The surroundings of the capital--Pleasant resorts--The Prado--A well-endowed park--Colón--Aspects of the suburbs--Some charming _quintas_--A wealth of flowers and vegetation--European and tropical blossoms side by side--Orchards and their fruits--The cottages of the peasants--An itinerant merchant--School-children--Methods of education in Uruguay--The choice of a career-- Equestrian pupils--The tramway route--Aspects of the village of Colón--Imposing eucalyptus avenues--A country of blue-gum--Some characteristics of the place--Flowers and trees--Country houses--The Tea Garden Restaurant-- Meals amidst pleasant surroundings--An enterprising establishment--Lunch and its reward--Poçitos and Ramirez-- Bathing places of the Atlantic--Blue waters compared with yellow--Sand and rock--Villa del Cerro--The steam ferry across the bay--A town of mixed buildings--Dwelling-places and their materials--The ubiquitous football--Aspects of the Cerro--Turf and rock--A picturesque fort--Panorama from the summit of the hill--The guardian of the river mouth--The last and the first of the mountains. CHAPTER XIV FROM MONTEVIDEO TO THE NORTHERN FRONTIER 172 Leaving Montevideo--General aspects of the Campo--The Rio Negro as a line of demarcation--Growing exuberance of the scenery--Flor Morala--Blue lupin--Camp flowers--A sparsely populated countryside--Absence of homesteads--A soft landscape--Humble ranchos--Cattle and horses--Iguanas and ostriches--Deer--Cardoso--Influence of climate and marriage upon the colonists--A cheese-making centre--A country of table-lands--A Campo road--Some characteristics of the way--A group of riders--Some contrasts--A country of rocks--Stone walls--Crude homesteads--Kerosene tins as building material--Camp stations--The carpets of blossom--Piedra Sola--Tambores-- Landscape and nomenclature--Increase in the height of the table-lands--Scenes at a country station--Aspects of the inhabitants--Some matters of complexion--The train and its transformation--Influence of the country upon the carriages--Northern passengers--Metropolitan and local costume--Some questions of clothes and figure--Relations between mistresses and maids--Democratic households--A patriarchal atmosphere--Things as they seem, and as they are--Conversation no guide to profession. CHAPTER XV FROM MONTEVIDEO TO THE NORTHERN FRONTIER (_continued_) 183