It resembles an old-fashioned chaise, and is drawn by two horses, one between the shafts and one outside (on the left side), and fastened by a single trace of rawhide or half-tanned leather. The driver is mounted on the outside horse, and there are seats over the wheels for two passengers. In hilly country a man follows with a third horse, which is attached to the right side of the vehicle when a steep slope is to be ascended. Frank took a ride through the streets of Mendoza in one of these vehicles, enough to satisfy himself that the wagon was preferable for the drive across the plain between the city and the foot of the mountains. Had he been in the hilly region he would have chosen the birlocha, for its greater facility in turning sharp corners. [Illustration: THE PAMPA COACH.] Just outside the walls they met a pampa coach containing two passengers, who were evidently travelling in style. The vehicle was a huge and clumsy affair, the rough roads of the country requiring that it should be very strongly constructed. It was drawn by four horses, and each horse carried a postilion, who was armed with a short whip or a bundle of stout thongs of rawhide. As they approached this nondescript concern its horses took fright at the apparition of the wagon, and reared and plunged in a way that greatly interfered with their linear progress along the road. When the postilions had lashed them into good behavior they darted off at full gallop, and were soon inside the fringe of poplars that surrounds the city. Before the railway was constructed, this style of carriage was employed on the pampas for those who could afford the expense and risk of coach and postilions. A passenger could carry an unlimited amount of baggage with the coach, and take his own time for it; by arranging for relays he could make very good time, but could not equal the speed of the government couriers, who went on horseback and made quick changes at the stations. When the Indians are troublesome the coach is objectionable, on account of the increased danger arising from its use. It is obliged to follow the road, where it often raises such a cloud of dust as to indicate its locality and character to watchful Indians miles and miles away. While in the region of Indians, mounted horsemen always keep on the grass at the side of the road, and thus avoid making a dust-cloud. Then, too, the coach, with its baggage and the iron of its wheels, is a valuable prize to a people with whom iron is a scarce commodity. [Illustration: OX-CARTS NEAR MENDOZA.]