
 attached to the navy, were ordered on board 
 of the ships of war. As for myself I was 
 nominated for the Daphne frigate, which 
 watered about eleven miles above Monte 
 Video, but a great part of it proved brakish 
 owing to a prevalent South-easterly wind 
 which hurled in the water from the sea. 
 
 Being in want of a friend diu'ing the day 
 of the 6th in a strange place, I met ^Ir. 
 White, whom I expected to have found one, 
 
280 
 
 both as an old acquaintance at Buenos Ayres, 
 as well as from his having acted in the charac- 
 ter of a Commissary for provisions, and joint 
 agent after its capture, hut that American 
 gentleman thought it most political at the 
 time to recognise neither. He had filled these 
 situations, although a foreigner, and a stranger 
 to us all, through the influence of Sir Home 
 Popham, with whom an intimacy had been 
 contracted in the East Indies, while that 
 officer was in conmiand of the llomney. 
 Going to a coffee-house where a table d'hote 
 Avas kept, I met a very mixed com])any of all 
 nations, and there dined for a dollar. Repair- 
 ing on lK)ard the appointed shij) in the evening 
 a few of us relanded before day light of the 
 7tb of September, to buy stock in the market- 
 place, as the British were to be replaced by the 
 Spanish colours that afternoon, iijjon the 
 citadel and ramparts. 
 
 The populace were inclined to be insolent, 
 and were only kept within bounds by the 
 presence of our soldiery, who were marched 
 down to their respective boats from morning 
 until past mid-day, but without music, for it 
 could produce no cadence either in their steps 
 or hearts. 
 
 Whatever might have been the vulgar pre- 
 judices that existed against our nation, still 
 the following testimonial spontaneously ten- 
 dered to Colonel Gore Brown, who was military 
 Commandant in Monte Video, before, and on 
 the day of its evacuation by the English army, 
 will afford an evidence of respect not more 
 
281 
 
 honourable to himself, than to his country, 
 and his profession. 
 
 Copy of a letter addressed to Colonel Gore 
 Brown of the 40tli regiment, military com- 
 mandant of the British garrison, in Monte 
 Video, &c. 
 
 To the Commandant Colonel Gore Brown, 
 
 " Capitular Hall, Monte Video, August 27th, 1S06. 
 
 " The moment is approaching, in which the 
 armies of his Britannic Majesty must evacuate 
 this place, and you. Sir, being on the ev^e of 
 departure, this Cabildo is anxious to testify 
 the joy inspired by a prospect of the former 
 event, and the regret that is occasioned by 
 the latter. Yes, Sir, this City which ever 
 was, and ever will be faithful to her monarch, 
 under whose mild and pacific government her 
 inhabitants were born, feels the most entire 
 satisfaction at seeing herself restored to it, 
 and that the arms which disturbed her peace 
 and tranquillity, and wliicli doomed to death 
 so many of her most valuable citizens, are 
 about to remove. You, Sir, may well suppose, 
 that although there were no other reason, this 
 would be sufficient to make us long with 
 eagerness for the departure of those instru- 
 ments which have caused to us so many evils. 
 But at the same time, what reason can we 
 have for not confessing to, and thanking you 
 Sir, and his excellency Sir Samuel Achmuty, 
 the commander in chief, for your exertions in 
 
282 
 
 endeavouring to remedy them, so far as it lay 
 in your power! This Cabildo would be lui- 
 gratefid were they not to make public the 
 brilliant virtues of both chiefs. You, Sir, 
 entered this city Avith the general command 
 of the troops. At that moment the Cabildo 
 which was assembled in this Capitular Hall, 
 was preserved from that death with which all 
 were threatened from the fury of the soldiers, 
 by the great exertions of an amiable officer 
 who fortunately entered, — was preserved by 
 you. You, Sir, received from our own hands 
 the sword and insignia of justice, but return- 
 ing them immediately into our possession 
 directed that we should retire to our Hall ; 
 placing a respectable guard in order that we 
 raight be secure from the smallest insidt. 
 
 " The victorious troops thinking themselv^es 
 possessed of a right to the property of the 
 citizens, began some of them to plunder. But 
 what. Sir, except your rectitude and firmness 
 coidd have been able to restrain so great a 
 number of soldiers and marines, in the midst 
 of a city whose inhabitants were just slain or 
 wounded, prisoners, or fugitives ? In effect 
 this place was deserted two hours after the 
 assault. A profound silence reigned in all the 
 streets, not a soul was seen, save alone the 
 scattered bodies of the dead and wounded, 
 with their arms. You, Sir, yourself seemed 
 to have been struck with consternation, for you 
 permitted not the drum, or any instrument of 
 martial music, nor the cannon to interrupt 
 the melancholy silence of those first mournful 
 
283 
 
 days. — But in vain was this city without 
 inhahitants. — All their property and effects 
 remained as secure, as if they themseh-es 
 guarded them. Some trifling excess which 
 was committed in the first moments of confu- 
 sion, was publicly chastised upon the same 
 day in the square, by a severe lashing, and it 
 was alone at the entreaty of some of us, you, 
 Sir, had the goodness to spare the lives of two 
 who were condemned to die. Whatever thing, 
 however small it might be, wliich was found 
 in the possession of any soldier or sailor, was 
 remitted to this Cabildo in order to its being 
 restored to its owner if he should appear. 
 Ev^ery family was respected, and the pride ol' 
 victorious troops who had just conquered and 
 entered through fire and blood, became tran- 
 quillized in an instant, and from that moment 
 without occasioning the smallest disorder. 
 In these sentiments of admiration and grati- 
 tude, we now bid you a farewell, and our 
 earnest prayers for a prosperous voyage, and a 
 liappy restoration to your country, of which 
 you are so bright an ornament, do most sin- 
 cerely accompany you. May God preserve 
 your Excellency many years. 
 
 Signed by the Members of the Cabildo, Sec. 
 
284 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 MONTE A^DEO was abandoned before 
 two in the afternoon of the 7th of September, 
 the Spanish troops entered at three, amidst 
 the acclamations of the peo])le, and the ev^en- 
 ing was signahzed ])y great rejoicing, wliich 
 we could witness from our anchorage, as well as 
 by a feu de Joie from the citadel, Eort Joseph, 
 and the lines of the garrison. Our armament 
 took their leave upon the morning of the 11th 
 of September, and the branch of it that was 
 destined for the Cape of Good Hope separated 
 from us on the same forenoon. 
 
 Our passage to the line was as favourable as 
 could by wished, but the fleet was becalmed 
 many days after crossing it. The whole 
 arrived in the chops of the English channel at 
 the close of November, where they had to 
 contend with strong and tedious gales from 
 the Eastward, upwards of a fortnight, until 
 many of the transports had not more than 
 three days water at a reduced allowance. 
 Indeed the squadron and convoy had been 
 upon it during two thirds of the voyage, and 
 as all of them had taken their water on board 
 when in the river La Plata, several of the 
 vessels when too late, found it also rather 
 brakish, from which however no marked dis- 
 order was experienced. As the fresh supplies 
 
285 
 
 we could obtain at Monte Video, were very 
 inadequate for so protracted a passai)'e, we had 
 early recourse to the beef cured in South 
 America for the gun-room mess of the 
 Da})hne, but owing to the nature of food to 
 which the cattle had been accustomed, it soon 
 became so hard, and void of sustenance, that 
 hunger itself could not be induced to relish it, 
 and prudence forbade the use of it, as being 
 only an incentive to thirst. At last in the 
 midst of a thick fog, the armament most 
 opportunely made the opening into Cork 
 harbour upon the forenoon of the 17th of 
 December, and the whole fleet happily entered 
 in the course of the day. Abundance now 
 gave us cause to rejoice, and Irish hospitalities 
 were not confined to their old friends alone, 
 but they were likewise most liberally ex- 
 tended to many of us who were entire 
 strangers. 
 
 The troops were disembarked, and imme- 
 diately were marched into different canton- 
 ments, while the sliips of war, according to 
 tlieir state of equipment found their way to 
 England, whither the Daplme soon repaired, 
 and arrived at Portsmouth at the close of 
 December. 
 
 Having left South America almost destitute 
 of covering, I had purchased while in Ireland 
 a quantity of linen for shirting, and U guard 
 against its seizure, as well as the possibility of 
 a personal detention at that seaport, it was 
 cut out ready for the needle, and placed in a 
 trunk, with various other articles, none of 
 
286 
 
 which were contraband. It was landed safely, 
 and deposited in a lodging, but being most 
 anxious to leave the place without delay, it 
 was removed to a waggon office, which took 
 in goods for London, in order to its being im- 
 mediately forwarded, but a custom-house 
 officer stopped it in the street, and in the 
 proper discharge of his duty carried it to tlie 
 custom-house for examination. On being 
 informed of the circumstance, I went thither, 
 and producing the key begged that the strictest 
 scrutiny might be made into its contents, 
 none of which were exceptionable, but was 
 surprised to learn that it could not 1)e restored 
 without a breach of regulations, until an 
 order for its release should come down from the 
 Lords of the Treasury. On farther reference 
 to Mr. Arnand, the head of that department, 
 whose official attention and civility are well 
 known, he confirmed the prohibition for the 
 reasons stated. I waited in patience, but at 
 great expence, during several posts, until tired 
 out, I thought proper to represent my case to 
 their lordships by letter, which was every day, 
 after an interval of four, repeated, until a 
 favourable answer reached me, certainly of the 
 most handsome tenor, but it was unaccom- 
 panied by any refund of the charges I had 
 thus unnecessarily incurred, or by the slightest 
 reprimand to this agent of the revenue whose 
 conduct had been so litigious and extrava- 
 gant. I mention this fact merely that it 
 may operate for the benefit of others, under 
 a like situation, from being liable to such 
 
287 
 
 subordinate vexations, by an order for tbeir 
 prevention. 
 
 Scarcely two years and a balf had elapsed 
 from our arrival in Knt^land, when the flames 
 of a revolution, which will form the final 
 topic of the present volume, broke out in 
 these provinces of South America we had so 
 recently left, and it was in contemplation of 
 its future results upon the political, as well as 
 the commercial interests of my country, I was 
 influenced to address the Eight Honourable 
 Mr. Perceval, who then presided over her 
 councils, upon the subject of my being the depos- 
 tary of a record of perhaps useful reference to 
 his Majesty's government, as containing names 
 who might one day appear conspicuous upon 
 the annals of dynasty or war amongst the 
 chequered events in those convulsed colonies. 
 
 Having received the signatures of fifty-eight 
 respectable inhabitants of Buenos Ayres, ex- 
 pressive of their allegiance and attachment to 
 the British Government, at a crisis of peculiar 
 danger to themselves, and holding out no 
 prospect of personal advantages, it was reason- 
 able to conclude that they were the deeds of 
 the heart, and that they proceeded from a 
 confirmed esteem for the character of our 
 nation. If then they dared to evince so 
 marked a partialy for us, in such perilous 
 times, their regard must be equally, if not 
 more strongly manifested when they could 
 offer it with safety. 
 
