MENDOZA.

"Mendoza, December, 1825."We reached this place on the morning of the eighteenth day from our leaving Buenos Ayres. H—d, who started on horseback at the same time, did it in nine, but with so much fatigue as to be obliged to lie up for some days afterwards to recruit. We might easily have done it in our carriage in fourteen or fifteen, for we galloped nearly the whole way, as he did, but for the tiresome stoppages we were continually obliged to make in order to repair our cart; these kept us half a day at one place, one day at another, and two whole ones at San Luis. Though you laughed, as well you might, at our set-out, and at the appearance of our galera and caratillo, stuffed with my manifold preparations for personal comfort, I can truly say, now the expedition is over, that of all carriage contrivances the galera is infinitely the best calculated for an excursion across the pampas; ours was remarkably easy over the roughest roads, capable of resisting all injury from them, and its high wheels well adapted for preventing our sinking in the quagmires, whilst it formed a comfortable bedroom at night. Of the caratillo I cannot speak favourably:—from its construction it was not suited to keep pace with the galera; two galeras would be better, especially if there were ladies of the party, in which case one might be fittedespecially for their convenience, with couches for sleeping, &c. The pies and provisions might be stowed away in lockers, as the sailors would call them, made for the purpose; and the more good things in the shape of eatables and drinkables you can get into them the better, unless you have the stomach of an ostrich to digest what the gauchos offer you. The filth of the post-houses is beyond description, dirt and vermin of every kind in them, and no accommodation of any sort for the traveller; even our peons preferred sleeping in the open air, and you would not suspect them of being over nice; I never in my life saw such a set of wild devils."The country is more uninteresting than any I ever travelled over, in any quarter of the globe. I should divide it into five regions:—first, that of thistles, inhabited by owls and biscachas; secondly, that of grass, where you meet with deer and ostriches, and the screaming horned plover; thirdly, the region of swamps and bogs, only fit for frogs; fourthly, that of stones and ravines, where I expected every moment to be upset; and, lastly, that of ashes and thorny shrubs, the refuge of the tarantula and binchuco, or giant bug.Its geological aspect differed somewhat from what I expected. I should say that, to the north and south of Mendoza, there have been volcanoes, the eruptions from which have covered the country (perhaps the bed of a sea) with ashes as far as SanLuis: the peculiar soil so formed, combined with the effects of climate and the salt lakes, may perhaps account for the particular species of thorny plants which are undescribed and confined to this region. The mountain streams, overflowing the saline lakes, are the origin of the vast swamps between San Luis and the Rio Quarto; and the decomposed granite and gneiss from the Sierra de Cordova, gives rise to the difference in the soil, and to its elevation along the Rio Tercero."

"Mendoza, December, 1825.

"We reached this place on the morning of the eighteenth day from our leaving Buenos Ayres. H—d, who started on horseback at the same time, did it in nine, but with so much fatigue as to be obliged to lie up for some days afterwards to recruit. We might easily have done it in our carriage in fourteen or fifteen, for we galloped nearly the whole way, as he did, but for the tiresome stoppages we were continually obliged to make in order to repair our cart; these kept us half a day at one place, one day at another, and two whole ones at San Luis. Though you laughed, as well you might, at our set-out, and at the appearance of our galera and caratillo, stuffed with my manifold preparations for personal comfort, I can truly say, now the expedition is over, that of all carriage contrivances the galera is infinitely the best calculated for an excursion across the pampas; ours was remarkably easy over the roughest roads, capable of resisting all injury from them, and its high wheels well adapted for preventing our sinking in the quagmires, whilst it formed a comfortable bedroom at night. Of the caratillo I cannot speak favourably:—from its construction it was not suited to keep pace with the galera; two galeras would be better, especially if there were ladies of the party, in which case one might be fittedespecially for their convenience, with couches for sleeping, &c. The pies and provisions might be stowed away in lockers, as the sailors would call them, made for the purpose; and the more good things in the shape of eatables and drinkables you can get into them the better, unless you have the stomach of an ostrich to digest what the gauchos offer you. The filth of the post-houses is beyond description, dirt and vermin of every kind in them, and no accommodation of any sort for the traveller; even our peons preferred sleeping in the open air, and you would not suspect them of being over nice; I never in my life saw such a set of wild devils.

"The country is more uninteresting than any I ever travelled over, in any quarter of the globe. I should divide it into five regions:—first, that of thistles, inhabited by owls and biscachas; secondly, that of grass, where you meet with deer and ostriches, and the screaming horned plover; thirdly, the region of swamps and bogs, only fit for frogs; fourthly, that of stones and ravines, where I expected every moment to be upset; and, lastly, that of ashes and thorny shrubs, the refuge of the tarantula and binchuco, or giant bug.

Its geological aspect differed somewhat from what I expected. I should say that, to the north and south of Mendoza, there have been volcanoes, the eruptions from which have covered the country (perhaps the bed of a sea) with ashes as far as SanLuis: the peculiar soil so formed, combined with the effects of climate and the salt lakes, may perhaps account for the particular species of thorny plants which are undescribed and confined to this region. The mountain streams, overflowing the saline lakes, are the origin of the vast swamps between San Luis and the Rio Quarto; and the decomposed granite and gneiss from the Sierra de Cordova, gives rise to the difference in the soil, and to its elevation along the Rio Tercero."

The province of Mendoza occupies a space of something more than 150 miles from north to south, along the eastern side of the Cordillera of the Andes, and nearly an equal distance from east to west, measured from the Desaguadero to the central ridge of the Andes. The northern boundary is formed by a line passing east and west through the post station of Chañar, about eighteen miles north of the city, which divides it from the jurisdiction of San Juan. To the south the nominal frontier line is the river Diamante, although lands beyond that river have been purchased from the Indians, which are likely, perhaps, to become some of the most valuable of the province, especially for the purposes of cattle breeding, for which those in the vicinity of Mendoza are not suitable.

The river Desaguadero is the divisional line between the provinces of San Luis and Mendoza:—this river is the drain of a singular chain of lakes known by the name of Guanacache, formed by the confluence of the river Mendoza, which runs into them from the south, and the San Juan river, which, after passing the town or city so called, is discharged into them from the north. The Desaguadero, afterreceiving these rivers, runs first in an easterly direction, and afterwards south, into a vast lake called the Bevedero, below the town of San Luis:—a portion, also, of the waters of the river Tunuyan are lost in the same great sack-like lake, which thus becomes the reservoir of the greater part of the streams which issue from the Andes between the thirty-first and the thirty-fourth degree of latitude. It is said that in old times the Tunuyan also, like the rivers of Mendoza and San Juan, had no other outlet, but that river, at a later period, opened for itself a new channel, and though a portion of its waters are still carried into the Bevedero, the greater part of them turn off to the south before reaching it in a stream called the Rio Nuevo by Bauza, and the Desaguadero by Cruz,[71]which runs in that direction a considerable distance, till the Diamante and Chadi-leubú rivers join it, and together they form another great inland water without any outlet, called the Urré-lauquen, or Bitter Lake, from its extreme saltness, as described in chapter eight. The account of this lake given to Cruz by the Indians who accompanied him in his journey across that part of the Pampas in 1806, has been verified of late years by General Aldao, who personally examined it in an expedition which he commanded against the savages in 1833, when he rode round it, and ascertained that it had no outlet.

