so 



THE TOWN OF BUENOS AIRES 



is far from being an agreeable residence for those 

 who are accustomed to English comforts. The 

 water is extremely impure, scarce, and consequently 

 expensive. The town is badly paved and dirty, 

 and the houses are the most comfortless abodes I 

 ever entered. The walls, from the climate, are 

 damp, mouldy, and discoloured. The floors are 

 badly paved with bricks, which are generally 

 cracked, and often in holes. The roofs have no 

 ceiling, and the families have no idea of warming 

 themselves except by huddling round a fire of 

 charcoal, which is put outside the door until the 

 carbonic acid gas has rolled away. 



Some of the principal families at Buenos Aires 

 furnish their rooms in a very expensive, but com- 

 fortless manner: they put down upon the brick 

 floor a brilliant Brussels carpet, hang a lustre from 

 the rafters, and place against the damp wall, which 

 they whitewash, a number of tawdry North Ame- 

 rican chairs. They get an English piano-forte, 



