Omaha daily bee., 1899-03-19
SMALL IN AREA, RICH IN SOIL
The Little Republic Of Uruguay and its
Magnificent Capital
RICHEST LAND SOUTH OF THE EQUATOR
a Country Of Churches. schools. Ii
br"ries and Ncwspnpcrs-Quccr
Features OF National Finance
In Town and Country.
IcHEST LAND SOUTH OF THE EQUATOR

Copyright. 1899, by Frank @. Carpenter
MONTEVIDEO Uruguay, Feb. 3.-CSpe-
cial Correspondence OF The Bee Uruguay
is the smallest and richest land south OF
the equator. 1t lies at the mouth Of the
Rio dc la Plata just across the way from
the Argentine Republic and at the soutn-
east corner OF Brazil. The whole country
would hardly be a mouthful for the Argcn-
tine and not a good-sized bite for big Bra
I'll, but its land Is as fat as the valley OF
the Nile and its people step high on the
stilts Of self-esteem. Most Of the countries
of South America are big. Brazil is as big
as all the United States without Alaska
or our new islands The Argentine covers
moro territory than all OF our country east
OF the Mississippi but little Uruguay is
only about as big as Missouri and Con-
nectcut. 1t is about the size of North
Dakota and is not so thickly populated as
Nebraska 1t has about as many people
as Boston and fully one-third Of these are
In the capital, Montevidoo, which at pres
ent is considerably less than Cleveland In
the number Of its inhabitants.
Bird's-Eyc view of uruuuny.
But first let me give you a bird EYE
view OF the country. II you should look
at Uruguay from a balloon you would see
that 1t is gently rolling. 1t has no hills
more than 1000 feet high. The country
Is covered with bilowy waves. the greater
part of which is made up of rich pastures
1t is well watered. There are rivers and
streams everywhere and still but few
swamps. The climate is such that the
grass is green all the year round and the
cattle and sheep are fed by turning them
out to chew for themselves.
There is not a barn in the country. Yor
N trov al hn,, ,,,t1.
haystack or feeding trough. Still there are
focks and herds everywhere, and learr
that at least 5000, 900 cattle, 12 900 600 sheer
and several hundred thousand horses anC
mules are thus kept without much trouble
Ialk about Job and his cattle on thou.
sand hills! In respect to both hills and cat.
tie, Job was not in it with Uruguay
The land is well adapted to support great
population 1t has now about twelve to the
square mile and probably not half this num-
Der when you take ou. the cities. l doubt
whether there is a family for every 6lO
acres Still this soil will raise wheat. It
grows apples and pears for the Buenos Ayres
market and 1t has strawberries uine months
in the year. 1t is in about the latitude of
Florida, but 1t is not as hot in the summer
nor as a whole so cold in the winter. Its
seasons are just the opposite of ours. Wher
we have fall Uruguay has spring and when
we put on our seaskns the Uruguayan
women use their fans. August is the coolest
month and along about January you will find
IL the warmest.
l spoke about the land being we'll wutered.
The streams cover It like the veins of leaf.
The veins OF the human body are not more
in number than the waterways of Uruguay.
Around almost the whole country there is a
great belt of water making 1t n very penin-
tt1a Il l,nH. r.g4 lrV,. coz
miles of navgabe waterways. There is the
Atlantic on the south and sou heas:-2OO
miles; there is the muddy River Plate, with
1j5 miles OF coast line, a little further over,
and along the western boundary, 27O miles
of the swift flowing Uruguay.
The Uruguay is about nine miles wide at
fits mouth, and during the most of the year
steamboats, of fourteen feet can go up II TO
Psyandu, big town about the middle of the
western boundary From this point you get
smaller steamers which carry you further
up and the Rio Negro, which crawls acros:
the country dividing it in two equal parts,
is also, to some extent. navigable.
The Capital of Uruguay.
Uruguay has not many large cities. It Is
like the Argentine in that the capital rules
1t and forms its social, intellectual, fnan
clal and Industrial center There are per,
haps four cities which range between ,OO(
and $1,000 in population and dozen smaller
towns of from 5000 to 5000 each. These
are market towns and state capitals, bu
they all pay tribute to Monteviieo.
Montevideo calls itself the Paris of Soutt
America. 1t is the healthiest city of tn,
world and the cleanest city on the conti
nent, Built upon n tongue of rock which
runs out into the muddy Rio de la Plata
the streets all drain into the river, anC
every rain gives the city washing
There is water on all sides of you. If yo.
walk up or down a hill you are bound tc
come to it, and there Is in fact, no chance
for stagnant pools.
Monte -yideo means 81 see the mountain
II you look at the root Of this tongue o
rock you will really see the mountain iron
which the city was named. 1t is called "Th
Cerro," but so far from being a mountain
It is not quite so high as the Washington
monument. At night you may distinguish
twenty- miles out at sea the revolving
light upon its tower, but even If this wer
out you could tell that the Cerro was there