Our horses have been simply wonderful during this trip. We have driven, ridden, and brought along nearly 100 animals for 150 miles, and have not lost one upon the journey. This speaks volumes for the care and training bestowed upon the animals at the head estancia, and we are inclined to think that few other places could supply as many animals to do such trying work. The fitness of our animals is owing entirely to the continual attention and care they receive daily at the estancia.
We are sorry to be obliged to hold over all correspondence, advertisements, etc., to-day, as, doubtless owing to the floods, no communications had reached us up to the time of going to press. We hope all correspondents will accept our sincere apologies for the unavoidable delay in dealing with letters and orders; all despatches shall receive our earnest attention as soon as they come to hand.
"THE TACURU."
No. 9
Sunday, April 3rd, 1910.
Dawn showed us no respite of the drenching rain; the paths, the garden, and the camps were all flooded with the continuous rain of yesterday and last night, and still it poured. After disposing of a more substantial breakfast than had fallen to the lot of the travellers for some days, there seemed little to do save listen to the dulcet strains of the gramophone, which proved a welcome diversion. A considerable disturbance was caused by a dog fight under the table round which we were sitting; whether intentional or not on the part of the animals, the rout of the ladies was complete, and the dogs were only separated by the calm procedure of some of the men who held them under the water taps until their ardour was cooled. Monte was out of all this trouble, for he had been consigned to the security of the galpon to avoid trouble concerning rights of way which would assuredly have arisen between himself and Bear (the big bulldog of the estancia) had they met. Bear amused the company by presenting a truly comical sight, some minutes later, when he decided to have a drink after his fight; he walked with majestic mien up to the water spout, which jutted out from the house a few feet from the ground, and, poking out his heavy under-jaw, collected the flow of water in his mouth in a most satisfying way, for a few seconds. Of course, The Instigator started off pacing and measuring the room's verandah, etc., in order to devise a scheme for the best improvements for the estancia, and before long he and The Delineator had made out a plan which would drive any member of the R.I.B.A. to desperation, but caused its authors enormous joy. The Jehu and The Chaperon were occupied for some time in seeing to the comfort of their men and animals, and trying to dry the tents, clothes, etc., by the huge fire in the galpon in which the peons were housed for the day. We are told that one Tacuruer tried to employ the morning remuneratively by opening a temporary barber's shop on the verandah, and advertising "hair-cutting and shaving"; possibly he might have built up a successful business in time, but unfortunately for him his first customer's beard was too unyielding for the ordinary scissors and the customer objected to the way in which the horse clippers were used on the hirsute growth of his chin, and talked of his treatment afterwards in a way that did not inspire confidence in the other might-have-been customers, who were observed to slink away one by one from the barber's chair as if it were infected. We regret that a well-meant enterprise on the part of one of The Tacuru party met with such a poor reception.
A gleam of ceasing rain—it was not sunshine—gave courage to some of the more energetic members of the party to go forth to inspect the heaps of wood about to be made into charcoal in the neighbourhood of the estancia, if any could be reached on dry land. For to-morrow the visit to the La Gallareta factory will occupy the day, and the Charcoal piles are too interesting a sight to be left unvisited now that we are in the wood department of the Santa Fé Land Company.