SETTLEMENT IN LAPLATA SOUTH AMERICA.

Tuapeka Times, Volume VII, Issue 333, 25 February 1874, Page 3

SETTLEMENT IN LA PLATA SOUTH AMERICA.

BtTENOB AYBES AND BOSARIO DISTRICTS.

The -following is a copy of a letter from the neighborhood of Rosario, South America,

which* has. been kindly placed at our disposal

by Pierce Power, Esq.; Sheep 'lnspector. - It will be observed that however liberal the offers are which are made to settlers in those c parts, they are far from tempting when the

unsettled state of society is taken into account: ;-' " Deab , Since I wrote last, the station and stock have been doing very well,

and paying Al. The cattle cost a little over 6 dollars -per head. A short time ago 11

dollars .were offered for them all round. Calves always count here. There are men continually going round buying up the fat stock.; Two-year old fat store steers fetch 12 dollars, and fat cows. 2o dollars. These prices pay very well for the expense connected witli ,the cattle is little, or nothing. The regular' hands on this station consist of a nativejwoman, who cooks for all and washes at 8 dollars per month, a boy at 7 dollars per month to pump the troughs full with water for , the, cattle and other odd jobs, myself, N : r- brothers, and a young Englishman -without pay. The cattle all drink at the same well, and are mustered every morning

and put in the camp or rodao. They are yery, little trouble now, seldom joining our r neighbors. They are just beginning to calve, and I think there will be 600. We have 30 horses, and it' takes them all to do the work. A horse .is never walked in this country, but always made to work at full tear. I don't myself see the slightest occasion for it. lam sure ncf person in the colonies would, allow their horses to be used as they are here. I

lave all the farm work to do myself, for kSatives cannot manage an English plough. We had an A 1 cror of maize, and sold a lot, b.avirig more " than we required. I have planted, three acres of trees, principally peaches, round the house, so if you call this way- in two or three years hence, you will not go empty away. - Peaches grow splendidly here.' - I am' sowing a lot of Spanish clover, which can be' cut three or four times ayear,if rain. Our farm is only 20 acres in all, so clover, maize, and peaches take it all up. Agriculture- does not pay at all here, and * many are giving it up and trying something else*. ■ First-class land can be- got for Is. 6d. io pervaare. ' Cattle is the only trade that pays well, also sheep — but the latter 'are all about Buenos Ayres, the grass here, being too coarse .for them. Although I promised to write to^Mrs. ! - I—,'l1 — ,'I have not done so, for I «m;a bad hand at writing to ladies, and be- ' -sides I'could not say anything in favor of the country to her, and that has partly kept me from writing, for to tell the truth we live • shockingly rough life. Fancy an old dirty hag of a black woman cooking. These blacks too cannot be trusted inside the house. They cook the fresh beef thus : Stick an iron poker through the beef, and then stick the poker in the ground near the fire till it is cooked. Fancy the beef brought on the iron ready to eat therefrom. Money can be made too dear, and cattle men require to make it quick,

for the life they pass and 'have to put up with -is anything but pleasant. The native we " have working for us, and all those that go about- here— for we have had some scores of them working for us at odd times — are a wild lot arid care for no man. They live a life of - - hunting, -stealing, and murder. I will give you a sample. A few months after we eettied here, on&inan was murdered four miles from our house 'close to our west boundary, but being a native, he was put into a hole and no more said about him. He was very likely killed for. his horse, or some trifling thing he wm'' carrying, 'Well, about t^n months ago «n''3!ngwhman'' And I ' 'his - dau'ghu*, a fine girl of some nineteen summers, bought la/ioo Acres jsf land along our . southern boundary, pnt.«p*iouse and were going quietly along, thflJT~hbriie being 4| pule* from ours." When |fcs?tifts s <ettted, 'tiiey of course employed atMii/fo dig wells, mud house, &c, &c., fcofc oT.W* ' Uwykft* l?°l ?° person. TV wm^ J>atllttrirei * UTiD 6 -

they lived on their money, and intended to let the land -for grazing stock by-and-bye. They being our nearest neighbors, of course we were great friends. Well, on the 10th of last month, a Mr. Mills, living five miles beyond the above family, came and told me that they were both murdered, and lying not far from their house, and asked me to go and bury the bodies, as the pigs were eating them. I went ; and, O, what a sigh ! There lay the father on his face. He hadbeen stabbed all over with knives ; and there lay his daughter on her back, her hands being bound down close on her chest, but from the top of her stays to the crown of her head all the flesh had. been picked from the bones, and only the legs and part of the body were entire. I fancy her throat had been cut, and the flow . of blood caused the pigs, hawks, .&c, to begin to eat the body. So Mills and I dug a grave at once, and put them side by side. They were in ordinary dress, and had been dead ten days before any person, had called at their place. Only one boxin the house had been opened, as the murderers had been scared by something and fled) and of course left all behind. The girl and plunder were evidently the object the villians had in view. A small clew was left behind by the murderers, and from that two natives have been traced, who had been once working with the old man. One was taken a long way off. The two real men have been caught, and will be shot in Rosario soon, that is to say if the gailors do not let them escape, for that is the common way here. All prisoners generally get out for a few dollars, so there the matter ends. You will say this must be a sweet country to li ve in. Fancy going about the house with revolver in belt always. This episode will show- you that the natives are not to be trusted a bit. Nothing but arms frighten them. They are a lot of cut-throats. We have to be always on the look-out like a wild beast. Such is hie in this part of South America.

" Sheep managers get from £200 to £500 a year in sheep districts. "We have bought six half-bred bulls for the cattle ; price, about £7 10s. per head. I am busy planting peach stones to make a plantation - about the place, for the winter winds from Cape Horn are very sharp. The past winter was a very cold one. All our gums and wattles were killed by the frost. Very few English settlers are coming to settle about here.

" Sunday is the same as Saturday here. We all sell and buy and deliver on Sunday, which work Ido not believe in. Englishmen should carry out what they pretend to believe in ; but no Englishmen come here but fall sadly away from the manners and ways of civilization. D D had a letter from his mother yesterday, and he told me that his two other brothers wanted to come out to Soutlx- America. I think you Bhould write home and try and stop them coming, for this is a wretched country for young men to come .to who have no experience of life. They have given up thoughts of the army. Let them go to some place with an English Government. H and. B in thoir hearts hate the country ; but of course there is no help for them now, only they say as soon as they had money to start in Australia or New Zealand they would go from here and let this place. This is a frightfully poor place. Very few English here are doing more than crawling along with their cattle and living a half-savage Hfe, far, far below the manners and habits of Australia or New Zealand.

" The trial of the murderers of the S s is past. The men confessed in this way : — They went to the house at sun down ; they opened the door and walked in. S — - — was sitting at the table. One of them drew his long ficone or knife, 20 inches in length, and stabbed the old man to the heart before he could look round. The other took hold of the girl, and ultimately cut her throat, and then left the place. The murderers were both shot in Rosario. Before they were caught there were some 1800dols. expenses for rewards and tipping natives for information who had seen them going along. The few Englishmen have to pay aE that. The Government here do not pay a cent of the fine. They were even annoyed at the trouble given them in connection with the affair. Sweet Government ours !"