A VOYAGE TO 



The owner, a worthy young man, apprehensive that 

 we might feel some uneasiness, lest we should be over- 

 taken by a pampero, gave us the cheering information, 

 that she had been twice overset without any material 

 injury; he was lavish in her praise, as a swift sailor, 

 a sea boat, and as good a piece of stuff as ever breast- 

 ed the briny surge. She was built in Paraguay, he 

 knew not how many years ago, of the best wood that 

 province could afford, and which is even superior to 

 the wood of Bra^zil. This young man had spent some 

 years in the United States, spoke very good English, 

 was a native of Monte Video, but his family, whom I 

 afterwards found highly respectable, had removed to 

 Buenos Ayres.* He was a great patriot, and took de- 

 light in giving information on a thousand matters ne- 

 cessary to be learned, in order to understand other 

 things of more intrinsic importance. The particulars 

 I drew from him, gave me a more favorable opinion of 

 his countrymen than I had before entertained, for hav- 

 ing heard little else than the most unfavorable ac- 

 counts, my mind was not entirely free from prejudice; 

 slander may soil the purest character, even when it 

 cannot destroy; much greater is the injury that it can 

 do, where there happens to be real defects, susceptible 

 of exaggeration. I collected from him, what I consi- 

 dered the popular opinions of the day. I was pleased 

 with the warmth and zeal with which he spoke; it 

 was precisely as a young American of the north, f 



* The population of this province has much increased, and is 

 still increasing, bj emigrations trom nearly all the other provin- 

 ces, from Banda Oriental as well as from Peru. 



t They call us Americans of the north — Americanos del nortec 

 and themselves, Americanos del Suel. 



