The country which was formerly so peaceable and so safe, that a traveller might go to almost any distance, and meet with nothing but hospitality, has been latterly so infested with banditti, that to wander a mile or two from the town exposes a man to the danger of being robbed and murdered; so that while anarchy and confusion prevail within, there is nothing but plunder and destruction without the walls of Monte Video. It has however fallen into the possession of the Portuguese, who cannot be dislodged from so strong a fortress by any force which their neighbours are able to bring against them. Indeed, the Potuguese, availing themselves of the advantages afforded by the disorganized state of Buenos Ayres, will, no doubt, incorporate the northern part of the Plata with the captaincy of Rio Grande, and thus extend to that distracted country the blessings of their own mild and beneficent government. Artigas being at length taken prisoner, public confidence will be restored in Monte Video, and the reign of peace and security be there re-established.
The operation of ploughing, consists here of little more than forming a small furrow, by running a sharp pointed stick through the soil. There are no dairy farms, and scarcely is any butter or cheese made. Mining is unknown; and little notice is taken of the small quantity of lead ore which appears in limestone at Maldonado.
An estate, however large, seldom contains more than from ten to twenty men, who are employed in domesticating cattle; and scarcely a woman is to be seen, except the domestic negresses. Sheep are kept solely for their wool, and pigs for their fat, an article much in request for culinary preparations. The usual mode of travelling is on horseback, and there are very few carriages in Monte Video.
The breeding of horses is less attended to than that of cattle, as their hides sell at an inferior price. Herds of 500 or 1000 horses are not often seen in this district, though those of oxen sometimes amount to ten times the latter number. Cows are but seldom domesticated, and then very few, and it is by mere stratagem in managing the calf that any milk can be procured. Every kind of handicraft trade is ill conducted. Though the Monte Videans have hides, they procure their leather from Europe, as that which they make themselves is comparatively worthless. Their carpenters and other artisans are bad workmen; but I am told their barbers are men of superior skill in their calling, and this distinction may, perhaps, be attributed to the great beards of the Spaniards; the men of Paraguay having a stinted portion of that natural ornament. The silversmiths are of so inferior a stamp, that they might with greater propriety be called coppersmiths. The common people excel most in catching cattle, either with the noose, or the balls.
In the neighbourhood of Buenos Ayres and Monte Video, wheat alone is grown. It is stored, until wanted, in hides; and when there is a great demand for grain in Brazil, it is sometimes exported to Rio de Janeiro. But of late years the inhabitants of the provinces of La Plata have paid less attention than ever to this branch of agriculture; and the supplies to Brazil have been chiefly derived from the Cape of Good Hope.
[CHAP. II.]
Journey to Barriga Negra.—Geology of the Country.—Limestone, and mode of burning it.—Horned Cattle.—Peons.—Horses.—Defective State of Agriculture.—Manners of the Inhabitants.—Dress.—Wild Animals.—Monte Video taken by the British.—My return thither.
ON the arrival of General Beresford’s expedition in the river, I was again ordered into close confinement, but my advocate obtained permission for me to be sent into the interior, under a stipulation not to approach within forty leagues of Monte Video. This removal seemed for the moment to shut out all hope of obtaining my liberty, and at the same time threatened to expose me to fresh dangers, but I derived some consolation from the generous offers of shelter and protection made to me by a worthy Spaniard named Don Juan Martinez, whose establishment, not more than fifty leagues from the lake of Meni, was situated at the full distance prescribed in the orders respecting me. A retreat so remote and unfrequented offered few amusements to relieve the tediousness of banishment, but it at least afforded the prospect of a wider range for mineralogical observation, and of ampler leisure to attend to this my favorite pursuit.