Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

made in the image of God, bow and bend, not daring to give the same signs of independence that the wild animals of the pampas give at the sight of the Gaucho.

Powerful God! holy God! how long will you permit such a profound degradation of your creatures? But let us leave the Old World, so sad and so forlorn, and return to the New World, so young, so full of the future and of hope.

How beautiful is the horse of the oriental plains, with his curved haunches, his smoking nostrils, his quivering lips which have never felt the cold contact of the bit! How freely his flanks, which have never been pressed by knees or galled with spurs, breathe beneath the beatings of his mane and tail! How proud he is when he assembles by his neighings his herd of scattered mares, and when, true sultan of the desert, he flies-leading them away in his course, rapid as a whirlwind-the dominating presence of man.

Oh! marvel of nature! miracle of creation! how can I express the emotion experienced at sight of you, that corsair of twenty-five, who, for the first time, stretched out his arms towards immensity!

But, as this corsair was on foot, neither bull or horse recognised him as a man. In the deserts of America, man is completed by the horse, and without him becomes the lowest of animals. In the first place they stopped, stupified at the sight of me; then soon, doubtless despising my weakness, they approached me so near as to moisten my face with their breath. Never mistrust the horse-a noble and generous animal; but always beware of the bull-a sulky, vicious beast. to the gazelles and the ostriches, after having, as the horse and bull had done, but in a more circumspect fashion, made their reconnaissance, they fled away, rapid as arrows; and then, when arrived at the summit of a slight elevation, they would turn round to see if they were pursued.

As

At that period, that is to say, towards the end of 1834 and the commencement of 1835, that portion

of the oriental soil was still virgin with regard to war : and this accounts for so great a number of wild animals being to be met with there.

CHAPTER XI.

THE POETESS.

AMIDST these feelings and observations, I continued to advance towards the estancia, as the farms of South America are called. I there found a young woman alone; she was wife of the capataz (master of the establishment). She could not take upon herself to sell or give me a bullock without the consent of her husband, therefore it was necessary to await his return. Besides, it was late, and there were no means of driving it to the sea before the morrow.

There are moments in life the remembrance of which, even while becoming more distant, continue to live and to heap up, so to say, in the memory in such a manner, that whatever the other events of our life may be, this remembrance firmly holds the place it has taken. It was my fate to meet in the midst of this desert with the wife of a half-savage man, a young woman of cultivated education, a poetess, knowing by heart Dante, Petrarch, and Tasso.

After having spoken the few words I then knew of Spanish, I was agreeably surprised to hear her reply in Italian. She kindly invited me to be seated while waiting the return of her husband. In the course of our chat, my kind hostess asked me if I was acquainted with the poetry of Quintana; and on my reply in the negative, she made me a present of a volume of his verses, saying that she gave it to me in order that I might learn Spanish for her sake. I then asked her if she herself did not make verses.

"How," replied she, "is it possible to avoid being a poet in the face of such a nature as this?”

And then, without staying to be asked, she recited to me several pieces, which I found full of feeling and of surprising harmony. I could have passed not only the evening but the night in listening to her, without thinking of my poor Maurice, who was waiting for me, and guarding the table-raft; but her husband came in, and put an end to the poetical part of the evening by bringing me back to the material object of my visit. I explained my wants to him, and it was agreed that, on the morrow, he would drive a bullock down to the beach and sell it to me.

At daybreak I took leave of my fair hostess, and hastened to go and seek Maurice; he had passed the night, sheltering himself as well as he was able between his four casks, very uneasy at not seeing me return, and fearing I was eaten by the tigers, very common in this part of America, and by no means so inoffensive as the horses and bulls.

At the expiration of a few minutes the capitaz appeared, dragging a bullock by a lasso. In a very short time the animal was stuck, skinned, and cut into long strips, so great is the address of the men of the south in the accomplishment of this work of blood. The question then was, how this bullock, cut into pieces, was to be transported from the beach to the vessel, a distance of a thousand paces at least, and that through breakers where a furious sea was roaring.

Maurice and I, however, set to work.

The reader knows how the vessel which was to convey us on board was constructed; a table with a cask fastened to each leg, and a kind of pole in the middle. Coming, this pole had served to hang our clothes upon; returning, it must bear our provisions, keeping them out of the water. We launched our vessel, and then sprung into it; and Maurice, with a pole in hand, and I with my gaff, began to manœuvre with the water up to our knees, the weight of the cargo being too heavy for the canoe; but, never mind! vogue la galère !

Our manœuvre was accomplished amid the applauses

of the American and the crew of the goëlette, who put up vows, perhaps, more for the safety of the meat than for us; and at first the navigation went on well ; but when arrived at a line of breakers which it was necessary for us to cross, we were twice upon the point of being completely submerged. Good fortune willed that we should cross it successfully, in spite of every difficulty. But, when we were once beyond the double line of breakers, the danger, instead of being past, had become greater. We could not touch the bottom with our gaffs, consequently it was impossible to direct the raft. In addition to this, the current, becoming stronger as we advanced in the river, carried us away from the corvette. I thought we were about to cross the Atlantic, and only stop at St. Helena or the Cape of Good Hope.

There was but one resource for my companions, if they wished to catch us, and that was to set sail. This they did, and as the wind blew off the shore, the goëlette soon came up to us and passed us. But in passing she threw us a rope, and we made fast the raft to the ship. We first put the provisions on board; then Maurice and I hoisted ourselves up; and then, after us came the table, which was restored to its place in the eating room, and was not long in being put to its proper use. We were recompensed for the trouble we had had in procuring our provisions, by seeing with what a glorious appetite our companions attacked them.

A few days after, I purchased a canoe for thirty crowns of a balandre which crossed us. We passed that day again in sight of the point of Jesus-Maria.

CHAPTER XII.

THE FIGHT.

WE had passed the night at anchor, at about six miles to the south of the Point of Jesus-Maria, directly in face of the Barranneas of San Gregorio. It was blowing a slight breeze from the north, when we perceived from the side of Montevideo two barks which we thought friendly; but, as they had not the signal agreed of the red flag, I thought it prudent to set sail while waiting for them; I ordered, in addition, the muskets and sabres to be brought on deck. This precaution, as will be seen, was not useless. The first bark continued to advance upon us with only three persons to be seen; when arrived within a few paces of us, he who appeared the leader, in a loud voice ordered us to surrender. At the same moment, the deck of the bark was covered with armed men, who instead of giving us time to reply to the summons, commenced firing. I cried, "To arms!" and sprang towards my gun; then, as we were lying by, while replying as best I could, I commanded, "Brace the foresails!" But not feeling the goelette obey the command with the accustomed promptitude, I turned towards the helm, and found that the first discharge had killed the steersman, who was one of my best sailors. His name was Fiorentino, and he was born in one of our islands.

There was no time to lose. The fight raged furiously; the lancione-that is the name of the sort of bark we were engaged with-the lancione had fastened itself to our side, and some of her men had already mounted to our net-works. By good luck, a few shots and sabre cuts cleared us of them. After aiding my men in repulsing this boarding party, I sprang to the sheet of the foremast on the starboard where Fiorentino had been struck, and seized the abandoned helm. But at the moment I laid my

« AnteriorContinuar »