Another large and flourishing city is Tucuman, a town of forty-nine thousand inhabitants, situated on the right bank of the Tala, a sub-tributary of the Salado. It was founded in 1565[155] by Diego de Villaruel, and has always played a prominent part in history. The old house in which the declaration of independence was signed is still preserved. In revolutionary days the communicative Andrews[156] thus describes it: "The city of Tucuman is like most others in South America, of rectangular form. The public edifices and works are in a wretched state. The arts and sciences are almost unknown, literature, of course, included. Music alone seems to be a little cultivated, but a general spirit of liberality, a wish to improve, and a thirst for knowledge, is very observedly diffusing itself, and will not allow this state of things to last. Unfortunately, the channels of information are few and narrow, and I fear the people are without instructors, or have very ill-chosen ones, though perhaps the best they can obtain." He estimates the population at ten or twelve thousand.
Another traveller,[157] who was at Tucuman at the time the overthrow of Rosas was announced, remarks: "If the tide of immigration could only be diverted for a time towards this quarter, it appears to me that this province is capable, in an agricultural point of view, of largely supplying an export commerce. The sugar-cane, coffee, cocoa, cotton, fruits of the most delicious kinds, and an abundance of superior cattle, offer to the enterprising and industrious a certain field of ultimate success. The united provinces of Cordova, Tucuman, and Salta, have already gained a well-merited reputation for their tanned leather, saddlery, and boots, superior to that of other parts of South America." He declares that he left Tucuman with the conviction that it stood unrivalled as the garden of the Argentine Republic.
Like all other up-country towns, it long remained depressed by the political troubles, and in 1875 the population was no more than seventeen thousand. It had increased to twenty-seven thousand by 1884, and has since been making steady progress. The Matriz Church is a fine Doric building, erected in 1856, and there is a large National College. In the suburbs stands the Plaza Belgrano on the site of the village formerly called Cuidadela, where Belgrano gained a great victory over the Spaniards. Like Cordoba, the city is on the trunk line to Bolivia. The Province of Tucuman is famous for the sugar industry, and many of the plantations and factories are near the town.
The Province of Salta one day can hardly fail to be of great importance. It was first settled by one Lerma in 1582, and until 1776 was in the charge of a Lieutenant-Governor under the Governor of Tucuman. During the first half of the nineteenth century it suffered less than its neighbours owing to its remote situation. The forests, hills, and rich pasture make the scenery charming, and the soil is remarkably fertile, maize, wheat, lucerne, and sugar being extensively cultivated. The mineral wealth, though insufficiently exploited, is very great. The town of Salta, which is 935 miles from Buenos Aires, has a population of about twenty thousand. It is well built, but not particularly healthy, owing to malaria and bad water.
The fertile northern region of Argentina has hitherto been somewhat neglected, in spite of the fact that it is the oldest settled part of the country. When communications between Tucuman and Peru were interrupted the country declined, and the easily earned wealth of the Pampas diverted the attention of capital from less accessible parts. On the western side communications are excellent, and on the east they are fast improving. The towns and provinces are gradually increasing in wealth and population and, besides their great fertility in soil and every kind of produce, they will also be important as recipients of trade from places over the frontier. This importance, of course, will depend upon the development of the places in question. Those countries that lie about the upper waters of the Parana will not be trade centres for many years. As regards Bolivia, the case is doubtful. That country has a large mining industry, but her population is scanty and backward, and it is probable that it will still be more economical to despatch the greater part of its products by sea. In fact, the Argentine Government has raised objections to the prolongation of the railway into Bolivia, on the ground that it will not be a commercial success. However that may be, Tucuman, Salta, Cordoba, Parana, and many other towns with their adjacent districts will always have sufficient wealth to be of considerable importance in themselves, and when more immigrants have been attracted thither they will be regarded, in many respects, as the best part of the Republic.
TUCUMAN.