"Rich black alluvial Soil."
There was one subject that did cause sore feeling, and that was mosquitoes. We had thought we knew all about them, we were proud with the conceit of nets, ammonia, and veils, but our pride had a fall. Comparatively speaking, we had only known mosquitoes theoretically before (though that knowledge was bad enough); last night we learnt of them practically, none of us had thought of tucking in our nets, and mosquitoes seemed to swarm up under each net before we had been in bed for half an hour. Little peace did anyone get through those long night hours, and, though a voice came from one of the tents about 2 a.m., remarking clearly above the intermittent snores, "Oh! how lovely," few echoed the sentiment, and the speaker assured us this morning that she was only dreaming, and that her words did not refer to insects of any kind, neither were they made in connection with the upheaval caused by "Monte" at one period of the night. He had taken up his quarters at one end of the ladies' tent, but was disturbed from his beauty sleep by the sudden barking of a dog outside the other end of the tent. This, of course, must be seen to; it was his duty, so, leaping up, he rushed through the tent, lifting up each one of the low beds, and their occupants, as he passed under them on his way to quell the outside noise. The ladies forbore to scream, though they thought of earthquakes, but settled down again to their occupation of trying to kill mosquitoes, quietly, in the dark, and to snatch moments of slumber occasionally.
After breakfast, Our Guest was rather unkindly "put on" by The Instigator to dig holes, to ascertain how deep the rich, black, alluvial soil reached; the ladies energetically washed up the breakfast things, which occupation resulted in The Kid once more, and this time finally, being given notice to leave, without a character, owing to general incompetence, impertinence, and lack of ability to wash out tea-cloths.
By 7 a.m. the coaches and carts were ready, horses rounded up, the "Primera Vista" camp was struck, and the march onward recommenced. But not before The Chaperon had pointed out a terror that "might have been." After breakfast he approached us with a stick held at arm's length, on which hung a dead, slimy-looking, grey snake, about 4 feet long. He explained that this reptile had crawled over the neck of one of the peons as he lay on the grass last night. This had happened before we went to bed, and we felt grateful to The Chaperon for having saved us from another horror last night by keeping the fact, and snake, to himself until we were leaving that camp.
The first part of our drive to-day was a new experience; we had passed over a few ant-hills before on our journey, but now we came to a land where it was difficult, if not impossible, to dodge them; they literally covered the ground, and the South American ant-hill is a power to be reckoned with. It is not the yielding mass composed of soft earth and other heterogeneous materials as found in England, which can be demolished with a kick, should anyone have sufficient temerity to lay himself open to the attacks of the inmates by thus disturbing them; but the homes of the black ant, and the Amazon ant, in Argentina are quite a different affair. They are, usually, solid, hard masses of earth from three to four feet high, very wide at the base, and covered entirely with coarse grass. They present an unyielding obstacle to any vehicle, and the wheels of even a heavily laden cart make no impression on them, but they are not unlikely to cause the overturning of that cart, and even traction engines suffer from the sudden drop caused by these gigantic sugar-loaves. Therefore it will be easily realized that the innumerable ant-hills through, and over which, we drove, were no inconsiderable menace to the safety of the party, and it was only due to the great care and skill of our drivers in threading their way amongst these obstacles that the inmates of the coaches were not upset time after time. As it was, no accident of the slightest description occurred—only a few bumps and jolts as we ascended or descended one of the ant-hills, which are so difficult to discern in open camp, where the whole land is covered alike with long grass. The worst part of our travelling did not last more than three or four hours; then we came to smoother country, fewer ant-hills, and occasional small lagunas, the land growing slightly undulating, though still bare of trees, and, after another three hours' driving, during which we had many changes of horses and several "helps" from the guides over extra bad pieces of travelling, we could see in the distance the position of the Lake Palmar and the tops of the palms which grow on the farther shore.
It was during this part of our day's journey that the peons made two captures of live animals in an armadillo and a nutria. These men have extraordinary good and far sight, and observe any movement in the grass, yards ahead of them. They at once killed both animals, for they are exceedingly fond of armadillo flesh, and cook the animal in its skin.
