SEPTEMBER 27th. -- In the evening I set out on anexcursion to St. Fe, which is situated nearly three hundredEnglish miles from Buenos Ayres, on the banks ofthe Parana. The roads in the neighbourhood of the city afterthe rainy weather, were extraordinarily bad. I should neverhave thought it possible for a bullock waggon to havecrawled along: as it was, they scarcely went at the rate of amile an hour, and a man was kept ahead, to survey the bestline for making the attempt. The bullocks were terriblyjaded: it is a great mistake to suppose that with improvedroads, and an accelerated rate of travelling, the sufferings ofthe animals increase in the same proportion. We passed atrain of waggons and a troop of beasts on their road toMendoza. The distance is about 580 geographical miles, andthe journey is generally performed in fifty days. Thesewaggons are very long, narrow, and thatched with reeds;they have only two wheels, the diameter of which in somecases is as much as ten feet. Each is drawn by six bullocks,which are urged on by a goad at least twenty feet long: thisis suspended from within the roof; for the wheel bullocks asmaller one is kept; and for the intermediate pair, a pointprojects at right angles from the middle of the long one.

The whole apparatus looked like some implement of war.

September 28th. -- We passed the small town of Luxanwhere there is a wooden bridge over the river -- a mostunusual convenience in this country. We passed also Areco.The plains appeared level, but were not so in fact; for invarious places the horizon was distant. The estancias arehere wide apart; for there is little good pasture, owing tothe land being covered by beds either of an acrid clover,or of the great thistle. The latter, well known from theanimated description given by Sir F. Head, were at thistime of the year two-thirds grown; in some parts they wereas high as the horse's back, but in others they had not yetsprung up, and the ground was bare and dusty as on a turnpike-road. The clumps were of the most brilliant green, andthey made a pleasing miniature-likeness of broken forestland. When the thistles are full grown, the great beds areimpenetrable, except by a few tracts, as intricate as thosein a labyrinth. These are only known to the robbers, whoat this season inhabit them, and sally forth at night to roband cut throats with impunity. Upon asking at a housewhether robbers were numerous, I was answered, "The thistlesare not up yet;" -- the meaning of which reply was not atfirst very obvious. There is little interest in passing overthese tracts, for they are inhabited by few animals or birds,excepting the bizcacha and its friend the little owl.

The bizcacha

The bizcacha has one very singular habit; namely, draggingevery hard object to the mouth of its burrow: aroundeach group of holes many bones of cattle, stones, thistle-stalks, hard lumps of earth, dry dung, etc., are collected intoan irregular heap, which frequently amounts to as much asa wheelbarrow would contain. I was credibly informed thata gentleman, when riding on a dark night, dropped hiswatch; he returned in the morning, and by searching theneighbourhood of every bizcacha hole on the line of road,as he expected, he soon found it. This habit of pickingup whatever may be lying on the ground anywhere near itshabitation, must cost much trouble. For what purpose itis done, I am quite unable to form even the most remoteconjecture: it cannot be for defence, because the rubbishis chiefly placed above the mouth of the burrow, whichenters the ground at a very small inclination. No doubtthere must exist some good reason; but the inhabitants ofthe country are quite ignorant of it. The only fact whichI know analogous to it, is the habit of that extraordinaryAustralian bird, the Calodera maculata, which makes anelegant vaulted passage of twigs for playing in, andwhich collects near the spot, land and sea-shells, bonesand the feathers of birds, especially brightly colouredones. Mr. Gould, who has described these facts, informsme, that the natives, when they lose any hard object,search the playing passages, and he has known a tobacco-pipe thus recovered.

