Argentina from a British Point of View, and Notes on Argentine Life
History
Argentina from a British Point of View, and Notes on Argentine Life
Argentina -- Description and travel; Argentina -- Economic conditions; Argentina -- Social life and customs
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.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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