was thought so wonderful that a man should strike fire with
his teeth, that it was usual to collect the whole family to
see it: I was once offered a dollar for a single one. Washing
my face in the morning caused much speculation at the village
of Las Minas; a superior tradesman closely cross-questioned
me about so singular a practice; and likewise why on
board we wore our beards; for he had heard from my guide
that we did so. He eyed me with much suspicion; perhaps
he had heard of ablutions in the Mahomedan religion, and
knowing me to be a heretick, probably he came to the conclusion
that all hereticks were Turks. It is the general custom
in this country to ask for a night's lodging at the first
convenient house. The astonishment at the compass, and
my other feats of jugglery, was to a certain degree
advantageous, as with that, and the long stories my guides
told of my breaking stones, knowing venomous from harmless
snakes, collecting insects, etc., I repaid them for their
hospitality. I am writing as if I had been among the inhabitants
of central Africa: Banda Oriental would not be flattered by
the comparison; but such were my feelings at the time.

The next day we rode to the village of Las Minas. The
country was rather more hilly, but otherwise continued the
same; an inhabitant of the Pampas no doubt would have
considered it as truly Alpine. The country is so thinly
inhabited, that during the whole day we scarcely met a single
person. Las Minas is much smaller even than Maldonado.
It is seated on a little plain, and is surrounded by low rocky
mountains. It is of the usual symmetrical form, and with
its whitewashed church standing in the centre, had rather