rendezvous of all English estancieros. Some pleasant excursions may be made to the neighboring estancias of Col. Mundell, Plowes, Hughes, Green, and Bell, to the saladero at Arroyo Negro, to Messrs. Paris and Sloper's beef-packing establishment, to William's saladero, and by boat to the Swiss colony across the Uruguay.

From Paysandú to Salto is the finest part of the river: the scenery is varied and beautiful. A league above the town is Mr. William's saladero, where they tried «the Morgan system,» in 1866, with beef and mutton. At the Hervidero we pass a large establishment belonging to Mr. Richard Hughes, with the Union Jack flying from the battlements: it is a two-story house built over twenty years ago by a Company, of which Mr. Lafone formed part, and had a saladero, now in ruins, and an estancia with over 100,000 cows and sheep. The Mesa de Artigas is a bold headland just over the river. Here General Artigas encamped his army in the War of Independence, and traditión says he threw his Spanish prisoners hence, sewed up in hides, into the river. After passing the estancia Delicias and other valuable establishments belonging to foreigners, we reach the dangerous pass of Corralitos. This reef or archipelago of rocks has but one narrow and tortuous channel, and is impassable by night. Sailing vessels cannot pass but with the most favorable wind, and we see coasting craft at anchor in front of the old port of Concordia, which is nearly a league below that town. In high water the Corralitos are covered, but often the river is so low that the buoys are high and dry. You cannot see Concordia from here, but there is a «casilla» at the new port, and coaches are in waiting to convey passengers to the town. We have now a fine view of Salto at the head of the river, about three miles above, covering three or four hills, with large white edifices, and apparently a town of great extent.

Salto (Hotel Concordia) is 110 leagues from Buenos Ayres: it is a very flourishing place, with 9,000 inhabitants, one half of whom are Italians.

The town has a bustling aspect, new buildings going up on all sides. The view is very picturesque in every direction. The city stretches out much to the north, the new town laid out by Mr. Coleman being already thickly settled. The situation is charming, the Uruguay bathing the declivities of the 'cuchillas' which run down in almost parallel lines, the white buildings studding the hill-sides, and clumps of brushwood fringing the outskirts. It is the headquarters of all frontier traffic to Rio Grande and Corrientes, and the Brazilian Government is in treaty with a London firm for a railway to Uruguayana and San Borja. The Salto Chico is about a mile above the town, and sometimes quite dry: the Salto Grande

higher up is a barrier to navigation in almost all periods. On the east side of the Plaza is the church, an unpretending structure with two towers, one of which has a town-clock (the weights are of sand): inside, it is quite bare, and can hardly hold 800 persons. Next door is the Curia, a fine house with ornamental front. On the south side stands the Comandancia, imitation of Grecian architecture, and a few yards off is the Imprenta, from which issues, twice a week, the Eco de los Libres. Some of the public works are a decided failure, viz., the wharf of granite which has already cost 60,000 hard dollars, and can never be of use except in extraordinary high tides, whereas an iron mole might have been run out into the river at a cost of 40,000. A little below the town is a tan yard, and further down was the Brazilian encampment in 1865. Salto is reputed a very healthy place, the only epidemic ever known being small-pox. The water here, as in all other parts of the Uruguay, has a mellifluous taste. Mr. Richard Williams, one of the oldest British residents in the River Plate, has a handsome residence, commanding a view of the Uruguay, and Concordia on the opposite bank. He has a fine collection of pebbles and crystallizations these stones come from the Cerro de Catalanes near the river Cuareim, where agate is found in abundance, and some collections have been sent to England, and appreciated by lapidaries: A German explorer with a number of workmen collected quite a cargo, but died when about to return to Europe. There are not many English estancias, excepting those of Mr. Williams, near Salto.

In times of very high water, a steamer (drawing three feet) goes up the falls to Uruguayana: the distance is about 150 miles, and the scenery well repays the journey.

