Chapter XV: FROM MONTEVIDEO TO THE NORTHERN FRONTIER (continued) 183

A remarkable transformation in nature--The Valley of
Eden--The gateway of the garden--An abrupt descent--From
bare plain to sub-tropical forest--Picturesque scenery--
Eden station--Some curiosities of nomenclature--Beggary
as a profession--The charity of the Latin lands--The
cliffs of the valley--Varied aspects of the vegetation--
The everlasting sweet-pea--Some characteristics of the
mountains--A land of tobacco--Negro cultivators--Appearance
and dwellings of the coloured population--Some ethics of
climate and costume--Tacuarembo--A centre of importance--A
picturesque town--Scenes at the station--Some specimens of
local humanity--A dandy of the Campo--The northern
landscape--The African population--Nature and the hut--The
tunnel of Bañada de Rocha--Paso del Cerro--On the Brazilian
border--Rivera--A frontier town--Santa Ana--The Brazilian
sister-township--A comparison between the two--View from
a neighbouring hill--The rival claims to beauty of the
Uruguayan and Brazilian towns.