VII 
ROZARIO 
133 
29 tli and 2,0th .—We continued to ride over plains of the 
same character. At San Nicolas I first saw the noble river 
of the Parana. At the foot of the cliff on which the town 
stands, some large vessels were at anchor. Before arriving at 
Rozario, we crossed the Saladillo, a stream of fine clear running 
water, but too saline to drink. Rozario is a large town built 
on a dead level plain, which forms a cliff about sixty feet high 
over the Parana. The river here is very broad, with many 
islands, which are low and wooded, as is also the opposite 
shore. The view would resemble that of a great lake, if it 
were not for the linear-shaped islets, which alone give the idea 
PARANA RIVER. 
of running water. The cliffs are the most picturesque part ; 
sometimes they are absolutely perpendicular, and of a red 
colour ; at other times in large broken masses, covered with 
cacti and mimosa-trees. The real grandeur, however, of an 
immense river like this is derived from reflecting how 
important a means of communication and commerce it forms 
between one nation and another ; to what a distance it travels ; 
and from how vast a territory it drains the great body of fresh 
water which flows past your feet. 
For many leagues north and south of San Nicolas and 
Rozario, the country is really level. Scarcely anything which 
travellers have written about its extreme flatness can be con- 
