290 



A VOYAGE TO 



abundant and fruitful country can aflPord. Beef, mut- 

 ton^ fowls, game, &c. with a variety of excellent fish, 

 were here in great plenty, and for prices, which, in 

 our markets, would be considered very low. Beef, 

 particularly, is exceedingly cheap and of a superior 

 quality; it is the universal dish; chiefly roasted. Ab- 

 solute want is scarcely known in this country, any 

 more than with us. As I passed by the hucksters 

 stalls, they presented a much richer display than any 

 I had been accustomed to see. Here apples, grapes, 

 oranges, pomegranates, peaches, figs, pine-apples, 

 water-melons, were mingled in fair profusion. 



The plaza, or great square, is at least twice as large 

 as the state house yard in Philadelphia, and is un- 

 equally divided into two parts, by an edifice long and 

 low, which serves as a kind of bazaar, or place of 

 shops, with a corridor on each side the whole length, 

 which often serves as a shelter for the market people. 

 At these shops, or stores, which are pretty well sup- 

 plied, they can make their purchases without the trou- 

 ble of wandering through the town. The space be- 

 tween this and the fort, is that appropriated for the 

 market. The opposite side, which is much larger, is 

 a kind of place d^armes; and fronting the building just 

 spoken of, and which intercepts the view of the fort, 

 there is a very fine edifice called the cabildo, or town 

 house, somewhat resembling that of New Orleans, but 

 much larger. In this building the courts hold their 

 sessions, and the offices are kept. The city council, 

 or cabildo, also sits here, and business of all kinds re- 

 lating to the police, is here transacted. Near the 

 centre of the square, a neat pyramid has been erected, 

 commemorative of the revolution, with four emble- 



