Montevideo and the River Plate 99 



ing to smelt of wool. It made me feel good to meet 

 him. ' As my acquaintance had already confided to 

 me that he originally was a veterinary surgeon, I 

 ventured to ask whether, if his newly found friend had 



'smelt of the stable, " he would have enjoyed his com- 

 pany as much. He cast a withering glance at me. 



' Naw ! a horseman is not for one moment to be com- 

 pared with a sheepman. ' 



The clock marked half -past ten, and I told my ship- 

 mates that it was time for them to put up their cues and 

 go to the dock. They assented, and in the moonlight 

 we strolled down to the wharf. 



The next morning our steamer was ploughing its way 

 through the muddy waters of the Rio de la Plata. On 

 the surface everywhere were dead fishes. As we after- 

 wards learned, a strange and unknown disease had 

 seized the finny tribes of the great river and millions 

 of fishes had died. They were of all sizes and of many 

 species. In places their bodies were lying thick upon 

 the water, hundreds being visible at one time. The 

 disease was not confined to the area of water below 

 the city of Buenos Aires, but was prevalent throughout 

 the length of the river. Had the destruction been con- 

 fined to the lower reaches a suspicion that it was due to 

 the pollution of the stream by the sewage of the city 

 might have been entertained. But this was not the 

 case. Many years ago after the building of the great 

 Davis Island Dam on the Ohio River below the city of 

 Pittsburgh there came a dry season, and the fishes in 

 the harbor, poisoned by the contaminated waters, full 

 of chemical matter and the drainage of the mines along 

 the Monongahela, died and covered the water as they 

 did the Rio de la Plata. But, as I had occasion to 

 observe on an excursion made subsequently through the 



