It often happens in the gaucho communities that some one gains a reputation for bravery. To prove his courage, this hero goes to a pulperia, with a bottle in one hand and a knife in the other, stands at the door, and turns out all the occupants. One gaucho in the north and another in the south hear of each other’s bravery, obtain a meeting, and, after returning compliments, draw out their knives and fight to the death.
The gaucho dress is peculiar,—a poncho, which is placed over the head by a hole in the centre, and which falls over the body to the hips. This is often of a very gay pattern, especially on Sundays and holidays. The lower garment is a curious combination of bedgown and Turkish trousers, named calzonçillos; it is bordered by a fringe, sometimes of rich lace, from two to six inches in depth. Enormous spurs form part of the toilette. I saw a pair on a gaucho at the estancia of my friend Dr. Perez that measured seven inches in diameter. These were of a larger size than those mentioned by Mr. Darwin in his “Journal of Researches,” describing the “Beagle’s” voyage round the world, and which he saw in Chile, measuring six inches in the same direction as aforesaid. The boots for working purposes are made of untanned hide, but those for holiday dress are often of patent leather with bright scarlet tops.
Many of the gauchos wear purple or yellow handkerchiefs over their heads, inside the sombrero, and others have wide belts around their bodies, that are glistening with silver dollars tacked on. The costume of a gaucho is, however, only complete when he is on horseback with the bolas, the lasso, and a knife at his girdle. The bolas consists of two balls, which are fastened at the end of two short leathern ropes, and thrown by means of another short thong,—all three being secured together,—when they are whirled round the head of the thrower before propulsion, which is so efficaciously managed as to bring down at once the horse or cow in whose legs they get entangled.
Mr. Prescott, in his admirable work on the “History and Conquest of Peru,” when alluding to the attack made by the Peruvians on their ancient capital Cuzco, then (A.D. 1535) occupied by the Spanish invaders under Pizarro, writes thus of the lasso: “One weapon peculiar to South American warfare was used to some effect by the Peruvians. This was the lasso,—a long rope with a noose at the end, which they adroitly threw over the rider, or entangled with it the legs of his horse, so as to bring them both to the ground. More than one family fell into the hands of the enemy by this expedient.” The knowledge of the weapon was therefore, in all probability, derived from this quarter.
The horse-riding of the Chaco Indians, even in our day, surpasses that of the gaucho. Fancy a troop of horses, apparently riderless, galloping at full speed, yet each of these animals is managed by a man who, with one arm over the neck of his brute, and with his other hand guiding a bridle as well as grasping a lance, supports the whole weight of his body by the back of the feet near the toes, clinging on the horse’s spine above his loins,—the rider’s body being thus extended, under cover of the steed’s side. As quick as thought he is up and standing on the horse’s back with a war-cry of defiance,—although, according to Captain Page, U.S.N., never flinging away his javelin, for with him it must be a hand-to-hand fight,—whilst with equal rapidity he is down again, so as to be protected by the body of the horse, which is all the time in full gallop.
Mr. Coghlan, C.E., and now attached to the Buenos Ayres government, writes of those whom he saw when exploring the Salado del Norte: “The riding of the Indians is wonderful. The gauchos even give their horses some preliminary training; but the Indian catches him (of course with the lasso), throws him down, forces a wooden bit into his mouth, with a piece of hide binds it fast to the lower jaw, and rides him. I have seen a man at the full gallop of his horse put his hand on the mane and jump forward on his feet, letting the animal go on without a check, merely to put his hand to something.”
VALPARAISO AND ITS VICINITY.
CHARLES DARWIN.
[It is doubtful if there exists a more interesting work of scientific travel than Darwin’s “Journal of Researches into the Natural History and Geology of the Countries visited during the Voyage Round the World, of H. M. S. Beagle.” Nothing of scientific interest and value seems to have missed the eyes of the indefatigable explorer, and he has described what he saw in so lucid and agreeable a style as to make his work a veritable classic of travel and research. We give here his description of Valparaiso and the adjoining country.]