-14- 
and. chicken salad and the best coffee we have had anywhere. 
We went shopping afterwards* prowling through Harrod * s in 
search of bargains* and walking along Paraguay to admire the little 
shops that sell exquisite handwork - lingerie and blouses. 
In the evening Bill and I went to a dinner party at the Davises* 
where we met Dr, Mar ell i of La Plata, looking very big and friendly 
after all these years. Dr. and Mrs, Ho Prober g and Dr, and Mrs. Soler 
were also there. Nobody spoke English, and although I was lost 
in most of the Spanish conversation I managed to get along quite 
nicely with Dr. Marelli in French. We were late in getting back 
to the hotel, and the early hours of the morning found me packing 
the trunk, |».nd getting ready for our trip to-morrow. 
May 5 - Delta 
We left the hotel at six o’clock by zoo automobile for El 
Tigre. We had thought we were merely being taken to the railroad 
station, and had put Dr. Gray and Bill Shippen in a taxi with the 
baggage. As it became apparent that we were ixxkmx® not heading 
for the station, we f ound out we were to be driven the whole 30 kms. 
and had to stop andhaggle with the taxi driver to take the rest of 
the party for a reasonable sum. 
At El Tigre we found a crowd waiting for us. The four students 
we had met in the . 3oo» young Kolmberg, Lopez, Oesterheld and Gallan, 
as well as Sen or Ohiarelli of the Department of Agriculture, were 
already aboard the Ceres , the beautiful launch of the Minister of 
.agriculture. There was plenty of room f or them as well as for the 
five of us, and we started off on a beautiful bright morning, &J *. ,• 
the river lined with trees in autumn foliage. The first part of the if 
day we passed summer homes, and wealthy suburban villas; later 
we came into the farming districts, where the houses ranged from mud 
shacks on stilts to prosperous frame or cement buildings. Of course 
there were long stretches without a sign of human habitation, where 
the river was lined with coarse reeds, and the jcaxkxxax JtxxsdxK land 
beyond was gay with tall, silvery plumes of pampas grass, waving 
against a background of willow or Lombardy poplar. I have never seen 
so much poplar in my life. It is planted here, mile after mile of it 
straight rows x>£xx&, denuded now of foliage, silver pointers to the 
blue sky. 
This is a marvelously rich farming country. The soil, 
enriched by regular flooding of the Parana River over the land, is 
black as chocolate. Citrus groves flourish, and we stopped at 
occasional plantations to wander along under orange, grapefruit, 
and lemon trees, where the crop was so heavy the tranches had to 
be supported by poles. At one farm we met two charming old people 
named &xxjmjfcxfc Russovich (Jugoslavs) who invited us all into the" 
house to drink home-made cherry brandy. 
One man combined citrus and nutria. He had 1400 live 
specimens. As he led us &ong the corrugated iron paddocks, each one 
with its generous pool of water, we saw the sleek, bewhiskered fur- 
bearers swarming like ants. He had four albinos, and some hope of 
