2 56 NOTES OF A NATURALIST. 



costly carpets of the most gaudy colours. The be- 

 haviour of the congregation did not convey to a 

 stranger the impression of religious feeling. It is 

 doubtful, however, to what extent we are right in 

 applying in such matters the standard derived from 

 a different race and different modes of feeling. A 

 severer style of worship would have no attractions for 

 a people who thirst for satisfaction to the eye and ear ; 

 and they would certainly not be the better, in their 

 present condition of progress, if the scepticism of the 

 age were to close this avenue of escape from the sordid 

 cares of daily life. 



On June 29, my second day at Buenos Ayres, I 

 made a short excursion to the Boca, on the shore of 

 the Rio de la Plata, only about three miles from the 

 city. I had an illustration of the careless way in 

 which, from want of sympathy or want of imagination, 

 most people give directions to strangers. Being in- 

 formed that the tramcars plying to La Boca were to 

 be found in a certain street, I proceeded thither to 

 look out for a vehicle going in the right direction. 

 After a few minutes a vehicle appeared, coming from 

 La Boca. After ten minutes more a second arrived 

 from the same direction, and after ten minutes more 

 a third, but not one in the opposite sense. At last 

 I went into the shop of a German chemist near at 

 hand, when the mystery was explained. The cars 

 enter the town by one street, make a short circuit, 

 and return by a different street. 



The Boca does not offer much to interest a stranger. 

 I could have fancied myself somewhere in the out- 

 skirts of Leghorn, so frequent were the familiar sounds 



