THE URUGUAY RIVER. 285 



shouts from a very small steamer induced our captain 

 to slacken speed. The strangers urgently appealed 

 to him to take on board some cargo for a place on 

 the river, the name of which escaped me. To this 

 request a polite but very decided refusal was returned, 

 the prudence of which we afterwards appreciated. The 

 cargo in question doubtless consisted of arms, ammu- 

 nition, or other stores for the use of the revolutionary 

 force supposed to be gathered at Mercedes, not far 

 from the junction of the Rio Negro with the Uruguay, 

 and it clearly behoved the steamboat company to 

 avoid being involved in such enterprises. 



At its mouth the Uruguay has a width of several — 

 probably seven or eight — miles, and at the confluence 

 of the Rio Negro, some fifty miles up stream, the breadth 

 must be nearly half as much. The water at this time 

 was high, as heavy rain had fallen in the interior, and 

 the current had a velocity of about three miles an hour. 

 I believe that it is only exceptionally, during unusu- 

 ally dry seasons, that tidal water enters the channels 

 of the Parana or the Uruguay. I was struck by the 

 frequent passage of large green masses of foliage that 

 floated past as we ascended the river. Some consisted 

 of entire trees or large houghs, but several others ap- 

 peared to be formed altogether of masses of herbaceous 

 vegetation twined together or adhering by the tangled 

 roots. It can easily be imagined that, where portions 

 of the bank have been undermined and fall into a 

 stream, the soil is washed away from the roots, and the 

 whole may be floated down the stream and even 



of more than 1,100,000 square miles; the basin of the Uruguay is 

 reckoned at 153,000 square miles. 



