Produced by Barbara Kosker, Adrian Mastronardi and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) BLANCO Y COLORADO BLANCO Y COLORADO OLD DAYS AMONG THE GA[~U]CHOS OF URUGUAY BY WILLIAM C. TETLEY F. R. HOCKLIFFE 86 & 88, HIGH STREET, BEDFORD LONDON: SIMPKIN, MARSHALL, HAMILTON, KENT & CO., LTD. 1921 PREFACE The following pages contain the writer's personal experiences in the "Republic of Uruguay" during a revolution in what are now known as the "Old Days." If they enable the reader to understand what life in that country really meant at that time, the object of this book will then be attained. W. C. T. The Close, Wavendon, Woburn Sands, Bucks. July, 1919. CONTENTS PAGE PART I. LAS SIERRAS DE MAL ABRIGO 9 PART II. EL CERRO DEL PICHINANGO 68 PART III. LA ESTANCIA ESPERANZA 169 BLANCO Y COLORADO. PART I. LAS SIERRAS DE MAL ABRIGO. The clock of the "Cathedral de la Matrix" was striking ten on a lovely morning in October, when our signal gun was fired, and the anchor of the S.S. "Copernicus" let go to find bottom in the muddy waters of La Plata. On the right the town of Monte Video, with its whitewashed "azotea," or flat-roofed houses, glistened in the bright sunshine; to the left the broad estuary stretched away towards the open sea; while in front of us the famous Cerro, a gently sloping hill, looked green and fresh and pleasant after our long sea voyage. The tug which brought off the Medical Officer of Health did not delay long before coming alongside, when permission was given to the passengers to land, and I soon found myself standing with my baggage on the Custom House wharf, and having duly passed it, made my way to the "Hotel Oriental."