BUENOS AYRES. 



63 



are already spreading over the place. Perhaps 

 the terraces or flat roofs, and azoteas, so well 

 calculated to increase the enjoyment of the 

 population, who regularly promenade and 

 breathe the fine evening air upon the tops of 

 their houses, will always distinguish the cha- 

 racter of the Spanish American residences on 

 the river Plata from those of Europe ; though, 

 in other respects, they are not likely to differ 

 materially. 



Very few people were walking in the streets. 

 Almost all the customers engaged in shopping, 

 were horsemen, dressed in red and many-coloured 

 ponchos, who ambled along, now and then dis- 

 mounting to purchase goods. They wear pro- 

 digiously heavy spurs, which clank on the 

 ground as they tread, and, instead of boots, 

 thrust their legs into the stretched skins of 

 horses* legs, which meet a pair of wide breeches 

 below the knee. This leaves the foot nearly 



