Nov. 1833. 



BANDA ORIENTAL. 



183 



when the moon is on the increase ; so that half the month 

 is lost from these two causes. 



Police and justice are quite inefficient. If a man who is 

 poor^ commits murder^ and is taken^ he will be imprisoned, 

 and perhaps even shot ; but if he is rich and has friend^^. he 

 may rely on it^ no very severe consequence will ensue. It 

 is curious that the most respectable people in the country 

 invariably assist a murderer to escape. They seem to think 

 the individual sins against the governing powers and not 

 against the state. A traveller has no protection besides his 

 fire-arms : and the constant habit of carrying them, is the 

 main check to a more frequent occurrence of robbery. 



The character of the higher and more educated classes, 

 who reside in the towns, partakes, but perhaps in a lesser 

 degree, of the good parts of the Gaucho, but is I fear stained 

 by many vices of which he is free. Sensuality, mockery 

 of all religion, and the grossest corruption, are far from 

 uncommon. Nearly every pubhc officer can be bribed. 

 The head man in the post-office sold forged government 

 franks. The governor and prime minister openly com- 

 bined to plunder the state. Justice, where gold came into 

 play, was hardly expected by any one. I knew an English- 

 man, who went to the chief justice (he told me that not under- 

 standing the ways of the place, he trembled as he entered the 

 room), and said, Sir, I have come to offer you 200 dollars 

 (value about five pounds sterling) if you will arrest before a 

 certain time a man who has cheated me. I know it is against 

 the law, but my lawyer (naming him) recommended me to 

 take this step.^' The chief justice smiled acquiescence, 

 thanked him, and the man before night was safe in prison. 

 With this entire want of principle in many of the leading 

 men, with the country full of ill-paid turbulent officers, the 

 people yet hope that a democratic form of government can 

 succeed ! 



On first entering society in these countries, two or three 

 features strike one as particularly remarkable. The polite and 

 dignified manners pervading every grade of life ; the excellent 



