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23 chapters
INTRODUCTION
INTRODUCTION
So many books have been written on South American countries within recent years that the addition of one more to the already formidable list calls for a word of explanation, if not apology. So far as American writers on the Latin-American Republics are concerned, many of their works are based upon the statistical returns of the respective Governments, or on topographical and historical data, easily obtainable at the public libraries. Others, more popular, but perhaps less valuable, are the hasty
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CHAPTER I FROM LONDON TO LISBON
CHAPTER I FROM LONDON TO LISBON
We set out from London on a raw and rainy day. It had been raining off and on for many weeks, and as enthusiasts of the car we had been grumbling, my wife and I, a good deal at the weather. But we were booked for the land of sunshine! And when we bade good-bye to the chauffeur at Charing Cross Station, rather nervously watched the old grey car roll away among the traffic and the drizzling rain, we comforted each other with simple words about the sunshine that awaited us far off by the River Plat
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CHAPTER II OUR VOYAGE TO THE RIVER PLATE
CHAPTER II OUR VOYAGE TO THE RIVER PLATE
We had laughed at the story of some Englishmen in Lisbon, told us by a friend there. He overheard a group of typical John Bull tourists, who had been “doing” a fortnight in Portugal, discussing their experiences on their way to the boat. The weather had been superb all the time; they had been steeped in sunshine; yet the reflection which seemed to find most favour was the remark of a burly Yorkshireman: “Thank ’eaven, boys, no more of this damned glare for a while!” But we were seekers of sunshi
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CHAPTER III FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF BUENOS AYRES
CHAPTER III FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF BUENOS AYRES
Our ship’s doctor, with whom I had passed many agreeable hours, and whose efforts to practise the Spanish speech added not a little to the gaiety of our voyage, was a plain-spoken young man, who assured me, when he heard I was bound for Buenos Ayres, that I was going to “the rottenest place in South America.” This was a blow that struck my puffed-up admiration of the place under the belt. I had read in the papers before leaving London that no fewer than fifteen stowaways from Glasgow had reached
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CHAPTER IV PICTURES OF STREET LIFE IN BUENOS AYRES
CHAPTER IV PICTURES OF STREET LIFE IN BUENOS AYRES
It is a reasonable proposition that there are at least as many ways of studying a strange town as Mr. Kipling allows in the writing of tribal lays—“and every single one of them is right.” I claim no more than that for my own particular way. My first concern is to gain a general impression, by wandering the streets and letting the spirit of the place “soak” into me, almost unconsciously. Later, I assume an attitude of mind more critical and less subjective, becoming an active observer, open-eyed
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CHAPTER V MORE SCENES FROM THE STREETS OF BUENOS AYRES
CHAPTER V MORE SCENES FROM THE STREETS OF BUENOS AYRES
What fascinated me most in the streets of this motley town were the bookshops. Who says there is no culture in Buenos Ayres has to reckon with the evidence of these, for London itself has no more than you might count on the fingers of one hand that excel the librerías of the Argentine capital. Many pleasant hours have I passed inspecting their wonderfully varied stocks of books from all the countries of Europe where the art of printing flourishes, as well as from North and South America. In prop
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CHAPTER VI WHAT WE THOUGHT OF THE WEATHER AND THE MOSQUITOES
CHAPTER VI WHAT WE THOUGHT OF THE WEATHER AND THE MOSQUITOES
I cannot go further in the story of my stay in Buenos Ayres without saying something very definite about the weather. Passing references have already been made to that all-important topic; but it requires a chapter to itself, and it insists on having it here and now. As I have said, we were seekers of sunshine. Well, we found it—and also some fine samples of most sorts of weather known between the Equator and the Poles. We arrived early in April, which is the beginning of autumn in the Argentine
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CHAPTER VII A SPLENDID CITY OF SHAM
CHAPTER VII A SPLENDID CITY OF SHAM
“Of course we all work in sham,” remarked a prominent Argentine architect to me, one clear, still night, as we leant together over the rail of a river steamer, discussing the pros and cons of Buenos Ayres—a subject as infinitely interesting to River Platers as the weather to the Englishman. The “of course” was a kindly concession to some criticism of mine and showed an open and liberal mind. The architect was no self-deluding porteño to whom Buenos Ayres was everything good, true and beautiful.
