30 



MEMOIR OF 



whole party erected small booths, such as are com- 

 mon in the country, and which will be subsequently 

 described. 



But we must not dwell longer on this branch of 

 our author's labours. The result may be seen, at a 

 glance, in the atlas, where we find five great maps, 

 in which are delineated the provinces of Buenos 

 Ayres, Paraguay, Chiquitos, Matogroso, and Cu- 

 yaba, together with minute plans of the cities of 

 Assumption and Buenos Ayres, of the harbour of 

 IMonte Video and other ports, and of many of the 

 settlements throughout the different parts of the 

 continent. 



The several chapters on the climate and winds, 

 on the soil, the rivers and harbours, and the mine- 

 rals, as being somewhat foreign to our work, may be 

 passed with slight notice. The climate, in such an 

 extent of country, is of course various. Upon the 

 whole it is damp, by which is meant that much 

 rain falls ; and yet it is very healthy. " No coun- 

 try," Azara writes, " can be more healthy; even 

 the neighbourhood of marshes and inun elated dis- 

 tricts, which are common, in no degree injures the 

 general health." Azara himself, during bis whole 

 residence, was not a day sick. Thunder storms arc 

 very frequent, — " Ten times, I should say, more 

 frequent than in Spain. Slany were killed in Para- 

 guay by lightning, during my stay ; and during a 

 single storm, within the limits of the town of 

 liuenos- Ayres, thirty-seven tliunderbolts fell, and 

 nineteen persons were destroyed." 



