One morning I rode with my host to the
Sierra del Pedro Flaco, about twenty miles up the Rio
Negro.
Nearly the whole country was covered with good
though coarse grass, which was as high as a horse's belly;
yet there were square leagues without a single head of cattle.
The province of Banda Oriental, if well stocked, would support
an astonishing number of animals, at present the annual
export of hides from Monte Video amounts to three
hundred thousand; and the home consumption, from waste,
is very considerable. An "estanciero" told me that he often
had to send large herds of cattle a long journey to a salting
establishment, and that the tired beasts were frequently
obliged to be killed and skinned; but that he could never
persuade the Gauchos to eat of them, and every evening
a fresh beast was slaughtered for their suppers! The view
of the Rio Negro from the Sierra was more picturesque than
any other which I saw in this province. The river, broad,
deep, and rapid, wound at the foot of a rocky precipitous
cliff: a belt of wood followed its course, and the horizon
terminated in the distant undulations of the turf-plain.
When in this neighbourhood, I several times heard of
the Sierra de las Cuentas: a hill distant many miles to the
northward. The name signifies hill of beads. I was assured
that vast numbers of little round stones, of various colours,
each with a small cylindrical hole, are found there.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 228 of 776
Words from 60968 to 61223
of 208183