The little owl (Athene cunicularia), which has been sooften mentioned, on the plains of Buenos Ayres exclusivelyinhabits the holes of the bizcacha; but in Banda Oriental itis its own workman. During the open day, but more especiallyin the evening, these birds may be seen in every directionstanding frequently by pairs on the hillock near theirburrows. If disturbed they either enter the hole, or, utteringa shrill harsh cry, move with a remarkably undulatoryflight to a short distance, and then turning round, steadilygaze at their pursuer. Occasionally in the evening they maybe heard hooting. I found in the stomachs of two whichI opened the remains of mice, and I one day saw a smallsnake killed and carried away. It is said that snakes aretheir common prey during the daytime. I may here mention,as showing on what various kinds of food owls subsist,that a species killed among the islets of the ChonosArchipelago, had its stomach full of good-sized crabs. InIndia

In the evening we crossed the Rio Arrecife on a simpleraft made of barrels lashed together, and slept at the post-house on the other side. I this day paid horse-hire forthirty-one leagues; and although the sun was glaring hot Iwas but little fatigued. When Captain Head talks of ridingfifty leagues a day, I do not imagine the distance is equalto 150 English miles. At all events, the thirty-one leagueswas only 76 miles in a straight line, and in an open countryI should think four additional miles for turnings would bea sufficient allowance.

29th and 30th. -- We continued to ride over plains of thesame character. At San Nicolas I first saw the noble riverof the Parana. At the foot of the cliff on which the townstands, some large vessels were at anchor. Before arrivingat Rozario, we crossed the Saladillo, a stream of fine clearrunning water, but too saline to drink. Rozario is a largetown built on a dead level plain, which forms a cliff aboutsixty feet high over the Parana. The river here is verybroad, with many islands, which are low and wooded, as isalso the opposite shore. The view would resemble that of agreat lake, if it were not for the linear-shaped islets, whichalone give the idea of running water. The cliffs are the mostpicturesque part; sometimes they are absolutely perpendicular,and of a red colour; at other times in large brokenmasses, covered with cacti and mimosa-trees. The realgrandeur, however, of an immense river like this, is derivedfrom reflecting how important a means of communicationand commerce it forms between one nation and another; towhat a distance it travels, and from how vast a territoryit drains the great body of fresh water which flows pastyour feet.

For many leagues north and south of San Nicolas andRozario, the country is really level. Scarcely anything whichtravellers have written about its extreme flatness, can beconsidered as exaggeration. Yet I could never find a spotwhere, by slowly turning round, objects were not seen atgreater distances in some directions than in others; andthis manifestly proves inequality in the plain. At sea, aperson's eye being six feet above the surface of the water,his horizon is two miles and four-fifths distant. In likemanner, the more level the plain, the more nearly does thehorizon approach within these narrow limits; and this, inmy opinion, entirely destroys that grandeur which one wouldhave imagined that a vast level plain would have possessed.

October 1st. - We started by moonlight and arrived at theRio Tercero by sunrise. The river is also called the Saladillo,and it deserves the name, for the water is brackish.I stayed here the greater part of the day, searching for fossilbones. Besides a perfect tooth of the Toxodon, and manyscattered bones, I found two immense skeletons near eachother, projecting in bold relief from the perpendicular cliffof the Parana. They were, however, so completely decayed,that I could only bring away small fragments of one of thegreat molar teeth; but these are sufficient to show that theremains belonged to a Mastodon, probably to the same specieswith that, which formerly must have inhabited the Cordillerain Upper Peru in such great numbers. The menwho took me in the canoe, said they had long known of theseskeletons, and had often wondered how they had got there:the necessity of a theory being felt, they came to theconclusion that, like the bizcacha, the mastodon was formerlya burrowing animal! In the evening we rode another stage,and crossed the Monge, another brackish stream, bearing thedregs of the washings of the Pampas.

October 2nd. -- We passed through Corunda, which, fromthe luxuriance of its gardens, was one of the prettiestvillages I saw. From this point to St. Fe the road is not verysafe. The western side of the Parana northward, ceases tobe inhabited; and hence the Indians sometimes come downthus far, and waylay travellers. The nature of the countryalso favours this, for instead of a grassy plain, there is anopen woodland, composed of low prickly mimosas. Wepassed some houses that had been ransacked and since deserted;we saw also a spectacle, which my guides viewedwith high satisfaction; it was the skeleton of an Indianwith the dried skin hanging on the bones, suspended to thebranch of a tree.

