A voyage to South America, with an account of a shipwreck in the river La Plata, in the year 1817

by George Fracker

At any feat of dexterity from the gladiator, handfuls of dollars are sometimes thrown by the rich spectators, which he deliberately picks up and pockets, amid the shouts of ‘bravo!’ and the waving of handkerchiefs.

A party will sometimes be seated and regaling themselves at a table opposite the doors in the lists, and a bull will be let out upon them, at which they take to flight, with their bottles; except one bold fellow, who leaps from the table, vaulting over the bull’s horns, and lights straddling upon his back, facing his tail, while chairs, table, &c., are tossed about his head. At other times, a solitary fighter will be stationed on one knee, a few feet from the entrance, with a short thick pike, very sharp, pointed toward the door, with the butt end firmly fixed in the ground, and wait the victim’s approach. This is the most ready way of death; for the bull, driving at the object, makes fiercely for the recumbent and watchful foe, but drops before he reaches him, for the pike head is buried in his brain. But enough has been said of such heart-hardening scenes.

We will now turn to a custom of less savage, and of a wholly different character—to the three holidays, (which they zealously celebrate) called the time of ‘Carnival.’ On these days, all business is suspended, and woe to the landed stranger, of whatever rank, who shall attempt to pass through the streets of the city. The flat and low roofs of the houses, are thronged with the women, whose slaves have provided them with a large supply of water in tubs, and with which they inundate the luckless passenger below. The field officer on horseback, and the poor paysano from the country, share alike the effects of their deluging streams—the horsemen will by speed attempt to escape the shower; but tubs are emptied far in advance, from the watchful throng above, in quick succession.

The men are no less busy in the streets, annoying the other sex, who are frequently pursued even to their inner chambers. No offence can be or must be taken, and no redress may be expected for mischief done.

Many of the boys get a few rials, by the carrying about in baskets and vending of egg shells, filled with scented water and closed with wax, which the men buy and pocket, and pelt every female with them, who inconsiderately exposes herself to their attacks. On a time like this, I once saw from my lodgings, a party of a dozen, who assailed a house a short distance below, on the opposite side of the street. The windows have iron gratings from top to bottom, by means of which, a person can ascend and scale the walls and gain the roof. A part of these sporters made this attempt, while the women on the terrace, assisted by their slaves, discharged their torrents and poured a flood on the heads of the besiegers. They at last gained the terrace, and the women fled to their lower apartments, pursued by the enemy. Here they made a stand and beseeched their invaders to proceed no farther, and appealed to the honor and generosity of cavalleros, not to invade the privacy of a lady’s chamber. The appeal was effective, and they instantly desisted and turned to retire; but seeing the enemy’s magazines of water in large, low hogsheads, and the slaves who had so obstinately repulsed them standing near, they could not resist the temptation, and seizing at once the screaming blacks, they deliberately plunged them headlong into the vessels, and made a speedy retreat.

The Theatre is a low and miserable looking edifice, (though a new one was remaining unfinished) and the performers at a par with the building. It is, however, well attended, and the second or upper range of seats is filled wholly with women. The prompter’s head appears from an aperture in the centre of the stage, with a lamp before him, and whose voice is as audible as the players, who repeat after him. I went once to see Shakspeare murdered, and a scene in the afterpiece furnished a circumstance that will afford a finishing picture to this brief outline. The farce was called the ‘Haunted House,’ the possessor of which wished to get rid of his nocturnal and troublesome visiters. He had summoned a procession of the holy order to purify the premises; but the number of players, otherwise fully engaged, being too small for this purpose, they hit upon a very ready though outre expedient to supply the deficiency. The church of San Domingo stood on the opposite corner, and application was there made, upon the pinch, for a supply of its disciples, and a dozen were engaged at a rial a piece. These shortly appeared upon the stage, in propria persona, with belt and hood, and holy water, which they sprinkled profusely around, chaunting ‘Anda te diablo.’

There is a conveyance—a clumsy vehicle, drawn by six horses—which leaves here once a month for Chili, proceeding as far as the foot of the Andes. Here, leaving their horses, the travellers are obliged to mount on mules, as being more sure footed than horses, and the passages over the mountains are, at certain places, narrow and dangerous. The mule only can be here rode with safety, on account of the narrow passages winding along the sides of these stupendous mountains. The astonished traveller, when traversing along this ridge of frightful precipices, beholds with dismay the yawning chasms beneath him, where the least mis-step would infallibly and irrecoverably plunge him in the fearful abyss below. He follows, in breathless silence, the slow and steady motions of his guide, who directs him to slack his reins, to preserve perfect silence, to leave the beast to its own guidance, and even if tottering with dizziness, to close his eyes. These injunctions need no repetition. Sometimes, in the lower places, in thick and misty weather, the guides will lose the track and wander till they regain it several days in the snow. This a Dutch captain once told me was his case, and he was much harrassed by the hard riding, and sick even at the sight of a horse. The passage is generally performed in about twenty days, and the distance from Buenos Ayres to St. Jago or Lima, is about four hundred leagues.

During the war with the royalists in the interior, the Buenos Ayrean troops gained many important victories. On these occasions the public square was splendidly decorated, having arches formed of large trees, and on the branches in the centre of each of these, were suspended lamps, and all the verdant pillars were profusely supplied with large wax candles, of a yard in length and of an arm’s thickness, as well as the monument in the centre, which, when lighted in the evening, produce the brilliancy of a noon-day blaze.

A large platform was erected on one of these occasions, in the midst of the square, and a grand dance performed by a volunteer party of young gentlemen, who were arrayed in the fashion of the native Peruvians, having a flesh colored velvet dress, with a band of large variegated feathers around their heads, and another about the loins. They went through the evolutions with much grace and received great applause. The music was by a superior band, which was placed on an elevated station a short distance from them.