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.