THE PAMPAS. 149 



URUGUAY. 



manifestly proves inequality in the plain. At sea, if a per- 

 son's eye is six feet above the surface of the water, his hori- 

 zon is two miles and four-fifths distant. In like manner, the 

 more level the plain, the more nearly does the horizon ap- 

 proach within these narrow limits ; and this, in my opinion, 

 entirely destroys that grandeur which one would have imag- 

 ined that a vast level plain would have possessed. 



THE PAMPAS. 



THE view from the post of Ctifre, in Banda Oriental, 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 recol- 

 lect I then thought it singularly level; but now (November, 

 1833), 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 Santa Fe, 

 real mountains. From these unevennesses there is an abun- 

 dance of small rivulets, and the turf is green and luxuriant. 



The number of the animal remains imbedded in the 

 grand estuary deposit which forms the Pampas, and covers 

 the granitic rocks of Banda Oriental, must be extraordinarily 

 great. I believe a straight line drawn in any direction 

 through the Pampas would cut through some skeleton or 

 bones. Besides those which I found, during my short ex- 

 cursions, I heard of many others, and the origin of such names 

 as "The stream of the animal," "The hill of the giant," is ob- 



