g40 A VOYAGE TO 



had made a large sum of money, as the auctioneer of the 

 effects captured in the city by the British. He had after- 

 wards been employed by the government of Buenos 

 Ayres to purchase vessels for admiral Brown's squad- 

 ron, and was accused of defrauding the state, was oblig- 

 ed to fly and take refuge on board a British ship of Avar, 

 where he claimed protection as a British subject. He 

 wished the commissioners to interfere in his business, 

 and to procure an adjustment of his claims on the go- 

 vernment of Buenos Ayres; asserting his right to pro- 

 tection as an American citizen. Mr. Rodney declin- 

 ed having any thing to do with them; he left his pa- 

 pers, however, with one of the other commissioners. 



General Carrera had paid a visit sometime before 

 to Artigas, and from what I gathered from him, his 

 gratification was not high. He painted him as a kind 

 of half savage, possessing strong natural mind, taci- 

 turn, but shrewd in his remarks when he chose to 

 speak. He wovQ no uniform or mark of distinction, 

 and took up his abode in a cart or wagon, caring little 

 for the refinements or comforts of civilized life, to 

 which, in fact, he had never been much accustomed. 

 His life had been passed in the plains, and he had an 

 aversion to living in towns, and to the constraints off 

 polished society. His residence then, was at a small 

 village on the Rio Negro, called Conception, consist- 

 ing of a few huts constructed with mud, or ox hides; 

 but his seat of government often shifted place. He 

 lives on the same fare, and in the same manner, with 

 the gauchos around him, being in truth nothing but a 

 gaucho himself. When told of a pamplet published 

 against him at Buenos Ayres, he spoke of it with the 

 utmost indifference, and said, ^^my people cannot 



