kind of commercial information for the city is here procured, a slate is kept with daily maritime lists, and letters from Montevideo and elsewhere will be found with last trade reports, on the reading room table. The subscription is $200 per quarter, but ship-masters, supercargoes, pilots, naval officers, and several local authorities are admitted gratis. Visitors' tickets may also be obtained. The entrance to the Rooms is in Calle Mayo, and there is a staircase leading out on the beach. Mr. Maxwell is the best authority in town on industrial statistics.

The South American Steam Navigation Company, 361 Calle Cuyo, has steamboat lines on all the rivers, Mr. William Matti being the principal shareholder the capital is 300,000 hard dollars, in shares of $1,000 each, all paid up. The line is well managed, the steamers are commodious, and the last dividend was 15 per cent. There are six steamers weekly to Rosario, two to Corrientes and Paraguay, three to Paraná, four to San Nicolas, one to Zarate and San Pedro, one to Gualeguay, two up the river Uruguay, and two to Montevideo.

The Rio de la Plata Steam Company, founded in 1866 by Don Juan José Mendez and others, despatches a vessel to Paraguay, Corrientes, and intermediate ports. The Estrella Steamboat Company, founded by Captain Davies, plies to Rosario and the smaller ports.

There are in Buenos Ayres several other insurance and steamboat companies of which we have no particulars. There are also agencies for Chilian and English life assurance companies, and branch-banks of establishments that will come to be mentioned in treating of the Provinces. The agencies of the English and French steamboat lines cannot be included in this chapter of local institutions.

There are various associations of a mutual and friendly character, such as the Typographic Society the Spanish Mutual Aid Association, the Cricket Club, the Oddfellows, the British Clerks, the Philharmonic Society, the Masonic Fraternity, the Athletic Club, the Jockey Club, the Italian Benevolent Society, the St. Vincent de Paul Confraternity, &c.

The British Clerks' Provident Association was founded by Mr. F. M. Wells and other mercantile gentlemen on September 1st, 1861. Although limited in number it has been successful in a monetary sense, the annual dividends ranging from 12 to 18 per cent. In March 1868 there were twenty-nine members, holding 218 shares, which amounted to $5,263 s., and $176,343 paper, or an aggregate of £2,400 sterling. The society meets at the British Library. Each share represents a subscription of $2 silver, or $50m; the association is of especial benefit in giving habits of economy to younger clerks.

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The Typographic Society provides a sick and burial fund for printers; the Spanish and Italian societies support their sick or distressed countrymen; the Philharmonic Club gives concerts at the Coliseum: the Vincent de Paul Society visits and relieves the poor and sick throughout the city.

The Oddfellows Society numbers about seventy members, and is of a mutual aid character: the lodge room is situate at No. 96 Independencia. The members have an annual dinner in the month of March.

The Cricket and Athletic Clubs have their grounds at Palermo, where matches and meetings come off at certain periods. A stand-house and tent have been erected, and the festivities are sometimes attended by as many as 5,000 ladies and gentlemen, mostly foreign residents.

The Freemason Lodges are very numerous, comprising Argentine, English, French and Italian circles. The English lodge gives its annual dinner on June 24th at the Provence Hotel. In the Museum is preserved a diploma of a Dublin lodge, called after St. Patrick, and bearing date as far back as the last century. President Sarmiento, General Mitre, and General Urquiza are free-masons.

The Jockey Club, founded in 1868, for the purpose of promoting in this country horse-racing, meets at present in the rooms of the Sociedad Rural, and numbers sixty members. Members of the club only are allowed. to enter and ride horses. The committee is as follows:-Honorary President and Vice-President, their Excellencies President Sarmiento and Vice-President Alsina; Chairman, Don Carlos Casares; Vice-Chairman, H. Tomkinson, Esq.; Secretary, G. P. Craufurd, Esq.; Treasurer, F. Plowes, Esq.; W. Welchman, Esq., Dr. B. Irigoyen, Don H. F. Varela, Don A. C. Cambaceres, Don E. Oldendorff. The first meeting was held at Randall's, near the Jeppener Station of the Southern Railway, on the 8th and 9th of September, 1868. The Provincial Government gave a prize silver cup, value $5,000, which was won by H. Tomkinson, Esq., with Gauchito beating Old Warden and Cochin China, belonging respectively to W. Welchman, Esq., and W. M'Clymont, Esq. It is intended to hold for the present two meetings annually in Belgrano, one in the autumn. and another in the spring. But as soon as the funds of the Club will permit the necessary outlay, a piece of ground will be purchased in one of the suburbs of the city with the intention of forming a race-course with grand stand and pleasure grounds for the use of the members and their families.

THE SUBURBS.

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CHAP. VIII.

THE

SUBURBS.

THERE are three principal suburbs, viz., Belgrano, Flores, and Barracas : the first two are fashionable outlets much frequented in the summer months; the last-named is an industrial entrepot situated on the Riachuelo. All three are connected by rail with the city, and boast numerous beautiful quintas.

BELGRANO.

