A VOYAGE T6 



in the churches. I saw, however, a greater number of 

 persons in the streets than I had expected, and I am 

 told, that of late years, the habit has been sensibly de- 

 creasing. It was formerly a saying, that during the 

 seista, none but dogs and foreigners were to be seen 

 in the street. This is no longer true; the increase of 

 business and active employments, having a good deal 

 broken in upon a custom, which could only owe its 

 origin to that indolence which commonly proceeds from 

 a want of incentive to action. Such an incentive, 

 must certainly have been furnished by the animated 

 scenes of their revolution, and by the numerous and 

 important changes which it has produced. In very 

 hot climates, as in the West Indies, and the greater 

 part of South America, there may be some reason for 

 thus reposing in the middle of the day; the intense 

 heat of the sun rendering it unpleasant and danger- 

 ous, to labor in the open fields, and the morning and 

 evening affording them sufficient time to do all their 

 work. Providence, perhaps, in equalizing the bene- 

 fits of nature, has decreed that the people should here 

 be circumscribed in their pursuits by the heat of sum- 

 mer, as in other countries by the coldness of the win- 

 ter. Without such dispensations, the advantages 

 would be too great on the side of the warm climates. 

 The climate of Buenos Ayres, however, is not such 

 as to render it necessary to avoid the sun in the heat of 

 the day. It resembles very much, that to the south of 

 the Mississippi, in our Louisiana district of Texas, 

 although not quite so warm in summer, nor yet so cold 

 in winter. The south-west winds of the winter, are 

 exceedingly piercing; although there is very seldom 

 sufficient cold to incrust the water with ice;, but the 