The river Tunuyan rises from the base of the mighty mountain of Tupungato, and at first runs south through a wide and rich valley in the Cordillera; passing eastward of the volcano of Maypú, or Peuquenes, it afterwards finds its way through the eastern chain of the Andes by a deep chasm or opening, which it seems to have burst for itself through the mountains seven or eight miles below the Portillo Pass, and nearly opposite to where the Maypú leaves the Cordillera on the western side: thence its course through the plains is north, and afterwards eastward, in the direction of the great lake Bevedero, as already stated.

It would seem as though Nature herself had expressly directed the course of these rivers, viz., the Mendoza, Desaguadero, and Tunuyan, in such a way as to facilitate to the inhabitants the means of artificially irrigating their lands, which, from the quality of the soil, and the rarity of rain, would be otherwise barren and unproductive[72]:—as it is, the quantity of lands artificially watered by ducts from the rivers Mendoza and Tunuyan is estimated at about 30,000 square leagues, and these lands, which are arid and barren when not so watered, become, under regular irrigation, uncommonly rich and fertile, yielding frequently, under a very rude andsimple mode of agriculture, more than a hundred-fold. Wheat, barley, and maiz are thus grown; besides which there are extensive vineyards and orchards, and grounds covered with lucern grass for the fattening of cattle,—all regularly enclosed, and walled in with thick mud walls, calledtapiales.

The products of the province are wine, brandy, raisins, figs, wheat, flour, hides, tallow, and soap, which last is made from a species of barilla, which abounds in most parts of it:—a considerable portion of these is exported to Chile and to the provinces of Cordova, San Luis, and Buenos Ayres. The quantities so disposed of will be best understood by the following official return of the exports for a single year:—

Account of Exports of Produce of Mendoza for other parts during the year 1827.

In addition to these native products, the mineral riches of the province are various and valuable. The silver mines of Uspallata have at times been very productive, and in other parts of the same range veins, both of silver and copper, are known to exist, though want of capital and labourers has hitherto prevented their being opened. With respect to the working of these mines by English companies, and in the English manner, the best opinions seem to agree that it would not answer to make the attempt.

Mr. Miers carefully examined the mines at Uspallata, and has given a particular account of the mode in which they are worked by the natives, and of the process resorted to for separating the silver from the ore. At the time he visited them they were not yielding more than two marks per caxon:[74]a very low average, upon which he has taken the trouble to make calculations to show that the English mode of smelting can never be brought into competition with the process of amalgamation as practised in South America. He says,—"To ensure economical results the aid alone of the people of the country, as well as the application of their peculiar habits and management, must be resorted to: wherever English improvements are attempted to supersede the old methods, such trials would beattended with loss. "No one," he adds, "can doubt but that in the barbarous mode of operation followed in Chile great loss of product is occasioned; but when this loss is placed in competition with the increased cost of labour, materials, and management necessary to ensure a greater amount of produce, the inference is irresistible that it is better to put up with this loss than to expend a sum of money far beyond the value of what can be obtained by adopting the improved methods used in countries where facilities abound which can hardly be procured at any price in Chile and La Plata."

Captain Head, after seeing them, came to a similar conclusion: he considered that, although they might yield a liberal return under the more economical plan of employing native labourers properly directed, and at the ordinary low rate of wages paid for such labour in that part of the country; from the want of water, wood for fuel, and pasturage for cattle throughout the region in which they are situated, they would not repay the cost of working them by machinery, or by an English establishment.

In all this part of the Cordillera is to be found an abundance of limestone, gypsum, alum, mineral pitch, bituminous shales with appearances of coal in many places, slates, and a variety of saline deposits, amongst others common and Glauber salts.

The same metalliferous chain of the Andes extends, according to Gillies, with little interruption, from Chile to Peru, and contains the greater partof the gold and silver mines yet known on the eastern ranges of the great Cordillera, including, besides those of Uspallata, the mines of the province of San Juan, and further north those of Famatina in La Rioja. It is separated from the central ridge of the Andes by an extensive valley, or succession of valleys, running northwards from Uspallata, through which it is said that an ancient road of the Peruvians is to be traced at the present day nearly to Potosi; a point well worth the attention of the antiquarian, and of great interest, as connected with the state of civilization which the aborigines had attained before their conquest by the Spaniards.

The population of the province of Mendoza is calculated to be from 35,000 to 40,000 souls, about a third of which is resident in the city and its immediate vicinity. The executive power is vested in a Governor, periodically chosen, as in the other provinces, by the Junta, or Provincial Assembly.

A visible improvement has taken place in the condition of this people in the last twenty years; for, although at so vast a distance from the Capital, like Salta, its position as a frontier town has given it some special advantages: it has led to communications with foreigners, and to a traffic with Chile and with Buenos Ayres, which, by teaching them the value of their own resources, has roused a sort of commercial spirit amongst the inhabitants, and has stimulated them to more industrious habits. The government has taken pains to establish schoolsfor the education, of all classes, and the setting up of a printing press, from which has issued an occasional newspaper, has been of great use, not only in opening the eyes of the people at large to the proceedings of their own rulers, but in furnishing them with some notion as to what is going on from time to time in other parts of the world.

They are, in general, a healthy and well-conditioned race: descended many of them from families originally sent from the Azores by the Portuguese government to colonise Colonia del Sacramento on the river Plate, and made prisoners and settled in those remote parts by Cevallos, during the war which preceded the peace of 1777. It is probably much owing to them that the cultivation of the vine has been so extensively introduced in this part of the Republic.

The city of Mendoza, which, according to Bauza, is in south latitude 32° 52´, west longitude 69° 6´; at an elevation of 4891 feet above the sea, and at the very foot of the Andes, is shut out from any view of the great Cordillera by a dusky range of lower hills which intervene. Its appearance is neat and cheerful: the houses, for the most part, built of sunburnt bricks, plastered and whitewashed; and the streets laid out at right angles, as usual in that part of the world. It boasts of an Alameda, or public walk, said to equal anything of the kind laid out, as yet, in South America:—it is nearly a mile long, neatly kept, and shaded by rows of magnificentpoplars:—there are seats and pavilions at either end for the accommodation of the inhabitants, by whom it is much frequented as a lounge, especially of an evening.

