ARGENTINE EEPUBLIO. 



19 



mony, almost pure, and remarkably uniform. 

 The course of the lodes is north and south, par- 

 allel with the axis of the mountains. The pitch 

 is high to the east. All the lodes are found 

 within an area five or six miles long and one 

 half mile wide ; on three of them the ore crops 

 out above the surface of the ground, and can be 

 seen bulging out for several hundred feet along 

 the lode. The ore is almost pure oxide, the only 

 impurity being silica, which is present in very 

 small quantities. The ore assayed 60 and 70 per 

 cent, of pure metal, and is expected to average 

 50 per cent. There is no indication that the 

 oxide ceases and gives place to sulphide deeper 

 down in the lodes. The mineral varies from a 

 light color, almost white, to a dark brown. The 

 purest specimens have the specific gravity 5 '07 ; 

 in these there is 75 per cent, of antimony ; they 

 contain 5 per cent, of water. It corresponds in 

 composition and specific gravity to the min- 

 eral called stibiconite. It is only slightly sol- 

 uble in hydrochloric and nitric acids, and aqua 

 regia. Fused with carbonate of soda in a cruci- 

 ble of platinum, it decomposes readily. The ore 

 is reduced only with difficulty before the blow- 

 pipe, but yields readily in a crucible with pow- 

 dered charcoal or cyanide of potassium, giving 

 star antimony. This particular oxide of anti- 

 mony has never before been met with except 

 as a slight coating on other minerals containing 

 antimony. It has before been so rare that spe- 

 cimens containing only a few grains were diffi- 

 cult to procure. 



Antimony is an exceedingly useful metal, and 

 if more abundant could be applied to additional 

 uses. It is chiefly valuable for the alloys which 

 it gives in combination with other metals. The 

 chief of these are type-metal and britannia- 

 metal. Type-metal is composed of lead and 

 antimony, the proportion of the latter varying 

 between 17 and 20 per cent. Britannia- ware is 

 made of an alloy with tin, copper, and zinc, 

 containing 16 per cent, of antimony and 81 of 

 tin. The valuable pharmaceutical preparations 

 of antimony, tartar-emetic, etc., must be freed 

 absolutely from arsenic and other impurities 

 which the antimony of commerce nearly always 

 contains. 



ARGENTINE REPUBLIC (REPLICA AK- 

 GENTIJTA).* The President of the Republic is 

 Brigadier-General Don Julio A. Roca (inaugu- 

 rated on October J2, 1880); and the Vice- 

 President, Don Francisco B. Madero. The 

 new Cabinet is composed of the following Min- 

 isters : Interior, Senor Del Viso ; Finance, Dr. 

 Cortinez (ad interim until May, 1881, when 

 the regular appointee, Dr. Don Juan Jose 

 Romero, Governor of the province of Buenos 

 Ayres until that date, will assume the portfo- 

 lio) ; Justice, Public Worship, and Public In- 

 struction, Senor Pizarro ; War,- and the Navy, 

 Senor Victorica. 



The Argentine Envoy Extraordinary and 

 Minister Plenipotentiary to the United States 



* See "Annual Cyclopaedia" for 1S72, 1877, and 1873, for 

 statistics concerning area, population, territorial divisions, etc. 



and Great Britain is Dr. Manuel R. Garcia. 

 The Argentine charge d'affaires in the United 

 States (during the Minister's absence in Eng- 

 land) is Sefior Don Julio Carried The Consul- 

 General (at New York) for the American Un- 

 ion is Sefior Don Carlos Carranza. The Gov- 

 ernors of the several provinces, etc., were : 



Buenos Ayres Dr. Juan Jos6 Romero.* 



Minister of the Interior. . Dr. Carlos A. D'Amico,/ October, 



Minister of Finance Dr. Mariano Demaria, f 1S80. 



Catamarca M. J. .Rodriguez. 



Cordoba M. Juarez Celuian. 



Corrientes F. Cabral. 



Entre-Rios Colonel J. Anteto. 



Bustamante. 



V. A. Alinonacid. 



E. Villanueva. 



Dr. M. Oliva. 



M. Moreno 



T. Mendoza. 



S. de 1 Hondo. 



Santillan. 



Ju.iuy 



La Kioja 



Mendoza, 



Salta 



San Juan 



San Luis 



Santa Fe 



Santiago del Estero 



Tucuinan D. Martinez de Muflecas. 



Gran Chaco Territory Colonel L. V. Mansilla. 



Patagonia Colonel A. Barros. 



The Argentine army, exclusive o the Na- 

 tional Guard, comprises 7,175 men, as follows: 

 2,929 horse ; 3,332 foot ; artillery, 914. There 

 are 5 generals of brigade, 9 colonels-major, 

 30 colonels; 107 lieutenant-colonels ; 166 ser- 

 geants-major, and 735 officers of other grades. 

 The National Guard was, at the time of las.t 

 returns, 236,000 strong; and the reserve, 68,- 

 000. 



The navy was composed of 27 vessels: 2 

 steam ironclads, 6 steam gunboats, 2 steam 

 torpedoes, 12 steamers (transformed into war- 

 ships), 3 steam transports, and 2 sail of the 

 line ; with an aggregate tonnage of 12,000, an 

 armament of 88 guns, and manned with 2 

 chiefs of squadron, 5 colonels, 8 lieutenant- 

 colonels, 6 majors, 7 captains, 26 lieutenants, 

 22 students, 43 midshipmen, 7 paymasters, 26 

 engineers ; 900 seamen, including officers ; 

 2,000 infantry and artillery (National Guard) ; 

 and 1 torpedo section, with 3 commandants, 8 

 subaltern officers, and 80 men. There is a na- 

 val school and a school for cabin-boys; and an 

 arsenal has been built at Zarate. 



The estimated revenue and expenditure for 

 the fiscal year 1879-'80 were as shown in the 

 following tables: 



REVENUE. 



Import duties $13,300,000 



Export duties 2,500,000 



Warehouse fees, etc 350,000 



Stamped paper, patents, etc 650,000 



Post-office and telegraphs 450,000 



Lighthouses, etc 40,000 



Railways 



Interest, etc. (on national funds loaned to prov 



inces) 



Wharfage 



Sundries 



Total $19,250,000 



EXPENDITURE. 



Ministry of the Interior $2,582,881 



Ministry of Foreign Affairs 117,840 



Ministry of Finance ; 9,413,180 



Ministry of Justice, Public Instruction, etc 1,286.968 



Ministry of War and the Navy 5,078,745 



Total $18,479,614 



* Ad interim until May, 1881. when he will assume the 

 portfolio of Finance in the national Government. 



