The night passed without any incident, and when daylight came we were already on the march. As the troop was not to enter the town until the following morning, I partook of an asado for the last time, and, discarding my pampa costume, and dressing after the fashion of civilized men, I set out in advance of the company for Mendoza, which was twelve miles distant. The whole plain, over which our road lay, was covered with a curious bush, growing in clumps from three to six feet in height, and bearing a yellow pod, resembling in shape a screw. The houses that were scattered along the road were built in the old Spanish style. When within three or four miles of the town, a continuous line of buildings commenced, which was broken only by green pastures of alfalfa, surrounded by mud walls and extensive vineyards, the vines of which bent to the ground from the weight of the fruit they bore.
Upon the walls of the houses, suspended from canes, hung, drying in the sun, bunches of the fruit just mentioned; and, seeing a great number of casks and barrels in almost every yard, I judged that each farmer manufactured his own wine.
Oranges, lemons, limes, peaches, and olives were everywhere abundant, while occasionally the eye rested with pleasure upon a pomegranate, or palm-tree.
Within the yards, surrounded by high enclosures, were piles of melons and pumpkins; and ranges of jars, filled with olives just stripped from the trees, stood beneath the verandas of the houses.
The people seemed very hospitable. Twice the proprietors of different quintas came out, and persuaded me to enter their residences and partake of food, saying that everything they possessed was at my disposal, and that the foreigners received their great respect.
“How knew you that I was a foreigner?” I asked.
“By your countenance and your walk,” was the reply.
An old man detained me a long time to inquire the prices of North American goods.
“What is the value of this article in your country?” he asked, holding up to my view a cheap earthen mug.
“About a medio,” I replied.