[210] Zupay. It is of interest to note in this connection that the gaucho of the pampa calls this spirit Mandinga, who, although evilly inclined toward men, does at times do them favors.
[211] Salamanca. The University of Salamanca was famous in the Middle Ages as a great center of learning. Its motto was Salamanca, maestra de todas las ciencias. In the thirteenth century Pope Alexander IV, by a bull, made it one of the four great academies of the world. In Argentina, the word Salamanca has become synonymous with learning used for evil purposes, and means both witchcraft and the school where witchcraft is taught.
[212] “payar”. Music plays an important part in all the gatherings among Argentine countrymen. Two payadores, or bards, engage in a musical contest: each man sings in turn, accompanying himself on the guitar on any improvised subject, and at the end the audience expresses its approval of the winner by its applause.
[213] enano de la siesta, the dwarf of the noonday nap. Tradition has it that ghosts walk about in the quiet hours of the noonday nap. This is not surprising if one bears in mind the deep stillness that pervades small Spanish-American towns, particularly those in the interior.
[214] montes saladinos, saline mountains. Cf. 42, 14.
[215] evoca. The subject is ave in the preceding sentence.
[216] Turay, Quichua for brother.
[217] atrapado a garrote, clubbed to death.
[218] pescado en fisga en el remanso del río, harpooned in the still waters of the river.
[219] si no, if not; or else.