I833.J RIO PARANA. 139 



thence takes a short flight in pursuit of insects, and returns to 

 the same spot. When on the wing it presents in its manner of 

 flight and general appearance a caricature-likeness of the com- 

 mon swallow. It has the power of turning very shortly in the 

 air, and in so doing opens and shuts its tail, sometimes in a 

 horizontal or lateral and sometimes in a vertical direction, just 

 like a pair of scissors. 



October 16th. — Some leagues below Rozario, the western 

 shore of the Parana is bounded by perpendicular cliffs, which 

 extend in a long line to below San Nicolas ; hence it more 

 resembles a sea-coast than that of a fresh-water river. It is 

 a great drawback to the scenery of the Parana, that, from the soft 

 nature of its banks, the water is very muddy. The Uruguay, 

 flowing through a granitic country, is much clearer ; and where 

 the two channels unite at the head of the Plata, the waters 

 may for a long distance be distinguished by their black and red 

 colours. In the evening, the wind being not quite fair, as usual 

 we immediately moored, and the next day, as it blew rather 

 freshly, though with a favouring current, the master was much 

 too indolent to think of starting. At Bajada, he was described 

 to me as " hombre muy aflicto "• — a man always miserable to get 

 on ; but certainly he bore all delays with admirable resignation. 

 He was an old Spaniard, and had been many years in this 

 country. He professed a great liking to the English, but stoutly 

 maintained that the battle of Trafalgar was merely won by the 

 Spanish captains having been all bought over ; and that the only 

 really gallant action on either side was performed by the Spanish 

 admiral. It struck me as rather characteristic, that this man 

 should prefer his countrymen being thought the worst of traitors, 

 rather than unskilful or cowardly. 



IStk and 19th. — We continued slowly to saH down the noble 

 stream : the current helped us but little. We met, during our 

 descent, very few vessels. One of the best gifts of nature, in so 

 grand a channel of communication, seems here wilfully thrown 

 away — a river in which ships might navigate from a temperate 

 country, as surprisingly abundant in certain productions as desti- 

 tute of others, to another possessing a tropical climate, and a soil 

 which, according to the best of judges, M. Bonpland, is perhaps 

 unequalled in fertility in any part of the world. How different 



