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

by Sir Woodbine Parish

It is only from the pozos, or inner roads, that the city becomes visible in its full extent, ranging along a slightly elevated ridge, which bounds the river. The towers of the churches, and here and there a solitary Umbú tree, alone break an outline almost as level as the horizon of the river itself. There is no back-ground to the picture, no mountains, no trees; one vast continuous plain beyond extends for nearly 1000 miles unbroken to the Cordillera of Chile.

Unless the weather be perfectly settled, of which the barometer is the best index, the landing is not unattended with danger. I have known many a boat lost in crossing the bar or bank which lies between the outer and inner roads[10]. Nor is the bank the only danger: thick fogs at times come on, suddenly enveloping land and water in total darkness without the slightest previous indication; in such a dilemma, if a boat be caught without the means of anchoring, the chances are that she may be carried down the river by the currents, and the people half-starved before they are picked up or can find the land again.

But supposing these dangers passed, nothing can be more inconvenient or strikingly characteristic of the country than the actual landing. A ship's boat has seldom water enough to run fairly on shore, and, or arriving within forty or fifty yards of it, is beset by carts, always on the watch for passengers, the whole turn-out of which I defy any other people in the world to produce anything at all approaching.

On the broad flat axle of a gigantic pair of wheels, seven or eight feet high, a sort of platform is fixed of half a dozen boards, two or three inches apart, letting in the wet at every splash of the water beneath; the ends are open—a rude hurdle forms the side, and a short strong pole from the axle completes the vehicle; to this unwieldy machine the horse is simply attached by a ring at the end of the pole, fastened to the girth or surcingle, round which his rider has the power of turning him as on a pivot, and of either drawing or pushing the machine along like a wheelbarrow, as may be momentarily most convenient:—in this manner, for the first time in my life, I saw the cart fairly before the horse:—in Europe we laugh at the idea; in South America nothing is more common than the reality.

The wild and savage appearance of the tawny drivers of these carts, half naked, shouting and screaming and jostling one another, and flogging their miserable jaded beasts through the water, as if to show the little value attached to the brute creation in these countries, is enough to startle a stranger on his first arrival, and induce him for a moment to doubt whether he be really landing in a Christian country. It is a new and a strange specimen of human kind, little calculated to create a favourable first impression.

In old times there was a sort of mole, such as it was, which ran some way into the river, and obviated a part, at least, of these inconveniences, but it was either washed or blown down some years ago, and the people have been too indolent, or too busy ever since to set about replacing it; not, however, for want of plans for its reconstruction, amongst which one for a chain-pier, some years ago submitted to the government, appeared particularly suited to the locality; why it was not adopted, I never heard, but it is no credit to the natives that something of the sort has not long since been built. Nothing is more wanted, or more deserving the primary attention of the authorities, whilst I believe no work they could undertake would more certainly repay its expenses, for the convenience to passengers is a small consideration compared with the value which any commodious landing-place for merchandise at Buenos Ayres would be of to the trade. The loss and damage yearly sustained by the present mode of carrying goods on shore, in the rude carts I have described, is incalculable, and highly detrimental to the port in a commercial point of view.

With respect to the passage up the river, though somewhat intricate, it is by no means so perilous as it was long believed to be, probably because the commercial shipping from Spain rarely ascended higher than Monte Video, to which Port the country produce from Buenos Ayres and the interior provinces was for the most part sent down in small craft for shipment to Europe.

In 1789 Malaspina commenced the elaborate survey of the river, afterwards completed by Oyarvide, and still further corrected by the observations of Captains Beaufort and Heywood, of the British navy, the latter of whom, also, published particulars directions for the navigation of the several channels between the banks. With his chart and sailing[11] directions, and due attention to the soundings and currents, there is now little risk; and that little would be still farther diminished by the establishment, long projected, of a floating light off the tail of the Ortiz bank, and of two or three leading landmarks opposite to the Chico channel.

The most dangerous parts of the river are buoyed, and licensed pilots ply off its mouth to take vessels either into the harbour of Monte Video, or up to Buenos Ayres.

Ships drawing fifteen or sixteen feet water may ran freely up to the anchorage of that city. Foreign vessels do not go higher, Buenos Ayres being at present the only port of entry; indeed, were it otherwise, and the navigation of the upper parts of the river thrown open, and declared free, as some of the provinces have at times wished, it is not likely that European shipping would ever avail themselves of it, seeing that the passage up from Buenos Ayres to Corrientes, besides the additional risk, would at least occupy as much time as the whole voyage out from France or England.