182 BANDA ORIENTAL. 



country near Maldonado is applicable to M. Video; 

 but the land, with the one exception of the Green 

 Mount, 450 feet high, from which it takes its name, 

 is far more level. Very little of the undulating 

 grassy plain is enclosed ; but near the town tliere 

 are a few hedge-banks, covered with agaves, cacti, 

 and fennel. 



Novanhcr lifh. — We left Monte Video in the af- 

 ternoon. I intended to proceed to Colonia del Sa- 

 cramiento, situated on the northern bank of the 

 Plata and oj^posite to Buenos Ayres, and thence, 

 following up the Uruguay, to the village of Merce- 

 des on the Rio Negi'o (one of the many rivers of 

 this name in South America), and from this point 

 to return direct to Monte Video. We slept at the 

 house of my guide at Canelones. In the morning 

 we rose early, in the hopes of being able to ride 

 a good distance ; but it was a vain attempt, for all 

 the rivers were flooded. We passed in boats the 

 streams of Canelones, St. Lucia, and San Jose, and 

 thus lost much time. On a former excursion I 

 crossed the Lucia near its mouth, and I was sur- 

 prised to observe how easily our horses, although 

 not used to swim, passed over a width of at least 

 six hundred yards. On mentioning this at Monte 

 Video, I was told that a vessel containing some 

 mountebanks and their hoi'ses, being wrecked in 

 the Plata, one horse swam seven miles to the shoi'e. 

 In the course of the day I was amused by the dex- 

 terity with which a Gaucho forced a restive horse 

 to swim a river. He stripped off his clothes, and 

 jumping on its back, rode into the water till it was 

 out of its depth ; then slipping off over the cnip- 

 per, he caught hold of the tail, and as often as the 

 horse turned round, the man frightened it back by 

 splashing water in its face. As soon as the horse 

 touched the bottom on the other side, the man pull- 



