Last Days in Argentina 295 



vehicle, holding up to view a brass tag, with a number 

 upon it. I knew who he was and what he wished. He 

 was a licensed porter (all persons, even porters, have to 

 be licensed before doing business in Argentina) and he 

 desired to earn a fee for carrying our hand-luggage on 

 board the steamer. I ordered the coachman to let him 

 sit in front with him. Had I not done this, he would 

 have run the two miles to the dock, and claimed the right 

 to carry our things on board. I resolved not to ' ' give 

 him a run for his money, ' ' and bade him hop into the 

 rig. This is a common sight in Buenos Aires, and 

 having witnessed it both on going to the trains and to 

 the boat, it banished completely from my mind the 

 thought, that,, at least when in Buenos Aires, I was in 

 the sleepy "land of manana." A man, who on a hot 

 day will run alongside of a fast-trotting horse for two 

 miles for the sake of picking up a small fee at the end 

 of the trip, is certainly not afflicted with laziness. 



When we reached the ship we found ourselves sur- 

 rounded by friends, some of whom had come in from 

 La Plata, others from different parts of Buenos Aires 

 to bid us farewell. There was my witty friend Senor 

 Don Agustin Alvarez, who confided to me aside that 

 he had upon due reflection made a discovery. 'We 

 hold it a truth in mathematics,' he said, 'that the 

 product of two or more factors is the same, no matter 

 how they may be arranged. It is not so in language. 

 I come to say 'Good-by' to you. I put the word by 

 after the word Good, which in this case is the old 

 Anglo-Saxon word for God. I express the hope that 

 God may be by or with you wherever you go. But were 

 I to prefix the word by to the noun- Well ! it would be 

 different." There was smiling Dr. Roth, who had been 

 my guide through the swamps of the Parana and 



