( IT ) 



posing state ; in some places it is found of a flesh-red colour and 

 crystallized. The mica is generally large and foliated, in many 

 places imperfectly crystallized. It is obvious that the excessive 

 quantity of mud in the harbour and throughout the banks of the 

 river cannot have been formed from this stratum. The high mount 

 on the opposite side of the bay, which is crowned with a Light- 

 house, and gives name to the town, is principally composed of clay- 

 slate in laminae perpendicular to the horizon. This substance ap- 

 pears much like basalt in texture, but its fracture is less conchoidal; it 

 decomposes into an imperfect species of wakke, and ultimately into 

 ferruginous argil. Beds of clay, from which* flows much water, are 

 observable in various parts of the mountain. 



The vicinity of Monte Video is agreeably diversified with low 

 gently-sloping hills, and long valleys watered by beautiful rivulets ; 

 but the prospects they aflbrd are rarely enlivened by traces of cul- 

 tivation ; few enclosures are seen except the gardens of the principal 

 merchants. The same defect appears in a north-east direction from 

 the town, where similar varieties of hill, valley, and water prevail, 

 and seem to want only the embellishment of sylvan scenery to com- 

 plete the landscape. Some wood, indeed, grows on the margin of 

 the Riachuelo, which is used for the building of hovels and for fuel. 

 There is a pleasant stream about ten leagues from Monte Video 

 called the Louza, the banks of which seem to invite the labour of 

 the planter, and would certainly produce abundance of timber*. It 

 is to be remarked that the almost entire want of this article here, 

 occasions great inconvenience and expence : wood for mechanical 

 purposes is extremely scarce, and planks are so dear that hardly 

 one house with a boarded floor is to be found. 



* Here I found mint, caraway, and many other aromatic herbs, growing wild in the 

 greatest luxuriance. The ftratum of vegetable earth was at least two yards thick. 



