28 Cruise of the "Alert." 



captured a black snake about two and a half feet long, which 

 was swimming gracefully from bank to bank, with its head 

 elevated about two inches from the top of the water. We also 

 got some living specimens of a river mussel, which is here used 

 as fish bait. 



Everywhere among the English-speaking community we heard 

 the same gloomy accounts of the dulness of trade, arising from 

 the yet unsettled state of the country. All agreed that the 

 present Dictator was managing the country admirably, but ex- 

 pressed their fears that he would some day be " wiped out," as 

 others had been before him, and that the country would again 

 relapse into a state of anarchy and brigandage. 



Some days later I had an opportunity of visiting Buenos 

 Ayres, the capital of the Argentine Republic, situated on the 

 opposite or south shore of the river Plate. Accompanied by 

 Lieut. Gunn, I started from Monte Video on the evening of the 

 9th of December, taking passage on board one of the river 

 steamers {Villa de Salto\ then plying daily between the two 

 cities. The distance, 120 miles, is usually traversed at night- 

 time, and in this arrangement sight-seers lose nothing, as, owing 

 to the lowness of the banks and the great width of the river, the 

 opposite shores are barely visible from a position in mid-channel. 

 Our fellow-passengers, about eighty in number, represented 

 Spanish, Italian, and English nationalities, and among the latter 

 we were fortunate enough to meet two gentlemen residing in 

 the country, to whom, as well as to the captain, a jovial, hos- 

 pitable American, we were indebted for much interesting infor- 

 mation concerning the men and manners of the country. After 

 dinner — a long, ponderous affair — had been disposed of, a general 

 dispersion took place, the gentlemen to smoke, and the ladies 

 to their cabins ; but in an hour or so the latter again appeared 

 in the saloon, arrayed in evening dress of a more gay and airy 

 character than that worn at dinner, and they now applied them- 

 selves diligently to the luxury of mate* drinking. The fluid 