 These were the grounds on which I submitted 
 my tender to the Minister, who condescended 
 
^88 
 
 to answer me three weeks after the 8th of 
 August 1810, which was the date of my 
 communication to liim, and it was soon after 
 followed by an order for me to lodge the 
 instrument with the under secretary of the 
 Foreign department, whose receipt is thus 
 attested. 
 
 " Forcii^Ji Office^ Septemher Ath^ 1810. 
 
 "Received this day, from the hands of 
 Captain Alexander (iillespie, of the Royal 
 Marines, a hook, containing the oaths of 
 allegiance to his Britannic Majesty, signed 
 at Buenos Ayres in the course of July 1806, 
 by fifty-eight Inhabitants of that City, toge- 
 ther with the Paroles of Spanish and Creole 
 Officers of the Regular and Provincial army of 
 Buenos Ayres, commencing the 1st of July 
 1806. The same to be deposited in the Fo- 
 reign Office. " 
 
 (Signed) W. Hamilton. 
 
 It was not long before I had the pleasure to 
 remark that the anticijxition I had conceived, 
 became realized, for out of six members who 
 constituted the first revolutionary junta of 
 Buenos Ayres, three of them stood registered 
 upon that list, and I doubt not when our 
 national honour shall permit an unrestrained 
 intercourse with those states, who seem now to 
 have conquered freedom and independence, 
 but that others upon it will be identified, 
 
289 
 
 holding high places of trust under that rising 
 republic, who from well-matured principles of 
 affection for our islands, together with a sense 
 of high duty towards their own common- 
 wealth, will be ever ready to step forth as 
 zealous organs and advocates to proclaim the 
 mutual wishes, and to promote the reciprocal 
 interests of Great Britain and La Plata. 
 
 My narrative now attains its natural termi- 
 nation, and it only remains for me to say 
 that neither partiality nor prejudice has con- 
 taminated its details, when touching u| on the 
 actions of individuals, nor has a page been 
 swelled out by the exaggerations of romance, 
 or a deviation from veracity. 
 
 u 
 
'290 
 
 CONCLUSION. 
 
 WHEN we bid adieu to Buenos Ayres in 
 
 1807, Spain could not boast of more loyal sub- 
 jects within her extensive realn,s, than those 
 of every description in the provinces of La 
 Plata. The narrow space of eleven months 
 had exhibited their fidelity by two triumphs 
 over a foreign invader, which covered them 
 with glory, while they imperceptibly stamped 
 a new character upon every class of uieir 
 population. 
 
 They had slept for centuries in peace, and 
 knew not the meaning of an enemy, saving 
 from the tradition of former times, which in- 
 formed them that their frontiers had once been 
 exposed to the inroads of savage neighbours, 
 the greater part of whom had since fallen 
 sacrifices to their own vices, and that the 
 remaining race were either kept in awe by a 
 barrier-line of defence, or their tempers sof- 
 tened by the mild inducements of a reciprocal 
 traffic. 
 
 As those South Americans had been thus 
 long kept strangers to their own physical 
 energies as men, until they were pushed into 
 action by the fortuitous circumstances of the 
 
^^91 
 
 years 1806 and 1807, so had their mental pro- 
 gress towards refinement been repressed for 
 ages, by the arts of an ungenerous policy, until 
 beyond those cotemporary periods. 
 
 The immense distance at which Buenos 
 Ayres and her dependencies are placed from 
 Europe, the prohibitory edicts, always strictly 
 enforced, against their social and conai ercial 
 intercourse with all other nations, the un- 
 natural restraints that had been im|)osed upon 
 seminaries of genius and the arts, the marked 
 proscription of all agricultural pursuits, and in 
 fine, the superstitious thraldom in which every 
 order had been held by a designing priesthood, 
 have combined together to stifle the risings of 
 ambition, their desire of knowledge, and even 
 to debase their natural intellects. Unlike to 
 their northern brethren upon the same con- 
 tinent, who are planted upon a margin of the 
 trading world, which self-interest, urgent 
 wants, and constant opportunity can over-step 
 at pleasure, all access to them could only be 
 obtained by a tedious circuit, a perilous navi- 
 gation, and through a host of jealous agents. 
 To these leading causes may be ascribed the 
 infant state of every attainment in the provinces 
 of La Plata, when compared with those greater 
 accomphshments which are to be found 
 amongst their fellow-subjects touching upon 
 the Caribean sea, although both have been 
 equally bound down by the same code of 
 monopoly and constraint. 
 
 It is lamentable to remark, when we take a 
 general retrospect of the many mortal, as well 
 
U\)2 
 
 as political changes that have occurred among 
 the superior authorities, who have existed 
 since the Spanish empire over those dominions, 
 that we can number only four native Americans 
 who have ever filled the A^iceroy's chair out of 
 a list of one hundred and sixty, and no more 
 than fourteen who have been vested with the 
 dignities of governors or captains general from 
 a long roll of six hundred and two ! However 
 high the inborn talents of those citizens might 
 have been, they have rarely been permitted a 
 scope for display, and as the very clerks of depart- 
 mentswere chiefly composed of Europeans, they 
 were almost perpetually debarred from even an 
 acquaintance with public occurrences, and what 
 was still more harsh, from a tuition in the 
 first rudiments of government. Thus secluded 
 from all sources of improvement, the Creole 
 sunk into that desponding languor as neither 
 to spare a thought upon the degraded state of 
 his country, nor upon his own insignificancy as 
 a member of it. 
 
 The only equivalent which the Buenos 
 Ayreans could have drawn to compensate for 
 this estrangement from mankind and science, 
 was by the circulation of books and opinions ; 
 advantages long enjoyed by their friends in the 
 northern extremities through the same illicit 
 channels they had derived their foreign manu- 
 factures. But both of these had been shut 
 out from them by the vigilant police of church 
 and state, which allowed publicity to none that 
 dared to inculcate any other dogmas but such 
 as were congenial to their own. The press too 
 
293 
 
 being under superior constraint, teemed with 
 nothing but mutilated and fallacious details of 
 pubhc alFairs, for it was inaccessible alike to 
 the offerings of patriotism, as to the petitions 
 of individual suffering. 
 
 Those parents of families who were endued 
 with superior understandings, and with the 
 means of fortune, most naturally felt for the 
 future condition of their children in this land 
 of ignorance, and were emulous to transplant 
 them into another soil, where science was cul- 
 tivated, and where the mind was encouraged 
 to branch out into its most favourite directions. 
 As France and Spain had long maintained a 
 close alliance, and their religious creeds being 
 assimilated, Paris consequently stood first in 
 their estimation as a school, until that revolu- 
 tionary aera which transfigured its natives into 
 infidels towards their God, and into the enemies 
 of mankind. But previous even to this tran- 
 sition into barbarity, those heads of families in 
 South America were restrained from executing 
 their amiable designs, by royal decree, which 
 could only be overcome through influence, 
 and it was too often the case, that by this per- 
 manent interdict they werecompelled to consign 
 those objects of their affectionate hopes, to 
 languish out their days in useless sloth, and to 
 finish them upon that bed of weeds. 
 
 Those laws of coercion that had struck so 
 deeply into the vitals of commerce, served also 
 to check the freedom of ideas amongst the in- 
 terior dependencies of Buenos Ayres, as well 
 as in the capital itself. The few strangers who 
 
294 
 
 had been admitted to visit them, consisted 
 chiefly of professionahsts, who were solely 
 intent on their own pursuits, and if chance 
 ever threw in their way a man of talent, his 
 communications were given at much risk, and 
 his licensed continuance amongst them was 
 too short to avail much. The majority of 
 their foreign guests being masters of vessels 
 employed in the slave-trade, it may be fairly 
 presumed that their opinions were of a piece 
 with their business. 
 
 Notwithstanding that one general system 
 was framed for regulating the whole colonies of 
 South America, still the geographic positions 
 of some of them had effected a diversity in their 
 refinement and manners, from the rest. An 
 uninterrupted contraband intercourse from the 
 mouths of the Oronoco u|X)n the North 
 Atlantic ocean, to the West of the gulph of 
 Darien, not only reared a daring and hardy 
 race of natives along the whole line of those 
 coasts, but it also threw in occasionally the 
 most intelligent individuals from every adjacent 
 quarter, and along with them the various 
 gazettes, with the enlightened writings of 
 Europe and North America. Besides the 
 adventurous population that are near to the 
 sea, there are within, a numerous stock of 
 smugglers and shepherds not less bold in their 
 nature, whose practices and habits also conspire 
 to render them fixed enemies to the govern- 
 ment, and who are as ready to fight, as to 
 trade in an illegitimate cause. Their licen- 
 tious, and itinerant lives too, make them ob- 
 
295 
 
 durate to the admonitions, or anathemas of the 
 church. These local advantages and attain- 
 ments naturally obtruded the thoughts of eman- 
 cipation upon the northern continentalists, at 
 an earlier period, than they were even contem- 
 plated by those in the depopulated and un- 
 tutored regions of La Plata. They had been 
 cherished by the provinces of Venuzuela and 
 Mexico twenty-two years ago, and a declara- 
 tion to that extent was only stayed, by some 
 imexpected contingencies. It might have 
 been deduced however, that such a spirit, 
 once conceived, would not have been easily 
 smothered, but that it breathed in silence until 
 a propitious hour for its reanimation, and it 
 accordingly found a new birth out of the womb 
 of European politics, in the treacherous inva- 
 sion of Spain by Buonaparte, the vacillating 
 councils of that unhappy kingdom, and the 
 inability she at first evinced to protect even 
 herself, far less to extend it to her remote 
 dominions. 
 
 It would be foreign for me to enter into that 
 wide field of incidents which has appeared upon 
 the face of that revolution since 1810, for such 
 a topic is as far removed as those settlements 
 are from the boundaries of my present discus- 
 sion. It is merely brought forward in context, 
 to display the uniformity of feeling that per- 
 vaded every corner of South America, under 
 their alleged grievances, which were counter- 
 parts in them all, and to exhibit the simul- 
 taneous efforts that followed an expression of 
 them, as if they had been impelled by one 
 
296 
 
 plan of combination, and had emanated 
 throughout as if from one common centre of 
 direction. 
 
