ch one of the low beds, and their
occupants, as he passed under them on his way to quell the outside
noise. The ladies forbore to scream, though they thought of earthquakes,
but settled down again to their occupation of trying to kill mosquitoes,
quietly, in the dark, and to snatch moments of slumber occasionally.

After breakfast, Our Guest was rather unkindly "put on" by The
Instigator to dig holes, to ascertain how deep the rich, black, alluvial
soil reached; the ladies energetically washed up the breakfast things,
which occupation resulted in The Kid once more, and this time finally,
being given notice to leave, without a character, owing to general
incompetence, impertinence, and lack of ability to wash out tea-cloths.

By 7 a.m. the coaches and carts were ready, horses rounded up, the
"Primera Vista" camp was struck, and the march onward recommenced. But
not before The Chaperon had pointed out a terror that "might have been."
After breakfast he approached us with a stick held at arm's length, on
which hung a dead, slimy-looking, grey snake, about 4 feet long. He
explained that this reptile had crawled over the neck of one of the
peons as he lay on the grass last night. This had happened before we
went to bed, and we felt grateful to The Chaperon for having saved us
from another horror last night by keeping the fact, and snake, to
himself until we were leaving that camp.

The first part of our drive to-day was a new experience; we had passed
over a few ant-hills before on our journey, but now we came to a land
where it was difficult, if not impossible, to dodge them; they literally
covered the ground, and the South American ant-hill is a power to be
reckoned with. It is not the yielding mass composed of soft earth and
other heterogeneous materials as found in England, which can be
demolished with a kick, should anyone have sufficient temerity to lay
himself open to the attacks of the inmates by thus disturbing them; but
the homes of the black ant, and the Amazon ant, in Argentina are quite a
different affair. They are, usually, solid, hard masses of earth from
three to four feet high, very wide at the base, and covered entirely
with coarse grass. They present an unyielding obstacle to any vehicle,
and the wheels of even a heavily laden cart make no impression on them,
but they are not unlikely to cause the overturning of that cart, and
even traction engines suffer from the sudden drop caused by these
gigantic sug