The climate is delightful and salubrious, and is remarkably beneficial to persons suffering from pulmonary affections. The only ailment to which the people seem more liable here than in the interior is the goitre, which I suppose may be attributed to the same causes, whatever they are, which seem to produce it in almost all alpine districts.

The province of San Juan, which adjoins that of Mendoza, occupies the space between the great Cordillera and the mountains of Cordova, as far north as the Llaños, or plains, of La Rioja. It is said to contain about 25,000 inhabitants, governed, at present, like those of Mendoza, and occupied very much in the same manner, in the cultivation of their vineyards and gardens, and in agricultural pursuits. Their exports of brandies and wines to the other provinces are little short of those from Mendoza, and the quantity of corn they annually grow has been estimated at from 100,000 to 120,000 English bushels. The same lands produce yearly crops under the process of artificial irrigation from waters highly charged with alluvial matter. The ordinary crops are 50 for 1, in better lands 80 to 100, and in some, as at Augaco, about five leagues to the north of the city of San Juan, they have been known to yield 200 and 240. The price in the province is from one and a half to two Spanish dollars for a fanega, equal there to about two and a half English bushels. The wages of a day labourer are from five to six dollars a month, besides his food, which may be worth a rial a day more.

In times of scarcity corn has been sent from SanJuan to Buenos Ayres, a distance of upwards of a thousand miles; but this can never answer under ordinary circumstances, from the great expense attending the land carriage. It is different with the wines and brandies, which, after all charges, can be sold in most of the provinces of the interior, and even at Buenos Ayres, at a fair profit. They are in general demand amongst the lower orders, and, if pains were taken with them, might be very much improved. I have had samples of as many as eight or ten different qualities, all of them good, sound, strong-bodied wines, and only requiring more care in their preparation for market.

In the northern part of this province, in the lower ranges of the Cordillera, is the district of Jachal, in which are what are called the Gold Mines:—they are, as far as I could learn, much in the same state as those of La Carolina in the province of San Luis, already spoken of. Their yearly produce was estimated, in 1825, at 80,000 dollars, the greater part of which was sent to Chile to be coined at the mint of Santiago. The accuracy of this calculation has been disputed, but, men if true to its fullest extent, the amount is of no great consequence.

The situation of the city of San Juan is in latitude 31° 4´, according to Molina. Mr. Arrowsmith has placed it in longitude 68° 57´ 30".

The climate is described as truly heavenly, and the people as a well-disposed race, extremely anxious to improve both their moral and political condition. Inthis they have had chiefly to struggle with the countervailing influence of an ignorant, vicious, and bigoted priesthood, which has been greatly opposed to all innovations:—the political power, however, of this class of persons is fast on the wane at San Juan, as in most other parts of the Republic.

I shall conclude this chapter with a list of the passes across the Andes from the several provinces of this republic of which I have any account: they are twelve in number:—

First.—The most northerly is a continuation of the road called the Despoblado, which crosses the mountainous districts of the north-western part of the province of Salta by the mines of Yngaguasi to Atacama.

Second.—A pass from the province of La Rioja communicates with Guasco and Copiapo in Chile.[75]

Third.—Another, further south, leads from the province of San Juan to Coquimbo.

Fourth.—That called Los Patos on the north flank of the great mountain of Aconcagua, descending into Chile by the valley of the Putaendo, a small river which joins the larger one of Aconcagua in the plains below, near the town of San Felipe. It was by this road that General San Martin made his celebrated march over the Andes with the army of Buenos Ayres in 1817, which led to the liberation of Chile from the Spanish yoke.

Fifth.—The pass of the Cumbre by Uspallata, the road most usually taken by travellers proceeding from Mendoza to Santiago de Chile, and which has been very particularly described by several Englishmen, who have gone that way. Of the published accounts that of Mr. Miers is, perhaps, the best, as he had the most opportunities of making it so, having crossed it no less than four times, once with his wife, who was taken in labour upon the road. Lieutenant Brand's is particularly interesting, from his having crossed at the season when the Cordillera was covered with snow, which obliged him to proceed on foot a great part of the way, and to encounter fearful risks, which he has very graphically described. The whole distance from Mendoza to Santiago is 107 post leagues; and the highest part of the Andes crossed is (by barometrical measurement), according to Dr. Gillies, 12,530 feet above the sea:—Mr. Miers says about 600 feet less. From the commencement of November to the end of May, occasionally a few weeks sooner or later, this road is passable the whole distance on mules:—for the rest of the year it is generally closed to all but foot-passengers, and the crossing is then attended with considerable danger; many lives have been lost in attempting it.

A striking object on this road is the splendid arch called the Inca's Bridge, seventy-five feet over, which nature has thrown across a ravine one hundred and fifty feet deep, through which runs theriver of Las Cuevas. There are natural hot springs about it, which some persons suppose to have contributed to its formation:—it is evident, however, that some infinitely more powerful agency has been at work, from the appearance of beds of fossil shells there at an elevation of 8650 feet above the level of the present sea.

Sixth.—About half way over, near the station called the Punta de las Vacas, a road branches off to the valley of Tupungato, and afterwards crosses the Cordillera to the north of the peak so called, descending on the opposite side into Chile by the valley of the little river Dehesa, from which it is called the Dehesa Pass: it is very little used.

Seventh.—South of the mountain of Tupungato is the Portillo Pass, which falls into the valley of the river Maypú in Chile with the Rio del Yeso. By many travellers it is preferred to the high road by Uspallata, being the shorter way of the two by twenty leagues:—it is, however, seldom open longer than from the beginning of January to the end of April, the greater elevation of that part of the Cordillera causing it to be longer blocked up by the snow.

The way to it from Mendoza runs southward, parallel to the mountains as far as the estancia of Totoral, upon the north bank of the river Tunuyan, distant about sixty-five miles from that city, and some twenty from the base of the Cordillera:—thence the pass bears west-south-west, distant aboutthirty-six miles; the breach in the mountains through which the Tunuyan runs being plainly visible to the south of it. This part of the Andes seems to consist of two great parallel ridges running nearly north and south, and separated from each other by the valley of the Tunuyan, the width of which is about twenty miles, and its elevation above the sea, where crossed by the road, about 7500 feet. Of the two ranges the eastern one is the highest, being, where the road crosses it, 14,365 feet above the sea:—this chain extends with little interruption from the river of Mendoza, southwards, to the Diamante, a distance of about 140 miles:—the western, or Chilian range, where crossed by the road, is not above 13,200 feet high.[76]

In this part of the Cordillera is situated the volcano of Peuquenes, or Maypú, eruptions from which have been frequent since the great earthquake which produced such disturbance in 1822:—they generally consist of ashes and clouds of pumice-dust, which are carried by the winds occasionally as far as Mendoza, a distance little short of 100 miles. In crossing from the eastern to the western side of the valley of the Tunuyan travellers have, at first, the summit of the volcano concealed from them, but about half way between that river and the pass of Peuquenes there is a good view of it eight or nine miles distant to the south:—the summit is generally covered with snow, and cannot be much less than15,000 feet above the sea. It is from the pumice-rock found in this neighbourhood that the people of Mendoza make basins for filtering the muddy water of their river.

