In The Evening, The
Wind Being Not Quite Fair, As Usual We Immediately Moored,
And The Next Day, As It Blew Rather Freshly, Though With A
Favouring Current, The Master Was Much Too Indolent To Think
Of Starting.
At Bajada, he was described to me as "hombre
muy aflicto" - a man always miserable to get on; but certainly
he bore all delays with admirable resignation.
He
was an old Spaniard, and had been many years in this
country. He professed a great liking to the English, but
stoutly maintained that the battle of Trafalgar was merely
won by the Spanish captains having been all bought over;
and that the only really gallant action on either side was
performed by the Spanish admiral. It struck me as rather
characteristic, that this man should prefer his countrymen
being thought the worst of traitors, rather than unskilful or
cowardly.
18th and 19th. - We continued slowly to sail down the
noble stream: the current helped us but little. We met,
during our descent, very few vessels. One of the best gifts
of nature, in so grand a channel of communication, seems
here wilfully thrown away - a river in which ships might
navigate from a temperate country, as surprisingly abundant
in certain productions as destitute of others, to another
possessing a tropical climate, and a soil which, according to
the best of judges, M. Bonpland, is perhaps unequalled in
fertility in any part of the world. How different would
have been the aspect of this river if English colonists had
by good fortune first sailed up the Plata!
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