B U E 



76 



Buenos are built with a cupola and steeples nearly in the 

 Ayres. same stile as the cathedral. In the former is a beau- - 

 -v -' tiful painting of the Last Supper, by an Indian neo- 

 phyte. The frame is composed entirely of feathers 

 of a bright gold colour, so contrived as to imitate the 

 most correct carving and gilding, and the difference 

 cannot be discovered by the nicest observer till it is 

 touched with the hand. The church of St John, 

 which stands on the skirts of the town, is appro- 

 priated entirely to the use of the Christian Indians. 

 The other public buildings are two hospitals, one for 

 men and the other for women, an orphan hospital, a 

 foundling hospital, and a college where they teach 

 grammar, philosophy, and theology. These edifices 

 are built of a beautiful white stone, which is found 

 not far from the town, and which gives them a light 

 and elegant appearance. The chapter of the cathe- 

 dral consists of a bishop, whose annual revenue is 

 from 18,000 to 20,000 piastres, three dignitaries, and 

 two canons. Besides these, there are in the city of 

 Buenos Ayres above 136 ecclesiastics, independent 

 of four numerous monasteries of Franciscans, Domi- 

 nicans, and of the fathers of Mercy and of Bethleem, 

 and two convents of nuns. 



The environs of the city for about three leagues, 

 present a beautiful and well cultivated country, full 

 of gardens and groves, and diversified with fields of 

 wheat and maize. Here almost every person in easy 

 circumstances has his country house, called quintet, 

 a large garden which supplies him with many neces- 

 saries of life, and a variety of fruits and plants : all 

 their wine, however, is brought either from Spain or 

 Mendoza. Beyond these fields are immense tracts 

 of meadow, covered with continual verdure, and 

 filled with innumerable flocks of wild horses and oxen, 

 which renders provisions here very cheap. Accord- 

 ing to Estalla, a thousand head of cattle are daily 

 slain in the neighbourhood for the use of the city, 

 which are brought in carts to the market, where 

 they are examined by a sworn proveditor; and 

 Helms tells us, that the largest ox is often sold 

 for a piastre, or 4s. 6d. and a good horse for two 

 piastres. 



The greatest inconveniences under which the in- 

 habitants of Buenos Ayres labour, are the difficult 

 and dangerous navigation of the La Plata, and the 

 want of a safe and commodious harbour. On account 

 of the numerous islets, shoals, and rocks, with which 

 this river abounds, and the frequency of the pamperos, 

 which render a storm here more dreadful than upon 

 the ocean, vessels making for this city must come to 

 anchor every night ; and in the most moderate wea- 

 ther, it is necessary to send a pilot to sound the way 

 for the ship. But the danger does not even end with 

 the voyage : for there is no part on the coast where 

 vessels of any burden can enter nearer than the bay 

 of Barragan, which is about seven leagues distance; 

 and the anchorage ground opposite to Buenos Ayres is 

 nearly three leagues from the shore. All their goods 

 must consequently be landed in lighters or boats, 

 which enter a small creek at the mouth of the Rio 

 Chuelo, about a quarter of a league from the town, 

 to which they are conveyed in carts ; and the vessels 

 generally fall down to the bay of Barragan tu refit 

 and wait for their cargoes. It was to remedy these 



inconveniences, that the court of Spain ordered a Euflf.iloe, 

 settlement to be established at Monte Video in 1726, Bffw n - 

 where nature has formed one of the fintst havens in " "*~v 

 the world. At this port, the merchandise which is 

 imported from Spain is debarked, and carried in boats 

 to Buenos Ayrcs, from whence it is disseminated 

 throughout the viceroyalty. For an account of the 

 commerce of this city, see the preceding article, 

 p. 57. 



The number of inhabitants in Buenos Ayres has 

 been estimated very differently by different travellers. 

 Helms makes it from 25,000 to 30,000 ; while Sir 

 Home Popham carries it so high as 70,000. Forty 

 thousand is the estimate of Azara, which we suppose 

 to be the most correct. South Lat. 3i 36' 28", 

 West Long. 58 31' 15". (p) 

 BUFFALOE. See MAMMALIA. 

 BUFFON, GEORGE Louis LE CLERC, a cele- 

 brated naturalist, was born at Montbard in Burgundy, 

 on the 7th of September 1707. His father was Ben- 

 jamin Leclerc Buffon, counsellor of parliament in Bur- 

 gundy, and the maiden name of his mother was 

 Mademoiselle de Merlin. 



Being destined by his father for the profession of 

 the law, Buffon commenced his studies at the college 

 of Dijon; but the passion which he began to feel for 

 the mathematical sciences, withdrew his attention 

 from every other subject. The Elements of Euclid, 

 and the works of the Marquis de L'Hospital, were 

 the first books that were put into his hands ; and such 

 was his attachment to the former, that he always 

 carried it in his pocket, and was often observed to 

 retire from his companions at play, and to attempt, in 

 some solitary corner, the resolution of any problem 

 with which he had been perplexed. 



The success that attended these youthful exer- 

 tions was sufficiently brilliant to create new excite- 

 ments to his genius. At the age of twenty, he is 

 said to have discovered the binomial theorem, with- 

 out knowing that he had been anticipated by New- 

 ton ; and when at a future period of his life he was 

 asked by M. Herault de Sechelle, why he had never 

 published this fact in any of his works, he replied, 

 that " nobody was obliged to believe it." In 1727, 

 Buffon became acquainted at Dijon with the young 

 Lord Kingston, whose tutor had paid particular at- 

 tention to the sciences. In consequence of this con- 

 nection, he determined to travel, and after following 

 his friend into England, he accompanied him to 

 Italy. In that delightful country, sacred to litera- 

 ture and the arts, and endeared to every scholar by 

 associations the most interesting, Buffon was en- 

 chanted only by the phenomena which nature pre- 

 xsented. The works of human skill, though exhibit- 

 ed in their most perfect form, had no charm for a 

 mind passionately devoted to the philosophy of na- 

 ture. It was in the deep valley, among the rugged 

 precipices, on the summits of the lofty mountains, or 

 among the torrents of lava which had formerly rush- 

 ed from the bowels of the earth, that Buffon began 

 his sublime speculations on the ancient convulsions 

 and revolutions of the globe. 



About this time, in the year 1728, he succeeded 

 to the estate of his mother, which brought him an 

 annual income of about 12,000, and which enabled 



