The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1904-06-16
nagnesia, amethyst, agate, alabaster

! and marble-are mostly found within
the northern hills, mixed up with gneiss
and granite, porphyry and sandstone.
A corporation called the "Gold Min
ing Company of Uruguay holds a
government commission in the district
of Cunaperu, and is rapidly projecting
the acquisition of new mines; while the
"Corrales Gold Mining Company has a
concession almost as big in the district
of Corrales. Two copper mines near
the foot of Pan de Azucar Sugar Loaf
mountain are in active operation and
yielding fairly WE'LL but all the rest re-
main comparatively unworked, princi-
pally because of the eternal revolutions
that distract the country.
At the last Paris Exposition were
shown sixty different varieties of
Uruguay marble" In MontevideO
every house with any pretentions to
elegance has its marble entrance, hall
flooring, gables and grand stairway of
the same beautiful material; and a
great deal of it appears on the facades
of both public and private buildings.
y ct, strange to say, it is nearly all i'm
ported, though vast quantities of the
finest marble lie within few miles of
the city. The great coal fields of the
northern provinces are also unworked,
and most of the coal used in Uruguay
is imported from Cardiff, at an average
cost, when delivered, of fifteen dollars
per ton.
Since Uruguay lies within the tenn
perate zone, its fruits are much like
those of the United States-apples,
cherries, peaches, etc. Strawberries
grow to an astonishing size, and are
sold by the piece, or the dozen, never
by measure. "Greengages," too, are
enormously large, and being valued by
good housewives for putting up in
brandy, they come high in market
fifteen cents the dozen. Nowhere do
vegetables come to such perfection
with so little trouble, and therefore
they are cheap; but potatoes are scarce
and dear, though climate and soil are
admirably adapted to their growth, be-
cause the natives have not yet learned
to include them in the daily menu and
therefore do not raise many of them.
Grasses remain green and succulent
the year around, furnishing the best of
pasturage. In Uruguay, as in Argen-
tina, the pastoral wealth is due to the
fertilizing constituents of "pampa
mud" geologically associated with
gigantic ante-diluvian animals whose
remains abound in these regions. There
are few forests except along the river
banks, and the Sierras have no trees
worth mentioning. But every hillside
is covered with bushes-myrtle, acacia,
rosemary mimosa, and the ceido, with
its scarlet blooms; while the valleys are
fragrant with bay and laurel, and car
peted with crimson verbenaS and other
brilliant flowers The great Rio Negro
Black River got its name from the
fact that at a certain season of the
year it is blackened by the sarsaparilla
growing along its banks; and other
rivers are SO impregnated with the
root of the medicinal plant as to exempt
the people who drink their waters from
any skin disease arising from impuri-
ties of the blood. There are no scor-
pions, centipedes or tarantulas here to
frighten unwary travellers, but enor-
nous spiders are alarmingly common
and are said to be :venomous. The only
dangerous reptiles are rattlesnakes,
and they are chiefly confined to the
stony lands of Las Minas. There is
also a queer, little viper called ia
vivora de la Cruz" because on its head
are vivid marks in the form of a cross
Pumas mountain lions) are found near
the Brazilian frontier and along the
banks of the larger rivers. The ounce
pronounced ween-ce), small tiger,
roams the wooded inland; and there are
wild cats, water hogs, tapirs, deer,
foxes and millions of the little arma-
dillos 'ant-eaters," here called mulitas,
or little mules, sole remnants of the
ancient ma stodons and mylodounes.
The ostrich (Rhea Americana) roams
the plains. There are paroquets in the
thickets and water fowl on the lagoons;
cartridges, quail, several specimens of
the vulture tribe, and tall, lean ruff1ed
crows. The streams are full of fish,
and it is asserted that nearly $50
species of the fnny tribes are found
along the seashore. Taken altogether,
Uruguay is not an unfavorable place
for the hunter, the fisherman or the
homeseeker. FANNIE B. WARD.