After delivering himself of these kindly sentiments, which left me
rather in a mist as to my prospects, he mounted his horse and rode
off, probably on some very important affair, for I saw no more of him
for several days.

I at once proceeded to establish myself in the kitchen. No person inthe
house appeared ever to pay even a casual visit to any other room.
This kitchen was vast and barn-like, forty feet long at least, and
proportionately wide; the roof was of reeds, and the hearth, placed
in the centre of the floor, was a clay platform, fenced round with
cows' shank-bones, half buried and standing upright. Some trivets and
iron kettles were scattered about, and from the centre beam, supporting
the roof, a chain and hook were suspended to which a vast iron pot was
fastened. One more article, a spit about six feet long for roasting
meat, completed the list of cooking utensils. There were no chairs,
tables, knives, or forks; everyone carried his own knife, and at
meal-time the boiled meat was emptied into a great tin dish, whilst
the roast was eaten from the spit, each one laying hold with his fingers
and cutting his slice. The seats were logs of wood and horse-skulls.
The household was composed of one woman, an ancient, hideously ugly,
grey-headed negress, about seventy years old, and eighteen or nineteen
men of all ages and sizes, and of all colours from parchment-white to
very old oak. There was a _capatas,_ or overseer, and seven or eight paid
_peones,_ the others being all _agregados_--that is, supernumeraries
without pay, or, to put it plainly, vagabonds who attach themselves like
vagrant dogs to establishments of this kind, lured by the abundance of
flesh, and who occasionally assist the regular _peones_ at their work,
and also do a little gambling and stealing to keep themselves in small
change. At break of day everyone was up sitting by the hearth sipping
bitter _mate_ and smoking cigarettes; before sunrise all were mounted