 Cotemporary with the erection of Buenos 
 Ayres, into a viceroyalty, in 1778, several 
 edicts were issued very favourable to her com- 
 merce, which roused her industry, and from an 
 experience of their wisdom by their results, a 
 farther melioration was extended to her staple 
 exports, with privileges on her imports, by 
 progressive statutes in the years 1791 and 
 1793. The wars however in which the 
 Mother Country was soon after involved, 
 rendered those liberal indulgencies of short 
 duration, and of little avail. Their native pro- 
 ductions being mostly of a perishable kind, 
 their immediate shipment was necessary, but 
 owing to the inability of Spain to afford regular 
 convoys, the merchant was compelled to the 
 alternatives of consigning his goods to rot in 
 warehouses, to commit them to the danger of 
 the ocean, and the tenfold greater risk of cap- 
 ture, and if escaping both, to the certainty of 
 very distant returns. Those grievous incum- 
 brancies upon their trade, counterbalanced 
 greatly such parental concessions, in the 
 general estimation, and the many misfortunes 
 that attended their commercial intercourse, 
 greatly impaired that respect for the power of 
 their protectress which they had been taught 
 to cherish ; for the calamities that wound the 
 interests of the most ignorant man, will not 
 only obtrude a poignancy under their imme- 
 <liate effects, but Avill likewise enforce strong 
 
297 
 
 reflections upon their cause. Such contem- 
 plations, grounded upon an obvious truth, of 
 which they saw themselves the daily victims, 
 wanted no organ, but only an occasion to ex- 
 press them, when they could do so beyond the 
 privacy of public coercion. They were allowed 
 a feeble vent while we possessed Buenos Ayres, 
 and although such interpreters were few, and 
 those extremely guarded, yet enough could be 
 gathered from their breathings, that the mer- 
 cantile classes in it, panted earnestly, not only 
 for a change in their personal conditions, but 
 still more for a revolution in the common 
 dynasty of their country. The higher ranks 
 in the church, from having been elevated by the 
 crown, were strongly devoted to it, besides 
 those Spanish expectants who were numerous, 
 but almost the whole of the lower orders in it, 
 were attached to the destinies of their native soil. 
 As Spain had long neglected to reinforce the 
 military in those colonies from her own sub- 
 jects, she had confided the duties most impoli- 
 tically to South Americans, which may account 
 for the relaxed discipline of those troops, both 
 as to officers and men. Widely scattered over 
 the Pampass frontiers in small bodies, and 
 never regimented for exercise or combined 
 evolution, they were strangers to obedience, 
 and on the day of trial, they could be expected 
 to act only as a rabble, without motive or object. 
 This was the description of our opponents, 
 when we disembarked upon the shores of 
 La Plata, in 1806, to whom was joined a 
 
298 
 
 heterogeneous mixture of mounted peons. 
 None of them having ever seen an enemy in 
 the field, they were panic-struck at t'le o itset, 
 and carrying it along with them in their 
 precipitate retreat, the city surrendered under 
 a similar impression. While we held the place, 
 they had time to pause, and to recover from 
 it, and it was during that peaceful interval 
 they first began to calculate upon th3 po )ular 
 strength, and on the means of applying it. 
 Every individual possessing either observation 
 or feeling, was stung with shame when he 
 ascertained the numbers by which his capital 
 had been conquered, and each telling a tale to 
 his comrade from wounded pride, one univer- 
 sal flame of revolt was kindled against us. The 
 calamitous issue is well known, arising out of 
 the inequality of the conflict, but the retros- 
 pect is adduced in circumstantial detail of the 
 origin of that military bias which has since 
 characterized, and has spread a new impulse 
 of activity over all orders in those dependen- 
 cies. Young soldiers are prone to exult in 
 victory, without a consideration of its circum- 
 stances, or taking into their estimate the 
 aggregate of foes over whom they have 
 triumphed. The capture of General Beresford's 
 little army, in the commencement of their 
 career, produced the same effects upon the 
 general feeling, as if it had been the most 
 brilliant achievement. The events of the 12th 
 of August first gave rise to a standing army 
 in the provinces of La Plata, and those of July 
 
299 
 
 1807, fostered still more the martial spirit by 
 giving to it a reputation. 
 
 Public economy, and the immemorial system 
 of a government which had ever ruled witli a 
 suspicious jealousy, might have been supposed, 
 after every danger had ceased, to have sug- 
 gested the disbandment of so many natives in 
 arms, but no reduction followed, and General 
 Liniers who had commanded them with 
 reiterated fortune in war, was continued at 
 their head after peace. In testimony of the 
 popular gratitude, he was successively called to 
 be governor of Buenos Ayres, and at last to 
 fill the viceroy's chair, vacated by the de- 
 thronement of the Marquis Sobramonte, which 
 was the highest dignity in their power to 
 bestow. The crowded successes that had 
 accompanied him, were erroneously imputed to 
 his talents and firmness, but in reality he pos- 
 sessed neither. Since landing in South Ame- 
 rica as an emigrant from the naval service of 
 France, and a refugee from her convulsions, his 
 habits had been depraved, and his associates 
 low, and having a natural genius for political 
 intrigue, he exercised it amongst the lower 
 orders of the capital, as well as through some 
 of his national accomplices, in the interior. 
 
 Although now an officer in the service of 
 Spain, he was in every sinew, and at heart, a 
 Gaul. He possessed a great portion of cun- 
 ning, which when applied to a man of rank, is 
 too often construed into address, and his plans 
 were never deranged by the compunctions of 
 principle. 
 
soo 
 
 At the close of 1807, the inhabitants ol' the 
 viceroyalty of Buenos Ayres, were eathusias- 
 tically attached to their sovereign, and every 
 recollection of grievances was drowned amidst 
 the shouts of victory. Her armies suddenly 
 incorporated for self-defence, at that time 
 recognized no other object, and although a 
 separation from the Mother State might have 
 been cherished by many as a secret wish, still 
 the plots of revolution were contemplated by 
 none as a design. Notwithstanding the insi- 
 nuations practised by hosts of active emissaries 
 thrown out into every quarter, yet their 
 loyalty rebuffed every art, and nowhere upon 
 the earth, were the enormities of France 
 viewed with greater horror, than by those 
 South Americans. 
 
 The treacherous invasion of Spain by 
 Buonaparte, and the degradation of her 
 monarchs, were no sooner published, than one 
 universal sentiment of indignation at the deed, 
 and of generous sympathy for the royal 
 sufferers, burst forth. In this first affectionate 
 impulse tenders of money were made, and had 
 the materials of transportation for their em- 
 bodied soldiers been at hand, few of them 
 would have declined to embark in the sacred 
 cause of combating for their parents' freedom, 
 upon her own soil. Such was the general, and 
 loyal temper at that sera. 
 
 Liniers from the moment of his ascent to 
 power, began to conceive schemes of ambition, 
 and his partizans were zealous to forward them 
 in all points. As the military were under his 
 
JOl 
 
 own immediate command, his first aim was to 
 attach them to his person and his interests^ 
 and instead of lesseniniij the burdens of the 
 treasury, at that time labouring under great 
 pressures, he augmented them by progressive 
 levies, which consisted mostly of individuals 
 who were devoted to his will. 
 
 In the first stage of the peninsular war, the 
 details of its operations were various, contra- 
 dictory, and even in conformity with the 
 political principles of those who circulated 
 them. It would have been most beneficial for 
 the general cause, if the juntos in Spain, that 
 sprang out of her temporary emergencies, had 
 paid more respect to her colonies, upon their 
 earliest constitution, by propagating regular 
 bulletins amongst them under official autho- 
 rity, as well as by a candid declaration of their 
 purposed system towards those remote depen- 
 dencies. But falsehoods and exaggerations 
 upon the state of things, superseded the truth 
 in Buenos Ayres, and produced the most per- 
 nicious effects upon the minds of a people 
 naturally inclined to tumult, and they were 
 long left to themselves too, in total ignorance 
 of their own future destinies. 
 
 At this early juncture, Liniers, from his 
 exalted rank, must have been apprized of 
 many facts that never met the public eye, and 
 his politics derived great advantages from such 
 a reserve. At the crisis of abdication set 
 forth by king Charles and Ferdinand, in fa- 
 vour of Buonaparte, he was governor of the 
 capital, and notwithstanding that peremptory 
 
302 
 
 orders had reached him from the council ot 
 the Indies at Madrid, which had not theii 
 perished amidst the storms of their coiiuitry, 
 to proclaim the son as their legitimate 
 sovereign, still he suspended their execution, 
 and in his dilemma adopted a temporizing 
 conduct, by announcing to the citizens that 
 the usurper had been compelled to abandon 
 his ambitious projects against Spain, that he 
 had stipulated to guarantee her independence, 
 together with the integrity of her colonies, 
 and that every desirable arrangement was upon 
 the eve of conclusion at Bayonne, between the 
 national deputies, and the French representa- 
 tives. He further gratified the city by pub- 
 lishing some flattering compliments from 
 Buonaparte, upon its fidelity to the throne. 
 
 Those artifices clearly demonstrate his fixed 
 and early predilection for the cause of 
 Napoleon. So vacillating were his measures, 
 that at another time he affected to be the ad- 
 vocate of Carlotta Queen of Portugal and 
 Brazils, who as daughter to king Charles IV, 
 had addressed a proclamation to the public 
 authorities in Buenos Ayres, offering to them 
 her protection until the return of better times ; 
 and urging them to maintain their allegiance 
 to her unfortunate family. But he knew too 
 well the mutual antipathy between the 
 Spaniards and Portugueze, to persist in re- 
 commending that new line of policy, for his 
 own was guided by no motive but to perpe- 
 tuate the existence of his power by any sacri- 
 fices, and he continued to waver, till time 
 
303 
 
 and events should develope his truest in- 
 terests. 
 
 Such a crooked policy must have been pe- 
 netrated in any other country, by colleagues 
 in power, but those who ruled throughout this 
 series of intrigues, were men of weak capaci- 
 ties, and had little experience in the subtleties 
 of the world. Besides, their love of office 
 being stronger than their patriotism, some of 
 them might have been induced to adopt a 
 prudent reserve from the dread of forfeiting 
 their seats. It was from such base materials 
 Liniers had tlie address, in the plenitude ot his 
 reign, to form an extraordinary junto, over 
 which he constitutionally presided ; thus en- 
 grossing to himself both the military and 
 judicial supremacy. In those stations he 
 guided at will the general feeling, while his 
 spies marked acutely its displays under the 
 various reports that agitated the city. 
 
 The arrival of an emissary from Buonaparte, 
 in the autumn of 1808, unfolded those mys- 
 terious proceedings in part, and finally led to 
 the downfall of Liniers. This diplomatist with 
 his dispatches, reached Buenos Ay res in 
 safety, and was received by that chief with 
 much distinction. The purport of them was 
 read officially before the members of the 
 Cabildo, and they proceeded from the council 
 of Castille, at that time under French con- 
 troul. Their most striking heads were, the 
 voluntary resignation of the Spanish tjjrone in 
 favoiu' of king Joseph, recommending those pro- 
 vinces to acknowledge him as their sovereign, 
 
304 
 
 and urging them to take an oath of allegiance 
 to his government. A threat of future respon- 
 sibility, in case of noncompliance, was most 
 injudiciously annexed against the public au- 
 thorities, who under a terror of consequences, 
 and a desire to alienate them from their own 
 heads, published the whole to the people. 
 
