APPENDIX. 



337 



dedicated to learning in this country; and it has lately been fitted 

 up at very great expense. The school was to have opened in May 

 or June, on a more modern and liberal plan of discipline and in- 

 struction. The library of the state, is kept in an adjoining build- 

 ing; it occupies a suit of six rooms, and contains near twenty thou- • 

 sand volumes, the greater part rare and valuable. It is formed out , 

 of the library of the Jesuits, the books collected in the different mo- 

 nasteries, donations from individuals, and an annual appropriation , 

 by the government, and contains works on all subjects, and in all 

 the languages of the polished nations of Europe. A very valuable 

 addition has been lately made, of several thousand volumes, brought 

 to Buenos Ayres by Mr. Bonpland,^ the companion of the cele- 

 brated Humboldt. 



Besides the university of Cordova, at which there are about one 

 hundred and fifty students, there are public schools in all the prin- 

 cipal towns, supported by their respective corporations. In Bue- 

 nos Ayres, besides an academy, in which are taught the higher 

 branches, and the college before mentioned, there are eight public 

 schools; for whose support, the corporation contributes about seven 

 thousand dollars annually; and, according to the returns of last 

 year, the number of scholars amounted to eight hundred and sixty- 

 four. There are five other schools, exclusively for the benefit of 

 the poor, and under the charge of the different monasteries; these 

 are supplied with books and stationary at the public expense. 

 There are also parish schools in the country, for the support of 

 which, a portion of the tithes has been lately set apart. It is rare 

 to meet with a boy, ten or twelve years of age, ifi the city of Bue- 

 nos Ayres, who cannot read and write. Besides the scholars thus 

 instructed, many have private tutors. In addition to all this, I 

 must not omit to mention the military academies supported by go- 

 vernment at Buenos Ayres and Tucuman, at which there are a 

 Considerable number of cadets. 



There are no prohibited books of any kind; all are permitted to 

 circulate freely, or to be openly sold in the book stores; among 

 them is the New Testament in Spanish. This alone, is a prodigious 

 step towards the emancipation of their minds from prejudices. 

 There are several book stores, whose profits have rapidly increas- 

 ed; a proof that the number of readers has augmented in the same 

 proportion. There had been a large importation of English books, 

 a language becoming daily more familiar to them. Eight years 

 VOL. I. 43 / 



