Nov. 1833. 



HILL OF BEADS. 



173 



neighbourhood of damp valleys^, where fortunately neither of 

 these overwhelming plants can exist. As night came on 

 before we arrived at our journey^s end^ we slept at a 

 miserable little hovel^ inhabited by the poorest people. The 

 extreme^ though rather formal courtesy^ of our host and 

 hostess, considering their grade of life, was quite delightful. 



November 22d. — Arrived at an estancia on the Berquelo 

 belonging to a very hospitable Englishman, to whom I had 

 a letter of introduction from my friend Mr. Lumb. I staid 

 here three days. One morning I rode with my host to the 

 Sierra del Pedro Flaco, about twenty miles up the Rio 

 Negro. Nearly the whole country was covered with good, 

 though coarse grass, which was as high as a horse^s belly ; 

 yet there were square leagues without a single head of cattle. 

 The province of Banda Oriental, if well stocked, would 

 support an astonishing number of animals ; at present the 

 annual export of hides from Monte Video amounts to three 

 hundred thousand ; and the home consumption, from waste, 

 is very considerable. The view of the Rio Negro from the 

 Sierra was the most picturesque which I any where saw. The 

 river, broad, deep, and rapid, wound at the foot of a rocky 

 precipitous cliff: a belt of wood followed its course, and 

 the horizon was terminated by the distant undulations of 

 the plain of turf. 



When in this neighbourhood I several times heard of the 

 Sierra de las Cuentas ; a hill distant many miles to the 

 northward. The name signifies hill of beads. I was assured 

 that vast numbers of little round stones, of various colours, 

 each with a small cylindrical hole, are found there. For- 

 merly the Indians used to collect them, for the purpose of 

 making necklaces and bracelets — a taste, I may observe, 

 which is common to all savage nations, as well as to the 

 most polished. I did not know what to understand from 

 this story, but upon mentioning it at the Cape of Good 

 Hope to Dr. Andrew Smith, he told me that he recollected 

 finding on the south-eastern coast of Africa, about one 

 hundred miles to the eastward of St. John^s river, some 



