BANDA ORIENTAL, so called relatively to Buenos Ayres and Entre Rios, is bounded by the Rio de la Plata south, the Uruguay river west, the river Ybicui north, the Rio Yaguaron and the Laguna Merin north-east, and the Atlantic Ocean south east. It extends from S. lat. 29° 30' at the entrance of the Ybicui river into the Uruguay to Punta del Este, S. lat. 34° 59', or through 329 minutes of latitude, equal to 380 miles nearly ; the mean breadth from east to west about 200 miles; area 76,000 square miles. If a temperate latitude, a fruitful soil, and com mercial facilities by ocean and rivers are taken into view, no other equal section of the earth can exceed the Banda Oriental. Without regarding minute bends, it is bound ed 350 miles by the most navigable part of the Uruguay ; by the great Bay of Rio de la Plata, in all its length from Punta Gorda at the mouth of the Uruguay to Cape Mal donado, 215 miles. Along the Atlantic Ocean, from Cape Maldonado to Fort de Santa Teresa, 100 miles, and thence with but a short land interval, by the Laguna Merin, and the Yguaron and Ybicui rivers,to the entrance of the latter into the Uruguay.
The central part of this fine country is a table land from which flow several rivers of considerable magni tude. The Laguna Merin is the estuary of the St. and Yguaron, the waters of which, collected in the Merin, are discharged by the strait of Sangradero in the Laguna de los Patos, and reach the Atlantic by the Rio Grande. Beside the Uruguay, and many rivulets, the bay of Rio de la Plata receives at Punta Espinello, seven miles N. W. from Monte Viedo, Rio Santa Lucia, from the interior settlement of Minas. The most considerable stream, however, of the Banda Ori ental, the course of which is entirely within the country, is the Rio Negro. This stream heads with the Ygua ron, and Ybicui, and by its most considerable southern branch the Rio Yic, with the Santa Lucia and Cebullati. By a comparative course of three hundred miles to the south-eastward, it falls into the Uruguay, 80 miles di rectly north from the city of Buenos Ayres. Above the Rio Negro, again issue from Banda Oriental, the Gue gissay or Quequay, Rio Diamon, and Arapey rivers.
Without any assistance from art, the streams of the Uruguay, Negro, Cebollati, Ybicui, and Santa Lucia, are navigable far into the interior. A ridge of high land,
winds through the whole length of the Banda Oriental, called the Cuddle() Grande, (Large Knife) from which the rivers have their sources.
As in all other Spanish and Portuguese American colo nies, the settlements in Banda Oriental are detached, and in many instances distant from each other. The principal ;nliabited places are Monte Video, Colonia, Santa Lucia, Camelones, San Jose, San Carlos, Soriano, and Cerro Largo ; which are all towns : and the villages are, Toledo, Pando, Rocha, Penarnl, Pieclra, San Salva dor, Minas, Florida, Pnrongos, Colla, Bacas, Vivoras, Espinilla, 'Mercedes, Piasandu, and Hervidera.
The climate of the Banda Oriental is temperate and humid in general. The winds from the ocean, which are those from south-west to north-east inclusive, are productive of rain, those from the western side of the meridian are dry. In particular, the N. W. called pas sageros, are invariably dry land winds. The salubrity of this country has been the boast of its inhabitants and of strangers.
In the year 1810, the population of Banda Oriental was between 60 and 70,000 souls, and at present, 1829, it is probable, exceeds 70,000. Monte Video, the capi tal, stands on the north side of the Bay of Rio de la Plata, at S. lat. 34° 55', two degrees of long. and diagonally 132 miles, a little S. of E. from Buenos Ayres, and 80 miles almost directly west from the mouth of the Bay at Punta del Este. The width of the bay from Monte Video S. W. to Punta de la Alemoria, is 60 miles. The city stands on a small open bay, and is generally represented as containing about 20,000 inhabitants. The original settlement of the capital and province is disputed between Spain and Portugal, but the general and particular names being Spanish, afford an almost conclusive evidence in favour of the former. The dispute was national and of long standing, and when Brazil became an empire under the eldest son of the king of Portugal, that monarch risked a war with Buenos Ayres, in preference to yield ing the claims of his parent country to the Banda Orien tal. This war terminated by a treaty signed at Buenos Ayres, August 27th, 1828, and the following articles of the treaty show the disposition made by the parties of the object of contention.