In the morning we arrived at St. Fe. I was surprisedto observe how great a change of climate a difference of onlythree degrees of latitude between this place and BuenosAyres had caused. This was evident from the dress andcomplexion of the men -- from the increased size of theombu-trees -- the number of new cacti and other plants --and especially from the birds. In the course of an hour Iremarked half-a-dozen birds, which I had never seen atBuenos Ayres. Considering that there is no natural boundarybetween the two places, and that the character of thecountry is nearly similar, the difference was much greaterthan I should have expected.

October 3rd and 4th. -- I was confined for these two daysto my bed by a headache. A good-natured old woman,who attended me, wished me to try many odd remedies. Acommon practice is, to bind an orange-leaf or a bit of blackplaster to each temple: and a still more general plan is, tosplit a bean into halves, moisten them, and place one oneach temple, where they will easily adhere. It is not thoughtproper ever to remove the beans or plaster, but to allowthem to drop off, and sometimes, if a man, with patches onhis head, is asked, what is the matter? he will answer, "Ihad a headache the day before yesterday." Many of theremedies used by the people of the country are ludicrouslystrange, but too disgusting to be mentioned. One of theleast nasty is to kill and cut open two puppies and bindthem on each side of a broken limb. Little hairless dogs arein great request to sleep at the feet of invalids.

St. Fe is a quiet little town, and is kept clean and in goodorder. The governor, Lopez, was a common soldier at thetime of the revolution; but has now been seventeen yearsin power. This stability of government is owing to histyrannical habits; for tyranny seems as yet better adaptedto these countries than republicanism. The governor's favouriteoccupation is hunting Indians: a short time sincehe slaughtered forty-eight, and sold the children at the rateof three or four pounds apiece.

October 5th. -- We crossed the Parana to St. Fe Bajada,a town on the opposite shore. The passage took some hours,as the river here consisted of a labyrinth of small streams,separated by low wooded islands. I had a letter of introductionto an old Catalonian Spaniard, who treated me withthe most uncommon hospitality. The Bajada is the capitalof Entre Rios. In 1825 the town contained 6000 inhabitants,and the province 30,000; yet, few as the inhabitants are, noprovince has suffered more from bloody and desperaterevolutions. They boast here of representatives, ministers, astanding army, and governors: so it is no wonder that theyhave their revolutions. At some future day this must beone of the richest countries of La Plata. The soil is variedand productive; and its almost insular form gives it twogrand lines of communication by the rivers Parana andUruguay.

I was delayed here five days, and employed myself in examiningthe geology of the surrounding country, which wasvery interesting. We here see at the bottom of the cliffs,beds containing sharks' teeth and sea-shells of extinct species,passing above into an indurated marl, and from thatinto the red clayey earth of the Pampas, with its calcareousconcretions and the bones of terrestrial quadrupeds. Thisvertical section clearly tells us of a large bay of pure salt-water, gradually encroached on, and at last converted intothe bed of a muddy estuary, into which floating carcasseswere swept. At Punta Gorda, in Banda Oriental, I foundan alternation of the Pampaean estuary deposit, with alimestone containing some of the same extinct sea-shells; andthis shows either a change in the former currents, or moreprobably an oscillation of level in the bottom of the ancientestuary. Until lately, my reasons for considering the Pampaeanformation to be an estuary deposit were, its generalappearance, its position at the mouth of the existing greatriver the Plata, and the presence of so many bones ofterrestrial quadrupeds: but now Professor Ehrenberg has hadthe kindness to examine for me a little of the red earth,taken from low down in the deposit, close to the skeletonsof the mastodon, and he finds in it many infusoria, partlysalt-water and partly fresh-water forms, with the latterrather preponderating; and therefore, as he remarks, thewater must have been brackish. M. A. d'Orbigny found onthe banks of the Parana, at the height of a hundred feet,great beds of an estuary shell, now living a hundred mileslower down nearer the sea; and I found similar shells at aless height on the banks of the Uruguay; this shows thatjust before the Pampas was slowly elevated into dry land,the water covering it was brackish. Below Buenos Ayresthere are upraised beds of sea-shells of existing species,which also proves that the period of elevation of the Pampaswas within the recent period.

