would be wasted, and worse than wasted in war and battle, are devoted to better purposes,-to diffuse knowledge, to promote civilization;

"Peace hath her victories

No less renowned than war."

The triumphs of science and art, the discovery of unknown worlds, the labors of benevolence, which penetrates the hidden regions of degraded and enslaved man, to give him religion or freedom, these, no less than the productions of genius and the general diffusion of plenty and happiness, are the victories of peace. Suffering, desolation, slavery, death, these are the usual victories of war.

Captain Head's "Rough Notes" are full of novelty and interest; his descriptions are sketched with much boldness and spirit; and, without any attempt at scientific or statistical details, he conveys a good deal of valuable information in a very amusing form. The country, which he visited, is a singular one, consisting of a broad plain one thousand miles in extent, and of mountains, shooting up into the very heavens, with all their accumulated load of ice, and streams, and forests. The inhabitants are no less remarkable. Born on a natural road, in the midst of droves of horses, the Gaucho lives on horseback, with his poncho and laso for his worldly estate, and dried beef and water for his food. Our author crossed this plain twice, having travelled, in the whole, six thousand miles, for the most of the way on horseback, and at full gallop. Setting out from Buenos Aires, he visited the gold mines of San Luis; the silver mines of Uspallata; passed the Andes to Santiago, the capital of Chile; from thence went about twelve hundred miles, in different directions, to inspect gold and silver mines in that country; and returned to Buenos Aires by the same route. He describes himself as travelling by day under a burning sun, living on beef and water; and sleeping by night, sometimes on huge masses of snow, sometimes in the rude huts of the peasants, with a horse's skull for his pillow, and fleas, dogs, and human beasts for his companions; and sometimes, throwing himself down, solitary and exhausted, in the boundless plain or on the rocky mountain.

The object of his journey was the examination of mines, for an English company, of which he was the agent.

The same motives, which, three hundred years ago, filled Spanish America with cruelty and suffering; which animated the dark designs of Ovando, and Cortez, and Pizarro; which dethroned sovereigns, and overthrew empires, and annihilated nations, has again made

this country a field for avarice to toil in. But in how different a shape does she appear! The peaceful enterprises of commerce and trade, while they enrich their projectors, carry wealth, and comfort, and the arts into countries, whose inhabitants starve in the midst of the fertility of nature, and are poor while they roll in gold.

We extract the following description of the Pampas, because it affords a good specimen of the author's manner, and is, at the same time, an account of one of the most remarkable features of the country.

"The great plain, or Pampas, on the east of the Cordillera, is about nine hundred miles in breadth, and the part which I have visited, though under the same latitude, is divided into regions of different climate and produce. On leaving Buenos Aires, the first of these regions is covered, for one hundred and eighty miles, with clover and thistles; the second region, which extends for four hundred and fifty miles, produces long grass; and the third region, which reaches the base of the Cordillera, is a grove of low trees and shrubs. The second and third of these regions have nearly the same appearance throughout the year, for the trees and shrubs are evergreens. and the immense plain of grass only changes its color from green to brown; but the first region varies with the four seasons of the year in a most extraordinary manner. In winter, the leaves of the thistles are large and luxuriant, and the whole surface of the country has the rough appearance of a turnipfield. The clover in this season is extremely rich and strong; and the sight of the wild cattle grazing in full liberty on such pasture is very beautiful. In spring, the clover has vanished, the leaves of the thistles have extended along the ground, and the country still looks like a rough crop of turnips. In less than a month the change is most extraordinary; the whole region becomes a luxuriant wood of enormous thistles, which have suddenly shot up to a height of ten or eleven feet, and are all in full bloom. The road or path is hemmed in on both sides; the view is completely obstructed; not an animal is to be seen; and the stems of the thistles are so close to each other, and so strong, that, independent of the prickles with which they are armed, they form an impenetrable barrier. The sudden growth of these plants is quite astonishing; and, though it would be an unusual misfortune in military history, yet it is really possible, that an invading army, unacquainted with this country, might be imprisoned by these thistles before they had time to escape from them. The summer is not over before the scene undergoes another rapid change; the thistles suddenly lose their sap and verdure, their heads droop, the leaves shrink and fade, the stems become black and dead, and

they remain rattling with the breeze one against another, until the violence of the pampero or hurricane levels them with the ground, where they rapidly decompose and disappear-the clover rushes up, and the scene is again verdant." pp. 14-16.

The inhabitants of this great plain are the Gauchos, or Spanish peasants, and some tribes of natives, whom the author calls the Pampas Indians.

"Born in the rude hut, the infant Gaucho receives little attention, but is left to swing from the roof in a bullock's hide, the corners of which are drawn towards each other by four strips of hide. In the first year of his life he crawls about without clothes, and I have more than once seen a mother give a child of this age a sharp knife, a foot long, to play with. As soon as he walks, his infantine amusements are those which prepare him for the occupations of his future life; with a lasso, made of twine, he tries to catch little birds, or the dogs, as they walk in and out of the hut. By the time he is four years old he is on horseback, and immediately becomes useful by assisting to drive the cattle into the corral. The manner in which these children ride is quite extraordinary; if a horse tries to escape from the flock, which are driven towards the corral, I have frequently seen a child pursue him, overtake him, and then bring him back, flogging him the whole way; in vain the creature tries to dodge and escape from him, for the child turns with him, and always keeps close to him; and it is a curious fact, which I have often observed, that a mounted horse is always, able to overtake a loose one.

