1832.] ESTUARY OF THE PLATA 99 



and discoloured, from its less specific gravity, floated on the surface 

 of the salt water. This was curiously exhibited in the wake of the 

 vessel, where a line of blue water was seen mingling in little eddies, 

 with the adjoining fluid. 



July 26t/t. We anchored at Monte Video. The Beagle was employed 

 in surveying the extreme southern and eastern coasts of America, south 

 of the Plata, during the two succeeding years. To prevent useless 

 repetitions, I will extract those parts of my journal which refer to the 

 same districts, without always attending to the order in which we 

 visited them. 



MALDONADO is situated on the northern bank of the Plata, and not 

 very far from the mouth of the estuary. Iti is a most quiet, forlorn, 

 little town ; built, as is universally the case in these countries, with 

 the streets running at right angles to each other, and having in the 

 middle a large plaza or square, which, from its size, renders the 

 scantiness of the population more evident. It possesses scarcely any 

 trade; the exports being confined to a few hides and living cattle. 

 The inhabitants are chiefly landowners, together with a few shopkeepers 

 and the necessary tradesmen, such as blacksmiths and carpenters, 

 who do nearly all the business for a circuit of fifty miles round. The 

 town is separated from the river by a band of sand-hillocks, about a 

 mile broad : it is surrounded, on all other sides, by an open slightly- 

 undulating country, covered by one uniform layer of fine green turf, 

 on which countless herds of cattle, sheep, and horses graze. There 

 is very little land cultivated even close to the town. A few hedges, 

 made of cacti and agave, mark out where some wheat or Indian corn 

 has been planted. The features of the country are very similar along 

 the whole northern bank of the Plata. The only difference is, that 

 here the granitic hills are a little bolder. The scenery is very unin- 

 teresting ; there is scarcely a house, an enclosed piece of ground, 

 or even a tree, to give it an air of cheerfulness. Yet, after being 

 imprisoned for some time in a ship, there is a charm in the unconfined 

 feeling of walking over boundless plains of turf. Moreover, if your 

 view is limited to a small space, many objects possess beauty. Some 

 of the smaller birds are brilliantly coloured ; and the bright green 

 sward, browsed short by the cattle, is ornamented by dwarf flowers, 

 among which a plant, looking like the daisy, claimed the place of an 

 old friend. What would a florist say to whole tracts so thickly covered 

 by the Verbena melindres, as, even at a distance, to appear of the most 

 gaudy scarlet? 



I stayed ten weeks at Maldonado, in which time a nearly perfect 

 collection of the animals, birds, and reptiles, was procured. Before 

 making any observations respecting them, I will give an account of 

 a little excursion I made as far as the river Polanco, which is about 

 seventy miles distant, in a northerly direction. I may mention, as 

 a proof how cheap everything is in this country, that I paid only two 

 dollars a day, or eight shillings, for two men, together with a troop 

 of about a dozen riding-horses. My companions were well armed 