 At this crisis. General Elio, a brave, loyal, 
 but violent man, was governor of Monte Video. 
 He was well acquainted with the real charac- 
 ter of Liniers as a soldier, and a statesman, 
 from having served under him during the 
 trying events of the preceding year. With 
 regard to the first, a personal recollection of 
 the want of firmness shewn by that popular war- 
 rior, when summoned by General Whitelocke 
 to surrender Buenos Ayres, to which he would 
 have certainly acceded, if he had not been 
 strenuously opposed by Elio himself, had sunk 
 that officer in his opinion, and a thorough 
 acquaintance with his recent proceedings in 
 the capital, and his singular conduct in having 
 solicited the greatest attentions being paid to 
 the ambassador from .Joseph, impressed him 
 strongly with suspicions of Liniers's loyalty in 
 the cause of his own sovereign. Elio was not 
 only a staunch adherent to his king, but 
 there was a secret enmity in his determina- 
 tions, which precipitately resolved to withdraw 
 all obedience to the capital as the seat of 
 treason, and to the mandates of Liniers, whom 
 he denounced to be a traitor. As Monte 
 Video was considered by Spain as the key to 
 Buenos Ayres, and to the upper provinces. 
 
305 
 
 and consequently of the first importance, a 
 portion of its garrison always consisted of 
 regular Europeans, which may in some degree 
 account for its hostility against every mea- 
 sure, that aimed at the subversion of the ruling 
 dynasty, and from its not being a mart of 
 commerce, but a place of arms, it may be 
 rationally inferred, that military habits pre- 
 dominated. 
 
 In order to answer the ends of justice, 
 and assimilating with the genius of the people 
 together with his own, EHo disregarded the 
 long standing laws of South America, in this 
 hour of difficulty, by convening a grand pro- 
 vincial junta, of which he had precedents in 
 Spain herself, upon similar occasions. Those 
 contentions were the original causes of a civil 
 war, that ensued upon each bank of the Plata, 
 which raged, as usual, with a spirit of public 
 and individual rancour, and they paved the 
 way ultimately to a successful inroad from 
 their Brazilian neighbours, who availing them- 
 selves of these unnatural quarrels, reclaimed 
 and occupied those boundaries of their former 
 dominions. 
 
 Liniers had gained a powerful party by his 
 extensive patronage, and imagining that his 
 power had attained a vigour paramount to 
 every obstacle, he began to act with less cau- 
 tion. To give additional splendour to his 
 dignity, he assembled a corps of guards aroimd 
 his person, who were the vassals of his will. 
 He had however some secret enemies in the 
 Cabildo, who at last saw through his designs, 
 
J06 
 
 anil who conceived it to be the safest and 
 surest expedient, to employ and to diffuse 
 pretexts of his despotic administration, with a 
 vieAV to foment discontents against him, and to 
 weaken his authority. Their schemes were 
 seconded by the arrival of a deputy from the 
 grand council of Seville at Buenos Ayres, a 
 province whose reputation stood high in the 
 general estimation, as having been the first to 
 declare war against France in the name of the 
 nation, as it had now promptly pushed agents 
 throughout the colonies of South America, to 
 counteract the false impressions that might 
 have been made by those of Buonaparte. 
 
 As Seville was amongst the first jurisdic- 
 tions in Spain, possessing within itself high and 
 peculiar privileges, and had been distinguished 
 by its bright example of resistance to the 
 usurper, and as its supremacy had been recog- 
 nized by many others in the monarchy, so any 
 suggestions uttered from such a respectable 
 source, could not fail to disseminate the finest 
 effects in the minds of a people, who were 
 ahke fervent in the royal cause, and who only 
 awaited some official direction by which they 
 could attest the sacred impulse. Accordingly 
 an exposure of the true state of the kingdom 
 was proclaimed, after which all the public 
 authorities of Buenos Ayres, took a solemn 
 oatli of allegiance to Ferdinand VII, as their 
 legitimate monarch, and to the grand junta of 
 Seville, as the only existing representative of 
 the crown. 
 
 Early in 1809, those members of the Cabildo 
 
307 
 
 who were inimical to Liniers, began to stir in 
 the city, and to call for the dissolution of the 
 present junta, and the election of another, but 
 their plans being discovered, they were sent 
 into exile ; a measure however that was not 
 effected without military interference. Strange 
 as it may seem, the Creoles of any respecta- 
 bility took no share in those convulsions, but 
 were inclined to oppose them, and it was to 
 their loyalty alone, that the flames of insurrec- 
 tion were at that period got under. 
 
 It was at last found necessary to constitute 
 a central junta, for the intermediate purposes 
 of government, until a more eligible form 
 could be established, the members of which 
 renewed their solemn obligations to the Parent 
 State. One of their primary measures was to 
 depose Liniers, whom they resolved on should 
 be sent to Spain to answer for his misconduct, 
 but whose sentence was revoked into a banish- 
 ment to Cordova, which was conceded to at the 
 intercession of many Spanish and American 
 friends. Another decree, released from prison 
 several who had been committed for seditious 
 practices under Liniers's viceroyalty, and to 
 confirm their devotion to Spain, Elio was called 
 in to head their troops, while the Marquis 
 Cisneros was cordially hailed as their new 
 viceroy, in the summer of 1809. Those 
 crowded fluctuations naturally created discus- 
 sion, which gradually led on to partial ferments, 
 and finally to revolution itself, by a concur- 
 rence of local, as well as foreign circumstances. 
 
 The various forms of dynasty in Spain, from 
 X 2 " 
 
SOS 
 
 the jLiiita to the supreme cortez, evinced one 
 series of weak, luicandid, and ungenerous pro- 
 ceedings towards the colonies, and it is only to 
 those early causes, we can ascribe the com- 
 motions that have raged in them since 1810. 
 As the Parent fought for her own liberties, it 
 might have been natural to expect she would 
 have sympathized for those of her children, and 
 as they were the chief sinews of her political 
 existence in those days of her maladies, it might 
 have been supposed, that common interest 
 would have suggested the expediency of draw- 
 ing them closer to her than ever, by the ties 
 of mutual affection. But looking only to in- 
 ternal dangers, the fu'st junta forgot they had 
 foreign dependencies to regulate, and, saving a 
 few assurances of melioration, which nev^er 
 were fulfilled, nothing was done to guide their 
 conduct, or to afford a permanency to their 
 hopes. 
 
 A veiy ungracious omission on the part of 
 the crown, was generally perceived and felt by 
 the inhabitants of Buenos Ayres, in their not 
 having been honoured by any memorials of 
 royal favour, beyond a few common-place 
 compliments, for their fidelity in having twice 
 repelled from their city, a foreign invader. 
 The neglect operated greatly upon the better 
 orders, and the influence extended also 
 to the military, who were peculiarly sore upon 
 it. The error shook their regard for the 
 Parent State, and attached them in the same 
 degree of proportion to their native country. 
 It was a most unhappy coincidence, when we 
 
S09 
 
 reflect upon the turbulent spirit that reigned 
 in all, during those critical times, for instead 
 of some reward flattering to their pride, those 
 dependencies became a scene of proscription, in 
 consequence of orders from Spain, which 
 proceeded from exaggerated representations 
 made to their court by some of the authorities 
 resident in Buenos Ayres. 
 
 These were a few, out of many of the progres- 
 sive steps that conduced to the overthrow of 
 monarchy in the provinces of La Plata, whose 
 feelings were in unison with the rest of their dis- 
 tant fellow-subjects throughout the continent 
 of South America. They arose not out of mo- 
 mentary tumults, nor from transient ferments, 
 out of no grand preconcerted plan amongst them 
 all, but of slow local circiunstances in each 
 although the whole of them had been equally 
 offended and injured by the following pro- 
 clamation, which rallied them around the 
 throne, and the person of their deposed 
 sovereign, being never ratified by the council 
 of regency in Spain, who issued it, nor by the 
 cortez who succeeded to the government- 
 
 " From this moment, American Spap-iards, 
 you are elevated to the dignity of freemen ; 
 you shall not be hereafter, as you formerly 
 have been, looked at with indifference, distres- 
 sed by covetousness, and destroyed by ig- 
 norance. Your destinies hereafter will not be 
 dependent on ministers, on viceroys, nor on 
 governors ; they shall be in your own hands. 
 We will remove all your abuses, all your ex- 
 tortions, and all the evils which have sprung in 
 
310 
 
 your ooLintiy, from the arbitrary orders of 
 your former government." 
 
 It was generally looked for by the colonies, 
 as an immediate result to this pleasing address, 
 that their utmost wishes were on the eve of 
 being realized, and had honour or policy held a 
 seat in the Spanish councils, they might have 
 been retained to her forever, in a state of 
 acknowledged subjection as their common 
 parent, she would have maintained likewise a 
 perpetual sovereignty in their love, and might 
 have commanded their wealthy resources as 
 the tribute of it. But all those glittering 
 pros})ects of regeneration, served only to ren- 
 der disappointment more bitter, and to foster 
 discontent under it. The sacrifices which the 
 Euenos Ayrians implored, seemed as if they 
 were dictated by providence and nature, were 
 consonant with their respectful duty as sub- 
 jects, with their dignity as men, and had they 
 been conceded to, their fruits would have been 
 reciprocally shared with their Mother Country. 
 The general outlines of them were, " That a 
 majority in every department of the state, 
 might be drawn from Spaniards domiciliated by 
 property, or from Creoles. That they might 
 be allowed a free trade with all parts of the 
 world, in amity with Spain, and the duties on 
 it, to be imposed by themselves exclusively ; 
 that the courts of legal administration might 
 undergo reforms where wanted ; that separate 
 legislatures might be fixed throughout the 
 provinces, to impose, and to appropriate taxes, 
 as public necessities might demand, at their 
 
311 
 
 own will ; to enact such laws as might be 
 essential from current occasions of expediency ; 
 those two establishments being always amena- 
 ble in their proceedings to the approval of the 
 king, whose sanction also was held requisite to 
 convene that annual representation which was 
 to be chosen by the people, and whose func- 
 tions were to consult and to deliberate for the 
 ^ood of each district." Those were the heads 
 of a reform, which the experience of more 
 than three hundred years of grievance, had 
 proclaimed to be essential for the general wel- 
 fare, and such as was solicited as a right. 
 
