Uruguay, and that its area of seven thousand square leagues--a little
more than that of England--is capable of sustaining as large a
population as England, Scotland, and Wales together. The soil and
climate are of such a character that any grain or fruit known in the
list of the world’s product can be produced in abundance. Coffee will
grow beside corn, and bananas and pineapples beside wheat; sugar and
potatoes, apples and oranges, in fact all things that man requires for
food or clothing, are capable of being raised within the boundaries of
the republic at the minimum of
[Illustration: ONE OF THE OLD STREETS.]
labor. There are medicinal plants, and forests of useful timber, plenty
of grass of the most nutritious quality for cattle, and so abundant that
ten times more can be fed upon the same area than in the Argentine
Republic. There is plenty of water for mechanical purposes, and the
geologists say that much of the surface of the northern provinces is
underlaid by coal-beds. Nearly all sections of the republic may be
reached by navigable rivers, and natural harbors are frequent along the
coast. Besides coal and silver and gold, there are said to be many other
rich mineral deposits, and the report of a Geological Commission,
recently intrusted with an examination of these resources, reads like a
fable of Eldorado. Even if these glowing recitals are exaggerated, there
is no doubt of the agricultural and pastoral possibilities of the
country, and all Uruguay needs is permanent peace to become a rich and
powerful nation. Her population has doubled within the last few years,
not only by immigration, but from natural causes, and her statistics
show a larger birth-rate and a smaller mortality than any country on the
globe. The vital tables show a net increase of births over deaths of
eighteen in a thousand of population, the birth-rate averaging
forty-five and the death-rate twenty-seven per thousand during the last
five years.
It is quite remarkable, and the facts deserve the study of scientists,
that the excess of males born in Uruguay is so great, the statistics
showing that of every 1000 births 561 are males and only 439 are
females. In the United States the ratio is 506 males to 494 females; in
England, 485 to 515; and on the Continent of Europe, 402 to 508. Another
remarkable fact, which is attributed to the climate, is that there is
less insanity in Uruguay than in any other country, the ratio of insane
being only 95 per 100,000 of population, while in the United States it
is 329, in Great Britain 322, in France 248, and in other countries
equally large in comparison.
It is said, too, that living is cheaper in Uruguay than anywhere else.
Beef is three to five cents a pound, mutton and other meats about the
same price, fish five cents a pound, partridges and similar birds ten
cents each, chickens and ducks fifteen cents each, and vegetables are
sold at proportionate prices. Labor is scarce and wages are high,
consequently the public wealth is increasing very rapidly, being
estimated in 1884 at $580 per capita of population. Taking the foreign
commerce of Montevideo alone, the statistics show a ratio of $240 for
each citizen, and the increase is very rapid. But a still greater
increase is shown in the agricultural and pastoral development of the
country. With a population of 500,000 Uruguay produces 5,000,000 bushels
of grain annually, or an average of ten bushels per inhabitant, and this
with only 540,000 acres of ground under cultivation, including vegetable
gardens as well as wheat and corn fields. It is claimed there that no
other country can show so high an average.
The increase in cattle, sheep, and horses is astonishing, there being
now 7,000,000 cattle, 700,000 horses, and 11,000,000 sheep in Uruguay,
valued at $86,000,000. This valuation is very small when considered by
the side of the estimate placed upon such stock in the United States,
being less than five dollars per head for sheep, horses, and cattle, all
taken together. The horses alone, if estimated at the average value of
$100, would be worth $70,000,000, and if the cattle were valued at only
twelve dollars each, which is a low estimate in the United States, the
7,000,000 head owned in Uruguay would be worth alone the amount at which
the whole livestock interest of the country is valued.
A large proportion of the wealth of Uruguay is in the hands of
foreigners. The aborigines are totally exterminated. It is the only
country in South America where “civilization” has been thorough and
complete in this respect, and it might be searched from end to end
without discovering a single representative of the Indian race which
originally occupied the land. The descendants of the Spanish
Conquistadors are called natives, or Orientals, while foreigners are
those who were not born in the country. Of the 500,000 population,
166,000 are said to be of foreign nativity, and most of them have come
in within the last ten years. This class holds about $237,000,000 of
property, or $1440 per capita.
The interior of Uruguay is being rapidly developed by the construction
of railways under the control of the Government, and representing an
investment of about $12,000,000. Besides the lines already in operation,
extensions are in progress which, when completed, will give the country
a system of about 1500 miles of road, at a cost of something like
$50,000,000! Railroad building is cheap in Uruguay, as grades are light
and easy, and ties are plenty and accessible. The commerce of the
country now amounts to $58,000,000 annually, with $29,500,000 of imports
and $28,500,000 of exports. The imports are unusually large of late
years, because of the vast amount of railway supplies and other
merchandise used by the Government. The bulk of the trade is with
England and France, the United States having but a very small share,
which consists chiefly of lumber, kerosene-oil, and agricultural
implements. Uruguay ships to Europe annually about $4,300,000 worth of
hides, $7,000,000 in wool, and $6,000,000 in beef. There are twenty-one
lines of steamers connecting Uruguay with Europe, and sending from forty
to sixty vessels each way every month, while there is no direct
communication with the United States except by occasional
sailing-vessels.
