Camp Chaplain:  he goes from one district to another holding services, every Sunday in a different place.  In a well-populated district he would hold one about every two months, but to some places, where there are next to no English people, he would probably only go about once or twice a year.  Church Sunday is quite an event, and again gives one an opportunity of meeting friends from a distance.  The parson is very lenient with us as a rule, and does not object to any form of amusement in the afternoon, such as polo, tennis, cricket, football, or golf, and encourages the young men to come to Church (usually a room hired for the occasion) in costumes suitable for such.  Our poor Camp Chaplain does not have an easy time; distances are so great that more than half his time is spent on the train.

[Illustration:  Carnival at Vera.]

CARNIVAL IN THE ARGENTINE.

Carnival falls every year during the week before the beginning of Lent.  It is a general holiday, and much fun and amusement are crammed into the few days which precede the dull season of fasting.

Carnival is more observed in camp towns than in the bigger cities, where the custom of celebrating it is very much on the wane, and where the law forbids water-throwing and other such damp forms of amusement, which are winked at by the more lenient authorities in local towns.

It is really quite a pretty sight to see a camp town during carnival.  The one main street, which does not boast of pavements, and is generally a yard deep in dust, is gaily decorated with bunting and festoons.  Small stands are put up every ten yards or so, in which the “caballeros” take up their positions and pelt the “senoritas” with confetti and “serpentinas” (blocks of different coloured paper which look like rolls of tape about 30 or 50 yards long).  The elite of the “pueblo” drive round in the procession; ladies, some in the very latest creations, and some in beautiful fancy dresses, parade round in flower and ribbon bedecked carriages.  A prize is generally given to the best decorated conveyance, and to the best fancy costume, which causes a lot of competition and jealousy amongst the fair sex.

On an estancia, carnival is celebrated in a much more drastic fashion.  On one place, the giddy members of the household have a very rowdy time of it, and make things very lively for the unwary.  On one occasion, they determined to give the mayor-domo his share of the general drenching which he had missed; so when he rode in at midday, after a long and busy morning’s work in the camp, he was welcomed with a volley of buckets of water, which were emptied over him from the top of the house, where the delinquents had taken up their advantageous position.