On inquiry, I found that the distance from Buenos Ayres to Valparaiso was about a thousand miles. The road led across the vast plains called the _Pampas_, and also over the lofty mountainous chain called the Andes. It was rough and ill wrought, and was therefore seldom travelled with carriages. I learned, also, that it was beset with thieves and robbers. In four days after my arrival, my preparations were complete, and I departed. I was mounted on a strong horse, which had been caught upon the plains and trained to the saddle. I was attended by a stout Indian, also well mounted, as a guide. We were each armed with a brace of pistols and a dirk. Thus equipped, we set forward. Soon after leaving the city we entered upon a broken country, which was for the most part entirely in a state of nature. Here and there, was a villa surrounded by a plantation, but with these exceptions, everything had a wild aspect. It was now May--a period at which, in the land of my nativity, the trees and plants are springing into life. But here, it was autumn, and the sere and yellow leaf was visible over the landscape. Still, many of the shrubs and grasses maintained their verdure, and put forth their blossoms. The aspect of nature, however, was strange. The trees were of kinds I had never seen before, and the birds were all different from those with which I had been familiar. In the course of two days, we were upon the pampas. These resembled the prairies of the west, but they are on a far grander scale. They stretch out to an amazing distance--their whole extent being nearly ten times as great as that of New England. The surface is slightly undulating, and generally covered with grass. A few groups of stunted palm trees are visible, and pools of salt water are occasionally met with. Along the road we found huts, about twenty miles apart, designed for the accommodation of travellers. We sometimes met persons on horseback, and saw numerous herds of wild cattle and troops of horses grazing upon the plains. We had several opportunities of witnessing the skill of the hunters in taking these animals with the lasso. This is a long rope with a noose at the end. The hunter, who is mounted, carries this in a coil upon his arm; when he approaches his prey, he whirls it in the air, and at last throws it with such skill and precision that the noose falls over the animal’s neck.