sarmiento then moves on to the argentine peasants, who are "independent of all need, free of all subjection, with no idea of government". the peasants gather at taverns, where they spend their time drinking and gambling. they display their eagerness to prove their physical strength with horsemanship and knife fights. rarely these displays led to deaths, and sarmiento notes that rosas's residence was sometimes used as a refuge on such occasions, before he became politically powerful.