RIVER PARANA. 145 



LA PLATA. 



are bound together by a great variety of creeping plants, 

 thus forming a thick jungle. These thickets afford a retreat 

 for capybaras and jaguars. The fear of the latter animal 

 quite destroyed all pleasure in scrambling through the woods. 

 On every island there were tracks. In the evening the mos- 

 quitoes were very troublesome. I exposed my hand for five 

 minutes, and it was soon black with them ; I do not suppose 

 that there could have been less than fifty, all busy sucking. 



Some leagues below Rosario the western shore of the 

 Parana is bounded by perpendicular cliffs, which extend in 

 a long line to below San Nicolas; hence it more resembles 

 a sea -coast than that of a fresh -water river. It is a great 

 drawback to the scenery of the Parana that, from the soft 

 nature of its banks, the water is very muddy. The Uru- 

 guay, flowing through a granitic country, is much clearer; 

 and, where the two channels unite at the head of the Plata, 

 the waters may for a long distance be distinguished by their 

 black and red colors. We met during our descent very few 

 vessels. One of the best gifts of nature, in so grand a chan- 

 nel of communication, seems here wilfully thrown away a 

 river in which ships might navigate from a temperate coun- 

 try as surprisingly abundant in certain productions as des- 

 titute of others, to another possessing a tropical climate and 

 a soil which, according to the best of judges, M. Bonpland, 

 is perhaps unequalled in fertility in any part of the world. 

 How different would have been the aspect of this river if 

 English colonists had by good -fortune first sailed up the 

 Plata! What noble towns would now have occupied its 

 shores ! 



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