"The water itself has been growing more limpid all the while, now that the dead-flat, soft alluvial soil of the Argentine bank has given way to a harder and more stony surface. It has become shallow in parts, too, and the nose of the steamer often gives a tentative turn to the right or left as she cautiously feels her way. The craft has penetrated almost to the limits of the lower stretch of the great river now, and the rising bed is a premonitory symptom of the end. "On the right has now risen the loftiest bluff that has yet marked the Uruguayan shore. It forms one of the walls of a striking and bold tableland. The place is now known as the _Mesa de Artigas_--the table of Artigas. It was upon the summit of this hill that the Uruguayan national hero had his chief encampment, and it has been described as a desolate and lonely spot, haunted by murdered spirits and by the memory of horrors, that no living being cared to approach. The description cannot be said to hold good at the present moment. The green slopes are dotted with grazing cattle and sheep, while at one point the distant figures of two mounted Gauchos are careering to and fro, and the cattle in the neighbourhood are wheeling together and lumbering forward as a result of their manœuvres."[36] Uruguay is known as the Oriental Republic, from its position on the eastern side of the river--the _Banda Oriental_--and it was formerly part of Argentina, but became separated in 1828, after revolutionary war, brought to an end through the mediation of Great Britain, which declared it a free and independent State. The towns of Paysandú and Salto, which the steamer reaches on the Uruguay River, are at the head of low-water navigation. Paysandú has its tale of political savagery to tell, when its gallant defender, Leandro Gomez and his companions, were butchered in cold blood, after bombardment of the place by Brazilian forces. It has suffered much from revolution. Both these towns are famous for the exports from their _saladeros_, or meat-curing establishments. Beyond Salto lies a rich grazing country, on whose undulating hills fat herds of cattle subsist. And indeed we are here in some of the richest stock-raising land of South America, bordering on similar districts in Southern Brazil, whose frontier lies not far to the north. Both towns are laid out with modern conveniences and public institutions. Between them navigation has its risks from rocks and shoals, and above Salto continuous navigation is not possible, as before remarked.