POPULAR SCIENCE REVIEW. 
2 
craft is possible to a distance of one thousand miles from its 
mouth. 
Rosario, the terminus of the railroad, built immediately on 
the banks of the river, is only second in importance to Buenos 
Ayres as a centre for the receipt of the produce of the country 
intended for export, as also for the distribution of imports. 
From here the railroad strikes out across the flat country of the 
Pampas to Yilla Maria, from which place one branch runs 
northwards to Cordova, 245 miles from Rosario, and to 
Tucuman, 340 miles from that city, and the other towards the 
south-west as far as Yilla de Mercedes, about 190 miles, from 
which point it is proposed soon to extend it to Mendoza, San 
Juan, and over the Andes to Chili. 
In the run to Yilla de Mercedes as well as to Cordova, the 
rail passes over Pampas largely utilized for grazing cattle ; 
the soil is alluvial, and gravelly in patches, but mainly the 
former, the alluvium being from two to eight feet in depth, 
under which lie beds of detritus of great thickness, often more 
than eighty feet. 
Farms are spread out across the country, mainly employed 
in raising horned cattle, horses and sheep, of which late esti- 
mates give about seventeen to eighteen millions of horned 
cattle, and ninety to ninety-five millions of sheep ; the land 
offers good opportunities in this direction for enterprising and 
determined men, but great energy is required to manage well 
during seasons of drought. 
The settlers along the line of rail, among whom are included 
English, Scotch, Irish, French, Germans, and Italians, look 
healthy, and as though they enjo} T ed a good climate. 
The ride by rail is not particularly interesting, excepting 
in the opportunity it affords of seeing a great variety of human 
nature, and of accumulating a weariness of the flatness of the 
country, which makes one long for a sight of the Sierras, or of 
the Cordillera. One thing is very striking, namely, that as you 
pass up the line of rail towards Yilla de Mercedes, the number of 
foreigners becomes gradually less, until at the above terminus 
they are almost wholly left behind. This may be accounted for 
from the greater risks incurred in farming in these parts from 
occasional raids by bands of Indians ; the line of military out- 
posts extended across the country to San Rafael, in the province 
of Mendoza, being here closer to the road. 
At Yilla de Mercedes, the present terminus of the rail- 
road, the scene changes to one of greater interest, with more 
numerous chances of adventure. From here coaches ply twice 
a-week to the mountain provinces. The paper-money of the 
provinces, off the lines of railroad, is represented by the 
Bolivian silver half and quarter dollar pieces. This is the 
