450 AMAZONIA AND LA PLATA. 



The City of La Plata. 



La Plata, capital of the province of Buenos Ayres, owes its origin, not to 

 individual enterprise, but to administrative exigencies. The municipality of 

 Buenos Ayres having been " federalised " by Act of Parliament, the seat of the 

 provincial Government had to be transferred to some place beyond the municipal 

 limits. Some already existing town might have been chosen ; but it was thought 

 preferable to start fresh with a "ready-made " city on the open pampas, provided 

 from the first with all the comforts, sanitary requirements, and refinements of 

 modern culture. 



Fortunately, an excellent site was selected in a healthy district near the 

 ensenada (inlet) of Barragan, the best haven on the whole coast. The Spaniards 

 had frequented the roadstead for two centuries, and on several occasions harbour 

 works were constructed for the convenience of shipping. Within the new 

 municipal district, comprising an area of 60 square miles, there already existed 

 two little towns, Tolosa, with extensive railway works, and Emenada, on the 

 Barragan inlet, with a collective population of 8,000. 



La Plata, which occupies a central position in the municipality, made rapid 

 progress at first. Within eighteen months of its foundation in 1 882, the chief 

 provincial administrations were already established in palaces resplendent with 

 gildings, marbles and cabinet-work. The census, taken every year, indicated an 

 extraordinary increase, sometimes exceeding a thousand a month. 



Then came the inevitable reaction. After the official buildings were com- 

 pleted, when the contractors, builders, and gangs of workmen had to be dis- 

 charged, a financial crisis added to the difficulties caused by the stoppage of the 

 works, and it was discovered that the co-existence of two large administrative 

 centres 30 miles apart was too great a burden for the economic condition of 

 Argentina. The principals, bound to reside near their respective bureaus, 

 regretted the attractions of the neighbouring capital, with its theatres, its places 

 of amusement, its restless political and social life, its varied pursuits, busy streets 

 and noisy traffic. 



Nevertheless, the dullness of La Plata cannot fail soon to be relieved by the 

 growth of local industries, and meantime this city has acquired some importance 

 as a scholastic centre. The chief buildings dedicated to science and instruction 

 have been erected in the middle of a shady park or in the vicinity. Such are 

 the Agricultural and Veterinary Schools, the Observatory, well furnished with 

 excellent instruments, and especially the Museum, founded in 1884 by the 

 explorer and naturalist, Francisco Moreno, and enriched with his valuable collec- 

 tions and library. Since then the zeal of a numerous band of explorers has 

 added greatly to its treasures. The whole series of geological formations, the 

 stratified layers abounding in fossils, the burial-grounds of hundreds of extinct 

 tribes, have furnished a surprising quantity of rare objects, all methodically 

 classified, which in certain branches of paleontology and archœology give the 

 La Plata Museum the foremost place amongst such institutions. The very 