Eighth.—To the south of this volcano is situated a pass called De la Cruz de Piedra, which enters the Cordillera where a small stream, the Aguanda, issues from it, about two leagues to the north of the fort of San Juan:—it unites with the road by the Portillo pass on the opposite side of the Andes in the valley of the Maypú.

Ninth.—Further south one little frequented unites the valleys of the rivers Diamante and Cachapoal: this is previous to reaching the volcano of Peteroa, beyond which are situated the passes of Las Damas and of the Planchon.

Tenth.—Of these the Las Damas, or ladies' pass, enters the Cordillera from Manantial in the valley of the river Atuel, and descends by that of the Tinguiririca, which issues from the mountain of San Fernando:—this was the pass which M. de Souillac, in 1805, reported might, at a very small expense, be rendered passable for wheel-carriages.[77]

Eleventh.—The road by the Planchon leads to Curico and Talca, following the courses of the rivers Claro and Teno:—on neither of these roadsdoes the elevation exceed 11,000 feet, or the vegetation ever cease.

The twelfth pass is that of Antuco, from which Cruz started in 1806 to cross the Pampas to Buenos Ayres:—the road by it to Conception in Chile follows the valleys of the rivers Laxa and Biobio. To the south of the volcano in the vicinity of this pass, which Cruz could not get up, but which has since been ascended by M. Pæppig, a German naturalist (who nearly lost his life in the attempt), lies a ridge called theSilla Velluda, rising, according to his estimation, to the height of 17,000 feet, on the rugged sides of which, below the snow and glaciers, are to be traced ranges of basaltic columns.

Of the most frequented of these passes, viz., those by Uspallata and the Portillo, there are, as I have already said, several accounts in print, but, as I know of no other Englishman except the late Dr. Gillies who has examined those of Las Damas and the Planchon with any attention, I shall here quote part of a letter which he wrote to me in 1827, giving an account of a short excursion he made by them in that year; and I do so the rather because it also gives some account of the intervening country, which has never, as far as I know, been described by any one else:—

"About the middle of May I returned from an excursion of ten weeks to the south which I had long meditated. After reaching the river Diamante, the southern boundary of the province of Mendoza, Icrossed that river and ascended the Cerro del Diamante, and at every step found ample evidence of its volcanic origin: the ascent was covered with masses of lava, and near the summit with loose pumice. The upper part of the mountain consists of a ridge elevated a little at each of the extremities into a rounded form, on the north side of which, a little below the summit, is a plateau about 400 yards in diameter, which undoubtedly has been formerly the crater of a volcano. The whole mountain appears to rest on an immense bed of pumice-stone. On the steep banks of the Diamante opposite to it such strata are laid open on both sides:—at one place on the south bank I traced one great mass of pumice-rock, 100 feet long and 145 wide, the whole forming distinct basaltic pillars.

"From this interesting spot we proceeded towards the mountains of the Andes, and amongst the first low hills examined several springs of petroleum, about which it is curious to observe the remains of a variety of insects, birds, and animals, which, having got entangled there, have been unable to extricate themselves:—so tenacious is this substance that (as I was assured by an eye-witness) some years ago a lion was found in the same situation, which had made fruitless attempts to escape. Following the base of this lower range southward, after a few leagues we reached the banks of the river Atuel, a copious stream much larger than either the river of Mendoza or the Tunuyan:—its bed, very unlike thatof the Diamante, is very little lower than the surrounding plains, which gradually slope off to the eastward for twelve or fourteen leagues, as I had an opportunity afterwards of observing.

"The north bank, where we crossed it, seems admirably adapted for an agricultural settlement: it is there that the several roads diverge across the Cordillera to San Fernando, Curico, and Talca, in Chile; and to the south into the country of the Indians. We proceeded from thence towards the Planchon, along a succession of valleys rich in pasturage, but very bare of shrubbery: in several places we saw immense masses of gypsum, and passed a mountain from which is obtained an aluminous earth, much used in Chile as a pigment for dyeing. The pass of the Planchon is along the north shoulder of a lofty mountain, apparently composed of sonorous slaty strata. My barometer unfortunately got out of order before I reached the highest elevation; but, as vegetation extends to the top of the pass, it must be considerably lower than the passes of the Portillo and of Uspallata, on both of which all vegetation ceases long before reaching the higher points of the road. The descent from the Planchon is very rough, and in many places steep: at a distance of three leagues from the top we reached our resting-place, surrounded by luxuriant vegetation, and thence descended to Curico, along a valley with steep mountains on either side, and through a continuous thicket of lofty trees and shrubs, amongstwhich I may enumerate the Chilian cypress, the quillay, the canelo or cinnamon-tree, the caustic laurel, a variety of myrtles, a beautiful fascia, and others no less interesting.

"From Curico we went to Talca, a considerable town, and thence explored the river Maule, with a view to its capabilities for navigation. We returned by Curico to San Fernando, where we re-entered the Cordillera by the valley of the Tinguiririca to ascend the pass of Las Damas: the road was very similar to that we had previously descended from the Planchon to Curico; but, being much less frequented, it was in many places difficult and dangerous. In the upper part of this valley we examined some hot springs, the temperature of which reached 170° of Fahrenheit. Thence we were induced to devote two days to visit a volcano,—which was described to us as being in an active state,—about ten leagues distant: thither we proceeded by a most rugged and dangerous path, and reached within half a league of the summit, when so serious a snow-storm came on, that we had the mortification of being forced to return without accomplishing our object; nor had we any time to lose, for the snow had so completely obliterated all traces of the way, that our guide was completely lost, and, but for the observations I had taken with my compass, I know not how we should have got back at all. On reaching our mules again, the weather was so unpromising that we made all haste to recross the mountains, lest they should beclosed against us by the heavy snow which was falling; this we happily accomplished, and three days brought us back again to the place where we had first crossed the Atuel river. After visiting the extensive saline lakes in that vicinity, from which the province is supplied with salt, we bent our way back to Mendoza.

