48 
MALDONADO 
CHAP. 
ward the view extended over an immense level plain as far as 
the Mount, at Monte Video, and to the eastward, over the 
mammillated country of Maldonado. On the summit of the 
mountain there were several small heaps of stones, which 
evidently had lain there for many years. My companion 
assured me that they were the work of the Indians in the old 
time. The heaps were similar, but on a much smaller scale, to 
those so commonly found on the mountains of Wales. The 
desire to signalise any event, on the highest point of the 
neighbouring land, seems a universal passion with mankind. 
At the present day, not a single Indian, either civilised or wild, 
exists in this part of the province ; nor am I aware that the 
former inhabitants have left behind them any more permanent 
records than these insignificant piles on the summit of the 
Sierra de las Animas. 
The general, and almost entire absence of trees in Banda 
Oriental is remarkable. Some of the rocky hills are partly 
covered by thickets, and on the banks of the larger streams, 
especially to the north of Las Minas, willow-trees are not un¬ 
common. Near the Arroyo Tapes I heard of a wood of palms ; 
and one of these trees, of considerable size, I saw near the Pan 
de Azucar, in lat. 35 0 . These, and the trees planted by the 
Spaniards, offer the only exceptions to the general scarcity of 
wood. Among the introduced kinds may be enumerated 
poplars, olives, peach, and other fruit trees : the peaches succeed 
so well, that they afford the main supply of firewood to the city 
of Buenos Ayres. Extremely level countries, such as the 
Pampas, seldom appear favourable to the growth of trees. This 
may possibly be attributed either to the force of the winds, or 
the kind of drainage. In the nature of the land, however, 
around Maldonado, no such reason is apparent ; the rocky 
mountains afford protected situations, enjoying various kinds of 
soil ; streamlets of water are common at the bottoms of nearly 
every valley ; and the clayey nature of the earth seems adapted 
to retain moisture. It has been inferred, with much probability, 
that the presence of woodland is generally determined 1 by the 
annual amount of moisture ; yet in this province abundant and 
heavy rain falls during the winter ; and the summer, though 
1 Maclaren, art. “America,” Encyclop. Britann. 
