To the River Plate and Back 



the throng his friend Dr. Bailey Willis, the son of one 

 of the famous poets of America, himself a famous geolo- 

 gist. We had not met since some years before we had 

 spent a pleasant evening together at the Cosmos Club 

 in Washington. ' ' You here ? ' ' and ' ' You ? ' Explana- 

 tions followed. Dr. Willis informed me that he was 

 under engagement by the Argentine Government to 

 carry on certain work in connection with the develop- 

 ment of a great territory in the western interior, which 

 it is desired to throw open to colonization. I explained 

 my errand, and with the promise soon to meet again we 

 parted company. Farther down the street we repaired 

 to the principal depot for photographic supplies to pick 

 up a few necessary articles. Then we wandered back to 

 the Avenida de Mayo, and by tramcar returned to the 

 railway station and boarded our train. 



The railways in Argentina are largely under English 

 control, they having been built by English capitalists. 

 Some of the newer lines are the property of the State. 

 The railroad mileage of Argentina at the present time 

 exceeds that of all other South American countries 

 combined. At the close of the year 1912 there were 

 over twenty-six thousand kilometers of railway in opera- 

 tion in the country. The tracks are broad-gauge and 

 the railway carriages are commodious. The appoint- 

 ments of the train which bore us out of the station in 

 Buenos Aires to La Plata were sufficiently good to satisfy 

 the taste of the most exacting traveler. The distance 

 to La Plata is about thirty-one miles, and the run is 

 made in less than an hour. 



The sun was just setting as we left the railway ter- 

 minal. The sky was overcast, but through a rift in the 

 west a flood of sunset glory was poured across the world, 

 reddening the lower surfaces of the clouds with crimson 



