Page:Letters from the Battle-fields of Paraguay (1870).djvu/266



LETTER X.

ACTUALITIES OF ROZARIO (SANTA FE).

August 19, 1868. My dear Z j

The Spaniard writes Rozario and pronounces Rosario \ the Portuguese writes Rosario and pronounces Rozario.

After this etymological caution we may remark that the approach to the town is a shelf of hardened silt_, varying from 60 to nearly 100 feet high^ which is in fact the edge of the Parapasian formation. The outline viewed in perspec- tive is diversified by headlands and double distances,, escarp- ments and undercliffsj here grass-clad, forming compara- tively level downs like those of Dover; there dotted with tree clumps and single trees. The barranca or bluff-face is tunnelled by the parrot, and monte somewhat resembling our oak coppices clothes the sloping base that rests upon the wave. The left bank, low, flooded, and peculiarly dull- looking, is still Entre Rios, the Mesopotamia of Argentine- land.

The history and topography of Rozario have been so well and so frequently described, that I may without the imputation of idleness shirk the task. The main interest of the settlement is its prodigious growth. In 1850 it was a miserable hamlet of mud-huts sheltering 600 souls ; in 1852 it numbered 1500 to 2C00; in 1855 it had 6000; in 1857, 12,000. The census of 1858 gave it 13,826, and now its population cannot fall short of 25,000. Its importance arises from its position as a river port for the vast pro-