CHAPTER XV

FROM MONTEVIDEO TO THE NORTHERN FRONTIER (_continued_) 183

A remarkable transformation in nature--The Valley of Eden--The gateway of the garden--An abrupt descent--From bare plain to sub-tropical forest--Picturesque scenery-- Eden station--Some curiosities of nomenclature--Beggary as a profession--The charity of the Latin lands--The cliffs of the valley--Varied aspects of the vegetation-- The everlasting sweet-pea--Some characteristics of the mountains--A land of tobacco--Negro cultivators--Appearance and dwellings of the coloured population--Some ethics of climate and costume--Tacuarembo--A centre of importance--A picturesque town--Scenes at the station--Some specimens of local humanity--A dandy of the Campo--The northern landscape--The African population--Nature and the hut--The tunnel of Bañada de Rocha--Paso del Cerro--On the Brazilian border--Rivera--A frontier town--Santa Ana--The Brazilian sister-township--A comparison between the two--View from a neighbouring hill--The rival claims to beauty of the Uruguayan and Brazilian towns.