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country which he has made his home, rendered his conversation interesting and instructive.

Many Englishmen seem to imagine that, at least as regards material progress, distant countries, with the possible exception of the United States, are much less advanced than we are at home. I was led to an opposite conclusion as far as the more advanced states of South America are concerned, and I was struck by one illustration of the fact that I encountered at Paisandu. In the course of my long conversation with Dr. French, we were three times interrupted by the tinkling of a little bell connected with telephone wires carried into his sitting-room. I learned that a wire was carried from each of the chief estancias and saladeros within a circuit of eight or ten miles from the town. On each occasion advice was sought and obtained as to some case of sickness or accident, and it was impossible not to be struck by the great addition thus made to the usefulness of a skilful medical adviser in country districts. With regard to this and other applications of the telephone and the electric telegraph, our backward condition may be explained by the extraordinary fact that the English people have tolerated the existence of a Government monopoly, which, in many cases, acts as a prohibition ; but in other matters, such as electric lighting, our relative inferiority must be set down to the extreme slowness with which new ideas germinate and reach maturity in the English nature.

I was much interested by the information given to me by Dr. French as to the frequent occurrence of the fossil remains of large extinct mammalia in this

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district. Complete skeletons are, of course, not commonly found; but large bones in good condition are, as I learned, easily procured. My stay was necessarily so short that I could not expect to obtain any, but I entertained a hope, not yet realized, that through the kind intervention of Dr. French, some valuable specimens might be obtained for the Cambridge University Museum. But to complete our knowledge of the very singular extinct fauna of this region of America, prolonged research on the spot, conducted by experienced paleontologists, is a necessary condition. These plains are the cemeteries in which myriads of extinct creatures lie entombed. We probably have got to know the majority of the larger species, but it is probable that many others have as yet escaped the notice of naturalists.

The steamer in which I had travelled ascends the river as far as Salto, about sixty miles above Paisandu ; but at that place the navigation is interrupted by rapids, and travellers pursue their journey by land until they reach the steamers that ply on the upper waters of the Uruguay. I should have wished to visit Salto, but the steamer was to arrive at night and to depart on the return voyage next morning. By stopping at Paisandu I secured the opportunity for seeing a little of the country and the vegetation.

By way of seeing something of the natives, Dr. French took me to one of the best houses in the town, and introduced me to one of his patients, an old lady ninety years of age. She did much credit to the skill of her medical adviser, as I found her full of life and activity, conversing freely and intelligently on the

topics of the day. In the garden surrounding her house were a number of orange trees in full bearing, and, amongst other exotics, the largest tree of Eucalyptus globulus that I have yet seen, though planted, as the old lady assured me, only twenty years before.

It was announced that the return steamer was due at two p.m. on June 27, so I arranged, in the language of this region, to go for an excursion to the camp as early as possible in the morning. In company with a young Englishman to whom Dr. French had introduced me, I started in a carriage, and, after passing through the belt of gardens and fields surrounding the town, soon reached a rather wide stream running between muddy banks. I now understood why all the vehicles here are hung upon such extremely high wheels. The horses take to the water as easily as if they were amphibious, and we got across the stream without taking in water, but not without a severe tug to get the carriage through the deep mud. We next approached a large saladero; but I had no curiosity to see the process of slaughter, nor the various stages by which a live animal is speedily converted into human food. We made a circuit round the saladero and the adjoining enclosures, and before long reached the open country.

The general aspect reminded me of what I have seen at the corresponding season in the less inhabited parts of Northern Africa, especially near Tunis, although the plants, as might be expected, are not only different, but in great part belong to different natural families. Open spaces covered with herbaceous vegetation alternate with patches of low bushes, mostly

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evergreen, and here and there with shrubs under ten feet in height; but there was nothing deserving to be called a tree. The indigenous trees of this region seem to be confined to the banks and islands of the great rivers. Among the bushes were four species of Baccharis, a Composite genus characteristic of South America, three species of Solanum, a Lycium, etc. But the commonest bush, which extends from the Tropic of Capricorn to Patagonia, is Duvaua dependens, with crooked branches beset with stout thorns, which has no near ally among European plants. I found several plants still in flower-two or three pretty species of the mallow tribe, a Buddleia, an Oxalis, and a Verbena (V. phlogifolia), nearly allied to the ornamental species of our gardens.

I returned to the town just in time to have all in readiness for the steamer, which arrived punctually at two o'clock, and, after bidding farewell to Dr. French, embarked with the impression that life in a country town on the Uruguay is very much like life in a country town anywhere in Europe-somewhat dull, but not devoid of interest to one who is content to feel that he has been of some use to fellow-creatures.

The weather had become brighter, and we were spared the annoyance of waiting at night for the clearing of the fog. We held on our course down the stream, and at sunrise were again at anchor opposite to the city of Buenos Ayres, now for the first time become visible. Seen in the bright morning light, it presented a somewhat imposing aspect, as befits the most populous and important port of the South American continent. The advance of the Argentine

Confederation has been so rapid since public tranquillity has been assured that the returns of a few years ago are doubtless considerably below the truth. Those of the five years from 1870 to 1874 show a yearly average of about ten millions sterling of imports, and nearly seven and a half millions of exports; but these figures, especially the latter, should now be much increased. Of the whole commercial movement more than eighty per cent. belongs to Buenos Ayres, and the extension of railways must further increase its supremacy.

I went to the Hotel de Provence, a French establishment fairly well kept, and, after confinement in the little den on board the river steamer, enjoyed the novel sense of occupying a spacious room. A good part of the day was spent in wandering about the town. It is built on the regular chess-board plan, with quadras of equal dimensions. The streets are narrow and ill-paved, most of them traversed by tramcars, which are the only convenient vehicles; but the whole place is pervaded by an air of activity which seems strange in Spanish America, reminding one rather of the towns of the United States.

I was directed to an exhibition of the natural products and manufactures of the states* of the Argentine Confederation, which appeared to make a creditable show, but of which I felt myself to be no competent judge. I was chiefly interested by the large collections of native woods from Corrientes and the mountain regions of Tucuman, Salta, and the adjoining states.

* The term provinces, commonly applied to the federated States, is misleading, and should be laid aside.

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