( ^5 ) 



I did not perceive anj disposition in the generality of the people to 

 injure or oppress me. From individuals in the town I received all 

 the assistance which disinterested benevolence could afford to a per- 

 son in my critical situation ; and were I, from the impulse of grati- 

 tude, to judge of the whole by a part, I should say, that the inha- 

 bitants of Monte Video, particularly the Creolians, are humane and 

 well disposed, when not actuated by political or religious prejudices. 

 Their habits of life are much the same with those of their brethren 

 in Old Spain, and seem to proceed from the same remarkable union 

 of two opposite but not incompatible qualities, indolence and tem- 

 perance. The ladies are generally affable and polite, extremely 

 fond of dress, and very neat and cleanly in their persons. They 

 adopt the English costume at home, but go abroad usually in black, 

 and always covered with a large veil or mantle. At mass they in- 

 variably appear in black silk, bordered with deep fringes. They 

 delight in conversation, for which their vivacity eminently qualifies 

 them, and they are very courteous to strangers. 



The chief trade of Monte Video consists in hides, tallow, and 

 dried beef ; the two former of these articles are exported to Europe, 

 and the latter is sent to the West Indies, especially to the Havannah. 

 Coarse copper from Chili in square cakes is sometimes shipped here, 

 as well as a herb called Matte from Paraguay, the infusion of which 

 is as common a beverage in these parts as tea is in England. 



The inhabitants were by no means opulent before the English 

 took the garrison, but through the misfortunes of the latter at 

 Buenos Ayres, and the losses of our commercial adventurers by 

 ill-judged and imprudent speculations, they were considerably 

 enriched. The great prospects indulged in England, before the 

 expedition to the Plata, of immense profits hy trade to that river, 

 have generally ended in ruin ; very few, indeed, of the speculators 

 have escaped without considerable loss. Property, once litigated, 

 might be considered in a fair way for confiscation ; and in case of 

 its having been deposited until certain questions were decided, 



