About 10 o'clock the next morning I awoke to find myself on a most neat
little estancia high up on a hill, overlooking, across a slight valley,
magnificent forests where one could see the glint of running water.
The house was brick floored and had four very nice rooms, which had been
colour-washed by my friends with excellent success. The ceilings at once
attracted attention, being of a deep-coloured black wood, well oiled and
seasoned. "Timbo" it is called, and is the best carving and furniture
wood in the country.
Out in the garden were oranges, lemons, citrons, pomegranates, limes,
and all kinds of luxurious fruits and vegetables. In a small fenced
paddock at the end of the garden, were sweet potatoes, pea-nuts, cotton,
tobacco, and some magnificent maize.
The men's huts were made of mud over a cane network, and the roofs were
made of split palm trees, hollowed out and made in the form of a large
~~~~~~~ the palms being placed concavely and convexly alternately,
making fine drainage for the heavy rains. The whole place was surrounded
by a ring of fine chaco paraiso trees and "ombu." The horse corrals were
all _palo a pique_, that is, made of solid posts, stuck in close
together side by side, and about two metres high, with no wire.
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