1833.] RIO PARANA. 139 
thence takes a short flight in pursuit of insects, and returns to 
the same spot. When on the wing it presents in its manner of 
flight and general appearance a caricature Ukeness of the com- 
mon swallow. It has the power of turning very shortly in the 
air, and in so doing opens and shuts its tail, sometimes in a 
horizontal or lateral and sometimes in a vertical direction, just 
like a pair of scissors. 
October 16th.—Some leagues below Rozario, 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 Uruguay, 
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 
colours. In the evening, the wind being not quite fair, as usual 
we immediately moored, and the next day, as it blew rather 
freshly, though with a favouring current, the master was much 
too indolent to think of starting. At Bajada, he was described 
to me as “‘ hombre muy aflicto””—a man always miserable to get 
on; but certainly he bore all delays with admirable resignation: 
He was an old Spaniard, and had been many years in this 
country. He professed a great liking to the English, but stoutly 
maintained that the battle of Trafalgar was merely won by the. 
Spanish captains having been all bought over; and that the only 
really gallant action on either side was performed by the Spanish 
admiral, It struck me as rather characteristic, that this man 
should prefer his countrymen being thought the worst of traitors, 
rather than unskilful or cowardly. 
18th and 19th.—We continued slowly to sail down the noble 
stream: the current helped us but little. We met, during our 
descent, very few vessels. One of the best gifts of nature, in so 
grand a channel of communication, seems here wilfully thrown 
away — a river in which ships might navigate from a temperate 
country, as surprisingly abundant in certain productions as desti- 
tute 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 
