ajor). These birds do not go in coveys, nor do they
conceal themselves like the English kind. It appears a very silly
bird. A man on horseback by riding round and round in a circle, or
rather in a spire, so as to approach closer each time, may knock on
the head as many as he pleases. The more common method is to catch
them with a running noose, or little lazo, made of the stem of an
ostrich's feather, fastened to the end of a long stick. A boy on a
quiet old horse will frequently thus catch thirty or forty in a
day. In Arctic North America the Indians catch the Varying Hare by
walking spirally round and round it, when on its form: the middle
of the day is reckoned the best time, when the sun is high, and the
shadow of the hunter not very long. (3/1. Hearne's "Journey" page
383.)

On our return to Maldonado, we followed rather a different line of
road. Near Pan de Azucar, a landmark well known to all those who
have sailed up the Plata, I stayed a day at the house of a most
hospitable old Spaniard. Early in the morning we ascended the
Sierra de las Animas. By the aid of the rising sun the scenery was
almost picturesque. To the westward the view extended over an
immense level plain as far as the Mount, at Monte Video, and to the
eastward, over the mammillated country of Maldonado. On the summit
of the mountain there were several small heaps of stones, which
evidently had lain there for many years. My companion assured me
that they were the work of the Indians in the old time. The heaps
were similar, but on a much smaller scale, to those so commonly
found on the mountains of Wales. The desire to signalise any event,
on the highest point of the neighbouring land, seems a universal
passion with mankind. At the present day, not a single Indian,
either civilised or wild, exists in this part of the province; nor
am I aware that the former inhabitants have left behind them any
more permanent records than these insignificant piles on the summit
of the Sierra de las Animas.

The general, and almost entire absence of trees in Banda Oriental
is remarkable. Some of the rocky hills are partly covered by
thickets, and on the banks of the larger streams, especially to the
north of Las Minas, willow-trees are not uncommon. Near the Arroyo
Tapes I heard of a wood of palms; and one of these trees, of
considerable size, I saw near the Pan de Azucar, in latitude 35
degrees. These, and the trees planted by the Spaniards, offer the
only exc