MERCEDES AND THE SWISS COLONY
The journey to Mercedes--The outskirts of Montevideo--Santa
Lucia--A pleasant town--Native quince and gorse--San José--The
terminus of a great highway--Some feats of engineering--The urban
importance of San José--A modern flour mill--Mal
Abrigo--Character of the soil--A country of boulders--Some
animals of the Sierra de Mal Abrigo--The surroundings of
Mercedes--A charmingly situated town--The terminus of the
line--Some characteristics of Mercedes--Urban dwellings--The
delights of the patio--The disadvantages of economy in
space--Streets and plazas--The hospital--A well-equipped
institution--View from the building--An island in Rio Negro--The
Port of Mercedes--River craft--Some local scenes--An equine
passenger--Formidable gutters--The industries of the town--The
Hôtel Comercio--Colonia Suiza--Situation of the Swiss
Colony--Uruguayan Campo dwellings--Method of
construction--Simplicity of household removals--Aspect of
deserted huts--The houses of the Swiss Colony--Habits in general
of South American colonists--The range of nationalities--Liberty
accorded--Population of the Colonia Suiza--Its industries--A
dairy-farming community--An important butter factory--An instance
of a rapid rise from poverty to riches.
The railway journey from Montevideo to the town of Mercedes, on the
Rio Negro, is of ten hours' duration. The first portion of the run is,
of course, through the pleasant suburbs of the capital that have
already been sufficiently described. At Juanico, some forty kilometres
distant from the starting-point, the denser plantations and orchards
have already fallen away, and the country has definitely assumed its
natural grazing character, broken into here and there by large areas
of alfalfa. The place, as a matter of fact, is an important dairy
centre, from which Montevideo obtains a considerable proportion of its
butter, milk, and cheese.
Santa Lucia, the next halt, is another of those smiling Oriental towns
embowered in gardens and orchards, and surrounded by tree-dotted
pastures. Close to the confines of the town runs the Santa Lucia
River, with its banks thickly bordered by willows and poplars that at
one point give way to a wide avenue of the popular and gigantic
eucalyptus. The spot is much patronised in the summer for the purpose
of picnics; for--to his credit be it said--the Uruguayan is a great
connoisseur of the _al fresco_ and its charms.
On leaving Santa Lucia the railway line makes a sweeping bend, and
then crosses the river by an iron bridge that proudly claims the
distinction of being the longest on the system. Upon the farther side
of the stream the country is brightened by the innumerable blossom
sprays of the many wild quince-trees, and by the broad clumps of
glowing gorse. Soon, however, the aspect of the landscape alters
again, and the train is speeding once more through the open Campo of
pasture-land and of wheat and barley fields.
San José, the next town of importance to be reached, is remarkable as
being the terminus of a splendid macadamised road that runs a distance
of ninety-six kilometres from Montevideo to this point. This excellent
highway is constructed in a really imposing fashion, and is engineered
with a lordly disregard of all obstacles. Just before reaching San
José, for instance, it crosses the river in the neighbourhood of the
town by a magnificent bridge no less than 360 metres in length. This
work was commenced by an Uruguayan engineer in 1906, and was completed
in 1909, at a cost of nearly two hundred thousand gold dollars. The
Uruguayans take a vast amount of very just pride in this structure,
which is probably one of the finest road bridges in existence. It
forms a fitting conclusion, moreover, to the best road in lower South
America.
The town of San José itself is fairly important from the point of view
of population, since it numbers thirteen thousand inhabitants--a fact
that places it in the first rank of the country towns of the Republic.
Its chief church dominates all the remaining buildings, and affords a
notable landmark for many miles around. With the exception of this,
San José contains little of interest. It is, in fact, merely a typical
"camp" town that serves the surrounding agricultural area. A most
up-to-date mill that turns out daily twenty-one tons of flour is,
however, worthy of remark, since from the moment that the wheat is
dumped into the granary to that when it emerges as fine flour and is
mechanically poured into sacks, the whole process is effected by
machinery.
Beyond San José the line climbs gradually to the summit of a small
sierra, whence a spreading panorama of the surrounding country is
obtained. On leaving Mal Abrigo, the next station, the character of
the landscape alters. The rich, black, vegetable soil has given way to
a rocky surface. Huge boulders of all shapes are strewn everywhere as
though flung by some giant upheaval into their tremendous confusion.
In the intervals of these great rocks grow thorny trees and shrubs.
Indeed, this Sierra de Mal Abrigo differs from anything that has gone
before. Hares abound in the neighbourhood, and at the approach of the
train great numbers of the animals speed away behind the sheltering
boulders. The armadillo, too, is especially plentiful in this region,
which seems to favour the partridge and martineta almost equally
well.
