The Sea Was So Highly Luminous,
That The Tracks Of The Penguins Were Marked By A Fiery Wake,
And The Darkness Of The Sky Was Momentarily Illuminated By
The Most Vivid Lightning.
When within the mouth of the river, I was interested by
observing how slowly the waters of the sea and river mixed.
The latter, muddy and discoloured, from its less specific
gravity, floated on the surface of the salt water.
This was
curiously exhibited in the wake of the vessel, where a line
of blue water was seen mingling in little eddies, with the
adjoining fluid.
July 26th. - We anchored at Monte Video. The Beagle
was employed in surveying the extreme southern and eastern
coasts of America, south of the Plata, during the two succeeding
years. To prevent useless repetitions, I will extract
those parts of my journal which refer to the same districts
without always attending to the order in which we visited
them.
MALDONADO is situated on the northern bank of the Plata,
and not very far from the mouth of the estuary. It is a
most quiet, forlorn, little town; built, as is universally the
case in these countries, with the streets running at right
angles to each other, and having in the middle a large plaza
or square, which, from its size, renders the scantiness of the
population more evident. It possesses scarcely any trade;
the exports being confined to a few hides and living cattle.
The inhabitants are chiefly landowners, together with a few
shopkeepers and the necessary tradesmen, such as blacksmiths
and carpenters, who do nearly all the business for a
circuit of fifty miles round.
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