The nature of the country
also favours this, for instead of a grassy plain, there is an
open woodland, composed of low prickly mimosas. We
passed some houses that had been ransacked and since deserted;
we saw also a spectacle, which my guides viewed
with high satisfaction; it was the skeleton of an Indian
with the dried skin hanging on the bones, suspended to the
branch of a tree.
In the morning we arrived at St. Fe. I was surprised
to observe how great a change of climate a difference of only
three degrees of latitude between this place and Buenos
Ayres had caused. This was evident from the dress and
complexion of the men - from the increased size of the
ombu-trees - the number of new cacti and other plants -
and especially from the birds. In the course of an hour I
remarked half-a-dozen birds, which I had never seen at
Buenos Ayres. Considering that there is no natural boundary
between the two places, and that the character of the
country is nearly similar, the difference was much greater
than I should have expected.
October 3rd and 4th. - I was confined for these two days
to my bed by a headache. A good-natured old woman,
who attended me, wished me to try many odd remedies. A
common practice is, to bind an orange-leaf or a bit of black
plaster to each temple: and a still more general plan is, to
split a bean into halves, moisten them, and place one on
each temple, where they will easily adhere. It is not thought
proper ever to remove the beans or plaster, but to allow
them to drop off, and sometimes, if a man, with patches on
his head, is asked, what is the matter? he will answer, "I
had a headache the day before yesterday." Many of the
remedies used by the people of the country are ludicrously
strange, but too disgusting to be mentioned. One of the
least nasty is to kill and cut open two puppies and bind
them on each side of a broken limb. Little hairless dogs are
in great request to sleep at the feet of invalids.
St. Fe is a quiet little town, and is kept clean and in good
order. The governor, Lopez, was a common soldier at the
time of the revolution; but has now been seventeen years
in power. This stability of government is owing to his
tyrannical habits; for tyranny seems as yet better adapted
to these countries than republicanism. The governor's favourite
occupation is hunting Indians: a short time since
he slaughtered forty-eight, and sold the children at the rate
of three or four pounds apiece.
October 5th. - We crossed the Parana to St. Fe Bajada,
a town on the opposite shore.
