BUENOS AIRES AND ITS RIVER OF SILVER 



-411 





Photograph by Publishers' Photo Service 



THE MUSEUM OP THE MODERN CITY OP LA PLATA: ARGENTINA 



La Plata was founded 39 years ago as the capital of the Province of Buenos Aires when 

 the latter was separated from the national capital. It is admirably planned, with broad 

 avenues cut by diagonal boulevards, somewhat after the style of Washington, D. C. 



It is in such places as these, rather than 

 at the races or the opera, that one sees 

 the Argentines as they are, a courteous, 

 proudly democratic, altogether likable 

 people. 



A VOYAGE UP THE WORLDS SECOND 

 LARGEST RIVER 



Almost from the days of Columbus, 

 the great waterway of the Rio de la Plata 

 has been one of the most traveled trade 

 routes of South America. Hardly had 

 the Spanish explorers entered its estuary, 

 in the early years of the sixteenth century, 

 and founded the towns of Montevideo 

 and Buenos Aires on its banks, before 

 they pushed on up the river, seeking a 

 passage which might lead them through 

 to the Indian Ocean and the Isles of Spice. 



The great stream, which in volume of 

 water is second among the rivers of the 

 earth, has for four hundred years been 

 the main artery of traffic for Argentina, 

 Uruguay, Paraguay, and southern Brazil, 

 in spite of the fact that at least half of 

 the territory it drains is only beginning to 



be developed and that a large percentage 

 of it has never even been explored. 



From Buenos Aires to Asuncion, the 

 picturesque old capital of Paraguay, an 

 excellent line of river boats affords bi- 

 weekly sailings, the time en route being 

 four days upstream and three and a half 

 days returning. 



We left Buenos Aires one cool, showery 

 morning in December (early summer) on 

 the side- wheel, twelve- foot-draft steamer 

 Berna, and after being out of sight of 

 land for hours, in a turbid, muddy sea, 

 reached the confluence of the Uruguay 

 and Parana rivers and turned northwest 

 up the latter. The stream was miles wide, 

 the color of coffee with cream, and 

 broken by numberless marshy islands. 

 The shores on the left were covered with 

 plantations of poplar and willow. 



A GLIMPSE OP ROSARIO, ARGENTINA'S 

 SECOND CITY 



Next morning we made our first stop 

 at Rosario, the second largest city of 

 Argentina and a notable shipping point 



