At Mercedes I Asked
Two Men Why They Did Not Work.
One gravely said the days
were too long; the other that he was too poor.
The number
of horses and the profusion of food are the destruction of
all industry. Moreover, there are so many feast-days; and
again, nothing can succeed without it be begun when the
moon is on the increase; so that half the month is lost from
these two causes.
Police and justice are quite inefficient. If a man who is
poor commits murder and is taken, he will be imprisoned,
and perhaps even shot; but if he is rich and has friends,
he may rely on it no very severe consequence will ensue.
It is curious that the most respectable inhabitants of the
country invariably assist a murderer to escape: they seem
to think that the individual sins against the government,
and not against the people. A traveller has no protection
besides his fire-arms; and the constant habit of carrying
them is the main check to more frequent robberies.
The character of the higher and more educated classes
who reside in the towns, partakes, but perhaps in a lesser
degree, of the good parts of the Gaucho, but is, I fear, stained
by many vices of which he is free. Sensuality, mockery of
all religion, and the grossest corruption, are far from
uncommon. Nearly every public officer can be bribed. The
head man in the post-office sold forged government franks.
The governor and prime minister openly combined to plunder
the state.
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