136 CHAPTER VII. AN ESTANCIA IN THE BANDA ORIENTAL. A VISIT TO THE BANDA ORIENTAL, OR REPUBLIC OF THE AVING had a most welcome invitation to visit a HAV friend's estancia in the Banda Oriental, on the bank of the great river Uruguay, and nearly 300 miles from Buenos Ayres, I gladly accepted it, and on the morning of the 13th of August started in very good company. The party consisted of one of the owners of the estancia, with a bride and bridegroom and myself, all bound for the same destination, and another friend who was only going to Higueritas We left Buenos Ayres at 10-30 A.M. in the steamer Montevideo, a vessel of high reputation in the river, though scarcely larger than one of those which ply between London and Gravesend. She travelled fast, however, and in a few hours we had crossed the broad estuary of the La Plata, and were running up the River Uruguay near the coast of the Banda Oriental. The difference in appearance between the two sides of the Rio de la Plata is very remarkable. On the Buenos Ayrean side boundless plains, with scarcely an undulation of a dozen feet, afford not a landmark except to the long-practised eye that knows the shape of each lonely ombù tree; but the Banda Oriental, though certainly not a mountainous country, is at all events hilly enough to make very picturesque outlines, and to afford a charming variety of scenery to the traveller who gallops over its splendid pastures. The neighbourhood of Higueritas is extremely pretty, with fine steep banks to the river, profusely ornamented with trees and flowering shrubs. Thence, league after league, we threaded the myriad islands of this mighty stream, and I was never tired of watching the boundless variety of plants when we passed near enough to the banks to observe them. Had the water been of good colour, the style of river scenery would have been admirable; but, unfortunately for appearances, it is so dirty from the vast quantities of sarsaparilla in solution, that nobody can willingly bring himself to drink it till he is assured that in reality it is very different from the contents of the Thames. The islands are frequently many miles in length, and none but old hands at such navigation could possibly tell whether at any time the vessel was in the right channel or the wrong. All of them, both great and small, are covered with a dense jungle of rushes, Pampas grass, passion-flowers and other creepers, over which rise forests of trees with an amazing diversity of leaves and blossoms. These are the haunts of the jaguar or South American tiger, and I was constantly in hopes of seeing one of these splendid beasts refreshing himself by the waterside. But scarcely a living creature appeared to look at us, except a few huge storks and herons that lifted their heads in silent disgust as the swell of the steamer disturbed the serenity of their fishing. Here and there a half-ruined hut showed where men sometimes come to cut wood, but we saw no occupants; and if anyone tried a permanent residence there he would certainly soon die of despair, if not previously carried off by the legions of mosquitos which infest the banks of the river. Swiftly sped the Montevideo. A magnificent sunset was followed by a cloudless night, great part of which I spent upon deck in company with my favourite pipe and the chief engineer, who, as usual in all distant parts of the earth, turned out to be a Scotchman, and a very good fellow. Next morning before sunrise I found we were stopping at Concepcion del Uruguay, the chief town of the Argentine province of Entre Rios, and the commercial head-quarters of that dreaded bugbear-late THE GAUCHO KING. 139 Captain-General of the Argentine forces by sea and land -Heaven save the mark-Don Justo José de Urquiza. This terrible worthy is an excellent example of those violent military despots who are sure to appear in countries where the civilised element is not sufficiently strong to render the existence of such persons an impossibility, while the uncivilised element commits a sufficiency of evil deeds to afford some apparent justification for the employment of force and brutality. Beginning as a military adventurer, bold and daring, he achieved enormous popularity in Buenos Ayres by overthrowing the blood-stained tyranny of Rosas; and he was smothered with the kisses of grateful citizens who soon took the first opportunity of upsetting him in his turn, when they found that he had not only picked up, but was preparing to wear, the detested mantle of that illustrious fugitive. In the course of many subsequent ups and downs and sharp encounters, he completely terrified the Buenos Ayrean mind with the scarlet ponchos of his wild troops, till the tables were completely turned upon him in the campaign which happened during my visit to the country. Now that the long-dreaded King of the Gauchos has compulsorily retired into private life, people have ample leisure for observing that, whether he was right or wrong in his notions as to the propriety of throat-cutting, he at all events had a good eye for business, and proved himself a perfect master of the art of feathering his own nest. By hook or by crook, he has possessed himself of an enormous territory in Entre Rios, difficult to estimate accurately, though I have generally heard it considered as upwards of 600 square leagues, or about 3,600,000 English acres, covered with countless herds of cattle and troops of horses. At Concepcion he has established a model saladero, where his cattle are slaughtered wholesale, and their hides are prepared for the European markets. This establishment is on a very extensive scale, and has the great advantage of being so situated that large sea-going ships can take their cargo on board directly by means of an elevated tramway from the centre of the premises. A very handsome English barque and a number of smaller foreign vessels were engaged in this way as we passed the place, and we amused ourselves with vain attempts at calcnlating the annual profits of the unselfish patriot. There was no time to go on shore at Concepcion, but we could see it at a short distance, the most conspicuous object being the white buildings of a college founded by Urquiza. About 9.30 A.M. we reached Paysandu, a small town in the Banda Oriental, prettily situated just above where a bend in the river makes a kind of bay. There is no appearance of anything remarkable about the town itself, but the general effect was lovely, the place being completely embowered in groves of peach-trees |