Page:Letters from the Battle-fields of Paraguay (1870).djvu/235



VISIT TO GENERAL URQUIZA. 205

the " Liras de la Pampa/' and a pump -maker. He greatly prides himself upon his cutting and stamping machine, which engraves buttons, prize medals, and portraits of his patron, in blue ink. He showed us his system â€” borrowed from Sicily and Roumania â€” of preserving for two years butter fresh, or nearly so, in a coat of cheese somewhat like ricotta, and he kindly gave me specimens to send home. His Parmesan was remarkably good.

After breakfast we bade adieu, with many thanks for his hospitality, to D. Justo. Knowing my intention to cross the Pampas, then in a somewhat troubled state, he favoured me with his likeness and with a letter of safe conduct, ad- dressed in peremptory terms to the "Indian" chiefs and to their Gaucho companions, who still consider him their feudal chief. Ai-med with this instrument, I felt more secure than if protected by the flags of England and France ; moreover, I well knew that a hecatomb would have revenged my death. The main, perhaps the only charm of the per- sonal and aristocratic government appears to be that it is a rule of honour that begets loyalty. The red ponchos would, had I been killed, have taken the field as if bound on a battue, and the Argentine Mesopotamia would not have grumbled, even had she been called upon to pay twopence in the pound. Madame Urquiza courteously sent to my wife, by way of '^ recuerdo,^^ a pretty silver-mounted mate, with its bombilla or pipette. We all left San Jose under the impression of having paid a somewhat peculiar but very pleasant visit.

I should augur well for Entre Rios if D. Justo were thirty instead of sixty years old. He will leave no hand strong and cunning enough to hold the provincial reins, and to guide the wild team that now hardly dares to chafe at the bit. The many foreign estancieros who at present enjoy his rule of "honey on velvet," hardly conceal their fear that it will be followed by a reaction, when the semi-