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restitution was generally obtained at the loss of one half. It fre- 

 quently happened that goods detained in the Custom-houses or 

 lodged in private stores in the river were opened, and large quanti- 

 ties stolen. The party on whom suspicion seemed most reasonably 

 to fall was the consignee, who, even with a few cargoes, was 

 generally observed to get rich very rapidly. Not contented with 

 the profits accruing from his commission, he seldom scrupled to take 

 every advantage which possession of the property afforded him, of 

 furthering his own interests at the expence of his correspondent. 

 The dread of a legal process could be but a slight check upon him, 

 for in the Spanish courts of justice, as well as in others, a native and 

 a stranger are seldom upon equal terms. Other circumstances have 

 concurred to enrich the inhabitants of Montevideo. It is a fact which 

 I afterwards ascertained, that the English exported thither, goods to 

 the amount of a million and a half sterling, a small portion of which, 

 on the restoration of the place to the Spaniards, was re-shipped for 

 the Cape of Good Hope and the West Indies ; the remainder was 

 for the most part sacrificed at whatever price the Spaniards chose to 

 give. As their own produce advanced in proportion as ours lowered 

 in price, those among them who speculated gained considerably. The 

 holders of English goods sold their stock at upwards of fifty per cent, 

 profit immediately after the evacuation of the place. 



The climate of Monte Video is humid. The weather, in the 

 winter months (June, July, and August), is at times boisterous, and 

 the air in that season is generally keen and piercing. In summer 

 the serenity of the atmos])here is frequently interrupted by tre- 

 mendous thunder-storms, preceded by dreadful lightning, which 

 frequently damages the shipping, and followed by heavy rain which 

 sometimes destroys the harvest. The heat is troublesome, and is 

 rendered more so to strangers by the swarms of mosquitoes, which 

 it engenders in such numbers that they infest every apartment. 



The town stands on a basis of granite, the feldspar of which is 

 for the most part of an opaque milk-white colour, in a decom- 



