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BUENOS AYRES. 



vantages of a position which common prudence 

 and generalship might have rendered perfectly 

 secure, these naturally favoured countries would 

 have been now a hundred years in advance of 

 their present abject condition, both in good 

 government and general prosperity. 



Oct. 25. — On our way to the English church, 

 in a sort of old-fashioned coach, we stuck fast 

 in several places, and were at last obliged to get 

 out and walk, to lighten the carriage. Constant 

 rains and the neglected pavement render the 

 streets in winter almost impassable. 



I am now sitting by a comfortable fire, which 

 I find an essential companion here at the begin- 

 ning of October — the first month of spring in 

 the southern hemisphere. 



I caught a green humming-bird yesterday, 

 that flew into the dining-room, whizzing and 

 buzzing against the glass window, like a large 



