The official returns for 1865 are— <«<Extent of concession, 6,700 acres: colonists, Swiss 20, Germans 32, French 8, Italians 5, and Belgians 6, families; in all comprising 355 persons, who occupy 232 chacra lots, and have plantations of peach, orange, plum, and fig trees. The colonists are made up of gardeners, blacksmiths, carpenters, masons, shoemakers, and small dealers. The total stock does not exceed 2,500 head. The annual crop averages 3,000 fanegas wheat, besides maize, potatoes, vegetables, cotton, and tobacco. The tobacco is superior to that of Paraguay; it gave this year a fine crop, which was readily sold at 18d. per fb, wholesale. This industry is increasing.» The American preceptor, Mr. Rau, gives the following report (1867): «It is a farming colony of about 560 persons, of whom 100 are natives, 200 European Roman Catholics, and the remaing 260 are Protestants, chiefly Europeans. A few Americans are also settled here, and arrangements are made for the settlement of many more American families. The colony is in its infancy, and most of the farmers are poor. During the last few years some of the crops have not been good, and the first houses built by the immigrants have, in very few instances, given place to better ones. «We have received from the local Government a free concession of a building lot, 200 'varas' in front, and 200 ' varas' in depth, making about eight English acres. This ground is finely situated. It is already fenced, and on it we have erected a small house, sufficient for a temporary residence for the Minister. A well has also been dug, in which abundance of good water has been found. We have a contract with a responsible party for the erection of the church, which will cost £300 sterling, and the edifice, when finished, will be occupied for a school also. The minister, being supported as such, gives his labours free as a teacher.»> The enterprise at Villa de Urquiza is one of the «misiones» under the charge of the Rev. W. Goodfellow, D.D., of this city, and from the society that he represents the colony receives help in all these projects. Besides the above colonies, General Urquiza talks of establishing another on that part of his lands lying between his palace of San José and the town of Concepcion, the settlement to be bisected by a railway, with German settlers on one side, and Irish on the other. BUENOS AYRES. The Swiss Colony of Baradero is about two miles N.W. of the port of that name on the Paraná, standing on high and uneven ground in a bend of the river bluffs, and commanding a fine prospect. The Arrecifes river, which FORTUNATE SETTLERS AT BARADERO. 31 abounds in fish, washes one side of the concession, giving water at all seasons to the cattle; as the stream is only sixty feet wide there is easy passage to a beautiful island which has excellent pastures even in the greatest drought. This island is public property, and measures ten leagues by three. In 1856 the first Swiss colonists arrived, and some of these hard-working men (according to the official report before Government) have been able to make as much as £800 to £1,000 sterling. They are intelligent gardeners, and the soil is so productive that they have raised sweet potatoes weighing as much as a pound and a-half each, while the melons, cabbages, and other vegetables are equally large, and grow in abundance. Potatoes constitute the most profitable of their crops. Some experiments in tobacco turned out so well that the growers were awarded a silver medal at the Agricultural Exhibition of Buenos Ayres in 1856. Mani and linseed have given good results, the first surprisingly so; still, the colonists find potatoes to need less care, and this is their great staple, yielding two crops a year; they also raise sweet potatoes, maize, wheat, and barley. Trees come on admirably, especially peaches, and so favored is the soil of the locality that even palm trees (which are always found in hotter latitudes) are readily acclimatized. Some of the settlers make butter and cheese, for which there is a constant market, either at Baradero or San Pedro; the latter port is six miles North of the colony. The boatmen of the coasting trade are also good customers of the colonists, buying their produce to take down to Buenos Ayres or elsewhere. The colonists know that the greater their produce the readier market they find. The Municipality of Baradero provide new comers with board and lodging till putting them in possession of their lots. Every able-bodied man receives a lot, 200 varas on each side, about eight acres in extent, on condition of ditching it round, planting a few trees, making himself a hut or «rancho,» and cultivating the ground within a year; if a settler has grown-up sons, each of them may have a similar lot, merely applying to the Municipality for same. The colony counts 873 souls. Germans, Swiss,.... French, Italians, Spaniards, Argentines, The concession may be put down at 10,000 acres, of which one-half is already allotted: there are 18 chacra lots of 12 acres, and 374 of eight acres, besides 236 garden lots of two acres each; all these are fenced in with wood and wire, and have a ditch. The price is 800 paper dollars per cuadra (30s. per acre), or the rent $90 (15s.) per chacra lot of eight acres, per annum.. The colony has a school, 36 azotea houses, and 285 thatched ranchos; the plantations comprise 63,300 fruit-trees. There are 2 mills, 6 dairies, 3 masons, 3 carpenters, 2 blacksmiths. 