58 MALDONADO. 



made of the stem of an ostrich's feather, fastened 

 to the end of a long stick. A boy on a quiet old 

 horse v/ill frequently thus catch thirty or forty in a 

 day. In Arctic Noith America* the Indians catch 

 the Varying Hare by walking spirally round and 

 round it, when on its form : the middle of the day 

 is reckoned the best time, when the sun is high, 

 and the shadow of the hunter not very long. 



On our return to Maldonado, we followed rather 

 a different lino of road. Near Pan de Azucar, a 

 landmark well known to all those who have sailed 

 up the Plata, I stayed a day at the house of a most 

 hospitable old Spaniard. Early in the inonaing we 

 ascended the Sien-a de las Animas. By the aid of 

 the rising sun the scenery was almost picturesque. 

 To the westward the view extended over an im- 

 mense level plain as far as the Mount, at Monte 

 Video, and to the eastward, over the mammillated 

 country of" Maldonado. On the summit of the 

 mountain there were several small heaps of stones, 

 which evidently had lain there for many years. My 

 companion assured me that they were the work of 

 the Indians in the old time. The heaps were sim- 

 ilar, but on a much smaller scale, to those so com- 

 monly found on the mountains of Wales. The 

 desire to signalize any event, on the highest point 

 of' the neighbouring land, seeins a universal pas- 

 sion with mankind. At the present day, not a sin- 

 gle Indian, either civilized or wild, exists in this 

 part of the province ; nor am I aware that the for- 

 mer inhabitants have left behind them any more 

 permanent records than these insignificant piles on 

 the summit of the SieiTa de las Animas. 



The general, and almost entire absence of trees 

 in Banda Oriental is remarkable. Some of the 

 * Hearne's Journey, p. 383. 