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CHAPTER VIII SOME “PASEOS” IN AND ABOUT BUENOS AYRES
CHAPTER VIII SOME “PASEOS” IN AND ABOUT BUENOS AYRES
A paseo signifies no more than a stroll, a walk, a promenade. But the modern Argentine usually goes a-strolling in a coche or a motor-car. He has an ingrain horror of exercising his legs. The British resident soon falls into this modern manner, either out of a frank desire to ruffle it with the best of them or merely because one must eventually follow the line of least resistance. It demands a certain amount of will-power to walk when all the world’s on wheels. Thus, as there is but a single pas
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CHAPTER IX MORE “PASEOS” IN BUENOS AYRES
CHAPTER IX MORE “PASEOS” IN BUENOS AYRES
Recoleta I have only mentioned in passing; but that offers a very interesting paseo to the visitor. My wife specialised on Recoleta and piloted many another lonely soul to that strange city of tombs! As they say in Scottish villages, “Let’s take a bit daunder in the kirk yaird.” Recoleta is certainly worthy of a “daunder.” This famous cemetery combines some features of Pere Lachaise with certain of the Campo Santo at Genoa. But it is really not like either. It is peculiarly Argentine. You can tr
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CHAPTER X HOW THE MONEY GOES
CHAPTER X HOW THE MONEY GOES
Buenos Ayres has somehow achieved the reputation of being “the most expensive city in the world.” But this is not, strictly, correct; for, in my experience, Rio de Janeiro can give it some points and a beating in this respect, and even its near neighbour, Montevideo, on the northern shore of the River Plate, is, in a way presently to be explained, more expensive. To the stranger, however, it is always difficult to understand or account for the wide differences between the living expenses in the
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CHAPTER XI SOME PHASES OF SOCIAL LIFE
CHAPTER XI SOME PHASES OF SOCIAL LIFE
Here is a subject which every writer on the general life of a town or a country is expected to deal with, but in the case of Buenos Ayres one is reminded of the famous, “Story? Lord bless you, there’s none to tell, sir!” Save, that in being a civilised people, the inhabitants of the Argentine must needs dwell in communities, “social life,” as we understand it, is difficult to discover in these communities. Certainly, a teeming city of nearly a million and a half population, with crowded streets,
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CHAPTER XII BUSINESS LIFE IN BUENOS AYRES
CHAPTER XII BUSINESS LIFE IN BUENOS AYRES
Although I will not admit that Buenos Ayres is the most desirable place of residence, or that I should willingly pass any considerable portion of my life there, I can appreciate its fascination for the man of business. I was continually meeting Britishers who would, in the crudest fashion, contrast the Argentine capital with the cities of their Homeland, to the total eclipse of the latter, proclaiming that there was but one place on earth for them, and that was Buenos Ayres. But I never met an A
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CHAPTER XIII THE ARGENTINE AT HOME
CHAPTER XIII THE ARGENTINE AT HOME
As we make no distinction in English between the name of the country and that of its native, referring to both as “the Argentine,” I am continually finding little difficulties present themselves in the progress of my writing, involving circumlocutions which are obviated in the Spanish. The Spaniard can never doubt the intention of a writer about the Argentine, la Argentina being the name of the country, or of a female native, while el Argentino indicates the male native. In the English, we have
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CHAPTER XIV “THE BRITISH COLONY” AND ITS WAYS
CHAPTER XIV “THE BRITISH COLONY” AND ITS WAYS
All the different nationalities represented in the population of the Argentine are known as “colonies,” excepting the Spaniards and Italians, who are at once so numerous and so involved in the life of the country that it is scarcely possible to think of them merely as colonial groups. The Republic, with a total population of seven and a half-millions, contains vast numbers of Italians and Spaniards, but reliable returns as to the various nationalities included in the population are difficult to
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CHAPTER XV THE EMIGRANT IN LIGHT AND SHADE
CHAPTER XV THE EMIGRANT IN LIGHT AND SHADE