Bizcocho is the last point of call before reaching Mercedes, from
which it is distant some twenty kilometres. From here the ground--once
again an open, treeless plain--slopes continuously as it descends
towards the valley at the Rio Negro. At the near approach to Mercedes
itself the country assumes the smiling aspect that seems the
inevitable attribute of the environs of the Uruguayan towns. Gardens,
orchards, streams, plantations, vineyards--all these flit past in
rapid sequence, until the train pulls up at Mercedes station, the
terminus of the line.
This terminus of the line is well defined in more senses than one. The
station is situated on a bluff that hangs immediately over the Rio
Negro. It is merely necessary to proceed to the end of the rails, just
beyond the platform, in order to look sheer down upon the water of the
river some hundred feet below. A thoughtful act on the part of the
railway company to halt on the very brink, and thus to supply a
panorama in the place where the rails can no longer travel!
[Illustration: MERCEDES: FROM ACROSS THE RIO NEGRO.
To face p. 208.]
As a town Mercedes is attractive to a degree. The place can boast of
no great size, it is true, since its population does not exceed ten
thousand. Yet it is exceptionally fortunate both in its situation and
in the style of its buildings. The main portion of the city consists
of some half-dozen streets running parallel to the river, crossed by a
rather greater number of thoroughfares that lead directly from the
water's edge. The houses are almost without exception of the older
style of architecture--rather low, spreading buildings, each of which
encloses one of those charming patios that, alas! are now growing
steadily fewer with each year. Surely nothing is more delightful than
this verdure-filled courtyard set in the midst of the house--the small
stone-bound garden with its flowers, shrubs, and palms, on to which
give all the lower rooms of the establishment! They would doubtless
continue to exist for centuries were it not for the growing power and
insistence of their chief enemy, economy of space!
The streets and plazas of Mercedes are fairly animated, for the town
is the centre of considerable social life. The majority of folk here
are of rather darker complexion than those of the capital, but the
women are almost equally good-looking. _Coches_ are plentiful in the
town; each of the two-horsed buggies will seat six people with ease,
and even then will speed along at an exhilarating pace, for the steeds
of these public conveyances are both willing and well cared for.
The highest point of the town is occupied by the hospital. This, like
so many other Uruguayan institutions of the kind, is a very fine
establishment, well appointed, and provided with large, airy rooms and
corridors. From the roof of this hospital is revealed a magnificent
view of the town and its surroundings. The entire panorama is one not
easily to be forgotten. So far as the river itself is concerned, it is
possible from this point of vantage to follow its windings for miles
in both directions. The river here, by the way, attains to very nearly
a quarter of a mile in width--no despicable stretch of water even for
a tributary of the mighty Uruguay.
In mid-stream just opposite Mercedes is an island--a gem of an island
embowered in luxurious vegetation, and completely fringed by large
weeping willows, whose drooping festoons of green all but touch the
waters. In conformity with the utilitarian spirit of the age, a scheme
is on foot for the construction of an hotel in this place, and surely
no more alluring spot could be lit upon for the purpose--although the
danger to the landscape from the erection of an unsuitable building
would be very real.
Between this island and the buildings of the town is the port. Here
the topsail schooners and the various river craft of all descriptions
lie at anchor, including the small stern-wheel steamers that serve for
the passenger traffic into the far interior of the land, and a few
large barges piled high with the bones of cattle. Jutting out into the
stream near here is a small mole, from which point a small motor-ferry
is wont to ply to and fro, and thus give connection with the Fray
Bentos road upon the opposite shore. Just to the left of this,
anchored in mid-river, lies a large houseboat, which serves as the
headquarters of the local rowing and swimming clubs.
It is, of course, in this neighbourhood that the river life is at its
busiest. Upon the rocky shore are groups of women in bright-coloured
dresses busily employed in washing household linen and various
garments--a sight, as a matter of fact, that may be anticipated with
certainty upon any populous Oriental river bank. The motor-ferry, too,
has by no means the monopoly of transit, and numerous smaller craft
are continually passing from one shore to the other. Their occupants
are not necessarily limited to the human species. Here, for instance,
is a horse being brought across in a small rowing boat. The animal
appears quite unconcerned; he is doubtless accustomed to the aquatic
excursions in so tiny a skiff.
Returning from the riverside, a peculiar characteristic of the
Mercedes streets should attract the eye, or, failing this, stumblings
will ensue of a certainty. On either side of the roadway is an immense
gutter of over a yard in depth and width. These portentous channels
serve to carry off the rainfall of the heavy storms that occur from
time to time, and on a dark night constitute formidable obstacles in
the path of an unwary foot-passenger.
Mercedes possesses a fairly important _saladero_, and, in addition,
constitutes a centre of the charcoal-burning industry. A couple of
hundred tons of this commodity is frequently shipped from the place in
the course of a month. So far as hotels are concerned, the Comercio is
distinctly to be recommended. The establishment is well above the
average of those that the ordinary provincial town can boast, being
clean, airy, and comfortable, and provided, moreover, with a very
genial host.
