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ness, arose, as if by magic, a city of palaces, "plazas," broad avenues, and parks. The "Tribunales" at La Plata are as fine as any law courts in the southern hemisphere. There is a judgment room which they show the visitor, more like a monarch's throne room than a judiciary bench. It has a raised dais, and is gorgeously upholstered in rich crimson plush and gold, has curtains, cushions, and carpets equal to those of Windsor's state apartments. There are buildings in which are situated the Ministerio de Hacienda, the Ministerio de Gobierno, and the Ministerio de Obros Públicas, with its long marble corridors, tesselated courtyards, adorned with fountains, palms, and subtropical plants; the Hypothecary Bank and the Provincial Bank, with their lofty and spacious entrance halls, wide marble staircases, stained-glass windows and sumptuously furnished offices, which make our windowless Bank of England look like some grim and dismal old jail.

From the ships lying at anchor in the roads, from the train rushing through the camp westward and southward, from horseback on the circumjacent plains, one beholds, as darkness falls upon the earth, a sudden and brilliant illumination; it is the electric lights of the fairy city.

We shall not soon forget our own astonishment when we first beheld the lights of La Plata. We had been shooting all day in the neighborhood of Punta Lara, and were making our way, toward evening, in the direction of Pereira station on the Ensenada line. There was no moon, and almost suddenly, night overtook us; and then, more suddenly still, as we turned a bend in the road, there burst upon our astonished gaze a dazzling blaze of light, and we thought we must at least have stumbled upon fairyland. We turned our horses' heads toward the light, entered the enchanted city, stayed all night and the next day, and were never afterwards tired of visiting and studying this wonderful city, this dream of marble halls and boulevards.

Bull. 67-3

Chapter IV

TERRITORIAL GOVERNMENTS AND THE FALKLAND ISLANDS.

Concerning the development of the territories, United States Consul Baker, of Buenos Aires, says (December, 1892):

In spite of the financial condition of the country, I am able to report that the national territories-all now organized under territorial government—have, during the last year, exhibited a very marked improvement in all the elements of wealth and population. All through the vast plains of the southwest, there has been a steady movement of population. New estancias have been opened and wired; and cattle, sheep, and horses are now grazing and increasing in numbers where a year or two ago there was nothing but vacant pampa and outlying desert. The more intimately we become acquainted with the southwestern portion of the country-extending down from the Province of Mendoza, along the foothills or the Cordilleras—the fewer appear to be the obstacles in the way of its being able to support a large population and an unlimited amount of stock; and all the available lands in those regions are being rapidly taken up by hardy adventurers, many of them from the northern countries of Europe. The territories in the northern portion of the Republic also show signs of gratifying development and are moving forward to the days of better things. The great drawback in the way with all the territories is the impossibility just at present of receiving any such assistance and material aid from the General Government as their necessities require in respect to local administration and better means of intercommunication.

MISIONES.

The territorial government of Misiones is bounded on the north, east, and south by Brazil and on the west and southwest by Paraguay and the Province of Corrientes. Its area is 23,932 square

In the last century, the Jesuit

miles and its population 50,000. Fathers established in the south of Misiones many colonies, from which they derived great profits. The population of their charge was estimated to be 100,000. This part of Misiones is noted for the richness of its soil. An Italian writer, Signor Guillermo Godio, who has made a personal visit to Misiones, says:

It will be difficult for me to make my countrymen believe how exuberantly rich is the soil of Misiones, where the vines fructify twice a year, while in Italy it takes five; where I have seen mandioca of more than 3 feet in height; where sweet potatoes of more than 30 pounds' weight are grown, and where tomatoes and ajies are grown all the year round. Nobody will believe when I say the sugar cane and rice are grown without any artificial irrigation, the dew of the night sufficing for this purpose; that I have seen roots from which sprang more than thirty branches of sugar cane; that from 2 pounds of maize seed 15 arrobes (of 25 pounds each) have been produced, and that rice and maize yield two crops a year and beans and peas three.

Another writer, Señor Alejo Peyret, says:

A splendid future awaits Misiones. Most fertile soil, immense forests, numerous rivers and streams, abundant pastures in all the seasons, great yerbales, a most benign climate, absence of all epidemics, the vicinity of the people of Brazil, who would consume its products—all this leads us to say that the Argentine Republic has no other region better suited for colonization.

And Martin de Marcy, the celebrated French writer, says that "to tell the truth about Misiones is to exaggerate."

It is not strange, then, that many people have of late established agricultural colonies in Misiones, where land can be had at very low rates, and where the cultivation of sugar cane, rice, tobacco, wheat, maize, cotton, etc., gives such good results.

The capital of the territory is the city of Posados, on the banks of the Paraná River, which is navigable in all its course through Misiones. Posados has about 6,000 inhabitants, four schools, one theater, two banks, and postal and telegraph facilities, and it will soon be in railroad communication with the rest of the Republic.

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