Government, or private land owners, in portions of 82% acres, to be paid for in three years, at a price that varies from $600 to $2,000, according to the location. There are many more colonies established entirely by individual efforts; these colonies covered an area, in 1891, of over 2,965,200 acres.

The greater portion of the land is used for the cultivation of wheat and maize, while lucerne, limes, peanuts, etc., come next.

In 1891, the various colonies in the Province had under cultivation: wheat, 1,320,000 acres; maize, 150,000; linseed, 55,000; lucerne, 52,000; sugar cane, 21,000; sundry crops, 152,000; besides 5,250,000 acres under pasture. During the same year, eight new flouring mills were erected in the Province.

In 1888, there were in Santa Fé 2,300,000 cattle, 530,000 horses and 2,900,000 sheep. A census taken the same year showed that in all the Province there were 3,328 business houses and 1,734

industrial establishments.

The capital of the Province is the city of Santa Fé, situated on the banks of the river of the same name, which is a branch of the Paraná. Its population is about 20,000. It has one normal school, two large Catholic schools, and quite a number of elementary schools.

The principal city of the Province is the port of Rosario, on the Paraná River. Its population is now nearly 100,000. Being in fluvial and railroad communication with all the Republic, many of the products exported from, and imported into, the Provinces situated to the north of Buenos Aires are exported and imported by way of Rosario, which is easily reached by all seagoing ships, the Paraná River being navigable for them. Rosario is a city which has all the modern improvements, and the aggregate capital of its banks amounts to $8,000,000.

CORRIENTES.

The Province of Corrientes is situated in the northeast of the Republic. It is bounded on the north by Paraguay, on the east

by the territory of Missiones and the Republic of Uruguay, on the south by Entre Rios, and on the west by Santa Fé. Its area is 54,000 square miles and its population 300,000. Corrientes abounds in lakes and streams that make its soil especially adapted to agricultural and grazing purposes. Among other products, sugar cane, cotton, tobacco, wheat, and maize are extensively cultivated. Corrientes is also very rich in hard woods, of which it has immense forests.

In 1891, the total value of the cattle and horses of the Province amounted to $15,000,000. Its agricultural products in 1891 amounted to $1,100,000 and its pastoral productions to $6,700,000.

The capital is the city of Corrientes, situated on the left bank of the Paraná River, at a distance of 40 kilometers from the confluence of the Paraná and Paraguay rivers. It is a port of considerable activity in traffic. As far back as the year 1886, 7,229 steam and sailing vessels, with 666,712 tons of cargo, entered and cleared the port of Corrientes. In 1887, its population was 20,000. The city has one national college, one normal school, and a number of elementary schools. In the neighborhood of the city several private shipyards exist, in which sailing ships are built of wood brought from El Chaco. These ships are known to last many years on account of the great resistance of the wood employed in their construction.

ENTRE RIOS.

The Province of Entre Rios is bounded on the north by Corrientes, on the east by Uruguay, on the south by Buenos Aires, and on the west by Santa Fé, which it resembles in many respects. Its area is 45,000 square miles and its population 300,000. This Province has of late made great progress in agriculture, which is especially favored by the government of the Province, which sells land to settlers on the same plan adopted in Santa Fé. In 1880, there were 32 agricultural colonies-a number that in 1885 had increased to 54 and in 1891 to 122. While the cultivated area in

1887 was only 248,411 acres, in 1891 it had increased to 855,000

acres.

It is claimed that the wheat of Entre Rios is the best in the world. This explains that while in 1887 there were only cultivated 166,348 acres of wheat, the number in 1891 had increased to 513,968. In 1891, there were also under cultivation 168,028 acres of maize, 85,960 of lucerne, 10,000 of barley, 9,800 of flax, 7,350 of grapes, 825 of tobacco, 6,630 of peanuts, 11,703 of fruit trees, and 49,420 of miscellaneous products.

In 1890, there were in Entre Rios 4,100,000 cattle, 4,900,000 sheep, and 720,000 horses. In the same year, about 400,000 cattle were slaughtered in the nineteen saladeros of the Province.

The capital is the city of Paraná, which was the capital of the Republic from 1852 to 1861. Its population is 20,000. All the ships that ply on the Paraná River stop at the city of Paraná. It has one national college, one normal school, and a number of elementary schools.

