[84] Paraná and Uruguay (next line). Two rivers. V. map.
[85] arrojan. Strictly speaking, the subject is ceibos y palmas, though the meaning is clearly that all the trees overhanging the banks, i.e., the aromo and the orange tree, shower their flowers.
[86] flor del aire, flower of the air; popular name for a plant of the genus Tillandsia, very common in Argentina. There are many varieties, with flowers of different colors. The striking characteristic of this plant is that it will grow without having its roots in the ground, getting its sustenance from the air when tied to or suspended from anything.
[87] Guazú, one of the rivers of the Paraná delta.
[88] es un canto frigio. The well-known archeologist, Sir William Mitchell Ramsay, in his article on Phrygia in the Encyclopædia Britannica says: “The scenery is generally monotonous; even the mountainous districts rarely show striking features or boldness of character; where the landscape has beauty it is of a subdued melancholy character. The circumstances of the country are well calculated to impress the inhabitants with a sense of the overwhelming power of nature and of their complete dependence on it. Their mythology, so far as we know it, has a melancholy and mystic tone, and their religion partakes of the same character.”
[89] Rousseau (Jean Jacques), the celebrated French philosopher of the eighteenth century (1712-1778), in his youth wrote a Dissertation on Modern Music, in which he attempted to introduce a new system of musical notation.
[90] Copiapó, city in Chile. V. map.
[91] no lo han de haber adoptado, cannot have adopted it.
[92] y lo populariza... exige, and popularizes it by the audiences which his song gathers.
[93] andaluz genuino. Most of the Spanish colonizers of Argentina were Andalusians. To this day their influence is noticeable in the pronunciation of Spanish throughout South America. The most striking difference in the pronunciation of the Castilians and that of the Andalusians is that the latter pronounce the z, and the c when followed by e or i, like an s. The Andalusians do not make the s as sibilant as the Castilians; with them it is very often a light aspirate sound.