The foreign commerce of the country is increasing with great rapidity.
In 1875 it was $25,000,000; in 1878, $33,000,000; in 1880, $39,000,000;
in 1881, $38,000,000; in 1882, $40,000,000; in 1883, $45,000,000; in
1884, $51,000,000; in 1885, $52,000,000; in 1886, $55,000,000; and in
1887, $58,000,000, having increased $33,000,000 in thirteen years,
during which time the exports have run up from $12,000,000 to
$28,500,000, and the imports from $12,000,000 to 29,500,000.
The great wealth of Uruguay is at present in cattle and sheep, and its
chief exports are wool and beef, but the agricultural resources of the
country will be the basis of its future greatness, and it will enter
into competition with the United States in supplying the world with
breadstuffs and provisions. When a total population of only five hundred
thousand, including men, women, and children, carries on a foreign
commerce of nearly sixty million dollars annually, it can be inferred
that there is energy and industry at work, and a productive field for it
to engage in. It is claimed that Uruguay has greater natural resources
than any other South American country, and it is probably true. It is
also claimed that the profits on labor and capital are greater there
than elsewhere on the continent, which the statistics demonstrate.
The largest export of Uruguay is wool, 20,000,000 sheep making a clip
worth over $10,000,000 for exportation. The increase in sheep has been
310 per cent. in ten years. The next article of export is beef, valued
at about $6,000,000, being the product of about 8,000,000 cattle, which
are also rapidly increasing. The third export in value is hides, of
which $5,000,000 worth are annually shipped. Then come about $4,500,000
worth of wheat, $1,000,000 worth of corn, and $2,500,000 worth of other
agricultural products. All of these have more than doubled within the
last ten years, and are now increasing like compound interest.
We are accustomed to regard Uruguay as an obscure and insignificant
country, worth not even a thought, but the commercial strides she is
making show that she means competition with the United States in the
near future. Chili has taken the flour market of the west coast of South
America away from California, and Uruguay and the Argentine Republic are
soon to meet our Dakota, Illinois, and Kansas wheat in the markets of
Europe, while they threaten an even greater danger to our cattle
interests. With 100,000,000 sheep in the Argentine Republic, and
20,000,000 sheep in Uruguay; with 30,000,000 cattle in one country and
8,000,000 in the other, and only about 4,000,000 people to furnish
domestic consumers between them, it is easy to see what the supply of
beef and wool and mutton will soon be for exportation. There is more
cause for alarm in the ranches of Uruguay and the Argentine Republic
than in the manufactures of England and Germany. We can compete with
foreign industries in the quality and price of mechanical products, but
we cannot compete with ranchmen who can put beef cattle into the market
at ten and twelve dollars per head.
One of the greatest advantages the cattle producers of Uruguay and the
Argentine Republic will always have over those of the United States is
the nearness of their ranges to the sea. The present supply of beef in
both these countries for the export market comes from within a radius of
one hundred miles from an ocean harbor in which can be found the
steamers of every maritime nation on earth except our own. Ocean vessels
can go two thousand miles up the River Plate and five hundred miles up
the Uruguay River into the heart of the cattle country, and almost tie
up to the trees on the ranches, while our cattle have to be carried
fifteen hundred to four thousand miles on the cars. The geographical and
navigable conditions of these countries are such that ours would only
equal them if ocean steamers could visit Denver and Fort Dodge. Any man
of business can calculate the difference in the value of the product and
the difference in profits. It is claimed that the cattle companies of
the countries of which I have been speaking can sell marketable steers
at ten and twelve dollars a head, and declare thirty per cent.
dividends. We will not have the native Spanish population to compete
with, but Englishmen, Irishmen, and Scotchmen, who are going in large
numbers and with an immense amount of capital into the River Plate
countries to establish ranches and raise beef for the European market.
Montevideo, the capital of Uruguay, lies upon a tongue of land which
stretches out into the River Plate, nearly the shape of Manhattan
Island, on which New York City stands, except that it has the Atlantic
Ocean on one side and a river sixty-five miles wide on the other. This
strip is of limestone formation, with very little soil on the surface,
and rises in the centre to an apex like a whale’s back or the roof of a
house, so that the streets running northward and southward are like a
series of terraces rising one above the other, not only affording
perfect natural drainage, but giving almost every house in town a vista
of the river or the sea from the upper windows. As you approach
Montevideo the city seems much larger than it really is, and Yankee
Doodle could not complain of it as he did of Boston when he said he
could not see the town because there were so many houses.
