Through Five Republics on Horseback, Being an Account of Many Wanderings in South AmericaRay, George Whitfield
Religion
Through Five Republics on Horseback, Being an Account of Many Wanderings in South America
Ray, George Whitfield
Ray, George Whitfield, 1868- -- Travel -- South America; South America -- Description and travel
At early morning and evening the milkman goes his rounds on horseback.
The milk he carries in six long, narrow cans, like inverted
sugar-loaves, three on each side of his raw-hide saddle, he himself
being perched between them on a sheepskin. In some cans he carries pure
cream, which the jolting of his horse soon converts into butter. This
he lifts out with his hands to any who care to buy. After the addition
of a little salt, and the subtraction of a little buttermilk, this
_manteca_ is excellent. After serving you he will again mount his
horse, but not until his hands have been well wiped on its tail, which
almost touches the ground. The other cans of the _lechero_ contain a
mixture known to him alone. I never analyzed it, but have remarked a
chalky substance in the bottom of my glass. He does not profess to sell
pure milk; that you can buy, but, of course, at a higher price, from
the pure milk seller. In the cool of the afternoon he will bring round
his cows, with bells on their necks and calves dragging behind. The
calves are tied to the mothers' tails, and wear a muzzle. At a _sh-h_
from the sidewalk he stops them, and, stooping down, fills your pitcher
according to your money. The cows, through being born and bred to a
life in the streets, are generally miserable-looking beasts. Strange to
add, the one milkman shoes his cows and the other leaves his horse
unshod. It is not customary in this country for man's noble friend to
wear more than his own natural hoof. A visit to the blacksmith is
entertaining. The smith, by means of a short lasso, deftly trips up the
animal, and, with its legs securely lashed, the cow must lie on its
back while he shoes its upturned hoofs.
Many and varied are the scenes. One is struck by the number of horses,
seven and eight often being yoked to one cart, which even then they
sometimes find difficult to draw. Some of the streets are very bad,
worse than our country lanes, and filled with deep ruts and drains,
into which the horses often fall. There the driver will sometimes
cruelly leave them, when, after his arm aches in using the whip, he
finds the animal cannot rise. For the veriest trifle I have known men
to smash the poor dumb brute's eyes out with the stock of the whip, and
I have been very near the Police Station more than once when my
righteous blood compelled me to interfere. Where, oh, where is the
Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals? Surely no suffering
creatures under the sun cry out louder for mercy than those in
Argentina?
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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