Sept.] 



RIO DE LA PLATA — MONTE VIDEO. 



151 



Catharine's from the south, you steer between the island of Arvoredo 

 and that of St. Catharine. This passage is perfectly safe."* 



September 26th. — After leaving this island in our wake, we pursued 

 the same course towards the south, wafted along by moderate breezes 

 from north-east to north-west, until Sunday, the 26th ; when, at four 

 A. M., we saw the island of Lobos, near the mouth of the river La 

 Plata, lying four miles to the south of the east point of Maldonado, 

 which is the northern boundary of this great river on the coast. Its 

 southern coast boundary is Cape St. Antonio, bearing south-south-west 

 one-quarter-west from the eastern extremity of Maldonado. Rio de 

 la Plata's immense mouth is, consequently, forty-one leagues in breadth ; 

 though some geographers call the distance one hundred and fifty miles. 

 The narrow, rocky islet Lobos, just mentioned, is in lat. 35° 1' 30" 

 S., long. 54° 46' W. 



The Rio de la Plata is a river of the first rank, being formed by 

 the union of the three great rivers Paraguay, Uragua, and Parana ; 

 which have themselves been previously augmented by the waters of 

 the Pilcomayo, Solado, Tercero, and the Rio Grande. Two of these 

 rivers have their rise near the two opposite coasts of South America ; 

 from whence their course is, unlike all other rivers, directly from their 

 neighbouring oceans, into the heart of the country. The south-eastern 

 sources of the Parana are within fifty miles of the Atlantic, while the 

 Pilcomayo has its rise among the Andes, near Potosi, about the same 

 distance from the Pacific Ocean. They then flow towards each other, 

 and ultimately unite with many other streams to form that immense 

 assemblage of waters named Rio de la Plata, which finally changes 

 its course and empties into the Atlantic. This river is so wide at 

 Buenos Ayres, which is two hundred miles inland from its mouth, that 

 the opposite shore is not to be discerned from that town; and at 

 Monte Video, which is nearly one hundred miles up the river, neither 

 shore can be seen from a vessel in the middle of the channel ! 



I visited Monte Video and Buenos Ayres in 1819, while mate of the 

 Spanish brig St. Joseph, Captain Don Michael Juley, and will in this 

 place briefly state the result of my observations while ascending this 

 mighty river, or rather estuary. Of course I shall not attempt to give 

 any sailing directions, but refer navigators to that excellent work en- 

 titled the " New Sailing Directory," by John Purdy, Esq. The few 

 remarks which my avocations permitted at that time are merely intro- 

 duced here for the benefit of the general reader. 



Near the east point of Maldonado is Cape Santa Maria, which forms 

 the northern boundary of the mouth of La Plata, and is in lat. 34° 

 40' S., long. 54° 0' 30" W. On doubling this cape and rounding 

 Point Este, we arrived in the Bay of Maldonado, having passed the 

 Lobos on its north side. The town of Maldonado, which from the 

 sea has no very attractive appearance, is built on the brow of a sloping- 

 hill, two miles from the shore, and is said to contain only about one 

 thousand inhabitants. We made no stop here, but kept on, in nearly 

 a westerly course, leaving a small island, called Flores, on the star- 



* M. Krusenstern. 



