154 A HILL OF BEADS. [chap. viii. 



yet there were square leagues without a single head of 

 cattle. Tlie province of Banda Oriental, if well stocked, 

 would support an astonishing number of animals ; at 

 present the annual export of hides from Monte Video 

 amounts to three hundred thousand ; and the home con- 

 sumption, from waste, is very considerable. An estanciero 

 told me that he had often had to send large herds of cattle 

 a long journey to a salting establishment, 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 I 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 precipitous cliff ; a belt 

 of wood followed its course, and the horizon, terminated in 

 the distant undulations 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 

 found 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 to 

 understand from this story, but upon mentioning it at 

 the Cape of Good Hope to Dr. Andrew Smith, he told me 

 that he recollected finding on the south-eastern coast of 

 Africa, about one hundred miles to the eastward of St. 

 John's river, some quartz crystals with their edges blunted 

 from attrition, and mixed with gravel on the sea-beach. 

 Each crystal was about five lines in diameter, and from an 

 inch to an inch and a half in length. Many of them had 

 a small canal extending from one extremity to the other, 

 perfectly cylindrical, and of a size that readily admitted a 

 coarse thread or a piece of fine catgut. Their colour was 

 red or dull white. The natives were acquainted with this 

 structure in crystals. I have mentioned these circumstances 

 because, although no crystallized body is at present known 

 to assume this form, it may lead some future traveller to 

 investigate the real nature of such stones. 



While staying at this estancia, I was amused with what 