"His amusements and his occupations soon become more manly; careless of the biscacheros (the holes of an animal called the biscacho) which undermine the plains, and which are very dangerous, he gallops after the ostrich, the gama, the lion, and the tiger; he catches them with his balls; and with his lasso, he daily assists in catching the wild cattle, and in dragging them to the hut either for slaughter or to be marked. He breaks in the young horses in the manner which I have described, and in these occupations is often away from his hut many days, changing his horse as soon as the animal is tired, and sleeping on the ground. As his constant food is beef and water, his constitution is so strong that he is able to endure great fatigue; and the distances he will ride, and the number of hours that he will remain on horseback, would hardly be credited. The unrestrained freedom of such a life he fully appreciates; and, unacquainted with subjection of any sort, his mind is often filled with sentiments of liberty, which are as noble as they are harmless, although they of course partake of the wild habits of his life. Vain is the endeavour to explain to him the luxuries and blessings of a more civilized life; his ideas are, that the noblest effort of man is to raise himself off the ground and VOL. II.

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ride instead of walk; that no rich garments or variety of food can atone for the want of a horse; and that the print of the human foot on the ground is, in his mind, the symbol of uncivilization." pp. 27-29.

"The Indians of whom I heard the most were those who inhabit the vast unknown plains of the Pampas, and who are all horsemen, or rather pass their lives on horseback. The life they lead is singularly interesting. In spite of the climate, which is burning hot in summer, and freezing in winter, these brave men, who have never yet been subdued, are entirely naked, and have not even a covering for their head.

"They live together in tribes, each of which is governed by a Cacique, but they have no fixed place of residence. Where the pasture is good, there are they to be found, until it is consumed by their horses, and they then instantly move to a more verdant spot. They have neither bread, fruit, nor vegetables, but they subsist entirely on the flesh of their mares, which they never ride; and the only luxury in which they indulge, is that of washing their hair in mare's blood.

"The occupation of their lives is war, which they consider is their noble and most natural employment; and they declare that the proudest attitude of the human figure is, when, bending over his horse, man is riding at his enemy. The principal weapon which they use is a spear eighteen feet long; they manage it with great dexterity, and are able to give it a tremulous motion, which has often shaken the sword from the hand of their European adversaries. From being constantly on horseback, the Indians can scarcely walk. This may seem singular, but from their infancy they are unaccustomed to it. Living in a boundless plain, it may easily be conceived, that all their occupations and amusements must necessarily be on horseback, and, from riding so many hours, the legs become weak, which naturally gives a disinclination to an exertion which every day becomes more fatiguing; besides, the pace at which they can skim over the plains on horseback is so swift, in comparison to the rate they could crawl on foot, that the latter must seem a cheerless exertion." pp. 103-105.

The "Passage of the Andes," full of bustle and excitement as it is, we should much rather read of in our study, than undertake to perform.

"As I was looking up at the region of snow, and as my mule was scrambling along the steep side of the rock, the capataz overtook me, and asked me if I chose to come on, as he was going to look at the 'Ladera de las Vaccas,' to see if it was passable, before the mules came to it. He accordingly trotted on, and in half an hour arrived at the spot. It is the worst pass in the Cordillera. The mountain above appears almost perpendicular, and in one continued slope down to the rapid torrent which is

raging underneath. The surface is covered with loose earth and stones, which have been brought down by the water. The path goes across this slope, and is very bad for about seventy yards, being only a few inches broad; but the point of danger is a spot where the water, which comes down from the top of the mountain, either washes the path away, or covers it over with loose stones. We rode over it, and it certainly was very narrow and bad. In some places the rock almost touches one's shoulder, while the precipice is immediately under the opposite foot, and high above the head are a number of large loose stones, which appear as if the slightest touch would send them rolling into the torrent beneath, which is foaming and rushing with great violence. However, the danger to the rider is only imaginary, for the mules are so careful, and seem so well aware of their situation, that there is no chance of their making a false step. As soon as we had crossed the pass, which is only seventy yards long, the capataz told me, that it was a very bad place for baggage-mules, that four hundred had been lost there, and that we should also very probably lose one; he said, that he would get down to the water at a place about a hundred yards off, and wait there with his lasso to catch any mule that might fall into the torrent, and he requested me to lead on his mule. However, I was resolved to see the tumble, if there was to be one; so the capitaz took away my mule and his own, and, while I stood on a projecting rock at the end of the pass, he scrambled down on foot, till he at last got to the level of the water.

"The drove of mules now came in sight, one following another; a few were carrying no burdens, but the rest were either mounted or heavily laden, and, as they wound along the crooked path, the difference of color in the animals, the different colors and shapes of the baggage they were carrying, with the picturesque dress of the peons, who were vociferating the wild song by which they drive on the mules, and the sight of the dangerous path they had to cross,-formed altogether a very interesting scene.

"As soon as the leading mule came to the commencement of the pass, he stopped, evidently unwilling to proceed, and of course all the rest stopped also.

"He was the finest mule we had, and on that account had twice as much to carry as any of the others; his load had never been relieved, and it consisted of four portmanteaus, two of which belonged to me, and which contained not only a very heavy bag of dollars, but also papers, which were of such consequence that I could hardly have continued my journey without them. The peons now redoubled their cries, and leaning over the sides of their mules, and picking up stones, they threw them at the leading mule, who now commenced his journey over the path. With his nose to the ground, literally smelling his way, he walked gently on, often changing the position of his feet, if he found the ground