THE VOYAGE OF THE BEAGLE 



157 



green surface, with distant glimpses of the Plata. I find 

 that I look at this province with very different eyes from 

 what I did upon my first arrival. I recollect I then thought 

 it singularly level; but now, after galloping over the Pam- 

 pas, my only surprise is, what could have induced me ever 

 to call it level. The country is a series of undulations, in 

 themselves perhaps not absolutely great, but, as compared 

 to the plains of St. Fe, real mountains. From these in- 

 equalities there is an abundance of small rivulets, and the 

 turf is green and luxuriant. 



November iyth. — We crossed the Rozario, which was 

 deep and rapid, and passing the village of Colla, arrived 

 at midday at Colonia del Sacramiento. The distance is 

 twenty leagues, through a country covered with fine grass, 

 but poorly stocked with cattle or inhabitants. I was in- 

 vited to sleep at Colonia, and to accompany on the follow- 

 ing day a gentleman to his estancia, where there were some 

 limestone rocks. The town is built on a stony promontory 

 something in the same manner as at Monte Video. It is 

 strongly fortified, but both fortifications and town suffered 

 much in the Brazilian war. It is very ancient; and the 

 irregularity of the streets, and the surrounding groves of 

 old orange and peach trees, gave it a pretty appearance. 

 The church is a curious ruin; it was used as a powder- 

 magazine, and was struck by lightning in one of the ten 

 thousand thunder-storms of the Rio Plata. Two-thirds of 

 the building were blown away to the very foundation ; and 

 the rest stands a shattered and curious monument of the 

 united powers of lightning and gunpowder. In the evening 

 I wandered about the half-demolished walls of the town. It 

 was the chief seat of the Brazilian war; — a war most in- 

 jurious to this country, not so much in its immediate effects, 

 as in being the origin of a multitude of generals and all 

 other grades of officers. More generals are numbered (but 

 not paid) in the United Provinces of La Plata than in the 

 United Kingdom of Great Britain. These gentlemen have 

 learned to like power, and do not object to a little skirmish- 

 ing. Hence there are many always on the watch to create 

 disturbance and to overturn a government which as yet 

 has never rested on any staple foundation. I noticed, how- 



