Page:Letters from the Battle-fields of Paraguay (1870).djvu/127



MONTE VIDEO. 97

kitcat, of white plaster, blue ribbons (Argentine colours) and gamboge epaulets. These caricature the revolutionary- generals and heroes, such as S. Martin, Bolivar (not Bolivar), Eelgrano, Alvear, Lavallot, and others. The inscriptions embody some eventful date, of course differing in the several Republics ; and the pleiad of South American Common- wealths " makes epochs " of almost every day in the year. Thus, "25 de Maio" (1810), is the local 4th of July com- memorating Argentine independence ; whereas, " 18 de Julio,"^ (1829), establishes the Constitution of Uruguay, alias the Banda Oriental. This " Eastern Side" of the Uruguay river â€” popularly the " Banda " â€” is often erroneously called Monte Video, even as Utah Territory has been merged into Salt Lake City.

Upon the Plaza debouch the long streets, whose bisections suggest to every traveller a chessboard ; they change names at the square, and thus each has two, a useless luxury of nomenclature serving only to confuse. The settlement is further divided into cuadras (solid) squares or cubes, whose dimensions everywhere vaiy. As a rule, however, the further inland they are, the larger they grow. Here we have the cuadra of 100 varas (each 34, or to be more exact 33-750 inches), and at Buenos Ayres the more normal 150 "yards." The distance is counted from the mid-street, which, at the latter city is 16 feet wide, whereas, as President Sarmiento informs us (p. 114), in old Monte Video it is only 14. The " Cuadra cuadrada," or squared square, is also called a " Manzana," or block. You would think it easy to find your way through streets per- fectly straight and " distractingly regular thoroughfares," as the Britisher grumbles, liking irregularity, except in his home or his ledger. Such is, however, by no means the case, especially at night, when strangers cannot thread the maze except by aid of some remarkable building in each street.

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