Gaspar the Gaucho: A Story of the Gran Chaco

  Produced by Nick Hodson of London, England

  Gaspar the Gaucho, by Captain Mayne Reid.

  ________________________________________________________________________This is another excellent book by the inventor of the Wild West genre.Set in South America, in Paraguay, the hero and his band of friends havemany an adventure, just in the course of one voyage, or undertaking.They frequently get themselves into dangerous and risky situations, butalways by their superior bush-craft manage to get themselves out of themafter having practically died, or at least having seen their horses die.

  This is a good book, a vintage one from the Victorian era. The authorlearnt his bushcraft during the American-Mexican War, and has given usseveral books whose subject and manner arose from what he learnt in thatwar.

  ________________________________________________________________________GASPAR THE GAUCHO, BY CAPTAIN MAYNE REID.

  CHAPTER ONE.

  THE GRAN CHACO.

  Spread before you a map of South America. Fix your eye on the point ofconfluence between two of its great rivers--the Salado, which runssouth-easterly from the Andes mountains, and the Parana coming from thenorth; carry your glance up the former to the town of Salta, in theancient province of Tucuman; do likewise with the latter to the pointwhere it espouses the Paraguay; then up this to the Brazilian frontierfort of Coimbra; finally draw a line from the fort to the aforementionedtown--a line slightly curved with its convexity towards the Cordilleraof the Andes--and you will thus have traced a boundary embracing one ofthe least known, yet most interesting, tracts of territory in eithercontinent of America, or, for that matter, in the world. Within thelimits detailed lies a region romantic in its past as mysterious in itspresent; at this hour almost as much a _terra incognita_ as when theboats of Mendoza vainly endeavoured to reach it from the Atlantic side,and the gold-seekers of Pizarro's following alike unsuccessfullyattempted its exploration from the Pacific. Young reader, you will belonging to know the name of this remarkable region; know it, then, asthe "Gran Chaco."

  No doubt you may have heard of it before, and, if a diligent student ofgeography, made some acquaintance with its character. But yourknowledge of it must needs be limited, even though it were as extensiveas that possessed by the people who dwell upon its borders; for to themthe Gran Chaco is a thing of fear, and their intercourse with it onewhich has brought them, and still brings, only suffering and sorrow.

  It has been generally supposed that the Spaniards of Columbus's timesubdued the entire territory of America, and held sway over itsred-skinned aborigines. This is a historical misconception. Althoughlured by a love of gold, conjoined with a spirit of religiouspropagandism, the so-called _Conquistadores_ overran a large portion ofboth divisions of the continent, there were yet extensive tracts of eachnever entered, much less colonised, by them--territories many timeslarger than England, in which they never dared set foot. Of such wereNavajoa in the north, the country of the gallant Goajiros in the centre,the lands of Patagonia and Arauco in the south, and notably theterritory lying between the Cordilleras of the Peruvian Andes and therivers Parana and Paraguay, designated "El Gran Chaco."

  This vast expanse of champaign, large enough for an empire, remains tothe present time not only uncolonised, but absolutely unexplored. Forthe half-dozen expeditions that have attempted its exploration, timidlyentering and as hastily abandoning it, scarce merit consideration.

  And equally unsuccessful have been all efforts at religious propagandismwithin its borders. The labours of the _padres_, both Jesuit andFranciscan, have alike signally failed; the savages of the Chacorefusing obedience to the cross as submission to the sword.

  Three large rivers--the Salado, Vermejo, and Pilcomayo--course throughthe territory of the Chaco; the first forming its southern boundary, theothers intersecting it. They all take their rise in the AndesMountains, and after running for over a thousand miles in asouth-easterly direction and nearly parallel courses, mingle theirwaters with those of the Parana and Paraguay. Very little is known ofthese three great streams, though of late years the Salado has receivedsome exploration. There is a better acquaintance with its upperportion, where it passes through the settled districts of Santiago andTucuman. Below, even to the point where it enters the Parana, only astrong military expedition may with safety approach its banks, by reasonof their being also traversed by predatory bands of the savages.

  Geographical knowledge of the Vermejo is still less, and of thePilcomayo least of all; this confined to the territory of their upperwaters, long since colonised by the Argentine States and the Republic ofBolivia, and now having many towns in it. But below, as with theSalado, where these rivers enter the region of the Chaco, they become asif they were lost to the geographer; even the mouth of the Pilcomayo notbeing known for certain, though one branch of it debouches into theParaguay, opposite the town of Assuncion, the capital of Paraguayitself! It enters the river of this name by a forked or _deltoid_channel, its waters making their way through a marshy tract of countryin numerous slow flowing _riachos_, whose banks, thickly overgrown witha lush sedgy vegetation, are almost concealed from the eye of theexplorer.

  Although the known mouth of the Pilcomayo is almost within gun-shot ofAssuncion--the oldest Spanish settlement in this part of South America--no Paraguayan ever thinks of attempting its ascent, and the people ofthe town are as ignorant of the land lying along that river's shores ason the day when the old naturalist, Azara, paddles his _periagua_ someforty miles against its obstructing current. No scheme of colonisationhas ever been designed or thought of by them; for it is only near itssource, as we have seen, that settlements exist. In the Chaco no whiteman's town ever stood upon its banks, nor church spire flung shadowathwart its unfurrowed waves.

  It may be asked why this neglect of a territory, which would seem sotempting to the colonist? For the Gran Chaco is no sterile tract, likemost parts of the Navajo country in the north, or the plains ofPatagonia and the sierras of Arauco in the south. Nor is it a humid,impervious forest, at seasons inundated, as with some portions of theAmazon valley and the deltas of the Orinoco.

  Instead, what we do certainly know of the Chaco shows it the verycountry to invite colonisation; having every quality and feature toattract the settler in search of a new home. Vast verdant savannas--natural clearings--rich in nutritious grasses, and groves of tropicaltrees, with the palm predominating; a climate of unquestionablesalubrity, and a soil capable of yielding every requisite for man'ssustenance as the luxury of life. In very truth, the Chaco may belikened to a vast park or grand landscape garden, still under theculture of the Creator!

  But why not also submitted to the tillage of man? The answer is easy:because the men who now hold it will not permit intrusion on theirdomain--to them hereditary--and they are hunters, not _agriculturists_.It is still in the possession of its red-skinned owners, the originallords of its soil, these warlike Indians, who have hitherto defied allattempts to enslave or subdue them, whether made by soldier, miner, ormissionary. These independent savages, mounted upon fleet steeds, whichthey manage with the skill of Centaurs, scour the plains of the Chaco,swift as birds upon the wing. Disdaining fixed residence, they roamover its verdant pastures and through its perfumed groves, as bees fromflower to flower, pitching their _toldos_, and making camp in whateverpleasant spot may tempt them. Savages though called, who would not envythem such a charming _insouciant_ existence? Do not you, young reader?

  I anticipate your answer, "Yes." Come with me, then! Let us enter the"Gran Chaco," and for a time partake of it!