46 MALDONADO. [cmay. 111. 
round and round it, when on its form: the middle of the day 
is reckoned the best time, when the sun is high, and the shadow 
of the hunter not very long. 
On our return to Maldonado, we followed rather a different 
line of road. Near Pan de Azucar, a landmark well known to 
all those who have sailed up the Plata, I stayed a day at the 
house of a most hospitable old Spaniard. Early in the morning 
we ascended the Sierra de las Animas. By the aid of the rising 
sun the scenery was almost picturesque. To the westward the 
view extended over an immense level plain as far as the Mount, 
at Monte Video, and to the eastward, over the mammillated 
country of Maldonado. On the summit of the mountain there 
were several small heaps of stones, which evidently had lain there 
for many years. My companion assured me that they were the 
work of the Indians in the old time. The heaps were similar, 
but on a much smaller scale, to those so commonly found on the 
mountains of Wales. The desire to signalize any event, on the 
highest point of the neighbouring Jand, seems an universal pas- 
sion with mankind. At the present day, not a single Indian, 
either civilized or wild, exists in this part of the province ; nor 
am I aware that the former inhabitants have left behind them 
any more permanent records than these insignificant piles on the 
summit of the Sierra de las Animas. 
The general, and almost entire absence of trees in Banda 
Oriental is remarkable. Some of the rocky hills are partly co- 
vered by thickets, and on the banks of the larger streams, espe- 
cially to the north of Las Minas, willow-trees are not uncommon. 
Near the Arroyo Tapes I heard of a wood of palms; and one of 
these trees, of considerable size, I saw near the Pan de Azucar, 
in lat. 35°. These, and the trees planted by the Spaniards, 
offer the only exceptions to the general scarcity of wood. Among 
the introduced kinds may be enumerated poplars, olives, peach, 
and other fruit trees: the peaches succeed so well, that they 
afford the main supply of firewood to the city of Buenos Ayres. 
Extremely level countries, such as the Pampas, seldom appear 
favourable to the growth of trees. This may possibly be attri- 
buted either to the force of the winds, or the kind of ‘drainage. 
Tn the nature of the land, however, around Maldonado, no such 