In the Pampaean deposit at the Bajada I found the osseousarmour of a gigantic armadillo-like animal, the insideof which, when the earth was removed, was like a greatcauldron; I found also teeth of the Toxodon and Mastodon,and one tooth of a Horse, in the same stained and decayedstate. This latter tooth greatly interested me,

The existence in South America of a fossil horse, of themastodon, possibly of an elephant,

When America, and especially North America, possessedits elephants, mastodons, horse, and hollow-horned ruminants,it was much more closely related in its zoologicalcharacters to the temperate parts of Europe and Asia thanit now is. As the remains of these genera are found onboth sides of Behring's Straits

While travelling through the country, I received severalvivid descriptions of the effects of a late great drought; andthe account of this may throw some light on the cases wherevast numbers of animals of all kinds have been embeddedtogether. The period included between the years 1827 and1830 is called the "gran seco," or the great drought. Duringthis time so little rain fell, that the vegetation, even to thethistles, failed; the brooks were dried up, and the wholecountry assumed the appearance of a dusty high road. Thiswas especially the case in the northern part of the provinceof Buenos Ayres and the southern part of St. Fe. Verygreat numbers of birds, wild animals, cattle, and horsesperished from the want of food and water. A man told methat the deer

I was informed by an eye-witness that the cattle in herdsof thousands rushed into the Parana, and being exhaustedby hunger they were unable to crawl up the muddy banks,and thus were drowned. The arm of the river which runsby San Pedro was so full of putrid carcasses, that the masterof a vessel told me that the smell rendered it quite impassable.Without doubt several hundred thousand animalsthus perished in the river: their bodies when putrid wereseen floating down the stream; and many in all probabilitywere deposited in the estuary of the Plata. All the smallrivers became highly saline, and this caused the death ofvast numbers in particular spots; for when an animal drinksof such water it does not recover. Azara describes

October 12th. -- I had intended to push my excursion further,but not being quite well, I was compelled to return bya balandra, or one-masted vessel of about a hundred tons'burden, which was bound to Buenos Ayres. As the weatherwas not fair, we moored early in the day to a branch of atree on one of the islands. The Parana is full of islands,which undergo a constant round of decay and renovation.In the memory of the master several large ones had disappeared,and others again had been formed and protectedby vegetation. They are composed of muddy sand, withouteven the smallest pebble, and were then about four feetabove the level of the river; but during the periodical floodsthey are inundated. They all present one character; numerouswillows and a few other trees are bound together by agreat variety of creeping plants, thus forming a thick jungle.These thickets afford a retreat for capybaras and jaguars.The fear of the latter animal quite destroyed all pleasurein scrambling through the woods. This evening I had notproceeded a hundred yards, before finding indubitable signsof the recent presence of the tiger, I was obliged to comeback. On every island there were tracks; and as on theformer excursion "el rastro de los Indios" had been thesubject of conversation, so in this was "el rastro del tigre."The wooded banks of the great rivers appear to be thefavourite haunts of the jaguar; but south of the Plata, Iwas told that they frequented the reeds bordering lakes:wherever they are, they seem to require water. Their commonprey is the capybara, so that it is generally said, wherecapybaras are numerous there is little danger from thejaguar. Falconer states that near the southern side of themouth of the Plata there are many jaguars, and that theychiefly live on fish; this account I have heard repeated. Onthe Parana they have killed many wood-cutters, and haveeven entered vessels at night. There is a man now livingin the Bajada, who, coming up from below when it wasdark, was seized on the deck; he escaped, however, withthe loss of the use of one arm. When the floods drive theseanimals from the islands, they are most dangerous. I wastold that a few years since a very large one found its wayinto a church at St. Fe: two padres entering one after theother were killed, and a third, who came to see what was thematter, escaped with difficulty. The beast was destroyed bybeing shot from a corner of the building which was unroofed.They commit also at these times great ravagesamong cattle and horses. It is said that they kill their preyby breaking their necks. If driven from the carcass, theyseldom return to it. The Gauchos say that the jaguar, whenwandering about at night, is much tormented by the foxesyelping as they follow him. This is a curious coincidencewith the fact which is generally affirmed of the jackalsaccompanying, in a similarly officious manner, the East Indiantiger. The jaguar is a noisy animal, roaring much by night,and especially before bad weather.

