190 BANDA ORIENTAL. 



Berquelo belonging to a very hospitable English- 

 man, to whom I had a letter of introduction from 

 my friend Mr. Lumb. I stayed here three days. 

 One morning I rode with my host to the Sierra 

 del Pedro Flaco, about twenty miles up the Rio 

 Negi'o. Nearly the whole country was covered 

 with good though coarse grass, which was as high 

 as a horse's belly ; yet there were square leagues 

 without a single head of cattle. The province of 

 Banda Oriental, if well stocked, would support an 

 astonishing number of animals ; at present the an- 

 nual export of hides from Monte Video amounts 

 to three hundred thousand ; and the home con- 

 sumjDtion, from waste, is very considerable. An 

 estanciero told me that he often had to send large 

 herds of cattle a long journey to a salting estab- 

 lishment, and that the tired beasts were frequently 

 obliged'to be killed and skinned ; but that he could 

 never persuade the Gauchos to eat of them, and 

 every evening a fresh beast was slaughtered for 

 their suppers ! The view of the Rio Negro from 

 the Sierra was more picturesque than any other 

 which I saw in this province. The river, broad, 

 deep, and rapid, wound at the foot of a rocky pre- 

 cipitous cliff: a belt of wood followed its course, 

 and the horizon terminated in the distant undula- 

 tions of the turf plain. 



When in this neighbourhood, I several times 

 heard of the Sierra de las Cuentas : a hill distant 

 many miles to the northward. The name signifies 

 hill of beads. I was assured that vast numbers of 

 little round stones, of various colours, each with a 

 small cylindrical hole, are fdund there. Formerly 

 the Indians used to collect them, for the purpose 

 of making necklaces and bracelets — a taste, I may 

 observe which is common to all savage nations, as 

 well as to the most polished. I did not know what 



