RIO NEGRO. 103 



disposing of many of them ; but the conditions were, that the articles 

 must be on the beach in a few hours, which was ample time to have 

 dug up an acre. As soon, however, as he learned these terms, he 

 shrugged his shoulders, and declared the thing impossible, took down 

 his guitar, seated himself in front of his house, and began to play a 

 lively air, which his two sons accompanied with their voices. 



The coast and the banks of the Rio Negro are composed of sand- 

 hills, of from thirty to fifty feet in height, covered with a scattered 

 growth of grass, which prevents the sand from blowing away. These 

 gradually rise to the height of one hundred feet, except to the south- 

 ward of the river, where the bank is perpendicular ; at this height the 

 ground stretches away in a level prairie, without a single tree to break 

 the monotony of the scene, and affords a view as uninterrupted as the 

 ocean. 



The apparent hills along the river are found to be no more than the 

 face of the excavation made or worn down by the river, forming the 

 valley through which it flows. 



The only verdure on the prairie is a small shrub, which when the 

 lower branches are trimmed off serves a useful purpose. From an 

 optical illusion, (the effect of refraction,) they appear, when thus 

 trimmed, as large as an ordinary sized apple-tree, and one is not a 

 little surprised to find them, on a near approach, no higher than the 

 surrounding shrubs, four or five feet. Shrubs are trimmed in this 

 manner at distances of about half a mile from each other, and are 

 used as guide-posts on the prairie. A similar optical effect is spoken 

 of by travellers on the steppes of Russia. 



Game is most plentiful, consisting of deer, guanacoes, and cavias, 

 cassowaries, partridges, bustards, ducks, &c. Armadillos were com- 

 mon, and the ostrich was frequently seen ; porcupines are said also to 

 be found. The cavias were seen running about in single file, with a 

 sort of halting gait. 



The soil of the Campos was mostly a mixture of clay, sand, and 

 small pebbles, but is destitute of vegetable mould. They have the 

 practice of burning the prairies in order to produce a new crop of 

 sweet and nutritious grass for the cattle. The rock of the cliff, and 

 along the river where it can be seen, is a soft, gray sandstone, in some 

 places so friable as to be easily crumbled between the fingers, while 

 other specimens are of sufficient hardness for building-stone. The 

 stratification is perfectly horizontal. 



The width of the river is less than a third of a mile ; it has a rapid 

 current, and a large body of water is carried by it to the ocean. The 

 ordinary tide is about eight feet rise, and the spring tides fourteen feet. 



