ACCOfJNT OF BOOKS. 



1023 



di. tte wind still continuing to rage 

 Iwith iinabating violecce, we were 

 soon, in spite of every exertion, 

 driven too farsotith to hope to gain 

 that hospitabie arylum: a second 

 council vras- therefore summoned, 

 the result of which was, that, as it 

 was impossible in our shattered 

 state to think of reaching the Cape, 

 we had no alternative but to pro- 

 ceed immediately for the great rivtr 

 La Plata, and endfavour, if pos- 

 sible, to gain Buenos Ayrcs, there 

 to repair our damage, and recruit 

 our stock of Mattr, and provisi- 

 ons, the greater part of which had 

 been materially injured. 



" This was no sooner decided on 

 than put in practice. The wiid, 

 happily tor us, a little subsided; 

 an4 we steered for the largest river 

 in t! e world, which we were for- 

 tunate enough to reach witiioutany 

 fresh disaster. 



" The accounts which we read of 

 the Plata, so far from being exag- 

 gerated, barely convey an adequate 

 idea of its immensity ; though I now 

 find that its depth is by no means 

 proportioned to its length and 

 breadth. When we arrived at the 

 mouth of the river — of Mhich if 

 I had not been told 1 should ne- 

 ver have imagined it — I began 

 to thank God that our ])erils were 



over ; l^ut I soon found that 

 new ones awaited us, owing to 

 the vast banks of sand dispersed in 

 every direction. At our entrance 

 under something more than a brii.k 

 gale, it was as much as all hands 

 could do to steer the vessel clear of 

 a most dangerous shoal called the 

 English bank, a place as mucJi 

 dreaded in those parts as the rocks of 

 SciHy or the Goodwin Sands in our 

 vicinity ; and we had scarcely passed 

 it in safety whea we struck upon 



a smaller one, and thus we continu- 

 ed, for want of a pilot, to run off 

 one sand and on another, shakin >, 

 jumbling, working and cursing, for 

 near ihi.-cy leagues, with boats a- 

 head sounding tiie whole of the 

 course which we had to traverse be- 

 fore we could re.ich a ]jlace where 

 wi- could hope for any assisancc : 

 however, by the help of a Iresh 

 breeze and constant watching, we 

 made shift in lour da\s to anchor 

 in this harbour. Alonte Video is 

 the first port of safety in this w on- 

 dcrful river ; it is situated at the foot 

 ofa conical mountain ot a stiipenduus 

 height, which serves as a laiKi-mark, 

 for another mountain there is not 

 in a vast tract of coun.ry, n.any 

 hundred miles in extent; and the 

 river, even here, is so wide as to ap- 

 pear to an iiu'xptTieiiced person 

 more in the resimblancc of a sea. 



" We lound in this Port two 

 Portuguese merchant-ve>sels, three 

 French, and two j)rivateers ; 

 which last had, like ourselves, been 

 forced in by stress of weather. On 

 a signal being made by our captain, 

 the commander of the fort sent off a 

 boat with three Spaniards in her to 

 examine our paper.s*; with which 

 being satisfied, we were permitted 

 to enter the harbour, and we imme- 

 diately received every necessary . 

 assistance. It was evening when 

 we arrived ; and the next morning 

 captain H and we three pas- 

 sengers went ashore. Myself being 

 an Englishman, and presently 

 known as such, I observed an eye 

 of suspicion glance on me which 

 way soever 1 turned myself, liut 

 this I cared not for ; being resolved, 

 since my destiny had landed me in 

 Spanish America, to see as much of 

 their town as I possibly could : 

 though, God knows, besides the ri- 

 ver 



