When we returned to Rosario we noticed a great crowd still on the race-course, and were just in time to see the finish of one race, ridden barebacked, and for a very short distance.  All the races are short; and as the natives are always engaging in these little contests of speed, the horses get into the habit of extending themselves directly you put them out of a walk.  But the least touch is sufficient to stop them immediately, and I never saw horses better broken than they are here.  The most fearful bits are used for the purpose; but when once this is accomplished, the mere inclination of the body, or the slightest pressure of the finger upon the bridle, is sufficient to guide them.  They will maintain, for almost any length of time, a quick canter—­what they call here ’a little gallop’—­at the rate of three leagues (ten miles) an hour, without showing the slightest sign of fatigue.  They don’t like being mounted, and always fidget a little then, but are quite quiet directly you are in the saddle.  I rode several horses which had never carried a lady before; but after the first few minutes they did not seem to mind the riding-habit in the least.  They evidently dislike standing still, unless you dismount and throw the rein on the ground, when they will remain stationary for hours.

Monday, September 18th.—­The early part of this morning was spent in much the same way as on Saturday, Tom going as before to the Land Company’s Office, whilst I remained at home to write.

At nine o’clock we proceeded to the station, and started in our comfortable railway carriage for Tortugas.  We formed quite a large party altogether, and the journey over the now familiar line, past Roldan, Carcarana, and Canada de Gomez, was a very pleasant one.  At Tortugas we left the train, and paid a visit to one of the overseers of the colony and his cheery little French wife, who, we found, had been expecting us all day on Saturday.  A few weeks ago this lady’s sister was carried off by Indians, with some other women and children.  After riding many leagues, she seized her opportunity, pushed the Indian who was carrying her off his horse, turned the animal’s head round, and galloped back across the plain, hotly pursued, until within a mile or two of the colony, by the rest of the band.  It was a plucky thing for a little bit of a woman to attempt with a great powerful savage, and she is deservedly looked upon in the village as quite a heroine.

The journey between Rosario and Cordova occupies twelve hours by the ordinary train; and as Frayle Muerto is exactly half-way between the two places, the trains going in either direction commence their journey at the same hours (6 a.m. and 6 p.m.), by which means the passengers meet each other here in time to breakfast and dine together.  There is a fine bridge over the river near Frayle Muerto, but the place is principally celebrated as having been the site of the Henleyite colony, which caused disappointment to so many young