148 HORSES AS SWIMMERS. [cha! 



near Maldonado is applicable to Monte 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 there are a few hedge-banks, covered with 

 agaves, cacti, and fennel. 



November i^th. — We left Monte Video in the afternoon. 

 I intended to proceed to Colonia del Sacramiento, situated 

 on the northern bank of the Plata and opposite to Buenos 

 Ayres, and thence, following up the Uruguay, to the village 

 of Mercedes on the Rio Negro (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 Jos6, and 

 thus lost much time. On a former excursion I crossed the 

 Lucia near its mouth, and I was surprised 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 horses, being wrecked in the Plata, 

 one horse swam seven miles to the shore. In the course 

 of the day I was amused by the dexterity 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 crupper, he caught hold of the tail, and as often as the 

 horse turned round, the man frightened it back by splash- 

 ing water in its face. As soon as the horse touched the 

 bottom on the other side, the man pulled himself on, and 

 was firmly seated, bridle in hand, before the horse gained 

 the bank. A naked man on a naked horse is a fine 

 spectacle ; I had no idea how well the two animals suited 

 each other. The tail of a horse is a very useful appendage ; 

 I have passed a river in a boat with four people in it, which 

 was ferried across in the same way as the Gaucho. If a 

 man and horse have to cross a broad river, the best plan is 

 for the man to catch hold of the pommel or mane, and help 

 himself with the other arm. 



We slept and stayed the following day at the post of 

 Cufre. In the evening the postman or letter-carrier arrived. 

 He was a day after his time, owing to the Rio Rozario 



