The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1873-01-25


THE CLIMATE.
From the Methodist
The lovely climate of the provinces OF
Buenos Ayres and Santa Fe, if we'll known,
would be an attraction to thousands who
suffer the rigors of Il northern winter. Ly-
ing in the same latitude as the island OF
Juan Fernandez, which De Foe has made
famous by the adventures of Robinson
Crusoe, the pure air and buoyant atmos-
phere are a continual feast. A ride through
the country is absolutely exhilarating. In
the province of Santa Fe, the year round,
it is almost constant sunshine, except a
few weeks in the fall. There are regular
rains in spring, but when they come it rains
in torrents for a few hours, and then clears
up. The heat in summer is dry, and not
as sultry and exhausting as that of our
own summers. The thermometer seldom
rises above ninety, and during the night
the fresh wind from the pampas comes up
like the ocean-breeze. The winters, which
are in June, July and August, are so mild
that fire in churches and school houses is
unknown. Neither do the natives in their
dwellings waste fuel in drawing the oxy-
gen from the air, except in the kitchen,
which is so separated from the other apart
ments of the house that its fire is worth
less for heating.
never saw snow, and the frosts are so
slight that they do not penetrate the
ground. You must rise early in the morn
ing to witness such phenomenon at all.
Consumption and fever and ague are al
most unknown. So sustaining to the vital
ity of the system is the atmosphere that
the native laborer usually takes his cup of
Paraguayan tea, with biscuit or roll in
the morning. and without other food, goes
out and works until twelve o'clock at noon,
when he returns for his breakfast. The
heavens at night shine with a brilliancy
exceeding that of our northern hemisphere.
There are the Southern Cross, and the
Magellan or Cape Horn clouds two clus-
tiers of nebula, and the Milky Way, so
bright in one particular spot that it seems
almost on fire.
THE MIRAGE.
You leave the city, and the mirage is be-
fore you every clear day and every hour.
it seems to be wide expanse
of water impeding your progress; some
times beautiful sylvan lake, in which
camels and elephants are cooling their
limbs, and beside it a gorgeous palace
glitters in the sunlight. AS you ride on,
the water disappears, and the camels and
elephants imperceptibly fade, like dis
solving view, and change to horses and
oxen, which had been magnified by the
The palace itself is but an
ordinary estancia- house. So perfect is the
deception, that when you are actually ap-
preaching sheet of water, it is impossi-
BILE to distinguish it from the mirage unless
you are previously acquainted with its
location. Sometimes this singular pro-
perty of the atmosphere will reveal itself
in another form. Houses, trees, and other
objects, which are many leagues distant
and far beyond the reach of vision, will be
seen painted on the sky before you. and
disappear as you advance toward their real
location.
THE SOIL.
This is rich as our Western Prairies.-
The black mold is about two feet in depth,
and produces wheat without enriching,
year after year, for period which l never
heard limited. Fertilizers, of all kinds,
are useless, for there is no necessity for
hem. No forests are to be cleared away.
The only tree that is ever found growing
wild is the stately omJoo, magnificent in its
foliage and shape, but so scattered that if
you had farm of thousand acres with
i've omboos, that would be more than your
Wherever thrifty man builds
/ house, he sets out, at once, number of
peach trees. These grow rapidly, and
soon supply him with fuel and delicious
'ruit. There are no stones, from the mo-
nent you leave the banks Of the Parana.
The wild grass Of the plains is excellent
'ood for cattle, and gradually changes, as
hey Craze upon it, in two or three years.
% finer heritage, and is then suitable for
The sheep-farmer. The pampas of South
American, with their SOIL level almost as
,he unruffled sea, without stones to impede
he working of the plough, the mower, and
he reaper, seem created to become the
of the world.
THE MARKETS.
Let us return to the town and look
1t the markets. Here is excellent NUT
on in abundance-mutton for which
South America is famous. Your native
servant will buy you fine leg for about
fifteen cents in gold. You cannot pur-
chase it at that price yourself, because the
butcher and the cook have secret under |
If you want to hire cook, he
will charge you an extra ten dollars per
month, if you undertake to do your own
and in his estimation, you will |
De neither Christian nor gentleman
But cut off the ten dollars from his wages, |
md allow him to 60 to market; he will buy
your meat and vegetables cheaper than you
AN do it yourself, and at the same time
cabbage enough to make nice profit over
md above the deduction in his wages.
Here is beef. The porter-house steak |
md sirloin are cut ont without bone and
sold by the lump. This piece before you
weighs about eight pounds, and you pay
or the whole twenty cents in gold. If you
IAN live on meat alone, like natives of the |
onor o,,cS yo,, oap s,,,,or. $4,000, c.,