Twenty years around the world

by John Guy Vassar

My last was written the day before the final blow was struck by Gen. Urquizas, at the head of his forces, upon the camp at Santos Lugares. The battle commenced at six in the morning and terminated at ten; the first shock was received by the cavalry of Rosas, who were put to flight and completely routed. At twelve o’clock the lancers had fled around in the city, announcing that all the cavalry had been destroyed, and it is supposed that four thousand infantry and horsemen have been slain or wounded. The ministers and consuls of the different nations, as well as the commodores and captains of the vessels of war, English, Spanish, Swedish, Sardinian, and American, conferred together and resolved to bring their marines ashore to protect the lives and property of their countrymen, and applied to Gen. Mansilla, he being in command of the city, who replied that at six P.M. he would give an answer, but within half-an-hour he sent word by an officer that they could land and take such measures as they wished, at the same time requesting the assistance of a deputation of ministers to carry a flag of truce, and sue for terms, and cessation of hostilities. The city was filled with troops, and the greatest possible excitement and confusion reigned; but the policy of Urquizas is pacific, and we may now hope that all will be harmonious soon.

The steamer Locust has just come down and informs us that Rosas and his daughter escaped under cover of night in a small row-boat disguised as sailors, and bare-footed, their shoes having been drawn off by the mud. They were passed by the Locust on board the British steamer Certain, and it is supposed that he will go to England, where it is said he has large investments in the funds. This news of the downfall of the tyrant is received with great demonstrations of joy in Montevideo, and succeeded by the merry peals of all the church bells, and an illumination. Mr. Schenck, our minister from Rio, is with us on his return, having gone down with the frigate Congress, Commodore McKeever, whom we left at Buenos Ayres.

I could have wished to have remained a few days longer to know the final result of the affair, but as there is only a monthly steamer of the mail line, I must avail myself of this occasion, to be able to meet an anticipated opportunity by steamer to Valparaiso. While at Buenos Ayres I visited the Salideros, which is one of the most remarkable sights. It is well known that the slaughter of cattle is unprecedented here, and the execution is remarkable; some of these establishments dispose of from five hundred to eight hundred per day. They are driven in from the estancias in herds, in inclosures made of sharpened stakes placed upright, and sufficiently high to prevent escape; this inclosure is gradually contracted and separated by means of hoisting gates, until the animals are closed compactly near the slaughtering sheds, where they are lashed by the horns and drawn to a ring in a cross piece of timber, over a truck cart upon a railway, where they are quickly despatched by a single blow of the knife in the neck, back of the horns; they are drawn up by horse power acting over pulleys; fifteen in eleven minutes were disposed of in my presence. The hides are removed, and dried or salted for exportation; the meat is jerked or cut in slices for drying, and sent to the West Indies; the horn is peeled, and the pithy particles within are used for making fences or bridging places or roads; the offal is put in immense reservoirs, containing two hundred barrels each, of which I counted ten in the establishment. Large pipes from an immense boiler convey the steam into these repositories, and the tallow runs out of tubes at the bottom like molten lead, and is put up in tierces while in a liquid state for shipping. The refuse of the vats is used for making steam, and in fact every particle of the animal is consumed, except the blood; the ashes from the bones answer the purpose of guano, and are contracted for in quantities. In consequence of the war and the uncertain tenure of this kind of property, which is liable to be taken by the army, cattle have been sold at two dollars each, our currency. It is a horrible and disgusting sight, but it forms the chief branch of commerce of this country. We will now carry the war news to Rio, which will be gratifying and relieve the treasury.

LXXVII.

Steamship Winfield Scott, Pacific Coast, March 17, 1852.

When I last wrote you I think I was returning from Monte Video to Rio Janeiro, to obtain a passage in a new steamer which was expected out from England, designing to continue my voyage through the Straits of Magellan, and up to Chili, but I found myself disappointed. Soon after this, the arrival of the noble ship from which I now write gave me an excellent opportunity to do so, being well commanded, and having accommodations for six hundred California passengers, while we are but two in number. The detention at Rio, on my second visit, gave me the advantages, or rather the annoyances, of the Carnival season, as it is there conducted. For three days from twelve at noon until night, it was unsafe to appear in the streets, where you ran the risk of being drenched with water, the contents of colored wax balls of the appearance of lemons, thrown by ladies, gentlemen, and children; in fact, all classes entered into the sport, from the doors and balconies across the streets. The Carnival commenced on Sunday, Washington’s birthday, and for three days business was mostly suspended. I had taken a social and quiet dinner in the suburbs with our minister, under the protection of a large and magnificent star-spangled banner, recently received, and floating in remembrance of the Father of his Country, to whom we are so much indebted for gifts possessed by no other people. In returning my vehicle had to run the gauntlet amid the showers of lemon balls. Theatres were crowded with masquerades, which I did not attend; having looked in upon them, however, the evening previous, which was the commencement, I found thousands of spectators occupying the boxes, and a multitude dancing with a violence that I had scarcely ever seen in cold latitudes. Prior to the Carnival they had an annual ball for charitable purposes, to which I was invited. It was given in an immense building in the centre of a long inclosure called the Garden of Paradise, but it appeared to me more like a Purgatory. Several thousand persons were present, to whom every variety of iced refreshments were offered; the extreme heat of the saloon, which was nearly one hundred degrees, and the ridiculous costume of the gentlemen (black coats and pants) oppressed me so much that I was induced to leave at an early hour. The ladies wore more dresses of rose and pink than of white, which appeared to add to the heat, and were sparkling with diamonds more attractive than their persons, but less diversified in complexion, the Portuguese race not being remarkable for beauty, while the color here is much mixed.

