Yes, very interesting. The very long spears caught my attention right away.
Interesting about the plating Jer. My Pampa ( made in Tandil) that I used a couple of times on steak and chicken did not darkened the way my Capybara did right away
I wrote to someone in Argentina to find out if plating of carbon bades was applied to Tandil blades ( sent him your pics )
If you have a couple more pics in better light I can send them to him as well
.... only to find gaucho Dan with his legendary Verijero ready for some troublemaking
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A couple more paintings from the epic poem
"El Gaucho Martín Fierro"
Gauchos were exploited by the Argentine government and forced to fight in the
"Conquest of the Desert".
They were conscripted by the army and got little to no pay. Many of them deserted only to be persecuted and abused even further.
When they eventually were able to return home many found nothing left.
The brutal fight to the death between Martin Fierro and the Indian.
"El Gaucho Martín Fierro"
Plot (excerpts from wikipedia):
Martín Fierro, has been drafted to serve at a border fort, defending the Argentine inner frontier against the native people. He deserts and tries to return to his home, but discovers that his house, farm, and family are gone. He deliberately provokes an affair of honor by insulting a black woman in a bar. In the knife duel that ensues, he kills her male companion.
The narration of another knife fight suggests, by its lack of detail, that it is one of many.
Fierro becomes an outlaw pursued by the police militia. In a battle with them, he acquires a companion: Sergeant Cruz, inspired by Fierro's bravery in resistance, defects and joins him mid-battle. The two set out to live among the natives, hoping to find a better life there.
They are taken for spies; the cacique (chieftain) saves their lives, but they are effectively prisoners of the natives.
The poem narrates an epidemic, the horrible, expiatory attempts at cure, and the fatal wrath upon those, including a young "Christian" boy, suspected of bringing the plague.
Both Cruz and the cacique die of the disease. Shortly afterward, at Cruz's grave, Fierro hears the anguished cries of a woman. He follows and encounters a criolla weeping over the body of her dead son, her hands tied with the boy's entrails.
She had been accused of witchcraft.
Fierro fights and wins a brutal battle with her captor and travels with her back towards civilization.
After Fierro leaves the woman at the first ranch they see, he encounters his two surviving sons (one has been a prisoner, the other the ward of the vile and wily Vizcacha), and the son of Cruz (who has become a gambler).
He has a night-long payada (singing duel) with a black payador (singer), who turns out to be the younger brother of the man Fierro murdered in a duel.
At the end, Fierro speaks of changing his name and living in peace, but it is not entirely clear that the duel has been avoided
Jer ! You are on a roll
