ACCOUNT OF BOOKS. 



1031 



and widening this river have recent- 

 ly been attempted, but 1 believe 

 with very indifferent success." 



The description of the conventu- 

 al discipline, and of the pursuits and 

 itudies, dress and manners of the 

 Noviciates, intended for the mi- 

 nistry, is very interesting. The lat- 

 ter were young men of from seven- 

 teen to three and twenty years of 

 age, " but not one of whom pos- 

 sessed the natural gravity of the 

 Spaniards : — their dress was more 

 airy than in Old Spain, and in- 

 stead of cloth, their trouse, doublet 

 and cloak were of black cotton ; 

 their hats Genoese velvet, and their 

 stockings and shoes silk ; with large 

 tufts in the latter of ribbon or flo«." 

 But what surprised Mr. Davie most 

 was^ to see an English gold watch 

 depending from a belt round each 

 one's waist : — a circumstance which 

 clearly evinced, that how much so- 

 ever they might detest the English 

 as a nation, they had no dislike to 

 their manufactures. 



Some particulars of the natural 

 history of Buenos Ayres will be 

 found in the following extract : 



" One of the oldest fathers has 

 conversed with me twice in the gar- 

 dens of the convent, but his dis- 

 course chiefly turned upon the pro- 

 perties of plants, and perceiving by 

 My remarks that I had some know- 

 ledge of natural philosophy, he de- 

 scribed to me the nature and quali- 

 ties of two very beautiful shrubs, 

 natives of this province, and both 

 antidotes against the bites of poi- 

 sonous reptiles. The juice is ex- 

 tracted by bruising the herb, laid 

 flat between two large stones, the 

 bottom one of which is concave, to 

 receive the juice, which is forced 

 out hy turning round the upper 

 ilione Tcry quickly : the liquid thus 



obtained is placed in a shoft stone 

 bottle, and left to ferment two or 

 three hours in the sun. When it 

 ceases to emit a kind of white froth 

 it is fit for use, and is carefully pre- 

 served in small vials till wanted, 

 which is not unfrequently the case, 

 la using it, the wound or sting is 

 first washed with clean spring water, 

 when, being wiped dry, the prepa- 

 ration is poured either into or upoa 

 it. A bit of dry cotton is then, 

 spread over the part affected, and 

 banded carefully down. This is re- 

 peated every two hours, until the 

 cotton comes away green. The 

 poison is theii known to be extract- 

 ed, the wound is rubbed with bear's 

 grease, and the patient declared out 

 of danger. One of these plants 

 strongly resembles scurvy-grass ; 

 the other, which is taller, has a leaf 

 which, in look and feel, appears like 

 the thickest velvet, and is of a dark 

 heavy green colour : it bears a 

 bright crimson flower, faintly tinged 

 with gold, but in size and shape very 

 similar to the blue flag iris : both 

 plants are esculent, and highly- 

 esteemed by thy natives. 



" 1 have endeavoured, with father 

 Jerome's assistance, to analyse the 

 herbs left by my Indian physician, 

 which so happily effected my resto- 

 ration to reason : but we found it 

 impossible to ascertain their species, 

 a£ throughout the whole convent 

 garden not one appeared to bear any 

 aflinity to them, either in smell or 

 taste. I remarked this circumstance 

 to the bota,nical father, who said 

 they were peculiar to the province 

 of Tucuman, and that the Indians 

 of the Tercero-river frequently 

 brought small baskets full of them 

 to Buenos Ayres for barter, toge- 

 ther with a variety of other articles. 

 That which had cured me, he said, 

 3 U 4 was 



