24 HUNTING EXTINCT ANIMALS 



lower Broadway in New York or more so, hardly a building 

 lot on it being held for less than a million dollars. 



The docks are fine concrete structures around the series of 

 seven more or less artificial basins which serve as a harbor. 

 These are always crowded with shipping and are finely 

 equipped with all sorts of machinery for loading and unload- 

 ing. The people claim that the Municipal Theater is the 

 finest in the Americas. The stage and auditorium are 

 nearly as large as those in the Metropolitan Opera House 

 in New York, and then there is a series of anterooms and 

 promenades for use between acts, which may well bring 

 up the size to that of the Metropolitan. The opera here 

 is conducted by the same singers as appear in New York, 

 though they are usually tried out in Buenos Aires first. 

 The class of music is very high, as is also the price for seats. 



The streets are thronged with automobiles, through the 

 day every language is heard on the sidewalks, and the 

 people show the hurry and business bustle more like a 

 northern city than any others we saw. It is a most cos- 

 mopolitan city and a very expensive one to live in. We 

 hoped to do our business and get a boat south in two or 

 three days, but found that there was no boat for Pata- 

 gonian ports until the ninth of August, which was very bad 

 for our funds. However, we had a good many last things 

 to attend to, like looking up maps, buying shellac and 

 alcohol, another tent, and a compass, our finances to 

 arrange, and to procure all the introductions possible. 



One day we spent in going out to the city La Plata to 

 see the provincial museum, meet some of the geologists, 

 and learn what we could about the localities where fossils 

 were to be found. On entering the depot to take the 

 train, we were at once struck by the European aspect of 

 all the arrangements. Not only were the Argentine 

 railroads capitalized by the English, but they were also 

 built and equipped by them. So the waiting rooms were 

 furnished with tables, at which passengers ate and drank 