 At this alarming juncture, those provinces 
 were beset with French emissaries, whose arts 
 they withstood with a laudable firmness, and 
 although a few proselytes might have been 
 gained, still the great bulk of every order 
 deprecated those national principles. Hopes 
 were cherished by most, that as a secretary 
 of state was nominated in Spain for South 
 America, being preliminary to the formation 
 of a board of administration for the colonies, 
 the plan of which was, that it should consist of 
 forty members, twelve of whom were to have 
 been Creoles, an opportunity would be afforded 
 them, to discuss and to redress their wrongs, 
 through their own representatives ; but that 
 establishment was never compleated, nor acted 
 on. The adoption of such a department 
 would have produced the best effects, for one 
 of the chief pretexts of their complaint was, 
 that they were not only debarred from an in- 
 fluence over their own legislation, but that 
 
S12 
 
 they were likewise precluded from sending 
 their deputies to Spain, who might have a share 
 in those acts that related to themselves, as 
 well as a voice in framing her dynasty in the 
 days of her misfortunes ; privileges which had 
 been imparted to every city in that kingdom. 
 The harsh proceedings of the new viceroy, 
 Marquis Cisneros, had no origin in an arbitrary 
 exercise of his power, but were in compliance 
 with his orders from home, at the commence- 
 ment of 1810. He possessed naturally a mild 
 and prudent temper, and if his other colleagues 
 in delegation, had been guided by like moder- 
 ation, through the convulsed provinces of 
 America, their turbulence and atrocities might 
 have been greatly allayed. But whether 
 arising from a private impulse, or a public 
 duty, the issues were the same, for the deport- 
 ation of some suspected citizens in Buenos 
 Ayres to Europe, and the imprisonment of 
 others, accelerated the lurking ferment of the 
 people, which being combined with disastrous 
 news from Spain, partly true and false, it broke 
 out into tumult. The legality of the constitu- 
 tion of Spain, at that time identified with the 
 central junta, was also questioned by many 
 sensible individuals, because it had not been 
 assembled by a popular call, but was founded 
 solely by its own resolv^e. An early convoca- 
 tion of the general cortez, that pillar of Spanish 
 liberty, had it been composed of right materials, 
 would have animated and liberated the nation, 
 and have diffused a confidence in all its efforts, 
 and a veneration for its name, throughout her 
 
■\ 
 
 313 
 
 i UNIV 
 
 most remote dominions, but narrow and injudi- 
 cious measures, disgraced the proceedings of 
 all tlie inferior substitutes of her government, 
 which were oftener than once noticed and re- 
 prehended by the British ambassador. 
 
 Amidst those concurring difficulties, and the 
 supposed overthrow of the reigning authorities 
 in Europe, the Cabildo assumed the reins, in 
 order that they might not be seized by the 
 mob ; an alternative which was approved by 
 the viceroy, who voluntarily abdicated the 
 charge. He properly concluded in his own 
 mind, that as the source from whence he had 
 derived his existence was now cut off, that his 
 own had also become vitally extinguished. This 
 transferrence not being a deed of compulsion, 
 he still continued to give it his support, because 
 all their proceedings were finally, and as usual, 
 submitted for his assent, and bore all the out- 
 ward marks of the uninterrupted sway of his 
 sovereign. 
 
 Matters at last attained to such a height, 
 that to restore tranquillity to the city, con- 
 stantly disturbed by doubts and uncertainty, 
 it was necessary that some intermediate sys- 
 tem of rule, should be announced for the regu- 
 lation of the whole body. In consequence, a 
 meeting of the principal inhabitants was called 
 to deliberate, in the end of May 1810, who by 
 their own votes, and as organs of the people, 
 constituted by their united consent, an admi- 
 nistration under the title of " the provisional 
 and governing junta for the provinces of La 
 Plata." This solemn ceremony was immedi- 
 
314 
 
 ately confirmed by one universal accord, and 
 its magistrates, six in number, with a president 
 and a secretary, installed, who severally took 
 the oaths of allegiance to Ferdinand VII. 
 That new ordinance of things, being suited to 
 the nature of the times, consequently involved 
 in it the supersedure of the higher offices of 
 the crown, who now descended to the rank of 
 private citizens, although the former emolu- 
 ments of their different appointments continued 
 unimpaired. 
 
 Those crowded incidents generated step by 
 step to revolution itself, and if Spain could 
 have boasted of more dispassionate serv^ants in 
 the royal court of Audiencia, than she really 
 possessed during those troublesome scenes, she 
 might perhaps have preserved the loyalty, or at 
 least have stayed the extreme resort of those 
 colonies to the claim of independence. But 
 the private feelings of wounded pride upon their 
 sudden degradation, obtained in them the place 
 of a patient submission, until their country 
 could redress their insults, which were mani- 
 fested in various ways, little becoming their 
 recent dignities in the state. Mutual animos- 
 sities began to prevail between them, and the 
 lately created junta, which reached to such a 
 decree, as to cause the immediate removal of 
 the deposed members, an act quite indispensa- 
 ble for the happiness of the community, as well 
 as for the security of the interior dependen- 
 cies, amongst which they were suspected of 
 inciting discord. A tedious correspondence 
 preceded their embarkation for Spain, after 
 
315 
 
 which the provisional government published a 
 long detail, explanatory of their motives for 
 such a conduct, the most prominent of which 
 was, that the ministers of Audiencia had 
 resisted to comply with the obligation of an 
 oath of fidelity to the new constitution, they 
 still claiming their former exemption from 
 such tests, while in office, although tliey had 
 become by the change, like all other indivi- 
 duals in the society, and were therefore alike 
 amenable to its laws as the humblest subject. 
 The junta of Buenos Ayres, while they dis- 
 charged the duty which they deemed incum- 
 bent upon them, by such strong measures 
 against those gentlemen as public characters, 
 shewed at the same time, every personal repect 
 to their families, and themselves, but the 
 populace evinced a rancourous spirit in a nirni- 
 ber of them attacking Don Caspe, a fiscal of 
 that court, upon the evening of the 10th of 
 June, and beating him cruelly, while pro- 
 ceeding through the streets to his home. This 
 wanton contempt of one of the representatives 
 of majesty, foreboded an early storm, and the 
 feelings of the loAver classes. It unfolded 
 something more in them than the desire of a 
 common change in their condition ; it was cer- 
 tainly an act of revolution, which the existing 
 laws found themseh^es too feeble to punish, and 
 the junta too heinous to palliate. The only 
 alternative therefore, which it could adopt, was 
 to remove the cause, by an immediate em- 
 barkation of the Marquis Cisneros, the late 
 viceroy, the fiscals, and oidores of the royal 
 
316 
 
 Audiencia, for Spain. Thus was the first 
 spark of rebellion lighted in the provinces of 
 La Plata, which all the loyal declarations of 
 the substituted authorities, could not after- 
 wards extinguish. 
 
 The junta qualified this stretch of power by- 
 its necessity to maintain the peace of the city 
 and the interior, disturbed by the secret 
 machinations of those exiled members, and 
 defended it upon the ground that they had 
 done no more, under the exigent circumstances 
 of both, than was sanctioned by precedents in 
 old Spain ; protesting also their intention to 
 surrender their temporary sway whenever a 
 general congress to deliberate for the general 
 good, could assemble. 
 
 As some form of intermediate supremacy- 
 was demanded, none could have been better 
 than the election of a junta in Buenos Ayres, 
 for its congeniality with the nature, the 
 usages and genius of the community. They 
 had been coeval with the existence of the 
 monarchy, their duties were understood by- 
 many, and their constitution was familiar with 
 the generality, from the great share of the 
 government which they vested in the lower 
 orders. Accordingly such a transition restored 
 tranquillity to the city, and was more 
 secondary in its operations, than all the vigour 
 of the laws, in promoting it. That political 
 experience which those new statesmen wanted 
 was in many respects compensated by strong, 
 common sense, of which their situations stood 
 much in need, in th ose day s of passionate conf] ict. 
 
317 
 
 The first measure of its sittings was to pro- 
 claim their principles, and their leading objects. 
 They were to sustain the provinces in fidelity 
 and allegiance to their beloved sovereign, 
 Ferdinand VIT, and his legal successors to 
 the Crown of Spain ; coupling such decla- 
 rations with a solemn oath, that they should 
 be the guides of their firmest zeal, and un- 
 ceasing efforts, and to testify their affections 
 for their European brethren. South America 
 was held out as an asylum from the misfor- 
 tunes of their country. Addressing themselves 
 also to the populace, whose tempers they well 
 knew, the governing junta especially recom- 
 mended them to avoid all dissensions, to 
 observe a respect and confidence in their 
 magistrates in order to preserve their reciprocal 
 union, to attempt no innovations, as being 
 always replete with dangers, no violent or 
 hasty extremes, originating from any factious 
 demagogue, that might be contrary to the 
 laws, but to consider well their actual condi- 
 tions in every deliberation, lest in trying to 
 remedy apparent evils, they might not ac- 
 celerate their own downfall. Annexed to all 
 these salutary restraints published to their 
 subjects, they were on the other hand encour- 
 aged " to speak with that dignified freedom 
 which emanates from wise, moderate, and 
 generous feelings, and as a farther caution 
 against excess of any kind, they were desired 
 to look to their Brazilian neighbours who were 
 ever on the watch to improve from their in- 
 ternal dissensions. " Had the Parent State 
 
318 
 
 availed herself at this gera of their temperate 
 spirit, and authorized the institution of a 
 temporary gov^ernment in those colonies, now 
 most imperatively demanded by local circum- 
 stances, and by the impossibility of a well- 
 arranged representative correspondence with 
 Spain, from such a distance, she might have 
 dictated its powers, and have maintained a 
 weighty balance in it, but instead of a conci- 
 liatory mildness, so well suited under the exist- 
 ence of her national calamities, the tenor of 
 every official intercourse was uttered in a man- 
 datorial style, and in place of consulting the 
 interests of those extensive dependencies, from 
 whence alone she could derive her resources, 
 they were either rejected, or entirely for- 
 gotten. 
 
 Thus abandoned and forlorn, they were 
 compelled to provide for themselves, and as 
 Spain had given the example of successive 
 changes in her own political difficulties, 
 founded upon native customs, and fluctuating 
 expediency, so they followed her footsteps in 
 every doubt that arose during their infant 
 state. 
 
 The compulsory abdication of their legiti- 
 mate king, the usurpation of the Spanish 
 throne by a mean foreigner, and the consequent 
 bastardy of every establishment proceeding 
 out of so impure an original, added to the 
 rapid successes of the French arms in Europe, 
 which they dreaded might be finally turned 
 against themselves, jointly urged on to a dis- 
 avowal of the supremacy of the Parent State, 
 
31C) 
 
 and of all her elected authorities, and from a 
 natural principle of self-defence against the 
 ambitious designs of this upstart sovereign, 
 they began to consider themselves fully 
 entitled to manage for themselves. 
 
 Such a renunciation on the part of Buenos 
 Ayres, renewed the flames of a civil war with 
 Monte Video, Avhose rulers again asserted 
 their loyalty to the new dynasty of Spain, 
 in a regency which had been formally instal- 
 led,and had superseded the grand central junta. 
 They farther intimated to the capital the 
 necessity of its restoring the title of viceroy, 
 in the person of General Elio, who was delegated 
 to fdl it, by the heads of that government at 
 home. 
 
 Eut matters had at this time arrived at 
 too great a pitch of irritation, to induce the 
 acceptance of such a proposal ; the vicissitudes 
 of events, and the instability of every form, 
 together with the precarious issue, had been 
 so closely crowded, as to make the most serious 
 impressions upon every description of citizens, 
 and it was amidst those contending agencies 
 the sword was drawn, and never sheathed but 
 with the independence of the provinces of 
 La Plata. 
 
