arates it from the Argentine Republic. Its population in 1891 was estimated at 30,309, and its area is 2,193 square miles. The surface is gently undulating and is crossed from north to south by a range of hills. The land is well watered and the soil is fertile, producing ample returns for the labor bestowed on its cultivation. Colonia del Sacramento, the capital, was founded by the Portuguese in 1680, as a military post, in assertion of their claim to the country up to the Plata, and in the changing fortunes of the strife between them and the Spaniards, passed alternately from the possession of the one to that of the other party. It was burned in 1705, taken by assault in 1762, and its fortifications razed in 1777. These were afterwards rebuilt and definitively demolished in 1859. The present population is about 3,000. Carmelo and Nueva Palmira are two other ports in this Department. The port entries of the former in 1887 were 2,175 vessels of an aggregate tonnage of 94,466, and of the latter, 2,032 vessels, of a total of 75,000 tons.

Colonia has two more towns of minor importance and several flourishing agricultural settlements, among which the most notable are the Vaudois Colony founded in 1858 and the Swiss Colony or Nueva Helvecia, founded in 1863. The Vaudois Colony consists of about 15,000 hectares, containing 2,200 inhabitants. The colony possesses 8 schools, 1 post-office, 2 churches and 1 public library.

The Swiss Colony forms, with the Quevedo and the Spanish Colonies, a district of 17,371 hectares. All these colonies have attained a reasonable degree of prosperity, which doubtless would have been much greater, but for the low price of cattle and cereals, which has retarded agricultural and pastoral development throughout the country.

The chief products are pastoral.

The other colonies are: the Cosmoplitan, the Star, the Arrúe, the Claré, the Belgrano, the Sauce, and the Riachuelo, all of

them founded in 1869, except the Cosmopolitan which dates only from 1875.

North of Canelones, between Flores and Minas, lies the Department of Florida, whose area is 4,740 square miles and population, in 1891, 29,078. It suffered severely in the civil wars from 1830 to 1867, and is still infested by lawless bands. Timber is not abundant, but water is plentiful and the pastures are rich in grass. The surface is undulating and is broken by several ranges of hills that cross it from north to south. A large tract of land, including several large estancias, was bought in 1825 at about 8 cents per acre, and now belongs to a single person. At these different estancias, 300,000 sheep are annually shorn.

The capital, Florida (or San Fernando), is situated on the Central Uruguay Railway, about 70 miles from Montevideo, near the Arroyo Pintado, which is crossed by a railroad bridge 570 feet long. It has 2,500 inhabitants, a church and schools, and is surrounded by attractive plantations and country residences. The first legislature of Uruguay assembled here in 1825. The other centers of population are small and unimportant. Among them may be named: 25 de Agosto, 25 de Mayo, La Cruz, and Sarandí. About 4,100 acres are under cultivation in the Department, and on the various estancias were owned, in 1887, 175,881 horned cattle, 1,768,037 sheep, and 14,334 horses. The value of the property in the Department in the same year was stated at 10,262,222 pesos. In 1891, 1,945 pupils received instruction in 20 public and 8 private schools, and an agricultural institution has been recently established by the Government of the Depart

ment.

The Department of Minas is situated to the east of Florida, and has an area of 4,880 square miles. Its population is 22,500, many of whom are wild and lawless. Its surface is composed of successive mountain or hill ranges, between which lie green and fertile plains. The northern portion, near the basin of the Cebol

lati, is particularly mountainous. As its name indicates, this Department is supposed to be exceedingly rich in mineral deposits, among which are gold, silver, copper, lead, iron, coal, porphyry, slate, quartz, crystal, etc. The mines worked by the Spaniards in the last century for silver proved to contain lead sulphide. The existence of coal of any value is problematical. There are, however, valuable quarries of slate, and talc, plaster, and sulphur are extracted. The formation of many of the hills is calcareous, and fine marbles and excellent limestone are obtained from them.

Minas, the chief town, was founded in 1783 by a colony of forty Spanish families. Its situation is picturesque, and it has a population of 5,000. It has a gristmill, belonging to a Frenchman, and the suburbs of the town produce annually about 200,000 bushels of grain. Certain caves near the town are worthy of the visitor's attention. One of them, the Salón, is 200 feet long by 50 high, and from it flows a clear stream to the valley below. The Pillar Cave is said by tradition to have been made in the last century by the Indians.

