"The war itself was each month growing more savage in character. Such virtues as the Uruguayan army possessed were recognized least of all by the Spaniards. Elio, the Viceroy, had erected a special gallows in Montevideo for the benefit of any prisoners that might be captured, while Vigodet, his successor, endeavoured to strike terror by measures of pure barbarity. By his order a body of cavalry scoured the countryside, slaying all those suspected of Artiguenian leanings, and exposing the quartered portions of their bodies at prominent places by the roadside. Each patriot, moreover, carried a price upon his head. It is not to be wondered at that the Uruguayan forces made reprisals, and that corpses replaced prisoners of war."[33] These matters took place a century or more ago, as did the picturesque incidents of the _Treinta y Tres_, the thirty-three resolutes who swore to liberate their country, when the news of the Battle of Ayacucho, in Peru, on the distant Andes, had reached the land of the Plate and the Pampas. "The rejoicings that the victory of Ayacucho aroused in the capital of Argentina stirred to the depth both Lavalleja and a company of fellow-exiles from the Banda Oriental. A meeting of these patriots was held on the spot, the result of which was an enthusiastic determination to place their own country upon the same footing as the rest. Doubtless many hundreds of similar gatherings had already been effected--and concluded by vapourings of thin air. But the spirit of these men who had thus come together was of another kind. Having sworn solemnly to free their country, action followed hot-foot on the heels of words. A couple of their number were sent at once to Uruguay to prepare the minds of a trusted few, while the rest made preparations for the expedition that was to follow. "The mission of the two deputies proved successful. They returned to Buenos Ayres, the bearers of many promises of support and co-operation. Nothing now remained but to take the first irrevocable step in the campaign that was to bloom out from this very humble seed. "'Treinta y Tres' has now developed into a proper name in the Banda Oriental; for the number of men who started out from Buenos Ayres for the sake of Uruguay was thirty-three. The name has now been locally immortalized. Among the infinite variety of objects that it endows may be counted a province, a town, innumerable plazas and streets and a brand of cigarettes.