CHAPTER XIX

THE URUGUAY RIVER 225

A great waterway--The river compared with the Paraná-- Some questions of navigation--The lower stretch of the Uruguay--The stream from Montevideo upwards-- Montevideo--The docks--An imposing array of Mihanovich craft--Breadth of the river--Aspects of the banks--Various types of vessels--The materials of their cargoes--The meeting of sister steamers--The etiquette of salutations-- Fray Bentos--The Lemco factory and port--A notable spot-- The Paradise of the eater--The islands of the Uruguay-- Method of their birth and growth--The responsibility of leaves and branches--Uncertainty of island life--The effects of flood and current--Sub-tropical bergs--The vehicles of wild creatures--A jaguar visitation in Montevideo--Narrowing of the stream--Paysandú--The home of ox-tongues--The second commercial town of the Republic--Some features of the place--Variety of the landscape--The _Mesa de Artigas_--An historical table-land-- A monument to the national hero--Salto--A striking town-- Pleasant landscape--The Salto falls--The ending of the lower Uruguay--A rocky bed--Some minerals of Salto-- Alteration in the colour of the water--The beauty of the upper Uruguay.