"If only Montevideo had a country back of it like that which feeds Buenos Ayres it would get the most of the business at the mouth of the River Plate. Montevideo has a good harbor and Buenos Ayres a poor one; the former has safe anchorage and is well sheltered, while the latter is shallow, and open to half the winds that blow. In the easterly gales the estuary at Buenos Ayres is apt to overflow its banks, and when there is a strong wind from the west the water is so blown out that ships of deep draught have to change their moorings. But Montevideo has no important country behind it, while Buenos Ayres sweeps all the way westward to the Andes, south to Patagonia, and north into Paraguay."
So spoke the captain of the steamer as they were crossing the broad estuary of the La Plata. As they looked on the evidences of prosperity in Buenos Ayres, and learned that the city had grown up under many disadvantages, they expressed their admiration for the energy and enterprise of its merchants in no stinted terms.
OX-CART OF BUENOS AYRES.
Only small vessels can come close to the water-front of the city; ships drawing more than eighteen feet must anchor several miles out, and all freight and passengers come to the shore in lighters. Two piers, each fifteen hundred feet long, have been built, for the use of small steamers and other boats of light draught; before these piers were constructed it was necessary to land in flat-bottomed boats, or in carts with wheels ten or twelve feet in diameter, which were pushed out into the water, where they could receive their loads. Even at present the carts must be used occasionally, when an extremely low tide prevents boats from reaching the piers. Frank and Fred were reminded of the harbor of Madras, and their adventures in going ashore there in a masullah boat; on the whole they thought the cart preferable to the masullah boat, but would risk a brief delay rather than intrust themselves to it if a gale happened to be blowing.
Water for drinking purposes was formerly as scarce in the city as that for anchoring ships in front of it. Down to a few years ago the inhabitants depended upon wells within the city limits, and carts which brought water from the river, where it was not affected by the tide from the sea. The well water was brackish and hardly drinkable, while the river water was sold at a high price. Now the city has been provided with waterworks and the old troubles have ceased. The drainage has been improved, and altogether it is a cleanly place, though less so than Montevideo. The latter owes its name to the mountain or hill on which it is partly built, and from which there is a fine view; while the former is named for its "good air." It is certainly a healthy place, according to the reports of residents, though it is liable to sudden changes of temperature. The thermometer rarely exceeds ninety degrees or descends below eighteen degrees; yellow fever comes occasionally, but not often, and there are no other epidemics.
Two days in Buenos Ayres were sufficient to exhaust the characteristic features of the place, and give the youths an insight into the history of the country of which it was the seaport. We will again exercise our privilege of peeping into Fred's note-book for information which will interest our readers.