Our ship, which is about twelve hundred tons burden, took in eight hundred tons of coal and put to sea, and at the expiration of four days and a half we found ourselves at the mouth of the Rio de la Plata, with muddy water and no soundings, two hundred miles from shore, which shows the force of this river. We saw nothing of interest along the coast, except immense flocks of aquatic birds, opposite the Guano Islands. At the termination of nine days and a half we were in Lat. 52° south, at the entrance of the Straits, Cape Virgin at the north, and forty miles wide. The cold having increased gradually, we had made accession of clothing, and put up a stove two days before. Our steamer hove to off the cape, and we entered by daylight, with a cold, strong head-wind; the banks were from one hundred and sixty to two hundred and fifty feet in height; large numbers of walruses or sea-cows basked in the sun, and many birds of large size flew foolishly in and through the rigging. Guanacoes and ostriches are seen on the Patagonia shores, and the country appears dreary and barren.

I became interested as the scenery improved in grandeur and majesty, and occupied a place in the pilot-house, being well muffled up in overcoat and cloak; still it was cold and cheerless, and I could not avoid reflecting upon the inconveniences of a shipwreck. The first narrows dividing the Patagonian coast from Terra del Fuego are about nine miles long, and one mile and a half wide, with strong tide ripples, and we can see distinctly the two shores; the water is of a greenish river color, but quite salt. The Indians, of whom some few are seen, trade for beads, petty trinkets, liquor, ammunition and lead, of which they make balls, and with which, attached to the ends of cords, they entangle the legs of the ostriches. In the afternoon of the day we entered we had passed the second narrows, with Elizabeth Island in view, in an open bay, when we espied the first small sail, and supposed it to be some man of war’s boat, cruizing with the French flag, bearing down for us. We were heading off and should have passed her, had we not accidentally observed the tri-colored flag half-mast, when we altered our course and came up. We discovered a French lieutenant clapping his hands with joy, and crying out in his native tongue, “We are shipwrecked!” When shall I forget the scene of excitement and ecstasy manifested by himself and his six men composing the crew, as well as ourselves, on learning their condition, and being the means of saving them? His launch was twenty-one feet in length, and six feet wide, with mainsail and jib; it contained his supplies of red wine, salt-beef, and biscuit, but was leaky, and kept two men bailing; they could not have lived twenty-four hours longer. The facts are these: The French brig of war, Entreprenant, coming from the Pacific on her way to the Falkland islands, had entered a false bay, of which there are many, and the constant westerly winds resisted every effort of her crew of one hundred and thirty-five men to get her out; they were surrounded by mountains of snow and ice, without any chance of escape. At the expiration of eleven days, the launch started in pursuit of relief to Port Famine, a penal settlement, and the only habitable neighborhood along the straits. On arriving there they found that the convicts had risen and massacred the governor and other officers, and escaped, after hanging and burning the captain and owner of an English brig and an American three-masted schooner, taking possession of the vessels and all the treasure obtainable. The only recourse for the launch was to continue with the wind towards the Atlantic, when fortunately we met and saved them from a frightful death. The lieutenant explained to me the position of his ship, which I interpreted to our commander, who readily consented to go in pursuit of her. The next day we discovered a sail, and heard the discharge of guns, and found it to be the brig of war, which had just emerged from the bay, after an imprisonment of eighteen days. A perfect calm had enabled them, a desperate effort of their oarsmen, to tow her eight miles out into the strait, when the commander, Count Pouget, espied us, and expressed his obligations, sending a letter to the French Commodore at Valparaiso, requesting me to call upon him personally with the Captain, and to receive his thanks. The two ships parted amid the general rejoicing of all parties.

We had a cold but beautiful sail through scenery of the most majestic and romantic character, mountains rising from two thousand five hundred to three thousand feet in height, with jagged forms and snow-clad, with the gilding of the sun’s rays upon them.

There are various kinds of scenery as you pass west. Sometimes the peaks resemble those about Rio, high and conical; I almost imagined myself among the ice-mountains of Switzerland, and then again, in the scanty undergrowth of some localities, in Norway. With the strong westerly winds in some parts, the stunted trees rise from the sheltered side of rocks to a level with the summit, and seem as if cut and trimmed off at the top, and all the branches extend towards the east. The mountains rise in succession, retreating as you approach the ocean, the influence of the salt-air melting the snow and bringing down avalanches, while those in the rear are constantly white, and those on the margin are of grey granite in layers. On the shores of South Desolation we descried the smoke and fire of the Fuegean Indians, who came off in bark canoes, making signals with seal skins; the men, women, and children, notwithstanding the severe atmosphere about us, were nearly in a state of nature. The distance through the straits from Cape Virgin to Cape Pillar is two hundred and seventy miles, the most southern point being Cape Froward, in Latitude fifty-four south; our distance from Rio Janeiro to Valparaiso will be three thousand and six hundred miles, and the views through the passage are certainly among the most rough, wild, desolate, and exciting in the world. When the California trade first opened, many small vessels passed through, but now the clippers have replaced them, and a sail is rarely seen.