17 do. .... Eggs, 50 tons. 30 do. 50 cwt. 75 do. 19,500 doz. .... Sweet potatoes, The farming-stock comprises-750 cows, 9,000 sheep, 100 swine, 1,050 horses, 2,990 hens. The practical proof of the success of this colony is given in a personal detail of the present condition of many of its members. Some of these poor, but persevering people, on their arrival had a little money, which they invested in cows, horses, bullocks, and fowl. For the first year, they lived in miserable mud ranchos, earning a subsistence by selling eggs and butter, and often having no meat to eat but biscacha flesh. The earliest comers were French-Swiss; but the greater number of those who arrived from 1858 to 1861 were German-Swiss. Out of the list of those given by Señor Piñero-to the number of 14-we select a few examples: John Tenoud, French-Swiss, a farmer in his native land, of the Roman Catholic religion, and 49 years of age on his arrival here, with eleven in family, possesses now a capital of 300,000 paper dollars, the greater part of which is put to interest or laid out in sheep. James Cardineaux, French-Swiss, Roman Catholic, farmer in his own country, 30 years of age on his arrival, with a family of six persons, has now a capital, of 150,000 paper dollars placed at interest and invested in sheep. Amongst the second lot of eight families came Claudio Jamer, a Frenchman, who had kept a small wine and flour store in France, 45 years old on his arrival, with one grown-up son, holds to-day a mill, worked by mules, in which he has invested 43,000 paper dollars, and is finishing the erection of a wind-mill, brought by himself during the past year from France. This mill cost 25,000 paper dollars; he has two plots of farmground; a house with one room of azotea roof, and two of straw. He is not in possession of money, but is entirely free from debt. THE SWISS AT BARADERO. 33 Here comes a list of German-Swiss, many of whom were obliged to hire themselves out as labourers on their arrival. But see what German perseverance does: John Schar, a German-Swiss, a brickmaker in his own country, a Protestant, 37 years of age, self and wife being his only family, exhausted his funds on reaching here, as did all hereafter mentioned, has now a capital of 100,000 paper dollars; one half lent out at interest, and the other half in the house, or invested in draught cattle. Felix Schaer, a German Swiss, day labourer in his own country, a Protestant, 28 years of age on his arrival, with four in family, has now a capital of 100,000 paper dollars; two-thirds at interest, and the remainder invested in implements and cattle. Nicholas Hequi, German-Swiss, a butcher in his country, a Protestant, 38 years old on his arrival, his wife and himself constituting his whole family, is actually in possession of 60,000 paper dollars, part of which is at interest, and the rest invested in an azotea house, labourers' tools, and cattle. The names of Andrew Schaes, a boy only 19 years old on his arrival, and now possessed of 20,000 paper dollars and a house; of Fernando Schachbaum with 40,000 paper dollars; of Alexander Homber with 30,000; and José Matting 50,000, further prove what can be done by agriculturists in the Argentine Republic. The Municipality of San Pedro (3 leagues above Baradero) offer 30 chacra lots of 6 cuadras (25 acres each) for immigrants, on the following terms. The lots will be either sold at $800 per cuadra (30s. per acre), or rented at $100 or 16s. The tenant or purchaser must pay for survey, &c., the sum of $150 (24s.) There is also a suitable tract of land, 13,000 varas by 4,300, comprising about 10,000 acres, which may be bought in lots from the owner (a private party) for chacra cultivation. CHAP. V. COLONIZATION OF THE CHACO. THE Gran Chaco comprises an immense territory, for the most part unexplored, lying between Paraguay, La Plata, and Bolivia. The Argentine Republic claims all that part bounded on the North by the Rio Vermejo and on the S.W. by the Salado, comprising a superficies of 250,000 square miles. The soil and climate are equal to those of the most favored countries, and the natural features are, vast plains of luxuriant pasture, thick forests of various useful timbers, and numerous rivers and lagoons: with such facilities for irrigation, it would be easy to raise any quantity of maize, cotton, tobacco, sugar-cane, and rice. In the beginning of the 18th century, thanks to the efforts of the Jesuit missionaries, several flourishing settlements were springing up, whose ruined remains are still seen near San Javier, the Vermejo, and elsewhere; but at present the interior of the Chaco is entirely abandoned to roving Indians and beasts of prey. After the expulsion of the Jesuits (1767) the Indians returned to a savage life, and so late as 1860 the Tobas tribe murdered some Italian Franciscan missionaries sent to convert them. Only five small «reductions»> of tame Indians still remain, according to the report of Padre Rossi, prefect of missions; viz.— |