FROM ROZARIO TO CORRIENTES. 259
bank — a sign that the stream swings towards it : Captain Alvim observed the same opposite Humaita, and probably there are local diflferences of action. Mr. Crawford, our engineer, believes that the stream encroaches eastward, thi'own by the motion of the globe. Captain Page (p. 153) agrees with him, and attributes the islets invariably formed in the Chaco to the agency of the eartVs revolution. M. Elisee Keclus opines that the Parana, like almost all the meridional rivers of the southern hemisphere, cuts into the left bank. When treating of the Rio de S. Francisco, I have alluded to this subject, which is highly important when treating of engineering works.
About noon we passed on the east bank the Rio de la Punta Brava, a river which has made its name in history. When Garibaldi was expelled by General Oribo from Montevideo, together with his patron the Caudillo General, Fructuoso Ribera, President of the Banda Oriental, he proceeded upon sundry "Corsair^^ expeditions. The Liberator of the Farrapos had only three vessels — the barque Constitucion, the brigan- tine Pereira, and another. Hotly pursued by Admiral Brown, a lieutenant of Rosas^, he ran up this stream, burned his ships, and marched inland to Montevideo; thence he travelled overland to Rio Grande do Sul. This province pro- claimed its autonomy as the Republic or Free State of Piratinim, which lasted through nine years, and afterwards made a complete ^fl^co. This admiral was an Irishman of the good old fighting stamp, and he now lies under a splendid monument in the Recoleta of Buenos Aires. The Argentines do not deny his gallantry, but they are not dis- posed to like or to laud the foreign employe. Concerning Garibaldi, then an obscure adventurer, local accounts differ : many say that he plundered hard to support his forces ; almost all agree that he took nothing for himself. But the ques- tion is^ " What business had he to fight at all V Better
