[295] =madrastra=, lit., _stepmother_, hence _unkindly, harmful_. [296] =su follaje=, _i.e._, =de los demás árboles=. [297] =_montes_=. Note the pun on the word =monte=, which may mean a _wood_ or a _mountain_. [298] =no ansiaba=. The negative is redundant. [299] =lo estamparon=. =Lo= refers to =pie=. [300] =los leones de Necochea=. Reference to mounted troops of this famous leader during the war of independence. Necochea was in command of the Argentine forces at the battle of Junín (1824), where he and his mounted grenadiers covered themselves with glory at a moment when the success of the battle seemed to be in danger. [301] The apparent contradiction in dates, =6 de mayo= and =31 de marzo= (=134, 10=), is due to the fact that a part of the author's letter, at the end of the second paragraph, has been omitted, and that the third paragraph refers to events which took place the year following the first date. [302] =nuestra bandera=, _i.e._, the Argentina flag, the colors of which are sky-blue and white. [303] =días de _capa_=, lit., _days of cloak_, _i.e._, of clouds; trans., _bad weather_. [304] =_cabo_, acabador=. Notice pun on =cabo=, _end_ or _cape_, and =acabador=, _that which puts an end to anything_. [305] =Aconcagua=, province of Chile opposite the Argentine province of Mendoza. [306] =del bípedo delantero=, _i.e._, =del arriero=. [307] =para adelante o para atrás=, _forward or backward_. [308] =me parecía... revés=, _for it seemed to me that the animal was headed in a direction opposite to mine_. [309] =con envidia del aficionado a jardines=, _an object of envy to the lover of gardens_. [310] =de rojo y amarillo guirnaldas preciosas=. The commoner word order is =guirnaldas preciosas de rojo y amarillo=. [311] =en otros=, _i.e._, =en otros cactus=. [312] =remedaban=. The subject is =guirnaldas=. [313] =Arauco=, province of Chile, scene of the struggles between the Spaniards and the Araucanian Indians in Ercilla's epic, _La Araucana_. [314] =que tal parece=, _for such it appears_. [315] =estos instrumentos pedestres=, _i.e._, =las espuelas= in line 4. The use of =pedestre= in the sense _of the feet_ is not accurate. [316] =El pobre=, _i.e._, =animal=. [317] =teatro de Carlos Alberto=, theater in Buenos Aires. [318] =Bellini= (Vincenzo), Italian composer, born in Catania, Sicily, in 1801. His most famous operas are _I Puritani_, _La Sonnambula_, and _Norma_. His music is characterized by sweetness and melancholy. [319] =_¡Casta Diva!_= one of the best known arias of the opera _Norma_, sung by the priestess Norma after whom the opera is named. [320] =se ofreció a los ojos de _Norma_=, _i.e._, as the author sings the famous aria he identifies himself with the priestess who is supposed to sing it in the opera. [321] =Murillo= (Bartolomé Esteban, 1617-1682), famous Spanish painter, born in Seville. His _Asunción de la Virgen_ is one of the great masterpieces of art.