Blanco y Colorado: Old Days among the Gauchos of UruguayTetley, William C.
History
Blanco y Colorado: Old Days among the Gauchos of Uruguay
Tetley, William C.
Uruguay -- Description and travel; Uruguay -- Social life and customs
of some authority, and therefore not to be trifled with. On the Saturday
the two soldiers went with us to the "para rodeo" of the cattle;
"Napoleon" enjoyed himself greatly, and all went well.
Wednesday morning was fine, and we were all early on the move. I rode
the rosillo, who was in excellent form, while the two soldiers and the
Indians were mounted on horses which had been left by passing soldiers.
As we got the troop up towards the "rodeo" a portion of them tried their
utmost to break back, but the rosillo was quite equal to the occasion;
he was indeed a good little horse, and his speed and energy soon
succeeded in rounding them up and forcing them to rejoin the others, so
that we managed to get them all shut up in the stone "manga" with less
difficulty than I had expected. Our native neighbours duly turned up,
fires were lighted, and we were able to mark quite a fair number of
foals. We also picked out about a dozen stray riding horses from among
the troop, which had probably been left by soldiers as they passed
along. These we divided between the Cerro and La Concordia, attaching
them to the tropillas, in order that so long as they remained to us they
might be made useful, and earn their living for the time being. Don
Frederico was mounted on his rosillo allazan (chestnut roan), otherwise
known as his war-horse; but Jennings no longer rode his usual dark grey,
for it had been taken by soldiers about a month previously, so he was
compelled to bestride a rather ancient-looking bay horse, which was also
in but poor condition, instead.
At the beginning of March the two soldiers were recalled to Colla. When
they bid us adieu they both thanked me for the pleasant time at the
Cerro, and when they departed took with them our good wishes. Towards
the end of the month, Charles Bent turned up quite unexpectedly. His
relatives outside had been unfortunate, and had lost a lot of stock,
both sheep and cattle, during the war, and his idea was to make his way
to Monte Video later on, for he seemed to have a hope that the war would
soon be over. He had lost his race-horse not very long after the
disastrous affair at the Cerro, now getting on for a year and a half
ago, and he rode up on an old "Bayo Negro," or dark cream, with a black
mane and tail, which had been left by soldiers, and seemed to be of very
little account. I was glad to see him again, for I always liked him.
Moreover, he did not look very well; he was never really strong, so I
asked him to stay on a bit at the Cerro, as we had ample room, and I
knew he would be glad to help in any work which had to be done. With the
exception of the rosillo, we were entirely dependent upon what I might
call outside horses, for we had now scarcely one of our own mark left.
The bay colt old Juan had tamed, was still with us, but he had managed
to sprain his shoulder rather badly, so was for the time being of no
use.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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