After passing the falls we coast alternately the shores of Entre Rios and Banda Oriental, on both of which there are many large cattle estancias. Some leagues above Concordia is the Arroyo Yuqueri, where Gen. Mitre established his headquarters when the Paraguayan war first broke out. A range of hills called Puntas de Mandisobi, twelve leagues from Concordia, was subsequently Gen. Flores's rendezvous before the battle of Yatay. Not far hence is the village of Federacion, and nearly opposite, in Banda Oriental, is another, called Constitucion.

A stream debouching on our left, called the Mocoreta, is the frontier line between Entre Rios and Corrientes; and ten leagues higher, on the right, we come to Santa Rosa, at the frontier of the Brazilian province of Rio Grande: this place is thirty leagues above Salto, and has vis-a-vis the Correntino village of Monte-Caseros.

Twenty leagues further is the important town of Uruguayana, at a pass

of the river, called Paso de los Libres. A line of diligences formerly ran from this place to Concordia, and another on the Brazilian side, from Uruguayana to Salto. At present railways are projected, one on each side of the river, as the falls at Salto are a bar to all commerce by water. Uruguayana was founded in 1843, and was a thriving frontier town previous to the war; it had about 10,000 inhabitants: it was the centre of the trade of this part of Rio Grande. In 1865 the Paraguayans took it and held it for some time, till the allied generals closely invested the place, and the Paraguayan commander surrendered to Dom Pedro in person. The town was found to be in a dreadful condition; but it is now fast recovering its prosperity. The Uruguay is here half-a-mile across.

Twenty leagues higher up is the Correntino village of La Cruz, and two leagues further, on the Brazilian shore, stands the town of Itaqui, which was also taken by the Paraguayans in their descent on Rio Grande. A battle occurred near a rapid river above the town, in which the Brazilians were worsted, obliging them to abandon Itaqui.

Twenty-five leagues further on, are the towns of Santo Tomé and San Borja. The former is in Lat. 28.20, and Long. 58.10.: it is the chief town of the Misiones of Aguapey (Corrientes). Exactly opposite is San Borja (Rio Grande): the country around is rich and populous. The distance across Misiones, to Itapua on the Upper Paraná, is 38 leagues.

We have now ascended 100 leagues from Salto, and the traveller may still continue his explorations in Misiones. The return voyage from San Borja to Salto will occupy a day and a-half.

If we cross the Uruguay river below the falls from the eastern to the western side, we shall find Concordia, an Argentine city of the province of Entre Rios, and nearly opposite Salto. The present war, during the months when Concordia was the headquarters of the army, added greatly to the business and wealth of the city. There is at Concordia one saladero which uses about 50,000 animals in the 'faena' (cattle and horses). This is the property of A. Benites and Co.: the city counts about 5,000 inhabitants, and is a place of considerable business. Rents and wages are high, and good houses are not easily found to rent.

Colonia de San José, twenty-four leagues below Concordia, is a colony of Swiss and German immigrants, numbering about 2,500 persons. The town itself is only the few houses needed at the landing, for the people are agriculturists, raising wheat, maize, potatoes, &c.

Concepcion del Uruguay, nine leagues lower down the river, is at present the capital of the province of Entre Rios. The anchorage of steamers is near the shore, but the landing is so far away from the city as

THE SALADO AND VERMEJO.

93

to leave but little opportunity to see the town from the steamer. There are said to be 5,000 inhabitants. The princely residence of General Urquiza is seven leagues distant, at San José. At Concepcion are two saladeros, but there are no manufactories.

The possessions of General Urquiza are immense. One-third part of the land of the province is called his. From the River Gualeguaychú to Victoria, eighty leagues, you may not go off the lands of the Captain General. The annual product from so much land, stocked with cattle, horses, and sheep, must be very great.

THE SALADO AND VERMEJO.

