BUENOS AYRES. 



Bttfiios these countries are opposite in their effects to each 

 Ayres. other ; and when tempestuous on one side of the 

 """V ' Cordillera, it is serene on the other. In Cuyo 

 the winter is excessively cold, insomuch that the 

 cattle die in the fields if not housed ; while, in sum- 

 mer, the heats are intense, and thunder storms are 

 frequent and violent. The soil, however, is fertile 

 in grain, and most kinds of European fruits. Wine 

 is produced in great abundance, and of excellent qua- 

 lity. It is drank over all Spanish America ; and 

 Mendoza, and San Juan de la Frontera, sometimes 

 export, in one year, 20,000 barrels. Brandy also 

 forms a considerable article of traffic ; and vicunna 

 wool is sent in great quantities from this province to 

 Europe. 



Cities. The following are the principal cities which are 



scattered over this viceroyalty, with their latitudes, 

 and the year of their foundation : 



vantages which rt enjoys for the purposes of agricul- 

 ture, the cultivation of the soil has been in a great 

 measure neglected ; and this viceroyalty, which, by 

 proper regulations and active industry, might have 

 been rendered the granary of the old world, has hi- 

 therto produced little more than what is necessary 

 for the consumption of its inhabitants. The native 

 pride and indolence of the Spaniards, and the brutish 

 sluggishness of the Indians, form the great bar to 

 agricultural improvements it) the New World ; and 

 extensive plains, fertilized by innumerable rivers, are 

 employed merely in the breeding of cattle. Of late, 

 however, some attempts have been made for the pro- 

 moting of colonial cultivation, by the introduction 

 of negro labourers and improved implements of agri- 

 culture. But many years must pass, and Africa 

 must be drained of many myriads of her sons, before 

 these advantages can be estimated or felt ; and we 

 cannot wish success to a system, which can only be 

 upheld by cruelty and oppression. The mineral 

 treasures which this continent contains in its bowels, 



were the first inducements which led its conquerors 

 to forsake their homes, and brave the dar-gers and 

 deprivations of foreign warfare. For these, the pro- 

 duce of its surface was neglected and despised ; and 

 these still continue to be the magnets which attract 

 the cupidity and ambition of European adventurers. 



The mines of this viceroyalty are chiefly covifined 

 to the north-western districts, which, in 1778, were 

 separated from Peru ; and consist of gold, silver, 

 mercury, copper, lead, and platina. These mines 

 are all in the hands of private individuals, who, up- 

 on the discovery of a mine, immediately receive from 

 the king a grant of a piece of ground, containing 

 80 Spanish yards in length, and 40 in breadth, in the 

 direction of the vein or bed ; and are only held to 

 pay a certain duty to government upon the minerals 

 extracted. This duty is valued by Bourgoing on an 

 average for all the Spanish colonies in America, at 

 11-5- P er cent, of the silver, and 3 per cent, of the 

 gold. The proprietors seldom work the metal* 

 themselves, as they find more account in letting them 

 out to others, who often enter upon very hazard- 

 ous, and sometimes ruinous speculations. Though 

 new and rich veins of treasure are almost daily dis- 

 covered, yet few of them are very profitable to their 

 possessors, being soon abandoned, either from the 

 destruction of the works, by the rushing in of the 

 water, from the vein failing, or from the miner not 

 being able to support the expence. 



The following table, which is given by Helms, 

 contains a specification of the various mines that are 

 at present in a state of exploration in the different 

 districts, as registered in the chancery : 



Buenos 

 Ayreg. 