One day, when hunting on the banks of the Uruguay, Iwas shown certain trees, to which these animals constantlyrecur for the purpose, as it is said, of sharpening theirclaws. I saw three well-known trees; in front, the barkwas worn smooth, as if by the breast of the animal, and oneach side there were deep scratches, or rather grooves,extending in an oblique line, nearly a yard in length. Thescars were of different ages. A common method of ascertainingwhether a jaguar is in the neighbourhood is toexamine these trees. I imagine this habit of the jaguar isexactly similar to one which may any day be seen in thecommon cat, as with outstretched legs and exserted claws itscrapes the leg of a chair; and I have heard of young fruit-trees in an orchard in England having been thus much injured.Some such habit must also be common to the puma,for on the bare hard soil of Patagonia I have frequentlyseen scores so deep that no other animal could have madethem. The object of this practice is, I believe, to tear offthe ragged points of their claws, and not, as the Gauchosthink, to sharpen them. The jaguar is killed, without muchdifficulty, by the aid of dogs baying and driving him up atree, where he is despatched with bullets.

Owing to bad weather we remained two days at our moorings.Our only amusement was catching fish for our dinner:there were several kinds, and all good eating. A fish calledthe "armado" (a Silurus) is remarkable from a harsh gratingnoise which it makes when caught by hook and line,and which can be distinctly heard when the fish is beneaththe water. This same fish has the power of firmly catchinghold of any object, such as the blade of an oar or the fishing-line, with the strong spine both of its pectoral and dorsalfin. In the evening the weather was quite tropical, thethermometer standing at 79 degs. Numbers of fireflies werehovering about, and the musquitoes were very troublesome.I exposed my hand for five minutes, and it was soon blackwith them; I do not suppose there could have been less thanfifty, all busy sucking.

October 15th. -- We got under way and passed PuntaGorda, where there is a colony of tame Indians from theprovince of Missiones. We sailed rapidly down the current,but before sunset, from a silly fear of bad weather, webrought-to in a narrow arm of the river. I took the boatand rowed some distance up this creek. It was very narrow,winding, and deep; on each side a wall thirty or forty feethigh, formed by trees intwined with creepers, gave to thecanal a singularly gloomy appearance. I here saw a veryextraordinary bird, called the Scissor-beak (Rhynchopsnigra). It has short legs, web feet, extremely long-pointedwings, and is of about the size of a tern. The beak is flattenedlaterally, that is, in a plane at right angles to thatof a spoonbill or duck. It is as flat and elastic as an ivorypaper-cutter, and the lower mandible, differing from everyother bird, is an inch and a half longer than the upper. Ina lake near Maldonado, from which the water had beennearly drained, and which, in consequence, swarmed withsmall fry, I saw several of these birds, generally in smallflocks, flying rapidly backwards and forwards close to thesurface of the lake. They kept their bills wide open, andthe lower mandible half buried in the water. Thus skimmingthe surface, they ploughed it in their course: the water wasquite smooth, and it formed a most curious spectacle to beholda flock, each bird leaving its narrow wake on the mirror-likesurface. In their flight they frequently twist aboutwith extreme quickness, and dexterously manage with theirprojecting lower mandible to plough up small fish, which aresecured by the upper and shorter half of their scissor-like

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bills. This fact I repeatedly saw, as, like swallows, theycontinued to fly backwards and forwards close before me.Occasionally when leaving the surface of the water theirflight was wild, irregular, and rapid; they then uttered loudharsh cries. When these birds are fishing, the advantageof the long primary feathers of their wings, in keeping themdry, is very evident. When thus employed, their forms resemblethe symbol by which many artists represent marinebirds. Their tails are much used in steering their irregularcourse.

