30 MALDONADO. (cats. in. 



with pistols and sabres ; a precaution which I thought rather unneces- 

 sary ; but the first piece of news we heard was, that, the day before, 

 a traveller from Monte Video had been found dead on the road, with 

 his throat cut. This happened close to a cross, the record of a former 

 murder. 



On the first night we slept at a retired little country-house ; and 

 there I soon found out that I possessed two or three articles, especially 

 a pocket compass, which created unbounded astonishment. In every 

 house I was asked to show the compass, and by its aid, together with 

 a map, to point out the direction of various places. It excited the 

 liveliest admiration that I, a perfect stranger, shotild know the road 

 (for direction and road are synonymous in this open country) to places 

 where I had never been. At one house a young woman, who was ill 

 in bed, sent to entreat me to come and show her the compass. It 

 their surprise was great mine was greater to find such ignorance 

 among people who possessed their thousands of cattle, and "estancias" 

 of great extent. It can only be accounted for by the circumstance 

 that this retired part of the country is seldom visited by foreigners. 

 I was asked whether the earth or sun moved ; whether it was hotter 

 or colder to the north; where Spain was, and many other such 

 questions. The greater number of the inhabitants had an indistinct 

 idea that England, London, and North America, were different names 

 for the same place ; but the better informed well knew that London 

 and North America were separate countries close together, and that 

 England was a large town in London 1 I carried with me some 

 promethean matches, which I ignited by biting; it was thought so 

 wonderful that a man should strike fire with his teeth, that it was usual 

 to collect the whole family to see it : I was once offered a dollar for 

 a single one. Washing my face in the morning caused much specu- 

 lation at the village of Las Minas ; a superior tradesman closely 

 cross-questioned me about so singular a practice; and likewise why 

 on board we wore our beards ; for he had heard from my guide that 

 we did so. He eyed me with much suspicion ; perhaps he had hea-rd 

 of ablutions in the Mahomedan religion, and knowing me to be a 

 heretic, probably he came to the conclusion that all heretics were 

 Turks. It is the general custom in this country to ask for a night's 

 lodging at the first convenient house. The astonishment at the compass, 

 and my other feats in jugglery, was to a certain degree advantageous, 

 as with that, and the long stories my guides told of my breaking stones, 

 knowing venomous from harmless snakes, collecting insects, etc., I 

 repaid them for their hospitality. I am writing as if I had been among 

 the inhabitants of central Africa : Banda Oriental would not be 

 flattered by the comparison ; but such were my feelings at the time. 



The next day we rode to the village of Las Minas. The country 

 was rather more hilly, but otherwise continued the same ; an inhabitant 

 of the Pampas no doubt would have considered it as truly Alpine. 

 The country is so thinly inhabited, that during the whole day we 

 scarcely met a single person. Las Minas is much smaller even than 

 Maldonado. It is seated on a little plain, and is surrounded by low 