"In this journey I had an opportunity I had long desired of examining on the Cordillera the plant from the root of which the natives of Chile obtain their admirable red dye."

Dr. Gillies, the writer of this letter, passed many years at Mendoza, where he recovered from a severe pulmonary affection, and was himself a striking instance of the beneficial effects of the climate under such circumstances. Botany was his favourite pursuit; but he did not confine himself to this, and never lost an opportunity of collecting useful information on every other point which fell under his notice.

His botanical acquisitions were, I believe, chiefly communicated to Professor Hooker, of Glasgow, through whom they were occasionally made known to the public. His collections of the ores of Uspallata and other parts of the Cordillera were given to the College Museum at Edinburgh. I am myself indebted to him for the best part of my information respecting the provinces of Cuyo. It was through him I obtained, amongst other curiosities from those parts, the very remarkable little animal which is figured in the annexed plate, and which is now inthe collection of the Zoological Society of London. It has hitherto been only found in the provinces of Cuyo, and even there but rarely: it burrows in the ground, and in its habits somewhat resembles the mole, lying dormant during the winter months; the natives call it the Pichi-ciego. Dr. Harlan, of New York, was the first to give an account of it, from an imperfect specimen sent to him from Mendoza; and he gave it the name ofchlamyphorus truncatus.

European naturalists, however, doubted its existence till the point was settled beyond dispute by the arrival of my specimen, which fortunately was perfect, and in an excellent state of preservation. At the request of the council of the Zoological Society, Mr. Yarrell drew up a particular account of its osteology, which was published in the third volume of their Journal, and from which, with his permission, I extract the following observations upon its comparative anatomy.

"From the representation of the skeleton and its different parts it will be perceived that thechlamyphorus truncatushas points of resemblance to several other quadrupeds, but that it possesses also upon each comparison many others in which it is totally different.

"It resembles the beaver (castor fiber) in the form and substance of some of the bones of the limbs, in the flattened and dilated extremity of the tail, and the elongation of the transverse processes of the lower caudal vertebræ, but no further.

"It has much less resemblance to the mole (talpaEuropea) than its external form and subterranean habits would induce us to expect. In the shortness and great strength of the legs, and in the articulation of the claws to the first phalanges of the toes, it is similar; but in the form of the bones of the anterior extremity, as well as in the compressed claws, it is perfectly different; nor do the articulations of the bones, nor the arrangement of the muscles, allow any of the lateral motion so conspicuous in the mole; the hinder extremities of the chlamyphorus are also much more powerful. It resembles the sloth (bradypus tridactylus) in the form of the teeth and in the acute descending process of the zygoma; but here all comparison with the sloth ceases.

"The skeleton of the chlamyphorus will be found to resemble that of the armadillo (dasypi species plures) more than any other known quadruped. In the peculiar ossification of the cervical vertebræ, in possessing the sesamoid bones of the feet, in the general form of all the bones, except those of the pelvis, as well as in the nature of the external covering, they are decidedly similar; they differ, however, in the form and appendages of the head, in the composition and arrangement of the coat of mail, and particularly in the posterior truncated extremity and tail.

"There is a resemblance to be perceived in the form of some of the bones of the chlamyphorus to those of theorycteropus capensisandmyrmecophaga jubata, as might be expected in animalsbelonging to the same order. To theechidnaandornithorhynchusit is also similar in the form of the first bone of the sternum, and in the bony articulations, as well as the dilated connecting plates, of the true and false ribs. It becomes interesting to be able to establish even small points of similarity between the most extraordinary quadrupeds of New Holland and those of South America; that continent producing in the various species ofdidelphisother resemblances to themarsupiata. In the form of the lower jaw, and in other points equally obvious, the chlamyphorus exhibits characters to be found in some species ofruminantiaandpachydermata.

"In conclusion I may remark that in the composition and arrangement of its external covering, and in its very singular truncated extremity, the chlamyphorus is peculiar and unique; and if a conjecture might be hazarded, in the absence of any positive knowledge of the habits of the animal, it is probable that it occasionally assumes an upright position, for which the fattened posterior seems admirably adapted. It is also unique in the form and various appendages of the head, and most particularly in possessing an open pelvis, no instance of which, as far as I am acquainted, has ever as yet occurred in any species of mammalia."

Since Mr. Yarrell's observations Dr. Buckland, in his description of themegatherium, has further pointed out the resemblances of the chlamyphorus to that fossil monster.

CHLAMYPHORUS.2/3 the Natural Size.

CHLAMYPHORUS.

2/3 the Natural Size.

FOOTNOTES:[68]The wordCuyo, according to Angelis, in the Araucanian language signifiesarena, or sand, which is the general character of the soil.[69]The cactus, which is found in every variety throughout the province of Cuyo, abounds in the neighbourhood of San Luis, and the natives collect the cochineal from it, and make it into cakes, which they use in dying their ponchos.[70]Although from June to December it is either wholly or partially covered with snow, I have seen it in the month of May wholly bare, when only a few days before there had been heavy falls of snow on the Cumbre, or central ridge, &c. I mention these facts to show that Tupungato cannot attain a higher level than that assigned to the limit of perpetual congelation, which in this latitude to about 15,000 feet, though, from the known height of the Cumbre, and its supposed elevation above the central ridge, I am disposed to conclude that its actual elevation cannot be far short of 16,000 feet (Miers).[71]Dr. Gillies says where the Diamante joins it, it is called the Salado.[72]In the more southern parts of the province, in the direction of the Diamante, corn may be grown without the labour and expense of artificial irrigation, the rains which fall there being sufficient to render it unnecessary.[73]The dried fruits of figs, peaches, apples, nuts, olives, &c.Between 300 and 400 mules were sold for Chile in the same year. The load or carga is equal to about 200 lbs.[74]The mark is eight Spanish ounces, or seven ounces, three pennyweights, fourteen grains, troy, English. The caxon is fifty quintals, or 5000 lbs. of ore.[75]According to Myen, a recent traveller, this part of the Cordillera is not so elevated as more to the south:—he says it is passable at several points of the province of Copiapo.[76]These heights are given on the authority of Dr. Gillies.[77]Zamudio, an officer in the service of Buenos Ayres, who examined it the year before M. de Souillac, is said to have actually passed it with a two-wheel cart. Dr. Gillies does not give so favourable an account of its present state.

[68]The wordCuyo, according to Angelis, in the Araucanian language signifiesarena, or sand, which is the general character of the soil.

[69]The cactus, which is found in every variety throughout the province of Cuyo, abounds in the neighbourhood of San Luis, and the natives collect the cochineal from it, and make it into cakes, which they use in dying their ponchos.

