17

Letter written on 3 sheets, 1st and 3rd headed paper:

1st sheet:

3rd sheet:

N^o 10,                       Buenos Aires,….9th June…………..de 189 0

My dear Mother,

For the last three days I have been in Rosario de Santa Fé, the saintly Apostolic-Roman-Catholic name – Rosary of the Holy Faith – of the capital of the Province of Santa Fé, the second department, in importance, of the Argentine Republic. We left Buenos Ayres (Roesli^[2] & I) by the mid-day train, & arrived at Rosario towards eight. The country we passed through is perfectly flat, the immense plains stretching as far as the eye can reach, like a calm sea; in fact towards the horizon, especially in the dusk of the evening (poetic “gloaming”) they faded into a grey-blue (Alsatian-mountain) colour that made me think the Atlantic or the Rio de la Plata must be there, until I remembered that both were in a quite opposite direction. Coming from the northern hemisphere one is confused as to the points of the compass by the sun being due north, instead of due south, at noon. Scarcely a tree is to be seen, the only vegetation being a kind of coarse grass, & in the swampy places a low rush or cane with tangled roots. Only a small part of the land is cultivated, & as it is now mid-winter here the crops are gathered in & only the dry maize-stalks are left. These were being burned right & left as we passed, & in the evening the bright lines of flame on all sides had a striking effect. Immense herds of cattle & sheep (flocks of sheep I suppose I should say) were grazing on the plains. We saw numbers of wild-duck, partridge, snipe & other birds, & in the distance I think I saw, but I am not sure of it, some ostriches.

Rosario itself is a new & uninteresting town with ill-paved perfectly straight streets, crossing each other at right angles & dividing the town into regular blocks, as at Buenos Ayres. The River Paraná, which, with the other inflowing rivers, forms at its estuary the Rio de la Plata, is here 32 miles wide, & large steamers come up to Rosario.^[3]

One of my fellow passengers on the “Coleridge” was a Miss Morley whose brother is in the London Bank at Rosario. I made the acquaintance of the latter, a very nice fellow, when he came to meet his sister on her arrival. I saw him again at Rosario & we lunched together & on Sunday afternoon he took me for a row in a light pleasure-boat to an island about a mile out in the River. I enjoyed the exercise & the outing very much, as also the tea we had at his house on our return.

I came back to Buenos Ayres by the night train & had a bunk in a sleeping car; it was very cold & I did not sleep very well, though I had my rug. I am going to make up for it tonight & to that effect I shall not write any more now. Though there is no frost at nights the thermometer must go down to almost freezing point, & there is no comfortable fire in my room, – not even a grate to make one in; so the warmest & snuggest place is bed.

Besides the only thing else of interest that I have to mention is that I went to the Senate some days ago & heard the finance minister, Mr Uriburro, make a remarkable speech about some secret issues of National Bank-notes which have created considerable alarm among the public. The news of today is that this minister being unable to carry out his reforms as he wished, has sent in his resignation, with the immediate result of sending up the gold-premium 25 points at one jump, & spreading consternation among commercial circles. We shall see what tomorrow will bring forth.

Best love to all.

Jack