At
other times I heard of the marvellous property of certain rivers,
which had the power of changing small bones into large; or, as some
maintained, the bones themselves grew. As far as I am aware, not
one of these animals perished, as was formerly supposed, in the
marshes or muddy river-beds of the present land, but their bones
have been exposed by the streams intersecting the subaqueous
deposit in which they were originally embedded. We may conclude
that the whole area of the Pampas is one wide sepulchre of these
extinct gigantic quadrupeds.
By the middle of the day, on the 28th, we arrived at Monte Video,
having been two days and a half on the road. The country for the
whole way was of a very uniform character, some parts being rather
more rocky and hilly than near the Plata. Not far from Monte Video
we passed through the village of Las Pietras, so named from some
large rounded masses of syenite. Its appearance was rather pretty.
In this country a few fig-trees round a group of houses, and a site
elevated a hundred feet above the general level, ought always to be
called picturesque.
During the last six months I have had an opportunity of seeing a
little of the character of the inhabitants of these provinces.
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