SOUTH AMERICA. 



habitants. 1 was not a little disappointed, in finding 

 such a place in the midst of a vast region almost unin- 

 habited, or at least not more populous than the im- 

 mense tract which lies west of St. Louis, on the Mis- 

 sissippi. The adjacent country looks naked and de- 

 solate; a few horses and horned cattle, feeding on the 

 extensive grassy plains, which stretch out in evei-y di- 

 rection, is all that is to be seen. The surface of the 

 country appeared, however, to be pleasingly varied, 

 but with the exception of the mount before mentioned, 

 no where rising into hills. We could discern, with 

 our glasses, the vestiges of a number of fine seats and 

 gardens beyond the town, as well as along the bank 

 below it. The hedges of prickly pear, or cactus, are 

 plainly visible. In fact, the whole country around, 

 appears to have been laid waste by the ravages of war. 

 The shore, or rather bank (for one is apt to forget that 

 this is a river) is not high or steep, but rock bound, and 

 the landing bad almost every where. 



The next morning, the commodore ordered a boat 

 to be manned, and a lieutenant to proceed to the city, 

 and in compliance with the usual etiquette, to wait on 

 the chief person in command, to state the object of our 

 visit, and to request permission to obtain such supplies 

 as the ship might require. Seeing Mr. Bland about 

 to take advantage of this opportunity, I determined to 

 accompany him. We had to pass round a long rocky ^ 

 ! point, which makes out from the tongue of land on 

 I which the town is built. The harbor is capacious, 

 but very shoal around it; as the bottom is extremely 

 soft, vessels are often eight or ten inches in the mud. 

 On arriving at the stairs, or quay, constructed with the 

 dingy granite, of which all the rocks we have seen on 

 vaL. I. 27 