 It is enough for me to have retraced a few 
 of the leading causes that led on, at mingled 
 dates, to so grand and important a sequel, and 
 it belongs to some historian of those interest- 
 ing times to detail their affecting and checkered 
 progress. There are only a few acts of the war- 
 fare which I deem incumbent to particularize ; 
 
320 
 
 the first of which is that of General Liniers, 
 whose name has been so often interwoven with 
 the thread of this narrative, and whose hfe 
 from its prologue to its close, affords so striking 
 a lesson, how narrow is the span, and how short 
 the passage of unprincipled ambition. 
 
 When last we left him he was on the eve of 
 setting out for Cordova as an exile, a sentence 
 that had been humanely commuted, at the 
 pressing instance of many of his Creole friends 
 in Buenos Ayres, for a banishment to Spain, 
 where he would probably have expiated his 
 crimes by his death. But forgetful of such 
 obligations, and once more foregoing his mili- 
 tary creed, he voluntarily placed himself at the 
 head of an army in the province of Tucuman, 
 avowedly hostile to that capital which had 
 been the cradle of his glory, and the seat of 
 his power. 
 
 As the supreme junta found themselves in 
 command of all the troops that had been levied, 
 when the defection of Monte Video and 
 Cordova from their cause, was announced, 
 they were enabled to throw out detachments 
 against each ; one of which bombarded the 
 former place, while the other defeated Liniers, 
 and took him prisoner, after which he was 
 executed near to the latter city, as a conspirator, 
 with others of his adherents. 
 
 This nursery of soldiers at the commence- 
 ment, gave for a time, a most decided 
 advantage to the growth of revolution in La 
 Plata, for being pushed into action, they • 
 quickly overran the upper districts, taking 
 
321 
 
 Potosi itself, after having captured General 
 Nieto with his httle army, and beating the 
 viceroy of Lima, who had moved a large body 
 towards the Andes, to check their successes 
 upon the fields of Suipacha, in November 
 1810. They suffered however a most serious 
 reverse at Desaguedro, in June of the follow- 
 ing year, which dispersed their troops, and 
 must have annihilated their hopes, if the con- 
 querors had not been diverted to the borders 
 of the Pacific, to quell a fresh insurrec- 
 tion. 
 
 Ever since the revolution assumed a warlike 
 shape, Spain has at no time sent out any ex- 
 pedition from her own ports, against the de- 
 pendencies of La Plata, which have been 
 assailed throughout, only from the sides of 
 Chili and Peru, but they had to wage a still 
 more grievous war, and a far more dangerous 
 enemy in the dissentions of the capital. Not- 
 withstanding the expulsion of the members of 
 the former regime, they still left behind them 
 a few friends who were men of talents and 
 intrigue, and who considered it no crime, as 
 loyalists, to subvert by any means in their 
 power, the new order of things. Those indi- 
 viduals consequently were zealous to foment 
 divisions through every quarter, and although 
 not leagued together, still they were powerfully 
 assisted by the emissaries of ISTapoleon, while 
 at the same time their ultimate views were 
 diametrically at variance. A few restless tem- 
 pers likewise existed amongst the Creoles 
 tliemselves, who being more disposed to rule 
 
 Y 
 
322 
 
 than to obey, assumed the specious covering 
 of partizans for hberty. 
 
 The secession of Paraguay from the cause 
 of the capital, and a civil war with Monte 
 ^^ideo being coincident with those internal 
 discords, they altogether portended an early 
 dissolution of its infant govenment, but hap- 
 pily for its duration, the imprudent measures 
 of Velasco, who governed that province for the 
 king, reunited it to Buenos Ayres, and a truce 
 restored a peace with that city. 
 
 Bold steps now became imperative for 
 general salvation, which were early marked by 
 a decree of exile being passed against every 
 European inhabitant, who did not take the 
 oaths of fidelity to the constituted authorities, 
 and it moreover enjoined that every one should 
 produce a native to guarantee his future con- 
 duct, which was also extended to all con- 
 tinental strangers, and suspected persons. 
 Those judicious precautions produced a confi- 
 dence in the magistracy, and an energy to the 
 national arms, whose checkered successes and 
 misfortunes, offer too wide a range for me even 
 to abridge, but still less to recapitulate them. 
 
 Spain possessed far more effective auxiliaries 
 than armies, throughout the dependencies of 
 Buenos Ayres, in their distracted councils, 
 which broke out into universal anarchy, and 
 personal violence. Their triumphs in the 
 field, were perpetually sullied by social treasons, 
 and often was freedom seen in the last agonies 
 of dissolution, from the wounds inflicted upon 
 her by the hands of frantic passion. The sum 
 
323 
 
 of all their evils was seemingly accomplished 
 in the seizm'e of Monte Video, the commercial 
 key ot La Plata and its dominions, l)y a 
 PortugLieze armament from Brazils, whose 
 sovereign scarcely seated firmly on his throne, 
 thus early catched the moment of their dis- 
 union to aggrandize liis hoimdaries, at the 
 expence of a war in the new world, with his 
 immediate neighhours, whose national anti- 
 pathies against his country he so well knew, 
 and whose prevailing principles were so oppo- 
 site to his own. As the insurrection that 
 raged at this period throughout the dependen- 
 cies of Buenos Ayres, had previously been 
 removed far from the borders of his dominions, 
 by hostilities having taken a direction towards 
 Chili and Peru, no reasonable pretext could be 
 assigned for such an aggression either on the 
 grounds of danger, or consistency. Accordingly 
 the blow was struck before its motive was pro- 
 claimed, which was subsequently justified on 
 the score of right, the humanity of restorin'g 
 prosperity to a city in a ferment, and of bene- 
 volence to all. This early measure of his reign 
 may be pleasant for a time, but it will be bitter 
 in the end, for states are like individuals, who 
 never pardon either the insults or injuries that 
 are offered to them in the days of their ad- 
 versity. As Brazils too, may be entitled the 
 intervening centre of those parts of South 
 America, and as the choice of peace rested 
 with its government, disturbed at the moment 
 by its own partial commotions, so premature 
 an act, tended not only to lay the foundation 
 
of a perpetual enmity with a people upon their 
 immediate confines, but it also exhibited the 
 most pernicious example to its own subjects, 
 and has authorized by its precedent, the re- 
 taliating vengeance of Buenos Ayres, upon 
 some future day, by means either of the fire- 
 brands of rebellion, or of direct invasion. It 
 is not in the nature of things, but that a san- 
 guinary contention must exist between the 
 capital, and any power which may occupy 
 Monte Video, until that fortress, with the 
 northern limits of the river La Plata, are 
 restored to its territories ; for that independence 
 which it has finally attained, and is now re- 
 cognized by some other sovereignties equally 
 free, must be deemed far from being compleat 
 in a commercial view, while an atom of either 
 is possessed by any other supremacy but its 
 own. 
 
 It is an easy matter to arrogate the name of 
 an independent empire, but the provinces of 
 Buenos Ayres found the title a crown of 
 thorns, which was fast withering into decay at 
 the close of 1815, not indeed from the elements 
 of war, but of their civil feuds, and had it not 
 been for the enlightened wisdom, the intrepid 
 firmness, and persevering efforts of a band of 
 patriots, whom public danger, and the united 
 voice of a community, suddenly recovered to 
 their reason, had called together in general 
 congress, in the city of Tucuman, its sacred 
 cause must have perished for ages. At this 
 critical hour the national treasury was not 
 only inadequate to satisfy its creditors, but 
 
mi 
 
 even to supply the most pressing necessities^ 
 public spirit was extinguished in the visionary 
 pursuits of individual freedom, by the breach 
 of every social tie, discord had drowned every 
 worthy feeling, valour was nowhere displayed 
 but in mutual destruction, military insubordi- 
 nation was assumed by every grade of soldiers, 
 and the legislatures were only esteemed, as they 
 permitted licentiousness and crimes, to pass 
 with impunity. Such were the lamentable 
 depravities, both moral and political, that 
 waged over the minds not alone of the meanest, 
 but of the most exalted in those wide depen- 
 dencies, at the period of which I speak. Even 
 Buenos Ayres itself, which had long main- 
 tained a high degree of character by liberal 
 subscriptions from the wealthy, and other 
 tests of loyalty in the general cause, became 
 infected with those maniac passions ; the focus 
 of anarchy and suspicions. No wonder then 
 that the dispassionate looked upon this climax 
 of evils with despair, and that the prophetic 
 foreboded universal ruin at the commencement 
 of 1816. 
 
 But the members of the general congress 
 quickly retrieved them all by their manly 
 integrity, and by a judicious application of those 
 natural principles which never fail to give 
 unity and vigour to councils. They penetrated 
 the great causes of the disorder, and gradually 
 healed, until at last they cured it. Their au- 
 thority was soon established by its faithful zeal, 
 and its unremitting energy, no less than by its 
 patriotic origin, while it subdued a cheerful 
 
326 
 
 submission to all its decrees by their prudence 
 and wisdom. After their institution, it must 
 be confessed, excesses appeared in several dis- 
 tricts, but such was their vigilance, that the 
 abettors could not ascertain the issue of their 
 own plans, before they were dragged forth to 
 justice, and punished, without being allowed a 
 pause to implore for mercy. 
 
 At this juncture of difficulty, a new order of 
 things was determined for the guidance of the 
 state, by that representative body, which was 
 by the creation of a supreme director of it. 
 To this honourable and important office, Don 
 Martin Juan Puerridon was called l)y their 
 unanimous voice. He was at the time a mem- 
 ber of the general congress, and was worthy of 
 the high trust, from a long acquaintance with 
 public business, a thorough information of the 
 secret springs of the government, from having 
 been the clerk and confident of General 
 Liniers, while in the zenith of his power, and 
 from a perfect knowledge of the tempers and 
 genius of his countrymen. This elevation to 
 the most exalted rank in the commonwealth, 
 called forth the jealousies of his rivals, and the 
 rancour of his personal enemies, but his talents 
 and zeal overcame them all, and stilled every 
 murmur. The first acts of his magistracy 
 displayed them both in an eminent degree, for 
 being aware of some serious dissentions that 
 raged in the province of Salta, between the 
 citizens and soldiers, which had long paralyzed 
 every virtuous effiDrt, he Iiastened thither in 
 person, and speedily reconciled them ; after 
 
327 
 
 which, proceeding to the army, he reformed 
 some abuses in its discipUne and appointments, 
 when he finally returned to Tucuman to make 
 a report of his progress. Every observation he 
 had collected of the state of things, assured 
 liim that the whole line of their frontiers was 
 imassailable, and that the immense boundaries 
 of Buenos Ay res were not only safe, but suf- 
 ficiently powerful to publish a solemn declara- 
 tion of their independence. This memorable 
 act originated with the congress assembled at 
 Tucuman, and was greatly accelerated by the 
 influence and eloquence of Puerridon. 
 
