112 BANDA ORIENTAL. [CHAP. viil. 



November l>th. I set out on my return in a direct line for Monte 

 Video. Having heard of some giant's bones at a neighbouring farm- 

 house on the Sarandis, a small stream entering the Rio Negro, I rode 

 there accompanied by my host, and purchased for the value of eighteen 

 pence the head of the Toxodon.* When found it was quite perfect; 

 but the boys knocked out some of the teeth with stones, and then set 

 up the head as a mark to throw at. By a most fortunate chance I found a 

 perfect tooth, which exactly fitted one of the sockets in this skull, em- 

 bedded by itself on the banks of the Rio Tercero, at the distance of about 

 one hundred and eighty miles from this place. I found remains of this 

 extraordinary animal at two other places, so that it must formerly have 

 been common. I found here, also, some large portions of the armour 

 of a gigantic armadillo-like animal, and part of the great head of a 

 Mylodon. The bones of this head are so fresh, that they contain, 

 according to the analysis by Mr. T. Reeks, seven per cent, of animal 

 matter ; and when placed in a spirit-lamp, they burn with a small flame. 

 The number of the remains embedded in the grand estuary deposit 

 which forms the Pampas and covers the granitic rocks of Banda 

 Oriental, must be extraordinarily great. I believe a straight line drawn 

 in any direction through the Pampas would cut through some skeleton 

 or bones. Besides those which I found during my short excursions, I 

 heard of many others, and the origin of such names as " the stream of 

 the animal," " the hill of the giant," is obvious. At other times I heard 

 of the marvellous property of certain rivers, which had the power of 

 changing small bones into large; or, as some maintained, the bones 

 themselves grew. As far as I am aware, not one of these animals 

 perished, as was formerly supposed, in the marshes or muddy river-beds 

 of the present land, but their bones have been exposed by the streams 

 intersecting the subaqueous deposit in which they were originally 

 embedded. We may conclude that the whole area of the Pampas is 

 one wide sepulchre of these extinct gigantic quadrupeds. 



By the middle of the day, on the aSth, we arrived at Monte Video, 

 having been two days and a half on the road. The country for the 

 whole way was of a very uniform character, some parts being rather 

 more rocky and hilly than near the Plata. Not far from Monte Video 

 we passed through the village of Las Pietras, so named from some large 

 rounded masses of syenite. Its appearance was rather pretty. In this 

 country a few fig-trees round a group of houses, and a site elevated a 

 hundred feet above the general level, ought always to be called 

 picturesque. 



During the last six months I have had an opportunity of seeing a 

 little of the character of the inhabitants of these provinces. The 

 Gauchos, or countrymen, are very superior to those who reside in the 

 towns. The Gaucho is invariably most obliging, polite, and hospitable : 

 I did not meet with even one instance of rudeness or inhospitality. He 



* I must express my obligation to Mr. Keane, at whose house I was staying 

 on the Berquelo, and to Mr. Lumb at Buenos Ayres, for without their assist- 

 ance these valuable remains would never have reached England. 



