Estanciero, Cana, Porteno, Chipa (1838-1839)

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LETTERS ON PARAGUAY:
COMPRISING AN ACCOUNT OF A FOUR YEARS' RESIDENCE IN THAT REPUBLIC
by J. P. and W. P. Robertson
in three volumes
second edition
London: J. Murray
1839
New York: AMS Press, Ltd.
1970

   The letters were written in 1838.  OED doesn't have a single citation from
its three volumes.  No one has read this work for over 160 years?
   A few antedates/antedatings before I go back to work at Burger King.


VOLUME ONE
Pg. 58:  He mixes more freely in general society, takes a share in the
affairs and offices of state, educates his chilldren more liberally; and though the
estanciero himself may still adhere to many of his primitive and favourite
habits, yet many a rich estanciero's wife and daughters are to be seen driving
about in handsome and modern-built carriages of their own.
   (OED has 1845 for "estanciero"--ed.)

Pg. 59:  The chacarero is generally brave, frank, and hospitable.  His spouse
and daughters are fond of gaudy finery; and he himself, on the "dia de
fiesta," or holiday, decks out his horse and person (they being more "one flesh"
than he and his wife) in rich trappings and gay apparel.
   (OED has 1844 for "fiesta."    OED doesn't have
"chacara"--farming-ground--or "chacarero" both mentioned here--ed.)

Pg. 165:  Many smoked their pipes or cigars; some had already partaken freely
of the cana (a spirit made from the sugar-cane) and all were in evidently
high good humour, both with themselves and others.
   (OED has 1881 for "cana"--ed.)

Pg. 173:  But we were encountered by one of those hurricanes called
pamperos,--the south-west gales,--which blow over the plains or pampas, that intervene
between the Andes and the River Plate.
   ("Pamperos" is not in the OED--ed.)

Pg. 174:  ...the Portenos (so are the inhabitants of Buenos Ayres called)
sent out upon it artillery to attack a Spanish sloop-of-war, lying at about that
distance from the town.
   (OED has 1884 for "Porteno"--ed.)

Pg. 188:  The servants stood with their arms crossed till the olla podrida
had nearly disappeared.  The remove was a dish of the celebrated "carne con
cuero," or beef roasted in the skin of the animal; and let no Englishman boast of
_his_ roast beef after he has tasted this.  A proper dish of "_carne con
cuero_" (and that of the curate of Luxan was excellent) consists of the ribs cut,
hide and all, (Pg. 189--ed.) from the side of a fat yearling.  It may weigh,
when served, about twenty pounds, and being roasted in the hide, of course the
juice of the meat is all preserved.  The animal, on part of which we were now
feasting, had been slaughtered that very morning, and yet the flesh was tender
and full flavoured.  Carne con cuero is altogether one of the most savoury
dishes of which you can well partake.  It was attacked and demolished as the olla
podrida had been; and the servants then removed and replaced dish after dish,
as before.  Roast fowl, boiled fowl, hashes, and stews followed in rapid
succession.  Then came the _fish_ (for the Spaniards always take their fish last),
and abundance of candied sweetmeats, milk, and honey.

Pg. 250:  The river abounds with fish from its mouth to its source.  The
pexerey (king's fish), the dorado, mullet, pacu (a sort of turbot), and many
others, are found in it;...
   (OED has 1825 for "pacu."  OED does not have "pexerey"--ed.)

Pg. 279:  ...a one-eyed black slave called Bopi (in Guarani, "the man of one
eye") cooked the doctor's asado, made his olla, or seasoned with garlic his
more dainty guisado, or stew.
   (OED does not have "asado" or "guisado"--ed.)

Pg. 303:  The assessor, I may say, the ruler of the Government, Don Gregorio
de la Cerda, had become my right-hand man; nor was I unwilling to march under
the direction of one who not only did as he pleased in affairs of state, but
who was the padrino (or godfather) of the children of every family of
consideration in the place.
   (The revised OED has "madrina" from 1835.  This entry has "padrino" from
1986.  There is no OED "padrino" entry so far--ed.)

