DURING THE REVOLUTION 239 



relations between the Parana and the port of Monte- 

 video. From 1852 to 1860 Buenos Aires was isolated, 

 and it remained outside the economic life of Argentina. 

 Montevideo took its place. Urquiza's administration 

 sought, in addition, to establish direct maritime com- 

 munication between over-seas ports and the ports 

 on the river : Gualeguy in Entre Rios, and Rosario 

 in Santa Fe. Under a system of preferential duties 

 (1857-59), which reduced the burden on goods carried 

 by the river, Rosario grew rapidly, and between 1853 

 and 1858 increased its population from 4,000 to 22,700. 

 The period from 1852 to 1860 was also the time when 

 steam-navigation was developing, and this doubled 

 the value of the river-route. From 1860 onward 

 Buenos Aires was connected by regular services of 

 steamboats with Rosario, Santa Fe, Corrientes, 

 Asuncion and Cuyaba. On the upper Parana goods 

 (timber, tobacco and oranges) were still carried by 

 sailing boats between Corrientes and Apipe, where 

 they stopped at the commencement of the rapids. 

 Steamboats did not sail up the rapids of Apipe until 

 1868. 1 From 1850 to 1860 there were repeated 

 explorations of the Salado and the Bermejo, as the 

 interior provinces hoped to be able to find a con- 

 nection with the vivifying artery of the Parana (voyage 

 of Page on the Salado from Salta in 1855, and of 

 Lavarello on the Bermejo in 1855 and 1863). 



In 1860 the entry of Buenos Aires into the Con- 

 federation re-established the normal condition of free 

 competition between Buenos Aires and Rosario. From 

 that time the life of the river reflects the advance of 

 colonization in the Pampean region. The Parana 

 became the highway for the export of cereals. 



The two rivers, of which the Rio de la Plata forms 

 the common estuary, differ considerably in their 

 features. The Uruguay has irregular floods, especially 



1 According to Rengger, sailing ships sometimes succeeded ill crossing 

 the Salto d'Apipe\ 



