At the mouth of the river was a peninsula, formed by it and a small stream, and there was the residence of the family before mentioned. The infantry embarked in the small vessels in which they had sailed; the cavalry marched by land to the peninsula, leading the horses they had taken; and there they again remained. The labor of embarking and disembarking horses was not new to them; and in a few days everything was carried away—some to the island of the Biscaino, and some to the other island in the upper part of the river, to serve in future operations. The expedition then proceeded into the interior, as far as Paysandù, with the occurrence of little or nothing worthy of notice. In that city was a large guard, and the enemy had constructed some batteries and sunk a number of vessels, in different parts of the channel of the river, to obstruct the passage. All obstacles were overcome; and a few shot in the vessels, and a few wounded men, were the only consequences of a heavy cannonade with the batteries. Two officers deserved my particular notice: one a Frenchman, and the other an Englishman, who commanded two small vessels of war of their nations, and accompanied me in almost the whole of that expedition, although their instructions were not to fight. The English Lieutenant was named Tench; and he remained but a short time; the French officer was Hypolite Marier, commander of the schooner L'Eclair. The latter was with me the whole time, and became very dear to me, being an officer of great merit. We reached Hervidero, formerly a most beautiful establishment, then abandoned and deserted, but still very rich in animals, which were highly valuable to the expedition all the time of our stay. That point of the Uruguay was named Hervidero, from the Spanish word Hervir, which means _to boil_; and indeed it looks like a boiling cauldron under all circumstances, but especially when the river is low, abounding in whirlpools formed by the numerous rocks lying under water, over which a very rapid current pours all the year. The passage is very dangerous. A very spacious house stands on an eminence, built with a terrace on the roof, called Azotea, and overlooks all the left bank of the river. Around it was a multitude of _Ranchos_, or barracks, with roofs of straw, which attested the great number of slaves possessed by the masters in more quiet times. When I first approached the house, I found herds of the _Ganado manso_, or domestic oxen, near the deserted habitations, in search of their exiled masters; and with them a _majada_, or flock of sheep, amounting to about forty thousand, while the _ganado cuero_ or _alzado_,—that is, the wild cattle,—of about the same number, were scattered over the fields. Besides these there were innumerable horses, ginetes and Poledres, chiefly wild, and many quadrupeds of various kinds. These few lines may give some idea of the aspect of that kind of immense estates in South America, called _Estancias_.