Condition of Uruguay at the conclusion of the war against Rosas--Measures for the relief of poverty-- Juan Francisco Giro elected President--The arising of antagonistic elements--Giro resigns in favour of Bernardo Berro--A revolution ends in the formation of a triumvirate--On the death of Lavalleja and Rivera, Flores becomes Dictator--Rebellion against his rule-- Brazil sends an army to the assistance of General Flores--Further revolutionary movements--Manuel Basilio Bustamente succeeds Flores--The policy of General César Diaz--His exile and return at the head of an army--Defeat and death of Diaz--Two interim Presidents-- Continuous civil war--General Flores enters the Republic in command of a strong force and is declared Dictator--The Paraguayan war--Causes of its outbreak--The policy and military strength of Paraguay--Strategic errors--Uruguay's share in the campaign--Flores returns to Montevideo from the seat of war--His assassination-- General Lorenzo Batlle elected President--The continuance of political unrest--Various presidents and dictators-- The Government of the present day--Don José Batlle y Ordoñez--Doctor Claudio Williman--The Uruguayan battlefields in tabular form--Progress of the land. CHAPTER X URUGUAYAN MANNERS AND CUSTOMS 128 The temperament of the Oriental--Some merits of the race--The Spanish Main as treated in fiction-- Distinctions between the villains in print and in actual life--Civility as a national trait--Courtesy of officials--The Uruguayan as a sturdy democrat--A land of equality--Some local mannerisms--Banquets and general hospitality--Some practical methods of enjoying life--Simplicity _versus_ ostentation--Some consequences of prosperity--The cost of living-- Questions of ways and means--European education and its results--Some evidences of national pride--The physique of the Oriental--Sports and games--Football-- The science of bull-fighting--Eloquence and the oratorical art--Uruguayan ladies--Local charm of the sex--South American institutions--Methods by which they have been improved--The advantages of experiments-- The Uruguayan army and navy--Some characteristics of the police--Honesty of the nation--Politics and temperament. CHAPTER XI ABORIGINAL TRIBES 138