 At this crisis. Chili was in possession of the 
 Spaniards, whose liberties as a sister of the 
 same family, were held as precious as their 
 own. Revolutions alwa^^s bring forth to the 
 world men of distinguished merit, and the 
 highest endowments, who must have other- 
 wise been doomed to endless obscurity. If 
 North America has cause to boast of a 
 Franklin and a Washington, as her first and 
 stoutest champions, so has the South to exult 
 in the enlightened Puerridon, the gallant and 
 modest San ]Ni^artin ; the former of whom has 
 rescued his country from the ruins of convul- 
 sion, while the last has not only conquered her 
 own freedom, but has diffused the blessing to 
 a contiguous nation, who was unable to con- 
 tend for the prize. Puerridon may well be 
 entitled " the Saviour of La Plata," as San 
 Martin has been stamped " the Liberator of 
 Chih." 
 
 While the supreme Director was thus em- 
 
328 
 
 ployed in appeasing the contentions of the 
 interior, and in arranging a plan for military 
 operations, the capital was torn afresh by the 
 most violent passions. The details of this 
 volume must have already introduced the 
 reader to the character of its populace, who 
 had ever been permitted to run riot in de- 
 fiance of the laws. In this sad extreme did 
 the chief magistrate find it upon entering the 
 city, and his firm decision upon the occasion 
 affords a conspicuous example, with an useful 
 lesson to every officiate under such trying 
 contingencies. He instantly announced obli- 
 vion for the past, a determination to punish 
 disorder in every rank henceforward, and in- 
 ducements of distinction to the loyal. By 
 those means, enmities were gradually tranquil- 
 lized, innovations were suppressed, and good 
 order restored, which have continued unim- 
 paired until tlie present day. 
 
 This happy change being perfected, Puerridon 
 with a comprehensive mind, cast an eye to the 
 state of the armies. Here too his abilities 
 were alike great, from the judicious resolution 
 he adopted between two doubtful and weighty 
 alternatives. The Spaniards were hastening 
 on with a finer force, than had ever yet ap- 
 peared in tbe field against the interior pro- 
 vinces, while the troops of Buenos Ayres were 
 widely scattered, but the celerity with which 
 those in the district of Salta were reinforced, 
 opposed a rampart against the enemy, who 
 were beaten and driven back with disgrace, 
 while the great object of the campaign was 
 
329 
 
 obtained by baffling- the schemes of the 
 generals, Serma and Marco, against Cuyo, 
 whose devotedness to the common cause, and 
 liberahty in sustaining it, led on to the com- 
 pletion of the final and stupendous design of 
 scaling the Andes, and giving liberty to Chili. 
 The successful issue of it not only retrieved 
 those soldiers from the stain of insubordina- 
 tion, but it has also established their military 
 name through the nations, and has raised for 
 them monuments of everlasting glory, upon 
 that new soil of freedom. Still more recent 
 events have consummated the great work of 
 their emancipation, and have added fresh 
 laurels to the victors upon the plains of Maipo, 
 near to Santiago, from whence the Spanish 
 General Osorio, narrowly escaped with a few 
 remains of his invading army, which had 
 landed some weeks before at Talcahuyo, in the 
 confidence of reconquering the province. This 
 last exploit of General San Martin, renewed 
 the stability of the ChiUan independent dynasty, 
 which must under any reverse, have been shaken 
 to its base, although it had been proclaimed to 
 the world, and recognized by the oaths, or sig- 
 natures of the lowest ranks of society, in which 
 formal proceeding all were allowed to share. 
 Not contented with those successes, which 
 have rendered Buenos Ay res and Chili, free 
 and sovereign states, that capital still perse- 
 veres in extending liberty to the extremities 
 of Peru, by a direct expedition against Lima 
 itself, combined with the movement of a 
 powerful army under the command of Belgrano, 
 
ooy 
 
 who must long ere this, have crossed the 
 Desaguedro, and have carried the war into the 
 territories of the enemy. 
 
 Such have heen the brilhant results from 
 the short reign of Puerridon, which has not 
 been less distinguished for a minute attention 
 to the soUd interests of the republic. A sys- 
 tem of finance was the first to obtrude itself, 
 which has proved beneficial in the renovation 
 of pubhc credit, and its competency to answer 
 not only the calls of the government, but by its 
 process to liquidate the heavy debts that had 
 been necessarily incurred while the more pro- 
 ductive districts of the confederacy were held 
 by the enemy. As in every country opposi- 
 tion may be expected to the wisest and purest 
 models, so those now suggested were combated 
 by ingenious writers, but their validity has 
 been fully proved by an excess in the receipts 
 of custom beyond former times ; the active 
 currency of a circulating capital, and an 
 accession of revenue to the treasury, while the 
 general taxation has been duly apportioned to 
 all. Particular classes which had been ex- 
 posed to some impolitic restraints in their 
 calling have been relieved from them, while an 
 extensive melioration is contemplated to the 
 rest, labouring under grievances. Although 
 this new state has ample securities to 
 guarantee any loans which necessity may 
 demand in the confiscated property of the 
 crown, and the unclaimed wastes, still it is a 
 resort which its ministers openly disclaim, 
 who have wisely resolved rather to struggle 
 
331 
 
 against present than future difficulties, and 
 to facilitate their scheme of economy, they 
 have already lopped off those tribes of petty or 
 inefiicient officers who had hitherto impover- 
 ished tlie royal funds. 
 
 The most benign and sensible enactment of 
 this administration has been evinced, in giving 
 industry with its implements to the tenants 
 of the plains, who have already been supplied 
 with lands on which to fix their habitations ; 
 thus encouraging the social connexions, 
 increasing the population, civilizing their 
 maimers, and condensing the varied hues of 
 the human race into more definite classes 
 and colours. 
 
 Amidst other considerations of reform, the 
 nurseries of literature have drawn the notice 
 which they merit. Schools have been opened 
 in every branch, and some on the most exten- 
 sive scale, under the guardian protection of 
 the higher authorites, where eveiy science is 
 taught, and the minds of the rising generation 
 will be early trained in those principles which 
 are to direct them throughout their separate 
 destinies in the world. To sum up all, and to 
 exhibit the noblest of triumphs ever offered to 
 intellectual humanity, the downfal of the 
 inquisition, has been coeval with the birth of 
 that republican empire ! 
 
 Puerridon has been blamed by the designing 
 or inconsiderate, for his tame submission un- 
 der the insults of the Portugueze, and some 
 have even gone so far as to broach suspicions 
 of his having winked at them from disaffection, 
 
332 
 
 or a want of duty to his country. But the 
 summary review ah^eady taken of his eminent 
 services, sufficiently advocates his fidehty and 
 zeal for its welfare ; while forcible arguments 
 are not wanting to establish his acute policy 
 in temporizing with such injuries, while his 
 views were distracted by so many other more 
 momentous objects. Tranquillity once re- 
 stored, perha})s negociation, force, or an 
 unforeseen change in human events, may 
 again annex Monte Video to its legitimate 
 owner ; for it is a natural claim which never 
 can prescribe, and Buenos Ayres is the repre- 
 sentative from the high attitude which she 
 has assumed in the illustrious ranks of the 
 nations. 
 
 A¥hat a mass of population, of extent, and 
 riches, has thus emerged into existence from 
 a sea of trouble ! What a sudden change from 
 having been but a few years ago the theatre 
 of misery and despotism, to behold three 
 millions of fellow-creatures at once breaking 
 their chains asunder, and rushing at once into 
 the broad day-light of freedom. Every dis- 
 play is presented to the feelings, but prudence 
 and brevity must curb the reins. 
 
 It may not be improper to delineate the 
 limits of dominion, whose future destinies are 
 involved in this mighty revolution. The 
 sketch may deserve the notice of the com- 
 mercialist, and cannot be unacceptable to 
 the inquisitive student. 
 
 The same royal edict which erected Buenos 
 Ayres into a viceroyalty, also greatly aug- 
 
333 
 
 mented the original extent of its boundaries. 
 Eefore the arrangement, tliat capital with its 
 province, and those of Paraguay and Tucuman, 
 had been placed under captains general, whose 
 authority was paraniomit within their respec- 
 tive limits, except in cases of doubt or 
 importance, when they were constitutionally 
 submitted to the viceroy of Peru, for his 
 decision. The Q;reat distance that often inter- 
 vened in those final proceedings, from the seat 
 of justice, and the lapse of time necessarily 
 required before the issue of such appeals could 
 be known, frequently cancelled the operations 
 both of the crown, and the law, and conduced 
 to this reform. 
 
 The little town of Moxos upon the Indian 
 frontiers, had been previously the demarkation 
 with Peru, but this geographic revolution an- 
 nexed to the new viceroyalty, the desolate, 
 though rich province of Atacama, Las Charcas, 
 or Potosi and Carang^s, with the district of 
 Cuyo, or Chiquito, denominated New Chili, 
 formerly an appendage of the old, and laying 
 to the east of the Andes, which separate the 
 two. The whole were subdivided into nine 
 intendaocies, and by a subsequent ordinance 
 in 1782, into thirty provinces, commencing 
 from the Pampas country, upon the South of 
 Buenos Ayres, and terminating in Carabaya, 
 upon the north of the great lake of Titicaca, 
 which is the fixed confine with Peru, as it 
 seems likewise determined by nature, in the 
 chain of Cordillera, named Vilcanota, which 
 fringe upon the provinces of Canes and Can- 
 
334 
 
 dies, both within the Peruvian viceroyalty. 
 Inchided too with those dispositions, were the 
 savage missions of Los Moxos and Chiquitos, 
 which compleat the northern extremity of La 
 Plata. The entire detail forms nearly a square, 
 its proportions being about fifteen hundred 
 miles long, above seven in medium breadth, 
 and contains somewhat under 1,100,000 inha- 
 bitants, who may be called christians, besides 
 an unascertained number of Indians. The 
 whole occupy a space of about 145,000 square 
 leagues, and the uttermost points of direction 
 may be traced from Cape Lobos, its southern- 
 most limit, to the most distant settlements 
 upon the river Paraguay in the North, and 
 from Cape St. Anthony, at the South-east 
 mouth of the Eio de La Plata, to the ridge of 
 mountains that separate it from Chili proper, 
 altogether containing the varieties of climate, 
 incidental to twenty-five degrees of latitude, 
 and consequently from their positions, all the 
 productions of the temperate and the torrid 
 zones. 
 
