47 



and are so tenacious of life that it is almost impossible to 

 subdue them. There are several varieties of these thistles. 

 The most common is the cardoon, not yet in blossom, 

 but in some instances beginning to form heads. This has a 

 broad, prickly leaf, blotched and striped with white, and does not 

 in this region grow to any great height. The gigantic Pampa 

 thistle, Silybiim Marianiim^ less numerous, but a much taller 

 plant when full grown, is just coming into flower, which has a 

 very pretty, bright red color. The cardoon, in some places as 

 far as the eye can see, occupies every foot of the ground. In 

 cleared spaces here and there I saw herds of cattle grazing, or 

 ostriches stalking about hke domestic fowls. Occasionally I saw 

 flocks of sheep and herds of cattle which could be numbered by 

 thousands, but neither their teeth nor their feet seemed to lessen 

 the number of the thistles which hold possession of the ground, 

 and increase in spite of man and beast. 



Among the cultivated trees around dwelling houses and by 

 the roadsides, was the peach, which is planted in orchards and 

 bears well, the Lombardy poplar, the Australian Eucalyptus^ 

 Robhtia psendacacia^ Acacia Bojiarzensts^ popularly called the 

 Napinday, Melia Azedarach, here known as the Tree of Para- 

 dise, Tamarix Africana, and Nicotiana glauca, called by the 

 natives Palampalan (pronounced with a strong accent on the final 

 syllable). The Eucalyptus is popularly regarded as a security 

 against malaria, and for this reason is extensively cultivated in 

 this region, but all the Eucalyptus trees in the world, combined 

 with the '' Good airs " for which this town and province are 

 named, will not save from epidemics a city in the suburbs of 

 which the sewerage is allowed to meander at its own wild will 

 and to stand in green, slimy pools above ground, and the car- 

 cases of animals left to rot where they die by the street side or 

 in the vacant lots. My eyes and nose can testify to the fact that 

 the germs of malaria, the cholera, the yellow and typhoid fevers, 

 the diphtheria, and kindred scourges must find a congenial soil 

 in the Boca and other neglected portions 'of this city. 



The Eucalyptus, whether it possesses anti- malarial virtues or 

 no, grows into a handsome and good-sized tree in this country, 

 and when planted in masses forms a very agreeable shade for 



