184 BANDA ORIENTAL. 



sleep at Colonia, and to accompany on the follow- 

 ing day a gentleman to his estancia, where there 

 were some limestone rocks. The town is built on 

 a stony promontory something in the same manner 

 as at Monte Video. It is strongly fortified, but 

 both fortifications and town suftered much in the 

 Brazilian war. It is very ancient ; and the irregu- 

 lai'ity of the streets, and the surrounding groves of 

 old orange and peach trees, gave it a pretty ap- 

 pearance. The church is a curious ruin ; it was 

 used as a powder magazine, and was struck by 

 lightning in one of the ten thousand thunder-storms 

 of the Rio Plata. Two thirds of the building were 

 blown away to the very foundation ; and the rest 

 stands a shattered and curious monument of the 

 united powers of lightning and gunpowder. In 

 the evening I wandered about the half-demolished 

 walls of the town. It was the chief seat of the Bra- 

 zilian war — a war most injurious to this countiy, 

 not so much in its immediate effects, as in being 

 the origin of a multitude of generals and all other 

 grades of ofl[icers. More generals are numbered 

 (but not paid) in the United Provinces of La Pla- 

 ta than in the United Kingdom of Great Britain. 

 These gentlemen have learned to like power, and 

 do not object to a little skirmishing. Hence there 

 are many always on the watch to create disturb- 

 ance and to overturn a government which as yet 

 has never rested on any stable foundation. I no- 

 ticed, however, both here and in other places, a 

 very genei'al interest in the ensuing election for 

 the President ; and this ajapears a good sign for 

 the prosjierity of this little country. The inhabi- 

 tants do not require much education in their repre- 

 sentatives : I heard some men discussing the merits 

 of those for Colonia, and it was said that " although 

 they were not men of business, they could all sign, 



