The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1899-02-05

our steamer down the river almost as
fast as We steam on our way up it,
These floating islands are called came
lets. They are great masses of grass,
weeds and flowers which the rushing
floods have torn from their founda-
tons and are carrying down to the sea.
Some are so firm that they will sup
port a man, and upon them tigers, ia
guars and snakes are often carried to
the islands about -Buenos Ayres.
DELTA OF THE PARANA.
Just after leaving Buenos Ayres we
steamed through the delta of the Pa
rama. This delta. is about twenty miles
wide, and it extends up the river as far
as Rosario, a distance of 800 miles 1t
is peppered with islands, some of which
are covered with forests of peach trees
and Others with gardens kept by Ital-
ians to supply the markets of Buenos
Ayres. Many of the houses are raised
upon piles to be out of the way of the
floods and the tides when they carry
as they sometimes do, great waves in
from the ocean.
AT the entrance to the Parana we
pass the island of Martin Gracia. the
Gibraltar of the River Plata, which
once belonged to Uruguay, but which
is now the property of the Argentine
a
fort upon it, the batteries of which are
worked by electricity. 1t is one of the
historic points of the Rio de la Plata
and as we go by it we recall the fact
that this same tour was first made by
the white man who was the first to
set foot upon the soil of the continent
of North America. Sebastian Cabot.
In 1926, plowed his way through this
same labyrinth of islands, and after a
long voyage on the Parana reached the
Paraguay and sailed up it to a point
some distance beyond Asuncion
THE STEAMERS OF THE PARA
QUAY.
If Sebastian Cabot could take trip
on the boats which now sail up the
Paraguay he would think them more
wonderful than anything he met with
in his travels. His voyage was made
In a sailing boat. Ours is in a COM
Portable steamer of 800 tons 1t took
him months to sail up the river We
make the trip in six days. His lights
were tallow dips, our are incandescent
globes lit by electric dynamos. The
Saturno was built in Glasgow and it is
as comforta BILE. as the average passen-
ger steamer of the great lakes OF the
Mississippi. The cabins are good and
the dining room is like parlor. The
fare is not expensive, $50 paying for
the round trip, or an average of about
IS gold per day.
The meals are good, bug Tie Yankee
stomach finds it hard to accustom it,
self to the times at which thew are
served. The first breakfast given on
vessels is nothing but three swallows
Of coffee and crust of bread and but
ter. At II a. m. real breakfast is
served, and at p. m. comes dinner.
Co 1rr-i1
bedtime there is tea at p. m and at
9 p. m. The breakfast at II a. m. and
the dinner are much the same. The
breakfast begins with soup and ends
with fruit, cheese and coffee. AS to the
dinner-well, here is sample dinner
bill of fare:
Ok Tail Soup.
Bologna Sausage with Potato Salad
Puchero (the meat that was cooked to
make the soup.
Curried Chicken and Rice
Fish
Beefsteak and Potatoes
Cheese Guava Jelly
English Walnuts Almonds ard Raisins.
Oranges Black Coffee.
The meals are much alike, but we
always have a variety as great as that
above stated. Two kinds of wine are
served with breakfast and dinner with
out extra charge. Dinner is the chief
event of the day. The passengers all
dress for it. The men put on their
black clothes and most of the women
wear evening dresses.
QUEER FELLOW PASSENGERS.
There is better form in dressing
among the passengers than in man
! ners. Some of the men who wear kid
gloves all day and who put on black
coats for dinner eat with their knives
and tuck their napkins in at the col
lar as though they were babies and
needed bibs. The toothpick is univer-
| sally used between the courses. The
men smoke cigarettes through the
| meals and with their coffee, and I
noticed that one or two apparently
very elegant ladies made no bones of