Since the attachment of several of the Peruvian provinces to this government, the commerce and resources of the country are greatly enlarged and altered. From being merely an agricultural state, it has now become possessed of some of the richest mines in America. The districts which supply the most considerable quantities of the precious metal are Potosi, Changata, Porco, Oruro, Chucuito, La Paz and Carangas, and the mountains of Anauca, near Carabaya, and Asangara, north-east of lake Titicaca, were celebrated in the first years of the conquest for their gold mines.
The annual produce of the mines of Buenos Ayres is estimated at 882,000l., including those of Caylloma in Arequipa, which are said to be attached to the government of La Plata. This produce is nearly all silver. The quantity that has annually paid the fifth being in fine gold 2200 marcs, and in fine silver 414,000 marcs, or 4,212,400 piastres. Its contraband trade in these metals has also been estimated at 67,000 marcs, most of which passes to Europe by the Rio de la Plata, while in Peru, by the Amazons and the South Sea, the same unlawful trade carries away 100,000 marcs.
The trade of Buenos Ayres consists in these metals, and in exports of salt beef, tallow, fine furs, sea wolf-skins, wool, sheep-skins, flour, oil, copper, hides, &c.; to the interior provinces of Peru it sends Paraguay tea, swan skins, negro slaves, thread, &c., in exchange for sugar, cacao, cinnamon, rice, indigo, cotton, oil, pimento, wax, baize, woollen goods, quicksilver, &c.
From Europe La Plata receives linens, woollens, silks, cottons, hats, iron, &c., and the imports may be estimated, in average years, at 758,400l., whilst its exports amount, in agricultural produce, to 434,000l., and in gold and silver to 1,183,400l., thus forming a total of 1,617,400l. sterling. It formerly remitted 700,000 piastres, at 4s. 4d. each, to the royal coffers: but since the late struggle its expences have been so great in maintaining the insurgent cause, that it can hardly defray them; especially since the viceroy of Peru has taken possession of the richest mines for the king.
Capital.—The capital of this viceroyalty is the city of Buenos Ayres, containing a population of sixty thousand souls, or, according to Estalla, of forty thousand, of whom the greater part are creoles. This city is situated in 34° 35' south latitude and 57° 24' west longitude, on the south side of the Rio de la Plata, adjoining to a small river, from which the plain it is built on, gently ascends. It was founded in 1535 by Don Pedro de Mendoza, who gave it the name of Buenos Ayres, on account of its fine climate, but was abandoned soon after, and not rebuilt until 1582, after which it speedily increased and was erected into a bishopric in 1620, and into the capital in 1776. Buenos Ayres is well fortified, and its streets are straight, handsome, and clean, being paved on each side. The principal square is very large, and contains the residence of the governor, and the houses are built of brick or chalk, consisting generally of two stories, with a tiled roof. The cathedral is a spacious and elegant structure, and there is a church appropriated for the Indians, with several convents, chapels, &c.
The distance from Cape Santa Maria, the entrance of the La Plata, to Buenos Ayres, is 200 miles: but the navigation is very dangerous, owing to rocks and shallows. In consequence of these dangers, large vessels generally come to an anchor every night in sailing up, and on the most moderate days it is necessary to be very vigilant, owing to the sudden effects of the blasts from the plains. After arriving within three leagues of the city, the cargoes are put into light vessels, and the ships go to the bay of Barragan, about twenty-four miles below, to refit and wait for freights.
The principal streets of this town are the Calle de la Santa Trinidada, and the Calle de San Benito. The former runs almost the whole length of the city, and is occupied by the richer classes, who have also splendid villas in the country; almost every house has a garden both before and behind, and many have balconies latticed for odoriferous shrubs and flowers. The interior of the houses display great wealth, but not much cleanliness; and in summer they cover their floors with fine Indian matting, and in winter with carpets.
The gardens are watered by small canals, and there is generally a large basin or reservoir in each, from which water is conducted by pipes into the houses. That part of the city inhabited by the negroes and castes has a very mean appearance, and, being very dirty, presents a great contrast to the external show of the other parts. The churches are covered with cupolas and steeples, which give them a handsome look, and the town-hall is a fine building in the great square; the convents, nunneries, the hospital for men, that for women, and those for foundlings and orphans, being edifices of stone, of a beautiful whiteness, which is quarried in the plains near the city.
Buenos Ayres is well supplied with provisions, particularly with fish and flesh; there is no place in the world where butcher's meat is better, more plentiful, or cheaper; and it is frequently distributed to the poor, as the merchants often buy the animal for the sake of the hide alone. Poultry is dear, a couple of fowls costing as much as an ox. Buenos Ayres was taken by the British in 1806, but retaken after six weeks by the inhabitants; the subsequent events have been already noticed. Its port is the great outlet for all the produce of the interior, and, in times of war, much of the produce of Peru and Chili pass to Europe by it, as well as Vicuna wool from the Andes, copper from Coquimbo, gold from Chili, silver from Potosi, and from Paraguay, the finest tobacco, sugars, cotton, yellow wax and threads. The commerce carried on with Peru is chiefly returned in mules and cattle, with matté, or Paraguay tea. Goods are conveyed in covered waggons over the vast plains to Mendoza in one month; from this place they cross the ridges of the Andes on mules to Santiago, a distance of eighty leagues; and thence in carts to Valparaiso, a distance of thirty leagues, which occupies fifteen days more.
The climate of the city of Buenos Ayres is hot during the summer season, and during the winter so much cold is felt that water generally freezes slightly: but if this happens often the season is reckoned very severe. The north and east winds are the most common; a north-east wind always brings heat, and a south-east cold; and these winds are generally violent, and when the westerly winds begin they blow with extreme force, and are known by the name of Pamperos, from their having their origin in the great Pampas or plains. The atmosphere is very moist, and those rooms which have a southern aspect are always damp, as the walls to the south are covered with moss, and the roofs with long bushy grass, which grows nearly three feet high, and which requires to be cleared away occasionally to prevent its injuring the houses. During summer rains are common, and are often accompanied with dreadful thunder and lightnings. In the year 1793, the electric fluid struck the city of Buenos Ayres in thirty-seven different places by which nineteen persons were killed.