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shouts from a very small steamer induced our captain to slacken speed. The strangers urgently appealed to him to take on board some cargo for a place on the river, the name of which escaped me. To this request a polite but very decided refusal was returned, the prudence of which we afterwards appreciated. The cargo in question doubtless consisted of arms, ammunition, or other stores for the use of the revolutionary force supposed to be gathered at Mercedes, not far from the junction of the Rio Negro with the Uruguay, and it clearly behoved the steamboat company to avoid being involved in such enterprises.

At its mouth the Uruguay has a width of severalprobably seven or eight-miles, and at the confluence of the Rio Negro, some fifty miles up stream, the breadth must be nearly half as much. The water at this time was high, as heavy rain had fallen in the interior, and the current had a velocity of about three miles an hour. I believe that it is only exceptionally, during unusually dry seasons, that tidal water enters the channels of the Paranà or the Uruguay. I was struck by the frequent passage of large green masses of foliage that floated past as we ascended the river. Some consisted of entire trees or large boughs, but several others appeared to be formed altogether of masses of herbaceous vegetation twined together or adhering by the tangled roots. It can easily be imagined that, where portions of the bank have been undermined and fall into a stream, the soil is washed away from the roots, and the whole may be floated down the stream and even

of more than 1,100,000 square miles; the basin of the Uruguay is reckoned at 153,000 square miles.

carried out to sea. The efficacy of this mode of transport as one of the means for the dispersion of plants is now generally recognized, and, considering that the basin of the Paranà covers a space of over twenty-one degrees of latitude, we must admit the probability that it has had a large part in the diffusion of many tropical and subtropical species to the southern part of the continent.

The Rio Negro, which drains about half the territory of the republic, is the chief affluent of the Uruguay. At the junction we met a small steamer which plies to and fro on the tributary stream, and some time was lost in effecting the exchange of passengers and cargo. From some new-comers we gathered rather vague reports as to the attempted revolution. The chief was a certain Colonel Maximo Perez, already well known in Uruguayan political life. I have already explained that the term in this country means the effort to use the soldiery to upset the existing administration, or, if you happen to be in power, to employ the same agency to make short work of your rivals. It was generally thought that Perez had made the mistake of raising the standard too soon, and must fail. This anticipation was soon verified, and before I left the country two reports, each equally authentic, reached the capital-the one that he had made his escape, the other that he had been shot. To the community it was a matter of indifference which story might be true: in the one case, he would appear again to renew the revolt; in the other, some new adventurer would take his place.

A few miles above the confluence of the Rio Negro

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we reached Fray Bentos, the great factory where Liebig's Extract of Beef" is prepared and sent to Europe. Whatever prosperity exists in the Banda Oriental depends altogether on beef. To the raising of horned cattle the greater part of the soil of the republic is devoted, and in caring and guarding them most of the rural population is employed. The saladeros, where the animals are slaughtered and the various parts converted to human use, are the chief, almost the only, industrial establishments, and it is their produce that supports the trade and navigation.

Though the channel is narrower above the junction of the Rio Negro, the Uruguay was still a mighty river, from one to two miles in width, with numerous islands, all covered with trees and seemingly uninhabited. The trees on the islands and along the banks are mostly small, about thirty feet in height, but on some of the islands they must certainly surpass fifty feet. It was impossible for a passing stranger to identify the unfamiliar forms of these trees, which seemed to present considerable variety, the more so as the majority appeared to be deciduous, and but a few withered leaves remained on the nearly bare branches.

Paisandu, the place of my destination, is about a hundred and fifty miles from the mouth of the river, and the steamer often accomplishes the distance in fourteen hours. I was led to hope that we should arrive soon after midnight, but as night fell a dense

fog spread over the river. Further progress was impossible, and we dropped anchor in mid-channel.

With sunrise the fog quickly melted away, and the turning of the screw soon announced that we had resumed our journey. Up to this point the banks of the river on either side had been absolutely flat, but at an early hour on the 26th we for the first time were relieved by the appearance of some rising ground on the east side of the river. There was nothing deserving to be called a hill, but so impatient is human nature of the monotony of dead-level, that even a rise of a couple of hundred feet is a welcome alleviation. A house on the summit, which must command a vast range of view, appeared to be the only desirable residence I had yet seen in this region. The dead-level soon resumed its place on the eastern bank; but a few miles farther we began to descry a range of low hills on the opposite, or Argentine, bank of the stream. We had hitherto held no communication with the territory on that side, but before noon we dropped anchor opposite to the landing-place for the town of Concepcion. This is one of the chief places in the state of Entrerios, which, as the name implies, fills the space between the two great rivers, Paranà and Uruguay, and extends northward about two hundred and forty miles from the estuary of La Plata. The town stands on a low hill about two miles from the river. Some passengers went ashore, a few were taken in their place, and after a short delay the screw was again in motion and the voyage was resumed.

About two p.m. we were at length opposite to Paisandu, a name known to most English readers only by the ox-tongues prepared at the neighbouring saladeros.

One of the peculiarities of this region arises from the fact that in the estuary and along the lower course of the great rivers the banks shelve so gradually that boats are seldom able to approach the shore. Elsewhere the inhabitants would make provision by constructing long jetties carried far enough to enable boats to draw alongside. But suitable timber is said to be scarce and very dear, and, besides, such constructions would deprive a part of the population of their means of gaining a livelihood. Carts with a pair of enormous wheels, seven or eight feet in diameter, are driven into the water till it reaches nearly to the shafts, and passengers scramble as best they may into or out of the boats. In this novel fashion I reached the shore, with one or two other passengers.

Paisandu has the aspect of a thriving country town, with streets and buildings of plain aspect, but looking clean and well cared for. It stands on rising ground, which is not a hill, but merely the river-ward slope of the flat country through which the Uruguay has here scooped a broad trench about a hundred feet below the general level. I found a very fair country inn kept by an Englishman, and at once proceeded to deliver a note of introduction to Dr. French, an English physician who enjoys considerable local reputation. The days being short at a season corresponding to our European Christmas, it was already too late for an excursion to the neighbouring country, which was postponed till the following morning; and I passed the greater part of the afternoon and evening in the agreeable society of Dr. French, whose range of general information, and thorough acquaintance with the

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