These birds are common far inland along the course ofthe Rio Parana; it is said that they remain here during thewhole year, and breed in the marshes. During the day theyrest in flocks on the grassy plains at some distance fromthe water. Being at anchor, as I have said, in one of thedeep creeks between the islands of the Parana, as the eveningdrew to a close, one of these scissor-beaks suddenly appeared.The water was quite still, and many little fish wererising. The bird continued for a long time to skim thesurface, flying in its wild and irregular manner up and downthe narrow canal, now dark with the growing night and theshadows of the overhanging trees. At Monte Video, I observedthat some large flocks during the day remained on themud-banks at the head of the harbour, in the same manneras on the grassy plains near the Parana; and every eveningthey took flight seaward. From these facts I suspectthat the Rhynchops generally fishes by night, at which timemany of the lower animals come most abundantly to thesurface. M. Lesson states that he has seen these birdsopening the shells of the mactrae buried in the sand-banks onthe coast of Chile: from their weak bills, with the lowermandible so much projecting, their short legs and longwings, it is very improbable that this can be a general habit.

In our course down the Parana, I observed only threeother birds, whose habits are worth mentioning. One is asmall kingfisher (Ceryle Americana); it has a longer tailthan the European species, and hence does not sit in so stiffand upright a position. Its flight also, instead of being directand rapid, like the course of an arrow, is weak andundulatory, as among the soft-billed birds. It utters a lownote, like the clicking together of two small stones. A smallgreen parrot (Conurus murinus), with a grey breast, appearsto prefer the tall trees on the islands to any othersituation for its building-place. A number of nests areplaced so close together as to form one great mass of sticks.These parrots always live in flocks, and commit great ravageson the corn-fields. I was told, that near Colonia 2500 werekilled in the course of one year. A bird with a forked tail,terminated by two long feathers (Tyrannus savana), andnamed by the Spaniards scissor-tail, is very common nearBuenos Ayres: it commonly sits on a branch of the _ombu_tree, near a house, and thence takes a short flight in pursuitof insects, and returns to the same spot. When on the wingit presents in its manner of flight and general appearancea caricature-likeness of the common swallow. It has thepower of turning very shortly in the air, and in so doingopens and shuts its tail, sometimes in a horizontal or lateraland sometimes in a vertical direction, just like a pair ofscissors.

October 16th. -- Some leagues below Rozario, the westernshore of the Parana is bounded by perpendicular cliffs,which extend in a long line to below San Nicolas; hence itmore resembles a sea-coast than that of a fresh-water river.It is a great drawback to the scenery of the Parana, that,from the soft nature of its banks, the water is very muddy.The Uruguay, flowing through a granitic country, is muchclearer; and where the two channels unite at the head ofthe Plata, the waters may for a long distance be distinguishedby their black and red colours. In the evening, thewind being not quite fair, as usual we immediately moored,and the next day, as it blew rather freshly, though with afavouring current, the master was much too indolent to thinkof starting. At Bajada, he was described to me as "hombremuy aflicto" -- a man always miserable to get on; but certainlyhe bore all delays with admirable resignation. Hewas an old Spaniard, and had been many years in thiscountry. He professed a great liking to the English, butstoutly maintained that the battle of Trafalgar was merelywon by the Spanish captains having been all bought over;and that the only really gallant action on either side wasperformed by the Spanish admiral. It struck me as rathercharacteristic, that this man should prefer his countrymenbeing thought the worst of traitors, rather than unskilful orcowardly.