There are two other villages, Solis and Nico Perez, the former of which is on the road to Maldonado, and the latter on the railroad to Treinta y Tres. About 30 miles northwest of the capital, is the agricultural colony of Igualdad, the only one in the Department. In 1886, it was estimated that there were 7,500 acres of land devoted to agriculture, the greater part being in grain. The most of the land is pasture, and in 1887, there were said to be in the Department 291,646 neat cattle, 982,923 sheep, and 23,667 horses. In 1891, there were 17 public and 9 private schools in the Department, and the number of pupils was officially reported

as 1,220.

The northern central portion of the Republic is occupied by the largest of all its Departments, Tacuarembó. Its area is 8,210 square miles, and its population 22,400. It is traversed in different directions by mountain chains, and the surface is generally

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broken and the country wild, but well watered. Agriculture is hardly known, and the inhabitants devote themselves for the most part to pastoral pursuits for which the pasture lands, rich and fertile, are admirably suited. Many of the estancias belong to Brazilians, who form about 40 per cent of the land-owners in this Department. Beautiful white marble is found in some of the hill ranges, and in the eastern part, basaltic and porphyritic are abundant. In 1886, scarcely 2,000 acres of land were reported as under cultivation, and more than two-thirds of the entire surface was devoted to grazing, there being reported 677,678 neat cattle, 1,040,153 sheep, and 47,220 horses.

Tacuarembó, otherwise called San Fructuoso, the capital, is a well-built town of 3,000 inhabitants, and has a church, schools, a hotel, and enjoys considerable frontier trade. It is connected by railway with Montevideo, from which it is distant 285 miles. San Gregorio and Santa Isabel are thriving towns. The former was founded by Gen. Suarez in 1860, and is situated on the right bank of the Rio Negro. It is also a station on the Northern Extension Railway. Santa Isabel is also situated on the Rio Negro, near the Paso de Toros, where the Central Uruguay Railway has large workshops. From this point, one line of railway goes to Salto and another to Rivera. The taxable property of the Department in 1886 was given as 12,191,994 pesos, on which 2,414 proprietors paid taxes. In 1891, there were twenty-four schools reported, with an attendance of 1,556 pupils.

The Department of Rivera lies to the north of the last described, along the Brazilian frontier. It was created in 1884 by taking a portion of the Department of Tacuarembo, and has an area of 3,792 square miles, and a population estimated in 1887 at about 19,000. The surface is generally rolling, with chains of hills in the northwest and southeast. In some of these, gold-bearing quartz exists. Some years ago, a strong French company began with extensive and expensive preparations to work the gold de

posits at Cuñapirú, but with unsatisfactory results for a long time, though at present with improved means of transportation and less lavish expenditures, the prospects of the company are brighter.

In the same region, a new English company, called "The Gold Fields of Uruguay," is at work, and in 1870, produced gold to the value of $52,710,

An extension of the Central Uruguay Railway, which is now under construction, will pass through this mining region, and will doubtless aid greatly in its development. Besides gold, platinum, silver, copper, lead, iron, cobalt, and antimony are said to be found. This would seem to be an inviting field for foreign mining enterprise. Agate, marble, manganese, and opals are known to exist in this Department.

The soil is light, and the surface well watered by the abundant mountain streams. In some parts, excellent pasture lands are found. The vine and strawberry plant flourish on the uplands, and the cherry, the chestnut, the poplar, and orange tree abound. The capital, Rivera, is situated in the north, close to the frontier of Brazil, with which country it has considerable commerce. population is about 1,000.

Its

The cereals are cultivated to some extent; the raising of cattle occupies the attention of a large part of the population. The latest available statistics give to the Department 428,444 head of neat cattle, 34,719 horses, and 292,341 sheep. One thousand four hundred and seventy-six proprietors paid taxes on landed property to the value of 6,853,585 pesos. In 1891, there were officially reported nineteen public schools in the Department, with 1,125 pupils of both sexes. The abundant and diversified resources of Rivera would appear to constitute sufficient inducement for a considerable immigration.

The Department of Artigas, the most northerly situated of all, lies along the Cuareim River, which separates it from the territory of Brazil. Its area is 4,393 squares miles, and a census made in 1887 gave its population as 17,652, of whom 11,457 were