Blog 3: Cowboys and Sherlock Holmes

This week when I was reading chapter II of Sarmiento's Facundo: Civilization and Barbarism, and Sarmiento was describing the different types of gauchos, or cowboys, of nineteenth century Argentina, I couldn't help but think that Sherlock Holmes would make a great gaucho.

One of my favorite TV shows is BBC's Sherlock, which is a revamp of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s stories, set in present-day London. Sherlock has incredible powers of deduction; that is, he can tell you your whole life’s story just by looking at you. He is incredibly smart, and uses a tool called a “mind palace” to store away information; theoretically, he can “never forget anything.” The following clip is of Sherlock deducing Dr. John Watson, whom he has just met:

It is later explained just how Sherlock knew all of those things about John (if you want to find out you should watch the series, it’s pretty greatJ). Obviously, Sherlock has astonishing observational and memory skills, skills which rastreadors and baqueanos also have. A rastreador is a type of gaucho who is an incredibly skilled tracker. When a theft occurs, “The rastreador is called in immediately; he looks at the tracks and follows them, only looking at the ground from time to time, as if his eyes were seeing a relief of that footprint, imperceptible to others. He follows along the streets, crosses through gardens, enters a home, and coldly says, pointing out a man he finds there, ‘He’s the one!’” Rastreadors, just like Sherlock, have the ability to see what others can’t or overlook, and to follow trails that lead to criminals.“The rastreador is a serious, circumspect person, whose pronouncements are accepted as evidence in the lower courts.” Similarly, Sherlock has caught numerous criminals, and has had to testify many times in court.

The second type of gaucho is a baqueano, which is a sort of guide who “knows twenty thousand square leagues of plains, forests, and mountains like the palm of his hand.” “A baqueano comes upon a little path crossing the road he takes, and he knows to which remote water hole it leads; if he comes upon a thousand, and this happens in the space of a hundred leagues, he knows them all, he knows where they come from and where they go. He knows the hidden ford in the river, above or below the usual passage, and the same for a hundred rivers and streams; he knows of a path, in the extensive marshland, where it can be crossed without difficulty, and the same for a hundred different marshes.” Similarly, Sherlock knows every street in London. In fact, during the first episode, he and John are able to chase a cab around London and deduce which way it will go based on what types of streets and traffic lights it encounters. The first video in this entry is part of this cool scene.

Thus, I think that Sherlock Holmes would make a great cowboy. However, to bring some deeper analysis to this blog entry, I will compare their characters. Both Sherlock and the gaucho are social outcasts: most people think Sherlock is a “freak,” and he has very few friends (he is sort of a jerk). Gauchos also tend to be outsiders—they are disdained by city folk, are intimidating to the average person, and generally tend to be loners by choice. Nonetheless, both are respected. The gaucho is respected because he is useful to a variety of different people in a variety of different ways. Likewise, people respect Sherlock; even though they may dislike him as a person, they begrudgingly accept that he is brilliant and is always very helpful in solving crimes. Thus, both Sherlock and rastreadors/baqueanos stand apart in society due to their extraordinary skills, and though they don’t fit in well with society, society needs and respects them.