We passed in boats the streams of Canelones,
St. Lucia, and San Jos‚, and thus lost much time. On a former
excursion I crossed the Lucia near its mouth, and I was surprised
to observe how easily our horses, although not used to swim, passed
over a width of at least six hundred yards. On mentioning this at
Monte Video, I was told that a vessel containing some mountebanks
and their horses, being wrecked in the Plata, one horse swam seven
miles to the shore. In the course of the day I was amused by the
dexterity with which a Gaucho forced a restive horse to swim a
river. He stripped off his clothes, and jumping on its back, rode
into the water till it was out of its depth; then slipping off over
the crupper, he caught hold of the tail, and as often as the horse
turned round the man frightened it back by splashing water in its
face. As soon as the horse touched the bottom on the other side,
the man pulled himself on, and was firmly seated, bridle in hand,
before the horse gained the bank. A naked man on a naked horse is a
fine spectacle; I had no idea how well the two animals suited each
other. The tail of a horse is a very useful appendage; I have
passed a river in a boat with four people in it, which was ferried
across in the same way as the Gaucho.
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