Far Away and Long Ago | Page 5

as a gigantic landmark to the traveller on the
great monotonous plains, and also afforded refreshing shade to man and
horse in summer; while the native doctor or herbalist would sometimes
pluck a leaf for a patient requiring a very violent remedy for his
disorder. Our trees were about a century old and very large, and, as
they stood on an elevation, they could be easily seen at a distance of ten
miles. At noon in summer the cattle and sheep, of which we had a large
number, used to rest in their shade; one large tree also afforded us
children a splendid play- house, and we used to carry up a number of
planks to construct safe bridges from branch to branch, and at noon,
when our elders were sleeping their siesta, we would have our arboreal
games unmolested.
Besides the famous twenty-five, there was one other tree of a different
species, growing close to the house, and this was known all over the
neighbourhood as "The Tree," this proud name having been bestowed
on it because it was the only one of the kind known in that part of the
country; our native neighbours always affirmed that it was the only one
in the world. It was a fine large old tree, with a white bark, long smooth
white thorns, and dark-green undeciduous foliage. Its blossoming time
was in November--a month about as hot as an English July--and it
would then become covered with tassels of minute wax-like flowers,
pale straw-colour, and of a wonderful fragrance, which the soft summer
wind would carry for miles on its wings. And in this way our
neighbours would discover that the flowering season had come to the
tree they so much admired, and they would come to beg for a branch to
take home with them to perfume their lowly houses.
The pampas are, in most places, level as a billiard-table; just where we
lived, however, the country happened to be undulating, and our house
stood on the summit of one of the highest elevations. Before the house
stretched a great grassy plain, level to the horizon, while at the back it
sloped abruptly down to a broad, deep stream, which emptied itself in
the river Plata, about six miles to the east. This stream, with its three
ancient red willow-trees growing on the banks, was a source of endless
pleasure to us. Whenever we went down to play on the banks, the fresh
penetrating scent of the moist earth had a strangely exhilarating effect,
making us wild with joy. I am able now to recall these sensations, and
believe that the sense of smell, which seems to diminish as we grow

older, until it becomes something scarcely worthy of being called a
sense, is nearly as keen in little children as in the inferior animals, and,
when they live with nature, contributes as much to their pleasure as
sight or hearing. I have often observed that small children, when
brought on to low, moist ground from a high level, give loose to a
sudden spontaneous gladness, running, shouting, and rolling over the
grass just like dogs, and I have no doubt that the fresh smell of the earth
is the cause of their joyous excitement.
Our house was a long low structure, built of brick, and, being very old,
naturally had the reputation of being haunted. A former proprietor, half
a century before I was born, once had among his slaves a very
handsome young negro, who, on account of his beauty and amiability,
was a special favourite with his mistress. Her preference filled his poor
silly brains with dreams and aspirations, and, deceived by her gracious
manner, he one day ventured to approach her in the absence of his
master and told her his feelings. She could not forgive so terrible an
insult to her pride, and when her husband returned went to him, white
with indignation, and told him how this miserable slave had abused
their kindness. The husband had an implacable heart, and at his
command the offender was suspended by the wrists to a low, horizontal
branch of "The Tree," and there, in sight of his master and mistress, he
was scourged to death by his fellow- slaves. His battered body was then
taken down and buried in a deep hollow at some little distance from the
last of the long row of ombu trees. It was the ghost of this poor black,
whose punishment had been so much heavier than his offence deserved,
that was supposed to haunt the place. It was not, however, a
conventional ghost, stalking about in a white sheet; those who had seen
it averred that it invariably rose up from the spot where the body had
been buried, like a pale,