This charming town is two leagues distant from the city by the Northern Railway, and has become in a few years one of the prettiest places in the River Plate. It was founded in 1854 by Don Santiago Tobal, during the administration of Governor Alsina, and called after a distinguished Argentine General who fought in the War of Independence. The situation is pleasant, on a high ground about a mile from the river; the number of quintas belonging to the leading families of the city is very considerable, those of Messrs. Alsina, Amorins, Guerin, Matti, Plowes, Esteves Segui, Arriola, Agrelo, Bosch, Berger, Calvo, Costa, Demot, Antigues, Arzeno, Androguez, Elias, Fusoni, Gowland, Francischelli, Hartenfels, Iturraspe, Miró, Newton, Oliver, Pelvilain, Piaggio, Ravier, Solanet, Saavedra, Haycroft, Llambi, Benn, James Brown, Wells, Rossi, Lamas, &c., being among the most remarkable. On the hill overlooking the railway is a tasteful little chapel, in front of which are some venerable

Ombúes. This chapel has become too small for the congregation, and a large church is being erected in the Plaza. On the east side of the Plaza is the public school, built in the Grecian style. At the next corner is the Juzgado. No one is allowed to gallop through the streets of the town. At the west end is the race-course, where the foreign and Argentine racing clubs hold their meetings periodically: there is a fine stand house, and the course is nine furlongs round; the meetings are always attended by all the wealth and fashion of Buenos Ayres. The Rev. Mr. Goodfellow has an English school in the town, for which the Provincial Government allows a monthly subsidy of $2,000; it was founded in August 1867, and is under the charge of Mr. John T. Thompson: the system of instruction is that of the United States' schools, and comprises the elements of a commercial education, science, modern languages, Greek and Latin; this school is very useful in the summer months, when so many foreign families come here for the season. In winter Belgrano is all but deserted, but at the approach of the hot season, in November, the most extravagant rents are demanded; houses which may be bought for £1,000, commonly fetch £200 or £300 for the summer months. Watson's hotel, close to the railway station, is a first-rate English house, good wines and cookery, and everything very neat. On Sunday mornings parties often come out for breakfast; the garden attached to the hotel covers several acres. Adjoining the station is a croquet ground or promenade; a band plays here every Sunday evening. A tramway is projected to connect Belgrano with the city, running along the barranca; this would give a cheaper mode of transit than the present railway charge. In summer there are twelve trains daily to and from Belgrano. The partido of Belgrano comprehends a number of chacras or farms; in some we see wheat and vegetables cultivated on a large scale; in others there are fine breeds of horses and cattle. This district was formerly included in the partido of San Isidro, but it now has a distinct Municipality, Justice of Peace, and Curate, whose jurisdiction extends half way to the city, and includes Palermo, once the residence of Rosas. From a statistical report in 1867 we take the following figures:--Belgrano has 63 chacras with an aggregate of 2,000 acres, 230 azotea houses, 150 do. with straw roof, four draperies and eighteen grocery stores; the farming stock is not numerous, comprising only 1,400 horned cattle, 1.420 horses, 200 sheep, and 300 swine; the population is set down at 2,946, National Guards 280, Alcaldes and police 37; the Municipality is composed of six members. According to the educational returns we find the State school is attended by 78 boys and 89 girls, showing an increase of nearly double the returns of 1864.

This place was the residence of Rosas, once surrounded with beautiful gardens and plantations, but now it is a miserable ruin, the palace falling to decay, the fences destroyed, the timber cut down, and the whole place a scene of desolation. During many years Rosas devoted much attention to the grounds, with the view of making Palermo the finest residence in South America: he had a number of men provided with tooth-brushes employed in keeping the trees free of insects, and the gardens contained the choicest fruits and flowers. Shady avenues led down to the water's side; nothing was spared that taste and wealth could devise; the palace itself was a handsome Moorish structure, with colonnade on all sides; the apartments were large, lofty, and richly decorated. Here the tyrant held his court for many years, till the battle of Caseros, 3rd February, 1852, resulted in his overthrow. General Urquiza established his headquarters in Palermo on the following day. In 1856 Señor Posadas got up an Agricultural Exhibition here, but the hatred to the name of Rosas seems to have prevented any efforts towards keeping the place from ruin. So late as 1859 the principal avenue, with its lofty rows of trees, was intact. In 1862 Mr. Paris proposed to make Elysean Gardens here, but the project fell· through. It was, however, still the favorite resort of the wealth and fashion of Buenos Ayres on summer evenings, when the Palermo road was always thronged with horsemen and gay equipages. Subsequently the Municipality of Belgrano sold some of the timber for firewood, and the work of destruction was actively begun: the palace was next let out for a boarding-school-Escuela de Artes-the proprietor of which built up the beautiful colonnades with unsightly bricks (not even plastered), and left the place an ugly wreck, fit only for owls to make their abode in. It is painful to walk through the ruined halls: the library, parlor, and dining-room may still be traced, and the ball-room (100 feet by 20 feet) forms one side. of the quadrangle. The azotea has a view of the city and roadstead. The only plantation remaining is on the river's side: here duels are sometimes. fought. The Northern Railway runs through the park, and near the station is the English Cricket ground: a little further is the new powder mill of Messrs. Liesenberg & Co., a wing cf which blew up in 1867; it is now working well.

The road from Palermo to town was the only decent highway in the country till very recently, but now it is as bad as the rest, and the neat iron fences are all broken down. Messrs. Lezica & Co. have started a «graseria» for melting down sheep, near the Rifleros, which will be most