ULLOA*S VOYAGE TO SOUTH AftfElRICA. 645 



of a thoufand regular troops. The houfes, formerly of mud-walls, thatched with ftraw 

 and very low, are now much improved, fome being of chalk, and others of brick, and 

 baring one ftory befides the ground-floor, and mofl of them tiled*. The cathedral is a 

 fpacious and very elegant ftruclure, and is the parifh-church for the greateft part of the 

 inhabitants j the other, at the farther end of the city, being only for the Indians. The 

 chapter is compofed of the bifhop, dean, archdeacon, and two canons, one by compofi- 

 • tion, the other by prefentation. Here are alfo feveral convents, and a royal chapel in 

 the caftle where the governor refides. With regard to the civil and economical govern- 

 ment, and the magiftracy, it will be unnecefTary to enter into particulars, they being 

 on the fame footing as thofe of the places already mentioned. 



The climate here is very little different from that of Spain, and the diftindions between 

 the feafons are the fame. In winter, indeed, violent tempells of winds and rain are here 

 very frequent, accompanied with fuch dreadful thunders and lightnings, as fill the in- 

 habitants, though ufed to them, with terror and confternation. In fummer the excef- 

 five heats are mitigated by gentle breezes, which conftantly begin at eight or nine in the 

 morning. 



The city is furrounded by a fpacious and pleafant country, free from any obflrudion 

 to the fight ; and from thefe delightful fields the inhabitants are furnifhed with fuch a 

 plenty of cattle, that there is no place in America or Europe where meat is better or 

 cheaper. It is the ufual cullom to buy the hides of the beaft, the carcafe being in fome 

 meafure a gratuitous addition ; and the meat is always fat and very palatable. The coun- 

 try to the wefl, fouth, and north of Buenos Ayres lately abounded fo greatly in cattle 

 and horfes, that the whole cofl confifted in taking them ; and even then a horfe was fold 

 for a dollar of that money, and the ufual price of a beaft, chofen out of a herd of two 

 or three hundred, only four rials. At prefent there is no fcarcity, but they keep at a 

 greater diftance, and are more difficult to be catched, by reafon of the prodigious havock 

 made of them by the Spaniards and Portuguefe, merely for the fake of their hides ; the 

 grand commerce of Buenos Ayres. 



All kinds of game and fifh are alfo here in the fame plenty, feveral forts of the latter 

 being caught in the river running by it ; but the perexeyes are very remarkable, fome 

 of them being half a yard or more in length. Both the American and European fruits 

 come to full perfection, and are in great plenty. In a word, for the enjoyments of life, 

 efpecially with regard to the falubrity of the air, a finer country cannot be imagined. 



This city is fituated about feventy-feven leagues from Cape Santa Maria, which lies on 

 the north coaft near the entrance of the river De la Plata j and its little river not having 

 water fufficient for fhips of burden to come up to Buenos Ayres, they anchor in one of 

 the two bays on the fame coaft. That fartheft to the eaftward is called Maldonado, and 

 is nine leagues from the above cape : the other bay is, from a mountain near it, named 

 Monte Video, and is about twenty leagues from it. 



Within the government of Buenos Ayres are thr^e other cities, namely, Santa Fc, 

 Las Corientes, and Monte Video. The laft, which was lately built, ftands on the bor- 

 der of the bay, from Avhence it derives its name. Santa Fe lies about ninety leagues 

 north-weft of Buenos Ayres, between the Rio de la Plata and the Rio Salado, which, 

 after running through the country of Tucuman, joins the former. The city is but fmall, 

 and meanly built, owing in a great meafure to the infults it has frequ^ttly fufFered from; 

 the heathen Indians, who not long fince pillaged it, maffacring the inhabitants of the 

 city, and thofe of the neighbouring villages ; and they ftill keep the country under con- 

 tinual apprehenfions of another vifit. It is, however, the channel of the cooimerce be- 

 * Their houfes are commonly thatched with cocoa-nut-leaves and flagii. A. 



4 N a tweep 



