Mr. Long had arranged for us all to ride round the farm,
and I was mounted on a lovely chestnut mare, sixteen hands high,
daughter of Fanfaron, and niece to Kettledrum. I should have liked to
have bought her and sent her home, but she was not for sale, though
her value was 400_l_. English horses here are as dear, in proportion,
as native horses are cheap. The latter may be bought for from twenty
to sixty dollars apiece; and some of them make capital little hacks.
We rode all over the farm, attended by half-a-dozen peones, who drove
the young thoroughbred stock together, in the enormous fields, for us
to see, and afterwards did the same thing with some of the cattle. We
also went through the farm buildings, in one part of which we saw the
operation of making lassoes. The best are composed of neatly plaited
strips of cured hide, about a quarter of an inch wide, the commoner
sort being made from an undressed cow's hide, with the hair on, cut
from the centre in an ever-increasing circle, so that they are in one
piece, many yards in length. In another part of the farm there were a
few acres more of flower-gardens, orange-trees, and kitchen-gardens.
[Illustration: What makes Horses go in Chili]
Beautiful as the whole place is, it loses much in interest from its
vastness.
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