[70]Although from June to December it is either wholly or partially covered with snow, I have seen it in the month of May wholly bare, when only a few days before there had been heavy falls of snow on the Cumbre, or central ridge, &c. I mention these facts to show that Tupungato cannot attain a higher level than that assigned to the limit of perpetual congelation, which in this latitude to about 15,000 feet, though, from the known height of the Cumbre, and its supposed elevation above the central ridge, I am disposed to conclude that its actual elevation cannot be far short of 16,000 feet (Miers).

[71]Dr. Gillies says where the Diamante joins it, it is called the Salado.

[72]In the more southern parts of the province, in the direction of the Diamante, corn may be grown without the labour and expense of artificial irrigation, the rains which fall there being sufficient to render it unnecessary.

[73]The dried fruits of figs, peaches, apples, nuts, olives, &c.Between 300 and 400 mules were sold for Chile in the same year. The load or carga is equal to about 200 lbs.

[73]The dried fruits of figs, peaches, apples, nuts, olives, &c.

Between 300 and 400 mules were sold for Chile in the same year. The load or carga is equal to about 200 lbs.

[74]The mark is eight Spanish ounces, or seven ounces, three pennyweights, fourteen grains, troy, English. The caxon is fifty quintals, or 5000 lbs. of ore.

[75]According to Myen, a recent traveller, this part of the Cordillera is not so elevated as more to the south:—he says it is passable at several points of the province of Copiapo.

[76]These heights are given on the authority of Dr. Gillies.

[77]Zamudio, an officer in the service of Buenos Ayres, who examined it the year before M. de Souillac, is said to have actually passed it with a two-wheel cart. Dr. Gillies does not give so favourable an account of its present state.

Advantages of the situation of Buenos Ayres in a commercial point of view. Amount ofImportsinto Buenos Ayres in peaceable times. From what Countries. Great proportion of the whole British Manufactures. Articles introduced from other parts of the World. The Trade checked by the Brazilian War, and subsequent Civil Disturbances. Recovering since 1831. Proportion of it taken off by Monte Video since its independence. Comparative view ofExports. Scarcity of Returns. Capabilities of the Country. Advantage of encouraging Foreigners. The Wool Trade becoming of importance owing to their exertions. Other useful productions which may be cultivated in the interior. Account of the origin and increase of the Horses and Cattle in the Pampas.

In a commercial point of view we have only to look at the map to be satisfied of the great importance of the geographical position of Buenos Ayres. From the Amazons along a line of coast upwards of 2000 miles in extent, the River Plate affords the only means of communicating with all those vast regions in the interior of the continent comprised between the Andes and the mountainous districts which bound Brazil to the west. Not only the provinces of the Argentine Republic and of Paraguay, but thenow independent states of Bolivia and Peru, are as yet only accessible from the Atlantic through the Rio de La Plata.

If there is but little intercourse between these states at present, it must be ascribed to political causes alone, and to such confined and restrictive notions as are, perhaps, to be expected from governments in their infancy.

The people of Bolivia and the eastern districts of Peru, whose wants from Europe were formerly supplied through Buenos Ayres, are now under separate governments of their own, which seem anxious to display their commercial as well as political independence of their old connexions by endeavouring to force the trade through other channels more immediately under their own control; but, however desirous those governments may be, under present circumstances, to establish a direct intercourse with Europe through their own ports in the Pacific, and however well adapted those ports may be for the supply of the provinces upon the west coast of America, there can be no doubt, so far as regards all those which lie to the eastward of the Cordillera, that, whenever the intermediate rivers shall be navigated by steam, for which they are so admirably calculated, the people of those vast countries will be much more easily supplied with all they want from Europe by inland water-carriage direct from Buenos Ayres than by the present circuitous route round Cape Horn, and the subsequent expensive conveyance by mules across the sandy deserts of Atacama, and the precipitous passages of the Andes.

As these young states acquire some practical knowledge of their real interests, and advance in the science of political economy, it may be expected that they will naturally make such arrangements amongst themselves for an interchange of commercial advantages as cannot but prove to their mutual benefit. And what could be of more importance, either to Buenos Ayres or Bolivia, or the back provinces of Brazil, than the establishment of an internal communication with each other by means of steam-navigation?

In the mean time, however, the trade of Buenos Ayres is limited to the supply of the people of her own provinces. If I may so call those in more immediate political connexion with her,—thesoi-disantrepublic of the Rio de La Plata.

In order to show what may be the extent of that trade in times of peace and domestic quiet, it is necessary to go some years back.

From 1821 to 1825 the Republic was in a state of comparative tranquillity, and the government of Buenos Ayres in the hands of a provincial administration, wise enough to see how mainly the prosperity and importance of their country depended upon the fostering of its trade, and the establishment of a commercial intercourse with the rest of the world upon the most liberal principles. It was during that interval of repose and prosperity that I first landedin Buenos Ayres, and found all classes of the people rejoicing in the blessings of peace.

All the information which it was my duty to collect tended to show the great commercial capabilities of the country, and the facilities afforded by Buenos Ayres as an emporium for the trade with a very great part of the population of the interior of South America.

From a variety of documentary evidence in confirmation of this, which was furnished to me at the time, both by the British merchants and by the local authorities, I shall in the first instance quote the returns for the year 1822, as exhibiting the nature and amount of the trade of Buenos Ayres under the circumstances of undisturbed peace to which I have referred—that is, the trade of Buenos Ayres independently of the supply of any part of Peru, Bolivia, or Paraguay.

And first, with regard to the import trade:—

From a return furnished by the custom-house at Buenos Ayres of all their imports from foreign countries in the year 1822, it appears that they amounted to 11,287,622 Spanish dollars, according to their official valuation, which, generally speaking, may be considered to be about twenty per cent. below the wholesale prices in the market.

This amount was computed to be made up from the several foreign countries as under, viz:—

of which about 1,323,565 dollars were afterwards reshipped for ports on the neighbouring coast of Brazil, Monte Video, Chile, and Peru.

The important proportion of the British trade in this statement is very manifest; it amounts in fact to as much as the trade of all other foreign countries with Buenos Ayres put together. Comparing it with the importations in the most liberal period of the Spanish colonial system, it is more than double the average value[78]of the whole yearly imports into the Vice-Royalty, for the supply, not only of the provinces immediately attached to Buenos Ayres, butof all Upper Peru and Paraguay, containing a population numerically threefold that of the present republic of the Provinces of La Plata.