[Illustration: MONTEVIDEO--THE OCEAN SIDE.]
There is no city more delightfully situated than the capital of Uruguay,
and viewed from any direction the prospect of Montevideo is a lovely
one. Were it not for those dreadful pamperos, which during the winter
season sweep the whole southern half of the continent from the Andes to
the sea, searching every nook and crevice for dust to cast into the
faces of the people, and parching the skin, this place might be made an
earthly type of Paradise. But nothing can afford shelter from these
searching winds, and even strawberries the year round are no
compensation.
The old Spaniards had a queer way of naming places. When the catalogue
of saints was exhausted and duplicated and triplicated, and all the holy
fasts and feasts had served to christen colonies and towns, they
“dropped into poetry,” as it were, and gave their imaginations a chance
at nomenclature. For example, the Rio de la Plata means the “silver
river,” so called, I suppose, because its waters have not the slightest
resemblance to silver, but are of the color of weak chocolate, like our
own Missouri. Then, again, the Argentine Republic means the “land of
silver,” and was so called, not because mines were found there, but to
attract colonists in the expectation of finding wealth.
The real name of Montevideo is San Felipe de Montevideo, which does not
sound quite so poetical when translated into English, for it means “I
see the hill of St. Philip.” The name of the saint has been dropped, and
now the place is known as “I see the Hill.” The hill which the
discoverer saw used to be called after the Apostle, but now is called
the “Cerro.” It has a picturesque old fortress on its crest, which is
innocently supposed to afford protection to the capital and the harbor.
If the place were ever attacked, the guns of the fort would furnish no
more protection than so many pop-guns, as it stands back so far behind
the city that half of the balls would fall on the roofs of the houses,
and an assaulting force be landed under the shelter they would give. As
the location of a light-house the Cerro does very well, and the fortress
is useful now only as an arsenal and prison. The old city formerly
surrounded the fortress, and it was closely besieged for nine years,
from 1842 to 1851. In those hard years a new city sprung up around the
besieging encampments, with shops and stores and churches and factories.
After the coming of peace the intermediate space was laid out by French
engineers, and the two cities rapidly grew into one, on the best ground
and after the most approved models of modern times. This space is now
the most beautiful and desirable part of the consolidated city.
It is claimed that Montevideo is the most healthy city in the world, and
there is no reason why it should not be, as the natural drainage is
perfect, and the climate is about like that of Tennessee, the cold
weather of winter being moderated by the Gulf Stream from the ocean,
and the heat of summer by the sea-breeze that seldom fails to perform
its grateful service. When it is not June in Uruguay, it is
October--never too hot and never too cold. There is not such a thing as
a stove in the whole country, but some of the foreigners have fireplaces
in their houses, to temper the winds for the tender feet. What
Montevideo most needs, like Buenos Ayres, is a harbor, for during a
pampero the ships at anchor in the river are without protection, and at
all times the landing and the shipping of merchandise are conducted with
great difficulty in lighters, as at the latter place. A contract has
been made with a French company to construct two breakwaters or piers in
triangular form, and the work, already commenced, is expected to be
completed in 1890.
Around the curve of the bay, fronting the water, are a series of
beautiful villas, or “quintas,” as they are called (pronounced
_kintas_), the suburban residences of wealthy men, built in the ancient
Italian style, with all the luxury and lavish display of modern
extravagance, and reminding one of the Pompeian palaces, or the Roman
villas in the golden age which Horace pictured in his Odes. These
residences are of the most picturesque architecture, and would be
attractive anywhere, but here they are surrounded by a perpetual garden,
and by thousands of flowers which preserve their color and their
fragrance winter and summer, and give the place an appearance of
everlasting spring.
One of these beautiful retreats belongs to a Philadelphian, Mr. W. D.
Evans, who has a romantic history, and is the friend of every naval
officer and every skipper that enters the port. Thirty years ago Mr.
Evans shipped as mate on a sailing-vessel bound for Uruguay. She was
wrecked off the coast by one of the ill winds which seamen meet, and he
was cast ashore, penniless and friendless. All the property he had in
the world were an ordinary ship’s boat, which he had saved from the
wreck, and the clothing which he wore. But he had a strong reserve in
the form of muscle, courage, and manliness, and with his boat he
commenced life as a _cargador_--that is, a longshoreman--and offered
his services to the public to convey passengers and baggage to and from
the ships in the harbor. About a week after he had entered his new
employment he was caught in a gale outside the harbor. His boat was
capsized, and he floated around for four hours clinging to her keel,
until rescued by the crew of a steamer which happened to be coming in.
