VII 



ROZARIO 



133 



2gtJi and 30///. — We continued to ride over plains of the 

 same character. At San Nicolas I first saw the noble river 

 of the Parana. At the foot of the cliff on which the town 

 stands, some large vessels were at anchor. Before arriving at 

 Rozario, we crossed the Saladillo, a stream of fine clear running 

 water, but too saline to drink. Rozario is a large town built 

 on a dead level plain, which forms a cliff about sixty feet high 

 over the Parana. The river here is very broad, with many 

 islands, which are low and wooded, as is also the opposite 

 shore. The view would resemble that of a great lake, if it 

 were not for the linear-shaped islets, which alone give the idea 



PARANA RIVER 



of running water. The cliffs are the most picturesque part ; 

 sometimes they are absolutely perpendicular, and of a red 

 colour ; at other times in large broken masses, covered with 

 cacti and mimosa- trees. The real grandeur, however, of an 

 immense river like this is derived from reflecting how 

 important a means of communication and commerce it forms 

 between one nation and another ; to what a distance it travels ; 

 and from how vast a territory it drains the great body of fresh 

 water which flows past your feet. 



For many leagues north and south of San Nicolas and 

 Rozario, the country is really level. Scarcely anything which 

 travellers have written about its extreme flatness can be con- 



