Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 2.djvu/554

Rh 494 ARGENTINE REPUBLIC Govern ment. sheep farmers, where the land stretches away into the Indian territories, without an armed force or a barrier of any sort intervening, and their protection from the savages lies in the respect the latter have for the Snider rifle, combined with the greater attraction which the cattle farms of the north have for the plunderers. On the Rio Negro English settlers are engaged in agricultural pursuits on a soil whose fertility for the production of wheat and other cereals may be said to be unrivalled. To the south of this the country to a great extent accords with the de scription erroneously applied to all the country south of the River Plate by Guerara, who says that it is a barren land without timber for building, without firewood, without water, without soil to receive seed, and without anything that a city requires for its maintenance. Nevertheless, in the country thus described, a Welsh colony has estab lished itself on the Chupat River; and, though at first they suffered severe hardships, and were saved from starva tion only by food supplied by the Tehuelche Indians in the first instance, and afterwards by similar supplies from the Argentine Government, there appears no reason now why it should not become a prosperous colony. In the far south, on the Santa Cruz River, the Argentine Government have a military establishment. The tribes of Patagonia do not appear to have any settled villages, but make the whole country a vast hunting ground. The different parties meet in their excursions either as friends or as foes, just as ac cident, the humour of the moment, or any occasion of enmity between the chieftains determines. The game on which they live is superabundant, and the chief impediment to an increase of the population seems to be the remorseless butchery which ensues on the meeting of hostile hunting tribes, which sometimes results in the extermination of one party or the other; and also the incessant slaughter result ing from sudden quarrels among members of the same party. Lieutenant Musters, of the Royal Navy, has recently traversed the country from the Strait of Magel lan to the Rio Negro with one of the hunting tribes ; his book may be commended to those who desire to be better acquainted with that wild country and its inhabitants. The Tehuelche Indians, with whom he travelled, average about 5 feet 10 inches in stature, but he describes the Arau- canians as somewhat taller and equally athletic. All the Indian tribes have more or less of the peculiar character istics of the red or copper- coloured race, and analogies in the languages of the numerous tribes also indicate an iden tity of origin. According to their traditions at the time of the discovery of the country by the Spaniards, as recorded by Guerara, their ancestors came from the north, and they also held confused traditions of the disasters of the deluge. The foregoing historical sketch will have given the reader some insight into the government of the country. The framers of the Constitution professed to be guided by that of the United States of North America, and freely adopted the liberal principles there embodied. The president is elected for a term of six years, and the president of the Senate, elected to that office by his fellow-senators, becomes ex-officio vice-president of the republic. The government is conducted by a ministry responsible to Congress, and an adverse vote of the Senate and deputies on any important question leads to the formation of a new ministry. The number of senators and deputies returned by each province is in proportion to the number of its inhabitants. Each province has its own independent form of government for all matters not expressly delegated to the National Gover- ment, and is supposed to have irresponsible jurisdiction in its own affairs so long as the articles of the National Con stitution are not contravened. The city of Buenos Ayres, besides being the seat of the Government of the province, is also the seat of the National Government, having been so declared by the Constitution, until such time as a suitable site for a new capital for the republic may be determined on by the Legislature. Not only the Constitution itself, but also the spirit in which its enactments are carried out, is thoroughly liberal, and worthy of the magnificent country over which civilisation, under its enlightened regulation, is struggling successfully against barbarism. Fresh arrivals from Europe are not only cordially wel comed, but every effort is made by the authorities to induce foreigners to settle in the country. They are free either to naturalise themselves as Argentines, or to maintain their foreign nationality; in the latter case they have not the privilege of a vote in the government of the country, nor are they liable to the conscription for service in the army. In other respects the law is the same for all. Every one born in the country is by law an Argentine. The population of the city of Buenos Ayres is almost InhabJ- thoroughly European, nearly one-half being, in fact, tants&amp;gt; foreigners born in Europe. Bat on passing from that city into the country the Mestizo race becomes more prominent ; and in the northern provinces, as in Paraguay and Peru, the Mestizoes, with Indian blood predominating, form the majority of the population. The Negroes, or Mestizoes in whom Negro blood can be traced, do not form an impor tant part of the population as they do in Brazil. The difference between the two countries in this respect is, in fact, very striking. Slavery was abolished during the war of independence ; and the importation of Negroes, which had never been an extensive trade, then ceased ; and the constant stream of immigration from Europe, which of late years has been steadily augmenting, is gradually changing the aspect of the population of the country. In 1858 tho arrivals amounted to only 4600 persons; but they increased every year till they amounted to 29,000 in 1868, 37,000 in 1869, 41,000 in 1870, 20,000 in 1871, 40,000 in 1872, 80,000 in 1873, and about 90,000 in 1874. This constantly increasing stream of immigration has been absorbed into the various industries of the country as fast as the new arrivals reach its shores. As regards the nationalities of the immi grants, the Italians are the most numerous, then the French, Spaniards, Germans, English, and Swiss. During the above-mentioned years the new arrivals have almost always found their services eagerly sought for at wages of 8 to 10 shillings a day for the most ordinary employments, and at proportionally higher rates for skilled workmen. The com paratively small amount of the immigration in 1871 is due to the occurrence of the epidemic of yellow fever which decimated the population of the city of Buenos Ayres in the early part of that year, and caused the bulk of the emigrants from Europe on their way to the country to stop at the ports of Brazil and at Monte Video, and turned the tide of emigration from Europe in other directions at the close of the year. Though this terrible pestilence is said to have been imported from Brazil, its rapid spread in the city can clearly be ascribed to temporary causes which even the unrivalled salubrity of the climate was insuffi cient to neutralise. In the absence of any artificial drainage the cleanliness of the city had depended on its occasional scouring by the heavy rains, whilst an ever increasing number of cesspools have been accumulating filth beneath the houses; and up to the year 1870 the consumption of water, beyond the amount of rain water accumulated in tanks in the houses of the wealthy, was limited by the cost of cartage from the river ; but in that year new water- works were opened, by which a supply is pumped up from the river, and conveyed by pipes to all parts of the city, and the increased waste of water may, by leading to an unusual disturbance of the cesspools, have partly contributed to