unrtiu.\Y. 



VK I: MONT. 



801 



ll:n, I \Y ii:i:i-f I.I.I.-A DB LA BANDA OBI- 

 KNTAI. DEt UBUQCAY), or BANDA OUIKNTAL, an 

 independent Mate, of South Aincri<-;t, extend- 

 ing I'n.in latitude :m to 88 65' south, and 

 iV,.,m longitude 62 40' to 68 west Tin- boun- 

 daries of the republic an-: mi tin- north, tlio 

 :ian province of l;io (Irainlc do Sill; on 

 the east, tin- South Atlantic On-an; on tlio 

 south, tlio llio (! la Plata; and on the 

 the Argentine province of Entro Rios. 



The I'n -idciit, since March 1,1878, is Senor 

 Don Josi> Ellauri ; and liis cabinet is composed 

 of tlio following members : Minister of Foreign 

 Atl'airs, 1 >r. (i. Perez Ciomar ; of the Interior, 

 including -Justice, Agriculture and Public 

 Works, Public Instruction, and Public Wor- 

 ship, l>r. S. Alvarex; of Finances, Sefior Don 

 .1. 1'enalva; and of War and the Navy, Senor 

 Don E. Fonda. Although Engineer Jos6 M. 

 Reyes estimated the area of the republic at 

 more than 84,000 square miles,* a more recent 

 report sets it down at 68,822 square miles. 

 The territorial division is into thirteen depart- 

 ments, and six ports are enumerated at which 

 ocean and coasting craft find fair facilities for 

 loading and discharging cargoes. The means 

 of intercourse with Brazil and Europe are 

 numerous, and not exposed to such interrup- 

 tions as have frequently, within the last few 

 years especially, trammeled the commercial 

 intercourse with the Argentine Republic, whose 

 ports are often closed for months at a time 

 during the visitation of epidemics at Monte- 

 video. Six British mail-steamers call monthly 

 at the latter port, and five others, not belong- 

 ing to lines under government contract, carry 

 the mails, besides four French, three Italian, one 

 Anglo-Belgian, and two Brazilian mail-pack- 

 ets. A line of mail-schooners, owned by the 

 Falkland Island Company, carry on the service 

 in eight annual trips between Montevideo and 

 the Falkland Islands. 



The value of the exports, which are statis- 

 tically shown to have steadily increased since 

 1870, was $16,550,000 in 1873, against $15,- 

 490,000 in 1872, $13,330,000 in 1871, and $12,- 

 780,000 in 1870. At least one-half of these sums 

 were represented by the single article of hides. 

 "With the addition of the goods exported by 

 contraband, to avoid the oppressive export du- 

 ties, it is computed that the total value of the 

 shipments from the country would not fall 

 short of $25,000,000. 



The imports, comprising almost every kind 



of manufacture. 1 j-oodn. machinery, etc., are 

 likewise growing in value, having been as fol- 

 lows for the years above expressed : 1878, $19,- 

 -Uu.uOO; 1872, $18,860,000; 1871, $14,860,- 

 OIHI; and 1870, $15,000,000. 



extent of land under cultivation is in- 

 creasing from year to year, and it is affirmed 

 that the cereal productions have more than 

 doubled within the last decade, spite of the 

 great lack of hands to till the ground, and the 

 consequent enhanced price of labor. Reapers 

 are not (infrequently paid as much as $2 per 

 diem, and boarded. Kecent experiments in 

 cotton-culture in the northern districts have 

 proved successful ; and flax and tobacco would 

 here find a genial soil. 



The horned cattle in the country in 1874 

 were computed at 7,200,000 head ; that of 

 sheep, at 20,000,000 ; and the quantity of wool 

 shipped each year, at 14,464,000 pounds. 

 Hallway interests are receiving all the atten- 

 tion compatible with the hampered condition 

 of the national Treasury; it was reported 

 that the Central Uruguayan line would by the 

 end of the year be open to public traffic as 

 far as Florida, seventy-two miles north of 

 the capital, Montevideo. A branch of that 

 line will communicate with the port of Co- 

 Ionia, on the estuary of the River Plate, and 

 the work on the northwestern line, from Salto 

 on the Uruguay River, to the frontier of Bra- 

 zil, has been prosecuted with unusual energy. A 

 line from Montevideo eastward is also in course 

 of preparation, and several other concessions 

 have been obtained for lines which, with those 

 above referred to, will establish a net-work of 

 railways to all points of the republic. Four 

 lines of horse-cars lead from Montevideo to the 

 environs ; and the enterprise of deepening the 

 harbor of the capital is carried on without in- 

 terruption. 



The number of vessels entered at Montevi- 

 deo in 1878 was 1,818, with an aggregate of 

 907,328 tons; and that of the clearances was 

 1,839, the aggregate tonnage being 924,070. 



The national revenue, as estimated in the 

 budget for 1874, was $6,756,009 ; and the ex- 

 penditures, $6,568,077. 



The customs, the main source of the revenue, 

 yielded, in 1873, $6,478,209. The national debt 

 is about $42,000,000, or a little less than $100 

 per head for each inhabitant. 



VERMONT. The financial condition of Ver- 

 mont is very favorable. On the 1st of August, 

 1872, there was in the Treasury a balance of 

 $178,179.14, besides $184,551.02 belonging to 

 the sinking-fund. During the year following 

 the receipts amounted to $566,504.08, including 

 $4,386.80 received from Senator J. 8. Morrill, 

 *8ee AOTTUAL CTCLOPJHJIA for 1873. 

 VOL. xiv. 51 A 



being the amount of his "back pay," and 

 $7,836.74 received for interest on balances. 

 Thus the entire amount credited to the Treas- 

 ury for the year ending July 81, 1873, was 

 $869,034.24. Against this payments were made 

 amounting to $526,410.65, leaving a balance 

 of $101,851.02 to the sinking-fund, and $240,- 

 772.57 cash in the Treasury. Beginning the ac- 