At that period British cotton manufactures were unknown at Buenos Ayres; silks from Spain, and French and German linens, alone were in use, the high prices of which generally confined them to the rich, the poorer classes being miserably clad in the coarse manufactures of the interior. It is true that in some parts of Peru and Paraguay the native manufactures were brought to some perfection, but it was by so tedious a process, that if they reached any degree of fineness they were rather articles of luxury and curiosity than of any advantage to the people at large for their domestic purposes. But when the port opened, and British manufactures became known, the low prices at which they were sold at once occasioned a great and general demand for them, and this has gone on yearly increasing, till, amongst the country population especially, the manufactures of Great Britain are become articles of primary necessity. The gaucho is everywhere clothed in them. Take his whole equipment—examine everything about him—and what is there not of raw hide that is not British? If his wife has a gown, ten to one it is made at Manchester; the camp-kettle in which he cooks his food, the earthenware he eats from, the knife, his poncho, spurs, bit, all are imported from England.

I am tempted here to go further, and to ask, who enables him to purchase those articles? who buys his master's hides, and enables that master to employ and pay him? who but the foreign trader? Stop the trade with foreign nations, and how long would it be ere the gaucho would be reduced to the state of the Indian of the pampas, fed on his beef and horse-flesh, and clothed in the skins of wild beasts? I put the question to those people in Buenos Ayres, for there are still some such there, who continue to look with jealousy on foreigners, and would fain have the lower orders believe that the country has been ruined since they were allowed freely to come amongst them.

To return, however, to our subject. By far the greatest part of the British imports into Buenos Ayres consist of the plain and printed calicoes and cloths, which, as I have just stated, are become of the first necessity to the lower orders in this part of South America: the cheaper we produce them, the more they will take; and thus it is that every improvement in our machinery at home, which lowers the price of these manufactures, tends to contribute (we hardly perhaps know how much) to the comforts of the poorer classes in those remote countries.

In the sale of most of these articles no other foreign country can compete with Great Britain, from the low cost of their production; and as to any native manufactures, it would be idle to think ofthem in a country as yet so scantily peopled, where every hand is wanted, and may be turned to a tenfold better account, in augmenting its natural resources and means of production, as yet so imperfectly developed.

Besides our cotton, linen, woollen, and silk manufactures, we also send to Buenos Ayres considerable quantities of ironmongery and cutlery, coarse and fine earthenware, glass, foreign brandies and wines, and a variety of other articles, the nature and value of which, in detail, is fully exhibited in the general return given in the Appendix of the principal articles of British growth and manufacture which have been exported from this country to the River Plate in all the several years from 1830 to 1837 inclusive.

The total amount of the produce and manufactures of the United Kingdom alone (exclusive of foreign and colonial produce), exported direct from Great Britain to the River Plate to the last sixteen years, has been as follows:—

To these amounts may be yearly added about £40,000 more for the value of foreign and colonial produce sent direct from Great Britain.

This will give some idea of the general nature and amount of our direct trade with the River Plate, and it will be evident how mainly Great Britain contributes to all the essential wants, as well as domestic comforts, of the people of that part of the world.

The trade ofFranceis different;—whilst we administer to the real wants of the community, France sends them articles rather of luxury than necessity, such as superfine cloths and linens, merinos, cashmeres, silks and cambrics, lace, gloves, shoes, silk stockings, looking-glasses, fans, combs, jewellery, and all sorts of made-up finery.

In 1822 it has been shown that the imports into Buenos Ayres from France were calculated to amount to 820,109 Spanish dollars, or about 164,022l.sterling. By official returns since published in the latter country it appears that, from 1829 to 1836, the imports and exports were as follow, calculated in English sterling, viz.:—

FromGermanyandHollandthe imports, generally speaking, are of a more substantial kind again. German cloths and linens, and printed cottons from the Rhine, were at one period introduced in considerable quantities. A branch of the Rhenish Manufacturing Company was set up in Buenos Ayres in 1824, for the sale particularly of the latter articles, and the low prices at which, for a time, they were sold threatened to interfere with the demand for similar goods of British manufacture; it turned out, however, that the prices in question did not remunerate the company, and the establishment, not answering, was broken up:—the German printed cottons have been quite driven out of the field by British goods of the same description.

From theNetherlandsarms, especially swords and pistols, are brought; andHollandsends gin,butter and cheese, and Westphalia hams, for all which there is a large demand amongst the natives. This trade is chiefly from Antwerp, which is the principal market for the sale of the Buenos Ayrean hides on the continent.

The importations from theBalticconsist of iron, cordage, canvas, pitch and tar, and deals.

TheMediterraneantrade is principally in Sicilian and Spanish produce, of which the most important items are the cheap red wines of Sicily, the common wines of Catalonia, brandies, olive oil, maccaroni, and dried fruits, and used to be chiefly carried on in British shipping, and through British houses at Gibraltar:—latterly, however, a great part of these importations have been in Sardinian vessels, from twenty to thirty of which now visit Buenos Ayres annually, instead of three or four, as was the case ten years ago; in amount this trade is fully equal to that from France, or from the north of Europe. Had Spain at an earlier period recognised the independence of the new states, she, instead of foreigners, would undoubtedly have reaped the advantages of this trade. Nor would this have been all: the habits of the people, the customs they had been brought up in, not to speak of international ties and connexions,—all would have most forcibly tended to an active commercial intercourse between herci-devantcolonies and Spain, which would have been of vast importance to the latter:—as it is, she has waited till those habits, and customs, and ties have passed away,and till a new race has grown up destitute of those kindred feelings which naturally animated the last generation, if not hostile to her from the disastrous effects produced by her long and obstinate refusal to recognise their political existence.

Spain must now take her chance in competing with other nations, with the disadvantage of being the last in the field. The cheapness, however, of her wines will always ensure a large demand for them, especially the common red wines of Catalonia. There is also still some demand for Spanish serges, and silks, and velvets, the sewing silks of Murcia, and Spanish snuff; but, as most of these articles can be imported from France of as good quality, and at lower prices, the sale of them is very limited:—great quantities of paper also were formerly introduced from Spain, but it is now brought from other countries, especially from Genoa, of a quality which is preferred, and at lower prices. The annual importation of Spanish and Sicilian wines is from 10,000 to 12,000 pipes, and about 1000 of brandy.

The trade with theUnited Stateswas long a very unnatural one, the principal article of import from thence being flour, of which the average importations for several years amounted to above 50,000 barrels.

It is not, perhaps, to be wondered at that the larger profits of cattle-breeding should for a time have superseded the pursuits of agriculture, but the inconvenience and evils of an habitual dependenceupon any foreign country, particularly upon one at such a distance as North America, for the daily bread of a whole population, became at last so manifest that the legislature found itself called upon to interpose to put an end to it, and to pass such enactments as were necessary to foster and protect the agricultural interests of the native proprietors. The consequence has been that the province of Buenos Ayres, which is capable of producing as good wheat as any country in the world, has again commenced growing not only a sufficiency for the consumption of its own population, but for exportation; and in the last two or three years both flour and corn have been articles of shipment from the River Plate, chiefly to Brazil.

