A Trip to Tucuman 265 



be in our own northwest, or upon the steppes of Russia, 

 such fields of this plant do not occur elsewhere upon our 

 globe. One field of flax I saw was said to cover over 

 fifteen thousand acres. 



At lunch-time I went forward to the dining-car, and 

 found that I had been assigned a seat at table with 

 three young gentlemen, who informed me that they 

 were students in the University of Buenos Aires, and 

 were on their way to their home in the city of Salta, 

 having been suddenly summoned thither by the death 

 of a relative. They proved to be intelligent and 

 agreeable young men, with whom it was a pleasure to 

 converse during and after luncheon, and who told me 

 much which interested me concerning that part of the 

 country in which they lived. The elder of the three was 

 evidently responsible to some extent for the care of his 

 two younger companions, and the sensible and fraternal 

 way in which he discharged his duties attracted me to 

 him. 



We made a short stay at San Nicolas about half- 

 past two in the afternoon. The place is the point of 

 junction of a branch-line of the railway, and the site of 

 packing-houses and grain-elevators. There were several 

 large vessels alongside of the latter. 



We reached Rosario at a quarter before four o'clock 

 in the afternoon, and remained fifteen minutes, during 

 which a change of engines was made. The railway- 

 terminal is at some remove from the more densely built- 

 up portions of the city. I walked out into the open 

 space in front of the station, where tram-cars and cab- 

 men were congregated. As the sunlight fell upon the 

 walls and towers of the central portions of the town, I 

 realized that it perhaps had been a mistake on my part 

 not to have included it in my list of stopping-places, 