It was decided that horses and drivers alike would require a rest when we reached the shores of the lake, and, after our cocheros had made futile attempts to cut figures of 8 with their respective four and two-in-hands on the invitingly firm, yellow sands which surround Lake Palmar, all dismounted, horses were taken out, and, while lunch was being prepared, the party wandered on the shores of the lake trying to find remnants of extinct monsters, fossilised palms, and other improbable things. The Instigator rushed up and down picking leaves to bits, collecting sand and examining it under the microscope (which is, as yet, his), tasting the water of the lake, and generally trying to find a way of teaching Nature how to improve on her own handiwork. It really seems a pity She does not engage him as her expert consulting engineer. My Lady and The Saint did discover a boar-hound's tooth on the sands, and two teeth of a nutria, very pretty in their long, gentle curve, white at the root and gradually deepening to a reddish-brown at the end; but both these finds were absolutely valueless, and, though there was talk of having the teeth set as brooches, etc., connoisseurs, such as The Wild Man, knew well that the "finds" would be dissolved to dust long before they could reach the civilisation of a jeweller's shop.
The tiny banks which slope down from the camp to meet the wide stretching sands of the lake are covered with scrub and low trees of the acacia type, and, on one of these low trees, eked out with camp stools, the party, wearied with their search for curios, settled down to await their mid-day meal. It was gently broken to us that the sheep had at last been sacrificed, and would shortly appear before us in a different guise. The slaughter must have been most humane, for no one of us had heard the slightest cry or sound of distress, and now the flesh was being cooked. The peons would always prefer to cook all meat in the hide, if they were allowed to do so, and it is only with constant watching that they are prevented from thus wasting the valuable skins of animals. They are enormous meat eaters, which is scarcely to be wondered at, considering how scarce green food is. They live on meat, maté, and hard biscuits.
The bright idea occurred to someone that a hors-d'oeuvre would be acceptable, considering how long ago we had had our meagre early morning meal, so the only available article, a tinned Dutch cheese, was attacked; and none but those who have tried, under similar circumstances, one of the soft Dutch cheeses which one obtains in the Argentine, would be able to understand how very good it can be. As it was handed round (to everyone on the same knife), hunger, open-air, and the exercise of the ant-hills caused it to be appreciated more than usual, even beyond its deserts, if possible.
As the party were thus collected (mostly with their legs tucked away to prevent the climbing operations of the black ants with which the ground was swarming), The Instigator took this opportunity to try to rid himself of some of the responsibility of the trip by calling a meeting (the whole nine were already there), and putting it to the vote as to whether The Kid, now that she had lost her companions the sheep, should be turned adrift to find her way back again as best she could, drowned in the lake, or allowed to accompany the party for the rest of the journey. A wild gleam of joy lit the eyes of everyone who knew anything of her at this prospect of getting rid of the trial. Both the ladies, and everyone who had known her for longer than the week, voted, hands and feet, for her extinction, but four of the men were foolishly too polite to express their real wishes. So she herself was left with the casting vote, and chose to go on! Thus The Instigator's well-thought plan to remove an incubus was frustrated. He was so disgusted with his failure in a laudable object that, directly after "lunch" (which meant each one cutting off from the half-sheep, that was handed round, the piece he or she preferred), he went off with his microscope trying to find other interests, and in a few minutes was growing unduly excited over a shrub on which he discovered some most unusual excrescences. These shapeless masses of earth, apparently growing on the shrub, he was examining from all points with the naked eye before submitting them to microscopic investigation, and it was only when Our Guest came up and removed some of the earth from one of the excrescences that The Instigator, who was watching intently, noted that the mass resolved itself into the shape of one of The Saint's shoes, which had been hung up on the shrub to dry after her lake-searching expedition. Foiled again, The Instigator collected The Delineator and My Lady, and started to walk to the northern end of the lake, where The Jehu could pick them up, when the washing, packing and harnessing allowed of an onward move. We are told that for once The Kid, perhaps stimulated by her recent narrow escape from total extinction, really did do some work here. It is true we only have her word, an indistinct murmur from The Chaperon, and some clean plates to vouch for the statement, as all the other members of the party remaining were lying in more or less graceful slumberous attitudes in carts, under trees, or anywhere else, enjoying forty winks. Some excellent photos were obtained of the sleeping beauties as they lay there resting, but their modesty caused them to beg for forbearance in the publication of any of the pictures thus obtained.