Buenos Ayres and the Provinces of the Rio de La Plata / Their Present State, Trade, and Debt

by Sir Woodbine Parish

"Amongst the number of interesting plants to which my attention has been called, I am of opinion that this country may hereafter derive great advantages from the three new species of indigo which I have found in these fertile regions. They are very different from the plant from which the indigo is obtained in Mexico, Venezuela, Brazil, and India; and I flatter myself that the South Americans will avail themselves of this discovery, and cultivate a plant which has hitherto been disregarded under the common name of yuyo. The superior quality of indigo that may be obtained from this newly-discovered plant, and the facility of its conveyance down to a port of shipment, render it an object of great importance to a country that has only a few exports, and its cultivation, if encouraged by the government, and undertaken by capitalists, will in a few years furnish an interesting and staple commodity for trade."

This account of the Corrientes indigo was copied from the Buenos Ayrean papers into the Annual Register for 1822, together with the following remarks on some other of the natural resources of the provinces of La Plata, which seem well deserving the notice of those interested in the trade with that part of the world:—"there are many other natural resources of the country to which the attention of the government of Buenos Ayres ought to be called. The seda silvestre, a sort of wild silk left in the woods by a certain caterpillar, is found abundantly on the banks of the Paranã, and would constitute a valuable export. Very good cochineal may be gathered in Tucuman, besides a great quantity of bees'-wax.

"The rubia tinctoria is found in many of the extensive forests, but the best is in Tarija, the Chaco, and the Sierra de Cordova; it yields a brilliant colour. It was not till within these few years that notice was taken of a new mode of dyeing a green colour from a production called by the Spaniards clavillo, from its resemblance to a little nail. Some persons consider it to be the excrement of a certain insect smaller than the cochineal; others believe it to be the insect itself. Hitherto it has only been gathered in Carquejia, and the point is found introduced into the bark of a shrub; it was first used by the poor people of the country, and it has since been proved by repeated experiments that the Vicuña and Alpaca wools, as well as cotton, after being prepared with astringents, such as alum, and previously boiled in a yellow dye, when thrown into a solution of clavillo, acquire a beautiful green colour; the shade of this simple is in itself greenish, and by keeping grows darker: abundance of it is found in the valley of Catamarca and province of Tucuman, but as yet no scientific experiments have been made with it."

A variety of valuable gums and medicinal balsams may be had from Paraguay, of the efficacy of which marvellous stories are related by those who have resided in those regions. The tree producing caoutchouc is found in abundance about the rivers in the upper part of that province, where the Indians have long known its value, and use it as a substitute for candles: the children make balls of it to play with. They obtain it by making an incision in the tree, from which the gum is run into a hide placed beneath to catch it, and when cold is wound upon large balls for use.

In addition to these, I may mention nitrate of soda, so much used now in our cotton manufactories, which may be procured in any quantity from the provinces of La Plata;—as yet, I believe, not a single bag of it has ever been brought from Buenos Ayres, although there is no reason why it should not be imported from thence at as low a cost as from Chile and Peru; from which countries alone, of late years, the annual importations have been from 50,000 to 100,000 cwt.

War in Europe will always create an increased demand for the produce of such a country as Buenos Ayres. In the last years of the general war, not only was there an enormous demand for the hides of Buenos Ayres, but considerable quantities of tallow also were shipped from thence; and, although those shipments ceased to answer when the Russian markets were reopened, they may always be calculated upon again should any stoppage take place of our ordinary supplies through the Baltic. At present, though Buenos Ayrean tallow is worth as much as Russian in the English markets, there is no great quantity of it produced, in consequence of the animals being killed for their hides as soon as they are marketable, which is before they yield tallow in any quantity worth collecting.

Corn also was an article of export from Buenos Ayres during the general war in Europe, and is again beginning to be exported to Brazil—as is shown by the account of the exports in 1837. It is of an excellent quality, and might be grown to any extent.

Mules, horses, and asses have at times been shipped in large numbers for the West Indies and for the Isle of France, and have been sold there at an enormous profit.

In the short notices given of the provinces of the interior, I have given such accounts of any other of their native productions as I could collect. The silver and gold mines of Cordova, La Rioja, Mendoza, San Juan, and Salta, may eventually become productive; and, when an intercourse is once more permitted with Bolivia through the interior, it may be expected that some portion of the precious metals produced there also will, as formerly, find their way to Buenos Ayres.

In old times, not only were the rich and populous provinces of Bolivia exclusively supplied through the Rio de la Plata with all such articles as they wanted from Europe, but they took from the lower provinces a variety of useful productions of their own, for all which they paid in gold and silver. Of mules alone upwards of 60,000 were annually sent to Potosi from the provinces of Tucuman and Santa Fé.