Colonia Suiza is situated, some twenty miles inland from the coast,
midway between Mercedes and Montevideo. In order to reach this very
picturesque spot from the former town by rail it is necessary to hark
back to Mal Abrigo, from which junction the run to the Swiss Colony is
a short one. The country through which the journey is made is of the
usual grazing order, sparsely populated, the ground being marked only
here and there by a typical Uruguayan rancho.
The modest establishments of this particular district are worthy of
special mention. Each is contrived from square blocks of turf,
carefully cut, and placed one on top of the other with the grass edge
downwards. The exterior of the walls is left without any attempt at
facing or adornment, and thus presents a distinctly crude and peculiar
appearance. The dwelling, however, is rendered snug and waterproof by
being plastered from within. These walls are extremely well made,
considering the fact that their composition is not assisted by any
additional material. The roof is made of wood, cut in lengths, and
thatched over with wood or straw.
Household removals on the Uruguayan campo are not necessarily matters
of weighty thought, whose occurrence is to be anticipated with dread
for many months beforehand. When the family who owns one of these mud
ranches decides to move, the procedure is very simple. The roof,
doors, and windows of the home are taken down and collected. After
which it is merely necessary for the party to pack these along with
them on horseback, until a suitable site is lit upon for a new
erection of turf into which the portable finishing touches may be
inserted. That effected, the owners are once more at home. As for the
discarded dwelling, it remains much as before, save that it is minus
roof, door, and windows.
Many of these skeleton huts are to be met with on the rolling face of
the country. They possess this in common with birds' nests, that from
a distance it is difficult to ascertain whether they are occupied or
to let. If deserted, there is no reason why any chance family on the
move should not take possession by no more formal means than that of
affixing roof, door, and windows in the gaps that await them. Many of
these ranchos, by the way, are surrounded by very pretty gardens, and
hedged in by tall hedges of geranium and rose.
Once arrived at the Swiss Colony, however, the aspect of the dwellings
becomes altogether changed. The houses here resemble strongly the
châlets of the Swiss mountains, for, like the remaining colonies of
the kind throughout the River Plate republics, the immigrants have
introduced their own ways and fashions of living. Indeed, the
existence of such bodies provides an ample testimonial of the
conditions of freedom under which life is conducted in these
countries.
[Illustration: RIO NEGRO BRIDGE.]
[Illustration: ON THE RIO NEGRO.
To face p. 212.]
The number and strange variety of these self-contained colonies in
this part of the world is scarcely realised. They are, of course,
totally distinct from the ordinary, scattered immigrant dwellers.
When surveyed _en masse_ the result is not a little extraordinary. In
the three Spanish-speaking republics of Argentina, Uruguay, and
Paraguay that, together with Southern Bolivia, formed the old River
Plate provinces, exist distinct and important settlements of Swiss,
Austrians, Poles, Australians, Welsh, Boers, and Jews, besides
numerous lesser groups of many nationalities beyond.
Within the frontiers of each perfect liberty obtains to continue
existence as it is led in the country from which the immigrants came,
and thus each is provided with its own churches and institutions. In
the case of the more recently founded it is almost as though a portion
of the foreign land had been translated bodily to South American soil,
while those of older standing have invariably yielded more or less to
the influence of their surroundings. But the choice of remaining
entirely aloof, or of assimilating the customs that prevail outside
their own frontiers lies entirely in the hands of the immigrant
communities. It is, of course, only natural that each section should
carry on that particular branch of industry to which it has been
accustomed in its country of origin.
The Colonia Suiza constitutes an important body, containing, as it
does, no less than four thousand inhabitants. Here it is not
surprising that the staple industry should be that of cheese
manufacture and dairy produce. In addition to this a fair amount of
agriculture is carried on. The soil of the district is well adapted to
linseed, and numerous vineyards are responsible for the production of
a local wine of very fair quality.
Consisting for the most part of small dairy farms, no regular township
exists in the colony, although a small village has sprung into being
in the neighbourhood of the railway station, and three hotels are
distributed at wide intervals across the area occupied. The community,
first established in 1862 by the arrival of seven Swiss families, is
flourishing, and its members have clung to their national habits with
more tenacity than is usual.
The largest and most important butter factory in the place produces in
the springtime a daily quantity of no less than a ton of butter. Its
proprietor, ere he emigrated, played the rôle of a small shopkeeper in
his own country. His house was burned to the ground, but, fortunately
for himself, the property was insured. He employed the money derived
from this source for the purpose of the voyage to South America, and,
arrived at the Colonia Suiza, he found employment in the carrying
round of the milk. In a very short while he was employing others to
perform this service for himself, and is now a wealthy man, thus
affording one more example of those rapid rises from poverty to riches
that are so characteristic of South America.
The general aspects of this colony are peculiarly agreeable. Situated
in one of the most pleasant districts of a smiling land, it is well
watered and timbered. The verdure of the place, moreover, is enhanced
by the numerous green lanes that intersect it. Indeed, no more
delightful situation could be imagined than that occupied by many of
the châlets of Swiss design.