These two rivers belong to the Gran Chaco territory, and are generally considered navigable, although many obstacles have been met with in the expeditions sent for their exploration.

The Rio Salado rises in the upper provinces, passes through Santiago del Estero, and falls into the Paraná just above Santa Fé city. A Spanish gentleman named Esteban Rams Rupert devoted many years and a large amount of money to the scheme of canalising this river. His first expedition was at the close of 1862, and he narrates it in these words

<<We left the Colony of Esperanza on the 31st December, in the direction of Concepcion del Tio, in the Province of Cordova: from this point we followed the road called De las Tropas, due north, until arriving at the town of Salavina, in Santiago. Then, striking out east, we reached Fort Bracho, on the banks of the Salado, on the 19th January. The engineer at once began his survey of the river, from Navicha to the Boca de Matară, which, along with the marshes, covers a superficies fifteen leagues in length by three or four in breadth. This is the only part of the river requiring heavy works to make the navigation clear, to Sepulturas. The engineer's reports, confirming and amplifying previous ones, are already nearly complete. The annual rise this time came as high as the Boca de Matará, on the night of the 30th December, and when I arrived at Matará, on the 23rd January, I found the river in front of this place fifteen feet deep for a width of eighty-two feet. I left a meter there, in charge of the commander, and on my return on the 4th of February found that the water had, in the interval, suffered a maximum rise of four inches, and fall of four and a-half inches, making thus a difference of half an inch in twelve days, and its actual depth being fifteen feet and nine inches. This shows there is plenty of water to navigate the Salado, the sole difficulty being to run a canal from Boca de Matará to Navicha, a distance of fifteen leagues, as there is not the least obstacle between Navicha and Santa Fé. The

levels taken prove the possibility, nay, the facility, of avoiding the marshes, and conveying the whole current down to Navicha.»>

Baron Mauá provided funds, pending the formation of a company in England, and Mr. W. H. Cock began the works in 1863. The Baron, however, found it impossible to get up the company, owing to the Flores revolution of April 1864, and, after a year (December 1864), Mr. Cock received orders to suspend operations: his report on the works is as follows:

<<The Cauce Viejo (old bed), whose course was hardly known before my arrival here, owing to its frequent windings through impenetrable thickets, is now quite cleared of trees from Bracho Viejo (La Fragua) as far as two leagues beyond Navicha, a distance of fifteen leagues, now rendered quite navigable, all the old roots and trees being completely removed. The rest only requires a few workmen, for a couple of months, to render it fit for navigation, by burning the trunks and boughs felled on the banks, which are now so dry as easily to ignite. Beyond Navicha (except two leagues, which I have already said are clear) there is little wanting to be done, and with the staff of navvies under my orders I could have finished it by the end of February-so that the Rio Salado would have possessed a continuous canal free from all obstacles, and requiring no further works, to permit the passage of a small steamer as high up as Bracho Viejo. A little canal, eighteen feet wide (six and a-half varas) has also been opened from the Lagunas del Bracho to the bed of the river, with the view of giving the river an additional flow of water, and draining the marshes so as to be enabled to commence the canalization works across the Estero del Bracho some months earlier than usual. During my stay in this place I have devoted all my attention to a careful study of the various projects feasible for making a canal through the Estero del Bracho to the Boca de Matará : my assistant Mr. Charles Albeck has also been busy in taking levels and drawing plans for the same purpose. I now possess all the necessary data for this important section of the works, so as on finishing the plans, to be able to point out the best and most economical route for the canal. »>

But Mr. Rams never despaired: he contrived to carry on the work in a small way, and in July 1865 he obtained from Congress a renewal of his concession, for three years longer, to date from December 31, 1866. The Government was to establish a port at any suitable point between Navicha and Bracho, guaranteeing Rams nine per cent. on the outlay of the enterprise, and allowing him an exemption from half-export duties during thirty years.

In March 1866 he obtained a concession from the Santa Fé Government,