1838.] SIERRA DEL PEDRO FLACO. 141 



sequence, there were immense beds of the thistle, as well as of the 

 cardoon : the whole country, indeed, may be called one great bed of 

 these plants. The two sorts grow separate, each plant in company 

 with its own kind. The cardoon is as high as a horse's back, but 

 the Pampas thistle is often higher than the crown of the rider's 

 head. To leave the road for a yard is out of the question ; and the 

 road itself is partly, and in some cases entirely closed. Pasture, of 

 course there is none ; if cattle or horses once enter the bed, they are 

 for the time completely lost. Hence it is very hazardous to attempt 

 to drive cattle at this season of the year ; for when jaded enough to 

 face the thistles, they rush among them, and are seen no more. In 

 these districts there are very few estancias, and these few are situ- 

 ated in the neighbourhood of damp valleys, where fortunately 

 neither of these overwhelming plants can exist. As night canie on 

 before we arrived at our journey's end, we slept at a miserable little 

 hovel inhabited by the poorest people. The extreme though rather 

 formal courtesy of our host and hostess, considering their grade of 

 life, was quite delightful. 



Novemler 22nd. Arrived at an estancia on the Berquelo be- 

 longing to a very hospitable Englishman, to whom I had a letter 

 of introduction from my friend Mr. Luinb. I stayed here three 

 days. One morning I rode with my host to the Sierra del Pedro 

 Flaco, about twenty miles up the Eio Negro. 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 pre- 

 sent the annual export of hides from Monte Video amounts to three 

 hundred thousand ; and the home consumption, 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 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! The view of the Eio 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 undulations of the turf-plain. 



When in this neighbourhood, I several times heard of the Sierra 



