The Saint Paul globe., 1899-03-19

Il
quay is the smallest and richest lahu
south of the equator 1t lies at the mouth
of the Rio de la Plata, just across the
way from the Argentine republic ana at
the southeast corner of Brazil. The whoie
country would hardly be mouthlul ior
the Argentine and not good-sized plte
for big Brazil, but its land Is as rat as
the Valley of the Nile and Its people step
high on the stills of self-esteem. MosC
of the countries of South America are
bis Brazil is as big all the United
c+atae without Alaska or our new Islands.
The Argentine covers more territory
than all of our country east of the Mis-
sissippi. but little Uruguay is only about
as big as Missouri and Connecticut. 1t
is about the size of North Dakota and
Is not so thickly populated as Nebraska.
II has about as many people as Boston,
and fully one third of these are In the
capital, Montevideo, which at present Is
considerably less than Cleveland In the
number of its inhabitants.
A BIRD'S-EYE VIEW.
But first let me give you a bird's-eye
view of the country. If you should look
at Uruguay from a balloon you would
see that it is gently rolling. 1t has no
bills more than 1000 feet high The couh-
try is covered with billowy waves. the
greater part of which is made up or rlch
pastures.
1t Is well watered. There are rivers and
streams everywhere. and still but rev
swamps The climate is such that the
grass is green all the year round, ana
the cattle and sheep are fed by turning
them out to chew for themselves.
There is not a barn in the country. You
may travel thousand miles and not see
q hay stack or feeding trough Still there
are fiocks and herds everywhere, and L
learn that at least g. 500e, 600 cattle, 1900 o0o
sheep and several hundred thousand
horses and mules are thusNkept without
: much trouble Talk about Job and his
cattle on thousand hillsi In respect to
both hills and cattle, Job was not In IL
with Uruguay.
The land is we'll adapted to support a
great population. It has now about
Twelve to the square mile and probably
not half this number, when you take out
the cities. I doubt whether there is
family for every $40 acres. Still this soil
viii: raise wheat. 1t grows apples and
pears for the Buenos Ayres market, and
1t has Strawberries nine months in the
wear. 1t is in about the latitude of Flor
ida but it is not hot in the summer,
nor as a whole, so cold in the winter.
Its seasons are just the opposite of ours.
When we have fall uruguay has spring.
and when we put on our sealskins the
J-ruguayan ladies use their fans. Au-
gust is the coolest month. and along
about January you will find 1T the warm
est.
WATER AND TO SPARE.
spoke about the land being well water
cd The streams cover 1t like the veins
Of a leaf. The veins of the human body
are not more In number than the water
ways Of Uruguay. Around almost the
whole country there is a great belt OF
water. making 1t a very peninsular. L.
has. In fact, between 600 and 700 miles sof
nayigable waterways. There is the At
lantfc on the south and southeast-2oo
miles. There is the muddy River Plate,
With 1855 miles of coast line, little fur-
ther over, and along the western bound
ary. go miles of the swift-f1owing Uru-
quay.
The Uruguay is about nine miles wide
at it's mouth, and during the most of the
wear steamboats, of fourteen feet
draught can go up 1t to Psyan-
du, a big town about the middle
of the western boundary From
this point you get smaller streams wh1ch
carry you further up, and the Rio Nc
gro. which crawls across the country
dividing 1t In TWO equal pditS, 10 oioo' "
some extent. navigable.
CAPITAL OF URUGUAY.
Uruguay has not many large cities 1t
Is like the Argentine in that the capital
rules IT and forms its social. intellectual,
financial and industrial center. There
are perhaps fout cities which range be
tween 10000 and 1900 In population and
n dozen smaller towns of from 1900 to
G 600 each These are market towns and
state capitals, but they all pay tribute
to Montevideo.
Montevideo calls itself the Paris OF
South America. 1t IS the healthiest city
of the world and the cleanest city on the
continent Built upon a tongue of rock
which runs out into the muddy Rio de la
Plata, the streets all drain into the river,
and every rain gives the city washing
There is water on all sides of you. Ii
you walk up or down a hill you are
hound to come to 1t, and there Is, in fact,
no chance for stagnant pools.
Montevideo means 81 see the noun
tein" If you look at the root of this
tongue Of rock you will really the
mountain from which the city was
named It is called ''The Cerro' but so
far from being a mountain, 1t Is not
quite so high as the Washington monu-
ment. At night you may distinguish
twenty-five miles out at sea the revolv-
ing light upon it's tower. but even If this
were out you could tell that the Cerro
was there. How? Why, by it's smell.
There is a great slaughter house on the
Cerro In which 100000 cattle are killed
every year, and from which during a
land breeze a disgusting odor is waited
over the waters. I knew I was coming
to Montevideo long before I could see
the city, by this smell.
A LOOK AT THE HARBORS.
The bay Of Montevideo Is naturally one
of the finest in the world. 1t Is in the
shape of horseshoe six miles in circum-
ference. and so large that thousand
ocean steamers could be in 1t at one time.
Hundreds of steamers formerly cast an
chor there. This IS not the case now,
although more than 1000 ships call at
the port every year. The waters Of the
Rio de la Plata are filled with mud, and
for the past seventy years they have
been dropping this mud into the bay.
They have been filling it up at the rate
Of an inch q year, and now no ship which
draws more than fifteen feet can come
in The result is that the ocean steam
ers must anchor far out in the river and
all goods have to be brought in upon
lighters. We We're carried to the city on
d steam tug, our ship remaining several
miles from land.
For years Montevideo has been plan
Aing to dredge out this bay It is esti-
mated that it will cost $50 900, ,000 to clean
it, but the result would be worth much
more than that to the city. 1t would
make it the chief port of the River Plate,
as it is already the chief port of the
country There are now daily steamers
from Montevideo to Buenos Ayres, and
Now that the