He thanked his saviors graciously, but declined their invitation to go
on board the steamer, only asking assistance to right his boat, in order
that he might sail back to town. He was jeered at, and advised to let
the old tub drift, as it was worthless; but he told the sailors that
while it was not much of a boat, it was all the property he owned in the
world, and he intended to make a fortune out of it yet. They liked the
spirit of the man, and helped him put his boat in sailing trim, wishing
him goodluck as he started back to Montevideo.
In the centre of the finest private park in the River Plate country is a
handsome bronze fountain which must have cost several thousand dollars.
In its basin, casting a shadow over myriads of gold-fish and speckled
trout, floats Mr. Evans’s old boat, the most precious piece of property
he owns, and he is said to be worth millions. He never allows a day to
pass without visiting the fountain, and no guest ever comes to the Evans
_quinta_ who is not brought to bow to the idol. There is something
pathetic in the affection and reverence which the millionaire shows for
the rotten old tub. “She has saved my life twice,” says Mr. Evans to
everybody, “and when I was flat broke she was my only friend. You
gentlemen may not notice anything pretty about her, but she is the most
beautiful thing I ever saw.”
There never comes to Montevideo a distressed seaman of any race, worthy
or unworthy, who does not find a snug harbor through Mr. Evans’s
bountiful generosity, and there is not a man in all the valley of the
River Plate who does not feel a pleasure in grasping his hand.
There are many beautiful residences and fine stores in Montevideo, and
everything that can be bought in Paris can be found there. There are
three theatres and an Italian opera, a race-course and any number of
clubs, a university, a public library, a museum, and all the etceteras
of modern civilization. The ladies dress in the most stylish of Paris
fashions, and among the aristocracy the social life is very gay. The
people are highly educated, are making money quickly, and spend it like
princes. The Hotel Oriental is the best in South America, being built of
Italian marble, and luxuriously furnished. There are hospitals, asylums,
and other benevolent institutions supported by public and private
charity; two Protestant churches, Protestant schools, fifty-five miles
of street railways, carrying nine million passengers a year--which is a
remarkably high average for a city of one hundred and twenty thousand
population--boulevards and parks, gas and electric lights, telephones
without number, and only now and then does something occur to remind a
tourist that he is not in one of the most modern cities of Europe.
The vestibules of the tenement-houses, and the _patios_, or courts, in
the centre of each, which invariably furnish a cool loafing-place, are
commonly paved with the knuckle-bones of sheep, arranged in fantastic
designs like mosaic-work. They always attract the attention of
strangers, and it is a standing joke to tell the gullible that they are
the knuckle-bones of human beings who were killed during the many
revolutions which occurred in that country.
The ladies of Uruguay are considered to rank next to their sisters of
Peru in beauty, and there is something about the atmosphere which gives
their complexion a purity and clearness that is not found among ladies
of any other country. But, like all Spanish ladies, when they reach
maturity they lose their grace and symmetry of form, and usually become
very stout. This is undoubtedly owing in a great degree to their lack of
exercise; for they never walk, but spend their entire lives in a
carriage or a rocking-chair. Native ladies who have married foreigners,
and gone abroad to France or England, and there adopted the custom of
those countries, preserve their beauty much longer than their sisters
who live indolent lives at home.
[Illustration: SCENE IN MONTEVIDEO.]
The Government offices occupy a rather plain and insignificant
structure, which does not compare in architectural beauty with the
private residences and business blocks. Most of the merchants reside in
the upper floors of their business houses, so that there are but few
exclusively residence streets. The best houses are three and four
stories high, and are quite ornamental in their exterior decorations,
resembling those of Italy, and naturally, as most of the architects and
builders are Italians.
In the centre of the city are two large public squares. One, the Plaza
Constitution, is a military parade-ground, and upon it fronts the
Government building and military barracks. The other is the Plaza
Washington, named in honor of the Father of American Liberty. Crossing
Calle de Washington, and going north a block, one comes to “Calle Veinte
y Cinco de Mayo” (the Twenty-fifth of May Street). This seems odd at
first, but it is sanctified in the minds of the Uruguayans by the story
of their valor and patriotism. It commemorates the national
independence. Turning west on this street towards the point of the
promontory on which the city is built, the traveller stands before one
of the best buildings in the city--the Hospital de Caridad (Charity
Hospital). It is three stories high and three hundred feet long. It
covers an acre of ground, and has accommodations, or beds, for three
hundred patients. Of course the Sisters of Charity are supreme in these
wards, and large numbers of patients are treated here every year.
The Hospital de Caridad has become popular by the manner in which the
money is raised for its maintenance. It is supported by a public
lottery. This finds favor everywhere. One meets many men, women, and
boys on the streets of South American cities selling lottery tickets, as
he would see newsboys selling papers in North American cities. Not far
from Charity Hospital is the British Hospital. It is a fine, substantial
building, and worthy of the people who built it. It cost nearly forty
thousand dollars, and can accommodate sixty patients.