144 BAND A ORIENTAL. [CHAP. vm. 



induced me ever to have called it level. The country is a series 

 of undulations, in themselves perhaps not absolutely great, but, as 

 compared to the plains of St. Fe, real mountains. From these 

 inequalities there is an abundance of small rivulets, and the turf 

 is green and luxuriant 



November 17th. We crossed the Rozario, which was deep 

 and rapid, and passing the village of Colla, arrived at mid-day 

 at Colonia del Sacramiento. The distance is twenty leagues, 

 through a country covered with fine grass, but poorly stocked 

 with cattle or inhabitants. I was invited to sleep at Colonia, 

 and to accompany on the following day a gentleman to his estan- 

 cia, where there were some limestone rocks. The town is built 

 on a stony promontory something in the same manner as at 

 Monte Video. It is strongly fortified, but both fortifications 

 and town suffered much in the Brazilian war. It is very an- 

 cient ; and the irregularity of the streets, and the surrounding 

 groves of old orange and peach trees, gave it a pretty appear- 

 ance. The church is a curious ruin ; it was used as a powder- 

 magazine, and was struck by lightning in one of the ten thousand 

 thunder-storms of the Rio Plata. Two-thirds of the building 

 were blown away to the very foundation ; and the rest stands a 

 shattered and curious monument of the united powers of light- 

 ning and gunpowder. In the evening I wandered about the 

 half-demolished walls of the town. It was the chief seat of the 

 Brazilian war; a war most injurious to this country, not so 

 much in its immediate effects, as in being the origin of a multi- 

 tude of generals and all other grades of officers. More generals 

 are numbered (but not paid) in the United Provinces of La 

 Plata than in the United Kingdom of Great Britain. These 

 gentlemen have learned to like power, and do not object to a 

 little skirmishing. Hence there are many always on the watch 

 to create disturbance and to overturn a government which as 

 yet has never rested on any stable foundation. I noticed, how- 

 ever, both here and in other places, a very general interest in 

 the ensuing election for the President ; and this appears a good 

 sign for the prosperity of this little country. The inhabitants 

 do not require much education in their representatives ; I heard 

 some men discussing the merits of those for Colonia ; and it was 

 said that, " although they were not men of business, they could 



