168 



BANDA ORIENTAL. 



Nov. 1833. 



Buenos Ayres^ and thence following up the Uruguay, to the 

 village of Mercedes 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 Jose, 

 and thus lost much time. On a former excursion I crossed 

 the Lucia, near its mouth, and I was surprised 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 containing 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 him- 

 self on, and was firmly seated, bridle in hand, before the 

 horse gained the bank. A naked man, on a naked horse, is 

 a fine spectacle ; I had no idea how well the two animals 

 suited each other. The tail of a horse is a very useful 

 appendage ; I have passed a river in a boat with four people 

 in it, which was ferried across in the same way as the 

 Gaucho. If a man and horse have to cross a broad river, 

 the best plan is for the man to catch hold of the pummel or 

 mane, and help himself with the other arm. 



We slept, and staid the following day at the post of Cufre. 

 In the evening the postman or letter-carrier arrived. He 

 was a day after his time, owing to the Rio Rozario being 

 flooded. It would not, however, be of much consequence ; 

 for, although he had passed through some of the principal 



