Page:Letters from the Battle-fields of Paraguay (1870).djvu/273



ACTUALITIES OF ROZARIO (SANTA FE). 243

upon the aflfected limb, and having no shelter for vermin they are applied to the feet in bed as warming pans or hot- water bottles. In out-of-the-way parts of the country women prefer them ^^ para extrahirlas la leche." The Gauchos of Rozario are peculiarly ugly and wild-looking; instead of boots and calzoncillos, the short Turkish drawers, they wear dirty-white ill-fitting stockings sandalled to the knee with the ribbons of the Spartelle or Basque sandal. Their montures are small, poor and ill-bred, heavy-barrelled and light-limbed, more like cows than horses ; they want a leavening of Arab or of English thorough-bred. The best by far are the Mendozinos, despite their exceedingly coarse crests, ponderous forehands, and the kind of circus training which they undergo. All pull tolerably well, and are very quiet, or rather spiritless, being poorly fed and severely punished.

Passing through the straggling suburb to the outskirts, where land will soon command its breadth in silver, we come to a garden labelled Chateau des Fleurs. It is the familiar DeviFs Acre, cut up into long straight walks and dwarf flower-beds, fronted by seats and tables under dark arbours and trellised vines. We graced the opening night, Saturday, November 28, and paid at the door $1 Bolivian (35. 2d. — 4^.) A little lumber theatre had been hastily thrown up. The stalls were crowded with decent women, whilst the men drank beer and brandy on the back seats, which gave it the genuine look of a penny gaff. Madame Angel and Mademoiselle Talleyrand, who had travelled with us from Buenos Aires, sang, danced, and did Theresa and Rigolboche (poor girl !) to abundant applause, ^' mas arriba^^ being the only objection where the foot was not raised sufficiently a la Almah. Though sadly disappointed by the absence of a cancan, that gracious gift of friendly France to these young lands, the audience was in excellent humour.

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