BUENOS AIRES.

The Province of Buenos Aires, the most important of all, is bounded on the north by Entre Rios, Santa Fé, and Cordoba, on the east by the Atlantic Ocean, on the south by the territory of La Pampa and the Province of Cordoba. Its area is 63,000 square miles and its population 1,500,000.

With the exception of a few hills in the southern part of the Province, it presents the aspect of a general plain, with many small

lakes, crossed and recrossed with streams that constitute a natural system of irrigation. Its soil is principally adapted to grazing purposes, although of late, agriculture has also made great progress. In 1891, there were in the province 70,000,000 sheep; the cattle numbered 9,600,000, valued at $50,000,000; and the horses 1,860,000, valued at $10,000,000, the value of all amounting to $135,000,000.

Without counting the city of La Plata, capital of the Province,

the value of the pastoral and agricultural industries in 1891 was estimated to be $341,000,000. In 1886, the value of the land, sheep, cattle, and horses of the Province of Buenos Aires, exception being made of La Plata, amounted to about $700,000,000. The cultivated area, in 1891, was 3,420,000 acres. It was distributed as follows: Maize, 1,610,000 acres; wheat, 1,160,000; linseed, 100,000; lucerne, 200,000; barley, 40,000; potatoes, 60,000. The total value of the crop of 1891 was $33,000,000.

A great quantity of maize is employed by the different distilleries established in the Province, a fact which contributed to make the crop too small for the internal needs of the province. The rapid increase of the cultivated area has, of late, remedied this evil, permitting wheat, maize, and other cereals to be exported from Buenos Aires as well as from other Provinces.

In 1885, the nineteen saladeros then in existence slaughtered 243,375 head of cattle, 200,000 horses, and 200,000 sheep.

Among the principal towns of the Province of Buenos Aires, can be counted the following: Azul, in the south, with about 10,000 inhabitants; the port of Bahia Blanca, with 10,000; Barracas al Sud, alongside of the city of Buenos Aires, from which it is separated by the Riachuelo, 10,000; Charconnés, on the banks of the lake of the same name, 6,000; Chivilcoy, in the southwest, 12,000; Dolores, in the south, 10,000; Mar del Plata, in the south, the best seaside resort of the Republic, with 3,000 permanent inhabitants, at least 10,000 more taking the baths in the summer; Salto, in the northwest, 6,000; San Fernando, a summer resort in the north of Buenos Aires, 5,000 permanent inhabitants; San Nicolas, in the northwest, 15,000; Tandil, in the south, 8,000, and many others of less importance.

The corner stone of La Plata, the capital of the Province of Buenos Aires, was laid on the 19th of November, 1882, in a barren waste situated in the southeastern part of the province, at a distance of 50 kilometers from the city of Buenos Aires, and 8 kilometers

from the village of Ensenada, on the Atlantic. The port of La Plata has been built in Ensenada, and is in communication with the city by means of a railroad and a canal, navigable by seagoing ships.

An idea of the wonderful growth of La Plata can be gathered from the fact that, in less than three years from the date of its foundation, its population reached 30,000, and there were, besides the public buildings, of which mention will be made later, 3,000 brick and stone houses built, and 631 in the course of construction.

The value of real estate subject to taxation was then estimated to be $20,000,000. The public buildings alone, however, have cost about $40,000,000.

The city is divided into blocks of 120 meters on each side that are separated from each other by diagonal avenues 30 meters wide, or streets 18 meters wide. It is laid out on the same plan as that of Washington, D. C. Besides the ventilation afforded by its wide avenues and streets, the city has twenty-three public

squares.

Among the prominent public buildings, the following deserve especial mention: The government house; the treasury department; the capitol; the municipal building or city hall; the police department; the Provincial Bank; the Hypothecary Provincial Bank; the bourse; the department of engineers; the department of justice; the museum and public library; the astronomical observatory; the Great Central Railroad station, which connects La Plata with the rest of the Republic; the arch of entry into the park of Buenos Aires; three very handsome churches, two theaters, the race course, etc.

The actual population of La Plata is over 70,000. An Englishman writing of La Plata, says:

Nothing in the history of Argentina is more remarkable than the creation of this city. * * * In the short space of two years, in a track of the wilder