so 



CHARLES DARWIN 



of blue water was seen mingling in little eddies, with the 

 adjoining fluid. 



July 26th. — We anchored at Monte Video. The Beagle 

 was employed in surveying the extreme southern and eastern 

 coasts of America, south of the Plata, during the two suc- 

 ceeding years. To prevent useless repetitions, I will extract 

 those parts of my journal which refer to the same districts, 

 without always attending to the order in which we visited 

 them. 



Maldonado is situated on the northern bank of the Plata, 

 and not very far from the mouth of the estuary. It is a' 

 most quiet, forlorn, little town; built, as is universally the 

 case in these countries, with the streets running at right 

 angles to each other, and having in the middle a large plaza 

 or square, which, from its size, renders the scantiness of the 

 population more evident. It possesses scarcely any trade; 

 the exports being confined to a few hides and living cattle! 

 The inhabitants are chiefly landowners, together with a few 

 shopkeepers and the necessary tradesmen, such as black- 

 smiths and carpenters, who do nearly all the business for a 

 circuit of fifty miles round. The town is separated from the 

 river by a band of sand-hillocks, about a mile broad: it is' 

 surrounded, on all other sides, by an open slightly-undulat- 

 ing country, covered by one uniform layer of fine green turf, 

 on which countless herds of cattle, sheep, and horses graze. 

 There is very little land cultivated even close to the town. 

 A few hedges, made of cacti and agave, mark out where 

 some wheat or Indian corn has been planted. The features 

 of the country are very similar along the whole northern 

 bank of the Plata. The only difference is, that here the 

 granitic hills are a little bolder. The scenery is very unin- 

 teresting; there is scarcely a house, an enclosed piece of 

 ground, or even a tree, to give it an air of cheerfulness. 

 Yet, after being imprisoned for some time in a ship, there is 

 a charm in the unconfined feeling of walking over boundless 

 plains of turf. Moreover, if your view is limited to a small 

 space, many objects possess beauty. Some of the smaller 

 birds are brilliantly coloured; and the bright green sward, 

 browsed short by the cattle, is ornamented by dwarf flow- 