 Before the war which has established the 
 emancipation of those extensive regions from 
 the crown of Spain, there were constantly 
 worked in them thirty mines of gold, twenty- 
 seven of silver, seven of copper, two of tin, and 
 seven of lead, which yielded a clear revenue 
 to the king, of four millions and a half of 
 piastres, at three shillings and seven-pence 
 each, which a knowledge of mineralogy, and an 
 economy in its processes, may assuredly treble. 
 But those countries can supply from their 
 
336 
 
 boundless vegetation, and animal products, far 
 more precious returns than their metals to a 
 manufacturing nation like ours, in their raw 
 materials for our workmanship, and there is 
 little doubt but the wisdom and pohcy of this 
 wide and rising republic, from a long experience 
 of their evil tendency upon population and 
 manners, will shut those dens of pestilence and 
 avarice, and raise a hardy race of freemen, who 
 can handle the plough as well as the sword, 
 while its rulers must draw down the blessings 
 of heaven upon their heads, for having released 
 thousands of wretched bondsmen, from those 
 dungeons of poverty and sorrow. Some sacri- 
 fice worthy of that over-ruling providence, 
 who has conducted them through so many 
 threatening storms, and placed them at last in 
 safety, is surely due from them, and there is 
 none more acceptable in his eye, than the 
 incense of compassion and benevolence being 
 rendered to the most forlorn, and the meanest 
 of his creatures. 
 
 The noble aids which Buenos Ayres has 
 afforded to their brethren of Chili, amidst their 
 own pressures, are not only fine specimens of 
 affection, but have added to their own glory, 
 and must render them amiable in the sight of 
 mankind. They are strong pledges too of 
 high honour, in all their future relations with 
 the world. As internal peace and union are 
 the best sureties for the permanency of any 
 government, so are they most peculiarly re- 
 quired in one just in its infancy. — They can- 
 not otherwise be acknowledged, nor respected 
 
338 
 
 as purely independent and free, but as tran- 
 quillity has long been restored within their 
 borders, as their frontiers are defined, and no 
 enemy dares to approach them, as their final 
 aim had no contemplation beyond the attain- 
 ment of their own liberties, and involved not 
 the issues of freedom to the whole continent 
 of South America, and as a firm dynasty in 
 every branch is now established and recognized 
 by all its subjects, therefore the states of La 
 Plata may be truly ranked amongst sovereign 
 nations. 
 
 Their fellow Americans in the northmost pro- 
 bably have acknowledged them as such ere now, 
 and they have long employed their authorized 
 agents in every quarter, to protect their com- 
 merce, to insinuate into the esteem of those 
 natives, and to extend the correspondence of 
 their countrymen. England too has many of 
 her enterprizing adventurers scattered abroad, 
 but she has no public advocates for her 
 interests, none to move the prejudices of a 
 large and yet ignorant community in her 
 favour, and not like as in the territories of 
 Brazils, a conservador to whom her merchants 
 can fly for counsel and support under wrongs. 
 
 But delicacy prohibits farther enlargement 
 iipon this topic, when we consider the honour- 
 able motives which forbid, at present, so bene- 
 ficial an intercourse. 
 
 A very recent decree, emanating from the 
 department of state in Buenos Ayres, and 
 officially subscribed by Puerridon, the supreme 
 director of it, holds out a very considerable re- 
 
339 
 
 duction of duties upon its imports, nnd also 
 evidences an important diminution in the 
 public debt. With a view to anniliilate smug- 
 gling, which it ap})ears was gaining ground, 
 and to give increase and prosperity to com- 
 merce, the following regidations constitute the 
 tariff of the custom-house, and the proportions 
 of payment, from which particulars it may be 
 inferred, that paper money forms a portion of 
 the present circulating capital in the state. 
 
 1. The payment of the duties is to be made, 
 two third parts in money, and one third in 
 public bills. 
 
 2. The custom-house is to receive for these, 
 two third parts of the duty, all such of the 
 public bills as have been issued by the supreme 
 government, on which is expressed upon the 
 face of them, that they are to be current 
 instead of cash. 
 
 3. Credit for the duties is to be given to 
 the importer, on taking possession of the 
 goods, twenty days for the half amount, and 
 forty for the remainder. 
 
 4. For the security of the state, the custom- 
 house officers are to have a guarantee satis- 
 factory to them, which is to be required with- 
 out distinction of persons. 
 
 5. This article provides for the mode of 
 payment, when the importer neglects to dis- 
 charge the duties. 
 
 6. The reduction of eight per cent, formerly 
 granted in favour of South Americans, is 
 reduced to four, and also with respect to 
 others similarly favoured. 
 
SiO 
 
 N. B. The reduction adverted to in the 
 second paragraphs of the preceding decree, 
 is to the amount of twenty-five per cent upon 
 all the existing duties. 
 
 No city on the globe presents a more envi- 
 able importance than Buenos Ayres at this 
 moment. She has not only conquered her own 
 destinies, but the liberties of Chili, and is 
 about to spread those blessings over Peru. 
 Within the narrow retrospect of eleven years, 
 she has twice repelled a foreign invader from 
 her walls, thus preserving herself independent 
 from the yoke of a stranger, while she con- 
 tinued faithful to Spain so long as the ties of 
 nature could maintain themselves. Neither 
 Carthage nor Constantine, so famed in ancient 
 story, nor Boston nor Philadelphia, those early 
 cradles of North American liberty, can excel 
 her in preeminence. A flourishing commerce 
 with the universe has now opened upon her ; 
 the spell of superstition is broken, and indus- 
 try with contentment, are seen throughout 
 her plains. Thither, with the released bonds- 
 man hearing of the news, will hasten down 
 from his recesses, the untutored Indian, who 
 will in time form, with all the other tints 
 of the South American race, one united nation, 
 one friendly community, and one happy family. 
 
GENERAL INDEX. 
 
 Introduction. 
 
 Chapter I — Preliminarv, and cursory Remarks From page 1 to G 
 
 Chapter II — Departure of the Expedition from Cork — Passage to 
 Madeira — Account of Funchal — Departure from thence Occur- 
 rences on the Passage to St. Salvador — Brazils, with a summary- 
 Description of that City, and other Remarks — Sailing from 
 it to attack the Cape of Good Hope — Gain sight of Table Moun- 
 tain. 6—13 
 
 Chapter III — Landing effected — Capture of the Colony — Various 
 occurrences and particulars wnile there — Departure from the 
 Cape — Expedition against the Rio de la Plata touches at St. 
 Helena — Reinforced there by Governor Patten — Narcissus pushed 
 on in advance — The squadron gain sight of St. Mary its Northern- 
 most point. 13 30 
 
 Chapter IV — Pilotage Directions for that river. 30 — 35 
 
 Chapter V — Elementary dangers, with a Detail of its harbours 36 — 4-0 
 
 Chapter VI — A Schooner captured — IntelHgence gained from a 
 Scotchman on board of her — DitRculties in reaching the point of 
 disembarkation — Capture of Buenos Ayres — Some individual 
 anecdotes — Hospitality ot its natives. 40 — 54» 
 
 Chapter VII — A recapitulation of leading events while there- -Some 
 account of the government of Buenos Ayres — Liniers' duplicity 
 — Priestly influence— Customs — Public edifices — Miscellaneous 
 remarks. 55—88 
 
 Chapter VIII — Plots to overthrow the British Power in the city and 
 interior— Military details — Liniers' landing near to Conchas—' 
 Reconguest of Buenos Ayres — Shameful breach of the capitula- 
 tion — Mobs — The mihtary enthusiasm of the natives after that 
 event — Mingled observations upon the city— A tribute to the 
 Creole inhabitants. 88 — 124 
 
 Chapter IX — Our removal to the Upper Country — Observations upon 
 the road — Luxan village— Opinion of South American energy if 
 well directed — Village of CapeUo del Senor — Corrupt administra- 
 tion of the law withm the interior country on the part of its 
 magistrates— Animals seen — Drought of season — Fertility of soil 
 — Village ot St. Antonio — Officers withdraw their paroles- 
 Agricultural usages — Locusts — Cruelty to animals— Kindness of 
 the Creoles in Don Marcos Zavaletta — Local and other remarks--* 
 A partial removal ordered from San Antonio — An acknowledg- 
 ment to the people in it. 124 — 168 
 
 Chapter X Departure from Antonio — Killing of partridges — Arrival 
 
 at the village of Salto de Areco. 166 — 168 
 
 Chapter XI Our residence there — An account of that villagCi— A 
 
 slight view of the Pampas Indians who entered it— Ostriches- 
 Various incidents— Pecuniary difficulties of the English prisoners 
 
 Their determination not to leave it, until all arrears were paid 
 
 up by the Spanishgovernment— All adjusted— Set out from Salto. 
 
 168—177 
 
242 
 
 Chapter XII.— Manner of catching horses — Cochineal pkntation — 
 Village of Roccas — Milanqui — River Terccro — The peons — 
 Change of prospects — Condor bird — Arrival al St. Ignatius- 
 Events and remarks while there. 177 — 209 
 
 Chapter XIII — Interesting progress of the escape of INIajor ToUey and 
 Lieutenant Adamson of the 71st regiment, with John Snow a 
 Britisla seaman, from St. Ignatius to Monte Video. 209 — 243 
 
 Chapter XIV. — A partial movement of officers to llioja in the moun- 
 tains — Attempted escape of others in consequence of it — Are 
 retaken — Commercial spirit of Cordova— Trip of some officers 
 into the country at Spenies — Their remarks — Their visit returned 
 — Dress of the females on tlie occasion — Remarks on our landlord 
 in the Vale of Calamacheta — A visit from a strong guard sent by 
 Liniers, to compel the dehvery of the book of parole— Remarks 
 and correspondence upon that measvire— Description of the 
 mountains near St. Ignatius, and of tlie vale—Dress — Usages — 
 Hear the news of our release from captivity. 24-3 — 266 
 
 Chapter XV Depart from St. Ignatius for Buenos A3'res — Compass 
 
 bearings of our progress downwards from day to-day, with inci- 
 dental remarks— Arrive in that city— Its turbulent state— Inferior 
 occurrences while there — Get off on board of an American — 
 Arrive at Monte Video — State of the populace there— Compli- 
 mentary letter from the Cabiklo, to Colonel Gore Brown, the 
 military Commantlant— Embarked in the Daphne. 266 — 284 
 
 Chapter XVI Abandon Monte Video — Passage home— Arrive at Cork 
 
 — Subsequently at Portsmouth — Detention there— Cause, and 
 
 remarks upon It Intimation to Mr. Perceval of m}-^ possessing a 
 
 manuscri])t of some importance — Receive orders to lodge it in tlie 
 Foreign Office — Copy of the receipt of it — Closing remarks upon 
 it. 284—289 
 
 Conclusion — A summary retrosiiect of the revolution in Buenos Ay res, 
 and the provinces of La Plata from its origin, until their final 
 indei>enaence from the Crown of Spain. 290 — 3 W 
 
 ERRATA. 
 
 Page 16, line 19, for outports, read outposts. 32, 24, for Banagon, 
 read BiU'ragon. 36, 24, ditto. 38,18, ditto. 72, 1, for seclusions, read 
 seclusion. 84,31, erase ultimately. 127, 11, for minute, read minute's. 
 156, 14, for when, read where. 189, 11, for encompassed, read en- 
 camped. 209, 18, for it, read them. 240, 17, for particular, read par- 
 ticumrly. 301, 13, for Juntos, read Juntas. 303, 14, for Junto, read 
 Junta. 
 
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