There is a popular story in Buenos Ayres of a Spanish emigrant who had just arrived with wife and children, and as the group was crossing the Paseo de Julio, the wife espied a silver coin in the gutter. She called to her husband to pick it up, but he disdainfully answered, “I have no concern with mere silver money, when I have come here to gather gold!” The story usually ends here, but I suspect the frugal wife of picking up that coin herself and thereby making money more easily than her husband
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CHAPTER XVI LIFE IN THE “CAMP” AND THE PROVINCIAL TOWNS
CHAPTER XVI LIFE IN THE “CAMP” AND THE PROVINCIAL TOWNS
To the European imagination, the Argentine gaucho typifies the rural life of the country. And a fine figure he cuts in his showy poncho (a shawl with a slit in the centre to thrust the head through), the graceful folds of it, with fringed edges and embroidery, falling as low as his top-boots with their jingling spurs. On his head he wears any variety of soft felt hat, but never the “Panama hat” of popular imagination. He is more inclined to cultivate a beard and fierce moustache than to shave, a
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CHAPTER XVII THE SPIRIT OF THE COUNTRY
CHAPTER XVII THE SPIRIT OF THE COUNTRY
There is a sense in which the spirit of a country must show itself in any honest description of its life and character. The preceding chapters of this book have dealt with so many and varied aspects of Argentine life that the reader should have been able to take in from these something at least of the spirit of the country: perhaps as much as can be made manifest in any specialised treatment of the subject. Yet I feel the attempt should be made to disengage from the tangle of ideas and impressio
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CHAPTER XVIII THE LAND OF PAIN
CHAPTER XVIII THE LAND OF PAIN
Although by no means a nervous person or one so dotingly fond of animals that he exaggerates every little evidence of ill treatment, I have ever taken a keen interest in animal welfare, and what I have seen during my stay of nearly two years in South America has led me to look upon some of these Latin Republics as almost incredible hells of suffering for the so-called “lower animals.” I am much tempted here to write a general chapter on the subject, covering my observations not only in the Argen
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CHAPTER XIX TO-DAY AND TO-MORROW IN THE ARGENTINE
CHAPTER XIX TO-DAY AND TO-MORROW IN THE ARGENTINE
Although there is a great deal in South America to appeal to the sense of the historic, to render the study of the past interesting and profitable, in the Argentine the past does not greatly engage anybody. There is a general concurrence with the Oscar Wilde dictum that the best thing about the past is the fact that it is past. Here and there native scholars devotedly tend the lamp of History, and from time to time remind the populace of past events worthy of celebration, whereupon the populace,
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CHAPTER XX OUR SUMMER IN MONTEVIDEO
CHAPTER XX OUR SUMMER IN MONTEVIDEO
No matter how little we may love a place, we shall surely feel some sentiment of regret at leaving. If I had been told after my first few weeks in Buenos Ayres that I might come to entertain a kindly feeling towards that stony-hearted city, I doubt not that I should have scouted the suggestion. And yet when it came to saying good-bye to the friends we had made, taking a farewell look at the scenes amidst which for eight months it had been our lot to live, and setting our faces towards another to
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CHAPTER XXI URUGUAY: SOME NOTES AND IMPRESSIONS
CHAPTER XXI URUGUAY: SOME NOTES AND IMPRESSIONS
Little countries, like little people, have a knack of making themselves interesting. The simile might be further pursued—especially among the Republics of South America—in that the smaller they are, the more noisy and obstreperous shall we find their histories have been. But there is a certain dignity and much to admire in the little Republic of Uruguay, and its country is one of the most attractive. After the impression of vastness left on the wanderer in the Argentine, Uruguay seemed a very sm
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CHAPTER XXII FROM THE RIVER PLATE TO THE ANDES
CHAPTER XXII FROM THE RIVER PLATE TO THE ANDES
Early in April we made another journey to Buenos Ayres, and thence to Ensenada, the port of La Plata, where, in the company of friends, I had to bid good-bye to my wife, with whom the changeful climate had dealt none too kindly. Just a year before, we had set out to revel in the sunshine of the golden South, and now one of us, after a year of many changing weathers, was gladly setting sail for the grey North, resolved never again to say one word against its climate, while the other would no less
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