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 URUGUAY

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URUGUAY

and contains many lagoons. The west and south is composed of beautiful fertile plains, not quite level like the Argentine pampas lying west of the Rio Uruguay, but undulating gently. This region is intersected by numerous arroyos, or small streams, rendering it suited for agricultural and pastoral pursuits, while vegetation is very thick in the neigh- bourhood of the rivers. The most important rivers rise in Brazil and are the Rio Uruguay, 1000 mUes long, and its tributary the Rio Negro, which flows south-west for 3.50 miles, almost bisecting the coun- try. There are a few islands in the Rio de la Plata belonging to Uruguay, one of which, Flores, serves as a tiuarantine station for Montevideo; Lobos, lying to the south-east of Uruguay, in the Atlantic off Mal- donado, is a centre of the sealing industry. There are no good natural harbours in Uruguay, but the port of Montevideo has been deepened so as to admit ships drawing 24 feet of water; the Government is develop- ing the port of La Paloma. The climate is very healthy, epidemics being almost unknown; the northern regions are subject to extremes of h^at and cold, but in the south the temperature is moderate, varying ordinarily between a maximum of 86° and a minimum of 35° F. Very severe sudden storms known as pamperos blow frequently from the south- west. The mean annual rainfall is 43 inches.

Though the river banks are well wooded, there are no extensive forests in Uruguay. Excellent timber for cabinet work is found in the west ; the most note- worthy native trees are the algarobo, the quebracho, and the nandubay, wh'ch is much used for fuel, and has a facility for petrifying. Palms are found in the valleys of the Sierra Jose Ignacio and in Maldonado, Minas, and Pay.sandu. Aromatic shrubs are plenti- ful and over 400 species of medicinal plants are found. Many European trees have been introduced — acacia, al<ler, aloe, mulberry, oak, and willow, but the euca- lyptus and poplar thrive best. The chief wild animals are the deer, fox, tapir, ounce, puma, and wild cat ; rattlesnakes are found occasionally especially in Minas; poisonous spiders are common. The Ameri- can ostrich-rhea is still plentiful, as are parrakects, partridges, quails, and water-birds. Seals breed on the Lobos and Castillos Islands in the Atlantic; the sealing industry is very strictly preserved by the Government, but during the season the kilhng is carried out without judgment, and the industry is in danger of perishing. The mineral wealth of Uruguay is as yet unknown; silver, copper, and iron ores have been found; gold is mined to a small extent at Cun.a- piru; coal has been discovered in Santa Lucia, Cerro Largo, and Montevideo but has not been worked; crvstals, gems, and diamonds also occur.

'Religinn.—Ky articles 1.30 and 1.32 of the Constitu- tion religious freedom is granted to everyone, but article .5 provides that Catholicism is the state religion. There is a small government grant in favour of religion ; the civil power is unsympathetic when not actively hostile to the activities of the Church. Almost the entire population is at least nominally Catholic, there being only about titXK) Protestants, chiefly Swiss German Evangelicals, Waldensians, and Anglicans. At present the entire repubhc forms one ecclesiastical unit — the .\rchdiocese of Montevideo. In 1878 Montevideo wa.s created a dioce.se, Mgr. Vera being appointed bishop; in 1807 it wa-s made an archdiocese, and two suffragan sees Melo (q. v.) and Salta (q. v.) n-ere erected, hut owing to political troubles no appointments to them h.ave yet been made. There are, however, two auxiliary bishops at Montevideo, Mgr. Rieardo Isasa (h. in the capital, 7 Vvh., 1847; appointed l.'i Feb., 1891) and Mgr. Pic Cajetano Stella (b. at P.iso del Molino, 7 Aug., 18.57; appointed 22 Dec, 1803). The former has been administering the diocese since 2ti Sept., 1008, when the first arch- bishop, Mgr. Mariano Soler, died. Mgr. Soler was

born at San Carlos, Maldonado, 25 March, 1846, studied at Santa Fe and Rome. On his return he estabUshed a paper "El Bueno", and a Catholic club at Montevideo. He was elected to the House of Representatives, was made bishop, 29 Jan., 1891, and archbishop, 19 April, 1897. He was six times a pil- grim to the Holy Land, where he founded a celebrated convent and sanctuary, "Hortus Conclusus", a little south of Bethlehem. He was an able writer, and pubhshed among other works in Spanish an account of his travels, the "Ruins of Palmyra", "A Voyage in the Land of the Bible", and social writings such as "The New Spirit", "The Social Question". He went to Rome for the jubilee of Pius X, but fell iU in Italy and died off Gibraltar on his return journey. His obsequies took place at Montevideo in presence of the president and the cabinet.

The diocesan seminary at Montevideo is entrusted by the archbishop to the Jesuits; the most note- worthy churches in the capital are the Cathedral of Saints Phihp and James, with its towers 133 feet high, in the Plaza Constituci6n; it is in the Renais- sance style and was built in 1803-4, becoming the cathedral in 1878; it was renovated in 1905; also the churches of the Capuchins (Renaissance), Redemp- forists (Romanesque), and Jesuits (Renaissance). There are many communities of nuns: Perpetual Adoration, Dominican, Good Shepherd, Mercy, and Charity, most of them with schools or charitable insti- tutes. The Sisters of Charity have care of the great Hospital de Caridad, founded in 1788 by Francisco Antonio Maciel. It has 600 beds and is supported by a government lottery. There are a foundling ho.spi- tal, a beggars' asylum, and over 40 charitable associa- tions in the metropolis. Concerning marriage it may be noted that a law of 1885 makes civil marriage obligatory; this may account practically for the high rate of illegitimacy mentioned below; divorce however is not recognized for any cause. At Montevideo on .5-8 November, 1911, the Fourth National Catholic Congress was held under the presidency of Mgr. Isasa. There were present 360 delegates representing over 500 parishes, as.sociations etc. The Uni6n Cat61ica, founded in 1880, was dissolved to form three new unions — Social, Economic, and Civic — each with a directive committee of five members; a centr.al com- mittee consisting of the three presidents and two members elected bj' each of the unions was appointed. The Congress received a special blessing from Pius X. Histnry. — LTruguay was discovered in 1512 by Juan Diaz de Solis, Pilotn mayor of the Kingdom of Castille, who on a second visit in 1516 landing in Colonia at Martin Chico, was slain by the Charruas. It was visited by Magalhaes in 1519-20, and by Sebastian Cabot in 1526-7. At the time of its discovery Uru- guay was inhabited by about 40fX) Indians, the Char- ruas who dwelt on the north shore of the Rio de la Plata as far as the Rio San Salvador, the Yaros, Ro- hanes, Arachanes, Gueno.a.s, and Chanas. The la.st named were converted by the Franciscan pioneers, but the others proved more intractable. The Char- ruas were very dark in colour, thick-hpped, small- eyed, and very warlike, but were not cannibals as has been asserted. They m.ade constant war on the other Indians, and were a source of terror to the Span- iards, whom they prevented for over a century from establishing colonies. Early in the seventeenth century the .lesuits began to convert and civilize the Indians (for the wonderful results of their labours see Reductions of PARAorAv). After the expulsion of the Jesuits (1767), the Indians, deprived of their teachers and protectors, rapidly dwindled, through the violence of the whites, and finally General Rivera, first President of Uruguay, slaughtered all the Cliar- ruas in 1832. The first permanent settlement in Uruguay was m.ade by the Spaniards who followed the Jesuits to Santo Domingo de Soriano on the Rfo