1833.] OVER THE ROZARIO. 149 



being flooded. It would not, however, be of much con- 

 sequence ; for, although he had passed through some of the 

 principal towns in Banda Oriental, his luggage consisted 

 of two letters ! The view from the house was pleasing ; 

 an undulating green surface, with distant glimpses of the 

 Plata. I find that I look at this province with very 

 different eyes from what I did upon my first arrival. I 

 recollect I then thought it singularly level ; but now, after 

 galloping over the Pampas, my only surprise is, what could 

 have induced me ever to have called it level. The country 

 is a series of undulations, in themselves perhaps not 

 absolutely great, but, as compared to the plains of St. F6, 

 real mountains. From these inequalities there is an 

 abundance of small rivulets, and the turf is green and 

 luxuriant. 



November 17M. — We crossed the Rozario, which was 

 deep and rapid, and passing the village of Colla, arrived 

 at mid-day at Colonia del Sacramiento. The distance is 

 twenty leagues, through a country covered with fine grass, 

 but poorly stocked with cattle or inhabitants. I was 

 invited to sleep at Colonia, and to accompany on the 

 following 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 suff"ered much in the Brazilian war. It is very 

 ancient ; and the irregularity of the streets, and the sur- 

 rounding groves of old orange and peach trees, gave it 

 a pretty appearance. 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 Brazilian war ; — a war most injurious to this 

 country, not so much in its immediate effects, as in being 

 the origin of a multitude of generals and all other grades 

 of officers. More generals are numbered (but not paid) 

 in the United Provinces of La Plata 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 