18th and 19th. -- We continued slowly to sail down thenoble stream: the current helped us but little. We met,during our descent, very few vessels. One of the best giftsof nature, in so grand a channel of communication, seemshere wilfully thrown away -- a river in which ships mightnavigate from a temperate country, as surprisingly abundantin certain productions as destitute of others, to anotherpossessing a tropical climate, and a soil which, according tothe best of judges, M. Bonpland, is perhaps unequalled infertility in any part of the world. How different wouldhave been the aspect of this river if English colonists hadby good fortune first sailed up the Plata! What noble townswould now have occupied its shores! Till the death ofFrancia, the Dictator of Paraguay, these two countries mustremain distinct, as if placed on opposite sides of the globe.And when the old bloody-minded tyrant is gone to his longaccount, Paraguay will be torn by revolutions, violent inproportion to the previous unnatural calm. That countrywill have to learn, like every other South American state,that a republic cannot succeed till it contains a certain bodyof men imbued with the principles of justice and honour.

October 20th. -- Being arrived at the mouth of the Parana,and as I was very anxious to reach Buenos Ayres, I wenton shore at Las Conchas, with the intention of riding there.Upon landing, I found to my great surprise that I was toa certain degree a prisoner. A violent revolution havingbroken out, all the ports were laid under an embargo. Icould not return to my vessel, and as for going by land tothe city, it was out of the question. After a long conversationwith the commandant, I obtained permission to go thenext day to General Rolor, who commanded a division ofthe rebels on this side the capital. In the morning I rodeto the encampment. The general, officers, and soldiers, allappeared, and I believe really were, great villains. Thegeneral, the very evening before he left the city, voluntarilywent to the Governor, and with his hand to his heart, pledgedhis word of honour that he at least would remain faithfulto the last. The general told me that the city was in a stateof close blockade, and that all he could do was to give mea passport to the commander-in-chief of the rebels at Quilmes.We had therefore to take a great sweep round thecity, and it was with much difficulty that we procured horses.My reception at the encampment was quite civil, but I wastold it was impossible that I could be allowed to enter thecity. I was very anxious about this, as I anticipated theBeagle's departure from the Rio Plata earlier than it tookplace. Having mentioned, however, General Rosas's obligingkindness to me when at the Colorado, magic itself couldnot have altered circumstances quicker than did thisconversation. I was instantly told that though they could notgive me a passport, if I chose to leave my guide and horses,I might pass their sentinels. I was too glad to accept ofthis, and an officer was sent with me to give directions thatI should not be stopped at the bridge. The road for thespace of a league was quite deserted. I met one party ofsoldiers, who were satisfied by gravely looking at an oldpassport: and at length I was not a little pleased to findmyself within the city.

This revolution was supported by scarcely any pretext ofgrievances: but in a state which, in the course of nine months(from February to October, 1820), underwent fifteenchanges in its government -- each governor, according to theconstitution, being elected for three years -- it would be veryunreasonable to ask for pretexts. In this case, a party ofmen -- who, being attached to Rosas, were disgusted withthe governor Balcarce -- to the number of seventy left thecity, and with the cry of Rosas the whole country took arms.The city was then blockaded, no provisions, cattle or horses,were allowed to enter; besides this, there was only a littleskirmishing, and a few men daily killed. The outside partywell knew that by stopping the supply of meat they wouldcertainly be victorious. General Rosas could not have knownof this rising; but it appears to be quite consonant with theplans of his party. A year ago he was elected governor, buthe refused it, unless the Sala would also confer on himextraordinary powers. This was refused, and since thenhis party have shown that no other governor can keep hisplace. The warfare on both sides was avowedly protractedtill it was possible to hear from Rosas. A note arrived afew days after I left Buenos Ayres, which stated that theGeneral disapproved of peace having been broken, but thathe thought the outside party had justice on their side. Onthe bare reception of this, the Governor, ministers, and partof the military, to the number of some hundreds, fled fromthe city. The rebels entered, elected a new governor, andwere paid for their services to the number of 5500 men.From these proceedings, it was clear that Rosas ultimatelywould become the dictator: to the term king, the people inthis, as in other republics, have a particular dislike. Sinceleaving South America, we have heard that Rosas hasbeen elected, with powers and for a time altogether opposedto the constitutional principles of the republic.