Montevideo and the River Plate 93 



ways and a multitude of hotels, many of which compare 

 favorably with the finest establishments of their kind 

 in any part of the world. Montevideo is in fact not 

 merely a great commercial port, but a seaside resort, 

 to which the wealth and fashion of South America 

 repair in the hot season. The municipality is growing 

 rapidly and the numerous suburban towns and villages, 

 which are connected with the older city by an excellent 

 system of electric tramways, are increasing in size, as 

 shown by the large number of new and unfinished 

 buildings, about which workmen were swarming at the 

 time of our visit. The population of the main city 

 and its suburbs amounts at present to over three 

 hundred thousand inhabitants, and it is therefore 

 reckoned as fourth in the list of great South American 

 municipalities, being only outranked by Buenos Aires, 

 Rio de Janeiro, and Sao Paulo. 



To " do " a great city in a few hours is easier now than 

 it was fifty years ago. Then there were no electric 

 tram-cars and automobiles with the help of which to 

 annihilate space and save time. It may well be 

 doubted, however, whether with the modern inventions 

 we derive more pleasure from a tour of sightseeing 

 than we did when we had to repose our trust in our own 

 sturdy legs or those of a horse. We determined at all 

 events to make the most of our brief stay in the capital 

 of Uruguay. We resolved to keep our eyes and ears 

 open, and to see and hear all we could in the time at 

 our disposal, and to this end to employ an automobile 

 for at least a part of our time. 



The first thing which impressed us was the substantial 

 nature of the improvements made upon the water- 

 front and the solidity of the warehouses and other 

 buildings about the wharves. The next thing was the 



