152 BAND A ORIENTAL 



Our passage was a very long and tedious one. The Plata 

 looks like a noble estuary on the map ; but is in truth a poor 

 affair. A wide expanse of muddy water has neither grandeur 

 nor beauty. At one time of the day, the two shores, both of 

 which are extremely low, could just be distinguished from the 

 deck. On arriving at Monte Video I found that the Beagle 

 would not sail for some time, so I prepared for a short excur- 

 sion in this part of Banda Oriental. Everything which I have 

 said about the country near Maldonado is applicable to M. 

 Video ; but the land, with the one exception of the Green 

 Mount, 450 feet high, from which it takes its name, is far more 

 level. Very little of the undulating grassy plain is enclosed ; 

 but near the town there are a few hedge-banks, covered with 

 agaves, cacti, and fennel. 



November 14^/%.— We left Monte Video in the afternoon. 

 I intended to proceed to Colonia del Sacramiento, situated on 

 the northern bank of the Plata and opposite to Buenos Ayres, 

 and thence, following up the Uruguay, to the village of Mer- 

 cedes on the Rio Negro (one of the many rivers of this name in 

 South America), and from this point to return direct to Monte 

 Video. We slept at the house of my guide at Canelones. In 

 the morning we rose early, in the hopes of being able to ride a 

 good distance ; but it was a vain attempt, for all the rivers were 

 flooded. We passed in boats the streams of Canelones, St. 

 Lucia, and San Jos^ and thus lost much time. On a former 

 excursion I crossed the Lucia near its mouth, and I was sur- 

 prised to observe how easily our horses, although not used to 

 swim, passed over a width of at least six hundred yards. On 

 mentioning this at Monte Video, I was told that a vessel con- 

 taining some mountebanks and their horses, being wrecked in 

 the Plata, one horse swam seven miles to the shore. In the 

 course of the day I was amused by the dexterity with which a 

 Gaucho forced a restive horse to swim a river. He stripped off 

 his clothes, and jumping on its back, rode into the water till it 

 was out of its depth ; then slipping off over the crupper, he 

 caught hold of the tail, and as often as the horse turned round, 

 the man frightened it back by splashing water in its face. As 

 soon as the horse touched the bottom on the other side, the 

 man pulled himself on, and was firmly seated, bridle in hand, 

 before the horse gained the bank. A naked man on a naked 



