The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1856-08-06
Our Bue,ros Ayres Cosrespondeno noe.


BUESos AYRss, May 20, 1856,
Description Of the City Of Buenos Ayss-Hs Ssrse>s
and ahsi' Dangrs-MissraHe Water Sxppty-
Insufficient Wharfage Chxrches-Ths Rsir
Ser The Climate, &C., &c.
Many of our New York friends have heard Of this
celebrated place. Busnos Ayres, and yet very few
many Americans are coming ont here now and lie
will give brief description of 1t for the benefit e
those who want to come here.
Buenos Ayres is city of about one hundred and
forty to one hundred and fifty thousand inhabitants.
Of which number fifty thousand are foreigners, most
ly Italians, French and Germans. The streets here
are great curiosity, and must attract immediately
the attention OF new comers they are very narrow
and are not over thirty feet deep; the sidewalks arc
elevated from one to two feet from the pavement.
and are scarcely large enough for lady and gentle
man to walk together, and II the hoop pettioosss
were in fashion here, the ladies would be
Obliged to have negro behind them to hold them
tgether f1r every four or five steps there are posts
four to five feet high driven into the sidewalks, and
lady with hoop petticoat would Of course not
have room enough to pass through II two persons
walk together in the street the one who is on the
eide Of be posts has always the task of looking out
in order that he may not skin his hands on them. or
break his side bones; and yet it seems to me thas
these posts sre very much required for If moonlight
should be marked down in the almanac they de mot
light the lamps (a custom probably copied from de
Yankees), If it is 80 cloady and dark that yoa
cannot see the hand before your eyes Then the
posts are the only remedies to keep on the road for
as soon IA you step over this line you come fiat
tai. a II
are OF course In danger Of breaking your neck; and
even if you walk strictly on the sidewalks you are
in some danger, for they are paved with crggs,
which are laid down in such way that one must
always watch the ground to avoid stumbling.
Street cleaning is considered too great luxury
here and therefore, II is done by the city
thorities, at least haze never It, and il does
not seem to me that they attend to it in the night,
for every morning the streets are as filthy as ever,
and by far surpass the dirt in the side streets Of
New York. When it is raining, there is stream of
mud running through the streets, which have, by.
the by, cutters, and pers N has to take care
MT u get stuck in the mud, and the poor ladies'
obliged 70 remain al home and canoot make any
show at all with their beautiful white cmbroiderod
| petticOats "a they do in New York How distress
| ing this would be for the New York beauues
| The houses are mostly one story high. with few
exceptions, and to person who is used to city o(
i q
head The windows all barred with iron. which
makes them lock like prison windows; the houses
are painted in different shades of water colors, and
would not look bad If one did not fad at every
little distance some old barracks mixed up with the
| better class Of houses
There are very few wells here, and therefore in 4
| great many houses there alkrifers, where the
water Ii collected froa the roofs when it rains and
in this water thous inds Of little insects are geue
| rated, which you can see We plainly with she eye
and which everybody drinks, as they considered
healthy and very good for digestion. The families
who do not have any alkrfers get their water from
the Rio Plata Ss,lysr river), but this river
it looks more like copper than like silver. and u
sometimes extremely muddy. AL the washing In
done alongside Of the river, as the water is too
peusive 10 do II in the house and there hundreds
| OF washerwomen on the shore occupied with wash
| ing. The men who take the water round 10 large
casks TO the different families generally get 1t at
the place where the linen Is washed or very near
and You may, therefore imagine that the water has
| sometimes beautiful flavor Of soap, aud does n0t
look very inviting TO drink.
Buenos Ayres has only one large wharf, at which
only very 81 all boats Can land. and the large
ses have 10 lay all at anchor about six miles from
the city, the river is very shallow. II
passengers arrive, the have to land ia small
boats, ard II we have low water, they
even cannot reach the wharf, and the pas
sengers have - get in large carts with high wheels
which are drawn by borses, and are landed in this
way, and the poor ladies' generally suffer great
Il
good hold OF the cart and are all the time afraid .
| be pitched over Ia the river.
There are a great many Roman Catholic churches
here and they very much attended by the sdiee,
but very few Spanish gentlemen make their appear.
ance In the for they have too much good sense -
| kneel on the stony floor there being no pews -
kneel In For this rea on the ladies when they 60 to
church on Sunday, have negro page who carries .
piece Of carpet on which they kneel down. Fortu-
| Datey We have an American chur III here which has
al the modern improvements and has pretty large
community OF Americans and English who support
IL. person can at least pray there with comfort
and is not Obliged 70 60 home every Sunday with
! stiff knees.
The Spanish ladies are very handsome but
dark complexioned beauties, with large, ex.
h saek are very ana talented and pe
/ gent, and most of them speak three languages
Guently-Spanish, French and English. They are
also very good musicians, and are very lively and
popularity, and that Is the fine mustaches which
they almoft all raise and which gives them rather
manly appearance. Hosever, they are not any the
lese prettier for L.
One great plague we have and that Is Aeas,
which torment the soul out OF every one, and We
have them in such quantities that they very fire.
quenfly baked in the bread, though II Is made with
The climate here is delightful, and though We
have fall weather II Is very mild, and the thermo-
meter shows sixty degrees Fsrenheit; we have mil.
ons 2, v,osas IN The open 40, eds and tho, thousands Of
| not seem ike fall At all. We have never any Geo.
| tagious sickness berc, with the exception OF the
small pox. Buenos Ayrcs deserves, therefore, its
name Tor translated IL TO English II good air.
| An OUTRAGE AT CARE MAY.-we learn that o.
| Sunday afternoon about five o'clock. an outrage.
| which produced considerable excitement, occurred
| at the Mount Vernon Hotel. Cape May. IL appears
| that several young men we're seated in the room.
| and one Of them drinking wine. A waiter, Joshua
Gibbs who Is said 10 be very civil and inofenstve
| man-wss passing below. when for mischief With
| come more desperate object, glass tumbler wns
| thrown at him. He turned and remarked that the
act not that Of gentleman and thsn made his
way back to the hotel with the object Of making
complaint At this ore Of the young men--the son
came excited and FASTENED down stairs, armei with
pistol and o dirk. A collision coon after took
place, and the waiter stabbed in he back. The
wound ia said 70 be about inch deep and not dan
gerous. physician was Immediately called In and
ntte1aflnn maid N 4hc G.xh>.