AMONG THE HILLS OF CORDOBA
No one knows any good purpose that the locust serves unless a chastening against pride and vain glory. They are relished by the ostriches and poultry, who devour them greedily. Chickens will enjoy a hearty meal upon them, but the result is that the eggs are ruined for edible purposes. The interior becomes dark, almost a wine colour, and they are given a fishy flavour, which is altogether unpalatable. Thus the malice of the locust towards man holds fast even in death, and makes him useless as food for the fowls which frequent every barn-yard. It is little wonder that the far-reaching cry comes up from Argentina for help and deliverance from this awful pest.
Adjoining Santa Fé on the west is the still larger province of Cordoba. The eastern part of this province is level, but the surface begins to rise and is broken here and there by ridges and hills. During the summer season many seek the hills of Cordoba to escape the heat of the summer. There is a fine train service from Buenos Aires to Cordoba. This city is about two hundred and forty-six miles beyond Rosario. The Central Argentine runs through trains and makes the trip in about sixteen hours. The railway reaches the hills quite a while before the city of Cordoba is sighted, and there are a couple of little branches that run to Alta Gracia and Rio Segundo respectively, each of which boasts a summer colony. The former is quite noted as a health resort.
The city of Cordoba is the capital of the province of the same name, and one of the most important commercial towns of the republic. It is situated at an elevation of fourteen hundred feet and has a population of almost fifty thousand. It lies in a hollow, and can hardly be seen by the incoming traveller until almost upon the town itself. The woods and hills, with the Rio Primero (first river), in the foreground, make a very pretty picture. Cordoba has always been noted for its university, which was granting learned degrees long before our own universities were even thought of; and it has been granting them continuously ever since. It is also a strong centre of Catholicism, and has more priests in proportion to the population than any other city of Argentina. The public buildings are all very creditable, of which the University, Cathedral, National College, Normal School and government buildings are the principal. There is quite a noted observatory located on a nearby height, which is under the control of the national government. Its first director was a North American. The work accomplished by this observatory has received high praise from both Europe and America, and has aided much in the work of studying the southern heavens. There are several pretty squares and promenades. The many hotels are filled with a well dressed crowd of people in summer, and much of the fashion of the capital is transferred to this place for a few weeks.
From Cordoba the Cordoba Central Railway conveys the traveller through a not very thickly settled country and across some salty marshes to the fair city of Tucuman, which is situated in what is called the garden spot of the republic. This city is about the same elevation and has about the same temperature as Cordoba. “Have you seen Tucuman?” is a question usually asked of the foreigner, for the Argentinians look upon this city and district with a pardonable pride. Here is the effusive description of a native writer, who becomes poetic in dwelling upon the beauties of this favoured city.
“O Tucuman! thou the most beautiful among thy sisters, all hail to thee! Whether I contemplate the level plain or lift up my eyes to the lofty mountains encircling thee on the side of the Circola Massimo or the Occaso, my soul is thrilled with delight and admiration. Nature, who has been somewhat niggardly to thy companions, has lavished her gifts on thee, her favoured one, because thou wert beautiful and beloved! To thee she has given the vast plain of the Pampa, and bounded it with a semicircle of hills so as to welcome the Alisian winds, that in return for thy hospitality, enrich thee with the life-giving elements gathered in their wanderings over numberless Alpine heights, and fraternize with thy river, called by thee the Fondo, but changing its name over and over again, according to the caprice of the friendly lands whose bosoms it fertilizes. And if the sun shines on thee with burning rays, his heat is tempered by the moisture dropping from the clouds as they are rent by electricity, with sudden explosion, or prolonged thunder.
“Hence thy soil is verdant in the winter, and in spring is adorned with innumerable flowers—a treasure-house of exotics—giving place one to the other for thy embellishment during half the year; and in the summer and autumn thou gatherest abundantly the fruits of a few growths.”
The city is laid out in the usual checkerboard fashion, with extremely narrow streets. In a public hall here the declaration of independence was signed on the 9th of July, 1816. There are a number of large churches, a cathedral and several schools. The spiritual welfare of the people is not neglected through lack of opportunity to attend service. There is a public library, a theatre, etc. It is an ancient town, having been founded in what was then a remote district, in 1585. It is in sight of some very high peaks of the Andes, although a considerable distance away. Tucuman is in the centre of a rich sugar district, there being about thirty sugar factories at work. Almost one hundred thousand tons of sugar have been produced in a single year, in addition to large quantities of alcohol. Rice growing is also quite a feature of this district. The soil is carefully cultivated and irrigation is resorted to by many of the planters, for an abundance of water is easily obtained. The climate is what might be termed semi-tropical. Tucuman is the last city of any size or great importance in the northwestern provinces.
North of Tucuman are the provinces of Salta and Jujuy, both of which reach to the borders of Bolivia. To the west of Tucuman lie the provinces of Rioja and Catamarca, as well as the territory of Los Andes, all of which border Chile. These are all mountainous states, but they are neither small nor unimportant. The smallest one is as large as Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Maryland, and the largest one, Salta, is nearly as large as all of New England. The altitude of the towns varies from Rioja, the capital of the province of the same name, at an altitude of only seventeen hundred feet, to Jujuy, capital of that province, which lies four thousand two hundred and seventy feet above sea level, and is the highest city in the republic. Jujuy is distant just about one thousand miles from Buenos Aires by railroad, and is at the foot of the spurs of the range of mountains that reach up into Bolivia. Although so near the Tropic of Capricorn yet the elevation prevents the extreme heat that prevails in the lowlands during the summer, while the freezing point is never reached in winter. The scenery in the neighbourhood of this city is really beautiful, for hill and valley, wood and plain all contribute to make up an enchanting landscape. When the connection with the Bolivian railway is completed this city will be on another transcontinental line from the Atlantic to the Pacific. The territory of Los Andes, in the extreme northwestern corner of the country, is the most mountainous section and is very little known.