If we except the flour, the principal articles of import from the United States for several years were the coarse unbleached cloths of their own manufacture, called "domestics," of which, for a time, very large quantities were sent to the Spanish-American markets; indeed the very low prices at which these goods were long sold brought them into great demand in almost every part of the world where they were admitted, although now, I believe, like the printed goods from Germany, they can with difficulty compete with similar manufactures made at Manchester. Their other imports into Buenos Ayres consist of spirits, soap, sperm candles, dried and salted provisions, tobacco, furniture of an ordinary though showy description, and deals.

From the returns laid before Congress it appears that the amount of the direct trade between the United States and the river Plate from 1829 to 1836 was as follows, calculated at the rate of five dollars per pound sterling:—

Besides their direct trade, the North Americans have at times found a profitable employment for their shipping in carrying Buenos Ayrean produce (jerk beef) to the Havana, and in the coasting trade between Brazil and the River Plate, though the latter is now for the most part taken out of their hands by the Brazilians themselves, who of late years have become the carriers of their own produce.

This trade (withBrazil) has been even more disadvantageous to Buenos Ayres than that with the United States. The only article of native produce to any amount which Brazil takes from the River Plate is the jerk beef; whilst there is hardly an article of Brazilian produce sent there which might not be grown within the republic itself. The tobacco,the sugars, the coffee, and the rice sent from thence, might all be produced in any quantity in the northern provinces of La Plata:—even the yerba-maté, or Paraguay tea, once so fruitful a source of profit to the Vice-Royalty of Buenos Ayres, is now introduced from the southern provinces of Brazil. It is true that Paraguay Proper, where the greater part of it was grown, has been closed for some years, but there is no reason why it should not have been cultivated in Corrientes or the Missions with just as much success as in the Brazilian province of Rio Grande:—as it is, owing to the inferior method of preparing it, the Brazilian yerba-maté is not equal to that of Paraguay, and its use is, in consequence, very much confined to the lower orders, whilst the higher classes are imbibing a very general taste for the teas of China as a substitute.

The imports fromChina, which appear in the account quoted at page337, consisted of assorted cargoes of teas, silks, crapes, nankeens, wearing-apparel, tortoise-shell for ladies' combs, earthenware, matting, and a variety of minor articles, introduced principally on British account, though under the American flag, in consequence of our own restrictive regulations not allowing at that time the employment of British shipping in such a speculation. Cargoes of a similar description have since occasionally been introduced, but I believe it has been found to answer better to import the articles into Buenos Ayres as they may be wanted, either fromthe United States, or from Rio de Janeiro, or from England, than to freight ships expressly to introduce cargoes direct from China. A certain quantity of Chinese goods will always find a ready sale in the Buenos Ayrean market.

TheHavanatrade has been an important one to Buenos Ayres. Besides large shipments of mules which are sent there, it takes off the greatest portion of the jerk beef made in the country. It is used there and in Brazil as an article of food for the slave population; and the method of preparing it having of late years been greatly improved, there is a constant and increasing demand for it. If permitted to be equally imported into the British West India colonies it would probably find a large sale amongst the same class of persons. I have been given to understand that the best quality might be delivered there under twopence a-pound, allowing for a moderate duty:—its wholesomeness may be estimated from the fact that, during the prevalence of the cholera a few years back at the Havana, it was observed there was a much less mortality among the slaves fed upon jerk beef than on those plantations where they were kept on other diet.

With respect to the trade withChileandPeru, it is of very trifling importance, and, whenever it has been otherwise, has mainly consisted of re-exports from Buenos Ayres of surplus stocks of European goods, for the favourable sale of which there may have been an occasional opening in the ports of thePacific. There is no sale for Buenos Ayrean produce on the western coast, since the stoppage of the supply of yerba-maté, of which, in old times, an immense quantity was sent across the Andes to Chile and Peru, and paid for in the precious metals.

From 1821 to 1826 the trade between Buenos Ayres and foreign countries underwent little change, but the breaking out of the war with Brazil then interrupted it, and for nearly three years Buenos Ayres was blockaded by the naval forces of the Emperor, during which time the only foreign goods imported were by such few vessels, chiefly North American, as broke the blockade:—hardly was that war concluded, when the troops returning from the Banda Oriental, elated with their successes against the Brazilians, revolted, overturned the government, and threw the whole republic into confusion; in the long struggle to put them down which ensued, the country population, taking part, abandoned their industrious pursuits, amongst the consequences of which were a loss and destruction of property infinitely greater and more ruinous to the nation than all the waste and cost of the war with Brazil. Public confidence was shaken to its foundation, and, although it is true that, after a time, the constitutional authorities were re-established, it was at an enormous sacrifice of public and private wealth.

The commercial interests of the community were greatly depressed by these events. When the blockade of the river was raised at the close of 1828 therehad been by no means such an influx of foreign goods as might have been expected; and, when civil dissensions shortly afterwards broke out, it was evident that the mercantile houses in Buenos Ayres had suffered too severely from the consequences of the war, and the ruinous depreciation of the currency, to encourage their correspondents in Europe to recommence extensive speculations in a country which, to all appearance, was destined to be sacrificed to the passions of contending factions.

Whilst the republic was grievously suffering from these evils, the results also of the newly constituted independence of the Banda Oriental began to develop themselves in a manner very detrimental to the interests of Buenos Ayres.

So long as Monte Video was in the hands of the Portuguese, its trade was extremely insignificant; but no sooner was it freed from that yoke than the people began to turn to account their local advantages, and in a way which it soon became manifest would greatly interfere with the trade of their old metropolis. In proportion as the domestic embarrassments of Buenos Ayres increased, and led that government to raise its duties on foreign trade, so the Monte Videans lowered theirs, and offered advantages which were irresistible in the adjoining provinces, where the duties levied by Buenos Ayres on foreign goods had always been considered a grievance, and where there was no national feeling strong enough to induce the petty authorities toforego their own separate interests in order to aid in sustaining the honour and credit of the capital.

Monte Video has in consequence become a sort of entrepôt for the supply of those provinces, as well as of a portion of the neighbouring Brazilian population in the Rio Grande; and to such an extent, that the importations of foreign goods there were valued at no less than 3,000,000 in 1835, and had reached 3,500,000 hard dollars in 1836; whilst the exports were nearly equal in amount, and now constitute an important proportion of the returns in the general account of the trade with the River Plate.

The amount of the imports into the port of Buenos Ayres has been diminished in proportion. In 1837 they were barely equal to 7,000,000 hard dollars, according to the official valuation, being a falling off of nearly a third from what they were before the war with Brazil.

Back to Index Next