Pg. 327:  Up got Dona Juana, in her eighty-fourth year, and danced a
sarandig, or heel-dance;...
   (OED does not have "sarandig"--ed.)

Pg. 354:  I ordered all the men to come upon the roof of the house, and I
thus addressed Borda, the vaqueano (or pilot), and his Paraguayan crew:...
   (OED has "vaquero" but not "vaqueano"--ed.)

VOLUME TWO
Pg. 4:  ...that I was to be dragged through pantanos (or quagmires), and
almost literally to sail over rivers, it will not be considered that it was too
lightly laden.
   (OED has one "pantano" in the "pant" etymology--ed.)

Pg. 118:  From his own cotton he made the clothing of his own household; he
reared his own pigs and poultry, killed his own game, made his own cheese and
butter; and was very celebrated for his chipa.*
*A very palatable bread, especially when just taken from the oven, made from
the Indian corn.
   ("Chipa" is not an entry in OED, but there's are 1885 and 1973 citations
under "manioc."  It should be an entry--ed.)
   (http://f.about.com/z/js/spr09sm.htm)
   (Chipa is a type of corn bread sold everywhere in Paraguay - on the
streets, at soccer games and in chiperias. Made from a mixture of starch, paraguayan
cheese, milk and corn, it is cheap and tasty. Chipa is traditionally made and
eaten in great quantities during holy week La Semana Santa. )

Pg. 142:  There, other sets were making preparations for the manufacturing
and storing of the yerba.  These preparations consisted, first, in the
construction of the _tatacua_.

Pg. 143:  When the yerba was thoroughly scorched, the fire was swept from
under the _barbacua_, or arch;...

Pg. 191:  At the feet of each lady (not, however, including the young
unmarried ones), sat a _mulatilla_, a female mulatto slave, nine or ten years of age,
with a large roll of Paraguay tobacco, and from this the mistresses
themselves made their immense cigars on their own laps.
   ("Mulatilla" is not in the revised OED--ed.)

Pg. 199:  Don Francisco Candioti was a distinguished (Pg. 200--ed.) personage
at this _convite_, or banquet, and his nephew Aldao ranked among the
marchants.
   (OED has "convite" as an obscure verb, not as a noun--ed.)

Pg. 201:  The third South American custom (and this one confounded me) was
that of the guests pelting each other at table with _pelotitas_, or bread-balls,
of the size of a pea.  They threw them off with the middle finger and thumb,
with generally unerring aim, and in such prodigious numbers, that the floor
was literally _invisible_ in many parts of the room.  All at table, without a
single exception, mixed in the fun, and with increasing eagerness as it
advanced.

Pg. 202:  These were _biscacheras_, or burrows of the biscacha, a destructive
and altogether useless animal.
   (OED has a1837 and then 1847 for "biscacha"--ed.)

Pg. 212:  To carnear, or "to procure beef," is this.

Pg. 214:  ...by the third day it came to us in the shape of _charque_,--the
beef cut into thin layers and strips, and dried over ropes in the sun, pretty
much as our laundresses dry clothes in this country; only the shirts,
handkerchiefs and petticoats were all beef.

VOLUME THREE
Pg. 33:  The medical men, principally old Spaniards, whom Parlett found
established in Assumption, were the veriest quacks, the most arrant _matasanos_*
that Spain ever produced.
*Literally, killers of healthy persons.
   ("Matasano" is not in the OED--ed.)

Pg. 151:  Ranged all round it were guests of every description,--fat old
ladies and slender misses,--friars and paycitos (or young gallants), natives of
Assumption,--compadres and comadres without end;...
   (OED does not have "paycito."   OED has 1834, then 1850 for "compadre."
OED has two hits but no entry for "comadre"--ed.)